Week 16 Report

I made my video on Monday but I forgot all about posting it until today.  Oops!  Busy week!  Isn't it always?!

As I report on my video, I was down 4 pounds at my Sunday weigh-in.  I was excited to get that vacation weight gain off plus a little extra.  My food was delicious and filling last week, even though I cut out flour products.  I focused on adding a lot of vegetables to my meals and limiting the number of times I eat a day.  I definitely wanted to eat more often, but I just tried to stay busy.  I say all of that in the video though, so why don't I quit talking and post a few food photos:

Love it when my grocery cart looks like this!

Lots of salads this week.  I included a big salad with most lunches and dinners.

Plant-based/Vegan Augratin potatoes and steamed broccoli

Love this mix from Trader Joe's when you need whole grains in a hurry--3 minutes in the microwave.

Hawaiian Haystacks with the rice medley shown above, vegan cheesy sauce,  romaine and spinach, red peppers, celery, green onions, pineapple, unsweetened coconut, slivered almonds.  I loved this so much, I ate two big plates of it and I was super stuffed.  One plate next time! :) 

I have oatmeal for breakfast almost every day, but I changed it up one day with only half my serving of oatmeal (ha, ha, I couldn't give it up entirely), and half a baked sweet potato pan-fried with vegetarian sausage and sauteed spinach.  Yum!

Brown rice topped with chopped spinach, sweet potato, black beans, red peppers, tomatoes, cilantro, homemade jalapeno hummus, and vegan sausage again.  Yep, I was crazy stuffed after one plate of this.

Lentil Loaf, mashed potatoes with mushroom gravy, broccoli, and sauteed squash.

I was able to go to Whole Foods Monday night and meet Rip Esselstyn, one of my great inspirations on my plant-based journey.  Check out his Engine 2 Website HERE.  

I snapped a couple photos of myself this morning so I could have a full body shot to compare to down the road.  I failed to do that at the beginning!

Week 15 Report

Since I last wrote, I gained 3+ pounds!  Definitely not the goal...but all I can do is learn from my mistakes, move forward, and make better choices.  I dealt with a lot of eating "triggers" in the past couple of weeks.  To name a few:

• Stress and anxiety--My teenage daughter got a wreckless driving ticket over a month ago, which I just put out of my mind until her court date approached.  While talking to a former officer about the circumstances involved, he told me things were done inappropriately and urged me to call the mayor.  That was WAY out of my comfort zone and something I DID NOT want to do.  I did it anyway.  I ended up meeting with the mayor, the chief of police, hiring a lawyer, and going to court with my daughter.  All of this was unknown territory for me and completely consumed me for a couple of days.  I'm glad to say all ended well and her charges were dropped.  I'm going to count my blessings that I didn't eat like a crazy person and gain 5 pounds from the experience!
• Traveling/Change in routine--I went on vacation with my mom and sisters, which was fabulous, but I have a long-standing tradition/habit of eating the wrong kinds of foods at all hours of the day while traveling, partying, relaxing, etc.  and I had to work hard to break that habit.  I did better than I've ever done, so I'll accept that progress and try to do even better next time.
• Amusement Parks: My family went to an amusement park and those are always great places to NOT eat healthy, especially if you are stuck with the whiny 5-year-old who doesn't really want to do anything but get food and soda!  I actually found a healthy vegetarian meal while at the amusement park...but I did sip some of that soda!  
• Holidays/Special Occasions--Having my mom and sisters come was a special occasion all on its own.  On top of that, we also celebrated my son's birthday one day and my husband's birthday another day while they were here.  The day after my mom left, it was Easter.  I'm not sure I've ever left an Easter dinner at my in-laws without being massively overstuffed.  We get there early and start with loads of appetizers and then have an enormous dinner buffet later. Perhaps it's progress that I left LESS massively stuffed than usual???  I was still too stuffed!
• Financial worries--We've had a lot of big unexpected expenses in the past month--new water heater, new tires, new AC in a vehicle, lawyer fees, etc.  My savings account is the lowest it's been in probably 15 years.  There isn't much left at all and this causes anxiety as I know we have several things coming up that need to be paid for, not to mention all the experiences I want to give my children that cost money.  I'm trying to let those go, as I know my kids will be just fine without them, but it's hard and a little scary to have my bank account so low.  I can always find someone to compare to who is in a much worse situation, and that makes me count my blessings.  I am in no way destitute.  My husband has a good job, I have a good job, all is well.

These things aren't excuses for making poor food choices, but it helps me to see my poor choices in the context of everything that is going on around me and to cut myself some slack.  I navigated so many triggers and I made a lot of great choices in the face of them all.  I'm actually kind of proud of myself, which I never dreamed I would be able to say after a 3-pound weight gain!  I'm in this for the long haul and I know I'm going to have success this time.  I just know it.  It may take longer to get to the goal weight than I originally hoped, but I'm in this for much more than weight loss and I'm already experiencing many awesome benefits.  (Did I mention I played kickball with the family on Saturday, I had fun, and my teenage son told me I was better than he thought I would be?  What a compliment!) The weight loss will come as I stay consistent and keep developing those healthy habits.  The words of a scripture keep coming to mind:

"...shall we not go on in so great a cause?  Go forward and not backward.  Courage...and on, on to the victory!" D&C 128:22.

Here are some photos from the past couple of weeks.  There is more to life than trying to lose weight! :)  I have so many blessings.

After kickball, hence my red face.

Week 12 and 13 Report

All last week I thought about the video post I wanted to do, but I had sick children home on and off and when they weren't home, I was out of the house doing things.  I couldn't find time to make a video last week and I'm worried this week will go the same way, so I'm at least going to write something.  Maybe I will be able to make a video on Wednesday before all my company arrives.  My mom and sisters are coming to visit from Utah and we're taking a trip to Williamsburg, so I won't be posting a video next week either.  Life is busy!

Week 12 I lost one pound.  I should have been excited, but I wasn't.  I was glad I lost weight, but it didn't feel like enough to reflect my massive effort.  I had really upped my healthy eating and exercise efforts the previous week and I was expecting more.  For the first time in my life (or at least since I got my fitbit a year ago, LOL), I had logged over 10,000 steps every day.  I was really excited about that.  I found myself thinking, "If I can't lose more weight when I'm exercising this much, what is going to happen when I'm not exercising this much?"  The next few days after my weigh-in felt really tough.  The forbidden foods felt more tempting.  I felt really tired and lacking in energy.  I was dragging...it didn't make sense.  I think perhaps I had caught a milder version of the sickness going around my house.  I didn't have a fever, but I just didn't feel right.  I didn't want to exercise, but I did it anyway.  However, I had to walk slower and for shorter amounts of time.  One of my accountability penpals wrote me to see how I was doing and I said this:

"I am loving my food and my program most of the time, and it usually doesn't feel hard all the time, but there are moments.  Yesterday after church, I just wanted to eat, eat, eat, and I wanted to eat something that would flood my brain with dopamime.  I kept looking in my pantry and fridge for something that would give me the "fix" without going off my plan. I finally said, "Nothing will" and I walked away and made myself get busy doing other things, but it took massive effort to walk away.

"Then again last night, I learned my teenage son had a massive project due for his Spanish class the next day that he hadn't even begun.  We got in an argument over it and I really don't like to be in conflict with my children or anyone for that matter.  He had to make some Spanish cookies and I was helping him bake them late at night.  With every breath I took, I wanted to stuff that cookie dough into my mouth, along with the fresh-baked cookies coming out of the oven.  I kept staring at that cookie dough and the cookies and feeling the battle rage inside of me.  The cookies were tiny, one wouldn't hurt, right?  But I know from repeated experience that one cookie is never enough.  I saw into the future and knew if I ate that one, it would snowball into more and then I would eat other things and who knows how many days it would take me to get back on track?  It sounds ridiculous, but that's my reality.  I didn't eat anything, I didn't deviate from my plan, but I was really amazed at the Herculean effort it took me to not eat those cookies!  I felt such sympathy for alcoholics and drug addicts who really want to quit.  In my mind, that one moment alone of resisting temptation was worth at least a 10-pound loss.  LOL!  I just kept reminding myself that most moments and most days don't feel that hard.  I'm surrounded constantly with food that doesn't fit into my plan.  I prepare it, pack it in my kids' lunches, clean it up after meals, and most of the time I am fine.  Most of the time I can easily ignore it.  Thank goodness!  Not only that, but I really love my food!  I love the new recipes I'm trying and the old favorites.  I love that I'm cooking more.  We rarely eat out because I would actually prefer to eat the leftovers in my fridge.  That is huge!  I wake up in the morning wanting to exercise, that is huge!  There are so many good things going on and I'm really thankful most of the time.  I just have some really hard moments thrown into the mix."

So that is the reality of my weight-loss journey.  Sometimes it feels easy, fun, and exciting. Sometimes it feels like I'm in the middle of a massive battle, praying with all my heart that I can make it through without too many scars.

The past few days have felt better.  I didn't manage to hit 10,000 steps even once this past week, but I just accepted that.  I still exercised every day.  At my week 13 weigh-in this morning, the scale was down 1.8 pounds.  This time I was excited!  I finally hit my 20 pounds down, 21 to be exact.  All those small weight losses eventually add up.  It reminds me of an experience I had with my 5-year-old this week.

On one of my hard days, I was putting Archer to bed and pondering on weight loss and thinking about how slow my journey is compared to some.  I didn't say anything to him about it.  Then out of the blue he said, "Mom, I've got to tell you something."  Then he said in a really clear, funny, exaggerated voice,"Slow and steady wins the race."  It was so random.  Then he kept saying it over and over again.  He must have heard it said in that tone on a show or something, but it was just so interesting that he decided to tell me that at the moment I was struggling.  I felt like God was trying to get a message to me!  So now, that funny voice with those words keeps ringing in my ears:

"Slow and steady wins the race."

Another friend sent me a great article on weight-loss plateaus and slowed weight loss and why it happens and how we just need to keep plugging away and not give up. Our bodies have to adjust and the weight loss will get going again.  It also came at a perfect time.  Thank you, Cherilyn!  Read the article HERE.

That's all for today.  I hope to be back in a few days with a video and maybe some photos.  I keep forgetting to take photos of myself, but I have been taking them of my food. :)  Carry on, my friends, carry on!