I am officially a LOSER. (GdeE)

I bet you thought I'd died.  I haven't.  I just left to focus on doing what I'd been trying to do for so long - losing some damn weight.


On the Scales:

• Starting Weight: 67.0kg.
• Current Weight: 60.3kg
• Loss: 6.7kg, or 10% of my starting weight.

 
NSVs (Non-Scale Victories)

• BMI (not perfect, but a decent enough indicator for me): Previously: 24.9.  Wear a cardigan, and I'd be "overweight."  Now: 22.4 - just shy of the halfway point in the normal range.
• Currently wearing my GOAL JEANS!  My what?  MY GOAL JEANS!!
• Everyone is noticing that I'm looking trimmer, even my old Dad.
• Can now sustain weight loss without logging food every day: have a bit of an instinct for what I will and won't eat in order to keep losing.
• Am much fitter and can wear workout clothes without laughing at self.
• Took a ridiculous picture of self in goal jeans.  Laughed at self then.

What's worked for me?

(1) I always ate "fairly healthy," but it wasn't until I started counting calories on My Fitness Pal that I had any success at all.  After all, what's a diet without a treat?  And how big is a treat?  And how many treats?  I never knew the answers to these questions until I had a set number of calories to eat each day, and wrote down every single thing I actually ate.  The answers to the above questions weren't what I'd previously thought.

Along with counting calories, I have spent time focussing on carbs/proteins/fats, saturated fat content, sugar content, and sodium content.  All these things are quite important, and you'd go mad trying to track it all without My Fitness Pal.

Those six weeks of hard-line rules late last year were great, and I've mostly kept them up and included some more, like no rice crackers, ever!  Ever, ever, ever!  I'll tell you why one day.  Evil things.

(2) I always stayed "fairly active," but it wasn't until I started "working out" that I had any success either.  I had previously read research indicating that pure cardio was the way to go if you want to burn fat, but the reality is that strength training is pretty effective especially when it's coupled with cardio.  It was all more effective when my exercise routine was mixed up so my body didn't get used to my workout routine and go into a plateau.

So I completed Jillian Michaels' 23-day Shred program ... I beg your pardon ... I nearly completed Jillian Michaels' 30-Day Shred program in the comfort of my living room with the aid of a set of dumbbells and my three small children.  I saw results, oh boy did I see them!  And although I should have been measuring results with a tape measure as well, I mainly saw them in my ability to go from being able to do zero pushups to 15 in a row, and to crunch my abs until Jillian said to stop, and to star-jump and jump-rope and butt-kick until I lost continence.  This last is not a joke.  I didn't let it stop me - I bought a pack of maternity pads and kept going.

Going to the pool lost its appeal when the big pool was shut down for winter, so I did as much walking while pushing the pram/stroller as I could.  To and from school is ideal (Hills! Resistance training!) when the weather is nice, so I've been trying to do that whenever I can.  It's funny when you are sad when the kids hop out and walk, or when you're pushing a nice easy pram ... simply because you know you're burning fewer calories!


What now?

The picture above doesn't show it, but I haven't lost much weight from my tummy.  I have a little bit left to lose if I'm going to get rid of this fat over my internal organs (doctors don't mind all that much if your fat is on your thighs, but they don't like seeing it closer to your heart and other organs.)  The weather will get warmer and I'll be back out there walking to and from school whenever I can, and the pool will re-open and I'll start carving up the water again.  I will buy new clothes and lo, there will be less fabric in them.  I will look nicer in my clothes too, so perhaps I should decide to care just a little bit about how I look.

I'm going to learn how to get my scales to tell me [their opinion of] my body fat percentage (again, imperfect, but decent enough as an indicator) and I'll let that be a rough guide to how much more to lose, as well as how my body feels.  I can feel many inches of fat over the top of my recently-toned muscle right now, and I plan to keep some of it but lose some of it too.  Not all of it is necessary.

Hey - wanna check out My Fitness Pal?  I am eternally grateful to Emily Sue for sending me in that direction!  I recently asked a friend's husband who has lost 25kg on MFP how awesome is My Fitness Pal?

His answer: "Really awesome.  Actually ... A Hundred-Awesome."

He's right! 

Blobbity blobs of blobbiness (Emily Sue)

I have been absent. I have been stressed. I have been depressed. I have been eating.

And to my surprise (NOT) I have put on weight. I hoped it was just a kilo or two... well, technically it was. Plus another four. I think since my best Weight Watchers day I have put on about 6kg. CRIKEY. So now I'm up to 74kg and not loving that at all.

So... I'm back to logging my calories on My Fitness Pal. I also did 30 minutes of step the other night on my Wii Fit, and now my calves are sore. Man, could I really be that unfit?? Guess so.

Sigh. Here we go again.

And this is just so that LLL doesn't get in my reader all the time. (HJ)

Nothing to report. Just sick of LLL always being in the title of the post of OSC in my reader. Thought someone else should have a turn, so I'm posting nonsense. I ought to weigh in tomorrow. I wish studying Greek would burn calories. I know for a fact that it doesn't.

Jen.

Back Again LLL

Hi All,

I am still around, round being the thing. I was happy to be home and wanted to get going again, but when the point came to start, I didn't.

I have now put back a little weight and decided to start again this week, well that hasn't happened again yet. I did have family a few weeks back and that started me cooking naughty things that tasted yummy and added weight and then this last week end I was away in a hotel for a few days, great time, but ate the wrong things.

I will get going again, I have decided that another 5 kg needs to go, I am presently 61.7kg. Maybe next week will be the right time.

Is this going the wrong way called unprogress?

I eat chocolate every day so I'm going to die anyway.

So I might need to get back into Skinny Cow.

I've put on a little weight again. Too much on, and not pleasant walking weather. I was up early enough today to do 5 mins rowing (I'd not start with any more than that - asking to be stiff and sore), so I was in a pretty good mood, although on dressing in my Hospital Pastoral Care shirt I realised that the bottom button was... snug.

So I was visiting through the wards when one little old lady (who may have some dementia, given later conversation), asked me an an oddly childlike tone, "Is there a little baby in your tummy?".

I narrowly avoided Givinya's best back answer ever, "No, I'm just fat", tossing it off with the phrase, "No, I might have had a bit much chocolate".

Then I got the following warning, "Too much chocolate is not good for you. My friend had diabetes... and she's no longer with us."

So there you are. I'm fat AND going to die.

Good times!

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?

Another weigh in LLL

Hi All,

Another week and I haven't been particularly careful of what I have eaten, what with helping clean a house and pack up for removal and getting around to thinking about a holiday, who cares. Well actually I do but at times I don't get sweets made in time to set for dinner, so we have ice cream. I can't make anything today as we will be away for the next 2 days, and that is how things are going just now.

My weight is up as if you didn't guess, today 62.1kg a bounce that doesn't worry me. I will see what happens in the next week.

Thanks for checking up on me.

Being wise (Emily Sue)

Sigh. Here's the thing... although I haven't mentioned it on this blog before, I have struggled for years with disordered-eating thinking. That doesn't quite work grammatically but it's what it's called, so I'm going with it. It's not technically an eating disorder although there have certainly been times when I've matched the criteria for an EDNOS (Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified). This is something I'm working on and have been for a while. (Working on getting better, I mean. Not working on developing an eating disorder. Just wanted to be clear, there...)

Anyway, I've realised lately that reporting my weight and exercise on here is not helping me at the moment. Ironic, given it was partially my idea in the first place, but there you go. Sadly, logging my food intake on My Fitness Pal is also not a great idea so I'm taking a break from that too - rather ungraciously, because I really liked it, but the things we like aren't always healthy.

So I'll still be reading, and encouraging you all (I'm saying "you ALL" optimistically, assuming that someone will join LLL eventually...) but I won't be posting for a while.
.

That time of the week again. LLL

Hi All,

The weeks are still flying by way too fast. After Sat post my weight bounced, which I expected after that drop. It stayed there til today when I weighed at 61.6kg so that is another 200g. Well very unexpected, but I will accept that.

What I really want to say is something quite different. As I have been walking lately, I have been thinking about where I am now as a comparison to where I was last Oct when I started here.

Now I can walk for my usual 22 mins at a brisk pace - when I started I strolled around one block and then had to stop frequently to let the pain in my leg subside. I had to push through the pain barrier to walk even 1 block and then I had to come home and rest my leg.

I can now do 16 sets of steps - then if I absolutely had to go upstairs I did, but it was often one leg doing the work.

I can now row for 5 mins - then I didn't even think about rowing. When I did start I would only use my legs for 1 min and then it was a push.

I can now see where I will probably be, after 15 months I don't expect much more improvement and I still have to rest at times. I am also using my leg warmer as the cold weather isn't helping the pain level.

On top of all this which I consider a long road there is also the weight loss and that stands at about 10kg.

So for me the last 9 months have been a good progress, and I will continue along this road and see where I end up.

Thanks for your encouragement and support.

Braggarts can really steal your thunder (HJ)

I weighed this morning.

30 April was the last time I actually reported anything, and that was that I'd bumped up to 76kg again.

Today, after a whole month of avoiding the scales, I am at 74.3 kg, which is a drop of 1.7 kg from there, and a 1.3 kg drop from my last recorded weight prior to the post-Lent splurge.

I'm happy.

I haven't yet got the elimination diet off the ground, despite reducing the usual suspects in a general fashion. Really need to get to the place I can commit to it for a few weeks, but there's so much going on and I've had a couple of "stuff it, I don't feel like cooking, let's get takeaway" moments.

I also got up early Wednesday morning to Zumba before the day hit me. Haven't managed any exercise since. Really need to borrow some motivation, if anyone has any spare.

But things are happening. This is very good.

Strange things are happening LLL

Hi all,

I can't resist, maybe someone out there can tell me what is happening. It started 5 days ago, remember my last post, I hadn't been walking constantly and had started again. Well today is day 5 of strange happenings.

My weight had settled around 62.6ish, then on day 1 it dropped to 62.4, day 2 = 62.2, day 3 = 62.0, and that is where I reported. Since then day 4 =61.9 (yea I broke the kg barrier.), and today being day 5 = 61.8. How?

My weight has been stable for a couple of weeks, my eating has been the same, and my exercise has been the same maybe a little less. Don't get me wrong I am stoked but would like a reason for all this happening. The slacks that I found in my drawer (I thought I had thrown out long since) that I squeezed into are now loose.

Don't expect anything great next Thursday it has all happened for this couple of weeks.

Weigh in LLL

Hi all,

Don't the weeks fly by fast! It seems every time I turn around it is time to report again.

I have had success this week. The scales tell me today that my weight is 62.0kg. That is a drop of 900 g in the week. I do know that last week it was up so the drop isn't that dramatic. However I wanted to be below 62 when we left for holidays and I should do that in time. I still have 3 weeks to go.

This is surprising as I have overeaten on 4 consecutive days, and on 3 of them didn't do any exercise, so I don't deserve the drop.

I have at last made my 2 tshirts that were the 5kg loss reward. These thing take time, but I have them now and that will be good for holidays in Austria in summer. I have made 4 long sleeve shirts for now and I still have a pair of slacks to go. I am making progress.

Well that is all for now, another week full of possibilities now starts and it will be interesting to see what I can do with that.

So, does simply reporting that I haven't been near the scales count? (HJ)

I want to support you all.

Really, I do.

But I had a bad week and there is NO WAY I'm going near the scales.

So I'm here.

But not reporting anything interesting.

If only God hadn't invented cakey-things...

That Time Again LLL

Hi Again all,

I have nothing to report. Weight 62.9 so up again. I will only claim to be in that hard spot a few weeks before an overdue holiday. We now leave in 3 1/2 weeks. I still have sewing to do for that and winter. At the moment winter is winning with the cold. I now have 3 new shirts as of today. I would like to make 2 short sleeved shirts and 1 pair of slacks in the next couple of weeks.

Life has been busy with various activities and filling in spots for some others, which just makes it harder.

I am in a place where weight doesn't matter. Having said that I am still walking daily, my leg isn't happy if I don't, so I do. I have started rowing again to help out, so maybe some of the gain is muscle rebuilding. I also have a toothache, I went to the dentist and he exrayed and drilled and couldn't find anything wrong, so the tooth has 1 week to settle down from no problem, and then the dentist wants to see me again and maybe take it out. Giving a little healing time before we go overseas.

When you add all this together, you can see why weight doesn't matter, but having said that I am still eating correctly, when I get really frustrated I eat 6 almonds.

That is all for this week. Generally I am happy and managing well.

I didn't weigh in. (HJ)

Early start today, so I didn't have time.

But last week I was .5kg lighter than the last time I reported. This was good.

But SOMEONE has piked and not reported this week.

I think she needs more comments for motivation. (or maybe it's been a bad week?)

Remember me? (Emily Sue)

Yeah, it's been a while. I can't even be bothered looking for the last time I weighed in... I think I was a bit under 69kg. And then stuff happened, which caused eating to happen. This was combined with a knee injury (which I still have) that made exercising pretty nigh impossible. Soooo.... there was weight gain. I got back up to 71kg, despite having assured myself that I would never be over 70kg again. Apparently I lied. I'm getting back on track now and have started to lose some of that weight.

Weight at about three weeks ago: 71kg
Today: 69.8
Difference: 1.2kg loss
Running total (from a 77kg start weight): 7.2kg

I'm okay with that. 1.2kg in three weeks is great given that I can't exercise much. And given that I'm still kind of slackish with what I eat.

Goal this week is to fill my freezer with pre-cooked meals so I just have to heat them up at dinner time. When I get home from work is when everything falls apart because I don't feel like cooking but I'm usually very hungry, so I'll eat whatever rubbish I can find. Sometimes it's not actually rubbishy food, but I'll eat past the point where I'm full. That's not helpful. So, off I go to make some soup and casseroles. :)
.

Weigh in LLL

Hi All,

Exhaustion has set in but that is ok as the house is clean. The heavy stuff for this week.

I am not worried about the extra 100g that has found me this week. It was mothers day and my husband bought chinese for sunday lunch and my daughter made a delicious dessert, so that all added on and then I was given a chocolate by my daughter. It is delicious as well and is lasting not too long. So with choc each day I don't expect a drop as yet. However one more sitting and the choc will be gone. It is a long time since I was able to sit and eat choc when I wanted.

So this week is 62.8 and now I start another week with another chance to loose some more.

That day again LLL

Hi All,

Well that time of the week has arrived again, doesn't time fly. I wasn't expecting much to happen this week as the diet went out the window. I have had cheesecake twice this week for different reason. Both times I could have said no, but didn't. Then yesterday the electricity man cut the power from 5.35 - 7.40 p.m. Now everyone knows that is tea time and they were saying it would come on again at 9 p.m. So that meant take away or starve. None of the above is good for a strict diet. Does that all sound like excuses?

I have weighed today and the total is 62.7kg and that is a drop of .2. Better than I expected or deserved. So I will continue slowly, my present aim is to be at or below 62 by the end of June when we go on holidays. It is possible.

For other activities my daughter pinned in some blouses for me to sew, which I have done and now have 5 blouses that fit, and feel much better. Tomorrow we are going away for the day and I will buy some t shirting material to make me 3 new long sleeve tops. I am in the process of new slacks.

So that is me for the week. I wish you all a good and healthy week to come.