What works - what doesn't work?

I'm about to finish my second week on the Four-Hour Body's Slow Carb diet. The scale isn't showing much of a change, but my pants are noticeably looser, and I know I'm gaining muscle from strength training 2-3 times a week.

I'm still struggling with the diet -- the same problems I have with any low-carb diet. I get so physically ill eating the same high-protein foods over and over. I'm doing all right in the mornings with my eggs and turkey bacon, but I'm having trouble facing chicken and salads. I feel like I'd really rather throw up than eat the allowed foods.

I've been tracking my foods in MyFitnessPal, mostly so I can make sure I'm getting enough nutrients, proteins and carbs, and I'm generally eating 1200 calories or less. Just because I cannot eat any more.

Why am I keeping this up? I'm giving it a full month, until the end of August, to see how I feel and how my body is doing (btw, my abs? TOTALLY THERE. Ablicious!). I like this diet because I do believe carbs and processed foods are harmful and slow carb forces me to eat real, whole foods. It's also easy: there's a list of foods I'm allowed to eat, and that's it. There's control. That's really the bottom line. If I can't control my diet, then I am out of control and on a binge.

I had great success with Weight Watchers from 2006-2009. I tracked my points carefully, often plotting out everything I would eat for the day in the morning before leaving for school or work. The problem with this plan, and the reason I'm hesitant to try it again? I was eating almost exclusively processed foods. It's difficult to count points with recipes (this was before recipe calculators that are popular now), and I don't have a food scale. While frozen foods and packaged snacks tell me exactly how many calories/points they contain. I know even if I was just counting calories with MyFitnessPal, I would still be tempted to fall back on processed foods instead of eating real foods.

It's still healthy even if I can't pronounce over half the ingredients, right?

And so I stick with Slow Carb, at least until August 31. I'm looking forward to seeing my measurements at the end of the month!

What works for you in your way of eating? Do you need to have the control, and how do you include more whole foods in your diet?

Snark Time

I've gotten a new job since I was last writing here consistently. I won't tell you the name, but it's a popular national coffee shop, and you can probably see at least one by looking out your window.

I don't understand the attitude of some of the customers who "think" they're trying to be healthy. If you want to get a "skinny" latte, with non-fat milk and sugar-free syrup fine. I won't debate you the problems with non-fat and sugar-free crap; but I prefer to put real foods in my body. The problem I have is the people who insist on non-fat milk, sugar-free syrup, and EXTRA whipped cream.  Or a large anything on the menu. Or non-fat and sugar-free but EXTRA caramel drizzle.

I understand you want to treat yourself, and that's fine. But a large blended sugar drink is by no means healthy, even if you get a "light" version. And our whipped cream is made with heavy cream and full-sugar vanilla syrup, so really you're negating any "good" you did with the non-fat milk (which is pretty much just water. EW.)

Not even a little healthy.

If you're gonna get a sweet coffee drink, OWN it. Get it full fat, add the whip, drizzle it up. But take responsibility for what you're putting in your body. Stop trying to fool yourself into thinking you're eating healthy.

Personally, I've learned to love unsweetened teas.

Small victories

You know what? You know what, you know what, you know what? Yesterday I stayed on plan for THE ENTIRE DAY. No cheats. Nothing "forbidden." I ate healthy -- I even cooked.

I take that as a win. It was one day, but it was one day better than the day before. Today is still young, but I'm on track to stay on plan today too. And then I'll celebrate two days. I need to recognize these small victories to encourage myself, but also you. Can you do a day? Just one day of eating right? Then celebrate it (not with a cake!). And after that day is done, try the next day.

One day at a time, one meal at a time.

I'm giving Slow Carb another hard core try -- more exercising and more sticking to the food list (lots of beans, UGH). Yesterday for breakfast I just had two eggs scrambled with liquid egg whites.

If you want to know what I'm having for lunch today, take another look at the picture.

There's a great local salad shop that makes custom salads with all kinds of toppings and proteins and dressings. I love going there and getting a spinach salad with artichoke hearts, black beans, cucumbers, kalamata olives, feta, and salmon. The protein is anywhere from $2-4 extra, and it usually costs me around $12 for a salad.

BUT! They are having an awesome summer sale during the dinner hours where you can get two salads including proteins and two drinks for $15. Monday night I went in and ordered two of the above salads, without the feta or salmon. I ordered chicken on the side. And voila, I had lunch for yesterday and today plus bonus chicken for snacking! Yesterday I added some salmon and feta from home, and it was delicious and very filling.

Today I have discovered that artichoke hearts don't hold up very well after two days, so when I go back tonight for two more salads, I'll get bell peppers instead.

I hate you, beans.

For dinner I cooked! Which is amazing because I haven't had the energy to cook in over a month. I'd been browsing recipes online and decided to improvise a lemon pepper chicken. Chicken breasts from Trader Joe's marinated for three hours in olive oil, lemon juice, lemon pepper, pepper, and salt. I cooked the beans with some taco seasoning, and it did improve the flavor, but I was still forcing myself to eat them. The broccoli was steamed plain, although I realized later the oil from the chicken would have been good for topping!

Boyfriend liked it so much he had three helpings. The sign of a meal well done!

What kinds of veggies to do you like to cook, and how do you like them prepared?
ANY IDEAS FOR MAKING BEANS SUCK LESS??

Strength

Well, I may not be getting any thinner, but I'm definitely getting stronger! For the past several weeks a friend of mine who does Crossfit has been kind enough to train me twice a week at my gym. I've gone from really weak to slightly stronger!

Feeling strong! (Photo from FreeDigitalPhotos.net)

What blows my mind most is I actually am acquiring upper body strength! I've never had any measurable upper body strength before, but each time I bench, do bent rows, or do assisted chin ups, I'm working at higher and higher weights.

As of this month, this blog is one year old. And I.....am approximately the same weight I was a year ago, if not a little higher (I don't know, I haven't stepped on the scale in months. I've been going by how my clothes fit). That fact could be really, really depressing if I stopped to dwell on it (again). One year gone by and no real success made, so what's the point of continuing? Why not just eat myself in to oblivion? No seriously, I've been asking.

Mmmmm...forbidden foods... (Image from FreeDigitalPhotos.net)

Over the last year, I've tried a number of different "tactics" to lose weight. I started on Weight Watchers, which I'd had great success on in the past, but was unable to stick with it for longer than a month. I tried the Slow-Carb diet from Tim Ferriss' Four-Hour Body. After three weeks I saw practically no change, although I admit this is probably from not following the prescribed diet closely enough and going too overboard on cheat days. I tried a Fruit and Veggie smoothie fast, which lasted approximately two days. NEED TO CHEW. I even tried binging on Pine nuts after I read that they can cause a reaction in some people that cause food to taste awful and metallic for a week or two. I thought, "Foods will taste awful! Then I won't overeat!" I ate two bags of pine nuts (already incredibly high in fat) in 48 hours, and I noticed no change in the way things tasted. I'd wasted all those calories on something I didn't even like. I've tried Intuitive Eating, where I try to just listen to my body and give it what it needs. The bad part about that would be my body screaming for vegetables, and I'd think, "Nah, too much work. You'll eat ice cream and you'll like it." I tried logging all foods and counting calories with various iPhone apps. MyFitnessPal worked well for a few weeks, but then I stopped logging when I ate something "bad" and never got back on track.
 

Lately I've just been tired. So tired. I know it's because of the way I eat. It's too much effort to make anything, so I'd just eat convenience crap.

Why am I still in the same place I was a year ago? There are many reasons. I'm human. I don't follow through. I don't "want it" enough (although I feel like I do!). I'm not doing the "right" thing. I have a physical and mental addiction to food. I have excuses.

The one thing I can say I'm doing well with is exercises. Besides the strength training I've been doing, I've also been tracking my workouts with GymPact since the end of January, and I've done 60 workouts for the year. With a little less than six months still to go, I think I can easily make 120 workouts for the year.

Bottom line: I'm still here, I'm still struggling, I'm still snarky, and I'm still blogging. Keep reading!

Finding a balance

Eating-wise, I still have problems. I cannot seem to stick to a calorie plan. I'll be good all day, and then blow it at dinner. Or after a few days, I lose interest in eating anything at all. I know I eat better when I concentrate on making vegetables the focus of each meal, and damn the calories. I poop better too (ALWAYS a plus).

On the positive side, I've seriously thrown myself back into fitness. I know I've talked about GymPact before, but it's REALLY helping me get to the gym consistently 5 times a week, and I feel so much better, physically. I'm still not really losing weight, but I'm definitely starting to see some definition.

I'm devoting myself to Zumba again, since the last time I really liked my body I was doing about 8 hours of Zumba a week. If I can't make it to a class, I'll go to the gym, sequester myself in a raquetball court, and play the music off my iPod.

I'm also running, focusing on HIIT, or High-Intensity Interval Training. Today I ran 1.5 miles, the farthest I've ever gotten! And I broke my record speed! It really is helping me to run faster, because I'm very slow. I have short, stubby legs. 3.5 is a jog to me. I watch other people run at 6.0 or faster, and I just think I'd fall right off the treadmill. Today I got up to 4.3. I'd like to make it to a 5.0.

Weights are more sporadic right now, but I know they're important. Mostly I just feel stymied because I don't know what exercises I should be doing for which body part, and I never write it down so I never notice real improvement. I need to make a weight lifting notebook so I can create a set list of things to do and monitor my improvement.

I am most concerned about maintaining fitness right now. The food will come. I just got hired to work in a coffee shop part time, so that will help with movement and being on my feet. I bought a heart-rate monitor from a Groupon deal, and I've loved knowing exactly how many calories I'm burning in a workout/day. And how many steps I take. Shooting for 10,000 a day (approximately 5 miles a day).

I'm gonna be the fittest fat girl :-p

Rodeo Week!

It's rodeo week in Tucson!!

Which is apparently kind of a big deal, but I wouldn't know, since I'm from the midwest. I know the a lot of the schools in the area close for the rodeo. We get to wear our western wear to work on Wednesday, but since I'm from Ohio, I'm just going to wear normal clothes.

I was trying to think of a way to link the Wild West and the rodeo to weight loss, but I just can't come up with anything. Unless I die of dysentery, but that's really more a pacific northwest thing. Lucky bastards.

This week! I was pretty good! I went to the gym four times, thus honoring my pact with Gympact. I can't wait to see how much money I get for last week; since I added an extra day, I get an extra share of the winnings. REALLY looking forward to that Hulu+ subscription!

Yesterday I weighed in four pounds down for the week. Which is very yay! And then there was the monkey bread. I really wanted to have a nice, homemade breakfast with Boyfriend -- I'd been thinking banana bread, these bananas in my kitchen are almost goo -- but he suggested monkey bread. Actually, he suggested french toast AND monkey bread, but I talked him back down to just the monkey bread.

(What the hell is monkey bread? Also called pull-apart bread, it's basically refrigerated biscuits, cinnamon, sugar, butter and brown sugar. SO GOOD. SO FULL OF FATTY CARBS.)

 

 

 

 

There's no way this is good for you.

At first I was good. I counted the calories for EVERYTHING I ate, even if it meant I used up most of my daily allotment by 2pm. But I discovered something, which is probably a very DUH realization, but it just hit home yesterday: empty carby sugar makes me HUNGRIER. I'd done pretty well with the hunger all week. I'll have you know I had NO ICE CREAM and DID NOT order pizza! But as soon as I had a serving of that monkey bread, I was ravenous. I went back several more times during the day, then ate dinner, had popcorn at the video store, and had MORE monkey bread.

As a result, my net loss for the week on the scale this morning was 2.6. I'm 183 even.

I have seen my enemy, and it is sugar. I even saw it a little with the lowfat frozen yogurt I bought. I could be full and satisfied, have a small helping of frozen yogurt to kill the ice cream craving, and then suddenly I was hungry again!

Now that I know my weakness, how am I going to avoid it? No ice cream and no pizza again this week (I did have one Lean Cuisine pizza last week, and it helped). No baking things I know I can't control myself with! There's leftover monkey crack, but I'm not eating any more of it. If I don't start, I won't lose control.

Four gym workouts this week is the goal. REALLY hoping to see the 170s by next Monday!

Right Track

So I don't want to jinx myself, but I seem to be doing pretty well this week! I've been PERFECTLY on plan for three out of four days, and on Valentine's Day I still tracked everything I ate and exercised that morning! Morning weigh-ins confirm I am down a couple pounds, although I'll get my official weigh-in Monday morning. Yesterday at work I resisted a CUPCAKE. CUPCAKE. It was a grocery store cupcake; if it had been gourmet, I totally would have caved.

Exercise has involved my two favorites: swimming and Zumba, although sporadically. I'm also running 3-4 times a week and doing strength training! Oh, so much strength training. My friend Kai, a crossfit guru, has been helping me with my form and encouraging me to use heavier weights. Tuesday we did lunges and squats, and my legs STILL hurt! Wednesday was the worst; I could barely move at all, and I declared that day a rest day.

Kai and her fiancee Sarah met me at the gym last night for some heavy lifting. I'd already been to the gym that morning for my cardio. I tried logging into Gympact, but apparently they think you can only work out once a day. DENIED.

"This is for my blog" "Well then shouldn't we be doing something?"

Sarah doing a super-impressive back squat

You will notice there are NO WEIGHTS on my bar. I can only handle the 45-pound bar itself.

 Yeah, I'm starting from scratch with the strength training. Four years ago I'd built up a bit of muscle, but it is gone, gone, gone, turned into fleshy fat and loose skin. I really appreciate the support and encouragement I get when I strength train with my friends. They keep me in proper form and give me new exercises to try!

I have a huge blocking fear of the deadlift. Many years ago I did it -- INCORRECTLY -- and I threw my back out. For over a week I was barely able to move, limping from class to work, and sitting on a heating pad all day. It was terrible. I really want to strengthen my back in other ways before I give it another try. This is just a reminder of how important correct form is when using weights. Improper form can, at best, just not work out the muscles enough and at worst, fuck you up painfully.

Boyfriend was out last night, so I made myself a dinner. Two turkey burgers cooked on the George Forman grill. I like watching the fatty bits drip off and into the tray. No bun, but reduced fat mayo with olive oil. I will sacrifice bread for mayo. Also Kraft sharp cheddar slices, ketchup and pickles. As you can see, I was starving and couldn't wait to take the first bite.

The weekend is coming, and that brings a new set of challenges. You see, at my crappy job, I work ALL DAY, ALL WEEKEND. 10 hours each day. It is very dull, and in the past I've grazed on junk all day just to make it through. Preparing to keep myself happy and full for the weekend has taken a lot of ADVANCED PLANNING. I already know what I'm going to eat through 7pm on Saturday. Snacks and such will be packed tonight, to save me time in the a.m.

How do you plan ahead for long days? I'd much rather have an array of snacks I may not eat than run out and be desperate enough to raid the vending machine. What do you do when you run out of healthy snacks? Do you suck down more water and pee every 10 minutes (burning calories running to the restroom!) or do you cave and find the least evil thing in the vending machine?

Oh Yeah, Stretching.

I had a great Valentine's Day last night! Boyfriend did his best to make sure I knew I was loved. He even made a special trip, at the end of an exhausting day at work, to a specialty cupcake shop to buy me the Valentine's cupcakes I wanted. <3 Then he came home and gave me the cupcakes, a card, roses, a GIANT box of candy, and made me a delicious dinner! I'm very lucky.

 

 

Now I feel bad, I just made him a mix CD

For dinner he made boiled artichokes. This is a dish we discovered we loved during vegetarian month last month. I knew I liked artichoke hearts in salad or cooked into other dishes, but I had no idea how amazingly delicious they were cooked fresh and dipped in garlic butter! Boyfriend is really branching out and becoming a great cook; at first all he knew how to make was baked tilapia (which is still yummy), but now he's made the artichokes and even lobster tail!

Turned into half an artichoke each because one fell on the floor upon removal from the pot :-(

I counted all the calories from yesterday, even though I went grossly over. Boyfriend decreed that the candy exemption was lifted for Valentine's Day, so I shoveled in way more of the candies than I should have. MMMMMMMM. Today the remainders go into work with me.

I had wanted to go swimming today, but my legs are omgsore. I did strength training with my friend Kai yesterday, and now I can barely move. I think today is a rest day. Although I do have a doctor's appointment later this evening, and it would be easier to bike down there than drive and try and find parking. Hopefully my legs can work well enough to pedal!

I think a lot of the pain is that I forgot to stretch before and most importantly after the workout. Angry muscles are angry.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I got up this morning and went to the gym! And I went yesterday! And now I'm very, very sore!! I had a great long workout yesterday, but today I just couldn't put in more than a half an hour. It doesn't help that it's a chilly, rainy day -- a rarity here in the desert, but it still affects my mood. 

Exercise helps my depression. Yesterday I felt really good about myself. Except then I was so drained I didn't do anything productive for the rest of the day. I need to build my endurance and strength back up. I want to be fit again!

Quick 'n easy cheesy

 Today's lunch is Trader Joe's brown rice with spinach sauteed with laughing cow light cheese. It was a quick and easy meal that I had a hankering for. And it uses up some foods that have been sitting in the pantry forever! I'm craving spinach. Maybe my iron's low.

Tonight Boyfriend is making me boiled artichokes. They are SOOO good, so good for me, and so low in calories! Of course, I dip them in garlic butter, but it's worth it. He may also be purchasing me a Valentine's cupcake. I've hinted.

 

Great new website!! Gym-Pact rewards you for going to the gym -- and punishes you if you don't. You make a pact saying how many days a week you'll go to the gym (minimum 3 days) and you pledge an amount you'll pay if you don't make your pact (minimum $5). At the end of the week, the company collects from those who didn't keep their pact and disburses it among those who did. I've earned $3.81 in two weeks! Yeah, you say, that won't even buy you a Starbucks drink, but here's my plan. If I can earn $8 a month, I can buy myself a Hulu Plus subscription, so I can watch tv....at the gym!

You get more shares of the money for more days pledged. This week I pledged 4 days a week, so I should get a little more. If there's any extra at the end of the month, I plan to save it for fitness gear. A heart rate monitor, new running shoes, etc. Every little bit helps, and it DEFINITELY helps me get my butt to the gym no matter what. I can't afford not to keep my pact!

Fall Down, Get Up, Keep Going

I'm frustrated. I'm making the same stupid mistakes -- rookie mistakes -- and as a result I've gained weight every week so far this month. I've been bouncing back and forth between diets and sticking to none of them. I'm just gonna count calories! No...I'm gonna do slimfast and count calories! No...I need to go back to Weight Watchers. No...I'm gonna do clean eating (that one didn't last out the day). No...I'm gonna do low-sugar!

 

Seriously? Just pick a fucking way of eating and stick with it. Because it's really not a diet. It's a way of eating for the REST OF MY LIFE.

 

I'm too fat and nothing fits!

 

 

I'll be honest, I've been using the MyFitnessPal app this year, and it has helped. For a week there my pants were even fitting more loosely! I wasn't tracking fruits or vegetables, however, giving them to myself as "freebies," and I think that stalled any real progress.

 

I've been reading other weight-loss blogs and fitness blogs all day for inspiration, to rejuvenate my passion for healthy eating, exercise, and weight loss. 110 Pounds and Counting has been really helpful. She lost weight by counting calories, and went through a lot of the same metamorphasis I did -- starting with convenience packaged, processed diet foods and moving to making meals and whole foods. I hope I can someday be as inspirational as she is. In 2003 I weighed 265 pounds, and in February 2011 I weighed 147. Today I weigh 185. I can lose weight -- I lost over 100 pounds and kept it off for years. I'm horrified at how much has creeped back on, and that just makes me want to eat.

 

Here are two of the biggest dangers: Ice cream and pizza. I have long said if I can't have these in my life, I don't want to bother living, but they are HUGE trigger foods. When the Boyfriend and I get a pizza, I can eat no fewer than 4 slices. Of a large! With extra cheese! I usually give up tracking on MyFitnessApp on those days. I've actually been pretty good about portioning ice cream (though eyeballing it, not measuring), but when the ice cream I eat has 300 calories for 1/2 cup, that's just so much wasted calories.

 

(Boyfriend and I are doing No Candy this month, so that may be adding to my sweet cravings)

 

For a week -- just ONE week! -- I'm not going to order pizza or buy ice cream. You know what I can have? A Lean Cuisine pizza (portion controlled). My favorite is the Spinach and Mushroom. I can buy LOWFAT frozen yogurt and the new Cuties made with coconut milk. I hope this will help me get over the hump and tone down my addictions to these foods. At the end of one week, if I''ve made it, well let's see if I can do it for another week, and then see how long I can go! (Actually, this is how I learned to drop fast food. "You know, I haven't had Wendy's in two months! Let's see if I can go another month. Let's see if I can go five months. You know, I really don't need to go back." Haven't since 2008.)

 

Verboten!!

 

 

I'm aiming to exercise four times a week. I'm working on a post about that.

 

Also, I'm going to take PICTURES of ME. I used to do a "day in the life" photoblogs all the time. I was okay with having my picture taken. But my Facebook icon now is from September 2011. I'm so embarrased with how I look I haven't kept a picture of myself in months. But if I FORCE myself to look at me as I really am, I can no longer kid myself about my weight (like the only four or five shirts that fit me that I rotate every week aren't hilarious enough).

 

How many times do I have to start over? Until I get it right.

WELL HELLO THERE.

Welcome to 2012! Oh, we're already past halfway through the first month? Well, shit.

I'm blogging my goals for the new year on a collective called Together, We're Better, but I'm not abandoning this blog. Because there are still plenty of really stupid dieters out there. Someone must bring the snark.

I'm eating vegetarian for January, and it's going really well. I’ve been tweaking it more towards actually eating vegetables instead of just cheese and bread. Yesterday for dinner I sauteed a fake chicken breast with a ton of vegetables and soy ginger dressing. It was DELICIOUS. And so healthy! Who knew?

I'm also using MyFitnessPal to finally get back on track with writing down every thing I eat. I like that it gives you more calories for working out, even though in reality that's not really how weight loss works. Still, I've had my best luck and lost the most weight with the simplest diet of all: Eat less, exercise more. I'm on board with anything that encourages that.

Enough about me, how are you? Still sticking with that New Year's Resolution to lose a few more pounds? If not, ask yourself why? Too hard? Too strict? Seriously, the smallest changes can have the biggest impact.