Life isn't Fair

I was confronted with another moment where life isn't fair this week when we realized that over the last year- year and a half, my husband has lost about 65 pounds. How, you might ask.

By doing absolutely nothing. He joined a gym and went 4 times. The biggest change that I can put my finger on is that he has stopped skipping so many meals. So in other words, he lost weight by eating.

I know all the reasons men lose weight easier than women, but still the intellectual part of my brain is just going to have to bow down to the whiny, selfish emotional side and let me complain a bit.

As for me, I am still a non-smoker. Just over two months now. Due mainly to the weather here in the south, where it can't seem to decide if it is going to be warm or cold, my sinuses have been driving me crazy. So most of the last two month have been spent coughing and blowing my nose. Makes the gym loads of fun. I try, but some days I don't seem to get very far.

Still, since I've been here, I have lost a total of 30 pounds. Almost 10% of my body weight. And most importantly I feel better.

1 step forward, 2 steps back

This week started on a fairly good note. I started my meds, and my eating feels like it's finally under control. I know it's not a magic fix, and I will have to figure out a way to resist the temptation to eat everything in the house, but it's a start. I'm eating more sensibly, and eating the right way (small meals & snacks throughout the day). I don't eat nearly as much as I did before... when I was able to eat more than PK in a sitting... And I'm feeling great!

When I got home Monday afternoon, I found the most beautiful gigantic box I'dever seen in the entire world. My Body Champ Cardio Dual Trainer had arrived! I found it on Amazon.com while searching for an elliptical that wasn'ttoo expensive and wouldn't take up my entire living room. And when I ran across this one? It was PERFECT! See, I can only do the elliptical - the low impact is perfect for my hips and knees. PK only likes the bike - which I can't do. So... combine them in one machine & you don't need an entire room take up by exercise equipment! WIN!

Unfortunately, I have no idea how to put the bastard together, so I waited for PK to get home. And waited. And waited. He ended up having to work until 7:00, and even then he only came home because the computer kicked him off so that it could do it's nightly system backup. So, it was too late for him to start putting it together. I was sadface, but I can understand his need for food and sleep after such an incredibly long day.

Tuesday, I woke up feeling gross. Not like "Oh God, I'm going to be sick" gross, but "Oh God, I think my ovaries are trying to crawl out of my body" gross. Thing is, I'm on birth control pills and that girl crap wasn't due for another week! Unfortunately, I'm just now getting on these stupid pills, and my hormones are trying to adjust. (I apologize if any of this is TMI - I tried to keep it as vague as possible)

As much as I want my elliptical to be put together, I can't really do much in the way of exercising. Or moving. Nope, I have to have a heating pad on my belly, a big ol' bottle of Aleve, and the biggest bottle of water you have seen in your life (I'd say vodka, but alcohol & Phentermine don't mix well) all while cuddled either on the bed or on the couch. On the plus side, I haven't gone diving for the chocolate in the pantry. Or the ice cream in the fridge. Instead, I grab an apple or some yogurt.

I know I sound like a big baby, but it hurts. And me and pain? We're not friends.

So, while my diet is WAY better this week (and I almost feel like I'm not bloated at all), my exercise sucks. All I can say is that I pray this crap is over soon and my hormones level out with a quickness. I don't want any more surprise visits from that bitch Aunt Flo.

Today's bathroom scale reading: 193!

I go back to the doctor in a few weeks, and I'm going to make them let me go in the back to check my weight to see what their scale says. I want to see how much it differs from mine.

Question of the week: How do you deal with That Time Of The Month? Do you run for the chocolate, or do you exercise it out?

Celebrate!

Sorry everyone! This was supposed to post yesterday. I was out of touch and had no idea it didn't publish as scheduled. -Dara

That is what I am doing today! Celebrating. I am celebrating my 2lb loss since last Tuesday. I am also celebrating the total 4lb loss over the last few weeks. (See my ticker! It moved!)

So, obviously eating as a form of celebration is out. What's a girl to do? Well, for me. I bought a book. I picked up Mary Jo Putney's Never Less Than A Lady it is the 2nd book in the Lost Lords series. I got the first one free on Amazon's Kindle site and so had to get this one!

Last week was a pretty good week. Clearly laying off the booze is helping. Although I did slip Friday and have one (large) beer at dinner. But hey one beer in one week isn't so bad. I am pretty happy about it. I have also been using the diet shakes more and not snacking in between. Probably a key factor in my success. Now if I can get my but back in the workout rhythm I think I can capitalize on this start.

My darling husband has even commented he could tell I have lost some weight, so it's a win all the way around!

Now, what I want to know is, as you are working toward your own weight loss (or other) goal, how will you celebrate? Are you planning something different than you might normally as a celebration?

Queen of the Slackers? Yup, that would be me!

Starting Weight: 192 lbs

Goal Weight: 132 lbs

Last Time’s Weight: 188 lbs

This Time’s Weight: 186 lbs

This Time’s Loss: 2 lbs

Total Loss: 6 lbs

This Week’s Hours of Zumba: 0.0

Last Week’s Hours of Zumba: 1.0

Total Hours of Zumba: 2.5

You see the hours of Zumba this week? No? Are you sure you don’t see them? That’s right…that’s because I didn’t Zumba this week.
As I said last week in my post: I forewarned you. I do not like to work out and in week three I have already fallen off the wagon where working out is concerned.
I can use the excuse of being awefully busy, busy, busy but I can also be honest and say to myself that there is ALWAYS time to squeeze in 20/30 minutes of Zumba. No I must face the fact that I am a SLACKER!
I cling to every excuse not to work out and even Zumba which is so much like dancing has fallen victim to my lazy-ass attitude towards working out.

Okay now that I have acknowledged the problem I know what to do: I need to get back on the exercise wagon and I have asked hubby to help me: He has orders to make sure I Zumba tomorrow so I can get into the groove again of my daily work-outs. I.CAN.DO.THIS!

On another matter I had a day with BFF today (which is the reason this post is so late). It was something we'd planned before I even had an inkling of starting this 0-calories diet and when she heard I was doing this she asked if it wasn't better to cancel as we had a lunch planned as a highlight in our day. I thought long and hard and then decided that I didn't want the dieting to mess up my social life or to control it. So I said to her we weren't cancelling. I would make it work and I did!
I took my broth with me and decided I'd take that and a lot of water, tea and diet coke if I didn't find a way to eat something that wouldn't interfere with my diet.
When we got to the place where we were supposed to have lunch, I looked long and hard at the menu and there was a lot of good stuff on it and I was really in doubt of what to do.
Finally I decided to break the three-week fast and order a tuna wrap. It was the most healthy I could find on the menu and I ordered it without any guilt about eating something.

Well let me tell you after three weeks of broth, curds, water, tea and diet soda, I thought I would devour the wrap and end up wanting, craving, more. You can't imagine my surprise that I was able to eat only half of the wrap, which was delicious by the way and it took me an hour...SERIOUSLY: AN HOUR! to finish that half of a wrap...When I ate half I just couldn't eat anymore and I have absolutely no craving for food, so as of tomorrow it's back to my regular diet without any problems.
And I survived a day of socializing without any problems!



Till next week!

Hugs,
Pearl

TGIF - I survived the first week

Starting Weight: 192 lbs

Goal Weight: 132 lbs

Last Time’s Weight: 192 lbs

This Time’s Weight*: 188 lbs

This Time’s Loss*: 4 lbs

Total Loss: 4 lbs

This Week’s Hours of Zumba: 1.5

Total Hours of Zumba: 1.5

*These numbers will be my bi-weekly numbers as I go to the doctor to weigh every 2 weeks and my scale at home always says something other than the doctor's.

So how did my first week of #twitloss go?
Well with ups and downs but I am happy to say it ended high! As I wrote on my page I am starting the battle against overweight with a 0-calorie diet, acupuncture and Zumba.

The 0-calorie diet means I can only have:
Minimum of 2 liters of fluids (this can be coffee, tea, water and diet sodas, NO juice)
Vitamin/mineral supplement pills (3 a day)
3 cups of broth (NO soup)
1 spoon of vegetable oil
300 grams of yogurt or 150 grams of curds

And that’s it folks!

The acupuncture is to keep the feelings of hunger/obsession with food away and I must say it helps. I had one tough day this week and almost grabbed food to comfort me but then took a step back and kept my eye on the end prize (losing this damn overweight) and took a glass of water and a cup of broth instead. I felt like I won a war after that moment. In the past I have never been able to overcome the need to comfort myself with food.

I must say the not eating part is going well for me. I already suspected not eating is easier for me than eating just healthy stuff of little amounts of food but it’s going better than I thought, save for that one tough day I had. I feel great, I have energy, I don’t feel hungry or faint. I can be around food, handle food (I cook for my hubby) and not have the inclination to eat it. If it stays like this, keeping this diet up for a few months will be less of a chore than I thought it would be.

Another shocker for me is finding out I am looking forward to doing my daily exercise, Zumba. Okay, I’ve just been doing it for 3 days…so let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
I abhor sports, I loathe exercise but I love to dance and in Zumba I have found a combination of dance and sports that is working for me. Still this is the hardest part for me, every morning I get up and have to motivate and force myself to put the dvd in and start excercising. Once I'm at it I really enjoy myself but it's taking that step to start that I hope will be easier the course of time.

In closing this week I want to thank all the ladies of the #twitloss group (whether on the blog or just on twitter). Knowing there are more people battling their weight is all the support I could ask for and it’s helping keep me motivated to see it through to the end this time! Couldn't do it without you guys!

Hugs,
Pearl

Oh and got a little something especially for Danielle, on her request:

Hump Day!

Well, it's hump day! That means we are half way through the work week and half way through our first week of Twitloss. First, thank you to everyone who has come out here and on Twitter to follow, gripe, groan, praise, and bottom line support us and each other!

Two days in to this challenge I have to shout it out: LOOSING WEIGHT SUCKS! Let me say that while I wouldn't consider myself spoiled, I have never been big on self denial either. It goes against the grain for me. I have always hung out with people I like, worn what I like, gone where I liked to go. You're seeing the pattern here, right? So naturally, I have always eaten what I like. And up until about 10 years ago that did not matter. Suddenly...or not so suddenly it mattered.

Discipline. (Get your mind out of the gutter!) Discipline has also never been my strong suit. I was a dancer for years, and that brings a certain level of discipline because of the nature of the art. But since i loved it and wanted to be good at it, it never felt like work. I loved being a dancer. I loved long days of class and then rehearsal. I really loved performing. I loved my metabolism. I could eat most anything and not gain weight. Sigh. Those were the days!

Needless to say, you can see now how dieting...even a healthy lifestyle change....might be difficult for me. Tuesday provided a painfully clear reminder of what I lack. Discipline. So, here is the scenario:

It is about 10:30am and I hit the office kitchen for a coffee (decaf) refill and my mid morning snack of 1% cottage cheese and an apple. Tres healthy. I cross the threshold transitioning from industrial grade carpet to the white linoleum floor in the small kitchen. Tap. Tap. I stop dead. There on the counter teasing me...tormenting me is a ruthless, soul-sucking, fat laden box of Girl Scout cookies. Do-si-do's to be exact. I take a breath, I can do this. Be strong. I encourage myself. I set my coffee mug down and pull out my healthy snack. I set it down and literally without thinking I open the cookies and eat one. Just like that. No thought, just action. I ate it. Crap. Clearly this is going to be much harder than I had hoped.

So there it is. My biggest challenge in this effort is not the working out...okay that's another issue for another day...but discipline. Discipline and Girl Scout cookie season. Discipline and whatever excuse I can dream up, and let's face it as an aspiring writer I think I am pretty creative. :) The next question is, what am I going to do about it? I don't know yet, honestly. I am going to start by taking this thing one day at a time and hoping I can baby step it to my goal weight.

If you are working toward weight loss right now, what is your biggest challenge? How are you dealing with it?