Weigh-In Tuesday: 7/29

I've mentioned on here before that I'm changing my lifestyle and trying to lose weight with Weight Watchers. I realize I don't really need to defend exactly why I want to lose weight, but I want to share. The automatic assumption is that I'm trying to lose weight because I'm getting married. Well I'm not getting married for over two years- and no, I don't just have that little faith in my ability to lose weight. Honestly, if I were losing weight for a wedding, I would start fairly close to wedding time because as hard as it is to lose weight, it's even harder to keep it off. Which is why, when deciding what I was going to do, I decided I want to change my lifestyle. I didn't want to diet.

I'm pretty sure diet is from Latin meaning an impermanent change in food that causes weight loss but ultimately leads to gaining more weight in the future. Okay, so maybe I'm not really up to date with my Latin (or etymology, or whatever the heck it's called). But the thing about diets is: they end. And from my experience, dieting usually results in me gaining all the weight back the second I stop. and then some. and then a little more.

So really what I want to do is change my relationship with food- how I think about it, what I put into my body, and how much crosses the threshold of my lips. I'm a scientist, and as a scientist, I like to use scientific speak. Those calories your talking about being in your food, well they are actually Calories with a capital "C". The word calorie with a little "c" refers to the amount of energy you have to add to a system to to raise the temperature of 1 g of water 1 degree Celsius, which is defined as 4.1868 Joules (J). You learned about joules when you learned about energy.  It takes 1,000 little "c" calories to make up 1 big "C" Calorie. But really calories are just energy-- the energy that fuels our hearts to pump, our minds to think, and a proclaimer to walk 500 miles (and maybe 500 more). In science/engineering, efficiency is a big thing. We want what we get out of a system to be close to what we put into a system. I was being very inefficient. I was putting in way more energy than I needed and outputting very little work.

So I changed. And by tracking my food and making mindful choices, I have turned my body into a more efficient machine. And on Weight Watchers, I can eat that chocolate sundae if I want to. I just need to make other choices during the day/week/month to allow for that. It's balancing a budget. I have a limited income. I cannot buy the Prada purse and the designer shoes in the same pay period. But if I buy the Prada purse, I have to make sacrifices. No designer shoes, no coffee from Starbucks or Biggby this month. So it's the same with my lifestyle. I'm balancing a budget-- of food/calories/nutrition instead of dolla dolla bills. However, I'm hoping my handle over food with transfer to my budgeting skills with money. That budget is tighter than I'd like.

And, because I like accountability, I'd like to let you know that in the past week, I had a loss of 3.6 lbs. So allow me to celebrate for a moment, before I get back to the reality that I still have 66.7 lbs to go. And then we're really gunna celebrate!

Revival

I haven't posted in... awhile. Because, per usual, I lose interest and life gets in the way. And it wasn't just you guys that I dropped. I added a few pounds (which is totally my fault) dropping the ball on my weight loss. And I moved my graduation back (again) until May.

But you, know, it's time I make some changes.

Numero Uno: I'm ba-ack! And since my readers have moved on to greener pastures most likely, I'll have to find new readers, and get the old readers back.

Numero Dos: After boycotting it for years (when my told me that she had one), on the principle that my mom had it, I have joined Instagram. Mostly to document my weight loss journey. It's empty now, but check me out in in a few days here. Follow me if you want.

Numero Tres: I have a twitter for this account (which is also empty at the moment). Follow at your whim: @stellovessel I will announce postings there. And other random tidbits.

Numero Quatro: I've been tracking with WeightWatchers. Hard Core. And guess what, it's not that hard and I'm losing weight. I started tracking fully July 1. And I have plans in mind for August 1. Big plans that include pictures. I've also set a reward for my weight loss goal (which will be hinted at with my pictures.) So stay tuned for that.


And in the last two and a half months that I have been missing.

1. My precious fake-niece (who is not really my niece and I need to designate that so that her parents and REAL aunts and uncles are not insulted even thought I think it is stupid but that's a story for another time) Little V was born. I'm quite certain that I am sustaining by pictures of her because she is the cutest thing I have ever seen but I'm not allowed to post photos of her on social media per parents request, so too bad for you. In between V fixes, I've been loving on...

2. My precious "nephew" (who is also biologically or maritally unrelated to me but whose parents actually refer to me with the title of "aunt") Little C was born. I love him so much and he has inspired me to create a list of things that are cute as a baby but aren't cute as an adult... until E ruined it by finding a video about things that you can't get away with as an adult that you could as a toddler. Way to ruin things, E. And speaking of E...

3. I had my 5-year college reunion. It was exactly like college. I saw people who I hadn't seen in years and we gushed about how much time had passed for about thirty seconds and then we went back to the safety of our college best friend group. wash. rinse. repeat. My college best friend group mostly consisted of E, and a lovely girl who was my roommate sophomore year who I lovingly refer to as Face. Missing were D, Em, and Little C's Mama. When reunion started Little C was uh... a day old? So we'll forgive her. We also broadened our group to include some 5-yr ND alums when we felt like it... because we're big on diversity here. We also bachelorette-d and bridal showered Face in preparation for her upcoming nuptial event in August.

4. A week before reunion, Sel and I road-tripped to Hershey, PA to see a college friend,Booday, get married. Her husband is Jewish, so I got to say "Mozel tov!" for the first time ever when proceeded by someone crushing a glass. They also did the chair thing which was awesome. And there was a caricature artist who drew Sel and I, but somehow the artist started channelling 'the Lion King' and Sel's nose looked a lot like Simba. My chest area also looked like a serious hazard because of sharp angles, so they could also double as weapons.

5. I turned 27 and it was very anti-climactic. But apparently, now I'm old. Good to know...

6. My cousin living in England (by way of Japan- he's in the Air Force) visited with his wife and children for the first time since they all left for Japan seven years ago. When he left, he had a wife and a child. Now he has a wife (the same one) and three children and a dog (who has been living with my mom for the past year but has since traveled back to England). The new kids are totally adorable (minus the time the youngest one threw up in my hair).

7. We all kind of skipped June 23 in my family. It marked one year since my uncle/ godfather/ surrogate father passed away from cancer of unknown origin (it killed him so quickly that they couldn't find the original source). It was hard. I miss him every single day.

8. I took up golfing. Sel and I actually golfed our best game yesterday, but we're not ready for the PGA/LPGA tour just yet...

9. My cousin got married and it was fun. Minus some drama, but whatever. Yay SR and R!

10. My niece (of marital origin but kind of not in contact with us) Baby M was born. I wonder if I'll ever meet her.

So a lot happened. I also did some research in there. And I'm working on my first manuscript.

Stay tuned folks!

Love always,