Pants on the ground

I think last year, there was a mini sensation on American Idol with some crazy old black dude getting up and singing some song about 'pants on the ground'. Today is feeling a little like that. The pants are definitely looser today - thank heavens for belts.
I'm not looking at the scale each day. By happenstance, the scale at the gym has disappeared, and the one I weigh in on each week at home is in the basement, so not convenient. So, I just don' t weigh in each day, and save it for Fridays. Last week was a bit rude on Friday - only losing 1 lb. This week I hope will be better. But, I guess what I'm trying to get across is that with me not weighing in each day, I tend to focus on other indicators, such as the fit of clothing, the way my body feels, the amount of energy I have.
Don't get me wrong, the scale is still THE SCALE. It still says that I am WAY overweight. But, during the week, I can focus on doing my best with eating and working out at the gym, and not worry about some number.

A pound is a pound is a pound

Guess how much weight I lost this week?

Yes, 1 frigging pound.

Now, the man or woman who is within 10% of their goal weight might be satisfied with such a number, but I am not. Not in the least.
-I worked out hard this week. Tried to get in at least 45 min in each session. I even worked out twice last Friday. Yes, I took Sunday and Monday off, but 6 workouts in the week between weigh ins should be cutting it.
-I ate good. Did I cheat a little? Sure. But not bad. Not whole cheat meals. A bite here and there. Hmmmm.... Probably still need to tighten that up. I need to eat more often, and smaller meals, and more protein.
-My body fat % dropped. If I crank the numbers on this, it would mean that I gained 1.5 lbs of lean muscle, and dropped 2.5 lbs of fat. Net loss = 1 lb. But these days, I don't believe that number too much. You see, at the beginning of the year, my BF% was 41. At MD diet they use a foot impedance machine, so it is primarily measuring through your legs. At home I use an arm one. My one at home had been showing me drop from that 41%, but when I went back to MD diet last week, I was still at 41%, which pissed me off. My BF monitor at home gave me a reading of 38.8% this morning, down from 39.4% last week. Fact is, unless you do a dunk tank measurement, it's hard to know for sure what your true BF% is. All the BF scales in the world are just good guesses. So, why use the BF monitor? It gives me a gauge each week to see how I'm doing. Going up, or down.


In the end, I probably did gain muscle and lose fat this week. So, that is good. The frustration comes from looking back at my progress in 2008, and I was losing 4-5lbs / week at this point in the process. It could also be that the drugs are not as effective to me now as they once were.
Regardless of those things, I have to keep going. Like most things in life, I want this NOW, and I don't like waiting. Yet, I know that it is a process, and it takes time. It takes time to change habits. It takes time to get your body convinced that it should let go of the fat that it has.

I was thinking about it this morning in the shower.... I'm hoping it's like a dam, with a small crack in it. It lets out water ever so slowly at first, but the more water that continues to be let out, the more 'erosion' occurs, and the crack gets bigger, and then before you know it, the rate of water (fat) leaving increases. Maybe a rock comes along and gets stuck in the crack every now and then, and the flow slows a little (plateau). Eventually, the water works on that rock enough to make it move, or the dam material around the rock moves, allowing the blockage to go free. Yes, I want the floodgates to open now, and just be done with it, but that's now how it works - and I would kill all the people and things living down stream ( I have no idea what the correlates to). So, for now it's a bit of a dam problem. But, I will work my dam hardest to keep going. The dam will eventually break from the pressure of the water due to gravity. My own personal dam will eventually break, due to the pressure I place on it by consistently working out and eating right.

Was that long winded enough?

Lastly, stats..

This week
1 lb down, 21 total in 5 weeks
BF down 0.6% Down 2.2% in 5 weeks.

Don't short change yourself

This is the battle I have every morning at the gym. It begins with the battle to wake up on time, and not hit the snooze button (which I inevitably do - at least twice). Then it's get dressed and off to the gym. Once at the gym, I am fully aware of the time, and I know what time I have to leave to be to work on time. You see, 3 years ago when I lost all my weight, my employer at the time had 'flex time', which meant that I could come in as late as 10am if I wanted to, as long as I got my work done, and as long as I got at least 40 hours in for the week. Now, I work at a place that is not as flexible, and I HAVE to be there by 8am. Hence, the workout is done by 7:15 sharp, so I can shower, dress and commute. So, what does this long winded explanation mean? It means that I often end up short changing myself in the gym - timewise - workout wise, maybe only getting in about 30 min of exercise.

I read somewhere last week that Jillian Michaels had said that you need at least 45 min of continuous exercise to make the workout 'worth it'. So, worth it how? Well, while any amount of exercise is a good thing, getting up to or past that 45 minute mark is where your body starts have the afterburn - which is your body kicking up your metabolism post workout. I've read this in other places too, and I believe it to be true. While my results have been decent this time around, there are not what I was getting 3 years ago. In 2008, I was getting in 45min to 1 hr workouts at the gym, sometimes more - and I was seeing much higher weight loss numbers each week.
So, the shortchanging part comes into play, of making the decision to get up earlier, get to bed earlier, eating right. I mean, I'm getting to the gym, so I may as well get the maximum effect out of it.

Anyway - this weeks #'s.

Down 3 lbs. 20lbs total in 4 weeks.
Bodyfat % remained the same.

I'm excited that my daughter does not have an indoor soccer game tomorrow at freaking 7am - yeah! this means I can go to the gym!

Good and Bad

The good was losing 3 lbs this week (weigh in last Friday). The cool part of it was actually gaining body mass and losing fat. I lost 3.5 lbs of fat, and gained 0.5lb of muscle.

The Bad was having an extremely busy day Friday an Saturday, not getting to work out, and eating lots of things I shouldn't have.

Have to get back at it this week, to keep going, in spite of it all!

Finding the weight-loss program that works for you - ksl.com

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Read this on KSL.com today. I wholeheartedly agree with what the story says. There is no 1 way to lose weight.
You have to find what works for you. The major barrier is knowing what to do AND then doing it. Everybody knows what they should do, it's just doing it that we have a tough time with.


Finding the weight-loss program that works for you - ksl.com

BTW - 4 lbs this week (weight check last Friday).
Overall Weight: Down 14 lbs
BF%: Down 1.5%

Great workout this morning. Managed to move my wake up time 15 min earlier. Maybe someday, I'll be able to get up
at 5am to workout. For now, 5:45 is proving to be enough of a challenge.

Decisions

It's the decisions you make in the small moments that have the greatest effect. These decisions and their consequences can have a ripple effect on many other feelings and behaviors down the road.

This morning, at 6am, it was 'do I get up and go to the gym, or climb back in my warm bed?" The bed won, until the snooze alarm had to be silenced. Then the simple thought went through my brain.... "I don't want to be fat any more". Time to go to the gym. And so I did.

Which path do you choose?

I'm Baaaack!

How many times do I have to start over at this???? Answer: As many as it takes to get it right, or give up and die.

I can sit around and be depressed about the fact that my last effort lasted for all of 7-8 weeks.
I can sit here and feel sorry for myself.
I can say I just don't care, and start thinking about picking out a casket.

Or NOT!

This week has been great. I got back to the gym - 4 days this week. I feel awesome. Yes, I'm totally out of shape, but I feel great today.

It's the keeping it going I obviously struggle with. Not losing my motivation has got to be my focus. I've got to commit to healthier habits, food, gym, sleep, IN SPITE OF what life throws at me. ( I stole that from my sister, and she from her husband).

I almost feel embarrassed for losing the 10 lbs I lost this week. It should have never been there in the first place! I've been by this place in the scale so many times, they are going to remove the number from the scale and just put my name there! Never the less, I'm going in the right direction, and that is what counts.

So, the gym is back in play. Regular visits to the diet clinic are happening Eating better is the order of the day. The spreadsheet and the numbers and goals that go with it are updated and staring me in the face each day.

This is how it goes.

Press on.