The Diet Naked Blog

Official Tuesday Weigh In

I weigh 205 today. 

Let's all gasp in unison.

Well, at least that's behind us.

Here's the newflash for today:   A dinner of steamed cauliflower with the lightest sprinkle of cheese followed by three full-sized Hershey's candy bars is not a balanced meal, nor one likely to lead to weight loss.

And so, this morning I woke up, got the kids off to school, exercised, ate my oatmeal for breakfast and vowed to eat a Perfect Diet this week.  I really, really, really need to see some dramatic results in order to regain my belief that I can lose this weight (again!).  I keep casting about for someone or something to blame, but until I eat a Perfect Diet, I am responsible for my state of chubbiness. 

I'm in this loop of "what's the use?" and "this must be perimenopause" and "my genetics are to blame" when, really, it's my fault.  I am cheating on myself with my arch-enemy sugar.  MUST.  STOP.  NOW.

I am responsible for the good and the bad.  I need to make the good happen.  I have no right to complain about my puffy face when I am the one who keeps eating marshmallows.  (Marshmallows!  I don't even really like marshmallows!)

Want to offer advice?

So, evening snack-time is going better.  It is.  I feel like I'm past the compulsion to eat a whole box of cereal if I eat a handful.  I'm eating my fat-free popcorn and drinking my water. 

What is your eating challenge?  Anybody have issues with the weekends?  What strategy do you have for ensuring that you make good choices?

(Yeah, as you can tell, I've got nothing to say, really.  It's almost 1 a.m. and I need to go to bed.  My life is a big yawn in more ways than one.)

Official Tuesday Weigh In

I weighed in at 203 pounds again today, reflecting that I am still eating too many calories.  However, I have done two important things:

1)  I have stepped on the scale every week.
2)  I have stopped gaining weight.

When I don't get on the scale, I gain weight.  I'm not one of those people who accidentally loses weight when they don't pay attention.  Alas. 

The only time I've ever lost weight without meaning to was when I suffered from mononucleosis one college summer.  Due to canker sores in my mouth, I was literally unable to eat for a few weeks.  Of course, even though my weight loss was due to illness, I heard so many compliments when I returned to college after that summer. 

Anyway, I am going to concentrate on eating less this week.  I have reverted back to my no-sugar diet plan (mostly, I'll admit to some lapses) and the important thing now is to consider portion control.

How are you doing this week?  Weigh in, if you'd like.  Why don't you put your starting weight, your current weight and your goal weight?  (For me, that would be 226.4, 203, and 160.)  Best wishes as you continue on your journey to smaller pants and better health!

Dr. Gourmet

I received the nicest email from Dr. Timothy S. Harlan, M.D., so I Googled his "handle" and found that he's also Dr. Gourmet with a nifty website called Dr. Gourmet.  He has a diet plan called 'EatTHISdiet" (free!).  As his website says: 

"Everything you need is here on this website. Weekly menus, recipes, even shopping lists! Even if you don't need to lose weight, but just want to eat healthy, you can do that with eatTHISdiet."

You can also click on the tabs at the top of his website and you will find a plethora of recipes, including this one for Waldorf Salad.  Lots of recipes to be found at the click of your mouse, all with nutritional information included.  

I didn't click every link, but I like what I saw so far.  Check it out!

Dread and loathing

That's how I feel about my walking route.  It begins with a long, straight stretch with a view of the Puget Sound.  Then, maybe a mile into it, the path begins a long, rather steep descent, followed by some gentle rolling hills.

Today, at the rolling hills, I found myself overtaking a group of three women I'd been following for some time.  Our strides matched, which was good because I wasn't interested in passing them and have them study my behind as I strode past.

My behind is really the least of my worries, but still. 

But then on the first smallish hill, they slowed and I had no choice but to pass.  I can't seem to slow my stride on hills, which is odd to me because I am not interested in having a heart attack and dying while wearing sneakers, but I just must continue marching onward, at the same pace or I am unable to tackle the hills whatsoever.

Anyway, so I leave those three long-legged (skinnier than me) women in the dust (well, misty rain).  Up and down, gentle hills . . . and then, oh, the reason I hate my walking trail, the steep switchbacks. 

If memory is correct, there are five switchbacks--so you go up one hill, regret the day you were ever born, level off a bit, and then another hill.  Steep hills, too, hills that leave me gaping like a fish out of water, gasping for air.  But not slowing . . . until the fourth hill which is longer than the rest and at the turn, doesn't let up, but continues up.

At that point, I heard voices behind me and I braced myself for humiliation for now the three moms would pass me.  Drat.  So, instead of lying on the side of the path and dreaming of ice cream, I trudge upward, slowly now, but still moving forward.

The voices behind me taunted me (in my own mind, of course--I was listening to Harry Connick, Jr. and Karen Carpenter and was not privy to their conversation) and then, finally, they passed me on the final hill. 

That's when I saw that it was not the group of three women at all.  This was a duet, two blonds in better shape than I.  They did not even slow at the top, the glorious, blessed top, when I finally caught my breath and congratulated myself on walking even on this misty, cloudy day when all I really wanted to do was crawl back into bed and watch "Regis and Kelly."  (How can anyone be so tiny?)  Instead, I walked 3.5 difficult miles.  Hooray me!

* * *
Thank you to everyone who had such excellent suggestions (and heartfelt sympathy) on my last post.  You guys rock!  (And maybe I will respond by email to your comments if I can find some time this weekend.  I always want to, but it's hard to find the time.)

Official Tuesday Weigh In - Better late than never

I weighed in at 203. 

Here's the thing, though.  I lose all resolve at about 9 p.m. at night . . . and I work on the computer (a real online job) until midnight. 

Anybody have ideas about how to resist the voice in my head that suggests snacks so late at night?  When I am rational, I think I should brush my teeth at 8 p.m. as a reminder . . . only I forget.  And pretty soon I am prowling the kitchen.

I sometimes look back at my prior resolve with wonder.  How did I do that?  Why can't I do it now? 

Rah! Rah! Sis-Boom-Bah!

And:  Two-bits, four-bits, six-bits a dollar . . .

And:  Action, action, we want action, A-C-T (clap, clap clap) I-O-N.

Yeah, I wasn't a cheerleader in high school.  I was focused on earning straight A's and then getting as far from my hometown as possible the second I graduated.  I did not follow the crowd, nor did I lead the crowd. 

I was conscientious and dependable and also, I ate too many crackers and worried about my weight (generally 150 or less, though by the time I graduated from high school, I might have been 165).  I rode my twelve-speed bike everywhere and when I couldn't ride, I walked.  (When I went to college, I lost 20 pounds, just so you know.)

But, I'm getting off track.  I was thinking today that I ought to have something inspirational or helpful here for you, all of the faceless readers out there in cyberspace.  I should encourage you and feed you a spoonful of wisdom about losing weight and keeping it off. 

I've got nothing, though, and I'm too tired to Google for answers I could pass off as my own.  And, as I might have mentioned, I never was a cheerleader.  I hated to work in groups, preferring to stand alone on my own merits.

So, as I blog about this journey, I get mixed up.  Am I leading you?  (No.)  Am I cheering you on?  (Yes.)  Do I have the Answers?  (No.)  Am I interviewing myself?  (Yes.)  Do I find myself amusing?  (Sometimes.)

The way I see it is this:  I am trudging along the path, sometimes glad, sometimes sad, sometimes anxious, sometimes calm.  We're all heading the same direction, more or less.  I'm narrating the way, you offer comments back and we're chatting as we make progress (or not). 

Anyway, I'm glad you're here with me.  I'm sorry I'm not much of a cheerleader or coach or mentor or tour guide.  I will tell you if there's a pothole in the road or if a branch might scrape your eyeball, though, because I am helpful like that.

What were you like in high school anyway?  Time to share. 

(Join hands and we'll sing together, as long as it's a Carpenters song or something from the 70s that I know the words to; no, seriously, when I'm walking, I'm often listening to Karen Carpenter croon and then I think how tragic it was that she died from complications of anorexia and then I think how silly it is to be so obsessed with our bodies.  Then I think that I am so obsessed with my body and then I wonder why Karen Carpenter couldn't just be content with her amazing vocal talent and then I get distracted by the train rumbling down the track and the terror of the uphill switchbacks.)

Diet or Exercise

One year, long ago, I exercised every day for a whole year without changing my diet at all.  I lost five pounds.  I needed to lose fifty.  My conclusion?  Diet is more important than exercise.

However, I have learned this.  Once you lose weight, vigorous exercise will help you keep the weight off.  (That's what the folks at the National Weight Control Registry have proven.)

Personally, I find that exercise makes me feel better.  And we all know that a toned body looks better than an untoned body, no matter what size your pants happen to be.  And who among us doesn't want to be stronger and more flexible and able to climb a long flight of stairs without collapsing? 

In conclusion, diet and exercise are both important for our health, but if you want to lose weight, you really must change your diet.  (Consider this:  you can exercise for an hour, burn 500 calories and then eat 1,000 calories without any effort at all in about ten minutes--and when I say "you," of course I mean "me.")

And now:  a link.  This Diet Channel article talks about diet versus exercise. 

Official Tuesday Weigh In

Okay, so last Monday, I weighed in at a whopping 205.4 pounds.  Yikes, right?  This morning, I weighed 203.4 for a net loss of 2 pounds.  (Earlier in the week, I was down a little more than three pounds . . . and then the fair happened.  Okay, so I ate a little too much fudge from the fair.) 

I will be weighing in each Tuesday from now until further notice.  Join me if you dare. 

(For those of you keeping score at home, I lost 62.4 pounds . . . then gained back 41.4.  Yikes, I say again.) 

(I'd like to note that my current weight is on a scale that I think is about 7 pounds higher than my old scale.  But we'll never really know, will we?  Plus, let's face facts:  I ate too much for six months.  That's the truth and these are the consequences.)

Tricking myself

I lost so much of my fitness when I stopped walking every morning last December.  So walking is no pleasure for me even though the weather is glorious, the skies are blue and I have time all to myself.  I still don't want to walk.  I'd rather sleep.

But I wake up to get the kids off to school and tell myself, "Just put on your exercise clothes.  You don't have to walk."  Once I'm dressed and wearing my walking shoes, though, something happens.  How can I not walk when I'm ready?

And so I walked for an hour this morning, walking the local hilly trail. 

I walk purely in faith that walking will do me some good.  It seems impossible that exerting some effort and sweating a little will really affect my body's shape and size.  I'm still bewildered that I regained weight so easily when I stopped regularly exercising.  Why, though?  That's exactly what research proves! 

If you want to keep weight off, you have to exercise rigorously pretty much every day.  I have learned that lesson the hard way.  Alas.