Danelle’s After Baby Weight Loss Challenge – Week 5

Danelle’s Weight Today: 144.4 Pounds

Welcome to the Losing 71 pounds in 90 days Weight Loss Challenge!  My baby was born on January 9, 2010.  I started at 171 pounds.  5 weeks after delivery, I weigh 144.4 pounds.  If you didn’t see the introduction or previous updates in this weight loss challenge, go read them now: 

• Danelle’s After Baby Weight Loss Recap – Week 1
• Danelle’s After Baby Weight Loss Recap – Weeks 2 & 3
• Danelle’s After Baby Weight Loss Recap – Week 4

Next week I’ll be including my foods list and clean eating menu recap to show you which foods give the best weight loss.

What Was Different During Week 5 of the Weight Loss Challenge

No weight loss:  During the 5th week, which ended on Sunday, February 14th, the weight loss was nonexistent! This week I lost 0 pounds.  The transition into my plan was slow and rough. 

Eating:  The biggest challenge was getting my eating under control.  To break my pregnancy eating habits and get back to clean eating like I do when training for competitions, I had to start keeping a food log and counting calories, carbs, protein, and fat.  To automate this process, I’m using MyFoodDiary.com, which is a pay service with a low monthly fee ($9).  The site makes calorie counting less painful, and really is eye-opening about what kind of nutrition you’re getting from the foods you eat every day.

After being pregnant for 10 months and eating such a different diet (larger portions, fattier foods, whole milk and tons of dairy, higher calorie days, etc.), it is proving to be difficult for me to remember how to eat like a non-pregnant woman! 

I also had one major eating slip this week: I had lunch at Wendy’s on Sunday.  One sandwich had almost half the calories I was supposed to eat for the entire day (not to mention tons of sodium, cholesterol and saturated fat).  I learned my lesson and will not give into my weakness for a cheeseburger on the way home from church again.

Cardio: 4 treadmill sessions.  This exceeded my goal of 3 sessions per week, but if I want to melt these pounds, I’m going to have to step it up.

Strength training:  Oops – no sessions this week.  I’m starting to see why I lost 0 pounds.  My day-by-day weight loss table is below. 

Now to Lose 44.4 More Pounds in 2 Months…

Next week it’s time to get stricter with my eating and exercise.  You can also see my full weight loss plan here.  I need to do better in these areas:

• Keep my daily calories under 1700
• Meet my water goal to drink 80 oz. per day
• Do 2 weights sessions per week
• Increase 3 cardio sessions per week to 6 cardio sessions
• Don’t eat any fast food!

See you next week with my latest weight loss challenge update.  Remember the disclaimer: I don’t recommend this weight loss challenge for anyone else – this is my personal baby weight loss project.

You might like these articles too:

1. Danelle’s After Baby Weight Loss Challenge & Measurements – Weeks 7 & 8
2. Danelle’s After Baby Weight Loss Challenge – Week 6
3. Danelle’s After Baby Weight Loss Challenge – Week 4
4. Why is the Weight Loss Challenge on Hold? Watch and Find Out!
5. Weight Loss Challenge After Baby Seven – Week 1