Losing Weight, Wk 2 (**STICKIED**)

Hey, so I said I would post a weekly report on my weight loss progress. As of tomorrow, Sunday, I will be into Week 3 of my weight loss plan. I've set a goal of 10 weeks to lost 10-15 lbs. The funny thing is I don't have a scale yet, so I have no idea how much weight I've lost of gained over the course of the last couple of weeks. I'm going shopping tomorrow, so, hopefully, I'll get one then.

I want to respond to some comments made on my personal post from a few days ago. Jameel had this to say:

I stopped eating lunch. I started drinking lots of water, stopped all junk food, stopped all coke and drinks but water. The first 2 months were awful, but I've lost 20 lbs and feel great. Now I'm slowly starting to eat again...dieting and excersize are the key.
And lots of willpower.

Well, Jameel, I don't think you should skip any meals. I have been trying to establish a pattern of eating at least 3 meals a day, and trying to make them each as healthy and filling as possible. As I've said before, I've been involved in the fitness industry since I was 15, and I've learned all the tricks of trade. Skipping meals does two things. 1) It makes you hungrier through the day and more likely to binge or eat a big meal later at night. 2) Instead of using fat to burn energy, your body will feel deprived as store the fat for later use. That's bad. You don't want that.

Staying off the coke and drinking just water is an excellent way to go, and I'm right behind you on that. However, I don't believe in dieting. Dieting is statistically proven not to work. I believe in eating in moderation and eating the right foods. Do I always follow it? No, of course not, or I wouldn't be in my current situation. Take this Motzei Shabbat, for example. I ate two sandwiches when I knew that I would have been completely satisfied with one. And, my second sandwich was on an oily onion roll. Logically, I knew better, but I gave into temptation. And, think that's where the will power comes in, and I don't believe it's so much that. I haven't fully convinced myself yet that eating that extra sandwich or eating some french fries are not in my best interest, and they won't help me achieve my goals. I think when that finally sets in, will power will no longer be necessary. You can't lose weight on will power. It just aint gonna last for very long.

jaynkaystone said:

My husband has a friend who dropped around 100 lbs in a year simply by not snacking or taking seconds. That's much healthier than not eating. I'm happy to join your crusade towards healthyness and in fact just joined a gym. Here's what i've been trying to do 1) not snack on nosh but rather things like carrot sticks, celery, snow peas, apples etc. 2) not take seconds, this is extremely hard for me since i love food :-) 3) french fries, truth is i talk about quiting more than i actually do but it's amazing how bad for you they are 4) no soda & 5) some sort of exercise a day, via the gym, running up the apt. stairs etc.
It's really the little daily habit changes that make the difference and the weight will actually stay off rather than just crash dieting. No elevators, no oily snacks & waiting b/4 seconds to let your food settle, it turns out the food really isn't going to disappear if i don't shovel it in. We've always been a great team, i bet nothing will stop us now :-)

I couldn't agree with you more. I am definitely trying my best to adopt that philosophy. Tonight was a minor setback, but, on the whole, I believe that I'm really working toward that mentality. I'm trying to eat very slowly, putting my food down every 3 bites, so I can let it settle. I'm finding that when I stick to that, I'm full before I finish my meal, and I'm satisfied for longer. (As I'm writing this, I can tell you that my decision to have that second sandwich is not sitting so well. My stomach feels over-full and heavy. It's not a very good feeling. It's actually kind of nausceating. Maybe that will be the kind of motivation I'll need to not do it again.) I dont need to address everything you wrote because I completely agree with you on everything you said. It's the little things that will make the ultimate difference, and I know it. Now, I just have to stick with it. And, I know we make a great team. So, let's do it!!

Finally, in the exercising field, I'm working out 6 days a week. Meaning, that I rest completely for 1 day, but every other day I am doing some sort of exercise. I change it up every day to keep my body motivated and non-complacent. I have weights and a fitness ball. When I first started working at fitness centers, these babies had just come out. I swore by them then, and I swear by them now. It is such an inexpensive yet amazing piece of fitness equipment. You don't have to buy anything else, really, if you have this baby, but I do encourage you to get a set of weights. It looks like a big plastic ball, but it's a total work-out, especially for the stomach. You get a workout just by sitting on it. The beauty of it is that you use all your core muscles to balance yourself on the ball. So, the first time you sit on it, you'll actually feel your abs tightening. And, doing a sitting on the ball is twice as effective as doing them on the floor. Why? Because you're not only using your stomach muscles to do the sit up, you're also using your core stomach muscles to balance you on the ball. The thing costs, at the most, $20, and you can put it any-where. And, just about any that you can buy comes with an inflator. Just make sure to get the one that's right for your height.

I also have a work out tape and a stepper machine (the person who lived in our apt before us moved back to the states and couldn't take it back with her, so she just let us have it). Every other day, I use the stepper for cardio, the ball for sit ups, and the tape for my arms. The other days, I just use the tape. It keeps things interesting. So, for now, that's what I'll stick with.

Since I'm up at the in-laws right now, things are a little topsy turvy. I can't do my tapes, but the good thing is my in-laws live on a hill top. So, my husband and I have been taking 30-45 minute walks around the Yishuv, going up and down inclines. Been working up quite a sweat. The food is the bigger problem. My husband and I keep no snacks in our apt except for some whole grain crackers and some nature valley bars. But, his mom is big on the snacks. She also wants to make sure that I have stuff, so she buys tons of pareve snacks for me to eat. She also is an excellent cook. Unfortunately, she makes a lot of fattening foods. But, here's the BIGGER problem. I don't know how to politely tell her that I'm trying to cut back on snacks and lose weight. Do any of you have any suggestions? When I first started coming here, I complained that there weren't any snacks I could eat. Now that there are, I'm supposed to tell her no thanks?!? She very big on the food category, so I do politely let her know I'm eating healthy now? So far, when it's come to that point, I've said I'm not hungry, or I'll eat the cookies or whatever later. I don't think that can go on for much longer. HELP!!!

Anyways, that's all for now. Until next week....