The World According to Jennyfur

I’ve been surprised that my weight is holding steady for the most part during a prolonged fitness slump. It’s not that I am not exercising at all or am not partaking in any kind of daily activities. I just have not been working out as rigorously as I had been up until maybe a month ago. I realize that these things will happen, I was nursing a back injury, which seems to have resolved itself, excess stress, my fibroids acting up and I injured a toe (who would have thought a pinky toe could cause so much pain and balance issues), not to mention the heat of the summer finally kicking in just in time for our central air to break down.

I try to do what I can, when I can, just so I don’t revert back to zero fitness, which I have done many times in the past. I tend to get into the habit of working out regularly, then I get sick or something happens and thus the slump begins. While I may not be yogaing my brains out as usual, I do get in about an hour walk daily, sometimes more, sometimes less, depending on whats going on. I have to remind myself of these things so that I don’t guilt trip myself. In addition to that I try to do little things like taking the stairs at work, which a couple times a day is better than nothing. I may not be doing a full 60-90 minute workout, but maybe 20-30 minutes here or there keeps me going.

One of the things I learned from Weight Watchers is that physical activity does not have to be things we generally associate with fitness and exercise. The point is to be active and to keep your body moving — this can be done by simple things like cleaning the house. Sure, doing house hold chores may be boring and un-fun, but you are keeping your body moving and burning calories. It is better than just sitting on the computer or watching television.

Fitness slump aside, my eating habits fluctuate, sometimes I eat more, sometimes I eat WAY more and sometimes I eat less. The important thing is that I am not gaining weight. I’ve been keeping a close eye on my weight daily to chart the fluctuations and right now my low is 161, my average is 162 and my high is 163.  I’ve been on the Weight Watchers Maintenance Plan for a few months now, I am still losing weight, just more slowly, I was 169, when I switched over. I tend to lose 1-2 pounds a month instead of 6-8, which I am okay with. I think I need to get through a cycle of toning the loose skin, getting rid of the stretch marks and regulating my fibroid flare ups before I can and will progress towards losing the 6-16 pounds, which would take me to the weight range that I would like to settle into for the duration. Honestly though, even if I didn’t lose another pound I would be okay where I am with my current weight.

Most people don’t consider or even know about the down sides to losing weight. Two big problems people tackle when losing more than just a few pounds are stretch marks and loose excess skin.

As I hover just above the 40 pounds lost mark, I am on a daily battle with stretch marks.  Most of mine are on my hips, upper/inner  thighs and chest. I have a couple on my stomach, which I find to be odd since I carried the bulk of my weight below my chest and above my hips. I’ve been trying out various combination’s of products to help with these pesky stretch marks. Its somewhat annoying that 90% of all stretch mark related creams are marketed towards prenatal and postnatal women. It can be embarrassing to purchase such items if you are not pregnant or even worse a man! I’ve learned to love my Belly Balm from Whole Foods with pride. I haven’t found one sure fire solution yet, but have tried varying combination’s of vitamin e oil, belly balm, cocoa butter, shea butter, and other non-specific stretch mark blends. I suspect its one of those things that will work out over time. I’ve had stretch marks before and they’ve always faded. If all else fails, they can be removed via laser surgery.

Weight loss can also cause issues with skin elasticity. While my abdomen has been spared from stretch marks, I suspect this is because I still have a lot of loose skin. Even as the muscle tone develops beneath the skin, you can still be plagued by loose bits of skin that hover over it.  The loose skin on my abdomen isn’t noticeable until I bend forward, the sides cave in and there is a loose glob of flesh below my belly button.  I guess it will take a lot of pilates and abs & core workouts to get it more manageable. There are also a wide array of skin firming skin care products available, which may not be 100% solution, but may help aid in the process.

I recently read an article on Second Helping about different types of surgery for loose skin post-drastic weight loss. I think plastic surgery always should be a last resort. I still wouldn’t consider any surgical procedures until a year or two out, that is if I could afford them, since my weight is still fluctuating.  I still hope to end up in the 145-155 range. I weighed in yesterday at 161, so I don’t have that far to go yet.  I want to be in the middle range of the average weight for my height and build. Its hard to believe that I am only 6 pounds away from my original “here’s to hoping” goal and 16 away from my “pie in the sky” goal.

Once again my weight is fluctuating. Fridays, weight has  me down to 162, with fluctuations up to 164 over the weekend. I’m getting close to the 40 pounds lost milestone.  One of the things that I have come to realize is that my metabolism has changed. This is why I am losing weight when I am on the Weight Watchers Maintenance Plan. I still haven’t found the balance of daily points and exercise. I don’t mind losing a few more pounds and what not, but I would like to eventually level out a bit. When I started on the maintenance plan. I’d lose many a pound a month, now I’m losing upwards of three a month.

I feel like I’ve been on a bit of a fitness slump. I’m probably being too hard on myself, seeing as its not like I haven’t been working out at all. I’ve just not been working out every single day. This is also not to say that I am wholly inactive either. I tend to ebb and flow through the cycles of the month. Most of the time, I stick to my daily points with small overages that come out of my flex points. At least one week a month, I want to eat everything in sight that isn’t nailed down, which is usually followed by a week of having a low appetite. My daily fitness follows suit, normally I work out to some extent every day, then I go through some doldrums and either decrease the duration of the work out or don’t work out at all. I guess in the grand scheme of things 20 minutes of exercise is better than nothing.

In better news, I had to buy a dress for my sister-in-laws wedding at the end of the month, much to my shock, I now fit into a Size 10 or Medium sized dress without effort. I can’t remember the last time I was a size 10. I almost always was a size 12 and after the weight gain a size 14. It is definitely a nice feeling knowing that I can now buy clothing pretty much anywhere and have it fit. I was pretty limited for awhile since most places carry very little about a size 12. Suffice it to say, I can’t wait to go jeans shopping this fall since my size 14s and 12s will no longer fit… in a good way.