Inch by Inch

Hello ladies, Kristin here...  How's everyone doing on the dieting as we near the end of March?  It always boggles my mind when a month passes and I don't remember it.  I feel like New Years Eve was just days ago; are any of you experiencing the same bizarro-phenomenon?

My diet has been coming along ok.  I really feel focused, 99% of the time, which is a lot more than I have been in the past 3 years.  My biggest challenge is still trying to figure out how to manage the never-ending "food events" that seem to infect our life.  Every week, and sometimes more than once or twice, we have random restaurant meals or celebratory meals at relative's houses that pop up.  We've had less parties in the past few weeks, but more restaurant eating.  One thing we (my hubby & I) have been consciously trying to do is eat those meals as early in the day as possible.  One of the worst things about eating out always seems to be that it happens late in the day, often after 7:00 or 8:00 p.m., and who in their right minds feels like hopping on the elliptical at 10:00 p.m.?!  Not me, that's who.

So we've been trying to reign in not only the time of day we eat out and the number of times over-all, but I've also completely changed the kinds of things I order.  For example, for lunch at Perkins, instead of getting my favorite cinnamon roll slathered in butter, or a BLT with an order of fries and a side of gravy... I got an omelette stuffed with veggies and a tiny bit of cheddar cheese, and a side of fruit.  A HUGE improvement for me.  Then at a business lunch at J. B. Schneider's in West Duluth, I got a really good fresh shrimp-and-spinach salad that I sprinkled with a little olive oil and a lot of calorie-free vinegar, and a diet Pepsi.  Again, a huge departure from my usual favorites of pasta and garlic toast or gooey grilled cheese sandwich and fries.  I feel like this is an enormous accomplishment for me, as I have always viewed a restaurant meal as an opportunity to cut loose and not worry about calories.  The problem is, we find ourselves eating out a little too often for that attitude to not completely derail my otherwise successful dieting effort.  I'm still trying to cut down on restaurant-eating even more - who needs to pay $9.00 for a bowl of spinach leaves and 6 smallish shrimp?  


I'm becoming hugely motivated by teeny little things, like getting into an old pair of size 10 jeans that haven't fit me in a year.  Yes it's true; last summer I was having a bit of success working off pregnancy pounds and had actually gotten down as low as 149.0 pounds at one point.  I never made it to 148.0, though.    LOL    Then, I started gaining again...well, eating again.  I got all the way back up to 165.5, and that's where I was this past February 7th, which is the date I officially consider my "hitting rock bottom" day, after months of yo-yoing since last September. 


So I squeezed into those size 10s yesterday and smiled ALL DAMN DAY.  I've also noticed other little things, such as my workouts getting easier (especially Tae Bo!), and my stomach not twisting every time I see junk food I love, and being able to go much longer between eating or drinking anything.  I can FEEL that my stomach has shrunk.  I'm still not seeing much of a difference when I look in the mirror, but other people are starting to tell me that my face looks thinner, or my legs, or whatever.  Either they're really seeing it or they're just trying to encourage me, but whichever it is, I'll take the cheerleading!


I still feel like my goal weight of 125 is do-able by June.  I weighed 153.0 at my Monday morning weigh-in this week, and I was 152.5 this morning.  I have officially lost 13.0 pounds from my starting 165.5 weight.  I'm PSYCHED!  I wrote out a little chart to further motivate myself.  If I lose 3.0 pounds every single week starting this week, I will weigh 124.0 by June 6th.  I feel that 3.o pounds per week is ABSOLUTELY possible!!!  This is my goal.  Yesterday, I ate my measly 1100 calories, did an hour of combined Tae Bo and treadmill-while-watching-Twilight, and I was a noodle/puddle at the end.  I fell asleep stark naked with my wet hair in a towel and woke up at 3:30 a.m., frickin' FREEZING.  Hopefully that will be the dumbest thing I do this week.


Soldier on, ladies!  Would love to hear how you're all faring in your journeys - it's very motivating to get tips from everyone!!!    :o)


A lil' reverse-psych motivation this morning... LMAO.

GUESS WHO HAS LOST FORTY STICKS OF BUTTER?

ME! (Sarah) That's who! I finally FINALLY reached my first goal of ten pounds lost, and it only took me ELEVEN weeks!  I was feeling pretty good about this accomplishment and then I got this email from my sister:

"Well suckers!  I lost 25 pounds this week!  Yes..to achieve this I had to have surgery, give birth to a baby..8lbs gone!, deliver the placenta 4-5lbs gone!,  blood loss 2lbs gone!,  gas/poop/diarrhea 10lbs gone!  and I've had to have the cold/flu/curious illness oh! and not eat anything for the past two days but hey I'm 25 pounds lighter...so SUCK IT!"


Yeah, that took the wind out of my sails.  Now only 66 more sticks of butter and then I can stop this stupid diet and exercise regimen and work on gaining it all back!  Just kidding.  I won't.  (probably)

SIGH.

Hey girlies, Kristin here.  How was everybody's weekend?  As per my last post, mine sucked ass and there's just no way to sugar-coat that.  (Mmmmmm, SUGAR...)

I ate.  A ridiculous amount.  We had company from out of town Friday through Sunday (I know; EXCUSES, EXCUSES...)!  Friday night we ate at India Palace, which is my flat-out all-time favorite restaurant in Duluth, and has been since it opened.  If you're ever in town, you'd be a big dork if you didn't try it.  Seriously.  Here, you can drool over some pictures of their food:  India Palace Restaurant in Duluth, MN.


So anyway.  After stuffing my face with veggie samosas slathered in tamarind chutney, a piece of naan the size of two of my heads, half a (huge) pot of basmati rice, a hefty-sized vat of Navratan Korma, and two cups of sweet chai, I waddled to the truck in sweet, sweet misery.  I woke up Saturday still full, and mentally unprepared (unwilling?) to count calories in such a state.  So instead, I baked a chocolate birthday cake for our guests' daughter (she turned 12 on Sunday), and a batch of Tollhouse chocolate-peanut butter cookies (for no reason), and a huge pot of chili and another pot of basmati rice that we all ate for lunch.  Saturday night was spent chomping popcorn and movie candy in front of the t.v., watching "Green Zone" with my hubby.  Sunday was a teeny (TEENY!) bit better, as far as calorie-volume went.  But only a teeny bit.  I didn't count.  And by Sunday evening, I was pretty pissed off at myself, because Sunday would have been a really easy day for me to be disciplined.  The company had left by early afternoon, I hadn't eaten much up to that point, and I could/should have been able to fall back into sync for the rest of the day and finish the weekend on a slightly-redeemed note.  Sadly, it was not to be.  I just ate whatever.  Cookies, frozen meal(s!), (lots of) cheese, yogurt(s), more popcorn, more candy (another movie), etc.  Not surprisingly, I was up two pounds on Monday morning.

Which leads me to today, Wednesday morning, and by some bizarre, cosmic twist of fate, now I am down 5.5 pounds from Monday morning.  WTF?!  I did only eat 1100 calories - EXACTLY - Monday and Tuesday...  I did an hour on the treadmill Monday evening... but the 300 calories I burned don't add up to 5.5 pounds in anyone's book.  I was pretty excited to see that I am now 11 pounds lighter (total, since February 7th), but I am afraid to trust it.  I'm still really struggling with how little food the 1100 calories actually is.  I'm still spreading out my calories and teeny-tiny "meals" throughout the day, and still trying to exercise as many times per week as possible, but after two days of having the scale go down instead of up, I am tentatively thinking ahead to summer.  I want this boring odyssey to be OVER by June 1st.  I want to be at my goal weight in time for summer.  I want to weigh 125 pounds, and I want my stomach to be shrunk back down to the size of a Cadbury Creme Egg, and I want it to stay that way until I'm 90.  

Gee, I don't want much, eh?

I have no real reason for posting this pic, except that I can't stop laughing and wanted to share the humor.

 

 

How Can My Diet & My Week-end Co-exist?

Hey ladies, Kristin here.    :o)

I used to LOVE Fridays.  (That was before I decided to get rid of my F-A-T.)  Now, weekends SUCK ASS.  It has taken about a month of fine-tuning, but I finally have the calorie-counting and carb-avoidance and little bits of exercising here and there falling into place Monday through Thursday.  I'm so proud of myself, I could eat a half dozen Cadbury Creme Eggs just thinking about this shaky accomplishment.  (I didn't say that I've figured out how to not think about my favorite treats every waking moment; that will never happen.  I accept this.)

My gripe is about Friday through Sunday.  At the office, it's easier.  I can leave the food at home; just not bring it to work with me.  I can plan my meals at home, pack only the necessary stuff into a bag for eating at work, and then if I'm starving while working, all I have to avoid is picking up the phone and calling Erberts & Gerberts or Zhong Hua.

But at HOME... it's a very different story.  My oven is there.  My baking cupboard is there.  I can SMELL the muffin mixes and chocolate-peanut butter chip cookie ingredients waiting to be mixed and baked.  There are over-ripe bananas waiting to be molded into gooey loaves of banana bread.  There is a fridge chock-full of not only my diet-friendly foods, but real, hard cheddar cheese(!), whole milk(!), butter(!), real bread(!), and Top the Tater(!!!)!  (Paige, may Mommy steal a 4-serving-sized "bite" of your cheese for breakfast?  Hmmm?  PLEASE, Paige???)  There are frozen waffles, adorable little packets of "fruit" snacks, and the teenager's after-school granola bars.  There are frozen pizzas and boxes of movie candy and corn chips and picante sauce.  (6 Doritos dipped in a little picante is 150 calories?!  Are you friggin' KIDDING ME?!)

You see my boggle.  I used to LOVE Fridays, and I used to so look forward to being home on the weekend...  I couldn't wait!  Now, Friday evening approaches and I feel nauseous.  I do OK at the office - the temptations aren't available, plain and simple.  But even though I've cleared out as much as I feel I possibly can from the fridge and cupboards at home to keep myself on-track, it's still not enough.  Friday night is often "movie night" with the family.  My other three family members will be sitting inches from me, scarfing my favorite food (buttered, salted popcorn...), and chomping boxes of movie candy (one treat we've always looked forward to at the end of a busy week...), and I'm supposed to sip a diet pop and nibble my RyKrisp???

I pride myself on having developed a bit of self-restraint of late, and I feel better-equipped to deal with cravings in general now, but even I - newly crowned Queen of Restriction - cannot resist when those next to me are reveling in their popcorn and other treats.  I. Just. Can't.

So, the week-end is here.  Most definitely a movie night for us tonight, as we are coming off the Week From Utter Hell.  Saturday & Sunday will be the usual torture; trying (usually in vain) NOT to bake, NOT to cook something too diet-unfriendly, and trying to find time to exercise in between loads of laundry, sinks of dishes, house cleaning, house projects, bathing the toddler, getting the teenager caught up on school projects, entertaining out-of-town guests, and the list goes on.  

I SO want to love my weekends again.
Any suggestions out there?  (Other than the painfully obvious, that is...  "Don't buy the treats if you don't want to be tempted by them, etc., etc. etc.") 

Yep, got that memo.  If I was single and lived alone, it would be a DONE DEAL!!!
Soldier on, chicas!!!

P.S.  I've been holding steady at 9 pounds lost.  I want to hit the 10-pound mark SO BADLY I can TASTE IT.  And right now, it tastes like a humongous glass of sangria.

Perspective

I read a post from Milk and Cake this morning and I thought it was so excellent and put all this dieting garbage into perspective.  She's totally right.  We should not be worried about how attractive or enviable our parts and areas are to other people, and obsess over what the scale says.  We should be aiming for healthy bodies and we should celebrate the great things we can do with those healthy bodies.  Check out the post.  It's great.
Sarah

My husband makes my mouth water

Hey Goils, How's it going out there?  Anyone besides Kristin and me still dieting?  Oh, you are but it has lost all of it's novelty, and you are getting pissed about only losing a half a pound a week when you feel like you have been starving to death and are exhausted and suffering constant brain farts from lack of nutrition?  Yeah, me too.   I'm down 9 pounds now.  My first "goal" is to lose ten pounds so I'm getting close.

Yesterday I had a huge eating day.  We went over to Mitch's parent's house for dinner and although she made mostly healthy lo-cal food, I ate a metric shit-ton of it.  Smoked fish, crackers, chips, chili, corn bread, angel food cake with cherries in syrup and whip cream.  Lots of food.  It was so great.  I really needed to eat something good.

I've been doing pretty good on the exercising too, except for this past week because I worked every day teaching third grade, which wasn't very taxing, but I didn't feel like working out in the evening.  Today I brought Kira to a movie with her friends, and while she was at the movie (Gnomio and Juliet: SACRILEGE!) I went to the Y and worked out like an utter fool.  I did the stair stepper for 30 minutes, the elliptical for 30 minutes, the treadmill RUNNING for 15 minutes, and then 15 minutes of arm weights and crunches.  I'm counting it as three workouts in my work-out-three-hundred-times-this-year-new-year's-resolution.

I'm back on the diet wagon today.  I made a healthy (and disgusting) stir fry for dinner and because of the disgustingness of it only had a small portion.  I'd really like half a chocolate cake right now, but I'm staying strong.  Also, there is not chocolate cake here or else I would probably have a whole chocolate cake.

I read a book about the Donner Party this last week.  Little tip:  don't read about starving people who resort to cannibalism when you are "starving" yourself.  You will develop a weird inner-turmoil when your mind wanders to ways you could made human flesh into delicious recipes, and you will look at your husband and think about what part of him you would like to eat, if you had to eat him. (Shoulders, hams mmmmmmmmmmm)

On the Right Track...?

Hello ladies, Kristin here.  I hope you're all off to a great start this week.  Things are moving along on my end, albeit s-l-o-w-l-y.  I've always been such an "instant gratification" junkie that I think that has been one of my biggest problems with trying to lose my weight.  I want to lose ALL 40 pounds, like, YESTERDAY!  I want to hop on the scale after drinking ass-flavored green tea and eating cardboard-flavored rice cakes and organic lentils for days and see results.  Call me crazy.

Anyway.  My scale has a mind of its own, apparently.  It goes up, it goes down, but never the way I think it will.  I can have a Sunday binge of Skittles and root beer, and be down two pounds the next morning.  Then, I eat like a knat for three days and gain a pound.  Go figure.  There's no rhyme or reason to it, so I've given up caring what the scale says, and I'm trying to focus on eating the right stuff, without fail, exercising as much as I possibly can, and trying to NOT cheat every waking moment of the day.

I wanted to share a pic - have any of you found these little treats?  They're SO tasty.  I found these in the organic freezer in Super One, and they're a great energy-booster... and only 150 calories each!  Crazy.  I eat one of these and I'm not hungry for hours.  Every little new discovery like this helps, right?  Good luck chicas!!!