Week 8 & 9 in Review, Thanksgiving and more

Week 1, Monday, 10/5/15, Weight: 148.8 lbs.

Week 2, Monday, 10/12/15, Weight: 145.2 lbs.

Week 3, Tuesday, 10/20/15, Weight: 147.0 lbs.

Week 4, Monday, 10/26/15, Weight: 146.2 lbs.

Week 5, Monday, 11/2/15, Weight: 145.2 lbs.

Week 6, Monday, 11/9/15, Weight: 142.4 lbs.

Week 7, Monday, 11/16/15, Weight: 142.0 lbs.

Week 8, Monday, 11/23/15, Weight: 142.2 lbs.

Week 9, Monday, 11/30/15, Weight: 143.4 lbs.  Up 1.2 lbs from last week, and down 5.4 lbs overall in 8 weeks.

Week 10, Monday, 12/7/15, Weight: 140.6 lbs.  Down 2.8 lbs from last week, and down 8.2 lbs overall in 9 weeks.

Not surprisingly, I gained weight the week of Thanksgiving, but strangely, I lost that weight and more the following week.  Perhaps weekly weigh-in’s aren’t so accurate.  But regardless, it feels good to be back in the right direction (down).  And overall, my weight loss isn’t so strange or large: less than 1 pound a week, on average.  So yes, I may meet my new goal (another 3.4 pounds to lose in 4 weeks), but I still have to navigate through the perilously dessert-laden Christmas and New Years holidays!

My progress with my goals during the past two weeks:

1. I jogged three times each week during the past two weeks.  I am making a concerted effort to keep this up, and it feels good.  We ran the Turkey Trot 5K on Thanksgiving morning, and that felt good too.  I’ve decreased my running times and speed on the treadmill a bit, but I’m feeling OK about that, as long as I keep jogging 3 times/week.

2. I’m consistently keeping up my food diary.  So that’s good, and it’s interesting to look back to see what I’ve been eating.

3. The good news on my eating is:

   a. I ate green veggies every day the past two weeks (cool!), but I’m not always meeting my goal of twice a day.  Right now, it still takes an effort to get the green veggies scheduled in, but I definitely am eating more of them than I used to, so that’s cool!  I even brought an additional veggie meal (a big salad) for the Thanksgiving holiday at my in-laws, instead of the cherry pie I was planning on making.  That’s progress, right?!

   b. I only ate out on one day each week.  Once was my birthday, and the other was a family gathering.  I’m not really that concerned about eating out, since it isn’t currently my weakness (especially fast food, which I’m not interested in).

   c. I’m sticking to mostly water and tea, with a little milk and a few occasional holiday beverages (eggnog, hot cocoa, and hot cider).  I’m not worried about this either.

   d. Every breakfast for two weeks was vegetarian (no meats!), and I had several whole days that were all vegetarian.  Now I just need to up the ante with one solid whole-foods, plant-based vegan meal per week!

4.  The bad news is:

   a. In general, I’m still eating too much at my meals: controlling my portion sizes continues to be difficult.  And boy, some days I ate a LOT throughout the day!  (Though other days I really ate much less, so that’s good.)  Some days I snacked a lot, and not on healthy things—I especially craved sugary items.

   b. For the past two weeks, I’ve still been eating a LOT of “sugar” in its many forms: sugar and white flour in homemade goodies, jam, maple syrup, honey, and even candy and chocolates.  Dessert is my huge weakness: I only skipped having dessert on one day each week.  Sweets are just empty calories, with almost no nutritional value.  I really need to rethink what I’m eating, because as I eat more and more sweets, those dessert cravings hit more frequently too—sugar is so addictive!

   c. I baked six times in two weeks: squash rolls (twice!), then cranberry bread, banana bread, cherry pie and corn tortillas, and lemon cake bars (for a family gathering).  Fortunately, we froze a lot of what I made (rolls, pie, breads, bars).  I can feel the holiday baking itch coming on, but I’ll have to rein it in a bit if I’m going to meet my 1/4/16 goal.

5. I think we really tried to get a bit more sleep, on average, this past couple of weeks.  Unfortunately, I’m not sure how good of quality sleep I always get.  I am going to start tracking my sleep habits better, such as getting in- and out-of-bed times, and approximate sleep hours and restfulness.

6. I have to get going on deep breathing and relaxation soon, because I’m convinced it will help.  I’m currently reading a book called The Gabriel Method, in which Jon Gabriel discusses his “Revolutionary Diet-Free Way to Totally Transform Your Body”.  With that slogan, I’m leery that it’s just another dumb weight loss book.  But so far, it sounds like he is going to address the mind-body connection in weight loss, which is pretty cool, and not all that common in most “diet” books.  Also, he advocates: 1) not dieting (yay!), and 2) not making foods off-limits, but rather, ADDING healthy foods with lots of nutritional value.  So far, I like those ideas.  I’ll keep you posted on what I think once I read it all.

Sugar plums are dancing in my head, but not in my mouth (yet).  Onward march toward the holidays, Little Drummer Boy!

Forward Flavor!

Week 7 in Review, Birthday Cake #2!

Week 1, Monday, 10/5/15, Weight: 148.8 lbs.

Week 2, Monday, 10/12/15, Weight: 145.2 lbs.

Week 3, Tuesday, 10/20/15, Weight: 147.0 lbs.

Week 4, Monday, 10/26/15, Weight: 146.2 lbs.

Week 5, Monday, 11/2/15, Weight: 145.2 lbs.

Week 6, Monday, 11/9/15, Weight: 142.4 lbs.

Week 7, Monday, 11/16/15, Weight: 142.0 lbs.

Week 8, Monday, 11/23/15, Weight: 142.2 lbs.  Up 0.2 lbs from last week, and down 6.6 lbs overall in 7 weeks.

So, it’s official: I lost 5 lbs by my birthday (actually, 6.6 lbs in 7 weeks)!  Yay!!!  Now, here's my new goal: 5 more pounds—from my lastest weight—in 6 weeks (137.2 lbs by Monday, January 4^th).  This will be a challenge because I’ve still got Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the New Year’s holiday meals to get though.  But I’m going to try!

My successes with my goals from last week:

1. I jogged three times again this past week—I think it’s starting to feel like habit.  I’ve been trying to think ahead and schedule it in.  Even though I cut down on my speed and distance a bit, I feel better about it because I don’t feel as exhausted after my workout.  I’m glad that I’m making the time, and sticking with my commitment.

2. I ate pretty many green veggies this past week, but I could definitely eat more.  It’s hard to always get the greens if we eat other veggies instead (like butternut squash soup).  I think it’s important to get those veggies in too, but I think green veggies are still King.

3. My food diary is the BOMB.  Honestly, I think it makes a huge difference in keeping me “on track” with my eating and keeping me honest.  I’m definitely sticking with it.  Yay!

4. Oops, I don’t remember feeling very hungry this past week.  It’s so easy to slip into eating more than I need to, so I need to watch my portion sizes again.

5. I skipped dessert three days again this past week, but I again had three very big dessert days: Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday.  One dessert was a (huge) hot fudge sundae with extra cherries at Leon’s in Milwaukee—a family tradition.  It was delicious, and worth every bite/calorie.  Honestly, while I was eating it, though, I couldn’t help realize how ridiculously HUGE it was.  I still proceeded to eat it all, mind you, but I think recognizing the excessiveness of it was a good first step for me.  Hopefully next time I’m faced with a huge dessert portion, I can recognize it faster, and just eat 2/3 of it.  Saturday and Sunday’s desserts were my delicious birthday cake (this time, with my parents).  I did manage to eat just one piece on Saturday night, and I skipped the ice cream (two small but meaningful differences from what I would have done in the past).  Every (lack of a) bite matters!

6. I ate out 2 times this week, but it was worth it.  Leon’s was fun and was great people watching.  I also ate out Thai food with a good friend, and I fortunately brought a lot home as leftovers, so I did pretty well with avoiding overeating at least.  That’s progress too!

7. I baked twice: one time was buttermilk biscuits for dinner, and the other was a scrumptious, super-rich birthday chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting and ganache, recipe courtesy of @BadgerReader (what can I say, she’s good with cakes!).  Like the cake last week, I cut the recipe in half and made a 2 layer 8” cake instead of a 3 layer 9” cake, which worked perfectly (we had leftovers, but not an excessive amount).  Making the biscuits out of 100% whole wheat flour was a first for me, but I wanted to see if I could still enjoy them in a “more healthy” version (and yes, they were still really tasty, though a bit less fluffy/layered).  And it was really fun to bake both times, so I don’t regret it one bit.

8. I’ve noticed that I’m still eating a LOT of “sugar” in its many forms: sugar in homemade goodies, jam, maple syrup, honey, and lots of white flour.  Oh boy, I have a lot to improve on.  I wonder how I can really reduce this, and if I’ll feel the sugar cravings when I start really cutting back a lot more.  I have to do more research on how to do this (cold turkey doesn’t seem realistic to me).  Right now my approach is baby steps: to reduce a little at a time.

9. Something I haven’t mentioned yet: Beverages.  I am lucky that I was never a big drinker – of anything with calories!  I did occasionally drink fruit juice (preferably 100% juice), soda (yes, full-on HFCS), and very limited alcohol (beer and wine make me flush).  But when trying to lose weight, it makes sense to avoid all of those right now.  (I even strongly believe that diet soda and beverages are NOT okay, since they have been shown to increase insulin and fool your brain into wanting more sugar/carbs later due to the lack of sugar hit from the sugar-free stimulation.)  Luckily, I love drinking (filtered) tap water and hot green tea (though now I skip the sugar).  I do usually drink milk when I eat dessert, but of course I’m trying to limit that as well.  I don't really mind sticking to water and tea, but I am planning on “cheating” occasionally with a cup of cocoa, cider, or sparkling beverages.  It’s the holidays, for heaven’s sake!

10. Oops, no whole-foods, plant-based vegan meals again this week.  We were “vegetarian” for all of our meals on one day (not a big deal, but a good start).  I think I eat chicken, beef, and pork more than I realize, and I’d like to reduce that!

11. I need to think about how much sleep I'm getting (not enough), and figure out how I’m going to get more.  Also, I want to incorporate breathing and relaxation exercises into my day.  I bet both of those would help me lose weight and be happier and mentally healthier.  Something to think about and research more…

Here’s to enjoying the holidays and maintaining traditions without breaking my goals and waistline!  New traditions (more veggies/less dessert) are good too!

Forward Flavor!

Week 6 in Review, Birthday Cake #1

Week 1, Monday, 10/5/15, Weight: 148.8 lbs.

Week 2, Monday, 10/12/15, Weight: 145.2 lbs.

Week 3, Tuesday, 10/20/15, Weight: 147.0 lbs.

Week 4, Monday, 10/26/15, Weight: 146.2 lbs.

Week 5, Monday, 11/2/15, Weight: 145.2 lbs.

Week 6, Monday, 11/9/15, Weight: 142.4 lbs.

Week 7, Monday, 11/16/15, Weight: 142.0 lbs.  Down 0.4 lbs from last week, and down 6.8 lbs overall in 6 weeks.

Awesome, I made it through the weekend (of eating delicious birthday cake with @BadgerReader, yum!) and still managed to maintain/even lose a little.  Yay!  But there’s another tricky Birthday weekend ahead (more cake with my family ;), and then the Thanksgiving feast week.  Here we go, I’ve got to keep it down!

My favorite “foodie” movie that I’ve just watched in the latest bunch is called Fed Up, narrated by Katie Couric.  It’s a pretty hard-hitting, anti-sugar documentary movie with plenty of news clips, facts, and personal stories to keep it interesting.  I found it equally inspiring and depressing.  My takeaway: no one is going to protect you and make sure you eat the right things (not the food companies, the government, your family, or your friends), so you have to take it into your own hands to eat better.  But it’s an uphill battle because of all the marketing and accessibility to “garbage” food that’s all around us.  And they basically point to the “lie” of the energy balance—calories eaten must equal calories expended.  Rather, they state that sugars (in all its forms, including sugar-free artificial sweeteners) make the pancreas work harder and release more insulin which keeps us hungry and stores these sugars as fat.  I’m not sure I believe/agree with everything in the movie, but it’s full of pretty interesting ideas.  And it made me realize that all I can be certain of is that I should be making most of my diet full of fresh, whole (organic/local) vegetables and fruits, and cutting out sugar as much as I can.  I may even try their 10-day challenge (no sugar in any form/honey/syrup/white flour), but probably AFTER all the holidays are over!

My successes with my goals from last week:

1. I jogged three times this past week, and two of them were 30 minutes at 5.6 mph, and the last was 10/5/5 minutes at 5.8/5.6/5.4 mph.  However, I’ve decided to take a new approach going forward, because I’m not enjoying it and feeling “invigorated” afterwards, as you can see in my previous post.  I think it’s time to focus more on feeling good while/after exercising, and not hating it (so that I continue to do it!).  I’m planning a separate post on my heart rate while jogging and what I plan to do next.

2. Green veggies are my friends; they're both healthy and tasty!  I’ve realized that I feel less like having cold salads lately (brrr!), and more like eating sautéed greens, steamed green veggies, and stir-fries.  I even incorporated spinach into homemade lasagna noodles that I used in butternut squash white lasagna, mmm, here’s the recipe.)  I admit it’s pretty “putzy” with many steps, but I think it’s still worth it because: 1) it’s really tasty (though I would add some nutmeg or other spices to the white sauce next time, in addition to the mozzarella I topped it with), and 2) we’ve eaten 2 meals off of it already (and there are 3 more in the freezer!).

3. I’m still keeping my food diary up-to-date.  It’s so interesting to look back over the past week to see what I’ve been eating.  And it holds me accountable – I can’t hide the fact that I ate 8 homemade peanut butter cookies in one day (yup, I did that this week, eek)!

4. I’m still working on reducing the quantity of my food eaten.  But in general, I’m still feeling a bit more hungry than before I started this, so that’s good.

5. The good news is that I did skip dessert three days this past week.  The bad news is that I had three very big dessert days: Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.  However, I tried to compensate a little by eating fewer other “bad carbs” (white bread, rice, etc) on those days.  The more I learn about this, the more I realize that I would likely have to go “cold turkey” and eliminate all sugar if I wanted to truly beat my sugar addiction.  Ugh, I don’t know if I can ever do that…

6. It feels great that I didn't eat out at all this week!

7. I baked twice, but they were some big, delicious kahunas: homemade peanut butter cookies (husband JK took some to work, and then I froze the rest, but not before I ate too many—see item #3 above!), and delicious, decadent homemade birthday “Chocolate Pudding Blackout Cake” with @BadgerReader.  The good news on the cake is that we cut the recipe in half and made a 6” cake instead of an 8” cake, and then I fed some of it to JK and froze the rest.  Mmm, it is so chocolately!  Here's some tempting pictures...  (I promise to take more pictures of my "healthy" foods too in the future.)

8. I’m done with my antibiotics, but I’m still eating my almost-daily plain, whole-milk yogurt (with a ripe, sweet banana or a spoonful of homemade jam).  Soon I may start some probiotic pills to continue to “heal” my gut.  I figure it can’t hurt to have healthy gut flora, right?  Especially if there’s any truth to that helping a person be thinner/healthier.

9. Hmm, whole-foods, plant-based vegan meals: oops, I didn’t do any of these…  I need to work on this, and shoot for making one recipe a week!  I do have some tofu in my fridge, waiting for a stir-fry soon.  And I did make vegetarian lasagna, so that’s a step in the right direction.  Also, even though we are currently eating more meat and chicken, at least it’s in small amounts (like the chicken stir fry that lasted more than 2 meals for us both).  The thing I like least about the animal products we are eating now is that we are still eating a LOT of cheese (too much, really), and probably still too much processed/cured meat (even if it is from a “local” farmer/processor) such as both cured bacon and pepperoni just this past week.  I’d like to stick with more of the “whole” animal products (and do my own processing, if needed), and really minimize the bacon and nitrates in general!

I just hope that I can use this way of eating to achieve my weight loss goals, and then maintain a happy weight for the rest of my life.  Do you think it will work?

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