Just a quick video post today. I am still around, just been working through some medical issues. More updates will follow soon.

- Biffster

Current weight: 321
Difference from last week: +0.8
Difference this year: -9.2

Grrr! I am more annoyed with my gain this week than I was happy with my surprise weight loss on my last weigh-in. Mostly because of expectations. I fully expected to lose weight this time around. Sure, I missed my weigh-in on March 9th, but I had a couple of really good weeks (or so I thought). If I lost 2.4lbs on a rough week, I figured I could lose at least that much after my good weeks.

I was wrong.

Actually, I don’t know whether I was wrong this week or last week. Missing a meeting really screwed accountability. Did I have a bad week the week of the 3rd-8th? Or was my bad week from the 9th through the 15th? Did I gain weight the previous week, and lose most of it back this week? Or the reverse? I will never know.

Missing  a meeting caused more issues than just accountability. I felt very disconnected from the whole weight loss thing after 14 days. A large part of this was not having the interaction that I have grown used to at weight watchers meetings. This is strange – for the most part I am a solitary person. I don’t interact much with other people, let alone groups. That just hasn’t been part of my personality. Yet I find myself wanting to be in this community, wanting to share stories from throughout the week.I didn’t realize just how important that is to me until I missed a meeting. It is still surprising to me just how big that effect was.

I understand more now why I always gain weight back once I stop going to meetings.

Video update coming soon!

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Current weight: 320.2
Difference from last week: -2.4
Difference this year: -10.0

Do you ever have one of those times where you sell yourself short? Where you assumed that you had messed things up, that you failed at what you were attempting to do? I have a tendency to fall into that trap. Usually it’s about projects or articles or relationships. This time around, I sold myself short when it comes to staying on-program. I thought for certain that I had a horrible week, that I ate too much throughout the week and I had doomed myself to giving up some of the hard work I’ve done to lose the weight I’ve managed to lose.

So imagine my surprise when I stepped on the scale at my Weight Watchers meeting this week and saw that I had lost 2.4 pounds. And that I hit my 10lb mark. It took me a second to realize exactly what the scale said, and then it took me a little while to not jump up and down with joy. Is there anything more fantastic than an unexpected weight loss?  :)

I expected to gain weight for a couple reasons. First, I craved hamburgers all last week, and I gave into those cravings a few times during the week. Fast food = weight gain, right? At least that’s what I was thinking. Second, we went to visit my Mom for Easter. She had made a batch of panocha, and I had more than a few bowlfuls while we were there. Sweetened wheat pudding has to mean weight gain, right? Third, it was Easter weekend. While I didn’t eat a lot of candy, I still had some. Candy = weight gain, right? Is there really any surprise that I assumed I was going to gain weight?

What I forgot is that I stayed on program almost all week. I tracked what I was eating in my food journal. I stayed within my daily Points every day that week, which left me almost all of my Weekly Points available. Panocha contains a lot of carbs, but not enough to take 40 Points. The candy I had wasn’t enough to screw that up. Earlier in the week I made the decision to put off dessert ’til the next day, since I was out of Points.

I made a lot of good choices that week. I worked hard to follow the program. If I had stopped to think about it, I would’ve expected to lose weight last week. Instead, I sold myself short. Again.

On the plus side, it was a very pleasant surprise!

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Trying to take the ActiveLink everywhere with me. Today is the gymnastics place.

Current weight: 322.6
Difference from last week: -1.8
Difference this year: -9.4

Every have one of those weeks where you know, just absolutely know that you hit one out of the ballpark? And then have the opposite, where you just hope beyond hope that you do well? I’ve been on both sides of that, and I know which one I most prefer! The week of the 20th was an in-between week for me. I knew that I was going to have a good week. But I had made some mistakes and didn’t increase my activity levels the way I need. Balance those out, and it still ended up being a good week.

Sorry, short entry this week. My next weigh-in is tomorrow, and I’ve got a ton of things to do between now and then. wish me luck! I am gonna need it. Too many hamburgers this week, folks!

- M

Weight watchers meeting, March 25, 2013

Getting in exercise is not my favorite thing to do. I figured that I needed to find something that would distract me while getting some activity. Add a glorious spring day here in Denver, a huge lake with a walking trail that goes along the perimeter, and I ended up walking the most that I have in a few years.

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I have a soft spot for drinks. Anyone that knows me knows that is true. I love beverages, especially those that are sweet and fruity. It’s just what I do, it’s the kind of guy I am.

I also have a hard time getting in all of my fruits and veggies in a day. I know I should, it does make staying within Points easier, since those help control hunger. Yet I still don’t do it.

One day I had an epiphany: smoothies = sweet drink + lotsa fruits! Knock two birds out with one stone! What could be better? Well, aside from adding an energy boost to the smoothie?

Of course, smoothies can be crazily full of calories/PointsPlus. One has to be careful, and make good choices with anything we eat/drink. Including smoothies.

Fortunately, Exercise

4 Weight Loss has a great page with Jamba Juice nutritional information. They were even nice enough to list the PointsPlus values for all of JJ’s various smoothies and sizes!

Here’s to my 7-pt light Banana Berry smoothie in the morning! And to the benefits it shows on my weigh-in later today!
Weight Watchers Points – Jamba Juice Restaurant Nutrition Information.

So, you know, it seems that I forgot to post an entry here for my weigh-in on March 5th. Dunno how I did that. Chalk it up to a busy life. And having three kiddos. One kinda goes with the other,

I am down beneath the 325lb mark!!! For some reason, those 5lb increments are huge for me! Sure, I lost 5 pounds. Sure I lost 10lbs since the start of the year. None of that really matters, though. But getting underneath 325 lbs? That, for me, is huge! I am under the three-and-a-quarter hundred, and have that big 3-0-0 in my sights. YEAH!!!!

Of course, the question is: how did I lose so much weight over the last couple of weeks? And there are a couple of easy answers to this.  The first and most important is tracking what I eat. It is quite hard to get better control over what one is eating if one doesn’t know what one is eating. That is a big step one. Second step was being inspired yet again by my wife. I really started to fall off the wagon while Erin was out of town. Her being back inspired me to get back on track. Having her support helps me immensely. Even if we aren’t actively telling each other to do this or eat that.

Third, I got some walking in for the week. My life has become pretty sedentary. Hell, strike the “pretty”. I have allowed myself to become completely sedentary. Whether I am at work or home, I am sitting down or laying down. It’s computer, tv, chatting or sleeping for me. Exercise is non-existent. Activity is practically non-existent. It’s a miracle that I don’t have grass growing all over me, now that I think about it…

Anyway, the ActiveLink from Weight Watchers is challenging me to at least get up and move a little. Erin is challenging me to get up and move a lot. I ended up going with Erin to our local rec center. I walked around the walking track there for a mile and a half, then did 10 minutes on a recumbent bike. That was more exercise than I’ve had in forever. Nothing like giving one’s body a major shock! I’m sure that my heart was thinking what the fuck is happening here? I probably lost most of my weight just from the first few minutes of walking.

I am looking forward to the number on the scale going down more. I am looking forward to clothes fitting me just a bit better. And I am looking forward to my next minor goal: 314lbs (my 5% weight loss according to Weight Watchers).

Onward and downward!

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