The heat is on...and on...etc...

Well I am seeing more signs of progress. I think that now I am done with my MFA work, that I am (a bit) less stressed to the point that I am not storing (as much of) that lovely stress related belly fat that they tell you about on TV infomericials and the interweb. I also text one of my best friends my weight periodically to help keep me accountable and on track--that has helped a lot. I think that another major contributor to my progress, in addition to having to analyze every bit of food that goes into my body based on whether is has gluten or soy in it, and that I have been poor and needing to cook at home quite a bit, is the fact that it is so incredibly hot outside.



I think I first realized it in early June when I walked a short distance from a building to the car and I broke a sweat, I knew that it had started again. I still try to walk as often as I can as well, which still isn't as often as I would like. But sometimes whether I will or no I sweat and feel like I have been through a work out. Especially on those lovely "heat advisory" days. But all this is to say that for what ever reason, I am seeing more progress. I am hoping just to keep my head down and keep plugging away until I reach my goal. Incidentally, I like the two images of suns that I found. The first is so zen and peaceful, I think it is my favorite. The second makes me think of the weather we are having. Kind of mischievously scowling down at us as we melt. However, if it is he who is helping me melt away the pounds, I guess I cant complain too much. Keep praying for me if you would that I just heading down the path I am on. Slowly but surely and not giving up. :D

weight for me - the gluten free edition

well. I think I am making some progress. I am hesitant to say that out loud and much more hesitant to say that over a public medium. But I am. Hopefully it wont come back to bite me in the ass. Unless it decided to do me a big favor and bite enough off my ass to save me some of the trouble of exercise and food monitoring. And that's what it takes for me really. Just eating less or at least being conscious of what I eat until my stomach shrinks. Which it eventually does, and then not allowing it to expand again. And walking. it helps if I exercise, especially walking.
P.S. I like the angle of this photograph, because it makes me look more like what my goal is than where I am right now. Maybe I will share with you a full length one soon. Just give me some time.

A few things have happened in my favor recently that have helped it to be a bit easier to lose:

Earlier this year I was diagnosed with a gluten intolerance. Without my knowledge or consent, my body decided that it doesn't tolerate things with wheat and soy. Now in an of itself, this is not a condition that translates into weight loss, no matter how much the interweb emphasizes the idea of "wasting" (or wasting away) due to the condition. But what it has done, has forced me to be aware of what I am putting into my body. Cakes and cookies and breads and other regular treats are "right out" as they say, unless of course I can afford the fancy expensive ones from whole foods. Mostly I just treat myself to ice cream that I have read ingredients carefully on, or very occasionally a small piece of chocolate like a peanut butter cup (but I cant have much of that at all due to the content of something called soy lechthin in them that makes my stomach rebel). I eat alot of corn, potatoes, and rice and meat and eggs and I should eat more vegetables and fruit. Also praise that Lord that Wendy's has a gluten free menu, which helps in a pinch. But some of those things are not soy free so I have to limit how much of it I eat. And then God has seen fit to allow that Coke and Cheddar cheese are gluten free but there again, I along with the rest of the world should be careful how much of those things i have. I have gotten used to the soy free and gluten free, enjoy life candy bars that you can buy from whole foods. A friend who is also gluten free and I were joking one day when I started getting them that they don't allow you to enjoy life all that much, but in the end I have developed a taste for them and even look forward to them as a treat when I can afford it. (I wouldn't recommend going gluten free for everyone, and I plan to do a follow up visit to a food allergy specialist as soon as I can. i have read online that there are beneficial elements to eating wheat and other grains that I cannot especially since they contain something called prebiotics that wheat is enriched with, and that I am still trying to figure out how to get from other sources. Humph. Oh well. I will do more research.)

Another recent development in my life long weight loss expedition is that of finishing my grad school work. They weren't kidding about the freshman 15, and I wasn't really really kidding when I was talking about the grad school 25 that stayed with me almost the entire 6-7 years that I was working on my double masters and eventually became 35-40 all told. It has taken a load of stress off of me to finally be done, and allowed me more time to actually think about my body, which seems a frivolous concern when you are trying to do coursework and sometimes teaching and also working on a novel.

Thirdly, the summer has come just in time. Seriously, the past two years my city has become notorious for summers that start early. I am able sweat off a pound just walking to my car and back sometimes (and I am only exaggerating a little).

And finally, one of my friends has helped to motivate me by calling me up to take walks with her, which I do as often as I can. And this helps a lot. So all this to say that I have lost about 21 or so pounds since Christmas, and this time I plan to keep it off and go the extra mile (literally and figuratively) to reach my goal.

Hooray. so try to encourage me if you can. Maybe not so much on how good I look or what size I am, but on what I have accomplished, and what I am trying to accomplish. I could use it, for i have a long road ahead of me.

A bit of progress.

Well as they say, "A rolling stone gathers no moss"...and as they don't say: getting that damn stone to roll, can sometimes be hard as hell.

I have however, realized a bit of progress over the past week after trying to get the weight loss momentum started over the course of the past month has been difficult. But good things come to those who wait, and last night/ this morning, I saw that the scales had finally moved in a way that I could recognize. I am now 190.4. This may not mean a lot to some people reading this, but it does to me.I agree with the guy whose article I read online about the decimal on your scales making a difference to you psychologically. I really does. I think that all told heaviest time this time, was about 195 or 194. So this makes me happy. I hope to be solidly in the 180s soon, and then so on.

I want to be 150 again and maybe beyond if I can be tenacious and not let things get to me. Splurg occasionally but keep things in perspective and proportion. I have been trying to drink diet coke and more water and fewer frappucinos less often, substituting when I can for regular black coffee. 1500 is still the calorie goal, and i try to exercise when I can, either walking or going to the school gym and using the elliptical machine and lifting weights.I will not be taken down so easily. This is bigger than me, bigger than now. I have so much to prove to myself and, indirectly, to others. So "here I go again on my own...and I've made up my mind, I ain't wastin' no more time." These first few pounds, hopefully one small step for mankind, one giant leap for Jenny.

In with the new.

The new year is upon me, and i have decided to make a fresh start. Holiday eating was time-consuming and resulted in the all-encompassing extra ten pounds of holiday weight that I had so painstakingly lost earlier in the year. Blast. So i have begun a-fresh. The incessant baking was fun while it lasted however, it left me craving cake at the oddest times e.g. one oclock in the morning, when it is seriously too late to bake a cake anyway. Something good did happen though with all the holiday baked goods. I realized something that I had forgotten. Why I am an excellent baker. To be sure, I concocted many a culinary delight including (but not limited to): a duchess spice cake (for my love for christmas, which he tells me was very good), two batches of homemade fudge, 3 kinds of cookies, rice krispie treats (well lets face it, these arent hard to make), and angel biscuits. So I have some left over ingredients with which I plan to make a homemade cheese cake and some banana bread tonight and on new years eve, but other than that I plan to put a stall on my baking at least for a while. Maybe I will make a special treat for myself and my love on valentines. It is amazing though how much weight you lose, however, when you stop eating cookies. I have lost about 2 pounds so far when I started watching my intake again. Right after Christmas I went out and bought some fruits and vegetables and salad fixings and I have been doing my best to partake of them everyday since Christmas. My roommate also baked us some delicious baked potatoes the other night, I have to do that soon as eating the skins are good for my cholesterol and that is just what I did. I am going to do my best to forget what has gone before, and forge ahead with what lies in front and begin my weight loss exhibition once again. I am glad that I am trying before the new year however, to begin with good habits that way I will feel like they are not as foreign to me to continue in the coming year. I really want to reach my goal this year. With my cholesterol problems and my age on the rise, it is more important than ever now for more reasons than just vanity that I get into that smaller size. I am hoping then to use this blog more than I have in the past as a means of holding myself accountable and actually reaching my goal. I have it in my head. I am in the 180s again with the onslaught of Christmas. But i would like to be in he 140s or 150s at the very least. If I could reach the 120s that would be amazing and I could model, for reals. That would be my ultimate goal if I could but I know that once I get to the 150s I am a healthy weight for my height and body type. I can pull off the 60s but the 50s are best. So really 30 pounds in the coming year would be great! People do it all the time. Especially on the biggest loser! I can too! I have to!

Yes, Jillian.

I have picked up my Jillian Michaels book again and have started reading. I really want to make progress and she seems like perhaps the lady that can help me do it. I have done two days of her work out dvd called 30 day shred. She and Bob Harper (whom I also greatly admire) are both trainers on the show The Biggest Loser.




Well I was doing alright with this, 3 days in a row for her DVD but then yesterday I was stressing out over a paper that was due, and my muscles felt so sore that I watched Hamlet (that is what the paper is on) instead. So on Thursday I took a break from the DVD. But Friday I went right back to it. She is right that some of the moves in the workout get easier the more you do them, however, I still find myself doing the pushups on my knees and not my toes and my knees feel awful when doing certain exercises. But if I dont pass out after, then I do feel strong when I do the exercises.

I have been trying to read more of the book which is hard with school things to do, and with the first few chapters being focused on change from the inside out, they tend to be ones that you can only take a little at a time anyway, if you really are trying to absorb what she is saying.

I would recommend Jillian to anyone, she is tough, but she has helped alot of people lose a lot of weight. Maybe she will help me.

The latest on the Weightloss front

That title makes me feel important. as if I am a journalist from behind enemy lines talking about a war whose title ends in "storm" or "shield." but alas I have no such aspirations. I merely would like to put a stop to the extra poundage advancing across my ass. Things have been stressful for the past week or so. I have been studying for comps and taking them, and my baby hasn't been feeling too good health-wise, and money has been a little scarce. Actually the last one kind of works in my favor, as it forces me to eat at home and make conscious decisions about what I put into my body. Therefore, with the initial stressfulness my weight was starting to creep up, but with the onset of more stress, it has gone down again. Not the healthiest way to lose weight but then I dont think that the 4 pounds I lost the wrong way is going to make me need sally struthers or a sponsor. (Sorry, that was a horrible joke that half of you may not get because you are too young to remember). Anyway, as I was saying, so I have lost some. Oh and I have been trying to buy better things to eat at home, as I got my report back from the Dr. recently and I had only lowered my LDL cholesterol by a few points. He said to keep trying and to follow the diet handout that they had given me and exercise would help lower it too.
He also added as an after thought, "Oh and losing weight would help as well." Ha! You and me both want it then buddy.
I feel as though I am making progress. I am more conscious of what I am putting in my body. And I try to find healthier ways to prepare things, with my fat free milk and cheese and heart healthy spread and whole grains. I am trying. I still need a hormel shelf stable turkey dinner with gravy sometimes (so good!) but I am trying. I even bought a two liter of diet coke, that I actually drank. I need to watch my intake of baked goods and packaged foods, but I think I am making baby steps. With all the food allergies out there now I have been trying to eat more organic foods which makes be feel better. I think that my mom was surprised last night. As we were collaborating on Thanksgiving dinner on the phone, i was telling her that I could bring organic mashed potatoes and organic green beans. I also asked if beacause I want to make pumpkin pie this year if she cared if I substituted whole wheat flour and heart-healthy spread for regular flour and crisco. I think that she was surprised to say the least. But she had no problems with it. So I will do my best to find a good pumpkin pie recipe, and bon-apetit!