Old/New goal

Out of all my goals this year, one I focused on a lot was my weightloss and health goal. I've seen some progress, and some regression. It has been disheartening to see some pounds come back, but I figure it's part of the journey. Part of that is because of the detoxing I started in July, and part of it is just plain because I lost the pounds in the wrong way in the first place.

I have always felt that I shouldn't eliminate any food, but rather that I need to learn how to eat all foods in the proper portion size, to have a well-balanced diet. While visiting the naturopath I've learned that eating low fat for so long may have contributed to my current health (or lack thereof) and I have happily increased the fat I eat. Early in this journey the naturopath asked me to track my food and had very few suggestions to make my eating better. I was doing quite well on my own and once I started really looking at what I was eating I started losing weight because I started eating better portions.

However, the last six months have really been hard for me as I worked towards this goal. The slow track got very boring. HCG came along and promised quick weightloss. I thought I could cut 5-6 months off my overall journey. I didn't realize until later there were several aspects of that program that wouldn't work for me, and in all reality hcg cost me a good 6 months in my progress. 1. It was so restrictive that I ended the diet even more tired of self-denial and gave up not eating certain foods completely and in some cases a little too early. 2. It totally messed with my head and my thinking. I have always worked on having healthy thinking when it comes to food...but after hcg I was entertaining serious thoughts of bulimia and other diet mentality thinking. 3. While some people can readjust in the three weeks of maintenance, I took months and months. I don't know if I am totally stabilized yet. 4. My body kicked into heavy metal detox which made it even harder to readjust after the diet.

So, I'm back to doing what I know deep inside myself is the right thing for me to do. To strive for a well-balanced, healthy diet that eliminates nothing. I recently found some inspiration in this. One of the sisters in our ward started doing something very similar last March. All she has done was to limit her sugar and refined foods to two days in a year's time (her birthday and Christmas) and exercise 6 times a week. In nine months she has lost 80 pounds and is looking great.

My goal this year is to limit my sugar intake (the obvious sugar) to one day per week. I'll try to limit it to reasonable portions on that day, but I'm not going to sweat it if I over do it once or twice. The second part of this goal is to eat as gluten-free as possible. That, by itself takes care of alot of refined things. The third part is to do some kind of exercise 5-6 days a week. I'll have to figure out how I want to report my progress, but I'm excited.

I'm also a little scared. I'm stepping out on faith. What if my body is still so stressed with detoxing that I still don't lose weight? What I'm hoping for is that I'll be back down to 163 by my birthday in June, but I've decided that at least I'll be eating for health and some day the weight loss should catch up.

So I'm off on a new year already. December 26 was my first day. I haven't done perfectly, but I have done a ton better. So I'm happy with my progress so far. I'm even seeing a very slight sign that things are turning around after the first two days.

Too many cooks

If you've seen my kitchen you can imagine what it's like when a family of 6 all crowd in at the same time. Literally standing room only. My kitchen is the worse thing about our house. It is essentially a hallway from the living room to the family room. Sometimes it seems like a closet. When the dishes are stacked up and the counter tops are cluttered I start to feel claustrophobic. However, I don't mind having one person in the kitchen to help make dinner, and we are used to the tiny space.

We have been learning a new form of "too many cooks" lately. Tom and I are on a diet. The kids get one meal, and we get another. Or Tom is eating when I'm not and vise versa. This morning I'd had it. Tomato juice still on the counter top from Tom's lunch, two spices still sitting there (not having been returned to the drawer), and no salt to be found. Argh! It's bad enough that the dishes play musical chairs according to which person did them last, but do I have to search for the spices I need every time I'm making a meal...which right now is about 5 billion times a day?

I'd had it. I told Tom that if he is going to cook he MUST put things back where they go at the very least. Salt belongs in the kitchen, not on the dining room table (at least until I find another salt shaker!) I mean, it's one thing to clean up after him once a month when he decides to cook dinner for the family. It's another thing right now to clean up after 4 people who are cooking at various times of the day.

Can't wait until the diet is over and I can cook one meal at a time again.

Here's a couple of my new favorite recipes:

Lemonade

1 cup water

2 Tbsp lemon juice, freshly squeezed

10 drops lemon drop stevia

10 drops vanilla stevia

ice

Frozen Strawberry Lemonade

1 cup frozen strawberries (mostly thawed)

2 - 4 tbsp lemon juice, fresh squeezed if possible

1 cup ice

10 drops lemon drop stevia

10 drops vanilla stevia

Yummy!

The good news is...

I had Tom take a photo when I reached my second 10% goal. That means I have lost 10% of my body weight twice. I wanted a photo of me sitting so I could compare it to when I weighed a similar amount on the way up the scale. I've had several people tell me I'm smaller now than I was then. What do you think?

Then at 185 pounds ----- Now at 181.2 pounds

If you think my tummy is smaller now you'd be right. It is actually smaller than when I weighed 160 pounds 20 years ago. WooHoo! I'm on my way now. Total lost so far: 45.8

For my actual progress photos, look to the right! There's quite a change!

Look what I found!

I woke up bright and early this morning and couldn't go back to sleep, so I decided to spend the time looking through my closet again. I found the shorts I haven't been able to wear since Hannah was a baby! I currently weigh a few pounds less than I did when James and Hannah were born. My plateau is OVER!

Oh, and for the first time since we moved to Idaho I got the "renew by mail" thing for my driver's license. Tom gets them almost every time, but this is the first time for me. Problem is...I already look quite a bit different than my photo. I'll be looking even more different by then...so I guess I'd better just go in and get a new photo taken for my license.

And this is my Mother's day gift from Tom. He found it at a yard sale. Pecan wood table and matching chairs. This is the nicest table we've had so far, and it's sturdy!

I'd better be careful. Last year my gift was a new recliner...and then I crushed my foot and used the recliner ALOT.

Cute! and feeling encouraged

Hey Tim,
Gordon was at the neighbors today and was telling the Mom all about Tim..."Tim has this game...Tim knows how to play this game." When she asked him who Tim was he said, "My big brother." Cute huh. He just asked us the other day if we could go to Tim's house. You better make sure we get to see you before you leave!

I'm getting a handle on the gluten-free thing, and I had a good visit with the naturopath today. I don't think he expects me to be totally gluten-free...just as much as I can reasonably be. That allows me a little freedom on the food I eat outside the home which will really be nice. He also said that if I feel like I can handle eating without filling out a form and giving it to him at the next visit I don't have to do that. If I see a problem arising in my eating I'll at least start tracking it on sparkpeople again. And I don't have to go in every two weeks anymore. He said three weeks for the next one and then it may be longer if I do well. So I'm not feeling as discouraged as I was. Another thing we talked about was the ache in my leg which is back slightly. He said that as my body detoxes heavy metals it can affect how much calcuim I need so I'll be taking a little more of that and we'll see how it goes from there.

Today I was down to 188 pounds. That is a total of 36 pounds now! Another 7 pounds and I'll take pictures again.

Always nice to hear

Last Saturday Tom and I went to the temple and as we were walking in I saw Laney's aunt coming out. This is the aunt I had worked with in the school lunch program. If you remember my post about secrets...that aunt...LOL.

Remi kept looking at me like she didn't recognize me and finally when we were closer I waved and said hi. Then she figured out who I was and said hi back. Tom was wondering who it was, so I told him, "That's Laney's aunt." So then Tom turns around, waves and shouts, "Hi, Laney's aunt!"

Yesterday I was walking with my friend Lynda at the mall and she told me that Remi had told her about us meeting at the temple. Remi told Lynda, "Ann has lost A LOT of weight. I didn't even recognize her."

That is always so nice to hear, especially when I've been so discouraged lately. I hadn't seen Remi since early December and I've probably lost 15 pounds since then.

So Far So Good

A couple mornings this week I woke up with a headache. So, I decided it was time to check my blood pressure. It was 99/78. Then I decided it's time to cut my pill in half and see what happens. I took half yesterday and half today. So far it has stayed low. This afternoon it was 111/79 and my pulse has come down, too. It was 68 this afternoon when I checked my bp. Yahoo! I can't wait to be done with the meds! And Yahoo! The stuff with the naturopath is working!

I have been so frustrated this last week and a half because my weightloss hasn't progressed very well. I'm chalking it up to being a woman. So, I've been looking at ways I am progressing to help fight the frustration.

At the beginning of the year I looked in several stores and could not find a size 18 pants anywhere. I'm hoping to make the switch from W sizes to Misses sizes at 18. Anyway, I gave up on the stores and this week I checked my closet. I found 3 pairs of 18W capris and one pair of 18 capris. I'm set for spring! The 18W are just right, but the 18 is just a bit snug still. I'll just keep sewing tucks in my work pants until next fall when I can wear 14's (hope, hope, hope!)

I also found that this blouse is TOO big! I last wore it on October 11 when I was sustained in my new calling. I happily tossed it on the DI pile.

I've lost a total of 28 pounds so far...14 since starting with the naturopath.

Lastly...

Who bakes at midnight? Busy Relief Society presidents, that's who!

Don't these look too good to be gluten-free? Believe me, they taste too good to be. Thanks to Mary B for the recipe. It converts to gluten-free very well.

Goal Update

I will do most tracking of my goals offline, but I will be posting progress photos on my blog this year. They will be where my book list was last year (scroll down and look on the right.) The first two photos are there now.

I have been working on weightloss for way too long and this is the year it will happen. I've lost a total of 23 pounds now. That's the first 10% of my body weight. I've lost a total of 8 since starting with the naturopath in November.

Today I talked to my medical doctor about adjusting my blood pressure meds and getting off them in the future. She wasn't so positive almost one and a half years ago when I was diagnosed with high blood pressure. She redeemed herself a bit today by being quite positive about that possibility.