Secondhand Slim Down – Losing the First Five Pounds

I know it’s been several weeks since I last checked in on my weight loss journey and secondhand slim down. The honest truth? I didn’t have much to report! I haven’t fallen off the gym wagon at all, but progress has been slow. However, I’ve officially lost 5 pounds which seemed like the perfect benchmark to blog about!

Losing the First Five Pounds

Now, in full transparency, I have been grappling with feeling accomplished over this because, well, it’s only 5 pounds. And I’ve been working out consistently (4-5 times/week) for more than two months now. It felt like I should have lost more than that and I started to get down on myself.

But then I thought, what if I bought a jacket from the thrift store and found $5.00 in the pocket? Would I throw it out because it’s “only 5 bucks”? Heck no! I’d be stoked and feel like Lady Luck was smiling down upon me.

So, that’s how I need to think about losing 5 pounds – that it’s a great accomplishment and not a disappointment.

It’s easy to fall into the trap of feeling dejected about small accomplishments during a weight loss journey. Or worse, comparing our own progress without someone else’s.

One of things I read that snapped me out of my “5 pound funk” was this article on “13 Things That Happen to Your Body After You Lose 5 Pounds“. It was a great lesson and reminder that it’s not all about the scale, because other changes are already happening in my body.

When It Feels Like More than Five Pounds

Speaking of the scale…

I’ve decided that there is such a thing as “Scale Betrayal”. Because while I was in my “5 pound funk”, I was already noticing that my clothes were fitting better, even though the scale hadn’t moved that much!

Because I’ve been lifting weights (via weight machines or pin machines), I know my body composition is changing. And that’s a very good thing – I want that to happen. But, it means that a regular scale won’t reflect that – which also contributed to my funk.

This article on body composition changes further confirmed my Scale Betrayal suspicions. If you, too, are on a weight loss journey yourself and have been feeling the same way, don’t let it get in your head. Hopefully these articles that I’ve shared will calm any frustrations you have been feeling.

Marching on with More Progress

So, I may not be ready to go thrift store shopping for smaller clothes yet, but I’m getting closer every day. In fact, there are a pair of jeans that I’m just about ready to donate because they’re getting too loose! So, bear with me – I know this is a “secondhand slim down” and there hasn’t been any thrifting involved yet.

I’m still working on improving my eating habits, and have successfully avoided my pitfall foods (as I discussed in a previous weight loss post here). But, as promised in my previous weight loss blog post, I’ve tested out a recipe I found online that I could photograph and share with you.

Because summer is virtually here, I wanted to try a salad with fruit, so I tried out this Blackberry Balsamic Grilled Chicken Salad. It combined some of my favorite things – grilled chicken, berries, balsamic dressing, and goat cheese!

Check out the original recipe for all the ingredients and details. I tweaked it by not frying the goat cheese and using less Dijon mustard in the dressing. I hate mustard as a general rule, but recognize its emulsifying purpose in salad dressings – so I simply cut the mustard quantity in half. Also, I didn’t include red onions and I forgot to buy an avocado!

Forgive my less-than-stellar food photography skills! But, I plan to make another recipe (possibly another salad with fruit!) in my next post, if that would be of interest to you?

Back to this one, though – I LOVED it and even my husband did! He doesn’t love fruit the way I do, but he was mad for this salad dressing – so I’ll be making this again in the future.

*****

Thanks again for reading this new blog series of mine. By doing this, I hope to not only stay accountable and on track, but to bring comfort to anyone else out there who is ashamed of their body or weight-related health. I am not a doctor or medical professional in any capacity, so everything I blog about during my weight loss journey is simply my own opinion and experience. Please consult a medical or health professional before beginning a weight loss program or for medical related questions.

If you want to read all of my weight loss journey blog posts, you can find the full series here. And because I’m not sending my weight loss blog posts to my current subscribers, please let me know if you would like to be added to my separate subscription list.

Keep on keepin’ on,

S

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