Signs that it might actually be working

For those of us who are traveling the long road of weight loss, the journey can often remind us of a long road trip in a compact car with three children under the age of five. There are funny, inspiring, frustrating, sad, happy, and tear your hair out moments. Inevitably we swing from being all gung-ho about it to wanting to just crawl in a hole and vow that we don't care how fat we are.

The fact is, we DO care. If we didn't care, we wouldn't have started in the first place. The reasons why we care, and why we started, vary but they all have meaning to us:

sick of feeling unhealthy / our health is in jeopardy
tired of feeling unattractive
the comments from other people have finally hurt us to the core for the last time
we don't want our kids to have "the fat mom"
we don't want our husbands to have "the fat wife"
we want to go clothes shopping and enjoy it

....and so many more!

So we start on our journey, we work our asses off and we lose weight. We step on those scales with some regularity and it makes us happy to see the losses. But what happens when we don't lose ANY weight one week? Or worse yet, when we gain?

We get discouraged. And that can derail the entire thing. That discouragement can lead to weeks and weeks of more gains and more discouragement. What many of us fail to take into account is that as we exercise and lose weight, we're actually gaining muscle...which weighs more. And we're losing inches. While standing on that scale is great, we also need to keep any eye on the inches lost, as well as other signs.

I've been lucky that in the last 9 weeks, I haven't had any gains. I've had a couple weeks where my losses were small losses, but I've not had any gains...knock on wood. But I've still experienced the discouragement and have had to look for other signs that it's working, signs that something is happening.

Some of these might seem silly or odd, but trust me, they gave that "YES!" feeling when I realised them:

- My wedding ring is now lose on my finger

- My pants are all too big

- I used to have to sit on my bed, turn, put my leg up, and then put my sock on. Turn and repeat on other side. All because I couldn't bend and do it, because my tummy got in the way. Now I can just bend and do it.

- When out in the car, if I wanted to pop the trunk on the car, I had to take off my seatbelt, open the door a little bit, then lean over and down to pull the lever. The other day, hubby asked me to pop the trunk and I just reached down and did it. Then I just started grinning. I hadn't had to undo my seatbelt or open the door. I just did it. AWESOME!

- Walking across the road towards a shop window, I could see a reflection of a woman. It wasn't until I got closer that I realised "Hey! That's ME!". I was so used to seeing so much more of me that it threw me to see that reflection.

- My knees and ankles don't hurt as much when I walk.

- I don't lumber/waddle as badly when I walk now. I'm actually walking almost normally!

- I can't eat as much as I used to. I'm fuller much sooner. That means my stomach is shrinking to a more normal size.

Much of that might seem trivial to those of you who were smaller to begin with, or those who've never struggled with their weight but to me, it's huge.

I weighed in at Weight Watchers last night. I lost 1.5 kgs this week. That's 3.3 lbs.

That means in 10 weeks (I said 9 weeks on Facebook, I miscounted. Oops!), my total loss is now at:

13.6 kgs / 29.92 lbs

That is so cool. What is AMAZING to me is that I am lighter now than I have been in almost FOUR years!!! Amazing.

What are YOUR signs that your efforts in your weight loss journey have been working?

How do you stop the cycle?

The last couple of weeks have been rather interesting. I can feel my will power, my strength, my conviction, my....OOMPH...slipping away. And I don't want to lose that. I've come so far in such a short time and I think it's like my brain sits there in all it's greyness and says "well, that's me done then". It's crap! WHY would I turn around and UNdo everything I've managed in the last 9 weeks? WHY??!

Last week I made some rather disappointing choices. I didn't exercise anywhere near as much as I should have and I ate more than I should have. I think, if you were to average it out over the week, I still came in under my points total for the WEEK. But the key is stick to the DAILY total. Otherwise, I'm just sabotaging myself. I didn't do as much walking as I normally do. On Tuesday last week, I had bought myself a new pair of walking shoes and thought it would be smart to wear them out. Break them in. You know the drill. So I did. I walked 8kms. It took me 1 hour and 20 minutes. And at the end, I was sporting some rather attractive blisters.

However, that walk saved me at weigh in last week for that 300 gram loss.

This week, I made slightly better choices as far as food in concerned, but other than a couple of small workouts on the Wii, I've not done much. But I lost 1 kg at weigh in this week. Imagine what I could have lost if I'd actually done something!

It got me to thinking over the last couple of weeks though. The choices we make have a cascade effect don't they? Just think about it. Heather, my WW leader, asked us last night "Why do we eat?". The list that we all came up with included:

boredom
emotions
hunger
tiredness
been drinking
everyone else is
party

There was more, but those are a few. Now, I long ago identified myself as an emotional eater and a boredom eater, so I'm going to go with those ones.

When I'm "bored" (Oh how I'm beginning to loathe that word), I look for something to do with my hands and in the past, more often than not, I would end up with food. Pick up food, bring hand to mouth, pick up more food....it kept my hands busy. It was for that exact reason that I got my lovely friend Allie to teach me to knit. In the first few weeks of me knitting, I lost 18 lbs!! Of course, I put it all back on not long after when I temporarily lost interest in knitting, but you get the point.

So. I ate when I was "bored". Which would put on the weight. Which would in turn make me emotional. Which would mean I went to the kitchen to find something in which to drown my emotions. Which would put on more weight, which would mean I didn't go many places (for a multitude of reasons), which meant I was at home...."bored"...and eating. Round and round and round we go...where we stop, nobody knows.

I remember hearing Oprah once say that while other people were addicted to cigarettes, booze and drugs, she was addicted to food. I thought she was full of crap. I really did. But then I thought about it. There is usually an underlying reason for people's addictions to things, or why they use those things. I've seen so many people in stressful situations saying "I need a smoke". Or drinking to escape the realities of their lives. Isn't that what many of us have done with food? Oh I'm sad, therefore I'm going to eat a gallon of ice cream. Woot, happy day! Let's have some cake. My boyfriend is such an ass, I'm so mad, I'm going to eat this burger.

Why do we do this to ourselves? Why do we, like the addicts that we look down our noses at, not find a different way to deal with these things? Imagine how much healthier and thinner we would be if we went for a walk to burn off the stress instead of stuffing our faces. Heck, take up kick boxing and pretend it's the ex boyfriend's face on the punching bag. Stress relief and exercise all rolled into one right?

We need to stop the cascade. We need to stop the cycle. We need to stop being a slave to food.

Even now, doing Weight Watchers, I still feel like a slave to food...just in a slightly better way. I still feel that way because I'm having to track everything that I eat. I have to account for every single morsel that makes its way to my mouth. So I still feel like food is ruling my life. And it is very likely that I will feel that way for the rest of my life. I hope not, but it's possible.

So what are YOU doing to stop the cycle? How do you deal with stress so that you don't eat? How do you gather the motivation to exercise on those days when all you want to do is curl up and go to sleep?

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You can also find me over at Mind of a Mad Woman..doing my normal "Lose It Bitch" update for the week. And the post below that will make you feel like you tripped and fell into a time machine.

Come back in a couple days for "How you know you're losing".

About time for an update no?

I'll make this quick. I am really not in the mood for much more than that.

I only lost 300 grams (0.66 lbs) at weigh in this week. Yeah yeah, spare me the ol' "a loss is a loss" stuff cos I totally know. I'm ok with that loss. I didn't do much to help it along.

BUT I got on the Wii Fit today (which, by the way, AWESOME!) and I've gained 1.5 kgs in the last THREE days!!! How the hell did that happen? Is it my crappy eating from last week catching up with me? *sigh*

My dad sent me The Biggest Loser game for the Wii...I tried it today. Bob the trainer just about killed me! But it's an AWESOME game. I love it. Will be using it regularly.

So. Between the Wii workouts, the walking to get ready for the half marathon and going to the gym/pool, I SHOULD be losing weight. I just really need to get back on track with my eating. I was getting a bit slack there. I'm going to do better now.

Here's to a better week.

The words that inspire us

Before I get into the rest of this post about words, I'd like to say thank you to the Wii Fairy!!! This particular one is over 6 feet tall and answers to the name of Dad but DUDE....I got Wii Fit Plus the other day! I came home to a message saying the courier had missed me, so the next morning I went to the courier office and picked it up. I just about peed my pants with joy when I opened the parcel and there was a Wii Fit! I was so surprised and I have been having a great time with it. So...thanks Dad...you rock!! I'm lovin' it!

*****

Ok. Now. Words...I was going to talk to you about words. Words are special. They are sacred in my world. As a wanna-be writer, the way I use my words can have different results. Words are powerful. They have the potential to make people feel every emotion under the sun. I can make you feel happy by telling you lovely you look today (which, by the way, you totally do. I like the way you've done your hair!). The right combination of words can cause anger, sadness or hurt.

At the same time, words can provide inspiration. As I do the rounds of the many, many blogs that I read, I often find myself inspired and deep in thought about the words that the author has laid out.

On New Years Day, I hopped on over to visit Linda at I'm Just Linda. She had a post up called One Word. It was about "her" word for this year. She had first seen the idea over at Chantelle's blog Fat Mum Slim where the question was posed:

If you could sum up in just one word what you want from 2010, what would that word be?

It got me thinking. I'm still thinking. I don't know if I could necessarily come up with a word that sums up what I want from 2010, but I do know that there is a word that sums up my feelings about life in general.

Climb

Often in my life it's not one single word that has an impact on me, it's more like to be a string of words - usually in song form. Which is where "climb" came from. I'm not ashamed to admit (ok, I'm a little ashamed..whatevs) that Miley Cyrus' song "The Climb" has sort of become my personal theme song. Laugh all you want about the choice of artist, but the lyrics are what's important.

Whenever I listen to the lyrics, I realise how true they are:

There's always going to be another mountain
I'm always going to want to make it move
Always going to be an uphill battle,
Sometimes you going to have to lose,
Ain't about how fast I get there,
Ain't about what's waiting on the other side
It's the climb

It really IS all about the climb through life. I'm willing to ignore the fact that it's Miley Cyrus singing it and just listen to words. This weightloss journey that I'm on IS an uphill battle and it ISN'T about how fast I get there. It's the climb to get there. And I'll make it.

That was going to be the end of my post, but then the kids and I watched American Tail yesterday and this song really struck me.

It's something that I need to keep reminding myself of on the tough weeks. Never say Never.

Never say never,what ever you do
Never say never,my friend
If you be that,your dream will come true.
They will come true in the end.
Keep up your courage,don't ever despair
Take heart and then count to ten
Hope for the best
Work for the rest and never say never again

So. What words inspire you? What is YOUR word for 2010? Tell me all!

Now all I need is Wii Fit!

I have just finished week 7 of this journey and the first week of 2010. And what a week it has been!! I have done a fair amount of walking this week. 3 to 3.5 kms at a time, and walking quickly. I had to stop briefly yesterday and then slow down my walk because my chest was sore and I was worried I was overdoing it, but otherwise it's been great.

Oh the results!

I went to weigh in tonight and fought the butterflies the whole time I was standing in line. Stepped onto the scale and....

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A loss of...

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2.7 kgs (5.94 lbs) !!!!!!!

Holy crap!! I just about died!

Do you know what that means? No? I'll tell you!

In 7 weeks I have dropped 10.8 kgs. That's 23.76 lbs!!! In SEVEN FREAKIN' WEEKS!!

Oh. My. Gawd!!

Do you know what else that means? It means I'm now happily UNDER the weight restriction of the balance board in Wii Fit. So now I need the weightloss fairies to bless me with a Wii Fit. Or any of you lovely readers that want to send me one, I won't say no :)

Either way, I'm happy to be down so much. And done in a healthy way too!! Official weight as of tonight? 147.8 kgs (325.16 lbs). Still WAY too high, but going down steadily.

A challenge!!

Along with this whole weightloss journey that I'm on, I seem to have gained a sense that I can do anything. As such, I signed up for a challenge put on by my buds ZGirl over at Think Tank and Dual Mom over at We're At Dad's That Week. It's called....

This involves eating better, exercising more, and being accountable to a whole list of people who are joining in the challenge. It's running from now until April. At that point, we'll figure out who has lost the highest percentage of their body weight. That person will reign supreme and be sent a whole bunch of wee little prizes from the rest of the group...from all over the world. Pretty good incentive right??

Some folks are taking pictures of their scales and posting those pictures, but because my scale scurried for cover under the bathroom cabinet with screams of "come back and try again in 50 pounds, you heffer" when it saw me coming, I have had to resort to taking pictures of my Weight Watchers weigh in book. That's fine with me seeing as I've already posted a picture of my fat ass with the weights attached. So. My start weight for the L.I.B challenge is:

Now, I have certain goals regarding this challenge.

1) Whoop ALL y'all's asses.

2) Drink at least SIX bottles of water a day. My water bottle is 700mls so that'll be 4.2 litres a day.

3) Restrict myself to TWO glasses of Coke Zero per day.

4) Walk at least THREE kilometres a day. This will be increasing rapidly as I move into the training program for the half marathon I'm doing in May.

5) Still make use of my sports centre membership to keep up with my weight training and make use of the swimming pool for laps. This will, I hope, help prevent all that saggy baggy skin as I lose the weight. Fingers crossed.

6) Not die.

Ambitious aren't I?

What a difference!!

Do you want to see what a difference 8.1 kgs (17.82 lbs) can make??


HOLY CRAP!! You can see more of the door! My waist is slowly starting to show!!

I took my measurements last night. I've lost:

Neck: - 0.5 cms (0.19 ins)

Upper Arm: - 1.0 cms (0.39 ins)

Chest: - 8.0 cms (3.15 ins) (I KNOW!!)

Waist: - 6.0 cms (2.36 ins)

Abdomen: - 2.5 cms (0.98 ins)

Hips: - 10.0 cms (3.93 ins) (Oh. My. Gawd!!)

Upper Leg: - 2.5 cms (0.98 ins)

Calf: - 3.o cms (1.18 ins)

That's a total of 33.5 cms (13.18 ins) GONE off my entire body.

Can I get a Woot! Woot! ??