Weigh-In Wednesday: Summer, Week 5

This week was a good one for me, mentally and physically.  I had all the motivation I needed to put my plans into action.  And for the most part, I did.  I’ve had a few times where I let the cravings get the better of me – I won’t blame PMS, but I think it’s a factor.  Let’s see what the scale has to say…

Which means I lost 1.4 pounds this week, for a total of 15.6 pounds lost, overall. Not too shabby.  This was my first week back to normal eating.  Not being over conscious of carbs, not restricting myself.  I kept the calories around 1400-1500 each day (they should really be  closer to 1300), and I enjoyed my balanced meals.  I also did really well with the exercise, especially during the week.  I’m happy with this weight loss, even though it’s modest,  because I did have a few evenings where I overindulged in snacks.

In the past my solution to the overindulging would be to eliminate all snacks from the house.  But that’s not moderation.  That’s also not realistic, because all it does is set myself up for a shopping trip to buy all of the items I’m craving and insuring a mini-binge occurs.  Not good.  Instead, I’m going to work harder to watch the portions.  Because having healthy snacks like PopChips or TJ’s Lentil Potato Curls isn’t bad, but eating too many of them is.  Learning how to enjoy the things that I like to eat in moderation is a goal that I need to master, because even after I have the wls, I’m going to struggle with this unless I get it under control now.  And I know that I can.  It’s like anything else that I’ve tackled – quitting smoking, for example – it’s difficult, it takes effort, but I can achieve it.  This is no different, and I know that I’ll have the same success with it if I just keep at it.

I have been really great about working out, which I’m so proud of.  I’ve been on a trail walk with a colleague, swimming, kickboxing (post coming next), and today I plan to go to aqua aerobics.  I started creating a weekly workout plan a few weeks ago, and it’s something that I’m going to continue.  Just like meal planning, planning my workouts allows me to stay on track.  Even if I change or modify something, as long as I have a plan in place, I get it done.

So, life is good.  I’m learning what moderation means.  And I’m taking each obstacle as it comes.  I can’t ask myself for more than that.

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Weigh-In Wednesday: Summer SBD, Week 2

SBD has been going really well. I’m finding the food so delicious, and I love the fact that I can make it work with an active social life, even on Phase 1. This week my focus has been on exercising, and I’m proud to say that I’m on a roll. Monday: aqua, Tuesday: Afro-Belly Boogie, today: swimming. It’s so nice to be back in the swing of things in terms of fitness.

Which means I lost 3.4 lbs this week, 5.8 lbs so far this summer, and a total loss of 20.6 pounds overall. I’m very happy with these numbers, but I’m a bit bummed because I weighed even less yesterday (289.6).  I always go up a bit on the scale after I have an intense workout.  Always.

And since I love going to the Tuesday night Afro Belly Boogie class, I’m thinking about moving my weigh in day.  But is that too scale obsessed?  Because there are classes that I’d like to take every day, each of them with varying degrees of intensity.  There is no perfect weigh in day.  And really, 0.8 isn’t that big a deal in the grand scheme of things.

But the thing that I need to celebrate is the fact that I am eating real food, around 1300-1400 calories a day, and losing weight.  Fairly significant weight loss, at that.  Sometimes it really is as simple as eating right, moving your body, and being mindful.

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Weigh-In Wednesday: 3 Days on SBD

I’ve been following Phase 1 of SBD since Monday, and I have to say that I am really loving it. I’m not finding Phase 1 restrictive at all, but I know that’s because I was so used to Medifast, which was REALLY restrictive. I am enjoying the fact that I am eating real food for 3 meals, 2 snacks, and dessert and I’m losing weight. It may not be as quickly as I would on another diet, but this summer it’s not about how quick I can lose – it’s about being healthy.

Which means I lost 2.4 lbs this week (in 3 days!!), for a total loss of 17.2 pounds overall.  I’m happy with this progress, and I look forward to seeing how much I’m down next week, after being on the plan for about a week and a half.

(I’m not going to focus on the fact that I’d lost 29 pounds at one point in the very recent past, because that’s not where I am now.  I’m moving forward.  As I mentioned earlier this week, one of the main pitfalls with Medifast is that as soon as you start eating real food on a regular basis, you gain weight.  800-900 calories/day is hard to maintain.  But I digress).

I’ve been using LoseIt to track my calories even though SBD doesn’t require calorie counting.  For me, it’s a way to keep myself accountable and to make sure I’m not eating too much of a good thing.  Plus, it gives me a record of my food so that I can look back if I ever need to see what I was eating to have a great weight loss one week.  Anyway, as part of LoseIt’s program, they project how long it will take to get to your goal weight.  I think they use the average weight loss up to that point.  Here’s what mine says:

That date definitely works for me.  A month ago I would have said that was way too long and that I had to have the weight off much sooner, but I am so relieved that I’ve banished that kind of thinking from my mind.  The middle/end of September would actually be a great time – it means that I’d been in full swing with my classes at school and that the surgery would be sometime in late October/early November.  Far enough from Christmas that I could enjoy the offerings. (Because I’m not a huge fan of Thanksgiving food, so that’s not a factor for me).  It’s a nice date to shoot for, but again, I’m not putting a timeframe on myself right now.

This coming week, my focus is going to be establishing a summer workout routine for myself.  I know that some days I’ll have other things going on, which is fine, but I’d like to make sure that I have a “go to plan” in place for normal days when I don’t have a lot going on.  Other than that, I’m going to keep up with what I’m doing because it’s working!

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SBD, Day 1

Today I started Day 1, Phase 1 of the South Beach Diet, and I am loving it.  I know that some people find Phase 1 too restrictive (no fruit, no grains), but compared to Medifast it is a joy.  Actually, it’s a joy no matter what you compare it to.  The thing I really like about it is that you’re eating plenty of food and the focus is on eating until satisfied, not on calorie counting.  Although because I’m still working on knowing what “satisfied” feels like, I am counting calories.  I’d like to keep them somewhere in the neighborhood of 1300, give or take a 100.  1200-1400 is what Kaiser outlined for me, and it seems to work well. I’m going to be tracking my food using LoseIt, so please add me, if you’d like to follow my progress and see my meal plans on there.

What wasn’t working well was going rogue on my diet.  For the past month I’ve half-heartedly attempted to stay on Medifast, gone through 3 “loading” days of HCG, done 2 500-calorie days of HCG, and then just ate what I wanted for over a week.  The result?  Weight gain.  No big surprise.  I’m still down from my February all-time high, but once again I am feeling disappointed in letting myself give in to out of control eating.  Which is exactly why the Lap Band surgery is going to be a great tool for me.

Now I have almost exactly 30 lbs to go to reach the 266 goal, and about 35-40 to be in the “safe scale zone” where it doesn’t matter what I wear on the scale at Kaiser.  Sisyphus comes to mind.  Sigh.

I want to focus on the positive, though.  I’m feeling good, looking good, and I know SBD is going to be a great plan to follow this summer and beyond.  Now that I’m eating enough to sustain vigorous workouts, I know I’m going to be much healthier as I lose the weight.  No only will the lbs drop, but the muscle and tone of my body will improve, making me look better (and feel better).

I went to the grocery store yesterday and got LOTS of SBD-friendly food. As with any new food plan, the first grocery bill is always a shocker.  I bought spices, extracts, dressings, not to mention meats and fish and veggies, all of which add up. But it’s worth it. Shoot, I was spending $300/month on Medifast food alone (not counting dinner), and I didn’t even like the taste.

 

Happiness = a well-stocked fridge, filled with healthy choices.

It feels good to face the music, take a realistic look around, and move on.

BTW – be ready for lots of posts now that summer is here.  At the moment, there is a lot going on, and I want to share it.  And remember, Sofi’s got her own blog, if you want to read more about our adventures.

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Ready for Phase 2 (plus weigh-in reflections)

I started Phase 1 again two weeks ago (more or less, ok, well, actually less), and it was a lot more difficult for me this time. The first week went well, but this past week, the second week, was harder for me.

Eating eggs for breakfast for two weeks is not something I like by any means. I used to hate eggs, but since I have started SBD, I’ve grown to tolerate them. Sometimes I even actually found myself enjoying them. But after 10 days of eggs for breakfast, I was so ready for some oatmeal!!

I’ve also been really curious to try using whole wheat panko breadcrumbs on some boneless, skinless chicken breasts. I stopped at Whole Foods today and bought some (the only store in my area to have them), and I have some chicken baking in the oven as I write this.

The thing I love about SBD is that it has this option of switching back and forth between Phase 1 and Phase 2 whenever I feel it’s needed.

I did pretty well on Phase 1 this round, although I think not working out at all really affected how much I lost. Still, I’ve lost 11 1/2 pounds so far. This is much slower than I would’ve liked, but I know it’s because I haven’t been working out.

I’m off for the next week, and one of my main goals is to really kick the exercising into high gear. I have a 3-day pass to Club One, which I intend to use while I’m on this February break. I may not be able to afford to join just yet, but I’d like to see what the club is like, and if it’s as phenomenal as I expect it to be.

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Phase 1, Take 2

I’m back on Phase 1 this week after a month and a half of going on Phase 2.  I was losing weight steadily, but I felt like I needed a bit of a jumpstart to really keep things going. So far so good.

I actually think Phase 1 is easier because there’s no guess work.  The hardest part about Phase 2 for me is trying to figure out how much is too much as far as carbs.  If I eat oatmeal for breakfast, should I really have those sweet potatoes at dinner?  Or what about brown rice or whole wheat pasta?  I know it says to incorporate carbs back in slowly, but it’s kind of nebulous.

I know that Phase 1 isn’t something I could stick with longterm, but I do like the flexibility of being able to go back to it when I need to really focus on my weight loss or I want to get over a certain weight loss hurdle.

Oh, SBD, how do I love thee?

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Phase 1 Jumpstart

I’ve been doing really well on SBD lately, but the weight loss has slowed significantly. I know that slow weight loss is best for long term results, but I feel like a little jumpstart might be in order.

So…I’m going back to Phase 1, eggs and all, beginning on Monday. Convenient that I’m starting after Superbowl Sunday? Oh, yeah. We’re going to my cousin’s house and with all of the food and family that will be there, I’m sure I’ll indulge a little bit. Although lately I’m finding that I’m just not as hungry as I used to be.

As some of you may know, the hardest part about Phase 1 for me is the eggs (see story below). Not that you HAVE to eat eggs for breakfast, but when oatmeal is off limits for two weeks, it doesn’t leave a lot of breakfast options, if you know what I’m sayin’. I do try to incorporate cottage cheese some mornings. And I tried the Jenny-O breakfast sausage patties, and liked them, although I did find them to be very salty.

When I first went on Phase 1, I saw Kalyn’s egg muffin recipe, and found that I could eat them. They smelled delicious, and I’m sure every normal person who likes eggs would love them. For me, it was a lot that I could get them down without feeling sick (see below). This time around I’m going to try her breakfast casserole many ways and/or the turkey sausage, mushroom, and feta breakfast scramble casserole, because she mentions that the eggs in those dishes are really just a binder. Even better!

The other nice thing about beginning Phase 1 again on Monday is that CTLB is going to join me. In fact, she and I are going to go shopping at Trader Joe’s later this afternoon so I can show her all of the SBD-friendly foods you can get there.

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The story with me and eggs is that when I was very young, maybe 4 or 5 years old my wonderful Nana made me some soft-boiled eggs for breakfast. You know, the kind that you eat out of the shell? Nana was such a sweet, warm lady, but she was getting up in years and her eyesight wasn’t always the best. She didn’t cook the soft-boiled eggs well, in fact, the egg was so undercooked that it resembled mucus dripping out of the bottom of the egg.  Very gross.  I tried to explain that the egg wasn’t cooked so I shouldn’t eat it, but Nana thought I was being too picky and said, “eat it, don’t waste food!” She didn’t mean any harm and didn’t realize that it was so raw, and since she rarely insisted on anything, I ate the egg, even though it didn’t taste good and sort of made me feel sick. Ever since then I couldn’t eat eggs. It didn’t matter what type — scrambled, omelets, etc. I couldn’t eat it. It made me sick just thinking about it. I know that most of it was in my head, but I just couldn’t get past that memory of eating the raw egg. I tried for years and just couldn’t do it. I had resigned myself to the fact that eggs and me would never see eye to eye and then I realized how much eggs are part of Phase 1 on SBD. I finally decided to give it a go, and while I still don’t love eggs, I can get them down.

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Week 2 seems so much easier!

I don’t know if it’s the fact that I have gotten into a routine of planning, cooking, and eating healthy low-glycemic meals, or what, but so far this week is even easier than last week.  Everything is flowing nicely, and I feel like I could almost stay on Phase 1 indefinitely.

And then I realize that I do love fruit and carbs too much.   Oh, and wine.  Can’t forget the vino.

So, while I’m looking forward to Phase 2, I have to say that Phase 1 has been pretty good indeed.

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