Saturday, September 22, 2007

In the 170's--and a question for you

179.6

It's not an enormous loss, but I'll take it! Running is giving me awesome muscles (the leg ones are nice, but the ab ones are more impressive to me), so my husband pointed out that I may not be able to expect a big drop at a time when my muscle mass is visibly, palpably increasing pretty rapidly. I wish that weren't true, but maybe it will be--and I'd rather have the muscles than have a more quickly reduced weight. I will be thrilled if I can drop .6 pounds per week at this point, honestly. Doing that would still get me where I need to go.

Of course, I'd be thrilled with a good, old-fashioned 2-lb. drop in a week, too.

I had started doing upper-body exercises in our living room on the mornings I don't run. Then we had a friend from out of town sleep in our living room for a week, so that put that aside. But he's gone now, so it's time to get back on track with that!

Last night my husband, two friends, and I went out to dinner. At dinner, I got a side salad and split an appetizer order of homemade chips with blue cheese and bacon with a friend. (I'm not supposed to eat blue cheese but decided to do it anyway for once.) I was really excited about the chips, but after I ate one, I thought, "These aren't as good as I was hoping they would be." I ate a few more, and my nose started itching--my first allergic reaction to most foods. I ate a couple more, and then I thought, "These also really aren't worth the calories." Instead of just blue cheese, they had a gooey bechamel sauce on them--and not a very good one, honestly. The bacon was nearly nonexistent. So I mentally pushed the plate away from me and tucked my hands under the table--feeling mildly full but not stuffed, and glad I stopped. If they had been fabulous, they would have been worth the calories . . . but they weren't.

One very cool non-scale victory occurred last night. After dinner, the four of us were traveling down a busy street when we saw two dogs dart in and out of the road. I suggested that we stop and see if they had collars to call their owners. One had a collar--with no tag--and the other had no collar. But they were sweet, cute, well-behaved dogs who clearly belonged to someone and also clearly did not have street smarts. (Where I grew up, a wandering outdoor dog was common, but in Midtown Atlanta, it's definitely not.) We spent the rest of the night walking the dogs to a friend's fenced yard, walking all over the area to ask if anyone was missing a dog, and finally taking the dogs to a late-night vet to get checked for one of those subcutaneous tags people put in animals now. At that point, we got a call from another friend who had joined our search that while putting up posters, he had come across the dogs' owner. Apparently the guy had taken off one dog's collar to bathe her and let the other one outside as well. He went back inside for a few minutes, and someone opened his fence to let the dogs out. (Sadly, this doesn't surprise me.) But anyway, my point is this: I went all over the place on foot, sometimes gripping a very strong, big blond lab, sometimes running to catch up with someone--and I never got winded or tired. My body was just capable of doing it, as our bodies are meant to do. It's always exciting to realize that something that would have been a struggle for me previously is easy now!

Back to weight: I've lost 24 pounds this year and I'm 2 pounds from my halfway mark, because--unless I decide I want to stop before I get there--my weight goal is 150 pounds, which will mean a 53 pound loss from my recent high weight (and a 76 pound drop from the highest weight I measured--wow!). I am sure that my weight goal is a lot higher than many other people's goals, but I have no dreams or desires to be a size 4 or 6. A 10 would make me perfectly happy and would, I think, not leave me stressing over each bite I eat like trying to maintain a smaller size might.

I would also, next spring, love to be able to wear a bikini and feel good in it. Not a string thing--I can't imagine something skimpy holding up my boobs without hurting my neck and back--but something that shows my stomach without me feeling entirely self-conscious. (By the way, despite all the talk about her being fat, I think Britney Spears had a pretty awesome body at the VMAs. The outfit wasn't very flattering, but I think a small amount of belly on women is attractive. I would love to have a body like she had at the VMAs. I think holding someone up to the ideal of how she looked at 17, before two pregnancies, is crazy.)

What are your long-term goals? What do you envision for yourself six months or a year from now, health-wise, weight-wise, looks-wise? Are you already planning for a celebration of when you reach some goal you have? Are you saving money for the splurge you may do when you reach a certain milestone? I'd love to hear what you are thinking.

9 comments:

Cory said...

Good job on the small loss. Those muscles are more important and will help you out.

Glad to hear y'all were able to find the dogs' owner. That's great. And being able to travel around with that big dog was definitely good!

Salma Gundi said...

Congratulations across the board - on turning down the not great food when you realized it wasn't worth it, on being about to wrangle the dogs without it wiping you out, and for being a few pounds away from your goal.

And with the dogs, as a representative of dog owners everywhere, I thank you for taking the time to stage a dog intervention. You and your friends definitely warded off a horrible end scenario for those dogs and their person by doing so.

To sort of answer your question - right now I have as goals to keep up a routine of exercising and eating as well as I can in the period of before we move, while still allowing myself to enjoy the feting and celebrations that our friends want us to participate in. And for after the move, my goal is to establish new routines for food buying/prep and exercise and after achieving those norms, try out the new activities available.

Is that nebulous or what? :)

Painless Mama said...

Good for you! I'm most impressed with the bleu cheese refusal. I'm allergic to any cheese with mold and I know the feeling. But after the last time I tried to eat "just a taste" of brie and had hives all over my face after about an hour. I know better.

As for my goals. 150 is mine too. That's about 20 pounds away. I've recommitted to keeping a food log, and exercising. Not easy with a 4 month old, but even a walk with her in the carrier is better than nothng. (She weighs 14+ pounds after all.)

~~Midnight Raider~~ said...

Congrats on the 24 pounds this year! That's a huge accomplishment and deserves big kudos!

Mary said...

Just letting you know that I just discovered your blog through frugalcuisine and love it! I had a baby four months ago and am trying to lose all the weight I gained while pregnant and then some, and your recipes sound great. I'm also a total foody and am definitely a proponent of the local, organic food movement, and your blog is really inspiring. Thanks :)

Grumpy Chair said...

Wow 2 pounds away from the half-way mark! And entering the 170's. Congratulations.

I love non-scale victories!

My goal for this year is to weigh 12 pounds less than I did last December 31st. The same with next year.

Girl on a Mission... said...

Thanks for taking care of the doggies. My parents have three, we have one, and my sister has one. Sad to hear of the lonely little pals running around without an owner. I would have done the same thing. Great read today! Thanks for dropping by my site. I'll add you to my daily read!

Jen C. said...

You know what? I've finally stopped obsessing over what I'm going to do "when," and have made a concious decision to focus, instead on the things I can do "now." I've put off fully living my life for the last 20 years, always thinking that when I'm thin enough I'll do this, that or the other...So, no more. Well, with one exception. There is a certain threshold that I must cross over before I'd ever consider getting pregnant (for health reasons), and it will be nice to know when I reach that weight that my husband and I can start trying whenever we feel like it (versus having that restriction to work around).

Keep up the great work, btw! You're doing an awesome job!

Sally JPA said...

Thanks for the support, y'all!

Mary, when I get my new blog fully functional (could it happen this weekend??), I will be posting lots of recipes with pictures again.