Fighting my obesity one step at at time...

A couple of posts ago, I was at a real low point in my efforts to lose weight.  I really felt like I was doing everything right and then some, but seeing zero results.  I increased my activity level by over a 1/3, and have been doing my workouts 9x per week.  40-45 minutes 5x per week and 40-45 minutes twice per day on Saturday and Sunday.   I’ve been doing this for two months and have lost a grand total of 1 pound.  And even that one pound is questionable.  Today the scale informed me that it was actually only ½ a pound.   On the bright side, I haven’t GAINED any more weight.   So there’s that.

Still, I bought the Fitbit which is basically a pedometer on crack, and it has really been key to keeping me honest and motivated.  I enjoy the progress and the little badges you earn for your workouts.   Between that and tracking my entire food intake on myfitnesspal.com, I know eventually this is going to work for me.  It just HAS to.  I never really ate poorly so food has never really been a battle.  Even so, I had been making an effort to eat even better.

I say all that to say this…this past Friday I had my annual PHA.   For those of you not in the military this is the annual physical that the military makes you do.  I was quite tickled at the results of my blood work.  My total cholesterol went down over 40 points, my triglycerides went down SIXTY points, and my vitamin D levels were back into the normal range for the first time in 5 years (only by 5 points but normal is normal dammit!)  Obviously I am doing SOMETHING right.  It’s been very difficult to work this hard and see no outwardly result for my effort.  But knowing that it’s doing me some good, even if it’s only on the inside, makes me happy. 

He did scold me about my weight though.  The funny thing about that whole discussion was that when he looked at my chart, he said, well, for your height you are at exactly where you need to be weight-wise.  Uh…what?   I said, um…doc, I’m obese.  He argued with me and said, nope, “…at 5 ‘ 7” you should be right at the 135 mark which is where you are.”  Now I KNOW this man looked at me, cause I was lookin’ at him when he was lookin’ at me.   But he was reading the chart and mistakenly thought that the chart said I was 5 foot 7 inches tall when in fact my height was just written out in inches which, in my case, is 57 inches.  He said, “oh, you’re right.  For your height you should really be less than 100 pounds.”   I’m not sure I completely agree with THAT number.  Unless of course I was 11 years old (the height of the average 11 year old American girl is my height).   I mean, really…my chest alone has to weigh 10 pounds.  To be honest, when I weigh 115 I’m smokin’ hot.    Methinks he didn’t account for the fact that I am an adult.

All that aside, I’m a hefty little fatty, and as hard as it is proving to go from the “obese” category into the “overweight” category, it’s an even LONGER journey from the “overweight” category into the “normal” weight category.   Eventually I’m going to get there though.  Me, my fitbit, and my lower cholesterol.  Yeeha.