Friday, June 27, 2008

women and weight

So I have this friend who told me a long time ago that she doesn't want to discuss weight loss with anyone unless she herself is skinny. So I've abided by her wishes. I don't talk about my successes unless she brings it up (I share with you guys instead!). But the more I've thought about it, the more I realize how selfish she is - because now, four months before a cruise that she booked - she's suddenly in "must lose 40 pounds in 4 months mode" and wants to brag about every pound she loses! Being a braggart is my main pet peeve as far as friends go. A woman who constantly feels that she must be in competition with me is my second. I'm starting to rethink this entire friendship altogether...

Don't get me wrong, I'm happy for her that she's finally found something to make her want to finally get control over her eating. Even if it is a completely superficial reason, in the end she will be healthier for it. I've warned her against losing too quickly. For someone who's read every weight loss book ever printed, you'd think she'd know this by now.

But no. She goes back to her deprevation and restrictive dieting on South Beach (and eats Ricotta cheese all day) and back to her treadmill bingeing. Whatever works, right?

Sigh.

The problem is...and we all know this...it doesn't work! She'll be over it in a few months. Perhaps she will make it until she gets home from the cruise, but as soon as the motivation of the cruise is gone, so will be the results of all of her efforts. She is as stubborn as the day is long when I try to give her advice. It's her way or the highway. South Beach has worked for her in the short term. And like any 'diet', it stops working when you stop following it. She's made fun of me for the whole Weight Watchers "not a diet" campaign arguing that if you can't eat what you want all the time, it's a diet. I stress to her that switching your focus to less restriction with portion control is key. But I can't win with her. The only argument I hold is the final proof: that I've lost 50 pounds over two years with gradual changes and have kept it off. She has gained.

Do any of you guys have friends like this? I just don't know how to handle it anymore. Especially now that she's in her diet mode and wants to talk about it ALL the time. At least when she's eating everything under the moon, I don't have to have the discussions.

Anyway, I found a great quote today I would love to email to her (and might just yet):

"If you can't see yourself eating or exercising a certain way for the rest of your life — say, consuming raw food and running five miles every day — you shouldn't be doing it to lose weight in the first place"

LOVE it!

Monday, June 23, 2008

Bad at multitasking

Another boring check-in post. Too keep myself accountable, ya know?

I had a blah week last week. No Subway or McDonalds near the client site, so I ate too much sashimi and sushi instead. I am pretty much the same weight as last week. And so another week goes by...one week closer to the cruise and still stuck at 157.

It seems that I can only focus on one thing at a time these days. Either I'm eating perfectly OR excercising hard. But for some reason I have a hard time doing both at the same time.

Lately it's been the workouts that have slipped. So I got my butt in gear last night, tied up the laces, and hit the pavement. I bought some 8 pound weights for my arm reps (I was up to 24 reps with the 5 lbs - which is pretty much useless for building muscle). I plan to break them in tonight.

Turns out, I'm in town all week long, which should be a good thing for my eating AND exercising. I'm aiming to see 156 this week.

Here's what's on the menu today to get to that goal:

15 Coffee & half & half
40 Egg Beater
10 Tsp Salsa
100 Whole Grain English Muffin

130 Soy Nut Mix

160 Tomato Vegetable Soup
75 Salad with Feta Cheese, Olives and no dressing

160 24 Almonds

60 3oz Mango
90 2oz Avocado
30 8oz Romaine
70 2 Tbsp Sun Dried Tomato Vinegarette Dressing

150 1/2 Cup Weight Watchers Cheese Shreds
160 2 Tortillas

60 Jello Pudding
_______________

1320 Calories

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Life on the road

I had my first adventure on the road by myself this week for work. The work part started horribly Monday having spent an hour sitting on the runway for a 1pm flight to Richmond that was eventually cancelled. The next one wouldn't be leaving until 9am the next morning. Luckily, I got on a stand-by to Norfolk leaving at 7pm and drove to Richmond. I finally reached my destination just before midnight. The next day would become a series of IT problems, making my day of training miserable. Finally, on Wednesday, things started shaping up and the week ended on a positive note - and an on-time flight for the trip home.

Eating on the road is a challenge. It's extremely hard to plan your meals, but I was able to count on the trusty McDonald's Southwest salads in a pinch. I loaded up on snacks at the convenience store Monday night - some almonds, apples with yogurt dip, a garden salad (that I ate for dinner) and some veggie crisps. Those certainly deterred me from calling in a late night pizza order and raiding the hotel vending machines. I continued to journal my food all week making the best estimations I could. When I wasn't sure, I calculated meals on the high side just to be safe. I was starving Wednesday evening after not eating enough on Monday and Tuesday. My body fights back with anything less than 1300 calories a day. So I treated myself with some wine and dessert with dinner. My only real 'cheats' all week. I can't even remember the last time I ordered dessert in a restaurant. But I managed to eat only half and it was delicious and well worth it. No regrets there. My one regret is not making it to the gym a single time during the week. The one night I was able to, I was sidetracked...read on....

The best part of my trip was finding this awesome mall in Willow Grove, PA on the day of Macy's one day sale this week. I found these unbelievable trouser jeans by Nine West for only $20. I was paying for them and when the lady at the counter pulled them up to fold them, the girl checking out at the register beside me looked me up and down and said, "those look way too big for you!". When I tried them on, I did have some extra room in them, but for whatever reason, it didn't even occur to me that I could fit in anything less than a size 10. But hearing her say that made me wonder. So, I left the counter, returned to the rack, found the size 8's and tried them on. And I'll be damned - she was right. I walked out with an EIGHT, people!! My first size eight jeans that I have bought in my entire adult life!!!!!

Which brings me to another point. I am really struggling with clothes right now, because it seems that I can't see myself as anything but a double digit wearer. Even my bra that I just bought a few weeks ago is too big in the cup size. Now, to my defense, it does have very molded cups, so even though it doesn't fit, it still looks like it does. But I realized this week that I don't even begin to fill out the cups anymore. Sure enough, when I tried on new bras at Macy's, I was an entire cup size smaller. And I'm embarrassed to admit that I bought a 12 petite in a pair of pants (petities always run smaller, so I'm thinking equivalent to a 10 regular, right?), wore them back on the plane Friday only to be able to take them off without unzipping them when I got home that evening. *sigh* It's delightful and frustrating at the same time.

All said and done, I'm happy to report a loss this week. 157 for the week. Down about a pound. 12 more to go to my goal before the cruise leaves August 30th. This is definitely possible. :D