Weight Loss Wednesday: Week 9

Hi kids! I haven't lost anymore weight. In fact, I had gained a pound back over the weekend, but when I stepped on the scale this morning, I lost it again.

I think I have figured out the culprit for why I don't lose weight as fast.

It's a little thing called alcohol.

No, I don't drink every night. But I do drink a lot.... more than I should.... too much on weekends. Alcohol reduces the bodies ability to lose weight. It's also full of carbs and sugar. It also makes you crave food. So when you drink too much, it slows your process down of losing weight.

Whoops.

Now, drinking a lot does not make me a bad person, I realize. I'm 26 years old. But I do need to cut back.

In order to test my hypothesis, I am giving up alcohol for two and a half solid weeks (as of this past Monday- had a beer at the Tigers game and then that was it! Done!). That will be a smidge difficult considering this weekend is my best friend's bachelorette party, but less alcohol also means less money spent, which is one of my other anxieties right now. So all in all, it will probably be a good decision. I'm doing two and a half so I can fully report to you in two weeks about how my experiment is going.

I'm going to see if I lose more weight, how I feel, etc. If it works, then I know alcohol is playing a part in my journey. I won't cut it out completely for the rest of my life, but I will cut back.

Curious, have any of you run into this at all? Or have any more knowledge on the topic? I did a lot of research yesterday on it and will be doing my own research for the next two weeks! Not a sip of alcohol until September 12th- although I'll probably drag it a little longer since I don't usually drink during the week anyways.

Moving on, here are some things I am proud of recently:

• I gave up pizza TWICE last week. Once when it was ordered for us at work (stuck to the lunch I brought!) and once at dinner at my favorite pizza place. Instead I ordered a turkey burger, no bun, with broccoli as my side. 
• I get full faster now, and don't crave snacks or sweets as much during the day.
• I can chest press 70 lbs.
• I can do 20 minutes at a time on the elliptical. Before I could do about 4. I usually do some other things and then hop back on the elliptical for another 10 minutes before I leave to get a full 30 minutes in.
• Pants are looser :)
• I bike between 4-5 miles every time I'm at the gym unless I'm swimming.
• I checked the website of the hotel where we are staying this weekend so that I could make sure they had exercise equipment.
• Ordered off the skinnylicious menu at Cheesecake Factory.
• Drink about 8 glasses of water a day
• My maid of honor dress is too big and I had to have it taken in. My guess is I will lose a few more pounds still so it may need even more alterations a week or so before the wedding!

I think that about covers it for this week. Wish me luck on being alcohol free for 2.5 weeks!

PS- just for the fun of it, let's all listen to this song since it's sort of my theme song for right now.