Probably because there's not great news to report- not horrible, but not great. I was expecting a big drop this week, and I didn't really get it. Mostly due to the fact that I weighed in very late Sunday morning last weekend, and right after dinner on Saturday night this weekend. If I'd waited until late this morning to weigh in, I would've had a little loss. As it is, I gained .7 pounds this week.
3/1/12 247.2
2/16/13 170.4
Pounds lost in March: .7
Pounds lost in April: 3.5
Pounds lost in May: 7.0
Pounds lost in June: 7.1
Pounds lost in July: +3.8
Pounds lost in August: 2.0
Pounds lost in September: 2.4
10/4/13 157.8
10/13/13 160.9
10/19/13 161.6
Apart from the difference in the weigh-in times, there's not much I can blame the gain on... I had a couple of Egg White Delights, but not every morning. I got in my water everyday. I kept to the Couch to 5K program I began last week, so I'm up to jogging three minutes (Chris has been sick and in the middle of a tech week, so I haven't dragged him along the last couple of times). I had ONE unusually large dinner- to celebrate a new job (more about that in a minute!), we went to Texas de Brazil. But even there, I kept it under control. So I'm not sure what's going on. It just might be that this is the neighborhood my body wants to stay- the upper 150s/lower 160s- and if that's the case, I can live with it. But I'm not going to stop pushing or relax my efforts, because that's when I start to gain weight back. Which is NOT going to happen this time.
If I were going to give my week a grade in terms of my effort, I'd give it a B+. I'll try for an A- this week and hope for some improvement- no Egg White Delights, and a little bit more portion control at dinner. Cross your fingers for me!
Okay, so, new job! I don't want to go into it much detail, but while I liked the administrative side of the work itself at the weight loss clinic, I've been working for a management team that is at its worst iffy on ethics and at its best really irritating. I found a job that is closer to home, doesn't require weekends or evenings, pays roughly the same (factoring in less gas money) and won't require any cold calling. I'm sure there are things that will stink about it, but it's hard to know what they will be until you start, and I'm cautiously optimistic. I'll be working for a primarily online retailer for nutritional supplements and eco-friendly clothing (two websites, one company).
One of the things I won't miss is having to endorse methods for weight loss that I can't really get behind. The most popular program at the clinic is the HCG diet. HCG stands for human chorionic gonadotropin, and it's a hormone that a woman's body naturally produces during a pregnancy. The job of the hormone is to break up a woman's stored energy mass- in other words, her fat- and use it to nourish the baby, in an effort to help make up for any nutritional shortfall during the pregnancy. If you take in this hormone when you are NOT pregnant, it has the same effect of breaking up your stored fat and converting it to energy. Therefore, if you're taking HCG, you can eat a very restrictive diet- 500 calories, on the program at our clinic- without feeling overwhelming hunger or starving to death. The 500 calories is very strict- low carbs, low fat, high protein. Not at ALL a liveable diet. But if you can stick with it for 6 weeks, you can lose on average 30-40 pounds. And then you can gain it ALL back when you break free from that diet because nobody can live like that.
Our second most popular program is Ideal Protein, which is essentially a meal replacement plan. You eat a "real" dinner- again, very very strict in terms of what you're allowed to eat- but for breakfast, lunch and a snack you're eating packaged foods such as shakes, smoothies, soups, and bars. If I were going to personally endorse a diet through our clinic, it would be this one, because the pre-packaged food is actually pretty tasty and filling. I'd purchase smoothies or bars a couple of times a week and just have them as a nice low calorie, high protein snack. This program is also remarkably effective if you stick to it. I watched one woman at the clinic drop 95 pounds from May to October, between the Ideal Protein diet and the thyroid medication the clinic's doctor prescribed for her. But again- NOT something that you'd want to do forever. The prepared foods aren't cheap and the one "real food" meal you get to prepare every day is so restrictive.
And such rapid weight loss can be bad for you mentally. I happened to take care of the woman who lost 95 pounds in five months on her final visit this week. There were tears of joy in her eyes, but I also sensed an undercurrent of fear. She has this completely transformed body and doesn't know how to feed it with normal foods from the grocery store. She's been so disciplined over the last several months, so hard on herself, that she knows it's time to let up and just doesn't know how to proceed in a way that will keep the weight off. I didn't know what to tell her. Our clinic doesn't give much instruction in the area of maintenance, because honestly, from a business perspective, it's a good thing for us if you gain it back.
It has made me grateful for my gradual approach, and how much I have learned over the last year and a half. The things I've done to lose the weight are things I will continue to do for the rest of my life. There is no "transition phase", no "maintenance mode". If I want to keep what I've got, I need to keep doing what I did to earn it.
That's it for tonight! A special welcome to my sister Amanda, who joined us this week. Go check her out!