Monday, March 25, 2013

Letting Go

I think a big part of "letting go" of the difficulties and the stress that bogs us down is realizing that it's not going to all change by snapping our fingers. Like most things in life, it takes time. I am reminded of a teacher of the Toa Te Ching who said something to the effect that during meditation, we shouldn't try to force all thoughts out of our mind. When a thought finds its way in, acknowledge it, and gently let it go. If it keeps coming back, do the same thing; let it go. These things must be done slowly, over time, for us to master them.

I think this can be applied to just about anything that will help us change our lifestyle, whether it's quitting drinking, smoking or fast food, sticking to a healthy exercise routine or minimizing food portions, or in my case, switching over to a vegetarian (leaning toward vegan) lifestyle. I find, once again, that I am having trouble sticking to it, but I think I need to take a calm approach to steering myself in the right direction, rather than losing my grip and telling myself "you'd better do this now, or else" or even "I can't do this". I am not living in the moment when I say things like that, and I find as I get older that I say that pretty often!

The big problem right now is that we are also trying our best to save every penny because we may be taking our son on vacation. We had this planned out for over a year, and now we are going to have to wait until the morning we are supposed to leave (this Friday) to find out whether it would be irresponsible to do this because we are starting to fall behind on bills right now. Money has been pretty tight since I stopped working full-time. That said, the menu for this week consists of frozen food, loaded with preservatives that we had in the freezer for some time, but never ate until now, lol -- and there is a reason for that! We'll see if it was worth it.

Meanwhile, I realized that I completely forgot my doctor's appointment, which was supposed to be on the 15th! I have a few things that I need to talk to her about. I need to constantly, constantly remind myself that health comes first!! Anyway, I should mention that giving up coffee has been the most difficult part of all this, and once I start with the coffee, everything else goes right out the window. I wish there was a way I could drink coffee and not overindulge. I think that plays a huge role in why I am so tired all the time, and I find that I feel that way very shortly after I overdo it with the coffee! No good!

I am a work in progress...

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Next Stop: Vegetarian

I know it seems like I don't come here as often as I probably should, and it's not because things aren't going well. Actually, I really can't complain about my overall progress too much...except for this past weekend, because, well, I'm Irish and I celebrated that fact for like 4 days lol...but the party's over now!!

I did, however, weigh myself at some point last week and was a bit disappointed to find that I hadn't lost a single pound, nor did I lose any inches. It stung because I had been working really hard at it, keeping my calorie count under 1200 per day and burning an average of 500 calories / day. I do believe it has a lot to do with the possibility that my body is resisting it after having lost and re-gained so much weight over the past 10 years or so. I don't know if there is any truth to that, as I've never heard anyone complain about this happening before, but it's the only thing I can think of (aside from the fact that I'm pushing 30) because I was doing it exactly the same as I did the last two times, and for some reason I immediately hit the plateau.

On that note, I must keep reminding myself that I am not in this to lose weight as much as I am to get healthy. And, if I'm in it to get healthy, it's inevitable that I have to face the fact that the Slim Fast diet is probably not the best way to do it (although, um...it's delicious! My husband still wants to do it anyway just because he loves the taste of the chocolate royale, lol...)

Last night, I found myself getting worked up over some political issue that involved corporations destroying the health of America, I think it had something to do with the mayor of New York losing the battle to ban large-sized soft drinks. I was on the fence with the issue because on one hand, I'm not sure if I agree with politicians telling us what we can and can't consume, unless you're looking at it from the perspective that healthcare costs come out of the taxpayers' (our own) pockets. That's a whole separate issue, but I was also thinking "damn...money wins again!" I mean, I would not have cried a river for the ever-so-greedy McDonald's, or what have you, if they had lost that one in court. So anyway, I started browsing the internet to learn more about the typical American's highly processed diet, and I found my way to Netflix, where I watched this:


And here is the link if you've never seen it and you're interested (you will need a Netflix account):
http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/Forks-Over-Knives/70185045


I am a sucker for inspirational documentaries; I had the pleasure of seeing Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead for the first time a couple of years ago and, as I've mentioned, I actually did a reboot that lasted 2 weeks (I felt really funny toward the end of it, like I was constantly in a dream-like state, and I don't know if that's normal but I wasn't crazy about it). After watching Forks Over Knives, I recalled that I actually was a vegetarian when I was 13, and it lasted for a year. Even though that was the case, I don't believe I cut out all processed foods from my diet (I still ate those Boca burgers, etc. by Morning Star, which I don't know if I could stomach this time around lol). Last night, after watching the documentary, I decided to become a vegetarian again (I shouldn't say it like I know what I'm talking about because the last time I did this was 17 years ago, but there it is).

So, we went shopping today, and here is what's on the menu for this week:



Really, I didn't have much time to think about it and we needed groceries pretty badly, so I just kinda walked around and threw whatever I thought would be good in the cart, but before we go again the next time, I will have plant-based meals planned out. Since I am a newbie at this, I will need to find some meals that look appetizing and try them out. This (along with the diet itself) will take some getting used to, but I am looking forward to the challenge. :) I do wish I had a juicer again for those times when I want fresh juice, or even a functional blender for that matter (the one I have is crap! It's true what they say: you get what you pay for!)

As for exercise, I am sticking with my elliptical machine regularly, but I am so happy the warm weather is finally on its way (well, at some point; I say this because we just got bombared with more slushy snow...spring is coming, folks!) I am finally going to be able to use those bikes; I just need to pump up the tires and make a few adjustments. I am finally going to take advantage of that bike path down the street. Very exciting!

Saturday, March 2, 2013

Lost 11 lbs!

Well, I am very happy to say that I am finally getting that motivation I need. I am going strong with my diet and regular exercise, and since my last check-in, I have lost 11 lbs and a couple of inches off my neck, waist and hips (I realize that those first 5 lbs. are probably from the initial diet shock on my body, which happens to me every time).

As a matter of fact, we all went out to Ruby Tuesday's last night (Friday is restaurant night) and we ordered chips and artichoke dip for an appetizer, and I am not really crazy about that place, but we had a coupon we decided to use and I ordered a cheeseburger. Well, I ate some of the chips, the two sides and I took two bites of the burger, and by that time I was so full I thought I would burst. Even my husband looked at me like really? LOL that's very unusual for me. It's true what they say about the elasticity of our stomachs, smaller portions over time make them shrink. I could never put myself through stomach stapling surgery, but this does the trick. And, to reiterate what Joe says in Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead, who made it a law that we need to eat three square meals a day?

I am very happy about this so far, and being on this diet has given me the control I've needed; I really don't have overwhelming cravings, and I haven't had the urge to stop at a fast-food place at all because I know what I'm going to have for lunch already, and the portion size is always the same.

The only thing that concerns me is there are days when I am just incredibly overtired (I've mentioned before that exercising in the morning makes me exhausted by the middle of the day, even when I'm not doing this diet; now it is slightly better, but I do still feel it). I've never had this problem before. I'm wondering if it could be that I am getting older and my body is just not as strong as it used to be. I've looked online and read about other people who have had this problem, and it seems like it might boil down to not enough hydration (I drink tons of water every day, but may not be getting enough electrolites / potassium) or, and this is something I really need to figure out (as I no longer have a gym membership), I have done no weight training whatsoever so far. Supposedly, this leaves nowhere for glycogen (??) to go after working out, and thus, it makes you feel exhausted. I have a couple of small weights I will start using tonight, but I would like to figure out something a little better. In any case, I have made an apointment with the doctor for March 15, and I'll hopefully know soon (although there are still some health mysteries I have yet to understand thoroughly right now). For now, I'll just do what I'm doing, as it's not at the point of being debillitating.