I Took A Year Off. Gasp.

zoedee99

Well, i did it, yes... I ate almost like those around me at the office... By comparison, i ate less, but i still managed to gain 15 pounds in the last year! I also slacked from working out in a year, i'm shocked to admit, BUT! Inspiration: I'm back on track. It's harder, yes. I've acquired a taste for pizza and Christmas cookies. I will allow myself a slice of pizza and a Christmas cookie once a month or so, so i don't crack. Besides, it's the holidays.

But i'm SO disgusted in how fat I got. I noticed this when i took the BF out to his birthday dinner, and I was uber-uncomfortable in my clothes. I have a closet 2/3 full of skinny stuff, and I had to buy new shirts in XL. Nevertheless! Rather than sit around and boohoo over it, I started back on a low-carb diet yesterday, and also started lifting weights. When i have a munchie fit, i grab a carrot or celery stick rather than chips and hummus (no matter how good hummus is for you). I don't care if it's not the taste sensation i want--I'm just trying to stop being hungry. Oh-- i also froze all the "naughty" treats that could possibly be frozen. Like the piece of fruitcake (yes-- i'm one of the weirdos who actually likes fruitcake). And i've learned to STEP AWAY FROM THE REFRIGERATOR. (In fact, step as far away from the kitchen as possible. And drink as much water as you can stand.)

I bought a deluxe weight bench and some weights about a month ago for the new house, but noticed i wasn't using them because the shop space was cold. So a couple of days ago i bought a parabolic heater. It was pricey even at Costco, but it works great. No friggin' excuses! I googled photos of Rachel McLish that are supposedly of her now, over 50. Granted, she used to be a bodybuilder, and therefore will probably always look leaner and more muscular than I, but she's still an inspiration.

Speaking of inspirations, i just read a pinterest that said "A 1-hour workout is 4% of your day." (I didn't check the math but i'm sure that's close.) So, really, what's the excuse? It's gonna hurt? Naah, i'm not working out hard enough right now for it to hurt, just to be able to feel the weight. I've found that at my age, pain is because i've overtaxed my joints, and that will put me out of commission for days. So, care must be taken.

It's gonna be boring? You know what's worse than boring? Mirrors in clothing stores. And the scale.

Oh--those of you who, like me, are over 50: in case you didn't know, you have to eat a lot more protein than you think to put on muscle. Muscle will tighten up that flabby skin. Trust me, I know. I've done this before. And it's not the muscle that's making you look bulky, it's the fat! It's like that joke:
"Honey, do these pants make me look fat?"
"No, your FAT makes you look fat!"

But i digress. The good news is, if you do a low-carb diet, you can eat all the protein you want. If you're a pescatarian like me or a vegan like I used to be, it's a bit trickier. You can still do it.

By the way, I'm doing this for me, not for any significant other. I feel much better physically and am much prouder of myself when i'm thin and fit. If you feel better being fat or out of shape and are fine with it, god knows nobody else should be your judge. But if that were the case, you wouldn't be on this website.

Cheers, all of you who temporarily quit but are either back on track or about to be! Falling off course is no reason to stay off course. Here's to a fit and fab 2019! Thanks for reading!

zoedee99

Only 4 grams of carbs today so far, and 39 grams of protein. Yay!

navdeeprana

Well done. Stay strong

TavistockToad

Unfortunately i think you're destined to fail if you have to force yourself to do workouts you find boring.

cariwaldick

Don't listen to the person above me. There are a LOT of things we have to do just to live our lives. Nobody likes to do dishes, take out the trash, scrub floors, wait in lines, or clean up poop, but those things have to be done regularly. If we only do things we like, we'd all be a mess.

But you might want to discover a way to make working out more enjoyable. Add a TV to your work out area, or maybe play music you like. Get a list of things you want to learn, and memorize it with the reps. (I learned the capitals to all fifty states while riding the stationary bike.) You could pray, or meditate on inspirational themes. If you're really weird, you could start a running verbal list of everything you want to eat, but won't allow yourself--with each rep of course. (Pizza, french fries, snickers bar... one more for Christmas cookies!) Just admitting out loud that I want it, gives me power over it.

I'm over fifty myself, and I took about ten years off--after losing 70 lbs. Excuse is I hurt my knee, but it wasn't my knee that ate all that crummy food. I'm back at it, trying to cheat that heart attack out of getting a crack at me. I'm down 63 lbs as of today.

One thing I've come to realize is, I'm ALWAYS going to be watching my weight. There is no point in my future when I can stop counting calories and just eat that 2,000 calorie diet all the menus are based on. Even on a maintenance plan I'll only have about 14-15,000 calories. I haven't added exercise into the mix yet--at least not consciously. I'm trying to move more, and it's working. My joints hurt after so much neglect, so I'm trying to drop enough pounds that it's not a struggle to do crunches.

Good job on getting back on your own side. You can do this!