Water

It's a very wonderful thing, water. That song is played on Sirius Kids Place Live relatively often, and I just love it. It's true. Water is wonderful.

I have no trouble drinking enough water during warmer weather. In the winter, not so much. I want warm, warm, warm! Warm water doesn't taste so great to me, at least not without being infused with coffee or tea!

To combat this, I devised a little system, which was actually based on getting my daughter to drink her cranberry juice. She only needed to drink eight ounces, so I split it into two four ounce servings. Four ounces is like two healthy swigs. Completely attainable! She did it, easily, and we went on with our happy day.

Hmmm.

I approached my water consumption the same way. I set my kitchen timer for 15 minutes, and every time it went off, I fill my little cup with four ounces of water, drink, and set it on the counter for the next time. Such an easy solution.

As you can see, it helped tremendously. Each of those tic marks represents four ounces, so on Friday, I measured 7.5 cups. This is only for when I am at home (obviously), so when I leave I take a bottle of water with me and make sure I am done when I get back. It also does not include anything I drink outside of that, so I easily made my 8 cups that day. (I realize that most experts say that 8 cups is an arbitrary, outdated number, but it has traditionally be a good goal for me.)

My measuring tools are a powerful arsenal for me, and this is just another example.

Happy sipping!

Weighing in

I really, really kicked it up on my workouts this week. I've been doing a minimum of 3.5 miles on the treadmill daily. That's up from ... oh ... NOTHING in the weeks before, so I was expecting a loss.

I got it! This week I lost two pounds! Is it wrong that I was really hoping for 2.5 at least? Ah well. There's always next week.

This brings my total to 70.6 pounds lost, only .2 pounds away from my all-time low just before Christmas. I'll get there.

The exercise was great, but I think I'm going to need to change it up a bit. All of the jogging on the treadmill is making my hip hurt, so I think I'm going to have to move to something else. Maybe I'll hit the bike at the Y every other day.

Overall this week I was pleased with my food choices. On day #3 of exercise, I was shockingly hungry. I was expecting to want more, but not like that! Aside from some tortilla chips and a few cookies (from a school activity ~ darn school!), I did well on my choices, even including the extra snackage.

This week, more of the same. The fridge is stocked with the good stuff, and I'm strangely less interested in the bad.

Onward and downward!

Weighing in

Oh, you holiday season. You got me this year. I didn't check in on the blog, but I did update my weight on My Fitness Pal. A gain of about two pounds!

BOO HISS.

This week's weigh in went slightly better. I'm down by .6 pounds. Not much, but at least that dratted scale is moving in the correct direction again.

My neighbor has started a group where we post a daily picture of our workout. I seriously think that this might be what I needed! I sure don't want to be a known slacker, so I have made SURE to get on the treadmill every day, not just pussy-footing around with a DVD workout.

(Please don't say I'm the only one who sometimes gives less than my all on those.)

Day 1:

Day 2

Day 3

Day 1 was easy.

Day 2 was slightly harder.

Day 3 (today) ... I wanted to quit half an hour in! Yesterday was sweaty, but today was really sweaty! That's good though.

I'm working toward a much better weigh in next week.

Onward and downward!

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.