dianaschnuth

First off: since I’m not technically doing Atkins anymore, I’ve changed the name of my Atkins category to Diet & Fitness. It seems to be a little more inclusive.

Now: on to the update.

When I weighed myself on Monday morning, I registered at 212.5 pounds. That was actually a pound and a half lower than the previous week, although I’m not sure what I did to lose weight during that time. *shrug*

Starting on Tuesday, I tried to follow the food plan Sheryl had e-mailed me. (Well, I did make an effort on Monday, but that Atkins-style lunch with Aaron really threw off my fat intake.) Breakfast was ¾ cup Quaker Oats, with Splenda Brown Sugar Blend and raisins. Lunches were mainly the dinner meat from the night before, with an apple or a salad. Afternoon snack was always tuna with Reduced Fat Hellmann’s (and sometimes onion and/or celery), and dinner was chicken breast or fish with a side of low-carb pasta.

Before you lambaste me, Sheryl, for my deviations from the diet last week (not that you would, but it’s fun to pretend):

• Believe it or not, the only green vegetable we had on hand last week was salad greens. We’ll be attempting to remedy that during this week’s grocery shopping.
• Hopefully, today we will be heading out to the whole foods store to locate some Vegenaise to replace the Hellmann’s. Even Aaron has admitted to curiosity.
• The raisins in my oatmeal will soon be replaced with slivered almonds — again, with today’s grocery shopping.

In addition to changing my eating schedule and habits, I also began/continued exercising every evening. On Monday, I did the YOGAmazing “Yoga For Weight Loss” practice, which was surprisingly vigorous. On Tuesday, I did 50 jumping jacks before my Beginner’s Dumbbell Workout. On Wednesday, I really wasn’t feeling it, but I did 50 jumping jacks and 75 crunches, just so I could say I did something. I dropped the ball on Thursday and Friday, though, and didn’t exercise at all — although I did take a brisk 40-minute walk on Friday during my lunch break.

I weighed myself Thursday morning, and I had lost two pounds since Monday! Awesome.

What was not so awesome, though, was my horrific cheat meal — no, cheat DAY — on Friday. I had thought I could resist my department’s monthly potluck by planning ahead and bringing enough food to keep me sated throughout the day.

I was wrong.

At 1:30pm or so, after pretty much the entire department had ransacked the potluck, I ate the last sloppy joe, some Chinese salad (ramen noodles, vinegar, sugar, veggies), and a small piece of cookie bar. Then, that evening, a coworker took me to the dreaded Happy Rose Buffet as payment for helping him learn how to burn DVDs on his computer.

I weighed myself this morning. I’m back up to 213.

What a precarious balance I seem to have discovered. No cheat meals for me, apparently, and no skipping days of exercise. Not if I want to be successful.

Also: Later in the week, I began feeling particularly run-down when I got home from work. Not hungry yet, but tired. That’s why I slacked on my exercise. On top of that, after I ate my dinner, I found that I was craving carbs… so I ate a bowl of oatmeal for dessert. ::smacks hands::

So, I’m not sure if that was a result of me needing to follow the diet more closely, or tweak it, or just suck it up. In any case, this week will be better. More hardcore.

The more I focus on my health, the more I realize how fat I am. I’m looking forward to realizing how much more fit I am, instead.

I forgot to mention: Aaron and I went back on Induction last week.

We had both been gaining a little weight back (partially due to our repeated visits to the Happy Rose Buffet). I had gained back 12 pounds total from my lowest weight, but had gained it back slowly between January and May of this year, and stayed pretty steady after that. Aaron, however, finally hit a point last month where he decided he had to go back on Induction, and I gladly joined in. (I’m not good at doing Induction by myself. I’m too easily lured to the dark side.)

The first week, I lost 4.5 pounds. I was stoked. Then we went to visit Amy in Dayton, and I somehow managed to gain back two pounds over the weekend. I’m back to losing about a half a pound a day, though, so I’m going to lay off the daily weight check and go back to weighing weekly again.

I’ve been rediscovering old recipes this week, like the Mock Cream Cheese Danish, and finding new ones, like Hamburger Pie. OMG, so yummy. burger baked in the oven with a filling of cream cheese, mustard, and horseradish. It may sound weird, but it’s really, REALLY good. (Props to the Atkins All The Way podcast for that one.)

You know, Induction isn’t so bad. 🙂

You know, self-portaiture isn’t quite as easy as it might seem, especially without a professional portraiture setup. In other words, finding an appropriate spot to set the digital-camera-on-a-timer in my house is a challenge. But I wanted to share my small joy with you, so… ph34r my new tank top. Rah.

To celebrate my return to this-is-how-fat- I-used-to-be- before-I-got-sloppy, I scrounged up a few pics of myself over the past 10 months or so and made a weight-loss montage. I didn’t seek out too many pictures, and I didn’t scan anything; it was just what I had already on the computer for whatever reason. But I think it gets the point across. And not only do you get to watch my double-chin melt away through the photos, you also get to watch my hair grow. 🙂

Aaaaaand I’m done.

Just happened to notice, hidden in amongst My Documents, the Weight.xls chart I created once upon a time when I was more obsessive over my weight-loss regimen than I am now. So, I opened it up and added the latest plot point of date vs. weight, and made a discovery.

Even though it seems like my weight loss is slowing, it isn’t. I’ve been losing at the same rate, a little over half a pound a week, ever since October or November. If I keep up at this pace, I’ll be at my ultimate goal (for now, anyway) by late Winter of 2005. While that might seem like a long time… I don’t mind. And, when you think about it, it took me a few years to put it on; it seems fitting that it should take at least a year and a half to take it off.

(Just stay away from the candy machine… Hershey’s with Almonds bad…)