One of the biggest upsides to this diet has always been it's appetite suppression. I eat so little because I'm not hungry, not due to some superhuman will power. Today, part of that security blanket has been removed, as I've had a nasty case of the munchies all day long. I think my mild deviations while I was home (non-fat cheese, bacon and ham, etc) may have created a certain demand for food. In some ways this is good, as it's making sure that I eat my meals. In some ways it's bad, as it makes me want to order a pizza.
I've been using the usual tricks to combat the cravings: drinking something enjoyable like an IBC root beer, trying to stay busy, or simply ignoring them. It's worked today, with no real danger of falling off the wagon, but feeling more physical hunger coupled with cravings for junk food is both new and slightly disturbing.
In better news, using my home scale I weighed in today at 388lbs, making it 14lbs in as many days. That's a good rate, one that I'd like to maintain for as long as possible.
Yesterday I went for a walk in the metropark, and discovered that I'm already in much better shape, walking further and faster than I was able to a year ago. Fitness is not my strong suit, but I'd like to get in shape at the same time as lose weight, as the more muscle I have, the faster I lose weight. In many ways, I think that's why this diet is so successful for me, but wouldn't be for other hyper obese people: I simply had at least some muscle tone under the fat. For a normal person I was sedentary, but for a person my size I had pretty noteworthy mobility. To give you an idea of the muscles I had to have, try walking a few miles, at any pace, while carrying enough weight to reach 400+ lbs. That's what I did every day.
One strange little milestone I reached over the weekend was running out of supplements. I had my prescription refilled and bought more magnesium, but it felt good to realize I had used up a months supply already. In many ways, I don't feel like I've been on the diet for five weeks, while in others I can barely remember eating normally. The closest comparison is from college, where every semester fall or spring break arrived both amazingly early and after far too long.
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"Fitness is not my strong suit, but I'd like to get in shape at the same time as lose weight"
ReplyDeleteI think that's a good goal. Viewing it as a positive lifestyle change (getting fit, feeling better) seems more motivating than seeing it as a negative lifestyle change (dieting). At least that seems to apply to me.
My weight fluctuates a lot, and I'm constantly battling to keep it down. But I never seem able to make any progress when all I think about is how I can't have something, instead of thinking about what I can have. When I think of watching what I eat and working out as good for me, or that it will make me more fit, I seem to do much better than when I think of working out as a chore, and denial of sweets as punishment.
Lately, I've been putting everything in the negative perception column, unfortunately.
Also, I have this pet theory that when you lose weight, you'll automatically be more fit than other people, because your muscles have had to work harder on a day to day basis than other people. Like how Mike Huckabee suddenly became a marathon runner after losing weight.