The Pook’s Adventures in Weight Loss

I’m not the biggest fan of eggs. Sometimes, I really really want them. Most times I don’t. I am a huge lover of cereal, from the “better for you” kind like steel cut oats, to the “danger will robinson!” kind like frosted flakes. I’m trying to make better food choices for breakfast, like an omelet over a bowl of sugary cereal because when I eat cereal, with the exception of steel cut oats, I get hungry soon after and my blood sugar starts doing acrobatics. Yesterday for breakfast I had two scrambled eggs with some chopped up green pepper, scallions and home made salsa. They were good! Today I was in the doldrums about breakfast, should I have eggs again? What are my other options? Honey nut cheerios and some kashi cinnamon cereal. I chose eggs.

I had bought some fresh kale yesterday and had some baby spinach left over from my salad. I sauteed a very large handful of chopped kale in 1 tablespoon of olive oil with a handful of baby spinach. I beat 1 free range egg with 1 egg white and when the veggies were soft I poured the eggs over them. I guess it was like a fritatta. I then grated a small amount of havarti cheese when the eggs were set and voila, breakfast was made.

It tasted good! I’m happy that I had involved veggies in my breakfast and know that these combined with the eggs will keep me fuller during the morning. I still have some spinach left over and am going to put that in the curried lentil soup thing that I am making for lunch. The kale will then be used up in my chicken stir fry for dinner.

Exercise today is going to be walking the dog, I also have to clean house. Boo. I started at the new gym yesterday and did great. I’m also started dehydrating some cranberries yesterday using Mary Bell’s recipe. They are taking longer than the 16 hours noted in the recipe to dry out, still I’m keeping my fingers crossed that they will dry out eventually. I love dried cranberries. I don’t love the store bought kind that has had sugar added. I sweetened mine with 1 tablespoon of agave amber nectar. I reckon these will be fantastic in home made granola.

As for my weight, well, at the “fitness assessment” at the new gym on Thursday I was 209.9. Oh let’s just say 210 shall we and round it up. Shit.

Was supposed to be 100% chance of rain today. I took the dog out for our morning walk and there was a light misty rain (we call it drizzle) but nothing drastic. It was a shorter walk than yesterday, about 2 miles. I’m currently sat eating homemade chicken and broccoli soup then it’s off in the shower and into town where I will check out the local gym and hopefully, if it looks ok, join it. I didn’t make it in yesterday, after the walk and lunch I caught up on a bit of TiVO then was so tired actually took a nap.

Breakfast today was 1 cup cooked steel cut oats with fresh blueberries, lunch is the soup, dinner will be baked wild alaskan salmon with pecan meal crust and whatever decent veg I can get, hoping for some kale. Exercise was the walk with the dog.

After getting laid off last week, I spent most of it coming to terms with this fact. I no longer have a job. I was a bit bewildered at first and didn’t have a clue what to do with myself but thankfully those feelings have passed. We’re going down to 1 salary income until I a) find another job or b) get into school. I’ve been thinking about going to school for a degree for a while now and this might be a good opportunity to do it. I’m going to still look for a job but until a or b happens, I’ll be having a lot of free time on my hands.

In order to save money and be realistic, I have cancelled my gym membership. I had to drive an hour to get there anyway and it doesn’t seem sensible to continue to do that and spend more gas than I have to. There is a smaller, less lux gym in town which I am going to join. It’s also $20 a month cheaper than my old gym and is only a 15 minute drive away. Sure, the equipment is old but they do have treadmills and ellipticals. I’m going there this morning to join up and scope it out.

In other news, I’m still seeing a councillor and taking the meds and they seem to be working ok. I still have days where I am very bleak but thankfully they are getting fewer. I still have hope that this treatment will work.

I am getting to spend more time with my dog now I am jobless. We go for walks on a morning and I’m planning to up that to twice a day, morning and afternoon. He loves to walk and it’s good exercise for us both.

Foodwise, I now have plenty more time to plan and make meals so hopefully will be able to focus a little more on getting my diet good and clean. I did make a terrific peach crumble at the weekend but those treats can be every now and again.

Also, I’ll have time to blog. My goals for the year have kinda gone out of the window from the original ones, I’m going to have to revisit and revise them. I am not going to be 20lbs lighter at Christmas I know that much, all I can do is my best and come Christmas if I have worked out regular and eaten right then I have nothing to be ashamed about no matter how much I weigh.

Today’s food is:-

Breakfast - 1 cup cooked steel cut oats, raisins, 2oz fresh blueberries, 1oz walnuts, 2 cups coffee, 4 tablespoons half and half.

Snack - Sliced apple, 2 tbls sun butter.

Lunch - Green Salad, shrimp

Snack - 4oz yoghurt, fresh watermelon

Dinner - chicken stir fry

Water - 2 liters+

Exercise - walk dog

I got laid off yesterday. Watch this space.

The dreaded yeast infection is gone! Defeated by the power of Diflucan apparently, it was gone by Sunday which I can say I was very very pleased about.

I went to the gym this morning and did an interval session on the treadmill for the first time in ages. It went well even though I was seriously dying at the end of it, lots of wheezing and a beetroot red face. It took me 30 minutes, I did the walking parts at 4mph and the running parts at 5mph with the exception of the last 5 minutes of running where I had a mental loss and did that at 4.6mph.

Food for today is:-

Breakfast - 1 cup cooked steel cut oats, cinnamon, 1/2 cup frozen blueberries, 1 mug coffee no creamer.

AM Snack - 1 medium apple

Lunch - Salad bar at Jason’s Deli, own dressing of lemon scented fish oil, balsamic vinegar, thyme, sage, dijon mustard EDIT: The salad bar at our Jason’s Deli is awesome! I had baby spinach, mixed greens, baby carrots, cauliflower, red onion, red pepper, kalamati olives, cherry tomatoes, feta cheese and sunflower seeds. I couldn’t use my own dressing as it had leaked out of the tupperware container and all over my book bag so I used their balsamic dressing which I suspect had more than balsamic vinegar in it’s makeup but was delicious nonetheless. My drink was also water, no soda and I resisted the free ice cream. It’s been a good food choice day so far and I learned a little bit about putting together a great tasting salad.

PM Snack - 1 medium apple

Dinner - Shrimp Stir Fry

Water - 2 liters+

…another yeast infection.

For some reason I have “Another Suitcase in Another Hall” from Evita playing in my head when I think of this. Maybe it’s time I just say “hell to it!” and contact Andrew Lloyd Webber about co-writing a musical with me about my prone-ness to yeast infections. Perhaps Elaine Paige would consider coming out of retirement and to play the part of me in this musical. We could make a fortune on Broadway!

“So what happens now (Another itch, another burn); So what happen now (up all night, scratching myself); Where am I going to (to the doctor, for some cream); Where am I going to (to the doctor for some Diflucan)”

I’m tellin’ ya, this could be BIG.

One week good, three weeks bad. This is a pattern I need to break. Here is food for today:-

Breakfast - Egg cup made with 1 large egg, 1/4 cup cooked kale, 1 tbls cooked green pepper, sprinkling 2% shredded cheddar, 1/4 tbls olive oil, 1 medium apple, 2 cups coffee with creamer.

AM Snack - 1 medium banana

Lunch - 2 cups baby spinach, 1 cup shredded red cabbage, balsamic vinegar and lemon scented fish oil dressing, 1 cup cooked roast chicken, 8 cherry tomatoes from the garden

PM Snack - 1 medium apple

Dinner - Baked wild alaskan salmon with pecan meal topping, sauteed kale in olive oil with lots of garlic, sauteed spinach because I need to use it up.

Water - 2 liters+

Exercise - gym, walked 2 miles on treadmill at 3.8 mph with 2 hills. Pretty good although I need to get some new training shoes, I’m getting blisters where I shouldn’t be getting them.

I feel like crap today. I spent most of Labor Day in bed with what I think was a migraine. The headache came complete with bad bad nausea, I got up around 3pm and spent the day sort of snacking on foods that really aren’t good for me but I didn’t want anything else. I did eat some broccoli tho. After I got up I felt achy and my chest was hurting, this has continued into today. I feel like crapola. Body aches, chest aches, I am tired and I want to sleep. Going to see the Doctor tomorrow. No gym either. Here is what I am (mostly) eating today.

Breakfast - Banana and Spinach smoothie with ginger, coffee.

AM snack - 1 cup fat free greek yoghurt, 4oz blueberries, drizzle honey

Lunch - didn’t fix anything yesterday due to feeling like shit, went to Thai restaurant with hubs, had beef panang curry and fried rice. Was very good.

PM snack - apple, walnuts

Dinner - ribeye on the grill with sauteed kale, sweet potato if it’s still good.

Yep, I carpooled today with hubs because I didn’t feel like driving with this light headedness going on. It’s shaping up to being a really great week!!!

I am so glad it’s Friday. My arm is looking much better, most of the redness and swelling is gone and I don’t think it’s infected - the steroid cream did it’s job. I went to the gym yesterday and did a 2.5 mile walk just fine.

Food this week had not been great, had a few slips but put those down to being stressed with work and my arm. I’m not going to let this affect my overall plan however and here are my goals for the coming week:-

Stick to food plan 80% compliancy

Eat vegetables for lunch and dinner

Go to gym Tue - Fri (gym is closed Monday due to Labor Day).

Walk faster Wednesday and Friday - last week I walked at 3.8mph, this week I will up it to 3.9mph.

I won’t let stress affect my food choices. I will make good food choices all week.

I think those are decent goals for now. This weekend is Labor Day so I probably won’t update until Tuesday. Happy Holiday everyone.

I am in a vile mood this morning. Vile.

I went to the doctor last night to get this insect bite looked at. Doctor didn’t know what it was (!), at first he thought I might have some nasty staph infection which would require antibiotics. I didn’t want to take that path because of my fondness of raging yeast infections which usually follow antibiotic treatment. Doctor argued he could put me on a simultaneous course of Diflucan to fight against the yeast infection. I told him that I’ve had a number of bites similar to this and they cleared up. Doctor then thought it might be an allergic reaction to the bite. After a second opinion from another Doctor, they decided to put me on some strong steroid cream and that I should keep an eye on the bite, if it gets worse, i.e. swells up more, gets hotter, starts hurting, I start running a fever etc. I should call them back. Last night I put some cream on but the arm was very painful in the elbow, wrist and shoulder and kept me awake through the night. This morning I thought hell to it and called the Doctor and left a message that I would like to be put on the antibiotics. I’m worried about having a staph infection. I left my cell phone number for the nurse to call me back, of course, my fucking iPhone is dead. I also left my works phone number in the message so hopefully the nurse will call me on that line instead.

Because of the stress and my inability to deal very well with it, I chose to comfort eat this morning and had Starbucks for breakfast. No, not a good choice at all.

I missed the gym this morning because I had hours to make up this pay period, I got into work an hour early and plan on working through my lunch.

Speaking of lunch, I was planning on bringing my own salad dressing and buying a salad from the bar at Jason’s Deli. The salad dressing leaked all over my bag on the way to work. So I don’t know what I’m having for lunch.

Dinner last night was frozen lasagne because I felt so pissed off I couldn’t be arsed cooking.

Ok here comes some serious whining, you’ve been warned. Last week was great, it seems that as soon as things are going right something happens to throw a spanner in the works. This stupid mosquito bite has thrown me all off plan.

I’m going to try work through it. I’ll likely still go to Jason’s Deli for lunch but get something else that isn’t awful for you. I’m also planning something nice for dinner that involves cooking. I’m not going to dwell on this insect bite.

God.