Well, I almost did. See, two weeks ago I woke up and knew, just knew deep in my heart that I hadn’t lost one iota. Nada, zilch, nothing. At least, that’s what my body told me and as I have a good habit of listening to my body, I was really down in the dumps.
So I got up and put off eating as long as I could. I always get on the scales the first thing out of bed and compensate for the clothes I wear before getting on that scale. Now, some people are fanatics and weigh every day. I would be a basket case if I did something like that so I just weigh in weekly on Mondays when I get up.
It’s worked well over the years as it can bring a much needed boost to a weight loss program. Or it can be the start of a downward spiral. I always figured it better to start at the beginning of the week until waiting till the weekend to screw it up. I mean, who wants to go into a weekend knowing they can’t eat one darn thing.
So last week, I hopped on the scale and surprise of all surprises, I lost 1.1 pounds. Obviously, I didn’t feel different and I only lost a quarter of an inch off my belly, so I had to think really hard just where it might have gone. All I could think of is that I am finally replacing some of my fat with muscle because out of all the things I didn’t do that week, the one thing I did do every day was walk.
Yeah, I haven’t been very good in keeping the food diary which is par for the course this time of year as is a slide back. But this time, I was determined to move forward even though the season says we shouldn’t. The one thing I have done is to totally listen to my body signals about hunger, exercise and if I hurt anywhere or not. In the past, I’ve let real and imagined transgressions get in my way. But not this time.
In all honesty, the only thing I didn’t do was write this blog but when I finally realized I hadn’t, it was already Friday.
Now, onto this week. This week I had two, count them, two parties. One was my writers’ group Christmas party and the other was my daughter-in-law’s birthday. Now the birthday, I had more control over as we were going to one of my favorite restaurants. Here, I always order exactly what I want and take 75% of it home as the portions are huge. It’s just way too much food but since this is my normal routine, it wasn’t a problem and I didn’t overeat at all.
The Christmas party was another matter. It was potluck and while the dishes are always wonderful, you really have no control over what type of food is brought. While the variety was great, all the dishes were rich and luscious meaning not very good for a diet. Since I wanted to taste everything, I took a spoonful which would allow me to have at least one bite of each dish. I took a little more of the chili since that was my husband’s and my dish and I know exactly what went into it. The other thing, I had no dessert since nothing appealed to me. I didn’t go back for seconds then but did have some more chili when I got home as each of my meals were skimpy during the course of the day.
One thing to remember during this season or any other for that matter, always eat until you’re full. No more, no less. If you can remember this one simple rule, it will serve you well over the course of your weight loss program. Me, I didn’t listen to my own rule and ate about 5-6 smaller meals that day. Normally, I eat my biggest meal in the middle of the day and a lighter one in the evening. This past Saturday, I am sure I consumed much more than I needed to consume but obviously not enough to tip the scale in a negative way.
But again, I walked more days than not and that served me well with the weight loss. I also removed another .75 inches off my waist. And this is the measurement which really has me jazzed because belly size is one of those things health professionals look at when evaluating you from a health perspective. So far, I have lost 10.6 pounds and 5 inches off my waist. Those are incredible numbers for anyone.
I know I don’t talk much about the tools I use to track this part of my journey. I track my food intake not only on line but with a hard copy book from The Calorie King (www.thecalorieking.com) called the Food and Exercise Diary. This little book is very comprehensive with columns for calories, in and out as well as for carbs and fat if you are tracking those as well. Calories out is your exercise and these do come right off the top. At the bottom of the page, you record your fluid intake, the total number of steps for the day as well as any thoughts.
The reason I like this book is because it works on so many levels. No matter what you’re tracking, what diet you’re on, this book can record it. It is also a convenient size to be able to carry any where you go. It has useful tips and hints in the beginning. But the biggest reason I love this book, it goes strictly by the numbers: calories in – calories out = weight loss/gain. And since I’m a numbers kinda gal, it makes perfect sense to me.
Dieting is basically a numbers game, no ifs ands or buts. It takes 3500 more to add a pound, it takes 3500 calories less to remove a pound. What could be more simple than that? You must burn more calories than you take in to lose any weight. To lose a pound a week, you must reduce your calorie intake 500 points OR you must burn off 500 calories that you take in.
It’s not rocket science and most people can do the simple math. When we get rid of all the emotional baggage associated with that weight, the numbers become numbers again. Whether we want to believe it or not, our fat insulates us from things that scare us. Now, I’ve slowly gained the weight over the years but it wasn’t until I wrote the column on body image, that I really looked at the point I started my weight gain.
I had a great body and I wasn’t ugly, so what was the deal? I think part of it was I knew my husband loved me and I knew other men looked at me. I think I equated other men with temptation and decided I’d remove myself from that equation all together. Basically, I didn’t trust me nor didn’t trust my reactions to life at the time.
And to be honest, the only time in my life where I’ve ever had emotional eating was the year my youngest was diagnosed as a Type 1 Diabetic. That year cost me another 40-50 pounds and I watched everyone of them go on and didn’t know how to stop it at all. I just kind retreated in my shell and ate everything he couldn’t any more. It was six months of stress before we found him a good doctor and before I started eating sanely again and food became food once again.
This is my last column before the holiday. May the season bring all the joys and none of the heartbreak to your weight loss journey. Have a great Christmas! Next week, I’ll talk more on the different tools I use as I’ve definitely got my motivation back. See you all then!
Lynn
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