Saturday 28 January 2012

Whooshes and squishy fat

Interesting article on water retention theory on weight stalls and whooshes in weight loss.
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/of-whooshes-and-squishy-fat.html

TOM has shown up, I'm super happy about this.  Not from a weight loss point of view, I weighed 85.8kg, so close to reaching the 10kg to go mark.  But with TOM my weight will bounce back up, ah well.

But... we're off to Niue in one week so I really didn't want to have my period while over there.  So yay, as my period only lasts about 4 days it'll be over and done before we go.

Put on my goal jeans today out of curiosity, they fit.  I'm muffining over the top but as long as I don't wear a tight tops they look good, and they are comfy.  I go back to work in 5 weeks so I will need to buy new clothes soon, I have nothing work clothes wise that fits.  I could get away with jeans, but I need to buy some tops.  I so wanted to be at goal before I got back to work so I could buy all new clothes at the size I'm going to be, but this isn't going to happen.  So I'll just have to buy a few things to be as versatile as possible - at least I wear a labcoat a lot of the time so its not too bad haha.  I also need new shoes, my feet have gone down about half a size.  And bras.  Hey, I don't need socks, yay!  LOL

Wednesday 25 January 2012

In the zone

So after months of flagging motivation and excuses I am back on track.  I'm counting and logging my calories and I'm coming in under budget every day.  I'm at the point where if I consider having a treat food my brain then thinks nah, I don't want to waste the calories on that.  I even turned down both carrot cake (my fav) and double chocolate brownies today, instead I had a couple strawberries and didn't even feel tempted or deprived.

I so hope this keeps up, but with going away on holiday I suspect it will be a week off plan.  But I don't think it will be too bad.  Plus you've got to have fun on holiday, I mean its a tropical island, you can be sure I'm going to be having a few cocktails!

We've been doing walks with the kids in the back pack.  Walking with an extra ~14kg on my back is a work out, sore in my shoulders though.  To think I use to walk all the time with how much extra weight!

11.1kg to go to goal.  Yay.

Tuesday 24 January 2012

Raw Vegan Alfredo Sauce with Zucchini Noodles

Ingredients
4 small zucchinis 
1 cup raw cashews, soaked in water for 20 minutes and drained 
3/4 cup water 
1 tbsp lemon juice 
1/4 tsp nutmeg 
1 tsp thyme 
2 garlic cloves 
salt & pepper, to taste 
1 tbsp light miso paste (optional – look for unpasteurized miso to make this 100% raw) 
2 tbsp nutritional yeast (optional, if you want non-vegan sub this for cheese, I used mozzarella/parmesan combo) 

Directions 
To make the zucchini noodles: Using a vegetable peeler, starting from one end of the zucchini, peel a long ribbon of flesh down to the other end of the zucchini. Turn the zucchini and repeat this step around the entire zucchini, until the core is so small that it is difficult to peel. Repeat this step for the other zucchinis. 

To make the raw Alfredo sauce: combine the remaining ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth. 

Place half of the zucchini noodles in a serving bowl and gently stir half the sauce through it. Repeat for the remaining noodles and sauce. Serve with a sprinkle of fresh basil or parsley. 

Serves 2 


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Made this for dinner tonight, yum. Am going to use zucchini noodles again tomorrow night with a pesto.

One year weight reduction anniversary

One year and one day ago my Mum had a heart attack.  She is obese, has type II diabetes, so a heart attack was no surprise to any of us.  One year ago I visited her in hospital, talked about her impending angioplasty and possible coronary by-pass, came home and ate two chocolate bars (kit-kat cookies and cream, and caramel chunky).  Then I cried.  And that was the moment I made the decision to change my life.

Today I am -100.1lb from my heaviest weight of more than 290lbs (291 and then my scales gave me an error because I exceeded maximum, so who knows what I actually was).  I call it a journey, getting rid of the weight.  Because its never following a straight path, there are always detours and delays.  I've bounced around a whole lot for the past couple of months.  I think I'm back on track though, I have the desire again, I'm focused and I know I can lose more weight.

One thing I’ve learned is weight reduction (I avoid the word loss because when you lose something it usually implies you want to find it again and I sure don’t want my weight back) is 80% diet, 20% food.  But it is 100% mental, you need will power and determination.  As you can see math isn’t my strong point ;).  I've also learned that I actually don't like cake (except carrot cake).  Alas the same thing cannot be said for cookies -LOL-

And now I get to continue on this trip, my realistic goal is 165lb which is what I weighed in high school.  When I get there I will reassess.  Part of me would love to get lower, part of me just wants to go in to maintenance now!

TL;DR: 291+lb down to 190.9, one year, still going.

Sunday 22 January 2012

The Impact of Weight Stigma on Caloric Consumption

Obesity 19, 1957-1962 (October 2011)  [ABSTRACT]


Natasha A. Schvey, Rebecca M. Puhl and Kelly D. Brownell
The present study assessed the influence of exposure to weight stigma on energy intake in both overweight and normal-weight adult women. Seventy-three women (mean age: 31.71 ± 12.72 years), both overweight (n = 34) and normal weight (n = 39), were randomly assigned to view one of two videos depicting either weight stigmatizing material or neutral material, after which they consumed snacks ad libitum. Pre- and post-video measures included blood pressure, attitudes toward overweight individuals, and positive and negative affect. Participants' body weight was measured, as was the number of kilocalories consumed following video exposure. Overweight women who watched the stigmatizing video ate more than three times as many kilocalories as overweight women who watched the neutral video (302.82 vs. 89.00 kcal), and significantly more calories than the normal-weight individuals who watched either the stigmatizing or the neutral video. A two-by-two analysis of covariance revealed that even after adjusting for relevant covariates, there was a significant interaction between video type and weight status in that when overweight, individuals consumed significantly more calories if they were in the stigmatizing condition vs. the neutral condition (F(1,65) = 4.37, P = 0.04, η2 = 0.03). These findings suggest that among overweight women, exposure to weight stigmatizing material may lead to increased caloric consumption. This directly challenges the notion that pressure to lose weight in the form of weight stigma will have a positive, motivating effect on overweight individuals.

TL;DR: Fat people viewing weight stigmatising videos then ate more calories than normal weight people.

Tuesday 17 January 2012

Happy new year

Here we are, 2012.  I intended on writing more, earlier, but yanno how life is.

Weight reduction, well I maintained over the holiday period.  I'm finding it really hard to get my head back in the game.  Exercise wise I'm all good, its food.  And food is the way to reduce weight.  To be honest I don't know if I'm going to succeed in further weight reduction, I want to, but the drive isn't there.  I just want to eat rubbish.  I keep thinking "think through the eat".  But it doesn't work, I still have this little voice saying ahh fuck it, just eat it.

On the plus side I went through my drawers and wardrobe today and threw out everything that was 20+ or had an X on the label.  I had doubt, I had moments of should I really get rid of this.  But then I said to myself I don't want to go back.