Showing posts with label bodyworks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bodyworks. Show all posts
Friday, April 1, 2011
Opposite week
It seems to be opposite week chez my body. First I get back from a slothful and mildly gluttonous trip to new lows of weight and body fat. Then as I restrict to 1600 and exercise the next several days, it actually shoots up. When I go to bed at 10pm and have an alarm at 6, I'm tired and don't want to get up, but when I go to bed past midnight for the same wakeup time, I'm perky in the morning. At this rate, after my box of Annie's shells and cheese and several ice cream bars this afternoon, I'll wake up tomorrow light and feathery. I don't know, man.
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Bored weigh in
So, I haven't posted much lately. That's because nothing is happening. I'm not losing and I'm not gaining. I'm going to school and doing yoga and aerobics and elliptical, and often feeling hungry at night or hungrier due to exercise, but still pushing a deficit most days. Yesterday I weighed in at 141.4 pounds, and I was out of town the week before, but two Saturdays ago I weighed 141.2 pounds. So that's +0.2 pounds in 2 weeks. Statistically insignificant. My body fat percentage has also been going nowhere since I got back from my trip. It's somewhere between 28% and 29%.
However, one must remember I encountered a similarly irritating plateau just above 170, and I think there was a little bit of a plateau around 155. Every 15 pounds. I hope that's what this is - a plateau that will eventually break, and not the point at which my formulas are showing inaccuracy. For now I will keep eating as lightly as I can manage, go to vinyasa yoga 2x a week, aerobics 2x a week, elliptical when it fits into the schedule, and next week when I deposit my financial aid check I can get a Bikram package which will give me 1-2 Bikram classes each weekend. And let's hope this thing cracks
However, one must remember I encountered a similarly irritating plateau just above 170, and I think there was a little bit of a plateau around 155. Every 15 pounds. I hope that's what this is - a plateau that will eventually break, and not the point at which my formulas are showing inaccuracy. For now I will keep eating as lightly as I can manage, go to vinyasa yoga 2x a week, aerobics 2x a week, elliptical when it fits into the schedule, and next week when I deposit my financial aid check I can get a Bikram package which will give me 1-2 Bikram classes each weekend. And let's hope this thing cracks
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Solstice dinner observations and low calorie muffins
Last night my parents hosted Solstice dinner. I had allotted 1500 calories for dinner and I'd planned out my meals in the day and gone to Bikram in the morning such that even with the big dinner I'd have a small deficit for the day.
Solstice dinner is always a root vegetable soup, lots of bread and fancy cheese, and often a dessert that varies. I also made an appetizer that was on sample at the grocery store with chocolate and sea salt melted over oiled baguette. So I had a couple pieces of chocolate bread, then sat down to dinner. Starting off with a bowl of soup, and the various cheeses made their way around the table. I took a few pieces of bread and took small samples of each cheese that was available. There was a lot of cheese, but I didn't think I'd have trouble putting it away. I certainly had less on my plate than I've eaten in previous years. But this year, I was barely halfway through my cheese when I started to get full! I slowed down, sipped some wine to cut through the fat, and had another bowl of soup for nutrients and fiber. I managed to sample each cheese without becoming uninterested in food, but I was totally stuffed (a phrase I never truly understood the meaning of before now) by the end and only had a few bites of the funny raw-food "cheesecake" that was for dessert.
So that's the downside of losing weight and the dietary changes that come with it. You get used to eating small portions, and then when you get to an event where there's lots of good food you want to eat, your body has forgotten how to take it in stride. I used to have a similar problem with Thanksgiving anyway - after having a little of everything, I was too full for seconds of the things I really loved. Anyway, it's interesting to see the internal changes as well as the external changes to my body. I'll have to come up with strategies for satisfying my mouth and my eyes without taxing my stomach too much at events like these. Fortunately (or not?) there will be plenty of practice this week.
In other news, I tweaked the muffin recipe and achieved my goal of yummy, 150 calorie muffins! Now I have to do it all over again with teff flour so I can bring something gluten free to my mom, but here is the wheat recipe:
Low-calorie multigrain wholemeal muffins:
2 Tbsp white sugar
2 Tbsp brown sugar
2 Tbsp oil
2 eggs
1 cup applesauce
1 1/4 cups whole-wheat flour
1/2 cup oatmeal, crushed
1/4 cup cornmeal (polenta)
3 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
300 calories' worth of add-ins, for instance:
- 1/4 cup dried cranberries, 1/4 cup chopped walnuts, and zest of 1 orange
- 1 diced banana, 1/4 cup chocolate chips, and 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup cubed butternut squash, 1/4 cup sunflower seeds, and a few Tbsp grated ginger
Preheat oven to 375 F. Mix dry and wet ingredients separately, then add dry to wet. Fold in the add-ins. Divide into 12 muffin cups and bake for 15-25 minutes.
Notes:
* Calorie content will vary slightly depending on the add-ins and also things like the brand of flour you use. However, as written, this recipe should give 12 muffins at about 150 calories each.
* A high volume of add-ins will result in slightly bigger muffins, and high moisture add-ins will increase the cooking time. So your cranberry-walnut muffins will be smaller and cook more quickly than banana or squash muffins.
* Some possible substitutions: use skim or 2% milk instead of applesauce (approximately calorie equivalent), use another kind of vegetable or fruit puree in place of applesauce, use all-purpose flour instead of whole-wheat, use more oatmeal or less cornmeal to lower calories further (I would keep 1 cup of wheat flour), use all white/all brown/raw sugar, use honey or agave syrup instead of crystalline sugar while cutting down the applesauce/milk a little, vary spices.
Solstice dinner is always a root vegetable soup, lots of bread and fancy cheese, and often a dessert that varies. I also made an appetizer that was on sample at the grocery store with chocolate and sea salt melted over oiled baguette. So I had a couple pieces of chocolate bread, then sat down to dinner. Starting off with a bowl of soup, and the various cheeses made their way around the table. I took a few pieces of bread and took small samples of each cheese that was available. There was a lot of cheese, but I didn't think I'd have trouble putting it away. I certainly had less on my plate than I've eaten in previous years. But this year, I was barely halfway through my cheese when I started to get full! I slowed down, sipped some wine to cut through the fat, and had another bowl of soup for nutrients and fiber. I managed to sample each cheese without becoming uninterested in food, but I was totally stuffed (a phrase I never truly understood the meaning of before now) by the end and only had a few bites of the funny raw-food "cheesecake" that was for dessert.
So that's the downside of losing weight and the dietary changes that come with it. You get used to eating small portions, and then when you get to an event where there's lots of good food you want to eat, your body has forgotten how to take it in stride. I used to have a similar problem with Thanksgiving anyway - after having a little of everything, I was too full for seconds of the things I really loved. Anyway, it's interesting to see the internal changes as well as the external changes to my body. I'll have to come up with strategies for satisfying my mouth and my eyes without taxing my stomach too much at events like these. Fortunately (or not?) there will be plenty of practice this week.
In other news, I tweaked the muffin recipe and achieved my goal of yummy, 150 calorie muffins! Now I have to do it all over again with teff flour so I can bring something gluten free to my mom, but here is the wheat recipe:
Low-calorie multigrain wholemeal muffins:
2 Tbsp white sugar
2 Tbsp brown sugar
2 Tbsp oil
2 eggs
1 cup applesauce
1 1/4 cups whole-wheat flour
1/2 cup oatmeal, crushed
1/4 cup cornmeal (polenta)
3 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
300 calories' worth of add-ins, for instance:
- 1/4 cup dried cranberries, 1/4 cup chopped walnuts, and zest of 1 orange
- 1 diced banana, 1/4 cup chocolate chips, and 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup cubed butternut squash, 1/4 cup sunflower seeds, and a few Tbsp grated ginger
Preheat oven to 375 F. Mix dry and wet ingredients separately, then add dry to wet. Fold in the add-ins. Divide into 12 muffin cups and bake for 15-25 minutes.
Notes:
* Calorie content will vary slightly depending on the add-ins and also things like the brand of flour you use. However, as written, this recipe should give 12 muffins at about 150 calories each.
* A high volume of add-ins will result in slightly bigger muffins, and high moisture add-ins will increase the cooking time. So your cranberry-walnut muffins will be smaller and cook more quickly than banana or squash muffins.
* Some possible substitutions: use skim or 2% milk instead of applesauce (approximately calorie equivalent), use another kind of vegetable or fruit puree in place of applesauce, use all-purpose flour instead of whole-wheat, use more oatmeal or less cornmeal to lower calories further (I would keep 1 cup of wheat flour), use all white/all brown/raw sugar, use honey or agave syrup instead of crystalline sugar while cutting down the applesauce/milk a little, vary spices.
Friday, December 10, 2010
On the cleanse
Last paper is now turned in and I have a few days of breathing/studying room before exams, so I finally have time to talk about my cleanse. The funny thing is that this ended up being the "lets celebrate end of classes with yummies" week (perfectly predictable, I just wasn't thinking) and so I had the unique opportunity to observe my reactions to unusual temptation under unusual restriction.
Day 1 was horrible. Note to self, if I need to withdraw from any substances taper off BEFORE the cleanse starts. I had a nasty caffeine headache and basically took naps all day, which compromised my ability to do work I needed to do. It would have been okay, though, if it wasn't on top of the salt withdrawal. There's plenty of sugar and fat in natural foods, but it turns out there's not a whole lot that naturally grows with significant salt. I felt thirsty and drank and drank but water hardly helped, my skin became dry, and I felt so sluggish and hungry. I felt like I was starving on a perfectly normal amount of food and calories. My body suddenly had no help holding onto its water. At the end of the day, I saw a packet of ramen seasoning in the kitchen and involuntarily twitched toward it. I had to just walk myself away.
Most of those salt issues were gone on day 2. I felt kind of rundown and messed-up physically because I took too much of the laxative herb the night before, but mostly I was just frustrated at all the food I couldn't eat. "This must be what it's like to be on a restrictive diet", I thought, and then realized, oh wait, I AM on a restrictive diet. It's just not one that has weight-loss as its primary aim. But seriously. I went to my conference class where people bring snacks and it was the last class so lots of people brought something, and you know what the menu was? Baguette, cheese including BRIE, crackers, jams, lemon curd, and mixed nuts. All delicious, and not a SINGLE thing on my fucking diet. I was so annoyed.
On day 3 I pretty much felt normal. Donuts appeared in one of my classes, which brought back a brief wave of "god damn it why did I do it THIS week," but there were also tangerines so I took a couple and ate them, allowing me to save the one I'd brought from home until after my workout. I didn't particularly want the donuts at the moment, just regretted passing up the opportunity, so I considered wrapping one in a napkin and putting it in the freezer, but then I decided what did I want a calorie-bomb like that for? If there had been a cream-filled donut I probably would have, but I didn't see one. At this point I began to notice that I was eating only as absolutely necessary, and really not caring very much, because food I was allowed to eat just tasted so boring.
By day 4 I just felt like a weirdo, or maybe an anorexic, as I accepted chocolate kisses from my yoga teacher and cupped them to my nose to smell them, then put them in my pocket knowing I wouldn't eat them until Saturday. I was merely amused as I passed over the donuts, bagels, cream cheese, and coffee outside my 9am class for a cup of Tazo Wild Sweet Orange, which happens to be my favorite herbal tea on the planet. On the way out I grabbed a cup of chamomile. There were kisses at the front of my 10am class too but I didn't take more. This was the day I remembered why I chose this week: next week is finals when I can't be compromised, and the week after is Solstice.
It wasn't until day 5 that I started fantasizing about off-cleanse food. Cheese bagels with asiago cheese-flavored cream cheese, Annie's macaroni and cheese from a box, Caesar salad, Indian curry. And coffee, oh my, I would love my coffee back (funny enough, I haven't thought much about pot in the course of all this). Yet it was in such a way that if someone put it front of me, I'd feast my eyes and my nose and not be tempted at all to put it in my mouth. This was the first raw day, and it was just so hard to eat enough. Coming to dinner and realizing our only chance to top off our calories and get some protein was avocado and a shit-ton of seeds on the salad... well, okay, it works, but geez, no rice and beans even.
It's now day 6. It's not a moment to moment struggle or anything, but I'm ready for this shit to be over. Honestly, I don't particularly feel cleansed - I feel nutritionally depleted. I need some fucking protein (among, I'm sure, other things). My strength in my workouts has been on the decline this week, and I just hope the bananas and almonds I'm going to eat today will pump me up for the Bikram class we're gonna go to this afternoon. I have lost a ton of weight, but I'm not saying how much until tomorrow when I weigh in officially, because I know it's largely bullshit, that is to say, water that was attached to salt.
Today is one more raw day, and then tomorrow will be the juice fast until dinner. I'm actually looking forward to the juice fast a bit, it's just so extreme, I think I can't help but enjoy it for that reason. Also, I'll know that at the end of the day I get to eat Tofurky and yams, and it will be amazing-delicious. Until tomorrow...
Day 1 was horrible. Note to self, if I need to withdraw from any substances taper off BEFORE the cleanse starts. I had a nasty caffeine headache and basically took naps all day, which compromised my ability to do work I needed to do. It would have been okay, though, if it wasn't on top of the salt withdrawal. There's plenty of sugar and fat in natural foods, but it turns out there's not a whole lot that naturally grows with significant salt. I felt thirsty and drank and drank but water hardly helped, my skin became dry, and I felt so sluggish and hungry. I felt like I was starving on a perfectly normal amount of food and calories. My body suddenly had no help holding onto its water. At the end of the day, I saw a packet of ramen seasoning in the kitchen and involuntarily twitched toward it. I had to just walk myself away.
Most of those salt issues were gone on day 2. I felt kind of rundown and messed-up physically because I took too much of the laxative herb the night before, but mostly I was just frustrated at all the food I couldn't eat. "This must be what it's like to be on a restrictive diet", I thought, and then realized, oh wait, I AM on a restrictive diet. It's just not one that has weight-loss as its primary aim. But seriously. I went to my conference class where people bring snacks and it was the last class so lots of people brought something, and you know what the menu was? Baguette, cheese including BRIE, crackers, jams, lemon curd, and mixed nuts. All delicious, and not a SINGLE thing on my fucking diet. I was so annoyed.
On day 3 I pretty much felt normal. Donuts appeared in one of my classes, which brought back a brief wave of "god damn it why did I do it THIS week," but there were also tangerines so I took a couple and ate them, allowing me to save the one I'd brought from home until after my workout. I didn't particularly want the donuts at the moment, just regretted passing up the opportunity, so I considered wrapping one in a napkin and putting it in the freezer, but then I decided what did I want a calorie-bomb like that for? If there had been a cream-filled donut I probably would have, but I didn't see one. At this point I began to notice that I was eating only as absolutely necessary, and really not caring very much, because food I was allowed to eat just tasted so boring.
By day 4 I just felt like a weirdo, or maybe an anorexic, as I accepted chocolate kisses from my yoga teacher and cupped them to my nose to smell them, then put them in my pocket knowing I wouldn't eat them until Saturday. I was merely amused as I passed over the donuts, bagels, cream cheese, and coffee outside my 9am class for a cup of Tazo Wild Sweet Orange, which happens to be my favorite herbal tea on the planet. On the way out I grabbed a cup of chamomile. There were kisses at the front of my 10am class too but I didn't take more. This was the day I remembered why I chose this week: next week is finals when I can't be compromised, and the week after is Solstice.
It wasn't until day 5 that I started fantasizing about off-cleanse food. Cheese bagels with asiago cheese-flavored cream cheese, Annie's macaroni and cheese from a box, Caesar salad, Indian curry. And coffee, oh my, I would love my coffee back (funny enough, I haven't thought much about pot in the course of all this). Yet it was in such a way that if someone put it front of me, I'd feast my eyes and my nose and not be tempted at all to put it in my mouth. This was the first raw day, and it was just so hard to eat enough. Coming to dinner and realizing our only chance to top off our calories and get some protein was avocado and a shit-ton of seeds on the salad... well, okay, it works, but geez, no rice and beans even.
It's now day 6. It's not a moment to moment struggle or anything, but I'm ready for this shit to be over. Honestly, I don't particularly feel cleansed - I feel nutritionally depleted. I need some fucking protein (among, I'm sure, other things). My strength in my workouts has been on the decline this week, and I just hope the bananas and almonds I'm going to eat today will pump me up for the Bikram class we're gonna go to this afternoon. I have lost a ton of weight, but I'm not saying how much until tomorrow when I weigh in officially, because I know it's largely bullshit, that is to say, water that was attached to salt.
Today is one more raw day, and then tomorrow will be the juice fast until dinner. I'm actually looking forward to the juice fast a bit, it's just so extreme, I think I can't help but enjoy it for that reason. Also, I'll know that at the end of the day I get to eat Tofurky and yams, and it will be amazing-delicious. Until tomorrow...
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Thursdays
148.2 is a new low. It's odd - I don't get to do my hard workouts for the week until Thursday and Friday, but I usually start showing my losses for the week on Thursday morning. Will I break into the 147's by Saturday? Stay tuned.
Friday, November 19, 2010
An inflection point
The title is a little bit of a math reference. When a graph changes from concave to convex or back, that is, when its second derivative changes sign, that's an inflection point. The function itself may not go from positive to negative, and it doesn't even change from going-up to going-down, but it's still a perceptible, subtle change.
That's what it's like lately. Things are changing about this weight loss process, just a little.
The first thing I've noticed is that, before, I was losing about 2/3 fat to 1/3 lean mass. For the last 7 or so pounds, my lean mass has remained constant on average. This makes sense because I'm now past my lowest previous weight. When I was coming down from 185 to 165 and even to 155, I was losing excess skin, superfluous vascular tissue, weight-bearing muscle that was no longer needed. But the amount of lean mass I have now (about 99-103 pounds) is an amount my body has had for a LONG time and has good uses for regardless of my fat level.
Thus it makes sense that I'm also losing weight more slowly. When my average deficit is about 500, I scrape off a pound in a week, because I'm not getting extra credit.
And who knew that exercising could make you more hungry? Not me! Until now, that wasn't the case. Unless I pushed myself hard all day like on that bike trip, a good workout wouldn't make any difference for how much food I wanted to eat. Now, I'm noticing that I am hungrier on days when I exercise a lot. If I exercise not at all (maintenance intake ~1975) I can deal with eating only 1500-1600 calories. If I burn 200 calories (MC 2175) I'm good for 1600-1700 calories. If I burn 600 calories (MC 2575) then I feel okay on 1800-1900 calories. Obviously this is still a net benefit, but there was a time when I would eat the same number of calories whether I burned 0 or 600 in exercise.
Being hungry after exercise makes it harder to push the same kind of deficit I could before, as well as the fact that I'm burning fewer calories to begin with. You can only scale back your intake so much - for me, between the mental demands of school and the social occasionality of meals, it's not practical to eat fewer than 1500-1600 calories on a typical day. It's starting to strain a little. I haven't had ice cream in almost a month (I don't count the spoonful on spice cake at my parents' dinner, that's not the same), or many other treats recently. All the time I put it off, saying I won't have ice cream today, I'll have it some other time, because that would be 150 or 300 calories cutting into my deficit, which is certainly not 800, and even if it's 650, wouldn't I rather have 650 than just 500?
And mentally, my body image is in a strange spot. I feel SO skinny some respects, yet I observe the fat that remains. My collarbone is concave above, concave below, and sticks up a little around the shoulder. I go to massage my neck and feel one, two, three, FOUR vertebrae protruding in what almost seems like an unnatural way. When I lay on my back, my hipbones feel scarily close to the surface of the skin. Yet I'm still 32% fat. My belly still squishes into rolls when I slouch. My thighs and butt still ripple when I walk (not that you can tell when I'm wearing pants, but there's a full length mirror in the locker room).
Just have to have patience and perseverance. 5 more pounds by Solstice. Take what I get for January. A few more by the end of February, and 5 more before spring break, brings me right up to goal, right? Part of me wants to go on some sort of extreme diet, say, Slimfast and super caffeine pills, or at least a highly regimented, planned diet. I probably would if not for social concerns. But my boyfriend already thinks I'm too inflexible about food. If he would offer me high-calorie food at 8am instead of 8pm when I've already eaten most of my calories for the day, he might get a different impression.
That's what it's like lately. Things are changing about this weight loss process, just a little.
The first thing I've noticed is that, before, I was losing about 2/3 fat to 1/3 lean mass. For the last 7 or so pounds, my lean mass has remained constant on average. This makes sense because I'm now past my lowest previous weight. When I was coming down from 185 to 165 and even to 155, I was losing excess skin, superfluous vascular tissue, weight-bearing muscle that was no longer needed. But the amount of lean mass I have now (about 99-103 pounds) is an amount my body has had for a LONG time and has good uses for regardless of my fat level.
Thus it makes sense that I'm also losing weight more slowly. When my average deficit is about 500, I scrape off a pound in a week, because I'm not getting extra credit.
And who knew that exercising could make you more hungry? Not me! Until now, that wasn't the case. Unless I pushed myself hard all day like on that bike trip, a good workout wouldn't make any difference for how much food I wanted to eat. Now, I'm noticing that I am hungrier on days when I exercise a lot. If I exercise not at all (maintenance intake ~1975) I can deal with eating only 1500-1600 calories. If I burn 200 calories (MC 2175) I'm good for 1600-1700 calories. If I burn 600 calories (MC 2575) then I feel okay on 1800-1900 calories. Obviously this is still a net benefit, but there was a time when I would eat the same number of calories whether I burned 0 or 600 in exercise.
Being hungry after exercise makes it harder to push the same kind of deficit I could before, as well as the fact that I'm burning fewer calories to begin with. You can only scale back your intake so much - for me, between the mental demands of school and the social occasionality of meals, it's not practical to eat fewer than 1500-1600 calories on a typical day. It's starting to strain a little. I haven't had ice cream in almost a month (I don't count the spoonful on spice cake at my parents' dinner, that's not the same), or many other treats recently. All the time I put it off, saying I won't have ice cream today, I'll have it some other time, because that would be 150 or 300 calories cutting into my deficit, which is certainly not 800, and even if it's 650, wouldn't I rather have 650 than just 500?
And mentally, my body image is in a strange spot. I feel SO skinny some respects, yet I observe the fat that remains. My collarbone is concave above, concave below, and sticks up a little around the shoulder. I go to massage my neck and feel one, two, three, FOUR vertebrae protruding in what almost seems like an unnatural way. When I lay on my back, my hipbones feel scarily close to the surface of the skin. Yet I'm still 32% fat. My belly still squishes into rolls when I slouch. My thighs and butt still ripple when I walk (not that you can tell when I'm wearing pants, but there's a full length mirror in the locker room).
Just have to have patience and perseverance. 5 more pounds by Solstice. Take what I get for January. A few more by the end of February, and 5 more before spring break, brings me right up to goal, right? Part of me wants to go on some sort of extreme diet, say, Slimfast and super caffeine pills, or at least a highly regimented, planned diet. I probably would if not for social concerns. But my boyfriend already thinks I'm too inflexible about food. If he would offer me high-calorie food at 8am instead of 8pm when I've already eaten most of my calories for the day, he might get a different impression.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Superfluous weight
Sometimes you gain a pound because you binged for two days in a row. Other times you gain three pounds even though you ate your usual 1600 calories two days in a row, as well as the several days before. Don't we all love hormonally induced weight fluctuations.
Monday, October 18, 2010
Genetics
People talk about their natural shape, whether they're genetically thin or fat. I honestly have no idea. I haven't eaten "naturally" in a long time - either I've been driven by conditioning, coupled with ignorance, to overeat, or recently, counting calories. There were a couple of times since moving out that I lived by myself with relatively low stress and felt I was eating normally, but those periods didn't last long enough for my weight to stabilize.
My maternal grandma is a petite little thing. She's 5'2" and has been something like 110 pounds most of her life. My mom is taller, 5'6", and slender. She's usually been 120-130 as far as I know and she has sizes from 4 to 10 in her drawers. My grandpa died before I was born, but I get the impression he was lean, and my uncle is appropriately bird-boned. So I should be naturally skinny.
My paternal grandma is 4'10" and I have no idea what she weighs, but her pants must be at least size 16, if not bigger. I only have one aunt on that side, and she's... plump. She doesn't look bad, but I wouldn't want to be her size at my age. Stocky is probably the best word to describe the men of the family, who range from a little dumpy to hard and lean, but in no case light and in most cases tall. My dad himself was a wiry teen and a lean young adult, but he's starting to pack some pudge now that he's approaching middle age. So I should be naturally not-skinny.
After observing for a while, I think I've got my mom's bones and my dad's fat pattern. I've probably got a real wide natural range as a result. I'm probably inclined "naturally" to eat up and pack it into butt and boobs. But I'm not large-framed. I also have the room to dump a lot of the fat without stripping down to the bones, and thus be "naturally" thin like my mom. Needless to say, that is what I prefer to do. Between my two grandmas, I'd rather be a size 2 at 65 than a size 20 (guessing at the numbers, obviously, just to make the point). I just hope the high weights I've reached in my teens are the top of the ladder, that I will continue to lose, find a stable weight between 120-135, and when middle age hits, that I will recalculate the numbers and maintain, or at least, not exceed 150 or size 12.
My maternal grandma is a petite little thing. She's 5'2" and has been something like 110 pounds most of her life. My mom is taller, 5'6", and slender. She's usually been 120-130 as far as I know and she has sizes from 4 to 10 in her drawers. My grandpa died before I was born, but I get the impression he was lean, and my uncle is appropriately bird-boned. So I should be naturally skinny.
My paternal grandma is 4'10" and I have no idea what she weighs, but her pants must be at least size 16, if not bigger. I only have one aunt on that side, and she's... plump. She doesn't look bad, but I wouldn't want to be her size at my age. Stocky is probably the best word to describe the men of the family, who range from a little dumpy to hard and lean, but in no case light and in most cases tall. My dad himself was a wiry teen and a lean young adult, but he's starting to pack some pudge now that he's approaching middle age. So I should be naturally not-skinny.
After observing for a while, I think I've got my mom's bones and my dad's fat pattern. I've probably got a real wide natural range as a result. I'm probably inclined "naturally" to eat up and pack it into butt and boobs. But I'm not large-framed. I also have the room to dump a lot of the fat without stripping down to the bones, and thus be "naturally" thin like my mom. Needless to say, that is what I prefer to do. Between my two grandmas, I'd rather be a size 2 at 65 than a size 20 (guessing at the numbers, obviously, just to make the point). I just hope the high weights I've reached in my teens are the top of the ladder, that I will continue to lose, find a stable weight between 120-135, and when middle age hits, that I will recalculate the numbers and maintain, or at least, not exceed 150 or size 12.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Estrogen, I heart you
... and one day on my period brings me down a pound from the morning before. Bye-bye unnecessary retention.
(No apologies to any male readers by the way. It's just blood, and most of you like vaginas otherwise - get over it.)
(No apologies to any male readers by the way. It's just blood, and most of you like vaginas otherwise - get over it.)
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