Down Fifty @ 43

An Irregular Update

2010-09-24T22:38:00.000-05:00

Things are not going along quite as smoothly as I had hoped; there's been medical setbacks, financial concerns, a family emergency, and so on. Since my last update three weeks ago, my life has been complete and utter chaos.

I've gone for two walk/runs, worked out zero times, and my diet has been complete and utter crap. Ironically, I have not gained any weight during this time, nor have I lost any. I feel as though my abdomen has expanded greatly, but have not yet measured it. Whatever muscle tone I had gained during the weeks I was working out regularly has since departed and I will be starting over again.

It seems things are settling back into a routine again, a different routine, but still a routine. Tomorrow morning my walking partner and I will resume our morning walks. Later in the day I will be able to work out with weights at home.

It is somewhat upsetting to have to "restart" my meal plan and my workout plans, but life just has a way of catching one off guard at times. This was one of those times. Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong and it did so all at once.

In this situation I have a choice, I could carry on with the unhealthier eating habits and no workouts, or I could use this as a time of reflection and learning and then carry on with the original plan. And that is precisely what I'm doing; carrying on with the original plan.

I have 45 weeks left to go and 50 pounds left to lose and those are not unreasonable numbers when one is speaking about weight loss.

Wish me luck!!

Running

2010-09-16T19:18:00.001-05:00

So, today was the day of my first official "run." Its been an hour now and I feel awesome! Not as sleepy as before, that's for certain.

In total I believe we walked/ran 1 1/2 miles. The run may have totaled 1/2 mile; we were gauging our distance from light pole to light pole.

It felt amazingly refreshing. Definitely something to do again.

Health Concerns and Delays

2010-09-16T17:43:00.003-05:00

A few weeks back in Minor Setback, I went into graphic detail about a health problem I was facing at that time. Since that time, its cleared up and then come back again, requiring another two doses of IV estrogen to stop the bleeding.

The last incident was on Sunday; I missed one 12 hour shift of work because of it. This week I've been to see my GP and a surgeon for a possible hysterectomy. It seems my insides are too mangled for that procedure, making it a bit risky. Therefore, I need to go back to my GP and get a referral to a gynecologist who performs a procedure called "endometrial ablation," which means burning the inside lining of the uterus.

Now, I'm not complaining about our health care system here in Canada, far from it. I'm just annoyed that I'll have to wait another few weeks to see my GP again, and then a few weeks to months to see a gynecologist, and then a few weeks or months for an O.R. opening. That annoys me a little. If I've bled so heavily twice in the past four weeks, chances are good that it'll happen again before the "burning."

There are some things to be thankful for, though. My bone marrow is working very efficiently at producing cells, so my Hgb actually improved the last time during the blood loss. Contrary to what one would expect, I'm actually fairly energetic, working hard outside at my mom's on the yardwork, and getting ready to go for a walk/run with a friend in a few minutes.

So perhaps I can utilize this time between my appointment today (where I saw that I was labelled "obese") and my O.R. date as a training period, to be in awesome shape for that day. Everyone knows healthy, fit adults have shorter recuperation periods and decreased risk of infection. And I'm all for that!

My letter of referral from my GP to the surgeon also labelled me as a "smoker." Ha!! Haven't smoked in 20 years!!

Oh well, let the waiting begin.

Nutrition and Activity Goals

2010-09-04T21:31:00.002-05:00

Fitness and experts believe that diet is anywhere from 80-95% of the equation when it comes to losing weight and reshaping your body. Keeping that in mind I am changing the pace a little for the second four week period. But just a very small change; all I’m doing differently is dividing the goals into “Nutrition Related Goals” and “Activity Related Goals.”

Here are my Nutrition Related Goals:

1. Daily Food Diary with calorie count at least 75% of the time.

2. Two servings of raw veggies a day, ie. Carrot sticks, celery, cucumbers, etc.

3. No McDonalds food for four weeks, not even one single French fry! That includes diet coke.

4. Quitting my Tim Horton’s Iced Coffee habit would benefit me financially as well as physically, so that habit has got to go.

5. Four litres of water per day.

And my Activity Related Goals:

1. Continue with the goal of walking 2 miles a day, or 14 miles a week.

2. Doing some cardio sessions with a higher intensity than walking, maybe running or aerobics, anything that gets my heart going.

3. Continue with the goal of 16 workouts in 4 weeks, or four workouts a week.

It is my ultimate goal to have dropped below the 180 pound mark by the end of the second week period.

Thank you for all your support and thank you to my co-workers who watch me like a hawk.

Review of the First Four Weeks

2010-09-04T21:24:00.001-05:00

Four weeks ago I began a year long journey to lose 50 pounds, 10-20% bodyfat and 5-10 inches from my waist. I chose to break the 52 weeks down into 13 four week periods in order to better accommodate my ridiculously short attention span.

The first four week period is over and here’s how it went:

For Goal #1, which stated that I would walk 56 miles in the first four weeks, or two miles a day, I did not quite reach 56 miles. Instead I walked 37.8 miles, due in part to a minor setback in the second week.

Goal # 2 stated that I was going to work out sixteen times in the four weeks, eight upper body workouts and eight lower body workouts. I worked upper and lower body each five times. Again, due in part to the minor setback. But also due to work and being tired and busy and lazy!

As per Goal #3 which stated that I would keep a food diary 80-90% of the time or 20-25 days out of the 28, I met my goal. I kept a Food Diary 20 days out of the 28. Some days were definitely more challenging than others to write down what I had eaten. After the first week I began to count the number of calories I was consuming and was subsequently horrified at the amount I was eating. Following Week Two, I set a mini goal of eating one serving of veggies every day as it was apparent that I was not eating enough vegetables. After Week #3, I decided that I was eating too much McDonalds food, Cheeseburgers and Crspy McMinis. That is simply due to being in a hurry and poor planning.

Goal #4 was to drink 84-112 litres of water; I drank 62, more than half the goal amount, and likely more than I would have been drinking had I not set the goal for myself.

The goal that I was 100% successful with was Goal #5, which was to kick the McDonalds Diet Coke habit. There were some tough moments, though; especially the hottest days were difficult.

Setting the goals that I did and striving to meet them helped me to lose 1 ½ pounds, and approximately half an inch from my waist. Bodyfat % stayed virtually the same. So, there has been progress, not as much as I had aimed and hoped for, but progress nonetheless.

In review, having set the goals was an all around win-win situation for me as it prompted me to workout and go for walks when I would likely have chosen to stay in the house. Keeping the Food Diary is another win-win situation for me as it makes me think before I eat, and when I tally up my days totals I can immediately see where I could have made a better choice.

Week Three Update

2010-08-29T08:36:00.002-05:00

The third week of my “50 in 52” is done and I’m not happy with the results!

There is good news; however, my energy is back! The bad news is that I made some pretty foolish choices this week with food.

Here is a brief recap of the 5 goals I had set for this week, accompanied by the results.

Goal #1 was to walk 14 miles a week and this week I walked 10 ½. That includes a 3 mile walk yesterday and my 5 ½ mile walk this morning, as well as one mile for each shift that I work.

Goal #2 was to workout 4 times a week; 2 upper body workouts and 2 lower body. This is a goal that I did not meet; I worked my lower body yesterday and my upper body tonight. I’ve added some high intensity cardio to my workouts, mostly freestyle aerobics in the privacy of my workout room.

Goal #3 was to keep a food diary each day of the week, and I did not meet this goal. I am finding this difficult and possibly resisting it for some reason. I kept a record of my intake for four days this week, averaging 1900 calories per day. It is a bit of a challenge to properly track my intake at work, but since I abhor excuses of any kind, I’m guessing there is a deeper reason behind my lack of commitment to my Food Diary.

Goal #4 was to drink 3-4 litres of water a day, or 21-28 litres in a week. I drank 16 litres this week, which is an improvement from the week before. After going a full 12 hour shift without voiding, I realized that I was not drinking enough while working. The very next shift I believe I drank two litres in twelve hours.

Goal #5 was to kick the McDonalds Diet Coke habit, and I’ve kicked it if the only criterion is sticking to a behavior for 21 days. There were a few instances this week that I could practically taste the Diet Coke; I craved it so badly! In fact, I almost “treated” myself to one yesterday on payday. In reality, I’ve “kicked” this habit many times and have relapsed with the phrase “just one won’t hurt.” I guess in this sense it is just like any other addiction, I’ll have to watch myself closely for a very long time.

My weight went from 183.3 lbs to 185.3, a gain of two pounds. I consider this a result of the large doses of estrogen last week, as well as the decreased level of activity and increased caloric intake. My waist measurement stayed the same although I feel super-fat these days. The pounds of bodyfat that I carry went up by ½ pound from last week but the bodyfat percentage dropped from 36.8 to 36.7. It is the BF% that I am paying the most attention to, as it is a more accurate reflector of the body’s changes than simply using the weight as a measure of progress.

The results of this week do certainly not make me happy; according to the goals I’ve set, I should be 181 pounds today, not 186. And, I know the times that I’ve had mini-binges have contributed to the gain as well.

For years I’ve struggled with night eating, which could be more accurately described as “night binging.” Since the start of sharing my progress with you, I’ve had no episodes of binging on unhealthy foods at night, unless you call eating a piece of fruit a “binge.” Because I work shift work and regularly eat at night at work, I do allow a certain amount of leeway when it comes to waking up at night at home and feeling the need to eat. The problem in the past has been that I’ve eaten almost entire boxes of cereal in one sitting. That type of excess consumption seems to have stopped and I’ve been able to keep it healthy, right up until this week.

Just as my post “Craving Sweet and Salty Foods” indicated, I’ve been having trouble with cravings this week. One night I woke with a craving for sweet; my self-control and good judgment had fled for lands unknown that night. As a result, I had three mini ice cream cones, one right after the other. There must have been ¾ of a cup of ice cream left in the bucket and I ate it all. When compared to some other “binges” from the past, this pales, but I was still very disappointed in myself for having allowed myself to do it.

Last week my mini-goal was to add one serving of vegetables to my diet each day. I’ve been adding veggies to my food, but have not been eating them as a snack up till this time. I’m sure I would feel even better if I ate raw veggies rather than veggies simply added to something else. I will continue with this goal this week and see how it goes this week.

In the upcoming week, I will work on the same goals as the last three weeks. Similar to the past weeks, I’d like to add on a mini goal for myself; no McDonalds for a week.

Despite being unhappy with the past week, I will start again with a new week tomorrow morning. My reaction to this week could either be to throw in the towel as I’ve done many times before, or keep picking myself up and keep going.

I’d love to hear your stories about how you lost weight. If you’ve got a night-eating habit, tell me about that, too. Its only in the past year that I’ve been able to talk about it openly and admit that I have a problem.

McDonalds for Breakfast

2010-08-28T18:00:00.008-05:00

My walking compainion.

Walking to McDonalds for breakfast is a bit of an oxymoron, I suppose, considering I’m trying to lose weight, not gain. And isn’t it McDonalds Diet Coke that I’m trying to not be addicted to anymore?!

Yes, its an oxymoron.  Yes, I’m trying to kick the McD’s Diet Coke habit.

The walk there is 2.75 miles, making a total of 5.5 miles for today.  My blisters from yesterday have grown new blister children of their own.  Each step home was excruciatingly painful, but it was worth it, just to say I’ve done it!

Let me tell you why I would chose McD’s as a breakfast destination.  His name is Kev and he walks (stroller) with me nearly every time I walk.  He loves to go there, I’ve been taking him with me since birth to meet my mother for coffee and his sitter frequently goes there with her crew of toddlers.  

We missed the rain.
Another reason is that I’ve been very tired and not quite myself for the past few weeks, obviously related to the loss of blood and subsequent trip to emergency.  For me to make this walk seemed to be a symbolic way of saying “I’m feeling better now!”

Are you wondering what I ate and drank?  I’m proud to say I did not have diet coke despite having ridiculous cravings for it during this last week.  Instead I had an iced coffee with milk which is incredibly high in sugar, and a breakfast burrito with salsa, which is incredibly high in fat, but also high in protein.  Here’s the summary of my breakfast:

Item	Calories	Fat	Carbs	Protein
Breakfast Burrito	320	20	21	13
Iced Vanilla Coffee	190	0	41	6
TOTALS	510	20	62	19

Ouch.  That looks much worse than I thought it would.  Perhaps I could go without the iced coffee next time!  Lesson learned.  Point taken, etc.  

Almost there!
And that’s exactly what this blog is supposed to be about, “learning” my way towards weight loss, and maybe, just maybe, helping someone else out along the way.

Craving Sweet and Salty Food

2010-08-26T21:13:00.000-05:00

The last few days I've really had trouble with cravings; haven't given in, but they've been following me around everywhere. Oh, that's not quite true; I had a few salty brown rice crackers at work the night before last.

And the worst craving I've been having is for Diet Coke from McDonalds, the very same thing that I'm trying to give up. I'm beginning to think these odd cravings have something to do with the large doses of estrogen I was given last week, but who knows? It could be just your average-run-of-the-mill-unknown-reason-craving.

Whatever the reason, I'm being very good today. The sweetest thing I had was a strawberry-kiwi flavored protein shake which I mixed with watermelon and a bit of watermelon juice. I blended it at supper time, then put it in the fridge and waited for it to settle cuz it was super-frothy and that gives me a nasty bloated feeling.

Just finished it, and wow! was it ever good! But I'm not entirely sure that it has helped my sweet and salty craving, I'm thinking of the ice cream and the mini-cones that I've got for Kev. One of those would be so good right now. Yummy!

It doesn't help matters any that I've had a migraine since I woke up from naptime this afternoon.

Seems my body is really resisting these efforts at losing weight; its added two pounds since the estrogen incident last week Tuesday. I'm feeling much better and more energetic by far than a week ago, so tomorrow its back to our regular morning walk and my evening workout.

Yes, my social life is so stunted that I will be home on a Friday night. I'm sure I'm not the only one, right??

Week Two Update

2010-08-21T09:32:00.004-05:00

The second week of my “50 in 52” is complete and I’m not surprised with the results, considering the minor medical setback and the amount of inactivity resulting from that setback. The good news is that I’m feeling better, my energy is starting to come back, and I didn’t do anything extremely foolish this week. And, if I was ever going to be reckless with my eating habits, the setback this week would have been the perfect time and the perfect excuse. The worst thing I did was have an iced coffee made with milk. Knowing that I am accountable to you makes it harder to revert to old habits.

Here is a brief recap of the 5 goals I had set for this week, accompanied by the results:

Goal #1 was to walk 14 miles a week and this week I walked 4 3/4, a shortage of 11 ¼ miles. This week it was not the weather that kept me from meeting my goal, it was the doctors orders to “take it easy.”

Goal #2 was to workout 4 times a week; 2 upper body workouts and 2 lower body. This goal that I did not meet, as I only worked out once, and it was a lower body workout early in the week.

Goal #3 was to keep a food diary each day of the week, and I met this goal, except for Tuesday, which was the day I spent laying on a stretcher. In addition, I had also mentioned that I was going to monitor my caloric intake this week; I did so, and am averaging just less than 1700 calories daily.

Goal #4 was to drink 3-4 litres of water a day, or 21-28 litres in a week. I drank 15 litres this week but should have done much, much more. I’m trying to evaluate why I drink so little, perhaps it is because I am drinking so much coffee throughout the day.

Goal #5 was to kick the McDonalds Diet Coke habit, and I was entirely successful in this aspect. Not one Diet Coke this week, although there were certainly temptations. Apparently it takes 21 days to make or break a habit, so I’ve got only 7 more days to go till I can consider myself cured.

My weight went from 182.6 lbs to 183.3. My waist decreased by almost an inch. The pounds of bodyfat that I carry around went up by ½ pound, and my percentage of bodyfat increased slightly from 36.6 to 36.8.

Overall, I am not unhappy with the results of this week because there was a very good reason that I could not progress. However, I’m upset that I had a medical setback as I simply do not have time in my life for being sick.

In the coming week, I will work on the same goals as the last two weeks. And, similar to last week I’d like to add on a mini-goal to the concept of a Food Diary and counting calories.

Fruits are among my favorite foods; I may even be able to live on just fruit and water. The blueberries that are in season now are so delicious! As are the cherries! My issue is that I eat too much fruit and not nearly enough vegetables.

My mini-goal, then, is to add at least one serving of vegetables to my diet each day. This may not challenge most of you, but it is a huge challenge for me because I view veggies as much more time consuming to prepare and eat raw than fruit.

Thank you for your well wishes (on Facebook), and thanks for reading!

5 More Factors That Affect Your Metabolism

2010-08-20T14:25:00.000-05:00

Recently I shared a short post briefly outlining five factors affecting our metabolism and, as discussed, there are more than just those five factors. Again, some are within our control, others are not. Here are five more factors:

Hormones. Hormones control many of the body’s chemical processes including metabolism. Regular exercise increases the body’s most important hormones and changes your body composition to more lean mass. The most influential hormone is called thyroxin, which regulates BMR. It is produced by the thyroid and increased levels lead to increased BMR.

Psychological state. Being “on edge” or nervous can increase our metabolism, as can anxiety and stress.

Weather. We burn more calories in the cold because we shiver which is the contraction and relaxation of muscle cells. When we are hot we burn energy through sweating.

Body Temperature. The hotter our core temperature, the faster we burn energy. A one degree increase can lead to a 10% increase in BMR.

Prescription and non-prescription drugs. Nicotine and caffeine are the most common drugs which can increase the metabolic rate, although the results are slight. There are also many pharmaceutical drugs that can increase or decrease your metabolism. (In a future article I will discuss the different classes of drugs and their effect on metabolism.)

As you can see, metabolism is a many factored mystery and any estimates of BMR that you get via the internet or any other source are exactly that, estimates.

As I have mentioned previously, when trying to lose weight, the goal is to increase our metabolism. I will examine how to increase your metabolism in future articles.

5 Factors Affecting Metabolism

2010-08-18T22:40:00.002-05:00

Metabolism is the rate at which our bodies burn calories. Basal Metabolic Rate, or BMR is the number of calories our body requires to live each day, just to carry out our bodily functions. It does not include the 60 minute weight workout, or the ten mile run that you went on in the morning.

We’ve all looked at our thin co-workers or friends and wondered what they did to deserve such a good metabolism. It’s no secret some can eat whatever they want and never gain an ounce, while some of us can merely glance at an item of food with lust in our eyes and we and gain weight. Just as with risk factors for hypertension and cardiac conditions, some factors affecting metabolism are under our control while others are not.

The goal is to speed up our metabolism when trying to lose weight so our body will burn more calories in a shorter time.

Body Size This is sort of a no brainer; a bigger body has more cells to maintain therefore larger people have a faster metabolism. The extra weight that a large person carries around also increases metabolism due to the body’s increased effort in moving the body around.

Body Composition “Composition” refers to the amount of bodyweight that is fat and the amount that is muscle. Fat takes up more space and uses less calories, while muscle uses up less space and uses more calories. Therefore, the more muscle you have, the higher your metabolism.

Sex (no not that kind of sex) The BMR of males tends to be higher than females due to hormones such as testosterone. Also, men tend to carry more muscle mass, causing increased caloric requirements. Note that BMR is based on other requirements as well, so this is just a generalization.

Age Our metabolism slows as we age; some say as much as 2% for every decade after 20. It is part of the natural process of aging and is true for men and women. The fat percent increases while the amount of muscle decreases, possibly due to hormonal changes. Another thing that happens as we age is that we have a tendency to become less active. This factor is one that we have control over.

Diet - Eating and digesting food requires a small amount of energy, so eating a little more often can help increase BMR. For example, eating 5-6 times a day rather than the standard three meals help increase your metabolism by as much as 20%.

This is neither a comprehensive list, nor an in depth study of each factor. Other factors will be discussed at a later date.

The three factors that we can control, based simply on this article, are our body composition, activity level, and how many times a day we eat.

Minor Setback

2010-08-18T11:11:00.000-05:00

There's been a minor setback in my bid to lose 50 pounds. No, I haven't gained weight. And, no, I didn't eat a whole tub of ice cream.

Let me tell you the quick version of the story.

Yesterday morning I went to work for 0745, one of my few day shifts and worked till break time. During my break I wandered over to the Emergency Department (ED) and registered myself as a patient. I'd been having an unusually heavy menstrual cycle for 7-9 days and thought it wouldn't be a bad idea to get it checked out. If nothing else, they could simply tell me to stop worrying and go see my family doctor in a week if it didn't stop.

That was not the case. Before I knew it, they had drawn blood, done a pelvic exam and had called my unit to tell them I would not be returning to work that day.

It turns out that I had already lost a substantial amount of blood and should be feeling much more tired and lightheaded than I was feeling. After all, I had just gone for a four-mile walk the previous morning so I couldn't have been that tired.

I was poked, prodded, and felt violated by the time I left the ED for home. If you're a woman, and you've ever had a uterine biopsy done while you're conscious, you will understand when I tell you that its quite painful and invasive.

The bleeding needed to be stopped; the choices were estrogen through an IV or a D & C. I opted for the estrogen, leaving the D & C as a backup if the estrogen failed to stop the bleeding. That required 2 1-hour doses of estrogen; after the first dose I already noticed the bleeding had almost completely stopped. That was a huge relief for me and the staff. Remember, I'm a patient in the ED of a rural hospital; an ED that I have worked in as a nurse.

The cause of the excessive bleeding remains a mystery at this point; two ultrasounds were done this morning, one internal and one external. The doctors involved in my care yesterday expect to find fibroids in my uterus as my uterus is "generous" in size. It is unsure at this point whether I will have a D & C, no treatment, or a hysterectomy.

In the meantime, I am continuing to eat a low calorie diet, but not exercising vigorously as I fatigue easily.

No food diary from yesterday as I ate very little and spent the majority of my waking hours on a stretcher.

Hopefully things return to normal quickly as I do not have any time to be sick, nor can I afford to be sick.

Morning Walk

2010-08-16T13:29:00.000-05:00

My morning walks are likely no different than those of any other mother of toddlers.

Packing the stroller only takes a few minutes but often stretches into ten or fifteen as I get interrupted many times to rescue him from tipping the stroller backwards and falling on his face. Then I have to pee just one more time before leaving the house. I wander off in the general direction of the bathroom and end up getting sunglasses and lip balm from my bedroom instead of peeing.

When we are all ready and packed at the door, snacks, water, extra layer of clothing, cell phone, keys, bank card, and so on, it occurs to me that I haven’t peed yet and its off to the bathroom again.

This morning was almost cold at approximately 10C. The past weeks have been horrendously hot and humid, some days too hot for walking. There was a rather brisk wind this morning, and the stroller tire was flat, which made for a difficult first 1 ½ miles.

Mile 1 ½ requires a stop at the gas station to fill the stroller tire where I meet someone that I work with; much younger, male, very easy on the eyes.

At the two mile mark I had to stop and give Kev his snacks; toast with peanut butter and a banana and a cup of chocolate soy milk.

At 2 ½ miles he finished his milk and wanted water. Another stop was required to put water into dirty milk cup.

Mile three required recovering with the blanket as he refused to wear a sweater. Here I also give him a tiny dish of homemade applesauce made by auntie.

At mile 3 ½ phone I receive a phone call from frantic mother (dementia) wondering who would take her to the doctor on Wednesday for medication refills. One phone call to the pharmacy, then another call to mother; crisis averted.

Mile 3 ¾ Kev is finished his applesauce and I have to call sister-in-law to request more and inform her of latest mother crisis.

Mile 4 and we’re home. I’m pleased that we walked 4 miles; it’s the second time we’ve made it that far.

Has any other mother or grandmother noticed that pushing a stroller requires that you use different muscles in your legs while walking?

Week One Update

2010-08-15T00:27:00.003-05:00

The first week of my “50 in 52” complete and I’m not displeased with the results. Having this blog has stopped me from repeating more than one self-destructing behavior.

Here is a brief recap of the 5 goals I had set for this week, accompanied by the results

Goal #1 was to walk 14 miles a week and this week I walked 12.5, a shortage of 1 ½ miles. The weather factored into how much walking I could do this week, although I am certainly not using the heat as an excuse. I know I can do much better this upcoming week.

Goal #2 was to workout 4 times a week; 2 upper body workouts and 2 lower body. This is a goal that I exceeded because I am beginning to remember the wonderful feeling of working out and lifting hard. I worked my upper body three times and the lower body twice.

Goal #3 was to keep a food diary each day of the week, and I met this goal. I’ve been as accurate as I can, and think I’ve done a fairly good job.

Goal #4 was to drink 3-4 litres of water a day, or 21-28 litres in a week. I drank 17 litres this week but should have done much, much more. I’m trying to evaluate why I drink so little, perhaps it is because I am drinking so much coffee throughout the day.

Goal #5 was to kick the McDonalds Diet Coke habit, and I was entirely successful in this aspect. Not one Diet Coke this week. Apparently it takes 21 days to make or break a habit, so I’ve got two more weeks to go till I can consider myself cured.

My weight dropped 1.4 pounds from 184 to 182.6 lbs. My waist stayed at 40.5 inches. The pounds of bodyfat that I carry around stayed the same, but my percentage of bodyfat increased slightly from 36.4 to 36.6. This doesn’t concern me because that number can fluctuate daily.

Although I said in a previous post that this motivational method has been unsuccessful in the past, I changed it up a little and then did it anyway. I went through old issues of Oxygen magazines and took the pictures that inspired me and made a collage out of them and placed it on the fridge. The difference this time is that I not only put the pictures up, I also wrote down why each particular picture appealed to me. My favorite picture is from an ad, and I can’t remember what is being advertised. It is a black and white picture of a woman staring face-on into the camera with a very determined look on her face. She is obviously in very good shape, and the print beside the picture says simply “I’m not done yet.” For some reason that picture and those words speak volumes to me.

In the past 3 years while I’ve been watching the number on the scale climb, I’ve tried several times to lose the weight and start working out again, but have never been motivated enough to stick with it long enough to see any major results. This lack of motivation bothered me because when I was training with a trainer for a figure competition, I was incredibly motivated! Since that time I have never been able to recreate that level of motivation again.

This time something feels different, as if someone flicked a switch inside me. Perhaps its having this blog, or perhaps its just the right time for me to kick my butt back into shape again. I’m able to keep my hands off of Kev’s leftovers; able to turn down desert at a family gathering, and, for the first time in years, I was able to limit myself to one tablespoon of peanut butter!!!

In the coming week, I will work on the same goals as last week, as the goals that I set out were for four weeks. However I’d like to add a twist to one of the goals; instead of just keeping a food diary, I will also keep track of the number of calories that I’m taking in, just to get an idea of where I’m at in terms of how much I’m eating.

Setting Goals - The First Four Weeks

2010-08-14T13:22:00.001-05:00

The first four weeks are August 8 to September 4, 2010 and a week is considered Sunday to Saturday. The reason I’ve chosen to break it down into four week periods is to accommodate my short attention span and thus give me a better shot at successfully reaching my goal weight of 134 pounds.

Trying in vain to appear slim and sexy :-)

There are 13 four week periods in 52 weeks. If I aim to lose 3.84 pounds every four week period, my goal would be met. But, I think we can all agree that it would be simpler to round up to four pounds every four weeks, or a pound a week for a year. Thus, my goal weight becomes 132; not that far off the original goal.

Here’s where you find out what a nerd I really am, if you hadn’t already ascertained that from previous posts. The mini goals I have set are all very specific and number oriented.

Goal #1: Fifty six (56) miles in four weeks. That translates to 14 miles a week or two miles per day; a nice even number.

Goal #2: Sixteen (16) workouts (8 upper body/8 lower body) in these four weeks. For now I will be working out exclusively at home. In the future I would like to get a gym membership here in Steinbach. That is a topic for another post.

Goal #3. Keeping a Food Diary is pretty much a part of my normal routine now; however there are days when it doesn’t get done. I’d be remiss if I didn’t allow for such days and am setting a goal of keeping a Food Diary 80-90% of the time, which is 20 – 25 days.

Goal #4. Water is a large part of the weight loss equation and with that in mind, I will increase my water intake from ‘not enough’ to 3-4 litres per day (four litres is an ice cream pail full). That will equal 84 – 112 litres in four weeks.

Goal #5. Anyone who knows me at all knows I have a very strong fondness for McDonalds Diet Coke, more commonly known as an addiction. There are several reasons why I would want to kick this addiction but again, that is another topic. This seems like as good a time as any to give up my poison

Since this four week period officially started on Sunday of this week, I will update you late Saturday or early Sunday regarding my progress.

In the meantime, I’ve got a lengthy list of future topics, all of them somehow related to weight loss and ultimately, to our health.

Here's The Plan

2010-08-14T13:20:00.001-05:00

You might be wondering how I plan to reach 134 pounds by August 8, 2011. While it would be nice if the weight would magically melt away,that’s not how it works; losing 50 pounds will involve hard work and sacrifice.

Remember my post from a few weeks back, “How to Gain 50 lbs – 2 Easy Steps?” The two steps were to eat more and move less; therefore the reverse of those two steps works to lose weight, just not as quickly or as effortlessly.

Thus, eating less and moving more will be at the core of my plan. In order for me to eat less, I need to have a way of tracking how much I am eating.

That’s where a Food Diary or Food Log enters the equation. It’s a tool I’ve used periodically over the years to get a sense of how much food I’m really consuming. There is something about writing down what you’ve eaten that makes it hard to deny that you’re eating too much. In my case, I’ve consistently been horrified at the amount of food I can consume in a day.

Time management plays a large role in putting the second part of the equation, move more, into practice. Moving more means exactly that, moving more. Walking, running, biking and rollerblading are excellent ways to increase your activity level. Working out with weights is another excellent choice and I will explain that in another post.


Me and my walking partner.

In summary, I am keeping a Food Diary (spreadsheet in Excel), eating less and making better choices with what I consume (another future post), working out at home, and going for daily walks.

In future posts I will go into more detail about some of the topics I’ve mentioned.

In the meantime, I’m going to get up off my chair and go clean the kitchen while making a healthy supper for me and Kev.

Beginning

2010-08-14T13:19:00.001-05:00

In order for you and I to know whether I am making progress in my goal to lose 50 pounds, the goal must be S.M.A.R. T. and I must tell you what point I am starting from.

Specific

· My goal is to lose 50 pounds, 10-20% bodyfat, along with 5-10” off my waist; all while increasing muscle.

Current Weight	184 pounds
Goal Weight	134 pounds
Current Bodyfat	36.4 %
Goal Bodyfat	16.4 to 26.4% *
Current Waist	40.5”
Goal Waist	30.5” to 35.5” **
	* 16.4% is quite low, the end result will likely be much closer to 26.4%
	** I’m not quite sure what is realistic for the loss of inches at the waist, but 5” must be a minimum.

Measurable

· This goal is measurable through the use of a scale that measures weight and bodyfat percentage and a tape measure to measure the loss of inches.

Attainable

· This goal is definitely attainable as I have been my goal weight a mere three years ago.

Realistic

· This goal is realistic because the methods I will be using in order to achieve this goal are those that have worked for me in the past.

Timely

· I will have achieved this goal in 52 weeks or one year; setting the goal for 52 weeks rather than 50 weeks (a pound a week) simply makes it easier with regard to using time periods of a month, a week, two weeks, etc. for setting mini-goals.

Believe it or not, it is somewhat difficult for me to share this post as I am sharing several things with you that I generally keep to myself. First, I am a bit of a nerd and love numbers. Second, I’m horrified at how my weight, bodyfat, and waist have ballooned in the past several years; utterly horrified and ashamed. In sharing these things with you, I feel that I am leaving myself vulnerable.

However, sharing this has a much bigger significance, I’ve made my goals very public and therefore have a lot more invested in attaining them.

Thank you for reading.

As always, comments are welcomed.

The First Two Steps

2010-08-14T13:17:00.001-05:00

"Welcome to modern technology" was how my adult son responded when I called him excitedly to share the good news; I now had music on my iPhone!

It took me most of an hour to get the computer and iPhone to agree to communicate with one another but it was time well spent. I've now got some of my favorite music with me wherever I go.

And that, my dear friends, is step one; step one on my way to lose those pesky 50 pounds. Walking is dreadfully boring without a friend to chat with or music to listen to. I find that music alleviates some of the boredom when walking alone, which makes it less likely that I would find excuses to avoid going for a walk.

For step two, I took some time to cut up some delicious raw vegetables for work snacks. Tonight it was cucumbers and cauliflower. My intake of veggies is very small when compared with my fruit intake so it is my plan to add large amounts of vegetables to my diet.

There you have it; two easy steps to start me on my path to losing 50 pounds.

Public or Private?

2010-08-14T13:15:00.001-05:00

Its easy to gain fifty pounds but not so easy to lose it. I've been steadily gaining weight since January 2007 which is when I suffered a head injury and had to severely curtail my workouts as a result. Since that time I've gained, you guessed it, fifty pounds.

I've occasionally lost a few pounds here and there but those few pounds always come back with a few of their friends. Its discouraging to say the least.

What you may not know is that from 2005 to 2006 I was training with a personal trainer and preparing for a figure competition. The results of following his meal plan and workout program were phenomenal. Unfortunately, the cost and time available to me became an issue after I unexpectedly became a Mom for the third time. Because the results were so phenomenal and I was in such good shape, its especially hard for me to deal with this fifty pounds of fat hanging out around my waistline.

Extra weight makes me feel unsexy and unattractive, not to mention that my clothes don't fit anymore, which only adds to the feelings of unattractiveness.

Its extremely frustrating to try every method of losing weight and see no results and I know there are many of you who know this feeling all too well. But it was never gonna happen to me, I was always going to be thin and fit.

In just the past four weeks I've added another 3 pounds to my body, and that's using walking, weights, and food diaries as weight loss aids. And, no, I haven't gained 3 pounds of muscle and lost inches. I use a scale that measure body fat percentage and a measuring tape for my waistline. The percentage of bodyfat has increased slightly as has my waistline. Things are not moving along in the right direction at all.

I've used putting pictures of my "fit" self on the fridge to stop me from eating; I've used motivational quotes; I've walked 3 miles a day for the past 4 weeks (minus work days). The weight won't budge.

A suggestion that I have not yet tried is publicizing my weight loss goal. Apparently if you tell your friends and family, etc. that you are attempting to lose weight, the results are better because then you are held accountable to them. I've talked to my very closest friends about losing weight but it doesn't take long until we find ourselves at Dairy Queen, Tim Horton's, or McDonalds, having a "treat" to soothe our nerves from a tumultuous day. I've been on an emotional roller coaster the past few weeks/months with relationships, moving, work, family members, and so on. There is nothing like a DQ Blizzard to make you forget all about a failed relationship, or a Iced Coffee from Tim's to get you psyched up to go to work, also known as emotional eating.

What I'd like to do is publicize my attempts at weight loss through my blog. Doing so would hold me accountable to more than just a few close friends. It would also open a dialogue regarding weight gain, obesity and health issues.

I'd love to share this journey with you. Any suggestions? Hints? Anyone want to join Kev and I on our morning walks?

How to Gain 50 lbs - 2 Easy Steps

2010-08-14T01:57:00.004-05:00

No, I didn't make a mistake in the title; its supposed to say "gain" not "lose." There's so many articles about how to lose weight, lose bodyfat, build muscle, etc. This is my little rebellion and my not-so-subtle way of poking fun at myself, with a little bitterness thrown in for good measure.

There really are only two steps to gaining weight; one is to eat more and the second is to move less.

Ugh, I'm happy but I feel so lousy being heavy.

Told you they were easy steps. Its not rocket science. If you take in more calories than you burn, your body is gonna store it as fat cuz it doesn't know what else to do with it.

For eating more, there is a fair number of excuses to use when stuffing your face or filling your plate for the 18th time. "Its not gonna hurt me to have ice cream just this once." "My diet starts tomorrow so I can eat whatever I want today." "I walked to the mailbox so I deserve this bag of chips." The list could go on; for every type of food, for every person, there is an available excuse.

Nothing makes me happier than this little boy.

Moving less? How do we go from active young adults to quite inactive adults? Its quite simple really. The couch becomes our friend after a long, hard day at work. Its so much easier to lie on the couch and watch TV than to go for a walk, or go to the gym. Many of us have jobs that require long hours on our butts; no amount of getting up and stretching or walking to the bathroom is gonna make up for spending eight hours of our day sitting. Instead of participating in sports we are much more likely to be found on the sidelines watching our children play. Again, as with eating more, the list of excuses for not moving more is endless.

Most of my posts have been based on personal experience. This one is no exception. I've gained 50 pounds in 3 years and am extremely unhappy with the way I look and the way I feel. In part it is even more frustrating because I know what it feels like to be in good shape, to look good and feel good about my body. I know the steps to losing weight but, for some reason, I just don't seem to be able to apply them to my life. And, just like the two easy steps to gaining weight, I could rattle off a list of excuses why I'm so unsuccessful when I try to lose weight.

Hearing other people make excuses for themselves or for others has always irritated me. Its one of my pet peeves. Yet I'm willing to sit here, 50 pounds heavier, and I'm sure I could come up with a lengthy list of excuses for myself.

The cold, harsh reality is that there is no excuse in the world good enough for all this extra weight.

Have you gained a large amount of weight in a short period? What kind of excuses are you using to make yourself feel better about it?