Monday, November 14, 2005

192

Oh, dear God.

I happened to weigh myself on the scale in a friend's bathroom over the weekend. (No, I don't own one. That's going to change.)

Yeah, I could use a little more physical activity. I've been slacking on my yoga. But the real problem is my diet. I don't really like to cook, and when I get home I want something fast and easy. I eat frozen pizza way too often. Then I wash it down with beer and ice cream. For breakfast, I usually get a croissant or a muffin from my hot cart guy on Wall and Pearl. On bad-mood days, I augment it with a chocolate donut. That needs to end.

For lunch I often get a turkey sandwich, which isn't so bad, but it's usually accompanied by a small bag of chips. And maybe a cookie. On Fridays I get panini dripping with melted cheese and bacon.

Another huge problem is alcohol. I drink almost every single day. I'm not an alcoholic; at least, I don't think I am. I don't get "drunk" very often. But I have mild-to-irritating anxieties, mostly stemming from my crowd phobia. (And when you live in Manhattan, a crowd phobia is inconvenient.) When I get home from work, I find that having one drink really improves my mood; and if I'm in a social situation, I'm a lot more relaxed and friendly once I've had a drink.

I can do it; I give up alcohol for Lent every year. And I think if I restrict myself to just having a drink or two on Friday nights when I'm with my friends, that should help. But a major behavior shift is in order.

Sorry if this post is horribly boring and self-centered, but I needed to make this commitment to myself public to keep on track. My goal is to lose about 20 pounds. (I'm 6'1, for the record.) I can't propose a timetable right now because the holidays are coming up, and we all know how that goes.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Last week I had a nightmare that I went to a doctor's office, where the nurse put me on the scale and told me I weighed 195 pounds. (Which I think is like 55 pounds more than I actually weigh - I'm 5'6" after all.) It was disturbing.

tully said...

Can't set a timetable? You're starting to sound like Bush and Rumsfeld now!
(That's a liberal cheap shot if I ever saw one! Haha!)

Andy said...

Sigh. Here I thought I'd written a post you couldn't disagree with.

Andy said...

No...but I wouldn't mind burning some calories trying to get pregnant!

Esther said...

I find it sad that alcohol causes one to gain weight. It put it all on my tummy when I was drinking wine. And I did not even have it that often. Now that I can't drink any alcohol due to my dietary weirdnesses, I don't gain weight at all.

Anthony said...

You're realistic enough to know a diet would be difficult over the next couple of months, but whatever you do, make sure you stick to it come the New Year!

Have you tried dropping breakfast altogether? I've got a theory it's best to let my stomach wake up of its own accord in the late morning rather than force something down and have it rumble sooner, come lunchtime ...

And on the subject of Lent, I give up all sweets and snacky foods. It works a treat.

Jess said...

You're still adorable. Besides, the cutback in alcohol and a donut or two should take care of it (which is a lot more than I could say for my weight situation!). *hug*

Anonymous said...

Hey, I need to lose 20 pounds too! And I too am in the frustrating situation of it not really being practical to do so in the upcoming months (but not because of holidays...more like papers and finals).

Also, don't skip breakfast. Doing so just ensures you'll binge on lunch. Eating many small meals (say, 5) throughout the day is much better at upping your metabolism.

Anonymous said...

Luke is right. Don't give up breakfast and do eat smaller meals throughout the day that consist of protein, vegetables and fruit, and good carbs. I can just see you pulling out a bag of carrots at your desk... I told you this day would come -- after all those years of being so THIN! It's in the genes.
Love, JF

Anonymous said...

Sounds like you've got a good plan. I would recommend only weighing yourself maybe once or twice a month. When I was trying to loose weight doing so was very helpful for not obsessing.

tully said...

"Binging" on lunch is better than "binging" on dinner. Italians are quite thin (in Italy, not America) and they eat a puny breakfast, a huge lunch and a small dinner. Of course, it would help if we had a siesta period in the day as do Italians. You might work that out with your bosses at the LGBT

Anonymous said...

Given that it's been like almost eight months since I last commented on your blog, I think you are very cute and don't need to drop any weight. Of course, this comes from me who at my 5'11 weigh a good 180 pounds. But hey, I am an intellectual after all. Brains require carbs. I work with my brain, hence I require to ingest carbohydrates. That said, I could not agree more with Little Cicero, JF and Luke. DO NOT SKIP BREAKFAST. Mine is huge, I will concede that. And my lunch is amazingly large too (hey latin lovers need their energy from somewhere!). But my dinner is small and I never eat anything after 9 pm. Give up any soft drink, trust me, that'll do the trick. Or have lots of ... physical activity ;)

Hugs,
Richie

Andy said...

Welcome back, Richie!