IP: Week 3 done!

Today starts Day 22 or Week 4!

I honestly didn't know if I'd get to this day. It's been written that it takes 21-30 days to create a habit but it can take a lifetime to break one. So my eating lifestyle has been crazy and sporadic throughout the years. I don't think I'll ever stop battling the bad food cycle. But I do think I've learned some things in 3 weeks and that I've gained a lot more confidence in myself in terms of making good food choices. That's a huge thing to me. I have always been obsessive about food. When there's something I want to eat I can't think about anything else. If I make a pan of brownies I guarantee you half the pan will be gone in a day. I love Japanese food so I can eat a ton of it. I like potatoes and bread more than sweets so chips, bread slathered in butter, a scone, hash browns, mashed potatoes are like heaven to me.  But TODAY I don't want those foods (well, except for the Japanese food! I love sashimi, sushi, tonkatsu and sukiyaki!) right now. I actually don't miss it and don't crave it. I want to hurry up and be done with the initial weight loss so I can transition back to real foods 100% of the time but it's not so I can eat those specific foods. I just want to be able to eat normally and prove that I can do this for the rest of my life.

I talked about my skewed body image in a previous blog. I want to get this excess fat on my body off so that I'm at a healthy body fat percentage and then eat to maintain my healthy weight, whatever that number turns out to be.  I don't want to be skinny, I want to be healthy. I want my cholesterol and blood sugar and blood pressure numbers to all be normal. I want most of my body aches, pains to be gone. I want to not be addicted to sugar. I want to love exercise again. I want to be able to wear a bathing suit with pride. I want to hike a tall mountain. I want to go on a cruise to a tropical place and wear summer clothes and be comfortable in them.

I am happy to say I have not cheated on this program. I am really proud of what I've accomplished so far. I never thought I could resist foods before. I have never stopped craving sugar or starchy foods before. But as of today I have.

So as of today (based on my scale) I've lost 13.2 lbs and my body fat percentage is down 3%!  The fancy scale at IHC says I've lost 8lbs of fat and my measurements say I've lost 8" overall. Pretty exciting stuff!