In Other News . . . Plus a Weigh-in!

I exercised today!! And man, was it painful! About 30 seconds into it I actually considered turning around and just hiding in the bushes for a half hour. My left calf started to burn immediately and OH MY GOD WHAT WAS THAT PAIN IN MY RIGHT KNEE? It was pathetic. The only thing that kept me going was picturing myself in cuter workout clothes and wondering what it would be like to walk or run and NOT have my thighs rub together.

Beginning “moderate exercise” (which, in my book, is a 30-minute, two-mile brisk walk) when you’re both morbidly obese and you’ve been sedentary for the past several years is a ginormous undertaking. Please PLEASE don’t do any of this without the guidance of a real doctor. I am fortunate enough to work for a company that has a health clinic ON SITE, and all of my vitals are being monitored weekly.

Speaking of which, I have a secret to let out: I really DO know how much I weigh.

The company I work for (Pepsi) started an incentive at the beginning of the year, which required a weigh-in at the time of sign-up. And the reason why I never shared any of this with you is because I didn’t want to weigh what the Pepsi scale said I weighed – I wanted to weigh what the Wii scale said I weighed.

But being that the Pepsi scale is located in a MEDICAL OFFICE, I had to come to terms with the fact that I weighed more than I thought I did. Not easy when you’re touchy about the numbers.

So here they are, in all their splendor – my initial statistics, which were recorded by a medical professional on January 4, 2011:

Height: 5' 8 1/4"

Weight: 292.8

BMI: 44

Body Fat %: 47.0

And now, due to popular demand, are my current numbers – recorded by a medical professional on Thursday, January 20, 2011:

Height: 5' 8 1/4"

Weight: 287.2

BMI: 43.3

Body Fat %: 46.5

Less than stellar, I admit. But things are really going to get cooking in the next few weeks now that I’ve started exercising, and I’m only going to do it more often than less. At least I’m still staying with it!

I also took my first physical since HIGH SCHOOL today. Can you stand it? And talk about another pathetic showing . . . During the strength test, the doctor told me I was “not that strong.” Hilarious, considering I look like I can put on quite a show of force at 5’8” and 287 pounds. Other things I cannot do: Hop on one foot and walk putting one foot in front of the other while not looking down and holding my arms straight out to my sides. How fun is that? Not being able to pass a sobriety test when I’m SOBER?! “No, really officer. I haven’t had a drink since 2010. I know this looks bad. Really, I do . . . Can I offer you some water?” Tomorrow morning I get my blood work done, and next week I should have my results. Not sure I want to see how bad my cholesterol is, but I’d like to know how my thyroid and blood sugar levels are doing.

One more thing . . . I’ve made another adjustment to my journaling. I will track when and what I eat, along with the hunger factor, and add in when I exercise.

This getting healthy business is a little time consuming. . . but I’ll do what I have to so I can look fabulous, feel fabulous, and BE fabulous in 2011!!

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Food Tracker

I have to admit, the last couple of days have been a struggle for me. My body and I have taken on a tremendous amount of change over the past few weeks, and we’re both trying to adjust.

Tuesday (January 18), I started to write a post. Here it is, in its entirety:

Okay, so yesterday I went on this long rant about being addicted to sugar. Nothing has changed since then. Last time I checked, I still wanted a Founder’s Favorite from ColdStone. “Love it” size. In a waffle bowl.

I’ve also got an additional problem: I AM ALWAYS HUNGRY.

Well, maybe not ALWAYS. For example, I’m not hungry immediately following a meal. But it seems like just an hour or so later (sometimes less), my stomach starts to make noise.

WTF? Why is this happening? I eat good lean proteins for lunch (baked chicken sandwiches, salads with walnuts, etc.), yet for some reason I still get hungry shortly thereafter. I’m so frustrated! Why does eating healthy have to be so complicated?

Holy crap, I’m such a whiner! (Okay, well, I have a lot to whine about. Thirty eight years of eating whatever I wanted and now all the sudden I’m restricting caloric intake . . . AND alcohol! Geesh. No wonder I’m so grouchy.)

So anyway, here’s the deal.

Yesterday, after a day off of counting calories and just eating what I would normally eat lately, I discovered something quite astonishing:

I wasn’t as hungry as I had been over the past two weeks!

The only thing I did differently (besides giving myself a break from counting calories) was that I brought a sandwich in from home to eat. It wasn’t anything to write home about: Smoked turkey on Orowheat Buttermilk White, with Olive Oil mayo (instead of it’s fattier big brother “regular” mayo) and reduced fat provolone cheese. I ate the sandwich at 11:50am. Usually I get hungry again right round 1:30pm.

Here’s the thing, though – My hunger level stayed at bay until 3:00pm! I gained a whole 90 minutes of fullness! Was it the provolone? The turkey? The combination of both? Who knows.

So today (at least at the time I wrote this post, which was at 5:30am), I’ve decided to track the exact times that I ate, along with a hunger rating from 1-10 (1 being “not hungry at all”; 10 being “I’m dying over here!”). I think that tracking these elements will help me discover my hungriest times, allowing for me to make some adjustments on what I eat shortly beforehand. Does that make sense?

Anyone out there have different ideas?

Still Here . . .

Hey all!

Wow. I let some time slip away there, didn't I?!

Had some technical difficulties with scales; first, my "so totally scientific scale" (A.K.A. the Wii Fit Board) stopped working, so I couldn't do an official weigh in.

Then, the scale I ordered from Amazon arrived. Broken.

So, I have absolutely no idea how much weight I've lost.

But I can tell you that I've not had a sip of soda, coffee, juice, or alcohol since my last post, and I'm still on a weight loss plan.

Speaking of "plan," I've been considering abandoning Weight Watchers. While counting points is easy, calculating them and keeping track of them is not. I'm not saying that the math is hard, I'm just saying that I don't have that kind of time. Converting recipes to the WW system, then substituting ingredients, then trying to figure out how many people the recipe serves, then figuring out fat/carb/protein/fiber content and converting it to a set of points is a bit much for me.

Instead, I am considering the old-fashioned route of counting calories.

I've discovered this amazing podcast called "Fat to Fit Radio." The experts at the site have devised a system that allows you to input some personal fitness data, and it spits out a baseline number of calories you should consume in a day for your fitness level and goal weight. It's an awesome tool. (Called the "BMR.") According to the information I entered, my personal BMR is 1,790 calories. This is based on the fact that I am currently sedentary (meaning little or no exercise, with a desk job). When I begin routine workouts and strength training, the BMR goes up to over 2,000 calories.

Which means that, with using the BMR and counting calories, all I'd have to do is take a notebook, enter "1,790" at the top of the page, and start a running total for the day. I like that much better than having to pull out a calculator and figure out the points value of food items.

Getting to your goal weight is all about finding what works for YOU. I'm still experimenting, but once I find something I like, it'll be easier for me to stick with. And I'll get the results I want! I'm sure it will be the same for you. What have YOU been doing to get fit lately? :)

One more thing before I go:

If you live in the Northern California area, and are with signal range of this television station, please tune in this Saturday (January 15) in the 9:00am hour. I will be on with one of their awesome reporters discussing my "Water Only for an Entire Year" challenge and what I am doing to get my family healthy in 2011. Can you stand it?!! I'm so stoked!! (PS: Don't pay attention to how messy my house is. We're already prepping items and boxes for our impending move. Even though we haven't found a house yet!)

If you don't get the station signal but are still interested in watching, their website carries a live streaming feed. I'll also be posting the video from the segment and photos of the event once it's over. How exciting!!!

Until next time . . .

Look fabulous. Feel fabulous. BE fabulous.

Kathleen