Busy Busy!!!

I don't remember the last time I've been so busy. It's one of those times where I look ahead in the schedule and realize that if I want Tuesday to flow - I need to get the laundry or meals or whatever done in the 2-3 hour period of free time the Saturday before hand!! Crazy to actually plan that far ahead, at least for me. Alot of it is that I've been making meals for people. It takes extra groceries, time and delivery... it just adds up! I've made three meals - one for last Friday and two for today. Plus my family has to eat too! I've actually handled it really well.

Anyways - I've made some changes in my life - meals are kind of a part of it - where I'm trying to be more ministry focused. I started babysitting for a friend who just needs time to nap - she has 4 kiddos under the age of 4 and she's up 5+ times a night. Not good!!! So once a week I'll be watching her kiddos. It actually was a breeze today.

I also want to start a bible study for my Mops group. Suppose I should pick our material for that so we can advertise it!!!

So on the dieting and exercise home front... doing pretty well. I still am not eating evening snacks and it's going really well. Sometimes I'm tempted, but I'm so eager to see the results the next day - it's working for me. I think that's what I love, the (somewhat) immediate gratification and actually seeing results.

I still need to get some momentum going and watch what I eat during the day. This past weekend we went on a weekend trip to Pittsburgh, my old stomping ground. So we definitely pigged out on some treats. I didn't care. But it pushed the scale up a good 2.5 lbs - but it's only taken 2 days to drop 2 of those pounds. I'm sure a good part of it was water weight - but whatever.

Tonight, I was very tempted to just eat something. I was hungry, truly hungry, and I thought - what's one night? But I didn't get my real workout today(the childcare area was full... GRrrr!) so what did I do? I grabbed a big(probably too big) bowl of fresh cantaloupe and pineapple. I'm pretty proud of myself! Now I'm off to do some abs and weights to make up from what I missed this morning.

Food Rules

Totally stole this. It's been on my mind lately.

My Little Secret

Okay - so I haven't been the best at weighing in and overall dieting lately. It's true. But I haven't stopped trying. I haven't totally lost my focus. I've just been stumbling.

It's been a little disheartening too, because March is almost over and I'm no where near my goal of losing 10 pounds this month. Will I ever lose any weight? Will I always be this size? Why do I not have the willpower even to lose five pounds?!? UGH!!!

And it is depressing. Obviously I need to make some changes. Obviously I'm not good at dieting and making changes!!! I do eat fairly healthy, it's the snacks that are getting to me. Last week it was definitely the hormones that did me in. I was salt sugar and deep fried all over the place! So much for applying the Food Matters approach. I did at times... but not constantly.

Well, I weighed myself last Monday and was 206.9 lbs. I weighed myself yesterday and was 206.4 lbs. I was quite thrilled since I had a horrible week eating. But my last official weigh in I was 204.4 lbs, so obviously I've been stumbling! But despite my eating habits not getting me anywhere fast, I've found a small habit I can start that's making a difference right away.

I'm not eating after 7pm at night. I usually go to bed at 11pm and snacking usually starts around 8:30 when the kids are in bed. The snacks are rarely healthy. So I'm doing two positive things - not taking in empty calories I don't have allotted anyways plus I'm not eating right before bed. I think that is the key. I've read how that can be important in weight loss(not eating before bed) and it's something I can definitely see results. And I have before, it;s just hard not to eat cookies and ice cream before bed!

So Monday I weighed 206.4 lbs. Today I weighed 205.2 lbs. That's over a pound less! Now yesterday was a good day anyways and it's possible I was just losing a bit more water weight with TOM leaving.. but I don't care. I'm seeing results. I think the only reason why I lost a half pound from last week was because Saturday and Sunday night I didn't have snacks before bed.

So if that's what it takes for me to start losing weight - then I think I can handle this change.

I know dieting should be a lifestyle change - but I've already incorporated one big lifestyle change, I just can't seem to handle it low cal as well. (My lifestyle being as much whole foods (organic) and as little processed foods as possible.) Unfortunately I've not been able to tame my snacking lifestyle to fit the rest of my lifestyle. If I had, I'd be in a much better place.

Food Matters

So I've been reading Food Matters by Mark Bittman. Got it on sale at our local Borders which is closing.

I'll (maybe) give a review on the book when I finish it, but I'll give you a little heads up now. If you're familiar with Food Inc. and Michael Pollan, you're not getting a ton of new information. Same mindset.

Mark Bittman does have a slightly different viewpoint though. First of all - he is very concerned about the environment and how our food choices are effecting it. I found this slightly annoying. I'm all about helping the Earth and making as little dent as possible - but I do not believe in global warming, and clearly - he DOES! So, once I just ignore the extreme global environmental BS I don't quite agree with - there's alot of good information.

It's also alot easier to read than a Michael Pollan book. Just sayin.

Mark Bittman also heavily talks about eating what he calls "sanely." Half the book is devoted to this. It's not a diet, per say, but a life style. There's only a few basic rules - and mostly it's eat plants. Eat alot of plants - then add whatever you have room for into it. Obviously not surprising. But as he explains it more, I'm obviously not eating this way.

So as I look at my current eating style - we try to eat alot of veggies, and sometimes it's the main attraction to our meals. Meat has definitely taken a back seat to our menus. But there's still alot of grains and not necessarily whole grains. And fruits come and play now and again...

So for example - for lunch I might make a chicken & veggie quesadilla on my panini. Then I might have some pretzels, soup or salad(not all of those!) But the quesadilla is my highlight and my main meal. The right answer would be salad and lots of salad and veggies then add the quesadilla. And I certainly haven't been snacking right. Too many cookies and refined sugars around lately.

So I do plan on making the switch into having more plants and more plants then adding what I want/need into that. Might having to go shopping again to finish the week at that rate though!! So far today I had my same spinach and eggs for breakfast - but I had twice as much spinach and onions (plus extra oil) and only 1 egg. Eggs and dairy are to be more of a special treat, not an over indulgence. It was okay. I certainly prefer to have more eggs, but definitely doable. I'm about to go cut up a melon so I can snack on that.

Food Priorities

Hey - check out my post on my other blog Wholesome Family Living.

http://wholesomelivingfamily.blogspot.com/2011/03/defining-our-priorities-ramble-at-end.html

I'm sorry I can't seem to get the link to work - I'd appreciate a little help in figuring it out!!!

Also - since this is so short - how about a funny side note for the fellow bloggers out there.

Short Story: Today my mom and I were talking and she mentioned how she was sent a link to a blog from someone in her bible study. "It's actually pretty good!" Mom says. She continues to ponder and ask(hypothetically) why people feel the need to blog and who has the time to read all these blogs.. and on and on she goes.

Um, me?

I didn't tell her. I don't think she's aware of my blog(s!) although I posted a link on FB once or twice. I don't outwardly advertise myself to people I know. Too vulnerable, yah know.

Wake Up!!! Take Control of Yourself!!!!

So last night, if I had not been so tired I would have written this mostly as an encouragement to myself.

From my last couple posts, you know I've not been doing so well. Which is disappointing because I was at a recent low of 204.4 lbs. And last night - I wanted something sweet. And I did have something. Right after the kids went to bed, I had some leftover pancakes. I have finally figured out the calories and know that each pancake with the amount of maple syrup I use is about 100 calories each. So I had 4 pancakes. all this while watching Biggest Loser. Don't judge me - we've all been on the couch with our ice cream watching that show...

So after that I got my step out, and did a little bit of that. I got my weights out of the basement so I could do this new arms routine for "Sexy Arms" and did some abs as well.

Then the ice cream was calling me.

I knew I didn't need it. I just wanted more sweets. It was getting late - and I looked for something on TV so I could justify sitting up late and eating a bowl. I don't know if my craving wasn't terribly strong but I just realized that I don't need to give into every craving I have. (Obvious truths here!) And I was annoyed with myself that I let myself be ruled by my cravings. So I just pushed it aside and went to bed.

And I'm so glad I did! I woke up this morning and decided to do a weight evaluation - see how things were going. I was 205 lbs exactly! Now, not as low as 204.4 lbs but I've been 206-ish all weekend. It's amazing how cutting out the late eating can start to change things for you. I've seen this happen before, but late night eating is possibly my worst habit.

It was so encouraging to me to see this lower number on the scale! I thought I had just ruined and thrown away my last week. I was feeling that this journey was deemed to be hopeless, will I always be this weight now? Do I not have enough strength and determination to get beyond this? I can't exercise anymore than I am! But it's not hopeless. I'm still making progress. I can make mistakes and keep moving forward. My goal is not lost.

Weekend Blues...

So I totally lost it this weekend. Ugh!!

It was a downward spiral and I just didn't care. I'm not sure if hormones play into it or if I was just so tired from this past week I didn't have the zeal to keep it up any longer.

I think the main culprit is I'm out of my thyroid medication. And I haven't taken it for about 3 days. I have more, I just need to go pick it up. That was the plan yesterday - but I was too tired and lazy to do anything. One of the symptoms of my thyroid issues...

I don't know - it may just be a total big fat excuse... but yesterday - when I looked at the day - I did pretty much nothing. We went to church and had lunch there(fundraising event) but then I didn't go to the grocery stores nor did I do any laundry or make an attempt to cook something for dinner. I did finish off the cookies though. I also fell sleep on the couch around 9pm - which never happens - maybe twice a year do I fall sleep on the couch... so I was definitely wasted. Of course - a weekend of crappy eating probably didn't help.

So today I have to accomplish what I didn't accomplish yesterday - also meaning I will be missing my workout. I kinda needed to miss Zumba anyways - it's a half day for my daughter - so I would have to be incredibly timed to get her out of the hundreds of kids(and cars in the pick up line) and get to Zumba 15 minutes later - even though it's lunch time and the busiest street of our town. Who needs that headache?

This also means I have to finish grocery shopping for the week with only $30 left to spend. That sounded like an impossible feat yesterday - and still does. Especially since we're out of papertowels, napkins and TP. That's half the money right there! Oh - and we need shampoo - ugh... I still don't really know what we're eating this week.

So I need to get out of this funk... because it's not going to get me anywhere fast. Fortunately there are no more cookies... because that sounds pretty good - even though I already had my healthy spinach and egg breakfast.

I'm thinking too much...

Okay. It's thoughts like these that make me think I should go into nutrition or something so that I can answer all my questions.

So - here's my mental conundrum. I've eating about 650 calories so far today. I was at the gym for 1.5 hours - doing a Total body aerobics class plus 30 minutes on the elliptical. I easily burned 650 calories. So is my body burning fat to function? Is my body going into starvation mode? Surely I will eat more calories and actually - I just had 125 calories in trail mix. I ate them incredibly quickly, not realizing how hungry I was.

Just curious what's going on in my body. I'm obviously in the food = fuel mode. A great place to be for a dieter!

Weigh In Day

Okay - well, I'm going to cheat, just a bit. For the past 2-3 days I've weighed 204.6and even went down to 204.4 lbs. So I'm going to say my WI was 204.6, because it was on Thursday. Then Thursday happened.

I was meeting a friend for lunch, at McD's. I could have made good choices... but I think I over did all my working out on Wednesday - that by Wed night and Thursday my body was exhausted and I was feeling too fatigued to stay strong. Plus I was only down .2 after a great calorie day and excellent workouts. So I tentatively adopted the idea (I forget what it's called) where you eat low cal for 2 or 3 days - then have a high calorie day. I know it's calorie cycling, but there's also a diet centered around it - kinda like a caveman diet... I don't know. (and I'm too lazy to look it up for you and provide a handy link. Sorry.)

Anyways - it sounded like a good idea to this weary soul. I was overly fatigued, maybe a higher calorie day would energize me. And I've personally experienced how eating "normally" in a diet will help me drop below a plateau because my body doesn't think it's starving. So I tried it. I wasn't careful - I just ate normally and tried to keep the snacks low. Okay - not normally, but not excessively.

Well, it didn't work.

I do faintly remember reading how the high calorie day would only be 400-500 calories more than your normal calorie intake. I doubt my Angus and pizza for dinner stayed within that range. I also had more cookies than I've had this week(although let's be fair - I've done awesome avoiding cookies!!!) It truly was a "day off" from dieting, looking back at it.

So I'm definitely going to the gym today. I'm going to pretend the scale didn't say 206 and I'll look at tomorrow. Obviously I have some water weight too - after french fries and pizza! I know, I'm horrible! I did have a big salad at dinner though. I also need to plan ahead because we're going to church for dinner tonight - and the menu is foreign foods plus pizza. So maybe I'll have a big salad and make some discrete choices when I'm there.

March Goals and Day 3 of No Cookies...

My march goals are actually a combination of February and March. I can't do this every month because it would be impossible for me to actually reach these goals. This month is kind of a test to see how serious I am about losing the weight and reaching my Disney goal. Even as I drop a few pounds - it seems unreal that I would actually get back to my prepregnancy weight(please don't ask which pregnancy!). But I want it - I want it bad. So my monthly goal is to lose 5 pounds a month. I horribly failed in February - so it is possible to lose 10 in March. I've seen several people in the blogosphere lose 10 in February, so it's definitely possible for March! So let's lay out the numbers - I'd like to be 196/3 by the end of March, or April 1st which will be my WI day. Sounds good to me!

Anyways - that's my goal. I'm very excited about this week's WI because I've been doing great. I started out poorly this weekend, but I seem to have recovered and am gaining speed. As you noticed in my title - it's day 3 of no cookies. And we're not just talking cookies here - we're talking snacks. This is such a huge deal for me! I was having trouble getting to dinner without breaking down into cookie overload. Then in the evening I would always be snacking too. Always over my calories for each day. It was a habit/trend I couldn't seem to break.

I wish I could tell you how I've managed... but I don't really know. I have been exercising at night while we watch TV, and I know that's helped alot. It doesn't seem right to just sit and veg anymore, so I don't. I haven't measured myself either, but I think I'm toning up some flab. I put on some yoga-type pants and they weren't as embarrassing as I remember.

Today I'm meeting friends for Zumba and then this evening I'm meeting friends and trying my first spin class! I've always wanted to try one, but I think it's going to kill me... I'm definitely worried - especially since I have another workout planned for the day. I do have a pasta dinner planned - so I'm hoping that will help give me energy for the workout.

Some Things Seem So Obvious

Some things seem so obvious yet we're oblivious to them!

I've had a few "Ah-ha!" moments the past couple days. Dieting do's and don't that have just escaped me lately. So I will share them with you in case you've misplaced them from your mind as well.

The first one I came across from another blog I read. Very simple concept and in some ways - I already to this. It's just planning out your diet - for the full day. If you know and plan for your meals and know the calorie content beforehand, you have so much more control over everything! You know if you have room for an extra snack - or maybe the add ons at your meal - like dressing or cheese or whatever. Now, I do try to plan out what meals I'm making for the week, but I don't really know what I'm going to eat in a given day. Obviously tracking your calories or points is extremely important, an area I struggle with but am trying to make into a habit. So there's room for improvement for me here and so far I'm doing okay.

The second obvious dieting trick is to not snack in the evening. I almost always snack in the evening, so this is a habit I will have to break. I often breakdown and have cookies or ice cream in the evening. When I'm being healthy about it, I'll have cereal or possibly popcorn. Last night I had some fruit. And this morning, I saw some great results!

I'm very excited about this morning. Today is not my WI day, but when I'm hopeful for some good results, I'll WI! Now, I had a great low cal day and I did my zumba and a little step/abs in the evening and only fruit in the evening - and I was at my lowest weight in a while! 204.6 lbs!!! Very excited about this! I was apparently feeling defeated in the weight loss area of my life - and now I feel I might actually be able to drop some weight! I hadn't given up, but my goals seemed to be fading into *wishful thinking.* Just what I needed to keep me going this week! I can't wait until Friday to see where I'm at then!!