This Post is part of Project Weight Loss and a follow up to Days 9-14.

Well there is good and bad news to report. I will get the bad news out of the way first, and then focus on the good news.

The Bad News

I did have some struggles keeping up with my healthy eating and exercising efforts between Day 21 and Day 26. Due to some emotional stress and other factors I didn’t exercise those days and did overeat. I must clarify that I have no good excuse though. In that period I did resort to food for comfort. Of course this never works, and it’s just like abusing anything else including alcohol or drugs. It is my fault for getting off track and I take full responsibility. However I did not give up on my weight loss or fitness efforts, as I mentioned in 100 Weight Loss Tips and Tricks, the only way not to lose weight is to give up, and that’s certainly something I’m not willing to do.

The Good News

Overall I have learned a lot of doing this 30 day challenge, and I did lose some weight, however as you will see from the numbers, getting off track for a few days did influence my results.

Day – Weight (pounds) – Body Fat Percentage
Day 15 – 196.8 – 21.40
Day 16 – 196.8 – 22.80
Day 17 – 196.8 – 21.60
Day 18 – 195.2 – 22.00
Day 19 – 195.2 – 22.40
Day 20 – 195.2 – 22.40
Day 21 – 26 – Didn’t check weight or body fat percentage, also got off track
Day 27 – 200.6 – 22.50
Day 28 – 199.2 – 22.20
Day 29 – 197.8 – 23.30
Day 30 – 197.8 – 23.30
Day 31 – Couldn’t check weight or body fat percentage due to being away from home

My weight was highest on Day 2 where I was 203.4 pounds. So overall, it looks like by Day 30 I lost 5.6 pounds. I’m certainly happy about that

More importantly since I have been exercising a lot more often and eating healthier, I’m noticing I’m slowly building up both of those habits. Going to workout isn’t a big deal for me anymore it’s just like going to the store and buying groceries. I also really enjoy the energy boost and great feeling I experience after doing a hard workout. Additionally my taste buds are starting to favor healthy foods over junk foods.

My skin has been looking much healthier, I’m guessing this is due to the healthier food I’m eating and my higher consumption of water. I certainly have been more energetic and getting a lot more things done in other areas of my life which is great.

What I’ve learned

• I need to focus more time on dealing with stress. I’m noticing that when I’m stressed out I’m tempted to resort to food. At this point, working on healthier ways of dealing with stress is just as important as eating healthy and exercising.
• Making a public commitment certainly did help me stick it out, at least for the first 20 days. While I didn’t have perfect 30 day performance, I’m still feeling great about this small achievement, and wanted to thank everyone who has left an encouraging comment or linked to my project weight loss posts
• I need to build more leverage or stronger reasons to stick to my weight loss efforts. A public commitment is a form of leverage however in my case I now know that I need more leverage.
• While there are many tips and tricks to losing weight, what it comes down to is hard work. A lot of the times I ate healthy and exercised even if I didn’t feel like it. Eating healthy and exercising might have not provided me with immediate gratification, however, it certainly was building up long term gratification.
• It’s okay to try and get off track, even if you write about many personal development topics like myself. It’s actually a bit freeing for me to admit that I’m not perfect

Future Weight Loss Efforts

I’m certainly still exercising and eating healthy. I’m feeling great about my slow yet steady results. I will keep you updated on my weight loss progress in future posts. I might also do another 30 day weight loss challenge in upcoming months. Thanks for everyone’s support.