Screw the Scale!

Starting Weight: 192 lbs

Goal Weight: 132 lbs

Last Time’s Weight: 173 lbs

This Time’s Weight: 169 lbs

This Time’s Loss: 4 lbs

Total Loss: 22 lbs

This Week’s Hours of Zumba: 0.0

Last Week’s Hours of Zumba: 1.0

Total Hours of Zumba: 7

I seriously mean that title. The scale is an object of torture and injustice. I am living proof of that. As can be read in last week’s post I lost barely 2 pounds last week. Nutritionist was convinced I ate something because in two weeks I should’ve lost more. Had a hard time convincing him that I really hadn’t ate anything other or more than approved on the diet and that it was my body sabotaging me.

This week I lost 4 lbs. That’s twice as much as I lost in a total of the two weeks before and I did nothing different this week, I’m even going through a visit by aunt Flo again and don’t even feel bloated. Seriously, if someone has the manual to this body of mine…please return it because I’m in desperate need of it!

Back to that scale…So compared to what I still have to lose I am not even half way if I look at the numbers of the scale. However when it comes to my clothes, it’s a whole other matter. I am speeding toward the point in dieting where my clothes are not fitting comfortably i.e. dropping of my ass while still buttoned, but not yet buying other clothes because I am not even at the halfway point of the goal weight.

I kid you not about the pants dropping of my butt…Yesterday I had to run down the stairs in a hurry to bring hubby a much needed item and when I was downstairs I should’ve pulled my pants up because when I accidently hurt my arm on the doorknob and started jumping up and down from the excruciating pain…I gave hubby the wonderful experience of seeing my pants drop right down to the floor and they were fully buttoned and zipped up…Do I need more prove that I am losing weight?

Furthermore I am wearing shirts this week I haven’t worn in years or always worn with either a jacket or another shirt (much wider shirt) over it. There are hardly any lumps on my sides or that hideous pouch in the front. We have a full-length mirror in our hallway, right next to the toilet where I spent a lot of time because of the gallons of water I drink all day, and I can’t stop looking in surprise at my image. I turn front and side and wonder: where are the bulges and lumps…They are too, like my butt, shrinking away and I don’t care that the scale says I’m behind on schedule for my goal weight…The image of my self in the mirror, the falling pants and the fact that I can wear tights shirts for the first time in years without feeling embarrassed or uncomfortable is more of a reward to me that those stupid numbers on a scale.

I know some of my #twitloss buddies have the everlasting battle with the scale too and my post this week hopefully will help let that go and focus on other stuff so it doesn’t become an obsession. I have since this week and it’s a big relief.

Hugs,
Pearl

Being a woman sometimes really sucks

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: 1.0

Last Week’s Hours of Zumba: 1.5

Total Hours of Zumba: 2.5

First off I want to offer some my #twitloss buddies some mental support and apologize for not being there for them as much as I wanted this week. Reading and reviewing obligations and off line life just sucked me up this week and I expect it to stay that way for a few weeks. But remember: I may not be here or on Twitter that much but in spirit I am rooting for you all and sending positive, healthy, weight-reducing vibes to all of you. Reading the other #twitloss posts this week made me realize mine was pretty uneventful besides being very busy.

The not eating part is still going very well and I did lose weight but just not as much as I was expecting and that’s partly because I slacked in the work-out department. I forewarned everyone: I detest working out. So every opportunity I have to not work out, I seize with both hands. This week it was one day of cramps (Tuesday but I’ll get back to that later) and one day of killer headache (Wednesday) that led me to just not work out yesterday…But I had a serious talk with myself and tonight before bed I will do my Zumba work-out and it will be the Sculpt and Tone torture one, just to show myself what will happen if I fall of the wagon again…

So Tuesday I had a day of cramps and this leads me to my second reason I did not lose as many lbs as I was expecting. As my title states: It sucks being a woman and being all women here (at least that’s what I think, if there are any men following this blog I think this is the moment to stop reading my post now) I think you all know what I mean. It started in the weekend. I started craving foods, bad foods, really, really bad foods. Monday same story: I was going crazy with wanting to eat and I just didn’t understand why. And then Tuesday I discovered why: Aunt Flo paid me a visit and she brought me cramps. Aunt Flo tried to sabotage me, just 2 weeks into my diet. First with the food craving, mind you, I did not give in and stuck to my water, diet coke, broth and curds but still, every time I smelled food (either cooking for hubby or he eating his food) I would get that craving. Then with the cramps so I couldn’t work out and to finish me off, when I went for my weighing on Thursday (yesterday) I was feeling so bloated I felt like that girl from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory…Can’t remember her name, but you all know who I mean, the one who swelled up like a blueberry. And when I got on the scale I was so afraid, but I still lost 2 lbs.

Sometimes I really wish I were a man, because men don’t get visits from Aunt Flo. But only sometimes because other times being a woman really ain’t that bad!

Hugs,
Pearl

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?