Blimp to Bombshell: RawrGirl's Weight Loss Diary

[Flabuless Mama]

Intermittent Brilliance

So sometimes RawrGirl has moments of sheer brilliance...and sometimes not.

Last night was an example of not:

RG: Sheesh...I still haven't taken the tree down. Ya know, if we had an oriental screen, we could just put it in front of the Christmas tree and then we wouldn't have to put it up and take it down every year. Though I guess it would need to be dusted.

PC (after teasing RG for being ridiculously lazy): You could put a sheet over it like people do in a house when they go away for months.

RG: Does that even work? I mean, how would that stop the dust? O[FONT=lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif]h, wait, it's in the air, right?"[/FONT]

[FONT=lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif]PC (pats RG on shoulder): Apparently I robbed the cradle as you seem to have been born yesterday.[/FONT]

[FONT=lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif]RG: Whatever. I just figured it appeared on things, like mold. So I never wondered where dust came from before...i mean, really, who thinks about that???[/FONT]

In contrast, RawrGirl showed brilliance today:

She's not been taking her supplements (Bad RawrGirl!) because the calcium pills were so hard to swallow and it was getting to the point that it was so uncomfortable she just skipped the whole lot most days. So then she bought calcium chews that were only 2 carbs. BUT, they were 30 calories, and as RawrGirl is trying to keep calories pretty low (500-800), 30 seemed like a lot to throw away on something that should have none. So...brilliant idea: Jump on elliptical for about 3 minutes to burn 30 calories which can double as a warm up before normal workout since RawrGirl habitually skips a warm up and ends up very sore/achy the next day.

So now...RawrGirl can take her supplements everyday without discomfort, she will warm up and not be sore from workout, and she won't need to count that 30 calories or deduct it from her regular workout.

 

[Flabuless Mama]

Weight Gain Chart

This may sound dumb, but RawrGirl does not want to add her weight gain and measurement increase to her main weight loss chart as that would just be too depressing. So she's decided to make a new chart just until she is back to her pre-Christmas weight, which is not looking like it's going to happen by Friday.

She is basing her weight on her waist measurements. Now, some of the initial 11 pound gain (140lb) may be due to water weight, but RawrGirl thinks she needs to face reality that she gained about 9 pounds (138lb). She's given herself to the end of January to reach 129 again, but at this point, it doesn't look like she will see 122 by February 9th.

Date	Dec 21	Dec 31	Jan 4	Jan 9	Jan 11	Jan 18	Jan 25	Goal
Weight	129	140?	138?	135?				129
Waist	27.5	29.25	28.75	28.25				27.5
Navel	32	35	35	33				32
Hips	37.5	38.25	38.25	38.25

While RawrGirl is not against the idea of dieting every month of January to return to her yearly maintained weight, she feels like rubbish that she gained so much especially since she knows she didn't eat approx 3,500 calories more than her body needed every single day while on holiday. (At least she doesn't think she did...that seems like an awful lot...and she never stuffed herself silly.) But the point is RawrGirl thinks she would rather diet from Thanksgiving to Christmas each year and go under her goal weight, so that when she gains over Christmas, hopefully, she was just gain back to 122...and def never more than 129 (her max range).

 

[Clanger72]

It's not dumb at all we all have to do what feels right for us

The fact you have a plan and you're focused on losing the weight means you haven't given up the fight it was just a blip & you will soon be back to losing x

 

[squishymcfatterson]

Whether or not you see 122 by the 9th RawrGirl, we all know that you will get there very soon after so don't be disheartened. Your Friday weigh in will give you a more accurate picture of how far you have to go. Realistically you can't have gained that much fat so it must be water! X

 

[Flabuless Mama]

Whether or not you see 122 by the 9th RawrGirl, we all know that you will get there very soon after so don't be disheartened. Your Friday weigh in will give you a more accurate picture of how far you have to go. Realistically you can't have gained that much fat so it must be water! X

RawrGirl hopes you are right, but she thought a person loses water weight within the first 3 or 4 days, and it's been 9. She will go google it.

EDIT: Yea, unfortunately the answer seems to be 3-4 days. It's okay...a few things RawrGirl has considered:

1) Even though she didn't eat till stuffed, she certainly ate till full, and on SUPER high-fattening things, such as cheese fondue and chocolate fondue. She also ate sausage for about 5 days (which is VERY high in fat/calories, but she loves it so cooked up a package for a treat for soup, omelet, lasagna, etc).

2) Next year, RawrGirl is going to make sure she enters Christmas week at the low end of her weight range -- around 122, maybe even a little less, so that her gain won't take her over 129.

3) Since by next Christmas, RawrGirl will have (hopefully) maintained between 122-129, and will have been eating carbs on a more normal basis (and the occasional sausage, lol), and will have incorporated sweets into her diet on a more regular basis (weekly rather than monthly), Christmas goodies should not have the same appeal as this past one. In other words, she should be able to treat Christmas like any other weekend that she eats carbs and sweets.

RawrGirl didn't count calories at all for 10 days...and now she is thinking she probably should have. But it was holiday, and she didn't want to, and now she is paying for it. As much as she would love to say, "oh, it's just water weight, I didn't eat too much, I didn't gain any fat," she needs to own up to her actions, face the consequences straight on, and learn from them.

As many of us seem to be struggling with the reality of meeting "ultimate goal" by Valentines, RawrGirl guesses we should just be open to the idea of needing to make a St. Patrick's Day if it comes to that. LOL, perhaps if we end up having to go that route, we should all post AFTER pics wearing green.

 

[Flabuless Mama]

Initial Maintenance Plan

Tomorrow is official measurement and weigh-in day. This week wasn't too bad, RawrGirl was around 600 calories most days, did her modified Shred everyday, but only ice skated 1x instead of 2x. For some reason today, after a normal night's sleep, she laid down on the couch around 9 and slept till 1! No idea where that came from. But as skating is from 11-12:30, she obviously missed it. And even stranger, she feels rather tired and is yawning a lot. Go figure.

So RawrGirl has been researching maintenance stuff, and has decided a few things.

When she reaches 122, even if she thinks she could lose a bit more (esp for swimsuit season), she is going to stop losing and enter maintenance for a few months, to help her body stabilize at that weight. In May, perhaps she will consider a short-term diet, but 122 will remain her ideal weight for most of the year.

In the weeks following her 122 weigh-in, RawrGirl is going to make the following changes:

1) Week one, she is dropping her sets down to 2 and bumping her reps up to 15. (So 2 sets of 15 rather than 3 sets of 12). This will dramatically decrease the amount of time she works out and thus she will likely keep at it. She is also quitting the cardio part of Shred and adding another skating day to her week. And she will start doing 20 minutes of flexibility training. As long as she still loses some weight that week, she will move to change 2.

2) Week two, she will up her calories by 200. She will continue doing this on a weekly basis until she stops losing weight. She would also like to incorporate a small about of carbs (pasta and bread) into her diet on a somewhat regular basis. RawrGirl hopes to reach an average of 1800 calories a day, and her week will look like this:

Mon -- Thurs: 1500 calories a day
Fri -- Sat: 2500 calories a day
Sun: 1600 calories a day

This adds up to 12,600 calories a week, which is equivalent to 1800 calories a day, which is what the average participants of the National Weight Loss Registry eat and have maintained their weight loss on.

As those participants also burn 1500-2000 calories a week, which RawrGirl divided by 5 to come up with 400 calories a day 5x a week, she used MyFitnessPal to determine that she will exceed 400 on the days she lifts, stretches, and skates. So, on days she doesn't skate, she will need to either walk, do Shred Cardio, or something else and keep an eye on the scale to see if that is enough. If RawrGirl finds a job, she will obviously not be able to skate 5x a week, so we shall see what happens. But overall, RawrGirl is quite confident she can eat within those daily calories, esp after being on a VLCD so long, and thus hopes that maintenance is not all that hard.

 

[samsam]

wow that kind of progress is very impressive. If it makes you happy that is all that matters but I will say so many try and fail and here you are succeding and ascending towards your goals.

 

[Flabuless Mama]

Weigh-in Day

Though she knew she would not be back to 129, RawrGirl is happy to discover she is back under 135 at 133.4. This means she is only up half an inch in her waist now since pre-Christmas weight. Last time she had a 28 inch waist, it took her 2 weeks to get to 27.5, and if it takes 2 weeks again, that will only give her 2 more weeks to reach 122 by Valentines Day, which is severely doubtful. But we shall see...RawrGirl is not giving up on that goal date yet.

Date	Dec 21	Dec 31	Jan 4	Jan 9	Jan 11	Jan 18	Jan 25	Goal
Weight	129	140?	138?	135?	133			129
Waist	27.5	29.25	28.75	28.25	28			27.5
Navel	32	35	35	33	34			32
Hips	37.5	38.25	38.25	38.25	38

PS -- RawrGirl has no idea what is up with her navel measurements...it's always so hard to measure in the same exact place every time. O well...it's her waist she cares about anyway.

 

[squishymcfatterson]

Though she knew she would not be back to 129, RawrGirl is happy to discover she is back under 135 at 133.4. This means she is only up half an inch in her waist now since pre-Christmas weight. Last time she had a 28 inch waist, it took her 2 weeks to get to 27.5, and if it takes 2 weeks again, that will only give her 2 more weeks to reach 122 by Valentines Day, which is severely doubtful. But we shall see...RawrGirl is not giving up on that goal date yet.

PS -- RawrGirl has no idea what is up with her navel measurements...it's always so hard to measure in the same exact place every time. O well...it's her waist she cares about anyway.

That's great RawrGirl. I'm very jealous as I'm still hovering around 140, 9lb from my next goal.

I agree about the accuracy of measurements too. The only one I'm ever 100% sure about is my waist!

Glad you're not giving up on goal. Once you do your best to get there by the 9th, you can be proud of yourself whatever the result!

Have a great weekend. X

 

[Flabuless Mama]

Girl's Night

Thanks! RawrGirl actually has a rare girls night tonight at a friends. Ironically, she texted her friend to ask if she could bring a snack (she was thinking veggies and dip to help stay in Ketosis), and gf texted back to bring dessert. Oh...the irony. So, dinner is going to be ravioli (which RawrGirl can't eat) and Italian bread (which RawrGirl can't eat) and Hershey Chocolate Cake (bought by RawrGirl, which RawrGirl can't eat). So....

RawrGirl is also bringing pepperoni and cheese cracker snack (which she will eat save for the crackers), and the most delicious, creamy, cheesy (and very high fat!) Spinach dish that RawrGirl's family often begs her to make cuz its so yummy. So while it is pretty high in calories, it's also very filling, and will at least make RawrGirl feel like she is getting a treat while staying in Ketosis.

As for the cake, there is only one chocolate cake that tempts RawrGirl and it is not this one. For the most part, RawrGirl does not like cake. But there is this one particular cake from ShopRite that is 3 layers of absolute chocolaty deliciousness and compares to none other. So yea, others fall so pale in comparison that RawrGirl has no fear of being tempted from the Hershey one. So most likely, RawrGirl will survive girl's night still in Ketosis.

Oh, and RawrGirl hasn't seen this gf in months and months so it will be cool if she notices RawrGirl's weight loss.

 

[squishymcfatterson]

Thanks! RawrGirl actually has a rare girls night tonight at a friends. Ironically, she texted her friend to ask if she could bring a snack (she was thinking veggies and dip to help stay in Ketosis), and gf texted back to bring dessert. Oh...the irony. So, dinner is going to be ravioli (which RawrGirl can't eat) and Italian bread (which RawrGirl can't eat) and Hershey Chocolate Cake (bought by RawrGirl, which RawrGirl can't eat). So....

RawrGirl is also bringing pepperoni and cheese cracker snack (which she will eat save for the crackers), and the most delicious, creamy, cheesy (and very high fat!) Spinach dish that RawrGirl's family often begs her to make cuz its so yummy. So while it is pretty high in calories, it's also very filling, and will at least make RawrGirl feel like she is getting a treat while staying in Ketosis.

As for the cake, there is only one chocolate cake that tempts RawrGirl and it is not this one. For the most part, RawrGirl does not like cake. But there is this one particular cake from ShopRite that is 3 layers of absolute chocolaty deliciousness and compares to none other. So yea, others fall so pale in comparison that RawrGirl has no fear of being tempted from the Hershey one. So most likely, RawrGirl will survive girl's night still in Ketosis.

Oh, and RawrGirl hasn't seen this gf in months and months so it will be cool if she notices RawrGirl's weight loss.

Oh fantastic! Have a great night! Can't wait to hear your friend's reaction.

Mmmm, I love Hershey's (it's very hard to get over here) so I'm pretty sure I would love the cake. Drooling here thinking about it...! At least you won't feel deprived by bringing your spinach dish. Sounds yummy, I love spinach.

X

 

[Flabuless Mama]

Actually no one said anything about RawrGirl's weight, but when they found out she wasn't eating carbs, they did ask lots and lots of questions about Atkins, so that was fun (to share with someone other than Prince Charming who is always like, "too much estrogen!" if RawrGirl gets really going on diet talk, lol.) That's why Minimins is so awesome!

 

[tweekedgirl]

Just catching up - you're doing really well and that's a good weigh-in. Also great news about the ice skating, looking forward to seeing you at the next winter Olympics

It's always nice to talk about dieting with friends when they're really interested! I love talking about healthy food, exercise ect. but hate bringing the topic up because it feels like I'm pushing it down people's throats xD

 

[Flabuless Mama]

RawrGirl is grumpy.
RawrGirl is tired of being hungry.
RawrGirl wants carbs.

 

[tweekedgirl]

50g of pasta is only around 190 calories, and if you bulk it up with loads of veg and a low fat salad dressing, then that can really help with the carb craving without going ott x

 

[Flabuless Mama]

RawrGirl will be okay...she is just going to up her calories back to 800 (rather than 500 in a rush to get back to 129). If she's not hungry, she won't be grumpy,and if she's not grumpy, she won't be looking for carbs to cheer her up.

 

[Flabuless Mama]

Scale Fluctuations

So after a Shred workout, RawrGirl enjoyed a WHOLE turkey club wrap (rather than a half) for breakfast. Yay!

And, RawrGirl asked Prince Charming to leave the scale out a bit as she wants to see what her normal body fluctuations are. So far:

Friday Morn: 133
Friday Night: 137
Sat Morn: 134
Sat Night: 138
Sun Morn: 135
Sun Night:136
Mon Morn: 136

RawrGirl did manage to stay in Ketosis all weekend, despite Girl's night, a lunch out, and a trip to the cinema...all of which was very hard, and yet she didn't succumb. However, her calories were a bit high, probably 2000/1800/1500. So now, RawrGirl just needs to decide whether she wants to get on the scale all week, or just Friday, or just give it back it back to Prince Charming altogether until February 9th.

 

[Flabuless Mama]

Prince Charming

So Prince Charming finally decided to go on a diet. He's not heavy by any means, but has a gut he complains about having never had, and claims that he's gained 15 pounds since moving to the east to be with RawrGirl. So, after months and months of complaining, he's finally agreed to actually cut back on his sugar and carbs. Yay!

This is especially good as he is hypoglycemic/pre-diabetic, and RawrGirl has watched several of her family members die long deaths from diabetes and she does not want anything to happen to Prince Charming, nor does she want to watch him die!

So...RawrGirl just got back from food shopping and is going to plan some menus. Prince Charming loves rice, so RawrGirl switched to brown rice and is going to make some low-carb sauces, plus cook him half the rice she used to and substitute with veggies (fortunately Prince Charming loves veggies). And she got him some no sugar added strawberry preserves to put on low-carb biscuits that RawrGirl will start making regularly again.

Most importantly, RawrGirl is going to try and mimic Prince Charing's favorite sugary drink in which he indulges every day...peppermint mocha. The reg kind has 29 grams sugar per cup and Prince Charming drinks aboRawrGirl bought low sugar chocolate milk and insant decaff coffee and peppermint extract...so wish her luck that she can make it good enough that Prince Charming doesn't miss the "real" stuff.

Oh...and his stats:

Starting Weight: 186
Goal Weight: 170

 

[porkscratching]

That sounds like a plan. I did best when I ditched refined carbs, potatoes etc - so am going to try that again. You have such an array of ingredients for low carb substitutes compared to here - what goes into low carb biscuits - could you post a recipe please?

 

[squishymcfatterson]

I think by "biscuits", RawrGirl probably means American biscuits as in scone type things, not cookies, if that makes sense? Am I right RawrGirl?

Best of luck to Prince Charming! Mr. McFatterson has lost 16lb so far just by cutting back on treats and eating the low calorie meals that I cook for dinner. I always found that he loses weight a lot more easily than me, which I think is generally true for men. How unfair! Hubby doesn't even get much exercise because he works so hard. And has never counted a calorie in his life!