Roller Coaster Club

I have dropped twenty pounds since the beginning of the year. Like many of us, I am in the Roller Coaster Club. I'll have my weight under control, and then a few months later, my pants are too tight. I'll lose weight again, get cocky, and then let go of the habits that helped me stay smaller.

About a year ago, maybe longer, I was feeling pretty good about my weight. It wasn't as low as it was when I had lost 120 pounds running and dieting, but I was getting there. Then something switched in my brain. I don't even know what triggered it, but I started eating unhealthy foods again. I probably snuck a pint of Ben and Jerry's or something, and it all went downhill from there. You can live in denial for only so long, but your pants don't lie. By early December, there were three shirts and one pair of dress pants in my closet that still fit. I realized that I could either start buying bigger clothes, or I could make some changes so that I could fit into my smaller pants again.

For me, the most painful part of any new weight loss endeavor is dusting off the bathroom scale and weighing myself. Oddly enough, once I've recorded that first weigh-in, I immediately feel better. I don't feel good about the number, but the mystery and suspense are gone. Once I step on the scale, I have a clear goal, and I can proceed.

Fortunately, I don't have to drop 120 pounds this time, but I still have a lot of weight to shed. Once I set my mind to it, I'm really good at losing weight – I've done it so often! I've been losing the pounds pretty steadily.

How am I dropping weight? There's no magic involved. It's simply a matter of diet and exercise. Even when I'm heavy, I enjoy exercising. I wouldn't say I love my stationary bike as much as I loved running, but it's pleasant enough to break a sweat while watching Netflix or reading a book.

With my exercise routine already in place, I just needed to tighten up my diet. I'm not on an overly strict diet. All I'm doing is keeping track what I eat. I write down each meal and snack in a pocket sized notebook. That's really about it. I don't count calories. I'm not on any particular diet plan. I just write down what I eat, I eat smaller portions, and I make better food choices in general. For example, instead of a sandwich, I'll order a wrap. Instead of taking home a pint of Ben and Jerry's, I'll buy a box of fruit juice popsicles.

In the past, I've become lax when I've reached my goal weight. I figure that I'm skinny and exercising a lot, so I can eat what I want. Wrong! This was wrong in my 20s, and it's certainly wrong as I begin to approach 50 and my metabolism slows.

The reason I had problems maintaining weight in the past was that I didn't have an end game. This time is different. I already know what I'm going to do. When I get to that point, here's the plan for maintaining:

• Continue to exercise
• Continue recording my meals and snacks
• Continue weighing in every 2-3 days
• Gradually begin adding more calories to my diet until I find an equilibrium

If I can follow those simple steps, I think I'll finally be able to quit the Roller Coaster Club.

Halfway Home

As of this morning, I've lost 33 pounds, and I'm halfway to my goal of weighing 200 or less. Using higher math skills, you can probably figure out what I weigh right now.

This has been a relatively painless process. Steady effort has been the key. I've been exercising regularly, but not intensely. I'm not training for a half-marathon or trying to push my limits. I simply hop on the stationary bike every morning and pedal at a moderate rate for 60 minutes. When I'm tempted to start pushing myself by increasing the resistance, I remind myself that I'm going to be doing this again tomorrow, and the next day, and the next, and the next. I'm exercising at a level that I can maintain over a long period of time.

The same goes with my diet. No crash diets for me. Using the MyFitnessPal app, I keep track of my eating habits. There are some days when I'm hungry, but it's usually a craving rather than true hunger. Using the app to monitor my caloric intake is helping me learn the difference between wanting food and needing food. Just as with the exercise, my diet is a steady effort, and it's sustainable, because I'm still eating foods that I like.

I've always been good at losing weight in the past, but I've been terrible at maintaining a healthy weight once I've reached my goal. This time, it feels different. This time, once I reach my weight, I'll keep exercising steadily without pushing too hard, and I'll continue to monitor my eating habits with MyFitnessPal. Above all, this has to be the last time I lose this much weight! I have better things to worry about.

The Plan

As most of my friends can tell you, I'm an obsessive maker and checker-offer of lists. I'm using this minor obsession to help stay motivated and on track with my weight loss.

This is my overall plan, in list form, of course.

• I started at 266 pounds. It's not the 324 I weighed a few years ago, but it's not exactly dainty, either. As a matter of fact, this is the exactly what I weighed when I began losing pounds to qualify for the Air Force. My goal is to weigh 190-200 pounds, which is where my weight hovered in my Air Force days.
• The first phase was to simply ride the stationary bike and keep track of my calories with MyFitnessPal…best app ever for monitoring exercise and food intake. The stationary bike and MyFitnessPal will be the two most important parts of this whole process.
• After hitting 240, add crunches. (This is where I am right now. I just hit 239. I began adding crunches yesterday, and I sure can feel it.)
• After hitting 230, add planks. Not only is the plank a good overall exercise, but it will prepare my upper body for the next phase.
• After hitting 220, add pushups and curls. Also, somewhere around the 220 mark, I should be able to wear almost all the shirts in my closet again. Once I've reached this point, I have two giant white shirts and a giant black shirt that I can't wait to get rid of. There will be no going back!
• After hitting 210, add pull-ups. I'll be happy if I can do just one pull-up for starters!
• After hitting 200, slow down the weight loss. I'm currently losing 2-3 pounds a week. At 200 pounds, I'll want to ease up and lose 1 pound a week as I transition from losing weight to maintaining weight. I don't know what my weight will be, but it should eventually settle to somewhere around 195.
• Maintenance. For me, this will be the most challenging part. I will continue to exercise regularly, and I can't get lax with my eating habits. I'll be able to indulge more often than I do now, but it'll be imperative that I continue to monitor my eating habits. That's where I have always slacked off. Fortunately, the MyFitnessPal app has different settings…weight loss, weight gain, and maintenance. I'll just set it up to maintain my weight and continue to monitor myself.

Why do this in phases? Why not start off doing all of these exercises at once? Because I want to build up gradually. If I try to do everything at once, I know from past experience that I'll overdo it, become frustrated, and then stop. If I gradually add these exercises, it won't be such a shock, and it'll feel more like a routine than self torture.

This might seem way too analytical for some, but it works for me. It's helpful to have goals and milestones to keep me going.

Eating Out and Losing Weight

About 20 years ago, I won an audition to play trombone in an Air Force band. I was overweight, and so I lost 60 pounds in two months to qualify for Air Force basic training. Yes, I literally lost a pound a day over the course of two months! There were several factors in my favor. First and foremost was a job waiting for me as soon as I met the physical requirements. In addition, I was playing in the Ohio Light Opera. The Ohio Light Opera is a summer lyric theater festival that houses and pays its musicians. After an initially heavy rehearsal schedule, the workload is pretty light. With food and housing taken care of, my only responsibility was to show up for rehearsals and shows. That left a LOT of free time. I walked 8 miles and worked out every morning, practiced the trombone, played shows, and spent a lot of time being hungry. Looking back, I can see that my circumstances were absolutely perfect for someone motivated to lose a lot of weight. It was surreal to step on the scale every morning and watch that number go down every morning.

I also had the benefit of a 26 year old's metabolism.

These days, as I lose weight once again, I don't have any of the benefits I enjoyed that summer with the Ohio Light Opera. My schedule is erratic as I juggle gigs, rehearsals, music engraving, lessons, and a church music job.

The biggest challenge is trying to lose weight while eating out. It's tricky, but it can be done. I eat mostly at home, but I often eat out when gigging, teaching, and working at the church. The key for me is to plan ahead so that I make good choices.

When you play gigs, particularly restaurant gigs, you usually get fed. Since a meal is often part of the payment agreement, you sometimes feel like you want get your money's worth. It's not that different from the mindset most of us have when we pay for a buffet. We want to load up that plate! Instead of searching the menu for a hefty meal, I'll go for a salad and a low calorie appetizer.

There are a couple restaurants that I visit regularly: a local Mexican place across the street from where I teach lessons, and a Blimpie near my church. The Mexican place is fairly inexpensive, and I used to order three tacos, rice, and refried beans. (And then I would leave, feeling like I'd eaten a bowling ball.)  Now, I just order a couple fish tacos. My meals at Blimpie have always been healthy…except for the cookies I always ordered. Now, I skip the cookies.

So far, in spite of a crazy schedule with a lot of eating out, I've managed to lose 19 pounds. My biggest challenge this summer will be the UUMN conference in Dallas. I'll be eating on the road, staying at a hotel for four days, and meeting lots of other musicians and music directors. There will be an enormous temptation to indulge. Just as I do at home, I'll have to plan ahead, seek out restaurants with healthy foods, and be vigilant.

Steady On

So far, my weight "re-loss" is going well. I'm losing pounds steadily, and I'm on track to meet my weight goal in June. That won't be the end of the process. As I've discovered the hard way, maintaining weight can be more challenging than losing it in the first place. I'll deal with that issue when the time comes.

For the most part, my weight loss this time around has been very steady. Except for the first week, when I lost 9 pounds of mostly water, I've been losing a steady 3 pounds a week.

Last week, despite a careful diet and plenty of exercise, my body stubbornly held on to the same weight for 5 days. Even though logic dictated that I was doing everything right, I was still frustrated. For a while, I considered cutting back on food, but that would have been a mistake. I'm already very careful about both the quantity and quality of my food, and I'm certain that eating any less could begin to pose a health risk.

Instead of freaking out about the situation, I simply continued doing what I've been doing all along: pedaling my stationary bike, walking, and eating healthy foods. On the sixth day, I suddenly dropped three pounds, which was a relief. There's no way I dropped three pounds of fat in a day. My guess is that I ate too much sodium earlier in the week and was retaining water. Whatever the cause was, I'm once again dropping pounds at a steadier pace.

If you are fighting your own battle of the bulge, there will be times when you doubt yourself or your routine. Sometimes the weight will seem to melt off. Other times, it'll feel like you're fighting for every ounce. When this happens, it's tempting to start changing things – eating too little or exercising too much. Remember, you've been successfully losing weight with whatever plan you're following. Just because the scale doesn't budge for a few days doesn't mean that you're suddenly off track. You may be retaining water. You may have gained some muscle. If you keep doing what you've been doing, chances are that you'll soon be back to your "losing weighs."

I'm glad I didn't change anything based on a few unsatisfying weigh-ins. I just kept reminding myself that this is a numbers game. If I burn more calories than I consume, the weight comes off. I stuck with my routine, kept eating the same foods, and eventually began shedding pounds again. So for now, it's steady on, and I'll continue to keep my head the next time there's a bump in the road.