Category Archives: health & fitness

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

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October Weigh-In

This is very much a headspace thing.

I know what I should be eating, and when, and how much. I also know that evening binges are not helpful, yet they still happen on occasion. Connor wasn’t even a jerky little kid on the night in question, and yet my brain was still stuck on Must Eat All The Things. I sat down and watched Good Eats on Netflix and ate a hardboiled egg, a can of Chef Boyardee, four squares of dark chocolate dipped in peanut butter, one Hostess pumpkin cupcake, and a Breakstones Cottage Cheese Double.

Seriously, self, WTF.

It’s easy to get discouraged when I see an unexplained four-pound gain in a single week (and, no, the aforementioned binge did not happen during the gain week; it happened the week after). Theoretically, though, that should make me try even harder. And it’s not like I entirely threw in the towel, either — I just had one “off” night. The rest of my post-gain week was actually pretty spot-on, and I lost 1.6 of the 4.2 I’d gained. (I lost two more the following week, much to my surprise — I hadn’t stuck to Plan very well, and I fully expected a gain or a stall.)

Seeing my goal date get more unreasonable really got me down, too — 2.5 pounds per week? I haven’t lost that much in one week since… well… I lost 2.8 one week in March? I lost three pounds one week in March 2014. Point being, expecting myself to lose 2.5 pounds per week for five weeks is a nice thought, but just isn’t going to happen.

So I recalculated.

I took an average “good week” of 1.6 pounds, divided that into how many pounds I have to lose to reach my Goal Weight, and added two weeks for good measure (since this span of time will include Thanksgiving and Christmas, and I don’t expect to lose on those weeks). I ended up at December 29, my last Weight Watchers meeting of 2015.

That’s more reasonable. I can wrap my mind around that.

NSVs:

  • Came downstairs from Connor’s room, frustrated, and did ten inclined push-ups against the loveseat instead of going into the kitchen to stress-eat.
  • My chiropractor noted — again — that I’m still losing weight. I didn’t correct her and say I’ve been losing and gaining the same five pounds; I just responded, “I’m trying!”
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Operation Braceface: Day 1061

I almost titled this entry “Operation Braceface: Day Who-The-Hell-Cares-Anymore,” because that’s how I feel right now.

My last adjustment involved — as promised — a 2-to-2 chain under the archwire and a 6-to-6 chain in the normal position over the archwire. We’re trying to get that stubborn gap to close.

I asked the assistant about the twisty-ties she installed with my chains, and she explained that it was to keep the incisors from rotating as they change position. She actually explained it quite well, and reminded me that molars don’t generally rotate like that because they have three roots, hence why the 6-to-6 chains didn’t need anchored like that. Makes sense.

The other notable thing about my visit (apart from it being lightning-fast) was that I learned that Dr. M. will no longer be at my preferred location — the company has multiple offices in the area, and two orthodontists to cover all of them. So, when I go back in a few weeks, I’ll see the other orthodontist in the practice. That makes four different orthodontists in about three years of treatment.

When I first started treatment, one of the bright points I would focus on was the promise of healthy, straight teeth by the time I turned 40.

I wish I could say I’m still confident in that time frame.