Weekly Weigh-In: Eat More, Lose A Pound

weekly weigh in June 12

Yay! Down nearly a pound. And I did it by eating more meat. LCHF eating really does rock.

I’m just 2 ounces shy of losing a full pound this week. Not too shabby considering I made it a point to eat more this week. That puts my total weight loss at 141.1 pounds. The 170s are within sight!

But the real bonus this week was saying goodbye to my sweater. I no longer feel like I’m freezing all the time.

I bumped my protein back up to 6 ounces a meal (I cut it back to 4 ounces sometime last year). Not only did the cold hands and feet disappear, but I had a lot more energy and stopped snacking between meals.

If I added more protein to my diet, did I cut back on anything else? Nope. I still kept my daily net carbs under 20g. As for my fat intake, that’s still around 65-70% of all my daily calories.

I don’t count calories but of course My Fitness Pal tracks them. I’ve gone from eating 1400-1500 calories a day to eating 1600 -1800 calories a day.

So yes, I ate more calories and lost weight. Perhaps our bodies are more complex than the simple theory of eat less, move more. I’ll post more on this in my upcoming review of The Obesity Code this week.

When I decided to cut back on protein, my body essentially responded by turning down my thermostat. My resting metabolism slowed and I got cold…real cold. My energy level dropped and I had the focus of a gnat. And it is certainly one reason why I’ve stayed in the mid 180s for a year.

Yet I thought feeling cold, my brain fog and lack of energy was related to the weather — the winter blahs and all the blasted rain we had. Nope, my body wanted that protein back but I didn’t listen.

That goes to show you that no matter your success, you can still miss little (and not so little) signals from your body.


Weekly Weigh-In: Less Wine Means -1.5 Lbs!

weekly weigh in May 28

Make smarter decisions — less wine, make my own food — and the weight loss pick back up…amazing how that works!

It really is amazing what happens when you make better food choices. I’m down 1.5 pounds this week thanks to eating out less and cutting back on wine. Funny how that works.

This was also the week where I could consistently go outside and enjoy walks. The weather finally turned the corner and we said good-bye to lots of cold, wet rain. Since I’m no longer with a gym, my primary exercise right now is walking and interval running.

My eating habits and activity level are closely linked. On days where I can do a morning walk or jog, I’m much more mindful of what I shove in my mouth. So I’m grateful for the sunshine.

Grilling Season Is Here
More sunshine is in our extended forecast. When presented with the option of going out to eat or staying home and grilling, we normally opt to grill. So I’m creating a menu for the upcoming week that focuses heavily on grilling – Shrimp and Scallop Kabobs, pork and beef ribs, burgers and dogs.

And if we’re lucky on our excursion tomorrow, fresh fish. Yep, we’re going fishing in the morning. Depending on which spot the husband picks we might land a bass, trout or catfish. Read More


Weekly Weigh-In: The IVF Side Effect

weigh in May 14

Yes, I’m up 4 pounds. But it isn’t all food. My IVF treatments are coming with a little side effect.

I’m up about 4 pounds this week. After a slight freak out this morning, my husband reminded me of something that may have been the big contributor to those extra pounds – I’m taking estrogen injections.

I started the injections 10 days ago as part of our in vitro fertilization plan.

The estrogen is helping build up my uterine lining. Next week I go in for some blood work and a transvaginal ultrasound lining check. If my lining is thickened and my hormones are raging at the appropriate level, then I may have a new medication to take along with the estrogen before we begin our first embryo transfer.

The shots, taken every 3 days are intramuscular, and have to be given in my butt. So that’s how the hubby is participating in this…he gets to stick a very long needle in my ass. So far he’s doing a good job – not much pain and no bruising. Read More


Weekly Weigh-In: Down A Bit

weekly weigh in May 7

Down 1/2 a pound this week. Just need to keep up the momentum. Exercising outdoors helps with that. Hopefully I’ll be able to run tomorrow with weeks of rain finally ending.

I’m down slightly this week. Or as I like to look at it, I dropped 2 sticks of butter from my thunder thighs. That’s half a pound baby. Not too bad considering I devoured a yummy strawberry short cake during mom’s birthday celebration.

Exercise Nil All Last Week
Hopefully the rain will finally stop so I can start running again. Or even go for a walk. We’ve had rain for nearly 2 weeks straight. So anything outside was a non-starter. Which means when the weather finally turns for the better I have to start my interval training from the beginning. Ugh!

Now I’ve run during sprinkles before. But this was cold, windy and sprinkles mixed in with heavy rain. Oh and puddles. Lots of big, deep puddles. Not fun if your shoes behave like a sponge.

Unfortunately I own gear for two particular seasons — freezing cold winters and hot humid summers.

I think it’s time to invest in running gear for the spring and fall rains.

Fearless In The Kitchen
This week I spent quality time working on some new recipes, including an awesomely tender pulled pork with homemade mustard sauce (with no sugars!). The husband went bonkers for it. Pictures and recipe coming later this week along with my sausage-egg bake. A casserole that the hubby enjoyed hot or cold.

I’m also working on some new recipes using my new Dutch oven as well as testing older recipes that my slow cooker ruined. With the Dutch oven I can control the cooking temperature. With my slow cooker, not so much as the “low” temperature is really “hot.” Unfortunately you can’t leave the house when cooking with a Dutch oven.

With summer around the corner I’m busy this week working on tasty, low carb breakfast smoothie ideas. I do miss smoothies. Unfortunately my favorites are loaded with carb-heavy fruits. So I’m noodling with ingredients like cacao and protein powders, avocado, coconut milk, coffee, green tea, cream, jalapenos, berries, cherries, leafy greens, flavor extracts, nuts and fresh herbs.

A lot can go wrong, but that’s part of the fun of being fearless in the kitchen.

 

 


Weekly Weigh-In: Sore & Swollen Muscles

weekly weigh in april 25

My new workout routine caused lots of sore muscles all over. Which means up up ever so slightly this week.

Last week I jump started 2 workout routines — running and resistance training. My arms, abs and legs are feeling the burn as they say. Thanks to that soreness (a.k.a. swollen muscles), I’m up a a whopping 6 ounces. My guess is sometime this week that will fall off and I can expect better results next weigh-in day.

Why Resistance Bands & Not Barbells?
Turns out the local rec department I planned to use twice a week for weight lifting got rid of their free weights. Ugh!  Who does that?

Anyway I figured I’d just dig out my resistance bands, load up the Fitness Blender YouTube vids and workout. Turns out my old bands were lacking the resistance I needed. So I gave those to my mom as she wants to start building muscle (yay!) and picked up some new bands.

That doesn’t mean I’m giving up the dream of working with barbells. Turns out my parkour gym offers weight training classes. Once I go through the initial class, I can come in anytime and workout with the free weights. I’m hoping to hit the newbie class this Saturday.

Running Again
I stopped running because I was freaked about what I read regarding cardio exercise and IVF success. But it turns out that’s more related to over exercising. That doesn’t mean I won’t stop once we start treatments. That’s a very real possibility. But for now I want to run.

Rather than trying for a personal best, I’m just doing intervals to help me get back into the swing of things.  Last week I did 1 minute run/2 minute walk for 21 minutes. This week that flips to 2 minute run/1 minute walk for 30 minutes.

While my first run was awesome, the next 2 were more challenging. My legs were so sore from squats, lunges and mountain climbers. My leg workouts are the day before a run so my poor legs never got full rest. If that happens again this week, I may have to rethink the timing of my leg workouts.

 

 


Weekly Weigh-In: Down 3; Lowest Weight In 25 Years!

weekly weight april 16

After losing 3 pounds this week I’m officially at my lowest weight in more than 25 years. Woohoo! 170s here I come!

I’m down 3.1 lbs. this week, weighing in at 181.4. That’s the lowest number I’ve seen on the scale for more than 25 years!  I finally feel back on track and have my sights set on saying hello to the 170s very soon.

So what worked this week? How about putting a stop on nibbling on cheese, seeds or nuts between meals. Anytime I walked into the kitchen I asked myself, “Am I hungry?” Presto! No more snacking. Don’t get me wrong, it took practice to get me into the habit of asking myself that question.

Instead I kept my focus on drinking water. The last couple of weeks I made a big effort in drinking my daily 90 ounces. Since I only use 24-ounce Tervis Tumblers, it’s pretty easy to track. As long as I fill those tumblers up 4 times a day I’m all set. This week I was hitting the mark.  Sweet!

Plus I’m finding I’m not that hungry. One of my consistent problems is not recognizing my hunger and satiety signals. I know that decades of bad eating really does mess with those hormones. But ghrelin (the hunger hormone) and leptin (the satiety hormone) do correct themselves over time with eating healthy, real foods. My hunger signal is working just fine. But it feels like my satiety signal is finally kicking in.

I’m noticing two things that might signal my leptin levels are normal again: Read More


Weekly Weigh-In: Self Sabotage!

april 10 weigh in

I’m up 2 pounds from the last time I posted a weigh-in. Eating out is the culprit. But I’m back in the kitchen with abandon.

Holy crap! I haven’t posted a weigh-in since Feb. 29. Truth be told I’m working on a big project that’s consuming a lot of my time. I can’t say anything now but hopefully by this summer I’ll have good news to share.

After reading those awesome books by Steven Pressfield, I’m determined not to let my weigh-ins slide anymore. So weekly posts are back.

My Feb. 29 weigh in had me at 182.5 lbs, but by the time April 2 rolled around I was back to 187.5. With some changes this week, I dropped 3 pounds and now weigh 184.5.

So I’m trapped in a weird super moon bounce of my own making. Just bobbing up and down 5 pounds. What the heck is going on, Dot?

Self sabotage, that’s what! Grrrrrr!!!!!
Read More


Weekly Weigh-In: Same As It Ever Was

feb 27 weight

I ended February weighing as much as I did when the month began. Thanks to lots of eating out, I put the brakes on my weight loss, loss sleep, experienced digestive problems and had no energy.

I started February weighing 182.9 pounds. I end the month weighing 182.5 pounds. While I hoped to leave the 180s behind, I see this as a small victory. Even when I’m “bad” I can maintain or course correct pretty quickly with my eating habits.

Now when I say “bad” I’m talking about eating out and enjoying wine way too much. The middle of the month the hubby and I ate out about 10 times.  Of course, I had wine with my meals.  Ugh!!!  Thankfully the last 10 days I’ve worked diligently about cooking my own meals and forgoing the vino. And the results showed not only on the scale, but in how I physically felt.

Lack of Sleep & Feeling Crappy
What did all that eating out and wine get me? Between February 8-21, I gained 5 pounds. I know some of that was water retention, but when the pants started fitting a little tighter than normal, it was time to make a change.

Besides the pounds, I noticed a couple of things about my physical health: 1) poor sleep ensued, and 2) The morning after, my body let me know it did not approve of such behavior. Read More


Weekly Weigh-In: Up A Little

weight jan 30

I’m up slightly and it feels like most of that weight is in my plugged up sinuses! Yep, my bug is back with abandon. And I’m fighting it the best way I know how…lots of sleep!

Well I’m up nearly half a pound, but I don’t consider that anything serious. My guess is my returning illness has more to do with it than what I’m eating. Yep, I’m sick again (or is it still?). Two weeks ago it was painful sinuses that turned into a head cold with a chaser of a bad earache. Well that earache turned back into painful sinuses with another shot of a head cold. Ugh!

So I’m doing what I should have done the first go-around — plenty of sleep and meds.

If I’m not fully recovered by Superbowl Sunday, then I’m raising the white flag and heading to my doctor’s for something stronger.

My appetite has decreased with round 2 of this bug. However I’m now craving comfort foods. Pizza, pancakes and chips. Oh my!

I took care of the chip craving thanks to a stash of zero carb pork rinds. The beauty of pork rinds is that you need water after every big, fluffy chip.  I can only eat a handful as I’m loading up on liquids to get them down. Unlike potato chips where I can eat a whole bag in one sitting.

As for the pizza and pancakes, every time a craving kicks in I just head back to bed and slept for 4 hours.  Seems silly, but it works.

The one silver lining in all of this is that as I recover the snow is nearly all gone. Hopefully early next week the trails and sidewalks will be snow and ice free and I can go walking again.  I’m also toying with hitting our country rec club’s weight room. My resistance bands aren’t cutting it anymore.

I can’t wait to be germ free again.

 


Weekly Weigh In: Down 2

weekly weigh in Jan 9

Just 2.6 pounds before I finally break into the 170s. Super excited!

What happens when you eat right and take a 30-Day No Alcohol Challenge?  Weight loss!  I’m finally closer to breaking into the 170s after losing 2.1 pounds this week.

But what happens when my no alcohol challenge is over January 31?

Right now I’m eager to continue the challenge  into February.

Since I started my challenge on Jan. 1, I’ve lost 4.1 pounds. Clearly I made a big error by not cutting back on wine sooner. I significantly slowed (heck, stopped) my weight loss progress and was stuck in a plateau for about 7 months.

No use crying over drunk wine. I’m on track now and that’s what counts.

Today’s weigh in puts my total weight loss at 142.5 pounds…nearly 45% of my total weight gone.  Sweet!

So I’m roughly 26 pounds away from goal. Whoa…