Tuesday, July 14, 2015

To Whet My Almost Blunted Purpose.


Michael: July 14, 2015: 276 Pounds

I'm back! The last time I posted, I was in full backslide mode and was climbing back up the scale. That has turned around, thanks to the twin blessings in disguise of 1) midlife, career-related depression, which made me not want to eat anything for a week; and 2) major dental pain, which made me unable to eat anything even if I did want to. The results have been amazing--12 pounds in two weeks. Oh, and I gave up the "no fat blockers" rule too.

My overriding philosophy here is, "never waste a crisis." Almost everything that has happened to me for the last two weeks has conspired to make eating solid food undesirable and difficult. I didn't intentionally diet. I just didn't eat. But (combined with the fat blockers that I wasn't going to use), it has given me a lot of momentum. The job now is to keep it up without the need to rely on external misery.

Eating less when one is miserable, it turns out, is easy. The trick is to manage happiness when it eventually comes back.

Wednesday, July 1, 2015

How I Did On My Summer Vacation

Michael, July 1, 2015: 288 pounds

It's a mixed bag. I spent the last twelve days with no scale, no kitchen, and mainly driving places and meeting people. I tried to take some precautions, and I did some things right. But I also did some things wrong. And I gained three pounds during the experience. Here are the high, and low-lights:


What went right

  • On the way to Utah, I drank only water and ate only healthy things from the cooler that Karen packed: grapes, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, and granola.
  • I never ate between meals.
  • I usually ate with people who knew I was trying to be good, and they helped me by serving healthy choices or by looking at me funny if I made bad choices. Both were invaluable.
  • I ate a lot more vegetables and a lot less sugar than I have on any vacation in my adult life.
What Went Wrong

  • On my first day in Utah, the seal broke on my temporary bridge (front teeth), so I had to drink a lot of my means, and this was usually fruit smoothie type things that I could buy in convenience stores that were too high in sugar and calories. I also drank a lot of milk, some of it chocolate.
  • I broke both of my major rules at least once. I became tired while driving through Nebraska and drank a Diet Dr. Pepper to stay awake. I also ate at a Pizza Hut that was technically a buffet, though I only had one serving, half of which was salad. In neither case did the transgression set a precedent.
  • When it was really hot, I chose to drink sports drinks instead of water--a really dumb choice, since they are too sweet and too caloric. 
So, it's a mixed bag, with a small weight gain. But, on the other hand, my relationship to food remains more or less renegotiated. And now I am back and ready to face the great eating challenge of boredom.