Weighing in

This week didn't set me up for a loss at all. Three days of plays; three days of parties. I ate so differently than usual -- not overeating, just different eating -- that my stomach hurt. And I know it wasn't a huge overeat because I've been photo journaling my food. I knew that would pay off.

My goal was to maintain, so I was thrilled to see a .4 pound loss. Not much, but a definite win. My total loss to date is 70.6 pounds, which is about 20 pounds more than my original goal weight. Success breeds success, I suppose.

I am currently about 30 pounds from my (newest) goal weight, which will put me within the normal range for my height. I was going through old photos last night and this morning, and I was amazed to see how different my face looks just from earlier this year.

My food choices today were mostly good. I was really hungry this morning, which is somewhat unusual, so I ate more than I typically do during breakfast: a serving (1/4 cup?) of steel cut oats + 1 tablespoon coconut manna + 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and a nice juicy orange. So juicy that it squirted me in the face! Bad orange. I showed it and ate the whole thing!

Coconut manna is a recent discovery, and I have to say, I love it. My only complaint is a lazy one. The container and contents have to be above 73 degrees to liquify, so I have to heat it in water. Wah. Really, I usually don't have a clue what I'm going to eat until I get in the kitchen to make it, and it takes longer if I have to heat the coconut manna. It's worth dealing with that little inconvenience. It's delicious and nutritious!

And mid-morning, I got hungry again! Maybe my body is a little more accustomed to my protein smoothie than I realized, so I had a little snack. My dog wanted it too.

Lunch was late because I was busy working on Christmas cards (see the stack in the corner?) and forgot. Or maybe I was just busy enough that it didn't occur to me to eat. Either way, I was pretty hungry by the time I had lunch: roast beef on a roll and some watermelon. I'd like to say that my bitten sandwich was mean to be artsy, but really it was just because I forgot to take the photo until after I'd had my first bite.

I had bought the watermelon a couple of days ago and eaten most of it right away. I had been craving it for some reason. Maybe the Vitamin C? When I'm craving a specific fruit or vegetable, I typically go for it. Cookies, not so much.

Dinner was out, as it was Wednesday. We went to Baker's Square again, just like last week. And because I am a creature of habit, I ordered the same thing: the veggie egg white scrambler. But this time I got French toast instead of the marble rye bread. Take that, habit!

Again, I think I was more hungry than usual because I ate the entire scrambler but left the French toast.

And because it was free pie night, I had the chocolate peanut butter pie. It was a moral imperative. And I forgot to take a photo, but look!

Here's my photo from last week! Just like last week, I only ate half. I really never want more than that, probably because I'm not accustomed to sweets like I was.

So that was My Day in Food. Wednesday is a heavier day for me, but I'm mostly pleased with my choices.

Onward and downward!

Typical day

I can see the appeal of keeping the photo journal of food. According to My Fitness Pal, my calorie allowance is 1260 per day. That isn't a lot.

Today was a typical Thursday, a bit more laid back than most other days of the week. I don't know why it happens that way, but it usually does.

This morning's breakfast was a protein shake made with almond milk and cinnamon. I love the flavor of the cinnamon. I didn't realize that it had so many health benefits until well after I had started using it.

I actually ate a heavier lunch than usual. I fought a migraine all stinkin' day, and I thought it might have been food-related. It wasn't. I still had the migraine after I ate. The egg white veggie omelet and pumpkin yogurt hit the spot though.

 

My son had a literature discussion group at a coffeehouse this afternoon, so I indulged in a vanilla bean latte. With cinnamon sprinkles on top. This was far more sweet than my usual coffee, so it really felt like an indulgence. It probably was on calorie count too.

We spent two and a half hours at the literature group, and I had to make a Costco run afterward, so I picked up dinner there. I brought it home to eat, obviously, but there was almost no prep work on my part. I diced half a cucumber and a whole Roma tomato, and voila! Done!

The salad mix is a new one for me, some sort of superfood mix with kale. It's a simple bagged salad, but different than the usual fare. I have only recently started eating kale (kale chips, to be specific, so not the most healthy ...), but I've decided I like it. I hope Costco keeps this particular mix. I think I will continue to buy it. I was almost put off by the calorie content (140 calories!), but I realized that it comes with a poppyseed dressing, which I didn't use. As I've shared before, I don't particularly like dressings. I use a tablespoon of olive salad mix instead. It has a great flavor, and it's enough to enhance the salad without overpowering it. That is only 25 calories per serving. ::thumbs up::

No exercise for me today, mostly because of that migraine, which finally left at around 7 pm. I also didn't get my sheets washed, the clean laundry folded, or the Christmas gifts wrapped. I suppose that's what tomorrow is for.

Weighing in

This should have gone up yesterday, but ... whatever. I didn't post for months; one day late is pretty good!

I weighed in at exactly the same as last week. I'm satisfied.

We attended a Christmas party on Saturday, ate out twice on Sunday, and attended a Christmas party (at a Chinese buffet -- OY!) on Monday night. I was fully expecting to have gained a pound.

This week promises to be very busy, although none of the parties we are attending are being held at a restaurant. That helps quite a bit.

In perusing the blog world, I've noticed that several bloggers take photos of their food, daily, at every meal and snack. That is interesting to me, so I did it yesterday, on my weigh in day.

I didn't decide to take the photos until after breakfast, so just imagine a photo of my banana with peanut butter.

Snack was vanilla WhoNu cookies. I can't justify that. Just plain old sweet toothing it.

Lunch was one cup of soup made with the 32 bean mix in the Whole Foods bulk section with a tablespoon of plain Greek yogurt. I've no idea the nutritional value on the soup, but it is probably pretty low in calories. When I made the soup, I added nothing except chicken broth and spices. I love it. The rest of the family, not so much. Stinkers.

We eat out on Wednesday nights because the evening is hectic with our church schedule. My son chose Baker's Square. I had the veggie egg white scrambler (an omelet over potatoes) with marble rye toast. The photo was taken with what I didn't eat because I forgot to take it before I ate! The soda in the photo isn't mine. That belonged to my 5'9" 116-pound son. I wish I had his metabolism.

Wednesday is free pie night, so of course .... I had the chocolate peanut butter pie. Dang sweet tooth! I only ate half though.

Aside from coffee, that's it! The photo-journaling was interesting. When I wanted to get a nibble in the kitchen, I didn't just because I'd have to take a photo. For the moment, I'm going to keep it up.

Happy day to you!

Onward and downward!

::tap tap tap::

Is this thing on? Hello again!

Since my last post I have

• lost 11.8 pounds
• hit a total of 70 pounds lost
• moved out of plus size clothing
• changed my BMI level from "obese" to "overweight"
• joined the Y, although I confess I don't use it regularly
• started attending exercise class at church, which I both love and hate
• shared my story and struggles with some people in my life

I know that many people who use a blog as an accountability stop posting during a setback. I didn't have a setback, and my rate of loss stayed the same, although it sure felt as if it slowed.

A few of those on the list are really huge for me. I've been in plus size clothing my whole life. Definitely my entire adult life. I automatically went to that section in the store because it's all I've ever been able to wear. It was a shock to find that absolutely nothing fit. I cried as I walked to the regular section. I'm sure the workers thought I was a nut, boo-hooing all the way across the store, but that was a huge accomplishment for me, and those were celebratory tears.

Weighing in

This week's weigh in doesn't exactly set me off with a bang if I'm going to get rid of 10 pounds by my September 5 weigh in. But, looking positively, it is a loss!

I'm down .4 pounds this week. Pretty typical for me, actually. I was hoping for a little more, but I guess I'll just have to work harder. And not make brownies the day before a weigh in. ::facepalm::

This past week I did make a point to move more, and more consistently.

I walked a total of 4 miles outside and 7.5 miles on the treadmill.
I boogied to the Just Dance game on the Wii.
I held plank.
I used my resistance bands.
I jumped on the mini-trampoline.

I moved.

This week: I will continue to look for reasons and opportunities to burn calories. Plain and simple.

Onward and downward, my peeps!

Weighin in

Today is the first day of summer, and I've set a goal. I want to get rid of 10 pounds this summer. Last summer I set a much loftier goal. That goal wasn't met, but I worked at it. Really worked. And I lost ... I can't remember ... somewhere around 15 pounds, I think. But considering that I'm a little smaller this year -- and I intend to actually meet the goal -- 10 pounds ought to do.

So here goes ....

Weighing in today, I had higher hopes than the scale reflected. I lost .6 pounds in the past week, and I weighed in at 179 even. But that does give me a nice whole number to begin my summer challenge. :)

I'm finding that I've dropped a lot of the habits that helped me get this far, like logging my exercise. For a while, I was using the Cardio Trainer app, and that really DID work, but it isn't quite enough any more. At the moment, I'll go back to my very first method of writing it on my calendar.

Many people who are on the weight loss journey discuss logging their food, but not the exercise. The food honestly isn't a problem for me at this point. Please do not mistake that for was never a problem. It was. Dreadfully so. But now .... Not only have my habits changed, but my tastes have changed as well. Yes, I can sit and eat an entire bowl of cantaloupe or pineapple. To eat that same size bowl of ice cream makes me feel bloated and nauseated, so I am rarely even tempted.

This week: Exercise, and do it consistently. Period.

Onward and downward!

Change

"Change is an easy thing to decide and a difficult thing to do. It is the day-to-day struggle of it that defeats people. Do not despair if old ways look good to you. Despair only if you fall into them too often."

Karleen Koen, Through a Glass Darkly

My favorite thing

... right now, regarding my weight loss.

I can wear normal shirts. Size XL is a little too big. Size L fits, but they are just a little too tight for me to be comfortable.

We travel quite a lot, and I've always wanted to buy those cute t-shirts in gifts shops. I couldn't. Even when I could find a 3X, they didn't look good. We just got back from a trip to New Orleans, and I bought three shirts for myself. :)

Weighing in

I have been struggling lately. I fully admit that. I own it.

Last week -- when I didn't post a weigh-in -- I gained 2.4 pounds. Yup. But as I said, I own that I have been struggling. Still, I honestly could not see that I had done enough damage to gain that much.

Still thinking about last week, we ate out way too much:

Friday lunch
Saturday lunch
Saturday dinner
Saturday big snack (at the bowling alley, celebrating a birthday)
Sunday lunch
Monday dinner

And the result? Gained 2.4 pounds. Although to be completely honest, I was as careful as usual at every meal. They just normally don't come all together like that, so I think it was a combination of both extra calories in meals that I didn't prepare AND the extra sodium.

This week was much, much better.

We ate out one time, which is normal.
I joined the YMCA, although I have only used it once so far. Today will be Day 2.

Today at weigh-in time, I saw a loss of 2.6 pounds. Take THAT, flab!

Onward and downward!

Weighing in

I've had troubles lately. It feels like -- and the scale has reflected! -- that I've been maintaining rather than continuing to lose. I have many more pounds to go, so that isn't acceptable to me. And I know that it's ME, not my eating plan or my exercise routine. It's ME. I haven't been diligent.

All of that changed this week, and despite a few challenges (church luncheon, unexpected eating out ...), I dropped 1.6 pounds this week! That actually puts me at an all-time low!

I've been paying a lot more attention to my water intake specifically. I have never measured out how much water I drink, but it's a pretty decent amount. Lately though, I had started drinking more of other beverages instead. Also, I haven't been as diligent in making sure I walk every.single.day I like I had been. And ... I have been snacking. Not much, and definitely not in the same manner that "before" me would have, but I have. All of that = stalling.

I'm not ready for that yet.

So, this week:

• I will make a point to walk every day. Even if it's just for 30 minutes.
• I will make better choices when I DO need a snack.
• I will make better choices during meals.

There you have it. The plan. I am considering going back to measuring and recording everything, depending on how I do this week. It's a pain, but it certainly does set everything out in black and white.

Onward and downward!

Happy (belated) birthday to MEEEEE!

Birthdays are a big deal in our family. Not gift-wise, but we make it a celebration. The birthday person chooses how to spend the day, in pretty much all aspects. As a homeschooling family we have the freedom to take a vacation day, so we do.

The day started with my daughter serving breakfast -- coconut pie. :) And yes, I actually did eat it. With a big glass of milk because that much sugar, that early in the day is not good for me.

Since this was MY birthday, I chose to visit a lighthouse museum, one that I'd been intending to visit for quite a while. This actually had the added bonus of qualifying for a history field trip (hehehe ~ sneaky!).

Afterward, on the way home, we had a few extra minutes, so I stopped on a whim at the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. And I decided to climb Mt. Baldy, which is really just a huge sand dune. It is amusing and amazing to me that this -- climbing a sand dune -- was one of my chosen activities. That is so different from the person I used to be.

I like this me.

Weighing in

You'd think that I would be able to manage to have a simple weigh in post be written on time. Apparently not! Between husband, children, and dogs, I barely have had time to sit down!

This week's weigh in was quite a shock. I lost 2.6 pounds! Holey cow! That was completely unexpected, as ... um ... yeah ... we went out to eat four times. For dinner. And at least once for lunch. It has been crazy busy around here, and my husband tends to balk at cereal or oatmeal for dinner, so he made the executive decision for us to eat out. Thankfully, I think the busyness is over, at least for a while, so we're back to eating food that we prepare at home most of the time. Our only regular eating out is pizza on Wednesday night before church because it's fast and easy.

That brings my total weight loss to 56.6 pounds. Oh my word.

I've been making do with my husband's XL t-shirts most of the time. They are starting to be too big on my shoulders. For someone who lived in 3XL shirts (and was honestly about to outgrow those), that is more than a little astonishing. So I dug out the free t-shirt from the pet relocation company we used, and sure enough, that size Large shirt that my daughter was wearing as a nightshirt fit better than most of what I had been wearing.

Now if only I could get rid of the belly fat!

This week we'll be getting back into routine that will include actually getting the laundry folded and meals cooked at home. I'm not expecting a major loss like that again though. Losing that much in one week was probably related to the fact that I have been on the go so much!

A new recipe

A friend recently sent a link to a new (for me) bran muffin recipe from Mennonite Girls Can Cook.

I think it is perhaps the best bran muffin recipe I've ever made. And I admit that I was very skeptical, as it has some ... uncommon ... muffin ingredients, like All-Bran cereal and cottage cheese. As always when I've decided I like a new recipe, I added it into My Recipes in My Fitness Pal, and -- shock and surprise! -- the muffins are only 71 calories per serving, with 2 grams of protein. Well, I'll be darned!

On my first go with a recipe, I usually follow it exactly. However, this recipe called for walnuts, which I didn't have in my cabinet, and I don't particularly like anyway, so I used pecans instead. I also used dates for the fruit instead of the raisins. Both are listed in the recipe as an option. Those two differences to the original are reflected in the calorie content from My Fitness Pal. Also, I used a Pampered Chef small scoop to fill the muffin cups, which gave me a serving size of 30 muffins. I probably could/should have weighed them, but the batteries in my kitchen scale need to be replaced.

(Yeah, I'm never going to make it as a food photographer.)

My daughter has requested that I leave out the dates next time. She's not fond of raisins either, so that doesn't surprise me, and I don't think it will detract from the flavor at all. Other than the dates, she loved them. I think I will try a batch with dried cherries or cranberries as well.

I've actually cut most wheat and processed foods from my diet, but I do enjoy some sort of baked treat every now and then. These have made the cut and are worth it to me.

Happy baking!

Weighing in

Oh yeah. It has been a while! And to be quite honest, I've definitely not been concentrating on weight *loss* during my time away from the blog. My exercise has really fallen by the wayside, but thankfully, my nutrition knowledge has really stuck with me. I really don't even want to go back to the unhealthy ways, and it isn't a sacrifice at all, just a choice. Every time we were at a buffet (why do they always have to choose a buffet?!), I made the rounds to see what were my best options before I even considered digging in.

So ... on to the results. I can't even remember the last time I mentioned here, so we'll just start anew, shall we? This morning's weigh in was 183 pounds, exactly 54 pounds lighter than when I started my journey. That's only right at a 5 pound loss (4.8, I think) for this year. Not so great, but I can't beat myself up over it. I definitely will have to step it up though, if I want to meet my goal of losing 30 pounds this year. At my current rate, I'll only lose 20!

I started walking again yesterday. Walking as in exercise-walking, not the normal 'round the block thing with the urchins. I can tell that my endurance level has decreased, but I'm not overly concerned. I will get it back! My plan for this week is to walk every single day, even if it's only a couple of miles. On Saturday we (as a family) are going to participate in a spring clean for a local historic cemetery. Raking leaves, picking up sticks, cleaning some of the stones of moss ... just making it look nice for the community. I always feel like I get a good workout in whenever there is yard work involved!

Onward and downward! (And we'll hope it is slightly more downward than in previous weeks!)

Hmmm.

We have been traveling lately, quite a lot, which is -- in part -- why there have been no posts! Thankfully, I think we are home for a while.

The photo is of one of the many vending machines we encountered on our travels. Normally I just glance and move on, but this one was titled "Healthy Habits" so naturally, I took a closer look.

Look again with me ....

How many healthy items do you see?

On not wearing red

Friday, February 3 was "Wear Red Day." If you use Facebook at all, you probably saw it all over the place. I did anyway. Starting Thursday my friends posted links and photos and status updates relating to it.

While this is specifically about heart disease in WOMEN, this is an important issue to me. My grandmother died of congestive heart failure. My dad died of congestive heart failure. Statistically speaking, it is quite likely that this WILL be something that I'll face.

Seeing all of those reminders, I went to my closet on Friday. Red is one of my favorite colors because it's so bright and cheery, and it liberally peppers my closet. Or it did. The previous weekend, I had completely cleaned out everything that didn't fit and had passed them to a friend. I now own exactly one red shirt, and it was dirty. Unless I planned to do an unexpected load of laundry (which I really didn't have time to do), no red for me. I ended up choosing that thrift store shirt, which fits perfectly and is one of my favorites. I was satisfied.

And yet, there were a couple of raised eyebrows and a comment of "I would think you of all people [due to family history] would be wearing red today."

That stung. I am fully aware of my family history. I am the one, after all, who misses my dad every single day. I am the one who still misses my grandmother after 28 years. Believe me, heart disease is part of my reality every. single. day. I don't forget.


No, I did not wear red. Wearing red does nothing except put red on the outside of my body. In reality, it does nothing.

What did I do to raise awareness for heart disease? I did 40 minutes of cardio, and I walked 5 miles. And my children knew exactly what I was doing and, more importantly, why.

Weighing in

Writing the post two days late, but the weight is from Wednesday!

I was down 2.4 pounds! HECK YEAH!

Since October I had been hovering right around the same numbers, but it looks like I might have broken through! Was that a plateau? Or just not enough effort on my part? Not sure, but I'm glad that it looks like it's it's the past.

This week is stressful. Very stressful. At this very moment, I am so grateful that I am not a stress-eater.

I'm 51 miles into my 115-miles-in-January goal, so I'll just keep walking.

Onward and downward!

Triggers and responses

I was listening to a Jillian Michaels podcast earlier today.

Aside:


This is what I do when I'm working in the kitchen. I listen to podcasts. It keeps my brain engaged while my hands are busy and makes my tasks less onerous. 

The podcast was very therapy-esque, but one thing that really caught my attention was when the person who called in started talking about eating triggers. Mine is boredom. When I am under stress, I sleep, but boredom ... yeah. ::chomp chomp:: And availability. I can't say that enough. If I'm in the kitchen and it's readily available, I'll probably snack on it.

I've started putting all of the snacks away in a cabinet, except for the bowl of fruit that we keep on the counter. We used to keep a bowl of individual bags of crackers, cookies, and granola bars as well. I realized relatively early that this was way too much temptation for me, and I put that bowl inside a cabinet under the counter.

Michaels answered the caller's question by talking about responses to triggers that can't be changed quite as easily as my bowl of salty snacks. The idea of responses resonated with me.

I had set a response without realizing it.

Several months ago, I was in the kitchen with my head in the fridge, just looking for a snack. Then it hit me that I had no idea if I was really hungry or if I just wanted to snack. Most of the time if I don't have something specific in mind, I'm not hungry. Thankfully, this was one time that I came to my senses before I was stuffing my face, and as a result I decided to go get on the treadmill for just five minutes. Five minutes.

In that short amount of time I was on the treadmill, I realized that I was hungry, not snacky. And I decided what I needed. Since then, if I start feeling snacky at an unplanned time, I head to the treadmill for that five minutes. It gives me distance and clarity that just isn't there when I'm standing in front of the cabinet or fridge. It may only burn 45 calories or so, but it sometimes saves me 200 or more.

Inspiration

Weighing in

And a big hardy-har-har to me! I went to bed last night composing this post in my head. Yesterday was food-and-exercise challenging, so I just knew I would have a gain. Well whaddya know ....

I lost 1.6 pounds this week! WOO-diddly-HOO!

And while I don't have last year's calendar handy, I think that this is an all-time low. I'm actually excited to see what tomorrow brings because yesterday I only walked about a mile, had a huge salty popcorn snack because I was really hungry and it was the only thing available, and I didn't eat dinner until 9:30 pm. So you can see why I was composing that "gain" post in my head!

Now that the holidays are over, I've mostly settled into a routine again. My eating has moved back to what I had established, and I'm getting regular exercise again. Even with my surprise loss this week, I'm planning to be down a pound next week too.

Onward and downward! :)

2011 Accomplishments

• Climbed Stone Mountain.
• Significantly increased my endurance.
• Learned a tremendous amount about nutrition.
• Started eating breakfast regularly.
• Learned how to make super tasty AND healthy salads.
• Moved toward clean eating. (I actually didn't realize that my method had a name until I was browsing a bookstore in late summer.) With the exception of the holidays, my eating is about 75% to 80% clean.
• Lost 29 pounds. (Went from 217 on January 1, 2011 to 188 on January 1, 2012)