weigh-2-go.org

My posts lately have been newsy, I admit–a bit of a departure for Weigh-2-Go, as my 10 readers will attest. Where am I going with this?

There’s some magical mysterious factor(s) for weight loss that a gazillion people are trying to figure out.
Even people who have lost weight can’t usually articulate these factor(s) well enough to translate their success to others.
Psychologists, coaches, trainers, and nutritionists have systems–and it’s even possible that all of these systems work!–but the issue is not finding a system.
People don’t follow any system until they are ready.
Weight loss is, we must assume, a personal issue–something that happens inside the mind and the heart.

But it’s becoming a national issue. It has captured the nation’s attention that people are dying, and lifespans are shortening, because of weight.

I was talking to Mary Beth, a fitness trainer, about this phenomenon. We call it The Light Bulb.
If The Light Bulb turns on, weight gets lost. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t.

When I lost 82 pounds, it was because my Light Bulb went on.
Three years later, 25 pounds regained, my Light Bulb is off.
It was on and now it’s off, and I’m having a hard time turning it back on.
How can this be?

The nature of The Light Bulb runs counter to conventional wisdom. It isn’t about goal setting, willpower, accountability, or the right nutrition or exercise program.

It’s about seeing who you will become.
That’s the best I’ve got so far.
We don’t have good language for The Light Bulb.

Dr. Phil says:

Close your eyes and visualize yourself after you’ve reached those goals. Use this visualization to feel commitment and inner strength.

To which a few people say, “oooh, yeah, nice,” but most people say, “waaah?!?”
Better is Dr. Phil’s Life Law #1 is “You either get it or you don’t.” This Law validates the existence of The Light Bulb, but it doesn’t provide a switch.

Weight Watchers says:

Imagine yourself having already achieved your goals, and enjoying them.

Visualize the way your Winning Outcome will be experienced, when you achieve it. Use your senses so that you feel how it will feel. Add sounds, smells, movement.

Is that going to work for this woman and her family?
Has it worked for Oprah?
Is this a realistic goal for everybody?
Can a nation visualize itself healthy?

Now that obesity is having a measurable impact on our life spans and our health, understanding The Light Bulb is vitally important. That’s what I’m blogging about.

Yes, I’m the same as everybody else. Believe it or not, that’s an affirmation.

I woke up this morning from a deep sleep and it’s the first thought that entered my conscious mind was: “Stop thinking you’re special.”

• Stop thinking you deserve the cookie Friend is offering to share.
• Stop thinking you can manage your food intake without food journaling.
• Stop thinking you need a biscuit, because today was a rough day–and that it won’t matter.
• Stop thinking those size 10 slacks will fit just fine tomorrow.
• Stop thinking you’re getting away with “sort of” following the program. You’re not.

And with this personal comeuppance in mind, I went straight to the mall this morning and purchased 3 pairs of pants, size 14. They fit comfortably. Sigh*.

I wrote down my food. I packed my healthy snacks.

I’m coming to terms with my normalness.

By many accounts, this is the first step.

It’s a song by k.d. lang: (listen here)

Three days that I dread to see arrive,
Three days that I hate to be alive,
Three days filled with tears and sorrow,
Yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

There are three days I know that I’ll be blue,
Three days I’ll always dream of you.
And it does no good to wish these days would end,
‘Cause these three days start over again.

My three days are yesterday, today, and tomorrow. But mine are a little different from k.d.’s: they don’t start over again.

Mine are the three days I withdraw from sugar.

Once in a while, when I suspect that my body and mind are poisoned by sugar, I go cold turkey for three days. Today was Day 2. It’s not terribly strict–but no wheat or refined sugar. Today I craved granola–the sweetest, crunchiest, nuttiest, most “granola” (i.e., California) kind of granola. I had oatmeal instead, with cinnamon and stevia.

For me, weight loss depends on reducing my appetite. And reducing my appetite depends on lessening the cravings for food. Not hunger, but craving. And for me, the cravings subside when I forget what bread and cookies taste like. Forgetting takes about three days.

That’s right, since my “after”pictures were taken in 2007, about 2.5 years ago, I have gained 25 pounds.

At that rate, 10 pounds per year, I could back to my pre-loss weight by the time I’m 54. Not acceptable.

So, here’s my plan: to lose the 25 pounds I have “found” by Labor Day, 2010. That’s losing at a rate of less than a pound a week. That is acceptable.

I hereby declare myself challenged. The gauntlet is thrown–upon myself. By announcing this to you, my 10 readers, I am accountable.

Let the losing begin.

When blogs were new, many busy people expected they needed one, but they weren’t sure why, or what to say. (I suspect the same is true about Twitter today.) But because blogging was free and easy (as it remains), they went ahead and started blogging.

Today, among the blogs, I notice a stratification between followers and leaders.

• Leaders are the ones who are blogging naturals. They have unique knowledge or experience to blog about.
• Followers also write useful blogs, but their blogs aggregate other information and comment on other blogs. They may have a unique insight to add, but they don’t generate the  ideas that start the discussion.

When I started this blog, I had a unique experience: I had lost 80 pounds. I felt like a leader.

Lately, my experience is not unique, but common: I’m gaining the weight back. Now I feel like a follower. So, unsure about what to write–or why–I stopped blogging.

But I haven’t stopped writing. It’s been a productive hiatus.

In November, I spent my writing energy participating in NaNoWriMo (I’ll let nanowrimo.org provide the details), for which I drafted a novel about weight loss.

In December, I dealt with a series of unbloggable events, and then the ho-ho-holidays. I journaled, and continued developing the novel.

In January, a big work project hung over me like a cloud. Having lost my blogging momentum, I let it go. But I did resolve to take a vacation in March to get that momentum back.

February–what happened to February? I did take a writer’s workshop where I got excellent feedback on excerpts of the weight loss novel.

Today, the new momentum begins. My mission: to blog like a leader.

I <heart> the Get-It-Done Guy, and in the spirit of the holidays, he has dedicated a podcast episode to weight loss. Here’s an excerpt and link. His podcasts are witty and brilliant. This one has 4 essential tools for getting it done–tools I have used in the past and am following again now.

We all have our fantasy weight. Now that it’s holiday season, we all weigh about twice that. But when we hit our fantasy weight—so our story goes—we will suddenly be a chick-or-dude magnet. Life will be wonderful. We’ll get a raise at work, our house will be spotless, and we’ll own a beautiful white shag carpet that never shows wine stains. … We know what to do: eat fewer calories and be more active. Unfortunately, knowing and doing are two different things. We all know we need more commitment, but we so prefer convenience.

via Get-It-Done Guy : How to Stick to a Weight Loss Plan :: Quick and Dirty Tips ™.

And where the heck have I been? All shall be revealed.

It’s true. I just jogged for about an hour and I smell funny.

Bear with me–I won’t get too graphic.

It isn’t the usual sweaty smell that we all get after exercise. This smell is different.

I remember this smell.
It’s the smell I smelled when I was losing the major pounds.
I think this is the smell of fat burning.

I’m no scientist, but I know that when my body is burning fat instead of glucose, the chemical reaction is different. My body breaks down fat and the result is ketone bodies in my blood stream. (Here’s the article about ketosis on About.com.) Ketosis occurs on a low-carb diet, when the blood stream doesn’t have enough glucose to burn for energy, so the body resorts to burning the fat.

My hypothesis: I am in ketosis, and the ketones come out in my sweat. And I can smell them.

Wow. I admit, it’s a little disgusting. But wow.

I wasn’t good on Saturday. I had a margarita. I cannot tell a lie, Blog Readers!

Also, I weighed in at Weight Watchers on Sunday, and my weight is back up, with a net loss overall of 0.2 pounds in two weeks.

On the traditional Atkins plan, the goal in the first phase, which they call the Induction Phase, is to reach a state of ketosis,in which the body switches gears from using glucose for energy to burning fat, which produces ketones. (Here’s an explanation on About.com.)

Given my recent leniency, I have certainly blown my attempt at reaching ketosis. I vow to begin again immediately. No gin, no margaritas, and I am also going to watch caffeine. (Notice I said “watch”–I’m not sure how strict I can be all at once.)

As I post this, I can report a very good Monday–all low carb, featuring a cheeseburger salad for lunch and eggs for dinner. I believe the weight numbers will stay in contol, and I will give this experiment at least two more weeks and watch how the numbers trend.

Low carbs for ten days. The desire for sweets has diminished drastically. I do still gaze wistfully at the baked goods at the coffee shop, but I don’t have a taste memory for them–my tongue doesn’t tell me what they taste like; I only know by sight that I would love them if we could be together.

I do crave crispy baked and fried carbs–like the golden top of a biscuit or the crispiest cracker. Why? No idea.

Another interesting taste memory I’m having is gin. Yes, the alcoholic beverage. By itself. And I’m not a big drinker of anything, let alone gin. I have indulged in a jigger before bed time to satisfy this urge. The complex flavors in a really good gin are marvelous. Why I sense a tantalizing ghost of a taste of gin, and not chocolate chip cookies, I have no idea. It must be a matter of brain chemistry.

A hoped-for side effect: I am duty-bound to confess that I was looking for more than a health change with my low carb plan. I was looking for euphoria. In the past, I have experienced an elevation of mood when I made this change. Ten days in and I am expecting to feel lighter and happier, but no such results today.

I can’t say I’ve been following my plan purely, though. Today at a restaurant the wisest choice was a spinach quesadilla, complete with flour tortilla. I also had some of the corn tortilla chips that come with it–and corn is my nemesis. Between that and the gin, I have spoiled the ketosis effect promised by Dr. Atkins. So I will strive toward purity and see if my results change.

Detox Phase is about forgetting what high-carb foods taste like. It’s about ending the cravings. It’s about standing next to the pastry case at Starbucks without becoming hypnotized by cinnamon rolls and brownies.

Detox Phase is not about reducing calorie intake. However, I have a theory that reducing calorie intake happens anyway. I can only use myself as a test case. I plan to do this by counting my Weight Watchers POINTS while I’m on this plan.

Here’s what I am doing.  It is my own version of the Atkins diet. This is not medical or nutritional advice. This is not the Atkins plan endorsed by Atkins International.

Detox Phase:

• No refined sugars.
• No baked goods (bread, pastry), grains (rice) or cereals (oats, granola).
• No potatoes or pasta.
• No dairy except yogurt (plain) and cheese.
• No fruit.
• No starchy vegetables, such as peas, carrots and corn; no legumes (including peanuts).
• Yes meat, poultry and fish.
• Yes green vegetables and salad veggies: e.g., tomotoes, cucumbers, peppers, mushrooms.
• Yes nuts, in moderation (not peanuts).
• Yes eggs.
• Yes cheese.

Detox Phase doesn’t last forever. When  I lost 50 pounds (the first 50 of my 80), my results were so good that I stayed strict for too long. I used Weight Watchers to get into a more moderate and sustainable routine (and lose the other 30).

Yes, it is radical. But it has worked for me before, so I know I can do it–and getting back into it this week has been easier than I imagined.