Knitting in the Big City

Splurge

At my doctor’s request I made an appointment to see the practice’s nutritionist this month. I had seen her a couple of years ago for some guidance in losing weight. I pointed out that I have hit my plateau point – this is where I always wage a huge fight to drop additional weight. As we reviewed my chart she pointed out that I had lost 10% of my weight and have been successful in keeping it off for the past two years. She reiterated what most folks say – keeping the weight is the biggest battle.

Needless to say I felt pretty good when I left the office. So good that I went over to String and I treated myself to these:

Koigu Cashmere – 2 skeins, destined to be a scarf of some sort.

While I was there I also pawed the Classic Elite Embrace – you know the gorgeous 500 yard hank of cashmere. String’s owner, Linda, showed me two projects that used the yarn. While I was tempted I did resist at least for the time being. The stuff is so soft and luxurious!!!!

Gym Rat

I’ve been going to the gym for a month now and while my scale seems reluctant to tell me that I’ve lost any weight (2 pounds so far) my clothes tell me otherwise. Murphy’s Law rings true – the parts that can be considered “thin” are the first parts to lose weight.

I’m doing aerobic/cardio on the treadmill, elliptical or arc trainer machines. I’ve also took some yoga, Pilates, and mini trampoline classes. The last class is a challenge because you are suppose to jump up and down on it as if you were a 5 year old having a temper tantrum. Unfortunately I was never like that so I just kept bouncing up and down and I would end up behind on the routine! I have yet to tackle the weight machines. More than anything I consider them kind of “icky” and the area smells bad!

My gym schedule conflicts with my regular knitting circle so I’m checking out other knit gatherings I can go to. Speaking of knitting, my husband was playing around with one of my size 11 straight needles, so much so that I couldn’t find it last night! I wanted to finish my striped scarf. But I opted not to bother him because he was sleeping – he took the day off and ended up doing 5 loads of laundry. What can I do? My missing needle can wait.

An Anniversary

I began my "new" eating plan at the end of June last year and I'm *thisclose* to having my total weight loss equal the weight of my 3 cats. (6, 7,12 = 25 pounds). If I ever want to remember how much more I used to weigh and can (attempt to) scoop up all 3 cats and carry them around the house! While looking good is a side benefit here the main reason I lost weight was my health. I took the least used method by most dieters - I lost weight under the supervision of my doctor and the practice's nutritionist. What were the 3 biggest changes for me?

3 - I learned to like and even love my vegetables. Similar to an athlete in training mode, I spent most of 2003 learning to like my veggies before I went officially changed my diet the following year. A mixed green salad with 3 other ingredients is a dieter’s best friend.
2 - Portion control vigilance. Yes those restaurant portions are way too big. In fact the takeout lunch contains too much food too. "It's tomorrow's lunch or it gets tossed in the trash" is my diet mantra.
1 - Learn to try new things. Food and exercise will get boring if it’s always the same stuff. Try something new - you may like it!

What Yoga am I Practicing?

I record the Morning Yoga which is broadcast on the Fine Living Network. The day's instructor is either Rodney Yee or Patricia Walden. It's sort of "a taste of yoga". One show works on flexibility, another works on stretching the spine, etc. There are things I don't like about the show:

1 - You are rarely told what yoga props you might need for that particular session. I had to pause one show and go get a chair.
2 - If you're a beginner (like me) its tough to know how to modify the poses so you don't hurt yourself.

Even with these negatives I'm still motivated to use these shows to practice yoga about 3 times a week. All the flexing and stretching is giving my abs quite a workout. I'm not developing a six pack yet but a two pack looks like it wants to emerge.

Shop in My (Storage) Closet

I lost another 1.5 pounds last week, bring my overall total to 21 pounds; 11 pounds since Christmas. Shifting my exercise from walking to yoga and walking seems to have jump started the weight loss again.

Two weekends ago I went to our storage unit and I got out all my old "professional, business, clothes". I had about 12 suits in there just waiting for freedom! One of the reason they went into storage was that I had gained weight and the outfits were tight. I brought them all to the dry cleaners and while I'm not happy about the cost and am happy that they all fit. I find that I'm at the point where I pick something out in my size I have to reached again and get the next smaller size. Too bad I can't do that with shoes!!!!

Back on the Bandwagon

Well I'm officially back on the "Healthy Living" bandwagon starting this past Saturday.  Back to 10,000 steps a day and/or a session of yoga.  In the 2 weeks I was lax I managed to lose 2 pounds but my clothes were telling me that I lost muscle, not fat. 

The positive outcome here is that I subconsciously made better food choices and didn't overeat due to stress. Salmon sandwich instead of roast beef,  raisins and almonds instead of a giant cookie.  The words "I should have" never popped into my head!   It was more like "I want this and surprise, its healthy too".  When I started to eat differently last summer I found it was good to let people know - it turns out that my boss ate fairly healthy and he would give me tips about what to foods to try. He got me to try soy crisps and my other (thin) colleague got me to eat soybeans.

My new job location means that I no longer walk to work, which accounted for approximately 4,000 steps daily.  What I'm going to do is modify my walk to get on a subway stop later in the morning and get off a subway stop early going home.  I also vow to take part in some form of yoga at least 3 times a week.  I always stand straighter and manage to balance on my heels better after practicing some yoga poses.  The only casualty of this program is my stepper - out the door it goes.  I found that my right knee hated the repetitiveness of this exercise.  The stepper will be replaced by a big lime green exercise ball which I've already found makes doing sit-ups a breeze.

And tonight I'm taking out the Cotton Angora sweater so I can bring it to knitting circle on Wednesday!

I am almost finished with the front of Klaralund and yes I admit it, seaming is scaring me! Basically because I haven't done it before. Hopefully I can utilize the upcoming 3 day weekend to conquer my fears .

At first glance finding out that I did not lose any weight this week might be bad news. However I treat it as good news since I was so busy that on a daily basis I ate at least one, maybe two meals that were prepared by someone else. If you have ever dieted you know it is much easier to figure out what you are eating when you make your meal - its much harder when someone else prepares your meal. I did notice that I had no desire to clean my plate. Yup, hopefully that means I'm a former member of that club. "You know that ditty "Think of the poor starving children in China"? Well in my family that was really scary to hear because I imagined all these distant relatives having no food!

As a juror my case settled at the end of the day so I ended up serving a total of 2 days for my jury duty. We got as far as walking into the court room and being sequestered in a side room off the jury box. We could hear the attorneys negotiating a settlement and we were darn ticked off that they were doing it at 4pm! The other 3 cases on the docket had settled before noon.

And what did you think of Wednesday's episode of "LOST"? S-P-O-I-I-L-E-R Alert:

Will Sawyer ever tell Jack that his dad respected and loved him? When are we going to find out more about Kate's past (she was married?!?). And in the preview for next week - why does the Korean guy keep getting beat up?

Back to where I was!

I was d-r-e-a-d-i-n-g the scale yesterday morning but I thought "Get it over with". I had a very bad food weekend. Between crap at work and my brother's release from the hospital every time I experience anxiety I ate some form of bad carbohydrate. Such as:

- Chips and salsa
- A bag of Angel Puffs (rice and corn)
- A slice and bake package of Maury's Oatmeal Cookies (which need to be baked for 8 minutes, you think I would have stopped myself at some point)
- An ice cream cone (ice cream was dunked in chocolate too!)
- More chips and salsa

Heck I didn't even watch the Super Bowl so there wasn't even a fake "reason" to have this food. So what does the scale show? A net loss of 2 pounds??!!! I weighed myself 4 times to make sure about the number. I'm at the point I was when I lost weight last summer. Whoopee!

So what's the next goal? There's a family wedding in June and I'd like to lose another 10 pounds by then. It would give me an overall total weight loss of 30 pounds. This should be doable since June is about 15 weeks from now.

One

Barely, just barely lost 1 pound. Total weight lost for January - 4 pounds. All my current clothes fit better and I have some other clothes in storage that should fit better. I am not looking forward to shopping in a smaller size, mainly because everything will need to be replaced and it will be a lot of work.

In the past year I've developed a trick when trying on clothes in the dressing room. I don't look in the mirror until the outfit is finished. I find its better on the psyche. When you see yourself struggle to put on an item of clothing all you can think is "This will look awful", even if you were struggling because the zipper is in a strange spot. So I decided not to make any decisions until the outfit is on.

Dieting is a b*tch in the winter

First, knitting - Like Alison from the Blue Blog I am re-doing my Klaralund sweater. I was in a rush when I made it and I didn't like the fit. So I frogged it. The frogging wasn't tramatic since Klaralund is a fast knit. The sleeves are almost done and the back is half done.

I got on the scale this more with more than a little trepidation. I've been munching all week and the only thing I could attribute it to is that the drastic temperature change since its dropped about 40 degrees in the last few days. I was absolutely sure I had gained a pound or not lost any at all. Three weigh-ins produced the same number - and I had lost 2 pounds!!!

I am sure that you (well your brain) is not in control when you are trying to lose weight. Your body is in control. "Yeah, I know you exercised everyday this week but I'm only letting go of one pound". My head was telling me "You did badly" but the body says "Hey success!". Go figure.