Week 5 Weigh In: Perfection is NOT Required For Success!

This was one of those weeks where I tricked myself into thinking that absolutely no progress has been made. I knew that I had veered from my plan, just enough that it could have potentially effected my weekly results. My food intake has been less than perfect, and my exercise has seemed to be slightly lesser quality.

With my workouts, I’ve felt a bit less energy than normal, requiring myself continued self-pep talks to keep it up. But this can happen when we are in a caloric deficit state. Eating less means that we might be utilizing all of our food energy in other body processes. That’s ok, because the body is so smart, and adapts to the environment that we place it in. As I continue to strive to take in the most nutrient dense foods, my energy levels should balance out, and I’ll find myself dragging a little bit less.

Let’s get to this week’s results.

End of Week 5: Before and After Pictures

Week 5 Food Journal:

Here’s the log for today’s food intake. Today is one of the only few days, this week that I actually followed my meal plan. The rest of the week’s food journal entries will be at the bottom. As always, I don’t always eat the food in the order that I logged them in. (Who has time for such nit-pickiness? Not me!)

This week’s food intake was a bit all over the place. I had a couple days where my calories ended around my Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE), or maintenance range. There were a couple days where I did an intermittent fast as well. I feel like I had a whole bunch of mini unplanned indulgences between the bites of the Bloomin’ onion and bread from Outback Steakhouse, crackers, and homemade Mac and cheese. Mostly, I just didn’t really follow my meal plan, even with all of the food prep that I did. So the rest of the time, I was doing a bit more “winging it” by eating strategic foods, but not in the order that was planned. I’ve also caught myself drinking Diet Mtn. Dew almost daily for the last handful of days.

What the heck!?!? Haven’t I learned enough by now to know that my body doesn’t respond well to either diet soda or caffeine? When will I even learn? Today, I’m fighting the headaches, for sure!

I’m trying to decide if there was a trigger to my more rebellious eating, or a psychological reason for indulging a little bit extra. I can’t decipher anything huge. But I have recognized moments of missing my old life where I didn’t think about what I was eating (I know, totally destructive line of thought). I’ve allowed that thinking to escalate, and have recognized times when I was feeling like I was in food prison. Even with really good, strategic, food to eat all prepped and ready in the fridge. I’ve also recognized myself wanting to eat when I am feeling bored or overwhelmed.

I need to revisit my why’s for taking on this journey, and allow myself to love the process of following the rules which I know will lead me to my end goal. I need to stop allowing myself tiny tastes of the unplanned foods and need to recommit to following the meal plan, and not veering off course. Since nutrition is the largest piece of the weight loss puzzle, I need to give the rules the respect that they deserve. Time to let go of my- in the moment- wants!

But even with all of the areas I feel like I could have done better this week, progress still happened!

Week 5 bioelectrical impedance assessment results

Do you remember last week when I found myself a little bit shocked by the drastic muscle gain and fat loss? Do you remember how I questioned if my results fell within the 4% margin of error that can take place when using a bioelectrical impedance assessment machine? After this morning’s weigh in, I’m pretty convinced that was the case. Today’s progress falls much more in line with progress from Week 3 rather than Week 4. I’ll show you a comparison of both weeks in the results below. I mean, my eating and exercise were off, but really not by much.

My total body weight: 135.8 lbs (Down .7 lbs from the last two weeks, remember my weight was the same the last two weeks. Total of 7.1 lb. lost since start date).

Breaking my total body weight down into different categories of body composition

• Total Body water: 78.7 lb. (Decrease of 3.1 pounds since last week, but increase of 1.6 lbs if we are comparing this week to week three. Total of 0.4 lb. increase since start date).
• Dry lean mass: 29.1 lb. (Decrease of 0.9 lbs. since last week, but increase of .3 lb. if we are comparing this week to week three. Dry lean mass is the exact same this week as it was in my first weigh in. Remember that this includes muscle, organs, and bone minus any fluid)
• Body fat mass: 28 lb. (This was a 3.3 lb. increase from last week, and 2.6 lb. decrease comparing this week to week three. Total of 7.5 lb. of fat lost since start date!)
• Skeletal muscle mass: 60.4 lb. (Decrease of 2.2 lb. from last week, and increase of 1.1 lb. muscle compared to week three. Total of 0.4 lb. increase in muscle since start date)
• BMI: 23.3 (Decrease of 0.1 in the last two weeks. Total BMI decrease of 1.2 since start date)
• Body fat percentage: 20.5% (This increased by 2.4% from last week, and decreased by 2% compared to week three. Total of 4.3% decrease in body fat percentage since start date.)
• Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR): 1427 calories (This decreased by 38 calories.)
• Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE): 2214 calories (Because my BMR decreased, this number decreased by 53 calories from last week)
• Calorie target range for weight loss: 1560 calories (I’m keeping this target range the same)

Week 5 measuring tape results:

• Right calf (measured at widest part): 14 3/8 inches (Same as last week, and down 3/8 inch from first measurement)
• Right thigh (measured at widest part): 22 3/8 inches (Down 1/8 inch from last week, and down 5/8 inch from first measurement)
• Hips (measured at widest part): 38 1/2 inches (Down 1/4 inch from last week, Down 4 1/2 inches from first measurement)
• Butt (measured at widest part): 37 5/8 inches (Down 1/8 inch from last week. Down 1 3/4 inch from first measurement.)
• Right below my muffin top: 34 3/4 inches (Down 1/4 inch from last week, and down 1 1/8 inch from first measurement)
• Waistline (measured across belly button): 33 5/8 inches (Down 3/8 inch from last week, and down 1 5/8 inch from first measurement)
• Chest (measured at widest part): 36 3/4 inches (Down 1/4 inch from last week. Down 1 inch from first measurement.)
• Shoulders (measured at widest part): 40 inches (Down 1/8 inch from last week. Down 1/2 inch from first measurement)
• Biceps: (measured at widest part): 11 1/4 inches (Same as last week, and 1/4 inch from first measurement).

This is what my workouts looked like:

Summary

I’m feeling much better about this week’s results after comparing all the numbers to both last week and the week before. If we compare to last week, it looks like I did a terrible job with my efforts. But if we compare to the week before, it looks like my progress is right on track with my efforts. I think the moral of the story is that perfection isn’t required in order to succeed at weight loss. We succeed through consistent effort. Even our tiny tastes of food, here and there, are okay when the rest of our actions are about 90% consistent with the rules around weight loss.

Thanks for sticking with me through this journey. Can’t wait to see what next week brings! Talk to you soon!

---

Experience the new found confidence in yourself! Get new content delivered directly to your inbox.

---

Here are the food logs from the rest of my week:

Friday, January 29

Saturday, January 30

Sunday, January 31

Monday, February 1

Tuesday, February 2

Wednesday, February 3