Biffster’s WeightJournal.com

Current weight: 308.6
Difference from last entry: -1.4
Difference from 2009 starting weight (316.6): -8

Show notes:

Lost a bit this week. Yay!

Mother’s Day was a problem, but I had been good enough during the week to minimize the damage.

Hydroxycut is in the news, reminds me of phen-phen from a decade ago.

And it turns out that those of us who are obese might just be addicted to junk food.

2002 Study:
Reduction in Dopamine correlation with BMI,  Result: use over-eating to trigger the reward centers
http://www.cbc.ca/consumers/market/files/food/junkfood_addiction/dopamine.html
2008 Study
Very similar: ghrelin.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/humannature/archive/tags/junk+food/default.aspx
http://www.nature.com/oby/journal/v11/n4/full/oby200368a.html

Video entries are fun! I don’t promise I’ll do them every week, but I’ll sure try.

Current weight: 310
Difference from last entry: 0
Difference from 2009 starting weight (316.6): -6.6

Show notes:

Current weight
Eating out
Strange week schedule-wise
Snacks and binging
Food for the overweight like drugs for addicts?

I’ll be back with another video update next week!

This has definitely been a weird week. Most of it was because of schedule changes. I was off on Monday and Tuesday for spring cleaning and a birth within the family. I worked in the office on Wednesday and Thursday, but then worked from home Friday. My wife got off work four hours early on Saturday, so we went out to eat then.

It’s been wacky, for certain. And I haven’t been sticking 100% to the Weight Watchers plan. But I have been making at least some better choices, and I’ve been trying to watch my portion sizes. And so far, this is paying off: according to my scale, I am about a half-pound lower than I was at my weigh-in on Wednesday.

I learn and relearn some lessons, but some I take to heart: if you are going to splurge, make your self stick to good foods while you do so. Have a box of WW 2 Pt. Bars instead of a box of Twinkies. Have a glass of strawberry milk instead of a milkshake. Have a yummy, yummy tangelo instead of a pb & honey sandwich.

Splurge, sure, absolutely if you can’t help it. But minimize the impact.

Of course, one should also avoid Red Lobster’s Alotta Colada. But we won’t talk about that one….

Do you know the Mountain Man
The Mountain Man?
The Mountain Man!
Yes I know the Mountain Man
Who brings the bags of sweets

Do you hate the Mountain Man?
The Mountain Man?
The Mountain Man!
Do you hate the Mountain Man
‘cuz when he comes I eat…

Damned friggin’ vendors selling big bags of candy, trying to tear down my willpower. I’ve learned, though, that I absolutely cannot get large portions (bags, boxes, etc) of candy, ‘cuz I’ll eat every single one.

Current weight: 288.5
Difference from last entry: +/- 0
Difference from 2008 starting weight (290.5): -2

Well, actually “staying steady” is a bit deceiving. I’ve been up and down the last couple of weeks. That was mostly caused by having an excuse: my birthday! My wife E. threw me a big party, and even though she had lotsa healthy food, I still found not-so-healthy foods to eat, too. But things would’ve been okay if I had just stuck with the party. I took my forthcoming birthday as an excuse to go all-out. I started the morning out with one of my favorite coffee drinks, a Colorado Spice Latte from my local Peaberry Coffee. Then it was off to Bruegger’s Bagels – they’re not as good as Einstein Bros., but easier to find downtown – and had one of their Very Veggie Omelet sandwich (nutritional info available). The breakfast sandwich is 11 pts., which is actually within the range of my normal breakfasts. The Colorado Spice Latte added another 6 pts, I think. Maybe 7… so I had 18pts for breakfast. That was not a good start…

Actually, I am spending too much on my actual birthday. Like I was mentioning, it would’ve been okay if I had just splurged on my birthday. But instead, I splurged all that week, and really just stopped now. It was one of those little binge periods I have every now and then. I wasn’t totally out of control, and I was at least making good choices while I was eating poorly. I know that sounds like a contradiction, but it does make sense. For example, I chose a small can of soda instead of a 44 oz. extra-large fountain drink. Small things like that… I was still bad, just not as bad as I could’ve been.

All in all, I am lucky to be where I am. But on the plus side, I can continue forward from this point.

it definitely could’ve been much worse.

Current weight: 292.5
Difference from last entry: +6
Difference from 2008 starting weight (290.5): +2

Yeah, this is bad. There’s no way for me to even try to hint that there’s good news here. This is bad, very bad. I’ve lost track of my goals, and that has made it easy for me to lose track of my habits. I am obviously eating way too much. And the bad thing is that I am not eating good things. Good as in tastes good. Obviously I am also not eating healthy stuff. Or at least not enough of those.

Like I mentioned in my last entry, I joined Weight Watchers again three weeks ago. And proceeded to gain 3.2 pounds in my second week. That was very impressive, in a bad way, considering I am walking anywhere from 40 to 65 minutes every workday. My exercise is up, but my calories are up even more. Way, way more.

I am trying to re-convince myself that I can do this. I can get back on track. I just need to pull myself out of this stupid-ass laziness that I’ve slipped in to. Losing weight is hard work. Learning new, healthy habits is hard work. But it is something I can do. I just need to stop being lazy.