Huh

Well...this is...interesting.

I've been having a lot of fun collecting data daily. No pressure. I'm just documenting these things:

-time in bed at night
-time out of bed morning
-did I walk?
-did I eat Fiber One?
-did I have 10 glasses (80oz) water?
-did I eat my daily salad?

I happen to weigh myself on July 15th, just so I could collect data. The scale read: 225.8

When I woke this morning, I wanted to weigh myself, just to collect data. I honestly did not expect any weight loss.

218.0

WHAT?

That's almost 8 pounds in one month. Seriously?

I'm OK with it. I feel terrific. I've been walking and I started eating breakfast Trim Healthy Mama style and adjusted my salad to be "S" by removing the garbanzo beans and sesame stix. I've added coconut oil to my diet and THM's "Skinny Chocolate". I'm working on our dinner fare.

All I can say is "interesting".

Breakfast System

I think I have a breakfast system (for now).

I'm allowing Fiber One and my omelet as an "E" meal. I don't know if Fiber One is really "on plan", but I don't care. It is on MY PLAN. :)

So this sweet little omelet is really FUN to make!

This is what I'm doing now...

-smidge of coconut oil in the pan
-tiny chunks of fresh broccoli, like 1/4 cup
-bit of jarred garlic
-salt & pepper (I use Montreal Steak seasoning)
-120g egg whites (I really don't need to weigh it, but for now I like having the separate bowl to use as a spatula-rest!)
-1/2 roma tomato (Really liking the bit of tomato (I over-bought on the romas for two weeks)! Could use 1T of salsa when I don't buy romas)
-maybe 2T 1/3 fat cream cheese, I just take a butter knife and scoop out maybe 5 little bits
-few leaves fresh baby spinach

YUMMO! Then I have a side of 30g of Fiber One with some unsweetened coconut milk (which I no longer measure) with a couple raspberries or blueberries!

I can switch up the omelet as needed to keep things interesting...low-fat Laughing Cow cheese, other veggies...if I want to turn it into an "S" meal, I'd toss in avocado and use whole eggs and maybe some slivers of salami.

But I eat "S" for lunch, so doing "E" for breakfast seems like a good idea so I'm not overeating on the fats (any more than I am)! And I really enjoy eating my salad as a satisfying "S" mid-afternoon, so I'll keep it that way for now.

I have to say, I get hungry pretty quick since I'm not eating the whole egg, though. That's OK, I'm still working with this. I think "E" meals are just that way.

When I arise at 6am, I've been eating a half of avocado before my walk. Then at 9am, eating the "E" meal, then around 1ish, eating the "S" salad which totally takes me through to dinner, especially if Skinny Chocolate was consumed for dessert!

Dinners are still up in the air.

Grocery Shopping

Once a week, my family goes grocery shopping. We start at Costco, eat dinner at the food court, shop, drive through the gas station that is between Costco and Fred Meyer and fill up the tank, then we finish shopping at Fred Meyer.

I LOVE this routine! I love having a break from cooking dinner on these nights, too.

So............the Costco food court isn't exactly.........healthy. It's CHEAP, but not particularly healthy.

What to do?

Our Costco is serving a new BBQ brisket sandwich...I asked to see the nutrition info on it (YEEPS!!!!!!) I think it is 73 carbs! It is a "trial item" so I don't know how long it will be around. But I've figured out if I don't eat the bun, I would guess that removes about half the carbs...and it still satisfies.

Instead of eating it "burger style" with my hands holding the bun and the beef oozing everywhere making a mess, I just take the buns off and eat it with a fork! It comes with a little coleslaw for crunch and I'm pretty sure it is full of sugar, because it is deliciously sweet. VERY satisfying!

So for now, that's what I'm doing for grocery nights (instead of pizza)!

(Most of the flowers on my blog are found on my morning walks...isn't this lily amazing!?)

It's Time

(photo taken before my walk this morning-6am sunrise!!!)

The past week, I've been in weight loss crisis.

I've been honest with myself. Nothing is happening because I'm not doing anything. I don't want to float along anymore. I've been comparing my weight loss journey to the personal/spiritual growth I've experienced over the past three years. I did a lot of things right in that process to move my life forward with the Lord. It seems like I'm NOT doing those good things in this process. I find it so interesting that the Lord gave me the steps AHEAD of time. Not so in my other process, it was always "per the moment", I never had revelation ahead of time. Virtually all of this process has been revealed and I've been practicing. Interesting.

I want to change that...NOW.

I'm DONE. It is "do it or quit". I can't just keep being willy-nilly. I'm making a list for myself WHY I want to lose weight. Hoping this will help motivate me as I'm expecting to enter into a 12 month serious effort to lose weight. I know what to do. I need to do it.

So I've been digging in the past few days to try to figure out what to do next.

I went back to the beginning.

The first thing the Lord told me was to WALK. I've done a great job obeying in this! But I'm lacking consistency, so I took a look at that evaluating what needs to happen there.

Since I can't walk if I'm snuggling in my sheets, the reality is...I must get out of bed in the morning. I've been sleeping in lately! I decided I need 30 days to get focused and getting up in the morning is on that list. I've been collecting data (for some reason when I "track" myself, I go nuts, so this is "collecting data" where there's no expectation, just get the numbers). There really IS a correlation between when I go to sleep and when I wake up! Early to bed, early to rise...

I did some searching online and found this little tidbit of info which recommends PRACTICING getting out of bed! During the day, get in bed, set the alarm to go off and GET OUT OF BED without hitting the snooze button. I'm trying to be in the sheets by 10:30pm and get up with NO snooze at 6am. Tomorrow will be Day 3...I am astonished that I haven't used the snooze like I was before!

The next thing, sugar. That is a hot topic. Today I stumbled onto a site that got me really pumped up and helped me identify in my MIND why I need to obey NO SUGAR even more.
Next thing, fiber. Done. I have Fiber One and lots of veggies in my salad everyday.
Next thing, water. Oooooh, water. Yes, I've been trying to drink 10 glasses for like a year! So let's do this thing! YESTERDAY was fantastic! I've finally figured it out! So easy to do this everyday! Done.

Next thing, get up earlier. Doing it!
Next thing, this is where I got a Shake Weight and started counting calories to see where I'm at.
Next thing, GET STRONG. This involves additional exercise beyond my morning walk. This is on the back-burner for right now while I get strong in my other disciplines.
Next thing, eat half of dinner. Eat LESS dinner. This area is causing a crisis. I'm really finding it nearly impossible to eat less dinner. Dinner is always something I like (since I'm the cook). My husband wants me to nix the yummy recipes and cook healthier. I wonder if I could eat half of a healthy meal?! This entire area is being rocked. So this area needs some attention.

Next thing, eat one salad a day. This has been amazing! I've spent the past 18 months having a salad for lunch everyday. Delicious! I'm getting really tired of making it, though...but I still like eating it! Trim Healthy Mama has caused me to take a look at my lunch. This is soooo good! I want my salad to be an "S" meal, so that means low carbs and higher fat. I've adjusted my recipe to include salmon for awhile, such a welcome change! And no beans, no sesame stix. I just can't live without the few dried cranberries, so those get tossed in even though they really aren't on plan. But we're talking a few carbs, which if I have the balsamic dressing, we're still really close.
SO...
to explain, no...to sum up:
-Walk Daily
-Abstain from Refined Sugar
-Drink 10 glasses of water daily
-Get Up Earlier
-Get Strong
-Eat half dinner
-Eat One Salad a Day

That's it. This is what I'm supposed to do. The rest of my time (one year or so) has been trying to get serious to do it all together (and we moved, which has played a part in this timeframe).

Now Trim Healthy Mama has come across my path. It is forcing a crisis that I have to figure out. What am I going to do with this information?

Today was good. I made some decisions and during this 30 days I'm going to make even more. What do I want after the 30 days?
-to have walked a good portion of those days
-to master drinking the water
-to be getting up at 6am
-to deal a death blow to sugar and have a breakthrough
-develop a system for eating less (and healthier) at dinner
-solidify my breakfast and lunches according to THM principles (one fuel only per meal, either fats or carbs, but not both together...this is not really a burden once I figure it out)

I have some goals for my family, one is to eradicate all soda consumption. Regular and diet soda are both death. I'm going to switch it out for Zevia...at least the kids. John will have to let that go on his own when he's ready.

Excited for tomorrow...better head to bed.

I've GOT IT!

Funny this has taken 18 MONTHS, but I've FINALLY figured it out. As a result of digging into what the Lord has told me, I needed to have success in the water category.

He's been telling me ten glasses. Ten. Non-negotiable. How much is ten glasses of water?

If a typical glass is 8 ounces...then ten of those would be 80 ounces. Eighty? That's not too much. I was thinking my 14oz glasses and having ten of those...which would be 140oz (nearly a gallon).

80. Huh.

That seems doable. I can do that if I use water bottles instead of my glasses.

Five 16.9oz water bottles covers the "ten glasses" (84.5oz to be exact).

So HOW?

Yesterday I tried filling a water pitcher, but it didn't all fit. And I don't like it sitting out all day...I want to be able to see how far I am throughout the day so I'm looking for a visual.

This morning, I wrote on my freshly cleaned whiteboard. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 (bottles). And then, instead of crossing off the "1" and going UP, I crossed out the "5" and counted DOWN! The first two bottles are easy...I can do that without thinking. When I filled up for the third time, I crossed off the THREE...and THAT was awesome, because all I had left were the "1" and "2", which for some weird reason, felt LESS than if I had the "4" and "5" (!)

OH, in addition, I always lose my water bottle at home. It gets mixed up with all the other half full bottles, so I put a red rubber band on it. THERE.

Anyways, by 7pm, I had done it! WHOOHOOOO! I'm hydrated! Can't wait to do it again tomorrow! Yipppppeeeeee!

Salad Update

Ah! This new salad is AWESOME! It is SO FILLING and SO EASY!

60g lettuce
20g spinach
85g wild caught Alaskan salmon (often fresh!)
1/2 avocado
30g red pepper
12g red onion
1" slice cucumber
stalk of celery
3 sliced snap pea pods
1 hard boiled egg
10g sunflower seeds
just a few (5g) craisins
Newman's Own Lite Balsamic about 35g

This is really getting fun! I'm trying my hand at not weighing the sunflower seeds, craisins, red onion and red pepper. I've been trying to see how many "finger-fulls" it takes per portion. I've really spent the past 18 months learning about portions. I'm so grateful I've taken so much time crunching calories on my spreadsheets, because it has given me a whole new paradigm for portion sizes.

I haven't done the spreadsheet on this salad, but I don't feel like I really need to...I want to get away from relying on the scale and the calorie sheets, so this is a step toward that. I know it is right in where I need to be...maybe out of curiosity I'll do the sheet, we'll see.

On the salmon...I can buy a fresh filet at the deli, cook it up and get about four servings (from a $10 piece of salmon). I don't miss the sesame stix nor the garbanzo beans, which is SHOCKING. All the fat in the avocado, egg and salmon make this "S", so often I'll have a few small pieces of Skinny Chocolate* after my salad if I feel a sweet craving.

When I don't have a salmon slab, I grab my pre-prepared frozen chicken baggie for a substitute. Right now I'm loving the salmon, though.

I love my "new" salad!

*A note about "Skinny Chocolate"...the ingredients include:
-cocoa
-coconut oil (extra virgin, cold pressed)
-truvia
I CAN eat this! "Avoid obvious sugars" doesn't apply to this, because there's no blood sugar spiking SUGAR! Hooray! Though a bit on the bitter side, it totally satisfies! And a little skringe of peanut butter is heavenly! The last batch I made included chopped peanuts and unsweetened shredded coconut-YUM!

THM Day 1

The next (many) posts are going to be really boring...just me talking about what I'm eating.

It amazes me how far I've really come since I started this blog. I used to C R A V E sugar and carbs. I no longer drink cow's milk, rarely drink soda, don't eat chocolate like EVERY day, very rarely eat bread at all and I eat a ton more vegetables!

I started THM meals today! Just breakfasts this week, but I am quickly seeing how easy it will be to incorporate the plan with my salad. I'm just plain tired of making my salad, so I'm going to switch things up a bit.

This morning:
tiny smear of coconut oil (my new favorite food!)
egg whites
wedge 1/3 fat laughing cow cheese swiss
broccoli
spinach
garlic, salt & pepper

What a delicious breakfast! I think it is a Fuel Pull, when I thought I was going for E. So much to learn. So I added Fiber One to the meal for E.

Lunch I did some fancy footwork with my salad recipe, but I was counting the carbs from the veggies, so it wasn't satisfying at all, very low carb. I was really hungry after eating it and had a bit of Skinny Chocolate. Still hungry, so the 1/2C of 2% cottage cheese and a few raspberries finally took the edge off. I have a long way to go to figure this out!

Tonight I'm making my husband's favorite "lean and green" meal Dijon Chicken Broccoli, which happens to qualify as a Fuel Pull as well, unless in a sweet potato or something for the carb (maybe cheesy cauliflower)! I might just have a big plate of it and call it good. Fred Meyer was OUT of bulk quinoa, I wanted to come home with some.

(This photo almost doesn't look real! These sweeties were on my walk, I've been waiting a long time for them to bloom!)