Biffster’s WeightJournal.com

Weight: 281.3
Difference from last entry: -3.1 (!!!)

WOOHOO!!!! Once again, another excellent week! And this time around, I knew that it was going to be. Because I had been doing everything that I wanted to do. I had been controlling what I was eating. I had been exercising like I wanted to. I met my goals, and it showed when I got on my scale, and when I put my jeans on!

This weigh-in was on Saturday; since then, I haven’t been quite as good. I had a bad Saturday, eating too much candy and Chinese food. It was almost like a vacation weekend, though, so I am not too worried about it. Sunday was a little bit better. Yesterday was a good day, until I went chair shopping! What does chair shopping have to do with eating badly? I’m glad that you asked!

I went to Office Max yesterday on my lunch break in search of a chair. However, I was also very hungry, and having to wait in line didn’t help much. When I got up to the checkout stand, I saw the bags of Reese’s Peanut Butter nuggets, and just could not resist buying it. My stomach was growling, I was shakey, and I really wanted to eat something, anything. I should’ve just left the store and gotten lunch. But, instead, I got the candy, and ate quite a bit of it before I finally got to a restaurant. I then had lunch. Then, for mid-afternoon snack, finished off the candy.

I learned two very important things from this: first, don’t set yourself up for failure! By going out shopping on a very-empty stomach, I set myself up so I’d be unable to resist any temptation. I should’ve eaten first! Second, that I really should’ve thrown away the bag of candy after I ate lunch. There was no reason to keep the bag by me, but I did anyway. This made it very easy for me to pick at the bag all afternoon, until I had finally consumed the entire contents.

Fortunately, a whole bag of the nuggets isn’t horribly bad. There’s approximately the same amount of calories in one of those bags as there is in a Double Whopper with Cheese. True, this is far more calories than someone who is trying to lose weight should be eating. But definitely not a devastating amount.

The key to weight management is to learn from the mistakes you make. It’s impossible to be perfect. Somewhere on this journey, a person will make mistakes. The mistakes can be bad, especially if we continue to make the same mistake over and over. But if we learn something from the mistake, and what we learned helps us to succeed when we run into a similar circumstance in the future, then the mistake is something that was postiive, that was good for us to experience.

- Miguelito

Weight: 284.4
Difference from last entry: -3.2 (!!!!)

WOW!!! I cannot believe the success that I had last week! For part of the week, I thought for sure that I was going to have gained weight. Not only did I not gain, but I showed my best weight loss in a long time. There is a specific reason for this, too. And I’ll write about that in just a second or two.

First, let me explain why it has taken me so long to update the journal. My girlfriend and I were supposed to meet Thursday night to go to a Weight Watchers meeting. Unfortunately, there was minor flooding going on here in Denver, thanks to really heavy rain. We both decided that it would be wiser to just go home and go to a meeting over the weekend.

Which is exactly what we did. we went to a meeting Saturday morning, and that is where I got this pleasant news. (My girlfriend lost a nice amount of weight, also.) We were both giddy as we left the meeting place. We are once again on the right track, and the weight is coming off both of us.

Saturday afternoon/evening/night I dedicated to building a new computer desk. There was also a Bronco game on during this time. So, by the time I finished with the desk and the game, there was no time to update the journal. On Sunday, I had to move my computer from the old desk to the new one. Then, I had to clean my living room. Then I cleaned the rest of the apartment. And then I went on a (futile) search for a farmer’s market.

And Monday, of course, was Monday.

Now here I am, finally able to update my journal. And it is a wonderful update that I get to do! I am down 3.2 pounds; I’ve lost a total of 5.6 pounds over the last two weeks. And I am feeling wonderful! I already notice a difference in my energy level, in my conditioning, and in the way that my clothes fit.

So how did I go from worrying that I’d gain to actually losing a lot of weight? As far as I can tell, there are two factors at play here. The first is the exercise. I am now walking at least 25 minutes daily. This steady stream of exercise is not something my body is used to. It’s having to burn more energy because of the extra activity that I am doing. This is obviously kicking my metabolism up a notch or two. My body is getting rid of excess weight (fat) to keep up with my walking. I cannot stress how important it is to exercise if you are trying to lose weight.

The second factor is that I am doing a better job than I think I am regarding eating. Now that I am writing down everything that I eat, I am being much more careful about what I do eat. So, while I may go over the maximum amount of points that Weight Watchers allows a person, I am still far under what I would usually eat. Even when I think I am doing bad, I am still eating better (and eating less) than I was three months ago. And that’s why the weight continues to come off of me.

So those are my two pieces of advice for this entry: Exercise, and journal. Exercise to force your body to use some of that excess energy it is storing in the form of fat. Once you get yourself into the habit of exercising regularly, your body will reward you by making it easier to lose weight. And keep a food journal. If you can stick to it, writing down everything that you eat, you will find the areas where you aren’t eating well, and can then work to fix those areas.

Before I close this entry, I’d just like to let everyone know that http://weightjournal.com is now open and fully functional. This is an easier-to-remember address for getting to my weight management pages. Feel free to use it as you please! And feel free to drop me an email at miguelito@weightjournal.com.

Ciao!

(Pre-Weigh In)

Hello again, everyone! I hope that you had a wonderful weekend. And I hope that your week has been relatively relaxing so far. I know that mine has been!

I am actually still recovering from a walk. I logged a little under 3/4 of a mile this morning. Yesterday, I was able to do a little more than a half a mile. I am very pleased with myself for continuing to get out there and walk. It’s exercise that my body so desperately needs.

I can actually already feel positive results from this walking. I am no longer out of breath climbing the single flight of stairs to my apartment. I can walk farther without feeling totally winded. And I can cover more distance in the same amount of time. These are all very good things. And they are positive indicators that allow me to track my progress, and keep my motivation.

Now, for the negative side. My girlfriend and I went to Nebraska this weekend, and I was not good at all regarding eating. I had far too many sweets, and far, far too much alcohol. I am pretty sure that I am going to show a weight gain this week. So I am now trying to prepare myself for this. I think that, the reason I was so upset by my weight gain three weeks ago is because it surprised me. Now that I am ready for it, I hope to be able to take the news in stride.

That’s all that I have for this entry. I should be back a little later on this week. Until then….

Ciao!

Weight: 287.6
Difference from last entry: -2.4 (!!!)

I DID IT! Wow! I am pretty pumped, in case you couldn’t tell. I was able to get myself back down beneath that 290 pound mark. Thank Tao! I feel much, much better than I did at this time last week. A lot of that negative thinking that I sunk into last week has gone away. Now, I am left with a couple of handfuls of motivation. Time for me to put them to use!

As I mentioned yesterday, I am having mixed results at actually doing the things I need to do to lose weight. I have started exercising (walking) regularly; I just got back from a 20 minute walk, for example. But I am still not doing some things correctly. (For example, I had two bowls of cereal last night, even though I had used up all of my points for the day).

Weight management is a balancing act. I have never been more sure of that than I am right now. It’s a series of choices and compromises one must make with ones’ self. If one makes the right choices and compromises, then one will be able to control their weight. It’s that easy; it is not that easy.

Last night was a great example of a compromise. I really wanted to walk over to Phar Mor (which is a three minute walk from my apartment) and get a Hostess cherry pie. For some reason, it sounded delightful. Yet I know just how bad those things are for a person. (We are talking hamburger range for calories and fat.) I was trying to argue with myself, but I knew this was one of those situations where I wasn’t going to get out of eating SOMETHING. So I decided that, if I were going to overeat, I’d do it with something healthy. (Or, at least, healthier.) So I had a bowl of cereal (raisin bran, very high in fiber, low in calories and fat).

The key to this whole game is the compromise, and the choice. Making the choice to not overeat, making the choice to exercise, is what I am striving towards. For the current time, compromising with my 30 years of learned behavior by eating healthy alternatives when I absolutely have to eat, or exercising for at least a short amount of time when I don’t want to exercise, is what I can do to gain control over my weight.

Cheers!

- Miguelito

[Pre-Weigh In]

Okay, I am a little bit nervous here. This is going to be a really quick update; I’ll have a more complete update either later today or tomorrow.

Anyway, I am nervous because I really, REALLY want my weight to be below the 290 mark. I have been trying to be EXTRA good this week. I have succeeded (mostly) in my goal to start walking. Thursday, Friday and Saturday I walked for 20 minutes per day. Sunday I did not. Monday, I walked for a little less than 20 minutes. Yesterday, I had a doctor’s appointment, and used that as an excuse to only get in about 5 minutes of walking. Today, I have done 15 minutes so far, and will get in the extra 5 soon.

My problem (as always) is snacking. I haven’t been able to keep myself from snacking at work. And while I am holding myself accountable for the snacking (making sure that I enter these snacks on my Weight Watchers journal), I haven’t done anything to actually make up for the snacking. I have gone above my allotted points the last four days, mostly because of snacking. [Sigh]

So now we’ll see what the tale of the scale shows. Only about 90 more minutes, and I’ll know what is going on. Wish me luck!

- Miguelito

Weight: 290
Difference from last entry: +1.5

Wow…. I don’t even know how to get started on this… I am very disgusted with myself right now, which probably means that this entry is going to sound pretty negative. But I did not have a very good week weight-wise. And worse than that, I have now eclipsed a weight that I swore to myself I would never be at again.

I almost broke down in tears when I saw that I now once again top the 290 pound mark. I can’t believe that I have let myself get back to this weight. I worked so hard to get my weight down to a reasonable level. And now, in a little less than a year, I am almost right back where I started. (The heaviest I’ve ever been is 295 pounds.) I’ve wasted all of the hard work, all of the determination, all of the dedication that I spent to get down to a good weight, and to stay there. [sigh]

The really bad part about all of this is that I know that I have the strength to lose weight. All I need to do is look back over my old journals, and I can see that I do have the strength. I’ve just forgotten how to tap into that strength. I’ve gotten used to not working hard. I’ve gotten used to not paying attention to what I eat. I’ve gotten used to being lazy, not exercising, not moving much at all from when I get home to when I go to sleep. In short, I’ve fallen right back into all of my old habits. And these habits are quickly adding weight to me.

So what can I do? How can I break these old habits? My girlfriend and I had a heart-to-heart discussion about this very subject this evening. We have agreed to try to help each other through this. She will be providing me with the strength and motivation when I don’t have it. But I can’t just rely on her; I need to find a way to tap into this strenght within myself.

In a way, I have already started to do this. I stopped at the grocery store after our Weight Watchers meeting tonight and loaded up on healthy food. I now have a kitchen full of good-to-eat items. I also don’t have any bad-to-eat items here, so that’s a good thing. I’ve also committed myself to getting away from my desk and taking a walk during breaks at work tomorrow.

These are small steps. But I need to take things slow at this point. I need to make small goals right now, concentrate on awakening that strength that is within me. My goal for this week is to eat better and to get some exercise tomorrow. I am not going to look beyond tomorrow until I succeed at meeting my goals for tomorrow.

Wish me luck. And I hope that you have a great tomorrow

- Miguelito