Well...so far I am leading the pack in the Biggest Loser. I'll post the unofficial results on a weekly basis, so that you can see how I compare to the other competitors (this week's should be coming out sometime this afternoon).

I am feeling sooooooo much pressure. Whew...you have no idea. This is unlike my previous weight loss b/c I really feel pressured to show progress on a weekly basis. The other competitors are really looking at me to see if my loss this week is sustainable, or just a one time fluke. I really really want the loss to be sustainable.

I am doing what I know how to do best...cutting my calories and exercising. I have been diligent about tracking my food intake daily on fitday.com. My goal is to keep my calorie intake around 1400 per day. I heard that your body naturally burns about 1500-2000 calories per day. I am not sure exactly what my body is burning on a daily basis, but 1400 seems to make sense to me. As it is, 1400 calories is usually about 3 very light/healthy meals a day and 1 or 2 100 calorie snacks. Not much food at all, so I have a hard time imagining how to cut it down to less than that. If I do feel that I need to get it lower, then I suppose that I could make meal replacement smoothies on the weekend and eat meal replacement bars during the week, but I am hoping that it doesn't come down to that. I really hope that I can sustain about a 1 pound loss per week. This would get me down to 158lbs in the next 11 weeks. Overall that would be a 21 lb loss, which would be 12% of my total body weight. Although some of my competitors are aiming for 15 and 16% losses, I think that this would be enough to really give them a run for their money.

I have some fears, though. #1 I am worried about cutting my calories too low, and causing my metabolism to slow down. I need for it to stay nice and high, so that it will burn as many calories as possible even when I am not working out. #2 I am worried about hitting a plateau in my workouts. Swimming is new to me, and while its a great workout, it actually isn't as exhausting to me as running or getting on the elliptical. I guess I am fearful that I will find that I'm not doing enough. #3 The final weigh in will be on a different scale than my incremental weigh ins. It is the same scale that we did our initial weigh in on, but I don't want to get up to the end and weigh in a couple of pounds heavier than what I have been showing throughout the past weeks.

I do have a plan to address some of my above fears. I discussed them with my conscience, and he had some great advice. He recommended that I weigh myself twice a week (probably on my Thursday and Sunday trips to the gym). This will allow me to see if the scale is moving and to adjust my diet and exercise right away if I am becoming stagnant. Since I am no dietitian or personal trainer, then I don't have a scientific formula for weight loss. All that I can do is continue to do what I know makes sense (eat right and exercise) and turn up the volume if I find that I am not getting the results that I need.

I want to re-emphasize that this competition is not the best example of a lifestyle change that I want to be giving. By that I mean, I have a very lofty goal and a very limited time range. I am being more extreme than usual and adopting habits that I know I cannot maintain (for instance the meal replacements). I am of course keeping my health foremost, but in the long run this is NOT the way that I want to live. Long term I want to keep exercising 4 (possibly 5, if I get adjusted to it) times a week and eating meals that I know are light and healthy (prob about 1600-1700 calories a day). Simply maintaining a healthy lifestyle is my long term goal, NOT LOSING WEIGHT!

Ok, off soapbox. My last fear is a little tricky. There really isn't much that I can do about the scale for the final weigh in. I can try to take some of my incremental (unofficial) weigh ins on that scale, which is located at my client. However, I think that I am going to bite the bullet and purchase a digital scale. I think that this will give me a more accurate and consistent reading than I am getting on the manual scale at the gym. I really really dislike spending money on something that I am getting for free, but I want to make sure that the readings that I am getting on a weekly basis are as true as possible. Now, if the scale at the client's gym is just off, then there is nothing that I can do about that. I'll have to give this thing my best, and if I'm lucky, then I will exceed my goals and win by a margin!