I'm a very big fan of The Biggest Loser, on NBC. This season has presented an interesting situation. Melissa (the red team) lost 19 lbs one week, which is not that much for the really big people, but quite a lot for a woman of her size. The next week, she and her husband Lance won immunity, and Melissa gained a lb. Many people thought she waterloaded, which is to drink a lot of water before the weight in. It's a harmless way of "saving" your weight loss that week for an even bigger loss the next week. But it is risky, as they don't have scales so it's difficult to judge just how much water to drink. When accused by Jillian and Bob, she denied it.
The next week, only Lance's weight was to be judged because of the particular challenge they had that week, and she lost only 1 lb. Again she was accused of waterloading, and again she vehemently denied it. I concluded she was waterloading.
The third week, she lost 11 lbs. So that seemed to seal the conclusion that she had waterloaded those 2 weeks.
Now to this week. She had no immunity. She gained a lb. So she is looking now like she told the truth, and her body just loses weight differently. She lost so much that one week, perhaps her body just went into protection mode. Some times our bodies do know what is best for us -- so hers slowed down for a couple weeks.
She was eliminated, and in her message to us she addressed this issue, and spoke these words of wisdom: Just give it time. We can't give up healthy eating and activity just because the scale isn't patting us on the back. That's when we need to honker down and stick with what we know is healthy. I call these lags in weight loss speed bumps -- our bodies just slowing things down.
I've made a change in my activity regimen. I noticed again that Kim's routine is only 10 minutes; and Bob's routine is only 15 minutes, whereas Jillian's is 20. I like Jillian's better than the other 2, so I am just going to stick with her routine and increase the weights. So next week I'll start doing Jillian's routine with 5 lb. weights.
I've been walking outside for the last few days, as the weather has been very nice. We have a walk route marked off right in this neighborhood. Yesterday, as part of my walk I walked to the grocery store and carried 8 lb bags in each hand on the way home, so that added an element of difficulty to the walk. Today I timed the entire 2 mile walk and did it at 41 minutes. 40 minutes for 2 miles is the same as walking at 3.0 mph on the treadmill. That's a brisk pace for me because I am short and have a very short step. I push my granddaughter in her stroller and the dog goes along with us, on a leash, of course.
