Saturday, February 27, 2010

Kathy: Week 9 - a plateau??

Current Weight: 144
Last Week's Weight: 142
Starting Weight: 151
Total Weight Loss: 7 pounds

Today's BMI: 25.51 (still "overweight"...)

I suppose it was bound to happen sooner or later...the scale broke! As in...I gained back the two pounds I lost last week. What's up with that??!!

Here are the Week 1 Photos.

















And here I am today.

They say muscle weighs more than fat, maybe that's why I weigh more?







I sure do feel stronger and more toned!

The photo on the left shows me in "Mountain Pose" from our yoga class. I know it doesn't look like much from the photo, but my feet, knees, tailbone, and shoulders are in position! (Seriously. Compare the knee position from Week 1 and today. My knees are lazy lazy lazy in Week 1.)

So what's up with (re)gaining two pounds?

Well, it has been a crazy week. I think I've mostly stayed with my 400-calorie-meal plan, but sometimes it was hard to tell...we went to the Blue & Gold dinner for the cub scouts on Thursday night, and a dinner at church last night...ok, I confess I had 4 or 5 bites of Mark's cake at the Blue & Gold dinner, and then I ate most of my dessert (a slice of cheesecake) last night. But at least I chose to only eat about 1/3 of the huge mound of spaghetti they put on our plates...

The other thing going on last week is that I was too tired! As in sleep-deprived. Trying to keep up with the homework load for my university class is starting to really drain my energy levels. As Katie and several other Skinny authors have pointed out, getting enough sleep is critical to maintaining good health, including weight loss.

So my theory for the current number on the scale is:
1. The scale is fickle--we've already established that!
2. I'm gaining muscle mass.
3. I need to get more sleep.
4. I need to eat at home more...no more cheesecake (260 calories!) at church dinners!

Ok, ok, enough with the excuses.

What I really wanted to write about this week is how to determine your happy weight. We all have a "magic number" in mind, the weight we'd like to be, "if only..." But for many of us, that number may not be realistic! I found a website that discusses how to determine a realistic weight goal - a weight that is healthy, but also maintainable, based on factors such as age, activity levels, and body build. Here's the actual happy weight calculator.

According to the calculator, my happy weight is 134, which is just one pound below my original goal weight of 135. So I know it's realistic and doable. The hard part is just sticking with it, especially when the scale does this funky little 2-pound-gain thing. So for this week, I am going to:

1. Exercise 3x at Curves, and also go to Yoga class.
2. Eat four 400-calorie meals a day.
3. Drink at least eight 8-oz glasses of water every day.
4. Get more rest.
5. Run when I see cheesecake! Ha ha! I mean, run away!

I hope you're set for a super week!

5 comments:

Katie Lewis said...

Are you sure you didn't just gain that weight back in your feet? I noticed you decided to cover them up today. Haha. Just kidding. Your feet don't look fat or anything, it was just a joke because you have socks on in today's pictures... Nevermind.

For reals though, your tummy looks flatter in today's pictures and you are right about your posture! Your knees look much stronger in today's picture. I am very much impressed. And that's cool that you feel stronger. So far I've found lifting weights to be much more rewarding than I thought it would be.

Also, I guess we have both been pretty good about knowing our "happy weight" because when I entered in my info it came up with 124 pounds for never having treats and 125 pounds for occasionally having treats (which I certainly plan to do come April 1st). You're right--it is encouraging to see that it probably is a realistic goal to reach the weight I've chosen.

Anyway, good luck running away from cheesecake! I generally make a point to just run away from cub scouts in general. Haha. Have a lovely Saturday!

emmalou said...

Wow! That happy weight calculator was fun. It says mine is 122! Yikes! It was fun to see you last night. :)

Carou said...

I was our Ward's Blue and Gold and stayed away from the scale after I ate a chili cheese dog and cake!! Too much stress at my work this week. :) I love my comfort food.
I've seen you Kathy and I want you to know that you look great. The 7 pounds gone has made a big difference. They say 7-10 pounds is a loss of one dress/pant size so the work you are doing is fantastic. Let's all double up our efforts and have a great week eating healthy and exercising. My husband and I are headed to Multnomah Falls to hike. We are going to the top! Wish us luck.

Dorothy said...

Don't beat yourself up over eating dessert once this week (and a couple bites of cake)! I seriously doubt that caused you to gain 2 lbs. It's probably just water weight fluctuation.

What matters is: you look fantastic! (And feeling strong is great, too!) So don't stress about the numbers and just keep doing what you're doing. It's all paying off.

I like the happy weight calculator. It says I don't need to lose as much as I thought! :)

Marae said...

my happy weight was quite a bit higher than i thought it would be. it was interesting to see how the number changed by changing each option (having children added 5 lb).

and, the gain must be frustrating. i'd chalk it up to water...it would still take 7000 extra calories to gain 2 lbs of muscle. that's a lotta cheesecake...

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