We do have an assignable root cause...a cookie. Yes. One damn cookie. A calorie is not just a calorie.
I decided to chance a vegan, organic cookie. It was not sugar-free, but it wasn't super sweet. It was big. It had over 250 calories in it. So I didn't eat my big salad last night. I had cauliflower with parmesan and asiago. I only walked a mile. I got my basement organized and got some sewing done, but I'm afraid that doesn't count as exercise. I tried to do a steak day, but by about 10:30 I was so hungry my stomach actually hurt. I was able to hold off until almost 1 pm, but then I had brussels sprouts, string cheese and an apple. I had a tbsp. of peanut butter before our walk, that darn cookie as I was out running errands with my daughter, and the cauliflower late...like 7-ish. My husband and I did enjoy the last happy hour of a wonderful weekend. I do think some wine impacts me more than others, even if it's just a glass or two. So, it's either the cookie combined with the wine and not walking, or it's the time change messing with my internal rhythms. I know my husband is sick today. And having just watched a news program about how the time changes messes with peoples systems so much that heart attacks and suicides increase, it could be. I also only got about 5 out of the 8 hours of sleep I should have gotten. Bleh. I woke up wondering if and when I'd be able to fit a nap in. However, looking at the s
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I'm not sure how that is possible. We walked 4.5 miles yesterday in some challenging terrain. My glutes are sore. It took us 2 hours, so we weren't moving fast, but I think I used muscles that I don't typically use. We maneuvered over ice and mud and rocks.
My calorie intake was reasonable. I had an apple and a Baby Bell Gouda for breakfast, a sweet potato for lunch, 28 almonds as a snack after hiking, lots of water, and a BLT salad for dinner: romaine, tomato, onion, 2 pieces of bacon, 100 g chicken breast, avocado, 1 hard boiled egg and homemade blue cheese dressing...with greek yogurt instead of sour cream as a base. It was a big salad; easily 2 heaping cups or more. Over the course of the evening, We stayed up late and watched SNL and I poured 3 glasses of wine, but only drank two. I dumped the 3rd. It always seems like another glass is a good idea when I pour it, but by the time I get around to taking a sip it just doesn't sound good anymore. In any case, I'm guessing it's the wine that's the problem. One glass doesn't seem to be an issue, but when we go out and I have more than that, or on weekends if I get lax on the amount, it's an issue. Today I have some running to do, some spring cleaning to do, and I'll get a long walk outside, but just in town...nothing challenging. I will lift some weights, no wine, and either shoot for a steak day or perhaps just a low carb veggie/protein loaded day. We'll see. But I'm not really sure that's true. I sort of expected a gain, but I'm still not sure it's true.
Yesterday, I did eat what felt like too much food. According to my counter, it was about 1500 calories (though almost all protein and fat, with a little vegetable and even littler fruit), and I didn't walk or do any other exercise. I moved a little furniture...that's it. All that food has not left the building, to be delicate. Today is going to be a very nice day. I'll be taking advantage of it. I will also be lifting some heavy things. I don't know what the intake situation will be, but unless there is a big gain tomorrow, I'm not going to worry about this. No gain, no loss. I'm sort of surprised by that, actually. I didn't expect to lose all that was gained by enjoying a dinner out. I can gain more than two pounds eating out, even if I make decent choices (more than three if I eat pasta!), and it takes at least 3 days and sometimes a week to get it off every time. I really, really (REALLY) wish I understood the physiology of how it can come on instantly and come off so painfully slowly.
But it is what it is, and knowing that helped me understand one reason why I gained over the years. I ate pretty healthy (or what I considered to be heathy at the time...vegetarian) and only ate 'junk' once in a great while. But it was one step forward, two steps back every time I did. Now that I know, I may still make the choice, but far LESS often (and I rarely order the pasta or starch-based dishes these days) so it's two steps forward, one step back. In any case, I expected a small loss. I ate hundreds of calories less than I burned yesterday, no sugar, no wine, no starch. I had tuna and 1/2 oz of cheese for lunch and 100 g. chicken breast with 1/2 oz of cheese for dinner. I had 1 tbsp. of organic, no sugar peanut butter before our walk, and I had sugar-free organic cocoa/coconut oil chocolate after. (Seriously, that is the best way to get your heart healthy coconut oil in!) So yeah. I'm not sure what's up with that. I am sore, still, from the hike up the hill and the weight training. And I'll have to get some more of that in today to continue progress. So it could be I built a little muscle or am retaining a little water in the repair process and that is offsetting what little loss I might have actually had. As the summer gets more active and I built more muscle, gauging just by the scale may not work. I may have to judge by how my clothes fit. I could take measurements I guess. I don't really care what my measurements are, as long as I fit into stuff I like and feel good in my skin, so I haven't. Yesterday, I was up .2, but wasn't worried about that. I had walked 4 miles the day before, and I knew I burned what I ate. Today, I'm shooting for a steak day, or at least a modified steak day.
This uptick is easily identifiable. Yesterday, we went hiking up a great big, rocky hill. It's only a mile hike total, but it's 45* up, and back down. It's a challenge. Think 1/2 mile of stairs up (12-15" riser stairs) and back down. Then we treated ourselves to dinner. Our appetizer was prosciutto asparagus; I had 2 pieces. I also had 1 dinner role, 1 dinner salad, a few bites of DH's lobster bisque, filet mignon, and I ate 1/4 cup of the veggie mix. It was mostly corn with brussels sprouts and broccoli. I ate the brussels sprouts and some of the broccoli and left the corn. We split desert, which was a slice of chocolate decadence that wasn't exactly cake. It was super dense, but not cheese cake. Some sort of flourless chocolate cake, likely with just eggs, butter and coco with a little sugar...it was very dark and not super sweet. It was about 1.5" wide at the widest part, and perhaps that high, so we are talking if you squished it into a measuring cup, probably not even 1/2 cup...and we split it. I had two glasses of wine with dinner...and it was an expensive restaurant, so the glasses were 3 oz. each. I don't know about my husband, but I gained 1.1 lb. Granted, that meal was easily over 1,000 calories all on it's own. For breakfast, I split an orange with my husband and had one serving of almonds. I had perhaps another serving of nuts over the course of hour trip. We didn't want to eat much because we were splurging on superb food, so we barely nibbled as we got hungry throughout the day. I had two more glasses of wine over the course of about 4 or 5 hours after we got home. I went to bed late. My intake for the day was easily 2,000 for the whole day, but I also worked hard. EVERY time I eat out this is what I know to expect. Thus, I need to bring it back in line ASAP. The next time we plan to eat out will be in just over a month. Not at all worried about this. Yesterday I ate even a little less than usual (though mostly the same stuff...the one difference being a and I worked a little harder. The treadmill felt pretty good, and the music bumped me up to a run a few times. I also began my strength training, so I'm sore today. None of that would contribute to an actual weight gain, but any of it could contribute to an apparent gain.
Well, if my intention was simple stabilization, everything is perfect. I've lost just under 2 lb. in the last two weeks. Heck, even if my intent was to lose as slowly as I suggest my clients continue to lose if they are close to goal I'm doing perfectly fine.
However, it is a little frustrating when what I'm trying to do is lose TWO lb. per week. On the other hand, considering I slept horribly last night, it is more than I expected. I'm planning a nap and I'm not even out of my pjs yet. I did some crunches yesterday, but that was the extent of my strength training. However, this week I'm slowly adding more. I do believe that's the key to getting this moving faster; I need more muscle mass. As the weather gets nicer we'll be outside more doing all sorts of stuff, but there's no reason I can't start now. Well, that's a wash.
Although, I slept in and that could be the difference in timing as happens sometimes. I fear it is the result of not getting my treadmill or other exercise in for two days in a row. Thus, I will do that next, before I start any other project or tick anything else off my to do list. Ha! JK. That Would be my husband's stat for the day.
I was actually down 1.1. We both did a steak day...sort of. Yesterday (when I forgot to post about this because I was still preoccupied with the fact that I have hundreds of dollars of Wild Divine software that is useless to me unless I do as they say and spend hundreds of dollars more and that, to me, is criminal) I forgot to post that I was up .6 or .7. My husband had arrived home from a business trip and was up about 2 lb. which often happens. When it does, he does a steak day. Since I was up, I decided to join him. Neither of us made it all the way to dinner. I was painfully hungry by 9:30 am so I had about 23 almonds. He also had nuts but can't really say how many. He ate them through out the day. I later had 2 pieces of cheese...about an ounce. At dinner we both had steak. Mine was about a 6 oz. and his was (HUGE) at about 16 oz. We both had about a cup of asparagus. We both watched a movie and had too much to drink. He had several Crown-n-Sprites, I had more than 2 glasses of wine. I don't know how much because he just kept topping off my glass, but I know it wasn't three or I'd have been more hammered and I'd be hurting today. As it was, I had passed the point of feeling nice into 'I'm just going to leave what's in that glass because I don't like the way I'm starting to feel' place. We both got up at 2:30 in the morning to assist out daughter who fell on the stairs last night...and she hadn't been drinking at all! He lost FOUR pounds overnight. I lost 1.1 lb. It's a good thing I love him, because that sucks. I'm back to exactly 142 on the Wii. Today, our exercise will be shoveling. We got 8" of wet, sloppy snow that the snow blower won't kick and the City will clear if we don't get to it in 24 hours...and then charge us $400. (I wonder if they work with Wild Divine?) It's going to melt in just a couple of days when temps get up to the 50s, but hey, we need the exercise. Damn! And I was so close to wiping out that stupid gain.
However, I know what the problem was. I didn't exercise at all. I was researching and putting together outlines/proposals for speaking engagements, 'putting out fires' (as DH says) with two issues with essential electronics devices that left me frustrated and going back and forth with tech support. I finally got up in the late afternoon and realized I was hungry and my butt hurt from not moving. And because of that non-movment, DVT leg aches (will it always when I don't walk?) and I had a 500 calorie overage. The two issues were problems with my Kindle and with my Wild Divine game. I was an early adopter on both. (This means I paid more for my antiquated Kindle than people now pay for a Kindle Fire.) In the last month I have had two problems with this old beast. Both times, Amazon had someone on it immediately. Tech support was friendly and helpful and resolved my issues. Last night, I was on IM with Jared for a very long time and he was very sweet. I was about ready to ask him if he was married because I'd like to introduce him to my daughter. Then there was the Wild Divine team. And this makes me sad. They are very nice at Wild Divine. Tori has been almost as nice as Jared. Tech support seems willing to try to help. But here's the back story... I went to a conference in CA oh, maybe 7-8 years ago? I bought this game. Now, it cost hundreds of dollars. I had to call home to beg my husband to figure out a way to expense this thing. It was a 'bio feedback' game...the coolest tool I had ever seen for illustrating how the mind affects the body. I brought it home and began using it to show my hypnosis clients how they were controlling their experience, and I began using it in presentations at universities to illustrate the mind/body connection. And I have to say, playing this game on the computer is incredibly cool, because you progress through the game by controlling your heart rate, but when you hook into an external display and can demonstrate in a lecture hall...in stereo and on a 20 foot screen? Too cool for words. Cool enough that one university bought one for their student center and I know that at least one student bought a game. I also know at least one friend also bought a game. Now, you can join to be an affiliate and get paid for each game you sell. But I didn't for two reasons. One, I wanted to 'pay it forward,' since this game is so helpful in stress management and had helped me. And two, I didn't want it to seem like I was giving these presentations just for the sake of making a buck. I took this game on airplanes with me, and I have no idea how many people I exposed to this concept, but a lot. For years. Now, in late 2010 we got fed up with the problems of PCs and made the huge leap to Macs. One of the first things I tried to do was install the Wild Divine on my Mac. But the version I had was too old and would not install. DH and I debated whether we could spend $400 more on this stupid game. The plan was to ditch the old computer. Compared to the Mac it was just slow and huge and a pain in the arse. So yes, if I planned to continue to do my presentations and use this for my clients, we had to spend the money. We did. But guess what? When I tried to hook it up to an external display, it didn't display. Several back and froths with Wild Divine tech support failed to resolve the problem. So I HAD to keep the old beast of a PC in order to use it for the purpose for which I had just bought this new game. Damn! Well, I figured, it sucks but what are you going to do? Fast forward a few months. Mac offers the Lion OS upgrade. I read the reviews and there are known issues, but for the most part, it looks like it has features I would like. I upgrade. Wild Divine doesn't work any more. I contact Wild Divine to ask them when there is going to be a fix for this. They say soon, but they aren't sure when, BUT they have this other system that works just fine on the Lion OS, would I like to purchase that (for $300). I say no, I just bought a system for $400 and I'd like THAT one to work. I'll wait. THREE MONTHS LATER I'm still patiently waiting. But my daughter decides she'd like to use the game, so I drag out the old computer and set it up. It won't play the game. After trying about everything, including uninstalling and reinstalling the game, customer support connects me with tech support. Tech support tells me that it sounds as if the hardware is just worn out and I may need to purchase new hardware (for, you may have guessed this, about $300). At this point I have $700-$800 invested in a game that takes up a huge amount of space on two computers...and I can't use it unless I spend another $300-$600!!! Because not only does it seem to be BOTH games are worthless without the hardware, but I STILL can't play the damn game on my Mac! And I feel bad that I've recommended this to people who spent their hard earned money on this too, who are now experiencing the same aggregation as I. For a game that is supposed to be about lowering blood pressure and all sorts of other beneficial stuff, it's sure NOT been that for me for a long time. I enthusiastically supported this company. I'm not quite sure I can do that any more. That make me sad. |
AuthorI struggled with my weight for over 20 years. I tried everything to lose weight. Yes, I did 'eat less, move more' repeatedly, convinced that doing the same thing over and over would someone yield different results. Desperate, having diligently done all the 'right' things and being told by several doctors that there was nothing wrong with me except that I wasn't trying hard enough, in 2009 I tried what seemed crazy: Dr. Simeons Hcg protocol. I lost 85 lb. Archives
April 2012
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