Week Two- The Dear-God-I-Think-I-Might-Like-This New Eating Lifestyle

So I'm not pestering you all with posts each day, I'll give you the rundown of the highlights and what I learned each week.

Day 8: Started out hungry but waited until mid-morning before eating, so I'm not a raving lunatic cannibal by lunch. No one eaten. Cats are still alive and I didn't use their kibble as a snack. So far, so good.

Accomplishments: For the first time in a very long time, I went down to the basement to put food away and get some meat out of the chest freezer for dinner. We have a very narrow basement stairwell with steep steps, and though I still feel claustrophobic (even though I don't suffer from it), the main reason was my knees and ankles. I have to side step at a certain point that would make my knees or ankles pop, and sometimes that would turn into a twinge and my leg would buckle a little. Great for Youtube videos, but not good when carrying stuff down the stairs.
I made it without a single pop!

Using the exercise bike is becoming routine, though I only had time for half of my 30-minute workout. I hope to do better tomorrow.

Dinner was a very light but tasty soup. It was so light (in calories) I could have two bowls! So I did. Yum.

Day 9: A good day! I didn't do as much exercise as I'd planned, but the calories were planned out well enough that I could treat myself to something I love- Pepperoni dip and a slice of bread to go with it. Yum! I really need to make this soup more often- it makes a great leftover lunch the next day, and allows me to "cheat" a little with higher calories snacks.

What I've learned: Have ready-to-take snacks when I go out is a huge help. This time it was fresh green beans and seedless cucumbers. Just slip them in a sandwich bag, and off I go! It helps if I prep things ahead of time too, so I don't have to slice things up before leaving the house.

Just because i can have two bowls of soup, doesn't mean I should. The only boo-boo I can confess to today is that I was satisfied after the first bowl, but ate the second bowl right after the first one anyway. I could have spaced it out, but I didn't. Mischief managed, lesson learned.

Day 10: I like having the same breakfast every morning- at least during the week. My little plate of scrambled eggs with spinach, tomato and cheese with a small side of bacon fills me up and tastes great! Much better than having fruit or veggies. Guess that's the proteinaholic in me.

I still wait for mid-morning to eat, though when I'm active first thing in the morning (like today, changing all the sheets and blankets on the bed- there's a million layers), the activity makes a gal feel a little hungry. Going to have some water and see if it's not just thirst talking!

I'm also wondering if stripping the bed can be counted as exercise. I need to check my chart!

Just checked. Nope. Bummer.

Had some errands to run with my husband, and he decided to use those gift cards and go out on a date with me since we were already out. I'd forgotten my snacks this time around, but it turned out for the better! We went to Olive Garden and the menus had calorie counts! And lucky me had extra calories saved from exercise and no snacks that I had a really nice meal- including a bread stick with my soup and entree!

Day 11: I feel so much thinner today! I found myself going up the stairs at a good pace this morning, no pain, and no joints popping! I think that bike is doing this body good! Today I have a dental consult appointment to see just how many teeth I'll be losing before reconstruction. Breakfast at the same time (mid-morning), and I'll take a smoothie and some snacks with me because I have to go food shopping afterwards.

Maybe I'll stop by the my clinic so I can do a quickie weigh-in. Hee hee hee!

They let me weigh myself! I lost 2.5 pounds!

Oddly enough I felt disappointed. I don't know why, since it's only been about a week and a half. Part of me expected ten or twenty pounds, because it felt like I'd been doing this for a month, not a week or two! But there it is- I have officially lost weight!

After dinner I did my calorie count and WOW- I was 300-400 calories under my goal of 1500. Dinner consisted of a lot of sauteed veggies and just a little chicken, but my plate was full- and so was I! Still, going that much under isn't good- I don't want to do that too often- starving my body of calories isn't the idea- it's to eat what my body needs to lose weight yet remain healthy and getting more fit.

The weekend starts tomorrow. I'm sure I'll make up those calories- even if I don't want to!

Day 12: Still feeling good and doing well! Managed to do a little more on the bike today, lasting a little longer- five more minutes Mom! My thighs aren't happy when I got off of the bike, but they are never happy- one reason I want them to go and leave me alone!

I made a wrap for dinner, thinking the calories wouldn't be so bad. YIKES! Did you know large tortillas are over 200 calories? I would've been better off with a piece of bread! I still ate it though, and was thankful that I burned a few extra calories on the bike today.

Day 13: Sundays have to be the hardest because of all of the goodies that are served after church. Today I sequestered a banana and a bag of cucumber slices in my purse, and ate them when I got hungry. But then they had Italian pasta salad on the table. I love Italian pasta salad. So I had a very small bowl of it and did a few extra minutes on my bike. 

No idea just how many calories it was so I looked on the site and I still managed to stay within the 1500 range for the day- WOOHOO!

Tomorrow is Monday. Instead of posting the entire 14 days, I'll post this tomorrow as I do with my other blog, Footprints in the Mud- just so I don't forget!

Day Seven- The Dear-God-It's-Been-A-Week New Eating Lifestyle

Seven days makes one weak.

But in my case, seven days of dieting makes one stronger.

Here I am, blogging before breakfast. I've been up for four hours, and only now do I feel a tinge of hunger. I'm not starving myself mind you, just waiting to get the real signals that I need to eat. 

Which will be within the next hour.

It's been a week. Most of the time the foods haven't changed much concerning breakfast, lunch and snacks, but I'll be looking into alternative foods this week, before I get bored or burnt out. Right now, what I'm eating works, and I'd like to keep it that way.

The kids are excited to use the bike, though that might get dull fairly quick, I might just tell then that if they want to watch something, they need to pedal through at least half of the program!

Why? Because they are becoming bigger- just like I did as a teen. I don't want them to be fighting fat when they are older, so I want to get them moving as soon as they can. Unfortunately I've been their main role model when it comes to eating and exercising, so I need to do better, so they will do better.

My knees have stopped hurting when going up the stairs. My belly has gone down, though that could be because the pipes aren't clogged anymore. it could also be because my stomach isn't always full, and when it is, it's isn't stuffed. That is such a good feeling, let me tell you!

I'm breathing better. Breathing is a good thing. Yepperdoo.

The nutritionist is a veggie person. I'm a protein person. Though her suggestions of staying satisfied differ from mine, at least she understands the concept that I might need more protein to stay satisfied and hasn't limited me from certain foods. Maybe that's why this diet (as calorie-less as it is) is working. As long as most of the stuff I'm eating is good for me, I don't think we'll have issues. 
The good news is all of the food I'm eating is good for me- except for the take-out fail I did last week. Let's just say that as long as I'm home making everything, all the food is going to be good for me!

It was a busy day today and there were enough leftovers that I didn't have to cook. I wanted to see how I'd feel if I didn't have the salad and instead had leftover dinner for lunch, and a small sandwich for dinner. I enjoyed it, but I think I'd like something more substantial than a sandwich- the bread was higher in calories than I'd like- but at least it wasn't diet bread.

Tonight there was a meeting at church, and they had all kinds of candies to snack on along with bottle of water. I took a water and eyed the Three Musketeers bars everyone seemed to be eating. Those things are my third favorite candy bar, and i almost told myself those little snack sized suckers couldn't have that many calories, but I refrained, despite the fact that I had some room on my eating plan for at least one. I'd ridden the bike for a total of thirty minutes today just in case the sandwich wasn't enough, but I also knew if I'd had one of those little bars, I'd have seven. 

So I didn't have any, and sipped on my bottle of water through the meeting.

It was hard to see people having what I'd wanted, but not as hard as I thought it would be. Because I'd made the choice that the calories just weren't worth it.

It was a good day!

Day Six- The Dear-God-Let-Me-Live-Through-Church New Eating Lifestyle

It's Sunday, Sunday, Sunday! It's also church day!

It's also icy. And raining. Ugh. I was hoping to walk to church this morning.

For us, church is a loooong day. I sing for communion each week (yes, it's every week here) and I also do bread ministry before service starts (wrapping donated bread for handing out after service).
Because I knew I wouldn't be eating for hours and hours, after breakfast around eightish I made my smoothie and took a good helping of celery sticks to hold me until we got home around twoish. That is a longish time to go without lunchish.

The hunger started around noon- right in the middle of service. Lucky for me smoothies aren't noisy, so I took a seat in the mini sanctuary (for the overflow of congregants on busy Sundays) and sipped it until it was gone. I waited until the service was almost over before starting in on the celery sticks. When services were over, we went out for a snack (called love feast) in the room where I set up the bread table and where the love feast people had also set up. I was sorely tempted when they had cupcakes put out, but I resisted and thought about my lunch of a huge chicken cobb salad when I got home. 

Someone came up to me in church whilst I was eyeballing the cupcakes and quipped "You can't have that." I turned to her and grinned. "Nope- it's not 'I can't have that'- it's 'That's not worth the calories!'"

I love it when God puts really good words in my mouth- instead of cupcakes!

And the tummy is happy, because I really enjoyed my salad!

My girlfriend wanted to go out with her girlfriends to an early dinner because her husband and sons were "going football" on her. So I'll be going out to a restaurant for the first time since I started this diet. I checked out the restaurant, and they have some yummy choices in my price and calorie range. YAY!
I never like restaurants with calorie counts on their menus before. Now I love them!
I stayed within my limits, and even though a bag of chips came with my order, I didn't eat them! For a chipoholic, that is a huge amount of restraint!

I got an exercise bike! A friend of mine heard that I wanted one (especially for icy/wet days like these) and wanted to get rid of hers, but didn't want to put her barely used bike in the trash, so she held on to it! Double YAY! So now I can do my regular exercise in-house when I can't get out, and I can probably go longer if I pop in a movie while the kids are at school- BONUS!

I have to say that usually by now, I'd have quit this diet thing at least twice. I've cheated, but I haven't quit- and that's really saying something for me!

Lessons I learned:

The "it's not worth it" not "I can't have that" thing is working. I seriously almost took those tastykake cupcakes off of that platter. I used to LOVE them, and my brains remember them well. They might taste differently to me now because I do a lot of home baking (and believe me, nothing processed tastes good now that I do stuff from scratch), but man, did I want to give those suckers a test run in my mouth!
But I also wanted to eat dinner. Dinner is a good thing. And this was before I realized my friend was serious about going out for dinner. So now I'm really glad I resisted!

I'm really proud of myself today!

Day Five- The Dear-God-Will-I-Survive New Eating Lifestyle

Oh no- it's the weekend! That wouldn't be so bad, but I have a women's meeting at church today and they are having food afterwards!

And of course, I am supposed to bring the cookies.
For the first time ever, I bought them instead of baking them. I can't have my house smelling like a bakery this early in the game. I can't!
So I went to the meeting and the lunch after. Stuck with foods I knew were within my limits and only one food I wasn't sure about, but I figured if I had a little, that would be okay.
I think I did pretty well, then went home to log the calories.
I only went a little over my limit for lunch! Yay!
Slow eating and conversations helped me not to gobble- which was hard since I haven't had my super smoothie yet. Not sure of I'll have one today- I might just skip it and have some celery instead, since lunch was a bit late.

What I learned:

I feel thinner. At least my belly does.

Walking up the stairs isn't as much of a struggle. Yes, it's only been five days, and I didn't lose THAT much weight (though I really have no idea), but the exercise and the energy boost helped getting up the stairs a lot better. And I can bend my knees easier coming down too.

I can be trusted in a social situation. I didn't have to bring a smoothie, or a salad with me- and yes, I had one little cookie. I couldn't stop thinking about them, so I slowly, slowly ate one. I learned that my homemade cookies taste a ton better, and I didn't even want another cookie afterwards. They really need more fruit filling in their kolackys. Bleh.

No one wants to hear you're dieting. They only want to hear the good stuff about your dieting.

Dinner was really yummy and I managed to eat slower than anyone else. I savored the food, and cut it into smaller bites, taking sips of water in between bites. Anything that i don't like (like that cookie), will no longer be eaten because I started on it- it just isn't worth the calories!

Day Four- The Dear-God-Maybe-I-Won't-Die New Eating Lifestyle:

I no longer feel like I'm dying of starvation. I think my body went numb.

Didn't snack as much yesterday because I had a huge chicken cobb salad I'd made myself. Sure, it was almost 400 calories, but it was a giant bowl that was mostly lettuce and spinach. I ate it a bit faster than I intended, but it was so good. Doing that again today, definitely!

I walked yesterday too, so the program actually allows me a few more calories when I exercise- what a motivation! If I swim the Atlantic, I can have a steak with a loaded baked potato for a snack- that makes me want to get my bathing suit on!

I have managed to stay within 150 calories give or take (mostly give) of my goal of 1500 calories a day.

What I have learned:

I didn't die. God is good.

Hunger will go away if you find something to do- distractions are a great way to stop thinking about your next meal/snack.

Water helps, but when you're truly hungry, it doesn't do diddly-squat.

Drinking 2 cups of water right before eating helps you slow down your food intake, because you don't feel as desperate to get something in your stomach before it implodes like a black hole.

I have refrained from grazing and eating anything with empty calories because I don't want my nutritionist to yell at me.

I think an exercise bike in the house would let me do more than 20 minutes of exercise- like walking outside in freezing temperatures. Just pop in a movie and literally pedal my hiney off for an hour and a half- then go eat an elephant.

After four days, my belly has gotten a lot smaller.

I don't care how much I think I've lost, I'm still not bringing a scale into the house!

That's it! I've learned a lot, but I'll bet I'll learn more in the coming weeks. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to be under the Flabulous Threes before spring? I really do wonder if I'll stick with it for that long- I hope I do!

Day Three- The Dear-God-I'm-Gonna-Die New Eating Lifestyle

Things are going well. I managed to hold off eating breakfast until mid-morning, only because my stomach didn't wake up all the way (though it did do a muttering growl about 6am- I wake up at 4:30) Made a nice breakfast and made my smoothie- I put that in the fridge and tried to eat my breakfast really slow.

Tried.

Had my smoothie about 10:30 and now my stomach is complaining again. I think if I sequestered myself in my sewing/writing room for a while I might forget that I feel like I'm starving to death- it doesn't help that everything on Facebook looks like food- and sometimes is.

Next up might be celery sticks, but I have a really fantastic lunch planned that I need to saute chicken fingers for- homemade chicken cobb salad. It has more calories than I like to admit to, but it includes 2 cups of greens, cherry tomatoes, chicken, real bacon, cheese and a boiled egg...and just a touch of Italian dressing. I'm not much for dressing but in this case, a little goes a really long way.

My stomach growled again. I didn't know it could read!

As for yesterday, went over my calorie count and didn't exercise. I'm supposed to exercise today too- at least 20 minutes of walking. Maybe I'll saute the chicken fingers and take a walk while they cool down. I only need one for the salad, and the house will smell good when I get back.

Yeah- that's the plan. After I make myself some celery sticks to munch on so I don't gnaw the couch.

After the walk....

I managed to forgo the celery sticks and made the chicken before I went for my walk. Came home to an awesome smelling house, sat for a second before making my massive salad, and ate that sucker to the last leaf! And I still have 500 calories left for the day!

Dinner was really good, and I went to be feeling empty, but not hungry. I didn't feel bloated either- something I never realized was happening until it stopped happening. I'm hoping tomorrow it will get better- though I still want more food! The walk helped my joints a little and I managed to go up the stairs a little easier. YAY!

Day Two- Planning my Death

(The next few posts are modified from Facebook posts I'd made a few days ago.)

Day Two of new eating plan- because the word "Diet" mean "Die" with a 't'.

I'm taking the van in for a part replacement so I have to plan eating accordingly, because I might be there forever. Going to have an early breakfast (which I don't want to do, but it beats starving) and take my smoothie and a veggie snack with me to the repair shop.

All I have to say is they better be done by lunchtime...or they will have one big, grumpy troll lady on their hands!

Did okay calorie-wise yesterday. According to the chart I'm supposed to have 2100 calories a day, but the nutritionist said to stay around 1500. So I did. Have to change up some snack alternatives though, because veggie snack just don't cut it all the time. Thinking a boiled egg or some nuts would work well. Going to do a little shopping on Friday- or maybe after I get the van back today! (but after I eat lunch!)

I wanted to share the Super Smoothie recipe:

Roland's Super Smoothie

I use a Nutri bullet, so if you don't have one, I'll guesstimate how much I use.smile emoticon

1/2 of Nutri cup raw spinach (about a cup)
1/3 of a pound frozen tropical fruit (about 3/4 cup)
1 banana
1 Tblsp. Diatomaceous Earth *aka DE food grade) *optional
fill to the line with orange juice (about 1-1 1/2 cups)

Blend until uniform lime color.
this is about 300 calories for the entire large cup, 150 if you half it. smile emoticon
The DE (not the stuff in that filters your pool- this is food grade and safe to eat) helps clean out the villi in your bowels like a toothbrush- sweeping them clean as it goes through- and it helps your body retain calcium! I use this for my osteoarthritis.

I got the van in time to get lunch for me and my husband, since his work was so close. I went the Checkers and refrained from getting all the other stuff I get, and settled for some fries and a half of a burger and half of a chicken sandwich- I love two for four deals!

Got home and typed in the food on MyFitnessPal- great little program- and found out that the take out food was loaded with calories! Even my modest eating (at least for me) had taken me almost two-hundred calories over what I thought it was- and the chicken sandwich was worse than the burger! The fries might as well have been a half of a chicken sandwich- so all together, I had barely enough to eat dinner. There were no snacks for the rest of the day.

A word to the wise- if you know you're going out, try to guesstimate online what you might eat and plan accordingly- and if you can't, take those extra calories out through the next few days or exercise enough to balance them out. MyFitnessPal actually does that for you. I like the fact that my calorie allotment can go up when I type in the exercise! The catch is I actually have to do the exercises. Bummer!

Dinner was small and i went to bed hungry. Water did help a little but oh, I'm not sure I could do this for much longer if this is how it feels all the time!

Day One- The Hunger Years

(the next few posts are modified from Facebook posts I'd made before restarting this blog.)

I had a nice long talk with my nutritionist. She got all tough on me and said I have to walk 20-30 minutes a day- every day. I wasn't even doing that for the 5 days a week she wanted me to! How is this going to be different??

She gave me "The Look" and said I need to stop depending on others to help me. walking partners cancelled too much (or didn't show), I had to cancel the gym (silly to keep going, since my arms are messed up from a sprain and osteoarthritis still and the walk to the gym and back would be the only thing I really needed to do). And no more excuses! She said if I didn't want to walk because it was too cold/hot/rainy/snowy/whatever (she didn't blame me for the first because it was frigid outside), then I had to do it in the house- stand there and walk in place or walk around the house for 20-30 minutes and be mobile.

Food-wise I'm doing okay but I could do better. Especially portion-wise. My weight chart was a roller-coaster ride as she pointed out, and it went down, up, down, up, down, up, up- I think the last 'up' broke that last straw for my nutritionist.
So I have a new plan for both exercise and eating, and now I have to write a journal (Ugh!) for the next week to see what things are a bad habit and what I can change.
And the worst part? She ran out of spangly stickers for me to use. Now I have to make my own doodles in each calendar day. Humph!
Good thing I just bought some new sharpies...

Please pray that I stick to it this time. I'd like to be under the "Big Threes" sometime this spring!

Day One...

Making a journal of what I'm eating- I do not like this!! I never realized how much I want to graze (and have grazed in the past) because now I have to write it down. I'm hungry, but don't dare eat for at least another hour!
Maybe some celery sticks or carrot chips....*stomach growls*

I sliced my middle finger while making carrot chips. That's what I get for trying to eat healthy. Cupcakes just don't do this to you! Chips neither!

Standing in place and walking has to be the most boring, dull thing I have ever done. Even when watching a movie, I felt that I had to move if my legs were moving! And it's really hard trying to walk back and forth in a tiny space while trying to watch Horton Hears a Who- I missed all the good parts and may have whiplash.

Want some cheese with that whine, Beth? Nope. Apparently that would put me over my calorie goal. Sigh.

I made it through Day One in tact. Though there might have been a few gnawing marks on the furniture...I'll just count that as extra fiber.

Someone told me the first day isn't even the worst day- the next two days are going to be the hardest! Ugh!

The Two Year Restart

A lot has happened from my last post to this one. 

My husband was in an accident three months after the last post, and since then it's been time spent helping him recover, packing and moving a three-story house, and getting into some very bad, bad habits.

Before the accident things were good- I still wasn't losing, but until the accident I was walking two miles, three days a week to the gym, working out for almost an hour on the machines, and getting those weights and reps up. I think I started at 10 reps of 30 pounds on the arm machines, and for the crunch machine, I'd started at 10 reps of 50 pounds on the front, and 10 reps of 70 pounds on the back. The leg press was 10 reps at 100 pounds.

By September, I'd gone to 40 reps and 70 pounds on the arm machines, 40 reps and 90 pounds on the front and 40 reps of 110 pounds on the back on the crunch machine, and the leg press was 40 reps of 150 pounds.

September 11th, 2012 was when my husband had an accident at work. We were in the middle of getting a house, and he was in the hospital for 18 days. I had to drop the gym.

I'm a stress eater. I had to care for my sweet husband and pack the entire house myself because skin grafts and boxes don't mix. I used my new-found muscle to get the job done, and we moved in December that same year.

Then I unpacked everything and organized it for the next two months. And I ate. And ate.

By the time I got back onto a scale, I was over 300 again. In fact, I was gaining by the minute. But I had a lot to deal with during his recovery and the house, so I ignored everything concerning diet and did what I had to do. 

The scale showed I was 335. I started seeing a nutritionist.

The funny thing was she'd said what I was eating was (for the most part) okay. It was how much I was eating that mattered. I was healthy as a horse- unfortunately that horse was a Clydesdale.

So we made plans and brainstormed ideas. It worked sometimes, and sometimes not. But the weight slowly went down. Then up. Then down again. Then up again. One time I had the flu for eleven days and wound up losing 14 pounds. Oh joy! But would I keep it off?

I did well the first weigh-in- only one pound gained. The next weigh-in, I'd gained three pounds. She had had enough.

This nice, thin lady made me promise to try things her way. Her way involved a 1500 calorie diet, but one that wouldn't restrict me from anything- just the calories. I could have ice cream if I wanted- but that would limit me from having much else if I filled out my calories in one shot.

So I started the new diet with a new perspective. 

I'll be posting daily for a time, then eventually go to weekly posts. Sometimes you'll cheer with me, sometimes you'll commiserate with me, and sometimes you might even get mad with me- or at me. But this is a journey I wanted to share with those of you who understand and even share my struggles- and triumphs. 

So I'm starting over- one more time.

The last time I was weighed I was 321, so that's where we'll start. I'll give you the numbers as I get them, but since i don't have a scale in the house (nor do i intend to), I'll tell you what I weigh after I see the nutritionist- about once a month. Then we can toast each other with water or barely sweetened iced tea- whatever you prefer!