Week 14 - To boldly go

Last week: 214.8

This week: 213.0

Loss: -1.8

Total: -37.0

Thirty-seven pounds.  The last time I did serious weight loss was back in about 2005.  Again, it was on the weight watchers program, although at that point I was doing meetings and weekly weigh ins.  I rarely stuck around for the full meeting, just taking care of my weigh in and leaving.  I've never been able to consider the meetings support, and the lecture/discussion always hit my cynicism buttons hard.

What I did get out of it was since I was paying money for the program, I followed it, and the accountability of looking the person doing my weigh in in the eyes while they read back my number.  I think I mentioned it earlier, but this time around I'm using this blog and a couple of website forums as my accountability (www.3fatchicks.com/forum & www.weightwatchers.ca) and am paying for the weight watchers online program, so there's the 'value for money' motivator.

Back in 2005, I lost 37.2 pounds over 28 weeks.  I don't remember exactly what led to me falling off the program but I did, and slowly but surely gained the weight back plus 5 more over the next 10 years. I can't tell you exactly when all the weight came back, because I also avoided using a scale at home.  Looking back, that's a hell of a warning sign for me. If I don't want to step on the scale, I probably should, but I digress.

Fourteen weeks in, and I'm at 37 pounds lost.  I'm losing about twice as fast as I did the first time, and have matched the pounds I did last time.  From here on out (well, technically another 5 pounds before I'm at the same numbers as 2005, but close enough), I'm at numbers I haven't seen since... 2000?  1999?  That's about the point I put all the weight on.  It feels like I'm standing on the edge, peering into places I remember seeing years ago, and trying to match what I'm seeing with fuzzy, old memories.  It's a rather introspective place to be.  What was I doing last time I was this weight?  When did I first reach this weight?  How did I get there? (mostly so I don't do that again!)

Some thoughts about when I gained the weight and the weight loss, both now and 10 years ago.

• I will always need to have a bathroom scale in the house.   As a numbers nerd, I need the accountability of data to pull me up short when things start to creep. 
• While I can get away with eyeballing my portions in places or times it's not polite to whip out a set of measuring cups and a kitchen scale to do it properly, I do need to use them regularly if not every single time to keep portion sizes where they should be. 
• Being lazy will lead to weight gain.  If I don't want to cook supper every day, I need to cook enough on every second day to have leftovers.  I can't use time saver packaged foods or food mixes to cut corners. 
• As much as I still hate the gym, I hate how my body feels if I miss it for a couple days (sore, tight, slow to move) so it's worth it to just go do it.
• If I'm craving something persistently, it's better to have a small, controlled portion of it sooner than to 'break' and have all of it later.  That way I can enjoy it and not feel like I failed the diet, guilty about how much I ate, and in pain because my body truly does not deal well with large amounts of unhealthy food now.

Lets see where the next 14 weeks leads me!

Diana

Week 13 - Trends

 Last week: 216.8
This week: 214.8
Loss: -2.0
Total: -35.2
And another week in the bag.

I find myself doing things that I'm not sure if I can qualify as a bad habit or not, as the weight is still coming off.  It is something I'll continue to keep an eye on though.  My weekends for most of January have been untracked.

During the week, I track without fail.  Every single thing gets put in the tracker, whether I'm over or under points for the day.  On the weekends, not so much. In fact, while I'm still mindful of portions, and what I'm eating, I tend to relax a bit and take the weekends 'off'.

That's not to say I'm going out and gorging on junk food, making unhealthy choices or eating until I feel like I'm going to pop.  If I'm at home, I cook a meal, mentally tally the points and leave it at that.  If we happen to be out, I may have a ceasar salad instead of a garden salad, but I'll skip the appetizer of deep fried cheese (trust me, that's a sacrifice in and of itself) and the fettuccini alfredo, but if I want a burger, I'll have a burger.  The funny part is they're not all high point days when I'm not tracking.  Last Sunday, I had an egg substitute omelette for breakfast, a late lunch of soup and melba toast and forgot about supper entirely.  Looking back I counted it up and it worked out to about 500 calories for the day. Oops. Although it does explain why breakfast the next day tasted phenomenal.  (Which is pretty impressive considering it was salted oatmeal with some flax seed.  Tasty I'll grant you but phenomenal is a stretch)

The weight is still dropping, so I'm not inclined to change this right now, but I think it's something I have to keep an eye on so it doesn't get out of control too.  It'd be too easy to include Friday and Monday in the 'weekend' and let things creep up until I'm not paying attention at all.  But if it doesn't creep up, it'll be nice to know that I can eat normally at least a few days out of the week without having to be as obsessive as I am currently about numbers. 

I think that might be part of my long term goals with this.  Not only to lose the weight which is of course key, but to teach myself to eat 'properly' without having to measure, weigh, track and obsess.  Now here's hoping it's not the first step on the slippery slope back to where I was.

Week 12 - Back on track

Last week: 218
This week: 216.8
Loss: -1.2
Total: -33.2

Huzzah!

I made it to the gym all five days last week, for the full amount of time each time.  I feel much better about that.  Also spent more time just moving in general. I've started a carpentry class with my sister, which teaches us basic carpentry and a primer on both the power and hand tools that are commonly used and we went to the Wonderful Wedding Show on Saturday, which worked out to a couple hours of wading through crazy numbers of people to look at over the top displays on everything from flowers to tables to formal wear.  I had fun, but it was a very overwhelming experience.

I've been at this now for a total of three months, and a lot of the things that were ridiculously hard in the beginning have become much easier/more ingrained.  They're turning into habits, which is what I hoped would happen. 

When I first started this weight loss thing in October, I went to the gym every day after work, and spent 25 minutes on the treadmill.  My speed was between 2.5 and 2.8 mph, and I'd spike my heartrate up to 150bpm by the time I was done my walk.  On top of that, I was absolutely wrecked when I got home, and it was a huge challenge to get in and get enough brain power happening to get a healthy supper started. We'd eat, I'd collapse on the couch for the evening and read a book or watch tv and be exhausted, then go to bed at 9pm.

Now, I still go to the gym every day after work, but there's some changes.  I spend 40 minutes on the treadmill, and my 'beginning/stretch' speed is 3mph, and this isn't enough to get my heartrate over 110. I move the speed up every couple minutes until I'm at 3.5mph, then I do the next 30 minutes at that rate. Thanks to wee stubby legs I can't actually get much above 3.5 without starting to jog so I've been playing with the incline settings and slowly increasing them to keep my heartrate between 130 and 150 for most of the time.  Jogging starts in another 17lbs, I'd like to drop below 200 before I begin putting extra stress on my knees.  I've had them give out on me before, and I cannot overstate how much I don't want that to happen again.

When I'm done with the gym, I head home, get supper going and head upstairs to shower while it cooks.  I'm a little tired from the workout, but I'm no longer an exhausted wreck who can't do anything but lie still.  (I admit, I still DO three days out of five once I get home and read or play video games, but it's not because I have to, its because Dragon Age Inquisition is a damnably addictive game with lots of content to explore.) But things like housework, laundry, wedding planning etc can now be handled as well. 

It's nice to look back at the progress made, and not necessarily the numbers on the scale.  I will own up to the fact that I still don't particularly like the gym, but I miss it when I don't go and I'm willing to take that. 

The last thing I'm going to mention this week, is I've been carefully taking pictures of myself every week in a full length mirror at work, and lets see what 33.2 lbs missing actually looks like.

There we go.  Green shirt is October 20, 2014 at my maximum weight of 250.  Turquoise shirt was taken this morning January 20, 2015 at 216.8

Week 8 to ugh... Week 11. *hangs head*

So. I had all these fantastic ideas for blogging over the holidays.  For discussing the trials, tribulations and the unique set of problems that the holidays bring you when you're actively trying to lose weight.  I thought I'd be eloquent, thought provoking, soul baring, you name it.

Yeah. Looks like that didn't happen did it?

Today is January 12 here's a quick breakdown of the numbers leading up to this;

Dec 15: 225.2
 Dec 22: 224.4
Lost: -0.8
Total: 25.6
Dec 22: 224.4
 Dec 29: 221
Lost: -3.4
Total: 29.0
Dec 29: 221
 Jan 5: 220.2
Lost: -0.8
Total: 29.8
Last week: 220.2
This week: 218.0
Lost: -2.2
Total: 32

Trends: It feels like I'm losing weight on a 2 week schedule.  Every second week is a bigger loss, with a smaller one in the interim weeks.  The other thing that comes to mind is the weight loss on any given week seems to be mostly affected by what I ate the week before, not the week of.  Note the 3+ lb loss over Christmas.  There's no way given what I ate that week that I should be showing a large loss, especially since the week before when I lost the 0.8 I stuck to the plan religiously, knowing that Christmas week was largely a write off.

Weight loss has also slowed down signifigantly, which is good.  I feel better about the current weight loss speed than the earlier plunge off a cliff.  Not that it wasn't lovely watching the numbers come off, but I've read all sorts of horror stories about complications of losing weight too fast and I'd really like to avoid those.  That and I'm not being closely monitored by my Doctor on this to catch problems early (Next weigh in/cholesterol check is in April, so I'm a few months out)

As for the gym, I've been slacking off there and I need to fix it.  Between the Christmas holidays and last week I ended up working overtime, five days a week at the gym seems to have fallen off the schedule, and I'm making only 2 to 3 days per week and that absolutely has to change. 

All in all, I'm kind of glad the holiday season is over, and I can return to routine.  Routine food, exercise, work, and some not routine of wedding and social planning.  If I didn't have something to add stress to my life I'd probably be bored. Or so I keep telling myself.

Week 7 - Returning to Normal

Last week: 228.2
This week: 225.2
Lost: -3.0
Total: 24.8

Well, we had the funeral on Tuesday, and Drew's Christmas party on Saturday night but other than those it's been all about returning to normal.  I got my full five workouts in, catching up at work and generally resettling into the usual schedule. 

Two more events up this week, we have the work goodie day/potluck on Wednesday, and a Christmas brunch at my aunt and uncle's on the 21st. 

Overall weight loss proceeds at a pace of 3.3lbs per week, which I still find a wee bit high but as I'm not going hungry or leaving too many points on the table at the end of each day I can live with for now.  I did shake my fist at the scale this morning though for that stubborn 0.2lbs.  Really?  I miss my first big goal this week by 0.2?  That adds insult to injury.  Oh well, next week.

Ended up beating my cold into submission over the weekend, but I have to say thank you to a wonderful Drew for turning groceries into supper on Sunday.  I had run out of fucks to give about 3pm and just wanted to lie on the couch leaking out the sinuses.  Thank you for feeding me edible things Drew.

Di

Week 6 - Ugh

First the weight

Last week: 229.6
This week: 228.2
Lost: -1.4
Total: 21.8

Now the rest

We had a death in the family last week.   Drew's grandmother was diagnosed with cancer about 2 weeks ago, and the decline was very quick.  She passed away thursday overnight.  It's been a stressful time for everyone involved, and we're taking it one day at a time.  The funeral is scheduled for tomorrow at one.

Foodwise, this has led to some fast and loose tracking over the last week, especially when combined with a few social events including a birthday party on Friday and a thank you dinner on Saturday at Boston Pizza.  I'm actually a little surprised I lost anything at all, as I figured maintaining for this week would be counted a win.

The transgressions/out of the normals really added up; Tuesday was supper at Davids, Friday was out to the birthday party while Drew hosted our First of the Month game night (and I may have cleaned up the last little bit of the chip bowl when I got home, about 2oz all together of potato chips.) Saturday was Boston pizza with 2 slices of pizza and a hot chocolate at Jefferies across the street for dessert.  Sunday was pizza again with Drew's family, along with 2 molasses cookies and a piece of shortbread from the tray mom dropped off (which was fantastic, it gave me a dessert to feed everyone)

So while I tracked everything I ate, it wasn't exactly a stellar food choice week.  Not to mention I missed 2 of 5 workouts, and the one on Wednesday was short by about half.  The other thing that was discovered is after six weeks of dieting, pizza really isn't your friend.  My body had some very pointed opinions about the amount of grease I ate Saturday and Sunday night.

Well, back on track for this week.  At least until the weekend when we have Drew's Xmas party on Saturday.

Yay Christmas.
Diana

Week 5 - Losing a wee bit too fast

As much as I hate to do it, I'm going to have to tweak my diet and slow down the weight loss a bit.

As of this morning, I weighed in at 229.6lbs, down another 3.2lbs from last week, which was 4lbs down from the week before.  As much as I love watching the weight slide off that fast, it's just too much.

Conventional wisdom says between 1-2lbs per week, and my personal goal is 1% of my body weight per week, which puts me a smidge above those numbers for now.  Except the last two weeks have been 1.4% and 1.5% respectively.  Having one peak over the number I'm aiming at is a cause for celebration.  Having two of them do it means I'm doing something wrong.

I'll concentrate on eating closer to my points value (I admit, I missed it by as much as six points some days last week) and using some of those weekly points on a more regular basis. 

Total weight lost so far is 20.4 lbs.

Down to 31 daily points, and going to be watching the weight watcher site with a hairy eyeball for the next week or so.  They're announcing their annual tweak to the plan on December 7, and I suspect a price increase to go with it.  Now the question is does that include the online plan as well as the meeting plans, and by how much?