M.lb. - Week 2
Day 8
April 7, 2008
Weight: x
Progress: One week of my project is officially in the books -- and, unfortunately, the progress has been far slower than I'd anticipated. After I returned home from class this afternoon, I hopped on the scale having eaten only a banana thus far today. And found that my weight was exactly the same as it was when I took my first measurement last Monday.
This is, obviously, rather discouraging, but I'm going to try and keep my head up for a number of very convincing reasons, the first of which is the role of one particularly egregious bingeing session on Friday night. As an end-of-pay-week celebration, Danielle and I dined at the Olive Garden, where I partook in the Asiago Steak entrée I'd been jonesing after for weeks. Unfortunately, I also partook in an appetizer which, when combined with the entrée and the massive bowl of salad we were delivered, turned out to be way too much food. Like, borderline-vomiting too much. It was awful, and it reminded me of why I hate the way I look so much.
So I'm thinking that I've learned a lesson from my experience at the Olive Garden, which is that portion control must be exercised even more steadfastly when I'm not eating at home. Fair enough. And sure, Danielle and I took care of a bit more of the bunny this week (there's nothing but head left), but we spaced it out in such a way that I truly don't believe it had an impact on my result.
The key for me is that I've been trying to improve my fitness by getting myself to the gym with some kind of regularity. In all honesty, the motivation of getting off my ass is the toughest part, because once I'm actually at the gym, I tend to give it my all. Fortunately, that has not translated yet into feelings of death after I finish working out -- in fact, I tend to finish a little breathless but still feeling good about myself. Sure, I'm a bit flushed, but I'm also out of shape, so I'm okay with that for now. As long as I'm not getting coughing fits or feeling dizzy or lightheaded, I'm going to keep at this pace and see what happens.
My biggest gym-related challenge at this point is the middle of my week. Wednesday and Thursday are not good workout days, and as much as I feel like I'd be okay with five days a week, I know it's just not going to be enough to get the results I want. I'll have to figure out ways to get Wednesday workouts in (even if that means coming home to shower sometime during my four-hour afternoon break -- which, naturally, requires that I be prepared for Chaucer before Wednesday afternoon), at which point I should feel okay about skipping Thursdays. As for today, however, I'm a little sore, though I'm trying to convince myself that I'll at least get out some time later and sit on the bike for a little while just to keep my momentum going.
Goals for the Week: My main goal for the week is modest: I'd like the scale to register something below x this time next week. I honestly believe if I can fit one more day of the gym and avoid the one evening of gluttony that I believe set me back this week, I should be in the red next week no problem.
In terms of major changes, I'm thinking about what things I tend to fill up on a lot and where I might be able to make small changes here and there. For the time being, my major empty calories come from alcohol and coffee -- mostly from the coffee, since my drinking averages out to less than one drink per day. However, I'm convinced that if I work on regulating the amount of sugar, milk, and/or creamer that goes into the coffee, rather than cutting it out entirely, I can keep it in there. My snacking hasn't been bad except for the bunny, which should be done by the end of the week and thusly no longer an issue. If there's any major dietary change I need to stick with, it's trying to get some salad into my diet every day, since my vegetable consumption sucks.
What I'm mostly discovering is that I don't eat terribly, and I don't feel like I have to starve myself to get results. I just need to be more careful with my portions, trying to make large portions last for two or more meals, and make sure I stop eating when I'm not hungry anymore. I'll also work on trying to fill up on water during the day in order both to hydrate and to fend off any potential hunger pangs.
All relatively minor changes, to be sure. I'll implement them for a week and see what happens next Monday.
April 7, 2008
Weight: x
Progress: One week of my project is officially in the books -- and, unfortunately, the progress has been far slower than I'd anticipated. After I returned home from class this afternoon, I hopped on the scale having eaten only a banana thus far today. And found that my weight was exactly the same as it was when I took my first measurement last Monday.
This is, obviously, rather discouraging, but I'm going to try and keep my head up for a number of very convincing reasons, the first of which is the role of one particularly egregious bingeing session on Friday night. As an end-of-pay-week celebration, Danielle and I dined at the Olive Garden, where I partook in the Asiago Steak entrée I'd been jonesing after for weeks. Unfortunately, I also partook in an appetizer which, when combined with the entrée and the massive bowl of salad we were delivered, turned out to be way too much food. Like, borderline-vomiting too much. It was awful, and it reminded me of why I hate the way I look so much.
So I'm thinking that I've learned a lesson from my experience at the Olive Garden, which is that portion control must be exercised even more steadfastly when I'm not eating at home. Fair enough. And sure, Danielle and I took care of a bit more of the bunny this week (there's nothing but head left), but we spaced it out in such a way that I truly don't believe it had an impact on my result.
The key for me is that I've been trying to improve my fitness by getting myself to the gym with some kind of regularity. In all honesty, the motivation of getting off my ass is the toughest part, because once I'm actually at the gym, I tend to give it my all. Fortunately, that has not translated yet into feelings of death after I finish working out -- in fact, I tend to finish a little breathless but still feeling good about myself. Sure, I'm a bit flushed, but I'm also out of shape, so I'm okay with that for now. As long as I'm not getting coughing fits or feeling dizzy or lightheaded, I'm going to keep at this pace and see what happens.
My biggest gym-related challenge at this point is the middle of my week. Wednesday and Thursday are not good workout days, and as much as I feel like I'd be okay with five days a week, I know it's just not going to be enough to get the results I want. I'll have to figure out ways to get Wednesday workouts in (even if that means coming home to shower sometime during my four-hour afternoon break -- which, naturally, requires that I be prepared for Chaucer before Wednesday afternoon), at which point I should feel okay about skipping Thursdays. As for today, however, I'm a little sore, though I'm trying to convince myself that I'll at least get out some time later and sit on the bike for a little while just to keep my momentum going.
Goals for the Week: My main goal for the week is modest: I'd like the scale to register something below x this time next week. I honestly believe if I can fit one more day of the gym and avoid the one evening of gluttony that I believe set me back this week, I should be in the red next week no problem.
In terms of major changes, I'm thinking about what things I tend to fill up on a lot and where I might be able to make small changes here and there. For the time being, my major empty calories come from alcohol and coffee -- mostly from the coffee, since my drinking averages out to less than one drink per day. However, I'm convinced that if I work on regulating the amount of sugar, milk, and/or creamer that goes into the coffee, rather than cutting it out entirely, I can keep it in there. My snacking hasn't been bad except for the bunny, which should be done by the end of the week and thusly no longer an issue. If there's any major dietary change I need to stick with, it's trying to get some salad into my diet every day, since my vegetable consumption sucks.
What I'm mostly discovering is that I don't eat terribly, and I don't feel like I have to starve myself to get results. I just need to be more careful with my portions, trying to make large portions last for two or more meals, and make sure I stop eating when I'm not hungry anymore. I'll also work on trying to fill up on water during the day in order both to hydrate and to fend off any potential hunger pangs.
All relatively minor changes, to be sure. I'll implement them for a week and see what happens next Monday.
posted by Dave at 4/07/2008 01:32:00 PM
3 Comments:
One of the most useful things I learned the last attempt at weight loss was "the sigh". Basically, you'll start to notice it in yourself and others as you eat, you're body naturally emits a sigh when it's reached "satisfied". So, when you note the sigh, take one or two bites more and stop. It'll happen far earlier than you expect. It's hard to trust it, but when I was losing weight the best was when I was paying the most attention to it.
A good way to lose weight? Getting sick. I'm down 5 lbs already. *coughhackwheeze*
And of course, I go through an entire winter without getting sick ONCE. Of course, last time I got ye olde stomach bug, I somehow managed to GAIN weight over three days. Figure that one out.
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