Thursday, July 20, 2017

MOAR: Accountability

I'm getting real.

Well, I'm always real here. If you've been reading for a while, you know that.

But seriously, this morning was a real eye-opener. Got on the scale as promised, and... I am sad to say that I am back over 290 – 293.8! Whoa!

I ate like crap yesterday and so it's partly the weight of all that, I'm sure. I'm going to share with you what I ate, in fact. Note that this is pretty much how I ate before I got serious about losing weight, but every day without thinking twice most times. No wonder things got so out of control.

• Three donuts

• Subway footlong roast beef sub (I get all the veggies and vinegar on it, and pepper jack cheese, yum!), and Baked BBQ Lay's chips

• One hotdog on a bun, about a cup of leftover fancy black beans with a little cheese and sour cream on top, and some chili cheese Fritos

• An ice cream cone (at like 10pm!)

Actually, I probably used to eat even worse than this, but still. It's a lot, right? The donuts. God.

There were some positive things yesterday though!

• Drank 10 cups of water

• Played over an hour of tennis in hot and humid conditions (probably the most we've experienced so far this year) – plus I won a game in two sets! LOL

• I meditated!

So today I put on some comfortable clothes so that I would physically feel OK and therefore better mentally, too. I had three donuts left in my drawer and I ate them. I know.

I'm going out to lunch with a co-worker and not sure what I will do there, to be honest.

I'm not beating myself up. All I need are a few good days under my belt again. And I need to keep writing here. Another thing I considered doing was keeping a written journal of what I eat, when, and how I am feeling at the time. Same with drinking (alcohol). I think it will help me to better understand my patterns and therefore maybe try to adjust them. I mean, I know in general what I do – I am an emotional eater, no doubt. But I also eat to feed non-hunger cravings. I eat because the idea of eating that particular food sounds good. I want to do it. It's hard for me to moderate many times, though, so there's the rub. They say that the first few bites of a food taste best, and after that, we're just gobbling to gobble. Why can't I just have half a donut and be satisfied, or one scoop of ice cream, or one slice of pizza? OK, fine if I am hungry but many times I am not.

I think I'll meditate on it.

One last thing I wanted to note here? I don't get chub rub anymore. I play tennis in short skirts and I haven't had chub run one time this year! I wear skirts to work – nothing. It is totally fabulous. I mentioned it to my GYN, marvelling at it, really, and she said it's probably because my legs have more muscle now. Whatever the reason, it's pretty nifty. I haven't had to use my Body Glide in forever! Hooray!

Wednesday, July 19, 2017

Lately

I have not been meditating.

We haven't been playing tennis as much.

I'm not doing any other kind of exercise.

My eating has pretty much gone off the rails.

I don't really know what I am doing.

And do you know what this came off of? It came off of two, no three, really positive experiences in the healthcare system. I got such good marks from my doctors that... I don't know what the rationale is for it, if any... I just felt license somehow. Maybe it was a mistake for my GYN to tell me that even if I never lost any more weight, she'd be happy because she knows how active I am and the life I try to lead most of the time.

I mean, wow, right?

So my reaction is to just totally...

I feel very heavy and not very healthy. I've been eating pretty much anything I feel like. I have managed to stay under 290, but I won't for long if I don't stop this in its tracks.

Hey, I have been here before and picked myself up and dusted myself off. I know.

In fact, I am pretty sure we'll be playing tennis tonight, which is a step in the right direction.

I keep revising my path (which is totally OK, by the way!). Here are some things I would like to focus on in the coming week:

• Re-engage my meditation practice – even a little tiny bit, but every single day. (There. I just did a 7-minute meditation on the Stop, Breathe & Think website. It was the one about change, by the way. ;)

• Stop drinking soda (yes, even diet, which is what I usually drink if I do). Go back to only drinking water. (Just threw out what I had left from lunch.)

• Continue logging food, being completely honest. (Going to log today right after this.)

• Daily weigh again, and logging in Happy Scale. No matter what. I'm pretty sure this is essential for me after having tried so many different approaches. If I know I don't have to weigh in the next day, I am more likely to eat less than ideal foods. (I will weigh in tomorrow.)

• Oatmeal and fresh fruit for breakfast, and a cup of green tea. That was a good habit to have. (Looking forward to starting the day like this tomorrow!)

I think that is enough to try to get back to for now – I don't want to give myself too much and feel like I can't do it.

What are you struggling with lately?




Saturday, July 8, 2017

Quick Update

Hello all,

It's been up-down in the past two days since I wrote last. I'm sitting at 285 again, which... is fine. But I haven't been very serious about getting my eating where I'd like it to be, and combined with no tennis or other exercise the past couple days, well... on days when I don't exercise I can't eat like I do on days when I do. Not to say that I think an hour's worth of activity makes up entirely for poor eating choices, but it does definitely give me a little bit of leeway, you know?

The good news is that I am still at 285. As I talked about before, I want July to be a 285-and-below month. But I have to do the work! I have to stay vigilant!

Anyway, the weather allowed for tennis again today and we met up with Rick as we hope to do every Saturday at noon for the rest of the summer. With breaks I still amassed about a good hour of pretty intense tennis... oh, man! I just really love it so much. I'm glad that I didn't give up trying when I was first learning.

I've been checking into MFP every single day, at the very least to log water intake and exercise; if I don't directly log the food then I do a loose list of what I've eaten in the notes section, which is less precise but way easier. I'm trying to eat more intuitively than counting calories so militantly, at least for a while. It depends on the day, it depends on my mood.

Speaking of mood, I had the first appointment with my new therapist on Friday morning, and it was GREAT! Totally fabulous. I feel so lucky about the health care workers that I've found in the past few years – my guy, Bob, is actually a social worker and not a doc. I've been feeling much better since I started on the Lexapro generic in addition to my Wellbutrin generic, so on one hand you could ask, "Well, why bother with therapy if you feel fine now?" but I still wanted to go because I am one of those weird people who actually like therapy and the chance to blab on about whatever (me me me, LOL) and try to work through all those thoughts that go racing through my head.

I feel very comfortable with Bob, and the conversation was pretty enlightening already and I think this experience will be valuable for me as I approach making a lot of big changes in my life. At this point he said frequency is up to me, and I think I'm going to go with two to three times a month and see where that takes me. I'm excited!

In summary... mostly good, still struggling a bit but staying as positive as I can.

Books from the library (reading lots lately!):

Jessamyn Stanley's Every Body Yoga

Jen Sincero's You Are a Badass at Making Money

Tony Robbins' Money: Master the Game

Roxane Gay's Hunger and Difficult Women (I just finished Bad Feminist and loved it!)

Haruki Murakami's Men without Women

Thursday, July 6, 2017

Back On It!

I'm happy to say that things are back to relative normal again. What a relief! I weighed in today at my lowest this year by a squiggle – 282.6. I'm very happy about that but really looking forward to getting back into the 270s.

Honestly, I think back to what happened last year and how I was on my way back to a place I didn't want to go, and that by now I could have been there already, or close to it. But in February, I finally got my head out of that fog and got back to business, knowing how hard I worked and what a shame it would be to erase all that progress. In these past few years, I've carved out a whole new way of life for myself in which I love to be active and I do my best to treat my body like the temple it is.

Of course, I am not perfect. This is NOT about perfection, though! It's about progress; it's about learning as you go. I'm glad that I finally realized and fully embraced those things.

I have a long ways to go to where I'd ultimately like to be, but I am also pretty pleased about where I am now. A lot of that is because I upped my activity level so much since the end of last year – first with training sessions at the gym and weightlifting, then with tennis, walking, and hiking as the weather got better. I feel like I owe so much to trainer Rick and my partner, C. (who likes to keep his anonymity online). They have both kept me going and getting out and doing things even when I didn't feel like it. Exercise is truly my lifesaver, as someone who might always struggle with food and eating.

C. and I have been ramping up our tennis sessions lately, building up to beyond an hour on the court – an hour and a half, even two hours one day! We'll likely keep trying to build our endurance as the summer goes on. I think we're both kind of addicted, to be honest. You would not believe the amount of sweat we generate. Usually when we're done, my dress and headband are literally soaking wet, and we drink tons of water! Good stuff.

Tomorrow I have my first therapy session, and early next week I have appointments with both my gynecologist and my GP! It's really nice to be proactive about my health in all aspects and I've been feeling so positive lately. I think it is safe to say that the addition of Lexpro to my regimen has been really helpful.

Anyway, I just wanted to check in and say hello! How's your summer been so far?

Sunday, July 2, 2017

On a Roll

Checking in for accountability's sake.

Yesterday was: A big salad and a small slice of leftover pizza for lunch. Later, celebrating an old, good friend's birthday. He made the most delicious roast beef for beef on weck sandwiches. Holy crap, I could not stop eating the meat. Wowwowwow. Seriously. His mom made some tasty macaroni salad, and then there were these amazeballs Ho-ho-like things from Sam's club – kind of like petit-fours. Little cakes with icing. I ate, admittedly, way too many of these although if it had been a real, regular-sized cake, it probably would have been equal to a decent slice. Whatever. I enjoyed it. Also a couple beers.

Today was: An hour of hot, humid tennis first thing (which was actually late morning into noon because we slept in because I went to bed so late!). Hot! Humid! Much sweat was sweated. Followed by... a lot of R and R, to be honest. I had a big plate of nachos for lunch followed by some chocolate chips and beer. (I know, I know.) A long, hot afternoon nap. I snacked on delicious CSA strawberries in the evening.

WATER! Trying to get back to lots again.

This morning I was back down to 285 even (well, post-tennis, which is when I usually weigh on weekends and holidays), so very pleased with that. I'm looking forward to a sub-285 July.

It's been on my mind a lot lately but I usually don't talk about more personal, non-"lifestyle" stuff here, but... I have big dreams that I want to make happen this year. I speak it out to the universe a lot. I have files in my Google Drive about it. A big cross-country move! Career development. I name what I want. The job I want, the salary I want, the domicile I want for my family. I'm seeing it clearly in my head and I've been taking steps toward it.

But there are still several big practical things to take care of, most of all getting our house ready and selling it. It's been at least a good month now since we've made the decision and yet have done nothing on this side of things to get the ball rolling. It's hanging over my head. But I'm afraid to talk about this part, or even to act on it. Obviously on one hand I can't wait to make things happen, and on the other I'm totally scared.

So it's a lot, to keep all the momentum for all the things I am doing (including the weight loss and fitness thing) going. But it's all connected, one motivates the other motivates the other. I want to put my best foot forward. I want to be my best self. I want to believe in all the things I can do or think I can do given the chance. I'm aiming higher than I ever considered before. It's all scary, but it's all doable.

Make it so. Make it ALL so.

Just do it, etc. etc.

(Wish me luck.)


Saturday, July 1, 2017

A New Beginning

I just posted the last post I started to write on Thursday – it ends kind of abruptly but rather summarizes what the past couple weeks has been like: Not-so-great eating and lots of tennis, in a nutshell.

Approaching a certain number again was also a concern. I was teetering on the brink of 290 again, and that just was not acceptable. I've made just some small adjustments the past few days and ended out the month hitting 286 and change, which is fine for me – far away enough for now. My goal for the month of July is to end up into the 270s (finally!), and to stay below 285 every day after today.

I'm making a pledge to myself for this month to weigh every day (even when I am scared), and log my food every day in some way (the past few days I have taken to just listing the food I eat in the notes section of MyFitnessPal instead of doing the whole calorie count thing).

Another thing I've been thinking about is time. As in, how long it takes to lose this weight. I've been at this now for three years and the net loss is currently 85 pounds – hey, not bad, right? The thing that I am most impressed with at this point is that I am still at it, and even though I have had some setbacks, I've never given up completely. I'm really proud of that! And while it would be really nice to lose a lot more quickly, I'm thinking that the slower I lose, the more likely I will keep it off long-term. So instead of being worried about losing a certain number of pounds each month (i.e. the 8 or 10 I always aimed for in the past), I just want to make sure that I lose something on a monthly basis – keep the downward trajectory, no matter how little it might be. Oh! And also to keep my Happy Scale charts in the green, all the time.

This allows me for not feeling overly restricted or wanting for anything. I can still eat what I want for the most part as long as I keep things balanced and in reasonable portions, most of the time. That is so important for the long haul, to make sure that what I have been doing remains a lifestyle rather than a temporary fix – which, at this point, seems pretty much the case.

Anyway, I am entering July with a fresh outlook and excitement. It feels good!