My most recent goal

[Rorschach]

This time last week I weighed 253 pounds, I could SMELL the 250 mark (which would both signal losing 50 pounds and being in the 'lower' 200s), saturday I have my normal scheduled cheat day (I think I had a bowl of popcorn) so I was about 400 calories over for the day. Sunday I spent with my grandfather, had some fresh caught (by us!) steamer clams with butter, came home to find my parents grilling steak tips so I had some of those, and then still ate dinner, so that was three bigger than average meals. Monday I did well, tuesday I did well, but yesterday I went to the chinese buffet (I had a rationalization but not a very good one).

 

Bottom line is that monday morning I weighed 264, and right now I weight 260. This is normal after my cheat days, my body balloons up with empty calories and I gain weight seemingly out of nowhere, but it goes away in a couple days. So if saturday and maybe even sunday had been my only bad days I would be back to 253 or less by now. But that didn't happen, I ate too much for too many days and didn't work out as often as I should (its been a hectic week) so now I basically lost a week on my diet.

 

Now after I go work out (I have to do it late today but I AM going today (I feel squishy! its driving me crazy)) and eat a nice light supper I expect I would be down to 255 by tomorrow morning (I sweat out all the waterweight I gain when I cheat) and back to my pre-cheat low by the weekend. But I'm not happy with that so this is my goal.

 

For the next two weeks (I was going to say until june 1 but it's coming right up, so lets round it up to two weeks) I'm not going to weight myself, I'm not going to have a weekly cheat day, and I'm going to diet exercise like I should have been doing for the past couple days. I'm going to work harder and longer for the next two weeks to get myself mentally faced in the right direction again.

 

Official weigh in day will be June 4th, so two fridays out.

 

On top of that since May 4th was the day I posted the 'after' pictures I figure I'll update the thread (or maybe start a new one?) with a 'one month results update' picture to see if I can spot a good size difference or not.

 

 

P.S. I like posting these things in a public spot, it adds a little peer pressure to my motivation!

[laRubiaBonita]

i was gonna say- i bet all that sodium from the chinese, steak, popcorn, and even the clams caused you to retain water- which bumped those numbers up.

 

do you generally drink at the least 50- 64 ounces of water each day?

 

are you watching your sodium intake as well?

[Rorschach]

i was gonna say- i bet all that sodium from the chinese, steak, popcorn, and even the clams caused you to retain water- which bumped those numbers up.

 

do you generally drink at the least 50- 64 ounces of water each day?

 

are you watching your sodium intake as well?

 

I drink alot of water but no I don't pay much attention to my sodium intake.

[laRubiaBonita]

I drink alot of water but no I don't pay much attention to my sodium intake.

 

yeah... me neither- i kinda sorta do- as in i know i get alot .... mainly because i love salty- i have a 'salty tooth' instead of a "sweet tooth"

[Rorschach]

yeah... me neither- i kinda sorta do- as in i know i get alot .... mainly because i love salty- i have a 'salty tooth' instead of a "sweet tooth"

 

I have a big jar of whole pickles in my fridge I snack on when I'm hungry. Only 10-20 calories per pickle but loads of sodium. This is why weight is only a number it can be artificially inflated by pickles!

 

Thats a refreshing change of pace, I get inflated by pickles, rather than I inflate my pickle...

[laRubiaBonita]

I have a big jar of whole pickles in my fridge I snack on when I'm hungry. Only 10-20 calories per pickle but loads of sodium. This is why weight is only a number it can be artificially inflated by pickles!

 

Thats a refreshing change of pace, I get inflated by pickles, rather than I inflate my pickle...

 

i buy those big monster industrial size jars of pickles too (one of the main reasons i am a Costco member).... i go through them in a week or less . i drink pickle juice too :o

 

but i figure better a pickle than a bag of chips or something

[just_some_guy]

As fast as your weight is moving, I'd have to agree that you are having sodium/hydration issues. Mostly likely, you were dehydrated on the low-peak, and full of salt and water retention on the high peak.

 

1lb of fat = 3500 calories. It seems unlikely that you consumed an excess 35,000+ calories in a week.

 

The other thing I would point out is that there is underlying behavior that needs to be explored. Why are you eating off of your plan? What's the motivation for doing what you, yourself, know is not part of your goal. In other words, why are you standing in your own way?

 

Unlocking that emotional secret is likely the thing that will lead to a more permanent change of habits, which will lead to a more permanent change in lifestyle and thus, weight.

[Rorschach]

As fast as your weight is moving, I'd have to agree that you are having sodium/hydration issues. Mostly likely, you were dehydrated on the low-peak, and full of salt and water retention on the high peak.

 

1lb of fat = 3500 calories. It seems unlikely that you consumed an excess 35,000+ calories in a week.

 

The other thing I would point out is that there is underlying behavior that needs to be explored. Why are you eating off of your plan? What's the motivation for doing what you, yourself, know is not part of your goal. In other words, why are you standing in your own way?

 

Unlocking that emotional secret is likely the thing that will lead to a more permanent change of habits, which will lead to a more permanent change in lifestyle and thus, weight.

 

It's nothing deep or emotional, trust me I've had those issues before and thats not so much it. Every saturday (sometimes sunday) I have planned 'cheat' days where I have on snack/meal I would otherwise deny myself, I do good enough the other days to more than make up for it and it actually helps me keep on track by reaffirming what a 'good' day is. Also I've heard it's good for the metabolism and helps prevent plateaus by changing it up every so often.

 

Saturday was going to be the cheat day, sunday was SUPPOSED to be normal, I had a normal breakfast, I wasn't expecting to have steamers with butter but I was with my grandfather and I will NOT say no to my grandfather (there are deep seated family reasons behind this but I won't go into it), when I got home I was still hungry so I had a small amount of steak and potatoes, probably what a normal lunch would look like for me if I hadn't already had clams. When dinner came around I figured what the hell, I'm already off track one more meal won't kill me. I did my job and got right back on the horse monday and tuesday, nothing wrong (I was busy so I didn't go to the gym very much but that has nothing to do with anything other than I was just hella busy).

 

Wednesday came and I had to make a hour drive to the city just to do a routine fingerprinting for a new job and drive an hour back, I was so pissed off that I had to make a special trip that I figured I'd stop for chinese food at my absolute favorite restauraunt in existance. just to make it worth my trip. The rest of the day went fine and today has gone flawlessly.

 

Its not so much a failure on my willingness to stay on my diet as much as an unfortunate series of events that led to me over eating in a short time span.

[just_some_guy]

It's nothing deep or emotional, trust me I've had those issues before and thats not so much it. Every saturday (sometimes sunday) I have planned 'cheat' days where I have on snack/meal I would otherwise deny myself, I do good enough the other days to more than make up for it and it actually helps me keep on track by reaffirming what a 'good' day is. Also I've heard it's good for the metabolism and helps prevent plateaus by changing it up every so often.

 

Saturday was going to be the cheat day, sunday was SUPPOSED to be normal, I had a normal breakfast, I wasn't expecting to have steamers with butter but I was with my grandfather and I will NOT say no to my grandfather (there are deep seated family reasons behind this but I won't go into it), when I got home I was still hungry so I had a small amount of steak and potatoes, probably what a normal lunch would look like for me if I hadn't already had clams. When dinner came around I figured what the hell, I'm already off track one more meal won't kill me. I did my job and got right back on the horse monday and tuesday, nothing wrong (I was busy so I didn't go to the gym very much but that has nothing to do with anything other than I was just hella busy).

 

Wednesday came and I had to make a hour drive to the city just to do a routine fingerprinting for a new job and drive an hour back, I was so pissed off that I had to make a special trip that I figured I'd stop for chinese food at my absolute favorite restauraunt in existance. just to make it worth my trip. The rest of the day went fine and today has gone flawlessly.

 

Its not so much a failure on my willingness to stay on my diet as much as an unfortunate series of events that led to me over eating in a short time span.

 

 

 

 

Food = fuel.

 

Look at the emotions tied to the areas I bolded.

 

Eating for emotional reasons. That's when Food != fuel. Eating to soothe, not to nourish.

 

Don't worry, I'm not jumping your case. I've done ALL of those things!

 

But I've finally reached a point where I know I need to deal with the reasons for those feelings, which lead to eating in ways that are not healthy, thus leading to the weight, which is merely an outward sign of the inward trouble or imbalance.

 

It's just part of the human condition, that we stand in our own way, often without even realizing it.

[Rorschach]

 

 

Food = fuel.

 

Look at the emotions tied to the areas I bolded.

 

Eating for emotional reasons. That's when Food != fuel. Eating to soothe, not to nourish.

 

Don't worry, I'm not jumping your case. I've done ALL of those things!

 

But I've finally reached a point where I know I need to deal with the reasons for those feelings, which lead to eating in ways that are not healthy, thus leading to the weight, which is merely an outward sign of the inward trouble or imbalance.

 

It's just part of the human condition, that we stand in our own way, often without even realizing it.

 

I appreciate the help I really do, and while I accept full responsibility for the food I ate and my own short comings in the decision to eat it, emotional attachment to food isn't really one of my problem areas. I've gone months without cheating on my diet at all and I never get food cravings.

 

If we're going into my biggest problems its that I have no self control when food is in front of me. I don't buy it, I won't cook it, I won't go searching for it, but if it's in front of me, it's gone. I'm moving out in 2 weeks (super excited) so I'll be in complete control of what I eat from that point on, I think I'll have an even easier time on my diet.

[laRubiaBonita]

Food = fuel.

 

 

one of the things i am really trying to 'get'.... Eat to Live- not Live to Eat......

[FitChick]

Your average calories for the week are more important than daily ones. I haven't been hungry the past couple of days but then made up for it big time yesterday. When I calculated the total for the week, I broke even. Still, it was a wakeup call for me to be more mindful.

 

I prefer sweets to salt and tend to undersalt my food so one night I had popcorn, something I rarely eat, and the next morning was two pounds heavier. I knew right away that it was just water retention. Still, I hated seeing that number on the scale.

[flc]

What has worked for me is eating fairly light during the week i.e. protein bar coffee in the morning, turkey sandwich I/2 slice wheat bread for lunch, apple afternoon snack and then a reasonable dinner at 7:00p. Then I have no rules on the weekend so Friday night I go out drink, eat, same for Sat, Sunday back off and then do it again. I have been managing my weight like this for a couple of years now and after loosing 45lbs I am now pretty stable +/- 5lbs.

 

The advantage for me in this is I like to eat and enjoy myself so if I try to avoid things completely I am miserable and will cheat anyway. So this allows me to look forward to the weekend. I also find that for alchohol is the big killer, I would like to get to around 165 but drinking a bottle or two of wine a week this is not going to happen

[Rorschach]

I've changed my mind, no pictures will be posted, no weigh in will be had, I'm still dieting/exercising like mad for the next week and a half, but I'm just not sharing anymore.

[just_some_guy]

I've changed my mind, no pictures will be posted, no weigh in will be had, I'm still dieting/exercising like mad for the next week and a half, but I'm just not sharing anymore.

 

Do what works. We're all pullin' for you!

[USMCHokie]

I've changed my mind, no pictures will be posted, no weigh in will be had, I'm still dieting/exercising like mad for the next week and a half, but I'm just not sharing anymore.

 

 

Alright...well best of luck to you...and keep up the hard work!

[GrayClouds]

I've changed my mind, no pictures will be posted, no weigh in will be had, I'm still dieting/exercising like mad for the next week and a half, but I'm just not sharing anymore.

 

I actually think the scale is one of the worst tool for weight loss, for it can be a distraction from how you feel. As much as working out is about looking your best, it is more important that it helps you feel your best. The down side is that for some people it starts become all that it is about; looking good at the expense of feeling good, an external overcompensation for internal dissatisfaction.

 

Jumping on a scale to often can do that, rahter then feeling good after a good work out, if your a few pounds or five beyond where you think you should be that good feeling already is moving on. It then is about chasing numbers rather then enjoy the effort.

 

Besides, how the pants fits is a better indicator of what your actually accomplishing.