Oooey, gooey, stringy, yummy, melty cheese!

[thistlechaser]

Hi everyone!

I'm bored, so I guess I could post, right? How about we talk about food, weight, and walking? Always fun..? (Boooo!)

Let's see, where to start. Two weeks ago I bought a scale. I had a one before it (because every bathroom should have a scale, right?), but it didn't work. It hadn't worked for like two or three years, but with that whole every-bathroom-needs-a-scale rule, I couldn't throw it out.

Well, I decided I needed a working one! Of course the first thing I did once it arrived was hop onto it. Next thing I did was cry! (Okay, not really.) Now, I know you really should weigh yourself only once a week (especially women with their water-weight changes), but I've been bad about that. However, once a week I take an "official weight", which is the only one that counts.

Second one was today. Lost three pounds. Lost three pounds the week before, too. Six pounds in two weeks is not bad at all! I'm really curious what will happen with my new sugar-phobia, too.

On the sugar thing: I really don't understand it, this never ever happened before, but I'm not craving it at all. Monday afternoon was my last "sweet" thing, and I've not had a drop of candy, cookie, chocolate, or anything like that since then. And I don't miss it! How very odd is that? In the past when I tried to stop eating crap because of this diet or that one, I clawed my way up walls and cheated within days. How in the world is it that I don't care if I ever have another sweet thing again? (We had free ice cream here at work today, and I didn't even bat an eyelash, even when someone asked me to go get some with them. I just said 'no thanks, I'm going to pass' and that was that!)

Walking is... okay. I wonder if I'm doing myself a disservice by walking (or attempting to walk) twice in a day? Here's how most weeks go:

Monday & Tuesday: Walk morning and night.
Wednesday: Be hurting, do the morning walk. By night, too ache-y to walk, so skip it.
Thursday morning: Still ow-ey, skip. Walk Thursday night.
Friday: Walk in the morning, get take-out dinner at night so a planned/OK skip.

On top of the skips, I just feel better while walking when I only do it once a day. However, my walks are still "short" (short for normal people/other people, long for me!), so two a day would be much better... I've not made any increases in time or distance in two weeks or more (bad bad bad!)

So help me, smart people! Give me all the answers! Let me suck your brains right out of your head!

Comments

[animarelic.livejournal.com]

What's that have to do with cheese? o.O

And here I was gearing up for a tasty-sounding post about cheesy delights.

(My housemate, greenwings is allergic to milk, so I don't get to eat a lot of tasty, tasty cheese or milk products. I've almost weaned myself onto soy milk. Except it still tastes like Bisquick.)

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Mmm, cheese! I love cheese, I want it right now! I'm hungry, so I guess my stomach came up with the subject line? ;)

I've almost weaned myself onto soy milk.

So it does taste bad, huh? I pondered trying it, but I suspected it wouldn't be too good.

Can't you still have cheese and just not stick any into your roommate's mouth when he or she is sleeping?

[animarelic.livejournal.com]

Since I do most of the cooking for both of us, no. Q.Q It's not fair to sit in front of someone who's allergic and go MMMMM! CHEEZY GOODNESS! ARRR!

I LUV MAC' N' CHEEZ! *SLURP!*

Since I'm allergic to fish, and love Sushi, I know how much that sucks. Sometimes I sneak grilled cheese sandwiches when he's not home, but it's never enough.

As for soymilk, my housemate swears by it, but I think it tastes like pancake mix. I guess it's just up to personal prefference.

[laurelwood.livejournal.com]

Hurray for you- a 3lb loss two weeks in a row is amazing. (You've probably heard that old "A safe loss is .5 to 2 lbs per week", but it always comes off faster in the beginning and slows down as you go along.)

I can't get over your sudden ceasing to crave sweets. I'd pay you just about anything you asked to wave the same magic wand over me, though. I've heard of people quitting smoking this way; just one day, poof! "Hmmm. Don't think I'll smoke anymore." Smoking's probably tougher to quit than sugar, but then again, sugar is EVERYWHERE and hard to avoid. And I crave it like the worst kind of crack addict. Hats off to your brain for just switching off the "sugar welcome here" sign.

As for the walking, are you doing any kind of stretching before and/or after your walk? I used to scoff at such nonsense and then I found that I really needed to be doing it- oddly enough, especially for walking. My shin muscles kick up a mighty fuss if I don't. You wouldn't have to spend a lot of time at it- I find I can fit in about 8 different stretches for my legs, arms, and torso into about 5 minutes and it helps ward off the aches-n-pains I'd otherwise have during and after exercising.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Totally the wrong mind-set! You need to tape slices of American to his door! Put cheddar under his pillow! Leave pizza (with extra cheese!) to find in his car!

Then he'll put fish on your toothbrush and trouts in your shoes and minnows in your underwear!

It'll be fun for all!

Heh heh heh. ;)

[gconnor.livejournal.com]

I agree about the "slow is good" weight loss method. Keep moving in the right direction, a bit here, a bit there. Slow change means you're more likely to keep with the new style - you've proven over time you can adapt to a lifestyle which is much better than a "crash" diet in my book.

I have heard from some people that if you stop taking all kinds of sugar for a while, your body doesn't crave it so much. So perhaps it's natural. Even if you should splurge at some point and go into sugar overload, you can probably get back to the "less is more" state pretty easily.

Finally, I don't think walking twice a day or walking longer is really important -- it's much more important to just be consistent and do it "most" days. Measure your heart rate from time to time... you might need to walk faster or swing your arms or get some weights to keep your heart rate up. Aerobic is good.

Good for you!

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Hurray for you- a 3lb loss two weeks in a row is amazing. (You've probably heard that old "A safe loss is .5 to 2 lbs per week", but it always comes off faster in the beginning and slows down as you go along.)

Yeah, I was surprised it was that much. It must have been going on for a while now, because in that first week the *only* thing that changed was getting the scale (the second week the no-sugar thing came in).

I almost typed in my initial post that I would rather it be lower than three pounds a week, but man! How could anyone say that? Since it's not a crash diet or something, I guess I'll just go with the flow of it.

I can't get over your sudden ceasing to crave sweets.

I know! It amazes me, too. :) I keep waiting to be hit by some unresistable urge to eat lots of it! And hee, I wish I could share the secret with you!

Like you, I suspect smoking is probably harder to give up. (Thankfully I never took that habit up!)

On stretching: In the first week or two I didn't (I scoffed! 'Stretching? just to walk? hahaha!'), but seriously, you do need to.

Thanks!

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Yep, I agree that slower is better! The odd thing is, it wasn't like I went on some strict diet before this happened -- the only difference between weeks was buying a scale! (Until this week and the sugar thing.) So I suppose this loss-rate might have been going on for a while now...

Hm, interesting idea on sugar! Sounds likely, yeah. And thanks for the thoughts on walking! I'm thinking about taking my weights out with me sometime (probably early in the morning so no one sees me, heh).

[chichiri.livejournal.com]

sugar is like an addition, so usually if you start a diet, you crave stuff for a few days, but if you can deprive yourself, you stop craving it. Or so has been my experience. ^^ Good luck! I'm dieting myself.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Good luck to you, too!

[wanderingscribe.livejournal.com]

[shakes head] You are evil. And I love that, but boy am I glad I don't live with you. I'm lactose intolerant too. (since birth, but it's become milder now...)

And yet, I love cheese so much I'd rather risk getting sick over it. -_-;; So I'd eat all the cheese, get sick, and spend hours moaning about my stomach/digestive tract/other places. M' an idiot.

Oh, and yeah, soy milk is an acquired taste. If it's all you can drink for years without getting sick, you tend to adapt. (Soy beans, milk, sauce, etc=yum. Tofu=eeh.)

[sileas.livejournal.com]

Yes! for losing weight! Congrats, girl!

I still haven't lost weight. *grumble grumble* But I haven't gained anything either.

I usually walk twice a week. I have a weird posture (I look at the ground and my left shoulder is lower than my right), so that when I walk for a long time, my arms and shoulders and neck hurt worse than my legs. Last time I was close to fainting from the pain. My feet give me trouble too. I bought sport shoes, but those don't help against the pain.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Thanks! And 'not gaining weight' is a great place to start! I attempted that for a few years. :)

Eee, back and shoulder pain! Sorry it's holding you back! Understandable, though!

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I do very poorly with roommates, yes. (College dorms were hell!)

But I'd never play a trick on you! Never ever! Honest!

Heh heh heh.

[sileas.livejournal.com]

:-) I've been not-gaining-weight for three months now.

I tried the bicycle instead of walking, but then my behind hurts too much. I'm well-padded in that area, but I can still feel my bones being crushed by the sadle. So I'm walking.

A question since you walk more than I do : Do you ever get bored? I have two routes for walking but I get tired of seeing the same scenery all the time.

[wanderingscribe.livejournal.com]

0_o;;

The emoticon speaks for it all.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I've been not-gaining-weight for three months now.

Yay! Good! :)

And I've experienced the same thing with bike riding! You'd think I'd have enough padding to keep all of China comfortable on bikes, but aparently not...

Do I get bored with walking? Not really. A lot of times I get impatient (because I have much, much better things I could be doing than walking), but my neighborhood is really quiet, so I can listen to the birds and the wind when I walk, and think about lots of stuff. (Some people like listening to music as they walk, but I like the quiet.)

I have an option on routes I can take, but there's one I like best (the most trees and green) so I usually go that way.

Maybe books on tape would help?

[sileas.livejournal.com]

And I've experienced the same thing with bike riding! You'd think I'd have enough padding to keep all of China comfortable on bikes, but aparently not...

And here I thought my body was just weird! ;-)

I have quite some 'green' tracks near my home (and windy tracks too; it's always windy at the coast). Usually with not much folk around, which I like. I still get incredibly bored. Always the same scenery and birds. :-D And as I said, I usually look at the ground when I'm walking so that may be why I'm bored.

They only distribute books on tape for deaf people here in Belgium and I have to concentrate really hard to understand spoken English without subtitles. It might be a good idea to work on that by using books on tape... *g*