Friends can make you crazy. Friends can make you sad.
And friends can make you proud. And they can make you happy. And that make you laugh. And laugh. And laugh.
This week my friends have been amazingly supportive. They’ve fussed over me. Told me how good I look. Even suggested I could stop losing weight.
This is me smiling. Thanks friends.
Now that I’ve lost 70 pounds, I can feel the port a bit more when I put my hands just below my rib cage. It feels a bit more at the surface of my skin. I don’t think it’s moved, but rather the layer of blubber covering it has diminished slightly.
I also experience a feeling like a cramp or a side stitch from time to time. Sometimes I feel this when I’m sitting in the car, or less often after eating. The feeling passes after a while, and it’s not painful.
I think the band is living up to its good press. It helps me regulate how much I eat, plain and simple. I can feel when I’ve had enough food, and it always less than I would have chosen to eat in the past. In conjunction with this I think I’m making wiser choices when eating. I do more planning on what I’m going to eat throughout the day, and try to make sure I get enough protein at each meal.
I don’t beat myself up when I do have something that’s not a “diet” food, e.g., beer or dessert (though for some people beer=dessert), but I do limit the amount and I feel I’m taking part in the festivities.
After slightly more than five months with the band, I’m pleased with the results and my progress.
This plateau is over, thank goodness. And even better than that, I’m more than half-way to my goal weight.
I know this half will take more time to lose than the first half, probably more than twice as long. I’ll have to deal with it – I think I can.
But for right now – Yeah me!
Photo by Austin Capsey
For the last three weigh-ins I’ve been gaining and losing the same pound. This means I’ve officially plateaued – or perhaps stuck in a rut is more apt. I am miffed, and suprisingly for me, not overly miffed.
I went to NYC last week and though I didn’t go overboard, I did have foods I haven’t in a while, and I did enjoy some beers. I balanced that with a lot of walking. Now at home, I’m back to the usual routines and foods, and I hope I can lose some by the next weigh-in. If I don’t I’ll have to … actually, I don’t have a plan … yet.
At Slimband the nutrionist said that when we go into a plateau she’ll help us out. This help begins by documenting our meals. I so dislike doing that. There are some websites that help you do the documentation, which may make it easier. I find meal documentation a burden. I’ll pick that burden up if at the next weigh-in I haven’t lost at least two pounds. (Here’s one website that could help with record keeping: www.fitday.com.)
In NYC one of my travelling companions met a young woman who had laprascopic surgery about two years ago. She lost 130 pounds in about 18 months. She is in her early 20′s. I hope that could be true for me – but weight loss in your early 50′s is not the same as in your early 20′s. Good for her though. Really good.
Going to do some rowing now, and then a walk to try and get out of this rut.
Today is a day to think about what you eat. Stop dieting and start eating.
Not over-eating, eating. Eating food that makes sense, in quantities and qualities that are good for you. Here’s a good article from www.divine.ca, an online women’s magazine.
And here’s an article describing why a day was set aside to think about not dieting – it’s from about.com.
So, I’m not dieting today – I’m eating the right amount and the right stuff for me.
I lost weight again, thank goodness.
I know I shouldn’t obsess, and I know that I shouldn’t expect to lose weight each week. But that is my expectation. No amount of self-talk helps me … I just have to live with it. Live with the idea that I’ll continue to lose weight each week, and then live with it when I don’t.
On the happy side, I’ve had a couple of days of uber walking. Of course my little muscles are screaming, but never mind. I also know that at some point in the not too distant future I’ll have to kick up my exercise a notch or two. I’m just not quite ready to do that. And by “that” I mean going to the gym and using the torture equipment. Sounds lovely, doesn’t?
I had my teeth whitened this week. One’s teeth are graded on a scale of A1 – D4, with D4 being the dingiest. My teeth were D3-D4. Now they’re D2-ish – you can’t jump from the “D” line to the “A” line apparently.The procedure itself wasn’t onerous – it only took about two hours start to finish. I’m happy with the result.
Hey I just realized! I haven’t said how much I’ve lost. I’m down 65 pounds. And people have noticed. Two people whom I haven’t seen in a little while saw me this past week. Neither realized it was me to begin with, and both were very complimentary. Thanks S & B, it means a lot to me.
A happy week! Yeah me!
