Lisa's fat camp

So I don't have $10,000 for fat camp, or the inclination or time to stop my life and do some fad thing. I've decided instead to put myself on a strict food/exercise program and have that be my top priority. I am just finishing up my eighth week and am pleased with my general downward climb, slow and steady as it may be.

Here's the plan: I am back on Weight Watchers. I stick within my daily points limit and don't use much if any of the extra weekly points. I aim for 30 activity points a week. (For non-adherents, how WW's current iteration works is this: You're allotted a certain number of "points" to eat a day based on weight, age and activity level. My daily point level is 23. It will decrease as I lose weight and as I age. If I took a job entailing heavy physical activity, it would increase. Foods are assigned points value based on calories, fat and fiber. Roughly, 50 calories equals 1 point, though higher fiber reduces points and fat increases points. In addition, you are allowed to eat 35 points more over the course of a week, though I have less success when I eat many of the extra points.) In addition, you "earn" activity points by exercising or engaging in strenuous activity. Activity points can be swapped for food points, but I think only after you've used up your additional 35 weekly points, which I never come close to doing. So I never swap them.

A lot has been written/said about Weight Watchers. While it has its down sides, I personally really like the program. It's fairly easy to follow. If you follow it, it works. It takes a lot of the figuring and guesswork and game-playing out of weight loss for me. No foods are prohibited, so if I really want something that's high in points, I just figure out how to fit it in or I eat a small portion or I take a hard look at myself and realize that really I don't want it because it's not worth the points to me.

My exercise plan, like my eating plan, has been to take it one day at a time. I have been doing something just about every day -- sometimes more, sometimes less, but something. I generally walk Bandit, when I get up, on the little dirt road that we call Fishwick down in Ganther Hollow. It's 1.8 miles roundtrip, and sometimes I detour up into the woods. It's about a 35-minute walk at a moderate pace. Then, I either go to the gym and swim 40 or 50 laps or I go for a longer walk without the dog. The longest so far was walking from my house in Baldwin to PNC Park on the North Side, a little more than 8 miles, with a lot of hills. It took me just under 3 hours with a few stops to get some water and rest my feet. I hadn't had much sleep the night before or I would've enjoyed it more but I couldn't complain. The weather was perfect -- cool and a little misty rain near the end of the walk. I love walking through neighborhoods and seeing all the little diners and bars and daycares and churches. Pittsburgh has a lot of character and generally people are fairly friendly. Some of the neighborhoods were pretty trashed -- Beltzhoover in particular stood out as rundown and depressing and really needing some street crews out there picking up garbage off the streets.

I ended up at the Pirates game and they looked awful. I did get a free T-shirt and was amused by the bleacher bums -- a guy in a gorilla suit and another guy dressed as a pirate. They let no bad play by the Bucs go unnoticed and the comments were often vulgar and funny. Still, I got freezing cold and hadn't brought a jacket. So I left just as the 7th inning was starting and drove home for a shower before heading back to work (Lou had driven the car in that morning for me and parked it in the lot at the Clark Building, where I work).

I kind of have it in my head, punishing as that walk was, to do it every time there's a T-shirt Thursday throughout the season. I wouldn't mind company for the walk though I was fine by myself too -- lots of time to think, and accompanied by my old college roommate and friend Carol Curtis singing her CD "Pink Cafe" on my iPod. I was pretty darn sore sitting at my desk all night after that walk on concrete and had to take the next day real easy -- just walked Bandit and left it at that.

priorities, priorities

So, Lou is gone for a week and I am trying to keep myself in high gear.

I kicked butt this last week on the exercise front -- walked South Park, end to end plus extended the route through the woods a bit (5 miles). Walked to PNC Park for T-shirt Thursday, including surmounting Knox Avenue, which looked like a mother fucking Alp when I thought I had finished all the hills, and turned off Brownsville just to see that Monster of a Mountain looming ahead of me (8 miles). Did an Ohiopyle scrambling hike with the Pittsburgh Hiking Meetup group -- not horribly far but a fast pace for a short person like me, over a lot of rocks and roots, and in my rush I twisted my ankle badly near the beginning and struggled with it the rest of the way (6 miles). Plus two other days I swam -- 40 laps the first day; 50 the subsequent time. And I was very careful with food, especially careful not to overcompensate for the workouts. I was real pleased with my effort.

And then I got on the scale at weight watchers and had lost a whopping 0.6 pounds. Yup, six-tenths of a measly pound in a kickass week. I didn't let myself get too down about it -- as long as I'm in this for the long haul, I know overall it will contribute to my success. And I'm sure it'll show up at the scale next week. And if not, eventually. As long as I can keep pushing myself. That makes 7.8 pounds in seven weeks, which is not Biggest Loser rate (ridiculously fast) and a little slower than I would like. But still, I'm OK with it. I feel a ton better than when I started.

This is how it goes with me. I am on and it is really fairly easy to keep with it; or I am off and it's a daily struggle. And I have been on this time for 7 weeks and that feels great. But I am nervous about all the traveling over the next eight weeks -- Chicago, Florida, Maine/N.J., Chicago. It is harder for me to stay on track when I am not in my routine. But if I can keep my exercise level high and be strict about food without being obnoxious to myself (I am going to eat that kosher prime rib at Dad's that they serve every Saturday night. All of it. It may be all I eat all week. I may do the treadmill three times that day so I can have it. But I will eat it, and love it.) then I will be OK. Then I will get back here and surface in mid-June, and hope I have lost another 8 pounds. If I have I'll be nearly at my first big 10 percent goal. And that would be sweet.

Next time: priorities. Funny, I didn't get to it this time...