Spring Break

Spring Break is finally over. We did not go anywhere, son had High School Baseball locally. 2-3 games every day. Pregame at 10 am and would not get back home until 9-10 pm. LONG DAYS! I was glad to be able to stay home today and get caught up on all the housework and laundry from the week! WHEW!

Monday starts back to school schedule and games every night.

There were many days I would pack him sandwiches and pack myself a cup of my chicken salad on salad greens for our lunches. Far better for both of us than spending crazy money at a concession stand with no decent food options for either of us. Occasionally I would have a hot dog or brat with mustard, no bun. We tried to minimalize dining out as much as possible.

The week before this was my daughter's Spring Break. I drove 6-7 hours one way to go get daughter from school for her spring/Easter break, then brought her back. Gained like 4# every week she's home!  Far too much dining out!!!   Here's hoping that I at least LOST that!  

Feel less bloated, have not weighed or measured this past week. I will do so tomorrow I guess. Fingers crossed! 

Slow and Steady

Slowly, but surely the scale is moving downward. I have also lost a couple inches. I am impatient when it comes to weight loss. I want it gone and I want it NOW! :) Even though I know I didn't gain it overnight, I would like it to disappear overnight!  LOL

Not very practical and I know that's not the way it works....but still, you have to admit it would be sweet if it did!

Realistic...

I am a Capricorn...practical and realistic by default. I am realistic when it comes to setting a goal weight.

It has been said that if you cannot remember being a certain weight, you have no right choosing that as a goal weight. 

Take me for instance, while I was bigger than my mother and sister when I was growing up I was also far more muscular than they were. Not to mention we have different bone structure. Someone who has a larger bone frame will weigh more than a person with a small or dainty frame. Years ago when I went to a Bariatric Dr they measure your elbow breadth to determine frame size. I have a large frame, even though I am only 5'5" tall. Which states at high end my ideal weight would be 155#. 

That's fine, but I know my healthiest weight, without looking sickly was 165#, which was after having my kids. For me that's important, because bodies change after having kids. For me to choose a goal weight pre kids or my high school weight would just be plain silly and not at all realistic ...for me.

Too many times people, women especially; imagine their ideal weight to be far lower than it is and overestimate how much they can lose. Which sets them up for frustration and imagined failure.

Measure your elbow breadth and it should help you find a starting point. Alternatively, you can use this site to determine REALISTIC IDEAL WEIGHT. Which again, using myself as a guinea pig; lists my people's choice ideal weight to be 181#. I in fact I have my initial goal weight set for 180, which I would be THRILLED to reach. If by chance I could get down to 170 that would be cool, but I refuse to kill myself to get to a number which may be unrealistic to attain, let alone maintain.

What a Suck!

I have gained 10 pounds back since the beginning of November. Stress really is an ass kicker; and not in that good motivating sort of way! I am tired of having my ass kicked.

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!  Consider mah ass kicked!

After determining that I was sleeping WAAAY too much I told myself I was the only one who could change that, and it was time to do something about it. With that said, I have been trying to get my sleeping schedule/clock back to some sense of normalcy; whatever that is! Years ago, during Rambo's first deployment, I got into a pattern of staying awake all night, waking the kids up at 6am, getting them ready and off to school, then coming home to sleep until it was time for me to go pick them up and begin the mom taxi to extra curricular activities. Post deployment I regained some 'normal' sleep patterns. Then deployment #2 came up and I went back into survival mode. Maybe that has messed with me more than I thought? In any case, starting  last Friday I was up at 6am and stayed up until bed time. Went to bed and only slept about 4-5 hours, leaving me wide awake at 2:30am. Not cool body, not cool at all. Forced self to stay in bed a couple hours then got up. even over the weekend I managed to be out of bed before 7am. That's a huge deal for me.

I was just far too lethargic to even THINK about exercising, let along actually DOING any of it!

Finally for the first time in months I am starting to feel half human and not a depressed, anxious lazy mess.

Onto the Rest of the Holiday Season

Turkey Day is done, now onto the rest of the Holiday Season!

I cooked my ass off and my family loved it...as always! I cooked my low carb items as well. The Pumpkin Crepe Cake was a huge success and no one would guess it was low carb. Road trip to get and then bring Teen Queen back to college and dining out. Too much dining out! I really need to get a handle on this. Not only is it bad for my waistline, it's not good for my wallet either.

Coming off what I call a stall, plus dining out and Thanksgiving meant a gain for this gal. No huge shocker there for me, really. I ate on plan with the exception of a cup of stuffing and cranberries on Turkey Day. Dining out I had some tortilla chips. I gained 7 pounds!!! My body REALLY doesn't like carbs and shows me every time. I weighed this morning and have just 2 more to lose to be back where I was before the 'stall'. Not too bad. : /

I am back on track and need to MAKE time to get in some exercise. Or at least that's the plan!

Slap in the Face

A stall is like a slap in the face. 11 days and no change tape measure wise, and even a small gain on the scale. It could possibly be due to TOM, regardless it's a bummer. 

It's a bummer to be eating right and counting all the right things and not have the right thin happen on the scale. I am not freaked out by the eating frenzy of the holiday season which is steadily coming upon us. In fact I have some delicious low carb friendly recipes for me as well as the traditional dishes for everyone else.

On the menu for Thanksgiving (slapsgiving photo above), other than the bird of course...

garlic cauliflower 'mashed potatoes'

roast turkey and gravy

roasted brussels sprouts

pumpkin crepe cake

stuffing, mashed potatoes and traditional pumpkin pie for everyone else

As you can see, I will be eating VERY well and low carb too! All without feeling deprived. Added bonus.

About Time

I lost! Not just what I put on from jumping off the horse, but a for real, legit loss.  I am 228.6 currently from 242. That's -13.4 pounds gone. I am out of the 240's and for more than a few days I have remained under the 230's; so I am counting myself out of those as well! It's been a while since I have been in the 220's zip code. It's kind of nice, although I would like for this to be a temporary thing and keep on moving down...210's here I come! :)

I have remained true to my low carb/Atkins/paleo...whatever people are calling it these days. It's what works for me and it's when I feel my best. Achey joints are a thing of the past. My body has had some weird muscle pains, I chalk that up to it adjusting to it's new digs.

Now I need to get motivated and start moving MORE...a lot more! I need to schedule in time for me to walk or Kettlebell daily. I am sure it will be rough at first, but I think it will give me more energy in the long run. I have so much to get done around here not just in daily life, but around the home, baseball mom stuff, with the Holly Days coming upon us, having to go bring TQ home to spend the days with us, cleaning, cooking, cooking, cooking and did I mention COOKING?

For Thanksgiving I thin I will make this http://www.genaw.com/lowcarb/thanksgiving_dinner_2004.html, along with the regular fixings for the non Atkins people of the house. There's just something about Garlic smashed potatoes! YUM!