SDMB Weight Loss Club, January (08)

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
181

Nothing new on my weight (still walk around at ~174lbs, down from a high of 212lbs about 2-3 years ago; 5’ 10" male, age 37) however I wanted to point out some of the less-visible yet critical benefits of being healthier overall.

I used to check my blood pressure and pulse regularly when I gave blood (can’t do so any longer since I was in England in 1980 and they pushed back the cutoff dates due to Mad Cow disease) and hadn’t in a while, so today at the drug store I used their blood pressure machine.

107/53 - pretty good. 120/80 is the upper end of “normal” for an adult. That’s not a huge drop compared to where I used to be but it’s a significant difference.

Resting pulse 65 which is fine - WebMD says 60-100 is normal for adults, 40-60 for a trained athlete.

High cholesterol runs in my family and since I was a teenager my levels have been “high”. When I was almost at my goal weight over a year ago I had a full blood analysis done and everything came back in the normal healthy range - first time in almost 20 years!

So aside from the goals that we all have (look better, feel better, do things we couldn’t before, wear smaller clothes, etc) I just wanted to point out that there are things which don’t show on the outside but that are measurable and go right towards living a longer and healthier life.

182

Weighed myself this morning and I’m down a pound from last week - not bad considering I ate out three times last week (I also only hit the gym twice rather than three times). So that’s 9lb in total in three weeks. I’ve already had people say to me I look like I’ve lost weight, even people who I haven’t told that I’m on WW!

183

I weighed in this morning and I haven’t lost any weight since last week. I did start my period last night though so I am all bloated and swollen and my assumption is that this is why I didn’t lose any weight. When I weigh in next week hopefully I will be on the losing track again.

184

232, down 3 from last week and 11½ from the start of the year. May be time to drop another jeans size soon!

185

Hey, does anyone here work out with their kids? If you do, how do you do it and how old are they?

I was thinking that I’d start including my son in some (very easy, not-rigidly-structured) morning workouts to compliment the 2-3 time a week evening workouts I’ve managed to carve out all by myself. Any suggestions?

Oh, and I finally saw a specialist about my cholesterol Friday. I found out in October that it was ungodly high, which was what motivated me to start losing weight in the first place. Since I was going to India, I didn’t take the time to seek someone out to help me monitor it more closely (though I knew I should have); however, I’ve finally done it, almost 20 pounds later. I’m reviewing my hopefully improved numbers with him in two weeks. Wish me luck!

186

221 earlier today. Had a bad day starting Wednesday evening and it lasted until yesterday. Today’s been good though and I’m back on track.

187

Luck wished, overlyverbose. When I was a little kid (5 years old, maybe) I loooooooved to do aerobics videos with my mother. They were like Simon Says.

I am down another pound this week, for a total of four in January. I am perfectly happy with that, especially since I got no exercise at all in the first two weeks.

The shinkendo is slowly starting to tell, too. My arms are firming up. Thank you, senpai, for all of that 44 no suburi and go san go!

179/175/165

188

Well, I finally got to see the hoity-toity Manhattan endocrinologist about the steriods I’m on that caused me to gain so much weight (about 70 lbs now). He was incredible–I spent over an hour with him, the longest a doctor has ever spent with me–and sent me for a boatload of tests. He told me that, in addition to the weight gain, the steroids put me at risk for diabetes or, at the very least, insulin resistance. After all the tests are back he’s going to wean me off, maybe completely, and give me guidelines on what I should be eating. Hopefully, the glucose tolerance test will not show any diabetes problems (my mom was Type II, and my sister is on the cusp).

Most of this should be settled by March, after all my tests are in. He said that weaning off of the steroids could take months, and then I’ll have to keep an emergency supply in case I get symptoms of adrenal insufficiency or go into adrenal crisis, which would be bad.

At least this is a step in the right direction . . .

189

Alas, up 2 pounds this week to 164. I was bad yesterday; I made some bread and had a venison sandwich for lunch. And it was so yummy, I had two more…oops! Oh well, I’ll behave better this week.

190

That’s a huge accomplishment! Sometimes it’s really hard to make time to take care of your health and it sounds like you’re on the right track. Good luck and let us know how it went.

I worked out with my son for the first time this morning. We had a great time, though his attention span lasted about 10 minutes before he wanted me to hold him. Which actually worked out well - the workout was much harder when I was carrying a toddler. It quickly degenerated into a mad dance session, which was just as fun.

Sadly, I’m still up one pound, though I was up two, so at least I’m working my way back down. My mom is visiting and, despite the fact that she knows I have high cholesterol, she’s still cooking some really fatty foods that are loaded with butter and cream. It’s really irritating that the people who love you most are often the same people who sabotage the heck out of your diet, no matter what you tell them. With my mom, food is definitely love.

Anyway, to keep things manageable, I’ve taken over a lot of the cooking. And when she cooks, I take extra-small portions and load up even more than usual on the veggies and fruit. She’s a little offended, but she’ll have to deal with it. Surprisingly, it hasn’t been hard to make those choices now that I’m in the swing of things - despite the fact that my house is full of cookies, gingerbread, red meat and cream-covered casseroles, I’ve been managing pretty well (though still indulging a little) because I feel better when I don’t eat much of that stuff.

191

Boy, it’s been so hard to break the bad habits I picked up over the holidays. I think I’ve got them licked now. At least I hope I do. Weighed in at 144 this morning. Yay! Another half pound or so and I’ll be down to my lowest weight ever again. And if my bad habits stay broken, then I’ll be well on my way to 120 once more.

Bought several size 14 pants this weekend at the thrift stores. A few are a tad snug and others fit just right. When I was heavy, I stuck strictly to jeans. Now I’m really liking all the variety of nicer slacks available to me. And blazers! I’m short-waisted but when I find one that fits right, gee, I think I’m looking pretty good, if I do say so myself. :slight_smile:

Continued good wishes to all of you fellow Doper Dieters. May this year bring lots of progress to all of us!

192

Ceejaytee, good for you for working out with your son – the dancing sounds fun! It sounds like you are doing a good job of dealing iwth your Mom’s sabotage, so give yourself a pat on the back.

I’ve managed to stick to my food plan and my exercise goals so far.

Sattua, I’d love to hear more about your experience of shinkendo. I did search for and look at the main website, and in the distant past, I’ve done the kinds of weapons training you get in regular aikido dojos, but nothing as intensive as your shinkendo workout looks like. What is your experience? How does it feel for you? Do you do a lot of rolling (I saw some people taking falls in the website video) or knee work?

193

overlyverbose, that small of a change could be nothing more than water weight. Even if it’s a substantive change, depending on your build and exercise, going up in weight might not be a bad thing, really. One of the reasons I didn’t drop much weight for a while when I was getting back in shape was because while I was losing fat I was also gaining muscle. That means my net change in weight was nil even while my body composition was improving.

A few years ago I read an article written by a professional fitness trainer who lamented the fact that a couple of women over the years he’d been doing training had quit his exercise programs because they were “gaining weight.” Despite the fact that their body shapes had changed — for the better — they had scale-blindness. Nothing other than their weight mattered to them, for some reason.

In other words, don’t worry much if you go up a bit. If it actually is fat, that little is easy to get rid of again (and my guess is that it’s a small fluctuation, not a real gain). If instead it’s due to keeping with the exercise, pat yourself on the back.

194

Last year I started Jan 1 weighing 134.6kg, or 296.7 pounds.

I did pretty well (posted in the 2007 thread a couple of times) and got down to 103kg (227lbs) in time to go away on holidays.

Even though we ate all kinds of delicious, anti-diety sorts of foods, we were so busy that when I returned I found I weighed 101kg (223lbs). Oh, happy day!

Unfortunately, I proceeded to screw that right up and between pre-Christmas, Christmas and New Year I went back up to 106/233. I am so very, very pissed off at myself for having done that.

Anyway, I decided to get back on the wagon and eat good, healthy food in whatever quantity was required … I unfortunately got used to big portions again, so I’m sort of weaning myself back to correct portion sizes while making sure that what I do eat is reasonably low-cal.

I’m back to 229 at the end of the month. It’s not fabulous weight loss, but I feel better at least. I’ll feel even happier once I get back to 103 (pre-holiday weight) and better again when I get to 101 (post-holiday weight).

Anything from there on will be pure Happy Achievement Weight Loss.

I’m aiming for 80kg, which is a little less than 180lbs. I hope that I should be able to do this by the end of the year, even allowing for the expected plateau period (which, since I’m not much into exercise, will probably hit me hard around May, if not earlier).

I don’t know if it’s been mentioned, as I’ve been too busy to do more than skim the Dope lately, but another great resource for weight loss is a forum called 3 Fat Chicks on a Diet … there’s some really extraordinarily inspirational stories on there. I only lurk there, but I have found the personal stories to be really interesting.

195

For some reason, out of nowhere, I’m dropping weight again! Until today, my lowest adult weight had been 189. Then I bounced back up to 190, and stayed there for three months. (Went up to 192 overnight a couple of times, but when two pounds come to visit that fast, I discount it as fluid). So I hadn’t weighed in a couple of weeks, and thought I’d get on the scale this morning, just to make sure I’m on track with my plan of “maintaining” while awaiting surgery. Knock me over with a feather, I’m 187!

There are two factors that may play a role here. One, my GYN ordered a series of iron infusions for me, and I am feeling more energetic, so I’ve been less lethargic. I haven’t been consciously exercising more, but I wonder if I’m moving enough for it to make a difference. Two, that same GYN put me on Prometrium (progesterone) to stop my constant periods. I also wonder if having my period almost non-stop was causing more fluid retention than I realized, and now that it’s stopped, my body is flushing out.

I could be either of those, a combination of the two, or just my body being weird again.

But I’ll tell you this, my GYN had offered to let me check into getting a tummy tuck the same time as my hysterectomy, and after much deliberation, my hubby and I decided not to (details on request, but it’s even more boring than the rest of this drivel I’m spouting). Now I’m really glad. You’re not supposed to get a tummy tuck until your weight has been stable for 3-6 months. If you get a TT, and then lose 20lbs. it’s going to need touching up.

Congrats and continued success to all you losers!!

196

See what happens when I try to make things clearer? I start switching around madly between pounds and kilos and suddenly look like I’m promoting anorexia. :smack:

What the above SHOULD have read:

I’m back to 104kg/229lbs at the end of January. It’s not fabulous weight loss, but I feel better at least. I’ll feel even happier once I get back to 103kg/227lbs (pre-holiday weight) and better again when I get to 101kg/222lbs (post-holiday weight).

197

You should take a lesson from us 'Mericans, and stubbornly, positively, absolutely refuse to use metric, except when buying 2L bottles of Coke! :smiley:

198

I joined a slimming club two weeks ago - the first week I gained 1.5lbs which wasn’t a surprise 'cos I’d been away for a couple of days at a wedding so had been unable to cook for myself. The second week I lost 2.5lbs so I’m happy with that.

My starting weight was 173.5lbs and today I’m 172.5lbs so I’ve managed to lose the gained weight and a little more. Not bad, considering. I was hoping for a steady loss of around 2lbs per week so hopefully things will continue that way.

199

I just realized that January is almost over and I haven’t really started. My weight is holding steady at around 172 but I can’t seem to get my walking routine back. I’m just not motivated to get up at 5:30 and take a 5 mile walk in the dark. I got the Leslie Sansone walk at home video and I’ve done it exactly once. I have to say that while it’s a good workout she’s so annoying that I want to punch her in the face or at least put some duct tape over her mouth by the end of it.

I have been better about portion control and making good choices when I’m out so that’s a step in the right direction.

I need a kick in the ass.

200

You kidding me? If you had the chance to be 229 pounds or 104 kilograms, which would you *really *prefer? :smiley: