July 2009, Weight Loss Journal
Content Updated on June 27, 2009
4 July 2009
Weight: 172 (lost 28 lbs. total)
BMI: 31.46
Clothing Size: 14
I lost another 2 lbs!
I bumped up my 1 hour walk by starting to jog again. I figure two jogging sessions per week is a good way to get started. My first was 1 minute long. My second was 3 minutes long. I'm hoping I'll be up to 5 minutes next time.
My weight lifting has improved as well. I'm back up to doing 3 sets of each exercise, and I can now do half of a pull up, a huge improvement considering I could barely hang on the bar for more than a second when I started.
I admit, yesterday, I had the munchies, but I was good. I only ate small amounts of healthy foods. Tiny bowls of high fiber cereal with soy milk saved the day.
It's 4th of July, which means picnics, potlucks, and lots of desserts. I have planned ahead to deal with these. I'm sticking to my morning cereal and tea, lunch filled with veggies and whole grains, a snack with nuts and fruits, and a healthy dinner on a small plate. I'm going to do my usual morning strength training routine and my evening walk. But before I head toward that table of desserts, I'm giving myself a pep-talk. I'm allowing myself to have one bite of only the foods that I really want, a lot. If I'm going to eat empty calories that set me back in my weight loss efforts, then it better be damn worth it.
We'll see how it goes.
15 July 2009
Weight: 168 (lost 32 lbs. total)
BMI: 29.8
Clothing Size: 14
I'm so proud of myself. My BMI is officially under 30, which technically means that I am no longer obese, just overweight. I know it's just a change in words, but it's a huge improvement for my ego.
I was also able to squeeze into a size medium pair of pants. I haven't done that since I was in my early 20's. They were definitely tight, but I could button them up.
My workouts are going great. I'm doing weight lifting and other strength training exercises in the morning as I watch videos I've downloaded from the Internet (mostly lectures, seminars, and such from psychology PhD programs and medical schools because they seem to motivate me more than anything else, and I love learning about the mind and body, so I always look forward to it). I'm still walking 4 miles every evening, but since I've added jogging to my routine (right at the beginning of my walk), I've noticed a huge boost in my energy levels. Last night I jogged half a mile (almost 1 km), and I could have kept going, but I'm following my own advice and doing things gradually, especially to avoid giving myself as asthma attack from pushing myself too much. I've noticed that I do much better when I'm jogging on winding dirt roads and trails through the woods than I do when I'm jogging on pavement. Psychologically trail runs are more interesting, less intimidating (no long stretches of street or track to look at), and easier on my joints. If you had told me when I was growing up that I would one day look forward to running, I would have said that you were crazy, but I really do like it.
38 pounds to go!
27 July 2009
Weight: 164 (lost 36 lbs. total)
BMI: 29
Clothing Size: 12-14
164... almost down to 160.
My weight loss efforts have inspired my husband to increase his fitness levels as well. He has already lost several pounds and is walking/jogging nearly every evening.
My husband and I were talking about how we gained weight together. When we met, I was 140 lbs. I was working in a bakery and going to college. My diet was horrible, but I spent the majority of my day doing physical work, and I was doing short workouts when I was home. Plus, I lived in the middle of the desert and often had to walk or hike long distances just to get to a bus stop every day. I had no choice but to exercise. My husband was in the Marines. His diet was also horrible, but he ran 6 miles a day and did the usual military strength training exercises. Then we moved to Silicon Valley in California where I spent most of my days working behind a desk, sitting in university classrooms, or typing away on the computer. I rarely had to walk very far to find a bus stop or train station. There was a nice gym in the apartment complex we lived in, but it was usually filled with annoying people who would change the channel on the TV to switch from the interesting shows I had been watching to boring shows about the stock market. Treadmills and stairclimbers bored me anyhow. I didn't really like walking around outside at night, and I was so busy during the day. Plus, my diet was still very unhealthy. My husband was traveling throughout Europe and Asia for work and ate mostly from restaurants, and I used food to feed my lonliness and anxiety while he was gone. Both of us packed on the pounds, but we didn't care. We loved each other no matter what we looked like on the outside, and we knew how to enjoy decadent foods. Then we got married and immediately decided to have kids. We both gained weight during pregnancy. Postpartum anxiety and depression left me unable to do the most basic activities; workouts seemed impossible. I ate to feed my emotions. Being fat was the last worry I had.
Now, my youngest child is 5 years old and entering kindergarten. Psychotherapy has reprogrammed my thought patterns. My depression is completely gone. My anxiety issues are now at normal, healthy levels. Amazingly, even my stress levels have been so low that things I normally freaked out about don't bother me much at all: traveling with kids, deadlines, taking on big projects like graduate school, etc. I think exercising has been a huge help for all of this, and it has the added bonus of helping me drop those excess pounds and increasing my energy, so I can do even more stuff I enjoy. It's so interesting to me how weight loss isn't just about exercise and calorie counting. There are so many psychological aspects to it.
Life is getting better every day.
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