Weight Loss Documentary

What happens when two British journalists participate in a crash diet experiment to lose five dress sizes in five weeks, aiming to end up a UK size 0 (U.S. size 2)?
The mental/emotional effects are as interesting as the body changes.

It's worth a watch on YouTube; here's the first of five episodes. You can find the rest by searching for "Super Skinny Me" on YouTube.

Pendulum Swings

One day I eat well, two days I overeat. I pigged out Saturday, fasted Sunday, pigged out Monday. Obviously, I am having a hard time with consistency. Except for consistency with my exercising: I am consistently doing very little working out. Arggghh. Gotta work on that.

Feeling Thin, Looking Fat

Perception is a tricky thing. Some days I feel disgustingly fat. But there are a few moments when I feel nearly thin. I'll reach around to rub my lower back when I'm tired, and I will notice how much firmer and smaller it feels than it used to, with muscle and bone and only a thin(ish) layer of padding. Someone will make a comment like the one a couple of days ago when I came back from a workout at the company gym on my lunch break and overheard one co-worker telling another that I "didn't need to workout." I take those moments with a grain of salt, but they do make me feel good.

And then there's yesterday.

I went hiking for my 49th birthday. I was feeling pretty fit and pretty good about the physical activity I was getting. Then I came home and looked at the photos we had taken. OH MY.

They can best be described with one word: FAT. (Although huge, enormous, and elephantine also spring to mind.)

I guess a reality check like that is needed from time to time to keep me on track with my weightloss efforts, but (ouch!) it was quite a blow to the old ego. I deleted the most horrible of the photographs immediately. (Well, after a few minutes of staring at them in shock and some hand-wringing that is.) The others will serve as a reminder that 5'6" and 128ish is not good enough.

Incidental Exercise -- Why Not?

I recently read that an office worker who jiggles his or her foot or does some other incidental little nervous motion off and on during the work day burns about 75 more calories per day than someone who doesn't. That's not much, but it adds up over the course of a month or a year or several years. (And we are in this for the long haul, are we not?)

Since reading that, I've been noticing people at my work. Some basically sit still for eight hours a day. Other stand up, sit down, stretch, wiggle, pace, etc. The latter has got to be healthier.

I'm trying to add more movement to my day -- both the little wiggles and jiggles and tics and flexes and stretches, and the more deliberate exercises. One way I am adding movement/exercise is by doing it just *whenever*. In other words, I don't wait until I have a 30 minute chunk of time to exercise. Some days, that 30 minute chunk is just never going to come. Instead, I can walk during my 15 minute break or work out for 20 minutes of my lunch hour. Why not do squats while I brush my teeth? Why not do lunges while I wait for something to heat in the microwave? Why not stretch while I watch TV?

Once upon a time, I watched two hours of TV every Thursday night and stretched for the whole two hours on a regular basis. (Well, for a whole TV season, anyway!) I was as flexible as I've ever been. It was relaxing and it felt good. It burned calories. Why not?

Eating is Not the Cure

OK, so how does this declaring myself back on track work? Well, not so great. I did go to the gym yesterday, but only for a quick 14 minute mile on the treadmill. Still, working under the theory that something is better than nothing, that was, um, something, at least.

However my eating was still out of control. My supervisor at work brought chocolate chip cookies and moonpies and I ate one of each. One of those two items might not have been so bad as a once-in-a-good-while treat IF the rest of my eating had been good for the day, but that wasn't the case.

Today, I'll go back to the gym. I'll refuse the junk sweets. I'll ease back into my healthy lifestyle. Because I have to. I have to because the other way does NOT make me feel good physically. It does NOT make me feel good about myself either, I've learned. Eating is NOT the cure for my depression, it only depresses me worse in the long run.

Comfort Me With...Exercise?

In my last post, "Comfort me with Apples," I wrote that I needed better (i.e. less fattening) comfort foods. But the best thing would be to find my comfort in something other than food.

I've noticed that I always feel better -- more energetic, less stressed -- after exercising, so why not use exercise for comfort? I decided to try that today.

I was extremely stressed out at work. There have been times in the past when I've reacted to that stress by indulging in extra food at lunch, maybe even telling myself that I "deserved" fast food, or junk food, or to pig out at a restaurant.

When I overeat like that due to stress, or depression, or being upset (the list goes on!), it is an attempt to self-medicate. I know that, but still sometimes do it. But today I decided to try exercise as my self-medication.

During my lunch hour, I went to the gym and got on the treadmill. I only spent about twenty minutes walking at a fast pace, but it got my heartrate up and my blood flowing and, sure enough, it made me feel better. In other words, it worked. My stress went down.

Forget the apples. Comfort me with exercise!

Storing Up Fat for the Winter?

Yesterday, driving to work in the bright sunshine at 9:30 AM, it was 15 degrees F. Brr.

I hate the cold, and not least because it makes me want to overeat. Not only does it make me want to overeat, but it makes me want to overeat the wrong foods. Believe me, when it is 15 outside, I am not craving apples. I am craving fattening, cheesy, heavy stuff. (Actually, I take back the line about not craving apples: what I should have said is that I don't crave crunchy, fresh, plain apples. I do crave them if they are baked into a state of mushiness and smothered in butter and sugar. Ha.)

So what do I do? Move to a warmer climate? Maybe all those skinny actresses in Southern California have it easier there because it never gets all that cold!!!!!

Actually, I think I've hit on the right answer. I do need to move. But not as in 'move to a new part of the globe.' Move, as in 'exercise.'

Last week I started using the treadmill at the gym. I had not been able to do that for a while due to high blood pressure (190 over 120+ at its worst), but now that's sort of under control due me finally giving in and taking meds, I can do more moving. And I promise to actually make myself do it and not wait until 'the spirit moves me,' as my Grandma used to say.

We'll see. And hopefully, if I do enough moving on a regular enough basis I'll see some results. It should warm me up, at least!

Skinny-Fat vs. Skinny-Fit

It's one thing to be skinny and a whole 'nother thing to be fit. Unfortunately for lazy-bones like me, dieting alone will not create a fit, toned, good-looking body. Sometimes it creates a body with super thin arms and legs but a flabby butt and thick belly.

Check out these photos to see what I mean. The first is of singer Amy Winehouse, sadly a woman who has more problems than just body shape. But body shape is a problem for her, too. You can tell that she doesn't eat much, but she's sure not fit or toned. She's what I've seen referred to as "skinny-fat."




The second photo is Cameron Diaz. She also probably doesn't eat a whole lot either(more than Amy, though), but you can tell she works out, is active, and has muscle tone. She is "skinny-fit."



Exercise does a body good. I am doing well on dieting but not so much on exercise. This is going to have to change. Right now, I wouldn't dare post a picure of myself in a bikini on here.