Week 17, Day 5

Welcome to the 100th post here at A New Suit! Out of curiosity, I also weighed in today, and I'm at 224 which is a 35 pound loss. Only a gazillion to go to reach my goal--ha! But I'm well on my way and just need to keep going. Can't wait to get below 200! I'm a short, short woman, so it will be nice to not look so darned roly poly. And I think the lack of weight will be liberating and will make everything -- breathing, moving, exercising, LIVING -- so much easier.

Okay, time to fess up. Food: sandwich, yogurt, a cup of mac and cheese. I think I might have a bowl of veggies before bed. Exercise: leg lifts, weight work for my arms, and some bike time. Same old kind of stuff. But tomorrow the weather is supposed to be a balmy 20 degrees ABOVE zero rather than these past many days of below zero temps, so I'm headed out to do some walking. Yippy!

Today's Tip:
Sometimes the lure of fast food is really tempting, isn't it? Maybe even something simple like a fish sandwich. Doesn't have to be a fat-laden cheeseburger. Or how about some chicken nuggets? After all, some places make them with white meat, right? Or maybe a better choice would just be an energy bar or a glass of fruit juice. Well, before you give in to that hankering for the food-like substances served at fast food places, and certainly before you decide to opt for anything else, take a look at this from Eat This, Not That: http://eatthis.menshealth.com/slideshow/whats-your-food#title Somehow those nuggets just don't seem quite so tempting. Come to think of it, the fruit juice seems a bit dubious now, too. Tomorrow I'll give you some better snack ideas.

Week 17, Day 4

I haven't been out of the house for DAYS. And I think I'm pretty happy about that. Between the snow and ice and temps waaaay below zero and the multiple wrecks out there caused by insane people who don't know when it's a good time to stay home or AT LEAST when it's time to drive slower, I'm okay with being safe inside. I have to go pick up Adam at work tonight, though. The temp will be 24 below zero. The shivering ought to burn a few extra calories. That and having Adam home again will be my silver lining. (He's a neat kid -- I wish you all could meet him.)

I've done pretty well today, both on the exercising and food fronts. I did leg lifts this morning, a half hour of weight work for my arms while watching TV this afternoon, and 20 minutes of biking this evening. I had a half a sandwich for breakfast, the other half for lunch, and a couple of yogurts for dinner. I think I'll have a cup of soup a little later after I get home from picking up Adam. I need to go easy on the reading -- I feel much more upbeat when I'm not spending several hours at one time reading about how awful our food supply is. I think I'll limit it to maybe an hour a day and spend the rest of the time doing something more active. Sounds like a plan!

Today's Tip:
Do you know what your BMR is? I always wondered how many calories it takes to keep this old machine running. My fear was that since I'm not a terribly active person, it's probably something like 300 calories a day and I'm just going to spend the rest of my life either having to starve myself to lose weight or resign myself to the fact that I will continue to gain. Not so!!! I get Jillian Michael's newsletter, and she tells how to calculate your BMR -- basal metabolic rate, or how many calories you burn just at absolute minimum capacity (like me -- the quintessential couch potato). Her explanation and formula for figuring out your own BMR can be found here: http://www.jillianmichaels.com/fitness-and-diet-tips/BMR-formula As for me, unless I am a complete dolt with math (and that's not too far from the truth), my BMR is about 1670. That's waaaay more than I thought it would be! Not that I'm going to use that as permission to go hog-wild with food. But it does make me feel a lot more hopeful about my chances of actually reaching my weight loss goals.

Personal note:
My dad's having a test this coming Wednesday to help the doctors decide what can be done about his aneurysm. He is too old for them to hold out much hope for his surviving the full-blown repair surgery, and right now they think the aneurysm is too large for a stent to work. Please keep him in your prayers.

Week 17, Day 3

I don't know why lately I can't seem to find food that actually satisfies me. I don't know what I want. Nothing we have in the house, for sure. But even the other day when I was at the grocery store, I couldn't figure out exactly what I wanted. I think it must be partly the curse that comes with knowing that most of what I ate before wasn't really food. It masqueraded as food. The store said it was food. I think most people would believe as I did that it was, indeed, food. But now I know better. And nothing going into my mouth seems to give me the same "ahhhhhh...." feeling I had before. The temptation is to keep eating until I get that feeling. I think that must be what I did before and what a lot of people do. It's not so much hunger as it is a lack of "ahhhhhhh....." from eating.

Do you remember my telling you about the book I was reading, In Defense of Food, by Michael Pollan? Well, right now I'm reading his other book, The Omnivore's Dilemma. Same kind of thing, but more detailed in the actual production of so-called food, the travels and travails as it goes from field to table. It's a more challenging book to read, not the quick read that In Defense of Food was. I think that's because I keep having to put it down and digest (serendipitous pun) the information before I can move on and read more. Ugh. I'm so disgusted with the entire food thing. In America, of all places, how did we allow ourselves to get to this point where most of what's in a grocery store isn't really food? The world has looked to us for leadership, and we've let them and ourselves down. All for politics and money. It does give me much more impetus to visit the local farmer's markets this coming Spring and Summer. And it certainly gives me a lot more respect for the actual food I do eat. The way we do our food chain now is disgusting, but the way God intended it is really quite amazing.

Okay, back to the weight loss thing. Exercise: I seem to do the bulk of it in the evening, and as usual, I haven't done much today yet. I've done some leg lifts, and I'll do some upper body work later on. I'll try to put in some time on the bike, too. Food: A couple slices of french toast -- 7-grain bread, two eggs, and a drizzle of organic maple syrup, a turkey and cheese sandwich, and I'll have some yogurt later on.

Today's Tip:
For weight loss to be sustainable and healthy, it needs to be about not just changing your body but also changing your mind. Unless you change your mind about food, thus changing your habits and desires, you will fall back into the same old way of doing things when you reach your target weight. Weight loss, ideally, is about good health and fitness (instead of just a vanity thing). So learning about your food -- indeed, what food actually IS, what your body actually needs, etc. will help you develop a new healthy relationship with your food and establish the eating habits that will help you not only lose weight, but also maintain that weight loss and obtain optimal health as you go through life.

Week 17, Day 2

I must be genetically part bear. The lovable, cuddly kind, not the I'm-going-to-maul-you-to-death kind. Definitely. We got an extra 4 inches of snow on the ground today, and the wind chill is supposed to be 35 below zero. I want to hibernate. Of course, that doesn't bode well for the whole exercise regimen. I'm tired and feel like just wrapping myself up in a blanket in front of the TV. Which is pretty much all I've done today. But I'm determined to put in some time on the bike tonight and do some upper body work. I've also been pretty good about the food today. A banana, two yogurts, a turkey and cheese sandwich. I think I'll have a bowl of soup later. So not too bad.

There's been a lot of talk today about last night's Biggest Loser. The contestants had to do a public weigh in in their home town before going to the ranch. And apparently a lot of viewers thought that wasn't appropriate. Along the lines of humiliating, cruel and unusual punishment, too dramatic, etc. I'm thinking that's kind of no big deal considering they're going to spend weeks of weigh ins on national TV. What are your thoughts about it?

Today's Tip:
Winter weather can easily sidetrack exercise plans. But seldom does a blizzard or ice storm show up out of nowhere. Plan ahead! If you can't get out to the gym or out to do your regular routine of mall-walking --or whatever your usual thing is --, know ahead of time what your snowbound plan is. No exercise equipment at home? No problem! Fifteen minutes of climbing your stairs at home will work wonders. A 5-pound bag of potatoes, cans of veggies, or a 2-liter of soda works for hand weights. Push-ups, leg lifts, jumping jacks...plenty of things don't even require equipment. Be inventive! And enjoy being inside a warm home, safe and sound. :)

Week 17, Day 1

Wow. The first episode of Season 9 of the Biggest Loser was tonight, and I am so energized I can hardly sit still long enough to write this! No more holidays, no more coasting for a few weeks, no more excuses. The time has come to get back on track and get the rest of this weight GONE. I'm ready!

Each season it seems the contestants are easy from the start to feel close to. They're just like I am -- struggling with a body that's way too big, fighting their fears, wanting so much more than what life is right now. I just want to give them all a big hug! But I hope this season doesn't have all the drama Season 8 had. It was distracting. That said, I gotta say I think Daris is a cutie pie. I can't wait to see this kid when he gets skinny! He's never had a girlfriend, and if he takes the weight off, I guarantee that whole girlfriend thing will definitely change! Patti is about my age and weight, so I'm going to keep an eye on her. But gosh, the first week she lost a crazy amount of weight -- as did all the contestants. She's at 220 now, and I'm at 230. So I'll need to hit it really hard to keep up.

My back has been hurting the past couple of days. A lot. Dang. I thought I was past that. But I've been in bed with a sinus infection, and I guess being in bed so much has messed up my back. Didn't used to. But time and age do take their toll. Another snow storm is headed our way tomorrow, so I went to the store today to get some milk and yogurt and stuff, and I took advantage of the time out to do some walking. I'll spend some time on the bike when I get done here. I had a bit of a routine before -- walking at the store nearly every day, time on the bike, etc. But with the weather being ridiculously bad this whole past month, plus time away over in Iowa, I haven't done my walking. I think that has contributed, too, to my back issues. I really don't handle pain well, so I hope I can make it go away soon. I guess during these winter months I'll have to develop a different routine. My older son got me a Biggest Loser workout DVD and some resistance bands for Christmas, so I really don't have any excuse, right? Help me remember that, please. I need the reminders!

Today's Tip:
Holidays DO derail even the best intentions when it comes to diets. But that's okay as long as you get back on track when they're over. C'mon, let's get back on track together! We CAN do this!

AND...do you want to burn an extra 270 calories a day? Burn 'em up during those pesky TV commercials in the evening! Run in place, sprint up and down the stairs, do some jumping jacks, pull your stationary bike into the room and bike during the ads...anything to keep yourself moving during each 2-minute interval. That's all it is -- 2 minutes at a time during a 2-hour stretch of TV watching. Easy-peasy!