Category: Weight Loss

Project New Me: Week #8 or Will-Power, or Lack Thereof #newme

Health, Project New Me, Travel, Weight Loss

Weight: 194.5 lbs (up 1.5 pounds)

Average Hours of Sleep: 6.6 hours

Total Workout Time: 0

Total Calories Burned: 0

I did very well this week until our little trip. You see, my nephew was born last Sunday which meant that this Sunday would be his bris. This meant driving to Buffalo, NY and the temptation of lots of good food. I would like to report that I sucessfully fended off all such temptation and stuck rigerously to my diet. I would like to report this, but I’d be lying. The truth is, I’m not so good when it comes to food-based temptations. I’ve gotten better over the years, but show me some bagels, cream cheese and good quality lox and my points-notebook gets tossed aside. Oh, and if there’s tasty rugelach and hamantashen to boot…. well, you get the point.

That said, I didn’t do too bad. I only gained a pound and a half. I’ve learned in the past that, when attempting to lose weight, you don’t confine yourself so strictly that you’re not allowed an indulgence or two. And, if your indulgences go beyond what you planned for, you don’t bury yourself in guilt. That will just lead to more eating and less weight loss. Instead, you accept what happened and try to learn from it. This might means taking steps to increase your willpower or putting yourself in willpower-comprimising situations less or simply planning in advance when you know such a situation is coming up. It is ok to fall off the wagon here and there so long as you immediately get back up, dust yourself off and jump right back on the wagon, gripping it tighter than before.

Project New Me: Week #7 or Closing In On My Goals #newme

Health, Project New Me, Weight Loss

Weight: 193 lbs (down 4.5 pounds)

Average Hours of Sleep: 6.8 hours

Total Workout Time: 0

Total Calories Burned: 0

On my first week back from Disney World, I didn’t expect much weight loss. I found myself hungry and snacking all too often as my body adjusted from “Eating Lots Of Wonderful Disney Food” back to “Eating My Normal Lighter Fare.” Still, I must have done a good job because my weigh-in showed a loss of 4.5 pounds. I’m now a mere 6 pounds to my goal!

Still, roadblocks still are in my way. The first roadblock will be this weekend. My new nephew was born last weekend and we’ll be attending the bris this coming weekend. (Weather and child health permitting.) At the bris, there will be a lot of good foods to eat. In addition, that whole weekend, we’ll likely be eating out which means higher calories.

The next roadblock comes in five weeks. At that point, we’ll have the eight day long matzoh-fest known as Passover. During Passover, foods that are normally allowed aren’t permitted. These include not just breads, rice and other grains, but corn, beans/legumes (including soy and peanuts), and a few others. You wind up subsisting on a lot of Matzoh which isn’t conducive to weight loss at all. I plan on treating Passover weight-loss like I treated Disney weight-loss. I will try to make healthy choices, but won’t sweat it at all. I’m definitely not going to try counting points at all. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a few pounds packed on during Passover.

To mitigate Passover’s effect, I’m going to set a mini-goal of reaching 189 by the Sunday before Passover. This means losing 4 pounds in 5 weeks which is completely doable (especially considering that I’ve averaged 2 1/3 pounds per week so far). I also won’t count my goal as being achieved until Passover is over. (As I could hit 187 before Passover and then gain 5 pounds during Passover.)

Here’s hoping your #NewMe goals are going as well as mine are.

Project New Me: Week #6 or Post Disney Weigh In #newme

Disney, Health, Project New Me, Weight Loss

Weight: 197.5 lbs (up 0.5 pounds)

Average Hours of Sleep: N/A

Total Workout Time: N/A (though I walked a TON at Disney World)

Total Calories Burned: N/A (again, though, I walked a ton at Disney World)

As other posts of mine said, we spent the past week at Disney World. The food there is so good that I decided from the start that I wouldn’t count calories at all. I gave myself a week off from thinking about weight loss and freely ate cheesecakes, pizzas, ice cream, Tonga Toast* and other things that should have packed on the pounds. And yet, the scale only rose by the smallest of amounts (half a pound). Why? Well, when one sees Disney World, one walks. A lot! B had a pedometer on and I believe she said it was something in the order of 15,000 steps a day on average. Since 2,000 steps roughly equals a mile (this can vary based on stride length but let’s rely on this figure for the moment), this means we walked about 7.5 miles per day. No wonder my feet were so tired at the end of each day! Also, no wonder that I was able to burn off all of that fattening food. If you’re walking 7 or more miles every single day, you probably can eat whatever you want without packing on the pounds. Let’s call this the “Disney Diet.”

Of course, I couldn’t stay on the Disney Diet forever. For one thing, I need to earn money. Until I figure out a way to get Disney to pay me to wander around their parks riding rides, taking photos, and blogging about it all, I need to go to my 9-5 (ok, 8 – 4:30) job. Now, if anyone at Disney is willing to pay me my current salary to be a “professional Disney guest”, I’d be more than willing to take them up on the offer!

Getting back to my weight loss, I actually expected to gain up to 5 pounds so I’m in a very good position. I have 15 weeks to go and just over 10 pounds to lose. I’m not going to rest on my laurels** but I’m feeling pretty confident right now.

* To everyone who’s never heard of or tried Tonga Toast, boy are you missing a treat! It’s a thick piece of sourdough bread stuffed with bananas, dipped in a milk/egg/vanilla mixture, fried and topped with cinnamon and sugar. Not healthy by any stretch but oh-so-good. I plan on attempting a healthy version at one point.

** I was going to make a Laurel and Hardy gag here, but “resting on my hardy” just sounded too risque. Of course, now I’ve gone and made the gag anyway!

Project New Me: Week #5 or Goal 1 Hit #newme

Health, Project New Me, Weight Loss

Weight: 197 lbs (down 0.5 pounds)

Average Hours of Sleep: 6 hours

Total Workout Time: 0

Total Calories Burned: 0

Yes! I did it! Yatta! (To non-Heroes fans, that’s what Hiro Nakamura shouts when he accomplishes something.) Although I didn’t exercise at all this week, I was able to lose half a pound by watching what I ate. This might not seem like much, but every little bit helps. In this case, this little bit helped me hit my first goal. And just in time for Disney World, too! I’m writing this early, so by the time you read this, I should be getting plenty of exercise walking around Disney World! I fully expect my next weigh-in to have a weight increase though due to Disney’s great food.

Project New Me: Week #4 or Hitting of Goal 1 #newme

Health, Project New Me, Weight Loss

Weight: 196 lbs (down 1.5 pounds)

Average Hours of Sleep: 6.5 hours

Total Workout Time: 41:36

Total Calories Burned: 299.5

Well, I did it. I was shooting for losing 10 pounds before I went to Disney World and as of this weigh-in, I’ve lost 11 pounds. Goal #1 achieved! Now, I just need to keep the weight off until I head for Disney.

The sleep average is a bit misleading. On Friday night, I was up a few times during the night with NHL. That, combined with a sleep deficit during the week consired to make me exhausted. B was nice enough to let me sleep in. I wound up getting 10 hours of sleep that night. Except for that night, I’ve still been unable to get a good night’s sleep. And, as you can see, I’ve also had trouble keeping up with my exercise regimine. I’d like to use the excuse of preparing for the Disney World trip, and that is partly the case, but the problem is just life. I get home, get everyone fed, get the kids in bed and suddenly there is too much to do and too little time. I plan to keep working on this and not get discouraged.

For now, I’ll take the victory of being 11 pounds down. Only 9 pounds to go and 16 more weeks. This is definitely doable.

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