My Plan

I thought I'd give an overview of how I've been losing the weight thus far. Back in January, I had my metabolism tested at Target Metabolism. As I've mentioned before, my metabolism is high. This is partially due to my weight, but it is also higher than others who weigh the same as me. This is why I'd gotten stuck so many times in the past. I simply wasn't eating enough. This is a difficult concept to understand for many people who have tried to lose weight. Sometimes, your body isn't getting enough fuel, and it will hold onto every calorie it gets.

Anyway, when I started, my resting metabolic rate (RMR) was close to 3000 calories a day. This is what my body burns if I were to do nothing except sleep for 24 hours. Imagine that? That's almost a pound a day! Add in normal activity and exercise on top of that, and you're above a pound a day (before you eat, of course). They told me to start at 2500 calories a day. Target Metabolism weighs you in using the Bod Pod every two weeks. They are very focused on your fat:lean ratio and not as focused on the numbers. This is great, but I'll admit I still get hung up on those numbers. How can I not? Now, I kind of expected the weight to fly off the first two weeks, but it really didn't. I think I lost maybe 3 pounds in the first couple of weeks. I was admittedly not pleased with the results, but I felt I hadn't given it a fair chance yet. I think my body was just adjusting to everything, because it started to come off at a pretty steady pace after that. Slow and steady wins the race, right?

My metabolism was retested at the beginning of April, and I was told to take my daily intake down to 2400 calories a day. They give me a "danger zone" of 2200 calories (now-it will change later) that I am not to go below. So far, this is going well. I'm glad it wasn't a huge drop in calories yet. However, ask me again when in 75 pounds. I forgot to mention initially that I keep track of all of my calories and fitness minutes on Spark People. It's an amazing (FREE) site. Check it out!

So, what do I eat? During the week, I eat a balanced diet. I usually have 3 reasonable meals and 3 good snacks a day. I try my best to get in my fruits and veggies. Though I will admit I'm not always perfect at that. Some of my favorite snacks are strawberries, Fage 2% Greek yogurt with honey, almonds, and Clif Mojo Peanut Butter Pretzel bars (lots of protein!).

As for the weekends, I am usually busy, and I don't have enough time to get in my 3 meals and 3 snacks. I do, however, still track everything, and make sure I hit my calorie target. I also try to work out both days on the weekend. This is where I get to splurge once in awhile. It helps quite a bit! I'll have a reasonable breakfast (usually later in the morning), a bigger late lunch/early dinner, and maybe a snack later if I have the calories left.

All in all, I don't feel deprived at all. I think this will help me stick to it for the long haul. A lifestyle change, perhaps?

Oh, hai!

Don't let the lolspeak in the title fool you. I'm a grammar nerd except for when it comes to lolcatz. They are cute and furry, and they are allowed a grammar pass.

Anyway, I created this blog a few weeks ago. I suppose I should finally post something, eh? Where to start? It's kind of hard to sum up your story in a single blog entry, but I'll try to get everyone who doesn't already know me up to speed.

My story starts like so many others. I've been overweight (let's face it - obese) for most of my life. I remember being on weight watchers with my mother when I was 8 years old. I'm pretty sure that's a legal form of torture these days. Especially back then-I mean the weight watcher bread in the 80s? You might as well just eat the bag. It was that tasty. Thank goodness we've come so far in the development of healthier foods. More on this later.

I've had several false starts over the years where I lost a few pounds, but then something happened to derail me (something minor usually, but a few traumas too). In 2004, at the age of 29 (you're doing math now, aren't you?). I started weight watchers. It was kind of on a whim really. I didn't even seem that invested in it. It seems that was the trick for me because in a year and a half, I lost 100 pounds. I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes at the age of 25 due to my weight. After I lost this weight (even though I was still "obese" by those archaic BMI charts), I was no longer diabetic.

Right after I hit my 100-pound lost mark, I got downsized out of my job that I'd held for 7 years. No worries, it turns out that I ended up with a much better job! However, it did throw me out of my routines, and I'm a very routine-driven gal. I managed to hold my weight for over a year and half, but I was truly stuck.

At this time, I was working out hardcore: spinning classes, kickboxing, pilates. As it turns out, I simply wasn't eating enough calories to sustain my activities. This is why my body wasn't letting go of any more weight (even though I felt I had another 60-70 pounds to lose). I, like many others, had a hard time grasping the fact that you have to eat enough or your body will go into starvation.

I eventually got frustrated, and made the biggest mistake of my life: I gave up. I gained all 100 pounds back and also about 70 more. Diabetes came back and brought along its friend hypertension. I was on more medications than ever before. I flailed around in this state for at least a couple of years. Five months ago, my doctor wanted me to start on insulin. This was simply a road I was not ready to go down-particularly at such a young age. I watched my mother go through this. I watched her get both of her big toes amputated, and learn how to walk again. It took me a couple of months to get my act together, but I finally started back on a healthy road in January.

This time, I got my metabolism tested. It is, of course, high because of my weight, but it is also 300 calories higher than someone else of a similar weight. All those formulas you can find to test your RMR (resting metabolic rate) are based on averages. For most people, they work. For me, they did not (it was one of the many things I'd tried in the past). I'll go into more details about my plan later. I am still trying to keep this brief (fail). Long story short-I think something has finally clicked with me again. I have lost 26 pounds so far (maybe more - I weigh in tomorrow).

This will be mostly about my weight loss, but as my title (and probably my writing) suggests, I get distracted easily. I'm also a geek for pop culture, fashion, and beauty products, to name a few. So, that's the (sort of) brief version of my story. More to come. I plan to post often, so stay tuned.