Today on Shalman’s believe it or not I’m going to give it to you straight. I lost 11.5 lbs in 1 week. I was actually down by 15 lbs the day after fasting but gained a few back. In the article 11 Mindless Eating Habits For Skinny Robots ^[1] published on October 1st, I pledged to lose 20 lbs by November 1st and I held myself accountable in front of all of you.

I didn’t take this pledge lightly and gave it my all. I realize my week 1 weight loss is pretty unbelievable, and I’m pleasantly surprised myself. It feels as if toxic and fat just melted off my body. I’ve been staring at myself in the mirror everyday this week, so it’s hard for me to see all the details (I’m the dummy that didn’t take a before picture), but I’m starting to see more ribs for sure.

I also see a big difference in physical endurance. I just shred it up in spin class and on the treadmill these past couple of days with a new found energy and endurance.

Cheating

I guess you want to know if I followed all my guidelines from the previous article. No. I didn’t manage to pull off every single step flawlessly, even though I tried over and over again. The only cheating I did as far as food choices was to eat 1 piece of multigrain-raisen-nut bread with a thin layer of hummus during Saturday’s lunch, and a Chai from Panera later that afternoon.

My water-fast lasted 25 hours, from 4pm Saturday to 5pm Sunday. As I mentioned on Twitter ^[2], my first meal after the fast was Kefir and a serving of strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries. Right after this meal my heart started to beat really quickly and my belly hurt, so I took a nap. First thing Monday morning at spin class I had more energy than I’ve ever had in my life — I felt like the incredible hulk.

Active vs. Passive Weight Loss

After going through one week of my weight loss plan I realized that some things are easier to keep than others, depending on your physical abilities and inner core of motivation.

Let’s take drinking 1 gallon of water per day. This was definitely a very active task. The first day I tried to do this I was peeing every 3 minutes and at one point, and for a duration for 5 minutes, I felt my kidney’s begin to hurt from all the peeing. That sucked. So I toned it down but drank as close to 1 gallon as I possibly could each day — find your own sweet spot for this and then go a little further.

Not eating after 7pm is more of a passive way to lose weight. It’s no skin off my back if I skip a meal because I couldn’t get my food in on time. It just means a couple hours of hunger before bed, but an extra enjoyment of food in the morning. I’ve actually come to enjoy hunger throughout this week. I don’t eat until I’m full, not even close, and that keeps me alert and energized throughout the day.

Chewing food started out as an active procedure where I had to actively count to 30 (or until the food was liquid) during every bite. However, after about 4 days I started to eat without remembering the count, and as soon as I took the first bite I started counting, and only when I got to about 10 I realized what I was counting — it became a habit quite quickly.

Not having sweets has been a passive experience for me. I haven’t put myself in many situations where I’ve been tempted by the sweets, and I’ve been either at the internship, work, or with family during the week. The first 2 don’t serve sweets, and the last one knows not to offer — makes it much easier.

For the most part I’ve had salad, or fruit salad as last meal, except one time where I had a piece of grilled chicken and beans. I felt like my body needed some extra protein because my legs were sore longer than usual after my last spin class.

Exceptions

Not making exceptions in the rules for yourself has to be the number one way to reach your goal. When you sit down to make your goals, with an educated and highly conscious idea of the journey that is required in order to get there, you put some good rules together. Once you start breaking them you leave the door open for more breaches to come. Each time you breach, it becomes easier and easier to breach again. The best thing I’ve noticed is to be harder on yourself than anybody else will be.

People around me keep saying that I look great at my current weight, and there’s no reason to lose more. Others say that I’m losing weight too fast, and that it’s “not good.” That doesn’t phaze me because I have a plan and I’m sticking to it!

Expectations

While I did lose more than half my goal weight in one-third of the time, I do realize that it’s now going to be harder. The first weight consisted of water — since I started drinking so much water my body stopped retaining it and thus I lost a few lbs of stored water. There was also some extra toxic, and the first level of easy to lose fat.

I expect that it will be harder for me to lose the last 8.5 lbs. However, harder is just a relative term. With this much weight already off, and these healthy nutritious meals energizing me and allowing me to train longer and harder, I expect that my boosted metabolism will continue to burn the fat and I’ll have no trouble reaching me target.

Your Chance To Build Me

Since I’m well on my way to reaching my 20 lb weight loss for the month of October I’m going to need another goal. If I don’t get another goal, I’m going to be at risk for getting bored, losing motivation, and reverting back to bad habits. This is where you come in!

You build the perfect machine. I’m pretty open to which direction you, my smart and beautiful readers, want me to go. I’m currently at 183.5 lbs. The doctor recommended weight for my height is approximately 160. Should I keep dropping weight, set a fitness goal, maintain my current weight, or do you have something else in mind for me? Share in the comments below!

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