WSR: Weight 296.2 - Weight Left To Lose 126.2

Height: 5'7"
Age: 40

Starting Weight: 370 lbs
Goal Weight: 170 lbs

Current Weight: 296.2 lbs
Pounds Lost: 73.8 lbs
Pounds Left To Lose: 126.2 lbs

Percent Of Weight Lost: 19.96%
Percent Of Way To Goal: 36.90%

Starting BMI: 57.9
Current BMI: 46.4
BMI Lost: 11.5

My Weight Chart:


I started out the week at 298.2 pounds and achieved a loss of 2.0 pounds.

Okay, this is the point in my weight loss in which I really need to double down on my commitment level. I am not losing a lot of weight each week. I won't get the emotional payoff of seeing 5+ pounds drop off the scale all the time. I need to be okay with that. I need to be satisfied with any sort of loss or even to maintain my previous loss each week when I hit the eventual plateau.

My plan this week is to simply do what I know to do - take each day as it comes and do exactly what I know is to be done today - eat right and get some exercise.

In the end, today is all that matters and I know I can handle today.

WSR: This Week Has Been Preempted

I have obviously skipped the weekly stats report this week. I just didn't post it in time. So, I will post updated stats on Monday. I did update the ticker and the sidebar though.

I haven't gone off plan. I am still doing all of the things I need to do. I am still losing weight. The scale is still drifting downward and there is even a shift in my stomach region (the last area to show any progress).

My mind has been elsewhere this week because I made a huge leap of faith and took a risk that I never expected to take at this point and I am waiting to see if it pays off. I hope it does because it took every ounce of bravery that I possess to ask for what I want. My mantra this week has been to just have faith - faith in myself and faith in another. That is hard to do for someone hell bent on maintaining control as tightly as I have always done. It is very hard to do.

New "Old" Clothes

As I packed on the pounds I had not kept a lot of my old clothes at smaller sizes. It was far too depressing to see them in the closet and know that I could not wear them because I was just too big.

But I did keep a few of my most favorite items in the hope that I would ever be able to fit into them again. I suppose all of us that struggle with weight do this to one degree or another.

Well, after reaching a sub-300 pound weight, I tried on a few thing that have been relegated to the darkest recesses of the closet and found that quite a few of them fit. So they have been moved to the front of the closet and I now have some new "old" clothes to wear!

I have gotta say that success is most awesome. I've done the failure thing and I like this much better. It is such a new experience for me.

The Cinderella Pact

Do you like chic lit books?

Have you ever been a dropout of Weight Watchers?

Then meet Nola Devlin. Nola is every woman that has struggled to lose the weight and find her inner princess. Great book!

NOLA DEVLIN HAS A SECRET IDENTITY. By day she is an overweight, frumpy, and overlooked editor at Sass! (the "celebrity magazine with an edge!"), but by night she slips behind her keyboard and into her alter-ego: Belinda Apple. Belinda is thin, gorgeous, British and the author of a trendy advice column— she is, in effect, the latest Carrie Bradshaw. Not even her two best friends or her self-absorbed sister (who worships Belinda as the "sister she never had") know her secret.

When "Belinda" jots off a column about how easy it is to lose weight, Nola is shocked when her best friends take her own lies to heart and urge her to follow Belinda's weight loss program. Since Nola can't reveal herself as the real Belinda Apple, she bites the bullet and joins her friends in making the "Cinderella Pact" — a last ditch attempt to lose weight (again!) and transform their lives for good.

But as the pounds come off, things don't turn out the way the three friends expect. Their journey of self-discovery leads to the rediscovery of an old love and the unmasking of new problems. Meanwhile, Nola finds herself torn between two different men as she stomps out fires caused by her deception as Belinda Apple and falls in love with the man who just might be her prince — or the rat in coachman's clothing.

Dieting Doesn't Need To Be Hard

When I decided to give myself one last shot at losing this wall of fat that I've been suffocating under for half of my life I knew that it had to be as stress-free as possible. I wasn't going to obsess over measuring things. I wasn't going to feel pressured to cook all the time. I wasn't going to eat nothing but frozen Smart Ones or Lean Cuisines either (although they are quite convenient in a pinch).

So, I came up with a plan. The very nexus of that plan revolved around one very special place - Central Market.

This is the place of my rebirth. It is the source of all of the good tasting and healthy foods that I am now consuming on a daily basis - steamed or grilled vegetables, couscous, roasted potatoes, quinoa, penne with asparagus, roasted red pepper hummus, wild rice, avocado sushi rolls... the list goes on.

I've made friends with the women that work behind the counter of the prepared food case and they inquire about my diet on a daily basis. I check in with them every morning about whether I've walked the night before or how much weight I've lost. They encourage me. One of them is keeping me updated on her routine too.

I hit CM twice daily. On my way to work I pick up my lunch - usually half a small container of vegetables and half a small container of a rice, grain or pasta which I add to the veggie burger or veggie chicken that I keep stocked at work. In the evening I order a decaf, non-fat, sugar free vanilla latte and spend about an hour reading whatever book I am carrying. It is a marvelous way to end the day!

I have never felt better. I don't spend a lot of money. I no longer throw food away because it winds up rotting in the bottom of my refrigerator. I buy just what I need for each day's diet. It is simple. It is easy. And it works!

So, I wrote all of this to say that dieting doesn't need to be hard. It can be rather easy if you can discover what is the right fit for you.

WSR: Weight 298.8 - Weight Left To Lose 128.8

Height: 5'7"
Age: 40

Starting Weight: 370 lbs
Goal Weight: 170 lbs

Current Weight: 298.8 lbs
Pounds Lost: 71.2 lbs
Pounds Left To Lose: 128.8 lbs

Percent Of Weight Lost: 19.24%
Percent Of Way To Goal: 35.60%

Starting BMI: 57.9
Current BMI: 46.8
BMI Lost: 11.1

I started out the week at 301.8 pounds and achieved a loss of 3.0 pounds.

A 3 pound loss in the same week as my time of the month isn't too shabby. I'll take it.

I don't plan on making any adjustments this week. What I have been doing thus far seems to be working as I had hoped. I did lose a daily Weight Watchers point with my new weight range, but seeing as I rarely eat the entire set of points I don't really feel that loss at all.

After I lose another 3.8 pounds I will have exactly 125 pounds left to go. That is 5 25 pound units and that suits my left brain self very nicely. Prior to breaking the 300 pound barrier, that was my only goal - getting below 300. Now that I have met that goal, I am going to be thinking in terms of losing sets of 25 pounds. Breaking down the larger number into smaller units really helps keep me from feeling overwhelmed by the amount of weight I have to lose.

As PastaQueen said during her trip down the scale, onward and downward!

299.2

Monday is the official weekly stats reporting day, but today is a monumental today in this weight loss journey.

Today is the day that I am officially under 300 pounds for the first time in over a decade!

Height: 5'7"
Age: 40

Starting Weight: 370 lbs
Goal Weight: 170 lbs

Current Weight: 299.2 lbs
Pounds Lost: 70.8 lbs
Pounds Left To Lose: 129.2 lbs

Percent Of Weight Lost: 19.14%
Percent Of Way To Goal: 35.40%

Starting BMI: 57.9
Current BMI: 46.9
BMI Lost: 11.0

It was tough going for most of this week because I could not understand the refusal of the scale to budge when I am doing everything right. I've had a pretty good plan to avoid stalls and plateaus because I have my cheat meals on the weekend in which I eat all of the WW points that I am supposed to eat for my weight range.

But on Thursday it became really apparent why the scale wasn't moving. It was that time of the month. I didn't even see it coming because with the new vegetarian diet and exercise, my cramps are now almost non-existent.

Now though? I am on top of the freaking world. I no longer possess a weight that starts with the number 3. What an incredible feeling!

Things To Do: Eat!

Yesterday, I somehow only wound up eating 860 calories and I only ate 1027 on Monday. That is not good. I know I must eat at least 1200 calories per day to avoid the dreaded starvation mode in which I just won't lose weight at all because my body will greedily hang on to every bit of calories that I do give it. I've been averaging around 21-23 points on Weight Watchers for the past 6 weeks or so. I am currently allotted 35 points a day, but I have been getting by on a lot less.

I think in my zeal to get to a sub-300 number on the scale I have been cutting back too much and it is starting to affect me. This morning on the bus I was feeling quite faint and a little nauseous. I thought I was going to pass out. I've learned my lesson.

The scale dipped .4 pounds this morning, but I know if I were eating enough I would have lost more this week and seen something in the 297-299 range instead of hanging on around 301.

So I am eating more today. I am going to eat around 1500 calories (30 WW points) to get my body back to a normal blood sugar level. I want to lose weight, but I also want to be healthy while doing it. Making myself sick is not on the agenda.

Moments of Bravado: Week Ending 11.02.08

I read a post somewhere last month in which Jillian Michaels, of Biggest Loser fame, gave some tips for losing weight. The thing that stood out for me the most was what she said about willpower:

Losing weight is not about willpower - it's about moments of bravado, like the
moment when you ask your waiter to take the bread away from the table right
away.

I quickly printed that quote out and taped it to the top of my computer monitor at work. I read it every day, several times a day. It really did speak to me on the most basic level. Willpower is usually seen as this thing we have or we don't have and that viewpoint can really affect our success or failure in shedding the pounds. So what if it isn't willpower that we need, but it is really moments of bravado to spur us on in times we are most challenged or want to go to the next level?

This past week I had a few moments of bravado that I want to share:

• On Halloween Friday I was horrified when I turned around and noticed a big bag of candy on my desk. This sweet, little package was courtesy of HR. Now the sentiment was nice, but the reality of what that little bag of goodness could do to me was quite ghastly. So, I promptly threw it over the cube wall to my co-worker (knocking over her tea cup in the process) and told her to take it home to her husband and son. She quite graciously forgave my moment of craziness and relieved me of the many calories and grams of sugar that my body does not need and I really don't want at this point.



• On Saturday I thought I would experiment a little bit. I normally take the bus while running errands and slip in pockets of walking throughout the day. However, this Saturday I determined that if my destination was 3 miles away and under that I would walk instead. It was a giant success. I clocked in at walking 8.26 miles by the end of the day. What did this tell me? My fitness level is through the roof and I can do anything I set my mind too.

In both of these situations I wasn't bracing myself to resist temptation or attempt something I've never done before. I chose at those moments to take the brave action instead of the easy one. And these moments of bravado brought me out of last week healthier and fitter than when I entered it.

So ask yourself, what moments of bravado have you undertaken? What action did you take to ensure your success in reaching your goal?

WSR: Weight 301.8 - Weight Left To Lose 131.8

Height: 5'7"
Age: 40

Starting Weight: 370 lbs
Goal Weight: 170 lbs

Current Weight: 301.8 lbs
Pounds Lost: 68.2 lbs
Pounds Left To Lose: 131.8 lbs

Percent Weight Lost: 18.43%

Starting BMI: 57.9
Current BMI: 47.3
BMI Lost: 10.6

I started out the week at 306.8 pounds and achieved a loss of 5.0 pounds.

Two weeks ago I switched to eating fruit and/or popcorn for dinner and cut out potatoes from my meals on the weekends. These changes allowed me to lose 5.2 pounds. I am happy to see that it carried over into last week as well giving me another 5 pound loss.

This week, however, I plan to eliminate my "cheat" meal on Sunday. I feel like I no longer need it. I receive enough satisfaction from the one I eat on Saturday. As I lose weight it will be important to keep making adjustments because my smaller size won't require the same diet plan.