Weigh Day...

I told myself (and anyone reading) that this week was not going to be as good of a week as last week - partially because last week was way over-inflated. Well, I was correct. This week was significantly less. But it was down. I'm at 307.3 right now. Based on how the week went, and my calorie deficit, and considering last week...it's actually pretty darned good. I'm at a total of 11.3 pounds down in 2 weeks.

So about 1.6 pounds down this week. After a sort of sad initial reaction (who wouldn't be disappointed with 1.6 after 9.7?) I'm actually quite OK with it.

The reason behind that is that I'm trying for a much slower, gradual weight loss this time. I really do believe that this may help it to be more long-term.

So happy this morning, and getting ready for the next week! Here's to being the top person on my fitbit friends this week again...

-Silas

Almost weigh in!

Funny how just two weeks ago I was dreading the weigh-in. Now I am wanting to jump on the scale every day! But I think that at least for the short term, weekly weigh-ins may be better for me. If I do well but the scale doesn't budge (through my normal weight fluctuations) then it becomes harder to keep motivated. As it is, though, I keep my motivation through weekly weigh-ins.

There's the little part of me hoping that this week will be like last week, and I'll drop below 300 again. (This time for the LAST last time.) I'm nearly 100% sure that won't be the case, but I am also 100% sure that it will be down again from last week.

That's what I'm looking for - a steady, consistent downward trend. I'm changing things up to help this out for the long term, I hope.

Last time I lost weight I made some drastic changes - basically no treats of any sort for about 6 months. I ate very well - it was all healthy - but I'm still thinking that for me this is not a long-term solution. As evidenced by the fact that as soon as I relaxed a little I relaxed a LOT. Like completely.

So this is what I'm working towards. I need to find a way to NOT do the complete let down. Right now my working theory is that I need to make consistent long-term changes to the way I eat, while allowing something "splurge-y" now and again. It's a subtle thing - I am not going to cut all sugar, but it needs to be a very tiny minority of what I eat.

Kind of like the food pyramid from way back when I was a kid, no? Did that thing actually have some good information? Go figure.

Basically no matter what I eat it needs to all stay within a calorie budget. One thing that I do know is that while I AM sticking within the budget that I have set (for 12 going on 13 days now) I am NOT eating enough fruits and vegetables. Especially vegetables. I think that's the next point of emphasis.

It's on my spreadsheet, but I'm not doing well enough in that way.

But I am doing well.

Gotta keep thinking through this...

-Silas

Repetition.

I'm hoping that doing the same thing over and over is going to help start burning new paths in my synapses. I know that this is needed. I still have problems - there are a lot of things that my brain/body still crave that I am having to specifically and consciously turn away. An entire bag of salty snacks - yep, that's where I actually want to go.

Did you know that in the "small" bag of chips from the gas station can have over 600 calories? Each serving has about 180 calories, and there are 3.5 servings.

I guess a single 180 calorie serving must be 2 chips.

Still moving forward. Still doing what I want to be doing. And still actually WANTING to be doing it. That makes a difference.

Last week's loss was great. I expect this one to be pretty good as well. Oh, not nearly as much as last week, but I will be down. Any time the number goes down from where I am is a good thing.

Either way, time to keep on keepin' on.

-Silas

It's all the snacking.

Really. I think that is about 90% of my problems with weight. On a given day I would be able to eat probably twice my daily calorie needs in snacks. OH how I wish I were joking.

Remove all of that and what's left? Meals. And as long as I keep exercising I'll keep losing weight, unless I binge at a buffet - which is pretty much easy to avoid.

I know that I'm oversimplifying again - there is actually a lot more than that - but for right now I think that keeping myself from eating salty/sweet snacks ALL DAY LONG is kind of the most important thing I can be doing right now.

I've got some ideas about that. More to come.

Wish I had something interesting to say.

I think I have now found why so many blogs such as this don't last too long...it's kind of hard to write something every day without feeling very redundant. "Doing well today." "Did well with food." "Made good choices." "Had a stumble, but didn't let it derail me." "Decided to eat food x, it fit within my plan."

Not sure what else to say here but pretty much those types of things.

But yesterday DID go well. It wasn't until after 9:00 that I actually had some time to exercise a bit. Went for a walk. Ended up doing about 8,000 steps until about 9:30.  Ended up with just over 10,000.

I really can't for the life of me figure out what's the difference between right now and a couple of weeks ago. Seriously - I was pretty much incapable of going to work without stopping by the store to buy a bunch of sugar and fat. Now, if it's around, I can figure out a little bit to eat and what will fit within calories, but I don't binge anymore.

I have talked before about having an undiagnosed eating disorder. Seriously, I really think that I do have binge eating disorder. When I'm in the wrong mindset, it feels out of control. Days like today I've got things reigned in, but I know how quickly it can blow up.

There are some scattered thoughts for you (me?) this morning.

Turns out it was more interesting than I had thought.

-Silas

Wednesday weigh-in

Wednesday has rolled around, and it's time to see if all of my efforts have paid off! My weight this morning was:

308.9

For those keeping track (read: me) that's 9.7 pounds this past week. So yeah, a good week. :)

This means a few things, to me.

1) Last week's weigh-in was a bit over-inflated.
2) Next week's weigh-in will be a bit understated.

I have to remember these things when the weight loss is way less.

But for today...

Today I'm happy with it.

I think I've learned something. Yesterday was a birthday party for my son. There ended up being food that was not so great for me - of course a big group of teenage boys wants pizza.

Still - I didn't go nuts.

Lunch wasn't too great either - but I also didn't go nuts.

So what have I learned?

Occasionally, and I mean occasionally, it is OK to have a food that isn't so healthy. As long as I stick with a sane portion.

And I think the other issue that I used to have was the constant all-day-long grazing and munching. If that stops, then about 50% or more of my calories are gone.

Whatever works. Seriously.

For now, I'm jumping back into week 2 with a vengeance...

Keep on keepin' on.

Yesterday was one of those weird days where nothing went as planned. But I was able to get my step goal in, to the point where I think I might just do a stepbet...it should be doable. But it did take some extra effort that I wouldn't have done otherwise.

Another small change that I would not have done - instead of fried potatoes for lunch with my sandwich, I opted for the melon. Pretty good.

Time will tell if these are the sorts of changes that I can make long-term, or if I even NEED to make them long term. But regardless I'm happy that for the first time in a while I'm feeling on track.

The spreadsheet really appears to be working. I've done WAY more stepping than I would have. I've eaten fewer calories (by far!) than I would have. I'm making plans to do even better in the near future, to gain back some of my fitness that I've lost.

I know, I know - it's easy to talk the talk. But for now, the walk is happening as well.

-Silas