Attempt # 2 - The wagon may be winning

Okay, so the first attempt to get back on the wagon was perhaps not entirely effective. There was a New Year’s celebration at my house (booze + Chinese take-away + on-going snacks = a very bloated Loey), and then yesterday we were snowed in and wound up picking and snacking and not moving too much (I tried to take my poor doggie, who’s about the size of a large cat, for a walk and he disappeared because the snow was too deep).

So, I gained another effing 1.5 pounds.


I know that it’s mostly water weight, I know. But it’s still so disheartening.

In any case, I’m newly inspired today.

I’ve actually entered in my data to the formulae provided by the Fat Loss Troubleshooting (FLTS) book, and determined for my current weight (sob), I should be eating about 1400 cal, which is what I typically need to eat to lose weight based on previous successes. I’m going to try and stick to that.

I went to the gym today and tracked my food choices.

Starting to feel back on track.

Back on the Wagon - How to

My birthday present to myself* was the Fat Loss Troubleshoot and the Metabolic Repair Manual, which I’m forcing myself to read, not skim (as I typically do). I’m hoping that by applying some science to it, I will break through this plateau.

I’m also considering the Beck Diet Solution as it addresses the mental patterns associated with successful and unsuccessful dieting. However, I can only handle so much dry diet-talk at a time, so I think I’ll wait on that for a bit.

And of course there’s the wii fit that I got for my birthday yesterday from Nick** which told me I was at the very top of my healthy range and then bluntly encouraged me to drop some pounds. I didn’t find it offensive (although Nick was told that he’s overweight and he’s been obsessing over it ever since), and I think that it will be a good motivator aside from being a more active way to spend an evening than watching the telly.

So I’ve got a little less than four weeks before bootcamp starts up again, at which time I get assessed. I plan on at LEAST being back where I was at the end of the last camp, and hopefully somewhat ahead. So let’s say 21 days.

21 days…. and GO!


* Yeah, I buy myself a birthday present. My birthday is not much celebrated what with it’s proximity to Christmas (resulting in combo gifts) and being the day before New Year’s Eve (‘cause who wants to go to a party the night before the big party?), so I just do my own thing.

** Not a hint on his part, rather a request on mine.

Oh S***

So I weighed myself this morning for the first time in almost two weeks.

And I managed to pack on 6 pounds since December 20th, beinging me back to 155.6 lbs.

Ugh.

It totally makes sense. I haven’t worked out, walked much, or really tried to manage what I’ve been shoving in my face for the past two weeks. And not only did I have all the Christmas eatin’, I also had my birthday yesterday which entailed more yummy food and a beautiful cake from one of my favorite bakery.* However, birthdays are also filled with strife and introspection, so I’m so frustrated that I’m starting this year of my life with an additional 10 pounds.

So I’m back on the proverbial wagon. Again.

Ugh.

* “One of” as in there are several bakeries that I love… are we starting to see part of the problem here?

The results are in

Day 28 was on Sunday. Here are the results:

Chest: was – 35.75”, is – 35.75”
Waist: was – 30.25”, is – 28.75”
Hips: was – 41”, is – 40.25”

Wt: was – 155.8lbs, is – 150.0lbs.
Body comp.: was – 28.6%, is – 27.7%

Can I get YAY?

I was pleased with my progress. After all, almost 6 lbs is nothing to sniff at. However, when we used the body composition percentages to determine my lean body mass (LBM), it showed that I dropped by 2.2lbs. That means that of the 5.8lbs that I lost, only 3.6lbs was fat and the rest was precious muscle mass.*

For the sports and activities in which I’m involved my LBM was already low, and I really can’t afford to lose any more. In fact, the nice trainer lady said that I should really be focusing on upping it.

This is a little frustrating. I’ve got good upper body strength compared to most women, but not the muscle mass. Basically, from what I understand, what muscle I have fires really effectively which produces the strength. However, I need more of it, not just to enjoy a higher metabolism, but also to ensure that I have lots of healthy muscle as I age.

So, I guess this means more strength training, something I hadn’t been doing much of except that which was part of boot camp.

I am going to return to the classes in January as I really enjoyed them and I like the focus that they provide. The next session starts January 26th, which is just under 6 weeks. I intend to work on my own during that period to improve my stats so that my initial starting point is even better.

* In the spirit of full disclosure, feeling kinda bad about the mixed results, I proceeded to overeat upon getting home. Sigh. Two steps forward, one step back.

The Mean Reds

I’ve been lax in maintaining my written accounts of my latest attempt at consistency, but fear not all! I have been doing very well in the actual consistency part. I’m on Day 25 now, and have succeeded in moving my posterior almost every single one of those days.

Food is still a struggle for me, though. I have so many triggers it’s hard to keep them all straight sometimes. The worst is when I feel hateful and apathetic, or as the darling Holly Golightly said, the Mean Reds. It’s then that I just don’t care about my goals, don’t care about living healthfully, just don’t care period. It’s at these times when I can recognize that I’m eating emotionally and just keep on going because I don’t care about the ramifications.

So, I suppose I should try and address the underlying problem with the Mean Reds. But where to start? I know a lot if it stems from my frustration with my relationship with Nick. I love him so much, and as much as he makes me crazy, he’s one of the few men I’ve met that can date me and not be steam rollered. But the qualities that allow us to work as a couple also are the ones that make me unhappy.

On a less heavy front, I haven’t been weighing myself daily, as I want to get it down to once a week (down from several emotionally wrought times a day). However, I did backslide a bit yesterday and was 150.8lbs. We’ll see what the official weigh-in day (Sunday) reveals!

Day 10 - Keepin' On

I feel I need to be regular about tracking somewhere, so I here I am, although I don’t have much to say at the moment. I weighed in this morning at 150.8lbs after 10 days of trying to be diligent. This would seem like such a fantastic accomplishment, if not for the fact that I hit the same number on Saturday and then promptly fell off the rails, making the work of the past 4 days directed to correcting my foolishness.

I’ve been pretty consistent with my training. However, I did have a couple of minor binges over the weekend and on Monday night. I know their cause, a lethal combo of sadness (usually generated by a sense of unloveliness due to Nick) and restlessness. I keep going in circles about what I should do about the situation, but at least I can acknowledge its presence.

I’m going to keep on keepin’ on and will try to be more faithful in posting.

Steppin' (and day 5 and counting...)

151.8 today, so slightly up. I’m working accept the fluctuations of my body and recognizing that half a pound of gain is nothing to stress about. There is a fine line to walk here, because it’s that laidback attitude that caused the 10+ pound gain of the past year. However, I do think that it’s a valid attitude when one is eating well (check), monitoring portion control (check) and exercising almost daily (and check).

I’m still struggling to move more during the day. I’m not talking about planned exercise, because I’ve gotten up for an hour of boot camp at omigod o’clock every morning for the past five days. I’m referring to the small things that tend to add up through the day like walking to someone's office rather than calling them, walking to do errands and whatnot. I really try to do what I can, taking the stairs and parking further away and all of that. And yet I’m struggling to hit 10,000 steps on my pedometer.

Why do I care? Because there are studies that show that people who have no problem maintaining their weights or who are “naturally” skinny are actually those individuals who tend to be twitchier and who just move around more in the natural course of their day.

My weight gain corresponds pretty closely to when Nick and moved in together, and I can think of three reasons why. 1. There has been more tension and I’m an emotional eater, so I’ve done the food comfort thing more than I used to. This made worse by 2. Nick’s habit of keeping snack food around, something I never did when I lived alone. If I wanted ice cream I went and bought an ice cream cone. I NEVER bought a tub of ice cream ‘cause I knew that when I was feeling emotionally frail it would call to me. And 3. I used to walk about an hour to an hour and a half a day to and from work (and maybe more to do other errands) and now I’m a commuter in a city that’s not pedestrian friendly.

I obviously need to address all three (or deal with #1 so that #2 won’t be an issue?), but #3 seems like the most manageable as it doesn’t deal with icky emotional stuff and it doesn’t require behavioral changes in Nick.

I’m going to keep working on it. Maybe I need to start braving the Canadian winters on my lunch break and go for a walk. While that’s an obvious solution, is it one that I will enact?