KnitFarm Health Spa

Monday Weigh-in

2008-03-10T18:16:00.001Z

194 today. But at least I got ON the scale :)

Wednesday Weigh-In

2008-02-20T11:13:00.001Z

OK - I refused to believe MOnday's rotten number so waited for Wednesday's not so rotten one. It's 193.5, or up a tad. That would be due to the large amounts of rice pudding and other things I've eaten in the past week. Back on track since MOnday, but it'll take a while to get rid of the gain and keep heading down.

Birthday Weigh-in

2008-02-11T20:10:00.000Z

Today I'm at 191.4, which is down a tad over a pound. A nice little birthday gift. Just finished late supper here, and cake for dessert. YUMMY. 400 calories and 20 g of fat worth of decadent chocolate cake. Just right. Good thing we got a teeny 6-inch diameter cake, so I can't have more!

Still here!

2008-02-10T15:17:00.000Z

I've had a couple of days of no FitDay, not for any particular reason except that I didn't sit down at the computer to log things, and then forgot to log or forgot what it was I'd eaten. They weren't horrible days, foodwise, although I did eat TOO much roast chicken (even skin!) on Friday. It was gooood chicken, though. That's one of the few meats I can cook reliably well.

I can tell I'm no longer PMS Woman, since the cookies or chocolate bug isn't grabbing me at all.

Today, I was in a hurry and ate a string cheese for breakfast, but had a decent lunch out with the kiddies later on. It's homemade chicken noodle soup tonight, and probably a good thing as both kids seem to have developed runny noses.

How's YOUR food consumption going, Gentle Reader?

Monday WAS Weigh-in Day!

2008-02-07T18:56:00.000Z

Ooops, there. Ooooooops, there. Missed a post. Sorry, all you breathless readers....

Monday's weigh-in was 192.6, for about half a pound gone. I'll take it!

This week's been meh for eating....too much bread and many flapjacks (like oatmeal cookies) have ended up in my gullet. I tossed them this morning, getting smart in my old age. Apart from that, all's well, though. How are you??

Deep Breath

2008-01-29T17:08:00.000Z

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

2008-01-28T10:11:00.000Z

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?

2008-01-27T20:03:00.000Z

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

2008-01-23T17:35:00.001Z

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

2008-01-21T16:13:00.000Z

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

2008-01-20T16:26:00.000Z

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

2008-01-18T20:15:00.000Z

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

2008-01-18T13:53:00.001Z

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

2008-01-16T14:29:00.000Z

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

2008-01-15T19:03:00.000Z

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

2008-01-14T18:00:00.000Z

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.

2008-01-13T14:07:00.000Z

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

2008-01-12T19:38:00.000Z

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

2008-01-10T14:13:00.000Z

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

2008-01-07T07:46:00.000Z

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...

2008-01-06T21:39:00.000Z

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...

2008-01-03T14:02:00.000Z

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...

Update on Me, Weight, the Universe, and Everything

2007-07-29T08:30:00.000Z

I have posted a tad more frequently over at The Knit Farm, but I am still here. I've talked a bit about mom and how I'm feeling over there - very short synopsis, I'm still awfully sad muchof the time, but doing better. I find myself existing on the surface a lot; when I dig deeper, it's still raw, and I'm not handling raw so well. A note from someone (thanks, A., for reading the archives of my posts and commenting!) was just the right nudge to get me over here for an update post.

I managed to eat fairly sensibly while we were in the US for a couple of weeks, and not too poorly once we came back. However, the evening snacking is back, lack of greenery in the diet, and lack of menu planning as well - all of these contribute to subtle but steady weight gain, and as of this morning, I was up to 185. Still 21 pounds down since December but 6 pounds up from the beginning of April. 1.5 pounds up a month.

The thing keeping me from going too crazy is the fact that I tossed all my old "fat pants" so I can sense even this 6-pound gain in the fit of my clothes. When it hit 6 pounds, my UK 14s refused to fit. So I'm down to 4 pairs of jeans, 2 of which are ratty. The others sit on the shelf in my closet, mocking me... Incentive, boys and girls.

I haven't been tracking in FitDay, and I know it's helpful. Getting back to it is another essential tool to keep going. Today I will log what I eat, even if it's not the most considered eating. Gotta start again somewhere!

Back from Germany

2007-06-08T17:36:00.000Z

I'm baaaack. In a matter of days, we head to the US for my mom's memorial service, and going through her things that are in storage while we visit relatives...

Germany was fun enough - rainy for the first week, and that was the week DH had his eye surgery so it wasn't really a touristy visit. We took the kids bowling and to a playplace and found a good used bookstore; we ate too much fast food and one good Mexican (!) (in Germany!) meal. We walked around the local village and town, saw some movies, visited old friends of DH, had fabulous ice cream, and toured one castle.

It's wonderful having DH home again now, and we are starting to eatsensibly again. I am not tracking food yet, but not inhaling cookies either. I call it a happy medium. Each day gets a bit better. Here's me in Sickingen (a village) - see the Germanness all around?

Here and floundering...

2007-05-20T20:24:00.000Z

I'm here. I'm sad. I'm floundering. But I'm working on it.

My sister, brother-in-law, and nieces were here for a good long visit. Seeing them, being with them, and touring with them kept us all very busy, and left me with very little time to sink into sadness. They headed home a couple of weeks ago, and it's been really difficult since then. Food was OK while they were here, but now that I am by myself (with kids), I find myself using it as a sedative. Every morning, I wake up and think, I will get on track today. By afternoon, I think, how about a piece of toast, or a cookie? Or three?

That and some book I've read a million times before are how I get through my evenings. I can't even knit most nights - it seems too hard, although I am working on something I really like.

David had to go to Germany for 6 weeks, so we've been alone, me and the kiddoes, since my family left. We head to see him on Wednesday, thank God. I miss him so very much. He was my rock when it happened, and when he had to leave, I was so very grateful my sister was already here. I don't think I could have kept it together if we hadn't kept so busy.

I do OK, as long as I don't stop to think. Once I stop and sit down, the grief can be overwhelming. I still don't believe this has happened. I keep thinking of things to tell mom, or to show her. And everything, everywhere, reminds me of her. Even when I am getting through the day, and going through the motions, inside I am howling. How can she be gone?

Mom

2007-04-04T17:13:00.001Z

My mother died very suddenly last week. I can't blog right now. When I'm better I will be back.

A Little Chat; A Little Shopping

2007-03-25T20:11:00.000Z

Well, seeing that I am the proud non-owner of almost 25 pounds, I've been having some fun trying on clothes lately. This afternoon I popped out to check out a dress I saw in a flyer this week. Sadly, although the colors really worked, the cut...not so much. However, there was a black dress with little cream polka dots on the sale rack that looked much nicer on me, and I paid 10 pounds!! I also got a very pretty pink georgette wrap top that will probably be photographed soon. Dead batteries in one camera, and hiding charger for the other camera. Sigh.

Two pairs of size 16 pants (US 14) now fitting me nicely. Two pairs of 18s (US 16) now really too big. Wild, isn't it? One pair of size 14 jeans (exact same style as my very favorite 18s) waiting in the wings, which can zip up but turn the muffin top into a popover of massive proportions.

At 180 pounds, I will do a front/side/back progress post, to go with the one I did at 200. Could be any old time now. A few days, a week, maybe two...I'm optimistic.

Note the Sidebar

2007-03-21T09:38:00.000Z

Not much to report right now, mostly because we are so busy! Busy kid week, friends visiting so busy grownups week, and hmmm...what's that in the sidebar? Could it be a new low? Could it be 183.4? Hmmm.

Yippeee!

The Absence of 25 Pounds

2007-03-18T11:41:00.000Z

This is what the absence of 25 pounds looks like - rock on, my darling man... Caught lounging on the playground this weekend.

And THIS is what the absence of 46 pounds total looks like. We clean up well, even if I do say so myself. Check out www.honsinger.net for even more pictures of the cleaned-up couple and a quick recap of our fun evening.

10%

2007-03-16T09:41:00.000Z

I have now lost 10% of my weight since we started in December. That. Rocks. It's a Good Thing.

I'm feeling better "in myself" as they say around here. Despite the fact that the kids donated their lovely congestion and cough to me, I feel better than I have in a couple of weeks. The cookies, etc. aren't calling my name so loudly, and I'm really looking forward to this evening.

David and I are going to the Dining Out for his squadron this evening - babysitting is provided, bless 'em. The Dining Out is a formal military dinner, with spouses/guests invited as well. Should be lots of tradition, and traditional silliness, too.

I have a great new dress, and shoes that make me feel about 6 feet tall. David's mess dress, complete with medals and all that, looks fab. We'll definitely get some pictures, and I hope they're somewhat flattering!

What's New?

2007-03-13T08:19:00.000Z

A little teensy dive from the wagon of healthy eating, that's what. A week of refined carbohydrate semi-binges and I'm up to 188.6 For a grand total of .2 pounds lost this month. The up and down of the scale must be wreaking havoc with its workings.

Sick kids, down me, yadda yadda. Digging my way out of the hole and the clutter and pushing for a better day today.

Baby Step 1: write down everything I eat, even if it IS non-nutritious food. Last couple of days have been "I have no idea what I ate" kind of days and I haven't had those in 3 months.

Sunday Brunch

2007-03-04T14:25:00.000Z

This morning, David made Swedish pancakes and they were...awesome. JUST like mother dear's. Good thing we woke up late and ate brunch instead of breakfast and lunch, because the pancake brunch set me back 800 calories and then some. And that was using 0% fat Greek yogurt instead of sour cream.

If we could have skipped the oil completely, I'd have saved 160 calories but, even in the nonstick pan, that dog won't hunt.

Friday Weigh-in

2007-03-03T09:57:00.000Z

Greetings! Salutations!

Yesterday's weigh-in was 186.8, or as I prefer to put it....TWENTY POUNDS GONE!!!

I am quite excited by this.

Wednesday Update

2007-02-28T10:17:00.000Z

How're you all? The week's flying by - we are starting to interview applicants to replace the preschool teacher who leaves after this term. Juggling schedules is always fun, but the first interview went well. I hope we will be able to make the decision by mid-March, as the new term starts 17 April.

Apart from that, yesterday was a good "on plan" sort of day for me, foodwise. In fact, the last several days have been. Not a lot of counterproductive snacking going on. I renewed my love affair with SmartPop minibags of popcorn. Good golly, Miss Molly, but you do get a lot of crunch for the buck, as it were. 100 calories = a good long snacking time. Contrast that with a cookie and a half for the same amount of calories. Yeh, as if I ever eat just a cookie and a half.

Non-Scale Victories ...

2007-02-25T15:41:00.000Z

OK, a little scale victory too, as of this morning. I am back at the low of 188.8.

However, on to the non-scale victories (NSVs). I've been reading a lot of bloggers lately who talk about their NSVs. Because my loss is slow and steady, it's good to focus on those moments to keep the motivation alive.

Here, for your reading pleasure, a couple of the NSVs. The past week has been a very rotten-snack sort of week. Yesterday, there were no cruddy-carb moments. Despite a highly emotional day (involving television, how I feel like the TV is invading every space in my life and that leads to how I feel like a bad parent when I let the kids watch so much television, how I'm a bad parent in general...etc., etc. [TV = The Devil's Babysitter: discuss.]), yes, despite all this, I didn't medicate my feelings with food. I processed them, talked through them with DH (OK, cried and was totally emotional about it all), but I dealt with the feeling, moved through the feeling, and moved on with my day, in a better place for having done that. That's a pretty big NSV.

Another one - this morning, I sat down with my bowl of yogurt and muesli, started eating it, thought "I'm not really hungry," and decided to put it away and finish it later. Which I did, around 10:30. How very sensible, and in tune with my hunger pangs.

This afternoon, not an hour after a really tasty lunch, I found myself heading for the pantry, thought "What am I doing here? How do I feel? I feel irritated. OK, that's not hunger. Get out of the pantry." The amazing thing? It worked! That's an NSV for sure.

I'd like to be that "in tune" with myself every day.

Friday Weigh-in

2007-02-23T16:40:00.000Z

190.4. Or, as I could put it, pheh. Second gain in a month.

This has been the Week of the Refined Carbohydrate, and I need to recommit to Not Eating Crap. One good reason for that is the number on the scale this morning. Doesn't matter if I am eating a decent amount of calories if the calories aren't nutritionally valid ones.

Having a look at my FitDay stats, my calorie intake is actually up 13% this month from last month, and my protein/fat balance has gone to the dark side.

My average stats for February to date: 1549 cal, 27% fat, 51% carb, and only 22% protein.

For January: 1366 cal, 23% fat, 51% carb, and 24% protein.

Doesn't look so terribly different, except that the carbs are not the happy fun carbs, they're white-flour carbs.

Someone help me climb back up on the healthy eating wagon...

A Splurgey Evening, and How I Dealt.

2007-02-19T20:19:00.000Z

So, we decided to go to Frankie and Benny's tonight for dinner. It's a Italian-American themed restaurant here in England, with a decent kid menu and kid-tertainment packets. The kids were thrilled with their magnetic Ludo games and those crayons that have 12 different color tips in one pen. Small D had a good, extremely thin crust pizza; Lily had real chicken tenders with a side of broccoli.

The adult food at this place is uneven - I've had really awful dishes and really good dishes. I ordered the salmon cakes, skipped the side of herbed potatoes that turned out to be deep fried potato chunks, and shared a MONSTER brownie dessert thing with David. Plus a double espresso.

Dinner choice: Middle of the road, but tasty. The dessert: Yummy. The calorie count: Large. The good thing? I didn't choose something completely counterproductive like Penne Carbonara. The other good thing? I logged it in my FitDay tracker, just like any other meal, and moved on. Do I want another massive brownie dessert? Nope, probably not anytime soon. In fact, next time we go to Frankie and Benny's I might just order for the kiddlies, and stick with the espresso. It was the best thing I had tonight.

I'm feeling good about the fact that I ate what I wanted, logged it, noted the high fat content, and moved on. I'm not thinking, "Aiyeeee! Lord, I've been bad. Now I'll go home and polish off a packet of bourbon cream biscuits." I'm thinking, "That was pretty tasty. Not my usual, but OK once in a while."

It's only food. Isn't that amazing?

11 Pounds...

2007-02-16T13:48:00.000Z

These pictures were taken 11 pounds apart. I think I must be losing all my weight in the back - definitely an improvement!

Friday Weigh-In, Week 6

2007-02-16T09:23:00.000Z

I'm up a tad from the other day, at 189.2, which is still a big drop from last week. I think the tacos from Valentine's Day are mocking me with their sodium content. Heh. But it was a good week, and feels nice to drop into the 180s, that's for sure.

Have a great weekend everyone!

A Valentine to Me, to You, to the World

2007-02-14T12:51:00.000Z

Happy Valentine's Day to all you lovely readers. May you treat yourself wonderfully today, and may everyone around you throw rose petals your way as well!

I'm thrilled to report my debloating has me at 188.8. 18 pounds gone in 2 months, baybee. It's a wonderful thing. Wow, it's good. I could tell when the cravings dispossessed my body the other night. It's like a Jekyll and Hyde transformation.

Looking back at my weight graph, this Time'O'theMonth bloat is consistent. I think the lower protein/higher fat and carb ratio is the same that week as well. I'd like to avoid it next month, to see if that eliminates some of the bloat, but we'll just have to see.

Not sure what tonight's dinner plans are - I have a dinner (boring) planned, but am lobbying for a delivery of Texican food because nothing says Valentine's Day like tacos. Dontcha think? David left a lovely lovely card for me this morning, because he's a lovely lovely guy. And totally rocks. I am lucky on Valentine's Day, and every day, to have him in my life.

Lily is entranced with a My Little Pony DVD from the library; David is upstairs with a friend doing experiments and crafty messy stuff. Contentment reigns. I think I will have some lunch and put my feet up a minute.

Mainlining Oatmeal...

2007-02-09T18:49:00.000Z

That's what I think I need to do after my McDonald's meal tonight. FitDay says 44% of my calories are from fat today. Yoikes! It was tasty, but that is a ratio I cannot be seeing very often. My poor, poor little arteries are clogging as I type.

Friday Weigh-in - First Gain

2007-02-09T17:07:00.000Z

Not an unexpected gain, anyhow. Lots of more-toward-mindless eating of carby crud this week. Working on it, and having a much better day today, although I have a McDonald's meal planned for dinner, which is nutritionall void :)

Looking forward to the weekend - tomorrow, I take small D into London for the day, and we'll have a fun day together. Sunday's my birthday and I anticipate plenty of nothing-time!

Still Here; Not a Grand Week in Food

2007-02-07T16:21:00.000Z

And how are YOU all doing? Sorry I fell off the face of the earth...DH had my laptop hostage this weekend studying for a promotion exam, and I was pretty much all kids, all the time.

Hmm, what part of this might link to the fact that I have been eating WAAAAY too many carbs? I love my kids, yes, I do. But I do not love being with them 24/7. We all need our space. Small David is showing some stress about school, life, bedtime, the universe, everything, too, so he needs even more than 24/7 from us. Trying to find a balance for him, trying to find a balance for me, trying to stay sane in the face of repeated demands to Play Cinderella and Play Take me to Ballet Class as well.

Actually, the kids' weeklong half-term break is coming up on Friday and I think we will actually be more relaxed, even though we'll be even more in one another's pockets than usual. I have field trips planned, you see. FIELD trips.

On the bright side, even with my carb overload of the last week (also coinciding with PMS; oh, there's a surprise), my calories this week averaged around 1600. I didn't competely dive over the side of the wagon. Not yet :)

Reason for Irrational Food Spree Number 4,682

2007-02-03T19:09:00.000Z

Procrastinating.

Guess what? Eating 1000 calories more than your faily average doesn't make you stop procrastinating. And it doesn't make your work go away either. It just makes your stomach uncomfortably full and your mood uncomfortably snappish. Who knew? Besides everyone in the world, that is...

Week 4 Weigh-in for the Deep End of the Pool

2007-02-02T14:19:00.000Z

Woo and Hoo - today the scale says 191.4. That's 8.6 down since we started 5 weeks ago, and 15.4 gone since DH and I got on track in mid-December. Very good news.

There was a small run-in today with some little mince pies...three to be precise. And I imagine there will be a further encounter with one more mince pie today, but I'm planning on that one.

A meeting at the preschool post "mince pie madness" went really well (I am the chair). I needed a good kick to get planning and paperwork back on track, and this meeting did the trick. We have assignments and suspense dates and all that targety goodness. I'm really upbeat about getting all our ducks lined up and up-to-date in the next couple of months. The OFSTED inspectors can come at any time, and they dooo like to see that things are running smoothly with paperwork. The sessions themselves are going well, as they always have since Lily's been going, but it's the paperwork that'll kill you.

Tonight's dinner - chicken with a mushroom sauce and brussels sprouts, and a movie with the kiddies afterward in the telly room. Hello SmartPop!!

Thoughts on Food

2007-02-01T20:19:00.000Z

I've noticed something interesting in the waves and waves of weight-loss-blog-surfing I've been doing this past month. There are a lot of people who seem to survive on 80% carbs, and not complex carbs, out there, even some people who've gotten to goal weight. I look at some of the FitDay links or daily posts on food and see granola bar, toast, chai tea, sandwich with cheese, salad, WW cookie, popcorn, spagetti with 5 shrimp, Skinny Cow ice cream etc. (I'm totally making this up, by the by, from my assimilation of the food reports).

To me, a diet so heavy in carbs and light on protein would not be satisfying. If I start out eating toast in the AM, by 10 o'clock I'm ready for something rightnowthissecond. The days I hit 25% protein, 25% fat and the rest carbs seem to be really good days for not bingeing. Thoughts, anyone out there? Do you find it hard to stay calorie-controlled if it's all carbs?

Two Words...

2007-02-01T17:12:00.000Z

Monsoon. 16 (that's a UK 16, too!). Today I had a shopping day in the nearest town. Lots of walking, errand-buying, and browsing for meee. Normally I can get...oh, earrings...maybe a scarf, from Monsoon. Today was a better day by far.

New jeans, in a new size, on sale from 45 pounds to 13 pounds? Priceless. I also got a stylin' top in a wild print. I may even have to do a photo session soon.

The Stone...

2007-01-31T08:21:00.000Z

...It is gone now. I am down 14.8 pounds as of this morning. Wheeeee!! Oh, regarding yesterday's high-calorie afternoon, I nipped the calories in the bud by having clear soup and light toast for dinner.

Good Things, Food Things

2007-01-30T16:20:00.000Z

That SHOULD rhyme, shouldn't it? But, noooooooo.

Anyhoo, the Good Things: First, the upward bounce has bounced back off me, thanks to drinking more water and helping things flow through. Ahem. Now to get to that freakin' stone lost. Second, I have taken to wearing a belt, because my jeans were slithering down my butt. Not that they're really too loose, but the belt is anchoring them. Of course, I stole David's belt that he's just grown too small for again, but since I belt around my hips, I'm not feeling too demoralized :)

The Food Things: Yesterday, I was so un-hungry that I ended up at 881 calories according to FitDay. Today, I've already exceeded that by 300 calories and haven't even had dinner yet! So I've had four days like this - too little, tooooo much, way too little, too much. What's up with that? On the first undereating day, my fat was way low, at 14%, but on the second day it was a bit high, at 30%. So that's not it. Both over-caloric days have seen a snack attack of pure sugary goodness in the afternoon, although I made a lame attempt to head it off today with knitting. Not so much. Hot tea helped, though.

It's not PMS time, so that's not it. No conscious stresses today. Hmm. Oh, well.

It's darn nice to wear a belt; I haven't in years, and it makes my jeans fit completely better.

A Good Food Day

2007-01-29T20:44:00.000Z

Today was a good food day...especially compared with yesterday, which FELT like a rotten food day. Yesterday was Sunday, I was feeling a bit stir-crazy with the kids and wanted to be alone. That wasn't happening, I felt guilty for not wanting to be with the kids, and I found myself eating sugary crud. I finally put an end to the sugary expedition into the cabinets by eating a string cheese (thank you, protein) but I ate probably 400-500 calories in junk in addition to the sensible food I ate.

Today I just wasn't hungry or interested in eating the junk. I did a grocery shopping, took Lily to a 3-hour playdate at an indoor playplace (kids ate lunch, I had a coffee although I had an orange handy if I wanted anything), and then I picked up David and his friend from school for a playdate here. We made our own pizzas for dinner, which was successful all around, and I got to talk to other grownups for long actual minutes of time.

Who knows what tomorrow holds? Maybe a bit of walking, I don't know. I have a boatload of paperwork to do for school/squadron volunteer stuff, but we shall see.

Friday Weigh-In; Back from Disney

2007-01-26T14:49:00.000Z

Hello, Everybodeeee :)

Today's weigh-in number is 193.8. Pretty flippin' good for having spent 5 days away. I tracked my food in a paper food diary but because Disneyland Paris does not believe in having WiFi in the rooms, I did not even attempt FitDay. No idea of calories and fats for several things I had. When I came home I created a New Custom Food called "Special Event - see day's journal for food list" or something like that, and I retyped my foods into the diary portion of FitDay.

We did a TON of walking, both at the Tower of London and for the 3 days and a bit of Disneyland. Sadly, my pedometer had a relaxing week at home, on the sneakers where I tied it, because I left the house in a different pair of shoes Saturday morning. What can I say? It was early. Fortunately they were my supercomfy ergonomic clogs.

Kids had a blast, and so did we. Foodwise, Disney is both cruddy for choice and cruddy for price, but we kinda knew that already. Breakfast had lots of good options, there was one buffet dinner that didn't derail me too much (amazing!), very little water got drunk except in the room (too cold out), and too much coffee was consumed (again, cold out). We packed many portion controlled snacks, and ate a few, but really ate very few snacks in the park.

In actual fact, the weather was pretty darn good for January, with only one really chilly day. Of course, that would be the day Lily had to wear her Princess dress and didn't want to put her coat on over it. That was fun. Thank heavens for a rain/windshield on the stroller, and for occasional willingness to wear said coat.

Super time, but great to be home with my beloved FitDay and normal food choices.

What's Good; What's Bad

2007-01-19T17:14:00.000Z

What's good? Today I needed to refill my lovely (instant) coffee canister, and I made the move to all decaf from my training-wheels 2/3 decaf blend. Yes, all decaf. I am so proud of myself! It's taken less than a month...I will still drink caffeinated coffee but now I'm not loading it in all day any more. So that's good.

What's bad? Finky water weight making this journey to One Stone take longer than I want. And finky pedometer NOT working right...it shows 1277 as of 5:15 PM here, and that is waaay not right. I've been on the move a lot today. I think I will try clipping it to my shoe tomorrow. If that's not a success, I will need a new pedometer.

Back to what's good - tomorrow we leave for our little family trip. London tomorrow, and then EuroDisney (or Disneyland Paris as I understand it's called these days). There'll be LOTS of walking, and we are packing lots of backpack-totable sensible snack foods. Here's hoping the other food choices won't be too craptastic...

Friday Weigh-In Week 3

2007-01-19T10:42:00.000Z

Today's number is 194.8, boys and girls. I'm pleased enough with it, BUT. I was 1.2 pounds lighter two days ago before the Days of Water Retention hit. I know rationally exactly why it's up a bit, and it's still down from last Friday, but grrrrr.

YEsterday's pedometer count - just over 5400 steps. However, I think there were more than that - at one point I looked and was at ~3000 and then after walking halfway down the High Street again, it was only a couple of hundred higher. I know that's not right. In any case, better than 4000, right?!

Vitamins and All That; How to Up Your Pedometer Stats

2007-01-18T09:22:00.000Z

I was looking at some of my FitDay reports this morning, and was momentarily worried about my lack of various vitamins, etc., until I remembered that it doesn't log in my multivitamin. Maybe I should look into that, and log it, but I know I take it, so that's the important thing.

I have a cute little pillcase that makes me feel about 85 years old. Every morning, I take a multivitamin with iron. I also take a baby aspirin (as part of my heart health 'strategery'), codliver oil capsule (because there IS no sun in wintry Great Britain), and an evening primrose capsule (I fondly call this my antipsychotic because without it I get demonically hormonal; perimenopause sucks because it takes PMS and multiplies it 5-fold for me).

It's a good thing I am supposed to drink a lot of water because I go through a good 12 ounces just getting the morning pills down.

On to pedometers, and how harsh the truth can be! So, we can all agree that yesterday proves what a couch potato I have become. Onward and upward from 4000 steps is my motto. Heh. Shopping on the High Street today should help with that. Or I could just jump up and down a bunch of times. Walking and windowshopping is more fun, however, or it will be if the nasty windy rain outside will stop.

I have a secret plan to whip the pedometer, however. This weekend we're taking the kiddies to London to see the Tower of London (crown jewels, yeomen warders, arms and armor, all kinds of coolness) and stay overnight in the city. Then we shall surprise them mightily when we get on the Eurostar train next morning and end up at Disneyland Paris! We'll be there 3 nights. Only my husband has ever been to a Disney park before so we should all have an amazed and amazing time. And do a ton of walking. So take that, pedometer!!

Just a Pebble to Go.

2007-01-17T12:16:00.000Z

I have now lost 13 pounds from my start weight on 16 December. One. More. Pound. until I have lost a stone. I just love the sound of that....a stone gone. A honking big one, as well!

I'm wearing the pedometer today, to affirm that I am a lazy, non-exercisin' fool who must add more steps to her day. I'll update with my final numbers tonight, or tomorrow.

Edited to add: Well, the pedometer was a shade under 4000 steps when I took it off during my meeting a couple of hours ago. Why, yes, yes I AM a complete chair potato. At least I know my starting point now...

Checking in a Bit Late...

2007-01-16T21:34:00.000Z

It's late evening here in HealthSpaLand, and I've just come back from an evening of Bowling with the Girlz. I also ran a multitude of errands, but no real exercise was had today. The Deep End challenge for the day was to find your pedometer and wear it for the day to see what your baseline is, then start trying to add 2000 steps a day. I'll be doing this tomorrow. Stay tuned!

Foodwise, it's been rather a craptastic, if not high-calorie, day. I ate a good breakfast and good (late) lunch, but all I had during my outing was most of a small latte, a 100-calorie pack of Oreo Crisps (dang, are they good!), and a cupcake at the bowling alley. Oh, and a diet cola. So now I'm home, prepping for bed, and enjoying one more pack of the Oreo goodness. The rest are being saved for a little trip we have planned this weekend (more on that soon). So....no protein after 2 PM. Hmmmm. Tomorrow is a new day!

Edited to add: Wonderful husband that I have, he made me two toasted cheeses with light bread and low-fat cheese. Delicious, proteiny, and did I mention delicious?

Another Nice Day...

2007-01-15T17:28:00.000Z

Yep, it's been another nice day foodwise. I got to enjoy the second half of my fabulous Pizza Express Padana pizza for lunch. Dang, it's tasty. Caramelized red onion confit, goat cheese, spinach and a little dash of heaven. I ate half last night when we ate at the restaurant, and took the other home for today's lunch. I can tell my appetite is re-set to normal proportions now, because it was easy to do that! Each half is about 380 calories, so a reasonable main dish.

Tonight's dinner is my carrot-coriander sauced chicken with lentil/rice pilau. Easy peasy and tasty at that. Lily the bean ate early (chicken and cauliflower) and seems to be headed for early bed, too. D. is out at a friend's for a playdate and tea, so he will have eaten when I collect him. Grownups around the dinner table tonight! Woohoo. I may light the candles..

How Weird Is That?

2007-01-14T12:38:00.000Z

I nuked my lunch 45 minutes ago, as I was making lunch for Lily. And then I forgot to eat it. So unlike me! Now I am going to RE-reheat it (last night's leftovers) and eat it, right now this minute. Because I'm kinda hungry now!

Another One Bites the Dust...

2007-01-14T09:24:00.000Z

Woke up to another pound gone this morning. Go, baby, go! I also have noticed a sort of pattern since I started weighing daily, about 2 weeks ago. I have a loss, a very small gain, and then a bigger loss, then a very small gain, then a bigger loss...and so on. I've lost a total of 11.2 since I started last month. I can't wait until I can say I've lost a stone (14 pounds, and how one measures weight in the UK). One big boulder gone...

Happy Saturday!

2007-01-13T20:17:00.000Z

I've had a pretty nice day - got to sleep in, thanks to lovely darling husband of mine. I actually got up for a bit, and then decided to take advantage of the Free Sleep Offer and took my coffee, toast, and book up to bed. Got a 2.5-hour nap AND a half-hour chat with a great friend who called as I was waking up. Good times.

The odd foody thing about the day is that I slept through lunch and find myself at 700 calories or so as of 8:15 PM. I think I will go for a larger evening snack, but not worry if I come in low on the day. No point forcing the food...I do that too often as it is.

Random thoughts: whole wheat pasta really IS more satisfying. It is denser, takes longer to chew and thus eat, and seems to fill you up more. DH and I had 2/3 of a serving tonight with the chicken parmigiana I made, and didn't want seconds. How freaky is that?

Hope you are having a great weekend, Gentle Reader!

A Little Chocolate...

2007-01-12T21:45:00.000Z

...is a beautiful thing on a Friday evening, along with a lovely fresh cup of coffee. It's been a good week, all in all. Today's calories and fat were a bit higher, even before the chocolate (half of a Cadbury Bourneville, which is nice dark chocolate), because I used 2 T of oil and 2 T of peanut butter in tonight's stir-fry, and counted half of that as consumed by me. Some was eaten by the kids, but not much. They didn't care for the peanut sauce on the noodles. Silly kids.

Pleased about this week's weight loss, pleased to be getting my fat intake under control, and pleased as punch that the weekend is here. How about you??

Friday Weigh-In no. 2

2007-01-12T07:56:00.000Z

I stepped on the scales for the Deep End challenge and am 196.6, same as yesterday. Wooohoo!!

That's a loss of 3.4 this week, which is huge for me. I haven't been doing the healthy eating quite a month yet, so it will be interesting to see where my monthly plateau (read "ladies' water-retaining week") hits. I think it'll be next week. Last time I did WW, it took me a couple of months to see the pattern. DUH!

10.2

2007-01-11T09:56:00.000Z

That's 10.2 pounds gone since we started the healthy eating 16 December 2006 (actually, we started eating healthy the NEXT day!). It's also 3.4 down since I started the Deep End challenge, but tomorrow's weight is the reporting weight for this week.

Anyhoo...I'm most pleased! Yesterday's Water Before Coffee plan worked wonderfully well, and so far so good this morning. I ended up drinking 3 glasses of water before I got the kids to school, another when I got back, and now that I'm having my delayed breakfast I'll have coffee after. I could reallllllly cut down on the coffee with this tactic.

Today's Challenge

2007-01-10T09:48:00.000Z

Well, yesterday's weird food day showed up on the scale as a gain of 0.4 pounds. I think it's all that Crunchy Corn Bran fiber working in there, but who knows?

Anyway, I'm having a tough time drinking all the water I want to in a day. My buddy (hiya, other Susie!) pointed out in semi-jest that I could do it if I drank water instead of coffee. That gave me an idea for the day's challenge. For every cup of coffee I drink, I must have at least 3 cups of water first. It may distract me from the java, but even if not, I'll be getting more water in!

Stay tuned...

She Eats....She Scores!!

2007-01-09T20:22:00.000Z

Well, I went to the easier-than-dirt La Choy Chow Mein in a Can option for dinner, and saved the calorie/protein/fat balance of the day. See my FitDay stats for details and film at 11. Yay for lots of filling Chinese style vegetables. And double-yay for my darling, who even cooked it for me.

Yes, this afternoon has been a total bust, as far as energy and motivation go. I am pleased to have avoided the train wreck it could have been! Yet again, let me praise FitDay to the heavens. It is SOOO nice to see what's going on in graphic pie-chart form. Very, very helpful for me.

Sigh....

2007-01-09T14:11:00.000Z

So, I experienced a brief derailment in the form of a huge handful of gummy princess shapes (I calculated them as gummy bears). Sugar just seemed like a really, really good idea all of a sudden. I think I started heading off the rails when I decided a snack of Crunchy Corn Bran was a good idea. I had already had some for breakfast this morning. I'll have to keep a wary eye on the Nectar of the Gods Cereal...it's back up on the cereal shelf, at least, and away from me for the rest of the day. I don't want it to be a trigger food for me. It's too yummy to have to avoid, and all that fiber. Such a good thing.

Carby snacks = not good strategy.

Bright points in the day: I am drinking lots of water, and I made a fabulous tuna melt lunch (tuna, 1 T mayo, 2 slices light cheese, 2 slices light toast).

Best. Cereal. EVAR.

2007-01-08T19:48:00.000Z

Yes, Crunchy Corn Bran is the best cereal ever. Good as a snack, GREAT as a breakfast. Filling, tasty, low in calories and sky-high in fiber. I loves me some Crunchy Corn Bran. So do DH and the little people.

We actually mail-ordered some because it's not a Brit thing, and the American commissary doesn't carry it either.

I'm so very happy right now. Is that sad? Yes, yes, it is...

Another Inspiring Blogger; Why Is It So Hard to Eat Enough Protein?

2007-01-08T14:10:00.000Z

Check out PastaQueen's blog Half of Me. In particular, see her very cool, rotating progress comparison here. She's done, and is doing, amazing things. I am impressed.

Today's been good and bad here - I woke up to 198 on the scale, so I'm guessing salt was the culprit yesterday, or just scale mojo. That's the Good. I've been out all day today, so my protein/fat ratio is waaay out of balance again. That's the Bad.

No breakfast this morning - mistake number 1. I ran into town for some errands as soon as I dropped the kiddies off for school. In town, I had a skinny latte and a small granola thingie at Caffe Nero today for a little over 300 calories. The granola square was pleasantly filling, but when I logged the nutritional info, I discovered it was pleasantly fatty, too. Mistake number 2.

Lunch was the cafe in Tesco, since I had Lily to feed and groceries to get. I had a bowl of soup and another latte. The other main dish options were all fried or fatty. The soup was good, but minimal protein. Mistake, or protein-miscalculation, number 3.

I'm supposed to make veggie-stuffed peppers tonight, but I may swap out a higher-protein meal instead. Yes, I will.

Tweaking my Eating Plan

2007-01-07T18:45:00.000Z

Today has been more successful as far as balancing protein and empty calories. I had light toast and some peanut butter for a midday snack and have entered in my evening coffee, which I'll have after the kids are down for the night. The day looks pretty good (see my FitDay personal link at left).

I looked at my nutritional stats for the month and realized I am low on calcium - I used to put a lot more milk in my coffee, and I used to eat a LOT of cheese. To fix that, I'm drinking coffees with 3/4 cup of 1% milk, and I'll add some more low-fat cheese to the protein selections on the menu. [I also remembered to customize my coffee on FitDay to reflect that it's 2/3 decaf; I've been weaning myself slowly down.]

Is everyone bored to tears yet? Anyone? Anyone? It's helpful to me to write things here, to dissect the nutrition of my reworked eating. So I'm not too bored, at least!

Go See the Funny...

2007-01-07T13:56:00.000Z

The Shrinking Knitter posted a cartoon that cracked me up today. Click
here to see. I look forward to her posts every day -she's thoughtful, funny, and inspirational to me. Thanks, SK, for sharing your thoughts with us all. Many mornings you have given me lots to think about.

Lunch was Dinner: The Even Healthier Sequel today. More chicken in honey-mustard sauce, this time with a honking big side of utterly delicious brussels sprouts. I am a sprouts fan anyhoo, but these babies were awesome. Tiny, sweet, and lots of 'em.

Sunday...

2007-01-07T10:42:00.000Z

Up .2 pounds this AM, which I deduce is caused by the saltiness of yesterdays's menu - 3400 mg of sodium is a lot...I'll be drinking lots more water today!

End of a Lovely Day

2007-01-06T21:04:00.000Z

It has been a good day - I feel overstimulated, or maybe undercaffeinated, but the day was good. Stuck with two meals only today, since the birthday food was going to be a bit decadent. I made eggs benedict for brunch (very nice, they were) and a quick honey-mustard chicken over rice for dinner, with a salad. The killer for dinner, or for after-dinner snack as it happens, is the birthday cake for D. I got a microscopic cake - 375 grams, or 10-ish ounces, but every ounce is calorie-packed. If you check my FitDay stats for today (see link at left), you can see that my fat-protein ratio was fabu-glamtastic. That's before cake. After cake? Not so much.

Well, all the festive events for this month are finished now, so there'll be no more cakes to work in. And the silver lining - even with cake and eggs benedict, I stayed in my calorie target range.

RED-letter Day

2007-01-06T10:06:00.000Z

Today is especially nice, because not only is it Saturday, it is also DH's birthday. And I weighed in the Wonderful One-hundreds this morning. Wheeeeeee!

The weight is coming off sooo slowly it seems. My Quest for Protein Snacks yesterday was unsuccessful - I just wasn't hungry during the day. I think I am going to lower my calorie target by a hundred or so, and try for a protein after-dinner snack. Last night was SUGAR, once again. Of course, it was accompanied by Celebrity Big Brother UK and a lovely cup of coffee in good company, but I grow tired of the Sugar Before Bed thing.

BMI....TMI?

2007-01-05T14:31:00.000Z

Heh, I just wanted to rhyme there. Not too much information, really. At 65 inches tall and 200 pounds my BMI is 33.3. That's in the Obese range. When I get to 179, I will move into the Overweight range. Wheee. Then it's another 30 pounds to the Normal range, so 149 is a non-overweight size for me. That's certainly been true in the past. I'm sticking with smaller goals than that to start; 160 seems like a long way away right now. How much farther is 149? Miles and miles down the road. Check out your own BMI here.

Cooking Stuff

2007-01-05T13:11:00.000Z

So I walked into the kitchen to stir lunch, and was charmed to see both lunch and dinner there, cooking to perfection. I love using the crockpot for dinner. Have I mentioned this?

Lunch today is red beans and rice with some ham - terrifically yummy but VERY high in salt. Other than that it's pretty good value nutritionally. I am using a Mahatma mix for the beans and rice - I need to find a recipe for home-made so I can knock the salt down. Meanwhile, I'll just drink some extra water with my salt.

Dinner's chicken soup, pictured here. I started it yesterday with 3 skinless chicken thighs, a bunch of carrots, a can of low-sodium chicken broth, a vegetable bouillon cube and some water. Today I skimmed the fat off, boned the chicken, and added celery and onion.

Smelling, and tasting, quite nice right now...I think we will have noodles in/with it, depending on the diner. The kids will eat the noodles plain, I'll bet. They're not mixers of food...or you could just call them picky-pants. I know I do. We're working on that.

Mmmmmm.....Milk!

2007-01-05T10:36:00.000Z

I'm thinking maybe I should just live on 1% milk. Check out the ratios here - possibly the Perfect Storm of nutritional values.

1 cup of 1% milk contains 102 calories, only 2.59 g of fat (4% of daily requirements), 9.76 mg of cholesterol (3%), 11.66 g of carbohydrates (4%), and 8 g of protein (that's 16% of daily requirements!!).

It's definitely worth it to mix my own. Here in the UK, at least here in Norfolk, you can buy skim milk, 2% milk, or whole milk. So we buy a carton of skim and a carton of 2%, mix them, and pour back in the cartons. Soooooo very exciting, no?

Today is Official Day One of the Deep End Challenge. I'm really stoked about this!

Ehhh.

2007-01-04T22:56:00.000Z

Well, best laid plans and all that. I did have breakfast, had a really decent lunch and dinner, but the lack of planned snacks between meals left me with way too many calories to fill at the end of the day - almost 500. I ended up eating a bit of cake, some of my lovely amaretti cookies, and 3 jelly fruit slices. Basically pure sugar...yeah, that's helpful. I hit the calorie target but had way too much crap.

Tomorrow - new strategy. Decent snacks, with some protein in them, during the day. Wish me luck!

Tomorrow begins the Deep End challenge as well. The sing-up will remain open through Sunday January 14th, though - check it out if you are interested.

Morning Update

2007-01-04T10:46:00.000Z

A good morning thus far - I've officially signed up for the Deep End challenge and sent the initial weigh-in picture of the scale. I ate breakfast (woohoo!) and remembered my vitamins/other pills. I have chicken soup cooking in the crockpot for the weekend.

For two days in a row now, I completely undershot my target calories for the day (1500 to 1700), and I'm thinking it's because I missed breakfast on those days. We'll see how today goes...

Deep End of the Pool

2007-01-03T22:21:00.000Z

This is so very groovy - a website/blog that's a weight loss challenge. It's called the Deep End of the Pool. Biggest loser takes it all sort of thing...I can't remember whose site linked to it, but thank you, whoever you are. I am signing up; how about you?

Initial weigh-in is this Friday, January 5, so check it out ASAP if you'd like to join in.

Morning Scales...

2007-01-03T10:34:00.000Z

As of this morning, before breakfast but fully clothed in jeans and t-shirt (my preferred method), I weigh 200 pounds precisely. I have been here at 200, 200.2, 200 all week, which is interesting. My official weigh-in day is Monday, just because that's David's as well for WW Online. But I've decided to weigh every day or so, and see how the scales bounce around. Usually, there's more of a fluctuation from day to day. No idea of the significance...it's just intriguing!

Looking at my FitDay stats, I undershot my calorie intake yesterday. I just didn't feel like "snacking" more to fill the numbers in, and I didn't feel like eating anything solid either. I don't like to go too low, but a day here and there won't hurt me. Or so I hope!

Tomorrow the kiddies head back to school. The bean's preschool gives me a little morning time to myself; I usually clean or do shopping etc. This term I think I will use the time for starting up some exercise. I have a Pilates for complete duffers (or something like that; haven't used it yet) and some Rodney Yee yoga DVDs that I liked back in Nebraska. There's always....oooh, this is scary....WALKING, too.

Actually, I can walk over to Sandringham and back while she's in preschool. Not sure on the mileage but it's not far. Now, where's that pedometer??

Yummy dinner...

2007-01-02T19:00:00.000Z

Thank you, Carrot and Coriander Soup!

I made a great Indian-style chicken dish for dinner tonight. Only three ingredients, too! 300 grams of raw chicken breast cubed and browned in nonstick pan; 1 red pepper cut in strips and sauteed in a little water; to that I added one packet of this kick-butt soup as the sauce. VERY quick, and very easy. I made a portion-controlled rice and lentil pilau, microwaveable in a pouch (contains 2.5 servings which is enough for us and two picky eaters). The rice/lentil pilau is a bit spicy, and the carrot coriander soup/sauce spices really meshed well with it.

With the rice, it worked out to 225 calories per serving...add in the butternut squash and snow peas for about 100 more and we had a yummy dinner all around. (Yes, I know the vegetables didn't match the entree, but in our quest to make the kids *less* picky, we try to offer at least one thing we know they WILL eat on the plate.)

Right now I'm willing to pay a bit more for portion control, until it's more internalized (especially for carbs, which are my Achilles heel), so the nukeable rice packet works well. Plus it was low in calories and fat and HIGH in fiber, baby...

Some Pictures by Way of Illustration

2007-01-02T16:24:00.000Z

Looking through pictures from this summer and fall, there are very few of me. I've been avoiding the camera; I knew things weren't good but I didn't want to take any action to lose the weight. Here are two lovely shots of me at somewhere between 205 and 208, which is the highest the scale has shown.

July in Berlin at Checkpoint Charlie, on our 10th anniversary trip. Hey, note to clueless self - the artfully positioned hat doesn't hide the lack of a waist!

Here we are October at Hadrian's wall, in a coat I actually LIKE, because it makes me look skinnier. How scary is that - this is a flattering picture!

So....today I had D. take pictures for progress comparison. I've lost 6.8 pounds; it's hard to see any change yet. And the rear view, one I don't see personally that often, is a definite downer.

Where to start, where to start...

2007-01-02T16:13:00.000Z

How about December 16? That is the day David and I looked at each other, and said, "It's time. Time to get back with the Program." And so we did. Both of us lost 40 to 45 pounds with Weight Watchers 5 years ago but once you stop Eating Awarely, the pounds come back. They always do. After Lily was born in 2003, my pregnancy weight came off right away, but since early 2005 I haven't been exercising at all and I have been eating and snacking like a horse.

David is doing WW Online, and I'm doing the Unpatented Freebie System, in which we all eat the same things, but I track my eating and weight loss/activity through FitDay. FitDay completely rocks; David's used it before but I really hadn't. After the first week, when I had a LOT of "custom foods" to enter into my details, it got very easy to use. I like FitDay better than straight WW Points counting because I can see where my calories are coming from, and take steps to up my protein and lower my fat intake. That's probably the most important thing, healthwise, for me right now.

On the first day of logging, a typical PRE-sanity day, I ate 2500 calories, and 37% came from fat. Only 15% from protein. Not a great recipe for success and health, that. And since I need about 1500-1700, you can see where that weight came from...