Where Fat Cells Come to Die (30 lb loss)

[Euthanasia Phase]

Roslin

Question: Are you weighing yourself every day?

Yes (unless there's a trip like recently). It helps me to stay on track and even a small loss is very motivational. Also, if something is causing me to inadvertently gain, it's easier to pinpoint what's causing it by knowing the exact days I gained.  

[Euthanasia Phase]

Just woke up from a 7-hour "nap" after finally finishing all of the crap due soon after spring break...fail.

Weight: 202.0 pounds
LOSS: 1.6 lbs
Points: 18/27
Lunch: roast beef and cheese sandwich with veggies and a little ranch, cheetos, diet Dr. Pepper
Dinner: none (slept through it...)
Exercise: I'm going for a walk right after this journal. It will probably be 45 minutes.

Today was all right mostly - I gave a successful presentation in my tectonics class, finished my music composition project and did well on my music history midterm as far as I know. My weight loss is now progressing because my habits have improved. Today's loss was rather large, so this probably means I'll have a gain even after sticking to my points, but it will be water weight instead of fat this time. When things are on track, my weight will decrease for a few days and then increase for one, and so forth so I'm not worried. I still have nine points, but on east coast time it's already Friday and I'm not hungry so shoveling in nine points for the hell of it wouldn't be a good idea.

Also, I'm in a good mood because I found out where to get some rarer CDs by Yendri, my favorite artist of all time. I'd been looking for them forever, and refuse to download them illegally, so this was an awesome find.

EDIT: My BMI is 29.8 and I am NO LONGER OBESE!!! w00t!  

[Euthanasia Phase]

Weight: 201.4 lbs
LOSS: 0.6 lbs

Exercise: none

Lunch: two slices pepperoni pizza, small cup of coke

Dinner: easy mac, fruit snacks, cherry coke zero

Points: 27/27

So for the past week I've been a bit more successful with weight loss. What's definitely improved is my ability to control portion sizes and be around food in bulk quantities without binging on it. What I don't like is how there's very little time to exercise. Honestly, I have been spending most of the time working on all sorts of projects for classes, including my thesis which I'll defend in a few weeks. While other students at my college will be reveling in a weekend full of booze and debaucherie at house party, I will be continuing to tie up loose ends on schoolwork. (Not that I'd EVER in hell want to go to house party - I think it's stupid - I just want more time to take care of my health and sanity.)

Every Saturday my school has a free shuttle to Walmart, so with luck I'll be able to find some healthier food and a tape measure. There will be measurements tomorrow if I find the tape measure. I think I'll post measurements at five pound intervals, which works well because I'm close to 200 lbs now.  

[Roslin]

I'm not into the college drinking scene either. I mean, I have several reasons to choose not to drink alcohol but the drama and stupidity that results from some of those parties are ridiculous. Good for you for being responsible.  

[Euthanasia Phase]

@ Roslin: Thanks for the encouragement...although today I wasn't as responsible as I should have been in other ways...

Weight: 200.2 lbs
LOSS: 1.2 lbs

Points: 41.5/27 (hence why I wasn't responsible)

Lunch/Dinner: pork fried rice, general tso's chicken, spring roll w/duck sauce, wonton soup, those chip/cracker things that come with the soup, fortune cookie

Snack: small ice cream sundae w/nuts

Exercise: going to the gym right after this journal, will do 30 minutes on the bike

I didn't handle today well at all. Now technically, if you're on weight watchers you're allowed 35 extra points a week, so in a way I didn't cheat. There's also the fact that I've been losing a lot of weight over the past few days, so maybe one day of gain would make the overall loss for the week seem more reasonable. However, I'm more disappointed in a lack of self discipline. I didn't look up the points in what I ate until AFTER I'd eaten everything. Even on a hungrier day, I could have used five flex points instead of...well, 14.5.

So now it's time for damage control - lots of water and working out at the gym.

Also, this site is incredibly helpful for those of us on weight watchers. It has points values for a variety of foods (including Chinese food) as well as points values for many restaurant items.

And not to forget the measurements! I bought the tape measure today, my 200 lbs. measurements are:

Bust: 39
Waist: 34
Hips: 45.5

This is just to track how my size changes with my weight, since I've always wondered, and to help decide when would be a good time to try on my smaller-sized clothing.  

[Tandahda]

Congrats on your loss so far! Are you in geology? (I'd love to go to Yuma to study geologic formations. *drool*)

The biggest reason not to weigh yourself every day is because our weight fluctuates by up to 2lbs, especially when you account for salty foods giving bloating, if you don't mind your weight jumping around, or you don't see your weight jumping around, its not a problem, however many people do. That's why people usually suggest to weigh yourself weekly.  

[Euthanasia Phase]

Yesterday didn't go too well. I've been really pissed off, and it all boils down to the incompetence of the transcript office. They've forgotten my transcript requests more than once; I usually have to bug them a few times. In order for transcripts to be reliably sent out, students have to pay extra for same-day mailing. That's what I did for all my grad school applications, but apparently my top choice might not have received my transcripts. They said they'd notify me by the end of March, and here it is the 29th with no reply. I emailed my advisor from last summer and she said they might not have received the transcripts, so now I'm worried that I got denied from my top grad school choice because some airheads can't mail a simple envelope even after additional payment. They always seem so pissed, too, when I request same-day mailing, even though it's necessary for things to not be totally screwed over.

I applied for a geophysics field camp this summer, and they wanted transcripts. The deadline passed a few days ago, and now I've got to see if the transcripts were sent there. So I may not only have been denied my top grad school choice, but my summer program as well because of these airheads. Not to mention my professors weren't the promptest at sending the letters of recommendation. They act like it's no big deal to send it a few days late, and maybe it isn't, but still. I ALWAYS turn in assignments by the deadline. If I didn't, my grade would be ********. Yet other people can screw up my deadlines and it's "no big deal." UGH!

I was so pissed yesterday that I overate and didn't even keep track of how much and what. I knew full well what I was doing, and even kept telling myself that I wasn't hungry and that food wouldn't solve the problem. However, some unknown force of nature prevailed and here I am, two transcripts short and sitting snug in my pants.

Today I got my act together again, sticking to 27 points. No weigh-in, but there will be one tomorrow, as well as a workout at the gym. Mondays I normally take off from exercise, so none today.  

[Euthanasia Phase]

Weight: 201.0 lbs
GAIN: +0.8 lbs (since last weigh-in)

Exercise: 30 min. on bike

Lunch: Chinese beef wrap, bbq chips, diet Dr. Pepper
Dinner: easy mac, fruit snacks, peppermint patty, water

Points: 27/27

I didn't gain as much weight as expected from my bad days, and stuck with everything today.

Which was a miracle, considering I was furious after getting a rejection email from my top grad school choice. The one at which I conducted research last summer. The one where my advisor suggested possible projects for when I go there for grad school.

Of course, she had no say in the matter - it's an entirely separate committee and funding is tight. I did get into a very highly ranked school for geophysics, that's actually a little better than my top choice, but it was a huge disappointment to be told I can't return to a place and research environment I'd become a part of.

Now I'm waiting for one more school. The school I was accepted into wants a decision by April 15. They've promised funding for four years, a generous stipend, have interesting research projects, and the people there are enthusiastic and welcoming. The school I'm waiting to hear back from will notify me no later than April 15, and funding news will be even later than that. This school has no advantages over the one I could accept here and now. For some reason, my professors want me to wait for a wishy-washy deal, which could be right up until the deadline, before making my decision. No way in hell will I do that unless the reply is tomorrow or something - the email has gone out for five days in a row in the past, and I'm in deep s**t if I can't send a reply by the deadline.

It's funny, when I'm a little angry I don't have any self-control, but I'm really on top of things when I get royally pissed. Also, there's a test of progress coming up - the blood drive. Last time I tried to give blood, my resting pulse was just over 100, so I couldn't. I'd had no caffeine, and I wasn't nervous, so it had to have been my poor fitness level. This Thursday, I'm going for the next blood drive and we'll see if things have improved enough for me to donate.  

[Euthanasia Phase]

Weight: 202.2 lbs
GAIN: +1.2 lbs

Exercise: none (another day in the computer lab until nearly 3am)

Lunch/Dinner: chicken enchiladas, tortilla chips with salsa and sour cream, cherry pepsi

Points: 27/27

I'm almost certain that the gain is because it's that time of the month - and if it's not, then it's got to be water weight because I've been on track the past couple of days. I've been considering switching to weighing in once a week, but that'll start after getting to the 190s because I need to know when to knock off a point.

Same old, same old. I'm still furious at a particular school for rejecting me, and couldn't stop thinking today about how rewarding my internship was last summer there. Cool research, cool people, cool location, cool experience overall...I'll stop complaining about it now, but this is going to ruin my mood for a while. The only thing that remotely made me feel better was listening to Yendri, but even Nina, the queen of all sounds dark and electronic, couldn't console me when I realized I discovered her music that summer, during the time of that internship.

Finally got another round of thesis revisions done, hopefully there aren't too many more. It'd better be worth it; I wanted to go to the gym today and couldn't because of it. I enjoyed my thesis work when it was all about collecting and interpreting data, but now this project has become stale. Most of my corrections were actually correcting previous edits my professor suggested. I'm beginning to wonder if it's even my paper anymore.  

[Euthanasia Phase]

Weight: 200.6 lbs
LOSS: -1.6 lbs

Exercise: 30 min. on the bike

Lunch: sweet and sour ham sandwich, cheetos, diet Dr. Pepper
Dinner: chicken and broccoli sub with a little ranch, water

Points: 27/27

Today kind of sucked. My music composition class had a midterm performance, and I had been asked to play violin for another student's piece. Now, out of the instruments I play, flute is very strong, but violin is only ok (2nd violin level). Another student had asked another violinist to play for his piece, and she, being a music major, sounded a lot better than I did. When the prof was critiquing the student's piece I performed in, I saw the other violinist ask someone quietly why I was chosen, then kind of laugh like I would be the worst choice in the world. Considering that I practiced, that pissed me off. Also, even though I'm not as good as she is, I got through the piece with no major problems.

On a lighter note, I told a certain highly ranked school that I accept their offer to pursue a PhD in seismology. Yay.  

[Euthanasia Phase]

Weight: 200.6 lbs
NO LOSS/GAIN

Lunch: buffalo chicken wrap with blue cheese, veggies and a little mayo, coke zero
Dinner: one slice pepperoni pizza, ketchup (I dip pizza crust in ketchup
sweatdrop ), regular coke
Snack: ring pop

Points: 27/27

Exercise: none (unless walking around town counts)  

[Roslin]

Ketchup's not that bad. I think you have to use like 1/4 cup of ketchup for it to be 1 point. I don't think I've ever eaten a full 1/4 cup of ketchup in one sitting so...  

[Euthanasia Phase]

Weight: 199.6 lbs
LOSS: 1.0 lbs

Exercise: going to the gym this evening - bike for 30 min.

Points: 26/26 (down a point)

Lunch/Dinner: ham and cheese wrap with veggies and mustard, hot fudge sundae with nuts, water

May my weight NEVER start with a "2" AGAIN.

Woke up in kind of a bad mood, then the day started improving after I weighed myself pirate . Overall today's been enjoyable - good weather, successful composition rehearsals, etc. I treated myself to a sundae from the freez, an independent ice cream shop. There were no nutrition facts, but based on how a peanut buster parfait from DQ is 17 points, I estimated the sundae to be 15. That still might be too much, but better to be safe than sorry.

So I mentioned earlier that once I reached the 190s (or 26 points), I'd go for a week without weighing myself to check out whether that's beneficial to my motivation or not. That week starts now, so no weight until a week from tomorrow!  

[Euthanasia Phase]

Well folks, I cheated.
Not with food, though. With checking my weight.
200.4 ********, so I see why it can be a good idea not to weigh in too frequently. A fluctuation from 197 to 198 isn't a big deal, but 199 to 200? Yeah, it's disappointing. From now on, whenever the tens digit of my weight changes, I'm going to go a week without checking my weight to avoid this frustration again. And this time I PROMISE, no weight checking until next Saturday (was it Sunday? whatever, you know what I mean).

Haven't gone to sleep yet...this journal is for April 4th (3:40 am here...just finished a bunch of papers for tectonics).  

[Euthanasia Phase]

Points: 27(?)/26

Lunch/Dinner: beef enchiladas with tortilla chips, sour cream and salsa, cherry pepsi

Exercise: 30 min. on bike

I'm not entirely sure how many points I ate today, because the nutrition facts my school provides are somewhat sketchy and I recall the chicken enchiladas last week having about 200 more calories in them. However, even though I normally take Monday off, I went to the gym because my evening class ended early. Therefore, I burned off the few additional points (if any) I spent.

No weight today, but I feel slightly slimmer so maybe there will be good news later.