Wow; I have really been on a plateau lately. I'm not sure why a scheduled day of fasting makes me eat even more than I normally do. Psychologically, I'm thinking that if I do "fat stores", I will be okay the day of the fast. This does not work.
The interesting aspect of this all - I'm not really gaining anything. I just continue to stay at the same weight I've been after gaining nearly 16 lbs., and losing 6. My real plan to is to stay on track and lose more than what I gained. I want to do this as I never really reached the original goal I set for myself. I patted myself on the back for a very long time after losing 50 lbs. That's easy to do when you get a lot of compliments on how you look. Listen, for me, this is not about numbers, but it is about how I'm feeling. I am totally amazed at how just a small number of pounds can make you feel not well again. That was my wake-up call. Stop patting yourself on the back and get in the game again.
As I mentioned in a previous post, I was totally excited by the return of "The Biggest Loser". I started watching only last season, but what a season it was! So inspiring! This season, not so much. I began to watch last night's episode, which occured immediately after last week's weigh-in (this is normal, for those of you who don't watch). If the group dropped a total of 150 lbs., no one would go home. They ended up dropping 155 lbs., and they even had a 15 lb. advantage from a challenge. I was excited for them, since they really, really need to be there. This week, however, made me feel like the show is channeling Survivor. When I watched last season, I felt that the challenges were things they could handle psychologically. This season, much like the aforementioned jungle reality show, the challenges are causing them to make choices they are not ready to make, and it is affecting the entire group. Both challenges were won by a woman who began the competition by collapsing during a one-mile run/walk, ending up in the hospital with a still-unknown ailment. Obviously, her weight caused what ever problem she had, but we haven't been told what really happened to her. The two challenges were choice based: "Would you rather ____ or ____?" - first asked to decide whether they wanted a 2-lb. advantage or their trainers, this girl quickly decided she needed the 2-lbs. Problem is, she neglected to discuss this with her partner, and it affected his week. He needed the trainers (although, the way they are acting this year, I could do without them - no need to be so mean). Next, they were challenged to not eat cupcakes. The winner would be who ever could eat the most cupcakes. That person would win, and the prize was controlling who got to be weighed in each team pairing. As I said before, the same woman won. Impulsively, she ate 4 cupcakes. Only one other person ate, and he consumed only two. So, now she controlled the game.
While this may all sound quite tedious, it fully impacts anyone who is on a diet and exercise program. You absolutely cannot make rash decisions. You have to think about everything you are putting in your mouth, and you need to take the time to think about it. In the real world, what you do with your diet does not control the people around you and how they eat. But anyone who watches this show or reads this blog needs to follow a plan. Please don't let the decision made on this show affect what you are doing. I'm trying not to let it affect me. But it is.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
The real "Biggest Loser" is back!
I was so excited to watch the season premiere of "The Biggest Loser" last night. While I know this is always an emotional journey, I don't think I was prepared for this season's contestants. Everything started out fine, with the theme this season being "second chances". We even have a contestant from last year, Dan, who already lost 142 lbs. on the show in season 7 (he was a fan favorite).
Each contestant has gone through something that has lead to their obesity. Abby lost her entire family in a car accident when her youngest was only 2 weeks old. She believes that she was not in the car for a reason, and feels her fate is sealed in that she can have this second chance at being healthy and moving on with her life. Julio and his wife (not a contestant) decided that at age 40, they would make healthy changes - they promised their daughters as much. Shay, the largest contestant in all 8 seasons, was raised by a heroin-addict mother who chose living on the streets over providing shelter for her daughter. As a result, she ended up in foster care, where she was able to get some love and a great education (she is a social worker), but at the start of the season, weighs a staggering 476 lbs. I don't even know how you can get there. Even at my heaviest weight, I was aware of how big I was getting and made several attempts to lose the weight. She seems to have had no clue and is now embarrassed at how big she has gotten. It was great to see her lose a substantial amount of weight in the first week. I hope she really sticks with it, because 30 is too young to die.
I'm looking forward to next week's episode, where hopefully, as in episode one, no one ends up in the hospital for just exercising. Two contestants suffered this fate, and as of the end of the episode, only one was back at the ranch.
This show is so inspiring. Watch it if you have a chance. Even if you are at a healthy weight, you can learn something!
Each contestant has gone through something that has lead to their obesity. Abby lost her entire family in a car accident when her youngest was only 2 weeks old. She believes that she was not in the car for a reason, and feels her fate is sealed in that she can have this second chance at being healthy and moving on with her life. Julio and his wife (not a contestant) decided that at age 40, they would make healthy changes - they promised their daughters as much. Shay, the largest contestant in all 8 seasons, was raised by a heroin-addict mother who chose living on the streets over providing shelter for her daughter. As a result, she ended up in foster care, where she was able to get some love and a great education (she is a social worker), but at the start of the season, weighs a staggering 476 lbs. I don't even know how you can get there. Even at my heaviest weight, I was aware of how big I was getting and made several attempts to lose the weight. She seems to have had no clue and is now embarrassed at how big she has gotten. It was great to see her lose a substantial amount of weight in the first week. I hope she really sticks with it, because 30 is too young to die.
I'm looking forward to next week's episode, where hopefully, as in episode one, no one ends up in the hospital for just exercising. Two contestants suffered this fate, and as of the end of the episode, only one was back at the ranch.
This show is so inspiring. Watch it if you have a chance. Even if you are at a healthy weight, you can learn something!
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Plateaus
I decided this morning, based purely on receiving an email from a former professor who has a blog (and has been quite a frequent poster), and the mere fact that I haven't written a post in nearly two weeks, that I have plateaued.
Webster's (the dictionary, not the little guy on 80's TV) defines a plateau thusly:
pla-teau
Pronunciation: \pla-'to, 'pla-\
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural plateaus or pla-teaux \-'toz
Etymology: French, from Middle French, platter (hmmmm...) from plat flat
Date: 1796 (people have been exhibiting this behavior for a while now, huh?)
1 a: a usually extensive land area having a relatively level surface raised sharply above adjacent land on at least one side: TABLELAND b: a similar undersea feature
2 a: a region of little or no change in a graphic representation b: a relatively stable level, period, or condition (this sounds like me)
3 a: a level of attainment or achievement (okay, are you as confused as me yet?)
Maybe I need to Google the word. Clearly, this plateau thing applies quite well to weight loss, whether you have a reached a goal you want to climb the mountain tops to share, or if you have simply hit a spot in your progress that is stagnant.
Listen, I knew when I got back on this road, that there would be periods where there would be no movement on the scale (up or down).
I see my pattern here. And currently, I am listening to the fabulous Beatles tell me: "Because the world is round..." I am suddenly believing this has something to do with my plateau. The intelligent me knows this can't be true, but there are people out there who think this rules their days, so I can't be that far off.
My new goal is to just get through this. I am doing everything right: keeping a food journal, which besides having fun with making a neat cover for it, has actually been fun and informative, sticking to my daily points, adding exercise to my routine (yeah, some days, that last one seems to be the thing that I put last). I know that I will. Starting today...
Webster's (the dictionary, not the little guy on 80's TV) defines a plateau thusly:
pla-teau
Pronunciation: \pla-'to, 'pla-\
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural plateaus or pla-teaux \-'toz
Etymology: French, from Middle French, platter (hmmmm...) from plat flat
Date: 1796 (people have been exhibiting this behavior for a while now, huh?)
1 a: a usually extensive land area having a relatively level surface raised sharply above adjacent land on at least one side: TABLELAND b: a similar undersea feature
2 a: a region of little or no change in a graphic representation b: a relatively stable level, period, or condition (this sounds like me)
3 a: a level of attainment or achievement (okay, are you as confused as me yet?)
Maybe I need to Google the word. Clearly, this plateau thing applies quite well to weight loss, whether you have a reached a goal you want to climb the mountain tops to share, or if you have simply hit a spot in your progress that is stagnant.
Listen, I knew when I got back on this road, that there would be periods where there would be no movement on the scale (up or down).
I see my pattern here. And currently, I am listening to the fabulous Beatles tell me: "Because the world is round..." I am suddenly believing this has something to do with my plateau. The intelligent me knows this can't be true, but there are people out there who think this rules their days, so I can't be that far off.
My new goal is to just get through this. I am doing everything right: keeping a food journal, which besides having fun with making a neat cover for it, has actually been fun and informative, sticking to my daily points, adding exercise to my routine (yeah, some days, that last one seems to be the thing that I put last). I know that I will. Starting today...
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