Well, I just finished out my first week on the new Real Appeal diet & fitness plan. I didn’t have a great increase in exercise. I got out and walked with the dog a couple of times, which is twice more than the weeks previous. Figure a little under 2 miles each time, which is not a whole lot of walking. There’s an app for my phone and tablet that lets me track everything I eat and drink, and I’ve been using that as close to 100% of the time as possible. That has been a big help in figuring out what foods are better and which ones are worse as far as calories, fat, protein, etc. It even has a bar code scanner to pull up information on most stuff that’s packaged.
The end result… I’m down 5# from when I started. That in itself is not shocking or cause for wild celebration, I’ve lost 5# in a week many times. Always the same 5#, though. The biggest change I have noticed is the consistency of results. Before starting the program, when I was trying to do this on my own, I’d weigh myself every couple of days. Some days I was down, some days I was up, but always bouncing within a 5-6 pound range. That’s been going on for a couple of years now. Over the past week I’ve been down consistently every time I stepped on the scale, no exceptions.
So, so far so good. We’ll see how well I’m able to keep it up. The biggest difference is that I’ve got a consistent (but non-annoying) level of motivation and encouragement to watch what I’m eating, keep the snacking down within reason, etc. The calories set are entirely reasonable, and I don’t feel like I’m having to cut way back on eating. In fact, I usually eat less than the plan recommends. I just have a little better and more consistent control.