Monday, December 31, 2012

The New Year is TOMORROW!!!!

I love December 31st.  When you bid someone a goodbye, you get to say "see you next year!".  The holidays are over, and a new routine will settle into place.  Resolutions are made (and broken).  The new year means turning over a new leaf!

I ended up gaining 7 lbs over Christmas.  Now, don't get me wrong, I stayed Paleo, just on the far edge of it.  Lots of Paleo-ized goodies, including French Toast (made with banana bread) and lots of bacon!  This morning I began with a 2 lb loss (yea!), only 5 more to go until I hit Virgin Fat Territory (VFT) again.

While cruising thru the web, I noticed a lot of folks (Mel at the clothes make the girl and Michelle over at Nom Nom Paleo) are going to do a Whole 30 to start off the new year.

If you haven't done one, head on over to Melissa and Dallas Hartwig's site and check it out.  30 days of healthy eating.  You have 3 meals (each consisting of a SERVING of meat and 1 to 2 cups of veggies, and an added healthy fat).  No snacking.  No sugar (you may have fruit).  Plenty of recipes from Nom Nom Paleo, Melissa Joulwan's book Well Fed, and The Foodie Project, a web site with TONS of Whole 30 Approved recipes.  There is no way to be bored, and the bonus?  Getting healthy/healthier!

I had made plans to do this in 2012, I even bought Melissa and Dallas' book It Starts With Food, but I didn't do the challenge (silly me!).  I am going to join the Elite of the Paleo world and do the challenge myself!  I invite you to join me.  What is there to lose?  Is there something bad about being healthy?  Eating whole foods?  Ditching soda for water?  The side effect of LOSING WEIGHT!  Very awesome and powerful stuff.

I especially recommend doing the Whole 30 as an introduction into the Paleo way of eating (it's not a diet, it's a life style).  It's a great way to try it out.  You can do anything for 30 days, even ditch the grains, breads, sugars, legumes.  Hey, it's only one month.  Try it!

I will keep everyone posted on what I am doing and eating.  How I feel, and how to overcome the sugar cravings (yep, I get them too!).

See you next year!

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Being Naughty, Being Nice

Naughty was scarfing down a bunch of homemade LaraBars.  Nice was not gaining.  Naughty was succumbing to impulse.  Nice was realizing that I messed up, and banned all sweets for the time being.

Give and take.

Being aware of what you are doing, or at least what you did.  Not beating yourself up.  If you bought it, pay for it.  I was lucky.  I didn't gain, but I could have.  Instead of being reactive, I was proactive and deleted sugar/sweets from my diet for the time being.  Not even a piece of my beloved dark chocolate (and it's 90%!). 

I have the "bread" monster under control, but that is only one head of the beast.  Now it's time to get the sugar "head" under control.  Sugar is pretty sneaky, and is in so much.  Yes, fruit is good for you, but only in small quantities.  And, a lot depends on the fruit.  Because they are in season, I am partial to oranges right now, but will abstain for a while, until I can find a balance, and say no to the sweeties...

The dinner party went well.  I haven't posted about it yet, mainly because my computer and smart phone won't speak to each other.  The CPU I am using is more than a decade old, and slow slow slow, and running XP.  In February we'll be getting a new CPU, which will have a terabyte of memory!  This one still counts in megabytes!

With the end of the world only 3 days away (on the 21st) and Christmas a week away, plans are in motion to make sure we eat well for both, LOL.

The Christmas menu is being planned.  I am still wanting tri-tip, and just might do a ham (leftovers last longer!).  I promised the Colonel that I would serve mashed potatoes.  I am going to switch to Yukon Golds (hopefully organic and non GMO), as see how we do with those.

My beloved Colonel asked how I was losing a pound and a half every two days.  This is a tricky question.  For a while I couldn't eat eggs, since they would make me gain, now I can eat eggs and not gain.  He has a reasonable concern.  While on hCG, I lost weight because I was eating 500 calories a day, no weight loss mystery there, but now, I eat about 1500 + calories daily, and am still losing. 

Many things come into play.  The type of food.  Staying away from processed foods is the biggest help.  The Standard American Diet (SAD) is designed to pack on the pounds with whole grains that are processed and fortified to become a quick and cheap energy source.  You will never find a spaghetti noodle tree in the wild.  Bread cannot be harvested as bread.  You cannot put a cow in a snow storm and milk out ice cream.  The more something is processed, no matter how much it's "fortified", is not good for the human body.

Another thing is just plain ol' biology.  Since I am still a "breeding" woman (no more children thank you!), I still, biologically, prepare to carry a child every 28 days.  Not only retaining water and building a backlog of blood, but my body will hang on to fat to prepare to carry a baby.  It's during these 2 weeks that the weight is difficult to lose.  This is something I want to research more to see if I am on track with this idea.

Everyone who is carrying extra fat is trying to find the "magic pill" to rid them of these unwanted pounds.  It's hard to change your views on food.  Since my sugar binge the other day, I too, am having issues with this.  Sweets/sugars/carbs act on the brain like heroin.  You have some, you want some more, you dive face first into Grandma's Cheesecake.  No rhyme or reason!  It's the addiction.  It makes your brain feel good.  It's not good for you, but it FEELS good.  How can we combat that?  By not indulging in these things.  First, you have to get control, by not eating the "feel good" foods.  Keeping them away from you as much as possible.  You also have to understand, that if you have a sweet, you will want more, and have a battle plan to deal with the aftermath of eating a sweet.

It's just not fair, but then again, neither is life.  There are Carb Crunchers out there who can suck down every pastry, sandwich, and dinner roll, in sight, and not gain.  Then there is me.  I feel like I am gaining weight just looking at a doughnut on TV (heaven forbid I get a good whiff of a fresh doughnut!)!

I try to depend on logic and common sense, which does get overided by emotional response.  It's keeping the logic in the forefront, and a tight lid on my emotions, as they pertain to food.

Food is food.  We need it to live.  What we don't need is to make it the end all be all of our universe.  When food was the center of my universe I weighed 325 + lbs.  Now, food is an interesting problem, like a math problem.  I put more thought into food now, in a pseudo-scientific way.  It's a problem to be solved, not a drug I turn to for emotional support.

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Doin' OK Even With a Christmas Party on the Horizon

Down 1.2 lbs!  Yea!

I am almost at my first mini goal, 195 (1.2 lbs to go).  I am formulating a plan for today.  I am thinking IF with some broth until dinner.

I have an interesting dilemma coming up, Friday is my husband's company Christmas Party.  It is probably going to be a banquet, which will totally fly in the face of my Paleo-ness.  Rumor is that it is going to be Turkey and all the trimmings.  The problem comes in because of all the gravy, stuffing, mashed taters, and everything else.  I am hoping that I can corral the service staff and just get a plate of plain turkey and veggies, possibly a salad.  If not, I will be gracious, and just drink my iced tea, while keeping up a steady stream of conversation.  Did I ever tell you how much I don't like to talk small?  Weather talk is just stupid, when there is so much more going on in the world!  And, when people's lives are infinitely more interesting!

Another thing that is going to be difficult to deal with is being the center of attention.  The last Christmas Party, I talked about taking hCG, but most haven't seen me since then.  I am hoping that one of the wives will be there with her advanced pregnancy, and I can turn conversation toward the new baby, rather than my loss of 130 pounds and eating Paleo.

When my dinner arrives, all eyes just might be on me.  Again, I will just be gracious, and hopefully, we can skip out quickly.

I am probably worried about nothing.  I do plan to blog about the evening for my Primal and Paleo, Parenting and Passion blog, along with nifty smart phone pictures.  It's important to see how Paleo/Primal folk deal with SAD in society.  At home, it's easy, you cook, you keep the crap minimal (or even better, completely gone), and no one tries to tempt you ("it's only a little gravy, it won't hurt you..."), and you aren't tempted by all the goodies.  But, when you are in a setting where you don't have control of the food, you run into problems with service staff, the food itself (pre-made, processed, seed/veggie oils, margarine, hidden gluten, grains, especially corn, in everything), and again, standing out like a sore thumb to all those keeping your company.

This is where a few set rules come into play:

Order last:  asking questions and giving explanations takes some time, people want to order!

Thank the wait staff profusely:  You are slowing them down too, but you want them to be on your side.  Be as kind and gracious as possible.

A meal is no time to "preach" to your dining companions:  This is a hard one for the Paleo/Primal crowd and the Vegetarian/Vegan crowd.  We are all under the impression that we know more than anyone else about food and nutrition (and we do, at least us Paleo folks...LOL).  Answer any questions directly, but frame it only about yourself.  "All that meat and fat, aren't you afraid of cholesterol?"  "No, my number's are great, but thank you for asking."  Then, you need to be a good conversation dancer here, and change the subject, focusing on the questioner.  "How is your Christmas shopping going?" 

In a large crowd, eye's will be on you:  Suddenly you will find that you are the Paleo ambassador!  Since I have plenty to show for eating clean (130 lbs gone!), those with a bit of thickness around their middle, and the skinny crowd that can eat anything they want, will be watching how and what you eat.  Just roll with it.  It is a bit annoying, and frankly, rude on the other people's part, but it is inevitable.  Everyone wants the secret (there is none) or the magic cure (that doesn't exist either), to weight loss.  They themselves might need to lose weight, or maybe a friend or loved one.  Suddenly, you have all the answers (you don't).  Again, answer questions directly, and maybe even offer a book title (The Paleo Solution by Robb Wolf, The Primal Blueprint by Mark Sisson), that they can get on Amazon or any book retailer.

Enjoy yourself:  Soon enough the bru ha ha will die down, and the conversations will turn to other things.  Anyone who is especially interested will approach you later to ask more questions.  I have learned that although society at large thinks that a gathering is about food, I like to think it's a gathering to reconnect with friends, they are what are important, not the food.


Most of these folks I see only once or twice a year.  Some I may not know, others I have known for 10 + years!  Yeah, we don't hang out together, but it always gives license for great conversation, catching up on our lives!

This should be interesting!  I just found out that the pregnant wife had a little girl yesterday!  Congratulations to Rachel and Brian on their new little blessing!

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

I Love It When A Plan Comes Together!

Yep, good news, woke up this morning 2.6 lbs lighter.  Confirms that I had too much water retention.  I will continue to stay the course, and see if I can nose into the 80's, at least get back to 195 (1.4 lbs to go).

I promised measurements, well, I did take my measurements, and since Nov. 16th 'til now, I haven't gained anything, although fat has been moving around, I haven't gotten any bigger, which confirms for me that I am not getting any fatter.

Yesterdays foodage:

A.M.  coffee

Lunch  steak and cucumbers (dipped in mustard) and a tangerine.

Dinner  Paleo burger with onions and mustard, and green beans.

I did have a couple of squares of dark chocolate, 4 to be exact (a serving is 12 squares).  It really helped when I began the "kitchen wander".  You know, when you want to eat something, but aren't hungry, so you just wander around the kitchen, looking for something to munch on, it usually ends in eat too much.  I am really working on stopping the "grazing", which is great for cows, not so much for me.

Exercise: 

21-15-9  deep knee bends

21-15-9  counter push ups

2 sets of sit ups (one minute crunch/one minute reverse crunch)

30 minute walk with the kids looking at our neighborhood Christmas lights.

I had journalled that I was hoping for a 2 lb loss, which I got, so now I am hoping for another pound and some change tomorrow.  Maybe even another 2 lbs, which would be great!  After that, I will be expecting half pound losses every other day or so, which is fine.  Which, in the scheme of things, is pretty quick, quicker than SAD weight loss, but, of course, more healthy using whole foods and actually eating veggies, rather than just paying lip service (hey Powers That Be, corn is not a vegetable, it's a grain!) to eating "whole" foods (a hundred calorie pack is NOT a whole wheat, heart healthy snack!)

The pendulum is swinging low carb right now in society, it has been there before.  It will swing right back to the whole grain, low fat, high sugar, SAD as it has before.  More and more people will wake up fat and unhealthy, and continue to rely on the AMA and Big Pharma to cure their ills with pills. 

Hopefully, more people will jump on the low carb bandwagon (or even better, Paleo!), and ditch grains for life.  Unfortunately, peer pressure has an effect on everyone!  It sucks sometimes to be on the outside looking in.  There is talk about a Popeye's Chicken opening up here in town (replacing our KFC), and I can't eat there.  Nor can I eat at Taco Bell (love's the Burrito Supreme!).  Sometimes lonely, but in the long run, I can't complain.  Nothing tastes better than thin feels!  I didn't used to believe that ('cause I was fat, and sad, and pathetic), now I know!  I love shopping for clothes, and am finding some cute stuff that's TOO BIG! 

Onward and downward!

Monday, December 10, 2012

Whoa, Big Gain

Just yesterday, I was working out a "diet" to do to actively lose these last 15 to 20 lbs, imagine my surprise when the scale showed that I weighed 200 lbs!  Again, my fat % is only up by .3, leading me to believe that this is more water weight than gained fat.

Irregardless, I am not going to sit on my hands any longer.  I will be doing a modified hCG P2 protocol, with an increase of meat and vegetables (except squashes).  It will be a low carb/low fat regime. 

I was fairly naughty last night, craving protein I had bacon and eggs at around 7:30 pm.  I should never eat much past 6 pm, but I did, including salt on my eggs, which, I believe is not a true weight gain, but I will find out tomorrow, when I weigh in.  Yep, back to daily weigh ins.  I have to keep track to see if this will pan out correctly.

I still have a month before I can start Crossfit, and I don't want to walk in at 200 lbs (and beyond).

Game plan:

6 oz meat and unlimited veggies (2 meals/day)

Increase my water intake to 64 oz (minimum)

Continue my walking and exercising (deep knee bends, push ups, etc)

No eating after 6 pm.

Morning weigh in.

I will be taking measurements and compare to my last.  Considering my 14/16s still fit, I don't think I have gotten any bigger, OK, why be coy, FATTER.  I don't want to lose everything that I have gained (being thinner, stronger, feeling better about myself).  I still need to lose more weight anyway.  I want to be in the 60's, 70's, or even the 80's. 

My new goal is 165, so I have 45 lbs to go.  I am hoping that I won't have to another round of hCG, and just using common sense (which hasn't worked so well for me so far, arg!), smartly start losing weight again. 

I will be super happy about the first 15 lbs lost, everything after that is gravy.  I believe that I am the type of person who needs a strong regime to stay the course.  I have been sticking to Paleo, and haven't wavered from it, but I have spent far too much time on the far sides of Paleo, including eating late, eating dates, Paleo crunch and having far too much salt.  If it wasn't for Paleo, I would have brought on 20 or 30 lbs easily, but instead, I have only gone up 5 to 9 lbs (my lowest was 191, my stable weight was 195), and that's LOTS easier to lose.

Time to become a fat burner, and stay away from the sugar.  My beloved dark chocolate will be set aside for the time being.  Meat and veggies for me!  I am actually excited to see what I can accomplish on my own.  hCG is great, and a miracle for me, but I can't rely on hCG or any else to keep me from gaining weight.

I have watched too many folks get on hCG and lose bunches of weight, then slowly (sometimes not so slowly) regain weight, and they are left scratching their heads, unable to think of what to do.  I am of the mind that when something works, go back and try again.  hCG does work for many, but not alone.  The diet just makes sense.  So, it's back to the drawing board, or back to basics, as it were.

Sitting around a bemoaning my fate certainly isn't going to help me.  I have to be proactive, rather than reactive.  Since I have been planning to actually "diet" by cutting fats and sweets, I think I am on the right track!

I will be reporting my measurements and tomorrow's weigh in, to see if I am on the right track.

Monday, December 3, 2012

Had a gain but...

...I have an explanation.

This morning, I was up 1.6 lbs!  Scary!  What wasn't up was my "fat" reading on my scale.  Considering that I have been getting stronger, and a visit with my "girly friend", and that my pants still fit fine, I am going to chalk this gain to muscle mass and water retention.

If you have the means to get a scale with fat measurement, I whole heartedly endorse this purchase!  Even if it's not exact by any means, it does differentiate between fat and water (little electric current running through your feet, no, it won't electrocute you).

My plan is to eat clean, which means a P2 diet in P3 portions.  I have to go shopping today, so I will be picking up food for me.  I just realized that when I shop for groceries, that I have to keep a separate list for me, and one for my family.  They have really dived head first into SAD, although the kids and the dinner meals are still Paleo/Primal. 

A piece of bummer news, I am noticing more and more that my 3 yo (the Peanut) is eating like me.  For him, life is about bread and sugar.  Although he is not fat and still is solid on the growth chart, I don't want him to live like I did.  We are going to skate the holidays, and then in the New Year, get down to brass tacks.  I have been feeding the Littles different than what I eat, that is going to change.  What I have for lunch, they will have for lunch.  The difference will be breakfast, since I don't eat b-fast normally.  Lot's of protein and healthy fats, which is usually what they have.  Unfortunately, The Colonel will give them toast, and make them sandwiches on weekends, which makes my weekdays a bit harder.  Even I will get lazy and let them have bread (so, I am at fault too).  I spoke to The Colonel, and he has agreed with my assessment, so I will be scouring the cookbooks again, and finding good healthy Paleo meals for myself and the smalls.  Well, they will be Primal (they eat cheese, and don't have to be so strict, they are growing after all!).

Getting out and exercising is uber important too.  Today, I am going to make an appointment for next week to join my CrossFit box, and hopefully, learning about CrossFit, I can modify for the kids.  Me being stronger can only help them.

Well, that's about all that going on!