THE COUNTER
Starting weight: 299 pounds
Last weigh-in (Sunday, Jan. 20): 285.2
Total pounds lost: 13.8
Pounds until 240: 45.2
Hey hey, what’s up people? Hope everyone had a good weekend and had a chance to celebrate the life of MLK. I celebrated by only eating twice and going to the gym for a 40-minute ellipticising session.
One of those was good, the other not so good. I actually forgot to eat twice on Monday. Never thought that would happen. Oh well. What I did eat (bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios and a Big Ass Pimped Out Salad – the Big Ass Salad just has vegetables and some form or protein, the Big Ass Pimped Out Salad has vegetables, protein, and fat free croutons and fat free cheese – came to about 1,100 calories by my unofficial calculations. Not perfect, but I’ll take it.)
Anyway, I am going to answer some of your comments today, but before we get to that I want to catch you up on some things.
1. If you haven’t read the last post, you don’t know that I have scrapped daily weigh-ins in favor of weekly ones. The daily weigh-in was screwing with my mind, and I have to admit that I am not sane enough to handle it. So weigh-ins will occur every Sunday morning from here on out.
2. I finally lost some weight! Yep, that’s right, two and a half pounds last week. So I am now feeling pretty confident about this process.
3. I’ve thought about my entire goal (60 pounds), and realized that I haven’t made up any short-term goals to enable me to get there. Previously, I was just trying to lose the weight as fast as possible, praying that the scale would be my friend. Well, I’ve set some short term goals, which I will talk about more tomorrow.
4. I’ve made the decision to cut this blog from five times per week to three times per week. So from here on out, expect entries to be posted on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I am doing it to keep it sort of fresh, and not have to rehash things every day. Trust me, you’ll thank me for it.
Now that that’s out of the way, let’s get to your comments, all of these come from Blogcritics. That is because the comments are turned off on my site. Though we will hopefully be turning them on very soon, which means a lot more comments from people who know me well. Most of them are assholes, so that should make it interesting.
Article comments
1 - Purple Tigress
On sodium...it encourages you to eat more and causes you to retain liquids. Salt and sodium also can be problematic if you have high blood pressure. Guess what? People with weight problems, who live an inactive lifestyle, consume too much sodium and are under stress have a higher risk of high blood pressure.
The sodium encourages people to eat more sodiumand/or drink more liquids. This is why bars commonly have salty snacks.
This is also why I suggested you see a doctor. I know that I have low blood pressure and low cholesterol. My bone density is fine and my body fat is very low.
I actually wake up early (6 a.m.) and go to bed late (midnight), but I probably have a lot more energy than you. I exercise every day. I only eat at night when I am active (dancing until 2-3 a.m.).
What would be more appetizing IMHO?
Chicken sandwich with tomatoes and cheese and possibly either dill or oregano sprinkled on the tomato. Melt the cheese. At that point, I don't think you need the mayo.
Homemade soup such as chicken mushroom barley soup with carrots (and a clear broth). A tomato base vegetable soup with chicken/turkey.
Pasta with tomato sauce, bits of turkey sausage and olives. Add zucchini to make it even better.
Scrambled eggs with vegetables, melted cheese and salsa.
How about an English muffin pizza? Or a pizza with low fat cheese, tomato sauce and other vegetables?
Grilled vegetables with any sandwich.
A snack of very special cheese melted on bread or very special bread (homemade in my case) cheese and fruit.
French toast with fresh fruit is a great breakfast (no syrup).
Chicken with olives and broiled eggplant and a very light brushing of olive oil instead of mayo.
Baby artichokes with perhaps some poppyseed dressing to dip it in.
If you made more enjoyable meals, I think you'd crave food less. I also think that if you spent the time making the meals and making some meals something special, you'd begin thinking more creatively and constructively about food.
You can eat pizza, particularly if make it yourself in small portions. Denying yourself certain foods prevents you from learning how to control your eating habits and sets you up for binging.
Losing weight and keeping it off requires a lifestyle change. Some of us are already living that lifestyle.
It seems to be the norm in America today for people to make fat-talk as a way of breaking the ice. I know exactly how much my manager gained after the holidays because she started the meeting that telling us. I did not gain any weight by the end of December. So I and the two men in the meeting, did not join in that part of the conversation.
I actually think a daily weigh-in works best and a weekly write up. The daily weigh-in sets up how and what you can eat the rest of the day.
Dancers, gymnasts, wrestlers, jockeys and boxers all weigh in pretty much every day. I weigh myself every day to make sure I've not gained and I've not lost too much weight. Yet you seemed to be a bit hysterical in that entry where you were weighing in more than once a day.
There are seminars and books about fat and emotional issues. There are also cookbooks for weight loss and maintenance. I'm sure the local library if full of them.
There was a time when the only exercise I could do was walking because I had major surgery on my spine, a surgery that could have also left me paralyzed if something had gone wrong, so I have little sympathy for people who can walk and do not walk. Get up, get out and exercise. You might not always be able to do so.
2 - Foofoo
Maybe Purple Tigress needs to go honk her own horn elsewhere
3 - alexandria jackson
awwww.. I wrote a long comment that got lost in cyberspace... at the risk of triple posting, I'm going to wait to see if it shows up later. If it doesn't show, I'll try again later. Meanwhile, yay on the 13.8 pounds!!!!
4 - Alexandria
OK, I'll try again. One of the reasons I admire you for doing this is that I would not want to hear the supercilious, know-it-all, probably never had a substantial weight problem, condescending, outright rude comments under the guise of "advice" from people who think they can tell you how to eat. It's as if they think you never read anything about the issue.
Obviously if we wanted to pack every bite chock-full of only the highest nutrient, low-fat, low-carb, low sodium, low taste foods we wouldn't have a weight issue. If I had the discipline and will to have the body of a dancer, I probably would. I do have discipline for the things I want to do. Neglecting the beauty of the taste/texture/sights/smells/sounds of a wide variety of foods is NOT one of the things I can do for long.
The self-deprivation of "diets" is what ends up causing me to fantasize about bingeing in pools of whipped cream. And I don't even like whipped cream!!!
For me it's about making healthier choices, one meal/snack at a time and having smaller indulgences in cream-based soups or heavy fat foods. Cause those are a small taste of heaven in my book. And while the weight may not come off quickly, or easily, it's more healthy for me to not deprive myself.
If it has to come down to eating spinach over lettuce for the nutritient value rather than because I like spinach better, that's the day I'll be sorting all my soup labels alphabetically and making sure they all line up nicely.
I'm heavy because I LOVE the taste of food...not desserts, but good food. I don't want to have the body of a dancer. I want to keep being able to run mini-marathons, keep having good blood work and hopefully, make enough consistently healthier food choices that I can slip back into my levis.
And you know what? I wouldn't date a man that was so obsessed with points/nutrient value/carbs because in my book that means (to me) he doesn't know how to enjoy life fully. I like a man with a paunch and a little on the sloppy side (shirt untucked, wears sweats sometimes). Too put together, 4% body fat, a perfect body, pressed clothes...yuck. That just screams ANAL! to me.
Oh, and thanks for the sweet words about me! You do motivate me, you won't disappoint no matter what because you're letting it all hang out. I'm with you!
5 - Guy
These are two cool ladies you've engaged my friend- albeit they express themselves in very different ways. It sounds to me like you've both got it together pretty well- and that's sort of the spirit of this thing, at least to some extent wouldn't you say Dan?
Something popped into my head reading this and it's something I've thought be don't fore but never mentioned- why don't you write your dad and get some of that shit out? Obviously the writing thing would mean it has your stamp on it, you do it on your terms and in a manor that fits your style. I'd be surprised if you haven't written something to him at some point- probaly something that you never ended up sending, deciding the catharsis of getting it on the page served its purpose.
We don't talk about that stuff ever- perhaps we can touch on that at your next session.
I'm out
6 - alexandria jackson
I'm glad Guy said that about writing your father. One quick thing for you to think about and maybe not share with us is, does he truly not love you or does he love you as much as he is able?
Dads of my father's generation were not all that demonstrative with their sons, hoping only that they became men (generalizing). Many of them didn't know HOW to say or show their love and it often looked like indifference. They never got their emotional needs met and were/are unequipped to meet yours.
I know my own father never told me he loved me, he said, "You're my kid so I have to love you." That was the only way he could express it - oh and then he'd give me a few bucks. That, to him was love. Even though when I needed him when I was in college, he totally didn't even respond to my multiple calls and letters and wouldn't help. And I know I was his favorite!! He just could not show it - somehow he thought it made him seem like a pussie to have those kinds of emotional thoughts.
We had a strange but loving relationship - once I learned that was the best he could do.
7 - Purple Tigress
Here's a snack/filler suggestion:
steamed or canned (low sodium) green beans.
It works for dogs on diets and I can't take credit for that idea. A few rescued overweight dogs were slimmed down this way. Of course, I believe they were also walked at least twice a day.
PT