wdarling

Came across this news pieces on how many calories are packed into various cocktails and it’s great! Not all cocktails are bad, although I was shocked at just how bad some of them are. (Margaritas have 800 calories?!) Includes coffee cocktails.

Which Cocktails Pack Most Calories?

Enjoy!

So today I went out clothes shopping, looking for something to wear to a wedding next month. I went through the 16s and 18s in the Women’s section and found half a dozen that looked promising. Lo and behold, back in the dressing room, I discovered that all of them, including the 16s, were too big. Putting those back, I went through the 14s and even the 12s, thinking maybe that would work better. And lo and behold, while a couple of these were too small, a couple of these smaller ones fit. I wound up getting a dress in a size 12W. It fits perfectly. It’s true, the dress is made of stretchy polyester, so it’s way more forgiving than cotton or plain no-stretch fabrics, but it really does fit and looks great. I am so pleased!

Meanwhile, although I have given up on the Food Tracker (the new changes make it impossible for me to continue to log), I will be continuing to blog and track my weight here on Buddy Slim. And so far, I have lost nearly 30 lbs., over the course of five months.

Well, after nearly 4 months, I’ve lost 25 pounds and am still on track. There have been so many positive developments along the way, including obvious ones like fitting into my wardrobe and having people compliment me (without prompting) as well as not-so-obvious ones, like less back pain, hip pain, even better skin (less chafing).

Next month I will be easing into another phase of my program, increasing physical activity, and today being Earth Day, I started a week early by biking 1/3 of the way to work, about 2 1/2 miles. I was going to go to whole way but decided I wasn’t quite up to it, so I hopped on a bus (with bike rack) and made it in the rest of the way. Then I changed clothes and came in. I feel fresh as a daisy and so energetic!

Today I brought in a batch of fresh-baked scones for my office. I made them with a mix last night and know they are delicious , but I haven’t had one yet. They’re 180 calories each. I haven’t had lunch yet, so what I will do is check back towards the end of the day. If I’ve been good and feel hungry — and there are some left! — I will have one, with some coffee or tea. But otherwise, no. This is the kind of strategy that has worked for me these four months and I want to continue. Temptation really isn’t a problem if you plan for it.

Not only did I hit the 20 lb. mark for weight loss at yesterday’s weigh-in, but over the past week I’ve had 3 or 4 people come up to me telling me they see I’ve lost weight.

“You’ve lost weight, I can tell.”
“Hmm… Have you lost weight?”
“That’s a nice outfit. You’ve been losing weight, right?”

People actually always compliment my outfits, since I know how to dress, but I guess now my body is fitting the outfits better. Anyway, it’s nice to have some positive reinforcement.

I haven’t posted here since I had my nasal surgery. Should get back to it! Not like I have any reason to hide, since I’ve continued to lose weight. As of this week, I’ve now lost 17 lbs. since the end of December. I continue to follow a 1500 cal./day diet, tracking all my food and using Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to help myself along. So far I’ve stuck to good choices and have even managed to fit in special occasions and some treats without too much hassle, since I planned for these events and was able to compensate. I’ve lost weight every week since I started. I hope to get down to 215 by the end of the month, which will be 20 lbs.

Well, my weekly weigh-in has me smiling — again. 222! That’s exactly what I wanted it to be, although I told myself not to be disappointed if it was a little higher. I’ve done well.

To see what affect this has had, I just put on a pair of “fat pants” that I got a few months ago. They fit, but not as well as I’d like, which was disappointing since they’re Lane Bryant, Size 18. I wore them but always with a longish shirt that would cover up where it was pulling funny. Good news! They fit much better now around the weight and belly, which was the problem area before. I will wear these tomorrow to work.

Yay!

I squinted and stared in disbelief this morning, but my eyes did not deceive me — I’ve made it to my first Mini-Goal, having lost a whole 10 pounds since Christmas. I was prepared to be disappointed but apparently my attention to what goes into my mouth has continued to pay off. My next goal is to lose another 10 pounds, which will bring me down to where I was about a year and a half ago when I lost my job, which sent me into a bit of a spiral, health-wise. If I can accomplish that by the end of February, I will be satisfied. If I accomplish even more, all the better!

Here’s another bit from the Initial Assessment document I wrote up. According to the program, it’s important to assess why you want to lose weight. Sometimes you may find that not all the reasons really have to do with weight, but may relate to other parts of your life. Anyway, without further delay…

Reasons for wanting to lose weight:

• To fit into my clothes without looking stupid.
• To fit into my pants.
• To be able to wear my tights w/o wrecking them, getting sores.
• To alleviate back and hip problems.
• To make it easier to carry myself around.
• To take up less space in bus seats, plan seats, etc.
• To reduce my risk for Type II diabetes.
• To look younger, less frumpy.
• To look more attractive.

Did my weekly weigh-in this morning and found I’m on track. So far I’ve lost 6 lbs. What’s funny is that this is about all the weight I lost the entire time I was working out at the gym for eight months straight. And I did this in two weeks just by following a calorie regime.

I’m not starving myself either, but just learning to eat reasonable portions and consider calories instead of just the contents of the food. At this point I even seem to be developing a rhythm, with breakfast, lunch, dinner and three snacks (morning, afternoon and night), with about the same amount of food, calorie-wise, each time, and I feel satisfied after each meal, now that my stomach is getting used to it.

Later this week I’m going grocery shopping and stocking up on all the foods that I’ve found to be the best choices as far as “repeat” meals, like grapefruit, cottage cheese, yogurt, eggs, etc. I hope that by keeping all these things in stock I will avoid the temptation to just grab whatever food is handy.

I think thought this NPR story was pretty interesting:

Hotel Maids Challenge the Placebo Effect

One of the big mistakes people make, I think, is to put “exercise” in one compartment and “regular life” in another.