Very disappointed in Rulon

I'm a big fan of The Biggest Loser, the reality show on NBC that's in its 11th season.  This weeks episode left a very bad taste in my mouth.  Rulon, a Gold medal Olympian wrestler, walked off the show.  He's been a strange one almost from the beginning, as he seemed to think being on the show was beneath him, but he had to get the help so he swallowed his pride and went on.  That may not be an accurate representation, but that's how he came across to me.  In this last episode, the remaining contestants had to pull a car, as they did in the season Tara was on.  To add to the drama of "Favorites" week, Tara was invited back to participate.  The stakes were tickets to a race, picture on the Wheaties box, and $5K.  Rulon drooled over the prize because even though other Gold-medal Olympians have had their pictures on Wheaties boxes, he never had that privilege.  However, Tara beat him, by inches.  I felt that was why he left the show, because he was just too embarrassed that he was beaten by a woman.

What upset me the most is that his exit did not keep anyone else from going home.  Earlier in the season when Kaylee wanted to go home, her team of 3 rigged the weigh-in to lose, and the agreement was she of the three would be sent home.  But it backfired and they didn't lose the weigh-in.  But at least she tried to spare someone else from being eliminated.

Now they are weighing in as singles, so Rulon could have thrown the weigh-in and asked his fellow contestants to spare the other person and send him home.  Such requests are almost always honored.  But instead he just announced he was leaving, and so another person still had to be sent home.  That was Kaylee. She could have had another week at the ranch to help her understand why she was in such an up-down cycle with her weight.  But Rulon wasn't gracious enough to exit in a way that ensured all of the other contestants would remain for another week.  That irks me.

To end on a positive note, WAY TO GO! Tara.

Easter Sunday -- Weekly Update

What a glorious day Easter Sunday is.  The Atonement in Gethsemane and on the cross, followed by the resurrection -- can we truly ever understand what Jesus Christ did for us?

I'm very happy with my continued progress.  I've not only fully recovered from the trip, but have hit 3 consecutive new lows.  My scale weighs by the .2 lbs, so the new lows are tiny successes, but successes nonetheless.  It's the downward trajectory that's important, not how long it takes me to get there.

I'm 4.6 lbs from reaching my last "low" on October 1, 2010, which was also the low I hit in Feb/Mar 2010.  My next previous low was 182 on May 10, 2009.  I'll be very glad to break that 182 barrier.

How did I do on the trip, and after?

When I've got a good program going, I'm always anxious about taking a trip or having some other encounter where I have to yield considerable control over my diet and activity level.  This was no different.

On Tuesday, April 12, I weighed in at 190.4 lbs, which was my low so far (3 days in a row).  Tuesday was travel day, so not much activity except walking through the Salt Lake City and Oakland airports.  And lots of sitting.  Not too bad on the diet.  Wednesday was a lot of walking, as I was on site for 8 hours, with very little sitting during that time.  The diet was a bit worse.  Thursday more walking, for about a 6 hour period, but the diet deteriorated even more.  Friday was travel day. I flew to Burbank and met with friends and enjoyed pizza and toasted bread sticks. Very good.  Then I flew back to Oakland and then on to Salt Lake City.

Saturday I resumed my 1800 calorie budget, but was very tired all day so I rested instead of doing my step routine.  But I was back at it Monday night.

So, what was the damage?  Saturday morning I weighed 192.8, and Sunday morning 193.6. That was the peak of the weight gain.  Monday down to 192.6; same on Tuesday; Wednesday down to 191.6; and this morning, back to my pre-trip low of 190.4.

I'm very pleased with the success of this particular program.

Weekly Update

I'm still plugging along on this current program.  I'm up to 23 lbs of weight for my A days, which is difficult to do.   My last entry, April 3, I weighed 191.6.  This morning I weighed 190.4.  The weight loss is slow, but that's okay.  I'm feeling pretty good, have a lot more energy, and it's starting to actually look like I've lost some weight -- at least it is obvious to me.

I leave later today on my 4-day trip, so I won't be able to do any exercise other than the rigor of all the walking I'll be doing.  I've been feeling some anxiety, wondering if I will be able to resist the temptation to let go on this trip.  I know I can resist, with God's help - I've done it plenty of times before.  But, I've also yielded plenty of times before.  So I don't take it for granted that I'll have the strength to resist the temptation this time -- I must rely on my Savior for the strength I need.

My progress

I'm very pleased that this new program is working so well.  I'm still at 1800 calories for my daily budget, but have made a few adjustments to my steps program.

March 28 - Increased to 800 steps.  For the A days, that 800 steps carrying 21 extra pounds of weight.  For the B days, I divided the 800 steps up as follows:  1st 5 arm exercises @ 120 steps each = 600 steps; remaining 2 arm exercises at 100 each, for a grand total of 800 steps.

I've gone down another pound, so I've added another pound weight for the A days.

Just in case some people did look at the overall chart and think, My she's losing the weight too fast, I've created a chart just for this current program.  It started out pretty rapid, and that was just from cutting out candy and soda, but after that original reaction, I've just enjoyed a gradual loss. I do weigh daily, so you see all the little ups and downs.

I am amused sometimes at the objections people have to losing weight fast, claiming they just gain it all back.  Well, I'm absolute evidence that when you lose it slow, you can still gain a great deal of it back, if not all.

The secret is to not be tricked into the mindset that I can abandon my calorie budget or stop my fitness routine and just pick it up again later.  In my experience, I have been able to, but then comes that inevitable time when the will power just isn't there any more, and it's too much of a struggle to get control again.  I obviously stop weighing when I've gone off budget -- and perhaps if I would just force myself to continue weighing every day and recording it, that might put the brakes on some weight gains.

Regardless, it's something that I will always have to deal with, and I'm just glad that I'm in a season of having some success.