Working out but not losing weight?

As I'm eating my healthy salad with tuna and homemade dressing for lunch, I got to thinking about a question someone asked me during boot camp last night. The question was, "How long did it take for you to start seeing results?" When I answered, "Pretty much right away," she looked kind of sad and said that she had not seen any real results after a couple of weeks of coming to boot camp. When I asked about her eating, she said it had not been optimum. When I told her that her diet was probably the reason, she mentioned that our trainer told her the same thing.

I can truly attest to this. I worked really hard with the "drop a dress size" diet plan and lost almost 24 pounds in 8 weeks. When that challenge was over, I went right back to eating like an idiot... in fact, probably worse. What happened? I gained TEN POUNDS in just a few weeks!

What's wrong with this picture?

I'm back on my program now, and since a friend is keeping my scale to help me with my issues (I weigh myself too much), I'm not sure exactly how much weight I've lost, but I'm probably down 5 or 6 pounds in 10 days.

I promise you I could lose a ton of weight just watching my diet, but it's EXTREMELY hard to lose weight with exercise alone.

Don't get me wrong... working out is important, too! We want to be strong and toned, AND adding muscle to our bodies makes us burn more calories--BONUS! However, food is truly the key to weight loss (or gain).

I hope you will learn from MY mistakes and make your eating program your priority. Next time you go to reach for a cookie or glazed doughnut (see photo), think about how many burpees you'd have to do to compensate!

And remember... Work hard and be patient... it's worth the weight!

Weight Loss Tool That's Small and Powerful | BONUS! Easy Salad Dressing Recipe

I like to take salads to work. It's a good way to get LOTS of veggies and to fill up without a lot of calories. However, there aren't a lot of good salad dressings that work with my food plan or that taste good to me.

So... I started making my own dressing. It's healthier, and tastes better, too. Then, I had to figure out how to carry the dressing to work. I found these little Tupperware Midgets, and they are perfect.

I tried making a big batch of dressing and pouring some into the Tupperware, but unfortunately, in the beginning I would get mostly oil pouring off the top. Since that wasn't working out too well, I decided to just create individual portions. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1/2 TBSP Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1/2 pinch Oregano
• 1/2 pinch Garlic Powder
• 1/2 pinch Onion Powder
• 1 pinch Sea Salt
• 1 pinch Black Pepper
• 1 pinch red pepper flakes (careful...this gets HOT really quick)
• 1-1/2 TBSP Red Wine Vinegar (approximately)

Directions

1. Put olive oil and dry ingredients in container
2. Fill the container the rest of the way with the vinegar
3. Shake

I like to make this ahead of time to let the flavors blend. Sometimes I make 5 all at once so that I'm all set for the work week.

Switch up the ingredients to suit your dietary needs and taste. Use rice wine vinegar, a little bit of sesame oil and soy sauce for an Asian dressing. Or add some mustard for a creamier dressing. The beauty is that if you don't like it, it's only 2 oz. Throw it away and start over!

Do you have a "go to" tool? A favorite salad dressing recipe? Please comment below.

And remember... Work hard and be patient... it's worth the weight!

Update! The 8-Week Weight Loss Challenge Results

After recommitting to getting my weight back on track, I joined an 8-week team weight loss challenge. Our team, Angels and Demons, came in second, losing a total of 27 pounds. I lost 23.6.

How did I do it? I worked REALLY hard and followed an extremely strict diet plan.

It was not easy, but the results were worth it.

We have started another weight loss challenge at my boot camp. The challenge started on Monday, 4/21 with each of us putting $10 in the jar. At the end of the challenge (6 weeks), the person who has lost the highest percentage of weight will win the contents of the jar ($200+).

I want that money! And, I'm going to use this blog to show how I get there.

Watch me... keep me accountable... cheer me on... I need the support!

Are you trying to lose weight, too? (If you're reading this, the answer is probably "yes.") What are you doing? What's working? What's not? Please comment!

And remember... Work hard and be patient... it's worth the weight!

Back on track!

So... this seems to be the struggle for EVERY person who loses weight--especially if they lose a LOT of weight. I lost 110 pounds and then gained 75 of it back. I was so ashamed and disgusted that it caused me to not want to see my friends. What would they say/think? They had seen me some time ago and I had gotten so "skinny." They were proud of me. They congratulated me. 

Now I was fat again (not AS fat, but still FAT). Surely they would judge me. Surely they wouldn't love me as much.

Well, guess what? The only person who judged me and didn't love me as much was ME! Abandoned by the trainer who helped me lose all the weight (let's just say his girlfriend was the reason), I was lost. I didn't care and I just kept getting fatter.

Then, some friends at work joined a boot camp. I went, too, but I didn't change my eating habits. I worked out pretty regularly and even managed to complete a 5K (or other race) every month. However, I was still getting fatter!

My co-worker, Linda, told me about her boot camp, and I decided to give it a try. It's close to work and it's mostly ladies, mostly my age. I did the boot camp, but I still didn't fix my diet. I was tired, bored and lonely, and food was my solace.

What happens after that is for my next post.