Phase 3 – Day 14

Weight: 174.5

Wow, I certainly didn’t expect that!  Actually, that’s what I said when I first stepped on the scale and saw 174, but, as I’ve mentioned before, I always weigh more than once (it’s a quirk) and I kept seeing the numbers change in that one pound range, but never came back to the lowest, 174.

Part of the reason I didn’t expect to drop any weight is that I’ve really felt stable, but also that I was in training yesterday and not moving around.  I did manage to drink almost 3 bottles of water, so maybe that helped.  It was also freezing cold in that room, like a refrigerator!  Seriously, my nose was so cold it was drippy, like when you spend time outside in the winter!

I also visited a friend of mine after work who recently had a baby and I needed to bring some protein options for dinner, so I stopped at the grocery store on the way there.  Without actually making dinner for everyone, the choices are limited.  Eventually, I bought the deep fried deli chicken breast and thigh and took the skin and coating off, and added a salad at her house.  I thought for sure that would trip me up.  When I got home I had another late night bowl of Quaker Oat Squares, and I thought that might trip me up.  Then there’s that pesky TOM that may be around the corner, and that can be a factor in everything.

So, who knows!?!  I’m just happy about it, and since I saw 174 on the scale this morning, it’s back on my radar, and I’m within my 2 pound range of LIW!

Phase 3 – Day 13

Weight: 175

I'm pretty pleased that my weight stayed the same, and I did quite well at the potluck yesterday; I didn't even want any desert or pizza!  My one concession was that I ate quite a bit of fruit at the potluck yesterday, especially the strawberries….it was a strawberry-centric day.

I had my normal frozen strawberries in my morning shake, again in a frozen lemonade refresher at night, and some fresh ones at the potluck.  They were really good!  I also tried some cantaloupe and honeydew, which I think are higher in carbs and sugar, but I’d like to reintroduce them so I wanted to see how that would go.  I don't think I'm ready for those yet.

We also went to Alive After Five after work yesterday and I didn't have anything there, but once home and the evening wore on, I ended up having a small bowl of Quaker oat squares cereal, which is totally off the list!  I totally know why I did it;  I was tired and fighting going to bed, just like a little kid, and wanted a bit of something to eat, and something a little sweet.  A bowl of cereal is totally comfort food for me.  I should've just gone to bed!

I did have some grilled chicken that someone else had marinated but she told me what was in it and, without seeing the label on the starter spice, it sounded fine.  I'm sure that the ingredients were acceptable as far as the diet goes, but I woke up this morning pretty stuffy so I probably ate something that I’m allergic to.  And, despite drinking two bottles of water, I'm thirsty today so I am sure there was a lot of sodium in the spices.  I'm in training today and I will need to focus on drinking a lot of water.

Even with eating the extra fruit and cereal, my stomach does not feel bloated, and I'm loving that!

Phase 3 – Day 12

Weight: 175

I was pretty pleased, but not surprised, to see I’d dropped .5 pound.  Yay for me!  That's only .5 pounds over the max weight limit of my LIW.

I really felt very steady and stable,  hunger-wise, yesterday.  I am completely convinced it is the coconut milk.  In combination with taking away a craving for sugar, I had a fairly stressful day yesterday, and I did not have any inclination to pick at food or eat sugar.  For that, I am really proud of myself.

I did, however, have a piece of low carb chocolate cheese cake after dinner.  I gave it a lot of thought as I don't want to reinforce eating something as a reward after a stressful day but decided it was simply dessert.

Today's challenge is a cross workgroup potluck BBQ.  I made a huge batch of coleslaw, which is low-carb, and I am taking a tuna salad with hard-boiled eggs and other crunchy vegetables to add to my salad.  If I see another meat option I may try that, but for the most part I think I'll be covered with my contingency food.

After work, I may be going to Alive After Five which is another food challenge, but depending on the options available at the BBQ I may save my tuna salad for dinner and eat before I go.  One nice outcome of this diet is that I find I really don't need as much food as I thought I did before.  Therefore, saving even a small amount of my lunch or dinner will work out just fine.

Another challenge for today is that I'm really tired and I still have the same stressful situation at work.  My plan yesterday was to take some very aromatic tea to work and have that that in the afternoon if I was looking for a treat, and I may do that today, as well.  By the way, I didn't have the tea yesterday because I wasn’t looking for a treat.

Phase 3 – Day 11

Weight: 175.5

Well, I suppose I can only qualify for one miracle on each round and I guess my 1.5 pound drop the other day from exercise was it.  Actually, I'm not upset about staying at this weight because it means I've been consistent and the whole goal is to lock in and stabilize.

I was looking at the calendar this morning and started looking forward to moving to Phase 4 because there's a Soul Food Festival on Saturday, though  I'm not sure that a festival atmosphere is exactly the right one to start adding back carbs!  Even so, I don't have to worry about it because it will only be the end of week two, not week three!

Speaking of stabilizing, new events have come up over the past couple of days.  First, I wore my new clothes to work yesterday and they felt really good, and I felt attractive.  Not that anyone else there noticed.  One interesting aspect of losing weight is that people will pay attention to you because of the changes that you're going through.  Once the changes stop, the attention subsides.  I think that the combination of the "new" normal and complacency, or, in other words, taking your new situation for granted, are the beginning of the downhill slide back to the “old” normal.  Getting the attention is nice; figuring out a way to replace it with an acceptable alternative could be fun.

I talked to my brother yesterday, and his wife, who is only about 42 years old, needs hip surgery, so they've decided to schedule it during my visit.  I’ve been planning to go see them for a couple of days as a side trip to going to the Boise State Broncos v. Virginia Tech Hokies football game on Labor Day.  They're both pretty heavy and they don't offer the variety of fruits and vegetables that I am used to, in fact I've been told that they have an entire cupboard dedicated to chocolate.  This could prove challenging to say the least.

My brother will definitely need some help but I will only be there for two days, and I'm feeling that this amount of time, especially for the amount of effort and three days of burned vacation this will take, will be fairly ineffective, as far as actually helping.  My mother is supposed to come the evening before I leave and she'll be there for a week.  She keeps telling me that we'll have lots of time to spend together and that I'll actually get to visit my brother but I don't see how.  I really do want to help, and I don't need to be entertained, but it certainly won't be a vacation.

It also occurred to me that this is a one-way street.  My brother is a great guy, but if it were me having hip surgery my brother would not be the one coming out to help me, nor would he be coming out to help my mom.  The reason?  Because he is the sole breadwinner for his family (or even if he weren’t), and they have three kids and they moved far away from the rest of the family for a job promotion and it's too expensive to fly, and too far to drive.  It falls to the people who live close or who don't have other responsibilities, or somehow it's just harder for him.

When my mom had foot surgery a year and a half ago, I went to take care of her for a couple of weeks.  The difference here is that I offered to come and help, she didn't expect it, where in this scenario it almost feels as if I'm convenience to be leveraged.  I know it's not as cold and calculating as all that, but the reason they're scheduling the surgery for that time is because we will be there, not because we were asked if we would help or made the arrangements so that we could schedule a longer visit.

The reason I’m explaining this is I'm wondering how this will affect my eating choices, especially when I'm frustrated and there is a cupboard full of chocolate at hand.  Or even before that.  There's a lot coming up to deal with, including the start of school.  At least one thing seems to be stabilized, and that's my 175.5.

Phase 3 – Day 10

Weight: 175.5

I was a little shocked at the entire 1 pound gain from yesterday; I thought I had done pretty well managing my food intake.  I think though, I was kind of picking throughout the day and we finished up with a steak and fried shrimp dinner.  I felt really full this morning when I got up, looked at the scale, and decided I was going for another early morning workout.

So, we'll see how it goes tomorrow.  I was back in the office today with a bit of a stressful day and I could really tell that I wanted to it to alleviate the stress, but being aware of it I realized I wasn't exactly full but I wasn't hungry either and I decided that I needed to drink more water.  So I did.

I am not a saint though; I had a large piece of low carb chocolate cheese cake for dessert after dinner tonight, and it was good!  Now, I'm off to go work on a quilt which will not only help me get finished this project, but it will keep me busy and keep me from looking for another snack.  I'm full and satisfied anyway, so that would be pointless.

Onward ho!

Coconut milk – MCFA

Because of several conversations I've seen posted about coconut oil, I bought some coconut milk "beverage" made by So Delicious that was at my local Fred Meyer health food section.  I was delighted to find that it is low calorie, low carb, gluten free, soy free and dairy free, although it is also low in protein.

I've loved it!  I've noticed that I'm not looking for carbs all day, as I do when I use soy milk, and I can use it in my morning shakes.  A bit pricey at $4.49 per half gallon, but that’s in line with soy milk, depending on which brand you buy.

I totally recommend it!

Phase 3 – Day 9

Weight: 174.5

Wow!!  I was hoping for some good results from my small amount of exercise, but I certainly wasn't expecting a dramatic 1.5 pound drop!  I am doing the happy dance this morning!  This puts me back in the 2 pound range, not over it, as I have been for the past week, and I want to continue this trend.

I started clearing out my closet a month ago and hadn't finished the job, so yesterday I finished sorting through my pants, making a pile of clothes to be donated and others to be mailed to family members.  I found it interesting that I didn't want to let go of certain pants; I realized it was partly due to a fear that I would need that larger size again.  I decided that I could keep two pairs of "backup" pants that don't look too baggy on me right now and I will get rid of the rest.  An  organizational course I took a few years ago recommended that if you you can obtain information or items elsewhere, there is no need to keep them yourself.  Therefore, if I do need a larger size in the future, I will get them at that time, and for now enjoy the freedom of not having them in my closet.

After that, I went to the thrift store.  I was looking for a blender and figured I would also check out the pants to see if I can add some variety to the ones I decided to keep.  I'm trying to figure out what size I am, and it's a very weird feeling to look in the section 2 sizes smaller than what I was wearing a month ago.  I can't seem to believe that this is actually the size that will fit me; I chose two pairs of pants that were only one size smaller than my previous size and they were huge on me.  I was able to try on several pairs, including shorts.  None of them fit me properly so I didn't buy anything but it was amazing to me that I now have such a wide selection to choose from.

I’ve reported that I’ve been scouring cookbooks lately.  One of my discoveries is a low-carb chocolate cheesecake recipe, which uses an almond meal crust rather than a graham cracker crust.  Almond meal is simply ground up almonds, and the health food store charges an outrageous sum for a small package.  I get the large bag of almonds from Costco already, and making my own is much cheaper.

My husband uses the blender for grinding coffee, though, and I wanted a different blender for less aromatic food products, thus the visit to our local thrift store.  I lucked out and found a heavier duty model of the same blender he uses for grinding coffee.  Of course, now he wants my new blender!  I had started grinding the almonds a day or so before so I used the new blender to finish the job and make the crust.

If I do say so myself, it was pretty good.  I will definitely make it again and it was fairly easy to do.  It came from my favorite low-carb recipe book 500 Low-Carb Recipes by Dana Carpender.  If you're interested in the low-carb lifestyle she is one of the leading outspoken advocates and you can follow her blog at HoldTheToast.com