Monday, September 24, 2007

Week 3 Update: Bacon is baaaaad.

Starting Weight: 477.4 lbs
Week 3 Weigh-in: 465.6 lbs
Weekly Loss: 5.5 lbs
Total Loss: 11.8 lbs

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Another five and a half gone. You'd think I'd be a little more excited about this than I am. I don't know. I don't think I'll actually start getting "excited" until there are visible changes, which probably won't be for another month at this rate.

(Speaking of visible changes, I need to get a haircut. Wakka wakka wakka. Nevermind.)

I have a few concerns at this point. One is that I may be undereating. Ha ha, yeah, I know, right? But I've been hit with some really serious hunger pains this week, as well as the occassional weakness issues (similar to when I've fasted). I wonder if I should take the slower-loss approach the WW website recommends, and eat all of the points I'm allotted, including the bonus bank of points each week. I've gotten scolded twice by the website for losing weight too fast.

Yet, when you're as big as I am, you can't afford to do this 2 pounds a week business. It will take forever, and I don't want it to. I want to get healthy as soon as I possibly can, and while I'm obviously not starving myself, I'm probably not eating quite as much as I'm allowed some days. I don't know. It's a balancing act. I don't want to commit to this half-way. If I'm gonna do it, then I'm gonna really do it, you know? No more messing around; my health is too important now.

I did okay this week. Went over a few days, but if I was going to go over, I tried to pick better things to go over with. This is where shopping wisely is paramount. If you don't have crap on hand, you won't eat crap. Kind of makes sense. I left about 15 points in the bank. As I said, not sure if that was good or not.

As for the title: bacon is pretty bad for me, one of the fattiest meats. But I had a package of center-cut bacon in the fridge, so I decided to fry it up and split it with my dad, who was over that night. That way, I'm only eating half of it. I mixed mine with eggs and cheese, and spooned the scrambled goodness in some half-pitas with a little bit of honey mustard. Tasty.

However, that bacon sat on my stomach like a brick all night, and into the next day. And I said to myself, "Self--bacon does not agree with your digestion. Stay away from bacon." And I said, "You know what, self? That's an astute observation. You know, you're a pretty sharp cat." And I said, "Why thank you, self. I appreciate that coming from someone with such distinguished taste." And I replied, blushing, "Oh, go on, now you're just being flattering." But I retorted, "No, self, I am quite sincere. You're a pretty righteous dude, and it's a privilege to know you." And I smiled winningly and responded, "Believe me, self, the privilege is mine." And so on and so forth for a half-hour longer.

So what have we learned this week? I'm alarmingly self-assured. And bacon is bad.

Weekly goals: Aside from the usual stuff, I need to work on incorporating more activity into my day. I only got to the gym once this past week, for a 25 minute cardio session. I need to make this more of a habit. Of course, this week will be difficult, since I'm house-and-sister-sitting for the folks for half the week. But hopefully I can take advantage of that great track around my parent's house called a...what was it? ... Oh yeah, "sidewalk."

Okay then. I'll keep you posted. Happy eating, but no bacon.

Monday, September 17, 2007

Week 2(ish) Weigh-In.

Starting Weight: 477.4 lbs
Week 2 Weigh-in: 471.1 lbs
Weekly Loss: 6.3 lbs
Total Loss: 6.3 lbs

I started "pointing" last Tuesday, so this is really a 6-day total, but I wanted to get on the board.

What's sad is the fact that I'm a little disappointed by this. On Friday, my loss was over 8 pounds, and somehow between then and now, I gained back a pound and a half. ("Somehow"--like I don't already know.)

Fact is, my first falter was this weekend, a whole five days into the process. Weekend transgressions include: 1 pint of chocolate milk; 1 pint of chocolate ice cream; 1 full-cal Cafe Mocha from Starbucks; 1 chocolate donut from Starbucks. All the striving and careful eating that took place (including carefully chosen meals at Chili's, Chipotle, and Freebird's!) were nearly undone by the dreaded sweets. Hard habits to break.

I went to the grocery store on Saturday. Stocked up on "the good stuff" and avoided buying the bad (save for the choc-milk and ice cream). So I don't have any of the bad stuff in the house now.

I think I'm going to be okay. This first week was tough, but the first 2-3 weeks is always tough. Once I hit my stride, and start seeing some real results, I think I'll be all right.

(Yes, "real" results. To some of you folks, 6 pounds is a huge deal, but when I'm staring down the barrel of a sub-250 goal weight, it's just one small step on a long and winding road. "Boy, you're gonna carry that weight...")

Happy eating, friends and neighbors.

The *new* New Zero.

Okay, I'm ready to recommit to this. I was wishy-washy for the past...seven months (?!) but now I'm on board.

So the new zero last Tuesday was: 477.4 pounds.

And we begin again. I'm back to "pointing food." I'm starting to be more active. I'll report all of this to you in this forum now, including some recaps and commentary on this season of "The Biggest Loser." I'll post on the premiere later today, or tomorrow morning.

But first, my first update.