Weekly Measurements Are Important

Numbers don't lie.  It is sooo true!

However, it has to be said that I have some say in what those numbers look like, depending on when I take my measurements. 

I've stopped taking official weight and measurements on Sunday mornings, because that is just too depressing. 

Oftentimes, I weigh more on a Sunday than I will on the following Tuesday, because the effects of the debauchery I've engaged in on Friday and Saturday take a day or two to disappear.  This weekend - for example - I went out for dinner on both Friday and Saturday nights, alcohol included.  I totally overdid it on Friday, including my first REAL cheat since January, in the form of the full-sized Reese's Nightmare sundae at my local ice cream parlor.  Talk about a carb nightmare for yours truly!

Also, it has to be pointed out that my weight fluctuates daily (and if you are a woman, there's a good chance that yours does as well), and throughout a given day, as well.  Most of this has to do with water weight gain and loss, which can be significant. 

I am a little addicted to daily weighing, which is not advisable (too easy to be discouraged).  Don't follow my bad example in this regard.  ((Note: for some people, especially those prone to regular swelling and those with cardiac issues, daily weighing can be critical to knowing when you've packed on too much water.  We learned this the hard way with my dad and his several bouts with congestive heart failure.  I'm not a doctor, and in no way qualified to give medical advice, so talk to your doctor about this issue!!))

The best thing to do is pick the same day, each week, to do your weigh in and measurements.  Weigh and measure yourself in the morning, naked, after you've used the loo and before you've had anything to eat or drink (including meds, vitamins and the water you guzzle them with), preferably when your hair is dry!  If you have your period, feel free to skip weigh in that week, as that can be horrifying.

Just - whatever you do - don't forget to measure yourself regularly.  It can be the only thing that keeps you sane when your weight has plateaued.  Frankly, I think that measurements are more important than weighing, as a general rule.  Back in the Spring of this year, I was stuck at the same weight - up one pound, then down one pound - for weeks!!  At the time, I was hitting the gym a lot.  Measurements showed me that even though my weight wasn't changing, I was still getting slimmer and healthier as my size decreased. 

3/25/11: Daily Weighing is Dangerous and I Need Fiber

So, I weighed myself yesterday, and again today. I can feel myself slip-sliding back into a daily weighing pattern. I have learned the hard way that daily weighing is dangerous and can crush your spirits! Plus, most of us yo-yo back and forth most days 1-2 pounds, and daily weighing isn't necessarily representative of your actual weight loss, your metabolic activity, or how hard you are working on your diet and exercise. But... when you start to feel that things are going well, it is soooo tempting to toe up to that scale. "I wonder if I lost even more today," is my thought. I know that I shouldn't, because I will be disappointed if I have put that 2.5 pounds back on, but I don't care. I've got a feeling I've had a "woosh" weight loss moment, and I want to know right NOW...I don't want to wait until weigh-in on Sunday!!!

Today, same as yesterday, just as I was having those thoughts, something fell out of my cabinet, landed on the electronic scale and turned it on. Yesterday it was my hairbrush. Today, my makeup bag. Am I just sloppy and my cabinet messy and overfull? Or is it divine intervention telling me, "do it Kate, weigh yourself now!" (Funny, that divine voice sounds just like my own, pound-obsessed voice). Is it a friendly, weight-conscious spirit? Are we having earthquakes or tremors in Connecticut? Is my butt so generously proportioned that I make the room shake when I walk?

Anyway, I decided to go with divine intervention, and stepped up to the scale. "Get out of town," I said aloud. Down another 1.5 pounds from the same time yesterday morning. That's four pounds since last Sunday. All this from a girl stuck in a plateau for-freaking-ever, who hasn't been to the gym since Sunday??!! Is my body listening? Is God listening? Are you there God? Its me, Kate.

216.5 - lightest I've been since I went to law school in 2002, nine years ago!!

Proof that God exists and loves us? I'm going to have to start my new branch of philosophy, y'all.

On another note, I need more fiber. I'm out of psyllium husk supplements, and I'm getting uncomfortable. I get so much dietary fiber that I can't believe that 2 caplets a day of this stuff makes a difference... but it undeniably does.

Mid-week weighing produces surprising results.

So, today I did a little mid-week weighing, and I am down to 218!  Finally, downward movement on the scale!  Yahoo!  I am so happy to be out of the 220's - let's keep it that way....forever.  Hot damn. 

Maybe it really is appropriate to blame it on the alcohol. (And by "it", I mean my weight plateau).

2/15/11 - day 24 - v day massacre!

Last night was Valentine’s Day, and my husband and I had a very nice dinner in – and it was completely on the diet.  We split a bottle of champagne – so I had three small glasses.  Hey, it was V Day and I haven’t had any alcohol in more than a month!  Plus, I&N say that in Phase II (which I am entitled to be on if I wanted to because I’ve been on this diet for 3+ weeks), it is okay to have a glass or two of champagne.  So I did.  This morning, I woke up and weighed myself (I know, daily weighing… slap my wrist), and I gained 5 lbs since yesterday morning.  I also did not have a super poop this morning, and I woke up feeling cotton mouthed (read: dehydrated).

I looked up champagne nutrition, and although carbs in champagne can vary by maker, it is safe to assume that the extra brut we consumed last night had about 5 grams of carbs per glass, times three glasses = 15 carbs.

Oh God.  The chili that I made….  I have rethought my recipe and realize that I inadvertently made some carby chili and then ate about 2 servings worth of it.  It was basically made up of turkey Italian sausage, peppers, onions, garlic, a container of simply enjoy vodka sauce (which is 12 g of carbs), and ½ pack each of mccormick sloppy joe seasoning mix (8 g carbs) and mccormick chili seasoning mix (6 g carbs).  Total 26 grams of carbs, not including the veggies, and I probably ate about 1/3 of it.  Oh no.  8+ grams of carbs, not including the carbs that came from the veggies I added. 

The horror!  At least 23 grams of carbs from those two items alone.  Okay.  Time to be a very good girl!

Day 20 - 2/14/11

I am attacking this diet with renewed ferocity!  Watch out!  Yesterday, I drank at least 9 or 10 large glasses of water, ate a ton of fresh veggies, and was really careful about my carb intake. 

This morning, I had yet another super poop.  Holy crap that was some crap.  Sorry to be gross, but this is totally bizarro and a completely different kind of poop than I've ever had before.  And I experience absolutely no discomfort during its prep and execution, which is new for me.  Once again, I pooed last night before bed - a normal looking, normal sized poo.  This morning, I deposited a long, smooth, thin snake in the toilet that was well over 1 foot in length.  It was effortless, it took only seconds to evacuate.  I think that it is a good sign.  I&N talk about "super poops" as being a sign that the diet is going well.  I've been really careful with following the diet the past few days, and I've been rewarded with 2 super poops in a row in the a.m. 

I daily weighed today.  I just couldn't help it - I had to see what effect my super poops were having on my weight.  It was kind of an experiment.  I'm down 1 pound since yesterday at the same time.  That's it for my daily weighing this week, though.  I am not going to let myself get discouraged.

Day 9 - Week 2 - Phase 1

Day 9 – Week 2

I woke up feeling…better, different, not bloated.  Hopefully I’ve passed the flu-ish period I&N discuss happening sometime during Week 1.  It has been a good day.  I didn’t have any trouble at all getting down my vitamins and supplements.  I had a chunk of fresh mozz and some almonds for breakfast, lots of water, and a satisfying lunch of left-over chicken and broccoli stir fry for lunch.  I feel so positive and motivated.  I’m happy, and I am in this for the long haul.

As for number 2... Who does it work for?  Me.  (Austin Powers reference, ugh).  Thank God, its like all the stuff that I had in me yesterday is gone.  No bloated feeling and that's what it is attributable to.

I did go back last night and go through “the book” again, only to discover that I&N did Phase 1 for 6 or 7 months, and recommend that dieters who have more than 25 pounds to lose should stay on Phase 2 for a while.  I suddenly realized that…I had only read the Phase 1 part of the book, and never gone past it.  So, I’m a little bummed about the Phase 1 thing, because I was looking forward to champagne and low carb chocolate truffles.  Now it looks like that might have to wait a while.  On the positive side, the good thing about going through I&N’s book again is that they are so encouraging, and some of the new text that I read really pumped me up, and helped to reaffirm my commitment to being healthy.  I like that they almost expect you to have cheated during Phase 1.  I feel good that I haven’t so far (and I don’t count sick day number 5 because I had no choice and I was still pretty freaking good).  I feel like an above-average dieter with a good chance of success (for the first time ever). 

My energy is up…like way up.  I feel in control.  I am not having any cravings, even though there was a big open package of chips ahoy sitting on the lunch table only 3 feet away from me today.  It didn’t phase me at all. 

I didn’t weigh myself this morning.  My sister (weight loss guru who has lost 120+ pounds since November 2009) cautioned me about hitting a plateau and giving myself grounds for disappointment if I weighed myself every day (as opposed to once a week, where its more likely your end of the week weight will show a more significant change).  So, I was almost afraid to weigh this morning.  I think I’ve been cured of my addiction to daily weighing.  Its almost like, last week, it was miraculous and, this week, I’m just hoping that the miraculous continues to happen and don’t want to find out that its not. 

I am still searching for a tape measure, damn it.  I keep forgetting, then when I remember, its so inconvenient to go out and buy one.  So, I’m going to put it on my shopping list for groceries, so I’ll actually get it done when I am at the store.

I was so pleased with my broccoli stir fry, I have to put the recipe in.  It is so easy.  See the recipe section.

Day 6 - 1/28/11

Well, this blog has fast forwarded to Day 6 because, between Days 2-5, the stomach bug made a horrifying appearance in my house. I, myself, was personally, uh, occupied, with the bug from Days 4-5.
Day 4, I didn’t manage to keep anything down, even water.
I went off the diet temporarily on Day 5, because all I could keep down was diluted G2 gatorade (about 10 carbs from that beverage for the day) and about 15-18 triscuits. I also skipped the vitamins and supplements on Day 5 because I could not imagine trying to swallow anything as large as my fish oil pill or co-enzyme Q10 pill.
I’m still a little skeeved out about it, so today, on Day 6, I’m going to take my vitamins and supplements this evening when I feel more settled.
Breaking the Habit of Daily Weighing
I am really into weighing myself daily – and the diet book says not to do it. I need to break the habit, because although it has been encouraging (as of Day 4 a.m., I was down 5.5 pounds), if the scale goes the other way, it might lead to discouragement and maybe some poor behavior on my part.
Sidebar
The interesting thing I learned, though, is that I didn’t lose a drop of weight after being sick and literally not consuming anything that "stuck with me" on Day 4. I weighed myself on Day 5 in the morning and was down to 223 pounds, but when I weighed myself this morning, back up to 226, which I attribute to thoroughly rehydrating myself on Day 5. Gross sickness aside, does this mean that by sticking to the diet I lose more weight than I would if I didn’t eat at all? Not that the latter is an option (I’m not the kind of girl that can go without), but just goes to show how effective the diet is and how terrible an idea it is to starve yourself.
In any event, I am feeling much better today. I am not going to give myself heck about my carb intake yesterday – I was sick, it was minor, I needed electrolytes desperately, and there was no way I would keep down dairy or protein if I tried.
My Resolve / Head Games
I told my husband, last night, that I felt really good about this diet, and I thought I could lose a lot of weight on it. I really mean it. It worked immediately, and seems to still be working. I feel like I am in control right now, and that feels even better than my initial weight loss, because I’ve always said about myself and diets that "I have no willpower".
I am realizing now that "willpower" may not be the issue, because… as India and Neris observed in their book (and I am very loosely paraphrasing), the first and most important issue is your perspective, i.e., you have to keep firm in your mind that you are not "suffering" on this diet, that you are not "denying" yourself, and focus on enjoying the delicious, fresh food in front of you and not bemoaning what you can’t have and would really enjoy. You’ve got to be firmly positive inside your own head.
When dieting in the past, I’ve always obsessed about what I can’t have, and I’ve gotten overwhelmed and cheated, then completely fallen off the wagon and never looked back.
Now, I am positive about what I’m doing and what I’m eating. I made some kick ass pork chops in a brandy-mushroom cream gravy the other night, with spicy sautéed spinach on the side, and as I ate it, I was like, "heck ya, I am not denying myself" and I really meant it. My daughter’s mac and cheese was appealing, and so was my husband’s side dish of plain white rice (see Cravings section, below), but I didn’t feel the desire to cheat, and it didn’t take much "willpower". It was an easy decision on my part, and by making it, I felt that I was doing something good for myself.
Cravings
I don’t have major cravings yet, although I have been lusting after… plain boiled white rice with butter and salt on it. Crazy, no? Maybe its because my stomach’s been off and that is about as bland as you can get. I foresee some difficulty in the future with bread, pasta, chocolate, etc., but I’m going to cross that bridge when I come to it.
Number 2
1 cup of sautéed spinach is nature’s broom. It was some scary…stuff.
I’m not sure what the deal is, but somehow, lightly sautéed spinach seems to work better for me than raw spinach. Maybe it is because sautéed spinach is more dense and compact than fresh, so you get more in 1 cup of sautéed than you do in even 2 cups of fresh (and I have a limit to how much of the fresh stuff I can eat in say, a salad). Also, I really enjoyed the sautéed spinach a lot more than the raw stuff (even dressed up).
Recipes

Porkchops with mushroom cream gravy:
4 1 inch thick, boneless pork chops
Quick Brine (4 tbsp salt, 1tsp honey, 1 cup water, shake well and put in tupperware)
Butter
8 oz mushrooms
Splash of brandy or cognac
2/3 cup cream
1/3 cup chicken stock (gluten free)
Brine porkchops for 2-4 hours, dry thoroughly. Brown porkchops in butter in frying pan over medium high heat. When browned on both sides, remove chops to plate and keep warm (don’t worry about cooking through). Add mushrooms to pan (don’t add salt) and brown thoroughly. Add splash of brandy and deglaze pan. Add cream and chicken stock. When mixture bubbles, turn heat down to medium, add pork chops, put lid on pan, and cook for about 5 minutes more or until chops are cooked through. Take off heat and allow to rest for about 5-10 minutes before consuming.
Note: you probably won’t have to add salt because your pork chops will add plenty of salt to the party. Also, I’m not worried about the honey in the brine… not much actually gets in to the chops.)
Sauteed spinach
Butter
1 garlic clove, smashed
½ cup cream
1/8 tsp Crushed red pepper flake
Fresh nutmeg, grated, to taste
Salt and pepper to taste
3 cups raw baby spinach
Cook garlic in butter medium saucepan over medium heat until it softens but does not turn brown. Add everything but the spinach to the pan, infusing the cream with the other flavors, heat to simmer slowly over medium low heat. Add spinach in 2 batches, waiting until first batch wilts before adding second batch. Fold cream over spinach mixture to help spinach wilt. When greens are vibrant green but softened, remove from heat and serve.