Happy...

And here is a more current picture of me, taken in late February 2011, by my lovely 8 yr old son.  I think you can see, even with my coat on, that I am still maintaining my weight loss pretty well  - happily happily happily!  But goodness it's cold out! Brrrrrrrrr!!!

P4 D89

P4 D89 02/27/2011 - 136.8 (+0.0) Sigh.  Thought I could get down to 133 again - you would think a few weeks of tracking and I'd be there.  Instead, it looks like I'm able (and my body is happy) to maintain at 135/136 and that's that, given the way I am eating and want to eat.  I should be HAPPY!!! I'm still a size 8, and I can eat what I want and stay a size 8! If I want to lose weight, I'm going to have to figure something else out. :) 
I'm going to start by adding a nightly 2 mile walk into my routine.  Get ready, Blue! Wanna go for a walk?!

P4 D88

P4 D88 02/26/2011 - 136.8 (+1.4) Dang. And still no elimination. I don't get it. Yesterday I ate swiss chard(!), lean beef, eggs, cottage cheese, lots of spinach, 1/2 a tomato...no bread, no sugar - and stopped eating at 7pm...really thought I'd see a drop this am...Ok. Going to add Natural Calm back into my routine...went for a walk plus did 40 min of Callanetics... and we'll see what tomorrow brings... 

I'm reading yet another interesting book: "Neanderthin" by Ray Audette...very very interesting....hmmmmm...
He's not a doctor or a scientist, but a guy who (clearly) spent about a zillion hours researching in medical libraries all the info that helped him to heal his body and eliminate his rheumatoid arthritis and dibetes.  I wonder if maybe he had celiac disease and didn't know it?) Originally published in 1999, it may be out of print now, surpassed by the 'Paleo diet' books, written by an overweight college professor.  (Check out his video.) (Sorry. I know I'm being a real jerk here but I want to know what works, not what you hypothesize might work.)  I looked into the paleo diet but after reading all the reviews that said to check out Neanderthin instead, I'm glad I did. 

P4 D88

P4 D87 02/25/2011 - 135.4 (+0.6)
Ok. This is boring. Sorry. I thought I was making progress? (hmm. but I have not had an 'elimination' yet today - maybe that explains the gain?) I also ate cottage cheese with shredded coconut, 2 strawberries and fresh ground flax seeds late last night - 8pm - so, that was dumb.  Otherwise, I had a great eating day (see below)...

P4 D86

P4 D86 02/24/2011 - 134.8 (-1.2) Goodness! Wow. Had a sort of modified steak day, Fasted till 5:30pm, then ate 2 small steaks cooked in butter...and a cheese stick and a double espresso with about 5 Tbsp of whipped cream...oh, and a 1/2 grapefruit.  My goal is to get back to my LSW of 133.  Yoday I will add even more veggies while returning to my normal eating day - a spinach, tomato and cheese omlette instead of just scrambled eggs with cheese, and maybe sausage and grilled veggies on a bed of greens for lunch, and sea scallops sauteed in butter, asparagus, and more salad for dinner. More plants than other foods. But still plenty of protein and fats. 

P4 D85

P4 D85 02/23/2011 - 136.0 (-0.4) Dropping! I added more veggies to my day! Ate tuna with celery and real mayo on a big salad of baby spinach, and a small steak with big side of green beans and onions sauteed in coconut oil and sprinkled with peanuts  -plus 2 leaves romaine...also had 1/2 a grapefruit...and cottage cheese...no almonds, no yogurt.  Also had a ACV soda pop with honey! Real honey! Bwahahahahhaaaaa!

P4 D85

P4 D85 02/22/2011 - 136.4 (-0.2) Shoveled the driveway -big snow, sore today! :) Had a sort of moderate day of eating, though I did have homemade hollandaise sauce on my 2 eggs and eziekiel 4:9 bread, upped my fruit, (ate 1/2 a banana with almonds) had a whole tangerine with my cottage cheese, plus some blueberries - do need to eat more veggies though...today - I will try to eat mostly plants - to see what that means and what happens.

P4 D84

P4 D84 2/21/2011 - 136.6 (+0.0) No shed no gain - now I'm thinking that this may indicate that I really do eat too many cals normally and in attempting to pare it down, I end up at a calorie total that keeps my weight steady.  I really do believe we need to eat some fats and not avoid them - but not over-indulge either in them either, I suppose. What, 'moderation is key'? Hahaha.  Ok.  I hear you. So, going to have a 'moderate' day. Gonna try. :)

P4 D83

P4 D83 02/20/2011 - 136.6 (+0.0) No shed but no gain either AND that's with about 6-8 Windmill cookies (they were broken, and hard to count) and 2 great big handfuls of almonds.  My reduced calorie day turned into a 'cheat day' after all that talk about cheat days.  Funny but true.  I've been very successfully avoiding most carbs, yet gaining weight. Now I'm thinking that was an oversimplified understanding and avoiding carbs made me extra sensitive to them! Oh well. Today I'm trying to just eat well. Wholesome yummy food. Pancakes (whole wheat/oatmeal/flaxmeal pancakes) with maple syrup for breakfast.  Salami w/ cheese for a snack, Broccoli with cheese sauce for another snack, (or maybe that was lunch?) 1/2 an apple with almonds, and planning a light but yummy dinner with veggies. Drinking more water than usual...Obviously not doing a steak day today - I've fallen off the wagon.  Sorry, Silvana. Maybe next week I'll try again.  For now, I'm going to try and eat @1400 calories and see what happens. :) (couldn't keep track, sorry)

P4 D82

P4 D82 02/19/2011 - 136.6 (+0.4)  Well gollee gee. I don't get it.  I did a good 'steak day' - ate fish, cooked in parchment with coconut oil and lemon - and was so hungry I ate both pieces...Then I finished with 1/2 a small apple. I had green tea and coffee all day - 2 cups coffee/4 cups tea - to keep my mind off being hungry...and water.  I drank a lot of water, more than usual.  No bm could also be the problem...Did not sleep great - Olivia has a new croup cough...oh well.  Today I'm going to try a new tactic - eating way way less cals like on a real diet.  I have a book that I lost weight with once - and I see the total calories are like 1100 per day and the foods are all protocol compatable - so I'll try that to better guide my food choices today.  Because I'm supposed to do a 'mini-protocol day' today and my first one was probably too high in cals, is the theory. :) Ok - way less cals today.

P4 D81

P4 D81 02/18/2011 - 136.2 (+0.4) hmmm. Why the gain? According to Fitday.com, I only ate 1645 calories, (no bread, no starch, no sugars and less than my usual 2000+ calories), trying to keep my calories very low - because I'd like my weight to drop...and my weight went up instead.  Is it possible I am becoming even more sensitized to carbs, by avoiding them so rigorously?  I don't think I went into 'starvation mode' because I ate regularly, in small portions...Breakfast: 2 eggs with only one sausage, no bread, no cheese (instead of my usual 3 eggs with cheese and 2 sausages) - Lunch: 1/2 a chicken breast for lunch on a bed of salad, tossed in olive oil, lemon and s&p, Snack: 3/4 cup of cottage cheese w/stevia and cinnamon, 1 Tbsp shredded unsweetened coconut, no almonds, and 1/4 of a tiny clementine. Coffee with half and half - not whipped cream, Dinner: 1/2 chicken breast on baby spinach, tossed with olive oil, lemon, garlic and s&p. Desert: 6 blueberries in one Tbsp of whipped cream.  That's all I ate.  No bread, no crackers, and no sugar.  A teensy tiny amount of fruit - even less than usual, and that has been very little for about a week now.  I suppose I could have avoided fruit altogether...also had a yoga class, but I'm not even sore today...and I got a good amount of sleep, but I bet I did not drink enough water - was counting my teas and coffees as 'water'... This is puzzling. Ok - onward! Properly following the rotation of steak day and low calorie days, today is supposed to be another steak day, but I think steak day might not work, because I think the gain indicates my calories were too low yesterday, but I'm going to try it nonetheless.
Feels like there is a puzzle piece missing here.  I have been reading that some people have 'treat days' to increase their leptin production (the hormone that decreases appetite) - that one treat day of 1-2 treat meals per week- is ideal.  Is that what's going on? I have not had any treat days, I have not deviated from the low carb/low sugar, and now my body is lazy and can't even handle 6 blueberries and 1/4 a clementine?  I was not ravenous yesterday, or in need of lowering my appetite - I felt pretty good all day.  It's a puzzle. Oh well.  Steak day it is.  I'm going to have fish, btw. :)

P4 D80

P4 D80 02/17/2011 - 135.8 (-2.6) I did a modified 'steak day', and Silvana's suggestion was to eat chicken or fish instead of steak.  So I chose chicken - except I could not just eat a chicken breast, I ate it at 5:30 pm in a garlic/dill Piccata sauce and on top of a small handful of baby spinach. So it wasn't a steak, but it probably wasn't lower in fat than a steak either.  On the other hand, I was perfectly sated and just ate the one chicken breast, not two - and did not feel the need to sample my child's birthday cake, so that was good...very unscientific of me though, to deviate from your plan Silvana, sorry - but I was trying to make it more like food and less like protein (since I have discovered I am guilty of 'nutritionism' and I need to eat more delicious food and less 'scientific nutrients'). :D Today I'm going to lower my calories and eat P3a foods.  We'll see how it goes!

P4 D79

P4 D79 02/16/2011 - 138.4 (+1.4) Wow. And I'm not cheating! I also am not following good common sense - did not drink much water, overdid coffee, ate 1 small salad instead of 2, probably overdid my calories somewhat, and went to bed at 4am again.   Dumb.  Today I'm doing a steak day with chicken - going to follow Silvana's plan and see if it works for me.

Phase 4, Day 78

P4 D78 02/15/2011 - 137.0 (+0.4) Did I eat more veggies? - not really. Am I having a hard time walking the talk? Yes. While I am able to avoid sugars for the most part - I have not stocked up on veggies and so, all I ate veggie-wise was one serving of asparagus and about 3 small florettes of brocolli - no lettuce. No greens. I will go shopping today.  Onward!

Come watch me winnow, wriggle and whittle my weight back down to my LSW, and hopefully, beyond...

**************************************LSW 133.2*********************************
P4 D77 02/14/2011 - 136.6 (+1.0) Sheesh.  I'm thinking this is water retention I'm puffy, and only got 4 hrs sleep...wah.
Oh well.  Yesterday I ate only protein and fat.  No veggies, no fruit. An experiment.  Dumb? Maybe. Maybe not.  Today my plan is to have 1 serving veggies at every meal.  Breakfast was eggs, cheese, (butter) and asparagus.  And I plan on adding lettuce to my next 2 meals...see how it goes...
P4 D76 02/13/2011 - 135.6  (0.0)  Breakfast: Cottage cheese-n-yogurt-n-coconut-n-half-a-clementine, 7 almonds, Lunch: 6 oz tuna w/homemade mayo and celery and avocado on a bed of shredded romaine, -  Oh, and let me not forget the half of a sopresseta salami that I ate while driving kids around: 4 servings @ 0 cargs, 8g protein/8g fat each - so 24g protein and 24g fat - which means I ate 440 calories from that salami alone!  Also, 1/2 a banana and whipped cream, and half a date.  Funny, but that half-a-date tasted 'over-sweet' to me...ate 7 more almonds to counter the sweetess but was struck with a 'wow, why'd I eat that?' feeling. Funny. I used to eat dates 2 and 4 or more at a time and now 1/2 of one is 'too much'. Feels like my body chemistry is changed. :)
(still not enough sleep - maybe need more H20 as well...)

Come watch me...archives

P4 D75 02/12/2011 - 135.6 (-0.2) Wow. Happy. Keeping my carbs really low - by eating less fruit than I used to -Breakie: 3 eggs, cheese, 2 veggie sausage and 1 slice Eziekiel 4:9 bread w/butter(!) Lunch: 4% cottage cheese w/ greek yougurt/ground flax/shredded coconut/half a tangerine/cinnamon/7 almonds and stevia for a nice, filling lunch, Dinner: made my own mayonnaise yesterday, made a big chicken salad with 2 enormous heaping Tbsp's of it (w/celery, pecans and 1/4 of an apple)...had about 1/4 cup whipped cream w/stevia and cocoa powder (chocolate mousse!) for desert, because I still felt a bit hungry.  And as always, the whipped cream filled me up, did not overdo it, and shared the rest of the batch with the kids -who loved it! :D (3 kids were up in the night - so still did not get quality sleep - oh well.)
P4 D74 02/11/2011 - 135.8 (0.0) Yay!  Ate lots of low carb whatnot - grilled chicken salad w/shredded parm, artichoke hearts, and sundried tomatoes dripping with oil but no bread :D Cottage cheese with greek yogurt is my fav go-to snack/small meal, I like it with stevia and cinnamon and grated coconut- Ate some almonds, not more than 22... Dinner was Chicken piccata with creamed spinach and onions.  Cream, butter and more cream and more butter.  Went to bed full - but not over-full - too bad baby won't sleep anymore - but no gain! Yay!!! But still, grumpy today.  I need more sleep than I've been getting lately. (feeling grumbly about the new look too - oh well.)
P4 D73 02/10/2011 - 135.8 (-0.4) Whoop-whoop! just really keeping my carbs down and eating VERY little fruit - but still having some fruit - 1/8 cup blueberries and 1/2 a date - lots of fats and proteins: cottage cheese and lunch meat and cheese sticks, eggs, coconut oil , shredded coconut, a carrot, tuna salad w/ celery - maybe 7 almonds all day - feeling good/better about this...
P4 D72 02/09/2011 - 136.2 (-1.4) Wow.  Ok, that was not a steak day, that was more water and sleep.  And more recovery from the uber-intense yoga class...People- I cannot stand tracking my food.  I apologize.  But I am just not good at it.  I keep forgeting to add items during my day and then I can't remember what I ate - I only know I am avoiding sugar and carbs as best I can, eating when hungry and stopping when full.  I take it one food label at a time/one meal at a time.  Last night I ate veggie kielbasa sausage and onions and orange and red peppers for dinner, sauteed in coconut oil.  It was delish and at 29g protein per link, I hoped it would balance the carbs in the onions and peppers - and looks like it did just that. :D
P4 D71 02/08/2011 - 137.6 (+.8) Ok WHAT?! I am certain I ate low carb and high protein and stopped when I was full, so I am kicking myself for not tracking it accurately - sorry self, sorry all - I will track today!  I am learning that this is not a simple in-vs-out equation, and that we are living organisms with many many processes happening all at once - and so I should not discount the crummy sleep I've been getting - Baby is teething and up every few hours and last night I barely slept...SO, maybe that's part of the complexity and conundrum - but whatEVER! Ok - to yoga!
P4 D70 02/07/2011 - 136.8 (-0.0) doing good maintaining, now need to drop some cals and shed a bit more
P4 D69 02/06/2011 - 136.8 (-0.0) more low carbs high protein and fat...breakfast: fried egg-in-a-hole with Ezekiel bread, veggie bacon, Lunch: cottage cheese, cinnamon, half an apple, peanut butter, 2 whole grain crackers, salami, cheese stick, Dinner: a steak w/side of creamed spinach and onions (yumm!), cheese, cheese sticks, 22 almonds
RESULT: maintained weight
P4 D68 02/05/2011 - 136.8 (-2.2) (3.6 over LSW) (yeeehaaawww!) making sure I eat some veggies today, ate when hungry, stopped when full, low carb, high protein and fat...
RESULT: exactly maintained weight
P4 D67 02/04/2011 - 138.0 (+0.2) (+4.8 over LSW)
Yikes. Ok, so today I would normally do a steak day, but I think this gain is really from my sore sore overly-yoga'd body and because I only got 4 hrs sleep last night (kicking myself -ouch!) and maybe because no bm? Anyhow, instead of steak day, today I'm just going to do better. Yes. But boy it sucks having to admit my mistakes on here and tell y'all about my new crummy weight. BUT, today is a new day, full of opportunity to do better. Onward!
Breakfast- (at breakfast time! Yay me!) 1 egg-in-the-hole (with Ezekiel 4:9 bread) cooked in combo of butter and coconut oil and 2 veggie sausage links.  Green tea and coffee with half and half.
Snack - 22 almonds
Lunch - 1 cup cottage cheese with 1/2 cup greek yogurt, w/cinnamon and stevia and 1 cheesestick wrapped in 1 serving of turkey breast w/mustard.
Snack - Pepper jack cheese stick and 2 slices of salami, and 11 more almonds.  And one date. And a Doppio Con Panna.
Dinner - 1 more heaping cup of cottage cheese, no yogurt, w/cinnamon and shredded coconut.  I did not eat any vegetables today? Really? That is not too smart - and repeating the cottage cheese? Oh dear.  I don't think I did do better after all.  Needed to go grocery shopping, but it's sooooo cold out and I'd have to have taken all the kids with me and the baby has a runny nose...oh well, tomorrow is a new day - I'm going to at least get some sleep. Night all!
RESULT: -2.2 loss (!) (probably sore muscle/water weight in there - but I'll take it!)
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P4 D66 02/03/2011 -  137.8  (+0.6) went to yoga and skipped breakfast (!). Telling the truth here, keeping myself accountable is the plan.  Had lunch at the club, grilled chicken on baby spinach with sun-dried tomatoes, parmesean cheese and drenched in a canola oil/balsamic vinegrette. (Do not love canola oil, but it was what they had.) Also ate 1/4 of my kid's grilled cheese on whole wheat - because it was there, because I was still hungry, because it was not fried, but baked and because it was on whole wheat. Also because yoga class was really really hard and I felt like I had 'earned' those bites. (I promise not to rationalize too many more food choices! LOL)
Snack- 1 cheese stick wrapped in 2 slices of turkey breast and 1 slice salami.  Green tea. 11 almonds. Doppio Con Panna (yum yum yum)
Dinner- hard to calculate - a baked egg, cheese, Eziekiel 4:9 bread, broccoli and veggie-sausage dish - a casserole? Oh dear. Do not know how many calories/carbs, but I ate 1 serving and 1/2 a grapefruit and 2 Tbsp whipped cream for desert and felt sated. At least the kids liked it even if it messed me up.
RESULT: +.2 gain. :(
Possibly also retaining water - muscles are SO sore from that intense yoga class
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P4 D65 02/02/2011 -  137.2  Breakfast 1 cup cottage cheese/half cup greek yogurt/1/4 of an apple/cinnamon/stevia/22 almonds/2 tbsp unsweetened organic shredded coconut. 1 cup Green tea with half and half, 1 Doppio (double shot espresso) Con (with) Panna (whipped cream) sweetened with stevia. Drinking water too.
Snack- 7 almonds and 1 slices colby jack cheese...then 2 slices hard salami...more tea
Lunch- ate when I was hungry - kinda late, @2:45pm...baby spinach leaves and avocado and steak salad, sprinkled w/ sunflower seeds and tossed with olive oil and apple cider vinegar dressing and 3 slices provolone cheese. Plus 14 (one serving) Trader Joe's Supper Seeded Tortilla chips! and tea, water...water, etc.
Snack- another 1/4 apple with 2 tbsp peanut butter. And another Doppio Con Panna. Mmmmmm.
Ok. Not hungry for dinner. Not at all. All that whipped cream maybe? According to fitday, I'm already at 2506 cals anyway! (fat 67%, protein 21% and carbs 11%)   *see below>>>>>>>
SO, I am skipped dinner. Honestly, was not hungry in the slightest.
Let's see what the scale has to say about all this tomorrow! (fingers crossed)
Finishing my day with a nice warm cup of Natural Calm, sweetened with stevia and the juice from 1/4 grapefruit.
Nightie-night all!
:D
RESULT: +.6 lbs.
(writhing in remorse and feeling stoopid)
Lesson? 2506 calories 2763 calories is too many. (hahahahahahahaha- Duh.) (Even though I did it low carb and had no bread? OMGoodness, I now recall I ALSO ate 1/2 of my child's leftover 'Amy's Organic' bean and cheese burrito!!! that's at least an extra 200 cals AND it was, of course, wrapped in bread. Whole wheat bread, but I ALSO ate a date and forgot to record that as well - so what am I - nuts?!)
Um, so, I actually ate 2763 calories. Plus more sugar than I thought? Oops.
Actual:

Calories: 2,763

Fat: 192.2g

Carbs: 113.4g

Protein: 136.4g

                        Fat: 63%    Carbs 16%      Protein: 21%
Ok I think I get it. Being too full to eat dinner indicated something in my day of eating was out of whack. Yesterday I ate lots of fats, trying to avoid feeling hungry, and it worked. Too well.  I already KNOW I do better eating 3 regular meals and 2 snacks. Eating fats, yes, but in moderation, and yesterday was not in moderation.  Ok okay okay.  Plus, I'd had lots of caffiene, which, in my experience, helps me delay eating - but then hunger hits too hard when the caffiene wears off and then I reach for an extra cheese stick or two...or three...(sigh). This is good - forcing me to really examine what I am doing. But puzzling because really, I WAS under 120g carbs for the day. Hmmm.
Ok. Onward.
:D
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A quick summary of my journey to this point: I am 42 yrs old,  5'5" tall and small boned and I weighed 200 lbs before starting the spray.  I did 2 full rounds (June-Oct 09) and ended @ Halloween at 133 lbs, but accepted 135 as a comfortable enough weight to maintain.
I have been able to maintain 135 pretty well, but my weight seems to want to creep up.  I do have steak days here and there when my weight gets to 137, or 138.  In truth I am rather sedentary, just doing housework and chasing kids is my main activity, although I do go to yoga 2x a week but I do not go for walks and I'm thinking I better start.
I have 'big theories' about why weight creeps up, and how to prevent that - but MY weight? Seems to want to creep up.  I am learning how to count carbs and sugars ala Jorge Cruise, and I also learned a lot with the 'Zone' books, and now I look forward to reading Why We Get Fat and What to do About It (looks like it will be a great read) but am still waiting for my Amazon order to arrive...
In the meantime, maybe I need a bit more accountability in my eating.
So here is a blog to keep me honest,
and to help me 'walk the talk'.

My plan? To avoid sugar (hidden or not) and to get back down 4 lbs to my real LSW (and maybe even lower?!)
by limiting carbs, concentrating on proteins but still eating vegetables and some small amount of fruit.  To count calories again, for a while, till I figure out what's going on. And to get more active.

Wish me luck! :)

Snooze to Lose: the importance of sleep

The following is basically lifted right from the pages of the book Nurture Shock by Po Bronson - a fabulous book compiling all kinds of recent data and studies regarding children...this is from Chapter 2: The Lost Hour - about how even 1 extra hour of sleep makes an enormous difference: (italics mine)


"...Sleep loss increases the hunger hormone ghrelin, which signals hunger, and decreases it's metabolic opposite, leptin, which suppresses appetite. Sleep loss also elevates the stress hormone cortisol which is lipogenic - meaning it stimulates your body to make fat. Human growth hormone is also disprupted. Normally secreted as a big pulse at the begining of sleep, growth hormone is essential to break down fat.

"It's drilled into us that we need to be more active to lose weight. So it spins the mind to hear that a key to staying thin is to spend more time doing the most sedentary inactivity humanly possible. Yet this is exactly what some scientists seem to be finding..."

And on the Ketomist support site, time and again people talk about discovering that if they weigh early in the morning and then go back to bed, they'll wake up later to a bigger loss.  Often a full pound more than when they first weighed. And that if they stay up late and don't get enough sleep, they'll wake up to no loss, or a tiny loss, or even a gain. Is it the bursts of human growth hormone?  Is it leptin or ghrelin at work? Is it all three combined? (I think it's all three factors plus things medical science still hasn't even figured out yet, probably.)

But the point is - are you listening? You snooze - you lose!!!

;)