So I’ve been struggling with how to
write this post. I tried doing the whole background spiel but it seems that I
have just too much history with food to put it all in one entry. I’ve decided
to just dole out my past in little bits whenever it comes up and just try to
nutshell it in the first post. So here it is;
I am overweight. I used to be
underweight but it was all due to an intense metabolism. Since I could eat
whatever I wanted without consequences I developed some really bad food habits
and probably binge eating disorder. When I reached mid-twenties the bottom
dropped out of my metabolism and my habit of no exercise + binge eating = 70lb
weight gain. I got stretch marks.
I’m 5’5’’ and I reached my highest
weight of 182lbs last December. Since then, I’ve lost 14.8 of those pounds.
Hoorah!! If you think that doesn’t sound impressive go do something awkward
with a duck because it’s a huge accomplishment for me. I went from gaining a
pound a week to losing something most months. AND I found a form of exercise I
actually want to do – swimming.
So here’s what’s happened so far; I
bought a book called ‘The Cognitive Behavioral Workbook for Weight Management:
A Step-by-Step Program’ and started with its maintenance plan. I did that for
about a year, adding in more and more exercise, and then recently switched to
the book’s weight-loss plan. I started with maintenance because I had so many
food issues and I knew that I’d never lose weight without addressing them
first. So I had to learn to maintain before I lost.
Now when I say, ‘I did the
maintenance plan for a year,’ please understand that doesn’t mean I stuck to it
every day. In fact, I didn’t even stick to it most days. My first goal was to
do the plan for 56 days (not even consecutively!) and after starting the plan
in late July of last year I reached that goal on June 12 this year!
Since I love numbers, you know I’ve
got all the stats! Here they are;
Month
|
days I followed the diet plan
|
weight loss
|
Days exercised
|
Dec 12
|
3
|
1.8lbs
|
?
|
Jan 13
|
6
|
Maintained
|
7
|
Feb 13
|
4
|
1.6lbs
|
14
|
Mar 13
|
7
|
1.6lbs
|
20
|
Apr 13
|
7
|
0.8lbs
|
16
|
May 13
|
14
|
0.8lbs
|
20
|
June 13
|
10
|
4.8lbs
|
8
|
July 13
|
10
|
3.4lbs
|
17
|
As you can see, I suck at following
my plans but I’ve still had some success probably because of exercise (and
starting a new anti-depressant in June), and starting the weight-loss diet plan
in July.
I’ll go over the main ideas of
these two diet plans; you can get the details of both of these diets from the
book I mentioned. Maintenance diet first;
I went through the calculations in the book for how many calories you
need to eat in a day based on height, weight and amount of exercise. I picked a
sedentary amount of exercise at first because the criterion for ‘active’ is
exercise about 3-4 times a week and I definitely wasn’t doing that in the
beginning. I’m barely doing that now. Then the book gives you a certain amount
of servings from each food group that you should eat based on how many calories
you need in a day. For me, it was;
Servings
|
Food Group
|
Calorie Equivalent per serving
|
Or
|
7
|
Grains
|
100
|
1 slice bread
|
7
|
Fruits and Vegetables
|
25
|
1 whole fruit or veggie
|
2
|
Dairy
|
100
|
1 cup milk, 1 slice cheese
|
2.5
|
Meats
|
150
|
Meat the size of a deck of cards
|
6
|
Extra Fats
|
45
|
1/3 chocolate bar
|
I kept track of my food and how
many servings I ate in a day in a little notebook that I kept with me. I liked
this better than keeping track with some app because I’m not sure any of the
good ones count by serving size and I don’t have a smart phone so that would
just be inconvenient. Counting by serving size is good for me because it’s
easier to look at your food and record what you’re eating without having to
know exactly how many calories is in it or having to look everything up in some
crazy chart. It’s also just an estimate, so I don’t have to stress over exactly
how many calories a food has. Counting calories is super stressful for me and
just makes me more obsessed with food. Then I eat more just because I’m
thinking about food more.
Counting by serving size is so much simpler. I
do have to be careful to estimate as accurately as possible, though. So I can’t
just count French fries as 1 veggie. Let’s be honest here, once they’re French
fries they’re hardly vegetables at all anymore. Medium French fries at
McDonalds are 380 calories so that’s the equivalent of 8 ½ fats. A small is 5
fats. This is where it’s nice to know the calorie equivalent of each serving
size. When I first started out I needed to look this up for basically
everything so I knew that I was estimating accurately. I still look things up
but you get a feel for it after a while and I can always write down in my
notebook how many servings are in the foods I eat on a regular basis.
So, that’s the maintenance plan. My
weight-loss diet looks like this;
Servings
|
Food Group
|
Calorie Equivalent per serving
|
Or
|
6
|
Grains
|
100
|
1 slice bread
|
6
|
Fruits and Vegetables
|
25
|
1 whole fruit or veggie
|
3
|
Dairy
|
100
|
1 cup milk, 1 slice cheese
|
2
|
Meats
|
150
|
Meat the size of a deck of cards
|
5
|
Extra Fats
|
45
|
1/3 chocolate bar
|
Not a big difference but a little harder to keep up with.
Now let’s talk exercise. My
ultimate goal is to exercise an hour six days a week. It’s a pretty lofty goal.
I’ve broken it down into smaller goals and I have to achieve each one to move
on to the next one.
Goal 1: walk for
15 minutes daily plus an hour of yoga once a week. Do this goal 1 week.
Goal 2: An hour
of yoga, 30 minutes jogging, and 5 15 minute walks per week. Do this goal 2
weeks.
Goal 3: 1 hour
yoga, 2 30 minute jogs and 4 15 minute walks per week. Do this goal for 3
weeks.
Goal 4: 1 hour
yoga, 2 30 minute jogs, 2 15 minute sessions of physical therapy stretches, and
2 15 minute walks per week. Do this goal for 4 weeks.
Goal 5: 1 hour
yoga, 3 33 minute cardio sessions, and 2 26 minute PT sessions. Do this 5
weeks.
Goal 6: 1 hour
yoga, 3 33 minute cardio sessions, and 2 30 minute PT sessions. Do this 6
weeks.
I also decided to get some more
exercise in during the day while I’m at work. I have an adjustable desk so I
stand for at least an hour in the morning; I’m trying to take the stairs more
often and go for a 15 minute walk in the mid-afternoon.
I’m on goal 5 right now. I have 11
goals all working up to the BIG goal of 6 hours/week, but I didn’t want to bore
you with all that. You’ll notice at one point I change ‘jogs’ to ‘cardio
sessions.’ That’s mostly because I learned jogging is not nearly as fun as
swimming and while the outdoor pool at my YMCA is open, I’ll be swimming
instead of running. Maybe even after the outdoor pool closes, but I’m not sure
about that since the indoor pool hours suck during the colder months
(either 5am or 8pm). I’m hoping to
replace physical therapy sessions with endurance and then strength training
once I’m ready for all that but right now I’m just taking it slow. I’m sure I’m
going to talk about my injury in a series of posts later but that’s another one
that I’ve been struggling to write. So for now I’ll just leave you with all
these hopeful, ambitious plans.
