Ego Over Matter: Weeks 11 & 12: Removing the Monkey

You may notice that I have not posted an update the past couple of weeks. There's a reason for that. No I haven't quit, but I have been less focused on the diet front for the past two weeks. This is two-fold. First, it's because I want to spend some time to let my head and body rest a little before I pour on another ten weeks of focus. The second is because I had to get a monkey off my back.

One of the things that, like clockwork, tends to happen whenever I decide that I need to lose weight, is that my caffeine consumption starts to rise, first slowly, then precipitously. I noticed at the end of week 10 that I was averaging 4-6 Diet coke drinks every day. That's a lot. Too much, in fact. that's almost 200 mg of caffeine per day, which would be equivalent to two cups of coffee each day. Being a Latter-day Saint, I don't like that comparison (and yes, I am perfectly aware that Diet Coke is not part of the Word of Wisdom, I've rationalized that argument hundreds of times over my lifetime). Caffeine is a wonderful little appetite suppressant, but it only works for so long, and then you need elevated doses to get the same effect. I've decided this time around that I want to get to my weight without the little helper taking part of the credit. So I've spent the past two weeks dealing with a cold turkey withdrawal of caffeine from diet soda.

How does it feel? So far, it hasn't been too bad. I haven't had the headaches or irritability I've had in the past, but I definitely notice the appetite suppressant quality being gone. I feel hungry a lot more often, and I find myself snacking often in spite of myself. I'm trying to supplement this by drinking protein shakes during the day. I'm not ashamed to say, it's a darn lousy substitute (LOL!).

So my next cycle officially begins today, and this time, I decided not to weigh myself. Have I relapsed a little? Yeah, I'm sure I have, but part of me is OK with that. this time around, I'm going to do it without my "old friend", because i want to prove to myself I can do it. Frankly, I think I'll feel better about the result. Here's to "round two" :).

Ego Over Matter: Week 10: Steady the Hovercraft

So at the end of Week 10, I tipped the scale at 240 pounds, which is down two pounds from my last weigh-in, a total of 10 pounds dropped total, 42 pounds away from my goal of 198 pounds, and effectively a two week flat-line when taken together. I'm hovering, and I don't like it.


One of the challenges is that I'm in class right now. I'm working on the Bug Advocacy class for the Association for Software Testing. Don't worry if that doesn't mean anything to you, the key is that it's messing with my schedule and my hours, and it's causing me to spend less time walking about and more time curled up with a laptop and typing. Not a great formula for weight loss success, so after this next week, when the class is officially finished, I meed to up my game.

How to do that? I'm working it out, but I have free weights, I have a Swiss Ball, I have a mountain bike, and really, I have zero excuses. What I don't have is a lot of time, but actually, that is also not true. I have the same1,440 minutes every single day, so somewhere in there, I should be able to fit 30 to 60 minutes of doing something active and physical. You know the old line "if you are too busy to do [fillInTheBlank] then you are too busy!" It's not a matter of time, it's a matter of choice and what matters to me. I claim to want to drop the weight, but until I actually get out and run a few laps or pedal a bike for awhile or take the skateboard out for a ride or start pumping some iron, I'm all hot air!

So yeah, I need to make a priority on dong more movement, because the food option is kinda' reaching its limit, and I want to see the progress bar start going down again. Overcoming inertia is always the hard part, so that's my plan, overcome inertia, as soon as class is over ;).

The ABC's of Me

Clarese did this, and hey, I'm going to borrow it from her as well. Think of it as a diversion from my current obsession with losing weight :).

A. Age: 43
B. Bed size: California King
C. Chore you dislike: Mowing the lawn
D. Dogs: Rikku (Corgie)
E. Essential start to your day: check on the fish upstairs, make sure everyone is OK and all the food is gone.
F. Favorite color: Hunter Green
G. Gold or silver: silver
H. Height: 6'2"
I. Instruments you play(ed): Primarily a singer, but I an play a little guitar, bass and drums, plus plunk out some chords on a piano.
J. Job title: Software tester, instructor, podcast producer, writer
K. Kids: 3 of them :)
L. Live: San Bruno, CA
M. Mom's name: Dorothy
N. Nicknames: went by Kelly as a stage name
O. Overnight hospital stays: so far, my birth is it
P. Pet peeves: Overly padded writing, which is ironic because I am certainly guilty of it.
Q. Quote from a movie: "Self-realization. I was thinking of the immortal words of Socrates, who said, "... I drank what?"" Chris Knight (Val Kilmer), Real Genius
R. Righty or lefty: mixed (write with right hand but do a lot of other stuff left handed)
S. Siblings: Oldest of 4 (one brother, then two younger sisters).
T. Time you wake up: 4:30-5:00am, typically
U. Underwear: standard issue ;).
V. Vegetables you don't like: haven't really met one yet that fits that bill :).
W. What makes you run late: train schedules
X. X-rays: teeth, shoulder, ankle, lower back
Y. Yummy food you make: I have an awesome cayenne pepper salmon dish, speaking of which, I'd really like to make that again, thanks for the reminder :).
Z. Zoo animal favorites: Lions and Tigers are all the rage!

Ego Over Matter: Week 9: Vacations Rarely Lead To Weight Loss

So at the end of Week 9, I tipped the scale at 242 pounds, which is up two pounds from my last weigh-in, a total of 10 pounds dropped total, and 42 pounds away from my goal of 198 pounds.

This past weekend we went down to Fresno to visit with our friends. Usually, as you can imagine, these trips tend to involve a lot of dining out, socializing, and frankly, not a lot of rigorous control on the diet front. Thus, I fully expected a bit of a rebound this week, and yep, I got it! Of course, going to John's Pizza, an Asian buffet, bagels and Dairy Queen didn't help matters *AT ALL* (LOL!), but hey, I'm not going to play the miserable little dieter while I'm out with my family on a visit, so I was prepared to take the hit.

On our road trips, whenever possible, we like to find fun and unusual sodas that we’d never tried before. This trip, we explored the options that Fentiman’s offered, including their Curiosity Cola, which I discovered is one of the oldest small brew colas still made, Burdock soda, which tastes a bit like bubble gum and licorice, and Shandy, which is a beer soft drink… yes, you read that right! It’s basically a malt and barley soda pop with sugar and lemon.

Interestingly enough, with the hit, I'm actually back on the even keel I'm supposed to be with a 1 pound a week loss, and I'm actually still a pound ahead. Remember I stalled for a week, then dropped four pounds the following week, then dropped another pound, then back-tracked two. All told that puts me at losing 11 pounds in ten weeks, which is ahead of where I intended to be in the first place, so no harm no foul :).

It can be frustrating, though, to spend a lot of energy hoping to see a drop and not seeing it happen, but then, I also realize that the prepared foods often have higher sodium content (hey, it's part of what makes them taste good ;) ), and that higher sodium content directly translates to higher water retention, meaning this could all slip away in a couple of days of getting "back to normal". This is why I don't freak out too much about the day to day weight fluctuations, and rely on my weekly "weigh-in" to balance out the story. My weigh in just happened to come after my weekend away. Justifying much? Absolutely (LOL!). Ah well, it's a new week and a new chance to get back on the horse, so here we go again...