September 2006, Weight Loss Journal
Updated July 28, 2007
4 September 2006
Weight: 178 (lost 22 lbs.)
BMI: 32.6
I've actually been 176 most of the week, but then PMS struck again. I'm sure it's just mostly water that bumped me back up to 178. I'm still rather grumpy about it though.
I did have quite a slip this week. My husband went out of town, and I responded to the stress by having donuts for breakfast, toaster pastries for lunch, and leftovers for dinner during one day. Even though he's home now, stress is still getting to me because of the PMS. I so want to drink gallons of chocolate soy milk, eat lots of chocolate candy, and make cinnamon buns a staple of my diet. Instead, I'm downing decaf tea every time I feel the urge to binge.
I'm trying to walk one hour every day at 3 mph. (I used Google Earth to map out a 3 mile route, and I time myself to get it done within one hour.) I love my daily walk. It's getting darker earlier, though, so it's getting harder to walk in the evening. I'll have to go back to morning walks, but it's so agonizingly difficult for me to get up so early. I think it will be easier for me to go to bed earlier, now that the sun isn't up until 9pm, so I'm sure it will be easier to wake up at 6am, but it's just that bit of will power to actually get out of the bed that I seem to lack.
Again, I've been making excuses for not weight lifting. I keep telling myself, I'll do it in a couple of minutes. I'll do it after I finish this task. I'll do it when..., and then I never end up doing it. What's wrong with me? I love weight lifting. I love feeling strong. I love the energy it gives me. I love how it just boosts up the weight loss process. I even love the way my muscles feel when they're squeezing during each rep. I don't know why I keep procrastinating. It's bothering me that I'm avoiding it. I just can't figure it out. I'll try again this week.
Meanwhile, I'm going to keep up my one hour walk every day, and I'm doing much better at avoiding those stress-induced binges.
11 September 2006
Weight: 175 (lost 25 lbs.)
BMI: 32
Woohoo! I'm back down to 175. That was my goal during these last few weeks. If I could only get back down to 175, I wouldn't feel so stuck; I'd have hope that I could lose more.
I've been doing my 3 mile walk for an hour every day, and I think it's making the difference. Sometimes we go on a family walk, and the girls insist on running, so I get a good boost of cardio in my workout on those days. (I'm still so proud of myself for being fit enough to run around with my kids. I couldn't run more than a few steps at the beginning of the year.)
I've also been doing a great job of watching my diet. I still eat treats once in awhile, but I don't do it every day. (Don't tell anyone, but I'm eating a donut right now instead of cereal for breakfast. It was a surprise from my neighbor. One donut every 6 months won't hurt.) I eat lots of fiber to keep that full feeling, and I've cut back on the amount of cheese in my diet.
I've also been keeping myself buried in things I love to do to reduce my stress eating. I've been letting go of things that stress me out. I've also been trying to cut back on my schedule.
I'm still slacking on my weight lifting. I'm being kind to myself about it, though. I've been trying to work in little exercises here and there, nothing scheduled, but the exercises are intense, and I'm certainly feeling sore after doing random pull-ups and pushups.
175..175! If only I could get below 175. That's it. That's my new goal. I'm not going to think about losing the next 10 lbs. or dropping another dress size. I'm just going to think about getting below 175. 174 is success. 173 is a new breakthrough. 172 is the end of hovering around in the upper 170s.
18 September 2006
Weight: 175 (lost 25 lbs.)
BMI: 32
I feel such relief to not see the numbers jump back up. I was certainly hoping they wouldn't.
I'm still walking every day, even in the dark and the rain (and the autumn rains have certainly started with full force). I still do weight lifting here and there but not enough. I'm hoping that as I bundle up in my home throughout the winter, I'll be more motivated to return to weight lifting on a regular basis.
Avoiding the stress-eating has been the hardest part, but I've managed by finding other things to calm me down. Decaf tea has filled the munchies void, and if I'm particularly stressed out, I allow myself a teaspoon of chocolate chips (no more than once per day). I've only needed the chocolate chips twice this week, but the tea is going about a cup an hour. I've also been beating the stress with writing (fiction, articles, essays, and journal entries, whatever the mood dictates). I've also been reading fiction, lots of it. Television creates a vegetative state in me if I use it to unwind, but reading keeps me alert, pushes away most feelings of depression, and still calms me significantly. The hardest part is concentrating while the kids are interrupting.
174 is the goal. That's it. 174. I'm determined to see that number next Monday. I've grown so tired of the 170's. I'm thrilled I've lost as much. 230 lbs. was my peak during pregnancy. 220 lbs. after giving birth. 210 after the first six months. I had been over 185 lbs. for at least 6 years prior to getting to the 170's. I was excited to drop down into the 170's. I was content to sit there for awhile. Now, I'd like to see the 160's. At exactly 160 lbs. I will transition from "obese" to merely "overweight" and the thought of being 140 (the weight I was at when I met my husband) won't seem like such an impossibility.
22 September 2006
I've decided that I will incorporate the following exercises into my day: push-ups, pull-ups (mounted a pull-up bar in my kitchen doorway), lunges, crunching with bicycle legs, dead lifts, and upright rows. I don't have to do them all together. I can do them randomly throughout the day, between chores, while watching television, etc. I don't have to push myself to the limits. I can just do them until I feel a slight strain. If I can't do a single plank position push-up, then I'll do push-ups on my knees or against the wall. If I can't do a pull-up, I'll at least try (just months ago, I couldn't even bend my arms while trying to do a pull-up; I could barely hang on the bar; now I can bend my arms slightly). I absolutely must start my strength training again. It's the only way I will speed up my metabolism and get out of the 170's.
25 September 2006
Weight: 174 (lost 26 lbs.)
BMI: 31.8
Woohoo! I got under 175!
Monitoring my portion sizes seemed to do the trick. I had been filling up that cereal bowl to the top and eating just until I felt full, but now that I'm measuring out my portion sizes, the numbers are falling again.
The other night, I went to the Olive Garden. (I love the Olive Garden.) I filled up on salad then ordered portabella ravioli and immediately portioned out a reasonable sized meal then put the rest in a box. It actually felt rather awkward to finish my meal so quickly and sit there waiting for everyone else to finish. I realized that part of the experience of dining out is to sit and enjoy eating, and the problem with that is the eating. The longer we sit and eat, the more we eat. I'm training myself to eat slowly, so I can still enjoy my dining out for more than 10 minutes but not overindulge.
At home, I'm the opposite. I want to just eat and get it over with, so I can get on to other things, so I end up gorging myself. Now that I'm monitoring my portions, I can still eat quickly and know that I'm getting enough to eat but not too much.
Decaf tea is also saving the day whenever I get the munchies. I drink gallons of it. Hot. Iced. Chai tea mixed with soy milk. With stevia. With a little sugar. I'm actually craving it more than chocolate these days.
I'm still walking 3 miles a day and doing strength training exercises. I decided to increase the intensity of my 3 mile walk by walking faster. Instead of finishing in 60 minutes, I now finish in 45 to 50 minutes. To keep up such speed, energetic music is a must, but I'm making sure I don't turn up the music too loud, so I can hear cars and such (safety first and all).
I can fit into a size 14, but I'm still wearing size 16 pants because that's what I bought several months ago, and I figured I would just keep wearing them until they got too baggy. Now they're starting to get baggy. I'm always pulling them up, and I keep debating if I should wear a belt or leave them baggy, so I can give myself a pat on the back every time I have to pull them up. Now I'm making the next big debate...when to go shopping. I think I'll do it when I hit 170.
Maybe that should be my reward system. Every 10 lbs. that I lose means that I get to go shopping and buy clothes that are the next size down. (Inexpensive clothes of course because this could get very expensive.)
...by Feed