Wednesday Weigh-in and a test of January Jeans

Scale is down a little to 194lbs. Yes down! I'm fighting off all sorts of viruses these days so that has sapped a lot of energy out of me and I'm fighting off the urge to hibernate. I'll be heading to the natural food and vitamin place to get stocked up on a few supplements to help me through the winter.

We've had a huge dump of snow and I've been shoveling for a couple of hours... snow looks lovely, but when push comes to shove, pushing and lifting heavy snow in the cold wind ain't fun. I'm just cranky because I didn't get a chance to get my walk in. I'm sure other snowfalls wont be as bad as this one! (Knock on wood, fingers and toes crossed).

January Jeans Test #1:

Work colleagues have already started bringing in Holiday treats. Store bought cheap-ass industrial chocolate. When I see a stuff like that, I think - IT'S A TRAP! -  and run away. There are about a handful of us who are eating healthier, but everyone else in the office lets loose. 

I feel better when I eat healthy foods.  When I don't, I feel like crap.

I feel better when I exercise. When I don't, I feel like crap.

I need to hold firm and make the healthy choice, which sometimes means just walking away.

January Jeans Club 2014

What a great motivator! Thank you to Marion for setting this up and to Satu for the cute badge. This comes at the perfect time. I got the all clear from my doctor -- my medical issue is resolved. (Ladies, your support and kind words  have meant a lot these past few weeks!)

With all the parties coming up, I'm going to do some reading this weekend, mull things over and come up with a plan of attack. I need a strategy that keeps those pounds off and doesn't offend anyone either.

One of the toughest issues is that so many family members and friends equate food with love. Meaning, if you reject the food that has been so lovingly prepared, you are in fact rejecting the person who prepared it. Many feelings have been hurt in the past because of this.

My calendar is starting to get filled with concerts, parties and other get-togethers, including hosting one of those parties. Either New Years Eve or a party sometime between Christmas and New Years. At least with the party we host, my man and I can have some measure of control on what is served to our guests. Looking forward to researching tasty and healthy recipes for a crowd!!

Weight go up, weight go down

It's almost a month until Christmas... where has the time gone? It goes so very  very fast. I've been thinking about the past, childhood, teenaged years, the confusing time of my young adulthood and these last years I've spent with my man and it seems like time is like sand slipping through my fingers!

My mother has been having a difficult time dealing with the first anniversary of the death of my father. Both with anticipating the anniversary then dealing with the many calls from friends and family asking her how's she's coping. She's still very sad. She's having trouble looking forward and positively towards life and the future.  It's hard to see her see verging on depression. She's always been positive in the worst of circumstances. I've not burdened her with the stuff I'm dealing with.

Emotionally I'm doing better than I thought I would. Physically, my weight this morning was at 195.5 lbs after climbing up to 204 lbs on Saturday! The added weight is water weight, a side-effect of a medical issue and medications I'm taking. This is part of the stuff I've been dealing with over the last month. I've had to take things slow lately. But I've been very conscious of my food intake and trying not to gain fat.

Tomorrow, if I get the all-clear health-wise, I'll join Marion at Affection for Fitness for the January Jeans 2014 challenge.

Keeping positive is my goal for the next couple of months and getting through the upcoming stress of the holidays without falling mouth first into a plate of cookies or other tempting treats!

Book recommendation if you'd like a light read: The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion. Nerdy guy is looking for a wife... chick-lit vibe but written from a man's perspective :)

Still Dealing with Stuff

So my stuff continues. I might blog about what's going on at a later time. Everyone has tough issues to deal with from time to time and it's my turn I suppose. Weight is back up to 195lbs and it's mostly water weight: the bloat is measurable. Not feeling my best but am coping and taking things one day at a time, or trying to anyway.  I'm still keeping a food journal and am conscious of what I am eating and why. 

With the first anniversary of my father's death this weekend, my stuff will take a back-seat to support my mother. Even though she is still in a lot of pain and misses him quite a bit, she's been able to survive and begin to enjoy life again on her own.  One piece of advice she had for me is to never to lose myself in a relationship. She did with my father and now she is coming back into her own.  

I do miss my father and dealing with emotions has been hard this past year. Seeing a counsellor has helped but I still have a difficult time sleeping and finding peace of mind. That's something to keep working on.

Dealing with stuff

Dealing with a lot of personal issues right now... I may write about what's going on later on down the road but right now, I just don't feel like it.  I've vented to my man and now I'm drained. One thing however, I'm not letting these issues interfere with my weight loss. I'm down 2lbs to 192lbs this week.  

I've been walking a lot for stress relief... a lot.

Eating my way through a tough time won't get me anywhere. Calories not over 1600 per day. I've kept to nutritionally sound food even though Halloween treats were everywhere. Some well-meaning colleague even left a pile of chocolates on my desk. Gah!!  I just scooped then up and put them in the common room. They disappeared soon enough.

Here's my food plan from last week:

Breakfast: 

Scrambled eggs with peppers and mushrooms (sometime with smoked salmon)
or 
Steel-cut oatmeal with berries and almond milk
or 
Power smoothie

Lunch:

Squash Soup with

Salad with grilled meat, or canned salmon
or
Left-overs from previous night's supper

Supper:

Stir fried veggies (broccoli, carrots, peppers) and chicken
or
Roast chicken and veggies (beets, sweet potato, onions) on a bed of kale
or 
Baked trout Amandine with tons of extra green beans
or
Stuffed peppers with lean ground beef and shredded carrots, onion and celery (no cheese!)

Snacks:

Either fruit or carrot sticks 
(I'm still off the natural almonds for the time being because they are too tasty and I end up eating more than I should)
Sugarless gum (trying to give this up but I cant do it yet)

Quick weigh-in

This morning the scale read 194lbs. I'm not surprised as things have been busy around here and I've not been able to stick to my usual exercise routine. After work and evening appointments almost every night have been throwing me off my game!  (Optometrist, dentist, appliance store, specialty yarn store for my mom, ect...)

 

Have been getting as much walking in there as possible, which is a great stress reliever, but it isn't helping me shrink in size. If I'm lucky and don't oversleep in the morning, I'm exercising for 20 minutes on the eliptical to get the blood pumping. With food I'm on track -- no self-sabotaging like last week. Calories range from 1500 to 1800. 

A Visit to the Clinic and Weigh-In

Regular check-ups are pretty important especially if you're trying to get healthy. I don't have a family physician who knows me and or my history, so I have to take charge of my health. 

Even though I live in a large city, I can't find a family doctor who takes new patients. However, there are more specialists around than you can shake a stick at!! Unless you have a serious condition that requires monitoring (like high blood pressure or Type II Diabetes) it's difficult to get a family doctor. Of course you can go to a clinic and see Dr. X or Y and get your problem you have treated, but preventative medicine or a talk about how life is going has no place in a busy impersonal clinic. But that is the kind of healthcare I face. More than one of us has had to be proactive and I've become my own (albeit unwilling) expert on my health. I ask for copies of all my test results as it happens medical records seem to get lost a lot in these parts. I also do my research to know what tests I should be pushing for and when. 

Anyway the upshot of this past visit is that my overall health is improving. Blood pressure a little high (probably a bit of white coat syndrome), cholesterol is good but could be better, thyroid is fine and still not diabetic. 

Weight this morning is 193lbs. Been bouncing all week between 190 and 198. Food-wise, I made two stupid choices of the starchy carb variety... aka fries and potato chips. Duh, why did I do that? Sigh, the eternal struggle to understand the reason behind the choices I make.

It's been an unusually busy/hectic week with overtime at work, house repairs, house guests, appointments and add in cleaning, cooking and laundry...  the evenings have not been my own. I tried to take walks when I could during the day, but that it is not enough to get slim and trim. I'll do better next week.

Weigh-in Wednesday

Must be a fluke !!! I don't know what to think...

I weigh myself every morning, and even with socks on, this past week I've slowly losing to 195 and all of a sudden today, this 190 pops up! 

Mulling this over and it must be the three cups of coffee yesterday acted as a diuretic. Oh well, the scale is only one tool in the arsenal of fat fighting. Once the tape measure shows a lower number and I have to buy a smaller size in pants, then I'll know I'm on the right track.