Struggling

OK, so I'm struggling a bit to start eating right again. I've got to get back on the wagon before I really start gaining weight. I can't believe I had the ridiculous dinner I had on Friday (including a MILKSHAKE) and the atrocious dinner I had last night (NACHOS!), and I really feel awful and am so ready to get back on track. I've got only six days before I leave for San Francisco, where I'll be constantly tempted, so I've really got to get back into an Atkins mindset before I go.

So the plan for this week is to get back to near-Induction levels with only the addition of nuts. My plan is to stick to 30 net carbs or less the entire week. That should get rid of all of my cravings, my eating when I'm not hungry, my eating everything in sight, and will position me well for my trip.

Then, next week, I'll probably allow myself some fruit, but other than that try to stick closely to what I'm eating this week.

One thing that I've been doing that I really need to get out of is watching my calories. I don't know for sure if I need to watch my calories, but you're not really supposed to on Atkins. And the more I watch my calories, the more I'm apt to eat something high-carb but low-calorie as a snack (that then won't satisfy me and/or will set off additional cravings) instead of something full of delicious and satisfying fat. So I want to start just watching my carbs like I was when I was successful in the beginning.

OK, so this morning we're having eggs, bacon and sausage (It doesn't get much better!) and then I'm making Cheesy Chicken Cabbage Bacon Casserole for dinner.

Other meals this week are hamburgers, Hamburger Broccoli Alfredo Casserole, Thin and Crispy Pizza Crust and Slow Cooker Chicken and Vegetables. I'm sure we'll have leftovers somewhere in there, and I'm leaving Friday morning, so Josh and Oliver will be on their own Friday through Monday. I did buy a pack of hot dogs for them, so I'm sure they'll make the most of those.

Reigning it in

I've really got to reign in all of this carb stuff. I've gotten way off track, and while I haven't really been gaining weight, my carb numbers are barreling up and I'm eating carbs fairly indiscriminately. And I've noticed that cravings have come back, and I've started to eat even when I'm not hungry, something I don't do when I'm eating the right way.

So, next week will be a week of Induction with veggies galore. I am even going to avoid nuts. Serious Induction. Maybe I can get back on track and add in carbs systematically instead of all willy-nilly like I have been lately.

Tonight, Josh and I are going out to eat, and I'll probably overdo it in the carb department and then be back on track in the morning. I have eggs and sausage and a little bit of bacon, so I'll be able to eat on Induction starting first thing tomorrow.

Carbs, carbs, carbs

I've been eating a lot more carbs lately. I didn't really plan it, necessarily, but I found a bunch of recipes that were carbier than I've eaten in the past, and I decided to try them out. My main goal was to fight the boredom of making the same recipes all the time, but I'm also beginning to experiment a little bit with how I'll eat once I lose the rest of the weight that I want to lose. I'll probably go back and forth for the next several months, eating more and less carbs, just to see how my body responds and to figure out how much I CAN eat. Since I'm only losing a few pounds a month, it's very hard to tell on a day-by-day, or even week-by-week, basis how certain foods affect me. So I'm just throwing them in there for a while to see if I can see a difference.

I've been adding nut flours, fruit and even some whole grain bread. Nothing has really set off a noticeable craving, but I do feel like I have to be careful not to underestimate carbs. I ate half of a sweet potato biscuit at Cafe Carolina yesterday and then looked it up and found out it was 71 grams of carbs! Fortunately, I avoided the actual clumps of brown sugar on top of the biscuit, which I'm sure account for a good slice of those 71 carbs, but nonetheless ... I'm sure I ate more carbs than I realized. I also feel like some of the carby foods are nudging out the veggies and foundational foods, which isn't really a good idea. I'm working on it, though!

Here's my meal plan for the day:

Breakfast:
Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffin (made with 60% chips, not sugar free) - 10.6 carbs
2 Tbsp. peanut butter - 4 carbs

Lunch:
Hamburger with muenster cheese on a whole-wheat sandwich round/thin - 16.25 carbs

Snack:
Apple with 2 T. peanut butter - 16.14 carbs

Dinner:
Mock Potato Soup with chicken added - 4.5 carbs
Buttermilk Biscuit - 1.5 carbs

Weight averaging

I've been trying not to obsess over the little ups and downs in my weight as I get closer to my goal. I know that I'm on a generally downward track, and that's all that really matters to me. So I decided to average out what I've weighed every month since I've started this diet. Here are my averages.

April: 199.75
May: 191.5 (-8.25 lbs.)
June: 190(-1.5 lbs.)
July: 184 (-6 lbs.)
August: 178 (-6 lbs.)
September: 173.25 (-4.75 lbs.)
October: 171.73 (-1.52 lbs.)
November: 169.13 (-2.6 lbs.)
December: 165.4 (-3.73 lbs.)
January (so far): 164.87 (-0.53 lbs.)

So far, January is the worst month, but I DID start off the month with quite a substantial gain (about 3 pounds) from Christmas break. And I've got another week of this month, and I think I'll go down a bit more. It's still not going to be much of a loss average-wise this month, though.

Of course, this isn't particularly scientific because it only takes into account the days I actually recorded my weight, which is almost certainly skewed toward days that the scale was being nice to me, but still, it's nice to see that I'm making progress and that it hasn't really slowed down all that much.

Hypothesis confirmed!

I'm sure there are people out there that can tell you why you gain weight when you start to exercise, but I'm not one of them. But I have determined that exercise pretty much always adds on one pound. When I stop exercising, that pound drops off quickly, and with it a few more, but while I'm exercising regularly, I'm just a bit heavier.

It doesn't bother me as much now as it did a while ago. I'm relatively happy where I am, and I know that the last 10 or 15 pounds will come off eventually. Plus, I know that I feel better and stronger and my clothes fit better when I'm exercising, regardless of what the scale says. So I can deal with it. It also means that I can look forward to nice low numbers on the scale on my rest days, so that's a bonus.

All that to say, I worked out last night, and I'm up about a pound to 164.2 this morning. No biggie, though, right? I'll get there. And I'm really enjoying this EA Sports Active 2 stuff. The workouts are challenging but short enough to be manageable on a weeknight.

Down, down!

I don't know if it's because I've been sick (I've certainly still been eating plenty) or what, but I'm making pretty quick work of this "losing weight" thing. This morning, I'm down to 163, even. I didn't really pay much attention to what I was eating over the weekend, and I really felt like I overindulged yesterday, but apparently I did OK. I think part of the reason I've been losing fairly quickly (for me) is that I stopped working out while I was sick. Working out always makes me heavier for some reason. I know it can't be muscle creation ... it had only been a couple of days. But I think it must be water retention or something. So then when I cut it out for a while, I lose the added weight. Whatever it is, I'll take it.

I'm going to try to get back on schedule today. I've been coughing quite a bit, though, so we'll see how it goes.

Another Low

I've been under the weather for a couple of days, so I haven't worked out since Tuesday. Thursday is my night off anyway, though, so I've only missed one workout. However, the scale is liking my hiatus -- I'm down to 163.8 this morning, which is a new low for me and means that I've officially reached my initial goal of 164 -- a "normal" body weight. I've been dancing around that for a while now.

That means I've lost 36.7 pounds so far, and I've only got 13.8 pounds to go to my final goal of 150. I think working out will help me get there, even though it takes a little while longer to see the results when I'm exercising.

So far, Josh has lost 22 pounds, and it still sticking with the plan, for the most part. I think he's going to have a rude awakening when he gets close to his goal weight and he has to try a lot harder to stay on track!

Conspiracy Theory

There must be some sort of conspiracy going on. Every time I hold off on posting an increase in weight I immediately turn around and lose that weight. I'm not sure if there's some sort of wireless connection between this blog and my scale or if it's just some sort of general, universal conspiracy, but two data points can't be coincidence. Just ask Dr. Wakefield.

Anyway, point is that after finally posting my post-Christmas weight, I went back down to my pre-Christmas weight this morning — 164.2. I'm not going to pretend that I did anything differently yesterday, except skipping my workout because I'm starting to get sick and I really wasn't feeling it. I'll make it up tonight, which was supposed to be a rest day.

The EA Sports Active 2 game/workout that I've been doing has really been a lot of fun. It allows you to sign up for programs and/or to create your own workout based on areas you'd like to target or types of activities you'd like to do. And it also offers three intensity levels -- low, medium and high -- for each exercise. Right now, I'm doing sort of the intro program, called Cardio Kickstart, which is a 21-day program where you pick four days per week to exercise and it creates workouts for you. It has a heart rate monitor with it, so you can see how hard you're working out and how many calories you're burning. And the games are fun and motivating. Instead of just doing squats and jumps, you squat down and then jump up to head a soccer ball that your trainer throws at you. Or you run and try to pass the other runners on the trail. Or you mountain bike or box or whatever. It's quite fun, actually. And I'm doing the easy version first, and I'm usually out of breath and my muscles are tired at the end of it. The workouts are short, too, only about 20 or 25 minutes, so I just do it while Josh gives Oliver a bath, and then I'm done.

So, that's what I've been doing. After I finish the 21-day program, I think I'll do the 90-day challenge (or is it 30 days?) program. And I'm hoping I can get Josh into it because if we buy additional receivers and a heart rate monitor, we can actually work out together and compete against each other, which I think would be a lot of fun.

Long time ...

OK, so it's been a while since I've had the accountability of posting on this blog. Christmas was a eat-everything-in-sight-fest, but my gains were fairly minimal. I think I gained about three pounds, and most of that is gone now. I'm currently sitting at 165.2, which is less than a pound from where I was before Christmas. I'm not too worried about that additional pound, since I've been exercising basically every day since Jan. 1, and exercise always makes the scale increase at first for me. But I feel good, and I know I'll get back on track.

I've been eating pretty much an Induction menu lately with the exception of a few nuts and probably not enough veggies. I need to get back on track with adding in carbs. I miss my apples and peanut butter and I was even getting really close to adding in some low-carb bread. I'm going to start at the beginning again and take it slow. Hopefully Josh will join me and add in some carbs. I don't think he's been keeping a close eye on what exactly he's eating or exactly how many carbs, so that may be a little bit tough.

I'm a bit tired of staying in the 164/165 range, and I'd like to get back on track with losing, so I need to watch what I'm eating and keep exercising! So that's my plan.