Blondie's October Challenge

[blondie]

I'm not really sure what I want to accomplish this month, except that I want to be improving my diet and maybe moving more quickly towards my goal weight. My weight loss was consistently 2 lbs. a week and now has slowed to about 1 lb. a week. I'm still not committed to MWL because I have been losing on regular plan, but probably need to be MWL most of the time.

So here's my food for Oct. 1:
B: Oatmeal with banana, 1 tbsp. walnuts, sprinkle of cinnamon, and packet of stevia powder; green tea
L: Broccoli potato soup
S: Honey wheat pretzels (the last of the package, and I plan to not buy them anymore because they are too tempting to me)
D:Tomato basil soup over brown rice, apple

Oct. 2 food:
B: Oatmeal same as before, green tea
L: Whole wheat pasta with homemade sauce (crushed tomatoes, zucchini, cabbage, stoplight peppers, onion, mushrooms, black olives, garlic, basil, and oregano)
D: Subway veggie sub on honey oat roll, apple

[landog]

All right, Blondie!
Good move on ditching the pretzels..

Wishing you well on this challenge!

-dog

[blondie]

Thanks, Landog! I welcome comments and suggestions!

[blondie]

Day 3:
B: Banana
30 minute walk and then 30 minutes at the gym for resistance
2 hours after eating banana, blood sugar was 100 --after exercising.

L: Leftover pasta with veggie sauce

D: Taco salad -- baked tortilla chips (4 corn tortillas cut in wedges and baked), about 1/2 cup ff refried beans, plateful of lettuce, a chopped tomato, onion, banana peppers, and salsa.

S: Apple

[blondie]

Finished up a major project for one of my classes today and did laundry. Went for a short walk this afternoon -- just needed to get outside after working at my desk all afternoon.

I had a headache all morning, and then realized this afternoon that I didn't have my usual cup of green tea -- could 1 cup of green tea cause withdrawal headache?

I feel like my eating schedule has been off today -- I usually eat oatmeal when I get home from exercising, but today I had errands to run and it was almost 11 by the time I got home, so I ate an early lunch, then had dinner about 3:00. I will have a salad with balsamic vin. while dh eats his dinner and plan for that to be the last eating I do today.

Checked my BP today and it was 110/60, pulse 58. It was never that good when I was on 2 meds for hypertension!

[blondie]

This morning's BP was 120/77, pulse 62. Fasting blood sugar was 105 this morning -- not sure why that is running a bit higher, but have been having some sinus discharge and yesterday had a headache, so maybe allergies or sinus infection starting up, or could be from eating an off-plan snack before bedtime last night?

Yesterday was not comfortable for me food-wise and I ended up eating a piece of bread with peanut butter before I went to bed last night. After missing breakfast and then trying to make do with 2 meals, it was not enough food to satisfy me until bedtime, so I ended up eating the junk that DH had left sitting out on the counter. So two strategies for preventing that from happening again -- (1) eat 3 meals a day, and (2) pick up his junk food and put it away in the pantry if he leaves it sitting out. (He is still eating SAD, but has recently given up milk products and sweets, and has lost about 25 lbs. from these 2 changes over the past 4-5 weeks or so. I want to only offer encouragement to him, so complaining about his leaving food out is not something I want to do right now.)

OK, so today is a new day. Starting off with my usual oatmeal, banana, cinnamon, and walnut breakfast with a cup of green tea. Will be going to the gym later this morning for elliptical and resistance machines.

[blondie]

Just got back from the gym. I was the only "customer" at the gym this morning and so I had time to quietly reflect while I worked out. I thought about my weight now, and where I want to be, and the progress I've made so far. My cholesterol is in the "normal" range, my blood pressure is excellent without the 2 meds I used to be on, my blood sugars are okay and A1C is in a good range. So my number 1 goal at this point is to continue to lose weight and eventually reach a normal BMI.

If I have to salt my food to make vegetables palatable, then so be it. If I don't eat massive amounts of vegetables, then that's fine too. If I have a cup of green tea in the morning with my breakfast, that's fine too. I don't have to be perfect about all the little fine-tuning aspects of this WOE, I just have to concentrate on eating whole foods, unprocessed, and no oil.

[RAS]

I've been reading your journals,you are doing great.I do not like oatmeal cooked with out salt. So I may just eat dry oats,with a piece of fruit mixed in. Fbs of 105 is pretty darn good.You weight is doing good too.As we lose the blood sugars will normalize. RAS

[SactoBob]

That 105 fbs is another step down. I hope that you will keep tracking. It would make an interesting graph for the end of the challenge.

[blondie]

That 105 fbs is another step down. I hope that you will keep tracking. It would make an interesting graph for the end of the challenge.

Thanks, Bob and RAS. It's actually unusual for my fasting sugar to be above 100; my sugars after meals are still in the 120-130 range most of the time, but fasting sugar has been below 100 since just a few days after I started this WOE.

Today's food:
B: Oatmeal with banana, cinnamon, and tbsp. walnuts; green tea with stevia.
L: Leftover pasta with veggie sauce
S: Apple
D: Big plate of salad greens and 3 sliced black olives, with brown rice, leftover FF refried beans, and salsa. Apple.

RAS, I don't really cook my oats -- I put 1 cup of rolled oats in a big bowl, add 2 cups of boiling water along with my cinnamon, banana, and walnuts and let it sit until the water is absorbed. They don't seem slimy to me this way like cooked oats can be.

DH wanted to go to walmart for dog biscuits and some of his red diamond tea, so I went in and grabbed an eggplant and bell pepper so I can try Gramma Jackie's ratatouille recipe tomorrow. Also have a big bowl of salad and a bit of leftover refried beans and brown rice, so tomorrow's cooking will be easy.

[Gramma Jackie]

Good luck on your challenge this month.

[blondie]

Thank you Gramma Jackie, hope we both make good progress this month! I'm making your ratatouille for dinner tonight, although I decided to put it in the oven instead of a skillet since DH was heating up the oven to make himself some parmesan chicken this evening. I've also got brown rice in the rice cooker to have with it.

I've had a wonderful day so far. Went to the park to walk a mile with one friend and another friend showed up unexpectedly who walks 2 miles. So I stayed and did 2 miles -- twice as much walking as usual. Then I went to the gym and did the resistance circuit 3x.

My trainer convinced me to try a massage, since I still had not used my discount for new gym membership (joined June 23). So this afternoon I had an appt. with the massage therapist at the gym...it was WONDERFUL. I felt so relaxed and peaceful after an hour full-body massage. I have a hard time doing things like that for me, so I'm going to come up with a reward system, maybe give myself a point for each day that I eat McDougall without cheats and a point for each day I exercise, and have a massage every time I accumulate a certain number of points.

Dinner smells wonderful!

[Chile]

I felt so relaxed and peaceful after an hour full-body massage. I have a hard time doing things like that for me, so I'm going to come up with a reward system, maybe give myself a point for each day that I eat McDougall without cheats and a point for each day I exercise, and have a massage every time I accumulate a certain number of points.

When I recommitted in late May, I sat down with my current weight and my goal weight and determined mini goals along the way. As I meet each one, I reward myself with a massage appointment.

Right now I am going to one of those Chinese foot reflexology places that have cropped up all over this area. For $35, I get foot reflexology and an almost full body massage but with the clothes on. He lays a sheet over the whole back/legs when I'm face down and does the massage. It is not the same as a traditional massage but I was surprised at how good it was.

I have two, maybe three, significant goals (to me) that when I reach will warrant a traditional massage. Those are more expensive so I can't do them more often but they give me something really special to look forward to. My next foot reflexology appointment is in just 7 1/2 pounds. If you look at my stats below, you'll see why.

[blondie]

That's awesome, Chili! 50 lbs. is quite a milestone!! I like your idea of rewarding weight loss goals with a massage, and not having to keep track of points or put money in a jar or whatever I was thinking of doing. Maybe I'll get a massage everytime I lose another 10 lbs. Today's hour-long full body massage was $50 because of my new member discount at the gym. Her regular price is $ 1 a minute.

Here's today's food:
B: Oatmeal with banana, cinnamon, tbsp. walnuts and pkg stevia; Chinese restaurant tea (oolong, jasmine, and green tea blend) with stevia
L: Big bowl of salad greens with the last bit of leftover brown rice and FF refried beans, with salsa and nut. yeast
S: Grapefruit
D: Ratatouille with brown rice (Gramma Jackie's yummy recipe), apple

[blondie]

This morning's blood sugar back down to normal -- FBS was 80. Blood pressure 118/67, pulse 60. I'm still amazed sometimes with these readings! My pulse was always in the 80s or 90s, even while taking a beta blocker (bisoprolol in BP med), and my blood pressure readings are better than they were while I was taking 2 BP meds. (And these kinds of readings despite the fact that I'm still obese!! I can only imagine how good I'll feel when I reach a healthy weight!)

Haven't figured out what I'll eat for dinner tonight -- my usual oatmeal for breakfast, and ratatouille leftovers for lunch.