Every time I start a weight loss plan of action I always
seem to start with the best of intentions.
Sometimes sticking to it for several months and seeing great success and
other times the momentum stays with me for barely a few weeks. Well I am now in a place where I need to be
more physically fit. I am currently at a Post where we cannot leave the
compound except for official travel which is basically your trip home to visit
family. There are two gyms and a pool –
all three are open 24hrs a day. My
problem is that there are so many people utilizing them that are physically
super fit (the ones that have muscles and six-packs, heck some have
eight-packs) that I feel really embarrassed going in there to jiggle my fat on
a machine – all 280lbs of me. I know
that they are probably concerned with themselves only, but I have such a veil
of embarrassment because of my size (the regular self-hate of letting myself
get this big) that I of course think that they are all staring at me.
In other news I joined the “100 Day Challenge” at work. I weighed in last week at 280lbs – which means
that over two months since I last weighed myself I managed to lose 5lbs. Pretty good I think. However, when I went in for my first weigh-in
after a week on the challenge I was still 280lbs. That’s good in that I didn’t gain any weight,
but frustrating. I have also been
dealing with the ‘Baghdad Crud’ which I think has been hampering my attempts at
eating better this past week – having a delightful bronchial cough with oodles
of phlegm makes me exceptionally tired.
I am feeling better today so hopefully I will be able to get in a little
exercise this evening after work as I do have a little bit more energy. My official goal set by the challenge leaders
(our Health Unit) is to lose 10% of my body weight by the end of the
challenge. I have to lose 28lbs to reach
252lbs. It seems a bit daunting to me as
I have been between 285 and 290lbs for the past two years. But there is a financial reward for this
challenge. To participate you pay $30 –
whoever loses 10% of their body weight gets the pot. If several people lose 10% then they split
the pot by the number of people. There
are 50~ people signed up – typically about half of the people will quit the
challenge by the mid-way point so I think that I should at least double my
money. The financial motivation in
addition to being lighter is helping me keep focused – ESPECIALLY when I walk
past the dessert bar in the cafeteria (the food is free so you can get as much
as you want – not good for a food junkie like me, but thankfully there is a
small salad bar and some fresh fruit available too).
I drank 100ozs of water yesterday and am going to try to hit
that number again today. I have also
been having 8ozs of vanilla soy milk a day to replace the fruit juice I had
been having and I have managed to have either a bagel with cream cheese or
oatmeal with brown sugar every morning for breakfast so far this week along
with one piece of fruit. Lunch has
typically been a Caesar salad with one fried spicy chicken strip and a cup of
carrot and celery sticks. Dinner is
usually the same salad and veggie combo with the addition of some boiled eggs. I am staying clear of the cooked foods
because they are either salty, oily, or heavily sauced – some of it is pretty
tasty, but very caloric and the servers don’t listen when you ask for a little
bit. I still have problems with not
cleaning my plate…makes me feel guilty, especially considering where I am in
the world.
Anyway – I am feeling intensely motivated so hopefully I
will not have to start over again ever in my life.
