kimberly rae's Journal, 04 August 2014

Excellent loss! 

Great job and great attitude :) Every time I have lost weight in the past, I went to extremes and it was impossible to keep it up after a while so the weight always came back. This time I want to learn a new lifestyle of eating responsibly but not obsessively! 

Yeah, kim. I think having an eating plan we can really live with over the long term is the way to go. Mom was just commenting to me today that she has seen short term diets fade into weight gain, yo-yo diets, and you figure the long term damage of that up and down must be dramatic. We can do better, lucky to have access to more info. To our FS friends, please lets not starve, you deserve better. I am also thinking the pounds take time to put on, and I should give myself plenty of time to take them off. Love, kmc 

So you are fasting two days a week? Is that what it is? Sounds like a good plan. I have noticed that my bar has changed. By that I mean that what used to be normal diet stuff is now stuff I don't want. For example, yesterday we were in Lunds and they had those 7 layer bars on sale. Eric bought himself a turtle cheesecake, which I care nothing about, but I wanted a 7 layer bar. But I did NOT get one. It was pure indulgence and I did not need it. I thought about how it felt to actually eat it and those things are just so heavy and sweet. I would much rather have a strawberry. When I think about how a strawberry tastes, it is so much better. It feels clean and nice.  

I also did not eat even one single BITE of his turtle cheesecake, where normally I might have asked for a tiny bite. 

I also did not buy a ginger natural soda, which I might have done normally, but I had looked at the sugar content and it was just crazy sweet. So I declined. 

Ame, Maybe I didn't tell you about the 5:2 fast diet. It's not actually fasting, but for two days of the week, non-sequential, you eat only 500 calories, either in one setting or two, and as close together as possible, ideally within 8 hours, so that on either side are about 16 hours of fasting -- say, 7pm( the night before0 - 11 am and then 4pm - 8 am the next day. These longer periods between eating allow the body a rest from the constant digestion we westerners seem to put our bodies through. It's actually getting a lot of research lately. I've read the book and watched the documentary and feel really good about it. It just seems to fit me. 

500 calories for gals and 600 calories for guys. These numbers are indicated as an average 1/4 of our daily RDI of calories. Although with me, I've set my RDI at 1300 for weight loss and so its more like 1/3 of my usual. Honestly as the diet stresses, on your off days you can eat however you want to. I still choose to make healthy choices on my off fast days, but if I was to splurge, it would be on an off day. Then they suggested that when you hit your ideal weight, you go down to only one fast day a week to maintain. For an OCD person like me, it sort of feels more loving and lenient. I don't feel denied anything. They have found that on the off days people don't gorge like first expected, but actually have shrunk their tummies and actually can't eat as much as they thought. I too found this accurate. 

Oh yes, that was it. Yeah, I knew it was reduced but I could not remember what it was. Thanks. 

Sounds like an interesting book. I might have to read it and see for myself. :) 

Hi, guys. Had eggplant lazagna for supper. It was dipped in egg, then breadcrumbs, then baked till crispy, then layered in as you would noodles. Very good, in fact surprisingly, everyone liked it better than the same thing made with rice noodles mom had gotten at the health food store. I don't consider them much of a healthy version though, because it seems like after all the stuff I did to that eggplant, it wasn't really that much better for us than noodles. Maybe. It was good regardless. Good job on saying no to cheesecake Ame. Cheesecake (full calorie version) is one of those things that people trying to lose weight should avoid at all cost. I would prefer, if I were to have a cheat, some plain chocolate, even dark choc would be just right. Maybe when the challenge is done next week I'll have a cheat like that. Anyhoo, catch ya later. Love, kmc 

Yeah - a funny - after the gym we typically go to Lund's and pick out some dinner. It USED to be deli, but the cream soups and the creamy sauce for their Swedish meatballs (a favorite) is a no go. So I have been opting for salads, which is great. They are more expensive that way (from the salad bar), but I actually EAT them when I buy them like as vs buying the lettuce, etc, and then never using it and tossing it. I can usually make a salad bar salad stretch two days and this morning I stretched it even more by adding veggies from the fridge. So much of diet is a mental thing, isn't it? Anyways - what I started out saying is that Eric was going to stop at Culver's on our way home and get a burger. I told him that the ONE day that we ate at Culver's a few weeks ago was the ONLY day on my food diary where I went in the red (consuming more calories than I expended). He opted for the OJ and didn't even eat anything. He knows now that when he buys sweet stuff he usually ends up eating it all himself, so he is trying not to do that as much. I really try not to pressure him at all, but every once in a while I can't help myself to adding in a fact about how much calories is in stuff. I know that when I pressure him, it makes him just want to do it more because he hates that. I would hate it too so I try not to do that. He has been changing, though. Slowly, but changing. So am I. I am not doing as well on the sugar thing as you two are, but I can see that my perspective is changing and that is helping a lot. I am aware of my sugar intake every day now and when I do eat something, it is NOT unconsciously. I think back sometimes to how I was eating stuff, and there is a big difference. Yesterday we walked through the bakery section and there was just piles and piles of sweet stuff. I passed the double chocolate pre-made deli cookies that we would sometimes get and all I could think of was how much sugar and fat is in them. I did not want them at all. If I do indulge, I take just a bite or a tiny bit. That is enough. I am also renewing my commitment to drinking water. I stopped keeping track for a while and I think that is part of why I am not losing. Drinking water really helps with processing out stuff. This weekend I am going to do some clearing in my house. Maybe that will help too. Clearing stuff equates to clearing STUFF in the body. (Housework is exercise too!)Have a great week, guys! 

good reminder Ame, I am going to go through clothes again. Sometimes it takes this long into summer before I realize some clothes just don't work for me. Let's see if we can lose a pound for every 10 pounds we rid ourselves of clutter.  

Yeah, I went through about half of my clothes yesterday. I gave FOUR garbage bags of clothes to Goodwill so far! I also went through my end table with all of my jewelry and am giving some of that away and I went through a medicine cabinet so far. I will post a photo of my closet on efamily. It's amazing! The question that really did it for me while clearing was, "Will I miss this?" That is a great question because I wouldn't miss much of my stuff if it was gone. Truthfully, I had a harder time with the jewelry than I did with my clothes because the items are so tiny. We had FIVE boxes of bandaids in our medicine cabinet! FIVE. All of the remains of what was in them fit in one box, so I recycled four bandaid boxes. How funny is that? I had some epson salt mixture that was so old that the bag actually dissolved in my hand. Sad. It was great fun going through it, though. Can't wait to do the linen closet! That is my catch all for all things householdy.  

Oh! And I tossed every single pair of my dress pants except one. I have ONE white blouse now and ONE pair of dress pants. That's it.  

So I was mentioning that Eric is reconsidering his sweets, right? So he came up with a plan. He bought this big box of peanut butter cups at Trader Joes the other day. His typical thing would be to just eat them all because they were there. But each time he goes to buy one, I ask - are you SURE you want to eat that whole box? So he got smart. He packaged them into groups of seven and stuck them in the freezer. Now he just takes out a little bag and defrosts them. Progress... I am so glad that he is thinking about this stuff. I love him anyways, just the way he is, but I also want him healthy so he will be around for a long time.  

oh, so true! Bill is doing really well supporting me. He has been eating super healthy too and absolutely loves that I'm on a mission to eat less. H has lost about ten pounds too since getting back from MN. He had gained a lot too like me so I'm pleased he's not bringing in reeses peanut butter cups. They are a weakness of us both! The only thing he's craving is vanilla ice cream, which of course would not be my pick to splurge on, so I said go ahead. He didn't want to though because he knew he'd eat the whole thing himself.