Musings About A Bag Of Sugar = 5 Pounds

I would say all of us have bought a bag of sugar or two in our time and we know that they weigh in at 5 pounds and they're pretty hefty and a good size bag.  Right?   But when we lose 5 pounds, we don't lose this massive size of body fat.  So it makes me wonder where we are losing the weight at and how much at a time.  I'm guessing we must lose an ounce here and a couple of ounces there, to equal a couple of pounds a week (if you're dieting, that is). 

If you google a picture of 5 lbs of fat (I did and I'm not going to post one because it's yucky), it does look bigger than this bag of sugar.   Imagine losing that in your stomach, all at once...it sure would make the clothes fit looser and make a person look a bit thinner.  And if you multiply it by 2 or 4 or 10, it just seems like one would be skinny (depending on how much they had to lose of course).  But no, unfortunately it doesn't work that way....we lose it so it isn't all that noticeable until you've lost a lot. So then I wondered, what happens to the fat that you lose? Does it just melt away or what? Then I remembered that Google is my friend, and this is what I came up with: The short answer is that our bodies convert molecules in fat cells to usable forms of energy, thus shrinking the cells. Interesting. It's too bad they don't shrink faster, or all at once in one spot like a 5 lb. bag of sugar size. Reading on, I found that muscle takes up less space than fat, so that if you have a pound of fat and a pound of muscle, the fat portion will be larger. Somehow that doesn't really make sense to me; it seems like it would be the reverse. But what do I know...I'm not a doctor or scientist. Ah well. A little here and there is better than none at all I suppose. So let me take my bag of sugar and go make cookies. ;-)

Being Sick Helps

So I'm back from vacation and back to work and haven't been to the gym yet, though I do keep telling myself I really need to. However, on the bright side, while I was on vacation, I was sick for a week straight with a sore throat and runny nose and just feeling crappy in general, BUT I lost 6 pounds.  And I've kept it off, along with 2 more to date.  So in total 8 pounds, which of course isn't a whole lot but better than being 8 pounds heavier, you know?

While I haven't been actively been dieting per se, I have been watching what I eat more and have cut out a lot of sweets (which we all know are my downfall).  We've been eating salads and fish and chicken, though this past Tuesday I was dying for a cheeseburger so I made myself one and it was
d-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s!  And yesterday.....well,  I actually had a Little Debbie snack, the peanut butter chocolate wafer things. Normally I am not a Little Debbies fan but these were in the freezer and reminded me of when Reeses made something similar back in the very late 90s and I would freeze them and they were sooooo good, so I tried these and while not as good as Reeses, still they were good.  I wish the chocolate wasn't waxy tasting but oh well, it hit the spot.  Now I just have to stay out of the freezer. lol

Today I only had my coffee (you really didn't think I was going to give that up did you???) and a 100 calorie pack of popcorn and a bottle of water  so far.  I know I should have had breakfast but I didn't.  And tonight for dinner I think it might just be a smoothie to get a jump on the weekend. 

And next week is another week....I may actually hit that gym. :-)