Painful Exhaustion

Post Number: 63

Review of Yesterday's Progress
     Daily Points Left: 40 of 71 (Goal: 21)
     Weekly Points Left: 49 of 49 (Goal: 49)
     Pedometer Reading: 2619 (paused) {Probably time for a new location on my belt}
     Meetings Attended: None Scheduled
     Exercise Completed: Swam 2 1/2 laps (125 yds), played with kids in kiddie pool, used several machines

I want to make this entry somewhat short because today is weigh in at Weight Watchers. I have been extremely stingy with the carbohydrates this week. I didn't eliminate them, but I did reduce them to about 10 g - 20 g per day. And I have continued my steady decline in the amount of food eaten as measured in points. According to one web page I read, 1 point equates to roughly 50 calories. I am eating on average about 1800 - 2000 calories per day this week with 1400 calories as my non-queasy days low and 900 calories as my queasy day low. So I'm not starving myself. My motivation behind avoiding starvation is that I don't want my body to clutch my fat with such intensity that it doesn't leave. That clutching mechanism is a safety feature when the body feels it is starving. That is why fasting won't help you lose weight.

My goal this week was to encourage my body to lose weight in the region of 3.2 pounds or more. With 3.2 pounds of weight loss, I will have earned two 5 pounds lost stickers two weeks in a row at Weight Watchers. I am no longer hopeful of the steady 5 to 9 pounds per week weight loss that I have known in the past. I strongly suspect those days are over. But a steady 3 to 4 pounds of weight loss would be encouraging. But I cannot judge in advance how much I am going to lose. Those days are also over. As is yesterday, thankfully.

Yesterday was very busy and very full. The activity level was intense in the many steps necessary to complete the tasks of all the assignments of various people in the family. The first wonderful experience at the Y for me was that I managed to meet up with Barbara at the Y to work with her as my Wellness Coach. We talked of progress and goals. She expressed what a goal oriented person I am. Yes. Yes, I am. She also like that I wanted to add in the cardio exercises and avoid weight training for now. She asked why I wanted to mix up the cardio exercises. I said that I had learned from my own research that you should keep the body as confused as possible about what to expect for exercise. She said she was impressed with what I knew and that I was right. Only completing one exercise, the body adjusts and calorie burning decreases.

The second wonderful experience was that she taught me how to set up the recumbent bicycle, the standard bicycle, and the octane (a recumbent elliptical). I also learned about the SciFit and the SciFit 1000 but they were unavailable for me to try out. The SciFit pieces of equipment are even gentler versions of the octane.

Having spent time on all of the machines that I could and Barbara wanted me to, I then collected the kids to play in the kiddie pool for the third wonderful and most joyful of the experiences at the Y. That was wonderful. I had so much fun. And the kids did, too. Jaguar did freak out at one point when Quail went under the water. Quail panicked while briefly under the water but I was only a couple feet away and snagged him. He was sputtering but he wasn't coughing or choking. He was off and roaring around the pool again. Jaguar was more concerned that Quail was. A little while later, I left them under Asian Red Fox's guidance while I swam laps with Quail snuggled into two towels on her lap. I was thoroughly finished at two laps, but the stairs were across the pool. And I spent the rest of the day in such agony. I still managed to press forward through my many tasks, but when bed time came late into my first date night in FAR too long, I was incredibly ready for bed. Unfortunately, my body had other designs on the night. Hopefully, I can arrange bed time tonight to be early.

And so, off I go to Weight Watchers in a a little while. I'll try to remember to update this entry with the weight loss of this week. So much for making this entry short. ;-)

Yours in the exhaustion of long term effort and longer term recovery that leads to success,

Eliot

P.S.:
There is the saying that probably goes back as far as there have been groups of people trying to accomplish a single, common goal: When all is said and done, more has been said than done.

Wow! Has the Internet made this saying more true than ever. Now we can say everything while doing nothing and still pat ourselves on the back. Yes, social networking, blogging, and twitter. I'm looking at you.

P.P.S.:
Yes, I realize the fact that I am poking fund at the very medium I am using at this very moment. If you can laugh at yourself, you will never lack for amusement.

P.P.P.S.:
WOW! Again!! I have had over 800 page views. Thank you for making me feel all the more important for having people follow along. I'll admit, I think of this more as a private diary I don't keep hidden than a publicly available blog. But still, 800 page views. WOW! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

P.P.P.P.S.:
My weight loss for this last week:

Weight Information -

• Weight: 416.8 lbs
• Weight Change This Week: -4.6 lbs
• Weight Change To Date: -36.4 lbs
• Weight Gauge: Yee-Haw!