the fatty boombatties

Ten of my friends/coworkers and I started a weight loss challenge on Monday. The person who has lost the greatest percentage of body weight by May 15th wins the prize pot, which will be $1,100 since each of us had to put in $100 to play. If I win, I’m totally using my winnings to go on a sweet little vacation.

It’s funny how we’ve all gotten into this thing. Of course, it’s only been a few days, but we’re all alternately encouraging one another and tempting one another. When my sister came in to the office to do her weigh-in, she brought a single, beautiful, wonderful-smelling Krispy Kreme doughnut, which she proceeded to parade around the office in order to make us hate her. That poor doughnut got mangled by someone and then thrown away, though I’d be lying if I said I didn’t consider digging it out of the trash and cramming its mangled carcass down my throat. Today, someone has been taping up pictures of pie all around the office. I may or may not have been the instigator in the pie war.

I’m a fatty fat fat. In fact, I’m currently at my all-time highest weight. When I weighed in on Monday, I wanted to curl up on the floor and cry for a while. I was horrified at the number I saw on that scale. I could blame it on some medication I’m taking, which does legitimately cause weight gain, but I should be honest and confess that frequent dinners of doughnut holes over the last six weeks and holidays spent doing nothing but eat may have had an impact on the bottom line. You think??

So we’re all in this thing together, and everyone seems to have his own strategy for winning. Someone did a three-day purge; someone else is investigating supplements. Some people are hard-core dieting and others are not. For me, I know that I fail spectacularly on restrictive diets, so for now I’m not counting calories or eliminating entire food groups or anything like that. I’m focusing on whole grains, water, healthy snacks, lean protein, and lots and lots of fruits and vegetables. I’m working harder to get an active workout schedule established, because I know that’ll really be the foundation of any success I see. Today my triceps are screaming every time I try to move my arms, so I know something is working.

We didn’t try to keep this thing a secret, but we haven’t been exactly advertising it either. Yet somehow, everyone on campus seems to know we’re doing it, which is kind of funny and weird. I went into a meeting yesterday and everyone was discussing healthy snacks and their methods for becoming healthier. Even people who aren’t participating in the challenge seem really interested in helping us succeed, which is really cool.

I weighed myself today, just out of curiosity, and I haven’t lost a single pound yet. But that’s okay. Official weigh-ins are every two weeks, and if I keep with what I’m doing now, I feel sure I’ll have made some progress by the 19th. I will keep you all posted!

10 Replies to “the fatty boombatties”

  1. We recently did a lot of cutting back on convenience foods, mostly because they’re pricey, not because they’re unhealthy. Home cooking using whole wheat and organic veggies, meats and dairy are delicious, surprisingly satisfying in smaller quantities, and we lost weight! Win win win! Paying less, eating less, and losing weight – and saving money to boot! Exercise is always good, but not always feasible – especially for working women. When exercise times are early morning or evening, it can be dangerous for obvious reasons. Going on walks with a couple of friends is fun, motivating, and much, much safer.

    Also, wtf is up? It has been ridiculously long since you updated this diary. I’m delighted to see you back!

  2. rock on! You are totally gonna win. Tell me who else is involved and I will send them cakes and pies and other fatty stuff so you can win!!!!

  3. I am trying to get on the healthy wagon again too. I always find success with a combination of Dr. Ian’s Fat Smash Diet (http://www.fatsmashdiet.com/) and Yourself Fitness (http://www.yourselffitness.com/default.aspx). Let me know if you want some good recipes/cooking advice for all those vegetables. I make a very good lentil stew, and I just surprised myself last night with some weird spinach/mushroom/tomato/tofu concoction. Secret ingredients: ginger and cholula powder.

  4. I know you’re a video game girl like me, and you really can’t beat the Wii Fit. It’s expensive (esp. if you don’t yet have the Wii), but it’s fun on a bun and keeps track of your progress.

  5. We’ve been doing a motivational program within my family. I have to say, the pie war might put me over the edge! Lately any time I see a cupcake and/or any cupcake-related item — it need not be edible — I salivate.

  6. Good luck, Lorie! I feel inspired to get off my ass and lose these 15 pounds that have been bothering me.

    I’ve heard Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred is a really good workout, in case you need to change up your exercise routine.

  7. In other news, can we talk about this:

    Relationship Status:
    In a Relationship with Seth Strong

    I’m nosy.Details please. Thanks.

  8. Love is like windmills, when the breeze blows hard enough we are moved to generate more than the sum of our parts. Grinding away rough edges like so much grain ground into flour, we place ourselves in vulnerable positions knowing the diamond in the rough is only being polished, never broken and always more valuable for the post processing. While there are aspects of love which are often confused with and sabotage the actual love such as prettiness, sexiness, and just the other-genderism which calls a certain amount of uncontrollable interest, sometimes the glimmer of the whole other person who is surprisingly like you in unique packaging and compatible hardware shines through blowing through your vanes like a strong autumn wind, soothing and empowering but sensual enough to give rise to goosebumps and you hope the wind keeps blowing long enough for the insecurities to fall away so that this particular rare and golden creature doesn’t dash away due to a false move or lack of one. So here we are breezing along, making no assumptions to the future because the future is coming whether we predict it our not. Neither are we settling for the now because there is a certain mutual awareness that there is more than what we thought we would find in another person in the other person. And so we keep the faith and hold the pace steady. Meeting an awesome person is a grand experience, dating is exciting and spending time together is just a given, giving rise to goosebumps as we are simply breezing along.

  9. I’m focusing on whole grains, water, healthy snacks, lean protein, and lots and lots of fruits and vegetables.

    All good, as long as the healthy snacks don’t also contain sugar of some sort in the ingredient list.

    Your biggest gain (ya, you’ll grimace but you want to win, don’t you?) will be on something like South Beach, the Zone, etc.

    You can do it. I wouldn’t mention if you couldn’t. Know yourself.

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