Slacker Girl strikes again

Sorry for the intermission all five million readers out there.

Heh.

I have great news to share, I am now down a few more pounds to 311! Thirty nine pounds lost since October 2008. I am also a total of three dress sizes down.

Exercising and moving more everyday has been helping with strength, stamina and mobility. I have noticed very small changes that make me feel great. I can squat and bend better. I am more comfortable riding in a car. Booths at restaurants are not a source of anxiety anymore. (Those of you with big tummies and abdomens know exactly what I mean)

I have had sort of a revelation when it comes to food. I always thought you under eat then over exercise and boom you lose weight. Nope. Not so simple. I found that the days I ate the least the scale did not move. The scale would not move for days on end. Then I threw my hands up and said I have to do something. I started looking into eating more nutritious food not just less of it. I found a great website nutritiondata.com. My diet was not very well balanced. My daily requirements of nutrition were not being met. When I am eating a good balance of carbs, fruits, veggies, protein, fats (the good kind), I lose weight. I was hitting plateaus be cause I was either lacking a food group or some sort of nutrition OR I was not eating enough to sustain me.

Your body actually needs a certain amount of calories just to survive. The trick is to eat that amount of calories you need to survive. Then you burn off enough to trick your body into using it's fat cells. The side effects of not eating enough were irritability, feeling queasy, dizzy and faint.


During my plateau surfing I noticed something disturbing, (WARNING possible T.M.I .alert here) I became very irregular. From 1x a day to once every 2 days, to once every three days, then every four days. This worried me. I contacted my pharmacist and the Phentermine I am on can mess with my digestive function. She suggested milk of magnesia, bad bad idea. I have had issues with gastric reflux disease and occasionally have flare ups. Apparently milk of magnesia plus phentermine plus gastric reflux=human water wiggle. For 24 hours I became way too intimate with my bathroom decor. I saw my Dr. a few days later I saw my Dr. and I he suggested adding a fiber supplement and gave me a Rx in case that didn't work. All I can say is thank God for Benefiber. It doesn't taste or smell or turn me into a human whoopee cushion that has to stay at least 10 feet within a bathroom at all times.

So since the nutrition revelation and the correction of "movement" problems I have gone down a few more pounds. Hooray for success!

It's Monday, where did that motivation get to?

Mondays, the beginning of the week, the beginning of the diet. The beginning of many resolutions. Stop smoking, start recycling, start walking dogs more often, start diet, stop whining, stop cursing, start getting up on time...and on and on and on.

Why is it when Mondays get here the motivation is sometimes there with a vengeance or all the air is out of your balloon?

As I look around at the laundry list of things I need to do (which includes laundry), vacuum, dust, clean up, etc. and I just feel tired.

I know I am not alone on this one. There wouldn't be so many self help books or diet info-mercials if I weren't. When it comes right down to it you don't need any of that crap. It is just you and the power of inertia.

What is it that gets some people up and off the couch? Perhaps it is God, a pushy sibling, a prayer, a mantra, or looking at the grandma arms you have? Maybe it is love, the love you have for yourself, your family, your friends, who all want to see you succeed.

Sometimes I feel as if I have the little devil and the little angel on my shoulder's just like on the cartoons.

Devil-"Hey make some nachos and watch Hulu on line. You can clean and exercise later. Besides you had a rough weekend you deserve it right?"

Angel- "If you start now you can have all the laundry put away, the clutter picked up, and fit in a work out before dinner. Perhaps later you can take the dogs for a walk. Won't you feel so good, won't you have a sense of accomplishment?"

Devil- "You could twist your ankle, pull a muscle in your back and then you would be out for a week or two! Sit back relax, make a glass of tea you have lost a bunch of weight. Today doesn't matter. Besides you slept in so you wasted most of the day anyways."

I think I just had one of those moments on sit-coms where the screen goes all wavy. Where the character has this fantasy for five minutes and then pops right back into the script as if nothing has happened.

I do believe that my obsession with overeating and bad habits is a bit of a demon, sort of like addiction or alcoholism. Addiction will tell you anything and everything to keep you depending on it and to stay in charge.

The overeating and laziness are like one of those old couches that once you settle into it you practically need a forklift to get up. You feel like a bug on its back with all four appendages flailing helplessly.

I am thankful for this blog because it does help bring into focus the problems I have. This addiction of sorts and how warped it can cause my thinking to be.

I think I just have to yell louder than my devil and drop kick her fat ass off my shoulder.

I am going to run now, I have dogs to walk and laundry to fold.

New Day New Numbers!

Nothing like your snuffling wiener dog to make you rise and shine at 6:00 AM on a Sunday. Of course after he is done with his business he isn't ready to go back to sleep. Oh no, time to play, to sniff things never sniffed before. Time to lick you on your face until you get your butt out of bed and play! Ah the joys of raising my four legged 8 month old baby with a tail.

Of course the husband doesn't get woke up. He is happily imitating a bag pipe being run over by a steam roller. Or perhaps a duck being squeezed to death?

So I think to my self.."Self," (this is self talk if you haven't guessed yet) "new week, need to weigh in." I get on the scale and it says 314, I think "Yeah right, you have betrayed me before.". I get on the scale again, 314.1, and again 314.0. Three times a charm baby we have negative numbers! Woo hoo!

Now wait a darn minute! Don't I recall a sinus headache, laying in bed, doing nothing, pity pizza party, and a day of becoming one with my couch? How can it be that I can count every blessed fat gram, every calorie, every carb, every ounce of dietary fiber, run in place, hop up and down every day for a week and gain? Then a couple days off track and I am down four pounds?

Ahh who knows. The numbers are down, the news is good so let's just roll with it shall we?! I have an appointment with my Dr. to keep track of my progress on the 30th thank God I will have something good to say. Sixteen pounds lost since the last time I saw him on January 30th.

With such a long goal ahead of me sometimes it is easy to lose sight of how much weight I have actually lost. I mean if you think about it the average size of a large dog food bag is around 15 pounds. I have lost a bag of dog food. (Picturing myself with a giant orange bag of Iams strapped to ass)
If you had to run around Wal Mart carrying a bag of dog food for about a half hour you would really be ready to put it down. I put down a bag of Iams in two months! Holy cow! Since October I have lost two Iams bags and a 5lb bag of potatoes. No wonder my dogs follow me everywhere.

I think it is important that I celebrate these little victories myself. After all I am the one that has to keep going. I don't have some great life coach following me around screaming "You can do it!". I think I would probably either hit them at some point or fire them repeatedly.

Well this is definitely a good way to start the day and start the week.

Embracing My Inner Sloth

It is Saturday, the sun is shining, the birds are singing, it is a gorgeous day. What am I doing? Frolicking outside, prancing in the sun, nay nay I am on my couch.
I am playing with my Ipod, watching a box set of the X-Files and blogging. Some days were ment to try to become part of your sofa.
Don't get me wrong I love fresh air and blue skies but sometimes pulling the furs up and hiding in the cave are fun.
I have had an off week when it comes to being on my diet and exercising. Sunday begins a new week and I am ready to start anew with a fresh perspective.
One of the downfalls I have had of previous diets has been using any excuse to throw my diet to the wind and go right back to eating like a maniac.
So I am going to succeed by doing things differently. I am going to not worry about the pity pizza party and and the lack of exercising. I will get back on the wagon and drive it like a bat out of hell.
Long live a new week a new day!