Quick Catch-up

I've been quite busy and haven't had a chance to update as I should have but I am finally out from under the immense pressure of deadlines and such. So I will be updating soon.

Weighting For Skinny Progress Report - Saturday April 7, 2007

Late posting. I am so tired. I had to force myself out of bed this morning and workout. I did take a four hour nap - ridiculous. Thankfully it's Saturday. I've had a busy week which means limited sleep. I think I averaged about 4 1/2 hours of sleep each day this week - so I guess I was bound to crash at some point :(

My weight has been bouncing all over the place this week - From a low of 137 LBS to a high of 140.5 LBS. It's been very disappointing and frustrating. I continue to work out even while discouraged about the weight reading on the scale because something must be changing as my clothes are much, much loser fitting. My measurements overall also show progress (see below). That must be a sign of progress, or at least I hope it is.

Anyway to the progress report:
Start Weight- 144 LBS
Height - 5'
Current Weight - 138.5 LBS - No Change

Goal Weight - 110 LBS (28.5 LBS to go)
Starting BMI : 28.3
Current BMI : 27.2

Neck : 14 inches - No Change
Upper Arms: 12 inches - Lost 1/2 inch
Waist : 32 1/2 inches - Biggest overall loss, 1 1/2 inches.
Lower Belly: 35 inches - Lost 1/2 inch
Hip/ Butt Area: 39 1/2 inches -Lost 1/2 inch
Upper Thigh: 21 1/2 inches- Lost 1/2 inch
Chest: 36 inches - Lost 1 1/4 inch

Increasing Weights

Yesterday, I finally moved up from lifting the five pound dumbbells to lifting the seven pound weights! I'm quite excited that I can lift seven pounds during my workout now considering that when I started a bit over six weeks ago I was fatiguing after working out with just the three pound weights. Anyway, that's a major milestone for me.

And if being able to work out with heavier weights wasn't enough to get me all giddy, I can happily report my waist area is slimming down. My jeans actually don't fit snug there anymore! Just two months ago I couldn't get my rings off unless I got my fingers all soapy. Even wet and soapy removing the rings was a painful struggle and today my rings are twirling on my fingers (all by themselves). My fat fingers are slimming down with the rest of me :)

I'm becoming a true believer in strength training as the optimum form of exercise for those transitioning from a very sedentary lifestyle to a more active lifestyle. The "8 minute Workouts" are easy to manage and I am actually sticking to the program. In the past I started off with long, hard aerobics and found myself quickly getting injured, feeling exhausted and eventually quitting the program and regaining the weight. Now I am taking it easy. Slowly building up my exercise program one day at a time. I plan on adding some type of aerobic exercise to the mix by the end of April. I like swimming, so I might do that. I also have several Denise Austin and Gunter Core Training DVDs I can workout at home with, so I might go that route if I'm still too bashful to be seen in a bathing suit come end of April.

Addiction to Food

While researching the subject of emotional eating - which happens to be my biggest obstacle to losing and keeping the weight off - I came across this particularly insightful passage discussing the Twelve Step program for compulsive over-eaters:

The third step of the Twelve Steps suggests that “we made a decision to turn our lives and our will over to the care” of a Higher Power. Compulsive eaters may believe that they are relying on their will power in all aspects of their lives other than in their relationship with food. However, if challenges and obstacles in day to day life are encountered, the likely source of comfort may continue to be food, not the illusory “willpower.” Recognition that food has become the default Higher Power in all of our decision making processes is a profoundly humbling experience. Therefore, surrender may entail the realization that the preoccupation with food has a much greater degree of influence in making decisions that seem at first glance to have little to do with mealtimes or waistlines.

- source Rudd Sound Bites

Without a doubt I use food as an emotional crutch. I can't explain why. I know when it started - as a young teen but I can't understand why. I guess some people become needy and hang on to others for emotional support ( I mean the crippling neediness that some exhibit), others find comfort in a bottle of whiskey or drugs - my addiction is to food. Eating when I'm not even hungry. Eating when I'm stressed, eating when i'm happy, eating when i'm sad and eating for every moment I feel that my life is spinning out of control. I just eat and in a crazy sort of fashion it brings me comfort even while I despair about my weight and my health.

Starbucks Grande Mocha Calorie Fest

If you're dieting and the weight isn't coming off at the rate you expect then I would highly recommend taking a look at those "little extras" in your diet (like my grande Mocha) for their actual caloric value. I googled "Starbucks grande Mocha" and in five seconds I learned the awful truth about my daily indulgence.

My research indicated that my daily addiction to Starbucks grande Mocha - added over 600 extra calories to my daily intake. Let me repeat that - over 600 calories!!! I thought that at most it would contain about 250 calories. Coffee is calorieless, fat free milk should be well fat free ( I know it has some calories but at most it's 90 calories for eight ounces). Yes,I cop to adding the whipped cream but for all that's good it's only a tiny bit not like 300 calories worth of bad fat. Could it be the mocha? I don't know but my Starbuck runs are over.

Those 600 or so calories are possibly the culprit for my very slow weight loss. I anticipated losing about a 2LB a week based on my South Beach Diet and my consistent "8 Minutes in the Morning" workouts instead I've only been losing weight at the rate of one pound a week.

I can't be without my Cafe Mocha so I figured a way to have my daily indulgence without having to pay such a high caloric price. I went to my local grocery store, bought Starbucks Espresso coffee (0 Calories), some Hershey's dark chocolate syrup (110 calories for two tablespoons), Splenda and regular Half & Half and fat-free milk. I use 1/4 Half and Half, 3/4 fat free milk, 1 TEASPOON of the chocolaty stuff and voila for under 275 calories I have the same size drink and it's just as tasty. Oh, and I save almost $4.00 a day - not bad. I should be getting skinnier while my wallet will be getting fatter not a bad trade-off. I will put those savings aside for the purchase of my skinny clothes :)