Weight and Waist

[puppetmaker]

Peter wrote on his website about his working on weight loss and what he was doing to improve his health.

There has been a lot of work on that with all of us. I have to cook to the things he can eat and figure out what Caroline and I will be eating as well. He has a regiment of medications he has taken since the stroke along with vitamins and supplements.

Exercise is a must for him and he has gotten back into the habit. He has found things that he can do and not have to worry that he is going to injure himself.

And it is working. He has lost about 30 pounds in three weeks and his energy is feeling better.

He might have lost more but he got sick with a GI virus that has been making the rounds so his routine exercise gave way to being ill.

I have been being more aware of what and when I am eating. I don’t tend to snack during the day and if I am hungry in the evening, I am drinking water rather than eating something. I try to get 12 hours between the last thing I eat one day and the first thing I eat the next day.

But for me the more important component is exercise. I figured out right after college when I was using the gym to get rid of my frustrations that when I exercised, I lost waist. I slimmed down but also my muscles bulked up. I was pretty ripped there for a short period of time and then I went to grad school and it all went out the window.

After that I had periods in my life where I managed to maintain an exercise program and would look pretty good. I was proud of my triceps and biceps. My legs had a muscular look to them. My calves were things of beauty.

Then something would happen and I would get out of the routine.

This year I have some motivation to get all these things back in order so I am doing just that.

What I have figured out is that I can’t look at the scale or rather I weight myself once a week just to see what my weight is. I have to go by how my clothes fit and my body feels.

Since I have been consciously working my core, I have had few back problems. Most of these manifest after sitting for a long time. I can bend over and pick things up easier. Picking not light things up is easier too like the water bottle for the water cooler.

Legs and arms are getting workouts too. My calves are starting to take form as are my legs, which look more compact than they did at the beginning of the year. Arms are making is easier to bowl. My ball feels lighter than it did at the beginning of the season.

I have less chin than I did and my cheekbones are making a reappearance.

Overall I am looking more fit and people have commented on how much weight I must be losing.

But the scale says that I have lost 12 pounds total. So I look better but I do not weight that much less because I have put on muscle which is more compact than fat.

I know I look better so I don’t worry as much about how much I weigh.

I plan to keep this up and continue to shrink my waistline.

I am in the groove again and hope to stick with it because I am feeling pretty good right now.

I am grateful for how my body works in this matter.

Comments

[wherdafux-d-cat.livejournal.com]

I loved that trade-off as muscle starts to replace the fat but I had to keep reminding myself that the number on the scale wasn't so important during that stage. My mantra became 'It's not the weight my shape is in, it's the shape my weight is in that matters.'