woah…

I spent the weekend in Seattle, which was awesome. Part of the rules I set at the beginning of this challenge was something to the effect of “I don’t have to be responsible while I’m in Seattle” and now I am paying that price. 5 pounds heavier than when I left. oy.

So this is the Week of 4 Lists, as outlined in that episode of Good Eats. In a nutshell Alton made 4 lists, Stuff he ate daily: fruits, whole grains, leafy greens, carrots, nuts, green tea. Stuff he ate 3 times a week: Oily Fish, yogurt, broccoli, sweet potatoes, avocado. Stuff he only ate once a week: red meat, pasta, dessert, alcohol. And stuff he never ate: fast food, soda, “diet” anything, processed meals, canned soup.

Since I’m still getting my meal plan down for the week today is an “everyday” kind of day.

• Fruits: my breakfast shake has 4 oz of blueberries and 4 oz of stawberries and blackberries. I’ve also got blueberries in…
• Whole Grains: 1/4 cup of museli (18 grams), and a slice of 9 grain bread (12 grams) in a sandwich (sandwich!)
• Leafy greens: kale chips after work
• carrots: carrot sticks with aforementioned sandwich
• nuts: 1 oz mixed nuts
• green tea: I take green tea extract capsules, but also put a bag of Jasmine Silver Tips in my lunch bag. Generally speaking, I think green tea tastes like lawn
• bonus: yogurt: the museli is mixed with yogurt

I like this way of making a meal plan. It’s like a logic puzzle. I have to make sure all the pieces fit in and the lid closes.

 

Slacker Pants?

This was so much easier when I had an iPod. Quick, take a photo and post it. I’ve got a new one ordered, but it won’t be here till October. While I’ve been slacking on the blog, I haven’t been slacking on behaving myself.

I’m in this weird in between phase where I’m trying to transition from one way of eating to another, and I think that is causing internal confusion.

I’m absolutely loving having a smoothie for breakfast instead of just a protein shake. It’s still the protein shake, but just with fruit added. I’ve noticed kiwi gives the smoothie a bit of a sting, and that I love the combo of strawberry and marionberry. I wish I had bought more berries when it was berry season. I really don’t like dipping into the marionberry reserve, but really that’s what it’s for. i also wish I had a bigger freezer.

So wednesday I had:
breakfast smoothie
standard eggs
leftover fish taco salad
nuts
popcorn! – turns out it’s a whole grain and packed with fiber. I use an air popper so it’s practically perfect.
awesome lentil soup with tempeh
jello and cottage cheese

Thursday I had:
breakfast smoothie
standard eggs
leftover awesome lentil soup with tempeh
nuts
greek yogurt with kiwi
chicken fajitas
jello and cottage cheese

I’ve decided on my plan for next week. I’m going to use Alton Browns Four Lists (as presented in that youtube video I linked to the other day) and the recipes from the Drop 10 book and have “The Week of Four Lists” – It’s kind of like a soduku puzzle, but with food. I’ll explain more later

Promising…

I don’t know if it’s the fact that I’ve slowed down at the gym, or that I added a bit more fruit to my diet, but I”m down nearly two pounds since Monday. I”m still reading the Drop 10 diet book and I’m really excited to try it. I think I’m the first person in history to say “I’m really excited to try a new diet.” I think it’s because the plan is full of foods that I haven’t been able to have over the last year: apples, popcorn, pomegranates, kiwi, oatmeal (I love oatmeal)

Yesterday I had:

• Breakfast shake with fruit (awesome!)
  standard eggs
• lefover soup
• greek yogurt with kiwi
• kale chips (made them wrong, pretty disappointing)
• fish taco salad
• jello and cottage cheese.

Let’s see if I can keep this promising trend going, today is not a gym day so we’ll see 🙂

 

Slow down there, shotgun.

My gym is closed for two whole weeks which makes me sad. One of the main things I love about my gym is it’s so close to my house. I could throw a rock and hit it, if I could aim and throw a bit harder. So I have to go to one in East Portland on the way home from work. The fact that I’m even still going is pretty commendable because I hate new places and situations.

Yesterday I went and they only have 4 elliptical machines. The one I was using yesterday was different than any of the ones at my gym. I think it was older. When you grabbed the heart rate sensors, they actually worked and the display showed if you were burning fat or doing cardio.

In my mind, faster has always been better. The higher my heart rate while working out the better. The higher the heart rate the more calories you burn. It’s a race and I’m going to be the one to win that race. Yesterday I figured out that fat is burned if you run slower. So that’s what I’m going to try to do for the duration of the time I have to go to that gym: slow the fuck down.

Yesterday’s weird-o work schedule made me miss second breakfast. I went straight from my morning shake at 5am to lunch at 11 which was broccoli slaw with chicken and salad. Then at 4, post gym, I had some greek yogurt with kiwi (yum!) and  handful of nuts. Dinner was this soup which was the bomb!

I’ve been re watching the Good Eats episode Live and Let Diet where Alton explanins how he lost 50 pounds eating from four lists. One of the things he covered is breakfast and how he likes a fruit smoothie for breakfast. I decided to follow his lead and turn my breakfast shake today into a smoothie. I added 5 ounces of frozen strawberries and 3 ounces of frozen marionberries toa cup of Almond milk and a scoop of protein powder.

This? Was the bomb!

A diet, defined.

From the Greek Diaita – meaning way of life.

I don’t really consider myself to be “On a diet” rather I think of it as “this is what I eat.” Over the last year it’s been a steady diaita of protein, slow digesting carbohydrates, and vegetables. I’ve ignored two food groups almost entirely: fruits (thinking that sugar is sugar and it doesn’t matter how I put it in my face, I can’t handle it either way) and grains (yes, bread it bad – but all grains can’t be bad, right?)

I will say that I enjoy 90% of what I put in my face, and I’m fine with what I can have and can’t have. The more I read of that drop 10 book, the more I want to try it. I’ve been on this steady Slow Carb diet for a year. I wonder if it’s time to shake things up a bit and give another meal plan a try. It can’t hurt, right? If I fail then I go right back to the slow carb, right? So, I’m thinking October will be Drop 10 challenge month.

In the mean time, today I had:

• breakfast shake
• standard eggs (minus the hot sauce because we’re out at home)
• some nuts
• and apple with almond butter (delicious!)
• and for dinner, a chicken stir fry

I’ve decided to not do Jello free week this week, because Jello is delicious. Instead, I’m going to go for a fiber bomb week and try to eat 30 grams of fiber a day. I’m also dropping the “Splenda only every other day” aspect because I think the lack of splenda made my ahem, digestive output, less.

 

Fish Fingers and Mustard

Friday was pretty awesome. I had

• breakfast shake
• standard eggs
• salad with chicken and ginger dressing
• an egg and some nuts

I also went to the Physical Therapist and got bent around.

We’ve decided we need to add more fish to our diets, but didn’t know where to begin. So, when I was at Costco the other day I picked up some Sole. Not knowing what to do with it, I made fish fingers and mustard (’cause I’m NOT going to eat fish fingers and custard. I don’t care if The Doctor did. He has an intergalactic digestive system and I don’t)

There was dill in the mustard, it was pretty good.

After that, I had what I had been looking forward to all week. My big ass bowl of ice cream:

Spumoni to be precise. And it was delicious! Then, after that another treat:

Vodka and soda with lemon. Where I realized I can’t drink as much as I used to. I guess I’m a cheaper date now.

And now I’m back on the wagon. Today I had

• breakfast shake
• some chicken and a hard boiled egg
• some nuts

I’m going to make burgers and a salad for dinner. No buns for me, and lots of mustard. Then some Jello – gotta eat it all before Jello free week starts on Monday.

I got a book from the library called the “Drop Ten Diet” and it looks pretty good. I’m wondering if I should shake things up a bit from the slow carb diet I’ve been on for over a year. Maybe this drop 10 will be a challenge for me for October. We’ll see

 

 

Words that begin with D…

like disappointed, dismayed, disbelief, disheartened, depressed…  well, maybe it’s not that bad.

It’s harder to post without my iPod. I need to be at a computer and my computer at work isn’t right (if we’re counting, this is 3 electronic devices that have crapped on me in one week – although J did manage to fix my car stereo). So, Wednesday I had

• breakfast shake
• standard eggs
• leftover chicken thai pepper stuff with cauliflower rice
• and egg and some nuts
• chili:

I also went to the gym yesterday where I ran over 5000 steps!

I got up this morning, hopped on the wii fit and I weigh… exactly what I did yesterday. I realize these things take time, but I hoped that as I’m nearing the halfway point of this challenge I’d see some progress. I feel stagnant, which is why I started the challenge. I’ve been at this for almost five years. I feel like I have the right intention. I’m going to the gym and running and lifting weights. I’m making good choices when it comes to food (I can count the “Bad” things I’ve had this month on one hand). I’m NOT eating candy coated butter… but the weight just won’t come off.

I should point out that I really only have about 10 pounds to lose to reach my goal. Don’t they always say the last 10 pounds are the hardest? I don’t want to be some little stick girl you could break over your knee, I just want to be able to buy a pair of pants without crying. And I don’t want to jiggle.

Enough with the wallowing. Today I ate exactly what I ate yesterday. I haven’t had any splenda since Sunday. I haven’t noticed any difference in, um, digestive output so I don’t know if I’m going to continue down this road. Or, I’m going to give it another week to see. I don’t have enough data yet. Tomorrow I may try, emphasis on try, to drink my americano black.

I’ve decided to move my “good choices reward night” aka “cheat meal” to Friday this week. Since I’m planning on going to the Gym Saturday I can work off any of the damage then. I made J some cornbread to go with that chili, so I’m going to have a slice of that. Plus some ice cream (hope I can find pistachio at the store) and a vodka and soda.  I’ve also decided that next week I’m going to give up my favorite dessert of Jello and Cottage Cheese, just to see what will happen. Then the last week of the challenge I’m going 100% slow carb, following the rules to a T.

All right, back on the horse. Allons-y Alonso!

 

 

 

Quickly, in review

Tuesday I decided to skip the gym so I could get off work early so I could go to the grocery. I’m going to make up that day at the gym this afternoon. Also, if you’re keeping track, my car stereo decided to quit on me. Two electronic devices in two days. Luckily, J was able to get it going again.

• Breakfast Shake
• Standard Eggs
• broccoli slaw/chicken/good eats sauce
• egg and mixed nuts for snack – got new nuts at the store. Delicous and less salty. Packaged in bulk which is risky for me. No portion control means game on. Will have to portion them out and stick to the portion
• Dinner was Red Curry Chicken – a recipe Jen got from Food Day a few months back – has potential, needs work. Over cauliflower “rice”

Two days without Splenda hasn’t been that hard. Haven’t noticed any difference in anything though

 

 

Broken iPod

I took my ipod with the cracked screen to the guy in the mall who was supposed to fix it for me. I came home with a paperweight. So, no photos today. besides, you’re not missing much

• breakfast shake
• second breakfast: Yogurt & Marionberries
• elevenses : standard eggs
• luncheon: leftover fajitas
• afternoon tea: hard boiled egg
• dinner: broccoli slaw with good eats dressing and chicken

Boy howdy, do I need to go to the grocery. and maybe get a new iPod

 

I really don’t get it

How is my weight up this morning? And I mean up, up. It’s not like I’m eating candy coated butter. I’m 10 days into my challenge and my weight is higher than when I started. I know weight is nothing but a number and all kinds of factors go into it, but it’s a good indicator.

The only culprit I can think of is those incredibly salty almonds. Looks like I won’t be eating them again any time soon. Or ever again.