Thread: Rori's weight loss and exercise musings...

It's funny you should mention friend peer pressure! That's been on my mind a lot today....(this is very long and rambly... feel free to skip! lol)

Firstly, my dear friend from home that came to visit is a big girl, I'd say knocking on for at least 250lbs, I haven't seen her in 9 months and was so looking forward to catching up and having a decent conversation that didn't include skype and a couple of days in wondered whether she'd changed or i'd changed as it seemed the main topic of conversation was food. It was a bit disturbing actually, she literally talked for about 30 minutes straight about the pros of having the strawberry shortcake sundae, as opposed to the hot fudge brownie sundae. I found myself zoning out after 15 minutes thinking had we always talked like that? Was I that pre-occupied by food before that having this 30 minute indepth conversation about ice cream was deemed ok?? Or was this a new thing from her? And what a sad state to be in when you're on the vacation of a life time and that's the highlight of the trip? I just realised that I never want to be that obsessed by food, I never want it to be the main focus of a holiday. I don't want to be in Manhattan planning how many times I can fit in Bubba Gumps in 5 days. But then because she was thinking about food, I found myself thinking about food, and it's sucha huge waste of energy when there's so many more exciting things going on.

Secondly, today I finished work at 4pm, had planned to go home and go to Outback steakhouse for takeout as they do the most amazing steamed vegetables and grilled chicken ever, it's cheap and I wouldn't have to cook. But 5 of the other girls were heading to Sweet Tomatoes and bugged me to go. I'd said no all day, I had a night at the gym planned but then they started the guilt trip about how i'm leaving in 8 weeks and should take all the opportunites I had to socialise with them before I left and I totally caved. I was told it was just a salad bar so figured it couldn't hurt that much. But it happens to be another all you can eat type buffet. These just spell disaster for me and I almost stayed in the cab to go home, but didn't. I was so worried, I started mentally going through all my steps, my, 'i'll drink a glass of water before eating'; 'I'll eat a huge pile of salad and then wait a few minutes', but I didn't need to worry so much. It turns out it's actually a really good place with a lot of healthy food options. They had a huge pre-made salad bar and then they had a do it yourself option, so I just got a plate full of mixed greens, spinach, carrots, sesame seeds, raw mushrooms and broccoli and other healthy goodies and got a little dish of fat free garlic dressing so I could keep it to a minimum. It was delicious and completely guilt free. I've never eaten raw brocolli before and absolutely loved it (with the dressing). It was just so wonderful to know that I could eat all of this really good food and not worry about how much it's going to affect my diet. They then also had a soup section with 5 different soups, so I chose the fat free chilli soup and had just half a cup (it was delicious!) and then they had baked potatoes and baked sweet potatoes, I had the sweet potatoe, they were quite small though and I had a sprinkling of cinnamon over it. They had ingredient lists above the soups and it was all just natural ingredients, no added salts or sugars, such a fantastic place!
They did have desserts, and I had a little something. But I got the kids bowl as it was quite small and got one of the brownies and split it with one of the girls with a table spoon of ice cream on top. I felt so completely full and hated that i'd eaten so much and it felt like i'd really over-indulged and I started saying this to one of the girls and she kindly reminded me that except for the dessert, everything had been moderately healthy and nutritious and that eating until you're full is not always a bad thing, not when you fill up on raw brocolli and sweet potatoe. And I guess she's right! Anyway, I totally loved the restaurant. It's so nice that they give you such great options, I didn't have to make excuses about not eating the bread with my grilled chicken sandwich or having the salad without dressing. They didn't even have a soda machine, it was just fresh juices, like blueberry and acai spring water. I could definitely go there again without feeling guilty!
I'm working the morning shift again tomorrow and really do plan on just heading home afterwards and hitting the gym for a good 90 minutes or so. I bought my graduation dress the other day, it's a junior size 9 which apaprently is a UK 11, which we don't have. But it is a little loose so that's good, they didn't have the 7 and the next size they did have was a 3, that definitely wouldn't fit! So I can't lose too much weight between now and the 25th or my pretty dress won't fit! This will be the first time I wear a dress in 3 years though, so I'm quite nervous! But I don't think I have to worry about that as the plateau is in full swing. We'll see the damage on tuesday though I guess!

I don't know why i'm rambling so much...sorry!

Hehe! No worries for the rambles

It's weird how food can consume our thoughts. At the moment it's all I think about; how can I get the most out my allocated kcals per day? How much does this meal have? Can I make this meal healthier? My theory on it is there's two kinds of food obsession; the obsessed with the tastes, flavours and enjoyment (like your friend) or obsessing about making the healthiest choices (I know I fall face first into that catagory!) I don't think there's anything wrong with that, really, and while it's a shame that ice cream was the biggest highlight of your friend's trip, at least it made her happy!

That's quite harsh peer pressure from your friends. 8 weeks is still a long time, they can't keep putting it onto you every time saying "but you're leaving in 8/7/4/2 weeks!" Maybe say to them that you want to focus on looking great for graduation and home going, and then go out with them when it really is nearer the time. After all, a couple of weeks with friends isn't going to completely tip the balance, and just because you're leading a healthy lifestyle doesn't mean it has to impact your social life negatively.

That restaurant sounds amazing! Well done on making some great choices without even realising

Bron

Official weigh-in on Tuesday 147... am trying to steer clear of the scales until next Tuesday but no promises... the scales call me!

Had some pretty good days, hit the gym hard on Tuesday after a mars bar incident but burnt a good 600 cals so felt better about it. Went to Gatorland yesterday and had a good old walk to publix and back with a good 30lbs of shopping for the walk back so although no gym I did do a good amount of moving which i'm pleased about. I did go out for another leaving meal last night, there seems to be one a week at the moment! We went to Raglan Road at downtown Disney, a really nice irish bar and restaurant and I had the chicken and mushroom pie. Not a great healthy choice but oh so yummy and I had it with salad and green beans instead of chips, so a small victory!

I have a pretty nasty bite on my leg from gatorland (not from a gator though! lol) that's swollen and making me feel pretty sickly so I don't know if i'll make it to the gym today or not.

I booked my flight home last night, 22nd of August! That leaves me 64 days to hit goal as i'd love to arrive in the aiport with all my family there and actually be at goal but with the way things are moving at the moment (or not!) I think i'd be happy with 140. We'll see though, I may be able to break my plateau and lose a bit quicker. But yay! Home, back to the UK, I can't wait!

So, in an attempt to try and break my plateau, I woke this morning at 9 and headed straight for the gym. I don't know what got into me but I kind of figured in my half sleep state that maybe heading to the gym every morning will kick start my metabolism, so off I headed. I'm not great at that time of the morning though, at anything, especially on an empty stomach so I only managed 30 minutes brisk walking on the treadmill and 10 minutes on the stepper, 300 cals burnt in all. I'm really quite pleased though, I mean, not a great work out, but a workout nonetheless. Especially as today I had a 10 hour shift and would never usually go to the gym on those days! I hope to do the same tomorrow, and every day after, see if that affects my weigh-ins!
Food wise, not bad, not great (there was some naughty carbs in there) but i'd planned for them in my day and cut back elsewhere and don't think I went over 1400, so i'll settle with that!

Hoping for a good day tomorrow! I've already planned my food, which I don't know where that came from as I didn't intend to. Fresh pineapple and yoghurt for breakfast, lean pork and salad for lunch and then dinner is open, maybe some steamed veg and sliced turkey?? I feel in control! Let's hope it pays off on Tuesday!

I realised last night that i've been 148 for a month now and that scares me, no significant loss at all in almost 5 weeks. I didn't realise it had been that long. I guess I had the ten days of New York and Disney parks with my friends, and I know that affected my progress, going up to 151 and back down, but to not move down at all in 5 weeks is disheartening. Great if I was at goal, but i'm not!

Where did it all go wrong??
I've had a pretty good week, have been very busy, very social and on the whole, pretty good on the eating front. Yet I step on the scales this morning for my 'weekly' weigh in (I delayed it by a few days due to totm) and apparently, i've put 6lbs on since last Tuesday. To say i'm devestated is an understatement! I'm still totm'ing so I know that could have something to do with it, but not 6lbs. I honestly don't know where it's come from. I ate a lot for graduation, we had breakfast at the ceremony, and then went for lunch at a restaurant and then 10 hours later we had chinese take out. But it was just one day so I refuse to believe that is the reason i've gained almost half a stone in a week.
Oh I don't know. Maybe it is totm. I haven't drank as nearly as much water as I should every day, and I haven't been to they gym for a week. If that's all it takes to put on 6lbs though then i'm doomed for maintenance!

So, plan of action: Wait for Tuesday to weigh in again, totm will be over so I can assess the 'real' damage of graduation then. Drink lots more fluids, i'm on my feet all day and it's so very hot that I could really do without the water retention. Start hitting the gym again, 7 days is too long without going! And we'll see where that takes me next Tuesday!

I'm pretty much resigned to the fact that I won't hit target. I had wanted to get to 130lbs by the 18th of August and that really doesn't seem possible now. I know I shouldn't have a date, I don't want to think that I've failed if i'm not a certain weight by a certain time, I just wanted to be met at the airport and be my target weight, not still 15lbs off. Right now, i'd settle for 140, with a longer term goal of 130 by christmas. And to then survive the holiday without much damage! But right now, I can't really predict how my weight loss will go as it's definitely throwing surprises and challenges at me!

I did my weekly weigh in this morning, and it's back down to a more normal reading of 147.6. I didn't realise quite how much weight I put on due to totm! I still can't seem to get lower though. I'm not quite sure what to do. I find if I try to lower my cals any more than I already have I get hungry and binge, so I don't want to do that. My exercise is lacking, and I know that's something I need to deal with. I haven't been to the gym in a week and have no motivation to go, I just feel so depressed. Yet when I go to the gym every day I'm happier in myself, and I love the results I see in my body shape. Aaargh, this is torture. I know I can change this, I could just get my ass to the gym, it's down the stairs for crying out loud! But I just cannot be bothered... how dare I moan about a lack of weight loss if that's my attitude to exercise?

A small feat on the eating front... yesterday, I bought a tub of ben and jerrys ice cream (phish food...yum!) and I ate a quarter of the tub and enjoyed every spoon full, I put it in the freezer and felt disgusted with myself that I'd eaten ice cream etc.etc.etc. and woke this morning and realised what an idiot I was. Yes, I had eaten ice cream, but i'd eaten one serving size, just one! Usually, the whole tub would have gone in under an hour, that's almost 1200 calories. I wouldn't think of putting any back in the freezer, I just couldn't. And if I did, within an hour I would be back out there with my spoon devouring the lot. But it's still there, in my freezer, and i'm not craving it. Not even persuading myself I should eat it all in one go so the temptation isn't there. So maybe i'm learning?

Anyways, off to publix to buy something nutritious for dinner, at least that's a 40 minute walk!

Hey you!

Wow!! That is a scary TOM moment... At least it all came off again, that's a relief to see. And it means you can say you lost 6lbs in a week That'll have to be something to remember though.

Oo, hope you enjoyed all the graduation stuff! Sounds like fun That's ace you got the home tickets booked too. Bet your family can't wait to see you and visa versa!

That's a fab achievement with the icecream too. You do need to treat yourself every so often, and you do work hard, so you earnt every mouthful! It's all about moderation again, and I reckon you are learning valuable lessons.

With the gym, I do empathise. I have mornings when leaving the house is more trouble than it's worth. But just do it, literally force yourself, because it's always a case of you feel better about it afterwards.

Stay cool, babe!

Bron