Sunday, March 9, 2014

A (wo)man with a plan...

So, one week down of being on it meal plans.  I wasn't perfect, but I learned some things:  If I'm gonna join a local civic club, I'm gonna have to pack my lunch.  (The fare at the fete I attended: sandwiches with deli meat, mayo based potato salad, potato chips and cookies. Pretty much nothing I normally eat.  But I'll just remind myself what I've learned to say in the past year and a half-- that I don't go for the food.) I also figured out that I don't have to eat exactly what I had planned on any given day, as long as over the week, I eat the daily plans.  So... I have a menu of fairly standard lunches... all I have to do is pick the dinner that goes with the lunch.  (Breakfast and snacks stay pretty much the same.) That's easy.  I also realized that I feel about meal plans a little bit like I felt about standardized dress in high school: that contrary to popular belief or what would seem to make sense, it actually makes things a lot easier.  I chop vegetables once or twice a week, and cook staples like chicken breasts and pork chops.  From there, my "blrrgh...dinner again?" delimma is solved. And using myfitnesspal, I can duplicate meals (and it does the math for me!) so the planning part isn't even as complicated as I thought it would be.

I'm still losing weight, and I was cleared by He-who-adjusts to resume lifting again.  I've felt pretty good, and my energy level is starting to go up. My cravings for sugary foods have almost disappeared. (Which must mean I've finally gotten my protein levels back up to where they need to be.) I'm optimistic that getting away from gluten is doing good things for my body. I'm eating good food that I love, and getting farther and farther away from processed food. This feels like a win.

Cool moment of the week: When I walked back into the gym for the first time in two weeks, one of the other trainers saw me and immediately said "Wow! You look like you've dropped ten pounds!" And I smiled and said, "well... pretty close." Not cool moment of the week: spending all of Sunday morning (while I was trying to preach) hoping my pants didn't fall right off. Time to go shopping!

Saturday, March 1, 2014

Hard? Not Hard!

So after 15 months of fighting for every. single. pound. suddenly I've dropped seven in a week.  Granted there are a couple of things that probably helped, including the fact that I was sick and haven't been lifting weights in two weeks.  (I always drop when I stop lifting for a bit.) But... I'm thinking it's more than that.  He-who-trains thinks it's water weight, and maybe some of it is, but I'm wondering if it isn't something else. Because I've lost an inch from my waist since Wednesday, and a half inch from various other places. I showered at the gym this morning, and thoughtfully packed some jeans that were only a little big a few weeks ago.  Now I'm trying not to give everyone in the coffee shop a show. The bathing suit which was snug two weeks ago hangs off my belly. He-who-adjusts swears that my body was inflamed from the gluten, and that I actually wasn't as big as I thought I was. That didn't line  up with anything of which I had knowledge, so I didn't get my hopes up.  I'm wondering now if my body is freeing itself from some things (after my weirdo breakdown last week.)  It'll be interesting to see what the next week or so holds, but this feels awfully good for right now.

He-who-trains threw down a gauntlet.  Even though I said I was going six months without a major case of wagon falling off (which starts today, by the way), that was apparently not enough of a challenge.  He correctly pointed out that I've never really done meal plans-- which involves planning out every single thing that goes in my mouth for a week, and making sure my calories and ratios are correct. He ascertains that a food log (recording what I have eaten) is not nearly as effective as planning my meals out in advance, and then making sure I stick to it no matter what.  He maintains that I'm not disciplined enough to do this, but he is mistaken.  I sent him a week's worth of meal plans last night, which will take me Monday through Sunday. And it figures in lunch out with some town officials.  It figures in a shopping day with my folks.  It meets the guidelines he set out for me almost exactly, except I've eliminated anything that contains gluten, and gotten my carbs through other sources.  He-who-trains thinks this is going to be hard for me, because of stress and a sometimes hard to predict schedule.  But eating well is not  hard.  Not feeling well is hard.   Not being in the body I want is hard.

Eating chicken and porkchops and apples and watermelons and other delicious things? So not hard.