Back Again LLL

Hi All,

I am back from my wonderful holiday. We saw some amazing places, some man made and some God made, guess which were the best?

We ate and ate, I had decided to forget about diet and enjoy everything including food. I ate far too much breakfast but surely yoghurt and fruit can't hurt too much. For lunch we had crackers and fruit and for dinner whatever the restaurant we chose had on offer. Often the offer was pork and potatoes, this is usual in some countries. Added to that each day we had an ice cream or usually gelati and if we missed a day we had 2 the next day to make up for it. You see what I mean when I say I forgot about the diet.

We also walked and walked and when it wasn't on the flat or hill, it was up or down steps and steps and steps. Each day we walked miles and miles. I made it up the tower I was practising for 241 steps. That afternoon we found a tower and it had 103 steps, I made that too. Another day a tower had 306 steps, I made that too. Then the Ice Cave, what I didn't know was that it had 700 steps after 40 mins uphill walking. All of those are only the up so the same down.

Coming home I put on a long sleeved blouse and the bottom button didn't do up. What I had forgotten was the pouch around my neck hanging to my waist with passport and credit cards etc in it. That had me a tad worried.

My weight when I got home was about 62 1/2 kg. Not bad about what it had been the week we left, now after everything has settled down I am 61.2kg, I think that is 100g more than the week before we went.

So I am happy that input equalled output, but that required a LOT of walking and I won't be doing that now.

All that is a good outcome from a wonderful holiday. Now I have to get the right mind set to continue here. My next goal is 60kg, after that I will consider how much more.

Strange lessons learned from being sick (Manda)

So, an update: I've lost a few kilos!

Unfortunately, I lost them after being really quite sick. I had a fun intestinal bug that went on and on. So before I go into the lessons I've learned, let me say: intestinal bugs are not at all a good strategy for losing weight. In addition to the fact that no weight loss or "ideal body" is worth getting sick for, I actually gained weight over the first few weeks of being sick (not just because I was unable to exercise: pre-diagnosis, I somehow managed to think I was just hungry, so ate more than usual! What a silly brain I have.)

But I did eventually lose weight. Here is what I learned:

1) It is easy to eat small portions when your food choices are mind-numbingly monotonous.
My doctor said I'd get better faster if I avoided wheat, dairy, fruit, most meat, most vegetables, caffeine and alcahol. So for the last three weeks, I've been eating rice and friends. Rice and rice cereal, rice milk, rice crackers, unflavored chicken and fish, plain pumpkin, some soy milk, spinach, rice, lactose-free yoghurt, eggs, gluten-free bread, and rice. Oh, yeah, and rice.

Before I got sick, my dinner portions were about double what they needed to be. I just kept feeling hungry! But now I'm not eating as much, I don't feel like I need to eat as much. (And when I prepare another bowl of rice cereal, I don't feel like I need to eat at all. But I do). Hooray!

2) When the consequence of deviating from what you plan to eat is a terribly ill feeling for the entire next day, you are quite likely to stick to your plan.
I guess this is obvious. So, why can't I remember this when the consequence is only slightly delayed: the emotional pain of not being able to fit into any of my pants?

So, in summary: was sick, getting better, eating more healthily, thankful. Hopefully I will remember these things when I can eat freely again!

Steady as she goes (HJ)

Knowing that no-one's around to check on my progress (or lack thereof) I thought I'd post just to let nobody at all know that I've bounced up to 76kg again, but I've held it steady for a couple of weeks now.

I think I need to do some exercise.

Or maybe eat better choices...

or less of it.

The problem being, I like food.

And I bought marinated pork spare ribs for dinner tonight.

HOW did that get past the "I'm going to start eating healthy choices" censor?

But I'm not getting heavier.

AND My Beloved, the LBD and I all went for a walk last night after work.

THEN I walked to the post box to post some letters today.

Rays of hope, maybe?