Ididitididitididitididit!!!!!!

Woo!  I’m more excited than I ever thought I could be at 6am!  Last Tuesday I had kind of despaired of making it to this goal of 100 pounds lost because I still needed to lose 1.1 pounds, and I have only been losing an average of 0.4 pounds each week.  So when I stepped on the scale this morning and saw 155.4, well, I was pretty surprised, and VERY happy.

In reviewing my week, I’m not sure exactly what did the trick.  I did do ONE tabata interval (4 minutes of intensive all body exercise) almost every day.  I had added that goal last week because Vicky (personal trainer) says that they can help your metabolism.  And I did try to stay within my calorie goal each day, but like I said yesterday, most days I went over.  And I did keep track of my fiber intake and I tried to get more than 30 grams of fiber each day.  Its not particularly hard to eat like this, but it is hard to plan for it because a lot of good foods that you can choose are relatively low in fiber.  If you haven’ t tried counting fiber in your diet you should give it a try.  I really wanted to keep the fiber intake up because I don’t get as hungry if I eat that way.  And the last thing I did was to really try to eliminate trigger foods, especially anything with sugar.

For me, making a plan of what I am going to eat for the day is very important.  And it is something I actually enjoy.  Part of that finding new ways to enjoy food.  Trying new foods, and new food combos has also helped.  Its just been recently that I’ve started really enjoying BIG meal salads at home.  I used to reject salads because they had too many calories and ‘wouldn’t hold you.’  But I found that if I allowed the salad to be more calories, I could put a little bit of all my favorite ingredients it it, and then it WOULD hold me for about 4 hours!  Yesterday I added the ‘hearts of palm’ to my salad (thanks for the tip, Lynn!) in addition to baby lettuce, shredded carrots and squash, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, dried cranberries, mushrooms, pineapple, avocado, and tomatoes.  Had my new favorite dressing on it–one tsp. each of balsamic vinegar, olive oil, mustard, and honey with a bit of salt and pepper.  Now that’s a great salad!

Here’s another new combo that I think is worthy.  I had a really light dinner on purpose last night, and planned this nutritious snack as ‘dessert.’  About a cup of fresh raspberries, 1/2 cup of plain yogurt, and 1/4 cup of Bob’s muesli.  Very tasty, and very filling. This would also make a good breakfast combo.  Oh, come to think of it, that’s where I got the idea.  I’ve had the same thing for breakfast, except I had peaches then.  I think the part that was new was accepting this as a dessert option.

Anyway, you all know I could go on forever about food.  But back to the future.  I said yesterday that I didn’t want this to just be a blip that was celebrated with food, but rather just a number on the way down.  And I think Vicky is pretty wise, because when I told her about this goal, she gave me another goal to reach 155.5 on her scale, which weighs about 2-3 pounds heavier than mine because I weigh later in the day and fully clothed.  That means I still have to lose a couple of pounds by October 8.  So I can’t really let up.  This week will also have to include some careful planning because my brother is coming out for a visit, so my normal exercise routine will probably be interrupted, and there will be eating out.  Fortunately, my brother is the exercise fanatic, and he is also trying to drop a few pounds right now.  We already talked about taking a hike at Lake Tahoe if we can fit it in.

I guess I’ll end by saying a BIG THANK YOU to all of you who have been so encouraging to me, and have held me accountable, and have inspired me over the last year or so.  My life has been enriched by your friendship.  It has been fun to share my struggles and my victories with all of you.  A special thank you to Lori, who offered this ‘open challenge.’  I really relate to Lori’s journey, and felt that it would be okay to put this seemingly small goal out there (but  which seemed like an insurmountable goal to me!)

I’m off to work tomorrow, so I am actually relieved to have reached this goal today.  I don’t like weighing in the middle of the night when I have to get up for work (well, 4 am…)

Almost forgot–thought I’d share some ‘eye candy’ with you.  I finished 2 quilt tops yesterday (they were mostly finished, just put the borders on them,) and then started a little ‘art quilt’ with the scraps from the first quilt.