Cara's journal

[cecac]

Thank you for this area on the forum. I can just post my notes here so that I will have dates and progress together. I haven't done this ever, so it might prove to keep my motivation going.

I am beginning this diet today. I am 5'10" and weigh 171 pounds. My goal is to get to 145- 150 pounds. My husband is 5'11" and weighs 212 pounds. His goal is to get to 185-190 pounds.

We eat oatmeal or brown rice with 1/2 cup of chopped nuts and 1/2 cup raisins (for 12 people) for breakfast and fruit for snacks in the morning. I think that is likely okay on this diet?

We had a lentil/potatoe soup today for lunch that I really didn't like. So, I think the best thing is potatoes with other steamed veggies at lunch along with cut veggies and fruit. I am also going to try grain/veggie soups for lunch. I will leave different bean/pasta meals for supper with a big salad.

Due to chronic fatigue I am not up to looking at a lot of recipe at this time. So, I read something on here about simplicity and I am going to do this right now so that I can get the new habits established even though I'm tired.

I think I will try to weigh and record here weekly with our progress in the diet.

[seestorcoo]

I think you will find this a good place for support in your journey. Also, good for checking yourself.

Your menu sounds good - the only thing I would be concerned about is the nuts. Nuts are chock full (heehee) of fat - 1 pecan has 1 gram of fat, for instance. As you aren't terribly overweight but want to lose weight, you may find that nuts sabotage your goal. Try some fresh fruit or some spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, whatever) in your oats or do like Letha does and add some shredded zuchinni (not nearly as disgusting as it sounds - I've tried it). The dried fruit is high in concentrated sugar also. You might check out Jeffs calorie density chart - it helps me make some good choices.

It will help that both of you are in it. The food doesn't have to be complex - a nuked potato, a bagged salad and some steamed vegies makes a fine meal and I make up my hot cereal a couple days worth at a time. McDougall soups are easy too. I don't know how your budget is but if you have the spare money, most stores have pre-washed, chopped vegies that makes things really easy. Trader Joes even has frozen microwaveable brown rice - 3 minutes.

Good luck!

[cecac]

Thank you seestorcoo, I will keep all of that in mind.

I am on day 2 and it seems my foot and other joint pains have increased. I get hungry so quickly after each meal. Last night through happenstance I couldn't get to sleep. I ate enough at supper, but realized I was hungry in the middle of the night. I hope this slows down after my body gets used to eating this way.

I am going to drop crock pot lunches. The food cooks too long overnight and is mushy. We liked steamed potatoes and wild rice soup, though. Neither of these take very long to cook for lunch, and I can save it for my husband for his next day lunch.

[cecac]

Well, hubby and I are losing weight.

I think my hunger is settling down, but I dunno. I have to eat like 5-6 times per day.

I tried Grainy Mushrooms casserole last night, and quite frankly, I really didn't like it. A couple of the children got sick to their stomach on it, too. I think we do best at just eating the grains simply cooked with lots of veggies or fruits.

I dropped eating any raisins/nuts for breakfast and stick with oatmeal and fresh fruit. I generally have to eat oatmeal twice, though, and one piece of fruit to stay energized.

I snuck in a little ranch dressing twice this week, and we had a little olive oil 1-2 times. I discovered I like Bragg Liquid Aminoes on my salads, though. Not much else in the way of cheating. We are trying to just keep going. I also transitioned to not eating bread every day, and I try to keep my tortillas (not every day) to just one when we eat wraps. I was eating 1/2 an avacado each day, too, but I am lessening on that as well.

I was feeling funky last night (had walked and therefore sweat a whole lot) and I noticed that since I ate some dried fruit/fresh fruit/sunflower seed/almond salad with my dinner I felt considerably better. I may need to eat the one ounce of nuts every day, and I think at dinner may be a good time to do it. I've been dizzy a couple of times this week, too.

I weighed 168.4 this morning, and that is down about 3 pounds for a week. My husband is down to 209 pounds, about three or a little more pounds for him, too.

[cecac]

Hubby and I went to a vegetarian place to eat, and I had them leave off the cheese from the mushroom soft tacos (homemade corn tortillas). I had a little salad with refried beans and brown spanish rice.

I think there must have been alot of oil in that meal, a while afterward while at the store I didn't feel so well. It was high salt, too.

So, I gained some weight. Hopefully alot of rice and veggies today will drop it again. My husband did not.

I am very salt sensitive and oil sensitive.

I guess I need to read around here about some suggestions on where to eat. I could have just had the beans and brown spanish rice with a salad. Maybe I'll just do that next time, though it likely had the oil in it.

[cecac]

I am not seeing a reduction in pain and I am gaining weight, though I haven't reached my high weight yet.

Off the bread bandwagon go I.

Oh yes, there will be alot of internal emotions for a bit where I am concerned.

BUT my husband bought me a rice cooker, so I'm going to keep a pot of rice/wild rice/potatoes or millet at all times.

Kicking wheat will be easy without eating bread/tortillas/pasta.

And then, once my weight is back to normal, I'm hoping I can add the wheat back in. Perhaps by that time I will be able to tell if the wheat is a huge issue with my aches and pains when I introduce it.

My husband is encouraging, as he is losing weight steadily, and keeping it off. He just fusses about the bag of potatoe chips left over from our former days. I'm taking those to church very soon, for the buffet.

[cecac]

I am down to 166.8 and my husband is down to 205.6.

We are delighted with dh's progress, as he has not been able to lose weight like this without either alot of exercise or a strict diet that he has to pay attention to just how much of this or that.

I am working on getting some more tasty foods in here, and I have had progress with salad dressings with no oil.

I do not know if this diet is helping with aches and pains. It is hard to tell. Maybe at the one month mark I will be able to report more definite signs of relief. The problem is that I have slight scoliosis and also a twisted pelvis that are a problem for me, anyway. I've been told those are not things that should cause pain. When they tell me that I want to tell them to go say it to someone else because that isn't the case with me. Anyway, I decided to also go to my chiropractor twice a month for a while because I generally just tend to ignore the pain. I need to stop that.

I went too low salt and wasn't drinking enough water. These two issues are resolved and I am feeling much better. I do not know why, but it seems this diet makes me notice my need for water more.

As to added salt, it is not very much.....1/2 or 1/4 teaspoon in large pots of whatever I am fixing, and then I do sometimes salt my food at the table. Not always, though.

I am going to get corn tortillas, rice cakes, and perhaps some rice noodles for next week. I tried sweet potatoes this week and really enjoyed them, and so I think having those baked in the refrigerator to put cooked veggies on will be one regular menu item for me. That is helpful when my hubby and kids are having whole wheat pasta.......

[momof4]

Great progress, Cara! Is it the 3-2-1 dressing that you like?

Have you seen a physical therapist? I've had great experiences with them since they give thorough evaluations and show me what I can do on my own to help with posture and other problems.

[cecac]

I started with that one, approximately. It is sweet and that is okay some, but I am more of a savory type dressing person, so I went to Bragg's, balsamic vinegar, and dijon also. I like them both. I am going to try to get ahold of miso, and I've taken a couple of Mrs. McDougall's sauce recipes off the main website archived newsletters. I think this will go a long way to dressing up veggies. One is a sauce with peanut butter. I also see some things with tahini. I know those are higher fat options, but seeing as how these are sauces/dressings a little goes a long way in my experience.

Thank you for the encouragement!

As to a physical therapist.....I've had dubious results. It may be I didn't click with the ones I've gone to, though. I know alot of people get help that way.

[cecac]

I am So wiped out. I gained a pound from yesterday, so I'm at 165 now. I lose, but it is an up and down thing that is trending down. I've lost 5-6 pounds in almost three weeks.

I did walk three days in a row (and therefore, sweat three days in a row) so that may have tripped me up. Generally speaking I should only exercise every other day.

I salt my food to taste, though I have consistently cut down on the salt added to my family's pots of rices and beans and sauces, etc.

We had visitors (22 people in our home) on Saturday. Then I went to church on Sunday and that is always a big/loud crowd with pot luck for lunch.

By yesterday I was just mentally wiped out and then my baby boy had a slight fever and now I have a slight sore throat. That was a bug that the dear family who came on Saturday had had a week before. I think we just got a smidgen of it.

But, except for about 3 bites of a cake and 3 bites of the homemade pizza (minus the crust) that was not anywhere near on plan (I ate a salad with a smidgen of Ranch dressing and a 1/2 of a butternut with a homemade pasta sauce) I have continued to do very well on the diet.

Admittedly, though, I eat more nuts/peanut butter and also some dried fruit. Neither of these things are optimal for weight loss, but I dunno. I'm not sure but that if I cut out the nuts/peanut butter it would not help my endocrine system. As it is, I am getting very fatigued and my feet are very sore in the morning. My back is sore alot also. It's like, when I awake in the morning, that I've been beat up a bit. Though, I sleep deeper on this diet, and that is so nice.

The feet soreness is so puzzling. It started with my tenth pregnancy. I was told by my Chiro/OMD that it was my adrenals just struggling that much more. He actually got mad and chewed me out for it, like as if I shouldn't have had this baby. I don't even know if the foot soreness is related to adrenal fatigue.....so I don't know.

I will keep going, though, and give it more time. I need to exercise, yes, but I also need to be careful not to overdo. I had blood work taken today, and I will see my MD in another week: I had TSH, cortisol, cholesterol, and iron levels taken.

[sksamboots]

Take care of yourself

[cecac]

Take care of yourself

Thank you.

I am compelled to be honest. At my hubbie's insistence I ate a steamed chicken breast along with my salad, butternut squash in pasta sauce, and peanut butter/banana rice cake. I think the pasta sauce had some oil in it, but I was too tired to fix my own fat free one. My 16 yo son cooked, and he used up the last of the bottled pasta sauce from our Saturday party.

See, while I couldn't lose weight with a higher protein/fat diet, my adrenals appeared to do better.....I am going to not eat any more animal food or added fat until next week, hopefully, and see what happens with the blood work.

I will go back to taking my minerals (I'm having foot cramps tonight because I keep forgetting to take them) and I think I'll put 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of pink sea salt in a pint of water each morning to see if I can get some more stamina.

On the bright side, my blood pressure is nice this week, not too low. It had begun to dip, so that is good. It was 118/76 once this week, and I think 132/70something another time.

I wasn't like this before I started the diet. ***sigh*** I had this problem last time I tried it. If anyone reads this and knows what I'm doing that may be contributing to endocrine system flare up, please let me know. I'd like to figure this out this time.

[cecac]

Mrs. Doodlepunk has been encouraging me via pm, and I think I will keep going. I think I overdid my exercise and that coupled with alot of people/noise over the weekend tipped the endocrine scales in the wrong direction.

I cannot say that the meat helped, but I cannot say that it hurt, either. I managed to lose 2/10 of a pound anyway from yesterday.

I took 1/4 teaspoon pink salt in a pint of water this morning and I am resting. I took my minerals last night and I will try to get consistent with that each evening.

I know I should likely (according to plan rules) drop the peanut butter and nuts, but I am just going to concentrate on keeping my diet as it is without cutting out anything else and also be more careful with exercise. I will get my blood test results next Tuesday so I think I'll have a better idea then if I need to change anything.

My husband is down to 205. I am down to 165.6

[sksamboots]

Yup,

Your doing fine and if you have any more questions about what your eating maybe you should post on Jeff's Forum?? Hope your day is good

[cecac]

Thank you! I'm just not sure what I'd need to ask......so I'll wait.