Feb 2 – Week on Phent

So today was my one week appointment for phentermine.  I’ve lost four pounds since my last appointment.   No gym today because of the doctor.  I’m still eating the same, and kickin butt at the gym.  I did 30 min on the jacked-up elliptical at the gym on crazy intervals.  It was great to sweat and feel my muscles cooking.  I’ve also been doing yoga regularly.  I have no endurance for the poses, but I can get into them fine!  I bought The Biggest Loser:  Weight Loss Yoga on DVD.  It’s really good because they’re real people struggling to hold just like I am, so I don’t feel so terribly fat when I watch it.  They’re shaking and faltering just like I am!  It’s perfect. 

I’m not feeling the phentermine at all anymore.  I have a little more energy than usual, but that’s all.

Weight:  264

Jan 28… Slacker!

So last week I got in a car accident and hurt my back.  The same day, I did Hatha Yoga and personal training, and hurt it more.  Needless to say, I haven’t been to the gym, but I’ve still been eating way awesome and drinking tons of water. 

Yesterday I started a drug called phentermine, an amphetamine used for weight loss.  I felt terrible yesterday, totally out of my tree and paranoid.  Today was much better, I was just a little speedy.

I went back to the gym today, hoping for yoga.  Yoga was cancelled, so I just worked out with my usual routine.  When I weighed myself, I discovered something wonderful:  I weigh 266.4!  Tonight I realized something else wonderful… 

I can’t see my belly past my boobs! 

I feel better than I have in years.  This is amazing, it’s almost like magic!   I’m thinking about getting up a half hour earlier each morning to do some stretches or yoga. 

Food intake for the day:

5:30 am – 1 packet of low sugar apples & cinnamon oatmeal.  1/2 cup of coffee with 1/2 cup of milk (I still use 2 tbsp of regular sugar). 

9:30 am – not too happy about the stretch of time here.  Peanut butter and no sugar strawberry preserves on 12 grain Arnold bread.  Water.  Mini pretzels.

1:30 pm – another crappy stretch of time.  Pretzels. & water.

5:30 pm – I know, not a good day.  4 ounces of skinless chicken breast with a little crushed mint and seasoning salt, baked.  5-6 ounces of frozen mixed veggies (green beans, lima beans, carrots, corn & peas), boiled.  3 ounces of Indian Basmati brown rice.  2 glasses of water. 

Of course these are all estimates. 

Went shopping today as well.  Wanna know what I got?

Arnold Ancient Grains Whole Wheat Bread, blueberries, blackberries, kiwis, lean ground beef, lite yogurt (peach!), low sugar oatmeal, lite mayo, turkey (for sandwiches), lite American cheese, Quakes - caramel & ranch flavored, and some other wonderfulness that I can’t remember now.

Good night!

Jan. 20 – Weigh-in

271.2

Whopping weight LOSS of 0.6 lbs. 

Ya know, at least it’s a loss.  Keep on truckin’!

“Constant dripping hollows out a stone.”  – Lucretius

Jan. 20 – Brains in action

So I didn’t do great eating today.  It’s so hard when we can’t consistently afford to buy good, healthy food. 

I don’t even know what to do with myself when I’m being idle.  All I want to do is munch.  It’s not so difficult at work or at the gym, and fortunately these two things take up most of my time.  I get up at 5 to get to work by 6.  I leave work at 3 and hit the gym after stopping to change at home.  Well, today I went to the eye doctor and I was at the gym by 5.  But that consumes most of the rest of my night, so I’ve only had time for a few hours of TV.  Of course, when classes start next week, I won’t have much time at all for TV.  That will be excellent, and keep my mind going as well as my body.

Oh rambles. 

“Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” – Confucius

Jan 20 – Work it!

Warmup for 15 minutes at 2.5 mph on the treadmill. 

Quick 2 1/2 minute cool down.

Back & ab workout.

Row machine, ab crunch machine, pull down machine, back extenstion machine.

10 minutes cardio on the bike.  Heart rate got up to 143. 

Not a real intense cardio day, but that’s the point on muscle & strenght training day.  Tomorrow should get me sweating.

“Take calculated risks. That is quite different from being rash.”  – George S. Patton.

Jan. 20 – Food Intake

5:30 – 1 packet instant oatmeal with milk.  1 cup coffee with milk.

8:30 – 1 blueberry muffin.  Water.

11:30 – 1/4 cup cauliflower.  1 tbsp lite ranch.  Water.

1:30 – 1/4 baby cut carrots.  1 tbsp lite ranch.  Water.

3:00 – 1 brownie.  Dangit. 

4:30 – 1 chicken sandwich.  Grr.

7:00 – Raviolis in a can.  Not great, but we’re broke and there’s nothing in the house.

“Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objections must first be overcome.” – Samuel Johnson

The Game Plan – My brain

I am a recovering addict.  I used hard street drugs for three years before I got clean.  When I did, I turned to food.  I didn’t know what to do with myself without drugs.  I had no identity.  So I just ate.  And ate.  And ate.  I lost 45 pounds using drugs, and gained probably 145 pounds getting clean. 

If anyone has any interesting in reading a memoir about my addiction and the events leading up to it, let me know.  If you’re a publisher, I love you, publish my book!

It’s been nearly four years (March 21, 2006).  In that time I have gone to trade school and learned a trade (health occupations), restarted college, gotten an awesome job, moved into my first apartment with my girlfriend, gotten my license, and regained just about everything I lost. 

Now it’s just the weight I need to kick.  The addiction to food.  As the weight goes, my fatigue will go.  Many of my aches and pains will go.  My energy will return.  I’m ADhD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), but I haven’t had my “h” in years.  I want my “h” back!

My plan here is therapy.  Of course I’m hesitant to it, it’s not worked in the past – but I haven’t wanted it to.  I plan on bi-weekly or even monthly sessions.  We’ll see what happens. 

“Make it thy business to know thyself, which is the most difficult lesson in the world.” – Miguel de Cervantes