Monday, February 21, 2011

15th Weigh-In

Sometimes you just know; you don't know how you know because logically the numbers look good on paper but something in your gut tells you not to expect a loss before you ever even step on the scale.  I was exhausted last night after we got home from the store and cleaned up the house and I had written down every little thing that I ate so after adding up my calories my mind felt quite certain that there would be loss but somewhere in my gut I knew there wouldn't be.  I don't feel like I did anything wrong this weekend; I may not have walked 14 miles last week but I certainly burned some calories and I may have had two chocolate truffles but my count was under the mark and yet somehow I was surprised by the number on the scale this morning.

In a way this makes me living proof that the more you lose the harder it is to lose more.  What I mean by that is, when I was 287 lbs a simple week of counting my calories and floor exercises was easy enough and brought in my single largest loss to-date.  Yet now here I am, still very much over weight, but definitely having to try harder to lose anything.  Ok, to be fair to myself I did lose half-a-pound and that's nothing to snub my nose at.  It's certainly better than gaining, I know, but this goal of being under 250 lbs has been looming in front of me now for pretty much this entire month and, dammit, I want it!  This is good ... this is a source of motivation to try harder, to have a really solid kick-pants week with a 2.5 lb loss or more to get me over this hurdle.  Losing weight is starting to feel less like a slow-and-steady marathon and more like a series of sprints; well if the hare had managed his time better he could have easily beat that tortoise.  I got this ... we're good.  I'm on track and this is going to be a good week, just you wait 'enry 'iggins!

Now here are a few pointers for home made hummus from the food bible:
  1. Don't try to make it in a blender.  It works ok and if you have the world's greatest blender then you might be alright but I can clearly see why the book tells you to use a food processor.
  2. The book calls for tahini and says you can sub with creamy peanut butter if needed so I did because tahini is $7 a can.  The peanut butter added a flavor that I'm not used to in hummus and didn't particularly care for.
  3. If you buy store bought hummus with garlic in the middle (like I do) use a few more cloves of garlic than what the recipe calls for because without it the recipe is very garlic-light.
  4. If you're not trying to watch your sodium and you like food that's a little saltier add just a pinch more than called for.  I didn't do this and the hummus was fine without it but it could have used a smidge more.  Be sure to account for added calories (though they're very small between the garlic and salt).
  5. Consider using veggies to replace the pita chips for a lower carb alternative and, frankly, I think sliced cucumbers add some much needed moisture and fresh taste to the overall bite.
  6. Finally: Consider adding some other flavors in the form of herbs and spices.  I didn't do this either but I think the next time I try to make hummus I'm going to add a dash of cayenne pepper or some chopped parsley to it.
For the record, I love hummus and the recipe in the book was really good even with the peanut butter but these are just a few ideas to make a great recipe even better.



Food:
7 glasses of water
1 cup of coffee w/creamer
1 Fiber One bar
1 serving home made hummus w/pita chips
1/2 sweet potato (cut and baked into fries)
1 A-1 Swiss Burger (from the book, orgasm on a bun!)
--------------------------------------
Daily Caloric Intake: 897



Activity:
We got belated Christmas money from my parents this weekend so tonight we went non-grocery shopping.  We hit Kohl's in the mall first, walked alllll over then hit a different Kohl's because they had a cookware set that we had seen online and wanted to check out.  We spent a good hour or more in there carrying cases of pots and pans to the scanner for price checking and eventually decided that we just didn't have the budget to get what we really wanted.  From there we hit Target and picked up some cutting mats, a veggie steamer, and a few other small kitchen items and then walked around there until it closed.  All-in-all we spent about 3 hours and $55 but we had fun and it got us off the couch.

7 comments:

  1. Any chance you're not eating enough to lose? I think you're doing a great job but I always have thought your daily calorie intake was too low? I know you will be under that 250 goal soon!

    ReplyDelete
  2. It's possible but my counts have been up and down, especially lately; averaging between 900 and 1600. I do think with the pain in my legs after the hike that there's a good chance some of my loss was negated by fluid in my muscles which builds up as a result of tiny tears in the muscle. I am looking forward to the day when I can sit down and my stomach doesn't stick out ... that will be a great day.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yeah, fluid-retention from exercise can be *really* deceiving for about 2-3 days following the activity.

    Having said that, if you want to speed your loss try going more intense for "brief" periods of time. Take a day and increase your food intake quite a lot (but try and keep it relatively healthy still... more protein, some carbs but don't overdo the carbs); on that same day, focus on being extremely active -- set aside an hour to go into your gym and actually lift weights (don't overdo them, though, if you're new to them) -- spend a lot of other time walking and sprinting. Follow-up the next day with a moderate amount of mostly protein and some healthy carbs. On the 3rd day eat very minimal. Go back to your normal thing starting on day #4 and do that for a couple of days -- then judge how you feel. You may need to repeat it a few times. Be sure to drink PLENTY of water during this time.

    I know everytime I lift weights aggressively and then follow it up with this sort of eating-method I can tell a difference.

    ReplyDelete
  4. You might want to make yourself a chart of some kind. Weight loss is rarely steady and consistant. Once I started keeping track of my period, working out, and weight I noticed a natural flow of my weightloss and it quit making me crazy. Once you see it all in black and white it makes it easier to understand and also helps you to understand how your body works. Keep it up. Keep going. It will come off, you just have to keep at it. Eventually that scale is going to say exactly what you want it to as long as you continue what you are doing.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Brandon: Ironically I just gave similar advice to a friend of mine who is in the same shoes I am in except she is dealing with MS on top of everything else. I told her to have a jump-start day for her metabolism where she works as hard as she can (within her natural limitations of course) to really get her metabolism going like a wind-up toy.

    Lisa: A chart sounds good but I'm not sure I know the format to start. Is there a download somewhere that I can just "fill in the blanks" on or even an example that I can look at to make my own? I am on Depo Provera so I don't necessarily have monthly's in the normal sense but I do experience the water retention, cramps and bloating. Depo is a shot for birth control every 3 months and I am starting to suspect that in months where I get my shot I have a harder time losing. I can't confirm that yet though because I've only had one shots since I started this blog. If that's true though it would make sense since Depo is a hormone shot and I know there is a very real scientific link between it and weight gain. In fact the doctor even warned me about that when I got the first shot. I had a shot on November 1, 2010 which was about 2 weeks before I started weighing/trying to lose weight. I had an awesome loss between 11/09/10 and 11/15/10 but that was also my very first week where I was paying attention to what I was eating and being active to any degree beyond sedentary. I just had another shot on the 12th of this month and, since then, have lost a grand total of half-a-pound. I dunno yet but maybe for a week or two after the shot my body's hormone levels are so high that it makes water retention and even the potential for calorie hoarding higher than normal. I'm not sure though; a chart would be great so I could put that theory to the test over the next year or so.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I love the fact that you are inspired by angst. Only a half pound?!? Dammit! It seems like a perfect motivation for losing weight as there is PLENTY of angst to go around.

    Here's to a half a pound though! It is good work. Hard work--good work.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Yeah I've always been motivated through frustration or disappointment. I think that's why Shanon (aka Dr. Brooks) was always so hard on me at George Wythe. I think he knew that if he praised me for what I did right it would make me lazy and cocky so he would criticize me (constructively) on how I could do better because eventually my "Oh yeah? Well I'll show you!" drive would kick in. lol

    ReplyDelete