3 posts tagged “2/ get down to 105 lbs”
[Note: This was originally scribbled onto a legal pad two days ago; I have since, miraculously, dropped back down the two pounds, but there are still lessons to be taken, I'm sure.]
This morning I clocked in at 112.6 lbs., two pounds heavier than I was at the end of last week.
Now, had I overindulged this weekend I would understand the uptick, but I was right on point. And I was only slightly less active than usual (I used Patrick's recovery from his wisdom tooth surgery as a good excuse to stay indoors when I wasn't exercising).
I'll try to write this off as normal fluctuation, but with an overall weight-loss goal of seven pounds, it's hard to see a two-pound gain as anything other than a step backward.
Out of this mild frustration, I'm going to make a few proclamations:
1. Amend my ww spreadsheet to include calories in addition to points. I've always resisted being a calorie-counter, but I've come to understand that what you don't know can hurt you. And whether we are truly in touch with this or not, humans are little energy machines. We need only as many calories as we use each day. I just want to tap into what those numbers are and be true to them.
2. Adjust my exercise to include weights. And I mean that when I go on my 70-minute walks, I'm gonna strap on my ankle weights, and maybe even carry little dumbbells. Yes. I'll be one of those women -- swinging my arms enthusiastically, and looking none too in touch with how corny I look.
3. I'm also thinking about creating a spreadsheet (or perhaps further adjusting my current spreadsheet) to include daily weigh-ins. This won't be in the name of obsession, but for the purpose of seeing any correlations between my weight and eating habits.
Put this all together and suddenly I'm someone I never expected to be: I am exceedingly interested in health and my weight without feeling burdened by it.
I had always associated this kind of attention to weight and food with an unhealthy obsession. That if I dared to cross the line into counting calories or pushing myself to the next level in my exercise, it would mean that I had lost control. And certainly it can go that way. This is just a different way. A more reasonable one. I kinda like it.
This may be an arbitrary number. If it is, I'll find out the closer I get and the harder, if not impossible, it may become to get down to 105. I'm currently 115 or thereabouts. That's after two years of following a Weight Watchers system and losing 40 pounds. At my heaviest (in high school) I was 160. Everything below 120 has been amazing. And now I'm just focused on getting rid of some lazy fat on my legs and stomach. On the way to 105, I won't be able to help but at least get healthier.
The plan: Keep up my eating habits (with slight improvements here and there). Exercise more. Simple.
2/ Get down to 105 lbs.
As my No. 19 has already shown me, some of my 101s are straightforward (18/ Floss every day), and some of them will lead to unexpected places.
No. 2 is ... well, not so much taking me somewhere unexpected. But by its very nature it begs for a review of what I'm doing in my life that hasn't allowed me to get down those last few pounds.
Calories were in the news lately, as New York is the latest state to require chain restaurants to post calorie information in big bold letters on their menus. Reading about that requirement -- and seeing some of the numbers -- I realized that a lot of foods I eat, in restaurants or at home, are costing me more than I've been giving them credit for.
Half-and-half for example.
I have it every day in my coffee; doubly in my iced coffees (which I treat like morning desserts). I'm a Weight Watchers girl. I don't officially belong any more, but I still track my eating using their points system, and I've been counting my coffees with cream as 1 or 2 points.
And I think I've been underestimating by half.
So because I want to work on No. 2, I've given myself a new task: Take a good hard look at not only my decisions about food, but about how I'm weighing those decisions.
This morning, I put half as much cream in my coffee as I would have preferred. It wasn't *too* bad (especially after I put just a dash extra cream in to soften the blow). And I'll count it for what it's really worth.
This isn't just about the weight I want to lose. It's about being honest; not cheating myself in the long run for a momentary deception. And for maybe discovering that I don't *need* those cheats to feel satisfied. Heck, one day I may find I'm perfectly content -- no, truly happy -- with an iced coffee accented every so slightly by soy milk.
And if I can satisfy my needs in a healthful way, why not at least try to?
