Since I've dropped 10 lbs on the Weight Watchers program, I have to reduce my daily points allowance by 1 point. So right now, I get 26 points instead of 27. I figure that means it is a good time to start exercising regularly. So here's the deal:
Back in 2003, I was diagnosed with bulging discs in my back. Basically, in between each vertebrae in your back, there is this little cartilage-y disc with a sponge-y gel in it. From what I understand, just being a woman and entering your 30's causes the "shell" to become increasingly brittle and more prone to tiny fissures. Well, add on some excess weight and some strenuous labor (maybe I'll elaborate on that "labor" another day) and the cracks become more pronounced. Pressure then causes the "gel" inside the disc to push out and it touches the nerves down the spine, thus causing back pain. It can also cause pain to travel via the nerves (like how else does pain travel, right?) through one's hips and legs.
So, I have pain in my lower back, hips, and legs. I've now been on Celebrex since 2003, and this controls the majority of the pain, but in the evenings and night, it is much worse. So already, this makes some exercise difficult, because I cannot put any more stress on my back. I have become increasingly inflexible, and that adds to the problem.
To make matters worse, last summer, I started developing plantar fasciitis. This is a condition where the muscle in the arch of one's foot starts falling, resulting in arch and heel pain.
So let's just say that any exercise hurts. But I have to do it, or I'll never get this weight off.
So yesterday, I went for a 30 minute walk and took Chloe, my yorkie. My thinking is: if I have to give up a daily point on WW, if I do one point of exercise daily, I can earn 1 activity point and justify continuing to eat the same number of points. After all, if this will work in the long term, I have to come up with a way to live with it forever. And let's be honest: I'm not going to be able to stick to it if my daily points have to keep decreasing. So anyway, I did a 2 point walk yesterday.
Poor Chloe. She doesn't go for walks very often, so she really can't last too much longer than a 20 minute walk. But we pushed on yesterday to the full 30 minutes. I'm sure all 6 feet of ours were equally sore by the time we were done. I'll probably only take her every other day until she can build up the stamina to comfortably walk the full 30 minutes.
As for myself...I'll just have to deal with it.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Monday, August 17, 2009
I don't even know if I'll keep up with this.
OK, seeing the movie yesterday inspired me to take my public journey in this direction. My name is Misty. I am 39 years old, and I have a lot of weight to lose. If I am successful with this project, I will use it both as a means of inspiration as well as a confessional. Whatever does it for you, right? I used to want to keep a video diary of my journey, but the logistics of that just aren't realistic. After all, I'm alone most of the day, and just who is supposed to hold the video camera and interview me? So let's give this medium a try.
It is not like I don't know how to diet. I have lost the weight lots of times. For some reason, however, somewhere down the road when the initial energy and excitement of doing a new thing has worn off and it has gone by way of the mundane, I always seem to fall off the wagon. I have never reached my goal. One could argue that the goal was unattainable, but I don't really think that is it.
The weight-loss program I'm using is Weight Watchers. I really believe in the program, and one thing I have found out about myself over the years, is that I cannot commit to something that I don't believe in. I have tried other programs in the past. My first diet was Nutri-System, back in 1991. Then, I had reached a horrifying 150 pounds! Though I know that for some of you, that is a frightening number indeed, the rest of you can relax and let's just say that if I ever see 150 again, I will be a happy camper. Anyway, Nutri-System helped me shed 15 lbs...and $1500. Then I got pregnant.
After my second son was born, I jumped on the fat-free bandwagon and put myself on my own 1200 calorie a day diet, the goal of which was to strive for consuming no fat, or at least as little as possible. The availability of unpalatable fat free products was as vast as it was unsatisfying. I did lose a good bit of weight, but the combination of boredom and disgust with the foods brought about the end of that plan, and I began to gain it all back again.
Several months later, I went on Phen-Fen. Phen-Fen was the greatest thing to hit the diet community since sliced low-carb bread. I think I took PF for about 6 months. Then when the shit hit the fan, I became scared by all the reports and stopped taking it. Naturally, the weight returned.
I have never been tempted by low-carb diets. It isn't necessarily because I love breads and pastas so much. In fact, I really am quite the carnivore. No; the reason I do not subscribe to the belief that I am "carb sensitive" and thus, a victim of my metabolism, is because I know the secret of low-carb diets.
I can't really recall all the science behind it, but in a nutshell, the reason low-carb diets make you lose weight is because your tissues hold much more water when you are consuming carbohydrates. So when you reduce that to a very low amount, your body does not hold onto as much water as it usually does. This results in a rapid flush of several pounds of water. I am sure, over time, a low-carb diet will cause legitimate weight loss, but it is due to the reduction in calories that results from the elimination of carbs. Anyway, like I said, I have to believe in a diet to commit to it, and that is where I stand as far as low-carb diets go.
So I have once again joined Weight Watchers. I started again this time on July 13, 2009 at my all-time heaviest weight of 228.6 pounds. I just completed my 5th week, and I have lost 10.4 pounds so far. (Yay me!)
I don't really know what I intend to accomplish with this blog. I do intend to share some of the recipes that I have come up with. I have always loved to cook, but in recent years, it has lost some of its appeal for me. However, whenever I am dieting, I tend to be much more inspired to cook. Certainly this is due to the fact that I love to eat, and when I have to set a limit to how much I can eat, I intend to eat stuff that I really really like. Unfortunately, a lot of low-calorie, low-fat, small portion food out there neither tickles my fancy, nor my tastebuds.
So I think I will end today's rambling here.
It is not like I don't know how to diet. I have lost the weight lots of times. For some reason, however, somewhere down the road when the initial energy and excitement of doing a new thing has worn off and it has gone by way of the mundane, I always seem to fall off the wagon. I have never reached my goal. One could argue that the goal was unattainable, but I don't really think that is it.
The weight-loss program I'm using is Weight Watchers. I really believe in the program, and one thing I have found out about myself over the years, is that I cannot commit to something that I don't believe in. I have tried other programs in the past. My first diet was Nutri-System, back in 1991. Then, I had reached a horrifying 150 pounds! Though I know that for some of you, that is a frightening number indeed, the rest of you can relax and let's just say that if I ever see 150 again, I will be a happy camper. Anyway, Nutri-System helped me shed 15 lbs...and $1500. Then I got pregnant.
After my second son was born, I jumped on the fat-free bandwagon and put myself on my own 1200 calorie a day diet, the goal of which was to strive for consuming no fat, or at least as little as possible. The availability of unpalatable fat free products was as vast as it was unsatisfying. I did lose a good bit of weight, but the combination of boredom and disgust with the foods brought about the end of that plan, and I began to gain it all back again.
Several months later, I went on Phen-Fen. Phen-Fen was the greatest thing to hit the diet community since sliced low-carb bread. I think I took PF for about 6 months. Then when the shit hit the fan, I became scared by all the reports and stopped taking it. Naturally, the weight returned.
I have never been tempted by low-carb diets. It isn't necessarily because I love breads and pastas so much. In fact, I really am quite the carnivore. No; the reason I do not subscribe to the belief that I am "carb sensitive" and thus, a victim of my metabolism, is because I know the secret of low-carb diets.
I can't really recall all the science behind it, but in a nutshell, the reason low-carb diets make you lose weight is because your tissues hold much more water when you are consuming carbohydrates. So when you reduce that to a very low amount, your body does not hold onto as much water as it usually does. This results in a rapid flush of several pounds of water. I am sure, over time, a low-carb diet will cause legitimate weight loss, but it is due to the reduction in calories that results from the elimination of carbs. Anyway, like I said, I have to believe in a diet to commit to it, and that is where I stand as far as low-carb diets go.
So I have once again joined Weight Watchers. I started again this time on July 13, 2009 at my all-time heaviest weight of 228.6 pounds. I just completed my 5th week, and I have lost 10.4 pounds so far. (Yay me!)
I don't really know what I intend to accomplish with this blog. I do intend to share some of the recipes that I have come up with. I have always loved to cook, but in recent years, it has lost some of its appeal for me. However, whenever I am dieting, I tend to be much more inspired to cook. Certainly this is due to the fact that I love to eat, and when I have to set a limit to how much I can eat, I intend to eat stuff that I really really like. Unfortunately, a lot of low-calorie, low-fat, small portion food out there neither tickles my fancy, nor my tastebuds.
So I think I will end today's rambling here.
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