Health/Weight Loss

This is sort of ironic. I wrote about the judgey stares at the mall, and when I was halfway watching Nightline last night, I heard the anchor ask “Is it OK to be Fat?” I was glued from then on.

They had 4 panelists debating this issue. Kim Bensen, who has lost over 200 lbs. and MeMe Roth, who I had never heard of before (and don’t ever care to hear of again…you’ll see why), were on the side saying it’s NOT OK to be fat. Crystal Renn, who is a plus size supermodel, and Marianne Kirby, who has written a book on fat acceptance, were advocating that it is OK to be fat.

Both sides had solid arguments, but sometimes MeMe and Kim had my blood boiling. First of all, Marianne Kirby is a big girl like me. You could literally see some moments in the debate where MeMe and KIM (Hello?! Weren’t you “fat” before? Stop being judgey..)had a face of disgust looking at this girl.

MeMe kept making comments that being fat is not acceptable. You can control it…she kept pushing that anyone could be the ideal weight.

I don’t know about that. Her definition of ideal was just plain wrong to me.

“There’s a lot of studies looking at staying at a lower end of BMI [body mass index] perhaps giving us longevity and healthier longevity,” said Roth.

BMI…one of the most unreliable measurements of ideals, to this woman, is the ideal. SERIOUSLY?

After watching this debate, I wanted to seriously become BFF’s with Crystal Renn. I agree, that while being unhealthy is a bad thing, fat is not a bad thing. Fat to society is SO broad, and like she mentioned in the interview, she’s a size 12, in the best shape of her life. The size 0 she once was, was UNHEALTHY! I’m sure a lot of society considers Crystal Renn to be fat, but hey, she’s making mega bucks being a gorgeous, confident woman with curves. You go girl!

I’m sure some of you might not agree with me, so what say you? Is it OK to be fat?

You might not know this about me, but my first job was working in a grocery store. Winn-Dixie to be exact. I worked there for almost 6 years, starting at a menial cashier and then working as an assistant manager, mainly in the cash office. Talk about stress!

Anyway, I worked there and the store strived to give excellent customer service. It was company policy and my store manager took great pride in having high marks within the district. I remember them posting scanning speeds per minute every week, and it was like a contest to get about 20-30 items per minute. It was crazy looking back how silly I was…

At one point, Winn-Dixie tried to motivate us. You would get points for good scanning speed, high manager remarks and hours you worked. You could redeem them for  things like gift cards and other random items. I remember redeeming my points for a car emergency kit (which resides in my trunk still) and a Tae Bo video set. Haha…Tae Bo was the shiz!

Getting to the point, we were rewarded for doing our jobs. It was motivating to make it a point to give the customer the best service available.

Now, enter Whole Foods.

See, Whole Foods…you think great company, organic, wonderful customer service. They aren’t rewarding for that, though. They are gonna increase your employee discount at Whole Foods depending solely on your health.

That’s right, your health. More notably, your BMI, which is the WORST indicator of health! All employees get a base discount of 20% off  in the store. If your BMI is lower than 30, you can get up to 30% off instead! Oh boy…oh BROTHER!

I’m really mad about this. My BMI is 35ish and because of my weight, if I worked at Whole Foods, I would be considered an unhealthy employee and given less of a discount. I know I’m overweight, but this blog brings up a good point about BMI. Apparently, Johnny Depp’s BMI considers him overweight…sigh….he wouldn’t get his 30% off for sure then!

So, I hate to be extreme, but I’m pretty sure I’m not shopping at Whole Foods for a while. This policy just grates on my nerves and seems a little discriminatory, don’t you think? Thoughts?

I need to apologize to all of you. NaBloPoMo will definitely not be happening this month, unfortunately. After adopting our puppy, which I’m working on a post about currently, I’m finding that my time needs to be devoted to her and my husband at home.

I did promise weekly updates on my healthy lifestyle, though, so here goes!

Before: 272
Week 1: 264.9
Week 2: 260.6

Weekly Weight Difference: -4.3 lbs.
Total Weight difference: -11.4 lbs.
Percentage: 4.2% lost

My exercise has been playing with the puppy and puppy proofing the house, room by room. We’ve been cooking almost every night now, so calorie intake is way more under control! I’m thrilled with these results so far, and I know I should take measurements, but I need to find my tape measure first!

How has this past week been for you?

I’m pretty happy with these results. I mean, after a rough week at work and a root canal last Tuesday, I just did not want to work out.

Before: 272
After (Week 1): 264.9

Weight difference: -7.1 lbs.
Percentage: 2.6% lost

Overall, I’ve been still pretty tired, but I didn’t get exercise in and I’m not completely back on water again. Darn Crystal Light is so tasty!

Hopefully, some things at work slow down for me to where I can get to the gym at a decent hour this week.

If you are doing some healthy changes in your life, how did this week go for you?

Wednesday was a real battle. I was saving my calories for a dinner that was going to be pretty calorie hefty, so my lunch and breakfast was pretty light.

Around 2pm, my work had a birthday club meeting, which included fruit pizza and ice cream. Not just any ice cream, Blue Bell’s Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream. That stuff is amazing to me. I walked into the meeting and a few people asked me if I wanted some of the dessert. I politely declined, looked down at my out of control belly and said “I’m just keeping true to my resolution.”

I didn’t want to offend my coworker who graciously made the fruit pizza, but I wanted to be selfish and keep those calories I had been saving for that night. Some of my coworkers offered it again, mentioning that it was just fruit. JUST FRUIT? Just fruit, cookie crust and cream cheese frosting….ugh. So tempting, I promise you, but I just kept insisting, saying thank you, and ended up leaving the room.

That afternoon, I get home and there is a box on my door step. Not just any box, though.

My grandma is such a sweetheart. See, my husband’s cake for the wedding was this.

Image taken by Amanda Meyer Photography

Our wedding was in May, but who doesn’t love king cake outside of the season? And yes, king cakes are traditionally purple, gold and green, but it’s not Carnival season and well, we made it into an LSU king cake instead!

We completely forgot about the plastic baby in the cake, and evidently, my grandma got it! Tradition is, whoever gets the baby buys the next king cake. So, my grandma insisted on getting us a king cake.

So, she got us a king cake on Kings Day, which is the 12th day of Christmas, when Carnival season officially starts. I’ll say this was such a sweet surprise, especially to my husband. Why is that? Well, it was lemon filled and lemon is his absolute FAVORITE. As you can see, the top tier of the (groom’s) king cake was lemon filled.

Guess who hates lemon dessert ANYTHING? That’s right, me. I’ll admit, I tried to get a slice that looked like it had little filling, but even that little bit made me wanna gag. So, while it was a completely awesome gesture of her, this will not ruin my diet whatsoever. We’re going to freeze this cake in individual slices for the hubs though. There’s NO way he can finish this cake!

For now, potential sabotages have been put under control. I can’t wait to see what the scale shows after week 1! 🙂

I admitted my starting weight to y’all a few days ago and yesterday morning, I was absolutely confused.

264 lbs.

Huh?? How did I go from 272 to 264? I know, I know, water weight, but REALLY? I’ve NEVER lost that much so quickly before! It’spretty solid there too…I was 264.6 this morning.

Odd indeed. I mean, 8 lbs. I promise you I’m not starving myself or working out Biggest Loser style either. I can’t complain though. I’m back to my pre-wedding-diet weight.

Have you ever had such a huge fluctuation in weight when starting a diet/healthier lifestyle?

…is a gross understatement.

I tipped the scales at a hefty 272 lbs. as of this morning. (My heaviest before the wedding was 264 lbs.) After holiday baking and holiday cooking, I went way overboard. I was still working out 1-2 times/week, but I never watched my diet.

It needs to change. I feel super lousy, constantly tired and just miserable.My pants are tight, too tight in fact, to where it’s painful to sit in the morning (I wear stretch style pants).

So, I’m not setting monthly goals, weight wise. I’m not setting up rewards. I just want to get healthy and feel better about myself day to day.

I’ll give you guys weekly updates with weight and measurements, though. If I happen to lose a lot of weight on this journey, yay for me! If not, at least I’m trying and at this point, I think an honest effort is definitely in order.

Wish me luck!

Back in June, after losing 20 lbs. for the wedding, I thought I was in control enough to quit the YMCA and do it on my own at home. Boy, was I wrong. 5 months later, I hate to admit that not only did I stop working out, but I gained all the weight back.

Enough was enough. As you can tell, I’ve been on Weight Watchers for a while, but I still wasn’t working out, so weight loss has been slow. So, my husband and I rejoined the YMCA yesterday.

Back before the wedding, circuits weren’t too bad. It was hard to do the push-ups and weights, but it wasn’t anything unbearable. However, yesterday, I found myself unable to complete half of most of the exercises. It was really saddening to see my fitness go back down to what it originally was back in January, but it was encouraging to get back to the level that I was back in May.

This morning, I felt all of my muscles slowly waking up (i.e. getting sore) to tell me that they still exist. It was the best feeling ever. I’m so happy to be back!

If you are striving for fitness, when did it hit you that you needed to change your life in a more healthy way? What inspires you?

I haven’t been diligent with posting about my goals with the Good Health Guidelines. For that, I apologize! However, I have some great news! I’ve been having 4-5 servings of fruits/veggies everyday!

How am I accomplishing this? Well, the produce stand near our house is a huge help! I diligently pack 1 satsuma and 1 banana in my lunch bag at work. Every week, I also buy a pineapple and when it’s ripe enough, I bring some of that to work as well. That right there is a potential for 3 servings of fruits in one day! With dinner, I usually cook two sides, both with vegetables being involved. I haven’t brought salads into my diet yet, but I’m slowly getting there. Baby steps, right?

Now that the fruits/veggies goal is almost fully incorporated, it’s time to make a goal for a new one: incorporating dairy into my diet!

I can say that this one will be pretty hard for me. I’m very picky with yogurts, hate the taste of plain milk yet have a love for ice cream and cheeses, which aren’t the healthiest options. 🙁

The guideline says to incorporate 2 servings of low fat or fat free servings of dairy each day. A serving is considered as one milk serving include 1 cup of milk or yogurt or 1 1/2 ounces of many cheeses. The reason/importance of dairy? Check out this article from Weight Watchers.

Some ideas I have to get my dairy servings in include:

• A cube of low-fat cheese. I’ll eat 1.5 oz. of cheese easily. 🙂
• Putting yogurt in a fruit smoothie…win/win…get fruit serving and dairy serving!
• Making a milkshake with low-fat ice cream and low-fat milk for a treat!
• Trying cottage cheese…I’m scared of it, but I’ve heard it’s pretty good. So, I need to find a good recipe for it, or just mix it with a LOT of fruit. 🙂

Do you have any ideas for me to make my daily dairy servings a habit?