Day 38 - The Lost Days - Official Weigh in #4

Happy Thanksgiving. So why haven't I posted since 11/9? A simple explanation but not an acceptable one. At my last weigh in, I weighed 159.6. When I got weighed the following week, I tipped the scales at 160.8. Since I hadn't gone off my diet, I knew that it wasn't possible to have gained weight but nonetheless, I found it discouraging. The part of this story that is so unlike me is that this would typically be the time that I would throw my hands up, say (usually outloud) "what's the use," and find comfort in a bag of potato chips and a large pizza. I don't know what stopped me from doing that but something did and despite the small weight gain, I stuck to it. Something interesting is occurring. On my carb up days, DH and I generally eat out. I'm finding myself full on a smaller portion and even better than that I actually don't stuff myself until every last morsel of food is off my plate. It's probably too soon to call this a milestone but it is an encouraging start. I'm still exercising 6 days a week, working out with weights and alternating cardio workouts. I feel firmer and I've finally taken an inch off of my waist. I haven't worked my way up to exercising off 400 calories a day consistently and I may even abandon the idea. I can get there but when I do, I find that I don't have time for the things that I enjoy doing so at this point, I'm sticking with all in moderation.

Thanksgiving Day and for the first time in years, I do have a plan. We're going to a restaurant this year and the plan is to get a take home box when my meal is served and to eat no more than half of everything.

Starting weight: 168.8
Current weight: 156
Total lbs. lost: 12.8
Goal weight: 127
Lbs. to go: 29!
Lbs. to go to get under 155: 1.1
Lbs to go to get into the final 20's: I'm there
Lbs. to go to get into the final 10's: 10 lbs.

I can do this, And I this time I really believe it!!!

Day 23 - Official Weigh in #3

Good morning. What a difference a day makes! I got on the scale this morning and guess what? It was water weight. I weighed in this morning at 159.6. I'm under 160. Whoo Hoo! One goal reached. I'm so excited.

I started to work toward my goal of exercising off 400 calories. The reason that the Biggest Loser contestants are able to work off 600 calories a day is that let's face it, that's really all that they have to do and it doesn't hurt that they have Jillian and Bob to kick them in the butt. The rest of us do have to balance work, our daily lives and exercise without Bob and Jillian to yell at, I mean motivate, us. On the other hand, when the B/L contestants are voted off, they manage to get the rest of their weight off by finale time. Yesterday, was a very busy day for me but I managed to burn off 281 calories using a treadmill program that I read about in Self magazine a couple of years ago. Great program it only takes a half an hour but you burn off a ton of calories and get a great workout. I hope to get to 400 calories by the end of the month. I'll need to do at least that one to survive Thanksgiving.

Stats:

Exercise calories burned: 281
Goal: 400
Calories to goal: 119

Starting weight: 168.8
Current weight: 159.6
Total weight lost: 9.2 lbs
Goal weight: 127
Lbs. to go: 32.6
Lbs to go to lose 10 lbs: .8
Lbs to go to get into the final 20's: 2.6

Goals that I achieved:
Lbs to get into the 150's!

Day 22

Good morning. Okay, now I'm really upset. I got weighed yesterday morning and I weighed 160.6. I like to weigh in on a carb up day because it is always my hope that will keep me on plan. Today was my official weigh in and my weight was 163.6. I know that there is no way that I could possibly have gained three pounds overnight but it is still discouraging. I'm going to assume that the 3 lbs is water weight and take yesterday's weight as my weight for the weigh in. This will be the absolute last time that I will ever do a carb up day the day before my official weigh in.

I also wasn't able to fit in my last chance exercise session. Fred didn't feel like going to the gym and at this point in his illness, I can't leave him alone. We ran around all day long and I did some fairly heavy yard work so I thought that I would be o.k.

I felt so discouraged this morning. This is the point in the diet where I would normally just give it up. I am so determined to get the weight off that I'm not choosing that option this time. I'll give this diet another couple of weeks and if I don't see any further weight loss, I'll move on to something else.

I recall on one of the Biggest Loser episodes that one of the contestants mentioned that for women the program called for them to burn off 600 calories and for men 800 calories per day. I'm not certain that I would have the time to do that at this point but I think that I'll make that a goal. This week, my goal will be to burn off 300 calories. I'll post calories burned off every day and let's see where we can take this.

And how is your day starting off?

Starting weight: 168.8
Current weight: 160.6 (Is this cheating?)
Total weight loss: 8.2 lbs.
Goal weight: 127
Lbs. to go: 33.6
Lbs to go to get into the 150's: .7 lbs
Lbs to go to lose 1st 10 lbs.: 1.8
Lbs. to go to get into the final 20's: 13.7

Day 21

Good morning. Can it be three weeks since I started this diet? Hard to believe. It's gone by so fast. Yesterday was my second carb down day in a row and today I have a carb up day. I have some concerns about doing a carb up day, the day before my official weigh in but it is what it is.

Since I started the official diet this week, I also had to change my exercise program. I only lifted weights three days this week, so I only had two full body workouts. Not sure how comfortable I feel about that. I've also been changing up my cardio. Finally got back on the elliptical. I haven't been able to do it since Fred stopped in home therapy.

I don't feel like I've lost weight this week. I don't really feel any changes in my body so it will be interesting to see what the numbers show when I get on the scale in the morning.

Day 20 - No longer shiny and new

Good morning. Yesterday was a carb down day and it went o.k. It's interesting to me that when I initially went on the diet, I felt so full that I could barely squeeze in all of the required meals. Now, for the first time, I feel hungry and have no problem eating 6 meals a day. I'm hoping that's because I'm eating smaller portions but I suspect it has a lot more to do with the motivation factor. The diet is no longer shiny and new and actually requires willpower. (Yes, this is the point where I would usually give up and put all of the weight back on that I lost plus a couple of pounds more). Hopefully when I weigh in on Sunday, the weight loss will give me the motivation I need. DH and I are also planning a trip to Phoenix in January and I should be able to lose a minimum of 10-15 lbs before we go. As I get closer, I'm going to have to formulate an eating plan that will allow me to have a good time but at the same time not completely blow the diet. Our hotel has a kitchen so that should help somewhat but eating out is ineveitable.

Yesterday was the first time that I didn't work out with weights since I started going back to the gym. This week weight training is three days only and today's cardio is 45-60 minutes of slow exercise. I usually do an hour of cardio when I work out so yesterday, I did an hour and fifteen minutes to do my take on the program.

I have back to back carb down days but that should work out well because that will mean that I will have a carb up day on Saturday.

Day 19 - I blew it

I purposely got weighed yesterday even though I had my official weigh in on Sunday. I always weigh in before carb up day. As I mentioned in an earlier blog, I love carb up day but I'm also afraid that I'll lose control. Yesterday was that day. I did well through lunch. DH and I went to the mall and I ordered ziti with meatballs and ate until I got full and stopped. I was surprised to discover that I only ate half of the pasta and half of a piece of garlic bread.

So what's the problem? I had a sandwich for dinner along with a glass of wine, followed by another glass of wine, followed by yet another one. At that point, I lost all control and had a couple of handfuls of trail mix and a cup of pudding. I just couldn't get full. The question is whether I was feeding physical hunger or emotional hunger.

To compound the problem, Weds, is my exercise day off . All that I can do at this point is pick myself up and jump right back on and hope that I didn't do too much damage.

Day 18 - It had to happen

Good morning. It had to happen. For the first time, 18 days into the diet, I was tempted to cheat. I bought DH some trail mix that seemed to call my name. Still, I didn't give in to the temptation. Not because of any great willpower on my part but probably because I knew that today is my carb up day and I can eat anything that I want today.

Although I find myself getting fuller on smaller quantities of food, I'm still very worried about blowing it on my off days. DH and I went to Subway for lunch yesterday and after I ate about 3/4 of the sandwich I felt full. Interestingly enough and another one of those dig deep down issues is that although I felt full, I continued to eat until I finished the sandwich. Probably goes way back to childhood and those poor starving children in India thing.

I worked on lower body weights yesterday and did an half hour on the elliptical. I finished the day with a half and hour on my treadmill.