Last weigh-in (10/19/2013) : 146.2 lb
This weigh-in (10/26/2013) : 145.2 lb
Change : 1 lb lost
Total weight loss since Izzie : 55.2 lbs
At this point in my journey (only partially breastfeeding and getting closer to my goal), 1lb is really great. There are so many people who quit Weight Watchers because they're only losing about 1lb per week. ONLY?!?!?! If they knew how hard it was for some people to put a pound per week, and how much harder it is to do alone, they might stick with the program. They say it must not be working if they're losing so little. It's not like we're on the Biggest Loser and expected to put up 8-10lbs or more per week. We are normal people who don't spend 8 hours each day in the gym. Most of us have jobs or children, along with many other responsibilities. In the real world, 0.5-2lbs per week is an amazing weekly average, as there will be weeks when you maintain or gain even. I've been doing this for almost exactly seven and a half years and I've come to the point where I don't take a single tenth of a pound lost for granted. It's way too easy to put it back on so any small number is hard won.
This week I noticed something when I got on the scale. I normally only look at the big number (usually holding my breath while waiting for it to pop up), but we have a fairly nice scale that tells you other things as well. One of those things is body fat percentage. I guess the reason I don't tend to look at that number is that I have always seen it over 30%. That doesn't surprise me anymore, but in high school, we took fat percentage in health class. I remember how shocked and embarrassed I was when mine came out to 33%. Women of course have more than men, but that was a very high number (considered obese, but looking back that doesn't surprise me). The number I saw today was 27.3%! Not just slightly below 30%, but almost a full 3% lower. Compared to the other times I've lost large amounts of weight, I'm working out much more and therefore am replacing the fat with much leaner muscle mass. The average body fat percentage level for women is 25-31% (18-24% for men) and the fat percentage at the fitness level is 21-24% for women (14-17% for men). I have confidence that I can reach that fitness level by the time I get to my ultimate goal. As it is, at the dentist, they took my resting heart rate and were shocked at how low it was - 58 bpm. They then asked if I'm an athlete (which I almost snorted in laughter over) or I exercise. I said I do exercise and that put them at ease. Later, Andy was telling me about his resting heart rate and when I told him mine, he said that's at the level of athletes. I guess all my working out is helping me in many more areas than just dropping pounds.
Showing posts with label The Biggest Loser. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Biggest Loser. Show all posts
Saturday, October 26, 2013
Thursday, November 10, 2011
How Your Brain Processes Food
This week on the Biggest Loser, they had a really interesting segment where a doctor who specializes in brain science came in and talked to the contestants about how their brain processes food. He was primarily focused on the pleasure center of the brain in relation to food. He showed them the differences between a lean person's brain and an obese person's brain.
He started with the amount of pleasure from seeing and smelling food. A lean person's brain had a very weak pleasure reaction and an obese person's brain had a very strong reaction. Not very surprising. What was surprising was how their brains reacted to actually eating the food. A lean person had a very strong pleasure reaction, whereas an obese person had a weak pleasure reaction. This in turn, leads the obese person to eat more in trying to reach a higher state of pleasure. It's not just that obese people are more hungry.
They also talked about how your brain can be "rewired." Basically, what they said was that you have good feelings associated with eating healthy and exercising because of the results they produce, so you crave those things, when you never did before. They said it could take months for this "rewiring" to take place. What I didn't agree with was how quickly this "rewiring" could be undone. They said one week of vacation where you eat anything you want would completely reverse the good behaviors your brain associated with good feelings. I've done this where I go on a trip and eat whatever and get right back into my routine and into my "zone" again. I've even gone on longer periods of time where I'd eaten badly for months and when I reached a certain breaking point and get back on track. It's tough to think that if you hadn't been so bad you wouldn't be losing weight that you've already lost once, or twice, or even three times before. The important mentality to have when you have a rough day or week is to think, "Tomorrow is another day."
He started with the amount of pleasure from seeing and smelling food. A lean person's brain had a very weak pleasure reaction and an obese person's brain had a very strong reaction. Not very surprising. What was surprising was how their brains reacted to actually eating the food. A lean person had a very strong pleasure reaction, whereas an obese person had a weak pleasure reaction. This in turn, leads the obese person to eat more in trying to reach a higher state of pleasure. It's not just that obese people are more hungry.
They also talked about how your brain can be "rewired." Basically, what they said was that you have good feelings associated with eating healthy and exercising because of the results they produce, so you crave those things, when you never did before. They said it could take months for this "rewiring" to take place. What I didn't agree with was how quickly this "rewiring" could be undone. They said one week of vacation where you eat anything you want would completely reverse the good behaviors your brain associated with good feelings. I've done this where I go on a trip and eat whatever and get right back into my routine and into my "zone" again. I've even gone on longer periods of time where I'd eaten badly for months and when I reached a certain breaking point and get back on track. It's tough to think that if you hadn't been so bad you wouldn't be losing weight that you've already lost once, or twice, or even three times before. The important mentality to have when you have a rough day or week is to think, "Tomorrow is another day."
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
The Biggest Loser
Tonight is the premiere of the Biggest Loser. I can't say I've watched it since it first came on the air, but I did start watching in the fall of 2007 when Alison Sweeney (from Days of Our Lives) took over as host and I was 1 year into my own weight loss journey. I have watched Days of Our Lives my whole life and Alison Sweeney has been on since she was a teenager and she was chubby herself. She has conquered her weight issues and two kids later looks AMAZING. I see her almost every day on Days and want to look like she does.
I have a love/hate relationship with the Biggest Loser. I love it in the beginning, when the contestants are first starting out. It makes me feel good about myself to see people who are so much larger than myself. As the weeks go on, there comes a time about 3/4 of the way in that the female contestants start to weigh less than me. That's when I start to hate it and feel bad about myself. I do understand that they're losing weight at an alarmingly fast rate and work out 8 hours a day. The trainers compare them professional athletes. They hardly ever show them after a workout where they're all in a recovery room, covered in ice. Every year, I say that by the end I'm going to feel good about myself and to this day, I've never gotten to that place. This season is going to be the season where I still feel great about myself at the end!
I have a love/hate relationship with the Biggest Loser. I love it in the beginning, when the contestants are first starting out. It makes me feel good about myself to see people who are so much larger than myself. As the weeks go on, there comes a time about 3/4 of the way in that the female contestants start to weigh less than me. That's when I start to hate it and feel bad about myself. I do understand that they're losing weight at an alarmingly fast rate and work out 8 hours a day. The trainers compare them professional athletes. They hardly ever show them after a workout where they're all in a recovery room, covered in ice. Every year, I say that by the end I'm going to feel good about myself and to this day, I've never gotten to that place. This season is going to be the season where I still feel great about myself at the end!
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