Editor’s note: IF you read this blog post, please comment. I am trying to hold myself accountable, and I need the motivation/realization that people are reading.
In 2006, while in grad school, I gained a lot of weight. By March 2009, I had lost most of it. It is now July 2010, and all the weight I lost is back. That is about 40 pounds.
I’m back to square one, and I need to do more than just a temporary loss this time.
I need to change the way I exercise and the way I eat. With my bad ankle, I just can’t do what I used to do in terms of exercise. I started with a trip to my doctor this morning. I have an official weight, which was actually less than I expected by about 4 pounds or so. I will not be weighing in regularly, but I will try to rely on the monthly weight at my doctor’s office as well as other tells like the fit of my clothes.
My doctor recommended Weight Watchers or the South Beach Diet. She said the people she knows who have been successful with weight loss were the ones who go to Weight Watchers. She said the biggest reason they did so was guilt. The weekly meetings require you to face your actions and guilt you into doing better.
I have looked into Weight Watchers before, and I have considered it. I know people who have been pretty successful on it as well, but I thought I could do the guilt right here in cyberspace as well. If I commit to Fat Fridays, I can have that guilt factor right here. I’m not going to rule out Weight Watchers, but I want to try some other things first.
And the other thing is The South Beach Diet, which my doctor said is just a healthy way to eat. She says I could lose 5 to 10 pounds in the first two weeks if I follow it. She says the diet eases up after that. Plus she told me about a mashed cauliflower recipe that seemed pretty unbelievable.
South Beach means I have to give up potatoes. OK, I don’t know exactly since I’ve only read up to chapter two in my new book (The South Beach Diet Super Charged), but from what my doctor said, it is bye bye potatoes. I eat a lot of potatoes. I am not looking forward to that.
But I can also eat cheese, which is a good thing since I love cheese more than potatoes. One snack my doctor mentioned was mozzarella sticks, which is something I already snack on.
My doctor also suggested my life style contributed to my weight gain, which I really did know already. It probably isn’t a coincidence that I gained weight during Little League season. We had games almost every night, and we probably had various forms of fast food way more than we should have.
I need to finish reading (or at least read a bit further) the South Beach Diet to figure out exactly where I need to start. I plan to start today as much as possible, and be completely on the new diet by Monday. This allows me time to finish reading and plan meals.
I know I am doing some good things now. I already prefer whole wheat to white breads. I normally don’t snack on candy or cookies or chips. I prefer popcorn, nuts and cheeses. I even eat veggies as snacks, which my husband thinks this is weird. But I have fallen into bad habits, and sometimes I eat candy (like yesterday).
If I had to guess, my biggest problems are my choice of drinks. I have about two to three cups of coffee each morning, and I use a lot of flavored cream. I also drink more alcohol than I should although recently I have switched to drinking more wine and less beer. I sometimes drink pop, and I have been drinking a lot of lemonade.
My second biggest problem is my lifestyle. I work primarily online, which means I spend a lot of time sitting in my living room with a computer on my lap. I need to make it a point to get up and move more. One thing I already read in the South Beach diet book was how even minor technology is reducing how much we exercise. The author, Dr. Arthur Agatston, specifically mentioned the remote control. When I was a kid, my dad used to call me. I would come downstairs to change the TV channel for him. This was before remote controls existed. He was just a couple of steps away, but he had me do it for him.
I’ve told that story more than once, and it always seemed so funny. He refused to get up and walk a few steps to change the TV channel, so he would call me downstairs. But when I read the South Beach book’s comment about the remote control, I realized I’m not any different. I might not be calling my kids downstairs, but I am still just a few steps away and can’t bother to physically get up and change it myself. OK, nowadays, it is hard to change a channel by hand. You need the remote control. But maybe with this awareness, I can make a small change: that when I do use the remote to change the channel, I need to take a break from the computer and get up and walk around a little bit.
As of today, I plan to make these immediate changes:
- No fast food meals
- No pop
- Only one cup of coffee with cream a day — I may have more coffee, but no more cream
- Get up and move more during my work. Especially when I do any activity that would normally have required me to get up and move around without technology: answering the phone or changing the channel or looking up a phone number or directions to anywhere.
And to make sure that I have that guilt/embarrassment factor on the blog (which my doctor feels is an important motivation factor in losing weight), I need to tell all of you my weight. Yikes. I didn’t mind telling you in the past because I was losing weight and doing something positive to lose weight. But now I have to tell you how bad I have been although it is pretty easy to figure out just by looking at me. In March 2009, I weight 207 pounds. A few months ago, I weighed about 230. Today, I weighed 246. I expected it to be 250 or more.
My height is between 5’7 and 5’8. Let’s go with 5 feet 7.5 inches. Although yesterday, a guy realized he was shorter than me and thought he was 5 foot 9 inches, which means one of us is wrong.
As for exercise, I am still figuring it all out. I have severe degenerative arthritis in my right ankle. I qualify for ankle replacement surgery, but I have been advised to put off surgery as long as possible. To help with my ankle pain, I sometimes take 500 mg of Naproxen. My prescription allows for two of those a day as needed. I am supposed to do primarily non weight bearing exercises, so I’ve been doing some bicycling. I like bicycling, but if I push myself too far, my butt is too sore to bike for a couple of days despite my extra cushy bike seat. I think I am going to have to do more and just be willing to take my medicine more often.
So there it is. My weight is up there somewhere although I did my best to bury it. For my weight loss journey, I am once again starting all over, and I know, I will be successful.
And one last thing — it can be very easy for me to pretend that no one reads this blog. This sort of defeats the purpose of putting my weight out there for the guilt/embarrassment factor, so if you have read this far, please comment. I might cringe to realize exactly how many of you know I now weigh 246 pounds, but I need the motivation and accountability.
About the Photo: Yes, it really is my butt on the right hand side of the photo. The picture is from June 2010.
I admire you so much for going public with your weight loss goals! I’ve done both Weight Watchers and South Beach (my doctor said pretty much the same things about them that yours did). I lost a lot of weight on SB in the first month, but I just couldn’t stick to it. I missed potatoes and real ice cream way too much. Plus, the weight came back on quickly once I stopped the strict diet requirements. I’ve had good success on WW and have family members who swear by it. I wasn’t too fond of the weekly meetings, so I did the program all online and found that to be a wonderful way to keep track of my points. Good luck!
South Beach has some good recipes…however the first two weeks are terrible. I need carbs or I feel weak! Here’s a hint for coffee cream addiction. I buy a flavored creamer and mix it 50/50 with skim milk…then I only have half the calories but still have flavor.
OK–I’ll comment! You are very brave and I want to commend you for asking for guilt!
I’m not going to send you guilt, but just a few thoughts instead.
Is there any way you can fit in aquatic exercise? Many of the people who do that type of exercise do have some sort of joint problem. I only do water exercise in the summer because I’m not sure how to fit in the whole wet hair in the cold with my lifestyle. Oh, and one of the thing I love doing is Zumba–which you probably can’t do with your ankle–but I just saw they have aqua Zumba. That sounds fun!
And then, what about Hatha yoga? I’ve been taking a restorative class for five years–restorative does not mean easy, but it is focused on long term healing. Our instructor will also modify movements for you if you tell her about an injury, plus she’ll help you figure out whether or not a painful position is harmful for your condition or just part of the healing process! Our classes vary so some of them don’t burn many calories but others really do, especially in the summer when she says it’s appropriate to work harder on changing our bodies.
Back to the food issue–did I already point out the Glorious One-Pot Meals to you? Even if I did, I’ll mention them again because they are a really good way to eat healthy food while living a crazy, busy lifestyle. These are dutch oven meals that have all the ingredients in them that you could have prepared in advance and then you could pop them in the oven. You can also ask the creator/author, Elizabeth Yarnell, how to change the technique so you’re not stuck eating at 10:00 while waiting for them to cook. Anyway, check out: http://www.gloriouspotmeal.com/about/cookbook.htm I asked the author recently about summer and how not to heat up your kitchen. She says you can do a small Dutch oven in a toaster oven–outside if you want–and have results. Our toaster oven is on its last legs so we will be searching for one soon that will work.
Good luck!
I’m reading Linda!
And I joined Weight Watchers about 6 weeks ago. I had a 3 week break for a bunch of reasons… but what that means is I’m about a pound UP overall. But I’m still plugging away, still trying to make good choices. I did NOT want to go back to WW after the break, I knew I was up and I felt like a failure.
I weigh 185 and would love to be 155. That’s my goal. But a bigger goal is to be healthy and have more energy.
There is also the slow cooker. And mom and dad just got a preassure cooker that cooks a roast with carrots and potatoes in less than 1 1/2 hours. I am sure there arer plenty of healthy meals you could make in those.
I know where you are coming from. I started this week getting up and getting some of the things done that I have been wanting to get done around the house. I have been changing some of the things I eat. I have put on 30 pounds this past year. When I am sitting down I have been trying to do slight leg lifts. I need to start the sit up though. I am going to use you as my motivation to do this. I have heard good things about the south beach diet. cutting down on carbs worked and eating better carbs when I do worked for me the last time, and I didn’t feel hungry. Good luck. not sure if I am ready to post my weight here. But I am only 5 foot and about 45 pounds over weight.
I’m reading, too. And I believe in you and you can do this! One step at a time.
You’ve always been ambitious and brave, so I know this is something you CAN and WILL do.
I am reading Linda! Will soon be on my pwn journey!
Hi Linda,
I hope you can continue your post. I always find it enjoyable to read when I have time. I like Weight Watchers because you learn how to eat healthy. As for coffee, you can sweeten it with Stevia, and sweeten it with fat free liquid or powdered creamer. I just joined gentle yoga as well because I have neck problems that prohibit certain exercises. I hope your doctor checked your thyroid too. Also when women reach middle age it becomes very hard to lose weight. It is recommended that you exercise at least 1 hour a day.
Best wishes and good luck!
Julie
Thanks everyone for all of your great comments!
Trish, I don’t remember you mentioning Glorious One Pot Meals before, but I am definitely going to check it out. Thank you!
Sara, thanks for the great tip about the coffee. I’m wondering if vanilla-flavored soy milk would work too (low fat, of course).
Irene, I never would have guessed you gained 30 pounds.
Jessica, Giggy, Angela, Julie, Maureen and Heather, thanks so much for the support! I really appreciate it.
The good thing about this diet? I am going to have to become better about planning and cooking meals, which my husband is going to love.
Good luck! I am also a fan of using the fit of clothing rather than the scale as a measure of weight loss.