Category Archives: health & fitness

A narrative of my journeys with diet, exercise, and various healthcare professionals

weight loss 4 Comments

A Red-Letter Day in Weight Loss

Today, I weighed in at the lowest weight I’ve been in over five years.

When I started logging my weight back in November of 2002, I was about six months away from getting married, and I was obese. I thought that by being more conscious of what I was eating and by documenting my weight, I would manage to somehow lose weight before the wedding. Unfortunately, my wedding pictures ended up being my “before” pictures, as I weighed somewhere between 245 and 250 pounds on my wedding day.

In September of 2003, one week after I’d broken myself of my Mountain Dew addiction and was beginning a pasta-free week, Aaron decided to go on the Atkins Diet; I decided to join him. I lost 33 pounds in four months, and continued to lose for the next six months after that, eventually coming to a stop after having lost 50 pounds total. At that point, in July 2004, Aaron had reached the upper end of his normal weight range, and decided to go on Maintenance. After a year of dieting, I was glad to “take a break” myself, even though I still had thirty pounds to go.

For the next few years, we still ate low-carb, but weren’t in active weight-loss mode. I slowly put on ten pounds over the next two years (“Chinese won’t hurt me, just this once…”), then slowly took that ten pounds back off with the help of my friend Sheryl and a diet plan she e-mailed me. Actually, I took off more than ten pounds with that plan; it took me a whole year, but I got all the way down to 195, which was lower than my Atkins all-time low.

My next major hurdle came when I found out I would be losing my job of five years. My entire building was being eliminated due to a merger, so we all tried to make the best of it by having lots of parties on work time and organizing potlucks and generally trying to keep chipper with food and games. My weight loss had already stalled by then, but my lack of willpower — or, rather, my desire to join in and eat all the yummy consolation food — helped my weight start to creep back up. I’d gained a few back by the time I became unemployed, but I then proceeded to gain ten pounds in under six weeks of unemployment.

The past seven months or so have seen me succeed in losing ten pounds, gain five of it back, then lose another ten on Weight Watchers. I’m now down to a weight I haven’t seen for probably ten years or more.

And this is just the beginning.

After the jump: weights and measures…
Continue reading →

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Weight Watching, Week Ten

I gained one pound since last week’s weigh-in, but I’m OK with that. See, I’ve kept up with the practice of weighing myself daily at home, and I know that I’ve actually maintained a slow but steady decline. For last week’s weigh-in, I ate a ridiculously tiny breakfast and drank just enough water to take my multivitamin, just so I would weigh in at hair-cutting weight at noon. It only makes sense that today, after eating a normal breakfast and drinking a full glass of water (at least) before noon, I could weigh more.

I’ve also noticed small things, like the looseness of the dress pants I wear to work — even the ones I just bought recently. My bras fit better now. Some of my shirts hang just a little funny in places. I think my neck / double-chin is shrinking. My posture is better (for the most part).

A big part of my recent successes is the companionship of Aaron on the diet bandwagon. Since he’s decided to officially eat healthier and exercise, I’m less tempted to eat things I shouldn’t. He’s the main grocery shopper, so the food in the house is now overwhelmingly healthy (although we still have some throwbacks in the fridge and cupboards), and there’s very little to tempt either of us. Plus, the weekends are on their way to becoming times to try out new recipes (like Asian Mushroom Stir-Fry) instead of eating out at the Indian buffet (and not stopping at one plateful).

Overall, I’m doing well. I’m slowly ramping up my exercise — I don’t allow myself to watch Good Eats unless I’m on the mini trampoline — and I’m eating my fruits and veggies and drinking my water.

I’m learning to work the program… so the program will work for me. That’s my mantra.

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Mini Weight Loss Goals Work.

I announced in my Weight Watchers meeting a few weeks ago that the way I was going to Treat Myself Well (the theme of the meeting) would be to reward myself with a haircut after I lost four pounds. Today, I weighed in precisely four pounds lighter than I was that day.

I’ve been looking forward to this for weeks; even though I only declared my intention publicly a few weeks ago, I’d been wanting to cut my hair since before we went on vacation in May. Although it’s not the perfect cut, I do like having thirteen inches off of my hair — and, as always, I like the thought that my hair will go to help a cancer-stricken kid have a head of hair again.

health & fitness

Literary Dichotomy

I recently purchased two books on Amazon.com; one was a book on macrobiotics, and one was a book on mindless eating. One was recommended by someone I trust, while the other was one that I’d stumbled across online.

After reading both of these books (actually, I’m not quite done with the second book), I’m amused by the completely opposite nature of these books, and am intrigued by my reactions to each.

Before purchasing this book, I Googled the title and found the author’s blog. I followed her posts for some time before deciding that, yes, I did enjoy her writing style, and she seemed like a reasonable and intelligent person, so I would buy her book. Plus, the price was right, at about $12.

I probably should have Googled more of the actual practice of macrobiotics before purchasing the book.

This book was a quick read, and I loved Ms. Porter’s witty and accessible writing style. I still subscribe to her blog. But I just can’t get behind the actual practice of macrobiotics. The book explained everything to me, clearly and simply — enough for me to realize that I just can’t get behind the idea of foods having yang or yin energy by virtue of the direction in which they grow. (The fact that I keep getting my yin and yang mixed up is no fault of the author’s.)

I would read about the different grains, about vegetables, about ways to prepare these foods — then get jolted out of whatever credulity I’d developed when I would read a passage about how a sludgy liver stifles creativity. The left-brained me was craving an excerpt from some sort of scientific study, or discussion about the acidity or alkalinity of certain foods (which was mentioned on occasion), or anything to bolster my belief in this way of eating. Alas, I rarely got anything of the sort out of the text.

(In fact, when I Googled the words “macrobiotic” and “scientific” later on, I was gravely disappointed to find that studies rarely find in favor of the macrobiotic diet, in terms of reversing illness and disease.)

As a freethinker who doesn’t take anything on faith — not even teachings from my Zen teacher — I wasn’t able to buy into the idea of macrobiotics for the sake of yin and yang and its effect on the body. I can appreciate eating whole, unprocessed foods; or “slow” foods; or even vegetarianism. But I can’t link my spirituality to my eating habits.

I almost didn’t post the name of this book, or the author, or a link of any kind, just because I did appreciate the book itself so much, and I’d hate for someone to find this review and decide not to buy the book because of what I have to say about it. The fact that I didn’t personally get behind the ideas within is secondary to the fact that this is honestly a very good book about macrobiotics. Just because I wasn’t converted doesn’t mean it didn’t explain things well. It also doesn’t mean that I won’t be using those 80-some-odd recipes contained therein; I’m actually looking forward to trying barley and couscous and quinoa. Just not quite to the degree the book suggests.

The second book, on the other hand, is chock full of scientific studies centered around the science and psychology of eating. Every chapter has multiple endnotes cited, references specific studies, and gives provable information about what makes people eat more or less. Mindless Eating is so full of tips and tricks and facts and ideas that it will probably take me another reading before I can actually absorb it all. It’s a much slower and methodical read than the macrobiotics book, just because of all the densely-packed information written in a more formal, scientific tone.

It seems backward that I would have so much to say about a book I disagreed with, and so little to say about a book I’m so enthralled with, but the truth is that I’m unsure how to sum up all the information I’ve gleaned from Mindless Eating — especially since I’m not quite done reading it yet. One thing I can say, though, is that the reader might be better served to get this one from the library. Granted, I did just say that I’ll need to read it through again to get everything out of it; after that, though, I don’t see me using this as a reference book. This will have been more of a source for diet strategies, party food tips, and Jeopardy answers questions.

I just found it so amusing that I simultaneously bought two books about food that represented such different stances on the process of understanding one’s food consumption. They did agree on one thing, though: we should rely on internal rather than external cues to decide when we’re full, and we should eat more slowly, and chew more. Now that I can get behind.

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Starting Week Seven

So, here I am, at the beginning of Week #7 of Weight Watchers. I’ve acclimated myself to how the program works. I know the Points® values for the foods I eat most often. I’ve adjusted my way of eating, slowly but surely, toward more veggies and less meat.

Now it’s time to really make the commitment.

Because I’ve lost less than three pounds in the past six weeks. And I want to see more results.

Meetings are helpful, and weigh-ins impose a sense of accountability that might not otherwise be in effect (despite my incessant blogging about my weight). Still, when I’ve gained nearly a pound in a week without meaning to, it’s hard to hear about the woman who’s lost 57 pounds — and not just hear about her, but hear HER, herself, explaining what’s different now, saying how she’s still got a long way to go, and referring to Flex Points as “devil points.”

It makes me want to cry sometimes. What are these people doing differently from me, that they lose five pounds in a single week, and I can’t even do that in a month and a half? What’s wrong with me?

I ask myself that a lot, it seems.

Of course, when I get like this, it makes me want to crawl into a little hole and eat one-point fudge bars all evening, and not do the things I should be doing (mainly exercising), and that doesn’t help matters. Me skipping out on Aikido tomorrow would be a Very Bad Idea™, since I need to get back into the swing of things.

But, damn, I’m just so depressed. I’d rather curl up on the couch and take a nap.

Aaron tried to cheer me up, and he did a pretty good job of it, too. “You’re all depressed over 0.8 pounds?” he asked, and reminded me that I’m still headed in the general direction of where I need to go. That was helpful, and made me feel better, to an extent.

I need a little Aaron on my shoulder all the time, to drown out the little Diana on the other shoulder that berates me for sleeping in too late and not exercising enough and generally being a schmuck in so many ways.