So I suppose it is time for an update on my exercise/weight loss project. I set a goal this year to reach a certain weight by the end of the year. It meant I’d need to lose a total of about 35 pounds (since I started in about July of last year) which seemed pretty daunting, but I figured it was less than a pound a week if I gave myself a whole year. That’s pretty doable, and very realistic. So I set about it, working my tail end off (quite literally, in fact) to lose the weight and get in shape. I worked out for around 90 minutes a day and cut WAY back on how much I was eating. I was getting up early (5 or so every morning) so I could fit in my exercise and shower before my kids get up (because honestly, I don’t get much done when my kids are awake other than maintaining my household and caring for the kids, so if I don’t do my workout in the morning then I don’t do it at all). And slowly but surely I began to see the pounds drop off. I was doing lots of cardio exercise and a fair amount of strength training exercises (with hand weights and my own body weight). I also increased my water intake quite a bit (anywhere from 64-130 oz per day, depending on which month you want to know about). I found I actually have some muscles I’ve never noticed before (the strength training brought those out after I lost enough weight that they weren’t covered in fat any more) and I went on a shopping spree to replace my wardrobe (you try losing 35 pounds and then see if any of your clothes fit… if you need an excuse to go shopping, this is a fabulous one).
And so, in May of this year (2008) I met my weight goal. I had lost the 35 pounds I set out to lose, and it was even before my birthday (in June) which I had set as my hopeful completion date. I was, to say it mildly, pleased and excited to have reached this goal.
Unfortunately, this glorious accomplishment wasn’t to remain for long.
I backed off on my exercise – took it down to about 45 minutes a day. I slowed down on the water intake – down to 64 oz/day. And I started eating more. (Side note: these are all things you can and should do when you reach your weight loss goal – because if you don’t mellow out with all the stuff you were doing to lose the weight, you’ll keep losing more and pretty soon you won’t be more than skin and bones!)
Frustrated, I watched the numbers on the scale climbing again. Within the course of about 1 1/2 months I had added another 10 pounds. Talk about a major bummer! I was upset with myself because I knew EXACTLY what the problem was, and yet I still did nothing to change it.
My problem? I love to eat. I love food. I’ve mentioned this before. Food is one of my vices. It is a necessary part of being alive – to live, you must eat. But for me, food is emotional, it is social, and it is fulfilling. I eat when I’m stressed, lonely, or bored. I eat when I go on a date with my husband or when we go out with friends. I cook because I love cooking, and then I eat the food I’ve cooked because otherwise it just goes to waste.
And so, in desperation, I signed up for a boot camp offered by one of my neighbors. I was determined to get the weight back off. I gave myself a stern talking-to and decided that NO MORE would I eat an entire batch of frosting simply because I accidentally made twice as much as I had intended (that’s the sort of thing that happens when I talk on the phone while I’m cooking). NO MORE would I eat the entire bag of chocolates, just because I opened it and I love them so much. NO MORE would I eat the whole box of wheat thins just because I love the taste of salt. And NO MORE would I eat the whole jar of peanuts simply because they are open. And so I increased my exercise time again to 90 minutes/day and I vowed to cut back on my food intake again.
Boot camp was interesting. It taught me new exercises that I hadn’t ever seen before. It gave me the motivation to keep trying to lose weight, even though my previous attempt had failed to stick with me. I also learned that my 64 oz per day of water intake was good, but not enough. My instructor taught me that in general, I should be aiming for at least 100 oz per day, and even more if I’m trying to lose weight. That for every 15 minutes of exercise I should drink 8 oz of water. So I changed that as well, and started drinking around 110-120 oz per day. But still, I wasn’t losing any more weight. Try as I might, the exercise and food modifications weren’t making a difference.
So I talked to my boot camp instructor. I told her my dilemma. I told her I was frustrated because I was exercising 90 minutes a day, 6 days a week. I was not eating everything in sight (much to my dismay). And when I worked out, I was getting my heart rate up where it needed to be. I had changed up the exercises I was doing (a good idea every 4-6 weeks). And still the weight hung on.
She said, I’m sorry to say, that most likely it was my nutrition that was plaguing me. *Sigh* My old friend, food, was at it again. So I told her that I had lost the weight I wanted to about 2 months before, but that I had felt hungry a lot of the time and dissatisfied with the food I was eating because I never felt full for long. She told me I needed to be eating foods with a lot of fiber as that would help me to feel more full. And then she said the magic words – the words that clued me in to my mistake and answered the question of why I couldn’t seem to keep the weight off. She said, "It all comes down to calories in versus calories out. You have to burn more calories than you take in if you want to lose weight." Simple, but I had never thought of it before in those terms.
And so, as is typical for me, I went home and began to research. I had to find the answer to my problem. I started by looking at some of the foods I typically eat, trying to find out how many calories are in them. And I looked at that in connection with how many calories I need to consume to maintain my weight with my current activity level (meaning minutes per day of exercise). And I looked into roughly how many calories I was burning doing the different kinds of exercises I was doing. And then the realization came that, although I wasn’t eating the whole world any more, I was still eating WAY too many calories. I was devastated to find that just the week before I had managed to eat all the calories I needed for a whole day in just one take-out meal! I began to examine the meals I typically eat when I go out and found that I could easily consume nearly a day’s worth of calories in one meal when I went out. And so the answer to my problem had come. And I have become something I never dreamed in a million years I would become: a calorie counter.
For nearly 2 weeks now I have been tracking the number of calories I eat each day, and keeping it where it needs to be for me to lose weight. And I’m proud to say that since starting that, I have lost about 4 of the 10 pounds I had previously put back on after my first weight loss attempt. I’m on my way to success, and this time I will be able to keep the weight off because I have taken the time to educate myself about food and exercise and weight loss. And in a few more weeks, when I have met my weight loss goal (again), I’ll re-evaluate my exercise time and caloric needs and modify my habits to reflect my new goal: maintaining my weight. At that point it will become a balancing act, where my goal will be calories in equal to calories out.
Amazingly, though I’m consuming a considerably smaller number of calories than I was when I gained back the 10 pounds, I’m still feeling like I get enough to eat. I’m not starving all the time, and because I know how many calories I get to eat I’m making better choices about what I will eat. I do everything I can to make those calories go as far as possible, because while I want to lose weight, I don’t want to feel hungry because of it. And it is possible to do this if you’re willing to put some time and effort into it. I have found that my best bet is to plan the night before what I will be eating the next day. That way I can keep my calories in check, be sure I get enough foods from each food group, and make sure I’m eating enough food often enough that my stomach doesn’t feel empty. (Hopefully some day soon I will be able to recognize good food choices without having to look them up.) These changes have made a huge difference!
During my research, I found a few things online that have been a WONDERFUL help to me. And so, in the spirit of sharing and wanting everyone else out there to be able to reach their weight loss goals and keep off the weight, I have listed a couple of web sites that have helped me in amazing ways to figure out what I needed to do. Good luck to you in reaching (and maintaining!) your weight loss goals. Learn from my mistakes so you don’t have to make them. The information you need to lose weight and keep it off is out there if you only take the time to look at it and educate yourself. Hopefully these will help save you some precious time!
www.mypyramid.gov – a wonderful tool for calculating your caloric needs as well as learning what types of foods you should be eating, what counts as a "serving", and what food category each food fits into
www.calorieking.com – a great place to find out how many calories are in the food you’re eating (includes some fast food and restaurant foods as well)
