Week 9--Crossing the Great Divide

I’m officially below the 140-lb mark now and that feels super-incredible-awesome-great. I haven’t seen this neighborhood in eight years, and boy it’s good to be back in town.

Here are the digits:

Weight: 139.0 (down 1.5 lbs)
Fat Percentage: 27.0 (down 0.5 percentage points)
BMI: 23 (unchanged)

In terms of inches, I’ve lost about a half inch off my waist and hips each in the last week. Ever so lovely.

Now comes the hard part. I found that adding in a 500-calorie meal in place of two shakes or bars was difficult. Just because I’ve lost 23 pounds in nine weeks doesn’t mean that my triggers and bad habits disappeared. Eating a controlled meal was hard, particularly at a restaurant where either the staff wasn’t able/willing to make substitutions or the available choices were just problematic. (Why does every salad HAVE to have cheese?) Even at home, I found it difficult to avoid nibbling as I prepared meals. That’s nothing new for me, and these are bad habits that I’ll have to confront to keep the weight from returning.

But I’ll get to do that a few weeks from now. After assessing where I am physically, I suspect that I won’t be entirely satisfied with how I look when I hit my goal in four pounds. I have this ever-so-poochy abdomen that I would really like to reduce a bit more before I go on maintenance. I discussed the possibility of setting a slightly lower goal--130 pounds--with Dr. Laffey. After looking back over my numbers, she said she was willing for me to go back on the low-calorie diet to reach that weight. I really like that she is flexible and reasonable. Her concern was that my percentage of body fat would drop too low or that I would begin to burn muscle, which would lower my metabolism. And when you have “sea slug” metabolism, dropping muscle is not helpful. She also suggested that I begin a Pilates class--not the mat class I'd taken before and found terribly boring--but one of the classes that uses the Pilates equipment that really targets strengthening the core muscles. I'll consider it, but given that I dislike exercise as it is, it's going to be a tough sell. For now, I will add in a five-minute abdomen regimen from an app called Ab Workout (how clever) that I downloaded to my iPhone. I did it once (while watching TV) and kicked my ... belly.

So I’m back with the low-calorie plan (four shakes, 1 meal replacement bar) a day until I hit my original goal and perhaps a bit beyond that.

Since spring has finally arrived (more or less), I’ve started a (very pokey) morning jog. I’d call it a run but no one else would if they saw it:-) But the point is that I’m upping my cardiovascular output and getting outside in the fine weather, which just helps me stay interested in exercise and moving. Here’s to keeping it interesting.