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!!