All about weight-loss: New BMI = 26.28

HALF of me is GONE!

I started at the highest recorded weight of 335.6 and I’ve gotten rid of HALF of it! I’m now 167.8

Next milestone in 1.9 lbs when the BMI will drop below 26. Once it drops below 25, I’ll be in “normal” BMI range (18 < BMI < 25). From “Super Morbid Obesity” (BMI > 50). Wow.

BMI Chasing Ok, that’s it. I’m done.I don’t want to be in the Extra-Super-Scarey BMI category I’m currently in (52.6). According to some websites:“Patients with this condition incur much greater weight-related health risks, including an increased risk of dying – estimated at 5-10 times greater than that of people of normal weight – as well as arthritis, breathing problems, cancer, depression, diabetes, gastroesophageal reflux, heart disease, hypertension, infertility, loss of bowel/urinary control, menstrual problems, obstructive sleep apnea, swollen legs, and venous disorders.”

So I’ve pulled out all my old WW materials and started using the journals again to keep track and limit the intake. And I’m walking 1.5 miles every day after work. And I’m starting an 8-week Tai Chi class at work next Thursday. I’m weighing myself once a week at my doctor’s office near work. I set up a computer to email me a motivational quote on persistence every day. I pulled out my copy of Make the Connection and started re-reading it. I’m re-reading The Mastery of Love. And I’m relying on several others at work for moral support who are dealing with similar challenges. And I’ll post my progress here.

Entry posted by origamifreak on May 26 2007 at 10:14 am

I posted that entry on my old Upsaid blog two and a half years ago. It feels like a lifetime and a half ago. Back then I was still going to the doctors at the Finger Lakes Medical Group. I didn’t even own a scale that could weigh me. Over the subsequent months I did remove 40 lbs. And gained back 30 of them.

Eleven months ago I posted this:

January 28, 2009 Back to the BMI chasing. Today=47.08 Filed under: food, health — origamifreak @ 5:48 pm

After a really bad lapse where last fall I gained back up to almost the same weight where I started, I’ve pushed it back down again. Mostly through the help of the pre-gastric ulcer which acts up when 1) I overfill and 2) I eat at night.

The most recent bout on the evening of December 11 / morning of December 12 was so very painful and unpleasant that something clicked in my head and I realized that I would rather be hungry than feel like that ever again. EVER again. Even though this has been going on sporadically for years, the most recent memory of the pain and the vomiting has stuck with me long enough that I have maintained a healthy fear of overeating for over 6 weeks, and as a result am finding out what it feels like to be hungry, how to manage my blood sugar, what being full feels like, how long I need to wait in order to even know if I’m full, etc. In effect, I’ve got the same symptoms as a friend at work who had her stomach stapled, but without the cost and associated issues of elective surgery.

People have asked why I don’t go to the doctor about this. I have two reasons, and I think they’re sound. First, the problem only happens when I overeat at night (i.e. it hasn’t happened since 12/11), and second, this is the first thing ever that has worked that hasn’t involved obsessive calorie-counting (i.e. using WW points, etc.). And I’m sorry, but while obsessive calorie-counting does in the short term help with managing my eating, it does NOT work in the long term because it presents significant quality of life issues. There is an inherent psychological problem with focusing on NOT doing something that I’ve never been able to overcome. So I’ll take the ulcer memory and use it. Consider it my disulfiram.

All the years of calorie-counting have given me the tools to eat in a healthy way, and I’m doing that, but just without counting anything. Oatmeal for breakfast, homemade soup for lunch, etc. Just less of it and not overfilling. And not eating at night. If I’m bored I can clean the bathroom or organize the garage, for Pete’s sake.

Also I’m back with the H2O aerobics, and will hopefully start working out in the basement soon as well. (As soon as the rest of the bamboo planks have been distributed to the rest of the house for acclimation.)

Stay tuned.

P.S. This may have helped, too:

phenethylamine

(internally synthesized, of course)

I was in a very different place at that point, mentally and physically. It took a really painful condition to snap me out of my complacency and push me toward being mindful of my food. Since that point I’ve had exactly 2 reflux episodes. And both times because I ate too much fatty food.

Here are some ways in which my life is different from each of those times:

May 2007 December 2008 January 2009 November 2009 Food tracking WW points on my own no no SparkPeople.com protein intake not tracking not tracking not tracking minimum of 100g per day cardio walking water aerobics water aerobics spinning strength none water aerobics water aerobics weight lifting weight 335.6 326.2 300.6 167.8 BMI 52.56 52.53 47.08 26.28 clothing size 4x 4x 3x 12 pets Miaumoto(Latte had just died) Miaumoto & Sunny Miaumoto & Sunny Miaumoto & Sunny church no no no yes self-esteem no no no yes crushing on someone yes no yes no

…and in some ways it hasn’t changed at all.

cleaned out the garage yet? no no no no

After all, I’m not a COMPLETELY different person! Just literally HALF of the previous one.

physicsdiet.com chart of my weight