When Jenn Goes Away.....

You can generally assume I'm either (a) gaining weight or (b) feeling fat or (c) over-reacting. Or, all of the above! Seriously, I'm fine - but decided to just take a breather from being so strict and stopped counting points. And you know what happened? Well - I know this will come as a complete unexpected shock - but I started eating more! My weight has been about the same, but I've been WW avoidant. So, I'm going tomorrow for a glorious post-Thanksgiving-I-just-got-my-period Weigh-in! Won't that be fun?

But here's the good news:

- I'm on Day 47 of Bikram! I decided to go for the full 60, which is the recommended starting point for a lifelong practice. I have one to make up, so I will do a double one day here when I'm just feeling like it.

- The scale actually has been oh-so-slowly creeping down.

- I went to my pre-lap-band nutritionist to get some advice that wasn't necessarily mapping to surgeon success rates :) She gave me a slew of tasks, things to do/change/adjust, along with a pep/accountability talk.

- I'm off to WW tomorrow for a weigh-in; I see the nutritionist again in 3 weeks.

What did the nutritionist say? Well, nothing new per se...

- No, I can't stop. I have to get under 155 or I am still overweight, which leads to serious health conditions sooner as I age. No getting off the hook on this one, she was clear as a bell. (Nice try, Jenn :)
- I need to eat 1200ish calories a day, or less, but around that ideally - aiming for 60 grams of protein. She said continuing with the WW point system is perfect.
- I got the 'what'for' because I was not taking a multi-vitamin, only Vitamin D; so I was off to Seattle Super Supplements for a specific Multi, along with Calcium Citrate because I don't eat enough calories to get enough calcium.
- She encouraged 2 vegetarian dinners/main meals per week. I sort of abandoned most veggie cooking when I got my band, figuring protein was too hard to get in. However, she gave me some ideas and options - and reminded me that, simply put, most veggie protein has fewer calories than meat, allowing me to get full faster on fewer calories OR eat more volume when I am feeling more hungry than usual.
- Exercise. Good gawd, my work here is never done. No, 90 minutes of wicked hard yoga in 105 degree room isn't actually enough. She also talked about how your body will acclimate and stop having to work as hard (i.e., burning as many calories) if you keep doing the same thing over and over. And though Bikram is a lifelong process, it's not like a treadmill where you can jack it up from a 12-minute mile to a 10-minute mile. So, once I complete my 60 days (Dec. 8), I am going to look at integrating other aerobic, calorie-burning activities at least a few days a week. "Keep your body guessing a little," she said. Anyone (it's for women) in Seattle interested in checking this out for 3 weeks, beginning Dec. 3rd?... --->

http://SeattleWeightLossBootcamp.com/

Does this whole thing of mine feel never-ending to you? Yeah, me too. But you know, it is what it is - a lifelong struggle, and this is where those who say "oh, you copped out and got surgery" are full'o'crap, because it's still a load of work. I'll say it over and over though - the difference is that when I do the work, it actually works! So, watch for more updates as I am re-focused.


Special to Ethel: I didn't have a way to write you back on your comment, but I hope your banding went well! One thought - when you do go back to Bikram, I'd recommend talking to your instructor about perhaps doing the pregnancy adapations during the spine-strenghtening series (on your belly) - port pain is no picnic, and happens. This way you could keep going!!