Biffster's Weight Journal

Weight: 284.2
Difference from last entry: +2.9

D’OH! Actually, I am not all that worried about this weight gain. As I said in my entry on the 29th of August, I kinda expected this. I haven’t had the best of week’s the last couple of weeks. I’ve been eating too many bad meals, and snacking a little too much. (Nowhere near what I used to snack, though.) It adds up, slowly but surely.

However, like I mentioned, I am not too worried about this. I am not worried about the weight gain, because I was prepared for it. And I am not worried about straying a little bit from the Weight Watchers program, because I was consciously choosing to do so. I chose to eat the meals that I did. I chose to snack the times that I snacked. I wasn’t out of control. And, while I did stray from the program, I didn’t stray too far. All in all, I am more encouraged than disappointed with the last two weeks.

So now I look forward to the next few weeks. I am slowly pulling myself back on track. I am improving my meals, and I am cutting out the snacking. I’ll probably still show a gain for this week. But after that, we’ll see my weight start going back down.

Before I sign off for this week, I’d like to quote from an email I received this week:

I am 278 pounds, 5′ 6″, 52, and disabled. Moving to burn off calories is very difficult. I eat because it feels so hopeless. I was a model years ago, worked out regularly and know what to do to lose weight. At this point exercise professionals won’t work with me because they are afraid I will get hurt and they will be held responsible, even when I offer to sign a waiver. Dr’s take one look at me and won’t even talk about effective ways to reduce my weight. I can see in their eyes that they think I am too far gone. My husband loves me, but does not respect my requests to eat nutritious meals, and not eat late in the evening — (he does the shopping and cooking).

I know you are there to encourage and be an example. But truthfully, what can I do that will possibly come close to getting off all that I have to lose to be healthy?

This is a really difficult question to answer. You are definitely in a sticky situation. But you are not in a hopeless situation. It is still possible to find help. The first thing to realize is that, unless you are working with some really poor physicians, they are not thinking that you are too far gone. Physicians are also probably the best way to get started on a weight management program.

Talk with your family physician to begin with. Don’t be afraid to talk about your weight with your physician. I know that it can be embarrassing, I know that it can be painful. If you are anything like me, the last thing you want to talk honestly about is your weight. But it is absolutely necessary in this instance. Let your physician know that you are serious about trying to lose weight. And then listen to what your physician has to say.

I am guessing that your physician will want to start you out slowly. Losing weight slowly is always the best way to ensure being able to keep the weight off. Plus, it’ll put less stress on your body. Be patient, but know that even slow weight loss is good weight loss.

If your physician is unable to help you, seek a second opinion. Do some research on the internet, looking for physicians who specialize in treating people in your situation. Help is out there, hope is out there.

If anyone else reading this has any suggestions for this writer, please email the suggestions to me at miguelito@weightjournal.com. I’ll be sure to get these to the writer.

Thanks for reading, everyone! I hope you stop back by soon!

– Miguelito

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!