mizducky's migrations: a weight management blog with attitude

Weekly weigh-in: stress will do that to ya

Today's numbers:

• Today's weight: 196.0 lb
• Change since last week: -1.5 lb
• Cumulative weight loss: 138.0 lb
• Average weekly change: -1.42 lb

Interesting--first over-a-pound weight drop in two months, evidently in response to a rather stressful weekend. Someone close to me had a health emergency--fortunately, all is now well again, but for about 48 hours I was way busy, and way worried. Now, forgetting to eat altogether in a crisis is not a new behavior with me--but what usually gets me is the post-crisis binge in the letdown after the storm has passed. I did have a post-crisis delayed emotional freakout, which was not fun to say the least! But at least I did not turn it into a post-crisis food binge. So--I'm learning! Hopefully I won't have to test that learning in any other crises anytime soon, but still, it's nice to know.

Weekly weigh-in: quick fly-by on the plateau

Hi folks--forgive the super-brief weekly weigh-in post--I've got hectic life-stuff going on again, so for now here is just yesterday's numbers:

• Yesterday's weight: 197.5 lb
• Change since last week: 0 lb
• Cumulative weight loss: 136.5 lb
• Average weekly weight change: -1.42 lb

Plateauing at the new level. That's cool. Gotta go!

Weekly weigh-in: the downward creep resumes?

This week's numbers:

• Yesterday's weight: 197.5 lb
• Change since last week: -0.5 lb
• Cumulative weight loss: 136.5 lb
• Average weekly weight change: -1.44 lb

Dunno if this is another random fluctuation, or another smidge of genuine downward motion, but hey, I'll take it--especially in the wake of Thanksgiving.

Speaking of which, I'm now more-or-less back to my usual food routine post holiday, and that actually feels good. I dunno if this is psychological or physiological, or maybe a mix of both, but my capacity for rich foods has definitely changed. They seldom tempt me the way they used to, and I seem to be sated with smaller portions. And while I enjoyed most everything I tasted, I'm glad to be taking a break from all that heavy food. Could some behavioral reprogramming actually be happening here? That would be wonderfully cool.

Next up, of course, is Christmas/Solstice/Chanukkah/Kwanzaa/general midwinter hoo-haa, with lots more opportunities to test the toughness of the behavioral reprogramming. But I'm feeling pretty good about my ability to rise to the occasion.

In addition, I've got a birthday coming up on December 18th, and I've decided to celebrate by inviting a bunch of folks out to a restaurant--daring, huh? It's a big Asian buffet, though, and I know how to game a buffet to max out on healthy stuff (veggies, lots of seafood), while just sampling the calorie-dense stuff (fried things, sauced things). Plus there should be something there to suit everyone's tastes and dietery prefs. So--fun shall be had ... without excessive damage to the almighty routine. Yay!

Weekly weigh-in: Thanksgiving survival

These numbers were taken yesterday (in other words, the day after Thanksgiving):

• Yesterday's weight: 198.0 lb
• Change since last week: 0 lb
• Cumulative weight loss: 136.0 lb
• Average weekly weight change: -1.45 lb

As faithful readers know, my tendency is to greet plateaus not with dread but with satisfaction, because according to my regimen, as long as my weight isn't going back up I'm doing the right thing. And never was that feeling of satisfaction over a plateau more appropriate than this past Thanksgiving. For I wound up consuming not just one, but three--count 'em, three--separate Thanksgiving dinners, which makes that plateau not a ho-hum, but a hurrah!

So--how did I manage to make through all those Thanksgiving dinners without my weight going up? Three very simple words: moderation, moderation, moderation.

The traditional Thanksgiving dinner tends to be especially loaded with calorically-dense foods: the stuffings, potatoes, gravies, cream-enriched vegetables--and all those desserts! And lots of those foods have heavy sentimental value. I knew it would be unrealistically harsh to tell myself I was going to stick to the letter of my food plan, so I did indulge in most of those foods. However, what I did not indulge in is that other time-honored Thankgiving dining practice: that of gorging to the point of pain.

I took little bitty servings of the nutritionally-dense stuff, and rather larger helpings of the lower-impact foods like (un-sauced) vegetables, green salads, and of course the turkey itself. And I mightily resisted the urge to take seconds, except for the lower-impact foods. At the end of each meal, I was pleasantly full--but in no discomfort whatsoever. Which was especially nice after the third meal, as that was over at the house of some friends with a hot tub. I could just feature trying to deal with a hot tub if I had gorged like I used to in the Bad Old Days. Instead, it was a pleasurable end to a wonderful (if exhausting) holiday.

What also helped was, of all things, my foodie sensibilities. Somehow, all these years of exploring all sorts of foods seem to have left my palate a bit jaded. Don't get me wrong, I still love food and eating--but let's just say it takes a hell of a lot more to surprise and delight my palate than formerly. So, yeah, I sure enjoyed all of the food I tasted--but no dish mesmerized me in such a way that I felt compelled to keep tasting it (and tasting and tasting and tasting some more ... you all know how that one goes!). In fact, I'm now totally content to go without tasting pecan pie again until next year at the earliest--I used to love that stuff, but the one I sampled just tasted like tooth-achingly sweet goo faintly flavored with nuts and caramel. Not something I want to squander precious food allotments on again anytime soon.

So see: being a foodie does not have to be at odds with being a sensible eater--in fact, with the right mindset one's foodie-hood can be turned from a weight-management liability into an asset.

Weekly weigh-in: back in the saddle again...

Today's numbers:

• Today's weight: 198.0 lb
• Change since last week: -0.5 lb
• Cumulative weight loss: 136 lb
• Average weekly weight change: -1.46 lb

Again, with these half-pound changes, whether up or down, it's hard to tell if any one datapoint is a legitimate trend or just a fluctuation around a plateau. It's only in the context of several weeks' worth of data that one can know for sure. But also again, I'm totally content to be plateauing with a possible downward trend--hey, it sure beats an upward trend!

Plus, even though my emotional turmoil of last week is already settling down to something resembling serenity and acceptance, I'm still tailing out on the after-effects; so I'm just grateful that I'm plateauing, as opposed to having binged out over all the uproar and wound up with a ten-pound gain. (Which in the old days, I would have been more than capable of.)

Life goes on ...

Very belated weekly weigh-in

Hi folks--

Sorry to be so late in posting this week. I had a little personal life-crisis going on, but things seem to be settling back down at this point, more or less. Anyway, here at last are this week's numbers, originally taken back on Wednesday (11/7):

• That day's weight: 198.5 lb
• Change since last week: -0.5 lb
• Cumulative weight loss: 135.5 lb
• Average weekly weight change: -1.47 lb

Yep, still plateauing ... and I'm still okay with that. As a matter of fact, in the "Every Cloud Has a Silver Lining" department: even though I've been going through this life-stuff, my regimen has been sticking together reasonably well. Okay, I have indulged in a little comfort-food therapy here and there--but I have managed to make it fit within the food plan. And I've also been doing a good bit of getting out of the house and keeping active to help keep my mind from over-dwelling on the life-stuff, so exercise has actually been happening as well.

And as for the life stuff itself ... well, compared to the life-and-death level health scare I endured in the summer of 2006, this was, if not easy, at least a lot more manageable. Life goes on, and I'm already going on with it. Peace and love to all beings!

Weekly weigh-in: a return to normalcy, or something like it

This week's numbers:

• Today's weight: 199.0lb
• Change since last week: -0.5 lb
• Cumulative weight loss: 135.0 lb
• Average weekly weight change: -1.48lb

There are still a few wildfires burning around Southern California, and the weather forecasters are predicting another, albeit weaker, Santa Ana "wind event" for this Friday, so San Diego may yet have another go-round with the disaster-movie scenario. And of course there's tons of cleanup yet to be done in the areas that got badly burned. But for the time being, it looks like life is getting back to normal in the community.

And it looks like my weight is back to the normal round of jogging around a plateau point--which is just fine by me, especially since it looks like I'm plateauing around my new under-200-pound setpoint.

This week is going to be kind of hectic on the work/social life front, so I'm getting my weigh-in done early before the chaos starts. I'll report later on how I survive all the work deadline and birthday party action (not my birthday, but that doesn't make it any less hectic).

Firestorm healing vibes -- plus: oh yeah, weekly weigh-in

Hi folks--

Yep, I live in San Diego. Fortunately for me personally, I live well within the urban core (University Heights), so I was not in any danger. But of course I know plenty of people whose lives and homes were threatened by the fire, so I've been spending the week helping where I can, staying out from underfoot otherwise, taking care of myself and Mr. E (who was put a little under the weather by all the smoke in the air), and sending out massive positive vibes for the weather to turn so the fires can be shut down by the firefighters, and for all people affected by the fires to receive the protection and help they need.

Meanwhile, in an effort to get life back to something resembling normalcy, here are my numbers for this week:

• Today's weight: 199.5 lb
• Change since last week: +0.5 lb
• Cumulative weight loss: 134.5 lb
• Average weekly weight change: -1.49 lb

Eh. Especially given all the orders-of-magnitude more earth-shaking life crap that's happening to people all around me in Southern California this week, I'm certainly not going to sweat a little thing like a half-pound upward jog in my weight. In fact, I'm pleased that I did not seize upon the week's emergencies as an excuse to pig out and blow a hole in my routine. Last thing anybody needs around these parts is somebody going into freaked-out bitch mode just because she blew her "diet" in the midst of this crisis. Let's hear it for a sense of proportion!

Continued best wishes for all those affected by, and continuing to be affected by, the fires. This is gonna be a real long haul for a whole lot of folks.

Weekly weigh-in: Back under 200! Plus: walking

First, the numbers:

• Today's weight: 199.0 lb
• Change since last week: -1.50 lb
• Cumulative weight loss: 135.0 lb
• Average weekly weight change: -1.52

I dunno that crossing the 200-pound line again is worthy in itself of massive flags-and-fireworks celebration. After all, this is "again," and is also partly an artifact of switching scales (as I think I've already mentioned ad nauseum). But what I do find worthy of celebration is that, after lots of slow, plateau-ridden weight progress the past several weeks, I've had back-to-back 1.5 pound losses, preceded by a one-pound loss. In this process of inches and ounces, 4 pounds in three weeks is definitely something to note.

And just as I expected, it started happening when I started getting off my butt even a little tiny bit. I've finally started taking the occasional walk in my neighborhood--we're not even talking massive regular walks, I mean just every few days walking the four blocks to the corner grocery store and back--and look what an impact even that modest amount of effort seems to have produced.

And also as I expected, walking--or more specifically, walking in an interesting walker-friendly environment--is turning into a perfect exercise to me. As I think I've also droned on about in this blog before, lots of conventional exercise just bores me to tears. Stationary bicycle? Treadmills? Snore! Silly-ass exercise videos with insipid music played on cheezy synthesizers? Positively deadly to a music geek like me. And frankly, exercise classes would be kind of deadly to my wallet at this point in time.

But the neighborhood I moved into this past June is eminently walker-friendly -- not only are there a plethora of nice level sidewalks, but the neighborhood itself is charming and interesting. So a short-attention-span geek like me can derive endless entertainment from checking out what everybody has done with their garden or cottage, which antique shops are selling which gewgaws, what wacky crap is being sold by the 99 cent store, and on and on and on. And now that the temperature has finally dropped around here, it's actually comfortable to walk.

In fact, it's actually been raining off and on the past couple of days--and you thought that song was right about it never raining in southern California, huh? But I'm now so taken with my first few forays into walking, I'm strongly contemplating suiting up in raingear and going for a walk anyway. How's that for breathing a little new life into the exercise part of my program?

Weekly weigh-in: More deja-vu

Today's numbers:

• Today's weight: 200.5 lb
• Change since last week: -1.5 lb
• Cumulative weight loss: 133.5 lb
• Average weekly weight change: -1.52 lb

So once again I'm verging on crossing that ol' 200 pound mark. I'm pleased, but it kind of takes the thrill out of it to have already done this according to the old scale. Especially since I have no way of knowing, short of hauling the new cheap-ass scale in for calibration, whether this 200-pound mark is any more accurate than the previous scale's 200-pound mark. Ah well. The important thing is that progress continues to be made, and healthy eating continues to happen.

My knee is now completely recovered from its AIDS Walk flake-out. I think it just didn't want to be taken on such a long walk, and thus took evasive action. But I also can't help thinking it wouldn't go out nearly as easily if I were being much more rigorous with exercise. I'm still extremely sporadic, and it requires regular exercise to build up the muscles that would keep the knee properly stabilized.

Maybe if I keep on fulminating about exercise this way, I'll eventually persuade myself to get on with it. Hey, it worked with getting on with weight loss in the first place...