Better than I expected

Ok, so 148.2 isn't a huge breakthrough, and I hope I can keep it (will be going out of town in a few days, and eat-out food is, um, normally not good for me if only because of the salt). But it sure beats the heck out of being stuck at 150! And I won't starve; I will simply eat *enough*, especially at dinner, and pig out on salad and that kind of thing.

I really hope I remember all these brave resolutions when faced with a menu, of course...

Plateau, Plateau, Plateau

150.0. Again. Talk about plateaus....well, we've all been there before. However, this weekend I will be in a position to decide what to eat without any pressure from anyone else, and we'll see if I can stay on the healthy side of things. Good thing--yesterday I had an apple and a candy bar sitting in front of me--ate only the apple, and it tasted wonderful. So we'll see how this weekend goes.

Oh, and by the way, hormones suck, especially when they don't do what you were expecting them to do. Just sayin'.

Still a little plateau, just a little backsliding...

150.0 even this morning; maybe I'm too old to blame this slight gain on hormones or on the salty tacos I ate Monday night, but yet, I think I can do it. However, I am dancing through one song on my MP3 player each morning, starting this week, and it's enjoyable. Granted, it cuts into my valuable skimming chapter alerts from www.fanfiction.com time in the mornings, but some sacrifices need to be made for good health. That's my excuse, anyway.

But...plateau time never means give up time. At least it shouldn't, even though a few ounces back and forth are ultimately rather annoying. I am establishing good habits and having fun with it, even though at this hour I would really much rather be asleep.

New Plateau

149.2. Well, it's a plateau all right, but it's an improved and better plateau. And I'm not starving. I'm just eating better (with one Sinful Indulgence each day). Last night I had a chicken salad with lemon juice for dressing, a piece of rye bread with some butter on it, and two corn cobbettes with no salt or butter--but the corn was really good and I didn't feel deprived. Oh, yes, and a piece of Starburst candy for dessert. And a small glass of port right before bed.

And I enjoyed every bite.

I suppose now I need to kick up my physical activity, though it's hard to get motivated with snow on the ground. However, since we're in a severe drought situation, snow on the ground should be worth jumping up and down for joy, yes?

I told you it was a war of ounces...

The numbers today? 149.0 (digital scales are your friend!). Not a whole lot of improvement over last week, but this is a lot better plateau than I was on just a couple of weeks ago. One thing I just started to do is to eat a fairly small apple right after supper--it has the feel of 'dessert' and it has a lot of fiber (and we all know that this is a good thing!).

Of course, tonight I'm going to blow it all by going out with my husband to KFC, but everyone knows that even Weight Watchers people usually have a once a week pig out.

Oink!

And then there's Friday--it's Valentine's Day, and we're going to have a sit down meal in a nice restaurant somewhere (if we can find one that isn't full up. It may be a really idea to have a reservation).

But as I change my way of eating, I can recoup from those kind of diet disasters.

Well, that's what I hope, anyway.

A little progress this time...

Back to 149.4, yay! So the total count here is a drop of three pounds by the end of January. Now to keep on this weight and look ahead.

How did I do it? Blind luck--still the slave of my hormones. Watching salt consumption. Eating at home, and not out, and especially portion control in the evenings. Not going after the doughnuts that people bring to work (sob!). And my Super Bowl indulgence--one really huge salad. (two big handfuls of the lettuce/carrot/cabbage mix in the bag, one peeled and sliced up cucumber, and a boiled egg sliced up, topped with a bunch of lemon juice. Took me a half hour to eat and tasted great. Followed by half a steak from the night before. And I was full).

I have also found some mini rice cakes (no salt on them either) that run 20 calories, so I can grab one, slowly munch on it, and feel like I've had a snack.

And I haven't really been hungry, just haven't stuffed myself (except with that huge salad on Sunday).

Plateau, this quick?

151.6. Again. And it's all my fault. Yes, my boss took us out to lunch yesterday, but I'm the one who ordered the Philly cheesesteak, and took the half I did not eat home for supper. And tonight my husband is taking me out to supper, at a place with a huge salad bar. It's up to me to make good choice, even if the chicken wings are calling my name. And to eat what I do have slowly and mindfully, to squeeze the very last ounce of enjoyment out of the portion I choose to eat.

But...it's persistence that pays off.

Backslide city

151.2 this morning--yup, it's Backslide City. This is what happens when you eat a couple of hot dogs with the crescent rolls baked around them--do you know how much sodium a couple of Nathan's hot dogs have? Well, it's plenty, and I ate them anyway. I am very sensitive to salt despite being on a diuretic for my blood pressure anyway.

Well, it's back to drinking a ton of water, and continuing to watch portion size, especially at supper. I hope will be back to 149.something next week.

Salt: the White Devil. Think about how much sodium is in your diet. McDonald's puts out nutritional guides and tells you how much sodium is it that wrap, never mind how many calories it is. I have been watching my calories--and up till last night, was still hanging right around 150.

But sometimes it really is water weight.

Still am going out on date night with my husband--we try to support local dining places, and not just the chain restaurants. But will be watching that salt out there, too!

Broke 150

Good morning! (too dang early if you ask me). I have good news, at least for me--I weighed in at 149.4 this morning. Haven't seen that weight since last August.

However, I have a confession to make. These are the cheap and easy pounds (relatively speaking). 150 (and in the area) is one of my notch weights, and future pounds will have to be wrestled for ounces at a time. I mainly lost this weight by not pigging out at supper and by diligently avoiding those (oh, man!) delicious looking doughnuts that people have been bringing in.

First maxim: Defensive snacking. If you are eating healthy snacks (fruit, no-salt rice cakes), it is a LOT easier to walk by those blasted chocolate doughnuts (yes, even the ones with the sprinkles. One thing I saw by the box with the doughnuts, though, is a knife--so people can take only a portion of those giant bearclaws, and not eat the whole thing. So, defensive snacking, and minimizing the damage by having only a little bit can help.

And so does not pigging out on supper every night. However, it is a good idea to schedule a Pig Out Day periodically (just not every day). The reason for that? I have found out through trial and error that if I eat 1200 calories day after day, I will not lose weight, because my metabolism will adjust to it just fine, thank you. Now, if I was stranded somewhere or lost my job, this might actually be a very good thing. But over the long run, it's a pain in the butt.

But boy, am I ever happy about getting below 150!

151.2

I weigh 151.2 pounds this morning, and that's even with adding a little bit of olive oil to my diet each evening (a long story, but my digestion appreciates it). Sure, it's probably water weight being lost, but learning how to eat so I appreciate food more is probably a good thing, too. Eat one bite, set the fork down, eat one bite, set the fork down--this is a bit different from my usual method (inhale). See, I used to be in the military, and could ingest a couple of thousand calories in rather less time than I care to think about it.

Appreciating food, rather than just wolfing it down, also seems to make me feel less hungry, too.

Well, it seems to be working so far...But even with sodium issues, you can enjoy chili if you use low sodium beans and no salt added tomato sauce (though I wish they'd put the no salt added tomato sauce in regular size cans and not just the little ones).

New Year's Day

January 1, 2014--I've decided to change my goal to weighing 130 (and if I happen to hit 140 along the way, so much the better!).

Trying to establish new habits, though--meditation, drinking more water, eating more veggie, getting more exercise. You know, the usual.

So what did I have for breakfast? Coffee (no calories, just one of the pink packets of sweetener) and a yummy toasted cheese sandwich with garlic powder on it. Still have to watch my salt, after all.

Oh, and my beginning weight? 152.0 on a digital scale, done with total honesty, if you get my drift and I think you do.

But one key towards my losing weight is going to be getting enough sleep, which I think will mean getting ready for bed at 10 pm instead of 10:30 (get up at 6 on a normal workday).

I have lots and lots of resolutions. We'll see how many survive this week, let alone all month or all year.

So with a goal of 130 pounds, that means 22 pounds for the year (typically known in the weight loss set as the Dreaded Last 20), or less than two pounds per month.