Deep Breath

OK...moving onward. Yesterday's return to the Cadbury deliciousness (times three candy bars) proved to be enough, and I'm back to normal. Or at least normal eating.



Bright spot in the day? I kept my blogging daily streak alive because I blogged here yesterday, if not at the main site. Yay, me.

Monday Is Weigh-In Day

Today's weight is....193.0, for a loss of 0.4 pounds this week. Tada! Let the trumpets sound :)

That's all right with me, as I DID have a trip to Cadbury World. Actually, the saltier food that I ate for dinner and lunch on that trip might have more to do with the small scale change. This is also the week that I tend to have a small loss, if any, so it's quite normal.

I remember back in 2001 when I lost over 40 pounds, I freaked out for a couple of months when I would have great losses 3 out of 4 weeks. It didn't dawn on me for a while that my body had a say in the water retention, too.

Hope you all are having a great start to your week. I have a little sickie girl at home today, so my plans have shifted, but I'm sure I'll get SOME house stuff done in there...

Cadbury World, or, How Fares the Healthy Eating?

Well, we've returned from our foray to Cadbury World, and it was not as utterly awful as one might fear, foodwise. The lunch options weren't great, as the cafe is being renovated, limiting them to things like sandwiches, but I didn't spend the 5 hours we were there inhaling chocolate, either.

I have no idea how to itemize my food in FitDay, but I had about half a packet of Cadbury buttons, one bite of Fry's Turkish Delight, most of my Essence mix of chocolate and jelly babies (which was about equal to a melted candy bar's worth of chocolate), and 3 chocolate box type chocolates. Oh, yes, and a slice of toast, grilled tomato and mushrooms, yogurt, berries, and muesli for breakfast; and half a cheese and tomato panini and a coffee for lunch. Plus a flapjack (like an oat bar). A pear. And 6 cups of water.

So...not the usual day of eating, but not crazytastic either. And Cadbury World? A heckuva lot of fun, for all of us.

[Edited to add: I added in my food for today on FitDay after all. A little bit of "By guess or by God," but close enough...]

What I Did for Me Today

Today, I got some great activity in. Chrissie and I hit the track and walked five laps, yakking the whole way. That is 1 and 7/8 miles, I believe. We also walked a good quarter mile there, and back. I felt so energized afterward.

Now? Still feel good, except that my shoulder is KILLING me. Completely not walk-related, but it hurts, boy... It feels like the joint is pinching something so the whole arm is sore and achey. Took Tylenol and am waiting for relief, please, thank you very much.

Toni suggested a great challenge in the comments on my other blog, in my post [rant] about sodium in foods. How about a month of no processed foods? I think it's a fantastic idea. I'm not ready...yet...to take the big leap, but I can see that it would make such a difference. Right now, my ready meals are a big portion control crutch, so I have to think about ways and means for a bit.

Monday Is Weigh Day

It was a good weigh day, too. Down a good bit more, to 193.4. I was pleased as punch, let me tell you, Gentle Reader.

Non-scale Victories: Today's Edition

Victory the First: Tossing out the remains of the macaroni and cheese we had for lunch. The kids ate theirs, and I ate three quarters of a cup, after telling myself I'd eat something else. And then I stopped. Didn't eat the rest, and tossed it.

It's Crap Food anyway, with a hugely high fat and salt content. My darling bean loves it so much, I bought some again. She turns her nose up at other types of "macaroni cheese" but I think we'll just have to suffer with that, because I don't want to harden HER arteries either, frankly. If I start making my own, or making a lower fat version, she'll come round in time.

Interesting Connection

So.

I'm an emotional eater, you might say. I came down the stairs just now from putting the kids to bed, thinking to myself "What can I snack on? I want something sweet," and wondering where the heck that's coming from.

I've just eaten a lovely and filling dinner, and had 2 cups of water. What in heck? Then, it dawned on me. I don't feel like cleaning up the dinner dishes. I don't want to go back to sorting the Christmas stuff.

It's not that I want to eat something, it's that I want something to distract me from what I SHOULD be doing.

So.

I'm blogging this discovery. I'm logging off. And I'm headed to the kitchen to clear up after myself. I may or may not get to the Christmas stuff. However, I'm not going to dive into a snackfest as an excuse to escape cleaning the kitchen. How would it benefit me in the long run? Not at all.

The Great Spinach Caper

Really, I suppose I should title this The Great Drink More Water and Eat Something Green Caper but it just doesn't sound as good...

I'm having real success this week at adding water and adding green (spinach, in my case) to my diet. I've had 2 liters of water every day so far, I think. And throwing spinach into anything I eat is dead simple, and hasn't been un-tasty yet.

The side effects so far are the usual added bathroom runs, and a MUCH decreased desire to snack. My handy water bottle is always next to me, and I drink rather than snack. I don't know if that's ever worked so well for me before, but it sure is this time around.

I feel more energy all around. That's a Good Thing.

Clutter

I've logged my food in FitDay for 4 days now. Seeing the effect the dietary "clutter" had on my nutritional pie charts (see Jan 14 for a loooovely example of how quiche can kill a girl) is a good incentive to choose something better the next time around (see Jan 15). Drinking water, eliminating bread and sugar and caffeine nearly completely for the last few days, it's all making a difference. I feel clearer-headed. I also feel less hungry than I did last week.

As I remove some of the clutter in my diet (replacing it with water, and spinach, these past couple days, methinks), I'm thinking again about the clutter in our home. I've been starting over with Flylady, from Day 1, and it's starting to sink in a little bit again. Today, I tackled the guest room, a room I've been avoiding for months because I just throw stuff in there when I clean other areas. I didn't go crazy. Just 5 minutes at a time, a la Flylady. After four 5-min rounds, I can see a difference. I can also see some of the floor!

This is the strategy that's working with food clutter, too. Little steps, like adding in water for several days, even while I wasn't watching the food at all. Then adding a green thing in every day...a lot easier than I remembered. After some babystepping with this, my body was more willing to give up its dependence on the sugar, floury group. That's gone well, but we'll see how it goes. Starch is a downfall for me.

Fats are another thing - cheese and butter....mmm. By cutting out toast for breakfast, I cut out all the butter I slather on. Cheese - I bought some reduced fat cheese, and haven't really eaten much of that yet. But I am weighing it when I eat it, and writing it down, instead of having a hunk, and then another hunk, and another.

Behold the Power of Spinach

This is what I ate for dinner tonight. Two bowls this size. Spinach made boring pasta incredible. I have gotten away from green in my meals, and I forgot that I love spinach in all its forms. For dinner tonight, I chopped 2 cups of fresh spinach and stirred it into 100 grams (precooking weight) of spinach and egg linguini. Three tablespoons of parmesan. No salt. No oils.

Two bowls' worth of this was 340 calories, with 7 grams of fat. I must confess, I was full after a bowl and a half, but I ate it all anyway. Probably not the greatest idea.

It does demonstrate how you can add a whole lot of volume (and good stuff) to a meal, though.

I impulse-bought a diet Coke today, and opened it this afternoon (haven't had soda in a couple of weeks). The funny thing? Three hours later, it's still half-full, because I have been carrying my water bottle around and keep drinking from that instead! Cool.

Monday Weigh-in

Who wants to know? Mmmm, anyone? Anyone?? Bueller?

I weighed in a lovely 196.6 this AM. And was happy to see it! On the way back down now.

The biggest changes this past week - much less bread, and lots of water, water, water. I still ate portions that were too large, and made some cruddy choices (Kraft Mac and Cheese, I'm talking to you!), but it's starting to look do-able.

What's Going Right.

Today, I woke up at a decent hour. I made decaf coffee (OK, with a sprinkle of caf in the grounds, but at least 80% decaf). I ate yogurt and muesli and an apple for breakfast.

I threw a load of laundry in, unloaded the dishwasher, took my vitamins, and filled my water bottle, all before I sat down to breakfast.

And I felt like I Got. Something. Done.

I moisturized. I refrained from taking scissors to my hair and cutting it like a madwoman (only because - Must. Be. Strong. Toni and Guy posh haircut scheduled for Thursday.)

And I am even drinking the water in that water bottle.

A Little Good, A Little Bad...Weighing In

So far today, I've had a liter of water. Good.

I ate a slice of cookie pizza, even as I was telling myself I wasn't going to, and was going to have an apple. Bad.

I had the apple, too. Probably good, all things considered.



I had bean soup for dinner. Good.
I ate my daughter's pizza crusts. Bad.

I haven't done an exercise DVD today. Bad.

I did walk around in four different stores. OK.

I talked (emailed) with my best bud, about how I'm really feeling emotionally. Very good. Well, I'm not feeling good emotionally; actually, I'm feeling pretty dang shaky. However, talking about it? Very good.

And good friends? Priceless. Thanks, Susie.

Baby Stepping

I've been taking teeny steps this week, and it's working. Drinking at least a glass of water, often more; remembering to take vitamins; adding green things to my dinner choices. You know, all that stuff I was already reaaaally good at doing last year at this point.

Evening snacking was better last night - I had a couple of fruit bars, but not an extra meal or three.

Last night, I also took down my three exercise DVDs, all unused before now.

Today, I pulled out the yoga mat and did Simply Yoga, with Yolanda Pettinato. I think she's Australian. Lovely calm voice, and a simple 30 minute session with a few poses. Two minutes into the DVD, I could tell it was going to be tough for me, even though it wasn't supposed to be arduous. As soon as I lay down in Corpse Pose, I hurt. My back must be terribly misaligned. Every pose that required my back to be flat, or to curl down a bit at a time, was impossible to do correctly.

I think the DVD is aimed correctly at me, the beginner, but if I can't loosen up my back muscles, it will be a problem to do the poses right.

Almost 3 years ago, I spent a month or do doing some yoga DVDs (actually recorded from TV) where the instructor was Rodney Yee. Those were great, and I see he has one called Back Care Yoga. I may just have to order it.

First, however, I am going to check out and report on my other two unopened exercise DVDs. Stay tuned!

[Apologies if you read this when it posted earlier, with a link and no text.]

Weigh-in

Oh, who's been out there, waiting with bated breath? OK, self, the number is....

200 exactly. As I predicted, a gain today. And a new decade on the scale. Crud. Is this perhaps what we call motivation?

Update before Monday's Weigh-in...

Well, I singularly spectacularly failed in the "less snacking at night" plan, in fact sometimes eating Second Dinner. (Am I a hobbit? Mebbe.) I would expect no loss, perhaps a gain, tomorrow. Nevertheless, I'll post it for me, and for you. Accountability is a good step.

I meet up with Chrissie tomorrow for coffee after running some errands, and we will plan a gym trip once a week. I still need to find a yoga class near home that meets midday.

Ciao for now...

January, January...

A New Year means time to wake up and smell the coffee, or perhaps more accurately, get up and put down the mince pies.

As you can see from the sidebar, my weight has skedaddled back up. I put back on 20 of the 27 or so pounds I lost this past winter/spring. I forgive myself, and I know a lot of it was emotional/comfort eating. However, that being said, the best way to deal with grief is NOT eating yourself into an early grave.

The second half of 2007 wasn't all bad. Our trip home for Mom's memorial was all I could have wished. Wonderful time with family and friends, and a truly lovely goodbye to Mom. Once we were back here, David was home all year after the Germany stint, until mid-December. The kids were, as always, a source of amusement and joy. The garden looked great, especially after Mole Man (really Mole Boy) did a third pass, chasing the little buggers out completely. There were several quick trips to London. I found a good new friend who is creative and funny and wants to get fitter. Around September, I started to crawl out of my depression and sadness. And it's good to be alive.

Baby steps here toward renewed fitness. I weighed in on New Year's Day, and will weigh in each week. I threw away the mince pies (biggest downfall for me in a British Christmas). I stocked up on fruits, if not veg. I'm drinking water again.

Next baby step: eliminate post-dinner snacks.

I'll be back. Nag me if I'm not, if you're reading this...