Talking With My Mouth Full

Man, it’s been forever since I’ve posted here.  So long, in fact, that I forgot I even had this blog!  I have a new blog now, but my new blog is definitely the enemy of this blog, as it is a blog about cooking yummy things for which there is no nutrition data posted.  Scary!  But my new blog has offered to make a compromise: My new blog will now feature healthier items, with nutrition info at the ready!  It will still have yummy food though… for that, there is no cure.  I love to eat, but now I’m learning to eat a little less of what I love.

Anyway, here’s a little update on the new me:

1. I have gained more weight.  At my highest (last week) I was up to 225.  Now I’m down to 220, but going strong.
2. I am no longer on Weight Watchers.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great program, but I simply can’t afford to spend money every week for someone to tell me what I can learn on my own: basically, how to count calories.  And figuring out WW Points for everything I want to eat had become a full-time job.
3. My new plan: a no-diet approach.  It’s very similar to WW, actually, except it’s free and it’s easy.  I count calories, trying to stay within 1300-1500 each day, while making sure I spend those calories on nutrient-rich foods.  I work out as often as I can (typically 3-5 days a week) and when I work out, like magic, I get to eat more calories!
4. On a personal note, I have a new boyfriend, I have moved in with him, I am still in school, and I work at the same crummy restaurant job.  Also, I obviously write a cooking blog, which I am quite proud of, I love to cook, I love to knit, read, and play on the Internets.  Same old me, only new and improved (and up a few pounds, but still losing!)

Posted on October 21st, 2010 by blackbetty
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I just want to state, for the record, that I am not hungry right now.

This is important, because it’s not logical.  Ever since I started my weight-loss regimen, my hunger levels have actually dissipated, the exact opposite of what I expected.  Actually, the first week of Weight Watchers, I was FAMISHED all of the time… but I had a pretty severe case of PMS at the time, during which my routine is to eat forty-seven extra large pizzas every day, then wash them down with a gallon of melted ice cream and chocolate syrup.  Life without forty-seven pizzas and a tub of ice cream was pretty rough for me, and I thus became hungry.

Currently, I am one week post-TOM and I’m a little concerned about my lack of appetite.  According to my FitDay stats, I am AVERAGING about 1,000 calories per day.  According to WW, I’m getting about 15-18 points in per day.  This is not healthy, and I know this, but… I just haven’t been hungry.  I plan my meals out, I leave a lot of leeway for snacking (I love snacking, oh boy!), and then my snack desire levels don’t quite match up with my “point cushion”.  So what do I do now?  I’m tempted to kill those extra daily calories with a cheeseburger (which I could easily fit in), but I know that’s no bueno, so for now I’m just going to ride it out, eat when I’m hungry, and see if there are problems later.

On a likely related note, the jeans I bought three weeks ago no longer fit me.  I can take them off without unbuttoning/unzipping, which is convenient when nature calls, but irritating when I have to hold my pants up while walking upstairs on campus.  Am I down a size yet?  Who knows.  I’m washing the jeans in hot water as I write this in an attempt to shrink them just a bit.  With my luck, I’ll end up just making them shorter and then I’ll have nothing else to wear.  This diet business is kind of a drag.

Posted on August 31st, 2009 by blackbetty
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I feel like death.  I can’t tell if I’m actually sick, or just tired.  I went out for a few drinks last night after work, which was okay because I was WAY under on my point totals.  That’s actually been kind of a problem for me in the last few days… I haven’t been eating enough to satisfy my point goals.  I tend to take everything with an “all-or-nothing” attitude, so I really hope I’m not overdoing it by not eating enough and working out too much.

Speaking of working out, that’s part of the reason I feel like death.  I did circuit training at the gym yesterday for the first time, and today, every single muscle in my entire body hurts.  If I stand up, I can feel the progression of muscles that are tightening as I move… from my arms to my back to my stomach and then my legs… and it feels like I am on fire.  I guess that’s a good thing, but I’m really glad I decided to take the weekend off from the gym… I would probably have severely injured myself if I had tried to work out today.

I woke up around 7, as the BF and I were scheduled to volunteer at the Humane Society at 8.  It took every ounce of strength in my body to get up and off the couch that early (remember, my brother is staying with me so I’m sleeping on the couch these days), and I never fully recovered.  A hangover prevented me from eating breakfast, but around noon when our work was over, I was famished and started in on the snacking.  I’ll post my food log for the day so far with no real meal distinctions, as I’ve just been grazing for the most part.

Chic-fil-a chargrilled chicken sandwich: 5

Smart Pop popcorn: 1

Handful (not a full serving) wasabi peas: 1

Lean Cuisine dinner: 4

Total for the day so far: 11

So yeah, I have 19 points left to eat, and it’s already dinner time.  I really don’t have any food left in the house, so I’m trying to decide whether to go to the grocery store, or just hit up Subway.  We shall see.  Right now, I’m happy just taking up space on the couch.

Posted on August 29th, 2009 by blackbetty
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Well, I forgot to get a new weekly track sheet at my last WW meeting.  I planned on picking one up today, but of course I didn’t make it over there, so here I am, stuck without a formal way of journalling my food.  Then I remembered my blog, and I figured I could track here for a while until I get an old fashioned pen-and-paper journal.

So, here’s yesterday and today, so I can do some catch-up!

Breakfast

Pack of Weight Smart oatmeal w/ skim milk: 4

Lunch

4oz Salmon: 5 (added 1 point to account for marinade)

Grilled veggies: 1 (cooking oil?)

Guacamole: 2

Dinner

Lettuce salad w/ fat-free dressing: 1

Crock-pot meal: estimating 8

Snacks

2 Slices ham rolled w/ skim string cheese: 5

Vodka: 2

Total for Tues Aug 6: 28

Breakfast

Leftover Moe’s: 5

Lunch

Babybel cheese: 1

Hummus: 2

Dinner

Kashi frozen dinner: 6

Frozen veggies in sauce: 1

Total for Wed, Aug 27: 15

Whoa, seriously?  I feel really full today, and not really in the mood to eat 15 more points.  Is it really all that bad if I miss out on a few?  I forgot to add in my activity points too… 3 for yesterday and probably another 3 today (I’m headed to the gym after I finish writing this).  I felt like I had done really badly this week, but I guess it’s not as horrible as I thought.  That is assuming, of course, that I have remembered everything I’ve eaten!  For the sake of brevity, I left out a few 0-point items I ate, like veggies and pickles and some new cardboard-tasting crackers I bought that are 35 calories a serving.  I guess I can pad my final estimate with a few points to account for the fact that I may have been miscalculating point values.  I feel so full and so fat, but I guess I’m on the right track!  Let’s hear it for weight loss!

Also, I’m starting the Couch 2 5K program tonight, so I’ll let you know how that goes.  The gym is quickly becoming addictive… who’d have thought I would be someone who actually enjoys working out???

Posted on August 27th, 2009 by blackbetty
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So I went into Weight Watchers today for my first weigh-in.  I was so nervous, I had butterflies in my stomach.  I didn’t feel any thinner than I did last week, and though my jeans are loose, I blame it on the extreme stretchiness of Old Navy jeans.  I knew I would be so disappointed if I were to weigh in at the same weight, or worse, MORE, than when I started.  And I really do think I would have given up.

I stepped on the scale, prepared for the worst, and after a long pause, the cashier said in a very low voice, “Well, you stayed the same this week”.

My heart dropped into my stomach.  I started telling her every detail about my week, how I worked so hard and tried my best and stuck to my plan and how I just couldn’t believe I hadn’t lost weight.  My mind immediately went to my horrible sushi fiasco and all the vodkas I may have forgotten to count.  While I was reeling from the let-down, she interrupted me.

“Oh, now, let me see here… what’s this?  Oh, I’m sorry.  This computer system has changed.  You lost five point six.”

Five point six!  She could have told me I lost a million pounds and Brad Pitt had called looking for my number and I wouldn’t have been happier.  Okay, maybe a little.  But still, I had mentally prepared myself for a two to three pound loss, and five pounds was just wonderful to hear!  The rest of the meeting, I was on top of the world.  I kept thinking, “I can do this!  I can stick with this and even if I don’t lose as much next week, I know how to do this right and I know how to lose weight and it’s NOT as hard as I thought it would be!”

After the meeting, my BF and I went to the gym.  We joined today, on a whim, then went to Wally World to buy new workout outfits.  He did weights and I did the treadmill, as usual.  I actually surprised myself at my level of endurance, especially since I haven’t properly exercised in months.  I alternated between walking, power-walking, and jogging for thirty minutes, plus a five-minute cool-down.  I want to aim for 45 minutes, and I might even have been able to make it today, but I don’t want to push it.  Slow and steady wins the race, right?  I plan to go back tomorrow and pretty much as often as I can.  It feels so good to know I’m doing something good for myself!  This was a good day.

Posted on August 25th, 2009 by blackbetty
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Today I picked my baby brother up from the airport.  Okay, maybe not my “baby” brother… he’s 23.  But he’s still younger than me.  He’s a marine, and has been stationed in Japan for the last two years, and I haven’t seen him since.  I was SO excited to finally see him again today!  He’s staying with my roommate and I for a month while he’s on leave, so I’m sure news of him will pop up from time to time in my blog.

I’ve done really well on the eating plan so far today.  I had to wake up at 5:30 to be at the airport in time today, so around 6 I had some “weight smart” oatmeal for breakfast.  I was a little disappointed at how small the package was when I first mixed it up, but by the time I was halfway done eating, I was already full!  I finished the oatmeal anyway, knowing it would be a while before my next meal.  Didn’t eat again until 2:30, with only minor hunger pangs, and I have a clear vision of what dinner will be like, with some wiggle room for drinks later tonight.

Last night I made this Honey Lime Chicken, which was AMAZING… BF and roommate both devoured their share, and I only have two drummies left for dinner tonight (for the recipe posted, I made a full batch of the sauce, but only used a dozen drummies instead of 24).  I also made some plain mashed sweet potatoes, which no one liked but me, and some dry-roasted sweet corn.  Very healthy, and very yummy!  Tomorrow night for dinner I’ll make this BBQ Chicken and Cornbread Casserole, from $5 Dinners.  Not sure of the points value, but I think I’ll be okay if I save most of the cornbread for everyone else.  I’ve had my eye on that recipe for WEEKS, and I’m excited that now that my bro is here, I’ll have a reason to make it!

Tomorrow will be my second ever weigh-in, which means it’s the first time I will see if, and how much, I’ve lost!  I’m excited and nervous… I really want to have a big fat whopping first week loss, but I don’t really feel that much thinner.  I’ve stayed on plan for the most part, except for that horrendous sushi catastrophe, so maybe I’ll be lucky.

Until tomorrow, then!

Posted on August 24th, 2009 by blackbetty
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I’m one of those people who, even if I make a list, ends up blowing all of my money at the grocery store.  I don’t know how I do it!  I compare prices, I usually only buy sale items, and yet I just spent around $70 on groceries JUST FOR ME!  Well, I do like to cook, and I tend to make a family-sized dish and munch on it for several days at a time.  I absolutely love leftovers.  So I got some stuff to make a couple big meals (which will probably be eaten immediately, as my ginormous eats-like-a-horse brother is coming to stay with me for a few weeks), and a lot of snacky foods.  I mean a LOT of snacky foods.

I was having a lot of trouble with hunger today, and yesterday, too.  I’ve just been absolutely famished, and I have an idea my vitamins are to blame.  They’re probably working on cranking that metabolism, which in turn is wondering why I don’t feed it every five minutes.  I had a really bad start to the day today… I’ll spare you a public food log, as it’s pretty much the same as I’ve eaten for the past five days, only I ate it all before 2pm.  I ate badly today because I don’t have enough good snacks in the house, so I decided to stock up on some finger-foods that are all below 2 points.  Some of the more interesting things I got, that I don’t usually eat:

• Sugar-Free Jello.  I usually hate Jello… the texture just puts me off.  Reminds me of cold chicken fat.  But for some reason, it looked good, and it’s a 0-point snack, so I got a six-pack.
• Pickles.  Another 0-pointer.  Quite filling, too.
• Some sort of fiber cracker that only has 35 calories per cracker (they’re huge, you only need one or two).  They look like they taste like cardboard, but I figure I can top them with hummus or fat-free cheese.
• Oatmeal.  Okay, not really a snack, but I absolutely never eat oatmeal and I figured I’d try it for breakfast sometime.  Very filling, and very good for you.
• ROOT BEER FLOATS!  I know, this can’t be true, right?  It is.  I got a 12-pack of diet root beer in cans, and a “party pack” of vanilla ice cream cups.  The ice cream is real, full fat deliciousness, but served in teeny weeny little kid’s cups, at only 100 calories per serving.  PERFECT for dumping into a glass of diet root beer for a quick 2-point dessert or snack.

I also got some more veggies, some salad stuff, some chicken that was on sale (because I noticed today that my diet contains almost zero meat), and some soup.  And, ya know, some other stuff.  For seventy bucks.  I better start losing weight in the belly, because my wallet sure is getting skinny.

Posted on August 23rd, 2009 by blackbetty
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I barely made it today.  In fact, I almost did not post my food blog today simply because I didn’t want to count up my points.  I was absolutely sure of the fact that I had gone over today, because I feel as if I’ve been bingeing all day.  I must have PMS, because I have been HUNGRY today… I mean, simply famished!  After I’ve eaten a meal, I’ll have a brief feeling of fullness, only to feel hungry again a few minutes later.  Perhaps it’s because I took my vitamins today?  I’ve heard that some vitamins can make you feel hungry.

Anyway, I finally resolved that if I was going to see this diet through, I had to document the bad as well as the good.  I have to figure out when I overeat and why, and only that will help me find out how not to do it.  So I sat down, pen and tracker sheet in hand, determined to remember every bite of everything I ate today.  And I came up four points short of my daily limit.  I hope you’re as happy to know as I am, that as I write this entry, I’m happily munching on a big bowl of salad topped with sweet and spicy tuna.  It feels good.

Breakfast:

Omelette made with Egg Beaters, mushrooms, and fat-free cheese: 2

Small glass of skim milk: 2

Lunch:

Lettuce salad with low-fat dressing: 1

1/3 cup wasabi peas: 2

Babybel Light cheese: 1

Progresso Light soup: 1

Lunch #2:

Homemade turkey chili: 6

Corn muffin: 4

Dinner:

5 oz sliced white meat turkey: 5 (I used Set Points to calculate this one)

Light cole slaw: 1

Collard greens: 0 (well, probably 1, but I will give myself some leeway)

Second Dinner:

Lettuce salad with low-fat dressing and tuna (no mayo): 4

Total Points: 30

So, do you like how many “second meals” I got to eat today?  Me too.  I’m going to try not to do that again.  I should teach myself to snack more instead of eating high-calorie meals.  I ate the last of the chili and cornbread today, so that’s a high-point item I can replace with something a little healthier.  I still have a freezerful of Lean Cuisines, and way too many breakfast foods in the house, so that will help me stretch before I have to go grocery shopping again.

I have to make a road trip tomorrow to pick up my brother from the airport.  It’s a 3-hour drive into Nashville, and I have a long-standing habit of indulging myself with fast food combo meals when I drive for long periods of time.  Thankfully, I now have a lovely cooler than I can pack with healthy driving-food options so I’m not tempted to grab a double cheeseburger and fries.  Wish me luck!

Posted on August 22nd, 2009 by blackbetty
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Oh man.  I was so bad last night.  So bad, I don’t even want to add up the points.

I picked the BF up from work, and he wanted to go for drinks.  Okay.  So we went to a bar, and I had about 6 points left to use for the day, so I figured I could have three drinks before I had to start using my FlexPoints.  Well, three drinks turned into four, and four drinks plus diet equals drunk, and drunk plus downtown equals midnight sushi.  I don’t want to talk about how many pieces of sushi I had, but I can definitely tell you that my diet was the furthest thing from my mind at the time.  The only good thing I have to say about it is that I only had water to drink, and I only had one piece of fried anything.  And it was a vegetable.

So this morning I just checked off Flex Points until my hand hurt and vowed to start fresh today.  That’s what you’re supposed to do, right?  I’ve only been to one WW meeting so far, and I think it was the right one to go to… the first thing the leader talked about was how, when she was trying to lose 75 pounds, she scarfed down 7 chocolate chip cookies in one sitting.  I don’t know if 7 chocolate chip cookies are worse than an unspecified yet depressingly large amount of sushi, but it’s a similar story of regret and disappointment.  In the end, though, she lost that 75 pounds, and has been maintaining for several years.  If she can do it, so can I.  I don’t even really like cookies that much.

Posted on August 22nd, 2009 by blackbetty
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Today was a good day.  Not too hungry, not too full.  I’m looking forward to a time when my body expects less food, and especially less fat, so that I’m not constantly thinking of how to time out my next meal.  It’s only been three days, but it feels like forever!  I do crave fried and fatty foods, but that’s not to say I’m not enjoying the healthy options I’ve been choosing.  I could eat hummus at every meal and by thoroughly happy!  And I gotta say, it feels really good when, after a healthy meal, I know that I did the right thing.  My body will thank me for it.

Breakfast:

2 Eggo Whole-grain blueberry waffles with triple berry cream cheese: 5

Coffee with fat-free creamer: 1

Lunch:

Homemade turkey chili: 6

Lettuce salad with low-fat dressing: 1

Snack:

Babybel Light cheese: 1

Wasabi Peas: 2

Coffee with sugar-free syrup and non-fat milk (didn’t calculate, but will assume 1 point)

Dinner:

Pita with 1/2 serving hummus: 2

Progresso Light soup with added vegetables: 1

Total for the day: 24

I know, I have six points left, but I may decide to use those on a couple of drinks after my BF gets off work.  For whatever reason, I feel a sense of accomplishment if I don’t use all my points, but then I remember someone at a meeting telling me that if I don’t eat all my points, my body won’t respond well to the weight loss.  At least I know that by the time I start losing weight and have to shave off some of my daily allowance, it won’t be that hard for me to give up the calories!

Tomorrow I start taking a multivitamin, as recommended by WW.  I don’t usually take them because I’m so bad about forgetting to take daily medication.  That’s why I don’t use birth control!  I’m also supposed to be taking Synthroid every day for hypothyroidism, but I forget literally every single day until it’s too late to take it.  Maybe sticking with a vitamin regimen will help me remember my prescription.  Anyway, I’m taking One-a-Day for extra energy, which my vitamin-crazy BF looked over and said would be good for me.  I don’t know what sort of results to expect, but I’m sure it can’t hurt!

Posted on August 21st, 2009 by blackbetty
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