My Personal Weight-Loss Journey: Day 22

By Olua

You guys have probably noticed that my usual, semi-prompt weekly entry is a little late. Papers on top of thesis proposals on top of research is never fun. Still, despite all that, there’s a pretty important factor that has lead to my lack of writing;

I am f*cking exhausted.

Now, I’ve been able to handle six or seven hour nights before. I was great at it last semester, and the semester before that, and the semester before that…well, you get the point. Thing is, since I’ve started adjusting my diet, I have just been utterly exhausted. There’s also the fact that my patience for dieting is wearing thin, and I’ve admittedly been cheating, like with that handful of jelly beans I had just an hour or so ago. My weight isn’t going down, and I’m getting kind of upset about that. So I’ve been trying to distract myself.

The gym on campus was nowhere near as bad as I thought it was. I didn’t go alone this time; I dragged along one of my buddies and we hung out there for a good hour or something like that. No bike this time; I was on the treadmill for 25 minutes and the elliptical for 25 minutes. The treadmill was a nice warm-up for the elliptical, and while I was on it I realized something amazing.

There I was on this thing, the only fat girl in the whole gym, panting and sweating like a pig. The machine was telling me to slow my pace down to lower my heart rate, which was about to hit 200. And amazingly, I felt good. MCR pumping in my ears (note: The Black Parade is ALSO a great workout album), I had a blast matching my pace with the beat of the music, and I was actually kind of disappointed (don’t get me wrong; my hips weren’t really happy) when my time was up. I was actually enjoying exercising. I still don’t get how or when it happened.

Still, that energy everyone has said is supposed to be kicking in…isn’t. When I come back from the gym, I’m exhausted and I sleep like a baby, usually on my textbooks instead of in my bed. I don’t think it’s because I’ve reduced my carbs, because I eat pasta and/or bread just about every day. I’m still trying to figure out when my body is going to settle into this new lifestyle that it is NOT eagerly embracing. Until then, though, I’ve found a couple of good quick fixes.

I’ve found that when I snack every three hours or so instead of actually eating two or three big meals, I have a lot more energy. It doesn’t have to be anything big; a bowl of cereal in the morning, an apple early afternoon, a salad for lunch, a granola bar before dinner, some roasted chicken and rice with a little steamed veggies for dinner, and some baby carrots for late-night snacking. It works, believe it or not, but you have to ration juuuust the right size.

Don’t, DON’T eat until you’re full. That’s something I’m absolutely 100% guilty of. Chew slowly, and take breaks between spoon/fork fulls. I find it helps to eat food with friends, because you’re talking instead of wolfing down that granola.

Of course, this is ideal. It worked for me once, but the rest of the time I just didn’t have the TIME. Recently, though, the 7/11-ish sort of thing on my campus has started stocking three of the most amazing products. Eating or drinking one of these works wonders, and I don’t feel quite too guilty.

Odwalla : The drinks and granola bars these guys make are amazing. The drinks aren’t quite as filling as the granola bars, but they do give me the energy I need post-haste.

Caribou Iced Coffees: Everyone likes Caribou Coffee, and they have a great replacement to the super-expensive, super-not-healthy Starbucks bottles. These 12 oz aluminum drinks come in Espresso, Regular, and Vanilla, and average just around 120 a can. And best, it tastes like REAL coffee.

Rockstar Roasted (Light Vanilla): Okay, this stuff is just amazing. At 100 calories a can (yes, a CAN), without the over-sweetened or bitter taste of other coffee drinks, you really can’t lose.

Of course, I know I need to change my lifestyle a little more; I need more sleep, most importantly. But I really can’t do that right now, and just getting in seven hours a night is impressive.

For now, my convenient pick-me-ups as well as strategic snacking seems to be working pretty well…though I’m not sure how well the 6-mini-meals-a-day would work if I did it for, well, more than a day. Maybe I should test this out, huh?

Current Weight: 227 (AUGH)

Current Size: XXL, or 20/22.