Naturally Curvy

Starting: 264
Last week: 226
Current: 230

*sigh* Blame Time of Month.

Starting: 264
Last week: 226
Current: 226

Let’s break it down bullet style.

*Weight… Weight has not been my priority lately, and I’m feeling the affects of it. I’m feeling more sluggish, most days I have a runny nose all the time and I just don’t feel right about myself emotionally. I’ve decided I’m sick and tired of letting myself bullshit away all this valuable time. The only person who can lose my weight is me.

*The New Template – I’m trying out this new template. Do you like it? I think it’s okay… I loved the old template, but I could not get the words to appear any bigger and it was driving me nuts. I’m still on the lookout for a nicer template, but I’ll see how this one goes for a while first. I’m definitely open to suggestions.

*Tuesdays – I’ll be checking in on Tuesdays from now on so Monday can have just Monday Mailbox. It doesn’t make much difference to me, since I’m usually running late and checking in on Tuesday anyway.

*The Universe… is trying to give me a hand, I think. After having to walk all over the suburbs because I’m a penny pincher and didn’t want to get a taxi both ways to the hospital and having to walk heaps more than usual because of my doctor’s appointment the next day, I am very sore. However, I think it’s the Universe forcing me to get through the sore stage and get used to more exercise!

I know, it sounds a bit wonky. But instead of letting this progress (aka soreness) go to waste, I’m keeping on with it. I walked to the post office and back today and plan on prodding The Bloke into a walk after work.

It’s the best start I never wanted. Haha.

…

And that’s it for now. I have more to talk about, but those topics are for posts rather than bullets.

Starting: 264
Last week: 222
Current: 226

That is what you get when you spend a week in a pub eating pub food and not drinking as much water as you should because the local water is gross and you don’t have the money for buying heaps of water.

Actually, when I weighed myself Sunday morning (I got back home Saturday night), the scale said 230. But I’ve been drinking heaps of water to hydrate (I got so dehydrated that my skin got itchy), so that probably has something to do with it.

However, the bounce down in the scale brings up something Jenera and I were talking about that I wanted to talk about here: scales.

There was some sort of blogger movement earlier this year during which a lot of health bloggers I read gave up their scales for good. A rare few kept fast, defending their scales, but most cursed the things and threw them out the door.

Frankly, I am understanding the decision to chuck the thing more and more.

From about late August to the end of 2009, I stayed the same weight. Yet, lo and behold, the next time I measured, I’d lost five inches (between biceps, thighs, hips, waist, boobs). But I’ve known for a long time that you should not go just by the scale for shows of improvement.

What really hit me, though, was coming home, seeing 230 on the scale, and shrugging. No longer did the number seem so important. I was dehydrated and I’d eaten pub food (delicious and non-fried, but still rich) for a week. Plain and simple. I knew that at least half the pounds I had gained while away would disappear once I got my body hydrated.

And it was in that moment that I knew I’d moved past letting the scale dictate my happiness or my view of myself. Finally I had mentally and emotionally put the scale where it was meant to be.

At this point, the only reason I keep my scale is because 180 is the magic number I have to get to before my husband and I start trying for a baby. Some days I hate that number with a passion (why not start trying at 200? It’s bound to take a while…) and some days it’s a good goal. But truly, that is the only reason I keep the scale.

Do you still have your scale?

Starting: 264
Last Week: 222
Current: 222

I’ve decided to stop using the abbreviations so people who pop in know what the heck I’m recording regardless of whether they are weight loss bloggers or not.

Well, no change for this week and, frankly, I don’t care. It’s Time of Month and – of course! – it has been quite an emotional week as well. I don’t want to get into the details of some of it because this is neither the time nor the place.

For the things concerning just me…

I had a great big FAIL with the challenge I set myself. I feel a bit pathetic that I couldn’t even last twelve days, but twenty years of using food for comfort isn’t going to disappear just like that. I’m continuing to acknowledge when I am using or want to use food for comfort. Right now I feel just doing this – even though it doesn’t always stop me – is a big accomplishment.

I’m refocusing my efforts on cutting carbs out of my life as much as possible. After having my gallbladder out, I lived pretty much on just bread for a while. This seemed to have reignited a carb frenzy and I have had way too much bread, pasta and rice lately. I’m getting back to the point where I am getting tired after eating, which a big freaking flashing neon sign on the road to prediabetes.

I kicked pre-diabetes’ ass once. I don’t want to have to do it again.

I am also moving back toward a natural diet consisting mainly of smoothies to help my liver out. My liver function was high after I had my surgery, so I want to give my liver (and the rest of my system) a break. It’s not a big deal – I don’t even have to get retested for a month – but I feel like I have been stressing out my system a little too much, too soon after surgery.

It’s frustrating to not be able to do the exercise I want to do (dance), but it is good to see that my gentler exercise and time of month aren’t doing anything bad on the scales.

Start: 264
Last Week: 218
Today: 222

The problem I have with challenges is that I often challenges myself to do things when it’s not the right time. A few days ago, I figured this would be a good idea:

1. Workout every morning.
2. Drink 1.5 litres (at least) of water every day.
3. Replace dinner with a meal replacement shake.

So, because of number one, I decided to give my new dance DVD a go.

Mistake.

Ow, ow, ow, ow. I tried out the DVD, and I have had annoying stabby pains around my abdomen since. Sleeping is even hard because I move around at night which hurts mah belleh.

The good news is that I said ‘workout’ for the challenge, not ‘do dance DVD’. So I have decided to cut out the tough woman act and obey doctor’s orders, and ‘workout’ will be translated to getting out of the house for a walk.

…At least my weight seems to have finally balanced out after the surgery. I had a twelve pound drop after, and now I’ve gained most of that back. While I wish I could have stayed at 214, I’m not berating myself. I had surgery, my body needed time to adjust.

And that’s that.

At least it has showed me that I can get down to 214. My next goal is 211 (20% body weight lost), so now I know I can get there. I just have to start taking care of myself properly.

Besides that, I have decided to track calories on SparkPeople for a while. This isn’t a challenge so much as just curiosity on my part. I’ve never been one for counting calories, but I can definitely check in at the end of the day to see how I’m going.

How is everyone else going?