Though my weekly weigh-in does not yet reflect it, I comfortably slipped into my old routine this past weekend. Sweets, salty snacks, gin and juice, late nights, and a sedentary session that left my legs feeling atrophied. Much fun was had by all, but after the dust settled and all of our guests had shuffled off into the darkness, I was left feeling very disappointed. What was fun at the time proved to be physically and mentally detrimental, and though I knew all along that it wasn't a good idea, I still followed through on any and all temptations. Three days of zero physical activity, paired up with the return of some reprehensible eating habits, has led to a fatigued, unhappy, and slightly bloated individual. And now the most difficult part of this whole situation seems to be getting back up, dusting myself off, and continuing with my plan. It's far too easy to just accept defeat for the umpteenth time and continue this vicious cycle. Writing this journal is specifically geared to cope with situations like this. Stepping back from the situation, I could see myself easily settling into my old ways for the next few weeks, until the next brilliant revelation. But maybe this time the revelation wouldn't hit me for a few months instead. That could very well leave me gasping for breath and clutching my chest as I vault up the stairs to answer the phone. Setbacks are an inevitable part of this process. A failed test of will should not mark the end of the road, but rather initiate a new beginning. A chance to prove that I'm strong enough to handle these lapses by following it up with a renewed desire to better myself. But if I don't put forth the effort, I've relinquished my right to complain. Easier said than done.
3500 calories a week. 500 per day. The difference between gaining a pound of fat and losing one. I haven't been counting my calorie intake, but I think now would be as good a time as any to start. By my calculations, I'll need between 1600-1800 calories per day. When you bring it down to the basics, weight control is an issue of mathematics. I've mentioned it before, but the formula is simple. Expend more calories than you take in. Again, easier said than done.
I could go into great detail about every little thing I did wrong this past weekend, but I don't want to dwell on it. It was an addiction-packed, sugar-fueled set of days that I won't be repeating any time soon. I may be short on words today, as this entry has served as more of a confessional than an inspiration, but I'm here to prove that I'm not going to let a few days of failure derail me from my objective. I will let my actions speak for themselves. I'm willing to learn from my mistakes, not be discouraged by them, but that, once again, is easier said than done. Who said this was going to be easy?
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Day 55-57 - The Wheels Come Off, Time To Count, and Easier Said Than Done
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3 comments:
Trev,
I've been reading your blog off and on since you started a couple of months ago. Glad to see that you are under the 250 mark. 12 pounds in 8 weeks is respectable. So at that pace if your goal is 200 you should hit that in 33 more weeks or about 8 months.
Personally I think you can do better than that. What if you increased your weight loss to 2 pounds per week. You'd hit 200 in 25 weeks and cut 2 months off your current pace.
What are you eating every day? I'd like to see a log of exactly what you are putting into your body every day. Another means of total accountability. Before you put anything in your mouth you know that you will have to tell the world exactly what you ate.
Today for breakfast I had one piece of whole grain toast with chunky peanut butter along with .5 L of bottled water. For lunch Matt and I went to a local restaurant with what many would consider a scrumptous menu. Matt and I both had a Caesar salad and a glass of water. I also had a bottle of water during the day. For dinner I'll prob have some meat with a few veggies and a bottle of water. Then I'll top it off with a handful of nuts.
Sounds pretty boring doesn't it? But my weight stays between 175 and 180, guaranteed. I weigh myself everyday to make sure I stay on track. Weekends I always move up a bit but by Tuesday I'm right back down to the low end of my range. Food is really not that big a deal. It's just a necessity to enable you to do the other things in life that are more important.
Exercise is important too but not a absolute necessity to keep your weight down. I usually workout pretty regularly but haven't for two months and it really hasn't affected my weight.
It's really all about the intake. I'm older than you and maybe I don't require as much intake everyday to keep myself energized. But the same concept applies to both of us. Less is better.
I was once a lot like you. I liked to eat a lot of everything. Especially sugar and sweets. Ice Cream, Crispy Creme, chocolate donuts, M&M's, lemon pie, pecan pie, and the list goes on and on. As you no, because of health problems I had to change my diet and become a much healthier eater. I eliminated so many things from my diet that I lost count. And you know what, I don't miss any of them. Every once in a while I'll try a sliver of one of those old favorites and I wonder why it used to be such a big deal. Not to mention how much better I feel because I'm not cramming all of that crap into my body. Never tired during the day. Lots of energy.
Just remember, keep it simple. This blog is good for you but I think it also gets you very focused on food. The key is too get unfocused on food. Food is not that big a deal. Don't make it into one. Just because others around you in your day to day life make food a big deal doesn't mean you have to. Train your brain to focus on what is important to you not on what is important to everyone else.
You are making a change in you that will last for your lifetime if you really want it to. Step up the pace. But know that the pace never ends. 200 is not the finish line. You don't get to the finish line until the day you die. And with the miracles of modern medicine that could be 70 or 80 more years. So you're in it for the long haul dude.
I hope this helps. I really do want you to break the 200 barrier and then stay there forever.
Uncle Greg
Thanks for the support Uncle Greg! I've taken much of what you've suggested under advisement, and I started keeping an online diary of my food intake and activity.
http://trevfoodjournal.blogspot.com/
Thanks for reading and keeping me honest!
hey trev !! i just read your post and i feel for you, that's a really tough place to be in emotionally. this is an especially difficult time of year too, less sunlight, gloomy weather - it's hard to keep your chin up. but things will get better.
i noticed in your post that you thought you had to eat 1600-1800 calories a day - which is lower than the amount i would eat on a diet, and i'm shorter than you by far !! you'd be starving yourself if you only ate that much, and that would totally set you up to binge whenever an emotionally rough patch came along. i'll attach a link to a calorie counter you can check out.
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/calorie-calculator/NU00598
i did a guess run for you and it came up with 2800 calories a day to maintain your current weight - 247.
so, if you're going to lose one pound a week, you need to burn 250 calories per day and eat 250 calories less per day (=500/day, 3500/week).
you can burn the calories with daily moderate activity, making sure you don't stress your system or push yourself too hard, which i've done so many times over the years i couldn't even count. i inevitably end up getting a bad cold, since i've weakened my immune system by pushing too hard. then i feel discouraged, weak, and set back.
so be disciplined in working up to your desired activity level, don't do too much. and moderate activity means not much exertion, if you can get a heart rate monitor i've found that they're extremely helpful. the one i have is programmable, it beeps at me if i go below or above my target heart rate. that way i find it easier to keep at the right pace without over or under-doing it. you can find your target heart rate here:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/target-heart-rate/SM00083
and make sure to stay on the LOW end of it for a while, like for many months.
and you can eat (2800 - 250 =) 2550 calories a day. which isn't all that bad !! and if you're worried about not being able to do that, you could always try losing 1/2 pound a week just with exercise alone and eating 2800 calories/day for a while. or burning 125 calories/day and eating 125 calories less/day...
once you lose some weight you'll have to recalculate the numbers, because they change based on how much you weigh and how much you're exercising.
but these things take a long time to figure out, and a lot of missteps along the way. don't beat yourself up !! and if it's at all possible, consider seeing someone like a therapist or spiritual director or something to talk about emotional eating or other issues about it. these are all things i've had to do over the years and i'm still working on it.
keep in mind that what you're trying to do by losing weight is going against the entire focus of our society, which is consume, consume, consume. it's not easy to "opt out" of such a dominant idea. don't feel bad, have faith that you can get there someday. best of luck to you !!
PS i hope you don't find this too busybodyish, you know i get it from my dad :)
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