Cheater

On Friday I had a cupcake. And on Saturday I had an ice cream cone.

I guess I'm really getting into this program because last night I dreamed that I actually gained weight this week and I felt terrible about it. I was petrified that Dan would chastise me for not following the plan. heh He's not that kind of a person. Well, he'll give me a hard time for stuff, but he's not mean about it. His job is to tweak my program every single week so I don't plateau and I don't get hungry or too worn out. Why would I feel so bad about a single cupcake?

Rededication, dang it!

My clothes are fitting differently. I've always had giant thighs, and my pants now are loose around my legs. And I sat down in a chair that normally would have totally pinched my hips and it didn't hurt at all. I still squeeze out the sides a little, but it's noticeably less. It's a beautiful thing.

Truth is that I don't have that much appetite for super sweet things lately. Heck, I have to water down all my drinks because they're too sweet for me. And I only put one small scoop of ice cream on my cone. It was too sweet, but I ate it anyway. I should have just shared one with my kid, who ended up smearing his all over his face and shirt.

No more cupcakes. No more ice cream. It's okay, I like the thin more than I like the sweets.

How I'm doing it

People have asked me how I'm losing weight and how it might work for them. I'm going to nutshell it for you.


1 (most important) - Eat at least 5 times a day. That doesn't mean you have to have real or full meals, but this goes with #2...

2 - Never go longer than 3 hours without eating (except for at night, of course). After about 3 hours your body goes into starvation mode and will hang on to all the calories you eat as fat. Ideal is to eat every 2-3 hours.

3 - Get a little bit of exercise every day. Or almost every day. Don't just do cardio, but do get cardio at least 4 times a week, resistance exercises at least twice. Resistance exercises are weights. Weights stimulate your metabolism, cardio keeps it going. You need both to effectively lose weight for anything long-term.
4 - Eat protein for every meal. Whether that's a cheese stick or cottage cheese or beans or tofu or chicken or an egg, it doesn't matter. But don't overdo it. Just a little bit of protein will do it (one egg, one cheese stick, half a cup of cc or beans, etc.). 5 - eat only enough carbs to get you to the next meal. If you're running out of energy before your 2-3 hours is up, then you need to get more carbs. If you're going to take a nap or sit the whole time, then you need a smaller portion. If you're going to exercise or be active, then you need a little more.

That's really all there is to it. When you start a program like this, start out slow. You actually want results to be gradual, because it's much healthier. And if you're fat like me, going gradual means that your skin will have time to pull back too. Because really, who wants saggy baggy skin?!

One thing that's kind of an exception for me. I don't have a regular wake up time. Because of that, I adjust my meal times based on when I wake up. So I don't always eat lunch at noon, for example. If I'm up at 8, my meals are at 8-10-12-3-6, with a small snack around 8. If I'm up at 10, my meals are at 10-12-2-4-6, with the snack at 8. See how that works? You can make changes to the diet and exercise based on your particular needs.

Please feel free to ask any questions. I've learned a lot from Dan. Oh, and if you're interested in having a similar journey, let me know, because Dan does free consultations, and he loves my friends.

Week 10 - Still going strong

Oh how I want this journey to be over.

This morning at my weigh-in, I had lost another 4 pounds. It seems so insignificant when you think about the overall goal of 100 (or 150 if we're talking eventual total goals). But when you take into consideration that my loss has been pretty steady, that's a very happy thing. It means I have lost about 31 pounds on the scale and almost 40 pounds of fat. Woo hoo!

To keep the loss going, we're dropping calories again this week. Dan says I might feel a little bit hungry, but I'm not too worried. We're still in veggie season so I can fill up on those. I think I eat at least one tomato a day (if not two or three), as well as a bunch of asparagus or broccoli or something. I do feel much healthier, despite some ongoing terrible back and neck pain. When I told Dan about the pain, he said not to do as much physically, but this is because of sleep, not exercise. I need someone who can trade massages for babysitting or something like that. Like on a regular basis. Maybe I'll ask at church...

Felix and I biked to the appointment this morning. If I go on State Street, it's exactly 3 miles from my house to his office. If I go on 8th East on the way back, that's 3.5 miles. I love having a cyclometer.

So this week, dropping calories, I'm cutting the yogurt and cottage cheese afternoon snack in favor of crackers and tuna. Dan says that will trick my body into thinking it's getting lots of calories when really it's super clean. Whatever that means. Maybe it's the lack of fat.

I've found that although at the beginning of this program I hated the idea of cutting out fat (I love butter!), it's getting easier as I go along. What once was really difficult to even contemplate has become super easy. I don't even have to think about it really. I think my tastes are changing because 1) it's gradual, and 2) results! I find myself a lot more willing to make concessions and be strict knowing that I'm making real and visible progress. I found my lost camera and on it is a picture of right before I started. I think it's a pretty good picture of me, but although my pictures this morning have me flushed (just in from my up-hill 3.5 mile bike ride with a 30-pound toddler on that back of my bike) and wearing grungies, I like the new ones better. What do you think?

Week 9 - Understanding my body

I lost 2 more pounds today. That brings the total to 29 pounds on the scale and about 35 pounds of fat. Dan figures out how much fat I've lost by pinching certain areas every week. It's slightly awkward, but I'm happy to know that progress is being made.

This week we're increasing calories again. Dan says my weight may stay the same, but this raising and lowering of the calories makes it so that my body won't get stuck on a plateau. So I guess I'm okay with it.

He also said that pinching my hip fat, it feels like the fat is letting go there. I'm not positive I know what that means, but he said it meant that my skin will bounce back in a healthy way. Or something like that. Apparently if you lose weight too fast then your skin can't keep up. That's something I really don't want. I'd love to not have pounds of hanging skin once I'm done with this weight loss thing. That's just gross.

I took a friend with me today to the appointment and Dan talked to her about her specific needs. It was informative and it made me realize how much I've learned because I got to pitch in a bunch. Now I've got to share my knowledge and experience with my friend because she can't afford to go to Dan at the moment.

Speaking of affording... More crap medical bills. I HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE medical crap and insurance. This is the right place to complain. You know why? Because being a fat person, I don't qualify for private insurance. That's right, I weigh too much to have insurance. I have been rejected by all major private insurance carriers. Talk about a load of crap. I'm sick of trying to rely on government assistance (talk about incompetence and inadequacy), and I don't have much of a choice, what with being self-employed. Gah!

I'm so sick of being fat.

Sometimes it works

My sister is visiting from California and today we biked to Costco. That's one way to keep the spending to a minimum - no place to haul it!

The two little ones (mine and hers) got pretty cranky to be tied down for the ride even though it was pleasant out. My toddler loves being on the back of my bike. Thankfully, my bike is super comfortable for me to ride too. I'm sure my sis got the short end of the stick having to ride my husband's heavy mountain bike. On the way home the babes fell asleep. Too cute. I like this exercising thing when it's not just for the sake of exercise. When it's a walk or a bike ride or whatever just to get in the exercise I get really bored. Going to a store or a park or for some other errand makes it a lot easier to do it.

This particular bike ride was pretty fun. Nice to have adult conversation even if we were yelling back and forth. Now that my husband's bike is fixed, though, I'll have to get him out on it with me. Good family activity, wouldn't you say?

Week 8 - Making headway

This last week I was good. I mean really good. I still wasn't 100%, but I was close. I even exercised a lot.

And it paid off. I lost another 6+ pounds of fat, putting me at close to 30 pounds down. We took measurements today since I broke the 20 pound mark by a bunch, and I've lost everywhere. I'm even down to 49% body fat - down from the original 54. Yay!!!

I now weigh 311 pounds. That's still about 10 pounds over my pre-pregnancy weight, but it feels great. Maybe by the time the weather cools for real I'll be able to wear my fat jeans again. haha

Seriously though. I know these aren't true before and after pics, but people have asked and I really like what other people have done (Brandi) to show progress. I'll be taking the pics once a month till I'm all the way done.

Oh, I figured out how to get in my cardio exercise every day. All errands are done on the bike or on foot. Well, most anyway. Great "secret", eh? Really though, I take the kids with me (most often just the toddler) if it's within a couple of miles and I don't have to carry anything super heavy. It's worked wonderfully.

This next week I'm doing the weights 4 times instead of 2, and still getting cardio in at least 4 days. I think I did at least 5 last week, so that shouldn't be too hard.

Getting it done

Sometimes I just hate my life. I mean, it's all about perspective, but when you lose that, it's easy to feel sorry for yourself.

Truth is that skinny people - people who have never been fat - don't really have any idea what it's like to struggle with weight. They might protest and say they have to work at it, but until you're carrying an extra person (a large extra person, at that) everywhere you go, I won't sympathize.

Yeah, I did this to myself. Yeah, I've been lazy. But still!

Last week I was dealing with some intense back and neck pain. It got so bad that there was a full day that I could barely move without crying. I tried making out with my husband and ended up running down the hall holding my neck sobbing because it hurt so bad. Turns out that biking doesn't really help that pain. I think I compensate for the neck pain by holding it in to my back, which was already sore.

A dear friend of mine offered to give me a massage. She's a professional, and that hour and a half I spent on her table was heavenly. I woke up the next morning with a little pain still, but during the day it actually got better. Two more days later, and I only have a little pain left.

But I went biking again anyway. I'm a bit sore across the top of my back. Nothing like last week, but not comfortable. At least I'm done with my exercise today.

I can't wait for my metabolism to be retrained. I can't wait to try out all the recipes on foodgawker.com (if I were rich and thin I'd totally be a foodie). I can't wait to sleep through the nice without dreading the morning pain. I can't wait to run and not be weary...