Sarah - if you really want me to read what you write don't start off with "this will piss you off." I won't read it. I learned that the hard way. I did, however, after not reading it - go back and read it - which is how I knew you referenced the Amish "diet." The only part that pissed me off, was you saying that it would piss me off.
Yes - I will be the first to admit that my life isn't as active as yours or Emily's. Kids DO have that affect. While I would consider having a dog for forced activity in my life, I really DO leave my house around 7am and don't get home until 8pm and so that isn't fair to any pet. Besides, dogs really smell. So, barring that, formalized exercise is it. Ugh. I agree with you completely, that light, 20 minute walks won't do it for me. When I DO exercise it is pretty intense 45 minutes fast walks on an incline (Alpine Pass being my favorite). And I actually LIKE doing resistance training. I even liked doing the boxing. You are right though, that I don't sustain an exercise routine. The best I ever did was when I was going to Merritt on my lunch breaks, what - three years ago? Or four? That I DID sustain. I only stopped when Dad went into the hospital. I don't know what kind of impact it had on my weight because I wasn't actually weighing myself at the time. I would weigh in on the scales in the gym on Mondays - but that wasn't at any set time or anything. I do know that I was over 200 at the time, because I was always careful to put the weight thingy back to zero so people wouldn't know I was over 200. I don't know how much over I was though... I think around 210. It never went down.
As to food consistency, I am VERY consistent. I have had so little variety in my diet in the past 10 years that I half think THAT is the problem. Yes, I eat out WAY more than you do - but not more than Katie does, and not as often as once a week by any stretch. When we do eat out we pack up half of the meal at the beginning. I don't eat fried foods - they make me sick. I don't eat lunches out. I pack my lunch every single day. I don't always eat it, but I bring it every day. The people at work don't even invite me to go with them anymore, because I never do! We have had a new person running the deli at work for two years now, and I have not eaten at it one single time! I haven't had Coldstone since I don't remember when - maybe my birthday last year? I didn't go for my birthday this year. I forgot. I do drink Starbucks and Caribou - but how is a skim vanilla latte from there any different than making it at home - it is espresso with skim milk and a shot of vanilla flavor. And I don't do that every day either - who can afford to??? Even when I "tweak" my diet by doing Fat Flush or Atkins (NEVER would suggest that, I have never felt so gross in all my life!) those are generally a variation on what Katie and I eat normally. The "diet" I have done most frequently is the meal plans on the Glucerna website - and those menus are based on healthy eating - they are just planned out by someone else. When we haven't printed those menu plans out. we are following the same general structure. I can honestly say my eating habits are the one part of this that I feel VERY comfortable with. I eat well. You can't convince me otherwise. If Katie were still on this blog, she would agree with me. Yes, she would have too - she eats the same as me. I HAVE tracked my calories consistantly - even the eating out ones - and I DO naturally tend towards 1700 calories. You say 500 calories for a salad like it is a bad thing. 500 calories for a lunch would leave me with just 1500 calories to go. TRY - just one day - eating 2000+ calories, in a balanced healthy way. It is HARD. A 500 calorie salad sounds like a really good idea to me!!
I do work long days. It is very unusual for me to get home much before 8 - and then only if Katie calls me at 7 and says she is eating dinner without me if I don't leave. But - you are right, that leaves me with three hours a day that I can do something. Sadly, exercising vigorously for an hour - or even three hours - once a week doesn't do it... but it would be a start.
2 comments:
Hey Amy,
I just want to be a help. My posts are really intended for cheerleading purposes. I'm not a size 2 (don't want to be actually) but I've been able to find ways to eat well and get exercise that gets me into good shape, doesn't kill my knees (they are bad) and generally doesn't make me so sore I can't get out of bed in the morning.
I don't kill myself at the gym 3-4 days a week either and I eat normal food in portions spread throughout the day.
That's what I found works for me.
I suggested the short 20-minute walks (I have trimmed down that way) because it was a way for me to get myself into a routine when I was just trying to get focused.
I also have dumbells, a bike trainer and a stability ball at home so I can do workouts here. I love having that option.
I guess I just don't want to hear you downtrodden about your weight because sometimes you really do have to search to find something that works for you, even if you've been searching for 12 years.
So I'm saying don't just give up because it doesn't seem like nothing works.
I wasn't suggesting that you actually get a dog (or kids!)--I agree that it wouldn't be fair to the dog to have it home alone so much. I just meant exactly what you said--replicating a more active lifestyle through formal exercise, which is why I suggested an hour of walking (which is what Brian does with the dog every day, and I figure would be the equivalent of chasing after kids) and three days a week at the gym (I was thinking on your days off, but in your more recent post you said that there's a gym fairly close to work, so going during work hours like you used to makes a lot of sense). I think it's really disingenuous of you to say that exercising and eating healthy don't work for you and that you only lost one pound in year one. When I go back and read the blog, in the first several months you were eating healthy and exercising daily (or close to it) and you were losing weight. I think 202 was your lowest, right? You tended not to believe your 215 starting weight because two months earlier you had only been 210, but given that you've gained several pounds just in the past month, I think five pounds in two months is easy enough to believe as "real" weight. So between September and February you lost 13 pounds through eating healthy and exercising. After the cruise, you stopped exercising nearly so regularly and started putting on weight. If you read your posts from April of that year, most of them are "I'm inactive" and "I didn't go to the gym." You've never gotten back on track with exercising since then, and your weight has continued to climb.
Right now I'm over ten pounds up from my lowest weight and I know that the only way I can bring that back down is to increase my activity level. I'm glad to see that you're planning to start exercising again and I really hope that you actually follow through with this plan because I think it's absolutely critical to both weight loss and general health. Would it help for one of us to designate ourselves the new Kristy and nag you each day?
So that said, 2:30 is coming up quickly and I'm off to the gym myslef. Stop reading this and go!
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