i am the tortoise

[fox]

Dear person driving behind me on 295 tonight:

Okay, tailgate me and then swing around and zoom past me if you like, but I think you should know the stretch between the Pennsylvania Avenue and Howard Road exits is a speed trap.




Today, while shopping with sanj and lightgetsin, I tried on a suit in size 8.  (Actually I tried a couple; I am speaking now not of the fabulous 3-piece "tuxedo" thing I tried in the fitting room, but the also fabulous long-coat thing whose coat I tried out in the store.)  And while the sense in which it fit was more technical than actual, it must not be denied that I did put on a size 8 suit jacket and button it in the front -- that is to say, it fit over my shoulders and around my waist -- with no contortions of any kind.

That's a single digit, y'all.  And it'll be the right size by the time I hit my birthday.  I kind of don't know how to process that fact.  Seriously.  A little bit freaking out over here.

Comments

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

If you don't mind my asking - how have you gone about your weight loss? Feel free to ignore the question.

[darthfox.livejournal.com]

Interestingly, I don't mind people asking at all*, except that I'm a little wary of how I'm going to sound when I answer, because I'm very wary of seeming at all evangelical about this; it's been relatively easy for me, and I can sometimes feel myself slipping into a mindset where I think it could or even should be similarly easy for lots of other people (like my father), which is wrong and bad and the opposite of helpful. All of which I mention by way of saying please forgive me if it starts to sound like I'm preaching.

Short answer: about 1300 calories a day, of which I am paying no specific attention to percentages of fat or servings of fiber or vegetables or what have you (but I think I'm generally getting about what is reasonable -- since what is recommended is like impossible).

Medium answer: not that I am counting any of these. I spent about a week or two reading labels and coming to a general understanding of what a "serving size" generally looked and felt like, and the general calorie levels involved, so that it's now easier for me to estimate when there are no labels (which is mostly) what range of calories I'm bringing in. I don't measure amounts except at breakfast, but I sort of stay aware of a ballpark figure of calories I've consumed throughout the day, and I'm enough of a creature of habit that it's easy to keep it relatively consistent from one day to the next.

Long answer: so for a couple of weeks I was generally in a mindset of eating less than I was used to. And then for a couple of weeks I consciously tried to eat as little as possible, which of course is bad and dangerous and also, as it turned out, didn't help (heh), as I made less progress that way than I had been doing. Which was when I started doing calorie-type math and worked out that 1000 calories a day was Not Enough (shocking, I know) and 1500 was about right for maintenance. Thus, 1200-1300 is about right for healthy and controlled weight loss. As it turns out, there are online calculator-type things where you can put in your height and weight and age and general activity level and it will estimate your resting metabolic rate, and mine is apparently about 1600, so my figures were just about right.


*I don't like the question "What program are you on", which of course is not the question you asked, because I don't like the assumption that someone else's food or rules or planning is necessary. But that's a separate issue, I'm sure. :-)

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

You're amazing for having been able to do this, I must say. I have a significant amount of weight I'd like to take off, and I'm just angsting over how to go about it in order to avoid going about it :D

My biggest stumbling block is that I never learned how to cook anything. And I don't enjoy preparing food or planning meals, so I'm still trying to figure out how to incorporate everything that's out there into a manageable way for me to do this. "Eat less and exercise" is what every single "diet program" boils down to; that's what you're doing, and it's what I'd like to do. Unfortunately, everything I eat comes out of a can or a bag or a box. Yeah, yeah, I know, suck it up. *g*

It must be a wonderful feeling to have accomplished this, easy or no. Congrats!

[darthfox.livejournal.com]

I don't cook much, either. Boxes actually make it really easy. Frozen dinners? They tell you the calories, yo. :-) Boxed mac & cheese, ditto, though I have to sort of do the math and work out what fraction of the whole box I'm eating, because it thinks a "serving" is like 1/5 of the box, which is silly. Cereal, I admit I have a measuring cup on the counter; I don't pour cereal out of the box anymore. But I can count pretzels, right? I can count waffles. I can eyeball (seriously, my world is all about estimating) how much is 1/4 of a pint carton of ice cream. If it were any harder (in terms of effort, not of willpower) than that, I wouldn't do it, you know? I tried the Weight Watchers thing a couple of years ago and that point-counting shit lasted about three weeks. Feh.

End of sermon. [g] It does feel v. good to feel accomplished, yes, and thanks for your good wishes. :-D