69 Baby!!!

December 10, 2008 - Nicole's Food Log

Ok, first off, get your head out of the gutter.

That said ... I woke up this morning and nearly did a dance of joy when my scale said 69.9kg.

Happy day!!! I'm under 70!!!

Granted, I intended to drop under 70 on Thanksgiving which was a full two weeks ago, but whateva.

So here's why 70 is special...

A year ago I made a dumb bet. I'm more than a little competitive and found myself betting someone that I could (in the spirit of sport) cut from 75kg down to 70.

In about 12 days.

Now by athletic standards, that's not a big cut. Hell, I think I've seen people do it in a couple days (record goes to a guy way smaller than I who did 13kg in eight days), but for a rookie it was dumb. Suffice it to say, first I procrastinated, then I got cocky. I figured I had the weight to lose so if I just buckled down and worked my ass off I could lose the weight legitimately, no tricks needed.

Kinda. After procrastinating, I was down to about nine days and with a low cal diet and two hours in the gym a day, I was looking good, but not that good. So with five days left I gave in to the fact that I was going to have to drip off the last three kilos. And thus I began a schedule of water-loading for several days that left me peeing truly every half hour. I always scoffed at the notion that drinking water makes you eat less 'cause I drink a lot and that's soooo not true.

Uh, when you drink two gallons it is. If for no other reason than the fact that you're too damn bloated to eat. Anyhow, the cycle of stupidity continued up to 36 hours before where the liquid and food consumption stopped. Food I could handle, but no water? Painful. By weigh in day I was on a plane thinking I was going to gag on my own tongue. With a couple hours left I was up by half a kilo which I figured I could sweat off in a sauna.

But this is me and anything that can go wrong will. Cause guess what? There was no sauna. Hell... so after cycling and trying to turn my bathroom into a steam room, I had two options. The first being give up, admit that self torture is lame and that I suck at it... OR (did we mention I can't stand losing?) option b... let someone else beat it out of me. So I borrowed plastics and sweats and let a friend of mine run and bike me to death.

This wasn't really bright either because while people who are used to it adapt, my body started screaming ''What the hell did I do to you???'' It was upset. And thirsty and hungry and reallllllly mad. (And did I mention that all my calculations DID NOT take into account what happens when your body's way of rebelling is to stop pooping??? Shit's heavy people.)

In the end, the half kilo came off... I won, though it would be debated forever that I used a non-approved staff member to conduct the weigh-in.

Meanwhile ... whereas I thought I could run right out and grab a burger, I quickly realized that my stomach was very very hostile and I became terrified of eating anything for fear it would revolt.

But most of all, I learned that I couldn't fathom what it would be like to do that over and over again ... all year long, tournament after tournament with about half the body fat to play with.

Insane. And, suffice it to say, Beijing excluded, I haven't seen a number on the scale under 70 since 2004.

And seeing it without starving, suffering or dressing in plastic is all the better.

That said, I started my staycation (the trendy new term for going on vacation in your house) today. Breakfast was ok, then I worked out and promptly got sucked into work drama that kept me occupied til dinner which was bad bad bad, but whatever... I'm just happy to introduce my scale to the 60s... even if it jumps back up tomorrow.

Breakfast
2 slices Orowheat toast (180)
Margarine (60)
Egg (70)

Workout
2500m row (132 calories burned)
32 minutes on stationary bike (192 calories burned)

Dinner
Mac and cheese (1280)
Turkey dog (70)

Total calories: 1660

Weight: 69.9kg