Monday, January 24, 2011

I will survive

I have finished 2 weeks of my nutrition plan!  Yeah!!  I have to tell you, I feel amazing!  I can not tell you that I am not craving foods or have been totally 100% on it but I am doing pretty darn good if I say so myself. 



The first week was not the most pleasant.  I discovered on day 1 that I don't particularly like sugar snap peas!  But because of the way I plan my meals, eating the same thing for the whole week I had to eat them the rest of the week.  Although Thursday of that week I discovered if I separated the peas from the pod and ate them separately it was much more texturally pleasing.  My sugar craving was pretty intense for the first 3 days and I was pretty groggy and crappy.  However waking up on Friday I felt like a totally new person, rested and ready to take on the world!

When it came to getting ready to plan the next weeks meals and grocery shopping it quickly became evident I didn't plan as well as I though.  Although the menu was a great plan it had tomatoes, avocados, and fresh berries.  As most of y'all know avocados and fresh berries are not the cheapest out of season and tomatoes just taste gross out of season!  After my last post I had a few friends mention to me the eat clean diet and they talked about how great the plan was.  So I took a trek to my local Barnes and Noble and plopped down in a comfy chair with the eat clean books.  After reading through the book and perusing the cookbook I purchased them both.

The next weeks meals were more budget friendly and still healthy.  I was skeptical of the authors suggestion of bee pollen in my morning oatmeal but I gave it a shot.  With the addition of the bee pollen and flax seed it was not all aesthetically pleasing as the end result resembled a bowl of stone ground mustard!  It does have a funny taste but I got used to it pretty quick and it isn't too bad now.  First snack was chicken and green beans, lunch chicken over romaine lettuce and a squeeze of fresh lemon and half a sweet potato, snack pear and protein shake and dinner was suppose to be baked cod with steamed bok choy and half a sweet potato.



I have discovered, after keeping a log of what I eat and what times, I don't eat in the evenings.  I do really great during the day, my meals are all planned out, every 2 and a half hours. I drink plenty of water. When I come home though my 5th meal falls right when I workout.  After I workout the thought of food is not appetizing at all.  And with fish being my last meal I couldn't make it too far ahead and I don't really feel like cooking in the evenings after working all day and a workout... (Oh the wonderful life of being single, I don't HAVE to make dinner). :)  So this week I am going to focus on getting in food in the evenings. Especially after a workout because it is really important to get protein and nutrients in after a hard workout. 

So overall I have stuck with the plan.  Today at lunch there were pop-tarts on the counter at work and I was tempted to get one... I don't even like pop-tarts!  So the sugar cravings aren't completely gone but it is easier to resist and think about the positives I am doing for my health and well being!  Oh and positive part too, in the 2 weeks I have been eating healthier I have lost 13 pounds!!  Whoo Hoo!!  2 weeks down... the rest of my life to go!!

Monday, January 10, 2011

diet is just die with a " t "!


I have known for quite a while that I needed to get my eating on some sort of track.  I make relatively healthy choices but portion control is something I don't have a good grasp on.  I am a sucker for sugar too, as you can tell by my earlier posts and the subsequent failure to comply posts :).  My problem is I don't want to go on a "diet".  As a former fat girl the word "diet" meant eating nothing, cutting out main food groups or only eating one kind of food!


I know everyone has their own idea of what diet works... trust me, over the past 2 years of my journey I have heard that I need to do this diet or that diet, cut this out or put this back in blah blah blah!!  I am not out for a quick fix, obviously, I am looking to make my life healthier! Which means whatever nutrition plan I am choosing has to be sustainable for the rest of my life.  No injecting myself with hormones, only eating 500 calories a day, or cutting out carbs. 
I think over the past couple of weeks my google investigation skills were put to use.  Searching pro's and con's of different diet and eating plans.  Looking at research and results.  Ultimately though, there is only so much searching and investigation before you have to just make a plan and jump in.   So this weekend I made a plan, went grocery shopping and today was day 1.  In the same concept that I am on a weight loss 'journey' not an exercise plan, I chose not to call this a "diet" but more a nutrition plan. 

I currently have decided on a pretty much all natural, back to basics nutrition.  Fruits and veggies, with beans, nuts and lean meats.  No processed foods, breads or pastas and no added sugar.  I already concluded that I wanted to cut out excess sugars and I have read and heard more and more about gluten intolerance.  I am by no means an expert about any of this stuff but with having personal gastrointestinal issues myself I thought it wouldn't hurt to try.  So here goes nothing!!


I chose a 21 day nutrition plan but modified it to fit my lifestyle.  I consider myself a relatively busy person with a full time job, workouts at least 5 evenings a week and also active in my church.  I find it easier to use my weekends to power cook, cook enough food to last me the entire week, so I don't have to worry about what to eat and I have one less excuse to not go out to eat.  So instead of a 21 day nutrition plan I am converting it to 21 weeks.  That way I can purchase and cook a multiplied recipe of a meal to last the entire week instead of 42 separate meals.

So this week my meals consist of:
quinoa, blueberries and peanut butter for breakfast,
10 almonds and pear for snack,
lamb lettuce wraps with plain Greek yogurt for lunch,
10 sugar snap peas and apple for snack, 
Salad with black beans and real guacamole for dinner,
10 grapes for snack.

I survived day one... the no sugar part is really hard right now.  I didn't get coffee because I can't drink it without sugar.  I saw a commercial for caramel Hershey's kisses while eating my lunch and I felt like I wanted jump through the tv and get one.  I found out I don't like sugar snap peas.  Something about the texture and taste I don't like, but I have 50 of them left for the rest of the week so I will just suck it up and eat them. :)  So far I have enjoyed everything else. The lettuce wraps are really good, and surprisingly enough, breakfast is really tasty too! 

I can tell my portion control had been way out of whack.  I scheduled to eat my meals and snacks 2 and a half hours apart and I kept checking the clock to see if it was time to eat again!  It is nice though to have a plan I can stick with instead of just cooking a bunch of whatever and putting it in the freezer.  I know my body will soon adjust to the portion sizes and it won't be so bad.  I am going to give this nutrition plan 4 weeks then re-evaluate from there.  I am really excited to begin this next step on my journey and look forward to the rewards and benefits of filling my body with more whole nutritious foods.

Friday, January 7, 2011

Year in review



With the New Year I did a sort of year in review. I initially looked at my weight loss and was pretty disheartened when I discovered throughout the entire year of 2010 from January to December I lost a total of 8 pounds! At one point this year I had reached the 90 pound weight loss mark only to gain some back.  The year prior I had lost 60 pounds and to only lose 8 pounds following that  honestly really made me want to just say "screw it all!!" 

I had signed up and participated in my personal trainer's holiday boot camp in effort to get me back on track and keep me more accountable in my workout consistency.  It was a great 7 week program, 3 times a week and I always left sweaty and feeling like I had a great workout.  My final weigh-in for the boot camp however did not produce the results I was hoping for, not only showed a weight gain on the scale but also a gain of 8 inches!! 

In the spirit of staying positive I had to look at what else I accomplished in 2010. I ran and finished 4 5K's, one 2 miler, and a half marathon!! Not only that but I have also dropped 2 jean sizes, and only lost a total of 8 pounds!!  Almost just as important though is that my journey has inspired others around me to start or continue their own weight loss/health journey. 

The last half of 2010 was such a struggle with the passing of my grandmother, family illnesses, not to mention my own illnesses. What I can say though is I didn't give up. Yes I wanted to quit, yes I slacked off, yes I beat myself up, yes I felt like a failure BUT I didn't quit, I never failed, and I can't go back and change what I didn't do. 

A friend who has recently embarked on her own weight loss journey (and might I say she is totally kicking butt) brought out her old jeans to show just how much progress she has made. So I dug through my closet and pulled out my old jeans I was saving for the time when I get super skinny and I can do the "biggest loser weight loss fat pants, skinny body" reveal!  I put them on and it really opened my eyes to everything I have accomplished these past 2 years.  It surprised me that putting the pants on physically not only showed me my weight loss but it showed me my mental progress too.  Almost like putting on my old fat pants was like momentarily, mentally putting back on the 68 pounds and re-inserting the "fat girl" personality. 



This past year I think was a lot of personal discovery for me.  The first year in my weight loss I spent  most of my time establishing the habit of working out and working hard.  After the solidification of the habit then it was getting the rest of me in order.  Growing up always being the tall, fat girl I had to change my mindset.  I can still be Emily without the personification of the "fat girl".  I had to convince myself it was ok to not be the "fat girl" anymore, and had to have a sort of parting of ways between the fat girl and the new me I am discovering.  I have no pictures, physical or mental of what I, as an adult, would look like in a smaller size (except I know I would be ridiculously good looking :) )  So I had to work beyond my fear of the unknown and just keep working.

So what about 2011... Well, the numbers results of 2010 were nothing astronomical in the progress of my discovery.  But the things I learned and am learning about myself can not be quantified.  I think 2011 is going to be a bringing together of my dedication to exercise and strength to keep discovering who I am and begin bringing in nutrition as I know that is an integral piece of the puzzle.  I can't help but be giddy when I think of what is to come.  I am learning through this process, even though it has taken quite a bit of time, the finish line or ultimate weight loss goal, is not what matters but it is the journey and the lessons learned in between the start and finish.  

The Best is Yet to Come!!!