First Ten Pounds
The scale read 176 pounds this morning. Finally!!! This first ten pounds have been exceptionally difficult to lose, compared to last year or the year before. I've pinned down a few reasons but don't know if any of them or all of them contributed to the difficulty. First, I think the switch that's supposed to tell you you're stomach is full... is broken. No lie, I'd sit there at my desk at lunch and munch and munch and munch until bags and bowls full of food were gone. Only when the bags were empty was I able to stop. I have no idea where this new eating disorder came from but I have a hunch. Supposedly, tobacco suppresses the appetite so when I quit tobacco last May, I also cut off the thing that acted as my switch. As I used tobacco for over 25 years, my body was accustomed to it acting as the switch. Looking back at last year, this was when the weight started to go on.
Second thought. Ever since I had food poisoning and e-coli poisoning my body adjusted it's chemistry somehow and certain foods were off my desired list while others appeared on the list as new cravings. Example, to me meatloaf = food poisoning and that means I'll never eat a bite of meatloaf again. Even though meatloaf caused my food poisoning, I lost my cravings for chicken. Chicken has reappeared on the menu. Another change was the appearance of a salt intolerance. For me salt = headache. Fries = migraine. I've managed to stay away from salty foods but with my endurance training the headaches have disappeared as my body needs the sodium. The biggest change in the last year has been the new cravings for beer. I was never a heavy beer drinker and for some reason last fall beer cravings came on strong. And with beer cravings, came beer drinking which brought added pounds in short order.
Since last August, 30 pounds appeared out of nowhere. Actually, that's not true as beer was a big contributer. So I tried to quit beer on Fat Tuesday, which was also the day I reached 186 pounds. I weighed 156 last February for the Austin Marathon. Quitting beer sounded good but I didn't realize how strong the cravings would be. I cut back quite a bit but not down to zero like I'd hoped. I wanted to pick beer back up after the season in October, say around Octoberfest time. Perfect I thought! My plan lasted one week and so did the weight loss. So the weight would go something like two pounds off one day, two added the next. In the meantime, my "full switch" was busted and I was eating a lot and working out sometimes twice a day.
I was doing some research for one of the articles I was writing for GoodHealth.com and came across a piece on fiber. I knew what fiber was about. Yeah, it's that old person, Metamucil drink, twig cereal thing. I had heard that people needed it in their diet. What hadn't clicked or what I really didn't know was that fiber was indigestible carbohydrates, either in a soluble or insoluble form. A big light bulb went off in my head thinking that now, even though the switch was busted, that I could fool the switch. I could fill up on indigestible carbs (fiber) and see what happens. Basically, it worked! It worked so well that my new cravings for chocolate and sugar (cookies) could be given into and the fiber took care of enough stuff that the weight melted off a little at a time. Even a beer or two couldn't reverse the trend downward.
So I now have another tool in my arsenal of training weapons: fiber. I chose to get it from cereal as that was bulky enough to fool the switch. Specifically, Kashi Good Friends High Fiber Cereal. I eat it once or twice a day. I noticed I'd have really strong cravings two times a day; at lunch and after coming home from work. Once I felt the cravings coming on strong, I'd break out a bowl of cereal with blueberries or banana slices and I'd be fine. In most cases the bowl of cereal was enough to keep the other cravings in check.
I need to lose another ten pounds before the Memorial Day triathlon. That should get me close to 8% or 9% body fat (currently 10.6%) and around 165 pounds. I don't think I can get to 156 pounds again as I've added some muscle weight over the winter. Measuring the right bicep, an inch was added since last year so body atoms are definitely getting moved around.
Labels: beer, fiber, GoodHealth.com, Kashi, weight loss
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