Some Help From Jane

Some help from Jane

Date Created: Apr 23, 2005, 10:53 AM

Jane, my sister, is so wonderful. I was feeling frustrated about the slowing of my weight loss and sent her an email to that effect. "So Thursday I had 1118 calories and gained a pound, yesterday I had 1171 calories and gained a pound, and I exercised 30 minutes Wednesday and Friday each keeping my heart rate up and everything. Granted I lost 13 pounds in one week, but this is discouraging. It's kind of scary, my head says my body is adjusting and this is probably a truer weight loss now than it was that first week, but there's that little nagging doubt that says I won't be able to lose!" So Jane replied with this, and I feel much better: "O.K. Scientific Fact!!! Every pound you lose is equal to 3800 calories. There is no way to get around this. Scientific Fact Two: Your body probably has about 10 pounds of fluid that fluctuates up and down. Just for argument lets say that you can maintain your weight on 3000 calories a day (it's probably less, but let's give you then benefit of the doubt). Now let's say that you averaged 400 calories a day last week. That means that you ate 2600 calories less than you burn each day! Now multiply 2600 by 7 and you've got 18,200. Now divide this amount by 3800 and you've got 4.8. Marianne, 5 pounds really is the absolute most that you could possibly lose in one week (probably less). The rest is water, which is good and some will probably stay off, but it's not fat. You should be feeling FANTASTIC that 11 pounds is off, but don't be surprised if it creeps up a little more to reflect a truer weight. When you finally are at your true weight you will know that each pound is true (with a little fluctuation here and there) and that will feel good! When I started I lost 2 pounds in the first 2 days and then nothing for three weeks. I figure it was probably water at first, but then in the next three weeks it became real. Still, kind of hard to go three weeks with careful eating and see nothing. I was so excited to jump down to 146.5 a few days ago, but, I shouldn't be surprised that I'm back up to 149 today, right? I know in 2 or 3 weeks it will get back down there for real. Unfortunately there is no way to work around these scientific facts. You can play around with the amount your body burns each day and the amount less that you eat, but that is the only thing you have any control over. Marianne, you absolutely WILL be able to lose, and in this process you are going to be changing in a lot of other cool ways too. You'll be developing patience (not real common among Edward's women), control, and a lot of other emotional factors I couldn't even hope to list. I used to think that weight lose was just superficial and you're still your own fat self underneath. That may be true for weight that comes off by itself or in an illness. But when you make the comittment to change yourself, you'll change a lot more than your weight. You're changing your whole life style and that crosses over into many other areas. You'll be all the best of the old, getting rid of some hangups, and adding a whole host of new virtues. I bet you're going to love who you'll become!"