Contented Reader gets fit and reads Dickens

[Contented Reader]

Mission

 

I'm not mad at myself for regaining some of my lost weight while helping my wife through the trauma of arthritis and knee replacement. It's hard for anyone to take care of herself AND someone else. But it's time to stop this gain now, and return to a healthier, slenderer, stronger me. 

 

Gym time is audiobook time, so I will be joined on this quest by Charles Dickens.  

 

Stats (updated weekly on Wednesdays)

 

Starting weight: 133.6

Current weight: 128.2

Goal weight: 115

Current Dickens book: Nicholas Nickleby, 1%

 

Habits

 

1000-1200 calories per day*

1 fruit or vegetable at every meal

Cardio 30-60 minutes, six days per week

Beginner Bodyweight Workout three days per week

 

*No, I don't have an eating disorder. I'm just really short. 

 

Audiobooks 

 

Barnaby Rudge

• Book length: 24 hours
• Weight at start of book: 133.6
• Weight at end of book: 128.2
• Weight lost: 4.4 pounds

 

Nicholas Nickleby

• Book length: 31 hours
• Weight at start of book: 128.2
• Weight at end of book: 
• Weight lost: 

 

[Contented Reader]

Daily battle log

 

Food - within my range to create a calorie deficit, including a fruit or vegetable at every meal

Exercise - 60 minutes on elliptical, plus Beginner Bodyweight Workout

Barnaby Rudge - 7%.  Dolly, the beautiful daughter is loved by both the put-upon Joe and the extremely skeezy Sim.  Will Joe manage to win her heart?  Or will the scheming Sim manage to use his wicked wiles?  I'm rooting for Dolly to move to London and start a radical lesbian publishing company, but I don't think that Dickens sees that as one of her options.

 

Outcome - I win today!

[Contented Reader]

Daily battle log

Food: stayed under 1200 calories, including fruits or veggies at every meal AND trying small amounts of veggies that I have aversions to, as part of my push to broaden my palate: beans, raw greens. 

 

Exercise: 60 minutes of walking

 

Barnaby Rudge: 11%. Who is that mysterious man? And exactly how dangerous is that shady apprentices' secret society? 

 

I win today!

[Contented Reader]

Daily battle log

 

Food: I succeeded in keeping my calories below 1200. Today was the annual Teacher Appreciation Barbecue, an event at which I have often gorged myself to bursting, but today I just had a little and enjoyed conversation instead. Best of all, I walked RIGHT PAST my nemesis, the chip table. Well done me!  I didn't succeed in eating my fruits and vegetables, however. 

 

Exercise: One hour of cycling, and Beginner Bodyweight Workout.

 

Barnaby Rudge: 12%. What a dear sweet soul Barnaby is. 

 

Outcome: a draw, but a win vs chips. 

[Contented Reader]

Daily battle log

 

Food: I stayed under 1200 calories. I'm struggling with my lifelong vegetable aversion, but I had an orange with lunch and mediocre frozen vegetables in a stir fry for supper, and made a mental note to get better vegetables. 

 

Exercise: 30 minutes of yardwork and a 30 minute walk

 

Barnaby Rudge: 19%. Forbidden love between the child of a Catholic and the child of a Protestant! Is it doomed? I'm betting that it is not. 

 

Outcome: a qualified victory, but eating fruits and vegetables continues to be absurdly challenging. I am who I am, so I'll have to succeed as myself with my own challenges, even when they're different than someone else's. 

 

[Contented Reader]

Daily battle log

Food: Under 1200, with fruit or vegetable at two meals

 

Exercise: None. Sunday is my day of rest. 

 

This is getting frustrating and hard. I'm hangry. My aversion to vegetables assets itself so strongly that even when I feel like I'm literally starving, I still can only manage a carrot or two. I want to quit. 

 

I'm not going to, of course. What is a diet other than intentional, controlled starvation? Of course I feel terrible. But the first week or two is the hardest, I remember, and then I will adapt to living with a calorie deficit and not feel so awful. 

 

Just because I'm hungry and crabby doesn't mean I'm a quitter. 

[Contented Reader]

Food: under 1200 calories; 2/3 fruits/veggies

 

Exercise: Beginner Bodyweight Workout, 30 minutes elliptical, 30 minutes bicycle

 

Barnaby Rudge: 23%. What? Ned's father is broke? How will he ever marry his sweetheart?

 

Still not giving up. 

[Defining]

On 5/12/2019 at 3:48 PM, Contented Reader said:

What is a diet other than intentional, controlled starvation? Of course I feel terrible. But the first week or two is the hardest, I remember, and then I will adapt to living with a calorie deficit and not feel so awful. 

 

Just because I'm hungry and crabby doesn't mean I'm a quitter. 

I mean, personally, I might choose to reframe that. But to each her own. Kudos on the vegetable goal! Also I LOVE the idea of tracking along with an audiobook - I may borrow it!

 

Just a thought for you, maybe something like a 5:2 diet (where you 'fast' or eat very low kcal for 2 days a week, and maintenance for the rest) may be easier to manage long term? I find that it tends to be much better for myself, since - like you - a real deficit puts me down into kinda crazy low numbers, which makes life miserable. If you'd be willing to drop down to 5 days/week for cardio instead of 6, you could even treat both 'fasting' days as rest days, to make things even easier!

 

For example, assuming you're 5ft(?), your TDEE is probably something around 1,400-1,500kcal/day, plus probably an average of ~200-300kcal/day burned through your exercise. At a goal intake of 1,200kcal/day, looks like you're trying for something around a 500kcal/day deficit, or roughly 0.5-1lb of fat loss a week? That's a pretty significant deficit at 25-30%, but manageable short term. A 5:2 system might look like 5 days with workouts at ~1,600kcal/day, and then two fast days a week where you budget 300-500kcal for the day (for most folks that looks like skipping breakfast and lunch, eating a smaller dinner). For some people, it's easier to have two days of 'abstinence', rather than a whole week of hangry.

 

Another note, again coming from a small female that struggles to hit the numbers to truly lose fat in a healthy way, is that your protein intake will help A LOT with 1) ensuring that you lose as little muscle as possible and 2) reducing hunger through greater satiety. A good ballpark range would be something between 0.7-1g protein/lb of bodyweight (for you, that's ~95-130g/day, or 30-40% of your daily kcal) - I know that sounds crazy high, but it can help. Seriously. For myself anyway, nothing makes a bigger difference for my energy levels OR success in losing fat than bumping up my protein to those minimums. 

 

Also feel free to totally ignore me, since I'm pretty much just jumping into YOUR tracking thread uninvited!   (also not a doctor, health professional, trainer, nutritionist, etc. - just a random stranger on the webs that reads too much)

 

At any rate, welcome to the 'boards!

[Contented Reader]

Thanks for the input! I totally agree about the protein: the higher my protein, the better I manage on a calorie deficit to not murder literally everyone in the world. 

 

I'll think about your fasting approach- I never thought of approaching it that way, and it might be worth a try.  

 

[Contented Reader]

Food: below 1200. Way below, in fact. I'm going to need to get a modest snack tonight. Maybe some cheese or nuts. Fruits or veggies at all three meals, AND I had some beans, which are my current focus for overcoming aversion. 

 

How to overcome a food aversion: repeated exposure, tiny amounts, non-coercive. I'm just starting the process with beans, so my wife had beans and rice for supper, and I had brown rice with cheese and salsa and like literally six beans. Next time, a few more beans. It's a long, silly process, but it does work and has broadened my once extremely limited palate. 

 

Exercise: 30 minutes of elliptical, 30 minutes of bicycle. 

 

Barnaby Rudge: 28%. I like the way that Dolly, when she is sad, looks in a mirror and is immediately cheered up by the sight of how cute she is. I respect that. 

[Contented Reader]

It's late but I'm quickly logging. I went over a little in calories at book club but not too much. Good exercise. So tired. Will do real entry tomorrow. 

[Contented Reader]

Mid-day update

 

It's a very difficult couple of days.

 

Yesterday, I came home from work and immediately sprang into action, because my wife and I were hosting book club at home.  It was a very hard weight-loss situation: we ordered Indian food, since Mrs. Reader and I aren't really up to cooking for a group yet with all of the other post-surgery stuff.  So we got to sit around with cheese and hummus and little snack crackers and beer and wine for a long time, waiting for a late supper to arrive.  This is the exact situation in which I could easily lose control of my choices.  Instead, I poured myself a nice sparkling water, and stayed out of the willpower-crushing alcohol, and waited patiently for dinner to arrive.  After that, I ate exactly what I had planned, a reasonable amount of my paneer makhanni, and it was delicious.  I also treated myself to a little of the homemade cheesecake one of our guests brought, and it was also delicious.  I went a smidge over my calorie goal, but very within reason, and nowhere near what it would have been if I'd also had a couple of glasses of wine and dived into the cheese tub.

 

And I started the day with a Beginner Bodyweight Workout and 45 minutes on the elliptical machine, so I'm still on track.

 

Today is another hard day, and I don't expect to do an end-of-day log.

 

Morning was rough- Mrs. Reader needed some extra help, which ate up my breakfast time, so all I managed to eat was half a banana.  At work, a colleague had doughnuts.  I reflected a little, and then decided to have one - it isn't the breakfast I wanted, but I prefer it to no breakfast.  Lunch is nice and healthy and normal, packed in my lunch box.  But tonight... ugh.  We are hiring a new teacher, and I'm helping with the interviews.  My principal has scheduled ALL SIX interviews for after school today, one after another.  I'll be lucky if I get home by 7:30, and it's probably going to be closer to 8.  Mrs. Reader is ordering pizza for herself, and will have leftover for me.  Not an ideal food day, not a terrifically healthy food day, but I will stay under my 1200 calories and have fruits or veggies at 2 of 3 meals.  And with any luck, I'll also end the day with a new colleague who is competent and pleasant to work with.

 

For my morning exercise, I just took a nice walk, since I was running short of time to fit in the gym.  From my school, I can walk to the river and back in an hour, which is a nice way to start the day when the weather is good.  

 

I feel pretty pleased that in a far-from-optimal week, I'm managing to stick to my food and exercise goals.

 

Also, I weighed in yesterday, and I lost several pounds in my first week of counting calories.  It's nice to be making progress.  I've been trying intermittently to shed these pounds, but not with much determination or method, and I keep losing just enough to get to the edge of 130, but never drop down to 129.  I feel pretty positive that I can make that morale-encouraging jump this time.

 

Barnaby Rudge: 34%.  Why is this book titled "Barnaby Rudge," when Barnaby appears to be an unimportant tertiary character?  I predict he's going to become more important at some point...

[Contented Reader]

Food. Under 1200 calories (just barely). Fruits and veggies at two meals. I make a hell of a good homemade pizza, and I'm proud of that.  

 

Exercise. Beginner Bodyweight Workout, and one hour of bicycling. I've only been doing this for about a week and a bit, but I'm already seeing an increase in the number of reps I can do. Go me!

 

Barnaby Rudge 39%. 

[Contented Reader]

Food

Kept it under 1200, with fruits or veggies at all three meals. I'm a little hungry but not terribly so. 

Exercise

1 hour of yardwork

Barnaby Rudge. 42%. I can't believe Ned's father disowned him so suddenly and coldly. Then again, he's both mean AND poor, so Ned can probably manage without him. 

[Contented Reader]

Food: kept it under 1200, but practically no fruits or vegetables. 

Exercise: None. Sunday is my day of rest. 

[Contented Reader]

Food: Under 1200, with fruits and veggies at two meals. 

Exercise: Beginner Bodyweight Workout, 30 minutes of elliptical, and 20 minutes of bicycle. 

Barnaby Rudge: 46%. It looks like we are going after the Catholics, then? 

[Contented Reader]

Food: Under 1200 calories. Fruits and vegetables at three meals...if you agree with me that onion rings are technically a vegetable. 

 

Exercise: 1 hour of elliptical, plus about half an hour of packing and moving books, which definitely is exercise even if it doesn't happen in the gym. 

 

Barnaby Rudge: 51%

[Contented Reader]

Food: Under 1200 calories. Fruits and vegetables at one meal, because some of the produce spoiled. A grocery run is needed. 

 

Exercise: Beginner Bodyweight Workout, 30 minutes of elliptical, and about 35 minutes of bicycle. 

 

Barnaby Rudge: 54%

 

Wednesday weigh in: I lost most of one pound. Good job me!

[Contented Reader]

Food: Under 1200

Exercise: 1 hour of bicycle

Barnaby Rudge: 58%

I feel empowered. I am going to succeed in my goals. 

[Contented Reader]

Food: Under 1200. Not so much with the fruits and veggies, though. 

Exercise: Beginner Bodyweight Workout, 30 minutes of elliptical, 30 minutes of bicycle. I love how, after just a free weeks, I have built muscle and increased my workout stamina. 

Barnaby Rudge: 62%. You know, a riot is almost never a useful action. Especially in this situation. The Catholics aren't bothering you. Leave them alone. 

[Contented Reader]

Food: Under 1200 calories, with fruits or vegetables at two meals. 

 

Exercise: 45 minutes of swimming, and a twenty minute walk. Also I mowed the lawn. 

 

Barnaby Rudge: No progress, because audiobooks and swimming pools don't mix well. 

 

I got my hair buzzed for the first time, and I love the way it looks. I might never have hair again. 

[Contented Reader]

Food: 1230. Technically over my goal of 1200, but I'm not going to sweat 30 calories. Tomorrow there's a Memorial Day cookout, with friends who usually bring All The Chips. Chips, my nemesis. This is going to be a Boss Battle. One of my strategies is to bring knitting with me. Can't snack with my hand full of homemade sock. 

Exercise: None. Sunday is my day of rest. 

Barnaby Rudge: 62%. Had to renew it from the library, but fortunately, no one else had it on hold. 

[Contented Reader]

Food: I'll end up going a little over 1200 after the cookout, but not by much. My choices were not as good as they could have been, not as terrible as they were last year. 

 

Exercise: Beginner Bodyweight Workout and a one-hour walk. 

 

Barnaby Rudge: 66%. It's bad enough that you looted those churches. Leave the loveable crotchety old innkeeper alone!

[Contented Reader]

Food: Under 1200 calories, with fruits and veggies at two meals. 

 

Exercise: 30 minutes of elliptical,  40 minutes of bicycle. I'm on summer vacation now, but I'm determined to keep up my gym habit. 

 

Barnaby Rudge: 70%. Oh, the poor inn! 

[Contented Reader]

Food: Under 1200 calories, with fruits and veggies at one meal.

 

Exercise: Beginner Bodyweight Workout, 30 minutes of elliptical, 30 minutes of bicycle. I got caught in a thunderstorm on the way to the gym and got soaked. 

 

Barnaby Rudge: 74%. 

 

Today was a weekly weigh-in, and I lost most of one pound, which is exactly where I want to be. I'm succeeding, and slowly but steadily moving in the direction of my goal.