Week Seventeen: Meat is My Favorite Vegetable

I'm not gonna lie- I can't just have a plain salad. I have to have at least one protein thing in it for me to be happy. It could be a boiled egg, chicken, ham, or tuna, or maybe some cheese and bacon bits- but there has to be something in there that's meat-related, otherwise, I'm hungry within minutes of finishing the salad. Salads like chicken, tuna, or shrimp are my personal faves because they are almost all meat.

Image by Pearl Vaj from Pixabay 

See? Just add a single baby spinach leaf and you have a salad. Total Yum.

This week featured two salads- chicken cobb, and tuna. I love tuna on rye bread, but this week I switched out most of the bread for green peppers. Very crunchy and yummy, and though I get a bit burpish afterward, I don't get that bloated feeling after having bread.

I shortened my weekend windows by an hour and kept portions a bit more reasonable. Doing all of these things really helped me feel much more energetic, and even when I did have bread, it didn't nearly have the bloating effect it normally does. 

I feel great!

I also didn't snack as much as before. Yes- I snacked less on chips! Never thought that was possible. I really think the next weigh-in will show better results- as long as I behave myself. And I mean 'behave' as in eating until satisfied- not to restrict what I'm eating.

My workweek eating windows still feature a meal and a snack, and weekends are still two meals. I had at least three chicken cobb salads this past week, and I plan on having more as soon as we get more rotisserie chicken. I tend to stick with a dish until I tire of it, but if I hold off having it every day, I should extend that 'sticktoittiveness' for a longer period. 

There. I said it. I want to eat salad. Humph.

I also want to add a few veggie laden snacky things to the menu as well, like carrot coins and hummus. I love the hummus, but it always gets shoved into the back of the fridge and gets forgotten! I've also made meaty snacks in the low-carb past that included thin, baked slices of Italian sausage (also good with hummus), but I might hold off on that and seek out more veggies to polish off the hummus before we need Indiana Jones to spelunk the depths of my fridge.

Exercise still eludes me because my knee is still wonky, though less so since I rested it over the weekend. Hopefully, I won't strain it on steps during work, and maybe I can test out my limberness later this week with one of those Body Groove videos. We shall see.

I'm not gonna lie again. That picture of bacon is making my stomach growl, and it's not even 10:30 yet. I don't eat until after 3:00 pm. Sigh.

*hums* I dream of bacon with the light brown crisp...

This is usually when I drink a lot of water- but I'm holding off because water and laptops don't mix!

Oh man- I need to find something else to do. Ah well, while I go distract myself with non-meaty things, I hope my journey helps you see what life is like the IF way and that there's a lot of good along with the struggles. A lot of good. Good food. Good, meaty food. Meaty goodness.

Okay, I'm so finished with this post. I better get busy decluttering files for my new laptop before I start spelunking the fridge!

Week Sixteen: Weigh-in Struggle Bus- with Pics!

Image by shauking from Pixabay 

It's been an interesting week.

I've been riding the struggle bus. The smell of food makes me want to toss out my progress and cave to temptation. My family makes breakfast early in the mornings, and I eat in the afternoon. It smells so good. Sometimes I feel like I'll break- but I won't. I grit my teeth, refuse to go downstairs, and find something better to do. 

It doesn't help that I'm lame.

No, I'm not putting myself down- I really am lame. Lame-ish. The tendon on the outside of my knee started acting up, and I've been off my walking game for almost two weeks now. 

Boredom breeds bad habits. 

When my eating window opened, I found myself filling it with more food than I intended, not to mention most of it was comfort foods. Creamy, thick soups and casseroles with cheese, chips, chocolate, and bread. Homemade, but still not the best for my body- and I know it.

And it showed on the scale.

It wasn't as bad as I'd feared- the measurements showed a decent loss in some places and very little gain in others. Some measurements remained the same, and though the scale wasn't kind, it wasn't harsh either. I'd lost two pounds total this month.

Here are the numbers:

Original numbers:          4 weeks ago:              Now:                Difference:

Weight 363 lbs.                  338                        336                  2 pounds

Biceps- 23"                      21-1/2"                     21"                   -1/2"

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

Waist- 58"                       56-1/2"                  55-1/4"                 -3/4"

Hips- 69-1/2"                   63-3/4"                     64"                   +1/4"

Thigh- 32"                          31"                      29-1/2"                -1/2"

Neck- 18"                         17-3/4"                   same                  none

I also promised pictures the next time I lost a total of ten pounds. Two things I'd noticed were: the shirt fits me perfectly now, and the shorts are starting to feel a little loose!

Before and after pics for comparison:

 

 

 

The struggle is real, folks! 

I took a hard look at my habits this month. I've been playing games with myself. 

I'd sit down to a small feast once a day and figure that's one meal- I could get away with it.

I didn't need to re-bag my chips, because I had self-control.

I had to finish off the leftovers in the fridge.

Leftovers were faster and less troublesome than actually preparing a meal.

Being gimpy gives me free rein over food intake. 

Bored and gimpy means planting myself on the couch for hours.

All fantastically deceptive lies. 

My body has been letting me know this in so many ways. I was swelling up a little more in my feet. My joints hurt more. I had less energy. I'd stopped listening to my body. I was trying to shove all I could into a 1-2 hour eating window.

Not anymore!

I'm already making changes. I've been craving chicken cobb salad (yes, you heard me- I craved salad), but was too darned lazy to get off my butt and make it. The salad is huge, but not calorie-laden- it's got all kinds of proteins, fiber, and meaty, cheesy goodness for under 500 calories. 

No, I'm not counting calories- I know the count because I made this salad often from previous eating plans that did count calories. This was the only salad that satisfied me!

My chicken cobb salad is comprised of romaine lettuce, baby spinach, grape tomatoes, one boiled egg, a palm-full of bacon bits (the real kind), a sprinkling of cheddar and parmesan cheeses, two 1/4" thick pieces of breast meat rotisserie chicken, julienned, and a small squirt of Italian dressing, shaken together, not stirred.

I ate the heck out of that salad yesterday. It was awesome.

Later, I had some tuna salad in green pepper slices, with a small handful of my favorite chips, and some homemade iced tea. Still two meals a day, but smaller ones loaded with the veggies I'm supposed to be having regularly.

I expect things will get a bit harder because most of the foods I should be having don't always come prepped and ready to eat. Oh, I can pre-prep things to make the going easier, but I'm lazy and these are habits I have to create- which we all know is so easy. 

Not.

There's not much I can do about the knee-tendon. Rest and not overdoing it are kay, and it's going to take weeks for it to heal- so my Body Groove videos are out of the running for a while. 

Boredom can be beaten simply by going upstairs (away from the TV and kitchen)  folding the never-ending laundry in the bedroom, working in my sewing/writing room, and doing some decluttering that doesn't require knee-lifting. 

I can also pre-prep foods when my eating window opens just so I have the freedom of popping a cut carrot in my mouth from time to time.

And since my family gave me a new laptop to play with (the one I'm currently on is about eight-years-old- a technological dinosaur), I'll have plenty to entertain myself as I switch over my programs and passwords, and do some digital decluttering. This might take a while. I save everything.

I thought I broke the old habits, but they came rushing back the moment I was stuck on the couch. I know- the couch-sticking is my own doing, but habits really are hard to break! 

I'm so glad you're with me sharing my journey. You help me stay accountable just by reading this blog. You encourage me with your responses and shares on social media. You. Are. Awesome!

I'm off to do a little menu planning and jot down some ideas for food prepping. Have a wonderful week!

Week Fifteen: Mixing Things Up!

This week was a crazy one concerning my eating windows.

Some days I got home late and only had an hour or so to eat. Other days were so slow I came home earlier than intended and started my window early just because it was a habit I developed; when you get home, you can eat.

And then the New Year happened. The window was seven hours on Friday, five hours on Saturday, and about seven and a half hours on Sunday. 

Image by Emilia_Baczynska from Pixabay 

Sunday was my birthday and my husband surprised me with a few friends over and a four-course birthday meal (he does a five-course meal for me every year with about ten friends, but I figured it wasn't happening this year due to Covid.) 

Time and guests were restricted- I had three people come to celebrate; the big dinner, which usually takes three hours to eat, was served one right after the other with no pause in between courses. It was too much too fast not just for me but for everyone, and though everything was fantastic, no one could even eat dessert because they were so full!

I thoroughly enjoyed the CBA wraps as an appetizer (an invention we created made with pan-seared chicken, bacon, and asiago cheese, wrapped in eggroll wrappers and deep-fried golden brown), the soup was shrimp bisque (homemade- it takes two days to make), two kinds of risotto- shrimp and chicken- were the main course, and freshly baked pound cake made with a homemade berry drizzle and homemade lemon curd was the dessert- the one no one could eat because we were stuffed.

Sometimes I forget when I eat rice, I don't need to eat as much because it swells in the stomach, so I was fuller than I wanted to be by the time dinner was over. My eating window ended later than intended, and I went to bed still feeling full. It was a great day, but I could have paced myself better.

I can worry about pacing with the leftovers. Heh.

Leftovers- that reminds me! I talked with the hubster about freezing leftovers in single-serving containers so we aren't defrosting a rhino of a meal not everyone wants to eat. Last night he took the bisque and put what was going to be frozen in single-serving containers. The beginning of a new era in this house! 

We're going to start doing this with all the leftovers we know we won't finish in 2-3 days. This will not only save really good food, but no one has to wait ten years for an entire pot or casserole dish to defrost. I like the aspect of a variety to choose from when dinner plans get nixed at the last minute.

This week I intend to get back on a more regular schedule, and maybe try a few new things in the next few weeks. Trying to eat that one 500 calorie meal at least once to see how I feel the next day, for instance. Maybe even try one of those Body Groove videos that I subscribed to late last year and never used. 

I was also thinking of doing a few blog videos during my journey. My husband and kids gave me a new laptop for my birthday, and since it has a ton more memory than my current one, I might be able to start vlogging!

I want to mix it up a little! What are your thoughts?

May your New Year be a blessed one!

Week Fourteen: New Year, New Body

Has it only been twenty-five pounds ago that I was in the worst shape of my life?

Does twenty-five pounds really make that much of a difference in someone over three-hundred pounds?

Can you really see a difference in the mirror after losing just twenty-five pounds?

The answer to all three is Yes, yes, yes!

Image by lumpi from Pixabay 

The New Year is all about looking back and seeing what you can do better. I'm now in my fourth month of Intermittent Fasting, and the journey has been an incredible one.

Before I started my IF journey, moving hurt. Walking was difficult. Standing was worse! And showering was so painful that I avoided it until I couldn't stand myself. I began to depend on those motorized shopping carts and contemplated getting a wheelchair just so I could go on long walks in the park with my husband.

Now? Moving still hurts, but the pain is bearable and lessens day by day. I can walk with very little pain once I get started, and it's so much easier. I can walk longer and stand longer than before. And showering isn't the ordeal it used to be- I was nearly crippled with pain when I began, but now I can get out and walk to the bed with very little pain.

Food used to be my go-to for everything. I hurt, I ate. I was happy, I ate. I was sad, mad, or frustrated, I ate. And the more I ate, the bigger I got, and the more frustrated/mad/sad I got, the more I ate. It was a vicious cycle I had to break but didn't know how.

Now I do. 

I still eat what I crave, but the desperate urge to eat is gone. I don't feel guilty when eating (sometimes I feel regret, but that's not the same!), and when I do eat too much, I just adjust for the next day. Food doesn't own me anymore! I've become a lot happier in general, and even my family notices the changes in my attitude.

I actually feel happier when not eating- how weird is that? But I do look forward to my meals more than I ever did before. I savor the flavors, sniff all the smells, and fully enjoy the eating experience. And it feels awesome.

As for the mirror and me, we never got along well. I'd even avoid the bathroom mirror that just showed my face, simply because of my double chin. I'd make a funny face at myself every time I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror.

When it came to the big dresser mirror? I'd just duck my head and avoid eye contact.

Now I can look at myself and not feel shame because my body is changing. It's more an analytical inspection than admiration- trust me- but I can actually see my body thinning here and smoothing there, and even see skin that I'm sure I haven't seen in decades. Granted, I'm not going out in a bikini any time soon, but I can smile a little when I see myself in the mirror now.

Mirror inspections help me to stay on track. I no longer have to remind myself that this is a permanent way of living, not some temporary diet plan. My family sometimes forgets that I don't eat in the mornings, so when they want to go out to eat or have family breakfast on the weekends I usually suggest later in the morning or early afternoon brunch instead. It will take time, but I need them to understand this is not something I'll ever stop doing. 

Yes, I can adjust the hours (and I have on occasion), but for now, eating in the morning is backfiring big time. So until I have more confidence concerning a short mid-day eating window, I'll sit there and enjoy their company if they can't adjust to my schedule. I don't expect them to do so all the time, but it is nice when we can all eat together. Sometimes they have something small in the morning, just so we can eat a bigger meal at noon. I have a fantastic family!

My resolutions this year have nothing to do with a gym membership, new diet plan, weightlifting, or yoga (okay, maybe yoga)- I want to remain consistent and steadfast in every aspect of my life. To stick with IFing, writing, and being the best wife, mom, and person I can be.

I want to walk on a beach with my husband. 

I want to go shopping with my daughter without having to depend on a cart or chair to sit in. 

I want to walk in the park with my family, chatting with them and anyone we meet, without looking for a bench.

I want to look in that mirror and see the difference in my body- and in my smile when seeing positive changes in the reflection.

I want to look better, but more importantly, I want to feel better. And I want to thank 2020 for helping me make those changes. But don't be too mad 2020- I won't miss you too much!

Week Thirteen: Close That Window!

 Sorry about the late post!

This weekend was a hot mess- too much to do and not enough time to do it all. Instead of a nice-sized six-hour eating window, I caved and allowed my hunger to get the best of me on Saturday, and I started eating way too early- 10:30 am. 

Image by Republica from Pixabay 

If I'd behaved and stopped eating at 4:30 pm, all would have been well with the world. But chaos reared its ugly head, and everything ran late, including dinner. We decided to order out, thinking foolishly that it would be faster. 

Wrongo!

The food didn't arrive until after 8:00 pm, and we finished eating close to 9:00 pm. That is a whopping ten-and-a-half hour eating window! I felt sluggish all day and went to bed at about 10:30 pm, feeling tired and bloated. I didn't stuff myself but it sure wasn't comfortable!

Sunday was better, but I felt like a hibernating bear- I just couldn't wake up. I slept late, then wound up falling into a small nap in the late morning, then a deep one-hour nap in the early afternoon. I wasn't sick- just exhausted. Maybe part of it was I was moving a lot more this week, but I really think that wide eating window was the major culprit. I had a five to six-hour window on Sunday and went to bed feeling much better.

This week I'll be doing a lot more physically, not just because of the holidays, but for the simple reason that I need to move more. Standing for long periods takes a bit out of me, but at least the dishes are getting done! 

Winter joint aches stink- they really impede movement too much, especially when out in the colder weather. I've been taking small doses of food-grade DE (Diatomaceous Earth) to help with the joint pain. The best part of that is I can take it during my fasting hours because it doesn't affect my body like food does. Tastes like mud and has the texture of fine sand but it works. It brushes out the old intestinal tract and helps the body absorb calcium. Really awesome stuff!

As for the menu this week I'm not making any additional goals because of Christmas. I plan to eat good home cooking and enjoy all kinds of holiday goodies, but I plan on keeping that window as close to shut as I can. I never want a ten-hour window ever again. Ugh!

I've lost a total of 25 pounds. It sure doesn't seem like a lot when you're as big as I am, but if you think in percentages, that's 7% of my total body weight. That's a lot for three months! I'm finding that some of my tighter shirts are less snug, and the shirts that used to fit well are starting to get a little baggy. Sweatpants are sliding down my hips so much that I need to keep hoisting them up when I stand- it makes me smile every time!

I feel really good about the future- including the next weigh-in in a few weeks. Small losses are still losses, and I have to keep reminding myself that it's a good thing not to be losing twenty pounds an hour. It took me decades to get this big, so if it takes less than four years to lose it all, it's completely worth it.

I hope God blesses you in many unexpected ways this week, and have a very Merry Christmas!

Week Twelve: One Quarter Weigh-In

A quarter can mean many things; Twenty-five cents, fifteen minutes, three months...but whatever the meaning, it's one-fourth of something. Four is always involved.

It is one-fourth of the year, and four pounds are what I lost! I'd love to say I'd lost a quarter of my weight, but I'm not even close. But that's okay- this is a marathon, not a sprint. I'm now a more slender 338 pounds. I feel so skinny!

I would've liked to have lost more, but I'll take it- especially since my husband found Lindor chocolates on sale. Yes, I am a weak-willed woman when it comes to good chocolate!

Again, no pictures until I lose at least two more pounds (10-pound loss minimum, at least for now) because there really isn't much to see...er...or maybe there's too much to see. Either way, you ain't gonna see nothing until the next weigh-in!

I also took measurements. There wasn't much of a difference, but the differences were mixed, so here goes:

Original numbers:          4 weeks ago:              Now:                Difference:

Weight 363 lbs.                  342                        338                  4 pounds

Biceps- 23"                      21-1/4"                   21-1/2"               +1/4"

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

Waist- 58"                          57"                      56-1/2"                1/2"

Hips- 69-1/2"                   63-1/2"                  63-3/4"               +1/4"

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

Neck- 18"                         17-3/4"                   same                  none

Not too shabby, if I do say so myself. 

But it gets better folks. And the holidays actually helped me this time, despite the chocolate surge. I went shopping.

Image by StockSnap from Pixabay 

Let me rephrase that. 

I. Went. Shopping. 

As in standing and walking. As in walking from the parking lot into the store, walking up and down aisles, and standing in lines. This might seem minor to most of you, but this was major for me. Hugely major.

Why?

Because my fitness level before IF almost had me in a wheelchair. I couldn't walk for more than fifty feet without needing to sit. My back would spasm, my knees would kill me, and my calves would burn like fire. My feet were swollen like footballs, and though I had no real health issues per se, I felt trapped in my own body because it hurt to move. Shopping became a pipe dream I'd never thought I'd do again.

But guess what? I did. In fact, I shopped in a store twice this past week!

Walking is no longer the pain-etched trial it used to be. While I still can't stand for a great length of time, lines are no longer as daunting as they were before. My back has almost stopped spasming altogether unless I really start to overdo it. 

I had a hysterectomy a few years back, and though it was supposed to be a six-week recovery, I kept overdoing it and it became a whopping twelve weeks of having to lie flat, which severely weakened my core muscles. So any upright activity would end up with my back in agony. I started doing core exercises which helped, but I had to stand up and move more, which was nearly impossible.

Not anymore!

It was such a feeling of freedom to be going Christmas shopping without having to worry about being a human pretzel at the end of the day. I did one trip before work, and one trip after work on a different day- and though I was hurting a bit, once I rested I was back on my feet doing what I needed at home. It's a tremendous feeling!

I even had the energy to tackle my half-organized sewing/writing space in preparation for a Christmas wrapping station. Stuff needed to be moved to make way for the uncloseting of the gift wrap, tape, bows, and scissors, and though my crafting things were put aside and not away, all that bending, lifting, and stretching actually felt good. I'm confident that I can get the room in order after the holidays.

As for the food plans for the next month- I need to add salads and cut down a bit more on my intake. Snacky stuff has taken over the house, and though I don't have to eat it, I want to. Sometimes it's a good thing to have five people living in one house...they might eat all the good stuff before I get a second taste, but that also means the junk will go fast too.

Since there are so many in the house, I also get the 'eat it before it gets eaten by someone else' mentality- I really wanted some leftover soup from the other night, only to find out everyone else finished it off. 

Ugh!

I have to remind myself I don't need a full serving of everything just because someone else might eat it. Breathe, Beth, Breathe! We can always make more! Cherish what I get, taste everything with gratefulness, and stop stuffing myself because it might not be there tomorrow.

I want to thank you for following me in my IF journey. You give me the inspiration to keep posting my progress, whether the outcome is good or bad- your support is awesome!

See you next week, and have a great holiday!

Week Eleven: Gobble, Hobble, Wobble

The beginning of the week went well- work was slow, but I got a lot more done in the house. I stood up a lot more, but the cold made my arthritic knees ache, so walking outdoors (other than work) was not going to happen.

This weekend I had two seven-to-eight-hour windows, and since it's cookie baking season for us, that's what I intended to do- at least on Saturday. Funny thing- when I bake I don't eat, and I'd planned on making cookies and other goodies the entire weekend not only to clear space in the freezer but to test how much certain recipes actually made for a food order for Christmas. 

I know that doesn't sound like IFing news, but wait- this is just the preliminary game plan. 

Saturday was supposed to be cookies all day (about twenty-four dozen), and Sunday was a day of bad-for-you baked snacks to graze on for the entire afternoon. Meals weren't entirely planned, though cookie day was also going to be homemade pizza dough day, because Sunday was going to involve homemade pigs in a blanket, homemade pizza, fried ravioli, and pepperoni dip. Not one vegetable in the lot, unless you count the tomato sauce!

Unfortunately, Saturday was a bust- errands took longer than usual, my daughter was working longer than expected, and other distractions got in the way. Saturday was written off and most of my time was spent waiting for my helpers to come home. Yes, I could have done all of it myself, but this was supposed to be family time. Ah, well. I spent the time watching cookie class videos and letting my imagination do the running instead of my aching knees.

Sunday was another story- cookie dough was made, and my daughter and I worked as bakers for most of the afternoon, at least until I realized I needed to make those blanket piggies. So while she was finishing up the cookie baking, I was making sheet after sheet of pigs in blankets, eating a few 'test bite pigs' after each batch came fresh out of the oven. 

There were a lot more of those mini hot dogs in the package than I thought. They used up most of my pizza dough, so no pizza for that nights' dinner. We did however have a fresh batch of pepperoni dip, so I made breadsticks out of the leftover dough. After filling myself with blanket piggies, there wasn't much room for the dip and sticks but it was so good, I ate it anyway.

I never did get to the ravioli. Everyone else was full of the snacky stuff too, so I put the ravioli back in the freezer for another time. I went to bed feeling like that blueberry girl Violet in Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory- wondering if my stomach will ever feel empty again as I fell asleep.

Image by jggrz from Pixabay 

I felt so sluggish and bloated this morning!

Never again. At least until I forget I ever had this feeling, get cocky, and overgraze on bready stuff. Ugh.

This week the watchword is moderation. A friend of ours took the rest of the dip home with them (so it's now out of temptations' reach), my son will probably polish off the rest of the pigs in blankets today, and I will be behaving myself by eating as little bread as possible. My weigh-in is next week; I'm not going into starvation mode to 'counteract' having overdone it, but I also know that the weight loss might not be as significant as I want- if at all. 

I don't think I'll be opening my eating window as wide on the weekends as I have been- especially after the holidays are over. Eight hours is just too much time for me to overdo it, but a seven or six-hour window should allow me enough time to have a late breakfast and a light early dinner with my family.

I haven't eaten in fourteen hours, yet I still feel like an overstuffed elephant. I'm so glad I'm going back to work and not eating until after three o'clock! Apparently, I'm no good on my own. 

Oddly enough, we baked all those cookies and I didn't eat a single one, except for the initial taste test, which was one bite of my daughters' freshly baked chocolate chip cookie she insisted I try. I wish I could say the same for the savory baked goods!