The gargoyle vs 12 lbs

I've weighed in (PDI) to other threads dealing with weight loss. I've mainly let it known my three rules for losing weight - eat better, eat less, exercise. But I decided to do a bit of practicing what I preach by being open about my current weight loss battle.

I've actually dropped a fair chunk of weight. At my heaviest, I was at 250, and now I'm hovering around the 220 mark. I'd like to get down to 210, though. I figure at that point, I'll have a bit more "wiggle room", so if I start gaining weight, I can nip it in the bud before I start making my pants too tight. I've worked on getting there before, but have always fallen short - gotten to 213, or 214, and then simply eased up too much and started gaining again. This time, I'd like to actually hit 210 before I ease up. So I'll start posting here each day, discussing the good and bad decisions I made, and how I could've done it better.

So here's square one. I weigh 222 right now, and I want to weigh 210.

Day 1: 0.0 lbs lost, 12.0 to go.

This morning, I pulled out the WiiFit and did a rather heavy exercise routine. My warm-up routine consists of six exercises - Sun Salutation (a basic stretch), Palm Tree (to work my ankles), Single Leg Extension (to work my lousy balance), Torso Twists (to work my abs a bit), Downward Facing Dog (to stretch my back out), and Jackknife (to work my abs a bit more). That takes about 10 minutes. Then I do the "free step" aerobics, but pump it up as fast as I can without actually running up and down the board. I call that "fast step", and I did that for 20 minutes. Then I went to "free run", and jogged around the "island" for 30 minutes. I don't go extremely fast (not quite 3.5 times around), but I keep a good and steady clip.

I'll talk about food tomorrow, since I haven't eaten anything yet.

Just to make things a bit more interesting, I'll post a song I listened to during the workout. A local group (playing what I affectionately call 'iRock') covering U2.

[youtube]ljIOOALLf74[/youtube]

Lex

 

Day 2: 2.5 lbs lost, 9.5 lbs to go.

My first day always goes really well. In general, that's a positive thing, since it keeps me motivated. On the negative side, I can't help but think things like "Wow, at this pace, I'll be done by the end of the week!" Which is true, but I can guarantee I WON'T continue at this pace. From here on out, I'm hoping to lose half a pound to a pound a day...and I know some days I won't. In fact, some days, despite a lot of exercise and eating extremely well, I'll gain weight. Just kinda the way it works. Just have to stick with it.

Food. I don't eat breakfast. I know I'm supposed to, but I'm simply never hungry in the morning. During the day, I do what my friend calls slow-motion eating. I eat something every hour, on the hour. I used to keep work stocked with low-calorie items - fresh veggies, crackers, sugar-free pudding. But I decided to try something new a few weeks ago, and it's worked quite well.

First thing in the morning, I go to the sub shop next door. There, I get a wrap. Usually turkey or roast beef, but sometimes I just do veggie. No cheese (except on the veggie). Extra onions, lettuce, tomato. That's it. No mayo, no mustard, nothing. I then keep that in the fridge at work. Then, every hour on the hour, I pull it out, take two bites, and put it back in. The wrap is just big enough to last the entire work day.

It's actually tough finding the right foods for this sort of thing. I noticed this most when I bought two boxes of low-calorie snack cakes. One ended up tasting stale and dry, so I never ate the things, and ended up throwing them away. The other ones tastes so good I wanted to eat the entire box. Ideally, I'm looking for foods in between. Foods I like enough to eat, but not so much that I'll be tempted to eat more than I'm supposed to. The wraps fit that description really well.

My partner had to work late last night, so I was on my own for dinner. I didn't feel like making anything, so I went to MadGreens. It's basically a really big salad bar. I got a large salad with hearts of romaine, red peppers, green peppers, double red onions, grilled onions (yes, I love onions), corn, diced pears, grape tomatoes, and citrus-grilled chicken. Then I asked for honey mustard dressing, extra light. I HAVE to say extra light, because they're REALLY loose with the dressings there. Took that home, munched on it a few times during the night, and ended the night with a too-delicious low-calorie snack cake.

I drank a VitaminWater Zero after exercising yesterday (Mega-C - enh), and alternated water and Diet Pepsi throughout the day.

Exercise this morning was the same as yesterday - 10 minute warmup, 20 minute fast step, 30 min jog. I did have to stop about two-thirds the way through the jog, because my back was starting to ache. I paused the Wii, lay down, and stretched it out, then got back up and continued.

For some reason, this band came up twice during the workout this morning. That's fine - they're fun. There should be more punk bands with yowling sixteen-year-old girls singing lead, if you ask me.

[youtube]_AS4bBEMT44[/youtube]

Lex

 

Flirted with danger yesterday - I ate at a dessert restaurant for dinner. AND they've added a bunch of delicious new items to the menu. So what'd I eat? The "simple salad" (mixed greens, tomatoes, pine nuts, shaved parm, lemon vinagrette) and an iced sugar cookie for dessert. Yay me! Of course, factors kept aligning against me. My partner ordered an appetizer to share - crue fries. That's thin french fries with cheese sauce, cream sauce, bacon and ranch dressing. I ate five...and tried to pick the ones without much stuff on them. And then the owner of the place came out and asked us try "something new I've been working on". Some cornmeal-based tamale-like puffy pastry thing with cheese in it. Luckily it was really small, because it was really good.

Maybe it was all that, or maybe it was the huge traffic accident that took place right near my place (some drunk guy slammed into a cop car, lost a wheel...and kept going, at 80mph, until he slammed into three more cars). But I felt antsy last night, and decided to get some extra exercise in. I decided to do "WiiBike", where you sort of march/jog in place on the board to pedal your bicycle around the "island". I did that for 30 minutes. Between that and the veggie wrap I had during work, I'd say things worked out well.

Day 3: 2.6 lbs lost yesterday, 5.1 lbs lost total, 6.9 lbs to go.

My entire point of making this thread was to show the "ups and downs" of losing weight, but so far, it's all been downs. I hope you'll forgive me for not feeling too bad about that just yet.

This morning, 10 min warm-up, 20 min fast step, 30 min jog. I did have to lie down and stretch my back out during the jog again. I honestly thought I wasn't going to be able to do a full 30 mins, as my legs felt kinda rubbery. But I managed to run through it. Oddly, despite the very modest amount of food I'm eating, I'm not feeling hungry. Well, I sometimes miss the whole "eating something" sensation, but that's not hunger. And it's easy enough to distract myself from it.

This song came up while exercising. The band calls it "music to high-five to", which made it somewhat appropriate.

[youtube]EIurAP4yHtQ[/youtube]

Lex

 

^ One advantage of WiiFit is that it does track this stuff for me. Of course, it's not such an advantage when the weight is heading upwards, but there you be.



Day 4: 0.5 lbs lost yesterday, 5.6 lbs lost total, 6.4 lbs to go.

One of those annoying days where I didn't lose much, despite how much I exercised, and how little (and well) I ate. Munched on a turkey wrap through the day at work, had a veggie and swiss sandwich for lunch (no condiments), and finished with a 100-calorie snack cake. I also did an extra 20 minutes of WiiBike in the evening. Apparently, all that was just enough to nudge an entire half-pound off my pudgy frame. Hmph.

Even worse, I didn't think I'd make it through my exercise today. Maybe it was the deflation of seeing my weight not drop more, but I really had to push myself. I wondered through most of my "fast step" routine if I was going to have enough energy left to do anything else. But suddenly, with five minutes left in it, I got that second wind, and was fine for the rest of the workout. I even did all the jogging without having to stop and stretch out my back. 10 min warmup, 20 min fast step, 30 min jog. One more day of work, then we'll see what I should do during my three-day weekend. It's more dangerous when you can just wander away and get food at any time...

[youtube]akLKrd7zlS0[/youtube]

Lex

 

Day 5: 0.7 lbs lost yesterday, 6.3 lbs lost total, 5.7 lbs to go.

Passed the halfway point, but you know what they say - "the first 90% of a job takes 90% of the effort. The last 10% takes other 90%."

Didn't exercise this morning. Pubert had a horrible night and didn't get to sleep until really late, so I don't want to take him up with my flumping around in the front room. I've got the day off, so I'll exercise later in the day. No, really, I will.

Lex

 

^ Thanks all. Good to hear others are doing it as well.

I went back to "regular eating" yesterday, which is always dangerous. AND I went to the all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet for lunch, which was even more dangerous. But I think I played it well. I had a small salad first, then got more healthier stuff (grilled green beans, roasted crab meat) and just a taste of the bad-for-you stuff I love (sesame chicken, fried cheese wontons). For dinner, I got miso-glazed salmon and grilled vegetables. And I ended up exercising quite a bit - 10 min warmup, 20 min fast step, and 50 min jog - 20 min in the early afternoon, 30 min in the evening. All told, it looks like it paid off.

Day 5: 0.2 lbs gained yesterday, 6.1 lbs lost total, 5.9 lbs to go.

Considering the hazards, I think I emerged OK.

Lex

 

Even tougher challenge yesterday. Not only were we having guests over for "dessert", but due to time constraints, we ate at a fast-food(ish) Mexican place for lunch, and a fast-food burger joint for dinner...and the burger joint didn't have salads. So what to do?

Lunch - cheese quesadilla with pico de gallo. No sour cream, guac, etc.
Dinner - single burger, onion, tomato, mustard only.
Dessert - two cupcake halves...so one full cupcake. I also got a mini cheesecake which was the size of a cupcake, and we split it four ways.

Our guests called up about an hour before arrival time to ask if we could push the start time back half an hour. I readily agreed...then took advantage by jogging another 20 minutes. So a total of 10 min warm-up, 20 min fast step, 40 min jog.

It worked.

Day 6: 0.2 lbs lost yesterday, 6.3 lbs lost total, 5.7 lbs to go.

I figure if I can get through the weekends without gaining (much) weight, I can easily make it up during the week. And so far, I'm at net zero for the weekend. Today's big pitfall - Mother's Day brunch. (My partner is making potato salad as we speak.) I think I can handle it, though.

Yes, the cool people used to dress like this.

[youtube]W1N19zOBKCE[/youtube]

Lex

 

Thanks! And yes, I did survive the weekend. We had burgers, potato salad and strawberry shortcake for Mother's Day brunch...I know, not very brunchy. But that's what she wanted. I watched my portions, had a dry salad for dinner, and jogged 40 mins in the evening. That was enough to minimize the damage.

Day 7: 0.2 lbs gained yesterday, 6.1 lbs lost total, 5.9 lbs to go.

I know I said I wanted to "minimize damage" over the weekend, and I DID do just that (net gain of 0.2 lbs - big deal). But I still feel "stuck". After all, I lost more in either of the first two days than I did in all the days combined since. That's five pounds of being very careful of what I eat, eating quite a bit less than normal, and exercising quite a bit...and I've lost ONE pound? I know such things are common, but they do tend to deflate the balloon in the parade...

I took it a bit easy this morning, because I jogged so much yesterday evening. 10 min warmup, 20 min fast step, 20 min jog. I'll probably do more this evening. And I'll be back to "slow motion" eating, and hopefully that'll help.

...little things remind me of you: cheap cologne and this damn song, too.

[youtube]Kohs_nlQzpM[/youtube]

Lex

 

I did do some extra jogging - 30 mins worth, in fact. But it was mainly to offset my not-so-great dinner. We went to Panda Express, and I tried half-heartedly to eat healthy. I got the Mandarin Chicken (no sauce) and the BBQ pork, which at least meant I didn't get anything fried. And I had the steamed veggies as my side instead of rice or chow mein.

Still, I was hoping for better than this.

Day 8: 0.5 lbs lost yesterday, 6.6 lbs lost total, 5.4 lbs to go.

But there's some bright spots. For one, I'm still headed downwards. Secondly, I FEEL lighter today. I don't know why, but I do. Plus, I'm especially happy how I felt after I ate dinner. Usually, I can pound down three entrees and a side of rice, and just feel rather full. Yesterday, I had my two entrees and vegetables...and felt like I'd just had Thanksgiving dinner. THAT stuffed. I'm thinking maybe my stomach has officially been retrained. It no longer expects huge meals. If so, that's a great thing. It means I won't feel the need to celebrate when (or if) I ever get to my goal by having a triple cheeseburger and a double butterscotch sundae.

10 min warmup
10 min fast step
40 min jog

Chose a different music folder, which is why I was jogging to this headbanger. Yes, the gargoyle had this on record back in 1979, and played it. A lot.

[youtube]2N_tmH6y7ng[/youtube]

Lex