Some Progress...

...but still haven't found the number I'm looking for.
The nutritionist said I should official weigh-in with her once a month and the result is:
Four pounds down from last month. BUT...
1.5 inches off my waist and 2 inches off my hips, and I'm very happy about that!!

For this upcoming month, the plan is to:

• Strength training four days per week, 2 longer sessions of 45 mins, 2 shorter 20 mins. In an ideal world, I'd hit the gym. It's still not ideal here. But in the meantime, I've got some dumbbells and can do bodywork exercises. 
• Dust off my bicycle and try it out. Go for short rides in the neighborhood. In May/June *might* cycle to work once all the snow melts here. It is about a 2 hour round trip, and I need to get my stamina and strength up.
• Keep hitting 5K or more outdoor steps, and keep being active in the house. 
• Food: Keep on already defined food plan, which is lots of veggies, some protein (fish and chicken or beans), some good fats, low sugar, low salt.

Eats

Being not the best cook, I try and find shortcuts when I can. And I'm cooking for one--no one else in my household is on my plan. I've got a bunch of various frozen veggies stocked in my freezer. Paired with a protein and I'm good for lunch or supper. I bought a bunch of chicken thighs on sale, baked them with some homemade BBQ sauce and added some veggies. Easy peasy! Frozen berries and cubed avocado are useful too. I prefer frozen avocado because I only eat maybe 1/3rd of a cup at a time, or throw a few cubes into a smoothie. Buying whole fresh ones are so expensive here in this area. 

When I make homemade soups, I do prepare my own stock. Commercial stock is way too salty for me, and my nutritionist has me limiting sodium anyway. Tonight, I've roasted a turkey and tomorrow I'll slice it up and use the bones for stock.  A veggie-laden soup is something I've been having a lot of lately. Looking up other healthy turkey left overs recipes is my next task.

Lunches or suppers can include prepared salads from the grocery, but I'm careful to read the label to make sure there are few ingredients. I do like having a  sandwich using canned salmon or tuna that I stocked up on when on sale.

My morning smoothies are pretty boring, but there you go. My tastes may change as summer comes along. It's still cold and wintery here. I get to switch it up sometimes with cereal and berries. I find the day difficult without coffee.

Protein is limited. In the past, I did have a bit of success with a Paleo diet, but my health issues become worse with excess protein. 

Calorie-wise, 1400 or so is what the nutritionist decided. 

My collage pic below is out of order, but here's a sample of my eats. If I feel hungrier, I might have an orange or some dates stuffed with pecans and a smidge of nut butter as a snack.

Breakfast: Pumpkin smoothie (1/2cup oatmeal, unsweetened almond milk, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, pumpkin puree--not pumpkin pie filling, lol!) 

Lunch: Two hard boiled eggs, sliced on top of 3/4 cup of a prepared grocery store salad form the "healthy aisle" a Royal Couscous salad. Homemade Thai soup, with much less coconut milk than the original recipe called for.

Supper: Chili (black beans, eggplant in addition to my regular recipe) about a cup, with a little bit of lactose-free cheese on top, and a couple slices of fresh bakery baguette. Not my usual bread, took a couple of slices from my man.

I'm trying to wean myself off of creamer in my coffee but it is hard. About 2 tbsps is what I add... and that adds up to 70 calories.  I only have one cup of coffee, usually about an hour after waking up. The nutritionist has me drinking lemon water first thing in the morning. It's supposed to have a lot of health benefits, "alkalizing the system", "detoxing", improving digestion... I'm giving it a good chance anyway and continue to do it every morning. 

I'm working on reducing portions, and not eating supper later than 7pm. Maybe the upcoming time change will help me shift my days earlier. 

Steady as She Goes

For the past while, I've been following my nutritionist's plan fairly well, except for some celebratory pizza and pastries that were in there. Although the ultimate goal is to have that Food is Fuel mindset, I'm not there yet. Coping with food as comfort is going much better as in that is not happening as much as before. The true test will be when my hormones get roaring! lol.  

The only big issue so far is downing a glass of lemon water as soon as I get up in the morning. She says the main benefits I should see are the flushing of toxins (insert eyeroll here) and improvement in digestion (maybe? Hope so). 

In terms of exercise, my fave being walking outdoors, that's not great. I had to do more shoveling of snow this week, and tomorrow morning--I just looked out the window :(   It burns calories, but I don't get the same mental release as with walking. For other upper body exercise, working out with hand weights has been in my rotation. I have five and ten pounders. I can only cope with the fives at moment--weak I know!  Gyms here are starting to re-open but they have high demand. Everyone's been cooped up for months, and itching to get back to fitness classes and personal training. I'll wait until the demand disappears, and I get the vaccine, before signing up. In the meantime, there's plenty of free resources like body weight exercises on YouTube to follow.

And speaking of body weight, my nutritionist wants me to only weigh in once a month. I started to get a bit fixated on the daily swings up and down. She's reminded me it's not a quick fix weight-loss plan, but a life-long health plan. So I'll post my official weigh-in numbers that I share with her which will be the sometime around March 22nd or so.  Steady as She Goes... by The Raconteurs :)