Discussion Board

Mary... Thank you so much for your words of wisdom. What you are saying is very logical about how my family is reacting.

I don't know why I continue to be surprised by the continued lack of understanding and support from some people.

I actually blogged today about being called "extreme." Sad that in our world today eating healthy is extreme, but getting cut open to have organs removed or replace is not considered extreme. It is pretty backwards.

I find that, while it is hard at the time to listen to people that put me down, it is giving me even more fight.

I love it! You and I have the same experience with family.

And yes, surround yourself with those who love you and you want to be like. In my cell phone, I have the friend I told you about listed by her name and then ...be careful. We have to remind ourselves of what we already know. I have been blessed with the friendship of a woman who actually likes who I am. It feels so very good.

And...I am chuckling and rolling my eyes with you on the "extreme" thing. What we consider normal today is akin to the gluttons of Rome who would gorge and then relieve themselves so they could go in and gorge some more.

Walk away into the the sunshine baby...you and your sexy husband!


Mary

Mary - I like the "be careful" next to the name. I might have to do that to remind myself.

This week is going well. I have been eating well... staying on plan. I have been noticing the scale doing strange things. I was gradually going downhill for most of the month so far and then suddenly this week I woke up with a three pound gain. It isn't fat, that is for sure, but I suspect it is sodium. I say it isn't fat because I doubt a handful of black olives on a pizza would cause a three pound gain, however... it would cause my body to retain because of the sodium. I am not eating salt at all now, so maybe even high sodium foods are going to effect me. I do have occasional hummus and corn chips (very occasional) and occasional black olives. So... usually the corn chips are baked, but there is still fat in them. I am going to see how the week ends and tighten up the reins a bit next week.

I need to exercise more. I have the energy, just not the motivation.

Unless you ate 10,500 more calories than you burned, it's not fat. Relax and drink some water.

Me too. Thank you.

Thanks nomkins I wasn't super worried, but I do pay attention because of my kidneys. I try to stay on top of things when I see an odd change. I am sure it is just too much sodium and you did make me think. It has been really cold and snowy the past couple days and I haven't been drinking much water. Today is better. I am keeping a glass of water by me so I remember.

Thank you KMD.

Today was the day to record my weight. It was an interesting week. I went down three pounds and slowly went back up three pounds. I think the culprit is sodium. I am not eating a bit of salt, but this week I had a few things that have high sodium...like tamari at dinner. I am not regretting it at all. My final weight stayed the same this week at 292. So I have still lost 13 pounds this month, which is 3 pounds above my goal. I just want to hold steady and not get in a rush and not go backwards. That is the goal as well. So far - so good! There has been no desire to eat off plan in the new year. The only thing that comes into play with that is corn chips and they are baked, so not really all that bad. I do know that I need to cut the soy sauce, avacado, nuts, seeds, and olives in order to be more successful on weight loss, but it isn't just about weight loss - it is about a lifestyle for my entire family and I am taking it more slowly for them too. I am not concerned with anything but slowly and steadily getting to my weight loss goals without the up and down yo-yo. My family is completely on board now. I never imagined that could happen. They are 100% with me. It is amazing. I love this lifestyle... everything about it. It isn't difficult with us all on the same page. There are no temptations in the house anymore. The entire month of January has been a huge success so far and if I can do that I can do it indefinitely!!

The question of food addiction answered here:

http://youtu.be/5VWi6dXCT7I

I really enjoyed this video. It has so much great information about food addictions. I put it here so I could find again easily and share it with those that may not have seen it.

Okay. Today was not good. *sigh* I'm not even sure why. We went out for lunch. I had Sushi... and vegetables and rice noodles... and then I had a couple of veggie spring rolls... and then some curry potatoes. It wasn't horrible. No dairy. No meat. Clearly there was oil in the curry sauce - I could see it and taste it. I also ate about three pieces of Sushi that had some kind of fish in them. I don't even like fish. Then I came home and had some chips and hummus for dinner.

Ironically, I started the day out with a healthy bowl of oatmeal and a grapefruit. I don't feel bad - but I feel full and sluggish. I just ate way too much and obviously made a couple of bad choice for weight loss.

Tomorrow is another day. I need to focus and was thinking about doing a Mary's Mini until the end of the month. It might help me get my focus back. I don't feel like I went off the deep end and lost sight of my goals, but the fat has to go. I want to stay on the downhill slope.

OMG, Debi....exactly what happened to me. You know I have struggled with my lack of energy. Then I started eating a lot better and adding in the tonic I take with iron and B12.

The question is: Is it the chicken or the egg? Is it McD or is it the tonic? I went out to eat and didnt do as good as you, I ate really concentrated Mexican....but like you the energy drain/depression came down upon me....wham!

It is the food. It is eating a healthy whole food diet. You said in a previous post:


You are incredible. I am so excited to see your determination and love of "life"! Life that energy giving quotient. You are really single minded.

Take care of yourself. You're family loves you and the health you are bringing into their lives. Restaurant feasting....ha, I laugh at you...you won't bring me down!

hahaha just some kidding around. But, Debi... wow... you, go girl!
Mary

Thanks Mary. You made me laugh! Yesterday was a complete failure and I still feel it this morning. Bleck! It isn't horrible. It just isn't great. I like feeling great.

I found myself up at 4:00 am in a panic because I forgot to buy my son granola bars for his lunch. We have been getting him some gluten free organic bars because we don't buy bread at all. Well, we are out. I scrambled and threw together my own version of granola bars in a big bowl and then baked it in the oven on parchment paper for a half hour. It looks good and smells good. Not sure yet if it tastes good. I hope he likes it. It will be cheaper and have less chemicals than the ones we buy. (ingredients: gluten free flour, gluten free oats, flax, cinnamon, baking powder, raisins, peanut butter, vanilla and rice milk) I didn't really measure stuff meticulously. I just threw it together. A tsp here and tsp there... a cup of this and a cup of that.

We'll see just how much of a plant based cook I am becoming. If the child will eat it. I am often amazed at things he enjoys that I think taste horrible or bland. He will say "wow mom, this is the best thing ever." lol... That is amazing for me to hear after months of whining and crying about things we didn't eat anymore.

Pushing forward. I need to make exercise an obsession. I hate it. I make myself walk once in a while, but I mentioned joining a gym last night and my husband laughed at me. Yes... laughed. He knows me. He said "why waste the money on something you won't do when you could get something at home that you would do - like a treadmill or a stationary bike." Now we are talking my language. I am considering a bike, but not a stationary bike... a real bike... one that I can put inside and make a stationary bike in the winter and ride outside in the summer. My boys both have bikes and I never go riding with them. Time for things to change.

This is a follow up to the granola bar post. They were delicious! However, they also have shown me that I have an issue with baking powder and so does my son. We both got horrible indigestion and heart burn from the granola bars. I had to throw them away. But, I have another batch ready to go in the oven. I did them differently.

I used 1 cup of brown rice flour, 2 cups gluten free oats, 1/2 cup flax, 1 tsp cinnamon... then I added 1 cut up banana, 1/2 cup applesauce, 1 cup rice milk, 1/4 cup peanut butter and 1 tsp vanilla. It went together very nicely. I used a 9x9" glass dish with parchment and am going to bake it for 30-40 minutes. Hopefully no heartburn tomorrow. And no more baking powder in this house. I forgot to put brown sugar, so they weren't great. We added a bit of honey on them... better.

I fell off the wagon hard yesterday. That's really the only way I can describe it. I could find several excuses, but I am not going to bother going down that road anymore. It is what it is. I ate food that wasn't good for me. I enjoyed it in the moment and I was overconfident. It tasted great. It fed the addictions I have been curbing for the past couple of months. I had Sushi... and not just vegetarian Sushi. I had several with fish, some with sauces, a couple with something deep fried in the middle. It was one meal. I always make good choices when going out... I always eat veggies and white rice... vegetable Sushi and green beans. Not yesterday...

To say I paid for my mistake is putting it lightly. I had no idea how my body could react to such an experience. I did feel like crap - yes... my stomach was in turmoil for most of the afternoon/evening and into the middle of the night, my digestive system went completely insane and my arthritis symptoms (that were basically gone) came back with a vengeance that shocked me. I had a hard time even walking for several hours last night because of my hips and back. Even at my worst eating, my arthritis symptoms were not that bad. My whole body just ached.

I went through several bouts of pondering "why" and then just gave up, because there is no reason why. The reason why is simple. I wanted the food more than I wanted to feel good in that moment. I was feeling over-confident with how great I was doing and feeling. There were many other factors, but what is important is that it really reminded me of how far I have come and while it all tasted really good and I missed the days of being able to eat what I want to eat... it didn't feel good. I didn't miss the pain, the irritation in my body and all of the other symptoms I now face for the next day or so... maybe longer.

I find there is no logic sometimes in being overweight. It truly is an addiction to food... and the need to feed that addiction. Just like any addiction, it feels great in the moment, but after, not so great. I am going to listen to Neal Barnard's Video with my husband today on food addiction. I am going to take it pretty easy on food the next few days and get back on track. We don't have any of that food in our house, and would never buy it anymore, so that is not an issue. It is just a matter of planning and following through ~ and staying out of the damn restaurants until I have a better handle on things ~ if ever.

In looking back, I really didn't think I had that much that was really horrible. I mean... a bite size piece of Sushi has less than a teaspoon of fish. My body let me know how wrong I was and I won't say it will never happen again, because I have been down that road. I will say - it made me think long and hard about my goals and my health. I want to feel good. I want to feel strong. I want to be pain free.

I had a really great talk with my sister today. We talk daily and live about 20 minutes apart. She has been so helpful to me. She has been a vegan for years and this past year took it a step further and got rid of oils, butters and processed foods. Anyway... I was telling her about my idea to count calories. She talked steady for several minutes and gave me an earful. We went back and forth discussing the benefits of calorie counting or not. She won. I will not be counting calories.

She brought up some really great points about how food is controlling me and i need to release from it. I am eating healthy - although adding a bit of fat here and there (olives, baked chips, hummus). She convinced me that I need to take my focus off food and put my focus on moving and exercising - something I started at the beginning of the year and dropped when the snow hit recently. We went through all of the years of "fad dieting" and she called me out on doing it again and treating this like a "diet" instead of a lifestyle... and looking for a new or better way.

She was absolutely right. I often don't even realize what I am doing, it is such a habit...almost like survival. I am a slave to the numbers and my body, however healthy I might feel, is weak from being so sedentary. She got me on Rip Essylstyn's workout routine today. I am starting with his set of stretches and walking. I also saw Fat Chef last night and it really made me think. I was the woman in the show, at nearly 300 pounds and not really going up or down. My sister encouraged me to stop focusing on the food. Just eat my healthy foods, however much I want - and MOVE, MOVE, MOVE. I did it today. I moved so much my body hurts, but I suspect I will have to endure the pain to build my strength. I am going to try it her way for a month... We'll see how it goes.