Size does matter!

I was talking with my wife this morning about how great she is doing with her weight loss. Her weight had been static for a few weeks but she just dropped another couple of pounds. She was telling me how she felt that she hadn’t lost much weight. It got me thinking about the way 90 percent of people gauge how well they are doing weight-wise — the scale!

The truth is if you are exchanging fat for muscle, you won’t see a change in your weight. In fact, it may even go up — and yet you are still getting healthier. So why do we keep track of just our weight, something I am guilty of myself?

Lightening up with delayed gratification

One of my all-time favorite Seinfeld quotes comes from The Frogger episode. Elaine has grown tired of the lame excuses her officemates come up with to have celebratory cake and finally gives them a piece of her mind: “Do you think we can fill the void in our lives with flour, sugar, eggs and vanilla? I mean, we’re all unhappy; do we have to be fat too? (looks at Becky who is fat and is standing in the crowd) Not you Becky, I know you have a slow metabolism.”

Carbohydrates are not your enemy

So this week I lost another 2 pounds. For those who are keeping track, I weighed in at 278 pounds on Monday. So after another successful week I started to reflect on what my food intake had been like the last few weeks. The answer may come as a surprise to some people, because although I had stuck with fairly low fat food, I had consumed plenty of carbohydrates as well. Recently with diets like South Beach and Atkins, carbohydrates have been given a pretty bad name, but I’m here to say that carbohydrates are not your enemy, at least complex carbohydrates aren’t!

Forty Pounds Down!

Well it took longer than I hoped, but I finally reached the 40 pound loss mark! Now I am back to the weight I was when I arrived from England in 1999. Any weight I lose now will also result in my wife seeing me at the thinnest I’ve ever been

So how did I do it? Well, to be honest I can’t point to any one thing. I did go into this with a much different attitude — I wasn’t starting a quick fix diet, I was making a permanent change. I think having that outlook made a big difference in how I approached my weight loss, and made it easier to get back on the wagon if I ever fell off.

Week 17 Weigh In

Let’s start off with my weight, 283.5. A little better than a few weeks ago, but not as good as I hoped. When I look back I know why — my eating is slowly reverting back to what I used to eat. Fortunately it’s not enough that I actually gained weight, but enough to stall my weight loss.

Can Paul McKenna Make Me Thin?

If I had to say what my two biggest enemies to losing weight are I would probably say emotional eating and carbohydrate cravings. Now that my attempt to lose 100 pounds in 1 year appears to have stalled I have decided it’s time to do something about it — the question is what?

As I am originally from England, Paul McKenna is a familiar face on television to me. I remember watching his hypnosis show during my formative years. So when I saw that his award winning series, “I Can Make You Thin” had made it over here, I decided I had to watch. As part of the series he demonstrates a technique for controlling cravings and a technique for controlling emotional eating.

Working to Not Work Out

Some days I wonder how much bigger a pain in the ass I’d be if I didn’t blow off steam by getting regular exercise. I pretty much work out seven days a week. Taking a day off is hard for me. I am afraid that one day of rest will lead to a lifetime of laziness. By now you’d think I’d have gotten over my fear of becoming an exercise slacker. I’ve been walking 3-4 miles regularly for many years. I played volleyball for 20+ years like I was getting paid to and had a closetful of trophies to prove it. But still, I’m afraid that letting my guard down and giving myself that prescribed day off will lead to sloth and delivery pizzas and ultimately, trips to Lane Bryant for brightly colored tunic tops and pants with elastic waists.

Week 15 Weigh In

Well it’s been a while, but I’ve got myself back on track to achieve losing 100 pounds in a year. Last week I had a check up with my doctor, and got a nice surprise – I had lost exactly 30 pounds since I last saw him. I had a lengthy talk with him about how I was doing. He seemed happy with my progress and the fact that I was following the inverted food pyramid instead of following some crazy diet!

Week 12 Weigh In

Well it finally happened, the dreaded weight gain! I’d like to blame Easter but that had nothing to do it with it — stress was my killer this week. I have always had problems with being an emotional eater. My way of dealing with stress is by eating anything that contains carbohydrates! This last week I have been dealing with problems with my job. To be honest, I have never really been happy with any of the jobs that I’ve taken since I moved here. Why, you ask? Well, because in England (yes I have the accent still) I had a good chance of making a management position, I was in a team lead position getting as much on the job training as I could handle. Then I made the decision to move to America, a decision I have never regretted, but one that resulted in me stepping back down to a programmer. I haven’t been able to advance beyond that position since. So now I am considering my next career move, and filling up on fries and chips as a result! If you’re in need of a skilled software engineer with aspirations of moving back into team leadership and beyond, send me an email!

What’s for dessert?

Having lost 30 lbs. last year, I didn’t want them back. From what I read online, a certain amount of weight gain is inevitable when you quit smoking. Apparently, smoking is worth about 200 calories of metabolism. So when you quit, even though your brain strongly suggests replacing the cigarettes with lots of chocolate and junk food, your body is actually demanding healthier foods in smaller quantities.My weight loss started unintentionally. When I realized my husband might actually dump me, I lost my appetite. Not wanting to eat in a stressful situation was a first for me. Like many people, I’m a nervous eater who seeks out food for comfort. I guess since the trauma of my marriage ending was the worst I’d been through, my stomach reacted accordingly. The idea of eating just didn’t appeal to me. When I did eat, it wasn’t much. This lack of appetite lasted three or four months. By then I had lost maybe 20 lbs. For my mental health, I had upped my workouts so between reducing my caloric intake and burning more calories, another 10 lbs. came off. I started buying new clothes that fit and decided to stay where I was weight-wise, give or take five lbs. My weight has been stable for the past nine or so months.

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