Day 26 & 27: Now Weight Just a Minute

Well hello!

I need to go grocery shopping. It is dire straights in my fridge and cupboards. So much so, that I've had to get really inventive. Behold what I came up with for lunch yesterday:Your eyes do not deceive you. You are looking at a spinach sandwich. I toasted two slices of multigrain bread and spread on some light onion and chive cream cheese. Then, I stacked as much spinach as I could reasonable get between two slices of toast and voila! Spinach sandwich. It was actually pretty good! The spinach was very fresh and had a satisfying crunch and the flavour worked very well with the cream cheese. Those are pink grapefruit slices you see in the background there. Citrus always gets eaten last around here, probably because it keeps so well in the refrigerator.

I found some leftover frozen vegetarian chili that I made on October 10th and had that for dinner yesterday. Not picture worthy.

I had my usual oats (1/2 cup oatmeal, 1 tablespoon almond butter and fruit of choice - today was a green apple) for breakfast this morning and then went on a nice long run in the sun. I was hesitant about going but once I was out there pounding the trail, it felt amazing. So glad I went. On my way home, I splurged on this:

More of a financial splurge than a dietary one, it was just a non-fat decaf latte. But it was very well made and it really hit the spot. Note on the bottom of the cup it boasts "Vancouver's Best Cheesecake!" This is not a word of a lie. Last cheat day, I had the privilege of a little taste and wow. No words. I am actually thinking of ordering a small cheesecake for my birthday this year (November 29th, so you better start your shopping now!). The only tough part is that they have a zillion flavours and it'll be agony to decide on one... Thinking about this...

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Okay so I've decided I hate my scale. Not the act of weighing myself, no, the scale itself. It is a royal piece of crap. It consistently weighs all over the map - plus or minus up to 10 pounds sometimes!!! I checked out the reviews on Amazon (I really should have done this before I purchased it) and found out that I am not the only one experiencing this problem. In fact, it only earned 1 star for the rating. And of course, I've long since discarded the receipt and the box (big mistake on my part) so I can't return or exchange it either. Poo.

So, in light of this, I have decided to purchase a doctor's scale. I know it must seem crazy, but I really need some accuracy in my regime. Having a wonky scale makes it so hard to see my progress and that in and of itself is discouraging. So I'm doing my research and I'm getting one. Fortunately, they're not as expensive as I originally thought they were - only about $150-$200 for a decent one. I just have to do a bit of looking around to decide which one I want to order.

Weighing myself everyday seems to work well for me. I am past the point of getting discouraged or excited by minor fluctuations. This small semblance of control really helps to keep me focused and maintain a tight rein on weight. It's not for everyone. But I think for me, it's an important part of The Plan. And long term, I expect I will weigh myself often just to make sure that I don't regain any of my hard-earned weight loss.

Day 21, 22 & 23: Hello, Clavicles!

Wow I have been wanting to post for the past two days, but as I've been dealing with a poor sick Baby Girl (she has a nasty cold) coupled with all the running and late night yoga classes, I have just not been able to find the time. Finally sitting down at my computer and catching up!

So two nights ago I was at yoga, and my mat was square in front of the mirror. I'm such a narcissist! As I was sitting cross-legged with my palms on my knees, I looked at my reflection. I could have sworn I saw a faint hint of muscle tone in my arms. My waist might have seemed a wee bit smaller than it did a couple of weeks ago. And what's this? I saw some old friends I haven't seen in a long, long time... My clavicles! After hiding under a layer of fat for a couple of years now, my clavicles are emerging triumphant once again and my chest now has some definition. Granted, those lovely clavicles are only just starting to peek out, but yup, there they are! The Plan is working. My body is indeed (slowly) changing shape. I'm loving it!

The weight loss has continued to go very well this week - I've lost a little over 2 pounds since Sunday - but I'm sure that I must just be experiencing a lovely windfall that will be short lived and not indicative of the general trend. I kinda think that's how weight loss goes. In fits and starts.

Tomorrow is Cheat Day! Oh how I adore you, Cheat Day! Here's what I'm planning to indulge in:
-a hot crusty roll with butter (maybe for breakfast with a cup of tea?)
-take-out Indian food for dinner (I am craving my favourite chickpea dish)
-that gosh darn Pumpkin Pie Blizzard from DQ. You know the one. The one I should have had last cheat day. It's my obsession of late.
Other than that, we'll just see how the day flows! So excited.

I swear, Cheat Day is the best thing I could have ever imagined. It works so well for my purposes. How? Why?

Because:
1. Obviously, it's lovely to satiate my cravings and enjoy some delicious food (especially those that are challenging to fit into a low calorie regime).
2. It's a chance, once a week, for me to practice eating like a real person who is not on a diet.
3. It keeps me motivated and strong through the rest of the week because I never feel deprived and I know if I want something I only need to wait until the next Cheat Day to have it. I think I very well may have given up on The Plan long ago because I would have felt deprived, would have probably started resenting The Plan, indulged, lost focus, felt bad about myself, continued indulging, vicious cycle...
4. Everyone deserves a break.
5. I can eat whatever strikes my fancy and I don't have to weigh, measure, or record anything. The only thing that's not allowed on cheat day is guilt. And you know what? The worst I've had so far was some of those 100 calorie snack packs and a monster bowl of cereal. And it was Special K at that. I almost feel like because I can have anything, I feel like I don't need to eat a bunch of crap. Does that make any sense? Of course, even if I did eat a bunch of crap, that's OK! It's Cheat Day! It's all good.

6. And no matter how much I eat on Cheat Day (and honestly, usually I'm pretty well behaved because I'm running on a week's worth of momentum), I really don't gain more than a pound - if even that - and most of it is probably just due to too much sodium the day before anyway. Think about it: I would have to eat an additional 3500 calories, over an above what my body requires in a day, to gain even a pound. That's not very easy to do in one day. It's not like I'm going to go out and eat 5 Burger King Whoppers (which would be about 3000 calories). I guess my point is that one day - heck, one WEEK - of anything really doesn't make that much of a difference either way. In my opinion, the key to weight loss success is consistency, not perfection.

Ironic that Cheat Day actually helps to keep me focused on my diet, eh?

On to some food. Here are my lunches from the last two days.

Wednesday's lunch was:Some fat free peach Activia yogurt, black plums and cinnamon with a side of whole wheat toast with almond butter. I needed to eat something that would sustain me through a run and a yoga class, so I put together this meal. It was just OK. I wish I would have had plain yogurt instead of the Activia because the fake-peach taste just did not work very well with the plums. But the addition of the almond buttered toast sure was tasty. And the meal as a whole did work as planned - I was full but not overly so and my energy was high through both my workouts with nary a hunger pang in site.

Thursdays lunch was:A chicken salad sandwich and cherry tomatoes. The chicken was leftover spicy BBQ marinated, and instead of celery, I employed some leftover aspargus in the chicken salad mix. It was really good. This whole lunch was delicious and truthfully I'm surprised it turned out so well because Baby Girl was just starting to feel sick and and being very surly while I was making it and I was absolutely starving by the time I sat down. I can't even believe I had the wherewithal to take a picture! I will be having a repeat of this lunch today, I think.

It's rainy and grey today, Baby Girl is still sick and I'm starting to feel a tickle in the back of my throat. I have decided to take the day off from exercise and just take it easy tonight. I've got the fire going and I'm already in my pajamas and it's only 2:30pm. Nothing like a lazy day at home to warm the soul. Now, if someone would just come over with some low-calorie chicken soup and crackers I'd be all set.

Day 18 & 19: Scratch That Itch

I finally broke out of the 160's this morning! Hooray! That must mean I'm doing something right.

Although I also discovered this morning that my scale is not really that accurate. When I first weighed myself, it showed that I was 158.8. I jumped for joy. Then a few minutes later I wanted to show Husband so I got on again and I was 162.2. What?? Booooo. But that seemed weird to me. So I then proceeded to bump, move, step on, step off, relocated and reset the scale. Now I'm 161 even. Without moving the scale, I stepped on a few minutes later. 159.8. I have no idea what was going on but I decided to just keep that last number as it was kind of the average of all the numbers I got this morning. And an important lesson was learned: That number really does mean ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. So next time I'm celebrating a 2 pound loss or mourning a 2 pound gain, I'm going to have to take that number with a grain of salt. Because apparently, it's really give-or-take 3 pounds.

So, unfortunately (and embarrassingly), I already failed my 50 day yoga challenge. I want to say it was beyond my control, but I think I let it happen. I was exhausted and when Sunday got too busy for me to fit in a yoga class, I relented and kinda gave up. I went for a long run instead.

I'm not too upset, I certainly did try and I'm definitely going to keep going to yoga everyday if possible. I think if I alternate running and yoga that would certainly make for a good fitness recipe. I will be going to yoga tonight, hopefully, as long as I can get Baby Girl down for bed at an early time.

Running has been going great. I am really getting into it. I can run for 30 minutes - no problem. (Although it should be noted that I run really slowly, at a snail's pace). And when the 30 minutes is up, I always feel like I could do more. That's just where I want to be for awhile. It feels great! I am so pleased with my progress.

I have been really lazy about photographing my meals lately. Or maybe it's more that I'm so freakin hungry by the time I eat that I'm not thinking straight. But anyway, here are the highlights from Cheat Day:

Chicken and vegetable yakisoba (homemade with leftover spaghettini noodles) mixed with lots and lots of edemame beans. Yummers!
And of course, lots and lots of almond butter. Mmmmmmm.

For dinner, I made some turkey tacos which turned out just OK. No pics.

The funny thing about my last Cheat Day is I wanted something but I couldn't figure out what. In hindsight, I realize that it was that Pumpkin Pie Blizzard from Dairy Queen that's been all over TV lately. To satiate myself, I tried eating lots of almond butter, a 100-calorie snack pack of chocolate covered pretzels, and a HUUUUGE bowl of cereal but by the end of the evening I was stuffed, but unsatisfied. And the scale was not kind to me the next day so to me it really wasn't worth it.

My valuable lesson learned on Cheat Day: If I'm going to indulge, at least make it count. It's not worth it to eat for the sake of eating. If it's not delicious then I shouldn't waste my time.

I spent all day thinking about that Pumpkin Pie Blizzard from DQ and I never got it because I was trying to behave myself. And now I wish I'd just gone ahead and satisfied that craving, rather than eating a lot of other stuff that didn't scratch that itch, KWIM?

Now I know.