Only On Sundays

We spent the whole day out yesterday, so eating went to hell. I should have packed stuff to take with us, but I didn’t.  I also didn’t get in as much exercise this week, and generally didn’t watch myself as well as I should.  It just means more work for me this week.

I haven’t eaten anything that’s bad, but I haven’t eaten enough of the good stuff either.  Just not hungry, crabby and generally in the mood to ignore everyone.  Think a hot bath and quiet is in order.

I’m becoming the queen of throwing stuff on lettuce and calling it a salad.  I do tend to swap between more traditional lettuce/mixed greens and spinach.  Start with about 2 cups of green stuff and then go to town, fresh peppers, mushrooms, grilled/broiled chicken or fish and today there was a nice bit of sliced avocado.   I used a mix of mushrooms rather than the plain variety to add some extra texture and sauteed them in a tiny bit of butter, and topped it all with an Asian salad spritzer.  Those things are awesome if you haven’t tried them yet.

I’m a scale whore and admit it. I stand on them every morning and watch the numbers shift up and down again, I have learned by doing this that weight fluctuates, and gaining half a pound over night is normal, the goal is to see the numbers go down over time, and as long as they move in the right direction, I don’t have an issue. I’m only going to count the numbers on Sunday Mornings here, and measurements and such are only going to happen once a month. I think it’s better not to worry about it more than that. In fact it’s best not to worry at all.

I feel it’s better to concentrate my time on planning a menu for the day, making sure I’m doing some sort of activity and get on with living. That is what I’m discovering is by far the most important thing we can do.

Although I’ve been on and off plans since November, I’m starting clean here with stats.  So here’s the scary part.

Weight: 211.2
Chest: 42
Waist: 34
Hips: 50
Arms: 14.5
Thighs: 29.5
BMI: 37.4

I spent two days cleaning out the kitchen.  A lot got thrown out, mostly things that had been on the shelf for too long or those items that we didn’t need to keep around.  If I couldn’t identify an expiration date, or what was in the box it went.  If there was less than a single serving of something, it went.

Everything is now in containers with labels or in original packaging.  I found some great storage containers and rewritable labels at the Container Store.  There’s also a scale on the counter for measuring as we go to make tracking things easier.   It’s strange how easy this is so far.  I’m planning a menu for the day, prepping all the veg and bits for the evening meals ahead of time, and I still have time to do things I want.  I’ve also been hitting the bike every morning when I get up, I hate it, but it gets the whole cardio thing out of the way first thing before I have time to make excuses.

I’ve got a few muffin recipes that are pretty good as far as calories and fiber content with fruit, I’m hoping to make a batch up over the weekend and throw them in single serving bags in the freezer, for those mornings when we don’t want a full breakfast.  There’s still additional fruit and milk needed, but it’s something other than a bowl of cereal.

Here’s the story so far.  A few years back, along with my parents, I went on the Atkins diet.  I actually bought the book, read it through and did the plan the way you are supposed to.  I didn’t stay on induction for 6 months eating eggs and bacon and calling it a diet.  One of the side effects of eating better and getting healthy, (I quit smoking in this period as well) is that I had a ton of energy and nothing to do, so I joined a gym thinking that it would be a definite benefit to getting things moving.

Over the next 6 months I went from around 210 down to 185 and became a 5 day a week gym monkey.  It was great, I was seeing a change and everything was working well.  The gym I was using was going to move, and at the same time, we had an opportunity to buy a house.  The location was going to be a bit of a distance from the gym and so my husband and I looked at some options and picked up an expensive clothes hanger bowflex machine.  The problem came in that moving, unpacking, school, games, everything that could be blamed was, and I got out of the habit of working out.

Jumping forward 2 years to today, I’m sitting at 214, yeah me for sucking, and trying to figure out what the hell I did that worked before.  I have been on the Jenny Craig plan on and off over the past year, and while it worked to help me get my eating habits changed, I’m still not back on the “get off my ass and do something” part.  I will say that the 214 today does show a loss from when I picked up the plan again in November, it’s just been a slow creep instead of steady drops.

One thing that is getting to me lately is looking at the rest of my family.  Part of my problem right now is thinking of how I’m setting an example for my kid.  Here I am grabbing something precooked, granted I’m making steamed or grilled veggies and salads to go with it, and I’m trying to instill the idea of healthy eating.  The whole point of their plan is to get you on track with portion sizes and work to get you back to preparing your own meals.  My issue is that at the rate I’m going, I’m going to be eating out of the box for a very very long time.

When I did the whole low carb thing, I had to make everything myself, and it wasn’t that bad once I got in a routine with it.  I miss cooking and I miss all of us sitting down and taking the 30 minutes to just be together.  We all have our own various things we like to do, and while we all talk and do things together, it’s not as frequent as I think it should be.  We all sit in front of one screen or another and talk to each other without taking our eyes or focus off what we’re doing.  I admit I am as guilty as the other two with this.

I’ve also got a situation here where my husband’s company has decided to send him to a conference in Europe in two weeks, yeah for short notice!!  I’m in the process of juggling the books to make sure that he’s got cash ready to go. (they’re wonderful at not getting expenses paid back right away sometimes so there’s a bit of paranoia around this whole trip)   The thing is, the extra cash that I spend on my meal plan is about what he needs to take with him for my peace of mind.  The good thing is that I’m on the rewards program with them, so I have consultations and such covered for a year.

I’m going to have a chat with my consultant tomorrow and work out the details, I want to run a menu by her and continue to check in, because it’s good for me to have an outside source to help me be accountable for what I do.  I’m spending the day here cleaning the house and working out a menu for the rest of the week.  We’ll see how it goes.

on a Saturday, some would call that dedication, I call it having to take the kid to school to work on a project.  However, I did do 20 minutes on the bike before everyone got up and I’m planning another 20 when I get home.

I’m going to see about keeping track of my diet and exercise issues over here instead of on my main site.  I get the feeling that most people don’t really care what I eat or if I get off my butt every day, so this is an ok solution for now.  At least it’s making me write more and that’s a good thing, and I will have a record of what I’m doing right and wrong as I’m trying to get myself on track.

For those that find this site and not my other one, I’ll give you the basics.  I’m 42, a mostly stay home mom with a 12 year old and more pets than I need.  I’ve been overweight for the better part of 10 years and have finally reached a point where I need to do something about it, both for my health and my own sanity.  I’m tired of not liking what I see and have started to deal with the fact that I have to actually do something about it to make it work.

I’m one of the worst procrastinators I know, and this has been no exception to that status.  I’ve sat and complained about it not working when I’m not doing anything to make it work.  I’ve also said I’m not going to be like the women I see wandering around looking for a solution that doesn’t involve sweat and sacrifice.

It’s not going to be pretty or nice around here, but in the end, it will be honest and give me something to look back on to see what works and doesn’t for me.