Weight a Minute

Workout: 1 hour with personal trainer

This morning I had an awesome workout with Linda and the Hubs. Linda really knows how to put together a workout that makes you praise Jeebus once it’s over.

But, I’m not going to talk about the workout today. I’m going to talk about what we did before the workout: our body fat composition.

To give you a little history on me, I am not a small girl. I’m 5’9” and big boned (that’s what she said). And my weight has gone up and down my whole life – literally – that I can remember. I diet. My weight goes down. I slack. My weight goes up. And the cycle repeats.

Here’s me at (or around) one of my heaviest weights.

At my BFF's wedding

In 2007, I decided to join Weight Watchers. I became a WW freak woman within a week and within 4 1/2 months, I reached my goal weight. Total weight loss = 26 lbs.

Here’s me at (or around) thinnest. I had several people tell me I was too thin. (First and last time in my life I’ve ever heard that. I should have recorded it and made it into the most awesome rap song known to man.)

By the way, I don’t normally dress that way. It was a 60’s party. I usually wear Hammer pants and Hypercolor t-shirts only.

Why yes, I do notice I have a beer in my hand in both pictures. < —– one woman party

After 3 years on Weight Watchers, I got so sick of it. I got sick of counting points. I got sick of looking at exercise in terms of Activity Points and what that translated to as far as eating. I got sick of looking at every food in terms of a Points number. I got sick of people asking me “how many points is that?” anytime I put something in my mouth. And I got sick of hearing,  “are you sure that doesn’t have too many points?” if I was eating anything slightly indulgent. It really pissed me off.

So, I decided to drop WW and count calories and protein instead (which at the time was a good thing for me, because WW didn’t take protein into consideration in their Points system and I was starting to lift weights). The calorie counting went well for over a year until a couple vacations and the holidays happened.

Right now, my weight is somewhere in between those two pictures above. (I still count calories now, using the Tap and Track app on my iPod Touch.)

This is me...about 5 minutes ago.

That brings me back to the body fat composition I had taken today:

• I gained 6 lbs.  (This is on top of the 7lbs I’ve been slowly gaining over the past several years.)
• I lost 4lbs of muscle.
• My body fat percentage went from 17% to 22%.

Now, I’m not oblivious to gaining weight. My pants are tighter and I can see it looking at myself. I mean, I’m not giving up sugar this week because I want to. But let me tell you when I heard the results, I did all I could to keep from crying in front on Linda.

Let me be clear. I don’t think I’m fat. But I’m on my way back to where I started and that freaks me out because I wasn’t happy then. I worked for 4 1/2 months to drop the weight, then another 3 1/2 years to keep it off (which is a LOT harder than losing it. Trust me.), and 2 years with Linda to drop 9% body fat and not look like a tasty marshmallow. I basically screwed it within about a 4 month time frame. I know running races isn’t helping either considering long runs make me go all Man vs Food on the kitchen.

So, I wrote this whole thing just to say…I’m really disappointed in myself. I’ll get back to where I was, I know I will. It just sucks to have to start in the back again.

Sorry to go all serious blogger on you today. It won’t happen too often, I promise.

Tell me someone out there remembers Hypercolor t-shirts?