Category Archives: health & fitness

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

weight loss 3 Comments

Diet & Fitness Update, Week #13

Well, I guess being sick has its advantages. I stepped on the scale before this morning’s shower, and discovered that I lost three pounds this week! Holy crow. So, for those of you keeping score, I’m down to 206.5.

I can really only attribute this to eating light and not being hungry, thanks to being sick. I didn’t work out, apart from my standard daily 30-40 minute walk. I did eat a whole wheat English muffin with natural PB for breakfast every day this week. Good stuff. For the last couple of days, I’ve been eating a piece of fruit for my morning snack (banana or apple), either a salad or a low-sugar yogurt for lunch, and either another piece of fruit or a sugar-free pecan nummie from the vending machine for afternoon snackie. Dinner has been chock-full o’ carbs. Reduced-carb spaghetti with cheese sauce and salsa. Oatmeal with *real* maple syrup (purchased in Massachusetts). I did have turkey burgers one evening, and those were good. Overall, though, too little food during the day, and too carb-heavy in the evenings. I guess breakfast must have gotten my metabolism moving or something, though, because I did lose weight despite all that.

Oh, and did I mention that this cold has made food, well, go right through me? This might be TMI, but I’m sure my loose BMs haven’t just been from the sugar alcohols in the sugar-free pecan whatsits, or the one or two sugar-free Halls I’ll pop in a day. Nope, this is that special “being-sick” kind of experience. I’m guessing that might have something to do with the weight loss, too.

Don’t worry; I’ve been taking my vitamins as usual. I know that you can lose nutrients and crap (no pun intended), so I’ve been diligent as ever.

Not that I’m looking a gift horse in the mouth here. I’m tickled that I lost three pounds this week. I just don’t think it’s anything I did specifically. Besides getting sick. 🙂

I take three-month pics and measurements tomorrow. If the swimsuit picture doesn’t make me gag, maybe I’ll post it here. I make no promises, though.

[By the way… being sick makes it a lot easier not to sleep in on Saturdays. When you wake up at 9:00, and would *like* to go back to sleep, but sleeping is just too damn uncomfortable, it makes the decision to get up a lot easier. And, yes, 9am on a Saturday is early for me. I usually sleep in until 10:30 or 11:00.]

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Smacked Down By Mother Nature

Was preparing for the triumphant return of my podcast to the, er, podwaves. Was looking forward to getting my second PUSH DVD in the mail. Was geeked to weigh in for the three-month mark.

Then I got The Cold. You know, the one that everyone and their brother has been getting? Yeah, I got it.

Started with a sore throat, then some drainage. Now, three days later, it’s a full-blown monstrosity: stuffy head, stopped-up ears, sinus headache, plugged-up runny nose (isn’t that the worst?), dry eyes, sore and scratchy throat, random aches and pains, and general fatigue. I even took a short nap this evening, and I rarely do that anymore.

Podcast? Postponed until next week. PUSH? Again, I’m not working out this week. I tried to work out on Monday, before the symptoms had really set in at all, and ended up stopping the DVD before I got to my reverse ab curls because I was falling asleep from just laying on the floor. My new DVD didn’t arrive until yesterday, anyway, so I would have been doing a third week of Workout #2.

So, how about the weigh-in? Yeah, I’m still going to weigh myself tomorrow morning. I have *no* idea what the scales will say, since I’ve been eating *very* light during the day, then eating something heavier and more filling (and more carboriffic) later in the evening. If I gain a little, I won’t let myself be upset.

I’ll take some in-progress pics on Sunday evening. Amy’s coming over this weekend, so I’ll wait until she’s gone before I parade around the basement in my underwear. 😉

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Diet & Fitness Update, Week #12

Holding steady at 209.5 pounds. This is good, really, considering that we went all ballistic on sushi and BW3 and yummy Irish food and beer during Anime Punch over the weekend of March 31st – April 2nd. I had mentioned that I would be pleasantly surprised if my weight held steady — and so I am.

Continuing to do my PUSH workouts. Still not doing cardio like I should. Walking briskly for half an hour a day.

Continuing to eat five small meals a day. Breakfast has been cold cereal or a protein shake or one of our few remaining Slim-Fast low-carb shakes. Morning snackie has usually been an apple. Lunch has usually been lettuce salad with dressing. Afternoon snackie has been almonds. Dinner has been a little evil: Dreamfields macaroni and cheese, or wraps, or something quicker than baking chicken and steaming veggies.

So, not much to report this week. No big weight losses, but no gains, either. I’m counting that as a positive thing.

Next week: Weigh and Measure for the end of Month #3. Maybe I’ll share a swimsuit photo with the internets. Who knows?

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Insecurity

Am I so insecure?

I was deleting my trackback spam today when I came upon a real trackback to my blog. At first I thought it might actually be spam, but it looked legit, so I clicked on it anyway. In the last paragraph of the linked post, I read:

Breakfast Burritos are not something you use to lose weight. And neither are “low-carb snacks from Big Lots”. The whole “eat less and exercise more” thing has worked for me. This lady seems rather nice, but her energy into the planning of weight loss might be better used in doing things to actually losing weight. The fact that she is nice and this post is hating on her weight-loss plan, well, this makes me feel bad.

I immediately got that “I hate conflict” feeling in my chest, which goes hand-in-hand with my “I hate being wrong” and “I hate being hated” feelings. Not that this person hates me; they’re just dogging my diet plan. Which, considering my lack of measurable progress lately, I guess I can understand.

And, I mean, I can’t be too upset. After all, they did say that they feel bad that their post is all hating on my diet plan. That’s cool. I left them what I hope sounded like a nice (if slightly miffed) comment, inviting them to come leave a comment and join the discussion. I’m not averse to hearing other people’s opinions on weight loss.

Even so, this person’s post made me sit back and take a look at what I’m doing. I’m eating five small meals a day. I’m cutting back on fat and eating low-glycemic carbohydrates. I’m walking for a half hour every day, and I’m doing mild strength-training with my PUSH DVD three days a week. I’m sure the PUSH workouts will increase in difficulty as I progress onward, though.

I’m slowly losing inches, and very slowly losing weight. I guess that’s the positive way to look at it; the scale is moving in the right direction. But now I wonder if I should be doing *more*. Forcing my ass out of bed in the morning to do cardio, for instance, is something I’ve known I need to do, but I haven’t yet done.

Is it wrong that a complete stranger can make me feel so ill-at-ease with my fitness lifestyle? I was feeling positive and satisfied with my moderate successes. Now, I don’t know. I thought I’d been trying hard for nearly three months now. Suddenly, I feel insecure and pissed off and indignant and vulnerable and exposed and dumb and fat and wrong.

I’m not sure what to think of my reaction to this.

Update, 4/7/06: Now that I know that the “breakfast burrito” thing is a running gag on Manhattan Offender, I can see how I misunderstood the tone of the post. I can totally dig the burrito thing now. Last night, though, I really didn’t know how to take it. Like I told Rod over e-mail, I’m just going to chalk this one up to one of those strange internet things, and let it go.

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Diet & Fitness Update, Week #11

This one’s a little overdue, so I’d better get it posted before I have to write two updates at once.

I did gain one pound last week, bringing me back up to 209.5 pounds. That wasn’t unexpected, though, since Aaron was on vacation last week and we ended up going out for dinner a few times. After my Friday weigh-in, we went off to the Anime Punch anime convention, where we proceeded to eat like crap, so I’ll be pleasantly surprised if I hold steady at 209.5 for Week #12.

Exciting things for last week:

  • Moved to Workout #2 on my PUSH DVD. Yay for side planks, floor dips, and other manner of bodily strain. I’ve been sticking with it, though, and can feel a bit of a difference already. Less shaking and quivering in the abs, slightly more endurance in the arms.
  • Did not eat any oatmeal for breakfast all week! Huzzah! Had yummy organic Apple Cinnamon cereal or a Slim-Fast Low-Carb Meal Replacement shake or… well, I think those were my two different breakfasts all week. Still no breakfast burrito.
    [Edit: I did make myself a peanut butter protein shake for breakfast one day. I didn’t use enough PB, though, so it was a little bland.]
  • Discovered almonds. OMG, Sheryl, you were so right. I can’t freakin’ stay away from the damn almonds now. I bring a baggie of them in my purse for my afternoon snack, and damned if I can’t keep my hands out of them. Good stuff.

This week, I’m focusing on lowering my calories again. I think I’ve been eating too many, perhaps. I haven’t been keeping track. I need to start doing that again.

This coming weekend, I’m hoping to get some whole wheat English muffins for breakfast. OMG, English muffins with natural peanut butter… Mmm, that sounds SO good.

Apart from that? Less than two weeks until I take new measurements and photos. (I should probably also take some measurements this week, actually.) Oh, and this time, I may just share one of my in-progress photos with the internets, as I just got myself a new swimsuit via mail-order. w00t! Size 18 Tall, black, underwire cups, pretty basic. But it’s made of this great, thick, stretchy Spandexy material that really holds my stuff in. Swear to god, I spent ten minutes just primping in front of the bathroom mirror, and that is so unlike me. And, holy crap, I didn’t have to order from the “Women’s” sizes! Sure, I still got an 18, but it was technically a Misses Long Torso, not Women’s. (The Women’s didn’t come in Long Torso.)

Thank the Flying Spaghetti Monster for Tall / Long Torso sizes. I’m 5’10”, and I hate getting a melvin from my bathing suit.