Big City Life - wisnowbird's journal

[wisnowbird]

When I moved away from Florida last February, I didn't anticipate that I'd gain a bunch of weight back by visiting my friends and family for a few months. I was naive. After all, what do you really do when you go to visit people? They always want to try out their new or favorite recipes. Or take you out to the great restaurant they want to show off. So I packed back on about 10 lbs that had been very slow in coming off.

In April, I settled in The Big Apple and figured the weight would come off quickly. I was walking everywhere - it was bound to come off with all that exercise - right? WRONG. This is the city where you can get take-out from a new place every night & still never have food from the same restaurant twice in one month. I had a tiny kitchen compared to the one I'd had in my house in FL, so I ate out all the time.

Then I started making friends & of course, going out to eat or drink was the norm for getting together. My friends in FL knew & accepted me as the low carb eater. They were used to me that way. It was easier - if I was tempted to cheat, they talked me out of it. But my new friends didn't know the low carb wisnow. It's my own fault - I didn't introduce her. I was having too much fun grabbing a slice of pizza before a show on Broadway or eating dessert after dinner.

Now I'm facing going to Cancun in two short weeks and knowing I had all this time to lose the weight, but I didn't. It'll be another vacation of looking chunky in a swimsuit - standing next to my size 2 sister. Can't wait to see those pictures

What a difference a year makes. Last year at this time I had almost broken into the 130's, was exercising regularly, and looked pretty good. Now I've gotten flabby & have an extra 10 lbs that really show on my face and waist. I've resolved that now is the time to get back on track. No waiting for a New Year's resolution. Sunday was my new start - weighing in at 151.6. Down 2 lbs at weigh in this morning. I'm hoping to make a mini goal of 145 by Christmas Eve morning when I leave for Mexico.

Wishing everyone good luck on their continued weight loss

[wisnowbird]

Grrrrr - my scale's battery finally died this morning. I've been shaking it for the past week, but not even that worked this morning. My memory didn't fail me (for once) when I was walking to the subway, though. I remembered to stop & buy a new 9 volt battery so I can weigh in tomorrow.

Last night I was pretty good - made faux shepherd's pie. And in the process, I managed to set off my smoke alarm. At least I think it was because of me - my neighbor across the hall seemed to have her door propped open for some reason. It didn't seem smoky in the apartment, but the damn thing keep beep, beep, beeping. I was running around like a chicken with its head cut off - afraid the doorman was going to call me or my neighbors would get mad because of the noise. Opening windows (when it's 20 degrees out), fanning in front of the detector, etc. Then I realized there's a little button to turn the power off - duh. No more problems after I hit that. So I ate good & got in some ab workout last night. No cheats so far, despite having a fair amount of chocolate around (leftover from a holiday party I threw 2 weekends ago - going to make my dad eat it when he comes next week!!).

Weigh-in tomorrow morning. Hoping to still be under 150.....

[wisnowbird]

149 this morning. Not bad, but not quite as good as I was hoping for. I really wanted to see something in the 148 range. I was lazy & didn't bring lunch in to work today, so had to go to the deli across the street to partake of the buffet they have there. I tried to stick to good foods, but who knows what they put in any sauces.....

Tomorrow I might be getting some unexpected exercise if the transit workers strike & I get stuck walking 4 miles to work. Keeping my fingers crossed that doesn't happen - with traffic/lights, it would take me close to 2 hours to walk in. And it's sleeting out. Lovely.

I reeeeeeealy wanted treats tonight for some reason. I let myself have 4 M&M's & that was it. Probably I need to drink more water. New goal for the weekend - drink lots of water.

[wisnowbird]

Blew it last night, but I was still 148.8 on the scale this morning. It was birthday cake day at work. I had a tiny piece, not too bad. Then I went out with a friend after work to see Brokeback Mountain. We stopped at a little deli by the theatre for a bite to eat before the movie. Went with ham & cheese quiche & didn't eat the crust. Saw the movie, resisted popcorn. Not too bad so far, right? Then I got home.....I was sooooo hungry I had a handful of M&M's, went down to the vending machine for a bag of trail mix and then topped it off with some Godiva ice cream Bad, bad, bad. Today I'm going to drink a lot of water & start fresh with some bacon & eggs for breakfast. Keeping my fingers crossed that I don't see a big delayed weight gain tomorrow....I leave for Cancun one week from today.

[Pamalee63]

That's the ticket, just get back on plan and forget yesterday. Looks like the cake triggered you to eat more bad stuff. Bad cake, bad cake!

[wisnowbird]

Thanks for the encouragement, Pamalee!

Yesterday was good - I started out the day with bacon (the lower sodium kind) & scrambled eggs. Had steak, veggies & mashed cauliflower for dinner & then some celery with cream cheese for a snack. 148.6 on the scale this morning, so that means I lost 3 lbs in a week. I'm pleased with that. If I could lose another 2-3 lbs before I leave to go on vacation, I'll be satisfied.

I got a little exercise walking around midtown yesterday. I had to get some books from the library to take on my trip. Then I walked down to H&M to get a baby gift for my friends who recently adopted a little girl. I went to Macy's to look for a gift for my sister, but it was soooooo crowded - like walking in a sea of moving (very slowly ) people. I pretty much spent 10 min in the store & walked right back out. Later this afternoon I'm getting my hair cut - maybe I should get it cut really short & lose a pound or so....

[wisnowbird]

148 this morning You know when you wake up & you just KNOW you've lost weight. Your tummy is a little flatter & for some reason you feel lighter? That's how I woke up this morning.

Not too bad on food today - low carb yogurt for breakfast, soup with maybe half a dozen oyster crackers for lunch, string cheese & cottage cheese for a snack. I'm going to make hard-boiled eggs & have egg salad for dinner.

Only four full days left until vacation

[wisnowbird]

147.8. Slowly but surely the scale is still moving downward.

Today was the first day of the massive transit strike here in NYC. Not good news to hear first thing waking up in the morning! I took a little longer at home - eating some hard boiled eggs before I left for work & then jumped in a taxi. They brought in salad (really just lettuce) and some different types of pasta for lunch. I didn't even go in to see what was there - the pasta would have been too tempting (especially since it was free!). I went to the buffet deli across the street & filled up on some veggies & meat.

My boss came in during the afternoon & said he had received a box full of cookies & cakes from the recruiter I used to get this job - she must have finally received her fee for placing me there I didn't touch any of them, though. Yay me! Tomorrow is 'bring your dessert to work' day - haha. I'm hoping not many people participate since it will be really difficult for anyone to bring something in with the subways/buses not running. I don't need any more temptation at work.

I got some unexpected exercise, though, leaving work. It was a 15 block & 2 avenue walk to the train station where I had to go to Jersey just to get back to lower Manhattan. Then another 15 min walk to my place - including a fair amount of stairs. Hopefully the strike will have the benefit of making me burn a couple extra calories

[wisnowbird]

Still 147.8 this morning on the scale. I think eating went well today - low carb yogurt for breakfast, spinach salad with grilled chicken, mushrooms, bacon & egg for lunch, small cottage cheese & cucumbers for a snack. I'm thinking about making some scallops with mashed cauliflower tonight for dinner.

I got my forced exercise in today again. The transit strike is still going on This morning my driver was not so nice. Instead of taking the easy/fast way for me to go to work, he meandered all along the way looking for additional fares. We picked up a lady in the W Village. He had to backtrack to get her *exactly* where she wanted to go. Helloooooo? There's another person in the car. Couldn't you just walk those 2 blocks so he doesn't have to go down a one-way street in the wrong direction of where I'm trying to go?????? It ended up being a 1 hour cab ride. In the evening I went cheap-o again, walked 30 min to Penn Station & took the train home. This is getting old real fast

On a brighter note, my dad's plane should arrive in NYC in about 10 min. He's staying with me until we leave for Cancun in 2 1/2 days!!! Wahoooo

[wisnowbird]

147.4 this morning. Hoping for something in the 146's tomorrow after all the walking I did today! Good news is the transit workers are going back to work tomorrow, so things should be back to normal.

[wisnowbird]

Uck - finally well enough to post again. I was 149 the morning I left for Cancun (Christmas Eve morn) thanks to splurging on a couple of meals while my dad was here. Cancun was great for the most part. I definitely didn't stick to low carb, but then again, I hadn't planned on it. We had a great time laying out by the pool relaxing, went horseback riding, rode ATVs and even drove our own speedboats. Fun trip up until I started feeling crummy. I thought it was overexposure to the sun & pain from some really nasty bruises on my legs (from the horseback riding), but it turned out to be the beginning of the flu. I've been home for 5 days and have only gotten dressed twice in all that time - both times so I could walk to Eckerd to get some more medicine. I'm still feeling crummy, but I have to go back to work tomorrow.

So now it's 2006 and I'm determined this year will be the year I get down to goal. A couple of my friends from FL are coming to visit me in Feb & I'd love to be back down below 145 by then. I found an old picture of me in a swimsuit back when I was in college & in shape. It's my new motivation picture!

A couple of pics of me from the trip....




And the pic I found of me when I looked good in a swimsuit!!

[joyfulgrrrl]

looks like you had a great trip!! that beach looks soooo warm and inviting.

i hope you're feeling better soon.

[wisnowbird]

Thanks! Unfortunately I'm still pretty sick. This flu is long lasting Living in a city where you have to rely on mass transit to get around really sucks when you're sick! I'm coughing so bad & have congestion in my chest, so having to walk to the subway (not to mention the stairs!) nearly does me in every day going to/from work. I'd love to be able to go to the library today to pick up some books I have on reserve, but I can barely make it across my apartment before I start gasping for breath, so making a trek to the library is out. I'll have to watch movies instead.

It's so frustrating because I'm mentally ready to get back to eating low carb & exercising. But my body is in no shape to do it. At least being sick I haven't felt like eating too much (mostly pretzels), so I'm back down to 148 as of this morning. I have a refrigerator full of low carb food that's probably going to go to waste because it's too much effort to make anything and it all sounds bad anyways.

So hopefully my desire to get back on track will stick around until I'm feeling well enough to give it a go. Keeping my fingers crossed.....

[wisnowbird]

I am STILL sick I broke down at the end of last week & went to the doctor. My health insurance at my new job doesn't start until March, so I'd been trying really hard not to go because I had to pay for everything myself. Well it turns out my flu turned into a bad case of bronchitis. I managed to find a really nice doctor who gave me an entire weeks worth of antibiotics and an inhaler for free as samples. So the cost wasn't too terrible. I'm on day 4 of antibiotics now & finally starting to feel better.

The one good thing about being sick & gasping for breath/feeling like I'd just run 10 miles when I really only walked a block is that my body went into overdrive with burning the calories. I was at about 152-153 when I got back from vacation at the end of Dec & am down to 146 now. That's not even low-carbing at all. Low carb options have sounded repulsive to me while I've been sick, so I've been eating poorly. Now that I'm starting to feel better, I'm trying to transition back into eating low carb again. I made some egg salad for dinner & had it on a low carb/high fiber wrap. I also ordered the Callanetics DVD from Amazon that everyone on this site seems to be raving about. It should get here right about the time when I'm feeling well enough to start exercising again.

So for now, exercising is still on hold. I'm going to try to get back on a better eating plan over the next week & then there will be no stopping me on my way down into the 130's

[wisnowbird]

I'm bringing this journal back from the dead after a long absence. It took over 2 months, but I've finally recovered from my bout with bronchitis. Whew. I managed to get all the way down to 145 while I was sick, but then it crept way back up to over 153 I'm not a person who fluctuates much - maybe 1/2 -1 lb due to water weight, so it was definitely new fat. I've been trying to eat better the past 2 weeks & was down to 150 this morning. Yesterday I started a meat/egg weekend to kick me back into low carb. I took some pictures of me in a bikini this morning. They didn't look too bad on the tiny digital camera screen. But when I looked at them on the laptop - woah, boy! Bad, bad, bad. I've gotten soooooo flabby. I think all I have to do when I want to cheat now will be to look at those pics! I'm nipping this is the bud before it gets totally out of control. I'm going to try to take pics again when I've lost 5 more lbs. Hopefully I'll see a difference. Out, out, damn fat!

[wisnowbird]

Wahoooooo - down a lb this morning to 149!!!!

I'm really proud of myself tonight. My boss unexpectedly took me to the NY Rangers game after work (GREAT game) when he got tickets last minute from another guy at work who couldn't make the game. The guys in front of us were eating pizza, hot dogs, chicken strips, etc - lots of yummy smelling food. I was hungry most of the day, but managed to eat NOTHING at the game. I held off until I got home (at 10:30pm no less) to eat something low carb - 2 hots dogs & some celery. That really tested me, but I held up under the pressure. Yay me

[joyfulgrrrl]

hey! you're back!!!

i'm glad to see you're feeling better... not being able to breathe properly must be a pretty scary feeling.

good job on not eating the junk at the game.... pizza is one of my weaknesses, too. it's hard to stay strong sometimes when temptation is everywhere.

kutgw!!

[wisnowbird]

I have gotten NOWHERE in the past few weeks with losing any weight I think I need to cut down on the bacon/pepperoni, etc. I've been feeling bloated & that type of food doesn't help. It was really nice out this weekend & I got out & walked a fair amount. I'm so happy the weather is finally getting nicer

[wisnowbird]

148.6 - I've been doing a great job of maintaining my weight. Unfortunately, that means I'm not losing anything new

I've got a lot of free time in the coming couple of weeks, though, since I left my job. I'm waiting for another offer to come through. They keep saying it's coming, they're just working on getting the budget worked around & people to sign off on creating the new position. So I decided I wanted a couple of weeks off before I start something new & quit my job. If it goes on for a while, I can always look for something else or do some temp/contract work for a little while.

But I figured this would be the PERFECT opportunity to work on ME. Get into the habit of eating good again, work out, etc. It's a gorgeous time of year to be off from work. I've gone on a couple of nice walks this week. Today I'm going to run up to the library to get some books to read. I love to read & it helps de-stress me.

Hopefully I'll be at 145 soon - my next mini-goal. Then I can take another set of pics to see if I notice any difference in my body shape.

[wisnowbird]

148.2 this morning. Why can I not ever be a person with a whoosh??? Slow and steady wins the race, though - right?

My new motivation is my trip in Sept. I do not want yet another set of vacation pics where I'm looking chunky. I have plenty of time to get to goal before Sept - it's only like a pound a week.

I need to see these pics on a regular basis so I don't lose focus. I want to be skinny standing in front of all these scenes!!!

Milan


Tuscany


Florence


Venice


Interlaken

[wisnowbird]

147.2 this morning I really start to feel skinnier when I get around 147. My belly looks a little flatter and I feel like I'm on a roll. Only 2 more lbs until I take new pics so I can see if 5 lbs makes any kind of difference in my shape or not. I cannot wait until I get below 145. I don't think I've been there since I moved to NYC, just over a year ago. I'm tracking everything in Fitday & going out for walks most days since the weather is gorgeous. Today I have to clean my place - it's sooooo dirty. Cleaning burns calories, though - right

[wisnowbird]

147 even this morning. In the past, 147 and 142 have been my stall points. For some reason my body really likes those numbers. I'm going to be careful to track my food in fitday so 147 doesn't stay on my scale for too long this time!

I've been watching both carbs & calories. My problem with carbs is that I can't go too low. For some reason I break out in a very itchy rash if I get into medium/deep ketosis. I think my skin is maybe hyper-sensitive to the ketones? It happens every single time without fail if I go into ketosis. I've tried benadryl, creams, etc. The only thing that ever worked was going to the doctor who prescribed the highest dose of Zyrtec. But then I felt like I was walking around with medicine head.

So this time I've come up with the plan to barely get into ketosis - my sticks are the lightest pink. I eat around 60 carbs (40 net when taking out fiber) a day & have been keeping my calories in the 1400-1800 range. So far it's working - no nasty rash & I'm losing weight.

I'm going to take a nice walk along the river today & maybe hit DSW to use a $25 gift card I have. A nice relaxing Sunday

[wisnowbird]

146.8 this morning. I'm feeling kind of bloated, but don't know why. I had bad heartburn last night, which hardly ever happens to me. And I had mostly the same foods yesterday as the day before. My sodium intake wasn't too high - actually it was on the med/low side for this past week since I've re-started. Guess it's just one of those things!

I'm really happy with how far I've come since I've re-started. I've lost over 2.5 lbs in 6 days, which for me is pretty good.

Tomorrow will be a test for me. It's my sister's very last final to finish off her 3 yrs at law school. She's already bought a bottle of wine & want's to start celebrating after the final. I told her that I would have 1 glass of wine - the rest of the bottle is hers! We're going to get some cheese & veggies to go with the wine. Usually we'd get fruit/crackers/cheese, but I don't want to lose my momentum. I'm thinking some zucchini slices, mushrooms, celery, etc with a nice soft cheese that we can heat up in the oven for a little while will be nice with the wine.

[wisnowbird]

147.4 today, which isn't that bad considering I had over 100 carbs yesterday. Although there were 30 grams of fiber, so that was good. I'm going to get some exercise today walking around to look at apartments for my sister. Going to try to stick with salads today.

[wisnowbird]

148.4 due to stupid TOM bloating At least that's down a little from yesterday. I had a couple of things during the middle of last week that I probably shouldn't have - small amounts of rice, some black beans, and a couple of dumplings. Yesterday was good, though - stuck with salad for lunch and tuna for dinner.

Today I have to go help my sister start to pack. She found an apartment when we went looking, so only a couple of weeks before she has to move. I don't really feel good - maybe taking a shower will make me feel a little better before I go over.