Weight Loss

[unforth]

I don't generally eat unhealthy any more (though I cave in and eat dessert far too often) but even so, I can draw a distinction between when I'm really actively trying to lose weight and when I'm just on cruise control. Starting on Monday, the 29th of June (the day after Origins) I decided to kick into a period of actively dieting in an effort to shed some pounds.

I've epic failed on the "going back to the gym" part of this resolution, but I have been walking a lot more in an effort to get more exercise, and though I've had more slips than I'd care to admit, still by and large I've managed to eat pretty healthy, and on the days when I ate less healthy, I managed to get a lot of walking in. My clothes have been fitting noticeably better, and I've been pleased to see my shoulder blades sticking out more than before, and my belly ridge receding.

I don't own a scale, which makes weighing myself a little problematic. On Sunday the 28th of June, I did a weigh in at my brothers, not wearing anything first thing in the morning, and clocked in at 162.2 lbs. The next day, I weighed myself fully clothed at mom's after breakfast but before lunch, and weighed 163. I've weighed myself more or less weekly since then.

Today was weigh in day and the one month anniversary. Fully clothed, after breakfast, before lunch, my weight was 156 lbs.

Given that last week, I was 162 lbs. (though I was 158 the week before that) I'm not quite sure I believe this weigh in, but, well, the scale don't lie, right?

I've apparently lost 7 lbs. in the past month! Now I just need to keep it up - my short term goal was 155, and I'm almost there, but in the long term, it's my fantasy to be 140 again...maybe even (dare I say it!) less!

Comments

[unforth.livejournal.com]

Oddly, at this point I don't find it THAT hard to enact, because over the past 4 and half years I've switched from eating incredibly unhealthy stuff pretty much all the time (tons of starch, fried food, Dennys and Burger King, that kind of garbage...) to eating healthy (even when I'm not dieting, whole wheat, some salad, three solid meals a day, lots of protein) which means that for me to be actively trying is more a matter of refining the quantity (and cutting out some dessert...) than anything else. Basically, I have to switch from eating about 1800 cal a day of fairly healthy stuff to eating about 1300 cal a day of basically the same stuff. :)

Some ground exercises might be nice, though to spill a guilty secret, I'm terrible about doing stuff like that - I can't even get into a positive habit of doing crunches! :) Other strenuous stuff...well...there's only one challenge there.......... :(

[ozziel.livejournal.com]

Yeah, cutting stuff out like soda and fast food is always the best and easiest step to take. I've never been a fan of cutting calories, though. I'd love to talk to a dietican to know exactly what and how I should be eating. I hear all these stories of people eating 6 small meals a day and all the benefits that brings; is that just voodoo magic or what?

Fortunately we don't have to be good at ground techniques to get their benefits: Our bodies aren't here to judge us however we work out, whether though heavy-lifting, doing pilates, aerobic exercises, or even just walking. It likes it all!

GenCon is but weeks away. =)

[unforth.livejournal.com]

Yeah, hearing all of the benefits friends derived by stopping soda makes me wish I ever drank soda. ;)

I'm pretty much a straight calorie dieter. In terms of small meals, ask moonartemis76 if you can take a peak at her book about the GI Diet - it works pretty well, I follow a kind of lose version of that. I find that to really succeed at dieting, I have to do two things:
1. Eat when I'm hungry.
2. Stop eating when I'm not.
The first easy. The second is very hard for everyone, I imagine, and nearly impossible for me - my brain doesn't really process the state "full" until I've eaten about 1500 calories in a sitting. I gather from some reading that this might have once been an evolutionary boon - I could "fatten up" in the summer and thus better survive lean times. Of course, now there are supermarkets, so it doesn't matter. :) So for step two, I basically just have to decide I've had enough and stop eating. It's annoying. :)

Anyway, if I follow those two steps, and make sure all of the things I'm eating are relatively good for me (whole wheat, lean meat, etc.) then I lose weight. As it turns out, to really be okay, my body only needs about 300 cal in a sitting, and then it gets hungry three to four hours later - I usually make it wait 4. :)