Where has Manda been?

Sorry everyone! Here is a good update for what has been going on in the last few weeks:

1) I have weighed in at weights between 70.1 and 70.6. I'm not really too worried by this, as,

2) I am trying hard to care less about what I weigh! I feel a little too good about myself with my weight, so now I am concentrating on being happy about what has happened, but not prideful.

3) I'm having a lot of fun excercising! I am doing basketball still, but now have started doing Taekwondo as well (which is fun, but also rather intense physically). I love doing things I used to be too weak for.

4) I am running out of clothes that fit. I have three pairs of pants (size 14), a skirt (size 14) and three shirts (size 14) that are too big for me to seriously wear to work. While this is great news, it means I have to do a wash every three days (given that I am washing for one, that's a bad sign). So it's off to the shops for me again.

Will check in again soon,
Manda

Weigh In Wednesday (Femina)

Last week: 71.6kg
Today: 72.1kg
Difference: 500g gain

This isn't really a surprise. Last week was a fluke - it was actually the only day in the last fortnight where I weighed under 72kg and I know it was because I'd lost my appetite slightly with stress. Good news... my appetite is back now! :) And I'm still 400g lighter than I was before the little episode of stress so I'm counting this gain as a loss, which makes it a gain, right?? (If you can follow that logic it means you have a brain like mine. You should be deeply afraid.)

Weigh-In Wednesday (Eizelby)

Last time: 71.2kg
Today: 69.15
So: About 2 kgs lost

But please don't read this incorrectly - last weigh-in was on Feb 4th and I went down to 68 about two weeks ago, but then birthday happened and my sugar intake skyrocketed and I haven't been able to get it back down. For instance: in the last 24 hours I consumed an entire KitKat chocolate bar. Not the regular size. It was a decent chocolate block size. Bad, bad Eizelby. And it was just after I ordered a bowl of vegies when everyone else ordered pizza!

Help, oh help, I am fast losing motivation!

Weigh-In (HJ)

Everything is exactly the same.

Is there anything left to say?.

Weigh In Wednesday (Femina)

Last week: 72.5kg
Today: 71.6kg
Loss: 900g

I'm definitely celebrating this... but with the disclaimer that it's almost certainly because I've been a bit stressed and haven't been eating much. (The disclaimer is to soften the blow for myself when I put this weight back on in a week!) Still, a loss is a loss is a loss...

I still haven't been to the gym. I'm not even sure I remember where it is now... oh dear. I shall make an effort to get there this week. Unfortunately my gym buddies have also been quite stressed and going through some hard times so with all three of us down there's been no one to spur the others on. Maybe we should have had an agreement that only two of us were allowed to be stressed at the one time.

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So the Buck Stops Here and Now

I've been a very bad little bovine.

I've been eating my head off.

I've been slack about exercising.

I haven't been game to weigh in, and if I did I didn't want to talk/blog about it.

... And it's all been going on for a few weeks now.

It's been busy. Good excuse? The thing is there are very few times that I'm not going to be busy. I'm also moving from a job where things are always urgent (everyone wants their job done yesterday) to one where things will be both urgent and important (in a few weeks I'm being commissioned as a pastor at my church).

So busy simply can't afford to be an excuse any longer.

Good food being easily available can't afford to be an excuse any longer, either. Do you know how well people eat in churches?

So today I draw a line in the sand and say, "No more excuses."

I will update my weightloss ticker on my blog to show the negative.

I rule off my trendy spreadsheet and start my second grade of weightloss over again. And this time I'm mentioning numbers (but just remember that I'm not tall, therefore they are small numbers compared to some)

So here are the numbers:

Weight today - 70.6kg (yes, over the magic round number I'm never going to see again)
Gain since last time I blogged - 1.4kg
Total loss to date - 5.4kg
Loss left to go - 10.6kg

I should easily lose some weight this week because yesterday I did the pointless tomorrow-I'm-going-to-start-being-good-again splurge.

So now I'm going off to row.

Weigh-In Wednesday (Femina)

Last time: 72.6kg
Today: 72.5kg
Loss: 100g

If I were a contestant on The Biggest Loser I'd probably be in floods of tears that I hadn't lost 6kg in a week, but as I'm not a contestant on The Biggest Loser and I'd like to keep the weight off long term so I don't have to go on TV advertising diet 'shakes', I'm actually quite content with 100g. Yeah, it's tiny, but it's tiny in the right direction and that's all that matters to me.

No Weigh! (Donners)

I don't know if I established my goals very clearly but I am not going to weigh-in, because my problem isn't weight, it's greed and that's why I joined OSC - to be accountable for my attitude towards food.

I did okay this week, I am trying to see food as something that is a good gift to enjoy, not as entertainment when I am bored, tired or lacking the motivation to do other things - I think I was better this week.I am trying to see food as something that I need regularly for energy and nourishment - rather than to meet my felt need. I was definately better at that!

My health ( ongoing problems) was bad today which leads to exhaustion, nausea, back and abdominal pain and I had to go home early - which was frustrating. I had missed my medication for the day which gave me an even worse reaction than usual. It was amazing how much I watched myself think "I want chocolate, I want melted cheese - I want" - when I was having cramps and other pain!

Food's not going to cut it darling, just have to ride it out - I still had a bit of chocolate and had melted cheese for dinner.

Where's Weigh-In? (Eizelby)

I've had an update on the cards for awhile, titled 'The Day Eizelby Traveled to Target Three Times in Order to Buy a Set of Scales' but it was such an ordeal that it has been difficult to put fingers to keyboard about it. The only thing you need to know is that I now do, in fact, own scales all to myself! I don't like them as much as I did Manda's, despite the fact they are shiny digital Weight Watchers ones, but I digress.

At the moment I am bouncing around the 69/70kg mark. Mid-week I was down to 69.2 (so close to my next goal of 69!), but after a weekend of indulging it's back to 70.6 today. Sigh! It really feels like it can take one bad day to erase a week of healthy living. It's not quite fair, in my opinion.

One thing I have learned from the weekend is that attending a youth group Iron Chef competition where the object is for every team to bake a delicious, appetising cake is NOT a good idea for someone who is trying to resist temptation.

The first Skinny Cow award

In case you missed it, Manda reached her goal last week!  In honour of the occasion, here's a big Skinny Cow star to say well done - we're proud of you!

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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. :)
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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?