Weight Loss Wednesday…on a Saturday!

This has been one of those weeks where I want to get a do over – weight loss wise at least. I gained 3.5 pounds in about five days. Ugh. Back in January my GYN gave me a prescription for a hormone based medication but I didn’t start taking it until March 1st. (I know, TMI! <g>) About 3 days in I was eating everything I saw! No matter what I did I felt like I was ravenous. High fiber, still hungry. High protein, didn’t faze me. High carbs…nada.

I’ve pretty much kicked sugar because it is kryptonite to my species and I was craving sugar so bad I felt like a drug addict. It was horrible and I was so frustrated. Needless to say I kicked those pills to the curb! Thanks, Dr. Anita but no thanks.

So I’m back on the bandwagon and hope to have those 3.5 pounds off soon. (crossing fingers)

Then, if that wasn’t enough fun and games, my right foot is giving me fits. I think it’s probably arthritis (oh yeah!) so I’ve been kicking back and keeping it up. Boy – when I hit 43 its been a downhill slide since then. <g>

But some good news – I wrote 19k in four days on the next Men of SWAT title. I can’t complain about that. Woot!

Weight Loss Wednesday: Hiccups & Victories

I’ve had more hiccups and victories than I’d want to count. I lose, I gain, I lose, I gain, I gain, I gain. It’s a slippery slope and can damage your self-esteem Big Time. (Of this I know!)

Today, I’m asking you (and myself) to let go of all the hiccups in your past and focus on the little victories. Why kick yourself because you gained a pound? If you’re female, you’re held at the whim of your monthlies anyway so bouncing around between 1-2 pounds isn’t a big deal. So if you gained a little weight this week ask yourself, did you set yourself up to succeed? If you did everything you can, made good food choices, added some intential exercise (taking the stairs or walking through the entire store rather than heading to what you need and getting out) that’s a victory.

My victory this week is a fun one. On monday I mentioned how I hate numbers and calorie counting etc so instead I have a tendency to judge my success by how my clothing feels. Last year I’d bought a bathing suit that was several sizes smaller than what I was wearing at that time. It always fit meaning I could pull it on but there was no way I was going to let anyone see me in it! <g>

Well today, it fits. WOOOTTTTT!

This is a big-assed victory for me. Well, a slightly smaller-assed victory I guess. So what did the scale tell me this morning? Sixty-nine pounds and counting…BOO-yah.

I’m headed off to the pool to show off my svelte athletic awesomeness! <g> Who else has a victory this week?

WLW: The Morning Routine

Raise your hand if you’re not a big fan of Monday mornings. (raising hand) Guess what, me too! Unfortunately, when it comes to weight loss Mondays are pretty darned important.

Ever since I started my weight loss odyssey one of my goals was to change my attitude about food. I’m an emotional eater. When I get upset my craving for sugar and fat increases…but that doesn’t give me license to go eat three Snickers and a case of Pepsi. (darn it)

I’m not a calorie counter. Why? I hate counting them, period.  One of my first weight-loss memories is a doctor giving my mother a big sheet of calorie information and I was only seven. I didn’t understand that he was trying to help me, I only knew he (and my parents) were taking something away from me. Something that everyone else got to have but not me. They got Oreos and I had cottage cheese and tomato slices. (it was the 70′s and people didn’t know squat about food – you wanted to lose weight then you starved yourself) Being a kid I thought I was doing something wrong and it triggered other negative behaviors like sneaking food. All I knew was that I was hungry darn it and no one would let me satisfy my hunger. This one incident would color my life for many, many years go come.

For me, counting the little buggers is a sure-fire way to increase my stress and trigger my craving for sugar. Say I’m eating 1200 calories a day and it’s lunchtime and I go out to lunch with a friend. Eating out you are almost always eating more calories then you realize. You have no idea what the cook did to your food – a little butter here, more cheese there – you get the picture. So now I’m thinking, okay, I ate 300 calories for breakfast and around 450 for lunch so I only have 35o left…

For some reason when I eat out the added fat, salt etc seems to kick my cravings into high gear but I only have 350 calories to play with and that ain’t much. Then I begin to obsess. Okay, how can I stretch those calories to ensure I don’t get hungry and eat a water buffalo…can’t have that because its 250 calories…I could have three low-fat yogurts and some fruit…what if I’m hungrier than that? You get the picture.

So I don’t count calories like a miser with a hoard of pennies but I do watch what I eat. If I go out to lunch I simply eat lighter for dinner. A salad or fruit and cheese, a low-calorie frozen meal (I try to keep these to a minimum) and some fruit, it’s no big deal. I don’t agonize over my food choices so I don’t increase my stress so my eating doesn’t start the spiral…see, there is a method to my madness!

Some people are probably reading this and thinking, man, this woman is just odd. That’s okay because my views on food and eating are more normal than most of us want to admit. We all obsess about something and it just so happens that, if I let it, my obsession is food.

So what does this have to do with Mondays?

Today is the day that I readjust my pack. I look down at my feet and make sure I’m on the path to accomplish my goal and I move forward. Last week is last week, its over, done with and set in stone. Today is a new day and it’s time to reassure myself that I’m doing what I need to do to reach my health goals. My goal is to feel better. I don’t have sizes, calories or numbers in mind. I know I want to be able to do what I want without being out of breath, getting tired or simply unable.

So now I’m headed to the pool for my morning exercise. Sixty-eight pounds down and counting!!

Weight Loss Wednesday – Did you cheat? :)

Of course you did! I saw you do it. Remember, the Wilder Knows These Things.

Okay, before you start getting paranoid…

Everyone cheats during weight loss. I know there is probably a few of you out there going, ‘Uh uh, no way, I never cheat.” Really? You didn’t have a bite of your sister’s ice cream? You didn’t snag some mac and cheese from the pan while you were making it for the kids?

I’m here to tell you it’s okay. We’re human and we don’t walk the straight and narrow every minute of every day. I ‘cheated’…but I don’t look at it that way. (and no, I’m not living in the land of denial) I accept that I’m a grown up and I make the food choices I make. If I want a piece of pie, I will have a SMALL piece of pie. If I want some candy, I have a SMALL amount of candy.

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WLW: Just when you thought it was safe to eat…

Weight Loss Wednesdays are BACK! Yup, it’s time to get serious about my weight…or more serious I should say. Over the past two years I’ve lost 57.4 pounds and I seem to have a mental block when it comes to hitting number 60. I get close then I sabotage myself so that I gain.

Why?

Heck if I know. My weight has been an issue all my life and honestly, I’m so OVER IT. After meeting my biological sisters I realized that I truly have the Big Ass gene. We’re all close to six feet tall and broad so thin and dainty is out for me. <g>

So, today I set myself up for success. I went to www.keyoe.com and bought a copy of their calorie / exercise calculator. It’s pretty cool – put in your food, measurements, weight, height etc and it calculates everything for you. You can also so set goals by date and the program calculates exactly how much you can eat, how much you should exercise etc. It’s cheap (14.95 for the XP version) and its easy to use.

I also hit the pool today (second time this week – WOOT) and I cooked yummy, well-balanced meals. So for day one, I’m doing good. LOL!

So my goal is set – to lose 2.6 pounds by February 1st, my fridge is stocked with healthy foods, my program is loaded and ready to go. Now I just have to behave myself. <g>

Weigh Loss & The Biggest Loser

I’m watching the first show of season 8 of The Biggest Loser. I have a love/hate relationship with this show. I love Bob Harper – he’s really hot and he makes for good scenary. I hate watching these people broken down again and again though. They might lose weight, but how many of them actually keep it off?

What is the deal with the trainers looking like raging psychopaths this season? I realize this is a ‘reality’ show and its all about the ratings – but their behavior enforced it this time around. In order to lose weight, everyone needs encouragement but this, IMO, isn’t encouraging. It’s nothing short of abusive – to yell and scream in someone’s face like that is just messed up. If I had to go through that to lose weight, I’d grab another Twinkie and turn to HBO.

Also – anyone who has studied the science of weight loss knows that to lose more than 1% of your body weight per week is too much. I understand why the first week these contestants lose big numbers, a lot of it is water weight as salt is pretty much being removed from their diet. If you drop the salt & salty foods I can guarantee that you’ll drop some pounds as well.

While it might look good to see people watching big chunks of blubber each week, what is the real cost to their bodies? Hormone levels go nuts, stress hormones increase and the tissues become inflamed. Inflamation , for those of you who don’t know, is almost the same as an injury – it causes your body to go into overdrive to repair the inflamed tissues. The metabolism starts doing gymnastics and your body goes into fight mode which means it hangs onto every calorie, every pound that comes your way. Its a vicious cycle which takes me back to – how many of them gain their weight back?

Daniel, a contestant from Season 7 – lost a good amount of weight and he’s returned for this season. At the finale, he won 312 pounds and at the beginning of the season he weighed…312 pounds. Now this man states that he’s been working out for four hours a day and lost…nothing?

I know how everyone loves to chant the weight loss mantra of calories and exercise but somtimes that equation doesn’t equal success. Sometimes its about WHAT you are eating, not how much you are eating. I’m sure there are many who would argue with me on this but I’ve fought with my weight all my life and this has been my experience.

Show 1 – Julio should’ve been sent home because he’s a whiner.

WLW: I'm a slacker…

Whee! I’ve been in a rough spot lately. I had to have a root canal last week and it was ugly now. I’ve had a root canal before and it was no big deal – but this one was the gift that kept on giving. With the first one I didn’t have hardly any pain after 24 hours – I can’t say the same for this one. I had to eat soft food (ICE CREAM, BABY!) for about 3 days and now the pain is finally slacking off.

I gained a few pounds but I do consider this extenuating circumstances. It was ice cream…or DIE. LOL.

But I’m back on my ‘program’ and I hope to shed my little gain by Monday and be back at my 45lb loss.

How did you do this week?