Committed

TODAY’S TRIUMPH:  Fit into a pair of jeans I haven’t worn in months!

Last night I mixed together rolled oats with soy milk to make overnight oats.  I didn’t really flavor it, and I should have.  I ended up adding a tsp of maple syrup and a bunch of cinnamon to flavor the stuff.  And it was better, but not good enough.  So I will try again next week with maybe some pumpkin or dried fruit.

Here is a pic of everything I brought to work…

Here is a pic of some potatoes that I made for part of my dinner tonight….

Today’s food journal:

• Breakfast:  Rolled oats, soy milk, maple syrup & cinnamon
• Lunch:  homemade 3 bean chili with barley, mozzarella cheese and sour cream
• Snacks:  applesauce, red pepper strips, and blueberries
• Dinner:  (snacking again) (1) broccoli pancakes with mustard; (2) salad with olives, avocado, tomatoes and Annie’s dressing; (3) two-thirds of a red-skin potato with italian seasonings.

I had made the salad while the potato was cooking, and by the time I was done eating the salad I was pretty full already.  But against my better judgement I ate some of the potato when it was done (old thinking:  “It won’t taste as good if I reheat it tomorrow, and I can’t just waste it!”).

Now I feel TOO FULL.  Its a feeling I haven’t had in weeks and one I certainly don’t want to feel anytime soon (especially for a friggin potato!).

Today I tried to make a green monster for breakfast.  As you can see from the picture below, the green monster was actually purple. Also, from start to finish it took like 20 minutes, not sure why, so it made me really late to work!

The flavor was good, and it was really filling.  I also notice that my appetite overall was lower than normal through the entire day (awesome!).  But, I’m undecided about how often I’ll drink these because I like eating breakfast far more than drinking breakfast.

Lessons learned:

• Cut back on the blueberries for the full green experience
• Gather ingredients the night before so its all ready to blend in the morning
• To add flax next time, I will grind them up fresh in the blender right before adding all other ingredients.
• Dump the DanActive into the monster to avoid having a separate drink (I drink them because the probiotics strengthen my immunity - good for my allergies and for avoiding swine flu!)
• Watch portion size

Food Diary:

• Breakfast:  coffees, green-purple monster and DanActive
• Lunch:  Cedarlane eggplant parmesan
• Snacks:  blueberries, red pepper strips
• Dinner:  Mozzarella Salad from Trader Joes (planned ahead for school and did not forget this time - really paid off!

PROGRESS UPDATE:  This morning I weighed in at 204.0, which was super exciting!!  I’m down 8.8 pounds since July 5th.  My expectations have been so far exceeded that I can’t even really believe it.  I know I can’t expect weight loss to continue at this rate but I’m happy for as long as it will last.

FitDay Summary below

Grams Calories %-Cals Calories 1,263 Fat 40.5 363 33 % Saturated 16.6 149 13 % Polyunsaturated 1.2 10 1 % Monounsaturated 0.8 7 1 % Carbohydrate 136.0 505 46 % Dietary Fiber 25.9 Protein 36.8 140 13 % Alcohol 14.0 99 9 %

Fat ( 33 %) Carbs ( 46 %) Protein ( 13 %) Alcohol ( 9 %)

Did you know that what causes PMS is the drop in progesterone right before menstruation? Sucks.  I seriously turn psycho every month when I get my period.  I hate it.  I’m really hopeful that I’ll make it through the next 10 days without any major health muck ups.

I can tell when my progesterone drops.  Its a fairly abrupt (overnight) shift in my whole outlook on life, and I start getting actual physical pain in my pelvis. It happened today.  Progesterone, I’ll miss you.  Come back soon.

Progesterone is released in spurts during the day and has many roles in a woman’s body including:

• acting as a natural diuretic to eliminate excess fluid from a woman’s body
• strengthening a woman’s immune system and defenses
• decreasing the symptoms of premenstrual syndrome [PMS]
• making the menstrual cycles regular and menstruation normal and uneventful
• reducing breast tenderness and pain
• producing a calming, anti–anxiety effect
• helping a woman to have a sounder, deeper sleep
• increasing HSL, the body’s “good” cholesterol
• protecting the breasts, uterus from cancer
• reducing a woman’s craving for carbohydrates and sweets

I’m super addicted to reading healthy eating blogs.  I started out by finding one that I liked, and made the gigantic mistake of clicking a few of the links in the blogroll.  Then I clicked on their links, and their links, and so on.  I have like 400 new bookmarks and RSS feeds.  This would not be a problem except for the fact that there’s just not enough time in the day to get to each of them.

Tomorrow I’m going to try the infamous Green Monster smoothie.  I’m thinking spinach, banana, soy milk, and frozen berries.  And the next day I’m going to try overnight oatmeal.

Today’s eating went similar to yesterday.

• Breakfast:  coffees, cereal, soymilk
• Lunch:  Amy’s veggie & tofu bowl, 5 lifesavers
• Snacks:  grapes, tomatoes, crackers with Bean & Tuna dip
• Dinner:  Salad with lettuce, tomatoes, avocado, red pepper and Annie’s naturals dressing and six small shrimp
• After dinner snack:  might have some cherries while I watch a movie

While I was cooking up dinner, I roasted a butternut squash (not pictured, too lazy) for tomorrow and hard-boiled some eggs (pictured) for snacks, breakfasts, salads.

I also tried Tempeh for the first time ever! The result was that I really didn’t care for it.  I’m open to trying again if someone has a recipe that actually gives the stuff some flavor.

Fitday summary (not counting the cherries that I haven’t yet decided to eat) is below…..

Grams Calories %-Cals Calories 1,397 Fat 49.4 438 31 % Saturated 5.9 52 4 % Polyunsaturated 3.1 26 2 % Monounsaturated 13.8 121 9 % Carbohydrate 200.8 771 55 % Dietary Fiber 29.3 Protein 51.2 200 14 % Alcohol 0.0 0 0 %

Fat ( 31 %) Carbs ( 55 %) Protein ( 14 %) Alcohol ( 0 %)

Aw, I love this picture!!

Tonight is the first night in a long time that I’m going to bed REALLY HUNGRY.  BUT, I refuse to eat this late.  Hopefully I’ll fall right asleep.

UPDATE:  7/22/09, 6:41 am pacific time:  I fell asleep no problem.  Ya!!

Today was an OK day.  I was grumpy and I have been lately more than normal.  I think it might be because I’m not turning to food when things get stressful.  I need to start meditating or taking nighttime walks (I already take walks every morning, and its my favorite time of my day!).

I saw a gastroenterologist today.  He wants to pair me with a nutritionist because of my numerous digestive problems.  But, there are a few tests that need to be run so it could take weeks or even months to get that started.  I have to admit, I’ve always wanted to work with a nutritionist.  As we already know, I have a lot of food issues (both physical, like intolerance / sensitivity, and emotional, like confusing twinkies for hugs).

Otherwise I did not have any problems staying on plan.  I’m still a little bit hungry, so I might have some walnuts and a fruit popsicle.  My food diary entries are below.

Breakfast was the usual 2 coffees and cereal w/ soymilk and a DanActive….

For my lunch I brought a frozen Amy’s Garden Lasagna (photo below).

For my snacks I brought grapes, tomatoes, applesauce, blueberries, but I ended up only eating the tomatoes and the blueberries.

I was at a loss for dinner, so I ended up doing a semi-snacking thing which I try to avoid.  I ate a few handfuls of crackers with a bean-tuna dip (pictured and described below), and then had a green salad with tomatoes, olives, and annie’s natural shitake dressing.

The bean-tuna dip was something I found in my Clean Eating cookbook.  It called for a few things I didn’t have so I just made it with 1 can of cannellini bins, 1 can of tuna, a few squirts of lemon, a shake of dried onions, salt, frozen cilantro, and some dried dill.

I should have pureed the beans, and then stirred in the tuna but I ultra-pureed the entire mix so it looked like a pate.  When I first made it, it was room temp and it just looked so unappetizing - I nearly tossed it out right then.  But I refridgerated it and came back with some crackers and it was pretty good!  If you like tuna salad, but don’t want the fat of mayo, this is a great alternative.

Fitday (not including the fruit popsicle I’m about to have):

Grams Calories %-Cals Calories 1,311 Fat 33.6 300 23 % Saturated 7.7 69 5 % Polyunsaturated 0.8 7 1 % Monounsaturated 1.7 15 1 % Carbohydrate 209.1 820 62 % Dietary Fiber 27.6 Protein 51.0 201 15 % Alcohol 0.0 0 0 %

Fat ( 23 %) Carbs ( 62 %) Protein ( 15 %) Alcohol ( 0 %)

For dinner tonight:  It was a tough choice, but I settled on veggies sauted in olive oil, drizzled with balsamic glaze, wrapped in an ezekiel tortilla.  If you are not familiar with ezekiel bread, tortillas, english muffins, etc., please click the link above.

My fitday totals….

Grams Calories %-Cals Calories 1,606 Fat 35.0 311 19 % Saturated 6.3 56 3 % Polyunsaturated 3.3 29 2 % Monounsaturated 11.7 104 6 % Carbohydrate 298.2 1,141 71 % Dietary Fiber 39.5 Protein 44.2 166 10 % Alcohol 0.0 0 0 %		Fat ( 19 %) Carbs ( 71 %) Protein ( 10 %) Alcohol ( 0 %)

Today’s Food Journal So far….

Pre- & Post-Breakfast Coffees:  First espresso with milk (first thing in the morning), second espresso (mid-morning) with a tiny amount of half & half.

Breakfast:  Cereal, soymilk & DanActive (pictured below)

Lunch:  Amy’s Teriyaki Bowl (pictured below)

Snacks:  Grapes, blueberries, and applesauce (pictured below

Dinner:  TO BE DETERMINED…..

I also wanted to share my new favorite snack:  Applesauce sprinkled with cinnamon.  I’ve traded in my string cheese sticks for something healthier. Note, its best when its 100% applesauce with no sugar or anything else added….

And, the last pic I wanted to share is my set of snacks for my trip to the movies yesterday. It worked out really great and I didn’t even miss the junior mints or popcorn!!  Note, I ended up not drinking the soda (in favor of ice water) but I liked having something in case I got thirsty from the popcorn.

100 DAY CHALLENGE UPDATE

Day six is all about “protecting the program”.  In social settings we are all subject to temptation.  Spangle suggests that we come up with ways to politely pass on food offerings from others.  In my journal I quickly and easily came up with a number of situations in which I find myself having a tough time saying no:  at work (its always the most sinful and tempting junkfood, like donuts and pizza), on vacation (I love to learn about new places through the food), at holidays (food is a big part of making the memories), and dinners out with friends (when in Rome, do as the Romans).

Secondly, Spangle says we should avoid discussing the details of the “diet” with others.  I already have mastered this one over the years.  I did the Jenny Craig diet when I was 19, and I remember EVERYONE had an opinion about it.  Then, years later I joined weight watchers and proudly announced it to my friends and family.  When I “fell off the wagon” it was rather humiliating.  So, I’ve decided its better kept a secret until I’m ready to share.

LAST BUT NOT LEAST….

I found 2 new blogs that I love.  Check out my blogroll!

Today’s total calories:  1594

Breakfast:  espressos with milk, DanActive, toast w/ earth balance

Mid-Morning Snack:  organic applesauce (new favorite snack!)

Lunch:  “Lettuce” (new local restaurant) split veggie sandwich & cobb salad with my husband

Snacks:  Mighty Bites cereal + Trader Joe’s popcorn (during harry potter movie)

No Dinner, but had a late snack of 2 Dr. Praeger’s Broccoli Pancakes with mustard & salt

Rather than paste the whole fitday summary, I’ve just pasted the highlights below….

Its been a few days since I last posted.  Here is a briefing of those days and a recap of the week.  I’ll post today’s food journal later tonight.

Last Sunday’s weight:  207.4

This Sunday’s (today’s) weight:  206.6

Weight Lost This Week:  0.8 pounds

Lessons Learned:

• Need to eat more fiber, and less dairy.  (My #2’s have been stuck a lot lately. I know, TMI….)
• Need to stick to under 1600 calories if I want to lose weight each week.  If I stick to 1800-2000, I’ll probably lose weight but at a half pound a week.  That would be fine, but I’m hoping for a quicker pace for now.
• I do better when I’m frequently posting on 3fc about my challenges and progress.

7/17/09: 1885 calories

• Breakfast:  espresso w/ milk, DanActive, toast with earth balance spread
• Lunch:  Starbucks egg salad sandwich
• Snacks:  grapes, celery, tiny slice of homemade pizza (while visiting my neice)
• Dinner:  Rubios Grilled Grande bowl with no cheese (calories estimated)

7/18/2009:  1312 Calories

• Breakfast:  espressos with milk, toast with earth balance
• Lunch:  3 bean veggie chili
• Snack:  string cheese
• Dinner:  Whole Foods sushi rolls

100 Day Challenge:  skipped for 2 days, picked back up today, Day 5.

Today’s challenge was to write down when I think about a food I want, then plan that I will eat it another time.

I expect sometime this week I’ll go to see the new Harry Potter movie.  So, instead of ordering the movie theater popcorn, i’m going to smuggle in 2-3 cups of Trader Joe’s olive oil popcorn, and a bottled water.

If in the future if I want to have movie theater popcorn again, there’s not much harm in ordering a small and sharing it.  However, I’d rather wait until I get past 1 year of maintenance for that.  And, I may eventually decide that homemade is much better after all.