In a Slump

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

I need to get back on track, both with posting and my now titled "so-called-diet."

It has earned that name, not from lack of effort, but from lack of results.

I'm working on not getting discouraged. But I feel that after four months of nearly daily exercise, a lot of vegetable juice and low-fat yogurt and minimal treats, I should have more to show for it than just 8 pounds of weight loss.

I think that I could get better results with more time spend exercising, but it is all that I can fit into my day. And you think that going from zero minutes on zero days a week to 45 minutes on 6 days a week would have had some effect.

I'm sure that I could lose weight if I ate less. But I'm already eating a lot less. I'm hungry a lot of the time, and I'm working on letting hunger be a good feeling. If my stomach rumbles, I try to think, "That's the sound of results." But really, it is just the sound of a grumpy girl.

I feel like I'm fighting against so many things.

One is my gender. Hubster eats terribly, despite my best efforts. And a few months ago, he got in an exercising mood, and spend a few minutes each day jump-roping. In a week, he had lost 3 pounds. With no diet changes. I'm beginning to think it is just easier for men.

The other thing is my metabolism. I feel that it has come to a screeching halt since I've had my kids. It is very easy for me to gain weight. Just a couple weeks of not being super careful (like a job interview trip) and I will gain several pounds. And then they don't come off.

Ever, apparently.

I'm not going to quit. This is the longest I have stuck with any diet and exercise plan.

And there is a lot of evidence that overweight, active people are significantly more healthy than normal weight, inactive people. So the overall benefit is still worth it.

But I want some results!!

4 comments:

Karen M. Peterson said...

I know I'm not really one to talk right now because it seems like I NEVER have time to exercise these days, but one thing I always found that helped me was to change up the exercise routine often. I don't know what you've been doing, but if you're walking/jogging every day, your body is going to get resistant to that. So try a yoga class or swimming, or ballroom dancing. Mix it up and your body will be so happy, it won't be able to help but shed a few pounds.

(And I think it's funny that the word for the word verification to post this is: cycle. Just wanted to share. :-) )

Bonnie said...

Eight pounds! That is great. Eight pounds in that many weeks can mean eight pounds again. You know the math. this really is progress at a do-able pace. Karen had excellent suggestions. You will find that the aerobics and distraction of moving will be a whole new exercise routine, and if activity instead of snacks are used as distraction during the stress, weight can change then too. Gardening is going to be a whole new health routine as well. There can be hikes in your surrounding woods, and maybe regular summer swimming. There is still a bright light at the end of this tunnel. The truth is, men do lose weight easier, faster. Women preserve their fat because they are child-bearers. Signaling female fat cels to increase through hunger isn't optimal.(Stuff you know, but don't want to be true) Its OK to leave yummy snacks like apricot nectar, jerky, almonds and flavored water around so you don't have to feel hungry. Preaching to the choir. I'm impressed and encouraged by your success. Thank you Katherine!

Bonnie said...

P.S. My last note sounded like I was trying to sell you on your own idea. Sorry. But I really am impressed!
After reading your blog I got thinking about the term weight loss, diet (mental equivalent to survive on next to nothing), and the mental work we face. There is the one idea of trying to get rid of weight like,"Will somebody please take this huge chunk of old, lumpy furniture off my hands? Please? Really, It's free!" And the other side meaning we have to give up something. Isn't there something in humans that resists the idea of loss? Why can't we constructively call it The Great Fat Give Away or enroll scientists to make a blood bank equivalent called Lipo Donations for Starving Ethiopia?
When we eat there is a tangeable immediate reward not just for our eyes, but our tastebuds and tummy, reinforced by using the sense of touch when we feed ourselves. Also invoked is the primal satisfaction and comfort obtained from a mother or nurturer. Is there an tangeable immediate reward we can gift ourselves when we are eating H2O and oxygen? Something targeting more than the one sense of imagination:maybe I'm getting thinner, and the traditional, "I'm saying no so I can say a bigger yes to something else" ? It seems like most of the hard work in resisting many things is that those things give responses in real time. Lots of worth while things mean waiting for the possible/maybe not or eventual outcome of things, like the end of pregnancy, a child growing up safely, finishing Med school, buying your own house, or loosing weight. Can we, should we change this? Can we learn anything from the allure in the inviting world of food, fantasy and pleasure? I say we start our own mental and emotional advertising.
Only I can't think of what that would be.

Emma Lilly said...

Hey I suggest, if you can do it. Smaller meals every three hours. a friend of mine at work tried it and it helps. Also a lot of water. lots and lots. hey and I think 8 pounds is a lot