I suck.

Wow. I really suck at maintaining this blog. I started it part way through my weight loss, thinking it would help me maintain a level of accountability and encourage me to keep going. Turns out I haven't needed that encouragement as much as I thought I would.

All of last summer, and well into the fall, I was going to the gym and seeing my personal trainer on a regular basis. I loved him. While he did push me and motivate me, I didn't feel that working out with him was ever a chore. I felt like I was going to work out with a friend. A friend with a little bit of a cruel streak. If I slacked on something, or did something half-assed, he never hesitated to call me on it, but he wasn't brutal. Then in mid to late October, the gym I was going to fired him. I was disappointed because he was so damn amazing! BUT, I had a few sessions left and the gym reassigned me to a new trainer. This new trainer was a total and complete tool.

When I initially started seeing my first trainer, Scott, he asked what my goal weight was and I told him that I really didn't want to set a goal weight for two reasons:

1 - I know I have a long way to go and don't want to get overwhelmed and lose motivation.
2 - I've gotten a little obsessive about reaching certain weight goals in the past, to the extent of being unhealthy and having a borderline (if not over the line) eating disorder, and I refuse to go down that road again.

Scott was respectful of this. He was motivating within my limitations and boundaries, and I never felt like my sessions with him were a chore - they were fun, almost like going to work out with a friend.


I had three sessions remaining when I found out that Scott was no longer there and was paired up with another trainer named Vince.

TECHNICALLY, Vince is a good trainer. I definitely had good workouts with him, but personality wise... he just wasn't Scott.

For my first session with Vince, he had me go over all of the same stuff that I'd gone over with Scott on our first session - all of which was in my folder right in front of him (seriously, I just read off to him what Scott had written down. Verbatim.)

When we got to the part about my goal, to lose weight, is when he lost all hope with me.

He asked me what my goal weight was and I told him I will not set a goal weight and gave him the same reasons I gave Scott months before. His response? "Well, we can just cut off an arm. You'll lose probably 20-25 lbs right there."

Seriously??? I've just told you that I've struggled with eating disorders in the past and your response is to tell me that I can just cut off an arm? Not cool, dude. Not. Freaking. Cool.

So I've stopped going to the gym. I've still watched my caloric intake and still try to park as far from the store as I can so that I walk that much further, but I haven't been working out. Bad, I know. However, I am making plans to increase my activity level so that I'm not a complete sloth. I hope to get myself up to a level to compete in a bike ride in two months. I've let time slip by to the point that I'm going to be cramming in a lot of last minute training if I hope to even dream of completing this ride, but I am going to give it my all.

Whats In A Name?

"Miss Shrunky Dunk" sounds a tad unusual, doesn't it?

A few weeks back I saw a friend whom I hadn't seen in a couple of weeks. In those couple of weeks I'd lost a few pounds and her response upon seeing me was "OMG! Look at Miss Shrunky Dunk here!"

It stuck. And, I like it.

It implies shrinking, which is what I hope to continue to do.

Welcome to Miss Shrunky Dunk

"Never be afraid to fall apart because it is an opportunity to rebuild yourself the way you wish you had been all along." - Rae Smith

Approximately 10 months ago, I stepped on the scale. I weighed in at 307 lbs. At the time, I was preparing for a trip to Ireland and Spain with four dear friends. I knew there was no way I was going to follow a diet plan while in Europe, so I didn't even want to bother starting one before the trip.

While traveling, I ate and drank like a glutton. Irish bacon, speck, cheese, stew, countless pints of Guinness, seemingly endless sangria, paella, lobster, mussels, chorizo. On top of all of that, I'm sure I had an entire bakery worth of bread during those ten days.

Upon my return home, I was sure that I would have gained weight. I hadn't done nearly as much walking on this trip as I had on previous trips to Europe. I stepped onto the scale thinking I would consider myself lucky if I had managed to maintain my weight during the trip. I was shocked to see that I had somehow managed to lose a little under five pounds.

I had to think about how that weight loss was possible. I definitely did not get in a lot of exercise, some walking around the towns we were in, but not a significant amount. The only factors I could attribute the weight loss to was that I ate less processed foods, no fast-food, and I did have a nominal increase in my daily activity levels.

I was inspired to continue the weight loss.

At that time, I sat on my butt for well over eight hours each day, at a job that I really wasn't satisfied with. I liked my coworkers, the paycheck, and the benefits, but I really didn't like the job itself. Every day I got fast-food for lunch. After work I would venture down to my favorite pub to try to erase the stress of the day with many pints of beer.

My initial changes were the most obvious:
1. Drastically cut back on fast-food.
2. Increase activity level.
3. Cut back on added sugars and fats.

All pretty basic, common sense, solutions, right?
Why hadn't I been doing them all along?

My first change was to cut back on the amount of coffee I drank. Since I use the flavored coffee creamers, and drank at least five cups of coffee each day, that added up to A LOT of extra sugar and fat. I limited myself to one cup each morning. After that, I switched to green tea with Splenda - black tea if I was still feeling sluggish.

For lunches, I would previously get fast food every single day. I still went through the drive-through but would get a salad.

I stopped searching for the closest possible parking spot at the store - walking an extra 50 feet is not an imposition.

These initial changes resulted in a very slow and gradual weight loss - 24 lbs in about five months. That was where I stagnated. I knew that if I was going to continue to lose weight and get in better health, I was going to have to join a gym and/or cut back on the beer.

In early June I walked into Crunch and signed up. And then I didn't go. Then in mid-June, I lost my job. About a week later, I finally went to the gym. Then a week later, I actually went again. Then I signed up for personal training sessions.

That was one of the best decisions I could have made. By paying someone to go through a work out routine with me, I was being held accountable. I couldn't stay at home on the couch watching old episodes of Frasier on Netflix if I had an appointment with my "Personal Torturer."

It has paid off well. In less than two months with my personal trainer, I have lost another 20 lbs, and about 4.5% body fat.