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Health and Weight post. It's been a while since one of these!
Context since it's been a while. During part of the pandemic I felt like there was literally nothing I could do to move forward in life because I'd just lost work, projects, was completely socially cut off, etc. So, I decided to lose some weight because it was something I could do. I lost a good chunk of weight. Since when, I have gained a small amount back. While that sucks, it's not terrible. My weight gain was slow and over a good stretch of time. That shows that my calorie inflow/outflow is just a little out of wack and not that my metabolism dooms me or anything.
If I could do weight training at all I'd likely be fine. I like free weights and kettelbells. But, ever since I got hit by a car in 2016, I have not been able to do any. I try at all my and back snarfs up and I get killer migraines.
Anyway, over the past several months I've dealt with a lot of supply problems for the foods I can eat and a lot of them literally doubling in price. I had some weeks where I went to the store, they had no bread I could eat (I have a lot of food restrictions, so if they are out of my bread I cannot just buy other-bread). So I just bought pasta, sauce and a few tubs of Kite Hill Almond Milk Ricotta and lived off of creamy pasta for the week. I really like Kite Hill and worry about them disappearing, too.
So, again, even with some big caloric indulgences my inflow/outflow is just a but out of wack, and could be solved by just a touch of strength training... if I could strength train.
I first decided to clamp down and get back to losing just before I was sick for a while and then had weeks of severe fatigue. I wound up gaining a few pounds through that. I tried to re-start a few times and... shit kept happening.
I am finally back to losing! Literally all I am doing is doing at least a short walk daily. I typically do 1-3 walks that are 4-8 miles long during a week. But on other days I do little to nothing. So, I have a new rule that if I have not done yoga or a walk by a certain point in a day I pick myself up and do a short one to buy a soda. It's not enough to burn calories, but it keeps my moving and that helps my back/knees a lot. Basically, I am not letting myself just sit and fall into the blecky, achey, sat-for-too-long state. And, that seems to have tipped the scales. I am down a few pounds from doing this.
I am not calorie counting or watching my food too much. I have a complicated digestion problem and now my specialty foods are all gone or way more than I can justify spending. A yummy bowl of pasta does help me manage stress. Since my diet tends to be the same foods over and over, having something else as a treat, just getting sensory stimulation of taste once in a goddam while, also helps with stress.
Weight loss this way will be slow, which is annoying, but as long as it's happening and it's not making my complicated food problems more complicated that's a good thing.
I should be happier that it's working and I've hit a point where I am sure it's definitely working. But I am kinda frustrated and wished some there was some kind of WW or Noom weight loss program/group that didn't suck so I could do that.
Context since it's been a while. During part of the pandemic I felt like there was literally nothing I could do to move forward in life because I'd just lost work, projects, was completely socially cut off, etc. So, I decided to lose some weight because it was something I could do. I lost a good chunk of weight. Since when, I have gained a small amount back. While that sucks, it's not terrible. My weight gain was slow and over a good stretch of time. That shows that my calorie inflow/outflow is just a little out of wack and not that my metabolism dooms me or anything.
If I could do weight training at all I'd likely be fine. I like free weights and kettelbells. But, ever since I got hit by a car in 2016, I have not been able to do any. I try at all my and back snarfs up and I get killer migraines.
Anyway, over the past several months I've dealt with a lot of supply problems for the foods I can eat and a lot of them literally doubling in price. I had some weeks where I went to the store, they had no bread I could eat (I have a lot of food restrictions, so if they are out of my bread I cannot just buy other-bread). So I just bought pasta, sauce and a few tubs of Kite Hill Almond Milk Ricotta and lived off of creamy pasta for the week. I really like Kite Hill and worry about them disappearing, too.
So, again, even with some big caloric indulgences my inflow/outflow is just a but out of wack, and could be solved by just a touch of strength training... if I could strength train.
I first decided to clamp down and get back to losing just before I was sick for a while and then had weeks of severe fatigue. I wound up gaining a few pounds through that. I tried to re-start a few times and... shit kept happening.
I am finally back to losing! Literally all I am doing is doing at least a short walk daily. I typically do 1-3 walks that are 4-8 miles long during a week. But on other days I do little to nothing. So, I have a new rule that if I have not done yoga or a walk by a certain point in a day I pick myself up and do a short one to buy a soda. It's not enough to burn calories, but it keeps my moving and that helps my back/knees a lot. Basically, I am not letting myself just sit and fall into the blecky, achey, sat-for-too-long state. And, that seems to have tipped the scales. I am down a few pounds from doing this.
I am not calorie counting or watching my food too much. I have a complicated digestion problem and now my specialty foods are all gone or way more than I can justify spending. A yummy bowl of pasta does help me manage stress. Since my diet tends to be the same foods over and over, having something else as a treat, just getting sensory stimulation of taste once in a goddam while, also helps with stress.
Weight loss this way will be slow, which is annoying, but as long as it's happening and it's not making my complicated food problems more complicated that's a good thing.
I should be happier that it's working and I've hit a point where I am sure it's definitely working. But I am kinda frustrated and wished some there was some kind of WW or Noom weight loss program/group that didn't suck so I could do that.
no subject
Date: 2022-10-12 04:38 am (UTC)From:Cultural stuff around diet is so weird and fraught, I hate that most of the organized programs around it tend to kind of wind up sucking.
no subject
Date: 2022-10-12 05:51 am (UTC)From:Yeah, it's such a mess. Noom turned out to be a very messed up system. Trying to find any group or anything is just a mess. It would help, though.
no subject
Date: 2022-10-13 04:44 am (UTC)From:Alex kept insisting he wanted to try it, but I think it would have been more damaging than helpful.
But it's true, having some sort of program to help you keep on track either with accountability and motivation would make things a lot easier, since it's such a long-term *thing*. And yet I've never seen one that didn't get weird.
no subject
Date: 2022-10-13 06:20 am (UTC)From:Noom started as a program for a very niche audience of rich skinny women who work in an office all day and tried to apply that to everyone.
I didn't buy that 1200 was enough regardless of activity level, I just figured it was an artifact of it being for skinny execs who reward themselves with designer dresses and shoes. But Weight Watchers is also on the 'don't count activity' bandwagon where people shouldn't pay attention to their activity levels or count exercise against their calorie intakes. That is fine for a certain subset of people, but not me. If I burn 3k on a hike I need some extra on my plate.
no subject
Date: 2022-10-14 03:38 am (UTC)From:It does seem like a lot of programs don't consider activity levels at all. I get that that complicates things, but also... it's pretty important. If you're walking miles a day, or doing a lot of physical activity/labor/etc., then of course that's going to impact dietary needs!
no subject
Date: 2022-10-14 04:08 am (UTC)From:WW outright states that you shouldn't count activity and that doing so is a mistake. There is a problem where people can over count activity, but the answer being that everyone should ignore it is just dumb.
One consistent thing I've heard over the years is that a buddy or group helps a lot, and partially I think it's just so you have a buffer against all the nonsense. Ironically, every group thing I've looked at has been a mess
no subject
Date: 2022-10-15 02:22 am (UTC)From:I know it's frequent that people over-count activity, or overestimate the intensity, and therefore how many calories they burn. Or they count activity and then up their food intake by more than they should. But... that doesn't mean that exercise is negligible for everyone - you frequently walk for MILES, and acting like that is equivalent to sitting at a desk all day is... just plain not true.
I think the buddy and group thing is supposed to be for support and for accountability, and I imagine that it IS a helpful buffer against some of the really crappy attitudes that come along with it. Though yeah, groups seem to be kind of nightmarish in reality. People get competitive and take even good plans to unhealthy levels to "win"... Or the programs themselves are garbagey.