the adventures of shrinking girl

wednesday wrap-up - week 7

2009-03-25T20:03:00.003-04:00

I was so looking forward to having an excellent report for you all. I had also thought that I'd be posting here every day. Alas, that's not the case!

The cold I had a couple of weeks ago is still around. It's a wacky bug which is now affected my head. I had a killer sinus headache on Monday. It was so bad that I actually had to leave work early. I went home and got into bed and felt much better after a couple of hours of sleep. Today, the headache came back though so I had to resort to taking some drugs because I didn't want to leave the office again today.

Fortunately, in between episodes with the cold, I've had some good days. On the weekend, we did a fair bit of walking (until I started to feel like crap on Sunday afternoon). We're trying to get into more of a routine to walk together, with the dogs, in the evenings. I realize when we are doing it, how out of shape I am but I'm determined to keep at it. Even if we just do a lap around the small block, I feel good about that. Eventually, we'll expand it and when I've conquered that, we'll expand it further. I'm taking my time with this so as not to discourage myself. Walking with the cold does make things more difficult while I'm doing it but afterward, my cold symptoms go away for a little while so that's pretty good.

Anyway, the wrap-up isn't really awesome this week but I'll do one anyway!

So, having said all of that, here's my weekly wrap-up:

summary - week ending March 24

vitamins and water - back on track on both scores. The cold made me want to drink lots of water in an attempt to flush the crap out of my system
didn't post here as much as I'd wanted to
bought a buttload of gorgeous produce on the weekend and have been enjoying snacking on berries and apples and other good things
gave into a bad craving for potato chips while I was really sick but here I am, being honest about - bully for me huh?
feel good about my first attempts at a coordinated exercise plan. Now that the nice weather has returned to my part of the world, and all of the ice is melted, there is no long an excuse to avoid it so I'm getting out there and moving my considerably huge butt. Yay me!

deliberate

2009-03-20T12:11:00.002-04:00

Happy Spring folks. It's freezing cold here today even though it's officially spring. I shouldn't complain really. If we'd had a day like this 2 weeks ago, it would have felt balmy. Funny how quickly your body can adjust to a change in the temperature isn't it?

I wish that my body would adjust to other things as quickly. Today, I've deliberately made my meal portions smaller and my tummy is grumbly. In a few days, I'll have adjusted again to smaller portions but for today, in addition to being cold, I feel like I could eat a small horse. Well, a small horse sized clump of some kind of food I enjoy.

For now though, I'll grab another sweater and eat my carrots and be grateful for the sunshine.

Missing in inaction

2009-03-19T16:47:00.002-04:00

I feel as though I should explain my unplanned absence of the past few weeks.

A couple of weeks ago, it got bitterly cold around here. I’d been feeling like I was fighting a cold bug, a little run down, achy, you know how that goes. Everyone in my office had been sick but I had resolve. I would not get sick. The weekend arrived and rather than give into the bug, I kept busy and felt better. I mean, we got some things done around the house and I was able to sleep in and generally go at my own pace.

On the Sunday afternoon, again, it was way cold. Sunny but bitterly cold. I went out onto the deck with one of our dogs. I was wearing yoga pants, a t-shirt and a sweat shirt and leaned against our deck railing while Gracie did her thing. I straightened up, walked back into the house, sat on the couch and experienced massive pain in my back.

This has happened to me before, but not for a good long while. I think it was a combination of stress and the cold, more the bug than the actual temperature. I was laid up for 2 days at home. I crawled back into work on Wednesday and was feeling “okay” by the weekend but really had to limit how much time I spent either at a desk or on my feet. Last week, I started experiencing hip pain. I know it was caused by the funny way I had to walk when my back was messed up. That hip pain eventually migrated to the knee area and is now in my calf. It only really aches toward the end of the day and I am feeling much much better.

Last week, in an attempt to move my old bones and get the achy parts loosened up I did some walking. I wish I could say that I was on a regular exercise routine but I’m not. I also wish I could say that I compensated for the lack of activity by making consistently good food choices but I can’t say that either.

Chocolate has been consumed (not in mass quantities but in larger than I should have), chips have been consumed (although without dip – that counts for something, right?). I did buy some ice cream treats but managed to buy the sugar free mini-sized ones. Overall, it wasn’t a binge fest but it wasn’t great.

Over the past couple of days, I’ve been doing much better. I’m feeling better too and that will help me too. It’s a little too easy to “treat” yourself when you’re laid up. That’s when I shouldn’t be doing it but, well…. you know…

I want to get totally back on track and to do that, I need to post here. It keeps me honest and focused.

not much

2009-02-27T12:10:00.001-05:00

I feel like I should have a post today but I don't have a lot to say. I've been online only hit and miss this week because my computer at home is needing a new processor and we won't be getting that sorted out until the weekend (maybe).

Off and on this week, I've felt like I'm getting a cold or flu. On Tuesday, I felt really lousy and took some cold meds and felt better. I'm having the same symptoms again right now. I've taken another dose of the cold meds but my head is pounding still and I feel a little dizzy.

I have a lot to do here at work this afternoon but I think I'll be hitting the bed as soon as I get home, instead of hitting the old exercise bike. Honestly, I'll be so glad when winter is over and all of these horrible germs are gone.

hope you all have a good weekend!

wednesday wrap-up - week 3

2009-02-25T20:24:00.003-05:00

I've spent the week on what feels like a food roller coaster. I've had my good moments (the ups) and some moments I've not been so proud of (the downs). Overall, I do know that when all is done and dusted, I've had more ups than downs but unfortunately, not enough to show any significant results. In the past, I'd have blamed the time of the year, the changing weather and general malaise that happens 'round here at this time of the year. Of course, all of those things come into play but ultimately, I should be stronger than that and I wasn't.

So, having said all of that, here's my weekly wrap-up:

summary - week ending February 25

vitamins and water - back on track on both scores. I took those vitamins every day and have been chugging the water like it's going out of style. I do notice an improvement in my skin and I thank the H20 for that
due to computer issues at home and busy days at work, I've not posted as often as I would have liked to. Hopefully, by the weekend, my home computer will be back up and running
discussed the treats at work situation with my co-workers. We're throwing all of the crap out and everyone is going to make an effort to not bring stuff in. We always all complain about and yet some folks continue to bring it in. We'll see how it goes!

no remorse

2009-02-23T12:08:00.002-05:00

Friday night, before we went home, we stopped for groceries. My hunny had driven past the store on his way to pick me up and he commented that it was really busy there. As much as I would have liked to have put it off, I knew that if we didn't go on our way home, we may go home, order a pizza for dinner and that would start the weekend off on a bad foot.

The store was really busy but we got through it pretty quickly. We stocked up on lots of healthy snacks. Once again, almost no packaged food was in our buggy, just stuff from the outside aisles of the store.

Over the weekend, the nagging hunger pretty much stayed away. On Saturday night, because we'd not been out to dinner in over a week (which is very good for us!), we decided to go out for sushi. It's an all you can eat place but you order from the menu. We've been there before and really enjoy it. I had my favourite salad (with deliciously fresh avocados) and we ordered lots of sushi. It was super filling and very satisfying but I was still jonesing for chocolate after dinner.

On the way home, we stopped off at the drug store so I could get a chocolate bar. that's right, I broke down. It was so good. And I didn't eat the whole thing that night. I savoured every bite and enjoyed some of it yesterday too. I realize now that rather than make myself insane trying to feed a craving with something else, it's better for me to indulge in a small amount of the real thing, just once in a while. I think I'm good on the chocolate front for a while now. I'm glad that I waited as long as I did but I don't feel badly about finally giving in.

the hunger

2009-02-20T11:17:00.003-05:00

For some unknown reason, the past couple of days have been really challenging for me. On Wednesday and Thursday, I just felt hungry all day long. Even after eating my meals, I'd still feel hungry. The temptation to snack was intense. Fortunately, we don't have any junk in the house so the small amount of snacking I did do was on stuff which wasn't horrible. All the water and gum in the world wasn't helping, which is odd, because it usually does.

Today I don't have that nagging hungry feeling like I did yesterday. I keep trying to figure out what caused it. Perhaps the weather has something to do with it. It has suddenly become very cold here again after a few days of pretty moderate weather (for this time of the year in this part of the world anyway). Yesterday I felt sore and cold and it was damp all day. I wonder if just wanted to comfort myself with food. Whatever it was, I tried to fight it. I did eat a couple of extra portions of sugar free jello along the way but for the most part, I just tried to ignore it.

It's a good thing I did too because if the weather hadn't been sort of dicey, I would have been jumping in the car and heading to Tim Horton's for something chocolatey and cake-y or to the grocery store for something in the Ben & Jerry's family. Not good. Well, actually, really yummy but not at all what I need right now.

Hopefully, whatever it was is over for now and I won't be struggling to stay on track all weekend. I am looking forward to a time when this all becomes second nature again.

survey says

2009-02-19T06:34:00.002-05:00

Last night, we had a visit by some folks from Statistics Canada. They were doing a survey for our local public health unit to find out what folks in the community knew about their services.

The survey itself was brief but they left behind some literature about the health unit which was sort of interesting. I knew about a few of their programs but they have a couple which could help with weight loss that I was not aware of (they also left us a copy of the latest "Canada's Food Guide" which was nice). The two programs I thought were particularly cool were the "living well phone line" and "dial-a-dietitian."

It's sort of cool that they came to our door. You just never know when help is going to be offered to you - this was a very pleasant surprise.

wednesday wrap-up - week 2

2009-02-18T12:31:00.002-05:00

You may have wondered where I have been for the past almost a week. I was sick. As a dog. I had booked off some extra time for an extra-long, fun-filled weekend. All of my weekend plans were cancelled and I was sick for almost the whole time. Not fun. Bad food choices were made at time, at other times, I had no appetite at all. Overall, the week was a bit of a wash out

So, having said all of that, here's my weekly wrap-up:

summary - week ending February 18

vitamins and water - I did drink a huge amount of water over the past week but the vitamins were hit and miss because of my not feeling good. This week should be a huge improvement. I also drank a lot of diet ginger ale which wasn't great
despite my good intentions, I did not post here at all over the weekend or during "the illness"
was able to avoid the many treats which keep coming into the office. I even avoided the wonderful smelling marble cake which was here on Thursday
no real, intentional exercise to speak of
did not weigh in but if I had, I don't think I'd have seen a change for the better

fill'er up

2009-02-12T12:33:00.002-05:00

This week, I've noticed that I fill up very quickly at meal time. It's pretty incredible and I'm not complaining one little bit. I imagine that part of it is all of the water I've been drinking, combined with the better quality food.

The best part of it is that the evening snack cravings are disappearing. I'm sure that the weekend (as always) will continue to be a struggle but at least I feel like I'm in control through the week.

Yesterday, I got a little walking in. It was raining pretty hard so I didn't do a whole lot (just 20 minutes) but I was glad I did it. It's a long weekend 'round here this weekend and the weather is supposed to be cold but nice. This week, a lot of the snow has melted so the streets and sidewalks are in much better shape than they were at the beginning of the month. The improved conditions should make walking easier - I'd like to walk outside every day over the weekend if the weather permits. I'd enjoy it and I think that the doggies would as well!

wednesday wrap-up - week 1

2009-02-11T12:08:00.003-05:00

This week was really the first full week I can report on. Overall, I have to say that I feel good about how things went. In the past, I've jumped into this with both feet and white knuckled things. I've overcontrolled my portions and that created a raging craving monster inside of me. This time, I'm not being as hard on myself. As I mentioned last week, I'm concerned more with content than portion size (they seem to go hand in hand though). I know that I've eaten far less food this week than I have in a long time. I also know that the food I did eat was of a higher quality (more nutritious, less crap-filled) and that I'm feeling better physically because of these better choices.

So, having said all of that, here's my weekly wrap-up:

summary - week ending February 11

again with the small stuff - I took my vitamins every day over the past week and I drank a butt load of water. I did have some diet soda on the weekend but not nearly as much as I normally would
posted here, almost every day - I took one day off over the weekend - this journal keeps me accountable to myself and I like sharing what I struggle with, and what works, with you
continued to avoid treats while at work. yesterday, a wonderful coworker brought in some carrot cake. it looks and smells delicioius and it was very nice of her to bring it in but I feel good about having not indulged in even a small piece
once again, my exercise was mostly stuff involving the dogs and some walking. I feel like I need to create a solid exercise plan now that I'm feeling better about my eating
hopped on the scale this morning for the first time in a long while. I wasn't impressed but also wasn't shocked by what I saw. I know that the next time I hop on it, it'll be a smaller number

like water for chicken

2009-02-10T13:05:00.003-05:00

My poor hunny is a migraine sufferer. Recently, because of the crazy weather he's been suffering with them more frequently than normal. Yesterday he had one so when he picked me up from work he feeling better but beaten up. He'd gone home in the morning and slept for a little while.

We had a couple of errands to do and after we were finished them and were on our way home, the "what will we have for dinner" discussion started. Now, my hunny is a chef so he's looks after most of our meals. Sometimes when he's recovering from a headache he gets some odd cravings. Last night, it was chicken. He's not a fan of chicken for the most part (he eats it but you know...). It wasn't just chicken though, he kept talking about fried chicken. This was very strange. He is really not a fan of fried chicken. Anyway, he kept talking about it and talking about it and we ended up eventually in the drive thru of the local KFC. It wasn't the best thing in the world to have had for dinner but it did make him feel better. I had a bowl thing (so did he) and we shared some popcorn chicken. I did notice that I was full really quickly and didn't feel like snacking at all in the evening. I suppose that's a good thing huh? Usually "fast food" leaves me wanting more.

This morning, not intentionally, I have avoided coffee at work (and the yummy looking carrot cake someone brought in) and have been drinking a lot of water. Dinner was a bit salty last night so that may be why I've been wanting water. Less than stellar food choices aside, overall I feel better right now than I did two weeks ago so I think I'm on the right path.

I survived!

2009-02-09T12:52:00.001-05:00

I ate no chocolate this weekend.

I did not bake muffins (it would have been a silly thing to do for me - I think I would have eaten too many of them and they still wouldn't have been chocolate).

I did snack on my rice cake type snack items on Friday night and yesterday afternoon. We did order a pizza for a late lunch / early dinner on Saturday and I had salad with it. It was a fair compromise for having a little bit of greasy stuff. I did have some leftovers yesterday too but overall, it could have been much worse.

The weekend really was all about food. Me thinking about wanting something I really shouldn't have (or at least not have too much of or have too often) and then getting busy doing something else so I'd stop thinking about it. Distractions can work to help with cravings, I think.

While part of me wanted to stay home today and play with the dogs, the other (bigger) part of me is glad to be back at work and into my routine. Routine is the very best friend of a person who has food issues!!

ugh

2009-02-07T07:58:00.001-05:00

Woke up this morning feeling stiff and sore, again. Whatever this bug is that I have, it's getting rather boring.

I also woke up thinking about greasy breakfast foods and chocolate. Hormones anyone? Yeah, I'm fighting it. Maybe the compromise will be some sort of home baked thing. Mmm... maybe low fat carrot muffins?

braced

2009-02-06T12:47:00.002-05:00

All week this week, I've been dragging my butt around. I talked to a co-worker this morning and she's felt the same way. We both think that we've had a weird flu bug of sorts. Partly it could be that we've had extremely cold weather here this week but I don't think it's entirely down to the weather. Last night and this morning, I was having aches and pains in my joints and was really uncomfortable. It's not so bad now that I'm at work and have been moving around but I was feeling really crappy about it last night.

In fact, I felt so crappy about it that I really wanted to indulge in something "bad" to make myself feel better. Fortunately, we didn't have any bad stuff in the house. After work last night, we stopped off to do a quick shop at the grocery store. While we were there, we stuck to our list and bought mostly fresh ingredients so our meals will continue to be amazing, veggie filled events. I did pick up a couple of veggie frozen pizzas. I love pizza and figured that having a frozen pizza in the house will help when I get those cravings. They are less fatty than the one we like to order from our neighbourhood pizzeria not to mention they are much smaller. I wanted to buy a package of whole wheat crusts but they didn't have any so I opted for the frozen version, if you're wondering. The other thing I got for myself (trying to think ahead instead of reacting always) were a couple of bags of rice cake chip things. I know that I'm heading into a particularly hormonal time of the month and I may need something salty. They should help. I know I should try to avoid the sale entirely but that's not going to happen (not yet anyway) so I figure it's better to control the fat and the portion. Again, baby steps right.

I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't worried about the weekend but I'm trying to remain focused on the long term. Overall, I think my choices have been much better than they were last week. All I can do is keep improving that every week and know that I'll feel better for it in the long run.

What do you do to avoid those evening and weekend temptations?

on weight loss porn

2009-02-05T12:18:00.004-05:00

It occurred to me today that many of us who read weight loss journals, look for inspiration not only in the stories but in the photos that the intrepid "losers" post. It's sort of the "porn" part of this isn't it? Wanting to see those photos and cheer others on. I always hope to find someone who started out in similar shape that I'm in right now, because it helps me to see where I could end up. In my years of doing this, I've never posted progress photos. I think it's partly because I've never stayed 'down' long enough to feel good about posting them. I do think though that I will start taking them again. Now that I have a tripod for my camera, I can do it on my own. I'm not promising that when I take them, that I'll post them, but I might.

My eating continues to be pretty good although last night was a bit much. We were out doing errands after work and neither of us were feeling particularly sparkly. I suggested that on the way home, we stop off for that bowl of Pho I'd been thinking about all week. Unfortunately, we had to drive by our favourite Chinese buffet to get the Vietnamese place and the buffet won out. I will confess that I had a couple of deep friend battered shrimp but mostly, I ate veggies and chicken (I had a small amount of steamed rice with a gorgeous curry dish they had). I ate a large amount of broccoli which really filled me up. Also, I didn't have any dessert and I didn't snack at all when I got home. I felt good about the choices I made although I know that much of stuff we had was too fatty. Still, I keep focusing on better choices and I think I made the right ones (mostly) in the situation I was in.

wednesday wrap-up - re-start edition

2009-02-04T08:05:00.002-05:00

I wasn't sure that I was going to go back to the wednesday wrap-up but it's something that I like about my journal. Once a week, I can stand up and look back on what worked and what didn't. Now, I'm not officially looking back on an entire week, just a couple of days but I thought a little reflection is never a bad thing.

So, having said all of that, here's my weekly wrap-up:

summary - week ending February 4

I've been taking my vitamins very regularly. I'm pretty sure that I took them every day in the last week
I've been attempting to drink less sugar free soda and more water when I'm at home. I don't think I've had any soda since Saturday which is a pretty big deal for me
totally avoided the black hole, err, table of treats in the kitchen at work. I noticed this morning that in addition to a couple of leftover muffins (2 days old now, they hold NO appeal), there was an open bar of chocolate, some jolly ranchers and half a box of chocolates from Christmas. If it were upto me, the stuff would all be in the bin but it's not, so I continue to walk past it all, several times a day
exercise has consisted of running with the dogs in the yard and the basement, chasing balls and frisbees around and a small amount of walking
for now, I'm staying away from the scale. It is too early for me to feel like I've lost anything. For the next few weeks, I think I'll use the good old pant-o-metre to measure

observation

2009-02-03T12:16:00.002-05:00

So yesterday, when I "restarted" things, I decided to worry less about how much I was eating and to focus on what I was putting into my mouth.

See, this comes from us being on a weird eating streak lately. You know how things can typically fall apart over the holiday season? You have the best of intentions but the fudge always looks better than the celery, right? Well once we got back into our post-holiday routine, we just never got straight again. Through the week it wasn't too bad (although I think we were eating out more often than was sensible some weeks) but the weekends were terrible. Junk. Chips and salty snacks, cookies, just bad stuff and too much of it.

Anyway, I realized yesterday that I eat too much of it because it's not satisfying so it takes more of it to feel it. Yesterday, eating no junk, consuming only non-junk food, I wasn't hungry. I didn't feel like I needed second helpings of anything because I was satisfied. As time goes along, I will reduce my portions I think but for now, I'm just happy to not be snacking on crap.

me 1, muffins 0

2009-02-02T17:19:00.001-05:00

suck it muffins!

I don't need you and I didn't have one of you so you didn't have me!! ha!!

Not having pho for dinner but Mark's making something with chicken and lots of veggies and it smells good.

we're off to a rockin' start!!

starting over

2009-02-02T13:27:00.003-05:00

So as much as I start and stop and start and stop with this, I'm restarting yet again but this time I'm not stopping. I will muddle through and post here for no one's benefit but my own. You may find it boring but it's going to be all about me and keeping track of what I'm doing for me. me! me! me!

So!

Day 1

- no "junk" has been consumed by this chickie so far today.
- have so far resisted the Tim Horton's muffins which someone brought in. they taunt me everytime I walk into the kitchen
- am chewing sugar free gum and thinking about a bowl of pho for dinner, must be getting sick because I only crave it when I'm not well
- so far, so good.

happy new year

2008-09-04T12:40:00.002-04:00

This first week in September always feels like January to me. I think it's because our sleepy campus wakes up after the summer and everything gets moving again.

I'm included in the things that get moving right now. The past week has been touch and go. I've definitely eaten "well" more often than not over the past week but not as well as I will next week. Each week that passes sees a definite improvement in the choices I'm making at meal time.

Partly because we're trying to be less impulsive with our meals and partly because we're pretty broke this month, we're trying to plan out our weekly meals. So far, we've not planned more than a couple of days in advance but that's a good start I think. A huge challenge to our clean eating regime is the weather. We've both been suffering with bad weather-related headaches and that throws the eating thing way off. On headache days, one of several things can happen: either we eat and are sick, or don't eat, or eventually eat but eat too much and eat not good things because we're treating ourselves after the headache.

Not ideal is it? It's also the reason for the not so good days for yours truly. However, despite that, I'm moving more, walking more and that feels good. I've not stepped on the scale but I feel like I'm not retaining water like I was so that's kind of nice. Baby steps, right? Like I said earlier, as long as I improve what I'm doing each week, that's what is most important.

looking forward

2008-08-27T08:21:00.000-04:00

Being back on track feels, well, weird I suppose. At the end of the day yesterday, logically, I felt great about what I’d consumed and the walk I’d taken at the end of the day (even if I wasn’t able to go as far as I’d hoped). Physically though, I’m feeling tired and beaten up. This morning particularly, I had a really tough time getting going.

This will shift, I know that. I’m still flushing toxins out of my system I think. I know that I’m drinking more fluids and as a result am peeing more. My skin is sort of wonky at the moment as some of the nasty stuff that’s been in system works its way out. In a few weeks, I’ll feel less bloated and my skin will improve.

I think that this shitty feeling is good though. It’s reminding me why I’m doing this. Crap meals and laying around have made me feel like a slug and I know for a fact that I’m way over that. If I eat better and move more, eventually, I’ll feel terrific. I’m looking forward to that!

new shoes & ice cream cones

2008-08-26T10:56:00.000-04:00

I can report that I’m definitely being more thoughtful in my food choices. I really think about each meal and what I’m consuming before I do it. Over the past week, I feel that I’ve done well overall on cutting back on my portions, on reducing the amount of salt and fat I’m ingesting and on increasing the amount of water I’m drinking.

I cannot say that I’ve been completely “good” last week, well over the weekend anyway. On the weekend, I had some chips, some dip, an ice cream cone and a couple of hot dogs. Honestly though, I did think about what I was doing – it was not mindless eating. I also tried to offset the extra calories with either a little more exercise or a by eating less later on. This isn’t ideal, I understand this, it is what it is though. It’s life for now. I keep talking to myself about small changes and I think that is what is going to work for me in the long run.

This week is going pretty well so far. I’ve realized that it’s time for me to buy some new shoes. I’ve been wearing flip flops and sandals all summer. This past week, I was doing some extra walking and realized that I really need a new pair of walking shoes. It’s been a long time since I have splurged on my feet and I want to invest in something that will be comfortable and make me want to keep walking. The dog park we go to has a large track and I’d really like to start walking that. We go there pretty much every night so it’s a good opportunity for me to get some serious walking in, rather than the meandering stuff I do when I’m playing with the dog.

So that may be this weekend’s project, get new shoes. If you all have any suggestions for a good walking shoe I’d love to hear them. I have a wide foot and am pretty heavy right now so I’ll need something that is pretty sturdy. I know that it’s not going to be easy, walking that track, because I’m really out of shape. At the moment, I’m so sick of being this out of shape that I’m actually excited about exercising regularly again. Feeling like a giant slug is not a good thing. I can actually remember how good it felt to get into the habit of exercising almost every day (like I did way back at the beginning of this whole thing) and I want to have that in my life again!

empty

2008-08-21T18:41:00.002-04:00

This week has been tough at times, at other times, not so much.

I do have a couple of things to report, good stuff I suppose, things that will help me out in the long run.

1. I cleaned out our treat cupboard. Now, the thing isn't a whole cupboard, it's more like a shelf. It also has all of our herbal teas, and crystal light and stuff. It was a mess, I threw out crusty old Werther's and cookie bits and it's now tidy, and free of starchy snacks. I will say this, recently, it's been storing digestive biscuits and licorice. Neither of these things are as bad as, let's say, delicious kit kat bars, but if you have enough of them, they aren't really smart either.

2. Fewer meals out this week. We've fallen into a bad spiral over the past month or so, of either eating out, ordering take out or making sandwiches. All of these things are not good and honestly, are pretty boring. We did grab a hot dog at Costco on Monday night because we hadn't eaten dinner and we wanted to get groceries (not on an empty stomach!). Had it with some fresca and it was good. Otherwise though, we've been preparing meals at home and have been eating all of the good produce we picked up at Costco when we shopped on a full tummy.

3. moving it. I've had, at times, crippling cramps this week but I've tried to keep moving. I didn't get walking as much as I'd have liked but I have definitely been outside, doing more than I normally would, despite the being doubled over (literally - it's very strange) with lovely TOM cramps.

it's not all about the scale

2008-08-19T09:08:00.002-04:00

...I think we've all known this for years but it's nice to see some data backint it up. For me particularly, I have a lot of weight to lose. When I get to my goal, I'll still be considered overweight by insurance chart standards but I know that I'll be healthier than I am at my present weight. Anyway, fyi:

Better to Be Fat and Fit Than Skinny and Unfit

By TARA PARKER-POPE
Published: August 18, 2008

Often, a visit to the doctor’s office starts with a weigh-in. But is a person’s weight really a reliable indicator of overall health?

Increasingly, medical research is showing that it isn’t. Despite concerns about an obesity epidemic, there is growing evidence that our obsession about weight as a primary measure of health may be misguided.

Last week a report in The Archives of Internal Medicine compared weight and cardiovascular risk factors among a representative sample of more than 5,400 adults. The data suggest that half of overweight people and one-third of obese people are “metabolically healthy.” That means that despite their excess pounds, many overweight and obese adults have healthy levels of “good” cholesterol, blood pressure, blood glucose and other risks for heart disease.

At the same time, about one out of four slim people — those who fall into the “healthy” weight range — actually have at least two cardiovascular risk factors typically associated with obesity, the study showed.

To be sure, being overweight or obese is linked with numerous health problems, and even in the most recent research, obese people were more likely to have two or more cardiovascular risk factors than slim people. But researchers say it is the proportion of overweight and obese people who are metabolically healthy that is so surprising.

“We use ‘overweight’ almost indiscriminately sometimes,” said MaryFran Sowers, a co-author of the study and professor of epidemiology at the University of Michigan. “But there is lots of individual variation within that, and we need to be cognizant of that as we think about what our health messages should be.”

The data follow a report last fall from researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Cancer Institute showing that overweight people appear to have longer life expectancies than so-called normal weight adults.

But many people resist the notion that people who are overweight or obese can be healthy. Several prominent health researchers have criticized the findings from the C.D.C. researchers as misleading, noting that mortality statistics don’t reflect the poor quality of life and suffering obesity can cause. And on the Internet, various blog posters, including readers of the Times’s Well blog, have argued that the data are deceptive, masking the fact that far more overweight and obese people are at higher cardiovascular risk than thin people.

Part of the problem may be our skewed perception of what it means to be overweight. Typically, a person is judged to be of normal weight based on body mass index, or B.M.I., which measures weight relative to height. A normal B.M.I. ranges from 18.5 to 25. Once B.M.I. reaches 25, a person is viewed as overweight. Thirty or higher is considered obese.

“People get confused by the words and the mental image they get,” said Katherine Flegal, senior research scientist at the C.D.C.’s National Center for Health Statistics. “People may think, ‘How could it be that a person who is so huge wouldn’t have health problems?’ But people with B.M.I.’s of 25 are pretty unremarkable.”

Several studies from researchers at the Cooper Institute in Dallas have shown that fitness — determined by how a person performs on a treadmill — is a far better indicator of health than body mass index. In several studies, the researchers have shown that people who are fat but can still keep up on treadmill tests have much lower heart risk than people who are slim and unfit.

In December, a study in The Journal of the American Medical Association looked at death rates among 2,600 adults 60 and older over 12 years. Notably, death rates among the overweight, those with a B.M.I. of 25 to 30, were slightly lower than in normal weight adults. Death rates were highest among those with a B.M.I. of 35 or more.

But the most striking finding was that fitness level, regardless of body mass index, was the strongest predictor of mortality risk. Those with the lowest level of fitness, as measured on treadmill tests, were four times as likely to die during the 12-year study than those with the highest level of fitness. Even those who had just a minimal level of fitness had half the risk of dying compared with those who were least fit.

During the test, the treadmill moved at a brisk walking pace as the grade increased each minute. In the study, it didn’t take much to qualify as fit. For men, it meant staying on the treadmill at least 8 minutes; for women, 5.5 minutes. The people who fell below those levels, whether fat or thin, were at highest risk.

The results were adjusted to control for age, smoking and underlying heart problems and still showed that fitness, not weight, was most important in predicting mortality risk.

Stephen Blair, a co-author of the study and a professor at the Arnold School of Public Health at the University of South Carolina, said the lesson he took from the study was that instead of focusing only on weight loss, doctors should be talking to all patients about the value of physical activity, regardless of body size.

“Why is it such a stretch of the imagination,” he said, “to consider that someone overweight or obese might actually be healthy and fit?”

well@nytimes.com