I've lost weight, & how I'm doing it...

I'm aware that this picture is sort of dark. My room only has my bedstand light right now. This is my stomach right now. I've lost about 10 lbs, and have really leaned out, so I thought I would do a blog entry on this. My mom noticed that I had been losing some weight about 3 or 4 weeks ago, and I said I hadn't noticed it. But now I DO notice it, and in all honesty couldn't tell you exactly how I've done it.

But then I got to thinking, how have things changed since I was last insecure about my body, before I'd lost those 10 lbs... I realized that some very simple changes in my life style have made it happen. Here they are...

1. I drink a ton of water. I probably drink a half a gallon or so a day. How I do it is I keep a water bottle close by at all times. Unfortunately, this means I have to do to the bathroom a lot more times during the day too, which can get annoying. But it's worth it, I think it's assisted in the weight loss overall.

2. I don't eat whole portions. I put stuff aside that I don't eat. This is because I get full faster it seems, so I stop eating when I'm satisfied. It seems like my body didn't used to get satisfied so quickly.

3. I eat at home, and cook my own lunches. I've stopped eating out and eating fast food almost entirely, and when I do eat food from the hub I make sure to get some fruit and never get their cooked meals-- they're overpriced and super unhealthy.

4. I take my medications at the same time every day. This makes a difference. I think I gain weight when I go off my medication... If you're taking a medication, especially birth control, take it at the same time every day.

5. I do pilates every night. This is my aunt's favorite exercise and I think it works pretty well. I learned that muscle and lifting weights actually makes me look BIGGER.

I think a lot of this weight loss has to do with, most of all, a combination of the fact that I'm not as hungry as I used to be, the fact that for some reason I get fuller faster, and the miles of walking I do around campus to get from class to class. There are a lot of factors... I think I look really good lately though, between the fact that my acne has cleared up almost entirely from Differin and that I've lost weight, I feel a lot more confident in myself.

Today we had a japanese test that I studied for for about 6 hours these past couple days. I'm hoping it paid off...

yours,

Emily