Well, it's almost time for my monthly weigh-in. I spoke with my leader and we think what may work for me is to still come to the Thursday meeting but weigh in on Friday mornings on the way to work -- changing it so that I bring breakfast with me instead. Big change for me but I can deal with that...... ANYTHING to keep me at goal!
The protein experiment seemed to work exceedingly well!!! So I am going to keep that up. I'm also going to keep up the 24 points per day...... at least for now. I also signed onto the LiveSTRONG website for The Daily Plate to do some extra tracking -- primarily for sodium and protein (more on the sodium in a moment). According to that, I'm still not eating enough calories for my maintenance needs. Sorry, but really, I feel that I'm eating the right amount for where I need to be, so I'm not freaking just yet. If I ate their recommended calories per day, I would be 20 pounds heavier in no time.
Another experiment that my leader suggested was increasing my water intake -- water in proportion to the other liquids. I have no problem at all with getting my liquids in, but I got the basic water and then added about as much soda, etc. So I started doing about a 2:1 ratio. I am doing 3 liters of water per day. Is it making a difference? OH yeah. Got rid of a LOT of water last week -- because I honestly think a good bit of this extra weight that's refusing to let go is water retention.
Speaking of extra pounds that won't easily go away............... I consulted with a plastic surgeon last week about skin removal surgery. It is a huge step and a big undertaking. I'll keep you posted on how that is going to proceed as we take each possible step we can. The other health issue seems to be resolving...... slowly, but resolving. Keep your fingers crossed that the current meds continue to work to do what they're supposed to, without messing with my weight too much. I can kind of tell that they might, dang the luck.
Still stationary biking..... and spent an inordinate amount of time on Friday evening trying to really figure out if I'm working at "moderate" or "vigorous" ..... what nebulous concepts!! I try to work out at 72-77% of my MHR ..... now, at that level, I am sweating within 5-6 minutes, pretty well drenched by 12 minutes, and pretty well exhausted by 25-30 minutes. To me, that's vigorous. Some experts, however, consider 70-79% to still be "moderate"..... What. A. Crock. What about "moderate-plus"? To probably get a more accurate "calories burned" idea, what I've done is track it as "vigorous" but at 2/3 the time. Hey, if I've burned more, great -- I'm not trading them in for food anyway. If I've really just burned at a "moderate" level instead.... So? I'm doing SOMETHING and I want to track that to make sure! I figure 2/3 is a good measure.
I had planned to try altering my workout routines -- biking most days but gentler stuff on the other days, plus one day of "rest." Well, with choir practice beginning, my "day of rest" is going to be different..... and I'm going to have to change the time of my planned exercise for that day to move it to Thursday morning (my usual "day of rest"). I guess 5:20 is going to have to be my once-a-week wakeup call (as opposed to the usual 5:45). Mornings and I have never gotten along.
That's all for the time being. I'll keep everyone posted!
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