My favorite thing about the fact that it’s finally MAY is that now I can finally say we are going to Europe “NEXT MONTH!” Which is exciting, because it’s so soon but also a little sad because the trip will be here and gone before we know it. Additionally, I’m weighing the pros/cons of not blogging during the trip, or just doing photo dumps every few days, or what. Feel free to weigh in on that as well.
Fair warning: this post is about weight, and weight loss. If that scares/offends/triggers unhealthy reactions for you, please come back tomorrow or the day after for a more home-decor related post.
May also means that time is marching onward and I have not met my vacation weight loss goal (numbers: undisclosed) but in fact I gained two pounds since December. Two whole pounds, you say! Oh the humanity! I’ll just say that my weight is frustratingly consistent. I am extremely grateful that I do not gain, but frustrated that despite my best efforts I do not lose, either.
This morning as I bolted out the door with my “breakfast,” a cup of coffee (with milk, always) and a mini wheel of cheese, I thought of one of my favorite quotes from The Devil Wears Prada (love the movie, detest the novel).
It’s for Paris, I’m on this new diet. Well, I don’t eat anything and when I feel like I’m about
to faint I eat a cube of cheese. I’m just one stomach flu away from my goal weight.
Well, I am going to Paris, but despite the evidence of my meager breakfast I am not on this particular diet. Let me state the obvious: it’s not healthy!
I have made a last-minute May resolution: work out 5 days a week. Yikes. As one who rates exercise right down there with mopping the floor (our entire house is tile or wood, too), I don’t want to do it but it must be done. Who knows, maybe I’ll end up liking it. Yesterday I stairmastered my way through half an issue of Real Simple. Perhaps I can justify my magazine addiction by equating it with exercise motivation? Maybe?
As for my “diet,” I’ll let you in on a little secret. Lots of vegetables, some meat, and I could probably make real progress just by cutting out some bread and pasta, but who wants to do that?
Any tips for one who wants to diminish her “spare tire” in six weeks?
My Friend Staci 
Every time I comment on your blog, it erases it and makes me do it again. And yet I still keep forgetting to copy my comment beforehand. I’ll learn, one day.
1. I love your diet. I like to do 50% veggies and 50% everything else. Otherwise I feel like my body isn’t functioning the way that the good lord intended it to. It’s amazing what a well-balanced meal will do to your attitude, too.
2. Tipfor diminishing “spare tire”–not that I’m one to share vast amounts of bountiful, time-tested advice, but if you drastically cut your sodium intake for the next 6 weeks, you probably would notice a difference. And even if you don’t, 6 weeks of working out 5 days a week is going to make you FEEL SO GOOD that you likely won’t even care what you look like. :)
3. I vote photo dump. Not only because I love the phrase but also because I love your photos and your blog and I feel sad when I miss one.
I really, really appreciate you commenting even if it’s an arduous process!!
I too love the phrase “photo dump” and I think I’ll dump my instagram photos on the daily but save the fancy camera photos for when I get back.
My friend, who is participating in the biggest loser club in Temecula, offered me this advice:
Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a queen and supper like a pauper, then eat a protein snack every two hours to jump start your metabolism. Kashi power bars, anyone? Yum. Add that to your new exercise regimen and if nothing else, your energy level will rise drastically. Mine has!
A person has to get up early to eat breakfast like a king! I can get on board with the snacking throughout the day part though… snagged some peanuts at the gas station yesterday…
P.S. I am taking 3 summer school classes with me to Europe, so we can find the wifi together!
As someone who has had success with weightloss and weight maintenance in the past, I offer the following advice, which you may take or leave as you’d like:
If you do not intend to shift your diet, but instead choose to focus on exercise instead, you must absolutely ensure that you do NOT do anything different with your food intake. One of the primary reasons exercise alone does not succeed is because you will get hungrier as you exercise, and in the end, you’ll just maintain your weight (while simultaneously getting stronger/better toned–just not necessarily smaller).
It’s something we all “know” now, thanks to all the nutrition info available online and through word-of-mouth, but it’s pretty hard not to adjust your appetite to what you feel you need to eat. You’ll be hungry at the end of nearly every meal, and you’ll have to accept that, if you want to lose the weight through execise. So, take good note of your calories/portions that you’re currently eating, and make the effort to not increase those, even as your appetite increases. This may also result in some fatigue/lack of energy to pursue the exercise, and it’s pretty tough to use your mental energy to force yourself to go through with it instead of increasing calories for physical energy.
I wish you really good luck with this. I hope that you’re able to find a good balance between weight loss and happiness with your food and exercise routine. Also, using rewards like magazines you like to read (or books/movies/games) is a great way to keep yourself going (and you do have the BIG reward of the European trip!). Just do NOT reward with food–this tends to just defeat the purpose of what you’re trying to accomplish (mostly because you’re enforcing the idea that eating, especially eating poorly, is somehow a reward, rather than something that can and will damage your health). I’m sure you can do it!
PS–I also found that line about the cube of cheese hilarious, and think of it every time I’m a little hungry in the grocery store and inevitably end up seeing if they have any bits of cheese to try laid out to tide me over. Haha!