Time to make the donuts....

Alrighty...after a month of not so rigid eating, I am happy to say that I am still excellent at maintaining...those 10lbs. have stayed off. Now I absolutely have to start running to be ready for that 10 Km. 'race'. I have to admit that I'm hoping to lose some more weight once the exercising starts....not too much to hope for, right? Right!
So the new plan is to eat especially right during the week, and weekends are down time. Plus, start running. I've decided to use the plan someone once mentioned to me. First day out I will run until I can't anymore....and however many minutes that is, I will repeat it twice. Then, on the weekend, my long run will be double the minutes I ran during the week. I think it will work because it allows me to get comfy with the initial time, then also to push myself for a long run during the weekend. Am looking forward to it! The running itself I find hard, but I love the benefits of it, and the stretching afterwards feels so awesome.
Here goes!

Darn...

Had to cheat today....migraine warranted the necessity for some regular Coke to have with my ibuprofen. Otherwise, I would be stuck with the said migraine for a couple of days. Here's hoping I got to it on time...

Temptation Town

Happy Valentine's Day! May you all find different ways to make your loved ones feel special! Especially ways that don't involve food. I myself find that difficult since it has always been a favorite thing to do: let them know you love them with chocolate...or candy....or brownies, cookies, etc. Difficult not to partake, but so far so good. Here's to making it through today without giving in! Those thank you brownies LOOKED divine, and thank you, son, for wanting to share your Hershey Kisses with me. But today I feel strong...what am I saying...I AM strong! So all you eaters out there, enjoy it! And don't feel bad for me....I've already decided that this Saturday is my valentine's day :-)

So Much For A Great Start....

After last Sunday's Superbowl victory (mine!), the week just went downhill. Lots happened: First of all, I was totally PMSing and craving chocolate and anything else I could get my hands on EVERY DAY. On top of that, a bad incident occurred with our beloved pooch and we had to have her put down. Add to that the feeling of walls caving in 'cause there's just so much to do in the next 2 weeks.....and I lost it. I panicked and lost control. Of everything. Instead of getting more things done and being super efficient, I shut down and seemed paralyzed, stuck, unable to do anything.
This resulted in me allowing myself a small handful of semi-sweet chocolate chips once a day. Then Wednesday rolled around, and due to unforeseen circumstances, couldn't start thinking about dinner until quite late - 6:40pm on a school night - which resulted in me picking up pizza on the way home. Thursday was my birthday....so more chocolate, and Friday was reward day in my classroom which meant ice cream sundaes at lunch.

So in the end, this is what I've learned and decided:
1) I took the week off, and it's ok. It does not put me back at the beginning, just put off my progress for a week.
2) Sometimes life happens and even the best intentions get flushed down the drain.
3) The scale has not really scared me this week. It was actually better to me than I thought it would be.
4) A week off is just a week off, nothing more. Time to get back on track tomorrow, and when it's all said and done, will I even remember that I took this week off?
5) Lastly, don't be too hard on yourself. It's ok to falter along the journey - as long as you get back up, and keep moving forward.

There you have it. Back on the saddle domani - and looking forward to it!

Hurray for Small Victories

Well I survived my Superbowl party with, get this, withOUT breaking the eating plan! The solution was.......raw veggies to nibble on, delicious chili for supper, and two small glasses of wine. Not only did all this fill me up, it followed the rules. Yippee!!! Easy peasy...not! Especially with all that OTHER food that was laid out, and I sure did miss my beer, but I did it. Hubby decided to take the night off the plan and partook in all of it: chips, beer, chili, pizza, whiskey shots; but I resisted. I actually think that I was mad at him for not sticking to the plan, so I'll be damned if I don't follow it. Funny how it just seemed to give me more resolve. At any rate, I consider it a small victory!

Just Dance!

If you had asked me last week how the whole weight loss thing was going, I would probably have sighed....and answered sssllllllloooooowww. But then, I made one major decision, and one great discovery. No - I haven't changed my mind about weighing myself everyday 'cause I'm kind of addicted to that -am finding it encouraging this week actually. However, I thought a lot about the new way I'm eating, and realized that is it a huge improvement....and that I should be proud of that. Kicking the sugar habit is not easy, and yet I'm managing it quite well. That being said, I also think I'm eating too much, so without being too drastic, I decided to decrease my portion sizes a little. After all, a friend of mine has recently lost 20 lbs. making just that one adjustment to her diet. I've started doing that, and I'm not hungrier so I'm sticking with it.
I've also made a great discovery! My daughter just celebrated her 14th birthday and for the first time ever asked for a video game which we got her: Just Dance 2. To all you wii owners out there, if you don't own this game yet, get it! It is so much fun, plus it's an excellent workout if you follow the whole body movements. Especially if you choose Rasputin and Body Moving! So hubby and I have committed to "playing" 30 minutes a day. What a fun way to work up a sweat!
All in all, am pleased with my progress so far. My family has remarked that my belly is smaller and my jeans look too big - thank you for noticing, and more importantly, for mentioning it! So nice to hear! As for my sometime friend the scale, yesterday was pivotal 'cause I finally saw my first benchmark target-woohoo! First 10 lbs. gone! Thirty more to go.... I prefer to say I'm one quarter of the way there.....and that's something to dance about!

Woot Woot!

I turned down a piece of cake today! And it even had chocolate icing on it. I also turned down a beer- yup, that's right, piece of cake and beer on the same day. And it wasn't that hard to do either - who knew?!! Now where's that glass of wine...

Fairweather Friend?

The scale is not my friend. Too many times I hop on there filled with hope only to be disappointed by the number I see. Why does it seem to take 2 steps back, then 1 forward? So far every week has the same pattern: lose half a pound at a time, sometimes remain status quo....until the end of the week where it finally starts going down and my lowest weight of the week is on Saturday morning. But wait! That's my day off, so I indulge myself 'cause that's what this plan calls for. So Sunday rolls around and as can be expected, a few extra pounds appear. I don't usually get back to Saturday's weight until Thursday - what do you expect with half a pound a day lost - and in the end, I lose 2-3 lbs. in my week.
SO here's what I learned so far:
* I'm never really sure what my weight actually is...but I'm pretty certain that I've lost 8 lbs. so far. (In 3 weeks!)
* Eating less doesn't necessarily mean weighing less on a daily basis. Sometimes eating more weighs less....and the same thing goes for drinking more!
* How my clothes fit is more telling than the scale - a hundred times over.
* I should keep better track of my measurements, 'cause those do not lie.
* I am impatient. (This one doesn't really count 'cause I knew that before.)
* Water is my best friend, but I'm glad I also have red wine as a friend!
* I definitely like my scale better on a Saturday. Does that make me a fairweather friend? I prefer to call myself an optimist who looks on the bright side of things. Afterall, at the end of the week, I DO lose a few, and that's what matters! I just need to focus on that a little more during the week.

Motivation.....Finding It

Wow. Yesterday was rough. We had company over, my sister-in-law, which means we normally pull out the crappy snacks. We didn't.....but boy did we want to! I realize it's tougher when you have the left-overs of yesterday's party in the house, but the important thing to remember here is that WE RESISTED. I was good and hungry by the time supper was ready, so I made sure I ate lots then. It worked, because even while out grocery shopping after supper, I remained very focused and stuck to the list. I normally like to check out labels, check out new items, and don't follow a given route when making my way through all those aisles. But last night I was a woman on a mission: go in, get what you came for, get out. Mission accomplished! I got excited about 2 things: sticking to my list, and all the good food I bought. Meal planning is fun these days, and we're still trying out new things.
All in all, I'm mostly glad that despite the rough afternoon, I did not need to get those ghastly 'before' photos out. I found my motivation within. Woohoo!!

What Did I Eat?

Same thing happened this week as last - that is that I found myself unable to eat as much as I used to. Again I had plans to pig out, and again I got full faster. The sweet stuff seems sweeter, and a few bites seem to satisfy my cravings.
For example, we had my youngest's birthday lunch, and he wanted hamburgers. Yay - high five on that choice! We made homemade burgers...the kind that automatically trigger memories of my youth, complete with chips on the side. I thoroughly enjoyed my 2 burgers, and still can't believe I only ate 2 chips. Aha. That's right....only 2 chips when I could have had so much more! Sing with me now, "What's up with that? What's up with that?" (SNL skit!)
Lovely lovely unforeseen side effect! Less appetite for crap, means I will eat less crap. Or at least smaller amounts of it anyway.

For tracking purposes (why else?) here's what I did eat: bowl of brown sugar Mini-Wheats with milk for breakfast, 2 hamburgers for lunch - toppings included Cheez Whiz (still love the stuff!), BLT on one, only LT on the other, and ketchup; 1 piece of white birthday cake with white icing (I know....who knew they made white cake?!), 4 homemade chocolate chip cookies, 2 glasses of Coke Zero, 2 small pieces of garlic bread with cheese on it, and a plate of bowtie pasta with meat sauce and a sprinkling of grated cheddar on top, and last but not least, 3 glasses of lipsmackingly delicious Italian Pinot Noir, AMEN!!
An awesome day - can't wait 'till next Saturday!

So Far So Good

I'm proud to say that at the end of week 2, I've lost 6 pounds. Not super crazy awesome, but a good start nonetheless! I'm so impatient for it to be a significant loss, and for it to show when looking at me, but that will come.
I'm proud of myself for being strong and following the eating plan, for not giving in to the occasional craving. The cravings have not been bad at all I have to say, just once this week when I made some cookies for the boys - but in my defense, that would tempt even the most disciplined of eaters!
Again, I find myself being almost cocky on my day off....thinking I could eat anything and really pig out, but I don't even want to, so there!
But I am still eating some sweets and pasta....and drinking more than 2 glasses of wine! Am still really psyched and convinced that this is it, this is the year where it's going to happen dammit!
Today,, I'm feeling the desire to work out...to move, to be active. So: my goal this week is to get in 2 workouts. Am not sure if they will be cardio or weights, but that's my goal. I figure I can easily do a workout while watching tv....and I'd like to try doing the abdominal work suggested in my book....it really does not look too complicated at all. I can do it! There....I've found my mantra for the week!
To sum it up...am feeling good and energized, my skin is awesome, and I want to move. Operation Get Off My Ass, here I come! I can do it!!

Surprise Surprise!

Yesterday was our first day off....yay! We had been looking forward to it all week - had even made big plans as to what we were going to eat and drink! The list looked something like.....pasta au gratin, garlic bread with cheese, homemade chocolate chip cookies, apples, pancakes with maple syrup and a big glass of milk, chips and dip, beer, mojito (with the rum!), Ben & Jerry's ice cream, french fries, poutine, and some real Coca-Cola. I think I'd even dreamt about how good this was all going to be. Salivating in my sleep!!
But a strange thing happened. Saturday morning I woke up and actually forgot for a while that today was THE day. But not for long! Hubby made the boys and I some excellent tasty crêpes and I smothered the butter on, waited for it to melt, and added my generous serving of maple syrup. YUMMY...still one of my favourite breakfasts. Oh and hon - could I please have a glass of milk with that? Thanks - and hubby knowing how to please me, gave me a nice big full glass of milk. Aaaahhhhhhh....awesome breakfast. Four crêpes later, goodness I was full. Already? Already. Ok, well no need to worry...I should be ready to go for more in a couple of hours....there's no way I'm going to waste my opportunities on THIS day!
Spent the next couple of hours cleaning my kitchen from top to bottom, watching my favourite weekend channel, 'W' tv, but still not hungry. Ready for a nap, yes, but not hungry. Hmph...go figure. A couple of hours later, I decided to just go ahead and make those chocolate chip cookies - I'll get hungrier, and besides there's no rush...I have all day. So made the cookies, and tasted the batter a few times (so delicious) and once they were ready, I had a couple.....then a couple more. STUFFED. What? Could it be?? Seemingly so. Now the wheels were definitely turning in my wee head: wait a minute.....this eating plan (notice how I avoid the word diet!) not only allows me to lose weight, but is actually helping me refrain from eating too much crap by curbing my appetite. Oh my....I was not expecting this. They didn't mention this at all in the book. They just said that it's important to spike my blood sugar levels once a week in order to play tricks on my body's weight survival instinct. BONUS!!!!! This might be a whole lot easier than I thought. And it was.
We had a nice dinner of pasta with a bit of cheese - no bread; no dessert either (YOU READ CORRECTLY!!) And in the evening, we had some chips, dip and cola. Hubby ate some more - sausages I think, but was mostly glad I wasn't nagging him to stop. He did regret it though. Felt too stuffed. I had an extra 2 cookies before going to bed.
Now I call that a good day: Good food, good lessons!!

I Can Breathe!

Yay! Scale finally showed 1 lb. loss today!! Doesn't matter that hubby has now lost close to 10 lbs....no, of course not....grrrrrrrr. Still, am feeling good. Other than not sleeping enough last night, I felt great today. I am not feeling the sugar sluggishness that I normally do, plus - a tremendously good side effect: my sinuses are not irritated whatsoever for the first time in 10 years!! I can take nice long deep breaths through my nose - wow!!
At first I thought it was due to the fact that I cut out all sugars, but I had done that before without the same results. Then, after speaking to a good friend today, my theory has changed. I think it's due to the complete cutting off of dairy products. Son #1 should try that sometime - he's keeping a few milk and cheese factories alive, but has pretty bad seasonal allergies. Come to think of it, he often sounds congested. Hmm.... it might be worth a try!
I am not hungry, but I have to admit I am getting awfully excited about the 'day off' on Saturday. I don't think I'll be doing much of anything except eating. So many foods, so little time! Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, small poutine, dark chocolate truffles, pasta au gratin - with garlic bread.....hmmmmmmmmmmmm 3 more sleeps!!

Female Factor or Age Factor?

Hmph. We're on day 2 of this thing, and when weighing in this morning (which we do everyday to track ourselves) hubby has already dropped 5 lbs., and me? SAME WEIGHT. What's up with that? I have a couple of theories...
Number 1 : As always, HORMONES.** Could it be that my hormones are to blame based on where I am in my cycle? To be honest, I've kind of lost track as to where that is exactly...although I have a rough idea, and I am entering that bloated stage. Is that to blame? **#8 would likely agree as he often thinks , "Hormones are the reason for all things gone wrong in women...or at least isn't that what they claim?" He's joking....I think, but he'd get a kick out of that theory!
Number 2: Age. Or should I say, age difference. Hubby is 10 years younger than me, which used to embarrass me, but now I'm PROUD of that! Simply put, I'm over 40, he's not. So purely due to age, my metabolism is S-L-O-W-E-R , which in theory means I burn calories much more S-L-O-W-L-Y than he does. Makes sense.
Number 3: Newbie mistake. I waited too long after waking up to eat. Supposed to eat within the first hour of waking up, preferably in the first 30 minutes. I waited at least 90 minutes although I didn't time it exactly. This is the more likely of all reasons, and the only one I can do anything about, so I shall focus on this.
Today, ate my first meal 40 minutes after waking up. Prepping the meal itself wasn't long, but emptying the dishwasher and cleaning up the mess left by hubby this morning, was. It should be noted too that hubby did a terrific job of drinking tons of water so far....where as I did not. So that is my goal for today: Must always have a glass of water in my hands, and drink drink drink drink......I sense many visits to my favourite room in the house!

Time For A Resolution....Again

Well well well....haven't written anything since Oct. 2009.....would love to say that you wouldn't recogize me, but that's not the case! Have I ever mentioned how excellent I am at maintaining??
I am. I am still overweight, by roughly the same amount of weight...despite the 15 months that have passed. Wheweee - how's that for consistency!!
BUT
I have had my aha moment...my moment of truth.....my husband and I have embarked on a new plan....for the first time, together. He desperately needs to lose weight for his health. As for me, same thing but not quite so desperate.
So...
I happened to be in a bookstore waiting for my sister's delayed flight to arrive from Vancouver (at Montreal's airport) when I saw a book that immediately fascinated me: The 4 Hour Body. sounds like a gimmick, right? Well, turns out it's all kinds of weight gain, weight loss, plus performance outcomes tips based on one basic premise: in my words....what minimal action will give the maximum result? Call me geeky...but this stuff is fascinating. Tim Ferriss, the author, is a pretty crazy guy who subjects himself to all kinds of experiments and tests to try out many theories....and gets astounding results.
So what?
Well....I'm all for a quick start! I'm extremely IMPATIENT and ANXIOUS to get results, and once I see them, I know my motivation will not flounder. Plus, doing this with hubby should be interesting....'cause we can definitely make a competition out of this....not that I'm competitive or anything....HA!
Phase one is to change our eating habits for 6 days....but we get to eat lots so we'll be ok....plus one day a week is a day off....or deferred eating day where we get to eat whatever we want.....the WHOLE day. Can't wait!!
Phase 2 for me, will be training for the 10km run in Ottawa in May. Oy. One thing at a time....
So here's to making 2011 the year we get ourselves back!