The Diet Naked Blog

Intriguing workout plan

Am I the last person on the Internet to know about "OneHundredPushups"?  I haven't clicked every link, but I have jiggled my underarm flab and thought that a pushup workout is exactly what I need.

Clothes

Half of my clothes don't fit.  I don't even quite know how this happened, but it's quite frustrating to get dressed in the mornings.  I vowed once never to buy a larger size because one size leads to the next, as surely as one Pringle leads to an empty can.  (I'm just saying.)

I really did start this month with good intentions and here it is, almost over.  I haven't weighed myself in a few days, but my last weight was 195.  That's not much different from my weight on July 1.  Even worse, I haven't exercised a single day this month!  No, really!  I haven't.  I removed my focus from exercise, turned it to diet and abandoned exercise entirely.

How dumb.

Well, it is what it is.  I realize that my wonky work schedule is crazy . . . and come September, I hope to have a more even schedule.  Instead of working 30 hours in three days, I'd like to work 9 hours four days a week, then have a four hour days.  Also, my youngest children will both be in school (the 5-year old only in half-days kindergarten) and I am devoting those hours to exercise. 

So, soon everything will change.  I just have to hang on .  In two weeks, we have a 10-day vacation.  Then only two weeks later, school stars!  I am just going to bide my time and keep my weight steady. 

Sometimes, that's the best you can do. 

Tuesday

Weight:  195

I'm checking in with my Tuesday weight . . . on Wednesday, if you consider the actual time (12:30 a.m.).  Another long day that I did not fit exercise into!

Tomorrow I work 12 hours at my regular job, plus a couple hours on a freelance project.  I know.  Really, it's just almost too much.  But I will do what I must do. 

I wonder if I'll manage to exercise?  Stay tuned and find out. 

Oops, I totally forgot

Today's weight:  196.2.

I totally intended to exercise today.  I really did.  This is how my day went:

I woke up at 8:00 a.m. to a phone call from my husband who forgot his planner at home.  I had to read his calendar for him.  I went back to bed, weary from staying up late.

I had a business call at 9:00 a.m.  Took a shower immediately afterward.  Cleaned up the kitchen, prepared dinner (in the Crock-Pot) and began work. 

From 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., I worked.  My plan was to bring my swimsuit to the pool so I could "swim" laps while the kids played.  Alas, immediately after (my incredibly stressful) shift, I hurried the kids into the van--and forgot my suit.

So I read instead.  (East of Eden by John Steinbeck.)  Interesting how I remembered my book, yet forgot my swimsuit!  We left the pool at 8:30 p.m.

Perhaps I should have exercised then.  But I was focused on working again--I have a freelance assignment this week, adding an additional 20 hours to my normal 40-hour work-week.  That's why swimming at the pool was such a brilliant idea, though thwarted by my forgetfulness.

Tomorrow, though, I will exercise.  Really.

With renewed (!) determination

Weight:  197  (!!!)

Sometimes, I am bewildered by my weight gain.  How did this happen?  I conveniently forget the batches of chocolate chip cookies and the spoonfuls of ice cream and the french fries I've consumed in the last six months.  It's amazing that for so long I was so careful and then . . . not so much.

When I stopped walking every morning--purely a logistical decision since I started working until midnight four nights a week--my resolve crumbled and my "lifestyle change" fell apart.  And it's been so difficult to pull all the pieces back together . . . they keep floating off into space as if gravity itself has failed.

Most of July I have eaten a sensible diet, but last Tuesday, I took the children on a day-trip and we had a picnic.  Instead of packing something separate for myself, I ate crackers and cheese and cookies.  And possibly Chex Mix.  Okay, CHEX MIX!  I admit it.  Can anything make me gain weight faster than Chex Mix?  Possibly only Pringles potato chips, which I also ate.

That day was to be an aberration, just a bit of craziness in a sober, sensible month.  And then Wednesday I took the kids to Wild Waves, our local waterpark and . . . well, I won't even tell you what I ate, lest you begin to crave it yourself and start to justify eating amusement park foods.

And so, seven pounds gained (huh?  really?) in two days.  I have atoned for my wild living with a reasonable diet today, full of oatmeal, blueberries, turkey breast, hummus and grapes.

The seriousness of what I've allowed to happen was undeniable yesterday when I buttoned a blouse that used to look so cute and now looks so small! 

In three weeks, we're going on vacation.  I aim to live these next three weeks with focus and determination.  I'm going to start a new mini-exercise streak tomorrow because I know how important exercise is to my weight loss efforts.  I bought five pound weights to aid in my efforts.

So, there you go.  I am still in this thing, never giving up.  So many people lose weight, then gain it all back (and more) and I just cannot be in that group.  I want to be fit, not fat.

I am alive!

Really, I had no idea that so much time had passed since I posted here.  Sorry about that, everyone.

I weighed in on Tuesday morning:  191.8.  I weighed in on Thursday morning:  198.  Talk about a fluctuation.  Some of that was water retention and some of that was junk food.  I was on hiatus from eating right, I guess.

Tuesday, I took my kids, my mother and a nephew to Mt. Rainier.  Pictures and details to follow on my other blog (when I get around to it). 

Wednesday, our town had no power for 12 hours, so I took three of my kids to Wild Waves for the day.  Then worked until midnight.

Thursday, I worked all day, 11 hours.

That brings us to today and I'm working right now. 

What I know is that exercise is really important (and I haven't done much of anything since June).  Eating right is even more important. 

And I will be here more regularly from this day on.  Really, I will.  I know you all wonder where I've gone if this blog goes silent. . . and we can't have you fretting! 

Thursday Weigh-In

Weight today:  192.8.

HEY!  That means I've lost 3.8 pounds since July 1. 

I am concentrating on eating what I allow myself to eat and avoiding sugar and white flour.  I'm not worrying about portion sizes quite yet.

Someone mentioned in comments that it seems that my difficulties maintaining my weight began when I started working full-time in January.  That is oh-so-true.  My on-line job requires me to sit in this chair for 40 hours a week and despite the troubles it has caused my waistline, I love my job and its benefits.  I am working at home, supplementing our income, plus get benefits (medical, dental, vacation time, sick time, etc.).  I'm not going to quit the job.

But I do have to figure out how to balance everything so that my body doesn't suffer. 

I also think that several other things contributed to my loss of control in January:

1)  I did a very strict diet for three weeks in December, right before Christmas.  I was "ON" and then, most definitely, "OFF."  While I am all-or-nothing in many ways, eating correctly has to be a lifestyle, not something I can turn off and on, depending on circumstances. 

2)  I traveled twice; once for business in February and once for business/pleasure in March.  Both of those events kept me off-balance for longer than the time I was away.  It was hard to readjust to my regular life when I got back.

3)  My husband resigned one job and began another.  That entire process was very stressful for me for various reasons.  As it turns out, stress-eating behavior was lurking around the corner and popped right back into my life. 

Anyway, life happens.  That's no excuse to eat a whole bag of mini-sized candybars while your husband is away.  (I'm just saying.)

Weight today:  194.4.

I have neglected exercise every day this month!  Now if I could put together near-daily exercise with attentive eating, wouldn't that be something?

* * *

A while back, I received samples of Funky Monkey Snacks, which are freeze-dried fruit snacks containing no additional sugar or flavorings.  They were really good.  My favorite was "Bananamom" (freeze-dried banana and cinnamon).  The kids liked them, too, though they were not as fond of "Purple Funk" (freeze-dried banana and acai).  The other two varieties are "Carnaval Mix" (freeze-dried banana, pineapple, apple, papaya and raisins) and "Jivealine" (freeze-dried pineapple and lime juice).

You can read more about these snacks at the Funky Monkey website, including information on ordering them or finding them locally. 

(You should know that I am posting this little blurb in exchange for free samples.  I love free stuff, but I really did like these snacks, too.)

Uncomfortable

I didn't weigh in today.  Had to get up early and get all the kids off to Vacation Bible School by 8:40 a.m. 

* * *

I'm at that stage of chubbiness where I can't find anything to wear.  I'm self-conscious about the roll of fat around my middle.  I am an "apple," roundest at the mid-section.  (I was grateful to have found a stash of size 14 pants that didn't get donated because I thought they were "too nice" to give away last year.   Now I have something to wear while I whittle these pounds off my body again.) 

Today I picked a red shirt, plenty big, but clingy at the fat rolls.  Freaked out by my flabby sides, I chose a "body shaper" to wear under it, a constricting garment designed to smooth out the fat.  And while I chose to believe that the shaper did its magic, I didn't really study myself in the mirror, so perhaps it was a mental trick.

By the time I dropped off the kids and returned from the grocery store, I could hardly wait to rip off that undergarment.  I thought to myself how unique this type of torture is to women.  Do ordinary overweight men wear girdles or complicated waist shapers that cause underwire bra-induced armpit pain by the end of the day?  I think not.  They also opt out of painful footwear, for the most part.

I have no conclusions, just wonderment that we women endure discomfort in our effort to camouflage our bodies, blend in and appear a particular way.

It kind of makes me look forward to being old and infirm when I can wear a long flannel nightgown all day and no one will think any less of me.  (Truth be told, no one cares as much as I do about how I look.)

Fourth of July

Weight:  193.6.

Too tired to talk.

Tomorrow!