Here we go again.

I have two doctors (long story), and both of them were holding my prescriptions hostage until I did something for them: one of them wanted me to get bloodwork done and the other wanted an in-person visit.  So I paid the ransom and the good news is I've freed all my medications.  The bad news is twofold:

First, I've gained 30 pounds since July.  This is not okay.  Second, the bloodwork came back with "elevated liver function" and much higher cholesterol levels.

I know the problem: I eat too much.  My biggest issue is breakfast.  I go to the gym every weekday morning and pass by about half a dozen fast food restaurants on my way to work.  I'm starving after going to the gym, and often (way too often) I buzz through the drive-thru for a tasty treat.  See, I really love fast food breakfast.  Any other time of day I can take or leave it, but McDonald's sausage burritos and Burger King's croissanwiches.  Man, I'm drooling just thinking about them.

But the fact of the matter is that I weigh 226 pounds.  That's a BMI of 36.6, well into the "obese" range.  My goal is to get down to 150 pounds, which is at the upper end of "normal" for someone of my height.  And hey, I might not get there, seeing as I do go to the gym so much and am a bit more on the muscular side than many women my age, but I'd like to at least look like I weigh 150 pounds.

So, long story short, I'm back on Nutrisystem again.  It helped last time - I lost 25 pounds in about three months - and this time I'm going to keep going to the gym at the same time, so maybe I'll progress at a somewhat more satisfying rate this time around.

I won't lie - I'm totally bummed about this turn of events, and I'm going to be the crabbiest of crabby for the next few weeks.  Let's hope I like the new selection of foods they've added since the last time I was on it.  The protein shakes in particular look like they'll be helpful for my post-gym commute.

Full Disclosure

As of today, the first day of the new year, I weigh 210 pounds. The scale I used may not be in total agreement with reality but it's the one I've been using for years so I figure it's consistent if nothing else. I wear a size 16 in clothes, and that's been the case for at least the last decade, perhaps longer.

I like to take long walks and hikes, though much of those activities have been thwarted due to a serious ankle injury at the end of April 2011. I am still working with a personal trainer to rehabilitate it. I have a membership at Gold's Gym in Chantilly, Virginia. I like it there. I like my trainer, too.

My biggest food issue is breakfast. I absolutely love fast food breakfast. McDonald's sausage burritos and Burger King's croissanwiches are my favorites. I try to replace them with Jimmy Dean's turkey sausage breakfast sammiches. They're tasty but nowhere near as satisfying.

I love going out to eat. I don't even know why, really, since my husband cooks delicious and interesting meals, but there is pretty much never a time when I would rather eat in than out. I could easily do it for every meal of every day.

I think that's it for now. Happy new year.

Out with 2011, In with 2012

When I first started this blog a year ago, it was part of a project from Shrinking Jeans, an online fitness/weight-loss community I've since lost interest in. I was really active there at the beginning, and many of the early assignments involved goals.

At the very beginning of this blog, I posted a few goals. Let's see how I did.

1. Be able to do 3 sets of 10 pull-ups on the machine with the full counterweight (114 lbs).

You know, I seem to recall being about to do this by about February or March, but I haven't attempted a pull-up since April so I have no idea. So we'll count it as failed.

2. Get my weight under 200 lbs.

I achieved this, but then gained it all back again.

Bonus goal: get my weight below 180.

I don't think I ever managed this.

3. Fit into my suit.

Never even tried, come to think of it.

Bonus goal: go down a pant size.

Nope, but I did manage to avoid going up a pant size, so there's that.

4. Complete First Day to 5k on Podrunner Intervals.

Nope, but I'm working with my trainer on being able to run an actual 5k so we'll count it as in progress.

A couple weeks later, there were more goals, none of which I achieved, and I don't even feel like recapping them here.

I would have done better had I not completely screwed up my ankle at the end of April. I find new year's resolutions, as well as fictionalized (and idealized!) letters from the future, to be quite discouraging. But hey, they were things I hadn't tried before, so I tried them.

I don't have specific goals this year, except for the vague intention of being able to run a 5k. I haven't signed up for a race or anything; it's just a general desire of mine.

Okay, that's enough recapping. I think I'll separate the rest of my ramblings into individual posts.

Another blog? Really?

Yes, another blog. I've come to the realization that maybe I need more accountability, and I wanted somewhere to post about my weight issues that wasn't my LiveJournal account and wasn't my main blog. I don't know what all will end up here yet. I do know that I like lists, so here are a few:

Weight-loss techniques that have not worked:

• Keeping a food diary. (Tried this multiple times, but it was just so tedious I couldn't keep up with it.)
  
• Exercise. (More on this later.)
  
• The South Beach Diet. (Actually, I lost 15 pounds for a few months, but I was so miserable that binges were inevitable.)

Sad truths:

• I have never gone down a clothing size in my entire life. I have either held steady or increased. (Though mostly held steady, luckily.)
  
• It's difficult to figure out my ideal weight, but after looking at several I can estimate that I am roughly 80 pounds overweight.
  
• I am weak in the face of yummy foods. Doughnuts are a particular favorite.

One thing about this blog is that I don't plan on either censoring myself or monitoring my post frequency. Sometimes I'll post three or four updates within a few hours; other days I'll post nothing. That's just how it goes.

I don't really plan on publicizing this too much, but if you happen to be reading, please let me know.