day 54 ... weigh-in day ...

no late-night eating ... 13 days in a row ... another new world record !!! this is why i think that journaling ones progress is so helpful. i can look back and see how hard i struggled to string together 2 days in row of no late-night eating. i have come a long way in this area.

yesterday was a football-watching day; very inactive and thus, reaching for snacks more often than i would have liked. it's fortunate that there is really almost nothing unhealthy to eat in the house. still got adequate water in me though.

the weigh-in ... scale showed a 1 lb loss for the week, which was rewarding; the scale seems to be finicky with a discrepancy of +/- 2lbs depending on it's mood, so it was nice to see a loss for the week.

night-time eating ... WIN;
water intake ... WIN;
clean eating ... WIN;
weekly weight loss ... WIN.

day 55 ...

funny how the days add up if you just stay with the program, and there's the rub ... the program has to be something you can live with over the long haul. willpower is a key ingredient, but willpower alone will take most of us only so far.

no late-night eating ... 14 days in a row ... another new world record !!!

yesterday was a good day. took my grandson to his off-season training and walked around the track for OVER an hour, only taking a washroom break about 40 minutes in. first real exercise i have had in MONTHS. I thought that a) i would sleep like a baby last night and b) would be stiff as a board this morning. oddly, neither thing happened; go figure.

still waking up with morning headaches as often as not. had some oatmeal, both cooked and uncooked during the day. oatmeal is on my watchlist and has been for some time, particularly uncooked. i have read that oatmeal can be cross-contaminated with traces of wheat during production ... so there's that.

night-time eating ...WIN;
water intake ... WIN;
clean eating ...WIN.

day 56 ...

no late night eating last night ... 15 days in a row ... another new world record !

it can't be co-incidence that the scale is responding nicely to this period of no late night eating. on the down-side, woke up with a pretty good headache this morning and i did eat a fair bit of uncooked oatmeal yesterday. oatmeal now moves from the watchlist to prime suspect status, particularly when uncooked.

haven't had red meat for at least 56 days, probably longer, and i have been craving it lately. i tend to eat WAY too much of it so i will have to buy a pound or so and divide it up into 1/4lb packets which i can then defrost 1 at a time.

yesterday makes 5 - "3 star" days in a row, my longest streak yet and, as already stated, the scale is loving this. there's a saying that goes something like "plan the work and work the plan"; right now that is looking like good advice.

night time eating ... WIN;
water intake ... WIN;
clean eating ... WIN.

day 57 ...

no late-night eating ... 16 days in a row ... another new world record !!!

yesterday went well, weather was good for a change, kept busy, got some walking in, slept well. weather forecast for today looks good too. it's always a big deal to get a sunny day in vancouver anytime during nov. - feb. i now have strung together 6 - "3 star" days in a row. i know there is a challenging day lurking somewhere ahead, but for now things are ticking along nicely.

in the headache department, i ate only COOKED oatmeal, as well as a muffin and in the morning i had only a very slight headache, so uncooked oatmeal remains on the prime suspect list. definitely not giving myself a demerit for the muffin as my calorie intake was low for the day.

night time eating ... WIN;
water intake ... WIN;
clean eating ... WIN.

day 58 ...

no late-night eating ... 17 days in a row ... another new world record !!!

yesterday went well, as i had anticipated. good weather, plenty to keep me busy outside and no stress. a recipe for success. have now strung together 7 "3 star" days in a row; also another new world record !

in the headache department there are 3 things worth noting. woke up with no trace of a headache. the day before i had TWO separate servings of COOKED oatmeal, no dairy whatsoever (not even lactose-free), and i have eaten an apple a day over the last 2 days. apples were once high on the suspect list and it's an interesting co-incidence (?) that having had no dairy whatsoever, i had a headache-free morning. will be buying my usual yogurt and cottage cheese today, so we shall see where this goes.

night-time eating ...WIN;
water intake ... WIN;
clean eating ... WIN.

day 59 ...

no late night eating ... 18 days in a row ... another new world record !

not that i was without temptation; looking at it in print, it might appear that i am having an easy time with this aspect of things ... yes and no ... old habits die hard, and i am tempted every night, but the gap between my after-dinner dessert and bed-time is only about 1 - 2 hours so applying a little willpower in this area goes a long way.

the encouraging news of the day is that i had healthy servings of both yogurt and cottage cheese (all lactose-free), as well as a serving of COOKED oatmeal, and this morning no trace of a headache. this moves UNCOOKED oatmeal into prime suspect/red flag/high alert status. will see how this plays out.

yet another "3 star" day, making 8 in a row !

night-time eating ... WIN;
water intake ... WIN;
clean eating ... WIN.

day 60 ...

no late night eating ... 19 days in a row ... another new world record !!!

while some nights are definitely better than others, the trend seems to be towards falling asleep quicker and sleeping more soundly; hope this continues.

again, i had 2 servings of COOKED oatmeal and my usual intake of lactose-free yogurt and cottage cheese, with not a trace of a headache this morning. i have been fooled before in this area, but will continue to monitor this; looking good right now. if i can keep oatmeal as a regular part of my eating regime that will be a huge plus, as i need the fibre and love the taste. i actually prefer the taste when it's UNCOOKED, but will be happy to stay with cooked if it means the end of the morning headaches.

another "3 star " day, making 9 in a row and, of course, the scale is rewarding me. tomorrow is weekly weigh-in day and it's looking like a happy one right now.

night-time eating ...WIN;
water intake ... WIN;
clean eating ... WIN.

day 61 ...

no late-night eating ... 20 days in a row ... another new world record !!!

today is weekly weigh-in day, and the scale has rewarded me for a REALLY good week of working the plan ...195 lbs. ... down 2 lbs for the week !

the only blemish on the week was yesterday; football watching day. i found myself snacking a lot instead of reaching for water ... old habits die hard. didn't even realize i was doing it until evening. it may be no co-incidence that i woke with a headache this morning. even though i had maybe 3 glasses of water i wonder whether i dropped past a water-intake threshold that pushed me into dehydration territory. i checked through my entire journal and there is a strong enough correlation between low water intake and morning headaches that i will be watching this very closely.

night-time eating ... WIN;
water intake ... FAIL;
clean eating ... WIN;
weekly weigh-in ... WIN ... down 2 lbs.

day 62 ... no late-night eating ... 21 days in a row ... another new world record !!!

slept well but woke with a headache. i did have a small amount of mayonnaise as well as a small amount of regular dairy; could i be THAT sensitive to lactose ? watching carefully. have to give myself a fail in the clean eating category for this sin.

still looking for ways to get more fibre in my diet. when i was eating half a loaf of bread (or more) a day, fibre was not an issue; not at all.

night-time eating ...WIN;
water intake ... WIN;
clean eating ... FAIL.

This is amazing. Personally, i have tried drinking water and quitting wheat but 3 days into it and then quit for a few days and so on.
You doing great.

day 63 ...

no late-night eating ... 22 days in a row ... another new world record !!!

slept well, no morning headache (note : no dairy at all). even had reasonable-sized servings of ground beef the last 2 days. a nice change from chicken and fish, with no unpleasant readings from the scale. in the bad old days i would make a BIG stir-fry with massive amounts of ground beef and onion sauteed in a fair bit of oil. becoming calorie-conscious pretty much rules out that sort of behaviour. was blissfully unaware of how many calories were in a pound of hamburger.

a 3 star day.

night-time eating ... WIN;
water intake ... WIN;
clean eating ... WIN.

day 64 ... 194.5lbs ...

no late night-eating ... 23 days in a row ... another new world record !

i was tempted though ... walked through the kitchen to close a blind and there was a juicy, sweet, cara cara orange on the counter. for just a second i almost instinctively went for it ... old habits sure do die hard.

on the headache front, i was woken early by a fairly bad headache. having gone 2 days without headaches and not having eaten ANY dairy on the 2 days preceeding, dairy is now on my watch list. i buy only lactose-free dairy products and having done a bit of searching i haven't come across anyone stating that this is an issue, but i have to keep an eye on it now. have some cottage cheese (one of my absolute favourite foods) in the fridge so it's going to be hard to leave it alone for a couple of days to test this out. i also had some prunes for the first time in months, so this is on the watchlist as well.

EDIT : had some PARMESAN. aged cheeses contain a substance called "tyramine", known to cause headaches in some people. PRUNES also contain tyramine.

a 3 star day ... 2 in a row !

night-time eating ... WIN;
water intake ... WIN;
clean eating ... WIN.

day 65 ... 193.5 ... lbs. ...

no late-night eating ... 24 days in a row ... another new world record !!!

as i read my own entries it can look like i am having no trouble with the late-night eating. not so; the gap between my after dinner "dessert" and bedtime is so brief that i get by on willpower alone, but i absolutely do not see myself able to do this for the rest of my life. i am hungry and tempted every night. i am 3 - 4 months away from target at my current pace and, unless my evening yearning for food changes, i plan on having a late-late-night snack when i get to maintenance mode. at least it will be a healthy snack, not like in the bad old days when i could gobble down 6 slices of bread with butter and jam and a litre of milk; i am not going back there.

on the headache front ... no dairy or prunes yesterday and no headache this morning. today i will have some of my beloved cottage cheese and avoid the yogurt and prunes and see how things go tomorrow morning. i can live without the yogurt, would reluctantly give up the prunes, but would be sad if i have to give up cottage cheese.

a 3 star day ... 3 in a row !

night-time eating ... WIN;
water intake ... WIN;
clean eating ... WIN.

day 66 ... 193.5 lbs. ...

no late-night eating ... 25 days in a row ... another new world record !!!

NO headache at all this morning. yesterday i ate cottage cheese, as planned, but couldn't resist having some prunes as well, so the issue is either with the yogurt, which is supposed to be much higher in tyramine than cottage cheese, OR it's the cumulative effect of all 3 of these foods. TBD.

a 3 star day ... 4 in a row !

night-time eating ... WIN;
water intake ... WIN;
clean eating ... WIN.

day 67 ...

no late-night eating ... 26 days in a row ... another new world record !!!

only a slight headache this morning. yesterday i ate just 2 prunes, a smallish amount of cottage cheese and a smallish amount of yogurt, so i am thinking that quantity matters here and also that yogurt, being higher in tyramine, should probably be scratched off my food plan, or at least be used very sparingly. TBD.

not going to list my daily morning weigh-in any more; just weekly. i know that the scale is only accurate to within +/- 3 lbs, and i can deal with that in my head, but to see a "gain" on-screen is somewhat unsettling. i am in this for the long-haul, so a weekly weigh-in is going to show the trend better, i think.

a 3 star day ... 5 in a row !

night-time eating ...WIN;
water intake ... WIN;
clean eating ... WIN.