The Prodigal OHer

Hi everybody - I've been absent from OH for about a year. My home-based business is keeping me very, very busy and I haven't taken the time to post. However, I am concerned about my weight and my attitude, so I thought perhaps I had better become accountable again. I never have reached goal. I lost about 130 lbs and have gained 30 back. I do eat some carbs, but I usually keep my calories at about 1300-1500. My problem is my business. I'm a medical transcriptionist, a very busy one, and I sit for 12-14 hours a day. There is no getting around that. I have two girls who work for me, but I proofread all of their work before sending it out, so in addition to what I do I have that. I walk or lap swim 3-5 times a week, but I think the bottom line is 30-45 minutes of exercise is not going to offset 12-14 hours on my butt. Sometimes I get the dreaded "why bother?" attitude when I know I haven't overeaten, but the scale stays the same or even goes up. I don't keep that attitude long, though, because I know what will happen if I do. The only thing I can think of to do is go completely protein shakes at every meal, or completely zero out carbs. That will be hard for me because I use milk for my protein shakes and put a little in my coffee. My "sweet fix" comes from sugar-free vanilla lattes from McDonald's or Starbucks. Fortunately, I can't overdo sugar because I dump.

Anyway, any suggestions would be appreciated.

Jenny

Jenny,

Welcome back!  I've been posting and learning from this site for the past 6 months.  Last month I had issues where my scale wasn't moving and when it did it started to go up.  My warfin levels were really high for a week which caused my knee and ankle to swell.  Now that the swelling has gone down I am back to working out.  On May 30th I weighed in at 200 pounds (I do weigh in, in the morning) and this morning I am down 195. I am still on my 1200 calc intake and I have around 113 to 130 proteins a day.  There has been a day or two that I did go up to 1300 calc.  However, I changed up my workout, I've been reading about metabolic training that it would accelerate your metabolism.  In the past I have alway worked out 45 to hour a day and the scales were moving but not as much so I purchased the Jillian Michaels Body Revolution which she also promotes the metabolic training to increase your metabolism with only a 30 minute workout.  I started the workout on June 1, I work out 30 minutes in the morning first thing (within an hour of me getting out of bed) and I do the 30 minute cardio within in hour of getting home from work.  In 10 days I lost 5 pounds and the work out is only 6 days a week at 30 minutes...or 6 days and 60 minutes for me because I can find that extra 30 minutes in my day to do something for me.  Since, today was my rest day I heading to the gym just to walk on the treadmill since it's also a study for me and I would be indoors most of the day. 

Well, I hope you find your way and good luck!

-Wanda

Hi Jenny:

Are you journaling you food daily?  I have found out recently that if I do not journal everyday that I will tend to slip in extra calories during the day because I am not being accountable.  Your exercise looks fine to me.  I would start with the calories and look at my carbs.  You do not need to zero out all carbs but do try to keep them below 100 a day and up your protein to at least 90-100 grams a day.  Are you drinking with your meals?  That is the death for trying to lose weight for me.  Try not to drink 30 minutes after you have a meal.  If you make these small changes you should start to see the scale come back down.  Good luck to you.

Well, yes and no.  I know what you mean about journaling. I did that for a while and did see where some extra calories were slipping in, so I pretty much cut those out. I don't journal every day because I eat pretty much the same thing. I do sip a little bit with meals, but I always have, even when I was losing quickly. I'm one of the lucky ones who doesn't get hungry. Even now three years out, I don't feel hunger - so flushing the food out of my pouch quickly isn't one of my problems, thank goodness. Right now it's almost 1:00 - I had my Click about 3:30 a.m., an egg and about 1/2 patty of sausage about 8:00 a.m., about 1/2 cup of my homemade trail mix (almonds, peanuts, a few raisins, and a pinch of dark chocolate chips), and I'm not hungry. I have to remind myself that it's time to eat (never thought I'd see THAT day). See why I'm frustrated?? I've been drinking water all morning as I sit here and transcribe. I'm going to take your advice, though, and see how I'm doing with my carbs - maybe those are higher than they should be. Thanks for the reply!

You say you sit fr 12 to 14 hours a day. Sounds like there maybe some stress to get everything done. Stress can cause weight again. Take little five minutes breaks to just breath deeply and relax your neck and arm muscles. Shake out the tension and refocus on making your life one you enjoy.
I to do not know when I am hungry but I also do not pay enough attention to what I eat because of this. I tend to eat a little all day and not really no it.  Keeping the weight off is a life style change that I slide out of way to easy. When I focus on What to eat and when and preplanned my food and stick to what I plan I do fine. I have been maintaining my current weight for the past year though I would like to be lighter I decided to just love to new me and put more fun in my life.

Well, if stress can cause weight gain that certainly explains it.  My business is very stressful as my doctors demand a very fast turnaround on their work, and with the advent of Electronic Medical Records it is vital that I stay on top of my work and keep myself invaluable to their practices. I catch myself tensing my shoulders and try to consciously relax them, but it's no time until they're hunched up around my ears again. Don't know why I do that.

Thanks for your reply, and good luck to you!

Jenny

Stress produces Cortisol in your system that tells it to store engergy to take care of the problem.
Try to take a one to five minute relas break every hour. Just roll your shoulders. Close your eyes and focus on something that make you happy. This will release endorphines that reduse the cortisol. Read a joke or look at a picture that makes you smile and it will help as well. Deep breathing works well also. Funny thing is when you take these mini breaks most people get more done in the day. All that tension slows you down mentally, physically, and emotionally.