So one month has gone by. I didn't post anything because I couldn't decide if I actually wanted to blog about this. I decided that I do because I think I actually have a lot of good advice to share, especially when it comes to food and cooking.
But first I will let you know that my weight is now 210 lbs. So that's technically a 5 lb loss in one month, which isn't amazing. But here are two things:
1. My scale was not in great shape when I weighed myself last month, so the 215 weight was a rough estimate. I think I actually weighed closer to 220. That scale has since died and I bought a digital one for more accuracy (I tested it by placing a 15 lb weight on it).
2. I have been really sticking to this diet, so I don't feel like I have failed at all even if the weight loss isn't drastic. I mean, it's a loss! And that hasn't happened in a long time!
And here's something else: it hasn't been hard at all. I have defintely faced some challenges, but I have been very good without sacrificing my social life or enjoying really great food.
Some examples:
1. I have gone out for beers and pub food several times on this diet. I am now only drinking light beer and I save points for these outings. I don't always feel like ordering a salad (and pubs are not great places for salad anyway) so I'll splurge a little and order something like a smoked meat sandwich on rye. It's not exactly health food, but in a pub I consider it a small victory if I manage to order something that isn't deep-fried, doesn't have cheese on it, or isn't a greasy burger.
2. On mother's day weekend I went up to my grandparents' house for a family gathering. There was a ton of junk food and baked goods and a BBQ. We also went to an all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet (yuck) for dinner and went to a pub for lunch. I have to say, even though I ate over my points limit that week, I definitely exercised a lot of restraint. I think I ate as well as I possibly could have that weekend without being rude. Plus, when your grandmother makes a chocolate cake, you have to eat a piece!
3. I work in publishing and we have book launches. Those book launches have trays of sweets and cheese. The leftovers will also make their way back to the office. I have been avoiding the sweet trays entirely, and only allowing myself to eat an ounce or two of cheese if I'm really hungry. If I weren't recording everything I am eating, I am sure that I would have been mindlessly stuffing two-bite brownies into my face all night.
Summer has been very slow to arrive here, and I am not going outside walking as much as I'd hoped. It's been very rainy and chilly. Because April/May is one of the busiest times of the year at my job, I haven't been going to the gym very often either. But most of the work craziness is over now, so I should be going regularly again. I think that will make a huge difference.
So there's an update. Coming up next...a list of my favourite diet-friendly foods! And some recipes!
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Let's do this thing.
I have been overweight for as long as I can remember, and maybe that's why it doesn't bother me so much.
I do not hide behind food. I do not have low self-esteem. I do not eat to comfort myself. I am not lazy and I am not clueless about nutrition.
I would say that the root of my problem is this: I just really love food and I keep myself busy. Being healthy and active was just never an important enough factor in my life. Frankly, I like food more than I like fashion, so the trade off always seemed fair to me.
I have, however, now reached a point where I see two possible outcomes:
1. I do nothing to change my life and continue to gain an average of ten pounds per year (plus more should I become pregnant soon) until I am incredibly obese and unhappy;
2. I make some big changes now and get myself down to a weight where I am healthy and don't feel that I am doing damage to myself or my future.
As I said, my weight has never kept me from doing anything I wanted to do: I am happily married, I have an MBA and I was in a pretty great rock band until recently. I like to walk and hike and swim in the summer. I love to cook, especially with fresh ingredients from the farmer's market. I am fully aware of the nutritional value of foods, but I have always just shrugged off the unhealthy aspect of food if I wanted it.
So my first step was to join the online WeightWatchers program. I am very familiar with WeightWatchers, having been a member several times. I like their program, and I find that it is very effective. I have identified a few problems that I had with the program in the past, and hopefully by identifying them, I will be able to sidestep them this time around.
Here are some negative things I experienced in the past with WeightWatchers:
1. A tendency to consume a lot of zero point foods that are not necessarily healthy, like diet soda and black coffee. The result is that I felt really unhealthy and tired. This time around I am not going to be consuming any artificial sweetner at all, so diet soda is off the menu. I am going to be drinking a lot of 1% milk and water instead. And speaking of which...
2. A tendency to deny myself a lot of healthy foods because they cost me points, like milk, fruit, fruit juice, and avocado. This time I am going to fill up on these foods and leave the low-fat chips and low-fat cookies at the grocery store. They don't taste great and they are full of god knows what.
3. I would give up if I went to a restaurant or on vacation because it was too confusing to tabulate the points. Now I am just going to do my best to calculate points even if I really have no idea how many points are in my meal (which hopefully won't happen that often). It's better to guess than give up. I am also going to give myself a couple of breaks for some upcoming weekend vacations I have planned. There is just no way I am going to New York City for the first time and worrying about the point value of pizza!
4. I hated the meetings. Hated them. I really didn't identify with anyone in the room, not only because I was often the youngest person there, but also because I didn't have the issues these people had. I have never in my life consumed an entire bucket of ice cream. I don't live on fast food. I know how to cook. I don't have kids. I don't want to talk about my esteem issues because I really don't have any. So I am doing the online version of WeightWatchers (with no meetings!). I know that getting weighed once a week at the meetings is good incentive for some people, but it never really motivated me. Besides, I can post my results on this blog each week for the whole world to see...and it's free!
So one of the goals of this blog is to keep myself motivated. Another is to post lots of tips and recipes to help others who may also be trying to lose weight. I love to cook and experiment in the kitchen, so I am excited to share. I'll always post the WeightWatchers points values and nutritional information for everything I make.
So to start I will post some current stats:
Age: 28
Height: 5'7"
Weight: 215 lbs
I have to buy a tape measurer so I can track my inches.
I think the first thing I need to do is invest in a really good digital scale. My bathroom scale isn't so hot, and it's hard to read because it's cracked (NOT because I stepped on it!).
My first goal is to lose 5% of my body weight, which would bring me down to 204 lbs. My ultimate goal weight is 155 lbs, which probably is some people's nightmare weight, but I would be very happy at that size. I would actually be happy at 165, but 155 would be lower than I have been since I was a kid, and that would be exciting.
Let's see how this goes...
I do not hide behind food. I do not have low self-esteem. I do not eat to comfort myself. I am not lazy and I am not clueless about nutrition.
I would say that the root of my problem is this: I just really love food and I keep myself busy. Being healthy and active was just never an important enough factor in my life. Frankly, I like food more than I like fashion, so the trade off always seemed fair to me.
I have, however, now reached a point where I see two possible outcomes:
1. I do nothing to change my life and continue to gain an average of ten pounds per year (plus more should I become pregnant soon) until I am incredibly obese and unhappy;
2. I make some big changes now and get myself down to a weight where I am healthy and don't feel that I am doing damage to myself or my future.
As I said, my weight has never kept me from doing anything I wanted to do: I am happily married, I have an MBA and I was in a pretty great rock band until recently. I like to walk and hike and swim in the summer. I love to cook, especially with fresh ingredients from the farmer's market. I am fully aware of the nutritional value of foods, but I have always just shrugged off the unhealthy aspect of food if I wanted it.
So my first step was to join the online WeightWatchers program. I am very familiar with WeightWatchers, having been a member several times. I like their program, and I find that it is very effective. I have identified a few problems that I had with the program in the past, and hopefully by identifying them, I will be able to sidestep them this time around.
Here are some negative things I experienced in the past with WeightWatchers:
1. A tendency to consume a lot of zero point foods that are not necessarily healthy, like diet soda and black coffee. The result is that I felt really unhealthy and tired. This time around I am not going to be consuming any artificial sweetner at all, so diet soda is off the menu. I am going to be drinking a lot of 1% milk and water instead. And speaking of which...
2. A tendency to deny myself a lot of healthy foods because they cost me points, like milk, fruit, fruit juice, and avocado. This time I am going to fill up on these foods and leave the low-fat chips and low-fat cookies at the grocery store. They don't taste great and they are full of god knows what.
3. I would give up if I went to a restaurant or on vacation because it was too confusing to tabulate the points. Now I am just going to do my best to calculate points even if I really have no idea how many points are in my meal (which hopefully won't happen that often). It's better to guess than give up. I am also going to give myself a couple of breaks for some upcoming weekend vacations I have planned. There is just no way I am going to New York City for the first time and worrying about the point value of pizza!
4. I hated the meetings. Hated them. I really didn't identify with anyone in the room, not only because I was often the youngest person there, but also because I didn't have the issues these people had. I have never in my life consumed an entire bucket of ice cream. I don't live on fast food. I know how to cook. I don't have kids. I don't want to talk about my esteem issues because I really don't have any. So I am doing the online version of WeightWatchers (with no meetings!). I know that getting weighed once a week at the meetings is good incentive for some people, but it never really motivated me. Besides, I can post my results on this blog each week for the whole world to see...and it's free!
So one of the goals of this blog is to keep myself motivated. Another is to post lots of tips and recipes to help others who may also be trying to lose weight. I love to cook and experiment in the kitchen, so I am excited to share. I'll always post the WeightWatchers points values and nutritional information for everything I make.
So to start I will post some current stats:
Age: 28
Height: 5'7"
Weight: 215 lbs
I have to buy a tape measurer so I can track my inches.
I think the first thing I need to do is invest in a really good digital scale. My bathroom scale isn't so hot, and it's hard to read because it's cracked (NOT because I stepped on it!).
My first goal is to lose 5% of my body weight, which would bring me down to 204 lbs. My ultimate goal weight is 155 lbs, which probably is some people's nightmare weight, but I would be very happy at that size. I would actually be happy at 165, but 155 would be lower than I have been since I was a kid, and that would be exciting.
Let's see how this goes...
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