By Belinda

My average weight for this week was 156.3--down from 156.9 last week. Slow but sure.

I have been cutting back portion sizes, basically just eating healthily and avoiding the really sweet or fatty stuff that I don't need anyway. There is still a stash of Hallowe'en candy in the cupboard and I have not had one or even wanted one. One wouldn't do it for me--I know that--so it's best not to go there! :)

I have been abysmal at exercise of any sort and I rationalize that I am busy! But really in my heart of hearts that is an excuse. I will set a fitness goal for the next week of a minimum of 10 minutes a day of some sort of exercise. Let's see if that helps with boosting the weight loss.

Renewed Efforts

By Belinda
157 1b

Last Sunday Susan emailed me to ask if I'd like to join her in a one week pact to only eat food that was good for us. I told her I was in and that I thought I could do it for one week, one minute at a time!

I forgot that it was Hallowe'en the very next day! Actually though, the pact saved me from gorging on the left over candies of which we had a lot since not one child called at our house this year.

The week went well. I attended a couple of celebratory work functions that involved food and made good choices and it wasn't until Saturday evening when I went to a 50th birthday party that I had birthday cake and several things that tasted good but wouldn't qualify as "good for me."

I found my weight records in a computer folder. I was in the habit of charting my average weight for the week on an Excel spreadsheet. I recorded each week from 1998 to 2006, when for some reason I stopped doing it, although I still kept track daily in note books.

Yesterday I averaged the last three weeks weights and started recording again. For me this is more encouraging than just doing it daily. The ups and downs don't matter as much as the total average. As long as that goes down I'm happy. Last week I went down .9 of a pound, which I am so grateful for.

Today I asked Susan if she was up for another week. She was. We term "good for us" loosely. We can always decide that a dessert is good for us. It is up to us to decide.

I went for a 3 km walk with Molson this afternoon. The weather is still mild; the sun was shining and the air crisp. Underfoot the leaves were crispy crunchy. It felt good to fill my lungs with fresh air and be out moving around!

Getting Back on the Horse

By Belinda
157.2

I just inspired myself by rereading some  old posts here. I realize how much I have drifted in focus and drifted up in weight.

I feel so much better when I'm even 5 pounds less than I am now. Truly, nearly everything in my closet is too tight to wear and I refuse to buy a size bigger.

Seeing that I started where I am now, last year, and I did slowly but surely lose weight, is so encouraging. I did it then and can do it again. It just means caring for my body enough to nourish it with good things rather than junk, and reminding myself of both my addictions and what starts the cycle of craving and the connection between the kind of food eaten and how full I feel.

I don't want to be a frumpy old lady. I want to be my best me, no matter how old I am.

155.4 Saturday

By Belinda

155.4:

On the scale I made last week, any weight between 155.5 and 154 is a 2 on a scale of 1-10--10 being my ideal weight.

It has been an up and down week but it ended well. I went back up to just over 158 mid week and it was my birthday week so there was cake!!

But towards to the end of the week I started making lunches of salad and cottage cheese and having cottage cheese and fruit for breakfast. I do like cottage cheese (not the low fat variety) and find it filling.

It's Saturday--I'm off the the hair salon and into a new week. :)

156.2 Still a (1)

By Belinda

Update:
It was a good weekend. I walked each day with Molson our family dog--3.5 km each day, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

On Sunday after church I went for lunch at The Cedar Kitchen, but had a Greek salad--not the breakfast they are famous for.

156.8 On a Scale of 1-10

By Belinda

I made a scale of 1-10 which motivates me to work towards being a 10. I'm a 1 right now at 156.8. But I'm working on the 10!

1.  157-155.5
2.  154
3.  152.5
4.  151
5.  149.5
6.  148
7.  146.5
8   145
9.  143.5
10.142

158 Yikes!

By Belinda

I am returning to my confessional post.

I got on the scales this morning at a new high of 158 lb and I knew I needed help. I know that it helps to confide here.

What got me here? Sad to say it is pathetic but true--I used stuffing myself as a coping mechanism during four stressful months at work. Ridiculous to deal with a difficult time by creating another problem, but somehow I thought that rewarding and comforting myself with food was "helpful." Go figure.

Add to this the fact that I have been baking pies on an ongoing basis as a fundraiser and you get the picture. Pie is never far away--and pastry--flaky, tender pastry--is a weakness.

Anyway, friends, I feel like I've zipped myself into a fat suit. I am wearing flowing tops to cover my expanding middle and hips and my face is looking paunchy. I don't like it.

I will be 61 in a very few days, but I don't like helping along the ageing process.

So I plan to check in regularly and share the journey back to sanity and fitness.

The Importance of Sleep

By Belinda

(151 lb)

It's been a long time since I've posted but I have still been "stopping the slide." :)

I'm in England on vacation with Mum and will be here for a few more days so I have a little more time to write.

Since I last posted I turned 60 (in June) and decided to take care of a couple of health issues that I had put off for too long. One of them was asking my GP for a referral to a sleep clinic. Paul had been on my case for several years, telling me that I stopped breathing for long periods while asleep, then suddenly gasp for air and start breathing again. He would try to hold his breath as long as I wasn't breathing, and couldn't.

I knew I had a problem only because he told me. He also woke me up several times a night to get me to turn over because I was snoring. I was accustomed to being drowsy and thought it was due to my bad sleeping habits. I tend to be night hawk and on average would get 5 to 6 hours sleep--sometimes less. I never considered that the quality of the sleep I was getting was poor as well. On top of that I couldn't imagine wearing a mask to bed, even if I did have a diagnosed problem.

Now I have been a base line sleep study and follow up appointment during which the doctor confirmed mild sleep apnea. I have been fitted with a mask, (called a C-PAP machine, which stands for Continuous Positive Airflow Pressure, I think) a less intrusive type, especially designed for women (for which I paid a little more but it was worth it.) and gone back for post test, which I have not had the results of. This is to see how much difference the mask has made. I expect I will go back for a final doctor's visit to get the results and see if adjustments to the air pressure in the machine are needed.

The effects of using my C-PAP machine were dramatic and immediate. I straight away felt as though I came alive! I had increased mental focus; energy and confidence and my appearance went from blood shot eyes and a strained, tired look by the end of the day, to bright eyes all day long. My only question was, "Why did I wait so long to take care of this?"

But I really didn't start this post intending to write all about the issue of sleep apnea; I wanted to share some information that I found interesting, which my brother pointed out in The Sun newspaper over here, in a column written by "Coach Ed." He was writing about the importance of a good night's sleep in weight loss and fitness in general.

Growth hormone is the major secretion produced by the body for building muscle and aiding recovery.

GH is anabolic, which means that it helps increase muscle mass. GH also has an effect on fat mobilization and fat deposition. What this basically means is that the more lean muscle mass a person has, the more effective their metabolism is at using calories, leaving the excess fat nowhere to hide. So from this alone you can see that GH is important.

GH is released while we sleep...This is why the night-time sleep is so important.

When we start to sacrifice our sleep we are sacrificing the results we should be getting from all the hard training hours we have put in. Many people ask how many hours they should get--it is hard to say how much each individual needs, but the general school of thought is about eight hours, preferably from 10pm to 6am. It is believed that this time is linked to a greater GH release than having eight hours from midnight to 8am.

Remember this equation: Little sleep + little GH release + inadequate recovery = FAT STORAGE
Losing sleep messes with nutrition and diet. According to Dr. Plamen Penev, from the University of Chicago, when the body starts to lose out on sleep this can prevent fat loss and make the body use less fat for fuel. The lack of sleep slows down the loss of fat and speeds up the undesirable reduction of lean mass. This doesn't help the body's metabolism. Dr. Penev also stated that "sleep loss is accompanied by an increase in hunger that makes it less likely you will stick to good nutritional habits and /or a diet."

Thanks Coach Ed. This is great information to build into our lives! I guess that the old adage about each hour before midnight being worth two after, is really true.

151.8

By Belinda

151.8 was what I weighed on Sunday but I'm down a pound since then, to 150.8 today. I really deserve to have put on weight but am grateful not to have, and attribute the fact that I haven't to the walking I'm doing thanks to my faithful furry coach. Still, I want to regroup and refocus!

More soon. Just wanted to check in and be accountable.

152 lb

By Belinda

Yes, I am going in the wrong direction and it is embarrassing to admit. I can't deny it, I earned every ounce. I found myself eating mindlessly at work this week. I was working hard, trying to get as much as possible done and I found myself reaching for food for some reason, as if eating while working would help in the overall effort!

I didn't pay as much attention as usual to the approximate total of WW points eaten. And on top of that, my trusty walking companion, Molson, went away to the cottage for the weekend and the thought of walking around the village on my own just didn't motivate me.

As soon as Molson came home, we went out together for a walk, and I'm in this for the long haul so I'm not giving up. Stay tuned!