The New kid (Donners)

Hi all you skinny cows!

I'm the new kid, so I hope I don't end up walking around the playground by myself - probably eating something I shouldn't. For those of you who don't know me I am friends with Manda, Eizelby and know Femina some too...

Manda and I challenged each other ( last year) to not eat (refined) sugar for two weeks and only eat fruit instead, since then I have bounced around being "good" and bad"since then. I am a big fan of food and so is my husband, I tend to exercise very regularly but have a few tiredness issues that sometimes hold me back.

Last night I went to the St Kilda night market and had (extremely delicious Argentinian) barbecued ribs and not only finished mine but started on my husbands leftovers....Sad isn't it! I then moved on to share some churros with him too, which I didn't need.

All in all, I feel good that I tried two types of food I had never had before and I don't need to wonder anymore. I am also being virtuous in buying various nice dried fruit ( cranberries, sultanas, apricots, prunes and dates) instead of lollies, which just get me every time.

I was good with exercise this week, too. But need to exercise more self-control when I'm tired, Wednesday night looked awfully close to a binge...

Thanks for having me!

Weigh-In Wwhat?! (Manda)

Interesting.

Last Weigh-In Wednesday (Feb 11): 70.7
Last Wednesday (Feb 18): 70.6
This Wednesday (Feb 25): 70.7
Change: no change
Total loss so far: 5.3 kilos

It looks remarkably like a plateau to me. But then-

Today (Feb 26): 70.0
Change: a loss of .7
Total loss so far: 6 kilos
Kilos to goal: ZERO!

I'll take it.

The following should be preceded by a word of thanks to God. I have been struggling with gluttony for a while, and while God helped me away from that, I tended to the other side and started making my body an idol for myself. I have to admit this is still a hard thing for me - but I am very thankful that God has been by my side, pointing sinful things out and helping me to break free from them, slowly. I am definitely stronger here than I was before. So, now I can say:

Hooray! I reached my goal! Hooray! I'm at 70 kilos for the first time since I was about 15. Hoooray! I'm eating better and feeling better and still eating orange poppyseed cake (like I did this morning, for example) but not bingeing! I feel so good.

HOORAY!

Sorry, I just felt like I should celebrate for a bit. Thanks for all the support you guys have been over the last few months, and thanks for being so inspirational :) I'm sticking around - in a few days you'll see me post about my plan for maintaining the 70.

Weigh-In Wednesday (Femina)

Yes, I'm really weighing in this week.

Last time: 72.4kg
Today: 72.6kg

Difference: 200g gain

Meh - 200g is fine with me.  It's a small glass of water.  It's two weeks since I last weighed in on here and in that time my weight went up about a kilo (possibly related to pizza and Cadbury Creme Eggs...) and has come back down again.  I didn't do any particular dieting; I just got the emotional eating back under control and my weight came back down to what it is today, so this seems to be my 'true' weight at the moment.

I am still trying to get back to the gym.  I do like it; I'm just way out of the habit now and I'm not sure how to motivate myself.  Chocolate rewards seem counter-productive, somehow.

And in other news... I note that no one else has weighed in recently.  That, of course, is completely fine - this is a no-pressure community - but don't be afraid to drop by and let us all know you're going okay even if you don't feel like weighing in.  I'm a lonely Cowgirl over here... :)

No-Weigh Wednesday (Femina)

What - again? Yes, I'm afraid so. I had a bit of an emotional blip last Friday which led to a little emotional eating blowout over the weekend... and a little beyond the weekend. As a result I don't want to weigh myself for a few days, so I'm taking a pass this week.

The good news is, as far as emotional food blowouts go it was pretty tame - a super-cheesy pizza eaten over two days, some chocolate, hash browns, a piece of cake, sausages... there are times in the past when I would have eaten that in one day, not spread out over four days. I see that as a good thing because it means my instinct to binge is decreasing. Also, I actually recognise emotional eating for what it is now and that tends to make me stop and take stock of why I'm eating.

So it's all good. But I'm still not weighing myself today. :)
.

Steady as she goes (HJ)

I have not gained any weight this week.

On the other hand I've not lost any, either.

Now I'd better get my act into gear for the future, I have such a crop of itchy spots at the moment that I'm likely to give up anything to get rid of them - although I bought more anti-histamines this morning, so...

No-Weigh Friday (Eizelby)

Manda moved out!  As a consequence of this, she of course took her scales with her, thus leaving me scale-less.  I'll probably buy a thing to weigh myself on in the next week, and update you next Wednesday.  It's bizarre not having the scales in the bathroom anymore, and therefore not weighing myself anytime I go in there.  I have an irrational fear I've put all of the weight back on, but I doubt it.  I think.

I was babysitting last night and found myself with little to do.  With not much on TV,  and bored with my own book, I turned to the homeowners' bookshelf for something to peruse.  Lo and behold, 'The Low GI Diet' sat blaring its title at me.

I have polycystic ovaries, and some hormonal imbalances that come with this.  It means, among other unpleasant things, I don't get my period very regularly.  It also unfortunately means that I am "insulin resistant".  This basically seems to assert that I have too much sugar in my blood, and by eating a high GI diet I have made my period problems worse and the sugar in my system continually build up.  Basically, the smart thing to do for my general health is to follow a low GI diet, but being a lazy bum I hadn't looked into it much.  But here was my chance!  Hours with nothing to do and a book about how to combat my exact problem!

I already knew some stuff about low GI foods by researching on the internet.  The most surprising find was that raw vegies can be a lot better for your insulin levels than their cooked counterparts.  For example, raw carrots have a very low GI score of 16, while boiled carrots are more than double that, with a score of 41!!  Learning that made me realise that you can't assume you know the basics about food; it's important to look into things.  41 is still a relatively low GI score compared to, say, potatoes, but it's still amazing that such an increase can happen by simply heating up the carrots!

I plan to find and purchase this exceedingly helpful book tomorrow.  It contains a 12-week eating plan (which truthfully I probably won't follow - I'm certainly not a great cook and I'd have to be pretty adventurous to try these foods without step-by-step instructions) and exercise tips, but the main reason it would help me is because it stresses what is important; knowing what foods are good for you in terms of glucose intake, and how to be smart about food.  I'm not a dumb person, but like most people I seem to make some stupid decisions in relation to food.  I have a new-found motivation to be careful with my body, because apparently if I'm not I'm very likely to develop type 2 diabetes, not a very pleasant side effect of indulging oneself!  Until I find the book, this website is really helpful for quickly checking foods for their scores.

What I ultimately have learned for delving into the interesting and sometimes frightening world of GI is that I need to care more about the quality of food that I eat.  $1 wholemeal loaves of bread are great for the wallet (not to mention free the white bread at my family's house!), but I'm going to need to shell out for the pricey Buergen Soylin stuff if I want to be serious about this.  Also, no more buying Homebrand Sour Worms for the sole reason that they are on special!  Writing a list of things I need to buy before I go shopping is my new battle plan.

Manda the Yoyo + Weigh-In Wednesday

Last week: 70.6
This week: 70.7
Change: a gain of 100 grams
Total loss so far: a loss of 5.3

I like to think of it like a yoyo. Yoyo dieting is apparently bad and results in actresses who end up larger than when they started. (I do agree with that - the concept of "being on a diet for a while" followed by a nice long binge is clearly not going to work). However, whoever came up with the term "yoyo" has never seen me play with one.

It starts up high, I drop it and it goes down a lot, then it comes up a little, then it goes down a lot, then it comes up a little, then it ends up on the floor. The you have to tediously roll it all up again, but let's leave that part out.

That seems to accurately describe how I'm going. down 1 kilo, up .3, down .7, up .5, down 1.3, up .1 (or something like that). It comes from being dedicated to my goals but not freakish about it. I still eat cake; I just don't-eat it more than I used to. I'm more-or-less following my Weight Watchers points and have been for two and a half years now - I started at 93.4, by the way.

I feel good about that. And thankful to lovely people who have noticed my skcowness recently. And to you guys, for being the best support I could ask for!

Weigh-In Wednesday (Femina)

Last week: 74kg
This week: 72.4kg

Loss: 1.6kg.... woo hoo!

I started the weight loss ticker on my blog at my heaviest weight (during the ups and downs) of 75.3kg, which means my total weight loss to date is 2.9kg. And THAT means I've reached my first goal and can buy the reward. It was supposed to be flowers but I was out yesterday and knew I'd already reached my goal so I bought the marble rolling pin I've been eyeing off for a while. It was on sale, too, which was gratifying.

I think the weight loss is a combination of Write It Down Month, which is really helping me feel more in control, and the hideously hot weather we've had here. No one wants to eat when it's 43 degrees for most of the week.

Goals for this week:

• Stick to writing down what I eat.
• Plan my week's meals in advance. This helps not only with budgeting but also with avoiding snacks. I don't know why, but knowing what I'll be having for dinner somehow gives me self-control! I can't explain it... :)
• Get back to the gym - I went yesterday for the first time in three weeks and remembered why I liked it, but I noticed a difference in what I was able to do. It was a shorter workout because I was tiring more easily, having not exercised at all for a while. I need to build up again, particularly since I've been having back and neck pain which always gets worse when I haven't been exercising. I need to strengthen those muscles again or I end up being in pain.

I haven't seen my scales say anything under 74kg for quite some time so I'm feeling happy. Chocolate all round to celebrate! Oh... wait a minute...

What's 300 grams? (Givinya)

So I forgot to weigh in on Wednesday, and I forgot again on Thursday. I finally managed it on Friday, but being pregnant, I'm not going to judge my success by the numbers on the scales but rather by seeing a loss of fat on currently-fat places.

But I did notice something interesting when I got on the scales. The number was something like 67.3 kg.

Then I got off and Smoochy Girl got on. The scales said 9.4 kg while she said "Eight," which is The Current Default Number for her 1¾ year old brain.

Me again: 67.7 kg. Hm. Certain I didn't gain 400g in the last 20 seconds.

Smoochy: 9.4 kg, "Eight," she said again.

Me again: 67.4 kg. A loss of 300g. Way to go, me! Hang on, I don't think I can actually believe in this 20-second loss, given that I didn't believe the 20-second gain.

Smoochy: 9.4 kg, "Eight!"

So what have we learned?

(a) Scales suck, and they lie too.

(b) Hippomanic Jen, what's 300g in the grand scheme of things, especially given point (a) above?

(c) Loudly proclaiming a lower number when standing on the scales won't actually make you any lighter.

A Gain Again (HJ)

*Huge Sigh*

300 grams heavier than last week. Great. But then, my self-control wasn't so great, so...

Still 300 grams isn't much. Maybe I just needed to wring out my bladder better beforehand. Or that making caramel fudge yesterday afternoon when I couldn't be bothered working anymore wasn't such a good idea. Then again, the making fudge possibly wasn't the problem. ;)

I think what this proves is that my weight loss before Christmas can be attributed to both exercise and restraint/better food choices. I really need to get back to that. Another contributing factor for me could be prayer/meditation. It often helps my self-control because I feel more balanced on days when I've made time to pray. I really need to get back to that, too.

I've found a new form of exercise, though. We currently have two huge piles of dirt in our yard that needs to be shovelled. And some weeds that need to be dug out before we shovel dirt on top of them. This should do something for me over the coming weeks, surely.

The good thing that I've discovered is that my stamina is improving. I've always said that I can only do about half an hour of heavy work. I was very depressed one afternoon to discover that shovelling still wore me out to the "I. just. can't. move anymore" stage. I've been doing more and more exercise and I'm still not able to keep on working! Then I went inside and realised that I'd been working for over an hour (closer to 1 hour 15 minutes). I am getting stronger, regardless of what the scales are telling me. That's got to be good. Right?

Weigh-In Wednesday (Eizelby)

Last week: 71.9kg

Yesterday: 71.2kg

So: A loss of 0.7kg

I keep repeating "slow and steady wins the race" in my head.  I guess it's my mantra in this.

Something I didn't realise last weigh-in that is worth mentioning: I now have a BMI of 25, which means I'm back in the healthy weight range for my height!  Better still, though I haven't lost so much weight in terms of measurement, I feel lighter.  During the extreme pervasive heat of last week, I was feeling pretty gross and heavy, and not motivated to lose weight at all.  I was not, in fact, exercising, because to even stand was a chore.  But since the weather has cooled somewhat, I'm left feeling more energetic and comfortable in my own skin.

I still haven't set foot in a gym this year.  According to my plan I should have already gone three times, but unfortunately as yet I have not worked up the courage.  This is my challenge for the week: to go to the gym and actually do some kind of workout.

Except for the no-gym thing, I am going fairly well with the plan; I've been walking a lot since the 40+ degree heat ended, I went to the pool this week, I have been trying to eat lower GI foods.  I guess I can take pride in the little number at the top of this post because it is a result of a lifestyle overhaul!  However, I know the hardest thing will be keeping up with it after the kilos have gone.  I'll just wait until it's a reality to think about that issue.

Weigh-In Wednesday (Manda)

Last week: 71.9
This week: 70.6
Change: a loss of 1.3
Total loss so far: a loss of 5.4

(Note: Impending goal! Remember Manda, 600 grams left until you get a facial/pretty dress!)

So, turns out my watery week did me some good (now that I've stopped feeling nauseated all the time). What I'm going to take away from this is:

- Drinking my kilojoules may have helped me lose weight, but I bloated and felt awful - I would never manage do that to myself, save for another once-in-a-century heatwave.
- However, those that want me to drink those "eight glasses per day" might actually be on to something, so let's keep that part up.

Weigh In Wednesday (Femina)

My last official weigh in was two weeks ago and I've already unofficially weighed in this week in my sauna post, but I'll post it officially anyway.

Two weeks ago: 75kg

Today: 74kg

Difference: 1kg loss

I know it was partly the heat which made me eat less and drink loads of water so it will be interesting to see if it stays off now that the weather is much cooler.  I think Write It Down Month will help me to keep it off and to keep losing weight because I'm becoming much more conscious of what's going in, and when and why... although it's now Biggest Loser season and that normally makes me want to eat as I'm watching and mocking.  No, not mocking them for being fat, mocking them for saying things like, "I couldn't believe it when Ajay said we'd have to weigh in" and "I thought the trainers would go easy on us for the first week or so but they made us work really hard."  What - have you NEVER seen the show before???  And of course mocking Shannon the trainer for saying 'pacifically' instead of 'specifically', and using 'literally' in a completely non-literal way ("He literally dropped dead on the spot").  Ah, good times.

What happens when you drink all your kilojoules? (Manda)

Well, I don't actually know yet. 

Unfortunately far from Femina's sauntastic results, I'm not feeling so good. Right about when the mercury hit 43 last week, I lost my appetite for your average food group. Instead, I have been eating the following:

Boost juice, orange juice, ice cream, apple and guava juice, boost juice, banana bread, small amounts of toast, orange juice, strawberries, cordial, coffee, boost juice, cereal, milkshakes, a shot of Baileys with ice, a Nando's wrap or two.

Like I said, I don't feel so good. Will eating solid food again (now that we're down ten degrees to 33) help me on Wednesday? Stay tuned.