Weigh-In: Strategies for Not Gaining Weight Over the Holidays Or When Visiting Parents

This is a weird week - I was off yesterday since we flew back from Michigan, and I’ll be off again on Friday for the end of Passover. Three day weeks are the best.

Our time in Michigan, where John and I stayed with his mother, stepfather, sister, brother, and stepfather’s kids, was lovely. We ended up doing some puzzles together, which I always forget how much I enjoy until I do them.

Food wise, I made mostly good choices and some not so great, but overall I think it averaged out to “okay.” There were definitely a few places where I took a portion that was larger than necessary, or had a bit of wine even though I didn’t really want it. On the flip side, I was mindful of snacking, never had seconds of anything, and tried to make the focus on family and not food. My mother-in-law happened to have bought mostly cake and cookie mixes and not actual sweets, and in the end nobody bothered to make them. For someone like me, who’s a lot more tempted by a cookie than some chips, that was good.

This week’s weigh-in happened this morning like normal:

	Start	6/8	8/19	9/30	10/29	12/31	1/28	2/25	3/4	3/10	3/17	3/24	3/31	4/7
Weight	200	191.2	182.6	181	181.4	177.2	174.6	177	175	173.6	172.4	172	168.4	170
Lbs. Fat		82.7	72.5	70.3	70.8	67.1	65.3	66.5	64.6	65.1	62.7	62.7	60.3	60.8
Lbs. Muscle		67.3	66.8	65.2	67.3	63.9	64.4	68.2	64.1	66.2	65.3	62.7	61.5	61.5

I am, actually, quite okay with that weight. That burst of fat loss is still holding. The weight itself feels like a backswing that’s balancing out the insane four-pound loss from the previous week. Thirty pounds down from my highest. However long that took doesn’t matter, the gains and losses don’t matter. What matter is that five years ago a weighed thirty pounds more, and now, not only do I weigh less, I actually have a better relationship with food, am fitter, and happier. I really, really, hope it doesn’t take me another five years to lose the next thirty pounds, but even if it does, I think I’ll be just as proud. Losing weight is hard, so no matter how slowly it happens, it’s still an accomplishment.

I’ve also finally figured out some of the strategies that I think work for me during holidays, or just generally when I'm in unfamiliar or junk-food-filled environments: 

Don’t Snack

• This is actually something that happened naturally during the last year or so. I’ve stopped snacking. Sometimes I’ll get a bit hungry at noon or so, but then I just figure I’ll have lunch soon.
• My goal is to get each meal to take me to the next meal. Sometimes I’ll have some fruit if I really want something, or if I just happen to bring it, but overall the snacks are pretty much non-existent.
• This no-snacking custom is easier to maintain in an office setting than a “home” setting, since the second one gives much easier access. However, I’m really aiming to just cut out the snacking when I’m home. Looking back, that’s definitely one of the things that takes me over the edge from an “okay, pretty good” day to a “crap, oh well that was not great” kind of day.

No Seconds

• Again, probably another no-brainer for most people, but avoiding seconds is something I only just started to realize on my own
• Seconds are overrated - I’ve already had a portion of the things, and I’m usually full by that point. Seconds usually comes out of boredom or just because the food is right in front of me, and rarely because I’m actually still hungry

I figure if I can really focus on these two rules, I will be able to have a successful rest of the holiday. Those rules mean that the only food I eat is during meals, and during firsts and not seconds. Of course if I’m actually really hungry between meals I’ll have a snack, but it’s not something that comes up often.

We’ll be at my parents from Thursday through Sunday this week. My goal is to just be mindful and not gain, basically. It’s only a few days. I've been on a good roll lately, and want to keep it going.

In other news, I’ve been crap lately about getting to the gym in the morning. I’m still working out 4-5 times a week, but now it’s been during lunch or after work. This is just due to plain old not getting to bed on time. I know all the advantages of going in the morning, I need to start doing this.

Overall, I'm feeling good, I'm feeling confident about this. Now I just need to bottle and save this feeling for the next time I feel like crap. Positive thinking!

Weekly Weigh-In: Another Loss and Changing Things Up Again

This was a weird week, actually. Wednesday was bad, and on Thursday I worked hard to balance it out. Then I overdid it on Friday and Saturday - not horribly, but definitely not weight-loss level.

The Beyonce butt - totally turned it around on Sunday. I've been thinking about getting stricter with calories for awhile, and finally took the plunge on Sunday after the crappy previous four days. I need a reboot, a dunk into cold water. I need to get more extreme briefly to find moderation again.

But before I get into that, this week's weigh-in:

	Start	6/8	8/19	9/30	10/29	12/31	1/28	2/11	2/25	3/4	3/10	3/17
Weight	200	191.2	182.6	181	181.4	177.2	174.6	174.2	177	175	173.6	172.4
Lbs. Fat		82.7	72.5	70.3	70.8	67.1	65.3	64.7	66.5	64.6	65.1	62.7
Lbs. Muscle		67.3	66.8	65.2	67.3	63.9	64.4	63.5	68.2	64.1	66.2	65.3

Yes and yes! Weight and fat down to a new low! Might actually get out of the 70s this month! I can also count this as a week where the scale caught up to my efforts. I definitely did not earn the loss this week, but the loss is the cumulation of a few weeks. Either way, yay! Now I'm working to earn a pound loss this week.

Could this BE any more amazing?

Back to my my reboot: As much as my plan of having a minimum daily net intake of 1,000 calories plus 2,000 weekly "anytime" calories (for an average of 1300 a day) is probably the overall best way for me to do things, I think I sometimes get lax or a little too flexible after a while. What should be a 3,500 weekly deficit turns into 3,000 or 2,500. I'm still happy with that because progress is progress, but I know I can do better. So I want to do better.

Thus I'm doing a little mini boot camp for the next 2-3 weeks. The only change is that I'm getting rid of the weekly calories. I did this back in June-August and it really worked for me. I ate good food, little to no junk, and felt awesome. (I also got preemptively defensive about people telling me that 1,000 calories/day (plus eating back workout calories) was too little, but I'm not going to do that here again.)


This timing works out well because of an upcoming challenge: Passover, the Jewish holiday, starts on April 4th, so that gives me just under three weeks. For an excellent account of the story, see the Rugrats version. I have it on VHS if you would like to borrow this brilliantly made episode.

In terms of the practical, the bottom line is that for a little over a week, my dietary choices will be limited, and for three of those days I'll be in Michigan with my in-laws, and two more days at my parent's house. I am excited for both because I'm lucky to have wonderful in-laws. As an extra bonus, John's sister and brother will be visiting from across the world, and we haven't seen them for a year.

But food-wise, it will probably be tough. You'd be surprised at the incredible food that can be made without grains or legumes. I need to think of a strategy besides "Don't eat everything." Things work better when there are specifics. It would also seriously suck to undo the progress of the weeks before.

Pictured: Not a great plan.

I Still Have a Ways to Go

        Last night I was not in the best place. A couple of weeks ago, I had some late work nights and it was tough, but I handled it alright. This time, I have not risen to the challenge when things got just a little bit harder.

        There were so many treats around, and the unexpected below freezing weather (snow!) combined with religious restrictions on driving and other travel meant that most of the last few days were spent in the house. Somehow there wasn't a chance to have a fun afternoon of board games, or some other communal entertainment. It was still really nice to be with my family, but I think everybody was a bit tired, ironically, after all the Seder sitting and long meals.

         I did not make the best choices. I was trying, but kept failing. I would eat a bit of something, think, alright, I didn't need that. I'm just bored, and it's here, and it's something to do for a moment. It's ok, but maybe stop picking at this food now. And then I wouldn't. And then I wouldn't again. On Tuesday I realized I just needed to stop eating in-between meals because that's when I ate all the crap that I later regret. Those little bits here and there, and here, and before I realized it, I'd eaten about 500 extra calories of sweets - just by having a macaroon, or an almond cookie, every hour or so.

Nope.

        The funny thing is that this was the version of me trying, but failing, to eat well. If I had not been trying at all, I would absolutely have eaten thousands more calories. It would have been worse because I would have stopped caring and given up on myself completely. I'm not sure where I am at the moment, calorie-wise, but I sure as hell know that's it better than some past experiences.

        So: last night found me in bed at an odd half-sitting half-laying-down angle, trying not to think about what I'd eaten, not wanting to deal with it, not wanting to do what I knew I should do, which is go on the elliptical in the basement for a bit, pack lunch for work the next day, and answer the questions about laundry that the friends looking after our apartment needed answered. Not wanting to deal with any of it, really. I wasn't in denial, I was actively procrastinating.

"Only my face in the music video, you hear me? Make it work!"

        Looking back, it's clear that some of these negative feelings were due to cabin fever - last night, I had been in the house for two days straight - and also being generally lazy about going back to work after a few days off. 

        At midnight, I packed a lunch for the next day (today), and spent a half hour on the elliptical, watching an old episode of Family Guy and wondering how on earth they get so much dirty stuff past the censors. I never felt so proud as doing those small things. Credit goes to J (husband), who was really great. He knows about and tries to understand my struggles as best he can, and is really good at cheering me up when I'm down.

Sneak hug.

        He reminded me of what I already knew but maybe needed to hear - that this isn't that big a deal, basically. It's a few days of overeating, and a few days of not working out. It's understandable, I'm still learning how to make good choices when I'm not in an environment that I control or one in which I'm used to overcoming temptations, and I'm not perfect. I don't need to get upset over my choices, I don't need to feel guilty for indulging, even if it's this whole holiday.

        At worst, if I can go back to our good habits after it's over, it will only a week out of this journey. A week won't break me unless I let it stretch into more. Despite a packed lunch today and a workout last night, the rest of this week might suck. But I'll try my best now, however many calories that means, and start next week fresh no matter what.

Happy Passover, Easter, or just weekend in general!

Holiday Fun

Why am I taking off five of the next ten work days?

Why, for the delightful holiday of Passover. I write about it here because it will impact my weight loss journey in a random array of challenges for the next week, and also because I can.

The explanation for Passover is long, but it basically is a Jewish holiday that celebrates and remembers how the Jewish people were rescued from slavery in Egypt 3,500 years ago by God working through Moses and Aaron. Part of the commemoration involves not eating any leavened (risen) bread and instead eating matzoh, which consists of only water and flour and is made from start to finish in under eighteen minutes, because the Jews left Egypt in such a hurry that the not-yet-risen bread dough baked on their backs in the hot sun.

Seders can be long.

The point of this is that starting today and ending next Tuesday night, eating well and exercising will be challenging. I won't have access to our normal gym, won't be able to track my food for several days, and will be presented with a lot of delicious food for which I have no idea of the calories or ingredients. I'll be away from home, surrounded by family who will have rare "Let's indulge in slow-cooked meats, fried things, and flour-less chocolate cake" attitudes.

 
Diet: The main rule is "no unleavened bread," but the no-nos for this culinarily challenging Holiday include: breads, pastries, rice, oats, soy, barley and most other grains, beans, peanuts and corn. The corn restriction means no cornstarch or high-fructose corn syrup, which is why you may have noticed special Heinz ketchup and Coke bottles with yellow tops, both of which are made with cane sugar instead of corn syrup.

What is allowed? Matzoh, meat, eggs, coffee, dairy products, and most vegetables and fruits are permitted.

We manage.

My Strategy

My goal is basically just not to go crazy - be aware of what I'm eating, if I want to be eating it, and how much I'm consuming. Mindless eating, or worse, eating because there's so much food and I feel like I need to have ALL of it because otherwise I'm missing out on something, is what I'm trying hard to avoid. This is especially important when I can't track and it will be easy to forget little mindless indulgences.


That's the best advice I have for myself, or for anyone else looking for tips: not to just take a bit of everything because it's there. Rather, I will try to look at the options and decide what I would really like to enjoy, and what, upon a little hesitation, I realize I don't actually care that much about. Also, I will try to remember that this is the holiday of leftovers, so chances are that the dish I don't have tonight will make a great lunch tomorrow.

I will estimate and count calories as much as possible with the aide of my husband/human calculator, and try to take long walks in the (hopefully) nice weather. I can do this. While losing a bit of weight over Passover would be wonderful, I will be very happy to just have stayed the same.

Day six.

A couple of our friends are staying at our apartment while we're gone - they were coming to New York City for Passover and needed a place, and since we'll be gone the whole time, it worked out well!

However, it also means that we needed to leave the apartment in a state where they don't need to maneuver around the clean laundry that's been sitting in the living room for three days or the long-dead flowers on the table. So yesterday it was clean, clean, clean and now we're going to eat, eat, eat.

At worst, it's only one week and I'm determined to get right back to our healthier habits after it's over.

For anyone celebrating, Happy Passover!


(Flour-less chocolate torte photo: oneforthetable.com)

Weekly Weight Update

This week was harder than usual. I ended up having to go into work on Sunday, and then had to work late several nights during week - including once to 4:30 a.m. Coffee was certainly my friend this week, as the five-year-old in me can't stand go to sleep at eleven or twelve when I only got home at ten.

 Perhaps he genuinely doesn't know?

However, I got three free dinners (the firm pays for dinner if you stay past a certain hour), and made decent choices when picking what to eat. J and I were able to go to the gym twice, and I kept up with tracking food and exercise. I had to estimate a bit more since more of my meals were takeout, but they were free so I'll take that trade-off any day.

All in all, I think I did okay. It was only one week. I'm still learning how to handle exercising and eating well while having a low-stress job with normal hours, which is one up from being a college student and having a flexible schedule and a lot of free time. At this point I probably wouldn't handle late nights well if they were constant.

 Baby steps

Weight

My weight and stats for the week were a bit odd. I lost a pound, which is awesome, but my muscle and fat were both down about two pounds. I doubt I've actually lose that much fat and muscle in only a week and then gained all that back as water, so I'm going to focus more on the net pound loss and see what happens next week.


 Chart Form:

Measurements	3/10/2014	3/19/2014	3/26/2014	4/2/2014	4/9/2014
Weight	187.4	187.4	187.6	187.2	186.2
Pounds Fat			79.61	78.186	76.6
Pounds Muscle			67.26	67.2588	65.4

The next two weeks are going to be harder. J and I will be spending all of Passover either at my parent's house, or his mother's home in Michigan. My diet will be limited, and there will be too many days that I can't track my food or will have little control over what's on the menu. The upside is that my mother-in-law is usually delighted to take me up on my offers to cook when we're visiting, since she works long hours and doesn't enjoy cooking too much. I like cooking and being able to help out when we're visiting, so that on top of getting to chose when we're eating makes this a good deal.

Oh yeah, we also do meth. Together. As a family.

In other news, since we've joined the gym, I've been wondering about muscle mass and how much muscle I should possibly be aiming for with my height and gender. I had a hard time finding an average, or healthy range of muscle percentage for women. (It wasn't on the first page of Google.) 

This is much more amusing now that winter's over.

What I did find indicates that healthy muscle percentage is much more subjective than that of body fat in terms of health. However, Dr. Oz said that the average for women is 30%. That seems a little low to me, but then again it's just an average from a barely-legitimate source, so who knows what the sample size was or what's skewing the average. If it's at all accurate, that means I have 5-7% more muscle than the average woman.

Weekly Weight Update

Weight: 187.2, so I'm down .4 from one week ago. 

According to the body fat scale, I lost even more than that  - about 1.5 pounds of fat.

Also an ancient mating ritual

After weeks of no results, I'm happy to see something moving. 

In chart form:

	3/10/2014	3/19/2014	3/26/2014	4/2/2014
Weight	187.4	187.4	187.6	187.2
Pounds Fat			79.61	78.186
Pounds Muscle			67.26	67.2588

Two weeks ago, I set a few monthly goals. Now that it's the halfway point, here's how it's going.

• Goal: Keep going to the gym 3-4 times a week
• Success on this front. It's becoming more of a habit, and I know that no matter how crappy or boring my day was, it will end on a slightly higher note because we've gone. 
• When I really don't want to go, and we go anyways, I add that to my mental "bonus" section
• Passover is starting soon, which will mean a week away from routine and a limited diet. I will try to set specific plans for working out, and planning some food, especially since I won't be at home for any of it.
•  A week sounds short, but I've let my motivation derail before because of short hiatuses from the norm. It's too easy to lose good habits

Let my babies go!

• Goal: Keep tracking everything, work on tracking on weekends
• Last weekend I finally kept track of my weekend food. I could only estimate, but it was the first 7 days in a row of tracking since I started. Before that, it was basically 5 1/2 days on, 1 1/2 days off... 

• Goal: Cook more dishes for lunches and to stock freezer


• If buying frozen, pre-cooked tilapia and chicken breasts counts as stocking the freezer, then success. Otherwise, not so much.
• Lunches are better - this week I made a big pot of beans, and have been enjoying them with rice and salsa