Feed a fever, starve a cold? Or is it the other way around?

Sorry for the delay in writing but I've been down with a killer cold that had me using every spare moment to catch as much sleep as possible. In between naps I managed to go to work but that was about it. So all this rest may have helped me feel better but it did nothing for my weight loss plans.

Instead I put on 2 or 3 pounds. I'm not sure how considering I ate very little because I couldn't taste anything and it seems wasteful to eat when your taste buds are on vacation. Plus with congestion and crap floating through my system the last thing I wanted to do was add anything more into the mix.

So back to the point of this entry. Is it feed a fever, starve a cold? Apparently it IS the other way around. When I did a search I found more references to feeding a cold. But really I must repeat my earlier assertion, who wants to eat with snot running down the back of their throat and their taste buds on hiatus?? Sorry about the graphic reference but I felt like CRAP last week. I'm only now feeling a little better. But I'm hoping for back to 100% by Wednesday. By then I plan to get back to packing my apartment (I move in 3 weeks) and getting back into an exercise routine.

I did manage to walk at lunch today for 2 miles without sweat dripping down my face and feeling like passing out. But I'm thinking once I have my energy back I'll be adding the strength training back to my regimen. It always makes me feel better but I still can't seem to stick with it.

We'll see how well I do. One another note, I won an award at work and from the list of prizes I chose a Trek Mountain Bike. Hopefully this expensive bike will inspire me to get out an ride. Winter's coming I know so maybe this wasn't the best plan but still if I spend the winter working with weights I'll be raring to hit the trails on the bike come spring. I HOPE!!

So I failed to feed my cold and still I survived? The only thing I lost was my motivation and yeah I took a couple steps back in my weight loss plan. So for this week a cold stopped my weight loss.

How about you?

What's stopping you this week?

Caught in the candy trap

I know I said I wouldn't get sucked in to the endless candy that seems to flow from every nook and cranny leading up to Halloween but again I have failed. For the past two days I have consumed at least 500 calories in empty, mindless sugar consumption.

A coworker placed a container full of some of my candy favorites - Lemonheads and red hots - within easy reach of my desk. Within three steps there is also a tub full of Twizzlers. I'm a big fan of the sweet that comes with the sour and I cannot help myself from mindlessly popping these tiny candies into my mouth while I work. I created a Power Point presentation while eating 2 90 calorie boxes. Then I checked my email during another box. I cannot put the candy down.

I have bought no candy myself. My cupboards are empty and there are no bowls or containers available on my desk or at home to put candy in. YET, I'm still consuming candy at an alarming rate. Those tiny boxes of Lemonheads have 90 calories in them, 90!!

At the rate I'm going I could be consuming my daily calorie allowance in sugar by Halloween.

I just don't know how to stop myself.

Being the Fat Girl

I haven't been in the mood to write much lately because I've been busy with other things. Plus I'm down about 3 pounds - the stage where my size 16s look baggy on my butt but size 14s are still a little too tight. There hasn't been much else to say.

I was a little bored earlier so I was wandering around in blogland and hit on some blogs that were a bit distressing. I know that we are a weight obsessed culture and for those who feel fat, the feelings of distance and ostracism can be overwhelming. I guess I've just never had it in my face as much before.

I stumbled across the following blogs:
http://101reasonsihatebeingfat.blogspot.com/
On number 97 of things this blogger hates about being fat. If you are looking for things to add to your list, there may be a few you haven't thought of.

http://angryfatgirlz.blogspot.com/
This blog covers more than just ranting about weight. There are some good life tips here.

http://www.pastaqueen.com/halfofme/index.html
If you're looking for positive and reasonable inspiration, start here. This blogger tracked her weight loss over 3 years for a total of 178 pounds and now works at tracking how she keeps it off.

http://www.dietgirl.org/dietgirl/
Check out another woman who has lost half her weight. This blog tracks weight loss that started in 2001 and is great for the maintenance stage.

http://www.myallnaturalweightloss.com/
A weight loss journey with a dieter willing to experiment with almost any diet out there.


Some of these are great blogs full of awesome inspiration while others rant. There are a few moments of negativity and laughs but these are well worth the visit.

Free food fandango

Why, as adults, can we still be bribed with food?

Our insurance agent came by today to check in, see how we are doing, answer any questions, just basically remind us that his company loves ours. He brought muffins. And not some skinny little muffins like your mom used to make in the 12-cup muffin tins, but huge, gooey, multi-thousand calorie muffins that are really small cakes. People were lining up in the breakroom to get some. Luckily, the things were so damn big we had to cut them in half, so there was plenty for everyone.

Why are we like that? None of us are starving. All of us could afford to go buy a similar treat for ourselves (or something healthier or more appropriate), but we all go crazy for free food brought in by a vendor. And we think well of them for bringing us this stuff that is really not good for any of us. Granted, we also like it when they bring us calendars and pens and other desk accessories, but nothing turns us into cavemen like food.

This is something I've had to make a deliberate effort to stay away from, so I think I'm a little resentful, too. I have an eating plan and big muffins aren't on it. I have to be one of those people who declines the original offer PLUS has to stiff-arm all the office people who want to encourage me to partake in the bounty. There is no polite way to say, "No, thanks, I'd rather those calories were on your thighs, not mine."

The winter holidays are coming and this free food phenomenon is only going to get worse. How do you cope? Do you just give in or try to fight the food frenzy?

Comfort Food

I'm half way into what I feel will be a killer cold. I have the itchy ears, throat and congestion. The fever seems like it's creeping up and will probably knock me on me tail this weekend while I'm in the middle of a serious enterprise at work. However, there's nothing I can do but pop some pills and suffer through. I can't take off work because there's just too much to do during the next week.

Anyway, the most prominent side effect of having a cold is that I cannot taste anything. Why this makes me want to snack I cannot tell you. I'm not hungry and have no appetite yet I feel some compulsion to eat something every now and then. So today what did I grab for comfort food?

Was it soup?
Maybe some hot chocolate?
How about something hearty and nutritious?

NAH, I reached for cheese and crackers with a side of apple.

I can't tell you why but I do believe this is my favorite food. As a snack it is perfect. It makes a damn good dinner too (although since it was lunch, I made do with a mini bag of popcorn for dinner). I found that standing long enough for the popcorn to pop in the microwave made me tired and ready for a nap. I decided to write this quick update then I'm off to bed.

Before I sleep I suggest you might want to consider the following:
What is your comfort food?
Is it crazy?
Healthy?
Sugar?
Salt?

And the most revealing question (if you ever find an answer) WHY is that your comfort food?

Are you hungry??

Hunger is a fascinating word that has over the years achieved a variety of definitions. Consider some of the following from Encarta Dictionary for the word hunger:

• the need or desire for food
• a lack of food leading to sickness or death
• a great need or desire for something

In deciding that you are hungry, what are you really saying? Is your hunger a biological need for food for fuel, for energy, to exist? Or is your desire caused by some other trigger? Are you an emotional eater? A stress eater? A bored eater? Or do you eat just because it is lunch time?

Determining the source and reason for your hunger will help you find your starting point, maybe even one reason behind your initial weight gain.

I've been thinking about this a lot since reading Rethinking Thin and writing this blog the last few months. What I've discovered is that I am rarely if ever hungry. I eat because it's time or because I have a headache. Sometimes I eat if I am bored. For my situation hunger or even the desire for food are not my primary motivators for eating.

Realizing this I have no idea why I can't lose the weight. I've just begun the journey of determining my root causes and motivations. But for now, at least I know that hunger is not my reason for eating.

"Rethinking Thin" or Should we just Give Up

This weekend I read Rethinking Thin by Gina Kolata on the recommendation from Noelle. My partner in crime has been a bit slammed lately which is why I've taken primary blogger duty of late.

Regardless, she mentioned this book so I checked it out from the library and took a look. As a side note, I have decided that I will not EVER buy another book about diet, weight loss or getting healthy. I have dedicated one shelf of one of my larger bookcases to these type of books and I'm disgusted with myself over how much money I've spent on books that did nothing for me (or my health). So NO MORE. I will borrow from the library and hopefully one day, I will just stop reading these things.

But for now, I did spend a few hours this weekend reading this book written by the New York Times Science Writer, Gina Kolata. To Kolata's credit (or detriment, I haven't yet decided), this book reads like a science book. If you are not at all interested in the history of the science investigating obesity, then leave this book on the shelf (or just read the short sections at the end of each chapter that talk about the research test group studied for this project).

I admit I'm not a huge fan of the science jargon so I skimmed some of the chapters. I wasn't too interested in the discovery of leptin deficiency in rats (or mice) so I read enough to get the gist.

I finished this book with 2 problems:

1. It seems like there is no hope for most people wanting to lose weight; AND

2. This book doesn't apply to me

So I guess personally I wasn't disheartened by this book but for others, I felt irritated. The book reads as though there is a genetic component that forces people to maintain a high weight because the genes make them eat more (some are insatiable), it adjusts so that they constantly need fewer calories to maintain their weight.

The reason I say this book doesn't apply to me is because I am not a big eater, I don't have any drive to consume massive amounts of food in the evening and I'm not so obese I cannot move. In relation to the participants in the book, my heavy weight isn't high enough to qualify. So I'm not the audience she is speaking to. Still, it seems distressing to think that for some people, weight is completely out of their control which in turn means that their health and life are out of their control as well. For some, reading this book is the answer to a prayer. It is a reason to just give up and never try to be thinner. It is the ultimate demotivator.