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.
Down 2.8 lbs from last week (?!), and down 6.4 lbs overall in 5 weeks.
Huh,
that’s a lot of weight loss in one week, and I’m not sure why. I have been doing pretty well this past week
with keeping up with my goals, but I can’t say that I did amazingly well. I still ate all kinds of delicious things (including
a Blueberry Cream Cheese Danish from the farmer’s market, mmm). Weird.
So,
I’ve met my short-term goal of losing 5 lbs by my birthday, since I’ve exceeded
that already. I just have to keep it off
from now through my pre-birthday weekend (ahem, cake!) and maintain 143.8 lbs
or less by Monday, 11/23. Then I’ll
hopefully keep it off and even lose more through Thanksgiving and the
Christmas/New Year holiday season. Oh
boy, this is going to be a challenge. One
day (or holiday) at a time…
My
new additional short-term goal is 2 times a week to eat a “whole-foods,
plant-based” meal (healthy vegan). I’ve
noticed that I’ve (unintentionally) shied away from eating beans and legumes
lately, and they are SO GOOD this time of year when it’s getting cold
outside. A big pot o’ steamy beans and a
side of sautéed greens? Mmm! And of course, I have lots of ethnic recipes
to choose from that taste delicious without meat, dairy, or eggs.
I
also have been watching some “foodie” movies lately, and I was introduced to
the idea that I may need to do some kind of fresh veggie juicing “detox cleanse”,
to rid my body of toxins from losing weight.
The claim is that many toxins are stored in fat cells, and since these
cells are now (hopefully) being burnt off, they are thus releasing the toxins
back into my bloodstream and liver.
Yikes! Seems a little fishy
though—shouldn’t my body know what to do with the toxins naturally? It turns out that, yes, no need to do a
special detox or cleanse, according to these two sources that I trust:
My
successes with my goals from last week:
1.
I jogged three times this past week, and bumped up my times on the treadmill
for 2 of my runs: 29 and 30 minutes at 5.6 mph.
I hope I can keep that up this week and get more used to it, since I
currently finish with a red face (which to me means that I’m running too fast
and/or too long).
2.
I ate lots of green veggies this past week (though always room for
improvement). The good news is that I
went to the final outdoor farmer’s market in Madison on Saturday, and then the
local food co-op on Sunday, so my fridge is literally stuffed with fresh,
delicious, local and/or organic veggies.
And it really forces me to cook and use them up! Yay!
3.
I’m still keeping my food diary up-to-date. I should do a better job of
updating it after every meal though, so I’ll have to work on that. It’s hard to remember what I ate yesterday,
and 2 days prior is almost impossible to remember.
4.
I think I improved on reducing the quantity of my food eaten. I’m feeling
a bit more hungry, in a good way. J What a strange feeling that is!
5.
So, I had dessert every day this past week, minus one. Oh well.
The good news is that I’m eating less when I do have it, and I’m not
having it after every meal on a given day.
These are improvements for me.
But I am definitely still a sugar-aholic. No joke, I am majorly addicted to sugar and
flour (mmm, cake). I wonder if I’d
really have to go “cold turkey” to kick the bad carb habit. I’ll have to do more research on this in the
future.
6.
I didn't eat out at all this week, yay!
(OK, except for that aforementioned Danish.) Pretty cool, and probably helped with the
weight loss, now that I think about it.
7.
I baked just twice: one time it was to make partial whole wheat yeast rolls for
dinner with bratwurst (yes, I’m still eating bratwurst), and the other time was
to make ginger pear coffee cake that I shared with friends who were stopping
through. All the other baked goods
(homemade sourdough bread, English muffins, a S’mores cupcake) were all
previously made and frozen, and then reheated as needed. I totally recommend freezing baked goods. They stay fresher that way, and then you have
automatic portion control (who wants to eat a frozen roll?). I can pull out what I need for a given meal
instead of eating a whole loaf of fresh homemade bread in two days (yup, I’ve
done that—with my husband too, of course).
8.
The only thing I did different this week was my doctor started me on an
antibiotic (for nothing serious, don’t worry).
So, I’ve been eating yogurt daily (whole milk, full-fat, though!),
because I am worried about losing my “good gut bacteria” and hope probiotics in
food will help restore/maintain them.
Could those two things be helping me lose weight somehow…? I did a quick Google search, but found
conflicting evidence. Perhaps good gut
microbes can help maintain a lower weight, but even if they don’t, they are
good for overall health. So in addition
to stocking up on yogurt, I bought naturally fermented (and unpasteurized) dill
pickles at the farmer’s market, and an unpasteurized sauerkraut-like product
from the food co-op. I’ll have to ease
into them, though, since I had both for lunch today, and had major icky stomach
(maybe unrelated, but I better take it easy initially). I even bought some probiotic pills, but I
think I’ll wait to take those until after the antibiotic series is finished. Hopefully it will help my good gut flora in
the long run.
I
haven’t eliminated any delicious foods from my life, and I’m still losing
weight. Hurrah! Comments, thoughts? Is anyone reading this? I hope so!
;)
Forward
Flavor!
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