February success?

I really wanted to be in the 160's by ______ (insert name of month here). Tuesday the scale said 170.4. Yesterday was March 3 and when I stepped on the scale it said 169.8. I am pretty sure it laughed maniacally, too.

This morning it said 170.1.

Last night Debu-chan and I were discussing the mental aspect of weight loss, the defeatist attitude that easily and frequently takes over. These thoughts include such pearls as:
- "I will do better tomorrow"
- "what's the point"
- "we're all going to die anyhow"
- "I'll have stretch marks whether I am skinny or not"
- "No one will notice if I lose weight"
- "If I lose weight I will still look like a slob in these clothes"
- "I will exercise tomorrow"
- "I'm still hungry for X"
- "It's stupid to work out only to lose .5 pounds or gain 1.5 pounds"
- "Am I really going to work out/eat healthy for the rest of my life??!"

One of the experiences I related was the difficulty I have with the times at which I eat, the amount of food I consume, and the nature of that food.
I tend to be hungry (ok, obsess) over one particular thing, such as spaghetti.
Then I tell myself, "I want another plate, but I won't eat it now. If I wait 30 minutes and I'm still hungry, then I will eat it." In the mean time I am so starving that I end up gorging on a bunch of things once the 30 minute mark arrives.

There are lots of similar mind games. The bottom line is, I want to be happy. Maybe being healthy doesn't contribute to that as much as I thought it would. I was sick of weighing 190 pounds. I'm down now to 170 (it looks like I'll never get under that!). I'm glad I lost 20 pounds. Do I think I am capable of losing 20 more? Absolutely.

Do I think I will adhere to the lifestyle changes that cause weight loss? I don't know. I honestly don't know.

30 Calories a day

This article in a New York Times blog alleges that you can gain 2-3 pounds a year by eating just 30 more calories a day than you burn.

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/23/stand-up-while-you-read-this/?emc=eta1

The article itself is about the dangers of sitting and that even if you exercise regularly if you sit for long periods you are still at risk for heart disease, obesity, etc.

I want you to think about that though, especially if you are reading from America (sorry Debu-Chan) - land of the fattest food in the world and also the most expensive health food in the world.

30 calories a day. What is 30 calories? Think, a soda is about 100 calories for 12 ounces. Do you burn every calorie you eat?

How much time do you sit a day? You're probably sitting down now. I know I am. I was at Zumba for 2 hours tonight. Will that matter? Make a difference in my risk factors?

What happened to good old fashioned weight loss?

If you need another reason to scratch your head, check out this article.
http://www.neatorama.com/2010/02/25/strange-weight-loss-procedure-tongue-patch-that-makes-it-painful-to-eat/

It alleges that people lose on average 20 pounds a month after enduring a postage stamp sized piece of polyester affixed to their tongue with stitches.
A PIECE OF POLYESTER SEWN TO THEIR TONGUES?!
It makes it painful to eat, reducing people to a liquid diet.

I'm sorry. SEWN. ONTO. TONGUE.

I can't decide if this is more or less ridiculous than having your mouth wired shut, having a lap band or gastric bypass, or jumping off of a bridge.

I don't mean to imply that bypass is ridiculous. But it amounts to a surgical measure to reduce weight loss. I guess the difference is that with gastric bypass you still have the option to eat food but you have to do it in moderate portions. With the tongue surgery, which is temporary, you have to drink liquid. Realistically the only people on liquid diets for their entire lives are those who have feeding tubes. I'm excluding alcoholics here.

How successful do you think people are in maintaining this 20 pound weight loss? I am skeptical.

Whatever happened to old fashioned diet and exercise? I am fat and lazy. I lost weight doing NO exercise, just trying to be fairly reasonable about what I was eating. When I started exercising -- and this was only 2 or 3 days at most -- I lost more weight. Yes I have bitched and whined every step of the way about not losing fast enough but I didn't regain 20 pounds either.

I hope that at some point society will say, "Enough!" and just submit to the fact that diet and exercise are the most consistently proven ways to lose weight. I am tired of the pills and the shakes and the bars and the cleanses and weirdo thigh-zer-scizers.
I'm tired not only because they are rip-offs and some of them are downright dangerous, but also because I think that people who are attempting diet and exercise are even more likely to fall for these scams and forego real progress at altering life habits.

What is the likelihood that you will eat food every day for the rest of your life? Pretty high. And the likelihood that you are going to drink Slim Fast for the next 40 years? Small. That's my assumption anyhow. Why not save your money and frustration and invest your time, money, and energy in forming sustainable habits?

I mean, if there was a magic butt-fat-shrinking pill, don't you think I would have found it by now?!!

Speaking of my butt-fat, I'm going to Zumba. I now weigh 171 fricking pounds. If I find a pill, I will let you know.

Can it be true?

Today, I woke up after enduring a grueling Zumba workout last night.

The scale read 169.1.

Can it be????

I don't know if I fully believe it.
I'll try again tomorrow. Until then I am skeptical.

20

Today when I weighed myself I weighed 171.6.

Or, the scale is broken and there is no way that my true weight is 171.6.

Let's say for a minute it is true -- that means I have finally reached the 20-pounds-lost mark. To be exact, I've lost 20.8 pounds. If you consider I've been really working on it since September, I have lost about 4 pounds a month.

I am still eager to be down into the 160s. Eager eager eager. I have been maintaining working out twice a week and hope to increase that to three times a week. Still eating somewhat healthy.

However, I did eat 4 pieces of pizza on Sunday. Pizza Hut pizza. Meat-lovers style.
9. Points. Each.

Don't ask me how I lost weight. See why I think the scale is broken?!
Oh, and would it be ironic to celebrate weight loss with cake?

I think a layer cake would be most appropriate as I am shedding layers of fat, no?
I mean, "whipped" icing is healthy, right?

172!!!! WOOOOHOO.

I weigh 172!!! Awesome.

Oh. Wait. 172.9.
Nothing worth getting excited over.

Time to go back to Zumba.
Oh, and I'm not buying any Zumba merchandise unless they can prove it will make me skinnier.

Fail-bruary.

Happy February folks. Six more weeks of winter. And for me, fatness.

At the beginning of my fat-losing extravaganza, I weighed 192. By January 1, I was down to 173.

It's February 2, and I am 173. FAIL.

I need to be honest and write it down. I don't want to start gaining like crazy again, but stalling like this makes me want to be lax about my commitment to exercising and continued weight loss. It's not like I'm getting skinnier without losing weight. My clothes still fit the same. There isn't much more to say about the matter.

I haven't been: drinking regular soda, not-exercising, eating out/getting take-out like crazy, eating constantly.
I also haven't been: working more than 12 hours a week.

My worry is that the lack of work, the stress from lack of work, and the lack of progress on weight gain is going to lead to me not continuing my workout regimen. I'm committing at this point to Zumba twice a week, which my husband agrees we should be able to afford. If I have any hope of even staying 173 at this point (and not gaining any back) I need to continue regular exercise.

I don't want to give up the progress I have made thus far. I wish I had something funny to add. For now you're just going to have to settle for the picture of the shirt.