30lbs lighter

It has been several weeks since my last entry in this blog.   We left for a family vacation in early June and then my wife and daughter went on to visit my wife's family for several weeks.   They didn't return until early July.  

This has been our summer vacation routine for several years now.   In past years, I would eat out every night for dinner while my family was out of town, and most often I would end up going to Taco Bell because I would not get around to thinking about dinner until after most restaurants were closed.

This summer was different.   I went out for dinner one time during the 3 weeks that I was home alone.   I cooked at home or had left overs from my own cooking every other night.    My own cooking is just healthier, lower calories, lower sodium, and I really like my own cooking.

Since I started my diet in April and stopped going out for lunch at work, I have lost over 30lbs.   That's 1.5lbs per week on average.   What really made the difference for me was simply tracking what I ate every day.   I use an app on my iPhone called MyNetDiary.      I use the app to make sure I don't eat more than 1,800 calories per day. 1,800 is about 500 calories below my estimated daily caloric burn.  I typically run a deficit of about 3,500 calories per week, more if I work out during the week.   3,500 calories is about a pound of fat and since I have been working out 3 to 4 times per week and burning an extra 1,500, on average I lose about 1.5 lbs per week.

Here are some before and after pics:

The picture on the left is from April and the picture on the right was taken in late July after losing around 28lbs.