I've seen the light!

What's an "addictive personality"? You hear that all the time, and yet, how is it defined?
I was a smoker for a lot of years. I quit when I became pregnant with my son, and never really had any withdrawals. I think in my case, I smoked because I just didn't care enough about the state of my health. It was easy to quit because first of all, I wasn't that addicted to the nicotine, and secondly, I had a much more important goal in mind.
It's the same with the food. For a lot of years, I've been oblivious to the damage the food was doing to me. High blood pressure, varicose veins, cholesterol issues, bad skin and hair, digestive problems... the list goes on. If anything, I was addicted to the laziness of eating poorly, but I don't think I was addicted to the food itself. So easy to get a quick meal at a restaurant, and not pay attention to the quantity and quality of the actual food.
I could have started eating healthier years ago, but I was young, and thought I was immortal. It was always in my mind to get healthy... someday. Finally that more important goal appeared in my mind like the light at the end of a tunnel. I started moving forward, and haven't looked back. I finally saw the light!

Body Fat %

So this morning, I weighed myself and have lost 55 lbs. Only 31 to go!
My current BMI is 29, and according to the Body Fat Calculator, I'm at 38%. I think when I started this, my fat % was almost half my body weight! I think it was around 46%. Yikes!
When I look back at previous entries, I see that I had lost 50 lbs on April 28. So here it is 13 days later, and I've lost another 5. So I'm staying right on track. I like knowing that I am consistently losing that 2-3 lbs per week, and I have no problem with that. But I think I need to reevaluate some things, and work harder.
For one, I am still using too much salt. Granted, when I was eating tons of processed foods, there were many more milligrams of sodium entering my body. I do salt my veggies, and my chicken, but I could cut back there.
Also, I don't think my water intake is where it should be. My goal is 64 oz a day, and currently, I'm probably only getting an average of 50 oz. I need to make sure I'm getting a couple more glasses of water in the morning. And when summer comes, I'll need to nearly double my current intake, since I'm out in the sun most of the day.

The other thing I'm wondering about is my blood pressure meds. When my doctor prescribed my pills, I was 55 lbs heavier. At what point do you need to see the doctor and have your medications reevaluated? I currently take Hydrochlorothiazide, plus Atenolol. The first one is also a diuretic, and the second one really keeps my pressure down. But I've also noticed that my resting heart rate is around 60, and I'm not sure if that's normal. I suppose I need to get in for a check-up. My doctor can answer all these questions for me, and she'll be so proud of the weight loss, too!

Yum...carrots.

I'm not a carrot lover. Not raw carrots, anyway. But steamed, or out of the pressure cooker? Mmmm... I think I could live on them. So delicious!
We went to the Outback for dinner tonight to celebrate Bunna's mother's birthday, and also Mother's Day. I ordered the grilled chicken, and asked for the "lite" option. I'm not sure what they do to it to make it "lite", but they claim it stays under 500 calories. It didn't taste as though anything had been taken away. It was wonderful! It was served with a green salad, and steamed veggies. The broccoli was bright green, and tender. And the carrots... to die for! I swear they tasted like candy! So sweet. Mmm.
The server brought a plate of cheesecake for Bunna's mother, and she passed it around. I took a spoonful, but made it last. :-) I think I got three small bites from that spoonful. The berry sauce was so good!
Tomorrow, I'll weigh and see how I'm doing. Even with the meal out tonight, I think my calories for the day were still under about 1100. The fact that I was full before my plate was empty is a good sign.

Thanks!

It's time I start opening up with my friends about my weight. Eventually, people will see me around, and notice the change in me. So why not spill my guts here and now?
Hmmmm... maybe not. LOL I don't think I'm ready to spill it all quite yet. But I'm sharing with more people, so that's a start, right? I'll share more details when I've reached my goal, but in the meantime, it's enough for me to know that I'm not hiding anymore.
All my weight issues are in the past, and although I'm still dealing with all the reasons I became buried in extra fat, at least now I'm working on it. Without shelling out thousands of dollars on therapy, I'm getting to the bottom of it, literally.
Sharing with the people around me can only help. If someone that reads this gains a little insight, and shares with someone they know, then I've helped. Face it, we all know someone that could benefit from a bit of encouragement and guidance.
Thanks for following me. Thanks for encouraging me. Thanks for not making fun of me (to my face) when I was as big as a house. :-)
BTW... I've lost 54 lbs now.

"Ride me... ride me..."

Where's summer? Winter dragged out so long, and now spring is taking its time settling in. We've had only a couple of warm days, and so much rain and cold.
I'm looking forward to going outdoors in the sun. I'm tired of these four walls.
I work outside, so it's not like I'm trapped in a building all the time, but what I'm waiting for is for a warm day where I can pull out the bike.
A month or so ago, my bike tried to give me a message. The hook it was hanging on in the garage pulled out of the wood it was screwed into, and the bike came tumbling down. It was like my little red cruiser was trying to say... "ride me...ride me..." I promised my bike I would go for a ride as soon as the weather warmed up, but that hasn't happened yet.
Last summer, riding my bike with my son, he mentioned that my back tire looked flat. We stopped and checked it, and, no surprise, it was full of air. But when I sat on the bike, it was a different story. My weight on the tires flattened them out. Can you imagine?
My cruiser is a heavy-duty bike. It's got a big, heavy frame, and fat, white-walled tires. It's red, like the Pee-wee Herman bike, and I love it. But after my son said that my tire looked flat, I realized that even my big, strong bike was struggling to hold me. I didn't feel comfortable riding after that. I didn't want to be on a ride away from home and realize that my tires actually were flat, from the strain they were under.
Anyway, this year I'll be happy to take my little, red cruiser for a ride. I'll sit proudly on the big, wide seat and wear my mushroom-head helmet. My son might make fun of me, but it won't be for having flat tires this year!

Thirty-three to go!

May 4, 2010. Today, I've lost 53 lbs. That leaves me with only 33 more to go! I wasn't sure if my goal was going to put me into the "healthy" range, but I double-checked this morning, and I will be healthy, and hopefully in a size 9-11 when I'm done losing.
A size 11 is good for me. I can't remember ever being a 9, but I remember being jealous of the little girls that got to shop at the "5-7-9" shop at the mall. There was no such thing as an "11-13-15" shop! :-)
Thirty-three to go... that's awesome! I love knowing that I'm so close! And knowing that I won't go back to where I was... that's important to me. I have no problem at all parting with my larger clothes. And I love that even at the size I'm in now, I look so much better!
And I notice the difference in how I move. There's so much less of me to haul around! On those weight loss shows, they always strap a heavy backpack onto the backs of the contestants, that is equal in weight to what they lost. They like to remind the losers what it was like before they made the commitment to health. How would I feel with 53 lbs on my back? Ugh. What a huge difference this has made in how I feel about moving. A simple walk that used to feel like it was an effort is now JUST A SIMPLE WALK. The lightness I feel is great! And it's only going to get better!

Gravy is not a beverage.

Growing up in a family of 10 meant lots of meals, and lots of food on the table. Mom had her work cut out for her when it came to making sure the four food groups were all represented at the table.

Mom was, and still is, very conscious of what she eats. As kids, she tried to make sure the snacks we ate were healthy. The type of snack she had on hand for us were always multi-grain, high fiber and low sugar. But with eight kids, how could she watch everything? We'd collect change from bottle deposits and fill our pockets with gum, Jolly Ranchers, and chocolate from the little market down the street. But back then, we were all very active. The neighborhood was alive with young kids our age, and no one ever sat around playing video games. It was all about the bikes, skateboards, stilts, unicycles, etc. If anything, I was less active than the rest. I was the youngest, and didn't quite fit into the older kids' groups. That's no excuse though. I loved the gravy just like my dad.
Dad had to have his gravy, and Mom always found a way to get it on the table with every meal. If she didn't make biscuits, then there was a stack of white bread slices to pass around. Everyone had their bread and gravy with dinner. And Dad was the one that would eat anything, regardless of what the latest doctor's reports said. Fat not good for you? Bullsh*t! Dad would be sitting at the head of the dinner table mumbling about how we didn't know what was good for us. "Pass that down here if you're not going to eat it!" The fat and gristle from steaks would go to his plate, and he'd enjoy every bite. The funny thing is, as he and Mom got older, her cholesterol went up, and his remained in a healthy range. She ate everything right, and fought her HDL/LDL levels, and he would have a 1/2 lb of bacon and his was just fine. Dad was also never overweight. He worked hard and stayed slim. Genetics, right?
So we, as kids, got a taste, so to speak, of both worlds. Mom ate right, and fed us all a balanced diet of Wheat Thins and Whole Wheat Fig Newtons. We also watched her, and sometimes joined in, as she followed Jack LaLanne on television. She bought the exercise equipment he sold, and kept herself fit. I think Mom was a size 3 most of her life. She's still in great shape, and she's coming up on her 80th birthday! Go Mom!
Dad, God rest his soul, was not big on health food. It took an act of God for Mom to be allowed to bring low-fat milk into the house. He wanted his whole milk, and his sour cream and gravy. When Mom went to the grocery store, she brought home fruit and vegetables, and whole grains. When Dad went to the store, he came home with Fun-Paks of chips for lunches, Ho-hos, Twinkies, Moon Pies, and "Astro Sticks"... (it was the late 60s).
Now, as an adult and mother, I can look back and compare my parent's different styles of eating. Mom was thinking of our health, and our future health. Dad ate what tasted good, and damn the consequences. I've got a little of both of their philosophies ingrained in me.