Re-Framing Life, Part 2

There is a lot more swirling around in my head, if you can believe it.  I’m not sure I can explain it, but I want to try, if only to clarify my thoughts for myself!  First of all, I woke up this morning thinking about how I am NEVER tempted to eat at fast food places.  The thought never goes through my mind.  And for that I am extremely grateful–quite a change for someone who routinely ate fast food 3-5 times a week!  My next thought was that on this trip, eating out at restaurants had finally become much less of an issue for me.  Those of you who read my blog know all the angst this has caused me.  I have gone all the way from refusing to go to restaurants, to going and giving in, getting ‘whatever I wanted,’ and being frustrated afterwards.  Or sometimes NOT getting what I really wanted and feeling deprived afterwards.  Finally, I think, I have made peace with eating out.  I just don’t want to do it all the time.  I don’t feel deprived that I consider all the restaurant choices (like when I was in the Bay Area at the quilt show) and choose to go back to my room and eat some green beans and fruit and yogurt that I had brought with me.  And when I do go to a restaurant, I enjoy it.  I have something I really want, but eat half of it (thanks to my friend who LIKES sharing a meal with me!) or I make better choices, and I don’t feel like I am missing out.  This change has been a long time coming, and it is a VERY good, peaceful feeling.  So if you are a regular reader, (or even if you just read yesterday’s entry) you might know that DESSERTS seem to be the last bastion for me!  But now I am hopeful that that will change also.  Not that I won’t ever have a dessert again.  Just that I will ‘make peace’ with them.

BODY IMAGE.  And the scale.  Somehow my thoughts on these two things are tied together now.  Somehow, even though I comment frequently about aging, there is a part of me that still unrealistically clung to that ‘ideal’ body image.  That thought that if I lost enough weight, and I worked out hard enough, I would look ‘perfect’ in the mirror.  THAT  is NEVER  going to happen.  Even if I had never been morbidly obese, there is still the genetic factor (my mom’s heavy thighs and hips) and there is still the age factor, which by the way, seems to change on almost a weekly basis.  I am astounded at the changes in my body between the ages of 50 and 55.

How I FEEL, how  my body moves and works and is strong is becoming my reality.   I don’t need a certain image in the mirror to be satisfied with myself.  This is a big change for me, and I’m not sure I am describing it well.  I suspect it will be a work in progress.  And along with that, surprisingly, goes my dependence on the scale.  I just don’t want to know what I weigh every day.  I am more confident with my food choices. (When I got home from this trip, all I wanted was vegetables!)  And when I make a food plan for the day, it almost always adds up to the right amount of calories, and I know by looking at it that I won’t be hungry or feel deprived.

In one way, it seems like I am giving up, but really, it is acceptance.  Acceptance of reality.  And with that comes peace.

 

 

Re-Framing Life

I was going to title this ‘Re-Framing Travel,’ but the more I thought about it, it has to do with all of my life.  Re-framing is one of those Weight Watcher’s terms.  re-framing thoughts can help you to see events or situations differently. …

This is the longest trip I have taken in recent years, and the most successful in the areas of food choices and exercise.  Usually the longer the trip goes on, the more my food choices degrade into poorer and poorer quality, and increased volume.  And usually, I exercise less and less as time goes on.  But this trip was definitely different.

I brought enough of my homemade yogurt to last the whole trip.  And I brought that Bob’s Muesli with me.  I have found that 1/2 cup of the yogurt with 1/4 cup of that muesli mixed in is a very satisfying breakfast and lasts me most of the morning.  And of course, I had lots of apples with me, some walnuts, my lo-bars,  and a few energy bars.  Those few items were really the mainstay of my breakfasts and lunches.  Pretty simple to pack, and only the yogurt needs refrigeration.  Of course I was lucky that the main part of my trip was spent at my friend’s house, and she knows I am trying to eat well, and so all the dinners she and her husband prepared were really very healthy.

I had been looking forward to jump-starting my running while in Oregon because it is flatter there.  And I did get out and really get in some challenging and satisfying run/walks.  Like I told my friend, it reminds me that I am no longer ‘fat girl on vacation.’  Which is mentally where I usually end up.  Even after all this time, the old mentality wants to slip back in.

And that is mostly what I wanted to write about.  My mental process on the trip home.  I can’t believe how much time I sometimes spend thinking about what I am or am not going to eat.  My friend pointed out that I probably spent the same amount of time thinking about food in the past, and she is probably right, but the focus is different.  Now the time is spent thinking about CHANGING my first inclination, and that is the hard part, I think.

So the driving time home is 8 1/2 hours.  I got a great start at 7 am, which meant without any stops (impossible) I would arrive home at 3:30 pm.  Ashland is about 3 hours from Elkton (starting point) and is usually a place I like to stop.  Only thing is, I like to stop to get more coffee, and a morning bun.  And shop, which I also didn’t need/want to do.  And there is a gourmet type market that is full of not-so-good travel food choices.  And if I didn’t get any of those things, I might stop at the old candy shop and get a caramel apple, or something even worse.  And if I stopped ‘just to get coffee,’ I knew that I would also end up shopping and buying MORE stuff that I really didn’t need.  None of these things by themselves would be terrible.  It was just that there was a good chance I would get out of control if I stopped.  And this conversation went through my mind for MILES AND MILES.

Then I tried to ‘re-frame’  the situation.  If I didn’t stop, I would get home earlier, and I could take the dogs for a walk, or I could even go to the gym if I still felt like it. (I had even dressed in ‘workout clothes’ for the drive home.)  I could at least stop at the gym and get some lo-bars for a treat.  And if I wanted to, I could even treat myself to some of that tart frozen yogurt that I love so much.  All of these things really appealed to me.  But the pull of Ashland was still pretty strong.  Finally, a few exits before Ashland, I ate an apple and a few walnuts so I absolutely would not be hungry when I reached the Ashland exit.  I drove on by!  Success!  I am guessing that to some ‘normal’ person this whole process seems kind of crazy.  But after almost 5 years of working on changing my food habits, I still struggle.  And I guess I always want to share in the hopes that it might help someone else who is trying to change and is struggling.  I also write stuff like this down to remind myself of what is happening.

Continuing on, I spent many of the next four hours thinking about where I would stop to get some groceries in Sacramento.  The main thing I really wanted was some greek yogurt and lots of vegetables.  At first I was going to stop at Whole Foods.  I really wanted some more of those Jay Robb bars.  But it is a little out of the way, and of course, there is the danger (for me) of their dessert department.  Then I thought about stopping at Costco.  They have the big bag of spinach that I like to get, and I heard they also had Fage greek yogurt.  But Costco has lots of other stuff to buy, and I knew I would spend too much time shopping and would probably spend some money that I didn’t really want to spend.  In the end, I stopped at Trader Joe’s, which was the most convenient stop, and I stocked up on lots of really good food choices.  As a bonus, the little strawberry stand was open, and I got some fresh-picked ripe strawberries.

I made it home by 5:30.  By the time I reached Jackson, I no longer felt the need for the frozen yogurt or lo-bars.  Those treats would wait for another day.  I took the doggies for a nice run/walk, which was good for all of us. I pretty much unpacked the whole car.  And cooked a great dinner.  And I even had energy to vacuum the cobwebs that had accumulated (vacuuming cobwebs involves holding the vacuum cleaner up with one hand while waving the extension wand with the other.)  It feels so different to get home after a trip like this and still have energy to do so much.  And I guess that is the part about re-framing life, instead of just making it a travel thing.

This took forever to write, and doesn’t seem to explain half of all that goes through my mind in working this out (aren’t you glad!)  I am having some technological problems, and so these pictures are actually from a few years ago when I visited Oregon at about the same time of year.  Hopefully, I’ll be able to share some of this year’s pictures with you soon.

I also wanted to point out a new recipe on my side bar– ‘THE GREEN PINA COLADA.’  This was really amazing tasting–I just made it this morning.  And a very bright and beautiful green color too (no red fruit in it to make it brown.)

Good Morning. Its Raining.

So what else is new, eh?  After all, I am in Oregon.  Its just that it is messing with my day.  I got all dressed and ready to go out for my morning run/walk, and it was drizzly.  I am not feeling dedicated enough to get wet today. My friend is busy right now and not available to amuse me.  Bah.  And I am not feeling particularly amusing myself, so I am not available to amuse you.

What to do when plans are changed?  And then when plan 2 gets changed?  On to plan 3.  Oh yeah.  I could exercise in my room.  Vicky has wisely taught me a lot of exercises that only require your own bodyweight for resistance and are plenty hard.  Yes, that’s what I’ll do, as soon as I’m done yammering here. 

Yesterday me and my friend did our ‘traditional’ ‘foundation shopping.’ That’s what her husband named our bra-shopping expeditions.  Not my particularly favorite activity, so I guess its more fun with a friend?  Anyways, they were having a ’special event’ where there were WAY too many of those ‘helpful’ fitting ladies around.  I HATE THAT.  Well, my friend says, they are kind of helpful, kind of like going to the doctor.  And therein lies the problem, I said.  (I hate that too, in case any of you didn’t know.)

Anyways, I did end up with a few ‘foundational purchases’  and we did get a lot of laughter out of the whole trip at the dinner table.  All in all, I had more fun at the quilt shops we hit up.  And we had a great lunch at BJ’s–a most worthy burger that we split–Yay, no guilt in half a burger.  Not a ton of sewing going on here.  But lots of inspiration.  I’ve got to write some of my ideas down before I forget them.

I’ll check out now and get on with plan C.

Hellooo from the Road

Hi all!  My friend is so nice!  She puts her laptop in my room so I have a computer to use for the week.  Even so, I usually don’t have the oomph to actually write a blog entry when I am traveling.  But I have a little time this morning and wanted to do a product review that I haven’t seen around the blogs before.  

One of my favorite places to visit when on the road is Whole Foods.  I have to admit that Whole Foods is a dangerous place for me to go to because they have an AMAZING array of desserts, and that is where I spend the majority of my time…  But I like to go there to get a good salad or a healthy dinner, too, and I usually pick up some organic fruit, and I also visit the ‘energy bar’ aisle.  I have really gotten away from energy bars now, but they are good for traveling when its inconvenient to bring other stuff (like when I spend all day at the quilt show and don’t want to carry a cooler–just stick a big apple and an energy bar in my purse, and I’m good for the day.)  Anyway, I checked out all the energy bars (they carry a LOT of them) and I spied the Jay Robb High Protein JAYBAR.  I remembered a while ago people in blogland were raving about the Jay  Robb protein powder, so I decided I would get one to try–fudge brownie, of course.  You can check the link for complete stats, but the first three ingredients listed were almond butter, agave syrup, and whey protein.  I thought that was very interesting, and different than most bars.  It was AMAZING.  Really chewy, like a chocolate caramel.  I don’t really think any of the bars fuel me like real whole foods do, but what  I thought was, that at 220 calories, 1/2 of it would be a most excellent and worthy dessert.  They definitely get a thumbs up from me.  I’m mostly glad that they aren’t too available…

Other news from the road–eating’s been okay, not optimal.  Brought a lot of my own food.   The first three days I was in a hotel room, and spent two days at the Pacific International Quilt Festival.  This is a great big quilt show with gorgeous quilts from all over the world, and vendors selling every kind of quilt related item imaginable.  Even some unrelated items!  I spent two days looking at everything.

Food wise I did pretty good.  Didn’t even go to the free bfast buffet at the hotel, only had one meal out, actually.  Exercise wise, okay too.  I didn’t make use of the hotel gym, but I found the free exercise channel on the tv, and exercised in my room, and then I found a park, and walked/jogged one day.

I drove up to my friend’s house in one day–mapquest said it was 8 1/2 hours of driving.  Usually I putter along the way, stopping to shop here and there.  But this time I wanted to get there at a decent hour, so I only stopped at 3 rest stops, and walked around at each to wake up, and one gasoline stop. And I made great time–8 3/4 hours, I think.

Anyway, since I’ve been here, I’ve done very good with my eating, and the best part is that I really have challenged myself to get out and run each morning.  The first morning, I went for 1 1/2 hours, and I was really stiff and tired the rest of the day.  But I woke up feeling great the next morning, and went out again for one hour.  When I say run, don’t get too excited.  I run for a little, then walk for a little.  Overall, there is a little more walking than running.  But a lot more running than my previous life!  I am really happy about this.  It will give me a little headstart when I get home.  Lori has really inspired me with all her running talk.  The weather here (in Oregon) has been gorgeous, and the scenery is breathtaking.  I will post some pictures when I get home.

I think I’d better end for now.  Habanada!

Yumm!

This morning I had a delicious cup of coffee–courtesy of Lori over at Finding Radiance! Hand-roasted by Lori, if you can believe it.  And it came in a beautiful shiny copper bag with a personalized label–so professional!  Thank you so much, Lori.  It was really great.  And I thought all night about what I wanted to have for breakfast with my new coffee, and I decided I would try Lori’s protein pancakes–double yumm!!  That was the first time I tried her recipe, and it was great.  The ingredients are similar to the Hungry Girl blueberry pancakes that I like so much, but Lori’s recipe is SO much easier.  I topped them with some sliced fresh strawberries.  Next I will try Lori’s blueberry sauce.  Sorry, I ate the pancakes before I remembered to take a picture of them.  But here is a picture of the coffee!

Unfortunately, my eating has been a little over the top today.  I kept eating when I was full, and that really drives me nuts.  But I’ll just pick right up where I left off.  Actually, I just did the math, and I’ve only eaten about 1750 calories today.  I’m going to have broccoli for dinner, and maybe a little yogurt and strawberries, and call it a night!  I think I’m worried about eating too much on my vacation that is coming up (so I eat too much because I am worried about eating too much???)

I did get to go to the gym today, and really pushed myself on the weights, and got in a good swim too.  I don’t think I’ll get too many more swims this year.  I’m not so crazy about swimming that I will do it in the cold.  But it will be fun to have different activities for different seasons.  I am already enjoying running/walking with the doggies.  Now if it would just rain a little bit to make it less dusty.

I am thinking that I will just set my goal to maintain this current weight through the end of my vacation, and that will be a victory in itself.  Starting with my brother’s visit last week, and until I come home from my friend’s on the 24th, October is pretty much shot.  Fortunately the people around me are getting used to the way I like to eat, so I am pretty good for breakfast and lunch.  And if I can just control myself at dinner (and dessert/snacking) I will be good to go.  At this point in my journey, it is never the ‘fault’ of the people around me.  It is always my own decision to overeat.

I’m off to work tomorrow, so I’m afraid I’ll be pretty much absent for a couple of weeks.  I’ll probably be able to check in and comment on your blogs once in a while.  Be good and eat well while I am gone!

Indecisive

I don’t know what to do today.  Have I mentioned before that I have a hard time making decisions?

My brother is in town from Texas.  (In town means he is in the Bay Area with my dad.)  He is going home Saturday.  I already got to see him a couple of days ago.  But we have tickets for the new Disney Museum in San Francisco for tomorrow.  Yesterday I thought I had the flu.  Even left work early and came home and sat on the couch, and slept.  Today I feel better, but not perfect.  I actually called last night and cancelled my workout with Vicky today, which is a bummer.  But I didn’t want to give the flu to her and everyone in the gym if that is what it is.

What is the hardest for me to decide is actually the decision to leave home. I like it here.  I like my routines.  It is easiest to eat right when I am at home.  I like my bed.  I miss my dogs, and I worry about them when I have to leave for too long.  Blah, blah, blah.  I sound like a broken record, even to myself.  So I think, even as I type this, that I will just get up VERY EARLY tomorrow morning, and go down to the bay area for the day, and drive home the same night.  Unless I feel really great today, and drive down this afternoon, and spend the night.  Or I could stay overnight Friday, and get up early Saturday and drive home.  I think you can see my problem.  In my brain, it is tied up with the fact that I have to work Monday and Tuesday (unusual for me) and then I am on vacation, and am planning to leave for TEN DAYS!  I don’t know if I will really leave for that long.  I’m re-thinking that trip too.

Okay, on to something at least a little more interesting.  I have to admit that since hitting that 100 pound mark, I have struggled just a bit with keeping my food intake down.  Just a bit extra here and there.  It all adds up.  In addition, I haven’t been able to get in quite as much exercise, d/t work schedule, and my brother’s visit, and now this flu thingy.  But we (my dad, my sister, my brother, and I) went up to Tahoe on Sunday and Monday, and it was really great.  We drove up through the Sierras and there was snow everywhere.  Gorgeous.  Sorry, I didn’t take any pictures.  My brother and I wanted to take a hike, and after we checked into the hotel, we left my dad and sister in the room (they were going to go shopping,) and we went out to get the car and drive to a place to hike, and it was snowing HARD!  Gorgeous big flakes.  We finally decided that we were too wimpy to try to hike in such weather, but we went for a run from there.  It was great—so much fun.  Ran down to where the lake was (couldn’t even see it, it was so cloudy and snowing so much) and checked out the restaurant we wanted to go to for dinner, and then ran over to where my dad and sister were shopping, and then ran back to the hotel.  When it was dinner time, we opted to run over to the restaurant again, instead of driving.  Everything was close, but we got in over 4 miles (my pedometer battery ran out.)

The next day was bright and sunny, just like the weather guys predicted.  The views were fantastic–Christmas post cards everywhere you looked.  And we headed up around the lake.  There is a place called Taylor Creek that I thought my dad would enjoy, and it turned out that this is the time the salmon were there spawning!  I let my dad sit in his walker and I pushed him around, and he thoroughly enjoyed himself.  I got a great workout pushing him, probably one mile.  And it was amazing to see all the salmon in this little stream that I have visited in the summer.  I have to say that it really made me sad when someone commented that ‘they are probably dying now.’  I know that it is the way of nature, but I can’t help it.  It just really makes me sad.

So that’s it.  That’s where I”ve been.  Work, Tahoe trip, work, sick.  I have to say that I really think my immune system is pretty good right now.  Because whatever this ’sickness’ is, its not nearly as bad as I think it would be if I was not eating as healthily as I tend to eat now.  I will try to get back with a more interesting post in a day or two or three.  Here is a picture of all of us up at Tahoe–I think you can see the snow on the mountains in the background.

A Word of Encouragement

Since re-reaching this weight loss of 100 pounds, I have spent a lot of time thinking about the journey.  How it happened.  What worked.  And what didn’t work.  And I thought I would encourage those of you who are struggling, or seem to be ’stuck.’

The quick background story is that I was a chubby kid (but not bad, in retrospect.)  I stopped growing (5 ft. 1/2 inch) in jr. high, but didn’t stop gaining weight.  When I was about 25, and about 208 pounds, I made a grandiose effort, and through a lot of different ‘diets’ (some plans, and some made up) I lost 84 pounds.  Looking back, I never learned how to eat differently.  I just ate LESS.  A LOT less.  And so, eventually, I guess, I got tired of being hungry, and gained it all back plus some.  And I vowed never to diet again.  And I was very happy there for a very long time.  Sure, I wished I didn’t weigh as much.  I wished every body part, every step, didn’t hurt.  But I was determined NOT to go on a diet again.  I knew that if I was going to do something about the weight, it would have to be a permanent change, for the rest of my life. And I was not willing to do that.

So when I started Weight Watchers almost 5 years ago, it was with that mind set.  Very skeptical of programs.  I actually hated it every time someone used the phrase ‘work the program’ or some such thing at W.W.  I read a ton to make sure w.w. was not giving me bad information (they were not) and I got great advice from a few key people along the way.  I watched how the ‘thin’ people ate.  I studied recipe books.  I experimented, hesitantly at first, with new food choices and new ways of cooking.

And miraculously, the weight started coming off.  Over a period of about two years, I lost 100 pounds.  And then my weight loss stalled.  And then, tiny bit by tiny bit, I started regaining a little weight.  13 pounds, to be exact.  And there I stayed, basically, for almost 2 years.  But I never stopped trying.  I continued reading good books, magazine articles, and then blogs.  I continued to incorporate new ways of eating into my life.  I tried new foods.  And I tried new exercise regimes.

And finally the weight has started coming off again.  I have made some ‘drastic’ changes in my food choices and exercise regime since hiring my personal trainer in April.  None of those changes have been painful or torturous.  The food has been great, and the exercise has been fun, for the most part.  It was just a new learning curve for me.

So the encouragement is this:  there are two ‘mantras’ that have worked for me on this journey.  The first is ‘NEVER GIVE UP.’  It is a lifelong change that you have to make.  So of course, never give up is part of LIFELONG.  But that is not quite enough.  Because you could be determined to ‘never give up’ but nothing ever changes in what you are doing.  The second is something simple that I figured out at the very beginning, and it has changed in meaning, or practice, along the way.  And that is:

WHAT I AM DOING NOW IS NOT WORKING.  I MUST DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT.

You do not have to join Weight Watchers to succeed.  You do not have to hire a personal trainer to succeed.  But you must do something different than you are doing now.  And never give up.

It is wise to study what has worked for the majority of long term weight loss maintainers.  Many of the books and magazines I have read quote from The National Weight Control Registry.  This is a group that collects data from people who have lost a significant amount of weight.  They study how they lost the weight, and how and/or if they keep it off.  I have taken this information very seriously, and have tried to incorporate these findings into the life changes I have made.  For example, they say that 78% of weight loss maintainers eat breakfast every day.  I went from being a person who was proud that she could go without eating until 1 PM to a person who MUST have breakfast every day.  And breakfast, in all its infinite varieties, is definitely my favorite meal of the day.  90% of these people exercise an average of 1 hour per day!  This is still a goal I am working towards.  I may or may not like hearing these facts.  But they are the best information we have available for longterm successful weight loss and maintenance.

Anyway, I just really wanted to encourage those of you who are struggling with losing weight.  Whether you are just starting, or you’ve been working a long time and are stalled, or like me, you have even begun to regain some of your weight. It is possible, it feels fantastic, and the food is still great!  (Yay, food!)

Recommended reading:

Thin for Life, by Anne Fletcher

Weight Loss that Lasts, by James M. Rippe (a w.w. publication)

French Women Don’t Get Fat, by Mireille Guiliano

Nutrition Action Healthletter This is a great little ‘magazine’ that I really can’t say enough good things about.  Great information, the newest research findings, easy and interesting writing style, new recipes and food finds, etc.  NO ADS!

Today’s Thoughts

Thanks for all the congratulations!  I was pretty happy all day about my weight loss.  Here are some of the thoughts I had today:

The scale is not the only  ’inanimate enemy’ to weight loss.  Gym mirrors.  Horrors.  They about did me in today.  I know they are there so you can check your form.  But couldn’t they make them carnival mirrors that make you look young and slim or something?  I was doing some bench push-ups and dips in Vicky’s studio area, and when I stopped for a rest on the bench I glanced in the mirror.  Not only did I look like a middle-aged frump with two spare tires around the middle, but my neck…my poor saggy grandma-like old neck.  Oh, well.  Continuing on….

There.  I feel better now, shallow person that I am.  I took a night time picture with my computer that makes my neck look better.  Maybe they just need mood lighting in the gym.

Tabata intervals.  Vickie asked some questions about the tabata intervals, which led me to try to get better information about them for myself as well as for you.  I thought this article did a good job of explaining the science behind them, as well as giving examples of how you can do them.  It says that it was proven to raise your metabolic rate.  It also gives examples of quite a few different exercises that will work.  But the main point is that you are supposed to work at maximum intensity for that 20 seconds, then rest 10 seconds, and repeat X8.  The idea of the 10 second rest is that it allows your muscles to recover, BUT NOT COMPLETELY.  So the next set (20 seconds) is actually harder than if you didn’t rest at all.  I think I fall a little short on the maximum intensity sometimes, so I am glad I reviewed this.  I have done them on the stairs at work, running or sprinting outside, with push-ups, squat/shoulder press combo, step-ups, and wall squats.  I try to be accurate on the running and stairs, but of course I don’t have a clock in front of me so the 20 second/10 second intervals are approximate.  When I review an article like this, I don’t know why I don’t do them every day.  Except that they are hard.

Fruits and veggies. I am still surprised sometimes at my new found love for fruits and veggies.  I really didn’t need to go to the grocery store, but I thought I might have an overwhelming urge for broccoli (thanks,Lori!)when I got home, so stopped at the store, and ended up getting a few other fruits and veggies.  Never left the produce department!  Then I spotted the little Mexican guy on the corner selling strawberries!  I can’t resist these guys.  The strawberries have been consistently great, and I can’t believe they travel over an hour from the valley just to sell strawberries in Pine Grove!  Anyways, what a pleasure to have great tasting ripe strawberries almost in October!

Running.  Yup.  I’m running again.  Its amazing what a difference that few pounds can make.  I am really enjoying these short runs with the dogs.  And plan on increasing the distance, especially with the cooler fall weather finally starting to appear.  It was only 63 degrees today, and I just couldn’t make myself get in the pool, even though it looked extremely peaceful with just one lap swimmer in there today.  I might indulge in some of those Kuru shoes that Miz talked about today.  They sound like they provide amazing support.

Thoughts on ‘rest days.’ Remember a few weeks ago I started taking a’Sabbath rest’ day on Mondays.  Then last Monday, I didn’t take it because…I can’t remember why.  Anyway, I guess that habit was not ingrained in me because I didn’t even think about taking a rest day yesterday, and had planned quite a few necessary chores for the day.  But when I got up yesterday, I remembered and I decided to go ahead and take a day of rest.  I decided I would try to do all the chores I had planned for Monday and Tuesday all on Tuesday.  Monday was a wonderful day.  Plenty of time reading some very inspirational books (more on them in another post,) listened to a great sermon online, sat outside in the sun, praying and thinking about all I am thankful for, took TWO short runs with the doggies, and got in quite a bit of quilting, as evidenced by the pics I shared yesterday.  And today I had no trouble getting all the chores done that I had planned for the two days!  My thought is this:  I know that an entire day is a luxury that not everyone can afford.  But by taking that time to refresh my soul, I was able to make better decisions about what was really important and what could be let go.  I would urge all of you to try and fit some quiet hours somewhere in your week just to refresh and renew your mind and your soul.

Habanada!  Rest, run, skip the scale and the mirror, eat some fruit and veggies, and try a tabata interval!

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.

The Countdown

September 28.  I have 3 days to try to eat on the straight and narrow to achieve my September challenge goal of getting back to my original 100 pound weight loss.  Most times during this journey I didn’t think ‘it counted’ if you re-lost weight that had already previously been lost.  But honestly, re-losing the 13 pounds that I regained has sometimes seemed like more of a struggle than it was to lose the entire 100 pounds.  Like I have said many times, its not like I’m suffering, or going hungry.  It is a combination mind AND body struggle, I think.  I sure know what to do and how to eat.  Most days I make REALLY healthy choices all day long.  But most days I just eat a little more than I planned.  Like lately when I get home from work exhausted, and I should just take a shower and go straight to bed, I sit and look at blogs, and then go to get a little treat, which lately is a medjool date with 4 walnut halves.  Yummmmmm!!!  But not exactly calorie-free, and I am not exactly hungry, so not exactly being used for fuel.  Just for enjoyment.  And there’s nothing wrong with that.  Except that it conflicts with something else that I really want for enjoyment, and that is a body carrying around less weight.  (Did you notice I did not say ‘a thinner body?’  Because, really, the true pleasure will be ‘carrying around less weight.’  It is already a pleasure, just having lost this 11 1/2 pounds in the last few months.)

And, with apologies to Miz and other like-minded folks for my ‘obsession’ with a number, you have to admit that ‘100 pounds’ has such a nice ring to it.  I know that my favorite OCD detective, Monk, would really appreciate it.  What I really meant to say is that I hope reaching that 100 pound loss is just a small blip on the way to continuing a losing trend.  I really don’t want to reach this goal and then go crazy ‘celebrating’ with food.  (More of the mind/body talk.)

On the newsy food side of things I have gotten some new things to try.  I am working really hard (inside my head) to NOT try all of them in the next 3 days LOL!  I got some coconut oil (Lori’s recommendation) from the health food store.  Then at Trader Joe’s last night after work I found ‘hearts of palm’ (Lynn’s recommendation.)  I bought some goat milk yogurt on Vicky’s recommendation (since I have failed at least 3 times at making my own goat milk yogurt.)  I also got some candied ginger, which is one of the ingredients in the best granola I have ever had.  I think I can get this recipe from Vicky, and if I do, I will share it with you.  My favorite ‘Sweet Nantes Carrots’ were back in stock at Trader Joe’s.  And various other VERY HEALTHY food items that will make for enjoyable eating in the weeks ahead.