Friends With Benefits

I love a good friend with benefits. Not the sexy kind (we all know THAT never works out). I mean the kinds of friends who are knowledgeable or talented in an area that you are less knowledgeable and talented in, who use their knowledge and talents to benefit you. Those are the kinds of friends to have around.

For my September goals I pledged to stick to a 1,200-1,300 calorie a day diet. Even when I was setting the goal I knew it was ridiculous, unrealistic, and probably not healthy—the only reason I considered trying it was because my doctor suggested it, but she didn’t base it on any kind of math or my BMR or any of that—she just said “maybe try 1,300 and see what happens.”

I like the doctor, but deep down I knew that was not great advice, and I needed a second opinion.  People always say you should talk to your doctor before starting any kind of weight-loss program, but you should also talk to a Registered Dietitian. I’d even say that you’d be better off talking to a RD than a general practitioner. Many doctors are only required to take one basic nutrition class in their early college years and then they go through years and years of med school. Who remembers what was taught in one random class at the beginning of your schooling? Registered Dietitians, on the other hand, are in the business of nutrition and knowing what’s up with bodies. That’s what they do. They tend to be on the pricey side ( becoming a RD isn’t easy or cheap!), but luckily for me, my friend Eunice is a soon-to-be Registered Dietician and she helped a sister out.

Yay, Eunice!

I tweeted to her in a panic and was all like “F this 1,300 calorie BS. I quit.”  and she took the time to send me an email with questions and encouragement. She answered my questions. She helped me figure out my BMR and told me to shoot for 1,500-1,600 based on that and my activity level. She  offered an ear anytime I have questions or want to vent about the weight/weight loss stuff. She also told me that she thinks her boyfriend’s waist is smaller than hers, so not to worry that mine lost 30 pounds in 6 weeks. Boys just suck that way.

I’m always glad to be a friend with benefits to my friends and I’m grateful for all the friends I have who share their talents with me. Reach out to your friends for help. Remember:

Ha! Ha! Hahaha! I love puns.

Thanks again, Eunice!

Working it Out: Goals for September

September is my birthday month, which should be super exciting, but a little black cloud has been hovering over me. It’s called My Big Fat Stupid Thyroid.

That being said, I know that my thyroid isn’t the only reason I’ve gained some weight, it’s just been a vehicle for frustration, which has led to eating more than I need to, which has led to extra weight gain on top of what the thyroid has done. And so, the time has come to cut down significantly on calories.

I’ve been avoiding it. I did everything I could to avoid cutting back down to 1,200-1,300 calories because I’ve read and been told that that’s not enough for the amount of exercise I do, but I feel backed up against a wall now. I talked to my doctor about it and she said to try 1,300 and see if I get any results. She said with my thyroid working against me, I need to create a big deficit if I have any hope of losing some weight. And so it shall be done.

First, a quick look at August. I resolved to try the eating/grazing all day thing, to do tons of strength training, to wake up with the alarm, and to save money. I did the grazing thing for about three days, but I just felt like I was eating when I wasn’t hungry and it was confusing my brain. I let it taper off fairly quickly. I did do tons of strength, which was really good and a trend I’d like to continue. I did NOT wake up with the alarm every day. Hey, you win some, you lose some. I did save some money. Savannah is on the horizon.

Okay, so September goals:

1. Eat 1,200-1,300 1,500-1,600 calories a day: It’s depressing, but it’s the only thing that works for me. I’ll eat 1,300 on cardio days and 1,200 on non-cardio days and my day off from exercising. Fuck this shit. 1,300 is not enough to maintain an exercise program or to get all of the nutrients my body needs. I talked to Eunice and she reminded me of that. I already knew it,  but I was in a temporary state of panic. Sanity restored. 1,500-16,00 it is!

2. Cut the most calories from sugar intake: The evils of sugar can’t be denied. I know it, you know it, we all know it. It’s unrealistic for me to say I’ll have NO sugar, but I’m going to limit it to natural fruit and dairy sugar and perhaps one or two dark chocolate squares a day. A girl needs her chocolate.

3. Make fish and beans my primary protein source: Eating meat after 15 years of vegetarianism has definitely caused some of my weight gain. It’s undeniable. Meat is a lot more calorie dense than most vegetarian food and I’ve been taking in too much. I’m going to make it a goal to get most of my protein from seafood and vegetarian protein sources this month.

4. Enjoy my birthday: I can get crazy about this calorie thing, which is one reason why I stopped doing it for so long, but I know I need it to keep the weight off. However, I’m not going to be crazy on my birthday, which is September 28th. Birthdays are for cake-consuming. No need to be insane.

I have to admit, I’m not very excited about these goals, but I know it has to be done.

Working It Out: Goals for June

Last month was my one year gymniversary. This month will be my one year blogniversary!  That’s right, I’ve been blogging for a whole year as of June 20th.  Ah, how time flies.  We’ll celebrate that day with cake.

We're always looking for an excuse to eat cake around these parts.

June is fixin’ to be a busy month. I’m going to Disney World for Gay Days this coming Saturday, which I did for the first time last year and I swear, I’ll never go to Disney World without my friends, Stephen and Dustin, again.  It was the best Disney experience of my life. They know where everything is, when to be in which line, and they eat at an appropriate time. I’m stoked.

Just look at how much fun I had last year.

I’m planning on having a garage sale at some point and later in the month I’ll be traveling (back) down to South Florida for my friend’s bachelorette party.  I was just there this past weekend for her wedding shower. I’ll go back in July for the wedding.  And I’ll be a bridesmaid.

Which brings me to my June goals.  But first, a quick look at how I did in May:

In May, I resolved to go back to what works for me, health and eating-wise, to start using a food scale, to eat more oily fish, and to do two kinds of exercise a day. I did pretty well overall, but didn’t nail any of these. I added good whole grains back into my diet and stuck to  Mediterranean-style eating habits when I ate at home. I wasn’t great with this when I was eating out, but ditching the low carb high protein stuff really helped me feel better than I had for the last month. This reiterates my belief that I need delicious carbs in my life.  Talk about some good news.  I did buy a food scale and I’ve done my best to  use it. I’m not great at math, so it’s been kind of confusing, but I’m getting the hang of it. I ate a lot of shrimp and tuna, but I failed on eating oily fish at least three times a week.  It was more like once a week.  Dang. I did do two kinds of exercise almost every time I worked out.  Almost.  Go me!

Okay, back to June.  As I said earlier, I’m going to be a bridesmaid in July. Therefore, my goals this month are largely motivated by that. I know some people might disagree with a wedding as a weight loss motivator, but hey, you know what? I needed a motivator to really get my ass back in gear and this is the perfect reason.  I’ve been far too complacent with being at a semi-comfortable weight when I know I’d feel better and be able to work out better if I lost a few.  Enter June goals:

1. Goal #1: Lose fifteen pounds by Tiffaney’s July 22nd wedding: This is a two-month goal!  I’ve never done a two-month goal before, but I think this is appropriate. It wouldn’t be healthy to lose 15 pounds in one month and it would be silly to make my goal 7.5 pounds for the month of June.  I’m approaching this weight loss with a method that is tried and true for me: the calorie count.  I’ve been avoiding the calorie count for nearly a year by trying to focus mostly on real whole foods in smart portions, but like I said, math is not my strong suit and my ability to eye smart portions is not so great. By counting calories and writing down what I eat, I can keep my portions in check.  I’m sticking with the real whole foods. I’m shooting for 1,500 calories a day. In the past I’ve lost weight with 1,200 calories a day, but I hated life, and I don’t think I could keep up my workouts on that low of a number, so 1,500 it is.  We’ll see how it goes, but I feel good about it.

2. Goal #2: Shorter workouts, more intensity: Last month I did the two workouts a day, this month I’m going the opposite route. I want to work out harder, for a shorter period of time. I’m going to go to more of the shorter classes (Next Level and a new Strength Training class, respectively) and really work hard during them, rather than giving less than 100% to make it through a two hour workout.  I might keep my Wednesday spinning/Next Level combo because I like the instructor, but she said she might switch her spinning day with another instructor, and if that’s the case I’ll do some rearranging.

Goal #3: Plan menus: On Sunday night I entertained myself by making a breakfast menu for the week, complete with calorie, sugar, fat, carb, and protein counts.  This is how I have fun.  I’ve actually really been stoked about having that printed menu available. It’s taken the guesswork out of what to have for breakfast and it makes the whole process go faster. I’ve got all kinds of good stuff on there.  Egg whites+one whole egg on wheat toast with berries, cinnamon raisin toast with a scrambled egg and cheese, cinnamon raisin oatmeal, and sunny side up eggs and bacon on toast. I’m going to work on lunch, dinner, and snack menus, along with a quick reference sheet of things to eat at my most frequented restaurants. I feel like it’ll take some of the guesswork out of losing a few pounds and it will make it easier to avoid overeating.

Goal #4: Hop on the couponing bandwagon: I have a tendency to pay for convenience.  In a lot of cases, I feel like it’s really worth it. However, I’ve had several friends tell me about how much money they’ve been saving by using coupons lately, and I think I may have been convinced that not cutting coupons is one convenience I can no longer afford. I’ve tried to coupon in the past and I always end up forgetting about them and wasting my time, but this month I will make a conscious effort to get organized with coupons and really use them. I’ll keep track of how much money I save by doing this, so that I can convince myself it’s worth the effort.

That’s it!  I was actually planning on making the weight loss my only goal for June because as we all know, weight loss is an energy vampire, but as I was writing the other things popped into my head.

On an unrelated note, June is Adopt-a-Shelter-Cat month.  I got my cats, Gideon and Starla, from shelters and it’s totally the way to go.  Starla was a kitten when I got her and is batshit insane (though I love her all the same), but Gideon was almost a year old when I got him and he is the greatest cat ever. He knows he was rescued and is the sweetest, most loving lap cat you could ever imagine.  He’s the cat that even cat haters can’t hate.  If you’re in the market for a pet, get a shelter cat this month!  I’d get at least three more if I had space.  I want an orange tabby to name Doodle, a black cat to name Othello, and a white cat to name Iago.  I crack myself up. Unfortunately, I’ve been advised to not get three more cats at the risk of becoming a crazy cat lady.  Apparently, having a boyfriend doesn’t matter if you load up on felines. You’ll still be called a crazy cat lady.

 

We haven't come very far in 52 years, but one day we'll rise up, Godammit!