Annette's Journal

[AnnetteW]

Plopped it all into Cronometer and was a bit over 1800 cals (definitely need to drop that number a bit if I want to see some weight loss). And don't worry, I have no plans on tracking calories, but once and awhile it is eye opening.

Cals were at 1830, Carbs were at 400g , Fat at 9g , and Protein at 60g

I think I need to concentrate on being more busy in the afternoon to not be around food. Two things stick out to me, one was that I ate that full bag of frozen mango, something I do regularly and easily. Heck, I have a whole watermelon waiting to be cut up and enjoyed (after freezing of course). And there really was no need to eat a double serving of pasta last night, that's just a bit of my over indulgent side coming out.

Okay, enough thinking for today. I am done....off to start my day.

[AnnetteW]

No bitching and harping from me today (okay, maybe a little bit...lol). My weight is down to 153.0, so I've broken to my lowest weight (not counting the recent colonoscopy) and the 1 week out of town weight is gone. Not bad and I won't complain one bit about that.

But I felt lousy all week, super tired and drained and I assumed it was from the traveling and stress related to the workshop. Nope, I have a cold. Sore throat started yesterday and through the night, today I'm a bit stuffy and a bit of crud in the chest.

Crap crap crap...I don't want to be sick. But I can't change it, so it is what it is.

Yesterday was a good eating day. On my lunch out with friends I did NOT have a glass of wine, check that off the list (though I will have it occasionally). The waiter took my order and I said I'd like to order a salad not on the menu, just a large dinner salad with greens and raw veggies, no cheese or croutons. Of course he asked about dressing and I said oil and vinegar (obviously I just used the vinegar.) The salad was perfect, nice greens, lots of red onions and other veggies and quite a bit of corn on it. That was good. And in my purse were two microwaved potatoes which I plopped on top of my salad. I had checked the menu ahead of time and they only had baked potatoes after 4 PM. And mine didn't cost.

My lunch was under $10, which is also nice.

Since I was out of the house much of the day I was home late and only had an apple as a snack.

For dinner I made the pasta salad that was on the Summer issue of Forks Over Knives magazine, and it was awfully yummy. Even my husband loved it. And he didn't even make any other meat to eat with it.

I did eat too much of it, but yet I was down 1.5 lbs this morning, so the water retention and all is out of me.

So pleased.

Now to hopefully not get a horrid cold.

[moonlight]

Yay you on taking your potatoes to lunch! Way to go!

I hope your cold is short-lived! This is the healthiest diet for such things.

[AnnetteW]

Crap is running around in my head.

One week ago today I was driving back from my week in Dallas. My scale this morning was at a new low, YEA ME! It's nice to know I'm back on plan, but I still have to become better at eating out, stronger about it too.

When I was in Dallas I had a severe hive flare up over much of my body. At the time I assumed it was an allergic reaction. I am definitely sensitive in the skin arena. A few days ago here at home I had another smaller hive attack. This morning I woke up with hives. I did some googling and it said 80% of hives are viral. Huh....I've had a cold since I got back too. The cold itself has been relatively mild.

Just something interesting for me to pay attention to.

I think I'm the only person who has not seen a reduction in eczema from a change in diet. I do know I'm highly allergic to seasonal allergens (they come out in my skin, not my nose) and also cats, which I have, and molds (I like in an old house with a scary basement.) Perhaps those are what are holding me back. I've tried food elimination in the past and it didn't show anything. I've been allergy tested a few times too.

It's just frustrating. Perhaps I'm just not there yet.

But aches and pains are gone, for real. That is something I have to keep forefront in my mind and remember all the time.

Oh, this morning I threw out almost ALL my bottles and jars of supplements, and also of yucky things no one really wants to eat, like chlorella and spirulina and wheatgrass. How gross is that. That all filled up a garbage bag, and I felt a bit sick doing it, the money I spend on magical cures. I do it with skincare products too. I don't know why I try, nothing helps....but I'm always looking for the one thing that is it.

So now I have to not buy any supplements. I never was good at taking them anyway. I grew up with a father who literally force fed us vitamins. He got onto the vitamin kick when I was maybe 7 or so. Once my mom commented to me that they spent more money each month on supplements than on food. That's a horrible thought, and they always ate quite well. But now I realize it wasn't good enough. I've mentioned before my father's alzheimer's disease.

I don't really have a plan for today, but I still am recuperating from my cold so I want to stay home and just take it easy.

Breakfast - oats, banana, oatmilk
Lunch - rice, black beans, salad?
Snack - frozen watermelon
Dinner - not a clue yet

[bunsofaluminum]

good for you, tossing that stuff! but it must be frustrating to have no results on your eczema. I thought it was related to gluten. My son has it, too and I'm always telling him to drop gluten LOL and he doesn't listen. But you're right, the supplements are largely a waste of money. So well done on getting that out of the way!

[AnnetteW]

Eczema can have a zillion causes. And you can imagine that by age 56, I've tried most everything. A little over 3 years ago I went steroid free, suffered terribly while I did it, but I did it. But about 2 months ago I gave in and started using on my hands ago. There is only so much a person can take.

I've had allergy tests, and do have true allergies to gold and cobalt (which is in foods and B-12 btw). Seasonal allergies and animals and etc. sure don't help.

I've tried food elimination and trust me, that is extremely difficult. I went once over a month with no gluten, but who knows how perfect I did or not, or if other things were bothering me at that same time. Reaction can change.

I've been tested twice for celiac disease, as the rash I had at that time appeared to be dermatitis herpetiformis, and also biopsies for the same. Everything negative. Yet, I will admit, my rash (at those times) did look like DH.

My plan has been to keep doing this diet and hopefully things will just get better. When the major allergens are already out of the body, one can only hope a yet stricter diet isn't necessary.

I had thought maybe as I was closer to my goal weight I would then venture in deeper to try a stricter diet. I don't want to have to avoid gluten (for instance.) I love baking bread.

At the same time, perhaps I'll give it a go for a week or so, just see what happens. My body (except for my hands) is doing well skinwise. I do also have mild scalp psoriasis.

My aches and pains are gone, my bowels and gut feel great and are acting lovely. My weight is much too stable for my taste right now, I'm definitely eating to maintain too well.

We always tend to try new things when we are feeling bad, but I'm feeling good, so many now is a good time to try it. I'm not sure how long it takes for gluten reactions to stop. For instance I know I had some last night at dinner. I guess I can start a little journal and see what happens.

Chances are I'll cave by tomorrow. I hate restriction.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This morning I ate hashbrowns rather that oats for breakfast, and had already thought of cutting back on the fruit. And I ate more potatoes for lunch, along with a big salad and some grapes. No clue what dinner is.

I want to see my weight drop, but I find it so hard to eat less. I have to keep paying attention to calorie density. I know I was too dense last night for dinner with a homemade veggie burger (with rice, walnuts and gluten, ha ha), and a small bun.

I can do this. I will do a little research and give it a try, 1 week at a time, 1 day at a time.

I want to be slim and I don't want to itch.

[AnnetteW]

I put 100% in yesterday, and am really going to focus on 100%. But I've already decided to think of it in individual meals or snacks (if necessary) instead of for a day. If I blow one meal, there is no need for me to blow the next. And actually, I haven't blown very many meals. A few where I said "what the hell" and on my trip I did just give up a few times, I don't do well in social situations AND starving.

I watched a video with Doug Lisle and plateaus, and he said there's no such thing as a setpoint, and that our body is in equilibrium. I love that, it resonates with me. Over the past years as I've gained and lost weight, there are weights my body stayed at for long periods of time, so I considered them setpoints. But now I can throw that idea away.

183 has always been a high weight, where I've gone to a few times before starting a new diet.
164 was always a prior high weight, so definitely an equilibrium point
144 is another one

Interesting, interesting. They are all in 20 lb increments. I've considered my goal to be to get under 130 and see where my weight might go. Perhaps 124 is my true goal, which is quite possible for my body, and quite slim and trim.

In that same video he also said 3 things determine our body/weight/equilibrium (I don't remember exactly so don't want to quote incorrectly). They are our genes, the food we put in our body and the amount of exercise we get, exercise being the least important. Our genes we can't change so that makes food most important. But then when you get to an equilibrium stage (where I've definitely been this past month) you have to change something. Some people have genes that need to exercise to lose weight.

Once again that is such an interesting concept to me, because when I look back throughout the years, my best weight loss has always been with lots of exercise. And usually the exercise needs to be relatively easy on my body and for extended periods, like lots of walking. One summer, friends and I did daily 4 miles walks, with one 7 mile walk a week. I lost weight so nicely and felt so good.

I hate to exercise in the Kansas summer heat, I easily get heat rashes. But I do have a gym membership and need to do more easy cardio at the gym, rather than only my exercise classes. I need to work on this, I just need to do it. My foot (had surgery a few years ago) has been acting up a bit, and it was sore when walking the dogs the other night, and sore at dance class, and sore when we walked the dogs when we got home. That bothers me so much, scares me....as I know I need to walk.

I'll plan on doing the elliptical for 30 min today, not too hard, just to keep moving. Then I have an exercise class. Also I have to take my car in for a recall service, and instead of sitting and reading in the waiting room, will take myself out to walk around town. Luckily there is a town in that area.

And focus on each meal individually....and try to keep any gluten out of my diet for at least a week. I know it should be longer, but I don't want to think longer yet.

Yesterday I only had potatoes as my starch and it wasn't too bad at all. I ended up eating potatoes with parsley and home grown tomatoes as a late night dinner, and still my weight dropped this morning.

Plan for today:

Breakfast - brown rice and canteloupe
Lunch - black beans and potatoes and some veggies
Snack - apple if necessary, I'll be out of the house at my munchie time so hope to avoid a snack
Dinner - baked potatoes with toppings of some sort or other, salad

[AnnetteW]

Yea me! Another day of 100%. All my foods were low caloric density, no cheats snuck in. I did 25 min on the elliptical at the gym before my regular exercise class. Then I walked a bit around town while the car was being serviced and another little walk with the dogs at night. I do well with easy exercise, though I do well with harder exercise too. But with easy exercise I don't get any nagging joint or muscle issues. Those tend to appear with a bit too much repetitive cardio, I really will start to feel my hips.

Today's plan is simple, just keep doing what I'm doing, keep stringing those days along. My weight is at 151.8 for two days in a row now, so I'm starting to taste the 140's. I'm excited to get into a new 10 lb weight loss range, because I have 130 set as my first goal. It's starting to seem so close, though I know this is when it takes forever. Heck, this 150 range has taken forever, especially the lower end of it, and I'm still not there. Two lbs sounds like nothing, so why is it so difficult.

I'm just happy that my mind is feeling pretty good right now. Being on track and staying on track are the answer. And I might say I'm doing 100%, but I also know I'm not perfect, and I need to allow for that. And when that happens, it's over and done.

I'm definitely feeling less like overeating lately. I know after my recent trip, I felt so hungry in the mornings and a few mornings literally ate double sized portions of oats/bananas. My one issue is that I eat a large lunch and usually more fruit afterwards, then I need a very very small dinner or I snack on some fruit, and then really don't need/want dinner. My husband does like dinner and I naturally eat some dinner (though I'm trying to focus on smaller). The other day I skipped dinner but was pretty hungry by 9PM when I ate potatoes. I don't like that. I'd like to be hungry for dinner. This has always been a bit of a problem for me, one of the reasons I've gained, my husband would do almost all the cooking, which would be very substantial and delicious and I'd eat, though not hungry.

I was listening to Dr. Doug Lisle again yesterday (he's one of my new gurus) and he said he always leaves food on his plate. I always scrape off every last bit (Chef AJ said the same.) So I'm going to start working on training myself to leave some food. I'm not sure if I can for breakfast as I tend to make just enough, but I definitely can do it for lunch and dinner. It's probably more of a mind game than anything. But anything that changes some of my thoughts around food would be good for me.

I haven't thought about my food plans for today yet. But I will be going to the gym for cardio and exercise class.

[AnnetteW]

Plan for today:

Breakfast - quinoa with diced apples and cinnamon (I thought this would be blah and dull, with no salt or sweetener, but it's quite delicious. My tastes have changed so much. I'd still prefer a bit of soy milk, but alas)

Lunch - beet greens and other veggies and potatoes cooked in some manner, not sure yet (I know that's what I have, the fridge is getting emptied)

Snack - Will try my best not to snack today, or have an apple

Dinner - quinoa tabboule salad, lentil salad, beet salad, all to eat with a nice green salad.

Exercise - cardio at gym, functional fitness class at gym

[sirdle]

Plan for today:

Snack - ... or have an apple

An apple a day keeps the doctor away...

[AnnetteW]

@sirdle, that's funny. Thanks for sharing and for checking in on my journal.

I'm sure I'll be having the apple

Just made my lunch of 2 russet potatoes in the microwave, and cooked together onions, cabbage, carrots beet stems/greens, some crushed tomato, garlic and Costco salt free seasoning. Okay seriously...how is it possible that this actually tastes good, especially with no salt or other seasoning. The canned tomatoes were really low in sodium too.

I spent time dropping back on my sodium, but in the past few days I just stopped totally, and my food tastes so good. It's going to be scary the next time I do eat out (unless it's a plain salad).

Back from the gym, 30 min on the arc trainer, not too hard but I was sweating, then the 1 hour exercise class WAS hard. I'm kind of beat now.

But dang, I feel good and positive and focused.

[Morris]

I watched a video with Doug Lisle and plateaus, and he said there's no such thing as a setpoint, and that our body is in equilibrium.

Now that is interesting - mostly likely setpoint and equilibrium have the same, or close to the same thing depending on interpretation. But I got to thinking about my hair, it hits a particular length and then stops growing. At one point in time it stayed close to the same length for about 10 years, it wouldn't get any longer. Your comment made me think perhaps my body does the same thing when it chooses to stay "forever' at a particular number on the scale.

[AnnetteW]

I watched a video with Doug Lisle and plateaus, and he said there's no such thing as a setpoint, and that our body is in equilibrium.

Now that is interesting - mostly likely setpoint and equilibrium have the same, or close to the same thing depending on interpretation. But I got to thinking about my hair, it hits a particular length and then stops growing. At one point in time it stayed close to the same length for about 10 years, it wouldn't get any longer. Your comment made me think perhaps my body does the same thing when it chooses to stay "forever' at a particular number on the scale.

With hair that is called "terminal length." Everyone's hair just is preprogrammed to grow a certain length. I know that mine is relatively short, my hair does not get very long. My step-daughter's is very long. I only learned about that when my daughter was trying to grow her hair out and struggled with it. It will go to the middle of her back but no longer.

I can't stop listening to Dr. Lisle. I'm learning so much.

[AnnetteW]

Quick post. Weight down to 150 this morning (and a few ounces.) I happily changed my weight in my signature. I can taste the 140's, so I have to be strong. And the weekend is coming which is always a bit more difficult . But I'm never more happy than to see a new low on the scale.

Plan for today:

Breakfast - millet, apple diced, cinnamon

Lunch - leftover salads from dinner yesterday

Snack - as needed, fruit

Dinner - not sure yet

Exercise - gym class, cardio, physical therapy, dancing tonight

[Ejeff]

Annette that is great success! This plan works so well. I went back and checked my progress and I lost 10 pounds in the first few weeks and by the 6 month mark I had lost 20. And then I lost another 10 the next year. And the best and most amazing part is the weight does stay off and I eat so much yummy food. I’m always amazed how more people won’t even try it, yet they all struggle to lose weight and continue gaining. Congratulations to you