Week 18 Progress Report

WEIGHT: 135.2

WEEKLY NET CHANGE: -0.8 lbs

TOTAL WEIGHT LOSS: -26.6 lbs 

So I decided to do the weekly progress report a day early because it seems patently unfair to do a day-after-Thanksgiving weigh-in.  

I hope all of my readers have a wonderful and happy thanksgiving.  I am so thankful for everyone who follows this blog....your support means more than you'll ever know. 

God bless us. Everyone! 

Thanksgiving!!

Ahhhh, that time of year.   I've already written once about the "holidays" in general, but now here I am.....staring directly down the barrel of the caloric equivalent of an assault rifle:  Thanksgiving. 

Thanksgiving differs from Christmas in which there might be a lot of indulging going on, but the general idea is to celebrate the season by surrounding yourself with family, giving gifts, singing carols, and just trying to be nicer to people and getting into the "spirit" of the holidays.   None of that feel-good stuff applies to Thanksgiving.  Thanksgiving is about the food. Pure and simple.

If Thanksgiving were to fall at the beginning of this blog when I was still considering myself "on a diet" I would have been completely dreading tomorrow.  I would have limited myself to exactly 1200 calories a day....which is basically the equivalent of a little bit of turkey, a sad scoop of plain rice, some lonely veggies cooked without the Thanksgiving-requisite bacon and butter, and a puny glass--okay bottle, it is a holiday afterall--of wine.  Forget gravy.

But I am not on a diet anymore. I have made a lifestyle change.....a lifestyle change that, I might add, has allowed me to already lose the equivalent of both of the 13 pound turkeys I am cooking for the family tomorrow.

Yes, that's right. This morning at 135.4, I've lost over 26 pounds which is the equivalent of TWO decent sized turkeys.    Holy crap!

I didn't get here by being completely miserable either. Now that I am a bona-fide WOP, I have basically been able to eat whatever I want.  Not all the time, of course.  But there are enough times when I do get to eat what I want that I don't feel deprived at all anymore.  I am....dare I say it....happy with my lifestyle.

Tomorrow, being a holiday, is an obvious occasion in which to indulge.  The gym is closed, but I'll go on a nice long walk/jog in the morning to try to stave off some of the damage and I'll hit the gym longer than usual on Friday to keep making up for it.

On a typical weekend I might indulge in some pizza or pasta, but this weekend I'll just have to take it easy to make room for the Thanksgiving feast.

It's not so bad!

Oh, and obviously, I will be doing this week's weigh in tomorrow instead of Friday.....because subjecting myself to a public weigh-in the day after Thanksgiving is, ya know, just....not fair.

Week 17 Progress Report

WEIGHT: 136.0

WEEKLY NET CHANGE: -1.2

TOTAL WEIGHT LOSS: 25.8 LBS

Sorry for the incredibly short post. Nice long one to come soon. 

25 Pounds!!!

Guys, guys!!

Look:

I'm sorry for my unpedicured feet.  But I am too excited to care about censoring this.

And guys, guys!!!!

THIS:

I'm normal according to the United States Government!  Holy crap!  Normal!  ME! (I am still kind of in disbelief that I was an entire 25 pounds overweight). 

But there's more!

That means I've lost:

This ridiculous gummy bear.

This 2 year old kid who is too smart for his own good.

And approximately 1/4 of Honey Boo Boo.

Stoked.

Lifestyle Changed

So I have a HUGE milestone that I'd like to discuss today.

I am no longer on a diet. 
 

 

 

Now don't get me wrong....this doesn't mean the weight loss journey is over.  I've just decided that from now on, I am no longer dieting.  At least not in the strictest sense of the word.

 

In the past, I would adhere so stringently to "the diet" that I would just feel awful if I ate even one "bad" thing that wasn't on "the diet"...and then that failure would feed into a downward spiral of "well, if I am going to have a slice of pizza I may as well have the whole thing" and "well, if I was bad at lunch, I may as well be bad at dinner (or all weekend, or all week, or forever) because I've already blown "my diet."" 

 

I've learned that this is a symptom of being a perfectionist and it's not a good thing.  When I catch myself feeling guilty for eating something decadent, I try to remind myself that that's the perfectionism talking and that as long as I hit the gym regularly and don't make a habit of eating the decadent thing all  the time, I'll be fine.

I also read a really helpful article about trying to instill healthy eating habits in children that has actually really helped me. I am kicking myself for not bookmarking it because I can't seem to find it now and I would love to share.   But the most helpful trick that I took from the article was when a kid wants to eat something unhealthy (cake, cookies, etc.) instead of saying "You can't have that" you're supposed to say "We're having _______(insert food) at little Timmy's birthday party on Saturday and you can have it then."

It's immeasurably less miserable to go through life knowing "I am having pizza next weekend so I won't have any tonight" versus thinking "I can't have pizza." 

Small trick. But it really is helping.

This week has seen almost a pound lost already and we're a day early for the weigh-in. I have a gut feeling tomorrow will be in the 136's....too bad I don't have a scale.  

The best part, is that I am still seeing results during a week in which I:

 

•  Got to have pizza for lunch Saturday (just 1 slice with a salad, and I walked to the restaurant which was about a mile from my house).
• Got to have Fat Harry's buffalo chicken wrap (after burning 1000 calories at the gym that morning)
• Got to enjoy so many beers that I didn't even bother counting them at the Saints game (ditto on the 1000+ calories at the gym that morning).

All other days I was more rigorous about eating healthier food and did more modest workouts at the gym.

Tonight, I will indulge in my all time favorite truffle mac and cheese.  It's my favorite thing about coming to Lake Charles.  And it's going to be fine because I am going to work out for 2 hours at the hotel gym and I had a very small lunch to accommodate a bigger dinner.

At this point, I would say this isn't a lifestyle change.....it's a lifestyle changed.

Week 16 Progress Report

Well it's a little early, but because I am blogging from Lake Charles again and will be spending the night without my scale, I figured I'd do the weekly progress report today.

WEIGHT: 137.2
WEEKLY NET CHANGE: -0.8
TOTAL WEIGHT LOSS: -24.6 LBS

I am so sad that this weigh-in isn't happening tomorrow because I have the strongest feeling that I am going to reach not only the 25 pound mark tomorrow, but--if I do reach it--I will officially be normal sized according to the US Government for the first time in years!  Yay!

'Tis the Most Blunderful Time of the Year

It's that time, guys. 

"The holidays" are upon us.

Ah, yes.  The holidays.  For most people, this is a joyous time of year filled with celebrating the love of family, the joy of friends, the bounty of life's blessings, the deliciousness that is the flavor of pumpkin, vanilla, and cinnamon, and the sanctity of whatever religious beliefs the person may hold.  Oh, and egg nog....there are apparently some nut jobs out there that enjoy egg nog.

For dieters, however, the holiday season is--for lack of a better term--the suck.

The holiday season begins with Halloween.  Once revered as a day to celebrate the passing of spirits from this world into the next, it's now a day that's dedicated purely to distributing simple carbs (read: candy) to children and adults alike in mass quantities.

For the faint-of-heart dieter, Halloween is the death knell of their self-control and weight loss progress. Not me though. Halloween is my bitch.   Candy has no hold on me.  I could live the rest of my life without eating another candy and still think my life is pretty swell.

So far, so good.  Right?  If I can resist candy on Halloween I surely must have a grasp on getting through the holidays without too much diet-damage, right?  Oh no.  We're just getting started. Halloween is a mere amuse bouche of what's yet to come during the holidays.

Next comes Thanksgiving.....a day where the sole purpose is celebrating by eating foods considerably more decadent, delicious, and tempting than Halloween's stale Smarties.  I mean, anyone who has ever had delicious homemade turkey gravy over a bowl of creamy mashed potatoes knows that Thanksgiving has the potential to be disastrous for a dieter.....particularly a dieter with a penchant for full-fats, salt, and starch.....

This gif is my spirit animal.

I am prepared for the fact that November 28, 2013 (which is Thanksgiving Day proper) will be a day of diet abandonment---which will be followed by Black (and Blue) Friday during which I will workout until my muscles are sore (and bruised if necessary) to burn everything off. 

I feel like that's a fair compromise in a lifestyle change:  1 day of turkey + drippings + butter + starch in exchange for a crazy-huge workout and the promise not to make a habit of it. 

But then come the work-related events.  The Thanksgiving potluck.....(which, while a diet catastrophe, is equally a professional catastrophe if I skipped it)....the office Christmas luncheon...The H's office Christmas party.....the office Dessert Kris Kringle...and other various work-related holiday events that always seem to center on food.    

It's enough to make you heave. 

And let's just say that I have the willpower to avoid the treats...that doesn't stop me from looking like a total and complete asshole and/or Grinch to everyone at work if I continually abstain from the festivities.   Seriously.  Just today at least 20 people looked at my like I was a huge jerk for not having any of the cake at the office "November Birthday Celebration." 

I'm beginning to feel like I am doomed.

So far, my plan is just to workout like crazy, cut back on the holiday items where I can, and hope for some sort of net loss with the worst case scenario being that I simply maintain the weight loss I've already achieved during this holiday season.

But I feel like I need to do better than that.  The brainstorming will commence!