3 Weeks of My New Plan

Wow, alot can happen in three weeks time! I just went back over the details of the plan for my diet that I laid out 3 weeks ago. I started out with the best of intentions, but it has taken me until this last week to really take responsibility for it and make it happen. Laziness, denial, complacency, wishful thinking, botom line, I guess I just wasn't serious enough until I got tired of seeing those 130's on the face of the scale!

My weight actually went up! Two reasons, first, I was still eating too much, and second, the increase in muscle from heavier and longer training routines. I love, love, love, being more muscular, but I don't love weighing 132lbs. Such a dilemma, isn't it great!!! (I just realized, again, how freakin lucky I am to have this as a problem in my life!) I knew exactly what the problems were and I changed them.

The changes that I made, and were hoping to make involved these areas of my diet;

food journaling
calorie counting
food prep / types of food
meal times
cheat day

Food journaling. I did in fact, after 1 week, purchase a larger food journal...I love it. It has plenty of room for not only listing exact meal times, but little notes of inspirational thoughts, and suggestions for future changes. I can see that when I no longer need to keep such accurate details of my diet, it will become a more personal journal, and that's a good thing.

Calorie counting. I admit, I still try and lie to myself, damn! No matter how you might try and lie, you know the truth inside, and more importantly the scale knows the truth! Bottom line, I was still consuming too many calories. I was in denial!

One of the things I wanted to implement was to keep a "running total" of calories throughout the day, this became a very important part of getting control back. Laziness and denial seem to go hand in hand, lol. When I did keep a running total I couldn't be in denial...I couldn't because it was all right there in front of me as it went down! As my calories added up during the course of the day, my last meal became my last chance to make my best choices for whether, or not, I would achieve my goal.

I'm still working on the "portion thing". I have started to change this when I feel I can, and I'm hopeful about this becoming more routine.

Food prep/ types of food. I have increased my fats, (yum), lots more PNB. I measure out 2 tbls. of PNB and I'm really good at sticking with that portion. I eat it with celery and raisins, it's one of my favorite meals...yes, I count it as a meal, not a snack! I cut out so many carrots, I traded out my oats for Triscut crackers in my yogurt. I went back to packing an apple as a snack, instead of prunes or a chocolate sucker.

My bodyfat has increased slightly, but I'm totally OK with that, I think it looks good!

Meal times. As much as I would like to eat at exactly the same times everyday, it just isn't that important. The impotant part of meal times for me is to stop eating as early as possilble. It doesn't seem to make a difference how early I start my first meal as much as when I stop in the evening. I feel best the next day if I eat my last big meal between 4-5pm. Luckily, I don't get hungry, I mean really hungry, not just boredom hungry, in the evening times.

If I do find myself really hungry, I will eat a small snack, like fruit (6-8 apricots, 1 serv. of grapes, maybe a couple of prunes, etc.), and that seems to work fine. (can you believe that I can use the word "small" in describing anything I eat??? LOL)

Cheat day. Well I predicted that this would be my biggest challenge! Now I'm predicting something different....relaxing! I have no plan other than trying this approach. I will not stress about this anymore. It's just one day, It's fine. I feel good about it, and the better I feel, the better I want to feel, and the better I want to feel, the better my choices are.

So there it is. I wanted to get my weight back down in the 128-129's in 4-6 weeks time. I'm confident now that I can do that, I'm confident that I want to do that, by the end of the next 3 weeks. Most important to me right now is feeling my absolute best by my birthday in 2 weeks, and I know that I will!

Sunday AM weight 130.4 (not bad after a cheat day!)
1 hour walk

Menu

coffee w/cream 80 cal.
yogurt w/triscut (3) 180 cal.
green salad w/veggies, 1 brownie 500 cal.
broc salad w/tuna/mayo 350 cal.
apricots (12?) 100 cal.

Total calories 1210

I spent Sunday away from home, so I packed my own lunch of small portioned meals. There was a buffet (FREE!) so, I chose to take advantage of the free food, while staying within my diet parameters. I made a large green salad w/extra veggies, but no rice or pasta. I ate all of my own food throughout the day with the exception of my PNB/celery/raisins, which I brought back home and will eat today.

Of course there was a large platter of cookies, cakes and brownies that were just too much to resist, besides I don't have to resist! I chose ONE brownie and ate it slowly with a fork. Man, in the old days (not too long ago), I would've been all over that dessert platter. Looking around most people did take advantage of it, and their bodies reflected their choices!

Monday AM weight 129.2

Life is good.