139

Four to go! I appreciate the positive words and support from all of you! Love you!

Inches off!

I compared my current measurements with a fitness assessment from a couple years ago done at the gym. I've lost over 20 inches! 3"from my waist and 4" from hy hips to mention two biggies! Still working on the last 3 or maybe 7 pounds. Hope everyone has a good weekend!

Getting there....

I have gotten many compliments this week and that feels good! Three more pounds to reach my goal of 140 pounds. I am thinking about 135 and it is a reasonable weight for me....

Fantastic!

Great job Mom! You look fantastic.

I'm also drinking Responsibly Slim. I really like it. I had a shake for dinner tonight.

Patience is a virtue...

Almost the second I whined I started losing weight again. Maybe that is the key? Anyway, I was 145 today! I have lost 20 pounds! I am now using Sisson's recommended Responsibly Slim for breakfast. It blends well and tastes fine. Tonight is our school auction and I am hoping it is fun!

Analysis Anyone?

I got onto Fitday and entered exactly what I ate today except for 1/4 of an avocado because I could not get anything but a whole avocado. I think you can reasonably add a few calories, fat, carb grams and protein because I could not figure out how to do the avocado, or some blue cheese in my store bought salad today.
926 Calories ( probably more like 1,100)
Fat grams- 42.6
Carb grams- 70.9
protein grams - 69.2

I do know that I am going to ditch drinking Ensure in the morning--it alone had 40 grams of my carbs for the day! I will switch to Sisson's mix when it arrives and probably use some of your dad's protein powder for a morning drink until then.

I do not understand Sisson's formula for figuring out how much protein I should be eating daily.
My carb grams are in the weight loss range so I want to know why I am not losing 1-2 pounds per week!

Plateau II

This has been a tough two weeks. I've lost one only one pound. I have not cheated and I have been exercising. Just talked to Kate and I ordered Mark's drink mix and I am going to make it my breakfast and try it for dinner a time or two to change things up a bit. I also talked to Matt and I have made sure that I am moving everyday and I have been adding reps at the gym when I can.

I have been here before and eventually I will move in the right direction. I read through some of Mark's articles on losing weight, foods to eat etc. Much of it is too technical for me. So I am hoping that eating meat, vegetables, fruit, good oils, nuts in amounts that make sense will continue to work.

Fasting is not for me so that is not an option. Again, I don't understand what he has to say about fasting...doesn't make sense to me.

I'm open to suggestions!

Update

How's everyone doing?

I've been doing pretty well with my primal eating. However, every now and again I get a craving. Last night I ate 4 pieces of pizza. Afterward I had a stomach ache and slept horribly. Not worth it. My body is rejecting junk and I need to remember that before I eat it. Otherwise, I've been about 97% primal in the last two weeks. I'm hovering around 150 lbs., which is 2 pounds down from my weigh-in at the doctor's office last week.

I think my calorie consumption is too high to lose any significant weight. I'm planning to get on FitDay.com this weekend and input what I am eating so I can get a better sense of where I can improve. I probably don't eat enough protein and consume far too many calories in nuts.

Ciao!

Motivation

I found some motivation this weekend ... in a dressing room while trying on swimsuits. I think it's easy to be in denial of the way you look when you constantly cover yourself up with clothes (especially in the winter time). Swimsuits don't permit denial and I'm getting back on track.

I'm eating my primal salad right now. I put a few carrots in today and they are delicious.

Keep up the good work everyone!

149!

Interesting article in the Wall Street Journal, Thursday, March 4, titled, "Genes Point to Best Diets." Study shows that some women benefit from Low- fat plan, others from Low-Carb. Makes sense to me because of all of the different diet/eating plans out there and how some work for some people and not for others.

Hey, Matt can you e-mail Diane and have her become part of our blog. I have gotten her started on Primal eating this week and I want her to be part of the blog.

Return to Routine

Back on track after vacation. I should reach the 140's next week-- actually the high 140's. Soon to reach 140! I have lost almost 15 pounds! I am still determined to get there. The good thing is that I have gotten into a routine and I don't mind the routine.

Aloha!

I am happy to share that I did a good job on my eating plan while in Honolulu! I would give myself a 90% score. Of course I had several Mai Tai's during the week and then I switched to red wine. Breakfast was the most difficult meal for me and that is where I cheated twice. One time we were at a really popular breakfast spot (long wait, rave revues) so I decided to try their french toast--it was delicious and I did not eat all of it. Another breakfast I ate an English muffin with bacon. That day I felt hungry soon after we ate, it might have been the several cups of regular coffee that also made me feel hungry. I enjoyed dinner every night and was easily able to stay away from the bad carbs. When we ate something at lunch time it was also easy to stay away from carbs. Someone needs to make up a breakfast salad that sounds good in the morning(sans eggs). Matt??

Hawaii

Thank you Kate and Matt for all of your encouragement! It definitely helps. I love you guys! Have a good week!

Tortoise like

I was able to resist all kinds of temptation this week---Valentine's candy everywhere. What helped me to resist at the class party yesterday was that there were enough adults standing around and somehow we got to talking about healthy eating habits. It felt good to be able to share my weight loss and several others were working on healthy eating as well. It also helped that one parent knew of Primal Blueprint. Also, I don't like pineapple on pizza! I am close to 152 pounds so I lost another pound this week. My plan for next week while on vacation is to stay on the plan, walk, walk, walk and enjoy several Mai Tais while I am in Hawaii.
People are starting to notice and that is also an incentive for me as well. My short term goal is to weigh in the 140's when Diane arrives on March 4th. I can't remember the last time I weighed in the 140's. Probably when I was in my 40's! I am finding that if I think ahead and do some pre-planning on what I am going to eat helps. It also helps that your dad is on the plan with me too.

It's all about stress and emotion management...

I have really struggled the last few weeks with cutting out flour and sugar - namely cookies, candy, ice cream, pizza, etc. It's been frustrating, upsetting, daunting, etc. I always wonder how I got through law school, but I don't have the willpower to stop eating junk? Probably because I soothed my law school stress with junk.

Despite the setbacks, I realize that I have gained a lot of perspective and insight since January 1. For me, eating and exercising right consistently is directly and primarily linked to stress and emotion management. I am focused, thoughtful, deliberate, and smart with my food choices and exercise when my life is in balance and calm. As soon as I get busy, stressed, anxious, upset, tired, overwhelmed, or anything remotely off balance then I start to make poor choices. I eat a cookie and then that cookie turns into 5 because my body starts craving sugar.

I realize that I spend a ton of time reading and researching how to eat and exercise right, but I don't spend enough time focusing on my mental and emotional well being. I could know everything there is to know about being "primal", but it makes no difference if I'm letting my stress get the best of me.

So, what do I do? I plan to finish reading a book about emotional eating I bought last year. It is a great book and is filled with exercises to help overcome emotional eating. I've also created a list of ways to "self soothe" without food when I'm feeling stressed. Maybe I shouldn't have chosen such a stressful profession? However, some stress is inevitable in any profession and better I learn to deal with it then try to run away and hide. As much as I try to keep my life in balance there will be days when a ball drops - I don't get enough sleep or work is busy etc. I can't avoid these times, but I want to better deal with them without food.

Do you have any suggestions for ways I can stop turning to food (especially bad, sugary carbs) to make myself feel better?

Slope!

I am now heading in the right direction. Lost 2 this week (one of them has been lost twice now)!
I added a work out at the gym and kept on track with my eating. Ensure for breakfast, taco salad every day, nuts for snack, salad for dinner or bbq flat iron, some veggies or cottage cheese and apple sauce, glass of wine, iced tea, water. I tried to get off diet drinks but instead switched to diet 7 up--tastes refreshing. For Super Bowl Sunday we are going to BBQ Hawaiian chicken, green salad (ala grandma), my secret dip with carrots and so far that is it. Any suggestions?
Have a great weekend everyone! Love you!

Plateau

I was hoping that the weight loss would continue but it stopped this week. I did not eat anything different nor did I cheat. I am going to cut out diet pepsi and make sure I do some kind of exercise everyday. It is definitely frustrating.....

http://www.direct-ms.org/pdf/EvolutionPaleolithic/Cereal%20Sword.pdf

Rock Chalk

Rock Chalk Blowout Mizzou!

Taco seasoning...

Anyone ever looked at the ingredients of taco seasoning? Gross. 9/10 ingrediants are not "real food" and the 10th ingredient is sugar.

I made lean ground beef last night and created my own taco seasoning. It came out really good. I used lots of pepper, ground red peper, ground cayenne pepper, and paprika. I also used a bit of salt. Just keep adding until it tastes good.

I mixed my ground beef with homemade guacamole and some salsa. It was delicious. I could have also added lettuce and tomato to make a taco salad, but I kept it simple.