Fit
In the last 2-3 months I've lost about 5-10 pounds. I can't be specific because I didn't formally start this with a weigh in and a chart, I'm just going by the fact that last winter I was hovering in the high 180s (I was petrified of exceeding 190, which would definitely be the heaviest I've ever been) and now I'm down to 175. Since I moved to my parents house last year I've been eating pretty darn well: lots of fresh fruits and veggies, very few restaurant meals, less collateral junk food, less pizza, very little soda, all the usual. I hadn't been losing much weight, though, which was frustrating. You'd think that eating fewer cakes and less fast food would cause the pounds to melt off, but it didn't seem to make any difference. I'm not abandoning those changes, mind you. I just get annoyed when someone says "I cut one thing out of my diet and lost 20 pounds!" especially when the thing they cut out is something I haven't eaten in years (sodas, chips, McDonalds). Where's my automatic slenderness? I eat better than most people, aside from my love of chocolate, and my lesser love of other candies. Even at its worst that single vice was not bad enough to explain the weight thing.
About two months ago I decided to try to cut out High-Fructose Corn Syrup as much as possible. Sure, we don't know for sure that it's any worse than cane sugar, but a lot of studies suggest it might be. Part of that is related to how we process certain sugars, etc etc, but the real reason I singled out HFCS was that it was one of the main differences between how I eat in Japan and how I eat in the US. I've said this many times before, but in Japan I ate horribly - sodas, candy, and Ice Cream pretty much every day - but I also lost weight, about 20-30lbs in a year. A lot of this had to be the biking, but what if some of it was the HFCS?
I'm trying to start the biking up too, but my bike needs fixing and I'm recovering from a recent back injury. My chiropractor told me not to ride for a bit at first, but I'm better now and should be starting again soon. Still, while I was unable to exercise for various reasons I decided to at least cut out the HFCS (or as much as I can). It's also been hot and humid enough here that high-intensity exercise outdoors might have lead to heat stroke. All those things led to not exercising, and I still lost ten pounds.
This weight loss could be simply due to HFCS severely limiting my choice of junk: it makes sodas and candies easier to refuse, for one. The thing is, a significant portion of that time I'm replacing those sodas with similarly high-calorie juices, or coffee with low glycemic sweeteners (like xylitol and agave). I'm eating dark chocolate or dried fruit in place of Sour Patch Kids, that kind of thing. And it's working, at least a little. I'm less hungry than I used to be. I crave carbs less often, I can do without the candies (I haven't cut carbs and chocolates out completely, I'm just trying to eat non-refined carbs and only one "serving" of chocolate a day on average). I used to get RAVENOUSLY hungry all the time, to the point where I wouldn't be satisfied until I'd had three or four different snacks; that hasn't happened in months. It could just be the summer heat limiting appetite, but I hope not.
I'll let you all know how I do. My goal is to reach my Japan weight, which was 135-145. I'm not saying I want to do that before the end of the year or anything, though a pound or two a week would be a nice goal. Last weekend I was in Kansas City and I went completely off the reservation - I probably had four or five sodas in five days and so much delicious fatty barbecue, but I'm still at 175. Since I got home I've been pretty good, and hopefully I'll start the exercise program in the next few days. Writing this got my blood up, so I just spent fifteen minutes walk/running around the outside of my darkened house. It's like ten degrees cooler at night, so I figured I might as well get in some exercise before the heat and lethargy comes back in the morning. I developed a good rotation - run around the 1/3 of the circuit that was well-lit by the solarium's light, walk quickly around the darker 2/3. I like the night and I want to run better, but running on hard surfaces tends to hurt my knees and feet. Night running like this is a nice compromise, for now, and a good way to work WITH my insomnia.
This weight loss thing isn't entirely related to dating: I have a bunch of old clothes that don't fit me any more and it makes me sad. Brandi gave me a bunch of size 12ish shorts, most of which fit, but would be more comfortable if I lost an inch or two at the waist. I have a size seven dress from high school that is my "ridiculous goal" garment, and a bunch of size 10-12 jeans that are my more realistic goal (I'm a 12-14 right now). Also, right now a lot of aspects of my life are out of my control - weight loss is the one goal I can achieve completely independently and on my own schedule. Finally I've been thinking a lot about cosplay - one of the things that limited my motivation and caused me to finish fewer garments as I gained weight was a dissatisfaction with how the outfits looked on me in early stages - cosplay clothes just look better the closer you are to the true body type. I know I'm never going to look like one of those 17-year-olds with perfect metabolisms, but I think Lina would look better as a size 10 than a size 14.
So that's my weight loss deal. Hopefully I'll write more about it here, get some positivity all up ons.
About two months ago I decided to try to cut out High-Fructose Corn Syrup as much as possible. Sure, we don't know for sure that it's any worse than cane sugar, but a lot of studies suggest it might be. Part of that is related to how we process certain sugars, etc etc, but the real reason I singled out HFCS was that it was one of the main differences between how I eat in Japan and how I eat in the US. I've said this many times before, but in Japan I ate horribly - sodas, candy, and Ice Cream pretty much every day - but I also lost weight, about 20-30lbs in a year. A lot of this had to be the biking, but what if some of it was the HFCS?
I'm trying to start the biking up too, but my bike needs fixing and I'm recovering from a recent back injury. My chiropractor told me not to ride for a bit at first, but I'm better now and should be starting again soon. Still, while I was unable to exercise for various reasons I decided to at least cut out the HFCS (or as much as I can). It's also been hot and humid enough here that high-intensity exercise outdoors might have lead to heat stroke. All those things led to not exercising, and I still lost ten pounds.
This weight loss could be simply due to HFCS severely limiting my choice of junk: it makes sodas and candies easier to refuse, for one. The thing is, a significant portion of that time I'm replacing those sodas with similarly high-calorie juices, or coffee with low glycemic sweeteners (like xylitol and agave). I'm eating dark chocolate or dried fruit in place of Sour Patch Kids, that kind of thing. And it's working, at least a little. I'm less hungry than I used to be. I crave carbs less often, I can do without the candies (I haven't cut carbs and chocolates out completely, I'm just trying to eat non-refined carbs and only one "serving" of chocolate a day on average). I used to get RAVENOUSLY hungry all the time, to the point where I wouldn't be satisfied until I'd had three or four different snacks; that hasn't happened in months. It could just be the summer heat limiting appetite, but I hope not.
I'll let you all know how I do. My goal is to reach my Japan weight, which was 135-145. I'm not saying I want to do that before the end of the year or anything, though a pound or two a week would be a nice goal. Last weekend I was in Kansas City and I went completely off the reservation - I probably had four or five sodas in five days and so much delicious fatty barbecue, but I'm still at 175. Since I got home I've been pretty good, and hopefully I'll start the exercise program in the next few days. Writing this got my blood up, so I just spent fifteen minutes walk/running around the outside of my darkened house. It's like ten degrees cooler at night, so I figured I might as well get in some exercise before the heat and lethargy comes back in the morning. I developed a good rotation - run around the 1/3 of the circuit that was well-lit by the solarium's light, walk quickly around the darker 2/3. I like the night and I want to run better, but running on hard surfaces tends to hurt my knees and feet. Night running like this is a nice compromise, for now, and a good way to work WITH my insomnia.
This weight loss thing isn't entirely related to dating: I have a bunch of old clothes that don't fit me any more and it makes me sad. Brandi gave me a bunch of size 12ish shorts, most of which fit, but would be more comfortable if I lost an inch or two at the waist. I have a size seven dress from high school that is my "ridiculous goal" garment, and a bunch of size 10-12 jeans that are my more realistic goal (I'm a 12-14 right now). Also, right now a lot of aspects of my life are out of my control - weight loss is the one goal I can achieve completely independently and on my own schedule. Finally I've been thinking a lot about cosplay - one of the things that limited my motivation and caused me to finish fewer garments as I gained weight was a dissatisfaction with how the outfits looked on me in early stages - cosplay clothes just look better the closer you are to the true body type. I know I'm never going to look like one of those 17-year-olds with perfect metabolisms, but I think Lina would look better as a size 10 than a size 14.
So that's my weight loss deal. Hopefully I'll write more about it here, get some positivity all up ons.