Soulbliss - I like the idea of 'out of the box'. Although I haven't completely stopped eating processed foods, I have cut way back. Getting enough fruits and veggies has never really been a problem for me. I suppose I'm just lucky that I like them.
ggmugsy - I'll be more impressed when I'm back below 282. At that point I can once again talk about being lighter than I've been in 20 years. I am happy though that I'm on the right track again.
Hannah - I'm not sure how amazing I am. I should quickly recap my weight loss journey and let you decide. I started losing weight at the beginning of 2004, when I had enough guts to step on the shipping scale at work and get an accurate weight. It was 407 (412 actually, but 5lb for clothing and steel toed safety shoes) and that pushed me into doing something. It's funny, but once you're off the top weight of your home scale you can convince yourself that you're only a little above that 330 mark. I dropped almost 100 pounds quite easily in ten months, just by radically changing how I ate. I didn't add any exercise, but I was in a job where I could walk around all day, so I did that more often. In Jan of '05 the weight loss slowed and I added exercise into my routine. By this time I was counting calories, but (now I know) way too low. Looking back at the log from those days I'd be lucky if I hit 1400 a day. So adding an hour of really hard cardio five days a week (without eating more) was a huge mistake. I did lose a bit more (down to 282) but at the expense of my health. I'd had a cold and/or respiratory infection in Apr/May of that year and didn't realize that it had become more serious. What I blew off as a muscle pull in early May was the beginning of a pleural infection (tissue around the lungs). The pain went away and I ignored the general fatigue that was getting worse. I was probably only sleeping about 5 or 6 hours tops, working out, working, and literally just collapsing on the couch when I got home.
In early June it got worse over a weekend and I finally saw a doctor at a clinic who thought it was nothing serious but suggested I get an x-ray just to make sure. Monday morning I decided I'd get it done on my way to work. Well, after the x-ray this same doctor was talking about getting an ambulance to take me to the hospital. I refused, but went home to get my mother (so she would have a car) and headed to the emergency. I was admitted and spent 18 days in the hospital. And in Ontario that's a long time. Let's put it this way, the guy with the heart attack went home before I did. They took almost a litre of fluid out of my pleural cavity (~ 4 cups, when a couple of tsp is the normal amount). I thought I'd be back to the dieting soon, although the specialist I saw told me I couldn't go back to the same routine (no sleep, too few calories, too much cardio), although he never really gave me any good information.
It was months before I was back to even remotely normal, and I'd gained a little weight back. I think I ended the year at 300-ish, somewhere in that range. I also changed jobs, and detested the new one. Still wasn't really back on the diet track, and slowly went up to just over 330 (that number where I didn't get a weight on my old scale). After a year at my new job I had a chance to take a trip on a freighter for about 5 months (going around the world) and I quit my job and went. They offered to hold my job for me, but I really didn't want to go back. I came back from the trip last summer actually a few pounds lighter than I left (amazing since I had no control over what was cooked for me, only what amount I ate). Although when you're in the middle of the ocean there aren't a lot of options for snack foods. Well, that's not entirely true. You can get pop, chips, nuts, and chocolate pretty much any time you want them. I managed to avoid them mainly.
Wow, this is longer than I planned. Almost done though, please bear with me. So I goofed off most of the summer and started looking for work. Those that wanted me, I didn't want to work for. Those I wanted to work for, didn't want to hire me. Although I have a lot of experience I don't have a lot of education behind me. So I looked at my savings (yep, still had some) and decided to go back to school (will start in September). Then I decided to go buy a scale that would give me an actual weight. Yes, over the summer and early fall I'd started falling back into old bad habits and I was once again over the 330 mark on the scale. So in December I stepped back on my scale that goes to 400 pounds and saw that it was 358.2 pounds (I'm actually beginning to dislike those .2 increments).
So the diet began again, although, somehow better than the first time. I understand that it's a lifestyle, not a diet. I've found a way of eating and exercising that I'm not simply waiting to stop doing. I picked a realistic starting calorie count (1800) and did that for a month, eventually raising it when I started to exercise regularly in January (2000-2100). I'd always played around with light weights (10lb max), but decided I wanted something more structured. So I bought the New Rules of Lifting for Women, and now I strength train 3 times as week as well. With a lot of help from the book, and (as I call them) the ladies who lift, I've actually increased my calories. (2400 on non-lifting days and 2800 on lifting days) At the moment this gives me an average loss of about 2 pounds a week and I'm quite happy about that. This came about when I purchased a heart rate monitor a couple of weeks ago and realized I was burning about 5000 cals through exercise each week. Also, as a plus I've discovered that I really like lifting weights.
Okay - done for now. That was really much longer than I'd planned, but partly so I can point to it in a minute.
Sally - I saw your comment about an upper respiratory infection. Do be very careful about that. The doctor who treated me in the hospital said that it was likely the start of all my troubles. If I'd just taken care of myself I could have likely avoided the rest of it. As for protein - I eat plenty of meat but add protein shakes in as I'm always aiming for 30% protein. I don't eat much dairy (a little cheese) but I think greek yogurt and cottage cheese are good choices as well.
caitbeans - I've never had much luck letting my body decide what to eat, as it seems to like lots of calorie dense foods. Not even necessarily bad foods, but just too many of them. I picked a realistic calorie level, and when increasing exercise, increased my intake a bit as well. I don't consider any food off limits, as long as I stay within my calorie count. However, I do find myself somethings thinking that I don't want to 'spend' a certain amount to just have food ____. Although back in March I did work in 4 x 200 calorie sinful Haagen-Daz ice cream bars. They were wonderful, and I managed to keep them three weeks. I've decided that if I really want something I'll try and work it in. So far just knowing that I could have something has stopped me from really wanting them.
Laurie - I've done the whole husband/wife at work thing before. My condolences.
trooworld - it's hard to do, but if you can find something you really like doing then the exercising isn't so bad. I'm lucky in the fact that once I'm on it, I really do like the treadmill. I also found that I love lifting weights. I do make a point though to have two rest days (at the moment the weekends) although now I'm working in the garden and doing some leisurely swimming on those days.
Well, speaking of that exercising, I have a few things to do before I start my afternoon exercises. Today's plan is to try and deadlift 70 pounds and get my shoulder presses up to 30lbs ea. Well, the goal is to finish the routine without collapsing. Hope everyone is having a good on plan day. The weather here is gray and miserable today. It's made motivation quite hard. It really is more of a 'have a nap' kind of day. Take care all.
I'm sure some of you can relate to that, right?
