Week 3 in Review, Back in the Right Direction!

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.  Down 0.8 lbs from last week, and down 2.6 lbs overall in 3 weeks.

I’m glad that number’s going in the right direction!  But it’s pretty slow going, since I’m losing a little less than a pound per week.  In order to meet my short-term goal (5 lbs by my birthday), I have about half to go (2.5 more lbs) in 4 more weeks.  I should be able to do it, right?  Right!

From my food journal (yay, I’m still doing it!), I think I know what’s going on.  I can see that I’m doing really well with making sure I’m eating green vegetables: I ate them 2x/day every day this past week!  But, I hate to admit it: I had some form of “dessert” every single day too.  Also, I’m back to eating too much, quantity-wise.  In my journal, as I flip back, my daily entry lists are too long—too many items, and too much of them.  Now that I think of it, I don’t really remember feeling hungry very often this past week.  That first week, I felt slightly hungry, and I ate way fewer sweets too.  I have to remember that feeling a little hungry isn’t the enemy; sugar is (because I am still so addicted to it!).  If I’m not feeling hungry, it either means that I’m eating too often (by the clock instead of by hunger), I’m eating too much at meals, and/or I’m eating empty calories (dessert).  It’s so easy to slip back into my over-eating and sugar-eating habits, yikes!

Also probably a culprit: I ate out three times this past week, which is too often for me!  The first time I ate out (with a friend), I wanted French fries with my entrée, but opted for a side salad instead.  The second time I ate out, I really felt in the mood for waffle fries, and I decided that I didn’t want to deprive myself of them that second time.  So, I got the Friday fish fry (I did peel off the coating, though!), and I paired it with waffle fries and a side salad.  Unfortunately, I ate all the fries, so I need to work on that.  I have read that if you feel deprived, when you finally eat the item you’re craving, you tend to eat more of it than if you hadn’t felt deprived of it in the first place.  Still, I don’t want to give in to the urge of eating fries every time I eat out.  I’m not sure why I’m craving fries (weird), but I’ll have to monitor that, and shoot for eating them only every couple of weeks or less.  The third time eating out, my husband (JK) and I attended his work dinner party, so I definitely ate more that night than I should have: appetizers, steak dinner, dessert, and a cocktail—gulp! 

Looking back, I slipped back into baking a bit more this week too.  I decided to make a cake on Thursday for our “date night”, and it was so good that we each ate a big piece, and then JK didn’t have the heart to bring the leftovers to share with his co-workers.  Ha!  So, we had cake as dessert for two nights, and the rest is lurking in our freezer.  Sigh.  I also made homemade Sourdough Bread.  Since I haven’t made homemade bread in awhile, I’m sure we’re eating more of it (than we “should”) because we finally have it, and it’s so fresh and good.  Argh, what happened to my dedication?!

In good news, I got a decent amount of exercise this week: lots of dog-walks, 3 jogs, and a heavy-duty session of raking/mowing.  I’m even starting to slowly bump up my speed and time on the treadmill.  My jogging goal is to run 30 minutes straight on the treadmill at 6 mph – that’s 3 miles.  Right now I’m gaining confidence running 24 minutes at 5.4 mph (2.1 miles).  I'm thinking about doing a 5K Turkey Trot run on Thanksgiving (brrr, cold!); we’ll see if JK is up for doing it with me…

The season’s first food challenge is upon us: Halloween is just around the corner—this Saturday!  My original thought was that I should buy only healthy snacks to hand out, so I bought some mini boxes of raisins and cute stickers to hand out (yay me!).  However, instead of stopping there, or buying additional candy that I dislike, I did also buy my favorite kinds of mass-marketed mini candy bars: Snickers, Twix, Reese’s PB cups, etc.  So, it will definitely be a battle for my willpower.  My plan is to not open any of the bags until the trick-or-treaters come, and just set aside a few pieces of candy for myself to eat afterwards, and then hope that most/all of it is gone when it’s over.  If we do have leftovers, I plan to freeze the rest, and/or have JK bring it to work.  Now I just have to hold myself to that!

My goals this week:

1. Keep up with the good things: working out, eating green veggies, and keeping a food diary.

2. Reduce my quantity of food consumed.

3. Eat fewer sweets.  Especially beware of the Halloween candy!

4. Shoot for eating out only 1 time this week.

5. Don’t bake any dessert during the week (eat leftovers from freezer if craving strikes).  The only exception: I may make homemade apple pie (a Halloween tradition).  We’ll see.

6. Stay strong on Sunday when we visit my in-laws: eat small portions, avoid eating too many sweets, and get some exercise!

Is anyone else on a new track for your happy weight?  Any comments, tips, or problems?  I’d love to hear them!

Forward Flavor!

Week 2 in Review (including a 3 Day Camping Vacation)

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

Week 2, Monday, 10/12/15, Weight: 145.2 lbs.  Down 3.6 lbs--probable water weight lost, see last week’s post.

Week 3, Tuesday, 10/20/15, Weight: 147.0 lbs.  Up 1.8 lbs from last week, and down 1.8 lbs overall in 2 weeks.

Why the weigh-in on Tuesday?  I just got back from a 3-day camping vacation in Door County (which was lovely, thanks for asking), so my weigh-in couldn’t happen until this morning.  Oh boy, I knew it was going to be a little back in the “wrong” direction.  But you know, I am pretty proud of myself.  Even though I didn’t stick to all my newly minted guidelines, I did better than I would have done in the past, as far as eating less, making a few better choices, and at least THINKING about what I was eating in a positive way.  And on vacation, that’s pretty good progress for me.

How I did with my guidelines this past week:

-I kept up my food diary pretty well.  It IS hard to see the “should eat less often” food show up on my pages--I was definitely eating more dessert/sweets than I’d have liked to.

-My husband was pretty supportive (he ate all my leftovers when I was trying to eat less—haha!).

-I did my weigh-in, and I’m sticking with this blog.  Yay!

-I did pretty well with smaller portions, though this is still up for improvement.

-I jogged only 2 times this week, but I did a hike that was fairly strenuous, so I feel good about exercise this week.  I even made a mental note of all the trips I made carrying items to our camper while packing – that was good exercise!

-My biggest issue was just eating more of the sweets and carbs, and fewer veggies, than I am shooting for.  I did eat salad a couple of times (I even brought a salad spinner camping!), and cooked spinach with eggs for breakfast, so I’d say I tried harder than my “normal” camp food.  But of course, there’s always room for improvement.

I had a big-time realization on this trip, and I need to dig into it further.  Basically, so much of our exploring and enjoying vacation centers around food, and sweet treats in particular.  There’s the fudge shop that we had to stop at, and the candy shop I went to as a kid, and the best place for a high-end pastry, and a particular sweet treat we like to eat while enjoying an idyllic beach view.  And we saved our favorite stop for last: an orchard/market stand that has everything from cider (check), cider donuts (check), apples (check), cherry jam (check), dried cherries (check), and THE BEST cherry strudel (check).  Good thing most of those items store/freeze well.  However, I’ll have to think about other activities to do on vacation for next time that don’t include buying as many sweet souvenirs!

So, now that I’m home, I am back on the bandwagon, and not letting my vacation excesses bog me down.  In the past, I have found that it’s easy to feel defeated and give up after a “naughty” weekend or vacation, and then go on eating bigger portions and lots of sweets once I’m back.  Instead, today, I started off the day with good intentions, ate a little smaller breakfast, and went for a jog.  I do have some sweets lying around from the weekend (those that I couldn’t freeze), so I plan to eat those in moderation over the next few days.  I realize it will set me back / take me longer to reach my goals on this journey, but I’m OK with that.  I want a positive attitude toward food, and I told myself there are no off-limit foods.

Forward Flavor!

Week 1 in Review

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

Week 2, Monday, 10/12/15, Weight: 145.2 lbs <– current stats

So, that’s a loss of 3.6 lbs.

What?!  That’s too much weight lost (in one week).  I’ve read over the years that in order to lose a pound of fat, I need to eat 3500 fewer calories.  So, to lose one pound in a week, that’s 3500 calories / 7 days = 500 fewer calories per day.  My impossible math is: 3.6 lbs x 3500 calories per pound / 7 days = 1800 calories cut out per day, each day for the last seven days.  Even though I am not counting calories, I am positive that I’ve not cut out this number of calories to make this a fully “real” weight loss.

So, where did that weight go?  I’m pretty sure: I lost water weight.

Here’s a link to a quick description of this:

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Wellness/confusing-weight-loss-concepts-cleared/story?id=20179897#1

Hopefully I lost a tiny bit of “real” weight too—and hopefully most of it fat (wishful thinking, I know).  Though this “water weight” loss points out to me that I need to ensure that I am well hydrated during this process.  I am already an avid water drinker (never bored by it, and never craving soda or juice), but perhaps I will start to tally my daily water intake now.  It can’t hurt.

Also, as I mentioned last time, bone loss can occur while cutting calories.  That’s SCARY, and I hope that’s a negligible portion of my weight loss.  In order to avoid bone loss, I have to exercise.  In reference: http://www.webmd.com/osteoporosis/news/20061211/bone-loss-can-be-effected-by-weight-loss

That article isn’t clear on what kind of exercise to do.  But I remember from reading Strong Women Stay Slim that weight-bearing exercises are important (jogging, lifting weights, jumping) versus non-weight-bearing (such as swimming and biking, I think).  I’m already an almost-daily walker, and currently upping my jogging, but weight training is a different story.  I am not joining a gym, and I don’t have a weight set at home.  The next best thing I’m going to try is to not shy away from (safely) lifting regular objects at home.  I can certainly incorporate daily lifting of my dog (32 lb), a 12-inch cast iron pan for dinner (heavy!), and working with tools in the garden/garage.  No more passing up carrying laundry baskets up and down the stairs, since that’s part of my new workout!

Back to how I did with my guidelines this past week:

1. Keep a food diary.

Check, yes, I did!  I’ve kept a log every day of what I’m eating and when.  The most interesting thing is how much I crave dessert and sweet carbs.  It is currently so hard not to eat dessert after every evening’s dinner.  But I am being patient, and hoping I eventually become less addicted.  In the meantime, I’m eating fresh (whole) fruit after dinner as my “dessert”.

2. Have a support group.

Check, yes, my husband and 3 friends are aware of my guidelines and goals.  My husband is here for the daily grind, and supporting me in my weakest hours of wanting to eat dessert (he says, “no, stick to your plan” and “I’m so proud of you”—very cool).

3. Official weigh-in on Monday.

Check, yes.

4. Set specific, realistic goals and rewards.

Check, yes.

5. Eat smaller portion sizes of everything.

Pretty well, yes.  I have definitely reduced the amount of food I’m eating at meals.  I actually feel hungry in the morning, and usually before each meal.  I even ate a snack before bed once because my stomach was growling (weird!).  I know that people should feel a little hungry before eating, but I’m pretty sure that I was rarely truly hungry before meals before, and I just ate because it was “time to eat”.

Of course, I still have room for improvement, because it’s easy to put my “normal” amount (aka too much) on my plate, and then (hopefully) realize I need to put some back.  Some additional challenges when I know I’ll have to be vigilant about smaller portions are when: eating out, eating with friends/family, and attending special gatherings (holidays, vacations, etc).

6. Don’t make any foods off-limit.

Check, yes, I’m doing this.

I’m baking less often.  I have stopped myself from baking at least a couple of times over this past week—I’m not giving in to every urge as I used to!  For example, yesterday, I wanted to make a cake, but I knew that I wasn’t planning to eat dessert that day, so I told myself “no” to baking.  I spent the time making a delicious roast chicken meal with baked potatoes, gravy, and green garden salad with homemade vinaigrette dressing—worth skipping the cake!  I think I’ll bake the cake today instead, because my husband and I have “date night” at home tonight (a good reason to eat delicious homemade cake!).  Then I can freeze a few pieces for later, and send the rest with him to his office tomorrow!

I ate green vegetables at 2-3 meals per day, every day this past week.  Yay!  But, I ate dessert 4 times.  Pretty good for me (before, I was eating dessert pretty much daily, if not more than once per day), but I still have room for improvement.

7. Exercise a little more.

Check, yes, I jogged 3 times this past week.  Now I need to incorporate other exercises.

8. Eat the good stuff.

Pretty well, yes.  I definitely didn’t indulge in fried foods and sugar-y carb-y foods nearly as much.  I only ate out once (on date-night): a salad, but it did have fried chicken on it, and ranch dressing (on the side!).  So, always room for improvement, but I’d say I’m doing pretty well.  I’m more cognizant of how much butter and cheese and sugar I’m putting in things, and trying to reduce that a bit. And of course, eating smaller portions overall.

I also have reduced eating some of the simple carbs that I used to eat just because they are easy and yummy.  For example, I made tuna salad with mayo and veggies, and ate it on a bed of lettuce instead of between slices of bread.  My goal isn’t to go low-carb, but I realize that the (white) bread isn’t doing me a lot of favors nutritionally and calorically (is that a word?), so I skipped it.  Yay!  On the other hand, I made homemade buttermilk cornbread (with white flour and “regular” cornmeal), and ate it with chili because it was the perfect accompaniment.  Oh, and I put butter and honey on it because it is delicious that way.  And I don’t feel guilty about doing that.

Yay, I'm eating delicious, homemade food and losing (a little) weight without feeling (too) deprived.  Success so far...

Forward Flavor!

Welcome back to the new Forward Flavor blog!

6 months later, and I'm back.  (This blog initially was a 4-post experiment in March that started and ended there.)  I'm trying not to be down on myself, but instead see if I can reinvent and re-launch this blog.  Forward Flavor is back, but with a new twist!

I still love to cook and bake.  I love to eat, and I love honest-to-goodness real good FLAVOR in my homemade foods.  I’d love to inspire others to cook more from-scratch at home too.  I don't mind writing and taking photos, but I think it's been hard for me to schedule time for the formality of it without any real purpose: making sure to take pictures of my food, write down my thoughts, and do posts.  Yada-yada-yada.  Plus, I think I felt guilty advocating the way I eat, when I always felt a little guilty myself, especially because I can’t maintain the weight and fitness I want eating this way.

Enter my new goal: to move myself FORWARD by losing some weight and getting healthier, and sharing that with the blogosphere, starting now.  (I know, trying to lose weight, big deal, just like everyone else.  But I’m doing this blog more for me right now than for my potential readers, though maybe I can inspire someone else!)  To be clear, I refuse to go on a "diet".  I'm not following any book's, or doctor's, or anyone's specific diet advice (heaven knows I’ve read lots over the years).  For me, there will be no gimmicks, no “low carb” or “low fat” or low anything, and no already-prepared meals or meal replacements—I already know how to cook.  My thought is that I already know what I need to do to feel healthier while dropping a couple (dozen) pounds, and I just need to DO IT.  Of course, I find it interesting and inspiring to hear other people's weight loss stories too, so I’m hoping I get feedback!

So, I figured I should do posts on this.  I figured that this blog could help to keep me honest and regimented, and perhaps, maybe even garner a little support (hello, potential readers).  I just started my new Caryn's Not-a-Diet Guide to a healthier lifestyle this week, so let's dig right in!

My current stats, as of Day 1, Monday, 10/5/15:

(Sorry, no photos of me until I meet my goal)

Age: 35

Gender: F

Ethnicity: Caucasian

Height: 5'4"

Weight: 148.8 lbs

BMI (body mass index) = 25.5 (per cdc.gov's calculator) => Overweight

According to the CDC, for my height, my weight should be between 108-145 lbs to be considered "Normal" (not underweight, not overweight).  Boy, do I hate the word "normal", though; it's just a loaded word.  Google's definition of normal is "the usual, average, or typical state or condition".  Does that mean that on a bell curve, the majority of 35-year-old, white, female Americans who are 5'4" tall are between 108-145 pounds?  Perhaps, though these days, I question that.  And of course, I already know not to "trust" or believe that the BMI is the 100% failsafe answer to "what weight should I be in order to be healthy."  But for me, I know the BMI is a decent starting point, since I am not a bodybuilder with a huge muscle mass, so I’m going to start there.

To some, it may seem silly that I’m interested in blogging about my “relatively small” amount of weight loss that I’m trying to achieve.  But to me, it’s about how I feel, and I know that I feel better, healthier, more fit, and sexier with a little less weight on my frame.  I already know that I feel overweight.  In fact, I think it's really important to take into account how I feel and how healthy I am, and not only focus on numbers on the scale.  Every person’s weight is a very personal matter.  Some people are thin, some are thick, some are tall, some are small.  I think it’s great that there’s diversity, and we should embrace it more as a culture.  I think all Americans (especially women) are subjected to unhealthy, unrealistic body image messages through the media, advertisements, and entertainment industries.  We are “supposed” to look skinny, even downright gaunt, according to them.  But I believe that's unhealthy and unrealistic for me (and most people).  So, when push comes to shove, I want to be at a weight that I feel healthy at, and I know that makes me feel happier too.  I wish we could all be at our own personal “happy weight”, and I wish that it would be easy to be at and easy to maintain that weight.  But I know for me it’s not easy.  

My ideal happy weight is between 120-130 lbs, and so my goal is to be 125 lbs.  I have been 125 lbs before, probably though most of my 20's.  It felt great: easier to exercise, easier to walk up and down stairs, and easier to find flattering clothes at the department store.  I’ve lost weight before, and even though I’m not a yo-yo dieter, per se, every time I lose it, I have had a hard time maintaining my happy weight over the years.  That means that this time I’m gearing up for an almost 25 lb weight loss, but more importantly, I want to maintain my weight loss forever.  In the realm of things, that isn't really that much, but to me, that's a lot.  My dog weighs 32 lbs, so it's like losing almost a whole dog's worth of weight off my body (eek!), and then maintaining my happy weight over my lifetime.  But as my husband says, it's best to take it 5 pounds at a time, and not get overwhelmed by the overall goal.  I agree wholeheartedly.

I also strongly believe in not losing weight too fast, and not with a deprivation diet, or one that is too difficult to maintain long-term while living in our society, aka "real life".  My husband and I did a 30-day whole-foods, plant-based (vegan) diet challenge back in January 2013.  It was fun, interesting, tasty, and I lost weight!  But I felt hungry all the time, it was quite challenging to eat out, and I can’t imagine having to navigate through the holidays eating that way!  I knew that I wasn’t planning to go vegan for life (I mean, cheese! butter! eggs!), but we wanted to experiment.  I’m glad we did, but I know that’s not the way I want to move forward.

My defined, realistic, short-term goal is to lose 5 lbs (to be down to 144 lbs) by my 36^th birthday, in late November.  That’s 5 lbs in 7 weeks—I better be able to do that!  And ideally, I’ll lose more than that, but I don’t want to get ahead of myself.  Overall, I believe a 1-2 lb/week weight loss is both healthy and realistic, especially if I add additional/regular exercise to my life (including some weight-bearing exercises, so I don’t lose bone mass as I lose weight, which studies have shown can happen, yikes!).

How do I plan to achieve my goal?  I have put together my Caryn’s Not-a-Diet Guide to help guide myself.  The best thing is that there is no food that’s off limits for me, and I’m not planning to be hungry.  I’m also not starting a crazy amount of exercise, but just upping it a little.  And I’m planning to prepare all the food myself, except for the occasional eating out, like before.  I don’t plan on this taking any more of my time than the cooking I did before.  Well, except for blogging about it.  ;)  Yay!

Here it goes.  Forward Flavor!

Caryn’s Not-a-Diet Guide

1. Keep a food diary

Keeping a food log/diary is very helpful for weight loss to be successful, as proven by many organizations.  In the past, I’ve tried counting calories, and found it too difficult, so I had given up on keeping a food diary because of it.  So I’m not going to track calories.

Instead, I’ll track ALL the foods I eat, their quantities, and time I eat.  And I’ll track when I work out, eat out, and my feelings when I eat, if they seem very strong (or how I feel when I refrain from eating something—not having dessert every night is going to be hard for me!).  I won’t post my full food diary on my blog, but I’ll post my feelings/thoughts as I go forward!

2. Have a support group (husband / friends / blog) to lean on

If I tell others that I’m doing it, then they can help hold me accountable.  Having this “support group” is going to be really important for me.

3. Do an official weigh-in once per week (write it down)

My weigh-in day is going to be Monday.  Realistically, I’ll weigh myself every day, but I’ll base my loss on Monday’s number.  Yikes, I can’t have binge weekends!

4. Set specific, realistic goals (and rewards!)

First short-term goal: lose 5 pounds in <= 7 weeks (by my birthday).

First reward: buy a new, cute outfit once I meet my first goal.

Weekly goal: lose 1-2 lb/week, on average.

Overall goal: lose around 25 lbs, to get to 125 lb, and feel fit and healthy!

Don’t get frustrated if it takes a long time – maybe 6 months! – and stick with it!

5. Eat smaller portion sizes of EVERYTHING!

Don’t feel “full” after a meal—that’s too much food.

However, don’t try to feel “hungry” all of the time.  I don’t want to cave and eat sweets.

Since I’m part of the “clean plate club” (can’t shake that), I will put onto my plate only 1/2 - 2/3 of what I’d normally take.  If I’m still hungry, then I’ll eat more.

6. Don’t make any foods off-limits

I love food.  So, I’m going to eat it all, just less of it, and the less healthy foods less often!

I love to bake, but I will now bake WAY LESS often.  And spend that time cooking and experimenting with tasty, healthy meals instead.

I am going to limit dessert to only 2-3 times/week.  (Argh, I am currently addicted!)

But, I’m still going to eat dessert—mostly my delicious homemade desserts!

Also, I am planning to eat (green) vegetables at 2 or more meals/day.

I am planning to eat as many fresh, whole fruits and vegetables as I can/desire.

I’m not worried about reducing my salt intake, as long as I cook at home most of the time from whole foods (and eat out very little, and few processed foods).

7. Exercise (a little) more

I already am a walker, hiker, and jogger.  I plan to more regularly jog (3+ times/week) and get back to doing some sit-ups, push-ups, etc.

I am a gym membership waster, so I’m NOT going to join one!

8. Eat the good stuff

LOTS OF

whole grains (preferably unprocessed/not ground into flours)

fresh veggies (or frozen, winter is coming!)

legumes (beans, peas)

fresh fruits

“whole, good” meats, poultry, and fish (local farm-raised, grass-fed, wild-caught and/or organic, and not processed meat as much)

LESS OF

good fats (extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil)

whole fat dairy (butter, cheese, yogurt, milk)

nuts / nut butters

avocados (less because they’re very fatty)

bananas (less because they’re very starchy/sugary)

VERY LITTLE OF

sugar / syrup / honey

desserts (limit to mostly homemade!)

white flour stuff (pancakes, bread, etc)

jam / dried fruits / fruit juices

alcohol / soda (even diet)

fried foods / extra fatty foods (pie, donuts)

canola oil, soybean oil, and other “unhealthy” oils (GMO and hydrogenated!)

processed meats, especially with nitrates (bacon, ham, hot dogs, sausage, pepperoni)

processed foods (most non-whole “boxed” foods at the store)

junk foods (candy, chips, etc)

eating out!