Had I tried other weight-loss plans?

I got this question emailed from a friend:

"Was losing the weight something that had been on your mind for a while? Had you tried other plans before?"

Oh, yes.

What haven't I tried?

I've done Weight Watchers and Rip-Off Packaged and Processed Food Company (that one embarrasses me, but it was nearly 20 years ago now). I've been a vegan ('97-'99). About two years ago, I even tried the silly Subway diet, which apparently works better on people who weigh 400 pounds than it did on me. 

In short, I had completely shot my metabolism through years of dieting, starting from a rather young age. I was never super-big until my late 30s, but it had been a perpetual issue. Not a huge, paralyzing one -- as I had a successful career and lots of friends -- but something that nagged at the back of my mind.

I'd put on weight with each pregnancy (although not a huge amount, as I tend to get really sick -- I even had one pregnancy where I lost weight), and I'd put on more when my babies got to be about six months old. Eventually, I'd get serious and lose some (but not all of the) weight -- and promptly get pregnant again.

I spent much of the 2000s over 200.

So my weight had bounced up and down (mostly up) when I was in my 30s. Once my youngest child weaned about two years ago, I put on 20 pounds quickly without the metabolic lactation boost. I topped my biggest pregnant size before I knew it. In 2007, when I turned 40, I tried to lose weight on a number of different diets, but I quickly grew frustrated. I was having trouble sticking to an eating plan and the weight wasn't coming off even when I did. Even with exercise. I was beginning to think I was just destined to be fat.

I'm not sure exactly what happened in October 2007, but I became inspired to start Tiffany's plan. I had sat at her dining room table on a Wednesday and told her that I was never doing her diet. It seemed too extreme, too insane, too immoderate. 

I started it the next Monday -- on a bit of a whim and out of desperation. I think I hit a place where I was appalled at how high my weight had gotten. It was clear that what I was doing just wasn't working. I was down to just a few items of clothing that fit (mostly XXLs from the Target clearance rack). My Size 18 jeans were way too tight, and I was stuck in yoga pants, a few shirts and sweaters, and the one wrap dress that fit. I didn't want to buy any Size 20s.

I've found the elementalyou plan to be absolutely life-changing. I love that I'm not tortured by food at all anymore. It's seems amazing to me, and I'm more than a little annoyed at myself for not doing it sooner.

For me, just the eating plan hasn't been enough, though. I really needed to step up the exercise. I hit little plateaus, which seem as much psychological as physical, and even with the way I eat and how active I am (in a relative sense -- compared to how I used to be), it takes me a long time to lose weight. 

5 miles

I have a nicely measured route:

My place to the park is .63 miles
A long loop around the neighborhood from there is 1.25 miles.

So, I ran three long loops -- and back and forth -- to get five miles. It was about an hour (62 minutes), but I wasn't striving too much. That time includes a) waiting at the stoplight b) getting drinks and c) shaking teeny pebbles out of my shoes. It wasn't Zen running, but it wasn't hard running either.

Antisocial

I got to spend some time with one of my brothers (and his wife and daughter) and my sister (and her two daughters) today.

My eating doesn't usually make me feel antisocial (or, as though I'm making others uncomfortable) but it did today.

First we went to Lee's Sandwiches, where there is exactly nothing I can eat -- not that I was hungry. Then Tutti Fruitti Yogurth. My sister-in-law was just confused by the whole thing.

"You don't eat bread?!" she said, first.

Then, later:

"Not even yogurt?!"

I forget. My brother used to read my blog and make troll-like comments, so he knows the story. His wife, though, has had other things on her mind (imagine!).

It's not all that unusual for me to take the kids places where I'm not eating. I don't think they think it's that weird anymore. Usually, we're at places where there's something I can have, though, even if it's an iced tea.

Today, it was me not eating while seven other people did. Yes, it was a bit odd, but not terribly so.

My ring

I'm not sure how much smaller my fingers are going to get, so I'm thinking of getting my ring re-sized sooner rather than later.

I had it enlarged a couple of times, as I gained weight over the years. Finally, I just stopped wearing it and found a larger replacement. It fit me again just a month or so after I went on plan. I hadn't lost that much weight, but I was apparently a lot less puffy. Now the ring has a spacer in it to keep it on.

The possibility of losing it worries me a bit. I definitely never wear it to the beach.

It's a flashier ring than I realized when we picked it out. At first, I felt really self-conscious about it in the Midwest; by SoCal standards, though, it's pretty much a chip.

Paul was worried that I'd refuse an engagement ring because of my tendency to be frugal and pragmatic (and unromantic). So he took me to the jeweler quickly, before I changed my mind.

Our blue-collar roots are showing in the story about the purchase. Neither of us had any experience with nice jewelry. I had some definite sticker shock when the jeweler told us the price, and I told Paul that we should just look somewhere else.

Amazing! The price went down! (By 40 percent!)

The jeweler thought it was a negotiating strategy, but I was just naive and didn't know buying jewelry is more like buying a car than groceries -- prices are flexible.

Another weird thing about it is that it's also my wedding ring; the band was so thick that I didn't want to wear two stacked rings like my mother did and so many people do.

Zen running

I went out without music, without a timer and without having any idea as to distance today.

That was the point.

I came back after about 35 minutes after a meditative run, which I needed.

Here's a new thing: I've actually been rather active over the last few days, but it's turning into my "new normal" life so I forget to mention it. I did a P.E. class led by a homeschooling dad on Monday and boogie-boarded with the kids on Tuesday -- and I'm back to taking a walk daily with Paul. I have not been doing much weight-type work except the P.E. class (which didn't make me nearly as sore this week), but I'm trying to incorporate more of the fun-type movement into play with the kids.

Great running weather

...that I totally missed.

I didn't get out there until 10:53 this morning. Almost immediately the "June gloom" lifted and the temperature rose.

So I did a half hour. Don't ask me how far it was!

A challenge

I made my chicken tacos for the family today (a special request), which involves frying tortillas and adding shredded chicken/green chiles.

I so cannot eat those.

I so want to.

Oh, I can sit there and look at cookies or cakes or candy all day. They're not a temptation. (Anymore. Before I went on plan, they really bothered me.)

But those tacos are tough for me to resist.

My 10-year-old notes that we don't make those tacos much anymore -- my desire to avoid the little ache of a craving is why. (Not that they're particularly good for anyone in my family -- but once in a while is OK.)

Fortunately, I didn't have much chicken left, and I didn't want to take the tacos from the kids, so that made it easier.

If you meet a Forerunner on the road ...

I've decided that, for now, I'm going to avoid anything too techy.

The Forerunner was fun to play with, but I found it interfered some with the pure joy of running for me. I'm going back to time and a not-so-precise (but hopefully not completely off) distance.

I went out there this morning, less than 12 hours after my hourlong run yesterday, and my knee didn't feel right. I felt this sense of urgency, like I should run anyway, that I had to talk myself out of.

Last night, after getting in the hour, I had a great reminder of what I love about running -- the feeling afterwards. My legs felt strong, and I felt energized. I can get that without getting into the whole striving mindset, which I'm better off avoiding.

Party

I had to miss out on Jell-O shots at a party Saturday night.

Somehow, I survived.

It was a friend's 40th birthday. She's training for a triathlon now, and she gives me credit (undeservedly) for that. I got to tell my story of the mileage fiasco, which I have let mess with my head much more than it should've (although the cold didn't help, as I couldn't just get out there and put it behind me).

Yes, I should know better. I didn't get from 250 pounds to where I am now by thinking negatively or by expecting results to happen overnight.

I did get the typical fussing I get from people I knew in my really heavy days. One woman mentioned that I must've lost some weight, as my face looked thinner and my legs looked longer. She was shocked at the 90 pounds (approximately), though.

Paul got razzed a lot about when he was going to run with me. He worries, though, about getting competitive -- and I worry about him. He says we'd have to run in opposite directions.

He did help a bit with my head case issues, though, when he mentioned that he used to be able to keep up with me if he were walking briskly, but he can't anymore.

Body fat

Well, the guys with the fancy body-fat measuring device have turned out to be Herbalife salespeople.

I told them I'd happily buy their protein shakes if they had no form of processed sugar, artificial sweetener or flour in them. Of course, I was safe saying that, as there's no way those protein shakes aren't packed with all kinds of processed carbs.

I did learn that my lean body mass is relatively decent -- 110 pounds of my 160 or so -- and that the amount of excess body fat I have (according to their little measuring device, of course) is only about 13.5 pounds. That would certainly explain why it's coming off so slowly and why I've continued to lose a lot of inches but not a lot of pounds. But, then again, I'm not putting too much faith in Herbalife salespeople's magic little machines.

Today's run of 66 minutes totaled 5.46 miles -- with my Forerunner precision.