30 Days Into It! - 12lbs Down & 102lbs to go (Summary of my first 30 days!)

Hello Everyone!

Today marks my 30th day into my journey! So I thought I would share my experiences, what I learned, what I struggled with, and my goal in the next 30 days!

1. My experiences
Without going into too much detail, the start of my journey 30 days ago was after a very LONG break from diet, exercise, and really caring at all about my weight. I started day 1 with a well planned out but very simple idea: cut the beer, eat something for breakfast, start moving. Over the course of these last four weeks, my diet evolved into macro tracking, calorie counting, and a strategic workout routine (didn't work out AS well, but I will get into that soon).
In addition to this new diet plan and workout routine, I manged to find a way to squeeze in some alcohol on the weekends as long as it fit my calorie restriction. I was glad for this because it meant I didn't have to completely give it up, and I wasn't killing myself the next morning with a hangover. So as of today, I have a macro oriented diet plan with a 1000 calorie per day deficit that I can tweak as I see fit for any cheat meals or alcohol I plan to consume, which is a huge win for me. Bonus points on days I exercise.
As far as my workout routine, I started with a six day plan: M, T, W, Th, Sa - Treadmill (with some intervals in there.) Fr - Upper body strength training. Su - Rest. Now this plan started off ok, but after a week of it I quickly learned that this was NOT a good idea for carrying 100+lbs of extra weight, at least not for me. I ended up developing bursitis in my right knee, making walking, running, and bending very painful. After some research I found that the likely cause from this was tight hamstrings caused by being sedentary. So I changed my workout goals from "burn ALL the calories" to "get stronger, raise my BMR, and not injure myself anymore", as a result, I know do strength training five days per week and low-impact cardio on the sixth day. So, in all reality, the injury was actually a blessing in disguise; I am noticeably stronger and "feel" way better than I ever did on just cardio workouts.

2. What I learned
- A cheat meal or alcohol added to your day, provided you don't go over your calorie goals, will NOT make you gain a ton of weight. I had this feeling last week. I had a few beers with my dinner on Friday night, still making it under my calorie limit. I had this sinking feeling that I just couldn't get rid of, I felt as though I had just undid everything and the scale was going to prove it. I stepped on the scale at the gym Saturday afternoon, and there was no change from my Friday weigh in, NONE! I let out a sigh of relief and had a really great workout.
- It takes calories to burn calories! Set a calorie goal based on your desired deficit and try to reach it. I struggled with this starting out, I was trying to eat as few calories as I could thinking the bigger that "green number" was, the better. I KNEW it that was wrong, but I FELT so right doing it. I had to overcome that feeling and strive to actually eat those calories! I am glad I did too, because it was making my days feel so much better. My workouts improved dramatically and I am nearly reaching my goal everyday. Sometimes it's tough, but small additions here and there have really helped. On days I workout, I usually end up "green" at around 100-300, which is fine because I log my exercise in MFP and try not to "eat back" the calories unless my body is really needing it.
- Food scales are life! Weigh EVERYTHING, this one pretty much speaks for itself. Not only did I have an eye opening experience on how small serving sizes on some foods are, but I ALSO realized how LARGE some servings are! Bottom line is, don't overeat and don't short-change yourself, weight your food. A quick example would be a small experiment I ran. I "eyeballed" a serving of dry roasted peanuts, then weighed them. My "eyeballed" amount weighed 60g, a serving size is 28g. If I would have consumed those peanuts, I would have logged 160 calories but actually have eaten slightly over 320! On the flip side of the coin, I bought a protein powder some time ago whose serving size was one scoop, but the weight of the serving was under the volume, so I was logging MORE calories than I was consuming.
- Weight loss is mostly in the diet, don't hurt yourself in the gym thinking more is better. It could have been worse for my than it was. Today I still have a bit of pain, but it's mostly gone at this point. Take it easy, get the blood pumping for a bit, and workout to improve you, not what you think people are expecting. If you have worked out in the past, and put on 100+ lbs since, don't try to go back to your old routine thinking you can just jump in both feet first, trust me on this one.

3. What I struggled with (or continue to struggle with)
- Feeling guilty for and struggling to reach my calorie goals at first. After fixing this, it feels like my body it on a "clock". I get hungry at regular meal times, I make careful small adjustments to make sure I am able to get close or reach my calorie needs, and I feel amazing.
- Feeling defeated for having some alcohol on a weekend or a cheat meal, EVEN THOUGH I made sure it fit my calorie goals. I gotta keep it in my head that I will NOT put on 12 pounds in a weekend because I decided I wanted hot wings for dinner, or a few beers Friday night. As long as my number is green, i'm good. I still struggle with this one, but i'm getting better. In fact, I feel this is a very important topic, having the things you love in moderation occasionally may prevent "binge sessions".
- I don't know what to call this one, but sometimes I feel great, and my clothes are beginning to feel bigger, and I can notice some changes. However, some days I wake up and just have this mental feeling like nothing has changed and I'm just the same as I was on day 1, even though I KNOW this to be false.
- Injury. When I hurt my knee, the doctor said, and even insisted, that I can continue to work out. Just keep the exercise low impact and avoid squats and leg presses for a couple weeks, and stretch my hamstrings. Don't over do it on exercise and let an injury keep you from your new love for it. Even something as minor as bursitis can be painful and prevent you from doing everyday things.

4. My goals for the next 30 days.
- I am hoping to be 8 - 10 lbs lighter, but since I am doing strength training more often now, I think I will switch my measure of success from weight to body fat %. I will have to see.
- Have a sustainable diet plan that fits my macros that I can buy the ingredients for and prepare without even thinking about it. These last 30 days have seen some diet changes, and I think I am on a good path now.
- I am not sure how to gauge strength training goals for a 30 day period, so I guess my goal is to just improve the amount of weight I am lifting, perhaps I will use this improvement as a baseline for the following month.
- Permanently store the pants I am wearing now, they are already beginning to need a belt but the next size down is just a wee bit too tight. No more buying bigger clothes!

Sorry for the long winded post, I just had to get it out there. It will be nice to see some feedback, and to be able to look back on this post in the future. This time it is for real, this time I kiss obesity goodbye!