Grit and Determination

[moonlight]

Sunday Day 91 (190 lbs)

Well, I've dropped back to 190. I love that. It really keeps me going to track my weight daily. I'm headed to a concert in Asheville NC tonight. Plans to eat at a vegan restaurant. Baking potatoes for the ride home. Plan to take salad and baked potatoes for after the concert for the 2-hour ride home. My husband will likely stop at a fast food joint and order a cheese bacon burger and fries. I'm not too worried about being tempted with that. I'll just need to smell it to know I don't need that in my system.

30 minutes on the water rower

B: corn grits
L: Fried Rice - recipe from MWL cookbook - I love it with a version of the sauce recipe from the Sweet and Sour Vegetables recipe - YUM!
D: Meal at Vegan Restaurant in Asheville - very yummy and I don't think it had much oil or fat. It did cost $18 though,,,
Snack: rice cake, FF baked potatoes, a small serving of leftover fried rice

I think when I got home from our trip to Asheville I needed to eat for more than hunger. Sometimes when I've had a very fun and exciting day I need to unwind by snacking. At least tonight I snacked on nutritious MWL compliant food.

[moonlight]

Tuesday Day 93 (190 lbs)

30 minutes on water rower yesterday and today

Yesterday I was late and without lunch so I bought a deli cheese sandwich. Not the best decision but it worked. Last night I craved all kinds of food, thought I was hungry. I fought off the desire to go off plan even more. Saved by the popcorn!!

I've noticed I've been sleeping much better. When I wake up during the night I'm not wanted to binge on food. That is such a relief. Even though I didn't make the wisest choice for lunch yesterday, I feel this subtle change about my attitude about staying on the plan. I feel a sense of calmness.

B: Oatmeal with a banana
L: Corn grits, black beans, lettuce and salsa
D: roasted sweet potatoes, carrots, and purple onion - it was beautiful and yummy
snack: unsweetened applesauce, popcorn

[moonlight]

Wednesday Day 94

I'm feeling weak and achy today.. hope I'm not getting sick... Don't feel up to exercising... maybe tonight

B: corn grits
L: baked FF potatoes and ketchup
Snacks: orange, popcorn
D: Garbanzo Stew and WW pasta with tomato sauce
Bedtime weakness snack: 1 slice swiss cheese
During the night snack: plain WW pasta...

I forgot to report the candy! My wonderful husband felt the need to give me a box of chocolates. We had already had a discussion in which I told him I didn't want candy and didn't want to go out for dinner. I bought him a cheesecake. He gave me flowers and a card in the morning but in the late afternoon I guess he felt he needed to get me a little box of chocolates... It only had 5 pieces, which was just perfect - if you must get a box of chocolates while trying to lose weight.

[moonlight]

Thursday Day 95 (191 lbs)

So yesterday was not the best for dieting, neither was Tuesday! I read other people's journals and it seems they can just start this WFSB diet and not look back. They don't have "off" days like me... Oh well, I'm not them... All I can do is set my intention for WFSB eating, work to keep my environment favorable for WFSB dieting, educate myself, take time to reflect, then move forward. Those are great achievements! Chin up!!

When I don't feel good, like yesterday, I think eating will make me feel better.

30 min on water rower

B: nothing - ate during the night
L: the last of the WW pasta, potato soup, and veggie salad
D: Coleslaw with tarragon dressing recipe from MWL cookbook. The dressing has be sitting in fridge for a couple of weeks. Very good. Green Potato Soup

[moonlight]

Saturday Day 97

So yesterday turned out to be a very low energy day for me. I started watching TV early afternoon. Binge watching TV then finally binge eating to go along with binge watching. A binge of an afternoon! I ate lots of things not on my diet. Not a lot of any one thing besides the roast beef and cheese sandwich (I felt good because I didn't use mayo!). Finally about 6:30 I was finished with the low energy binge attitude. I rowed for 30 minutes. Then my husband called after getting off from work and wanted to eat out. I convinced him that take out would be cool. We ordered from a Chinese restaurant. I ordered steamed veggies with brown rice. A nice way to end an afternoon of binge eating.

Today I'm fighting off the urge to continue binge eating. I'll get through today and I bet I'll be back on track. Yesterday morning I took the dog to the vet for her annual check-up. I gave the staff the leftover candy I had from Valentine's Day. About a week before Valentine's Day I bought two bags of candy to give out as gifts. I ended up not giving much of it because it didn't feel right to give out candy when I didn't think it was healthy enough for me. I should have thrown it away. Now the workers at the vet office will eat it and feel bad about eating crap. Maybe they will just eat a piece or two. I was afraid I would binge and eat it all. By the way my afternoon went yesterday, I think that would have happened.

This weekend I plan to batch cook. I picked out a few recipes from MWL cookbook and made a grocery list. I'm going shopping soon. I'm still cooking through the cookbook. I realized one thing I like about cooking from the cookbook is not having to modify recipes because of added fat. The recipes were made to be eaten the way they are written. I don't have to make the decision to leave out an ingredient. Another positive for me is the finite nature of the cookbook. I only have so many recipes to choose from. Somehow I think that makes it easier to plan a menu, especially a menu balanced with salads, soup, and entrees. I probably have another month or so to go until I've cooked all the recipes. It's surprising how many recipes are in a cookbook.

B: Roasted FF potatoes and ketchup
L: Black beans with couscous
S: Couscous with tomato sauce, allium soup, curried potato
snack: popcorn, banana

[moonlight]

Sunday Day 98

Rowed 30 minutes
Hiked 4.5 miles

B: Nothing
L: potato salad
snacks: a few nuts, a few chocolate espresso coffee beans
D: restaurant food - grits with cheese, grilled shrimp, salad, dinner roll with butter....
Snack: banana with slice of bread

[moonlight]

Tuesday Day 100

Yesterday I went hiking. I hiked 7 miles roundtrip. It was a modertely steep hike so I felt like I got a good workout. My diet choices were much better yesterday. I had oatmeal for breakfast; sweet potatoes, sweet peppers, and an orange while hiking; and two white potatoes, garbanzo stew, popcorn, a banana, and 2 rice cakes in the evening.

Today's diet:
B: corn grits
L: veggies sushi rolls, 2 veggies summer rolls, and 2 white poatoates
Snack: popcorn (2x)
Dinner: banana sandwich - banana with 2 slices WW bread...

Hanging on by my determined gritty fingernails!!

[bunsofaluminum]

Tuesday Day 100

Yesterday I went hiking. I hiked 7 miles roundtrip. It was a modertely steep hike so I felt like I got a good workout. My diet choices were much better yesterday. I had oatmeal for breakfast; sweet potatoes, sweet peppers, and an orange while hiking; and two white potatoes, garbanzo stew, popcorn, a banana, and 2 rice cakes in the evening.

Today's diet:
B: corn grits
L: veggies sushi rolls, 2 veggies summer rolls, and 2 white poatoates

woah, 7 miles! I'm impressed. You're rocking it!

[moonlight]

Thanks, Buns! It was fun. Here in east Tennessee the weather has been nice the last couple of days so hiking in short sleeves has been a treat! I feel it today, though! I'm achy.

[bunsofaluminum]

wait, you live in Tennessee and you love hiking.

I had a pen pal briefly who was all that, AND a nanny. She wrote me letters about hikes she had taken with her little charge! What a nice reminder of a brief enjoyable contact.

Fly lives in Nashville, though, which is more central TN. Anyway...wow, hadn't thought of her in a while.

[Ruff]

Hi Moonlight, I am catching up on people’s journals this morning and have been reading yours. Isn’t it amazing how getting outside helps? I have found I have a much better day (usually) if I get out with the dog first thing.

Well done for getting back on the wagon so quickly, once I’m off I’m normally off for days.

Katie

[moonlight]

Wednesday Day 101 - marathon work day!

Oh boy! I'm struggling!!! This is where the determination and grit need to step up and take center stage!

Katie, hi! Thanks for the encouragement. It will get me off this slippery slope to nowhere! How do those pounds come back so quickly! I swear it took longer to gain them the first time around!

Sunday I did great staying on plan during the day, then blew it at dinner time. Monday I hiked 7 miles and managed to stay on the MWL program all day. Tuesday I managed to stay on plan but ate a lot of food - mostly popcorn. Today I blew it again. I didn't take lunch to work. I ate a pretty good salad. I ate 'lite' salad dressing and some crackers. Tonight I went to a Mexican restaurant. I had a beer, chips, and cheese. Then, at home, decided eating cottage cheese was a good idea. I feel the slippery slope!! I can feel with each time I go off plan it is easier to go off more with less guilt. I gotta get a grip! I'm thinking about trying to focus on eating only at mealtime and one evening snack. So, that's 3 meals then one snack. I'm going to try that for a few days. My ultimate goal is to just stay compliant with food from MWL plan only - but I'll try to take it a step further to only eat 3 meals. Tomorrow is a new day! My fridge is stocked from an intentional grocery store run on Saturday. I just never took the time to prepare the food.

Buns, yes, I feel blessed to live close to the mountains. If I could hike everyday I would think I had left all my wordly troubles behind and had drifted to another plane of existence!

[bunsofaluminum]

Wednesday Day 101 - marathon work day!

Oh boy! I'm struggling!!! This is where the determination and grit need to step up and take center stage!

Katie, hi! Thanks for the encouragement. It will get me off this slippery slope to nowhere! How do those pounds come back so quickly! I swear it took longer to gain them the first time around!

Sunday I did great staying on plan during the day, then blew it at dinner time. Monday I hiked 7 miles and managed to stay on the MWL program all day. Tuesday I managed to stay on plan but ate a lot of food - mostly popcorn. Today I blew it again. I didn't take lunch to work. I ate a pretty good salad. I ate 'lite' salad dressing and some crackers. Tonight I went to a Mexican restaurant. I had a beer, chips, and cheese. Then, at home, decided eating cottage cheese was a good idea. I feel the slippery slope!! I can feel with each time I go off plan it is easier to go off more with less guilt. I gotta get a grip! I'm thinking about trying to focus on eating only at mealtime and one evening snack. So, that's 3 meals then one snack. I'm going to try that for a few days. My ultimate goal is to just stay compliant with food from MWL plan only - but I'll try to take it a step further to only eat 3 meals. Tomorrow is a new day! My fridge is stocked from an intentional grocery store run on Saturday. I just never took the time to prepare the food.

Buns, yes, I feel blessed to live close to the mountains. If I could hike everyday I would think I had left all my wordly troubles behind and had drifted to another plane of existence!

Oh! this three meals a day thing! I've been doing it for almost two years and it has made me SO sane about food. I follow the "No S Diet" you can google it. There's a website and a FB page. I'm telling you, more than anything else I've ever done, No S has created food sanity in my life.

Some VERY decent changes in my relationship with food, simply because I disciplined myself one meal at a time not to over eat nor have dessert...nor snack!

[moonlight]

Thursday Day 102

Thanks, Buns. I'm hoping the 3 meals a day plan will help me stop emotional eating - or whatever my binging is from. Of course today I'm not doing it! I'm not organized. I need to take some time to plan and have meals ready. Hopefully I'll do that this evening. So far today I've stayed on MWL food plan today but I've already eaten 4 times and it's only 5:00 in the afternoon! I hope you are doing well and recovered from the incident in the store with the crazy man.

B: Potatoes cooked in the crockpot with sweet mustard dressing
Brunch: potato allium soup
Lunch: Kale salad with FF dressing
Afternoon snack: potato from crockpot
D: Curried eggplant from MWL cookbook and white rice (no brown rice cooked)
Snack: popcorn

[moonlight]

Friday Day 103

Made it through the night without waking up and eating. Woot! Woot!

B: Oatmeal
Snack: 2 rice cakes
L: Curried eggplant and corn grits
D: Potatoes and large kale salad
snack: ww bread and corn (very odd snack!)