grdell's Weight Loss Blog, Round 2 - Week 5

[grdell]

So yeah, here I am again. I admit that the last time wasn't as much of a success as I would have liked. I went back and re-read over the previous blog and discovered that I'm starting off from a slightly better position, but I'm still disappointed in myself that I wasn't able to keep at it like I need to. Still, I'm not going to beat myself up over it. I'm just going to try again. And keep trying again until I can do it for good.

Why now? Well, why not? It's been preying on my mind for some time that I need to buckle down and get this fat off my waist for health reasons. Does my newly single status have something to do with it? I won't lie and say that it doesn't, but I will say that it's not the primary reason and say that I remain confident that my priorities are straight. I need to slim down for my health. If a side effect is looking better, then all to the good.

So what are my tools this time around? I took the time this past weekend to make up a few charts to track progress. One is a daily food journal where I can keep meticulous track of everything I put in my mouth. Having it all written down makes it very real and not so easily dismissed as trivial. Another is a weekly progress journal that tracks weight and waist measurement. And now there's this blog. I found that it helped last time and I hope it helps this time, too. A sense of accountability will see me through times of weakness.

My starting point:
Weight: 224 pounds
Waist: 47 1/2 inches

So far today I have kept to my "diet" of simply eating less. Controlling portions is how I've successfully lost weight in the past and I'm confident it will do so again. I also did 35 minutes of cardio work. I see my personal trainer twice a week for strength training usually, but he injured himself last week and isn't seeing anyone right now. As soon as he's well again, I'll resume my sessions with him.

Also, now that I make my own strained yogurt, I have a constant ready source of lean (I only use fat free milk) protein that is always available in all of my favorite flavors! I am so glad I started doing that.

I also understand the importance of setting goals. A lot of books that I've read talk about setting short, medium and long term goals, but I'm telescoping that a little. I don't really have any medium term goals, but I do have what I call "immediate" goals as well as short and long term. My immediate goals are simply getting through each day controlling my eating and making sure I exercise. Every day that I do that I consider a victory. My short term goal this first week is simply to lose at least three pounds. The last time I did this, I lost six in my first week. I know that a healthy rate of weight loss is one to two pounds per week, but I also know that the first week shows more significant improvements than normal, so I set my goal at three. My long term goal has nothing to do with weight, however, as I know that as I get more fit I'll grow more muscle mass which weighs much more than fat. I don't know what my ultimate weight will be - and I don't care - but my ultimate long term goal is a 36 inch waist. I know my body and I feel that that is a reasonable and realistic goal. I think if I went much less than that I would start to get too thin for my frame. I don't really have a time frame for this goal yet, but I hope to do it within a year.

My last note is a reminder that I do understand the importance of allowed cheat days. Just like last time, this is Saturday for me. I usually go out with friends on Saturdays and to hell with the "diet". It does help keep me sane.

Well, I think that's about all I have to say on the matter for today. But I'll do my best to keep up with regular updates and weekly progress reports. Wish me luck! ;)

[Ryven]

I used an app on my phone to record my food intake for a month.  It was actually very accurate and helpful, and it even allows you to scan bar codes to give you the exact nutritional information of anything that you buy.  It allows you to create recipes within it which will give you the nutritional information for per serving and entire recipe, and it makes it easy to keep track of foods you routinely eat.  For example, you enjoy greek yogurt.  It keeps a list of all foods you've entered, so you can go back through and find them easily without reentering the same thing over and over.  It's called Lose it! if you want to take a look.  It might be helpful for you.

[Bloodied Porcelain]

I also use an ap. I use My Fitness Pal though, as I find it more thorough than other weight loss aps. I log my food every day on my phone, and when I go see my doctor every 4-6 weeks, I print out the log of the time since we last saw each other. It also allows you to record your exercise, to track your weight and measurements, etc. I absolutely love it, it's a life saver. :) I lost 25 lb in 5 weeks and pretty much the only tool I used was that ap.

[grdell]

I am very pleased to say that the diet is proceeding according to plan. I did forget to do any exercise yesterday, though, as it is not yet habitual. I'm not going to let one small failure interfere with my goals, however.

What I find most interesting about the portion control method is how inadequate the quantity of food I portion out to myself seems at first. I am so used to overeating that when I have a properly sized portion, it looks like nowhere near enough. But after I've eaten, I'm sufficiently satisfied rather than feeling like Jabba the Hutt. I just have to get over my own psychology, I guess.

[grdell]

Even though I planned on only weighing in on Monday mornings, I decided to give it a go this morning anyway and see what progress has already been made. 218. Down six pounds already. Then again, tomorrow is my cheat day, so who knows how much of that will come back, but I'm still quite proud of myself, even though I know it's always like this - losing a lot right at the start before it slows down to a more regular progress. But still... I like what I see! Well, from the numbers on the scale, anyway. ;)

[grdell]

So yeah... yesterday was cheat day and I went absolutely crazy. But on purpose. It was kind of like those situations where parents catch their kid smoking and make him smoke a whole pack and get sick so he doesn't want to smoke anymore. After a week of eating sensibly, I went back to my old habits for a whole day and felt horrible. Trying to teach myself an object lesson - see? See what it was like? You really don't want to do that anymore, do you?

No. No, I don't.

I got on the scale this morning and noticed that in that one day I gained back three and a half pounds. Sheesh. But not unexpected, actually. I don't really view that as any kind of setback if I did in fact learn my lesson from it. Which I think I did. Today has been a very light day for me, eating-wise. I haven't wanted much. I've noticed I was hungry and thought "yeah, I could wait a little bit." And then only had a salad even when I did. So I think new habits are being formed already - or at the very least new ideas and coping mechanisms.

So it's still a step forward. We'll see what progress when I step on the scale tomorrow morning...

[grdell]

So... today was a little rough because I had a depressive episode. But at least it was brief and my period of not caring about my diet was restricted to one meal and I didn't overindulge much during that time. I guess some of the habits are sticking after all... ;)

Measurements for the start of week 2:
Weight: 220 pounds
Waist: 47 inches

So I am down four pounds (met my short term goal!) and half an inch. I know that this kind of progress is abnormal, so I'm setting my goal for this week at only one and a half pounds, which falls right in the middle of the healthy rate of one to two pounds per week. This week also has a holiday in it, but I am determined not to let that affect me... too much. ;)

[grdell]

Okay, so yesterday wasn't so bad. I kept myself under some control - I certainly could have done a lot worse.

I slept in today (since I didn't get to bed until around 3 in the morning), so my schedule's a little off, but overall I'm still keeping to the diet. Made a fresh batch of yogurt (strawberry!) but otherwise I'm pretty much being a slug today. Yesterday I was on such a massive cleaning binge that I'm sore from it today. The house has never been neater, though, so I think it was worth it. And cleaning's supposed to be really good exercise, so there's that, too. ;)

[grdell]

Even though I'm not sleeping on the schedule like I should (New Year's threw me off, but that's no excuse for this continuation - I must get back on track), my weight loss due to portion control is progressing nicely. Yesterday was my cheat day but I didn't go anywhere near as wild as I did last week (which was also the point). I stepped on the scale this morning and found that I hadn't gained anything back, nor lost anything more... but it may be too early to say for sure. Considering that prior to that I had only lost my goal of one and a half pounds, I hope I don't wind up regretting it. I'll find out tomorrow when I get the scale "officially". Today I'm taking it easy (activity-wise) and am really going to be careful about my intake and we'll see how it goes tomorrow for the official report.

[grdell]

And once again, I exceeded my goal. Turns out I didn't really have much to worry about yesterday. Today's figures:

Weight: 217 1/2 pounds
Waist: 47 inches

Okay, so I didn't really lose much off the waist (nothing, actually, according to the tape measure, but that's notoriously unreliable), but I did take off two and a half pounds which is one more pound than I was shooting for. So hooray for me! :D

Anyway, same goal this week - one and a half pounds in keeping with a healthy rate of weight loss.

The only bad news is that this was solely through diet. I really need to get into the habit of daily cardio...

[grdell]

Monday once again and time for results! Yes, I'm happy because progress continues strong, in spite of overindulgent weekends... ;)

Weight: 215 pounds
Waist: 46 1/2 inches

Total so far of nine pounds and one whole inch! In three weeks, I think that's not at all bad.

[grdell]

Last week was a wash. A bad one. I started getting an income again and went kind of wild at the grocery store since I had money to spend... which led to having to eat all that food that I bought...

But - and this is the important part - I WILL NOT BE DISCOURAGED!

I put a pound and a half back on, but that's not the end of the world and certainly not the end of my efforts. I'm getting myself back under control and back on schedule, so things should resume nicely starting this week.

So where am I right now? Well, at 216 1/2 pounds this morning. But, like I said, I refuse to get discouraged and give up. Not gonna happen. This is was a minor setback motivated by a desire to celebrate the fact that I have a job again.