My Weight Loss Progress

Thursday, June 30, 2016

A Little longer bike ride...and another new outfit.

I don't know if the time is actually accurate; I had to guess at it. I forgot to look when I left the house. It may have been less time.  At any rate, it's my longest ride so far. Any my legs were not as jelly-ish as before.

I didn't know when I bought the shirt if I would like the
polka-dots with the skirt, but it turns out I really do.

Tuesday, June 28, 2016

Phase 4

Phase 1 was doing all my one-mile walks
Phase 2 was doing the same but adding in extras like weights, stretchy band, and walk belt.
Phase 3 was adding in all the 2-mile stand-alone workouts.

Phase 4:  Phase 3, plus if there is a choice between 1 mile or 2 mile on the DVD, I'll do the 2 miles.  I have also added in a few DVDs from the library to shake up the pace and motions a bit. They vary between 1-2 miles equivalency.  On the DVD that has 5 one-mile workouts, I'll combine two of them at least once.

Monday, June 27, 2016

Progress Pictures in My New Dress


This is me, after 25 pounds lost. I still have a way to go, obviously.


My new dress



I'm still the fat sister.

May 28, 2016



But I look better than last year.




And that's incentive to keep up the work.

Saturday, June 25, 2016

Shopping Day!

I finally got around to the shopping reward I promised myself--a few items of new clothing after my first goal.  I was tired, but I had made an appointment with a LulaRoe consultant, so I dragged myself out. I bought a dress and a skirt from her, and then went over to Kohl's for some jewelry to match.

I'll post pictures when I get the clothes on and take the pictures. I still need shoes and some underthings so I'm not ready to model yet.  But I think my sizes have gone down overall.

With LulaRoe, my sizes were kind of all over the place, so I recommend if you want to buy from them, you find a local consultant and try things on.  Then you can buy some things from one of the many online groups.  Just search "LulaRoe" on Facebook, for an example.

The clothes are super comfortable and there is a wide variety of fabrics.  And they are modest!  I did not have to go through aisles and racks of sleeveless, low cut, see-through items. Their plain color Classic Tees I found to be a bit thin, but at Kohl's they were the same way. They have other styles.

At Kohl's I tried on a couple of tops, and I have gone down at least one size.  That was encouraging. I decided to go to Walmart for simple, plain t-shirts. They usually have some in a heavier weight in v-neck or round neck, and for a lot less money.  If I was looking for long-term clothing, I might look for better quality, but hopefully this is just one size on the way down!

Thursday, June 23, 2016

Eating Late at Night: The New Science of Why It’s Making You Fat

may 2016 aol health you are when you eat

Eating Late at Night: The New Science of Why It’s Making You Fat: Eating calories late at night may make you gain weight and cause health problems. Here's why you should eat dinner earlier and avoid late-night snacking.

At the doctor's office yesterday I found this interesting article from Reader's Digest May 2016.  We thought we'd give it a go since it works well with Anthony's work schedule.

Day 1: Did pretty well, eating dinner at breakfast time (around noon), breakfast for a snack later, lunch at suppertime.  Or in other words, I ate a big breakfast, a small lunch, and a medium supper.  I would have been fine except that late at night I felt sick to my stomach and the only thing that would assuage it was a large serving of corn chips and a large glass of juice.

I think this will take some time for my body to adjust, but I'm going to give it a go for a while.

Tuesday, June 21, 2016

How Can One Gain Two Pounds Overnight?

I was so excited! Yesterday I hit the scales at a 25.2 pound weight loss total.

Today, I had gained back 1.8 pounds.

How does this happen?

Saturday, June 18, 2016

Heart at Risk

My latest blood test results show that my heart is at risk due to high cholesterol and so forth. I'm also pre-diabetic.  Well, I 'm already doing the things I can do--exercising and trying to eat healthy and losing weight; I hope the doctor will have some solutions for the rest of it.

Losing weight--yes!  After I hit 22 pounds loss, I kind of plateaued and even went back up a little. With the food rotation plan, I'm broken that barrier and started losing again.  It's not just eating in rotation, but the planning and preparation makes me more aware of food and hunger, so I am also eating less.

Friday, June 17, 2016

Bicycle Fun

A friend of mine posts on Facebook that he can't ride hard. He went out for a short ride of about 20 miles.  I teased him that a short ride is around the block.

Today I went out for a truly short ride. I mapped it afterward at mapmyrun.com.  It was about 2.3 miles. I may have walked that last 0.3 miles. 

In my inexperience, I am not yet ready to ride across the major street that separates my neighborhood from the next one over, so I got off and walked my bike across.  When I got off the bike to cross that street on the way home, I noticed that I had "jelly legs", so I decided to walk until they felt normal again. That got me home.

2.3 miles. That's all?  Well, there was a tiny hill...and it was mostly uphill coming back.  Funny how many times I've driven that road and never noticed the slope of it. I dropped 39.7 feet in a mile, which admittedly isn't steep, but my legs were feeling it on the way back up.  The other loop that I rode last time is about 3.3 miles, but almost entirely flat, a total ascent of only 33.8 feet over a longer distance.

Comparative Steepness

Thursday, June 16, 2016

Adventures in Eating

Eating in a new food rotation, at first, is an adventure in eating. It's like trying out various restaurants with different healthy menus.  Sometimes I love the food. Sometimes I don't. But each meal is an adventure.

Imagine taking a favorite comfort food and having to tweak it.  One of those for me is one my mom used to make--egg noodles cooked and mixed with butter, garlic, and parsley.  Now, adapt it to a new diet. I ended up with rice-based fettucine, cooked and mixed with vegan margarine and shopped chives. It could have used a little salt but it was pretty good.  I served it with sliced, steamed zucchini and summer squash. I like it with butter and onion, but onion's off my list for the moment, and I had enough margarine in the noodles.  It turned out that I loved it.  The squash had a rich, delightful flavor all on its own. 

For a while, each meal is a discovery. Breakfast today was mango and strawberries, pureed and mixed with ice and a tiny bit of stevia to make a smoothie.  It was simple but delicious, and with a small bowl of Rice Chex and rice milk, made a good breakfast.  I usually try to have protein for breakfast, but today I went without it.  

Today's nut choice is walnuts, and I have some, but I need to toast them. If I eat them raw, they hurt my throat. Since I haven't done it yet, I did not have any at breakfast.  Doing an internet search to learn how to roast them is the next thing on my list.  Last week, I dry-sauteed some of them and then cooked them with a wild rice blend.  We both thought it was great, a fun new twist on rice.

Saturday, June 11, 2016

Turkey Stir-Fry

For dinner last night I made a quick stir-fry.  I used about a cup of thinly sliced carrots, about the same amount of thinly sliced cabbage, a half a small bag of sugar snap peas, and 1/2 lb. chopped up turkey.

It sounds kind of funny, but served over quinoa, it made a tasty, healthy meal, and so colorful and attractive.  A side dish of strawberry-apricot-peach smoothie, and we were both quite full, with enough left over for lunch.

Friday, June 10, 2016

When a major portion of your meal turns out to taste bad--on the rotation diet!

Photo Credit

I've always liked jicama and planned on it for lunch today.  Unfortunately, it had a bad taste. That's the second time recently it has happened.  Bad luck, or just stored too long getting to Indiana?  

Jicama (pronounced hee-ka-ma) is a vitamin C packed crisp root vegetable
 
sometimes called the "yam bean".  It has a refreshing mild taste
similar to a green apple and is a staple of Mexican cuisine.
It can help fight wrinkles and crow's feet.  
It is usually eaten raw and customarily served with chile and lime.
Photo and Information


Now I am shy of jicama, at least here. I wonder if I could grow it. It would have to be in a planter, so I doubt it would be worth the trouble. I looked it up and it pretty much needs a tropical place, like Hawaii. All of the jicama found in our markets is produced in Mexico. 

Photo Credit

I had to look over the day's allowed foods list to see what I could find to eat instead, and settled on applesauce left over from last night and a little bigger serving of corn chips than I had planned. However, I am hungry.  I guess I'll go see what's on my snacks list for today. 

Thursday, June 9, 2016

Not All Walking Workouts are Equal

In my exploration of Dewey 600, I came across several shelves of exercise DVD's.  I picked out a few that are walking workouts, just to change up my routine a little.  The first one is put out by Prevention, and it is fast-moving, even high impact at times.  While technically it is mostly walking, there is a bit of jogging and bouncing involved. I ignored those and did the best I could with my feet on the floor.

It was fun to have a change, but the first workout on this DVD is "Accelerated." It's only a mile, but a very fast mile!  My biggest problem with it was not the speed of walking, but the speed at which she makes changes. She uses several different steps, just jumping into them without a whole lot of introduction or explanation. Just as I began to felt like I was getting the hang of a step, she'd switch to another. Though she came back to some of them, there were a few that we did once and then moved on and I still have no sense of how to do them.

Part of this is me; my feet and my brain have a disconnect when it comes to learning steps.  I can catch on to dance steps, it just takes me a little longer.  So, personally, I prefer a workout that's a little more laid-back, a little easier to follow. 

On the positive side, it's only a "mile" workout, and I am used to some pretty intense miles, so I made it through and went on to my ten minutes of yoga.

Wednesday, June 8, 2016

Why the Braless Movement Didn't Last Long

I was commenting on an ad I saw for a foundation undergarment that is basically a corset. How glad I was to grow up in the 70's, a time of freeing our bodies from corsets and girdles. Who wears them now? I remember how glad my mother was when pantyhose came out so we girls did not have to wear girdles.  But they are back. Make them elastic, or put actual bones in them, they're still a girdle. My mom had garters on hers to fasten up her stockings.  No thank you!

I commented that I was, however, grateful that the bra-less movement didn't last long. My husband said it didn't last long because it had very little support.

I needed a good laugh today.

On another note, I went to the orthopedist today. I almost canceled the appointment, because I figured if I don't want to live on anti-inflammatory pills there wasn't much he could do for me. Then I though I'd better go, because maybe he'd consider how long this has gone one and have an alternative, or give me another steroid shot if I needed it. He spent less than five minutes with me, basically telling me that there is nothing more he can do for me. "If it only hurts when you kneel on it, don't kneel." Uh, gee, thanks, Doc.

He still says it is just arthritis, but it never hurt like that before I fell on it six months ago, so I think something is broken or moved out of place in there. I'm going to give it a while and consider a second opinion. I've got lots going on with the other doctor right now.

Tuesday, June 7, 2016

"Tell Me the Story"


It helps to have a great support system.  I've been fortunate, in this latest relocation, to find a church congregation that gets the issues around allergies. The Sacrament is served with gluten-free bread. For Mother's Day, one of the women's leaders called me to find out what foods I have to avoid, and served a lovely brunch that was perfect for me and some others with allergy issues.  I was so grateful. It can be so tiring to be always on the outside looking in when it comes to food.
Beautiful ripe red strawberry with stem.My sister is going gluten-free and dairy-free for six months, so visiting her house for a few days was a welcome break. She was well-stocked with things I can eat. For her son's wedding, she had strawberries for the cake, but she deliberately served strawberries in a separate bowl, so people who could not have one or the other could still have a treat.


I had a big doctor appointment yesterday to go over test results. I also got my allergy shots and spent a while at the library, stocking up on Dewey 600's and fiction.


Then I came home and had lunch. I was so tired after that, I just laid down and took a nap. After I awoke, I started going over the information packets of instructions from the doctor and making a chart for the treatment plan, which I may review another day.


My husband came home when I was typing, and came to me immediately. He gave me a kiss and said, "Tell me the story."  I went quickly over the main points of the doctor visit. I think he was discouraged that I have new food sensitivities, but he is very supportive. He's willing to shop for, and cook, whatever I need, and to use up or get rid of the things I have to avoid.


In one way it'll be easier; I need to put together menus and I intend to cook quite simple, plain foods to stick to the rotation. The doctor strongly encourages me to go organic. I got a book of vegan smoothie recipes (Thanks Dewey 600!) and it will be fun to try some out if I can work them into the rotation.

My husband is a willing tester for new recipes, and fortunately does not have any food issues that we know of.  I'm grateful that he is so healthy, and so supportive when I am not.  Together we will beat this thing!  Even if sometimes it takes two trips to the pharmacy right in a row, or eating a diet that others consider weird, or getting all the chocolate out of the house.  Yep, really.

Saturday, June 4, 2016

May Book Reviews

The Hidden Geometry of Flowers: Living Rhythms, Form and Number  by Keith Critchlow, Floris Books, 2011

This is a beautiful book, full of gorgeous illustrations and pictures.  I started reading it, and there is a good deal of philosophy in the beginning.  It starts in with plant symmetry a little later. Although it was very interesting, I got waylaid by a mathematical error.  That's what I get for skipping ahead and glancing at the pictures.

You see, a couple of years ago, I was a math tutor, focused on algebra and trigonometry.  When the book had a lovely illustration of the six-petaled flower fitting neatly into a circle, I was naturally drawn to it. Unfortunately, either it was poorly worded or it had an actual mathematical error. Either way, I felt I could no longer trust his math and geometry, so I lost interest in the book.  This is rather sad, because I think much of it could have been beneficial.


Wicked Plants: The Weed that Killed Lincoln's Mother & Other Botanical Atrocities by Amy Stewart, with Etchings by Briony Morrow-Cribbs and Drawings by Jonathan Rosen, Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2009

This was an enjoyable, quick description of many dangerous plants, from poisons to skin irritation. The drawings and etchings are beautiful, printed on an old-fashioned, sepia-toned paper.  

While I did not go out into the field looking for samples, I think it would be hard to identify plants using only this book, though people did it for decades, perhaps even centuries, with field guides that had only drawings and descriptions.  I like the ease of looking at plants on the internet, comparing color as well as leaf shape, and finding multiple images of plants at varying stages of growth.

That said, this book had wonderful descriptions and some delightful and terrifying historical facts. I also learned that almost all my houseplants are poisonous to children and animals. If you want to have them in the same household, it's a good idea to have the poison control phone number posted in a handy place. Well, plants aside, if your children are like mine, you have it programmed into your phone on speed dial.  

If I ever found myself lost in the wilderness, like most of us in modern society I would not know which plants are save and which are dangerous.  I would probably die of either starvation or poisoning.  Growing up, I knew that certain weeds were edible, like the lemony stems of sorrel, the dandelion greens, purslane, and a plant we called Indian lettuce. I think I could have gotten at least a few nutrients. However, I now live in an entirely different part of the country, and I have no clue. Perhaps the thing to pack in a survival guide is a book like this, as well as one about edible plants. Some are so similar it is scary. There is even a toxic mushroom that mimics the popular morel mushroom. 

Well, that's all for May. I'm into June and have not yet picked up new books, but it is on Monday's to-do list.  


Wednesday, June 1, 2016

Traveling Adventures

We went to California for my nephew's wedding reception. Once again I felt like the fat sister, but I just tried to focus on the moment and enjoy the time with family and friends.