Weight Loss Unexpected

Archive for December, 2009

I am finally over my sickness, which lasted a week and a half. I was really hating it. No energy whatsoever, constant headaches and fatigue. Thank goodness I am on the mend and can get on with the holiday excitement, including taking my little one to see Santa and his (real) reindeer, finishing up the shopping, and baking Christmas cookies and fudge!

For the last two weeks, my exercise efforts have been kind of frustrating. I really enjoy getting outside for a walk a couple of times a week, and I usually do that when the kids are all in school and my daughter is in preschool (twice a week). But there have been school delays, cancellations, ice storms, and temperatures in the teens. So I only got in one ten-minute walk over the past two weeks (well, mainly it was because I was sick… but other circumstances are conspiring too). I really miss my walks! And now that school is out until January, it doesn’t look like I am going to get much walking in at all this month. (Yeah, I get all the comments of “just take the kids with you” etc, but trust me that would be a bad idea in this weather. My little one has health issues that would make such an action very unwise.) Anyway, I’ve been biking instead. It’s just as effective, or maybe even more effective than a walk, but not as refreshing or stimulating or enjoyable for me. But I just do it anyway. I biked 6 days out of the past 2 weeks. The other days, I was just too sick. Now that I am back to better health, the biking will happen daily.

Yesterday I continued my “new plan” of eating *with* my cravings instead of against them, enjoying such carby, fatty, salty delights as chicken enchilada soup, a sandwich with veggies and herbed cream cheese, chocolate truffle Godiva coffee with half & half and sugar, chocolate pudding, chicken sausage, a cookie, and a yummy pile of mashed potatoes with butter melting over the top, generously salted. It was really good and I did not binge at all. And this morning I am down another pound, back to 226 (I had reached 229 on Wednesday). I totally expected to gain or maintain with the way I am eating the last couple of days but apparently my body knows what it needs, or something… which is confusing because in the past I have binged myself into oblivion giving in to my cravings. I am not sure what’s so different this time. I still get the wild urge to binge every so often but I have been going into a dark bedroom, lying down for 10 minutes, just riding through it, trying to relax and breathe until it passes. Or until a kid comes and jumps on me.

I expect the rest of the month to be a challenge. Cookies, candy, fudge, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day traditional foods. One of the biggest challenges I face is crackers and cheese. It’s one of my biggest binge foods. I mean I used to eat a good half pound of cheese and a whole box of crackers in a sitting. Something about the combination sends me to another world. It’s like getting high. Seriously. I am not sure yet how I am going to handle it. My family *loves* the traditional spread of cheese, sausages, spreads, dips, and crackers. I am mulling it over to figure out what I am going to do with this. And finally, the anniversary of my father’s sudden death is coming up. I do not cope well. I’ll probably post about it. And try not to flip out and be a basket case about missing him.

Okay, so in 2 weeks it will be 2010. Whatcha gonna weigh on Jan 1? Two weeks… well you could weigh more, or less, or the same. Your choice! Try and let 2009 go out with some dignity and not spend the next two weeks bingeing and eating whatever garbage is put in front of you. Give yourself a Christmas give of self-respect. I may not lose a ton of weight in the next 2 weeks, but I am at least going to make my best effort to eat in a dignified manner.

Have a great weekend

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Read more on: The Medical News

Well, after that weird hormonal binge and a gain of 2 pounds on the scale, I did some reading and thinking. I have found some evidence that suggests a reason for mid- to end-cycle binges, but I’m still pondering and will put that in another post. For now, let me share what I did to halt the “crazy rolling ball” of binge eating.

You know how once you screw up and binge, it is easier to do it again the next day? Harder to quit? It is for me, anyway. And with the hormonal stuff that’s going on, I had to make a decision about how I am going to handle it.

If you haven’t read my previous post, you might want to do so. By way of background, my female cycles seem to have something to do with my eating habits:

Days 1-14 or so, it is easy to eat healthy. I do not think or obsess about food AT ALL. I feel:
happy
positive
calm
light
energetic
awake
friendly
focused

Then somewhere around Day 15, I lose it. I start thinking about food ALL THE TIME. I crave fats, refined carbs, and sugar. I feel:
irritable
distracted
annoyed
worried
heavy
tired
like I want to withdraw
scattered

Those feelings stick around for about a week. Then, the cravings calm. But instead of feeling happy and energized, I feel exhausted from fighting the tiredness and irritability of the previous week. So the last week of my cycle feels:
defeated
tired
confused
like I am trying to get my feet back under me

Interesting? I’ve charted for 3 months now and this is pretty consistent.
As for the hormones, days 1-14 are predominated by estrogen. Then, mid-cycle, estrogen fades and progesterone increases. During that third week when I have difficulty, progesterone is at its peak. And, as I mentioned, there are actual scientific studies that suggest that people with binge eating disorders and bulimia are heavily influenced by these hormones, and that binges are far more common during the second half of the menstrual cycle.

Now. Do I throw up my hands and say, “oh well! Can’t fight nature!” and eat a pie? Nah. But I am also *not* going to fight and struggle and battle during the third week the way I have been. It is EXHAUSTING.

What I had been doing: trying to force myself to eat the same way throughout my cycle. No matter how I felt or what was going on with my body, I wanted to eat my 3 healthy, veggie-filled meals. I wanted week 3′s food diary to look the same as week 1′s. But it never does. It looks like this:

Forced 3 healthy meals and 2 snacks PLUS a bunch of binge food = 2500-3500 calories/day.

So this time, knowing that my *body* is actually different and being aware of how I feel, I decided to try a new approach: for this one week, JUST focus on making sure I do not go over 1700 calories a day, and making sure I bike 30 minutes. Period. If the 1700 calories is made up of cake and potato chips, so be it. I have to bend a bit to make this work.

Yesterday was my trial of this new plan. I felt pretty lousy and all I really wanted to eat was junk… carbs…. candy. This is very different from how I feel during the first two weeks of the month, when I crave vegetables and am just not hungry very often and don’t care about food as much. So yesterday, here’s what I ate:

Godiva chocolate truffle coffee with half & half and agave nectar, 1 egg over easy, 1 buttered wheat toast, 1 Clementine
A 2-pack of dark chocolate Reeses peanut butter cups
A large slice of pepperoni pizza
A sample cup of Starbuck’s Gingerbread latte with whipped cream
A tall glass of orange juice
crackers and cheese
2 handfuls of Hershey’s Bliss chocolates with mint centers (9 pieces)
A large cup of homemade chicken/veg stock
String cheese
Godiva vanilla truffle coffee with half & half and sugar

I tell you what. Eating all that chocolate and the carbs I craved felt REALLY good. I know it was not the ideal nutrition but like I said, I am tired of fighting my body on this and I am going to give this new method a shot, JUST for the days my hormones are wacky.

Oh, by the way, the total calories for yesterday: 1601. I biked 30 minutes. And I dropped those 2 binge pounds right back off this morning. Imagine that! Two pounds gone even though I ate pizza and chocolate. I am calling it a success.

Today I actually feel a little better, maybe because now I am not all stressed out about my cravings. I know if I want a candy bar, I’ll have it. Maybe for dinner. And I know now that this is *temporary* and hormonal and in another week I will feel much better and be able to focus and eat my usual healthy foods.

If you have an iPhone or iTouch and are a male who wants to lose weight, check out this Virtual Weight Loss Avatar for men. It’s fun to get visual milestones for each few pounds you lose.

As with the similar app for women (Virtual Weight Loss for Women), this app is based on BMI calculations so it will look different for men who weigh the same but are different heights.

Love handles is the affectionate name given to the flabby area around your abdomen that that cannot seem to get rid of. In American slang love handles mean a layer of fat that accumulates around a person’s midsection, i.e., at the sides of the waist. These are commonly known as Spare Tire, Midriff Bulge and Muffin tops. Love handles look ugly and seem impossible to get rid of. They make your