Making Weight Loss Less "Don't" and More "Do"

I usually think of diet and exercise as two completely different but complimentary things. With losing weight, diet is the thing that matters because I can’t out-exercise a crappy diet. Believe me, I’ve tried.  I've realized lately why exercise can be such a good mental health compliment to dieting.

Losing weight is so, so passive. Most of it consists of NOT eating. The cupcakes at the office, the cookies at a friend's house, whatever. There are also so many evenings after dinner, when we’re just hanging out in the apartment, and I realize the only thing I need to do, or can do, in order to have a good weight loss day is to not eat. That’s a hard way of thinking sometimes - the best way to accomplish your goal at the moment is to NOT do something.

For a five hour evening, I could not eat for four hours and fifty-six minutes, and then somewhere in those last four minutes, eat three candy bars or a handful of chocolate chips. Five hour evening, and those four minutes of overeating completely calorically overwhelm the other four hours, fifty-six minutes. In another scenario, I could sit for an hour at a table with a cake on it after dinner with friends. I don’t pick at the cake for fifty-seven minutes, but then those last three... 200 calories in a single swipe of frosting and those first fifty-seven minutes kind of don’t matter.

That’s why, at least for me, working out is so good for the weight loss mentality. I see it essentially as a separate component of health. Working out makes me feel strong. It makes me feel like I’m actively doing something for my health. My favorite instructor likes to tell us how we're changing our bodies as we struggle through leg lifts. It’s not about the calories (though those are a huge perk that definitely get me to push myself), it’s about being fit. It’s about being that 90-year-old pole dancing instructor who spins circles around her 24-year-old students. She's my role model.

Weekly Weigh In: "No Comment"

I do not want to write this post. Despite everything - the workouts and the calorie deficit I squeezed out this week, my weight is still not back where it should be. Why? I have no clue. This can all be summed up as: I’m still doing this, still tracking and eating right and working out. But I’m also really, really pissed. I did not gain three pounds. Yet, here they are, like an uninvited guest. But not just any guest. It's the misogynist racist from next door who won't mow his lawn and lets his dog poop on your lawn.

	Start	6/8	8/19	9/30	10/29	12/31	1/28	2/4	2/11	2/18	2/25
Weight	200	191.2	182.6	181	181.4	177.2	174.6	175.8	174.2	178	177
Lbs. Fat		82.7	72.5	70.3	70.8	67.1	65.3	66.8	64.7	67.4	66.5
Lbs. Muscle		67.3	66.8	65.2	67.3	63.9	64.4	65.2	63.5	64.2	68.2

Slightly interesting that muscle has really increased, but the fat pounds and overall weight measurement are so high! I know I had about a 1/2-1/3 pound gain last week. But not this week. And not this much.

In other news, since I joined the gym the day after my 25th birthday, last week marked my one year anniversary of being a member! I think this might be my longest period of consistent exercise, ever. It’s actually a real habit, a part of my life that I like, and I want it to stay that way forever. I want to be that 90-year-old yoga instructor.

I’ve even finally started to really take advantage of all the classes that are part of my membership. I’d been going to Zumba since the summer, but that was about it. Now I’ve tried Step, Power Dance, and Total Body Conditioning. Step was not for me - it didn’t have the camaraderie and mutual suffering bonding of most of the other classes I’ve gone to. But the other two are great, made even better by going with my gym buddy.

The first is called Power Dance. This week was our second time going, and I really enjoyed it. It’s basically learning a basic step, and then slowly adding more steps, all to different songs. There’s a ton of jumping involved so it ends up being a pretty intense workout. The only issue is that the moves seem to be the same from week to week, though the music changes. Since there aren’t that many moves in total (5-10 total, and many are very similar to each other), I wonder if that would get boring week after week, or if I would just get more comfortable with the moves and therefore be able to push myself harder - jump higher, kick harder. For now I really like it and the instructor is great.

The other new class we tried is called Total Body Conditioning. If you haven’t done it, it’s basically a group weight lifting class. Everyone gets a step, a weighted mesh pole, and some free weights. Then the instructor sets up different ways to lift, working out the entire body over the hour-long class - first arms, then legs, then abs. For each set, he plays thumping music and lets us know how long to keep going and when to rest in between sets. It takes the thinking out of weight-lifting.

Bonus that the conditioning class we’ve been going to is taught by the Power Dance instructor, so of course we really like him. That means that we’re taking two exercise classes in a row on Tuesday nights - first cardio, then strength training. So a hard 1.5-2 hour workout the night before I weigh in? Maybe I can blame that a little for these last couple of weeks?

The no/low sugar challenge is going well so far. Right now I’m not putting a blanket ban on sugar, because I like it in my coffee. Rather, I'm trying to make it a real treat instead of what it's been now, which is not worth the calories. #1 place to work on is work: first, there’s a candy bowl, plus someone puts treats in the kitchen a few times a week. Today it was mini Milky Ways in the bowl and bakery cookies in the kitchen. I didn’t have any, woot! Last week that would have been a quick 150 calories down the drain. Not necessarily a derailment, because I do have the flexible calories, but quite simply not worth it.

The other place I’m avoiding the sugar is at home. No more baking for our potluck meals, as much as I enjoy making desserts. It’s just not a good idea for me right now.

What’s your favorite exercise class?

Do you avoid making any foods for others because it’s too tempting?

Do you think I’m delusional and must be secretly hoovering frosting from the can?

Weekly Weigh-In: Post Birthday

On the bad side, this was a bad week. I really struggled just to break even, and didn’t even manage that. On the good side, I turned 26, tracked everything faithfully, and this is the first bad week I’ve had in months. By my estimates for the end of the week, I was over by about half a pound. Then I got on the scale:

	Start	6/8	8/19	9/30	10/29	11/19	12/31	1/28	2/4	2/11	2/18
Weight	200	191.2	182.6	181	181.4	177.6	177.2	174.6	175.8	174.2	178
Lbs. Fat		82.7	72.5	70.3	70.8	68.1	67.1	65.3	66.8	64.7	67.4
Lbs. Muscle		67.3	66.8	65.2	67.3	63.3	63.9	64.4	65.2	63.5	64.2

Urgh, that’s pretty appalling. I know it’s not real - or at least not all of it is real. This weigh in came after an awesome new gym class followed by strength training (woot, I went to the gym on my birthday!), followed by a wonderful, delicious, sodium and French fry filled meal I shared with some friends for my birthday. So while I may have eaten one or two thousand extra calories this week, it was not, dear God, twelve thousand.

Despite this logic, I was pretty upset this morning. Not going to eat in rebellion or smash my scale, just angry.

Right back on the horse today, feeling good. Had another good workout and stayed in my calories. I’m resisting the temptation to weigh in again tomorrow in order to ensure myself that the bloat is going away. The above, what I wrote, is my weight this week, whatever that means. But it sure as hell won’t be my weight next week, or next month.

Obviously my goal of making it to the 160s by my birthday feels like a cruel joke (remember how optimistic I was?)

More later, right now I’m long overdue for a good night’s sleep.

Goals for February

A blogger I like used to post monthy goals for herself, and I like the idea of that. I’ve made plenty of short term goals, like my original “Weight loss reboot” or when I stopped eating sugar for a month. It’s good to focus on the short term because my goal weight is likely a year away at least.

February Goals:

• Get to a New Weight Decade
• My original goal was to get into the 160’s by my 26th birthday, but I’m not sure I’ll make that. So while I’d still love to make that, my next “deadline” is to get to this place by the end of the month, two weeks later. Just 4.6 pounds...
• Increase Strength Training
• I’ve been going to the gym, and even pushing myself, consistently 4-5 times a week. However, I only strength train once a week, sometimes only a few times a month. For this month, I’m aiming to do weights 6 times at least, and hopefully 8 or 10.
• Probably not 10, since this is a short month.
• Get a New Weekend Strategy
• Or, something. Every week I overdo it on Friday and Saturday, and it turns my pound loss into two-thirds or half a pound. Still progress and great and all that, but I need to be better at this.
• Possible strategy: stop making desserts for potlucks, dammit Leah. People will still like you when you don’t bring them sugar.

• Get Creative with Breakfast
• I literally eat oatmeal or Greek yogurt for breakfast every day. I want to try at least one new work-friendly breakfast (so probably no eggs).
• One option: I’ve always liked that if it’s food and you have it for breakfast, then it’s breakfast food. Stew, beans, chicken, why not?
• Bring Lunch
• Bring lunch at least 4 days a week. Laziness if the only thing stopping me. Even if it’s an Amy’s meal, it’s still cheaper than buying, and still better because it takes away the necessity of a decision.
• Remember that it’s a birthDAY, not a birthWEEK
• My mother was not in labor for a week; in fact, she was barely in labor for an afternoon. Celebrate/eat accordingly.
• Call my mother on my birthday, to thank her. She did all the work that day.
• Cook on Sundays
• It helps so much for the week. I cooked a couple of dishes over the last two Sundays that were good for lunch - mainly fish chowder and balsamic chicken with fajita vegetables - and I need to keep this up. Today will be a challenge since we’re going to a Superbowl party so I shouldn't procrastinate like I usually do.

Alright, February. Here we go.

Who else has goals, weight-related or other, for this month?

What are they?

Weekly Weigh-In and Strength Training Update

This was another good week, though I repeated my pattern of eating too much one weekend evening and therefore having a lot fewer of those weekly flexible calories during Sunday-Wednesday. I went to the gym five times so those extra calories helped me succeed in having a 1300/day average. However, I’d like to work on not getting like that in the first place. The most annoying thing about it, funnily enough, is that I don’t know how many calories I ate. I know I ate too much of the amazing chocolate chunk challah, but how much too much? 500 calories? 800 calories? I rounded it off as best I could and moved on, but I need to pay more attention in these situations.

On Tuesday, my Zumba friend and I tried out a different class at another of our gym’s locations. It was fun, but had a lot more emphasis on hips/gyrating movement. And I thought I looked uncoordinated doing dance steps...ah well. I’ve improved at my regular Zumba class, so I’d improve here too.

Guess which one I am?

This week’s weigh-in:

	6/8/2014	8/19/2014	9/30/2014	10/29/2014	11/6/2014	11/12/2014
Weight	191.2	182.6	181	181.4	179.6	179.6
Pounds Fat	82.7	72.5	70.3	70.8	70.3	68.8
Pounds Muscle	67.3	66.8	65.2	67.3	65	67.7

Weight is the same, which is actually great because I was worried that the previous week was just a fluctuation. Also, look at the fat! I’m now down fourteen full pounds of fat from when I started in June, and haven’t lost any muscle in the process, which is hard to avoid with weight loss. That kicks ass. Or more accurately, I kick ass.

I will probably lose some muscle eventually since I don't think I'd end up with 70 pounds of muscle on a 135-pound frame, but it's great to have lost purely fat till now. 

I think part of that is because of my workouts, but more specifically the strength training. Since July, I’ve been trying to do it at least once or twice a week. I keep track of the weight and reps I do on my phone, and try to up the weight when it gets too easy - for me, that means I can do at least 15 repetitions. When I first started, I put all the machines on the lightest setting (at least I intended to), and I'm making my way up the weights.

Here’s a before and now for the amount of weight I use, in pounds - I use my made-up names for the machines, but put the real names in parentheses.

	July	November
Reverse Pull-Ups (Lateral Pull Down)	55	80
Raise the Roof (Overhead Press)	30	65
Slow Crumping (Vertical Chest)	35	50
Show off Your Pecs (Preacher Curl)	30	40
Defy Gravity (Seated Dip, just started on this one last month)	70	75
My Arms! (Dual Axis Row )	50	85

Most of the time, I don't use every machine every time, but I do as many reps and possible - slow and steady - until I've exhausted the muscle. It's pretty much the method I learned when I did strength training with an actual trainer, and since I'm getting stronger (and trainers cost more than God), I'm sticking with it for now.

Anyone else strength train? I want to hear about it!

Week Three: I Peeked, But Didn't Peak

Week two is over. I confess that I stepped on the scale on Friday morning, and was delighted to see 185.7. Since I weighed in at 191 just before starting this “reboot,” I’ve lost about five pounds in two weeks, right in the healthy weight range for the beginning of a diet.

Even though I am happy to know I’ve made progress, I’m a little disappointed because I messed up the whole point of not knowing my weight: to avoid focusing on it. Right now I’m re-losing weight that I already lost - twice - and then gained back - twice, three times if you count the initial gaining. No need to be reminded of or focus on that. 

No more weigh-ins. When I get tempted to dig out the scale, I’ll remind myself how great it will be to see a (hopefully) double-digit loss for these eight weeks, and that eating well and working out are just as important, if not more, than how much the scale has moved.

As my sneak peek indicated, this was a good week. Work was very slow, as is typical for summers. I will never, ever complain about not having much to do at work. I kept tracking, and we worked out four times plus a really long walk around Central Park in the lovely breeze.

Another good part of the week was that I’m learning that a day without a treat is not the end of the world, and that even if I can have something, doesn’t mean I need to do so. Shocking, right? Last night, I was debating whether to have a flatbread pizza or a loaded baked potato with the 400 calories left for the day. I realized that I could make a small dinner, somewhere around 250-300 calories and have room for a couple of pieces of chocolate. 

Just as quickly I asked myself, What are you doing? Two hundred and fifty calories is a snack or breakfast, not a dinner. I used all the calories for dinner, skipped the dessert, and the world kept turning and I didn’t go insane from lack of dessert and eat the candy aisle at the nearest drug store. So I will try to keep in mind the lesson here: Notwithstanding the occasional ice cream for dinner, a treat is something extra to have after a meal, not instead of it.

Looking ahead, tomorrow is our company’s annual summer outing, which basically translates to a relaxing day at a country club, where people bring their families and there’s an open bar by the pool. I’m trying to get the courage to go swimming, since it’s really fun with J and there’s not that much else to do besides sit by the pool and drink. I really don't want to let my own insecurity stop me from enjoying a pool on a hot day.

On Tuesday, we’re attending a goodbye dinner for J’s dad, who is moving across the country. It sucks that he won’t live so close anymore, but I guess now we have an excuse to go to California. Silver linings. And in one week, we’ll celebrate my amazing grandparents’ 60th wedding anniversary.

Below is this week’s meal plan. Once again, strawberries feature prominently in the snacks. At 50 calories a cup and now $2 a pound, they will probably be a summer staple.

	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
Exercise	Gym	Pool - laps	Gym	Off	Gym	Gym	Walk
Breakfast	Coffee	Coffee, oatmeal	Coffee, yogurt	Coffee, yogurt	Coffee, oatmeal	Coffee, oatmeal	Coffee, yogurt
Lunch	Oatmeal pancakes, strawberries	Firm outing	Lemon chicken over salad, baked potato	Lemon chicken over salad, baked potato	Veggie burger, cheese, on English muffin	Veggie burger, cheese, on English muffin	TBD
Dinner	Frittata	Firm outing	Out with family	Loaded baked potato, broccoli	Flatbread pizza	Chicken, broccoli, bread
Snacks	Cheese, FroYo, fruit	Fruit	Hard boiled egg, fruit	Cheese, fruit	TBD	TBD

Today was the first day of week three, and it was a good one. Sunday is our day to have a longer gym session, and I felt like I’m continuously better at pushing myself. A while back, I wrote about how I couldn't do even one rep on one of the strength training machines they have, the overhead press machine, even on the lightest setting. (Ignore the stupid URL title.) I tried it again today and did ten reps at 25 pounds! I'm definitely getting stronger. 

After I burned an excellent 750 calories, J and I stopped for some frozen yogurt and it was delicious, especially knowing that I knew I could enjoy it, go home and have a nice dinner, and still have a great "loss" day.

I'm feeling good about this week, and the next six (thousand) weeks.