News Flash to Me: there is no “easy” weight loss

We saw a buffalo on the wildlife refuge Sunday!

               

 So, first of all, to report NO changes! Well, truthfully, 2-3 pounds have crept BACK ON!!!  I realized that I was not consuming enough calories per day (400-900 is too few!!) so, I have tried to keep it to 1000-1100...and what do you know? I’ve GAINED weight!

                On the other hand, I have remained steadfast to “The Mandates”.  I have not “slipped”.  I have been FAITHFUL.  So, that is one good thing.  I did not take measurements (that WOULD have been a good idea) but my “new” (smaller) pants are slipping off of me.  This should make me happy – right? Wrong!  I didn’t go through all of this to stay the same!  I mean, I’ve been the same since February 11 and here it is April 10!!!  I SHOULD be losing more!

                I go to the doctor next week – we’ll see what she says.

                So today, I will sing the praises of a little grain called barley.  It is a GREAT grain.  Especially for people who need to lose weight.  Barley is also really good for diabetics.  Also it is beneficial for anyone who is concerned about keeping their blood glucose levels low.  It does NOT turn to sugar as quickly as wheat or rice.  It’s is much lower in carbohydrates than they are and the type of carb is different.

                If you haven’t tried barley, you can buy it at Wal-Mart (or your local health food store).  You can add a little to soups or stews.  You can just cook it like rice (3 c water, boiling, add 1 c barley and simmer for 1 hr 15 min tightly covered).  Serve it with a little salt maybe a dash of olive oil or a TEENY-TINY bit of butter.  Mix it into a casserole instead of rice.   I like a half cup for breakfast.

              

  Also, another new food for me is bok choy.  It is high in Vitamin A, Vitamin C and calcium, but it is low in calories.  Plus, it tastes DELICIOUS in a vegetable soup! I have been making soups – and they are so good! Broth, veggies and some little tiny meat chunks and viola! Soup! Cut your bok choy into bite sized pieces and add it to the boiling soup – FABULOUS! Or you can steam it, use it in stir fry or in salads!!! It is listed in the cabbage family - but it is NOT like cabbage! Enjoy!!!

We're Walking...We're Walking...

My Cousin and His Wife walking by Lake Ontario

Goal: 30 minutes a day of 4-mile-per-hour walking
Requirements:
1. Good shoes
2. Good weather (relatively!)
3. Good time management (like, if you just got in from a 20 hour trip...not a good time to walk)
4. Healthy environment (mostly in Mexico and Peru we are kind of targets if we try to walk...especially regularly...in "public")

 However, walking is worth it.  That is me on the right, 35 pounds ago!!!  Those pants fall off of me now...and they are the right length, not too short like they are in the photo. 

1. Warm up - walk 5 minutes, stop, stretch.
2. Walk briskly for 25 minutes.
3. Stretch again.
4. Drink water.

I have tracked out 2 miles now...and some days I do it twice when it isn't raining!

So THAT’S What Happened!

The Plateau

I found a website that explained the phenomenon called “The Plateau”.  They say that it happens when, even though you are doing the exercise and food changes, you stop losing weight!  It is very irritating and can cause disillusionment. (No kidding!)  

Here is my version of what they said.  When the body is put on a reduced calorie diet, the rapid drop in weight is normal. (I have never had it happen before…but…THEY say it is “normal”.) The body gets the energy that it needs by releasing glycogen, a carbohydrate stored in the liver and in the muscles. One property of glycogen is that it retains water, so when it is released or “burned” by the body, it also releases the water! (So THAT’S why my ankles look normal again!!!  Much of the weight that I lost WAS water stored in my cells!)

So now, and this is the REALLY bad news, my body’s equilibrium is changed and my metabolism is actually SLOWER! Yes, that’s right…it is SLOWER! And I thought it couldn’t GET any slower! I was wrong.  

If I am to continue to lose weight, I must increase my activity even more and decrease my calories.  Or so says the article.  But…my calories are already too low and I do not think that I should spend MORE hours walking and doing the exercise videos - it is already quite a bit!  I am going to the doctor next week, so we shall speak to her about this and see what she has to recommend. 

I’ve actually been in this situation before.  A few years ago, I struggled through 20 pounds or so of weight loss and then...NOTHING!  So I worked out more and did more cardio, and I ate less…and no change on the scale.  So, I worked out MORE and did MORE cardio…and ate less ‘til I felt like I was starving…and STILL no change on the scale.  So, I worked out MORE…well, you get it.  And then, Tony broke his leg and the whole “running to the gym” thing didn't work anymore and … the cycle stopped. And boop! just like a fishing bobber, I popped right back up on the scale!

I will do the research and let you know what I find out.  If YOU know anything…share it with me!!!  I will not let this "plateau" stop me this time!

I want the sort of body and health that is up to this lifestyle that we have chosen!

 

(here is the site where I got all of the good info.  http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/weight-loss-plateau/MY01152)

Some Purge!

I am purging my closet – getting rid of “a whole bunch of clothes” that are too big. Right? I have a gigantic closet and, since I’ve lost 30 pounds, there should be a large quantity to go! You know, things that are 2-3 sizes too big? Guess what!  There aren’t very many things!  <shakes head sadly>

 

Here’s what happened:

1. I have a LOT of elastic wasted clothing which I just hauled over the extra pounds and wore a jacket to cover…

2. Even though I have a very full closet, I really couldn’t wear most of it – it was nearly all too tight!!

3. I was in serious denial about my true size! I didn’t buy big clothes!

4. I am a scary pack-rat who keeps lots of stuff “just in case”!

5. My too-big-jeans went to the Jean Quilt Stash and not to the Give Away Bag

So, now, after a busy full day of fun work, everything in my closet fits me!  The clothes range over 3 sizes from sort-of-snug to kind-of-comfortably-loose … but it all fits! (Some of it for the first time in 12 years! Hello! Time for a fashion shift!!) Considering how much weight I have lost and how many clothes I own, that give-away pile is really slim!!! 

So What Do I Wear Now???

Your typical “minimalist” wardrobe isn’t going to cut it for me.  Because we travel to other climates regularly, I need both sweltering summer and shivering winter clothes available at all times.  I also have to be ready for anything, from ultra-casual jungle trekking to ultra-conservative “Guest Speaker” clothes for the platform of a church!

Color!

For a good travel wardrobe one must think in black and white – literally!  And that describes my closet! (I do have some tan, chocolate, and gray in there too.)  I try to make sure that most of the clothes are wrinkle-free or don’t ever need an iron and are machine washable.  How bland is that? I am ready for a CHANGE!!! In keeping with the Saturate Mandate, I want to SATURATE my wardrobe with COLOR!!

After combing the internet for wardrobe advice, especially for the “over-40” crowd (which is pretty slim pickin’s!), here are some rules that I am writing for myself as I pare down even more! (by the way, if you are over 40, try www.fabulousafter40.com)

1

Closet Mandates:

1. Pick a “uniform” for the various activities that I do.  Narrow the choices! There is freedom in it!

2. Don’t keep anything that has a stain, a rip, isn’t quite right, wrong color etc.  Fix it, repurpose it, or give/throw it away.

3. Keep the black/tan/white combo, but pick TWO accent colors and work them in liberally as blouses, necklace/earrings, scarves etc.

my color palette

4. If it doesn’t fit the body or the plan – get rid of it! (Especially if it is too big! don’t save it for “just in case”! You are NEVER going back there again!) Dress the body you have now.

(Scary thought:  if I lose 20 more pounds, NOTHING that I currently own will fit me! I will need all new clothes!)

What’s in YOUR closet?

Documentation

June 2011.....................March 2012

FIRST ONE! CELEBRATE!!!!

I’ve been waiting and W…A…I..T…I…N…GGGGGGGG…trying to let it NOT be important…but it was.  Thirty-five pounds gone since July and not one unsolicited comment.  No one…not one person in my "real" world…has said to me, “Have you lost weight?”  I thought that it would be very obvious. 

There are reasons. 

One, our circle of friends has changed.  Everyone has moved away, we changed churches, and we are out of town a lot…so no one who “knows me” has been around me much to really be there for the “before” AND the “after”.  They have either seen the one or the other, but not both.

Two, the people who “know me” now, might not know me well enough to hazard a comment like that.  In new relationships, it is often better to be cautious than to blurt out things that might be sensitive…like weight.

Three, I HAVE told lots of people who know me...so I don't count them since they were TOLD and didn't just see it on their own. 

 Whatever the case, it finally happened!!!  A woman said that she didn’t recognize me because I have lost so much weight!  I can relax about it now. <grin> Someone noticed. It really shows.

Meanwhile, my metabolism is still struggling with the weight loss…it is like my body wants the pounds back and I won’t give them back!  I haven’t lost one more pound since early February. Time to drink more water. It is becoming my “drink of choice”.  Time to walk more – I had been up to 30 minutes two times a day, but the weather sets me back and then it is hard to get back on the track again – both literally and figuratively. I am not “cheating”…I’m still eating my cup-or-less every hour-or-more and stopping at 7PM.  I can jog now, too.  My pants are slipping off of my hips (!!!), so I’m hoping that I’m building heavier muscle and maybe those non-lost pounds are looking better and leaner in muscle instead of in fat!

not one new marble to move from one to the other

Either way – with lost weight or without it – I am not backing down.  I KNOW that my metabolism is better off with smaller “meals” more often and my heart is happier with celebration and stronger self!

How is it going for you? Have you any tips for me that might help me start losing again?

Abbreviate - less is more or SMALLER IS BETTER!

Part of the meaning of the term “abbreviate” means to eat less…

but it also means to eat from smaller dishes…

using smaller silverware.

It has been fun to scour stores for smaller dinnerware.  I love my little green dish-cups (99 cents at a pottery-something outlet store somewhere near St. Louis, MO) and the little red … do you call that a ramekin?  The 4 inch square china plates are so rich feeling! 

More good news: when you buy the smaller sizes, you pay the smaller prices! I used to think that “more is more”, the bigger the plate or the cup…the BETTER!  I’ve changed my tune!

EAT LESS…TASTE MORE!!

I have really had to think about the way that I ate and to change my style:

1.    Take smaller bites

2.    Chew more…and then some more before I swallow

3.    Really TASTE my food and ENJOY it

4.    Don’t wash down food with lots of drink

5.    Sit down without the television or a book and eat with my family if possible

6.    Stop eating (do not take seconds, thirds, a nibble more, another nibble…

    … just STOP)