my.nwi.com

A few more thoughts and actions on weight gain. The weight loss surgery I had is called a Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy. Of course there is a group on line to support VGers and those considering the procedure. It's very helpful and informative. I threw my problem with sweets out to the sleevegastrectomy chat group. I found comfort in the many responses from folks saying they had the same problem, that they could relate to gaining some weight back over time. One person chimed in that this was why they thought the RNY was a better procedure (because if you eat sweets w/ this procedure you get VERY ill, I'm told). Others said what I know to be true. This is a calories in, calories out equation. If you don't change your habits, NOTHING will work for you over time. NOTHING. I felt good in the company of my "people".

My work team has taken on a group challenge to get healthier. I am so proud of all of us. We set a goal to lose 15 pounds. For some that's the whole goal, for others its a really good start. Yesterday was our first day. Each of us has two goals we set for the week. If we achieve our goals by Friday, we each determined a reward: Starbucks, flowers, regular bought coffee, all inexpensive, healthy rewards. And the goals are behavior changes, not weight loss because as we already discussed, the scale is not an accurate measure of your weight. So we're planning meals and measuring food for portion control and eliminating sweets and increasing excercise. We recognize that we have different challenges and set out to accomplish different goals.

Don't get me wrong. We want to lose 15 pounds, but along the way we want to change behaviour, increase energy etc.

We feel better already.

Since I have changed my goal from 40 minutes back to 30 minutes, I have worked out consistently. Some days for more than 30, some just for 30, but at least I'm back in the swing of things. My water intake has improved and I'm much more conscious of getting in 64 ounces.

My husband and I were out to lunch yesterday. He told me that when I know I'm going to have sweets, my face lights up and my entire disposition changes. I thought that was very sad but true. A person should not derive so much pleasure from food. More importantly, sweets are not good for me. I get that false burst of energy, I don't sleep as well at night, it's got tons of calories that have no nutrition. I have quit sweets before. It is bad. I an convinced sweets and quitting them is as bad as alcohol, cigarettes, meth amphedamines (ok, maybe I'm getting carried away). But it is a real withdrawal.

I put on a pair of pants today and they felt too small. I think my body gets bigger before the scale goes up. This is why the scale is not a precises measure of our weight. How your clothes feel is a much more accurate way to go. So even though the scale said I had gained 8 pounds, I dont thinks that real. It feel like more.

My excercise is getting back to normal, my water is improved. Now I need to reduce sweets. The goal I'm setting is no sweets at work. I figure that I work about 8 hours a day so if I eliminate those hours that's a big chunk of time and calories. This will become even easier to do once the weather gets better and my girls and I start walking outside again. This leaves my sweet window of opportunity from the time I get home (say 5pm) until the time I get into bed. I think this will help. I'll let you know. And if you have any secrets on how to satisfy your sweet tooth, let me know.

Tomorrow is the two year anniversary of my Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy surgery. Lately, I have had trouble getting motivated to excercise. This is unusual for me. I have two really good habits: 1. I drink a lot of water and 2. I excercise 5-6 days a week. But lately, not so much. Neither water nor excercise. Maybe the two are related. I bet they are. Maybe I drink water more conisistently when I excercise because I start out the day w/ water and just keep on going. If true, then it would stand to reason that if I get excercise back then the water will follow.

I have been slacking off on excercise. But I was at the gym this morning (and w/ the personal trainer yesterday). On the machine I was thinking about why my motivation was off. Here is what I came up with. When my goal is to do cardio for 30 minutes I have NO problem getting to the gym 3 or 4 days a week. But I had conversation w/ my personal trainer last month and he explained why 40 minutes of cardio is so much better for you than 30 minutes. So 40 minutes became my new goal. That became a daunting task. 30 minutes no problem. 40 minutes and I quit going to the gym. I have kept up w/ weight training 2 times a week but I just could not bare the cardio.

My conclusion today is that 30 minutes 3-4 times a week is still better than 40 minutes no times a week. Set goals you can live with and do them. If you can't or won't do them, find different goals that you can do. It's all good as long as you do it.

And do drink the water.