Time For Another Weight Loss Change
I have a confession to make. Friday’s are not a good eating day for me.
What I mean is that Friday’s are donut day at the office. One person brings in bagels and cream cheese and donuts. And I sampled all the goodies yesterday.
Now it is time to put that to an end.
On Friday’s, instead on munching on the goodies, I am going to bring an extra piece of fruit to work. That will be my weekly treat at the office.
So why do I snack at work? It’s not like I am hungry or anything. I have the same breakfast on Friday’s that I have on any other work day of the week. Maybe it is the idea of “free food” - the caveman instinct of eating when food is available in case nothing is available later. I know that sounds far fetched, but is it? I don’t now. All I know is that when the email arrives stating that donuts are available at the normal location I feel this urge to get up and walk over and get something good to eat before everyone else does.
Even better is if I get the scoop on the arrival of treats before someone else does. Then I feel like I scored big time.
Back to the question, why do I snack at work like this? I think we can agree, this can’t be good for me. Maybe I feel like I need to cheat on my efforts to lose weight. Maybe its an escape clause on why I haven’t lost the weight I expect to. It makes for a perfectly good reason why I wouldn’t lose 23 pounds in 13 months.
I have recently thought about the 23 pounds I am planning on losing. Recall that I calculated I needed to lose about 1.77 pounds per month to hit my goal by the end of December 2007. I also thought that the first few months I had better lose more than 1.77 pounds per month if I am serious about this. I suspect that as time goes on and I lose weight that losing weight at the same absolute rate while weighing less will be more difficult. Think of it this way, who do you think could lose one pound easier, a 200 pound person or a 100 pound person. All things equal, the heavier person would likely be able to shed weight than the lighter person.
Let me let you in on some more personal information. A couple years ago, I had my cholesterol level checked. The results were not good. My total cholesterol was over 220 and my LDL was 162. For reference, the maximum recommended numbers at that time were total cholesterol less than 200 and LDL less than 100. Right away, I stopped eating any kind of cheese in slice form. Sure, I still had cheese with a meal, like with a burrito or on a pizza, but I went cold turkey on eating slices of cheese.
I also started exercising more, bought myself a pedometer to keep track of the distance I walked each day - in case you can’t tell, I like gadgets. Having the meter tell me how many steps and how much distance I covered each day works on motivating me to get a minimum amount of exercise each day.
Finally, I started eating oatmeal more often - as a replacement for breakfast and as an occasional afternoon snack.
Over the course of a year, I had my cholesterol checked four times. That is an expensive thing to do, getting blood work done every time I visited the doctor.
After about a year, my cholesterol did improve, the total cholesterol dropped from 220+ to 188 and my LDL went from 162 to 124 - still high, but much improved.
I am telling you this because during the year after my first cholesterol test, my cholesterol readings improved every so slightly at each checkup. To say the least, the marginal improvements were a little bit discouraging. But I kept on with the cheese elimination diet, an increase in exercise, and oatmeal. It wasn’t until the last checkup that I say the most improvement.
It won’t be a surprise if these first few months result in just a little weight loss. My body (or mind) will probably fight me along the, trying to get me to eat some more. But if I an consistent with my efforts to lose weight, then I see no reason why I won’t meet my weight loss goal of losing 23 pounds.
Technorati Tags: weight loss, diet, cholesterol, snacks, pedometer
Other posts related to "Time For Another Weight Loss Change"
I have a confession to make. Friday’s are not a good eating day for me.
What I mean is that Friday’s are donut day at the office. One person brings in bagels and cream cheese and donuts. And I sampled all the goodies yesterday.
Now it is time to put that to an end.
On Friday’s, instead on munching on the goodies, I am going to bring an extra piece of fruit to work. That will be my weekly treat at the office.
So why do I snack at work? It’s not like I am hungry or anything. I have the same breakfast on Friday’s that I have on any other work day of the week. Maybe it is the idea of “free food” - the caveman instinct of eating when food is available in case nothing is available later. I know that sounds far fetched, but is it? I don’t now. All I know is that when the email arrives stating that donuts are available at the normal location I feel this urge to get up and walk over and get something good to eat before everyone else does.
Even better is if I get the scoop on the arrival of treats before someone else does. Then I feel like I scored big time.
Back to the question, why do I snack at work like this? I think we can agree, this can’t be good for me. Maybe I feel like I need to cheat on my efforts to lose weight. Maybe its an escape clause on why I haven’t lost the weight I expect to. It makes for a perfectly good reason why I wouldn’t lose 23 pounds in 13 months.
I have recently thought about the 23 pounds I am planning on losing. Recall that I calculated I needed to lose about 1.77 pounds per month to hit my goal by the end of December 2007. I also thought that the first few months I had better lose more than 1.77 pounds per month if I am serious about this. I suspect that as time goes on and I lose weight that losing weight at the same absolute rate while weighing less will be more difficult. Think of it this way, who do you think could lose one pound easier, a 200 pound person or a 100 pound person. All things equal, the heavier person would likely be able to shed weight than the lighter person.
Let me let you in on some more personal information. A couple years ago, I had my cholesterol level checked. The results were not good. My total cholesterol was over 220 and my LDL was 162. For reference, the maximum recommended numbers at that time were total cholesterol less than 200 and LDL less than 100. Right away, I stopped eating any kind of cheese in slice form. Sure, I still had cheese with a meal, like with a burrito or on a pizza, but I went cold turkey on eating slices of cheese.
I also started exercising more, bought myself a pedometer to keep track of the distance I walked each day - in case you can’t tell, I like gadgets. Having the meter tell me how many steps and how much distance I covered each day works on motivating me to get a minimum amount of exercise each day.
Finally, I started eating oatmeal more often - as a replacement for breakfast and as an occasional afternoon snack.
Over the course of a year, I had my cholesterol checked four times. That is an expensive thing to do, getting blood work done every time I visited the doctor.
After about a year, my cholesterol did improve, the total cholesterol dropped from 220+ to 188 and my LDL went from 162 to 124 - still high, but much improved.
I am telling you this because during the year after my first cholesterol test, my cholesterol readings improved every so slightly at each checkup. To say the least, the marginal improvements were a little bit discouraging. But I kept on with the cheese elimination diet, an increase in exercise, and oatmeal. It wasn’t until the last checkup that I say the most improvement.
It won’t be a surprise if these first few months result in just a little weight loss. My body (or mind) will probably fight me along the, trying to get me to eat some more. But if I an consistent with my efforts to lose weight, then I see no reason why I won’t meet my weight loss goal of losing 23 pounds.
Technorati Tags: weight loss, diet, cholesterol, snacks, pedometer
Other posts related to "Time For Another Weight Loss Change"