Week Ten: Gobble, Gobble...NOT!

It's the week of Thanksgiving and all through the places, people were coming and stuffing their faces.

Image by Maggie Morrill from Pixabay 

But not meeee!

I had Thanksgiving and Friendsgiving, and both times I took what I liked, yet didn't overindulge. Success!

This week was a bit messed up window-wise, but I adjusted the times so before and after those big window days, I had a much smaller eating window. 

I'm finding the downside of IF is not getting to eat everything I like in the time frame I'd prefer. We now have five people total in the house, and most times I don't get a second taste of something I like. I still refuse second helpings, but I get a little angsty when I know the leftovers might not be there the next day. Sigh.

My snacks are slowly changing to healthier choices, but I still have an occasional handful of salty snacks several times a week. Nuts are still a great alternative, but sometimes a girl just gotta have some chips or cheese curls! I know these are bad for me, but at least I'm no longer eating the entire giant bag- like I used to! My husband also bought a bag of giant oranges- my favorite snack fruit!

Exercise is still a challenge. During the holiday week, I sat for the most part prepping food for the two big meals. My upper body got a workout, but my bottom half remained relatively still. The colder weather is making my joints ache a bit more, and getting up requires a little creaking and stretching before I'm able to initiate 'full movement' mode.

Unfortunately, the bakery job is on hold because of more covid restrictions imposed, so my chance of being on my feet more during work isn't going to happen soon, if at all. I'll be doing a lot more baking now that the Christmas season is upon us, so I'll be moving around a lot more in the coming weeks when at home.

Veggies have been added to the menu and now we have an abundance of healthy leftovers from the holiday. Mashed potatoes, carrots, corn, and green beans are stocked in the fridge, and I know those will last longer than the turkey and stuffing. At least the carrots and green beans will, and that's okay with me- I can make more mashed potatoes when they run out. I do love my potatoes!

I also love whipped cream- My husband made a fresh batch and whilst I was taste-testing the beater, he decided to swat me in the face with the spatula. Fortunately, my daughter recorded this little gem here:

(if you can't see the video, copy and paste this link) https://www.facebook.com/100009322582338/videos/2798544767132915/

The only tweaks I plan for this next week are cutting down my food intake a little and exercising more. All in all, it was a great week!

Week Nine: Tweak Week

This week went well! 

I managed to not eat until I got home, and though I found myself still eating too much on occasion, I didn't gorge or overdo anything snacky. I missed having breakfast foods this week, so I might be coming home and making breakfast instead of eating leftovers.

(Me in my favorite shirt!)

I was on my feet a bit more this week- I even had a standing conversation for over thirty minutes! For someone who couldn't be on her feet for more than a few minutes at a time, this is a new level of awesome. Of course, after that long, I really needed to sit because of complaining knees!

Weekends are harder to stick to a four-hour window, so I'm not doing that any longer. I decided that having breakfast with the family is more important. So my husband adjusted and makes a late breakfast for everyone, and I get to eat and enjoy my first meal with my husband and kids. 

Just because the window is open doesn't mean I have to eat all that time, so instead of three meals in my longer window, I had two meals with a small snack in the middle. Since Sundays are open for people to visit around dinnertime, a longer eating window not only allows me to eat with friends, but I don't feel like I'm pressuring them to eat too early, and I can extend my time by eating slower while having a conversation.

Changing the eating window times over the weekends will also help my metabolism not settle into a routine so I can burn more during the workweek. 

To recap, I have three to four-hour windows during the week and six to eight-hour windows on the weekends. I'm standing up more, eating healthier, and eating more natural snacks, like nuts. Yum!

Image by PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay 

Tweaks to work on are moving more, eating less at meals, and adding more veggies to the menu. We have been eating more veggies, but I feel we could increase the amount a lot more, and maybe have some veggies ready-cut for snacking as well. 

Some days I feel the need to stuff myself with more than I know I need, simply because I have a small window and I have an unfounded fear that I'm not going to get enough nutrition. I know it's silly, but it can become an obstacle at times. I also tend to be a stress eater, and the hunger pangs get bad when I'm stressed. That's another good reason to not have any food in the van!

I wore my leggings the other day when we went out (you know, the ones that didn't fit in the beginning?), and I was feeling so skinny! It felt really good to be out and about in clothing that fits comfortably without making me feel like a hippo. I'm starting to dislike wearing my go-to clothing (sweat pants), but it's cold out, so I'm wearing them to work- for now.

My energy level had remained pretty peppy, and walking is getting a lot less painful. I haven't done any long walks outside yet, but then again, there wasn't much time to walk this past week (I'll tell you why in my other blog, Footprints in the Mud- soon to be posted after this blog post). Now we're getting into Thanksgiving, so there won't be much time for it this week either, I suspect, but my husband took off this week, so we might have a little extra time to go for a walk while the pies are baking and doughs are rising.

Speaking of this week, I'm not 'taking off' from this eating lifestyle to feast until I burst. I plan to have a little of everything, but I also want to eat slowly and pause for a bit before the next course. The window will be as wide as it needs to be, but not more than six to eight hours- I don't plan on eating breakfast unless we eat it closer to noon.

Oh! Did I mention we are doing a Friendsgiving on Sunday? We usually have it that Friday, but we felt spacing it out would be best for everyone involved. Besides, since we're having Thanksgiving at his sisters' house, we won't have a fridge full of leftovers until Sunday!

The best part will be the leftovers will last a lot longer since I'm not eating them all within a few days. Smaller and fewer portions make the food last! I might even make a few 'Thanksgiving bowl combos' for the freezer so I can have them when I'm in a 'fowl' mood...

Hah!

That's it for this week. I hope you have a very Happy Thanksgiving and don't forget to tell everyone at the table what you're thankful for this year- other than 2020 is almost over, that is- I think we're all thankful for that!

Week Eight: Mixed Results

 Whew! Week eight is a weigh-in week! Both exciting and scary, and after measuring and weighing myself, there were mixed results.

Image by Johanna Pakkala from Pixabay 

The holiday candy blast I'd had definitely messed with my measurements and my weigh-in results, but that was a minor cog in the machine that is me. Too many times I ate more than was comfortable this past month, and only in the last week did I really listen to what my body had to say, and stop when I felt full.

I did well but felt myself wanting to be on my feet more than I used to be. Sitting, something I do a lot, isn't as restful as it used to be, yet I forced myself to sit because most of the things I did this week require sitting- okay, maybe not require, but I am used to doing things a certain way, so that's how I did them. 

The good news is a lot of what I did was healthy food prep- making egg salad, a ton of homemade tomato sauce, prepping meats for the freezer, and dividing meats into smaller portions for easier cooking later on. The bad news is I did all of this sitting. I can't stand for hours, but there's no reason I couldn't do a lot more on my feet.

My eating window is getting much smaller! I've stopped taking food with me to work and decided to start my window whenever I get home. So the window usually lasts about 4 hours or less- in some cases, it was only 2-1/2 hours!- and I'm not nearly as hungry as I was when I could smell the prepped food in my van. Out of sight really is out of mind!

I also didn't add a lot of veggies to my meals like I'd planned, and I feel that also attributed to the results. But I bet you don't want to hear about the results, you want to know what they are!

Here were my measurements:

Original numbers:          4 weeks ago:              Now:                Difference:

Weight 363 lbs.                346                         342                    4 pounds

Biceps- 23"                      same                       21-1/4"              1-3/4"

Chest- 61-1/2"                 59-1/2"                   61-1/4"              + 1-3/4"

Waist- 58"                       55-1/2"                      57"                  + 1-3/4"

Hips- 69-1/2"                   64"                         63-1/2"               1/2"

Thigh- 32"                       31-1/4"                   31-1/2"                +1/4"

Neck- 18"                        same                       17-3/4"               1/4"

The loss was minimal, so I didn't take pictures this time around. I might start taking them at every ten-pound total loss instead.

Four pounds doesn't seem like much for the whole month, but it's still one pound a week- which adds up when you're doing this for the rest of your life. It's on the low side of my desired weight loss, but it's still a loss- which is great!

I've lost my desire for candy (at least for the cheap stuff) so that half-empty bowl just doesn't have the pull it did before Halloween. There are a few changes that need to be made. The food adjustments went pretty well but minor tweaks concerning food versus mobility need to be made.

So these next four weeks will be dedicated to:

adding more veggies to my menu

stand up more at home when prepping

doing house chores that involve moving around

More walking outside

Eating about the same as last month, but better choices

My job allows some movement, but since things have been slow, I've been moving a lot less. Winter will be here soon enough, and my knees won't let me be out in the cold for long, so it's best to get some good home habits started now while the weather is good.

I hope to keep the weight loss in the four to eight pound range (closer to eight next month- I hope), and I think being more mobile will definitely make my measurements smaller next time. 

I'm so glad I started Intermittent Fasting!

Week 7: I'm a Halloween Survivor!

This past Saturday was Halloween, and though we didn't give out any candy, that doesn't mean that we didn't buy any. 

In fact, the day after Halloween, my husband came back with bags of candy, all half off. We filled a giant bowl with goodies, most of them being chocolate-covered. My favorite kind!

There were also fruit-flavored ones as well, and I have to say, the cache of candy was colossal. 

Image by pixel1 from Pixabay 

In previous years that bowl would become a decimated pile of wrappers within a week, and I admit I had more than my share of the goodies once they hit that bowl- one of each, just to see if I really still liked them.

Surprise! I still did!

But something odd happened. I didn't have a desire to finish off the bowl as soon as possible. Once I'd had my mini-binge, I was able to walk away from it without another thought, guilt, or regret. That's an incredibly powerful feeling!

No guilt for eating more than I thought I should.

No regret at losing control- because I didn't.

No feeling like I need to eat it all before it's gone- because it's okay to let others finish off the bowl. 

And when I started feeling that way? I took a little sandwich baggie and put in a few treats I really wanted to save for later, and put it on the snack shelf with my name on it. No more anxiety over not getting special treats because someone else ate them all. I had my small stash to eat when I wanted to eat it, whether that be a few days from now or in January. I can eat it long after that bowl is empty.

No guilt about that, either!

So how about the rest of the week prior to Halloween? I did really well.

Holding off breakfast for an extra thirty to sixty minutes did a body good. I'm still eating a bit too much on occasion, but only felt a few bites too full twice, so there's an improvement. I notice now that I'm more energetic in the fasted state, and found myself holding off eating if there was something strenuous to do. I did the hard stuff first, then ate. I'm stunned at how much effort it takes to digest food, and how little energy I have during my eating window!

Lightbulb moment- All those gurus that say you need to eat a big breakfast to get energy, drink this energy drink or eat that before exercise...it's all bunk, at least for me and many other IFers. All these years I've been eating myself into a literal stupor, wondering why my energy levels are decreasing, not increasing. I was in a constant state of digestion- no wonder I was so tired all of the time!

I'm almost at a point where I don't want to eat until I get home from work because I want to keep my vim and vigor up and running until the workday is done. Then I can go home, relax, and eat while resting. 

Almost.

I'm not quite there yet, but I'm considering changing what my first meal will be. Every fast-breaking meal was breakfast oriented- I love scrambled eggs with ham, sausage, tomato, spinach, and cheese- but this is not the most portable thing to eat on the run at work. It's not great at room temperature either. 

I'm still trying to avoid bread for the most part because I feel sluggish afterward, but I might try making a homemade cheese-and-egg-based chaffle sandwich instead. Chaffles are a low-carb version of a waffle, and though many low-carbers use almond flour to make them, I'd like to try a savory version without using specialty ingredients. If this turns out well, I might have a chaffle sandwich as my first meal from now on. Different fillings will keep food boredom at bay. 

Next week I weigh and measure myself again! I wonder what the results will be after that past month of adding more food to the menu- I feel good, but I don't feel like the weight is falling off me either- those leggings I spoke of before still went on, but with the same or a tiny bit more effort than before. 

Of course, five to ten pounds of weight loss isn't much on a frame dealing with over three-hundred pounds of person, but any loss is still a win! See you next week!