Can you believe it? Me, neither. Heh. Here's the breakdown:
Week One: 1258 calories eaten, 438 calories burned, 48 minutes daily activity
Week Two: 1245 calories eaten, 449 calories burned, 51 minutes daily activity
I'm going to micromanage this for one more week, so I'll have three weeks of data to present to the doctor.
It's not worth it, y'all. If I have to work this hard to lose half a pound a week, I might as well go have a hot fudge sundae and say the hell with it.
After I run, of course. I crack myself up.
This is a cutback week in my training program, but I think instead of today's scheduled "easy" three miles I'll just head out the front door and do the 6.6- or 7.3- or whatever-it-is-loop again. I've got the Shuffle culled down to 90 minutes of tunes with a true running tempo. Maybe that'll help me get all the way up the hills.
Here's something you probably don't know about me [this has nothing to do with weight loss]. The plane Steve Fossett was flying when he disappeared Monday is a souped-up version of the one I got my pilot's license in. Yes, I'm a licensed private pilot, single-engine, land, but not current [meaning I would not be permitted to take a passenger up with me, since it's been so long since I've had a flight physical or check ride].
I was 29 or 30 when I started taking flying lessons in my dad's Bellanca Citabria ["airbatic" spelled backwards, which means the plane was designed to do loops and rolls and spins, oh my!]. Fossett's Bellanca Decathlon is the Citabria's big brother, with a more powerful engine and an inverted fuel system, so it can actually fly upside-down. The Citabria couldn't do that for more than a few seconds before the engine would quit.
We called the plane the "City Brat." Here's what it looked like:
Dad sold the plane when he moved to Florida 11 years ago; I moved to West Virginia shortly after that, and I haven't been pilot in command since. It makes me kind of nervous to fly commercial because I like to see what's going on out the front window, not the side! I guess the flying chapter of my life is over, but it makes for nice memories.P.S. I forgot to tell Wendy that no, I don't count out 48 pretzel sticks for a serving, but I do weigh them in a container on my food scale. Aren't I a good little weight watcher?
7 comments:
Would it be a bad thing to say what a cute little plane? :-)
I don't blame you for feeling discouraged for all the work you've done to lose a half pound so far. Do you think it's possible that another week would show a significant loss? I know sometimes people just plug along with minimal or no weight loss and then BOOM! a good loss. It's just a thought. I'm glad you're keeping the data to present to the doctor.
I've started weighing my food on a scale too. Of course, it might help to weigh the cheese before I eat and not weigh what was left to figure out how much I consumed. Oops.
Keep up the good work running. It looks like another beautiful day out here and there.
i'm glad to see one of those measly pounds have vanished but have you thought about upping your calories... it seems that everything i read says one shouldn't go below 1200 calories and right now w/exercise - you're at 800-900... i'm not criticizing, just making an observation - they say our body can go into starvation mode if its not receiving enough food, thus could be why you're not losing... ?
i'm sure you've done plenty'o research so just ignore this if you want... ;o)
ITA with your sentiment that it isn't worth it. when I got really down while trying to lose weight I consoled myself by saying "I should just eat what I want today, because I could get hit by a bus tomorrow and what difference would it make that I weighed 8 ounces less." Probably not the best attitude, but it happens some times.
I can't run with music anymore, so usually the lyrics I post are the ones swirling in my head while I'm running.
Though I don't always love traveling lately, I LOVE flying, which is apparently quite strange these days. But, there is something magical about falling asleep in Vegas and waking up a few hours later in Florida. I've thought about committing the time to taking lessons, but just haven't had the time yet.
My food scale is collecting random food scraps lately, but not doing much weighing.
I will be interested in hearing what your doctor says. I almost got into a fight with my doctor last time, I nearly yelled at him. Through gritted teeth I managed to say "What EXACTLY do you recommend that I am not already doing?" He had no answer.
I've heard it all - eating too much, eating too little, too much cardio, not enough cardio, too much strength training, not enough strength training, too many carbs, not enough carbs... well, you get the point, I don't need to go on. There comes a point where I have to say, if I'm not losing weight on 1200 calorie a day, I'm not going to lose it on 800 either. Or 1400. Or 1800... I've been at all of those points.
My frustration with this is beyond belief, but at the same time I don't want to discourage anyone! After all, I DID lose 60 pounds, and you've lost a similar amount. I wouldn't trade that back for all the junk food in the world. I may only be able to maintain at this point, but I will never never never go back to what my life was before; I will continue to improve my fitness and my abilities no matter what the scale says.
Personally? I doubt a doctor will be able to respond intelligently to all of this, esp. if s/he is an internist. If you have the chance to talk to a sports doctor or a nutritionist, that might help. But most family practitioners just aren't tuned into weight management -- they have a gazillion other things on their minds.
What would be really useful to all of the thousands (millions?) of people in your situation is a standard battery of tests that could be suggested (specific blood work, heart rate monitoring, body fat percentage, etc.) so that doctors would have a protocol. As it is, they probably just look you up and down and think "1200 calories? yeah. right."
Its hard for me to imagine being in your shoes, as when I'm able to stick to your level of calorie intake and expenditure, I always lose weight. (Knock wood). I, too, would be frustrated as hell in your shoes.
Normally I don't advocate throwing in the towel, but I'm wondering if there is any kind of freedom you could gain by putting aside the weight management, at least for a while. If you're just banging your head against the brick wall, maybe you'd find greater peace if you stopped for a bit?
Just ruminating here ....
I'll keep you on my prayer list, Debbi. Hang in there!!
Glad to see a pound down! Those are definitely strict numbers, and you are doing an awesome job.
I am going to be contrary here, and say to keep up the weighing and measuring and tracking. If you can stand it for a few months, I think it will pay off. Maybe vary your intake up to 1400 calories for a few weeks, then back down to 1250 for a few weeks, then up to 1500 for a few weeks, and see what works for your body.
I know it's a pain, but truly, once you are doing it for a while it just becomes a habit and not so much a hardship. I weigh and measure everything (I have stopped measuring my green veggies, because I can eyeball a serving and there are so few calories a 1/4 c. difference doesn't matter), and I write down everything I eat. With the exception of vacation and a few blown days here and there, I've been doing it for 196 days. It's second nature now.
And are you sure it's not worth it? If you are 26 pounds lighter a year from now (52 weeks x 1/2 pound), I think you'd be glad you did it.
I am so sorry you're frustrated. I have been there and I'll have to agree with Jack Sprat's assessment of a doctor's input AND his 'relax' suggestion (NOT throwing in the towel, just easing up a bit - be nice to yourself and feed your body for nourishment and not for weight loss and see what happens)
Check out this link:
http://phitnphat.wordpress.com/
If you scroll down a few days, there is a great short and simple article called "How Many Calories Should I Eat?".
I like Corrine's Blog and if you check out her before and after pics, you'll see she knows what she's talking about (I've also purchased a couple of her training plans and I like those, too).
Here's another excellent blog: http://skwigg.tripod.com/blog/
Check out her site and pics. I like it because she EATS real food and she looks great. She's a Precision Nutrition advocate.
I like Precision Nutrition also, and as a recovering disordered eater and regular exerciser, a relaxed mix of Weight Watchers and PN keeps me on track (I eat about 30-40 points - 1500-2000 calories each day (at least); I've been losing -again- slowly, but steadily. Okay, really not THAT slowly, it just seems like it: an average of more than a pound a week, though it goes in fits and starts. More importantly, I feel good.).
I'm new to blogging and I came across your site from a link on somone's blog (I don't remember where).
I hope you find some of this reading helpful.
MK
[I'm in WV, too; maybe we could hit a 5 or 10k somewhere together.]
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