lose 20 lbs

This was my do-or-else goal, and I failed. Enormously (haha). I actually gained weight – about 8 lbs. And I usually don’t put on weight quickly. But food has been my friend (like Liz Lemon’s “I don’t know, let me ask food.” brand of emotional eating. Only not as sad and lonely. I’ve been doing a lot of indecisive thinking and a lot of happy eating – I need to be more decisive and miserable, apparently, to be skinny).

Anyway, I’m going to give myself until after Xmas, and then I’m going to go back to being a vegetarian, for a start. I liked being a vegetarian, so that isn’t actually a punishment for my failure as much as a strategy that I know will work. And if I don’t see results quickly, I’ll start drastically cutting calories (though I don’t respond well to that – I eat little all day and then binge at night.)

Ah, dammit. We’ll see.

I’m very committed to doing this the healthy way, and maybe hanging onto a new “diet” for life.

I’m about 20 lbs off my fighting weight, and I’ve said for months that I’d pull an effort together and drop those lbs… simply lip service, so far, except for a brief six pound dip early summer.

Problem started when I began eating meat again and going out for regular (read: nightly) beers with the guys last winter; it continued even after I gave up my burgers and budwisers.

Sad truth might be somewhere around here: I’m older, lazier, and more sluggish of both metabolism and disposition than I was when I cleaned up my act ~2 1/2 years ago, so now simply dropping the bad habits and walking to work ain’t cutting it like it used to. Probably doesn’t help that I no longer smoke (avidly), so I’m not getting that little jump start on my metabolism.

Pity party for me.

But I run cold at the thought of flash dieting or avid dieting, because I have a couple friends who’ve gone semi to full-on anorexic, which seems so scary, unhealthy, imbalanced, batshit, and tacky to me. I also have a lot of friends who trend diet, and they are just as fat as I am, no matter how trendy their inevitably ignored restrictions. I want something that I can live with; that won’t kill me; that will work.

Heh, I could use a smoke (but won’t).

So, I’m doing the Abs Diet. Trendy? Maybe a little. Healthy? Totally. That’s the whole point. It’s one of those “Look, this can be a lifestyle, if you let it” programs advocating healthy, humane, balanced meals and simple, effective exercize.

Sigh. So, here I am at 149. If I don’t hit this goal in 10 weeks (that’s a healthy 2-a-week), I’ll crack down on myself by not allowing myself fun unless I’ve done my requisite 25 minutes of exercising that day, I’ll not allow myself any meat whatsoever, and I’ll take out that one free-for-all meal allowed each week by the diet plan.

I really only started dieting in earnest about a month ago, and I’ve lost about 8 lbs and change in ounces. Kinda tedious. I eat AT LEAST 1200 calories a day so I don’t do myself harm – mostly veg and fruit, hummus, whole wheat bread, organic yogurt, Irish oatmeal, Attune bars, and the occasional carefully calculated junk food – and at the most I eat 1600 calories a day. That’s down from a minimum of 2k, with no upper limit. And I started walking to work daily, and often back from it. And it’s working, though not quickly. At least I can see the difference. And I keep myself accountable by writing everything down. That cuts down on my high-cal snacks, and keeps me to cherry tomatoes, spinich, and apple slices. I’ve killed my sweet tooth by having natural sweets like fruit, so I don’t crave candy as much. And when I crave salt, I have a bit of organic peanut butter in some Irish Oats (super filling, and only 350 calories!). And I think that what makes this most successful for me is that I make sure I eat constantly – I graze from about 6am until 7pm, again mostly low cal snacks – so I never feel deprived. And I never eat after 7, since I’m in bed by 10/11, and do little physical activity after that. Then, I’m not eating calories that I won’t burn off. It’s working nicely… If I can keep up the 8lbs a month thing, I’ll hit this goal just in time for swim-suit season!

Breakfast: Strawberry yogurt mixed into a cup of Kashi GoLean Crunch: 510; Water with an AirBorne packet: 5

Breakfast total: 515

Lunch: Egg Salad Sandwich from Starbucks: 570

Lunch total: 570

Dinner:
Okay, this is where I blew my diet today! ::grin:: I met a friend for drinks and had 2 key lime martinis… and some coconut shimp… and a slice of pizza… and some french fries… and then a donut for a late night snack once home.

Ooops.

Daily total: Don’t even want to think about it!

Breakfast: Whole-fruit all-juice smoothie: 220; Luna Bar: 180; Banana: 105; Marshmallow Egg: 33.

Breakfast total: 538

Lunch: Diet Coke: 0; “Organic” Chicken Salad Sandwich (nutritional info provided by deli label): 270

Lunch total: 270

Dinner and later snack: Egg on Arnold’s Whole Wheat toast with 2 long dill slices and a slice of American Cheese: 330; 2 T of guacamole and 13 tortilla chips: 190; 2 frozen cheesecake mini snack thingies: 40; 12 white chocolate covered almonds: 240

Dinner total: 800

Day’s total: 1608.

Damn. Missed my upper limit by 8 calories… here, I’ll stand up and sit back down a few times ::does so:: Okay. Now it’s almost like it’s just 1600…

Still, not bad for my first day dieting! :D

...I’ve been a slug – usually an avid walker, the cold has driven me inside where I pursue low-intensity activites. And I have been eating a whole foods diet – just A LOT of a whole foods diet – and I have been travelling a lot lately, so the diet is a bit…madcap. I do eat 7 servings of produce a day, 2-3 of whole grain, etc etc… but then add whatever the local food is. When I am at home, that isn’t an issue, nor was it in Spain, but in England where everything seemed to be fried? Or Milwaukee where everything seemed to be sausage andor cheese andor beer?

And I’ve started drinking socially for pleasure again, after being mostly drink-free for more than a year. That adds the calories.

And I now find myself just about 5 lbs shy of overweight, ~8 lbs too fat for my current favorite realistic jeans (I’m ~30 lbs too fat for my ultimate favorite dreamworld jeans, which I really should give away…sigh…), ~3 lbs shy of too fat for my fat jeans, etc.

Really, if I lost 12 lbs, I’d be happy. 20 lbs would mean that I was actually really fit again, and will take time.

Step 1: Cut down to 1600 cal. max – aim for 1200 (which is the minimum recommended calories for a healthy woman) and leave some wiggle room for a beer out with friends or some such.

Step 2: Actually exercize. This one is pathetic – I have a gym membership that I do not use (luckily it is cheap, and subsidized by my family because we’re supposedly getting fit together in 08. Right…) Also, I last year I ebayed the entire The Firm workout series (to the surprise of my then-best friend who was startled by the tapes – wait, you actually… you don’t actually exercize to these? I thought you were kidding when you said you bought them!), and other sundry things that I buy with best intentions but which end up gathering dust and guilt in a corner near my TV. Once it warms up, I’m sure I’ll walk more – I love to walk more than almost anything else – but I can’t wait for that to exercize.

Step 3: Don’t give up.