Thank goodness that the weight control lifestyle is a long game. If I was focused on short term ups and downs I’m not sure I could lose weight successsfully. I have had weeks where I controlled eating well but didn’t lose much weight, and a few times I have had bad days but still lost weight overall. Of course, I have learned a lot about myself in the last 10 1/2 months, which explains some of the ups and downs.
It’s a long game because if you have a bad day, or a bad week, you can try again next time. Eventually, enough goes right so that you lose weight. Keeping off the weight you have lost is actually easier in some respects. Losing weight is a careful balance and it is somewhat difficult and stressful to be in calorie deficit. It’s also a long game because it’s self reinforcing. The weight control lifestly is very rewarding and living it is attractive.
Last, I have learned that most of the time, having a bad diet day or week is entirely my fault. That kind of self knowledge comes slowly and learning to apply it even slower. It’s a long game too. But the reward is a better life, plus you control your weight better, too. Part of a better life is learning what foods are your favorites that you can look forward to.
My food intake and calorie count
Breakfast – BLT wrap (220); chicken sandwich wrap (180)
- 400 calories
Lunch – chicken fajitas (500); baklava (200);
- 700 calories
Dinner – meatball, hummus, red cabbage slaw, and pickle wraps (500)
- 500 calories
Snacking – tea with half and half (80); chocolate almonds (160)
- 240 calories
Total for the day: 1840 calories (limit 1800 + 500 bonus from swimming, total 2300)
The season has found his overcoat of wind, cold, and rain
This week it was really cold for the first time. I know what that means! Because I keep careful records and a food journal, I know that when it is cold outside I feel a need for food. Maybe I’m actually hungry, maybe it’s comforting, maybe there is some primal move towards making sure you have enough food when the weather really starts to get cold for the winter. I’m not going to question it. I just know that it is coming.
Today, I had breakfast and lunch both in the morning, and I was very, very hungry for lunch – before 11AM. I was also hungry for dinner, but that doesn’t mean much – it was dinner time, and I exercised today.
I have said before how surprising it is that I don’t feel a lot of change in my body, considering I have lost a fair amount of weight. My exercise of choice is swimming, and it’s not like losing 87 pounds has increased my lap times. The difference is more subtle. I also haven’t noticed that it is much easier to walk, stand up, or go up stairs. I have noticed that I am a bit smaller when it comes to squeezing through small spaces. I can fit into smaller clothes, and am within range of buying clothes for average-weight people. As for that, I am finding my size 46 pants too big, and size 44 just right. I bought a new swimsuit, and it was 2X, down from 3X size.
So what I have I noticed in terms of physical change? It used to be that swimming was harder on me. When I was done, my wrists would be sore, or my legs would get injured more easily when I pushed away from the wall of the pool. Now, I don’t get that. I can do my swimming and not feel any aches. Also, I feel more bouncy when I walk. But I think your body adjusts quickly to change. Maybe the effects will get more drastic and noticeable when I am merely 20 pounds overweight, instead of 40. And won’t that be a strange feeling?
Recently, other people have started noticing that I have lost weight. About 20 people have mentioned it to me directly in the last few weeks. And every one of them has also asked what I did differently, and almost all of them have a theory! One neighbor just asked me today if I had increased my exercising schedule to lose weight. I love people’s theories of weight loss, it tells you all about how they approach the problem themselves. They are looking for common ground with you.
At a lunch for my work group this week, people asked and then the group expressed a lot of support. They are nice people, and most of them are average weight to thin. When they asked what I was doing differently, I started off talking about my lack of willpower. That method of explaining weight control does seem to flow well. Based on that, they seemed to follow how I constructed an attractive lifestyle based on rewarding myself for eating controlled amounts. If you are doing that, willpower is not such an expense as on a regular diet. Of course, that lunch was at the Indian buffet and I didn’t show a lot of restraint after I talked about eating less! I have decided, though, that the Indian buffet lunch was my reward for getting under 240 pounds. I like rewards. The next one is 230 pounds. After that is quite a special one – 225 pounds. When I weight less than 225 pounds, I will have lost 100 pounds.
First things first.
-The Doctor