Monday, November 30, 2009

Fatty Fatty Fat Fat (or, "why holidays are hard on diets")

Does this really need explanation? It would be bad enough, but I got sick. Like really really sick. I can barely breathe and eating is tough. Thinking about cooking or preparing food is even worse. Yeah, I kinda suck.

I can't stay home anymore, so Ihave to get back in the swing of things. Really cool though: I get a free membership to the rec center for my whole family (my husband and kids - although kids under 4 are free). I just need to start going in.

Lots of changes. A little slippage. I can totally do this. Right?

Friday, November 20, 2009

Week 23 - Because I need some encouragement

I got in to see Dan yesterday and gained 2 pounds. Sigh.

Because I needed something good, I decided to try on a pair of "fat jeans". I hadn't tried on this pair for over a year. I purchased them after I had my first child because everything was too small. And I grew out of them anyway. Yep, I put them away because I got even bigger.

Wanna see how they look now? Man, I needed this. I can wear these jeans to LOUNGE in! This means I can tuck my legs up to the side. This is SIGNIFICANT, dang it!

I start a job on Monday. New schedule and Thanksgiving... I'm on maintenance mode for the next week or two and then I'll go back to see Dan and get back into it.

So, no cheating, lots of exercising, and more weight to lose. This is good.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Week 22 - A freebie

I have no idea how I did this last week. The week before Dan told me he was going to be out of town on Thursday so we needed to meet on Wednesday. And I didn't remember till Wednesday afternoon - after our meeting. D'oh!

I did well though. Got all my weights in and even exercised. In fact, I was on a big long bike ride when I remembered about the appointment change.

This weekend is another tough one. Not a total loss, but I still want to do better. blah

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Week 21 (and a half)

It's tough to post when you feel like you're not making any progress. But I guess that's the concept behind accountability, eh?

So last Thursday when I went to see Dan it had been another hard week. We're up to a month's worth of really tough weeks. Gah! I didn't lose any weight, but at least I didn't gain any. That's really saying something because, well, Halloween candy.

My most difficult time is the weekend. Typically I ride my bike to see Dan and then I don't exercise again till Monday. Maybe even Tuesday. And since the routine is unreliable on the weekends, so is my eating.

Now, when I cheat, it's not like I fall off the wagon completely. I've learned enough over the past 5 months to know that my body really hates it when I eat crap. I feel it (very uncomfortably) for up to two days after. So, a bad day for me is like only 80% following my plan. Even that takes a while to get past, so more than feeling guilty, I really FEEL bad about eating poorly. You know?

Well, this last weekend I did better. I did skip Friday (ate fine though), but on Saturday I took a monster walk. I found an excuse to go out and made it even longer. I would guess it was at least 5 miles. Very pleasant.

I did skip Sunday, but I got my weights yesterday! Even better, I got my weights in today too. That means that doing them tomorrow will be a full workout. Woo hoo!

Yeah, I'm supposed to spread them out. I'm thinking I need a good bike ride in the middle of the day (when it's warm enough), and then with the weights in the evening maybe it won't be another bad week after all. That would be nice.

Back on the wagon, dang it!

Monday, November 2, 2009

Week 20 - Glycemic index

Well, I lost another pound and a half. I guess that means my metabolism is still chugging along, no thanks to me.

I talked to Dan for a while on Thursday about glycemic index. I don't know how many of you know what this is, but I figured I would share my new knowledge. Enlightening, to say the least.

Basically, foods are judged (high, medium, low - on a scale of 1-100, I think) based on how the body metabolizes them. All foods essentially affect blood sugar (glucose). When it makes your blood sugar go high quickly and stay there for a long time, the index level is high. If it takes longer for your body to process, then the index level is low.

Whether a food is metabolized quickly or not depends on some factors, but generically speaking you should keep to lower index levels. It's not a cut and dry scale. For example, baked potatoes are relatively high on the index. Add fat in the form of frying, and it takes more time for your body to process. So french fries are lower on the index - not healthier though.

As your body processes foods, you want it to process efficiently and not go straight to fat stores. You want your body to use it up or get rid of it. Fat doesn't get used, and the body's generic response is to store it. So processing slowly doesn't do any good when it's just sugar (or starch, in the case of the potato) - and adding fat just makes it harder for your body to do anything good with it.

Best thing to do is to pair your sugars/starches/carbs with protein. Basically, this makes your body use the carbs (sugars and starches are carbs) for repair and upkeep - not for storage.

So basically, this is why my diet includes a protein with every meal. You need the carbs for energy, and the proteins for efficient processing.

Dan and I chatted for a few minutes about the implications of the glycemic index and something called the glycemic load. I get the index part now (I've also done a little bit of research online), but the load part is kind of foggy. I think it has to do with the balance between the carbs and the proteins - the final number or something like that.

In a nutshell:
Carbs AND proteins for every meal, stay away from fats (don't avoid them altogether though), and make sure to eat every 2-3 hours. This trains your body to metabolize efficiently, and you'll lose excess weight. Oh, and don't forget the exercise.

Sounds a lot simpler than it is, I think.