Update: Lost 10%

Yep, I lost ten percent or twenty pounds officially yesterday. I'm down to 180 lbs. I'm happy and feeling great!

Falling off the bandwagon and getting back on

So this past week was a learning experience in my weight loss journey. Lesson learned: eating out a lot does not help in losing weight. A friend came to visit me this week and I ate out a lot this week. I ate Arab food twice this week! I also had some fried shrimp on Friday as well as my usual buy a lunch during the week. Buying lunch doesn't seem bad since I usually buy a salad or a 6 inch sub from Subway. However, I've become rather use to cooking my own dinners and breakfasts.

So on Tuesday night we went out to eat and I had some shish tawook with rice while hubby had some shrimp and fries. Since his food came out before mine, I took some of his shrimp and fries in addition to my food. I tried not to eat my whole platter and I succeeded. I went to stay with my friend and when I got to the hotel room, there were two soft baked chocolate chip cookies. You know I wasn't passing up the cookies. So I had one while my friend had the other. The next day I had three NutriGrain bars for breakfast, a six inch sub for lunch (which I think too much lite mayo), and some more shish tawook, shish kabob, rice and fatoush for dinner. It was delicious but obviously too much. I also ate both soft baked chocolate chip cookies that were delivered to the room that night as well as drinking a 20 oz Coke. It was bad. I did manage to work out while in the hotel. The elliptical was fab and so much lighter on my legs than the one I have at home. Still, it was not enough to keep off the pounds. I did go as high as 184 and some change on the scale this week. 

So Thursday when I got home, I tried to get back on track in terms of eating. I did ok I think. I didn't work out. Friday was so so. I had oatmeal for breakfast and I think a I had a salad for desert but then I had a fried shrimp platter for dinner. Ugh! The place we ordered from didn't have a healthy dish in sight. No salad just pizza and tons of fried foods. At least I exercised.

Saturday, I was back on track. I stayed within calories and got a really good workout. Today, I've been ok. Haven't worked out yet but intend to do so this evening. I'm right back where I started last Sunday: 181.0 lbs. So while I didn't lose any weight I'm glad that I ultimately didn't have a net gain for the week. I'm glad to be back on the bandwagon. This past week I've learned a lot about my eating and where I'm heading in overall fitness journey. I think I'm actually embracing a healthy life and ready to do this for the long term. I'm proud that I didn't throw in the towel and let a minor setback throw me all the way back.

Calorie Counting Adventure

When I was about 18, I joined Weight Watchers for about two weeks and hated it. For some reason, the points system just drove me crazy. Everytime I had food I had to take out that little point scale thingy WW gives you and figure it out or look in my book and see what the points were for an individual item. Being the perfectionist that I was at the time, I drove myself nuts and finally gave up after two weeks.

This time around, I have decided to go the very traditional route of counting calories. I suppose it's a bit ironic considering that WW points system is really just a modified version of calorie counting. This time around, I think I'm getting the hang of it. I don't feel utterly frustrated and hungry like I did when I was 18. I also like that no foods are really off limits. Everything is about calories in and calories out. So if I want to have that Pepsi every once in a while, I can.

When I started officially keeping tally of my calories about a month ago, I started with Self.com Reach Your Goal program which lasts for four weeks. It's ok except that I had to enter all calories manually unless I ate from one of the meals that was preentered (which I rarely did). I could also enter my exercise minutes as well. That was fine but then I read about The Daily Plate on 3 Fat Chicks Forum. I started using the site this week and I like it much better. The food database on that site is fantabulous! It has just about every food I can think of and if it's not there, I can add another entry to the database.

The even better thing about TDP is that it also allows you to see how much sodium, cholesterol, fat, protein, fiber, and carbs you're eating. This is what I really like about TDP. As someone who has to monitor her BP, I love seeing how much sodium I'm eating. If I have a day where my sodium intake is above the daily allowance, I can see what I ate to make it so high and make modifications the next day.

I've been doing great. I record my calories faithfully every day and as wel as my exercise minutes. It's wonderful to have tools that make it so much easier.

PMS and weight

If you're a guy who is really squirmish about discussing PMS, periods, etc. I am giving you a chance to leave now while you're ahead. So now that is out of the way, on to the post!

I am PMS-ing again. Fortunately, my mood has really shifted much this time around. I feel very content. No crying or being sad. Alhamduillah! What has been happening though is an increase in my appetite. During the days before and during the first few days of my period, I get mad hungry and my hormones seem to guide my food choices. Most days I won't go near a quarter pounder w/cheese but meet me on my cycle and I might want a double quarter pounder. So far I have no craving for McDonald's supersize meals but I do have cravings for junk foods like Snickers bars. Haven't caved (yet) and I'm trying not to.

Today was bad. I felt and still feel really ravenous. I have pretty much stuck to my usual diet, which on normal days keeps me pretty full. Today, not even! I have hunger pangs. Hunger pangs! The real ones where your stomach has that weird feeling that shoots up to your head. Now I ate a banana like 20-30 mins. ago and before that had some tea. Not too long agao I had dinner which was very decent. I had lunch and breakfast and snacks in between and I still want to eat more! I made sure to eat fruit and had two servings of stir fry at dinner. I had my protein at breakfast, lunch and dinner and am still feeling hungry. I haven't even exercised today so it's not like I burned off calories. I just feel really hungry.

At this point, I am still thinking about calling DH and asking him to bring home a Snickers bar. Maybe I should eat a piece of chicken instead. That would have less calories than a Snickers. Seriously, it would.

Update!

Sorry for not writing in a bit. I've been kinda of busy as of late traveling, going to figure skating competitions (:)), and more. I've been doing pretty good with my eating. I still eat my egg & cheese on an English muffin most day. I'm still eating my fruits and vegetables. I'm eating more lean meat and for the most part making smart choices when I do eat out. I'm also drinking more water and more tea.

My weight has been going down for the most part although this week was a little weird. This past Monday, I was 186. I was happy. Another two pounds lost. But then I decided to weigh myself two days later and I was down to 183 and some change. Actually, that scared me because I thought that was too much weight lost in such a short span of time. So I weighed myself again two days later and was back to 186. Although I normally don't welcome weight gain, I was actually happy to be back at 186 for now. I don't want to lose weight too fast because when weight is lost too fast, it actually seems to come back on even faster. So now, I have lost 14 lbs.

My exercise routine has been going pretty well. I work out on the elliptical at least 30 mins a day for 4-5 days a week. If I have time and I feel like it, I'll push myself to go to 35-40 mins. I would like to get to 45 mins. but I'll have to keep working to the goal. I'm not stressing myself to get there though. I'm also working to put more strenght training into my routine. I brought two 5 lbs. dumbbells and have been doing various moves I've found in fitness magazines as well as some moves I remember from my fitness course at Case. I have to admit at first that I was skeptical of doing strenght training because 1) I didn't think it would help much in losing weight and 2) I didn't think it would be as strenuous as cardio. Neither is the case. Building more muscle actually help to burn fat and calories. Also, I have found that a good 20 mins of strenght training is very rigorous.

Since, I cook all the meals at our home and buy all the groceries, hubby is eating more healthy too by default. He likes the new food I cook which is great. I'm glad he appreciates the changes in our diet.

Also, my BP has been much better. The top number has been in upper 120s while the lower number has been in the 70s.

Well, that's all for now. Insha'Allah, I'll write regularly.

Eating Without Depriving Myself

One of things I have learned in my quest to change my lifestyle is that I don't have to starve myself to become a healthy weight. I've learned that diets truly, royally suck and any weight loss plan that requires you to give up food is just bogus.

I'm learning how to eat without depriving myself. I'm actually eating less calories but I'm not hungry. I've basically done this by eating more whole foods and cutting out junk food from my diet. I wrote in an earlier post that I eat egg & cheese on an English muffin for breakfast most days. For lunch I eat a variety of things. Today, I had some chilli and a side salad from Wendy's. Yesterday, I had a Southwest Chicken Salad from McDonald's. For dinner last night I had three fillets of baked tilapia (which was a serving and a half) and two servings of snap peas and sweet corn each. In addition, I had a banana, apple and little container of organic apple sauce as snacks as well as a bottle of Pepsi. Can you believe that I actually had a little less than 1600 calories yesterday. Yet, I felt full for most of the day. Today, I also feel full.

Eating whole foods allows me to be full and eat foods that I like without consuming a ton of calories.

Self.com has a great plan that helps with planning meals as well as recipe ideas. It also has a food diary that allows you to keep track of your meals and how many calories are in them. I started using it yesterday and it's been great. There's even a link to a nutrition site in case you eat something but don't know the nutrition facts for it.

In overhauling my eating, I'm beginning to learn that the primary reason for food consumption is energy. Food is suppose to give us energy. Some foods are tasty but I'm learning that taste should be secondary. This isn't to say that I like bland food. Mrs. Dash is a must in my cupboard and I like apples and bananas because they taste good. But before my current diet change, I saw food in a mostly hedonistic way. I ate whatever I wanted because it tasted good and made me feel good (for a little bit of time anyway). There was no real sense of what helped my digestive system, of what gave me real energy, of what made me full and not craving for more (which leads to overeating). Alhamduillah, that is changing now. I suppose now I'm starting to eat more like the Prophet (saws). Eating when hungry, stopping when full and not overeating.

Update On My BP

I went to Wal-Mart today to buy a scale and some groceries and took my BP. It was 131/85. I was so happy when I got that reading. BP hasn't been that low in a while. I think what made a difference was the Bragg's apple cider vinegar I brought last night. My mother told me that it helps to bring down BP. So I had a tablespoon in a glass of water as soon as I got home last night and another this morning. I'll keep tracking my BP and taking the Bragg's in addition to exercise and diet to see what happens.

ETA: I googled "bragg vinegar blood pressure" and came up with some results that support my hypothesis.

Apparenly apple cider vinegar (make sure you buy Bragg or organic) helps with a variety of ailments including hbp, high cholestrol, allergies and sinuses. Check out more info here and here. To be fair, I will post a link to a blog where the author thinks that this is junk science. You decide.