Happy Thanksgiving, all

This time last year I was still on liquids after my surgery.  This year I get to actually eat, though we don't have any family around to celebrate with.  It will just be the two of us, and I'm making my world-famous shrimp etouffe because that's what was asked for.

I'm working hard to get caught up on school work during this week I'm off, so working out is not really happening.  Then again, I've only really been fitting it in on the days I go to school which, thankfully, is three days a week.  I'll survive not doing much this week, though if it gets decent outside, I might have to walk away from schoolwork and go take the dogs for a walk.  :)

I noticed something rather... odd... but nice the other day.  When I get home, almost the first thing I do is rip off the bra.  Well, I got some new tees the other day that fit me better (not billowy like the other ones got), and I looked down after de-bra'ing (lol) and, well... the girls looked... perky...........ish.  Okay, not perky -- let's face it, they'll never look like they did when I was 16, but they didn't have this tired-dog look to 'em.

Okay, I know... a bit too much information probably, but I take my successes wherever I can find 'em.  ;)

1-year bandiversary!

Okay, I haven't made it to bed yet, but it is technically my one-year bandiversary.  One year ago today, I took the steps to take charge of my life and got my band.  I am down 68.5 pounds which -- though not as good as I had hoped -- is better than I have experienced in the past.  Granted, I've dieted successfully in the past -- and by successfully I mean that I lost a large amount of weight in a short amount of time.  However, I don't believe I was ever successfully lower a year out from my start date as I am now.  Often by six months out, I was already getting off track and working back in an upward swing.  Often by one year out, I had gained a lot of my weight back.  So I will choose to look at that as my success.

I decided to go ahead and take measurements, something I haven't done since May.  Well, I was pleasantly surprised!  Since my last measurements, I've lost another 12 1/4 inches!  All together, I have lost 81 inches of what used to be fat and flab.

That feels REALLY good!  I needed that today, to see the results in pictures, and to take measurements.  It tells me that even though my weight loss is "only" 16 pounds since May, the results ARE showing up in other ways.

How much, how fast?

This is also from Jillian's online newsletter, and I liked it since I am trying like hell to lose more than two pounds a week.  Here is the question and answer from her newsletter:

Q: I love that I have the information I need to lose 2 pounds a week; however, I would like to lose more than that. How can I lose 4 to 5 pounds a week? I have a total of 96 more pounds to lose.

A:  To lose a pound, you must burn 3,500 calories. As I've said before, it's all about the math — how to burn more calories in the most effective way.

You can only do so much resistance training without damaging your muscles and impeding your results. Additionally, you can't starve the weight off: If you eat fewer than 1,200 calories a day, you will sabotage your optimal results. Therefore, cardio is weight loss extra credit. It allows you to burn additional calories without overtraining. This is one of the reasons some Biggest Loser players can still lose 20 pounds a week, even 7 weeks into the program.

Think about the math: If you are eating 1,500 calories a day — we assume your BMR without exercise is 1,600 (this is actually my BMR) — and you do two 1-hour cardio sessions that burn 500 calories each (one in the morning and one at night), the two sessions, along with your regular daily activity, will speed up your base metabolism to at least 2,000. As a result, you will have burned about 1,500 calories that day — that is, almost half a pound. At that rate you will be losing up to 3.5 pounds a week.

That said, you are bound to lose more weight during the first two weeks of any weight loss regimen because of the dramatic change in your diet and the loss of excess fluid. After that, it's all about crunching the numbers, and cardio is the key.

The rule of the game: INTENSITY

Thanks to a friend of mine here, who directed me to the err of information I found, I looked further.  I LOVE Jillian from The Biggest Loser, and though she's not a doctor (that I know of), nobody can deny that she seems to know her stuff.  I just got this in my e-mail inbox which addresses low-intensity versus high-intensity workouts and working in the so-called fat-burning zone.  Here's what she says:

If you're looking to shed stubborn pounds, the rule of the game is to increase the intensity of your workouts. I want you to be working out at 85 percent of your maximum heart rate (MHR). However, you may have heard the "fat-burning zone" theory that encourages you to work out at just 70 to 75 percent of your MHR. The outdated assumption is that your body is drawing predominately on fat calories for energy — WRONG! It's completely misleading and it's time to lay the "fat-burning zone" myth to rest.

During physical training, your body has three possible sources of energy: carbs, fat, and protein. Protein is a last resort — of the three energy sources, your body is the most reluctant to draw on your protein stores.
Whether your body takes energy from glucose, which it gets from the breakdown of carbs, or fat depends on the intensity of your workout. Training at a high level of intensity forces your body to draw on carb calories for energy — they are a more efficient source of energy, and your body goes for its premium fuel when you're working hard. If you are training at a low level of intensity, your body doesn't need to be as efficient, so it will draw on a higher percentage of fat calories for fuel.

Sounds like low-intensity training would be more effective when it comes to losing fat, right? Wrong. These physiological facts are the ones that spawned the mistaken belief that low-intensity activity is better than high-intensity activity when it comes to burning fat and losing weight. These days we know that even though the ratio of fat-to-carb calories might be higher during low-intensity exercise, fewer calories are used up overall. High-intensity exercise burns the biggest number of calories.

From LOSING IT! With Jillian Michaels
Thursday, November 19, 2009
http://www.jillianmichaels.com/fitness-and-diet-tips/Fat-Burning-Zone-Myth

Excellent NSVs yesterday!

I've either been stalled or lost very little in months and months.  I broke a plateau just the other day, which was great.  But yesterday made me feel FANTASTIC!

A classmate of mine asked me if I've been losing weight.  I said, yes, kind of (since I have not budged very much since the end of August), but that event hough I haven't lost much, I've been working out and working at it.  Now, I had a class with her back in spring of 2008, and of course I was a lot larger then.  I told her that since that time, I had lost around 70 pounds, but did she mean since way back then or did she mean since this semester began?  She said certainly she realized I'd lost since 2008, but that even in this semester I'd looked like I'd lost weight.  Omg, I about kissed her full on the mouth in front of God and everybody!  I thanked her profusely, since I really needed to hear this.  BOY did that feel good!

My second NSV was my workout yesterday.  I've been going through some horrible crap on Facebook with a prior LBTer that I thought was a good person.  People who know her would be surprised to know what I now know.  She is NOTHING in real life like the persona she put out there on LBT.  She was helpful, insightful, even-keeled, reached out to newbies, everything that made her seem like a good person.  I have come to find that, like the characters on V, she has a human exterior that hides a reptile underneath.  It's been a very emotional weekend as all this has come out and the fallout has taken out three of us who are pretty close. 

I say all this to say that I decided Sunday that I was going to work out like crazy yesterday as I had a lot of emotion to burn off.  Mondays are my school days where I have just over three hours between classes, and I decided I was going to really push myself (pretending I was on The Biggest Loser as I did it, lol) and work out the entire time.  It was tiring, but omg, it felt SOOOO good to use something beneficial to work out my anxiety and stress!

When I got home, I downloaded my GoWear Fit and it showed that in that time, I burned just over 1,300 calories!!  This morning I was down to a new low of 221.5.  Not a big budge (I started at 222.5 yesterday morning), but hey, I'll take ANYTHING!  My new goal is to get below 220, the lowest I've been in many, many years, and it will also represent the most weight I've ever lost.

My bandiversary is coming up on Saturday, and I want to revel in what I've lost and not worry about where I THOUGHT I would be.

2s never looked so GOOD!

Omg, I can't believe it, but I hit a new low!  I haven't been able to get below 223.5 since September 2 (and actually have been bouncing up sometimes as high as 226 and then back down to 224, 223.5), but this morning -- 222!!  Can this plateau FINALLY be broken???

I've still been seeing Heather every two weeks, and yesterday she suggested something I hadn't thought of -- a nutritionist, in order to see what I might be doing wrong.  Overall I'm very happy with how I'm eating, and so far every day I've had school, I've gotten there early and done a good workout and haven't missed even once, so my frustration was mounting as to why I wasn't seeing any results from the scale.  What alarmed me was even after a month of exercise, I wasn't seeing it in the tape measure either.  However, I've determined that I won't stop what I'm doing -- SOMEthing's gotta give, right?

On another good note, we are buying the flooring needed to do the basement!  That means that (hopefully) I should have my basement back in relatively short order.  Even if I can't work on it while I'm in school, I will be finished in a month and can do it then -- which will be perfect timing since I likely won't be using the gym that much when school ends.

But omg, did I mention this forever-long plateau ENDED??

*SCREAMING*  I just checked my BMI -- I am now officially "just" obese instead of severely obese!!!  Okay, this day is going down as a very happy day.  :)