One more day

(didn't weigh before boot camp)

After this morning, I have only one more day left of my fitness boot camp. I am really looking forward to no longer having to wake up at 4:55 a.m. three days a week! It is almost 11:30 here, and I'm still frickin' tired after drinking a cup of coffee and a cup of green tea.

On a positive note, I learned a lot of new and different strength training exercises through participating in the boot camp. I am sure I worked out a lot harder in the boot camp than I usually work out on my own at the gym. I enjoyed the physical challenge of the boot camp and feel stronger for having (almost) finished it. And I really enjoyed the energy of my group and meeting the other women there.

I may attend another boot camp with this trainer again in the future. She has several participants who have been with her for as long as three years, and many of the other ladies attending were repeaters, so that's not uncommon. For the next couple of months, I feel I'm going to be too busy with work, the holidays, my mom's visit, and our Maui trip to fit it into my schedule. . . but I might feel differently after the first of the year.

I haven't lost any weight during the boot camp, and the reason is obvious: I've been eating like crap! In addition to my usual "sins" of not getting in enough fruits & veggies and overeating, I've also been craving starchy carbs a lot and have been indulging my taste for them far more often than I should.

Well, you know the old saying: fall down ten times, get up eleven. I've reordered the South Beach Diet book; somewhere along the way, I gave away the copy I had. South Beach is a style of eating that has worked well for me in the past and is also the style of eating that my PCP recommended for weight loss and lowering my cholesterol levels. Once the book arrives, I plan to go back on Phase One for two weeks.

Of course I am ALWAYS wanting to lose weight, but I am wanting to get back on track eating-wise for other reasons, too. I'm tired of feeling out of control about my eating and letting my cravings rule me. I'm also tired of feeling tired (again) most of the time: I have slowly slipped back into the habit of having a cup of coffee each morning, primarily because I "need" it to get started mentally. And I continue to be concerned about my high cholesterol (though my behavior may not necessarily demonstrate this concern!).

I've often pondered the differences between those of us who struggle with our weight--currently overweight or not--and those who do not struggle with their weight. It seems to me that these two groups approach food and eating in fundamentally different ways.

MM falls into the second category, so living with him and observing his habits has been a unique experience for me. MM's eating habits aren't what I would consider good or healthy, but in spite of this fact, he has never been more than 5 lbs overweight. He eats candy or other "treats" (HoHo's, cupcakes, cookies, ice cream) once or twice a day; the only vegetables he will eat are romaine lettuce, peas, and cooked tomatoes; he drinks 2-3 cans of Mountain Dew a day; and the list of foods that he won't touch at all is long.

Aside from the fact that the actual foods we eat are quite different in general, I've made a few other observations of ways in which MM's eating habits differ from mine. One is that, unless we have a special night out planned at one of his favorite restaurants, MM rarely looks forward to meals. I, on the other hand, often start looking forward to my next meal just as I've finished my current meal. This is especially true if I know that I am going to be having a food at my next meal that I particularly enjoy.

MM has no problem skipping or delaying meals. If he gets busy, he can "forget" to eat or put it off to the point where he is just starving. I have to eat every 3-4 hours. If I don't, I get physically uncomfortable and get headaches and become entirely consumed with the idea of food. I can probably count on the fingers of one hand the number of times I've "forgotten" to eat, and most of those were associated with periods of extreme stress or grief.

If MM doesn't like the food on his plate, he will leave it there, even if he's hungry. This phenomenon does not occur with me, ever. Many, many times I have finished the food in front of me, even if I didn't love it, or even really like it, simply because I was hungry and the food was there.

MM really doesn't spend any time thinking about food. Sure, he has favorite foods and things that he enjoys eating. . . but he orders the same things at each restaurant we frequent and pretty much buys the same items at the grocery store every week. He never has to make a "grocery list" because his selections don't change much from week to week.

I don't know that MM's behaviors are something I can (or even should) emulate, but they certainly seem to work for him. . . and it's interesting to me how we differ in our approach to food.