Every Day of the Weigh

I realized that since I moved here on the 26th of May that I have been, without thinking about it much, getting things done every day ~ from a pile of things resulting from procrastination ~ and that I am actively engaging in life ~ engaging, not observing. I am regularly sleeping 8-9 hours a night. I have absolutely quit taking Tylenol PM to sleep. These positive daily actions have come from changing my thoughts to good ones and working steadily to get as much done as possible from the backlog and handling all that comes into the day only once ~ or starting on a planned timetable which holds me accountable to finishing whatever I start. It´s all ~ work,parenting, finances, and nutrition/diet ~ about integrity and self-empowerment. It´s having amazing results. I´ve been here 10 weeks and I have changed effortlessly. But while making other changes, I was gaining weight, so the whole effort wasn't whole.I have a new executive job and a big transition so I just ate whatever I could grab and regressed. It's good to back in the place that so changed me so late in life. I'm truly the "Wait to Lose" gal.

I feel really comfortable and nourished. The 2nd day of ´´the rest of the job´´ has started out very pleasantly. I've been looking at the web site of the Holmberg Farm Market near here and reading about the nutritional value of Green Beans. We have agreed to try green bean recipes until we find one that the kids like. My son, whose blog is coming soon, is taking an interest in all of this and it's been really fun to work with him. He's a real tech-guy; I'm convinced his was born with a brain upgrade.

I´m going to try an Armenian ground beef and green been recipe. It is suggested on a farm web site as something delicious to fix with fresh beans. Oh an tonight I have a big pot of fresh tomato sauce on the stove and it smells wonderful! Several staff members have been bringing me tomatoes from their gardens and my son has brought in a couple from his first vegetable garden.I will write more about the impact of my original lifestyle change on my children. My daughter called tonight from college, asking for a care package. More about that later.

All of this is still in alignment with my original 85 lb weight loss and the commitment to a permanent life-style change ~ it´s is to explore, enjoy, and cherish good foods and healthy diet ~ to eat more fresh,raw, and home grown foods ~ to eat 3 meals a days and at least two snacks.

When I began I had a 1500 calorie limit which was very comfortable. As I got close to 200 lbs., the weight loss slowed down because of the decreasing deficit between maintenance calories and actual calories eaten. If I am to remain at a 1500 calorie limit, I will have to proportionately increase my exercise which will create a new challenge since I´ve been very sedentary for some time. My pattern could be: 300-100-300-100-300-100 which allows for 3 meals and 3 100 calorie snacks. I might experiment with 1350 which would allow for 150 calorie snacks. Living in an area with beautiful produce creates the opportunity for experimentation which fresh foods. What fun!

My day today was not perfect. I woke up late and ate almonds for breakfast and then got some Alvarado Street Bakery sprouted bread and light cream cheese, a hard-boiled egg, and V-8 for a mid-morning meal from my supplies at the office. Tonight I am fixing a bag of things to take to work and I am facing a two breakfast morning -- both meetings and one a 7:00 a.m. That means that I use 100 calories at one breakfast and 300 at the other. My mid afternoon snack is critical to my staying stable with my weight loss.

A few notes about my eating and weight.

I developed eating habits from early childhood which resulted in late onset obesity. I was a thin child and my mother felt that ´´fattening´´ me up was an important part of treatment for rheumatic fever. I was not a heavy eater, but during a period of staying in bed to recover from rheumatic fever, I was rewarded for eating beyond my capacity. There was not so much known in those days about obesity and its causes.

After the birth of my second child I shot up to 200 lbs and the battle began. I eventually topped out at 285. I was also once a heavy smoker and quit completely in 1986. That resulted in weight gain. I manaaged to get down to under 220 a few times from age 30 until now, but always gained everything back. In 1992 I went on an HMR fasting program ~ along with several staff members ~ supervised by a hospital team. I lost 100 lbs six months, ran a 1/2 marathon and started regaining the weight immediately. Within months I was up to 255 again and fatter than ever. 3 years ago, at 285, I lost 85 lbs by changing my lifestyle and learning to eat all over again. By the time I began that journey, I had tried every commercial diet program available, had a working knowledge of the mathematics of weight loss, and had some significant questions about my particular pattern of over-eating and its relationship to blood sugar.

I always realize when this that the hypoglycemic properties of food and the management of blood sugar is absolutely what causes my hunger and overeating. The major feature of my original weight loss was developing a growing love affair with food ~ learning to eat new foods, foods in variety, and foods that are dense in nutrition. I am extremely reactive to high fructose corn syrup and any sugar syrups in any form -- even a piece of whole wheat bread with that ingredient will start me into intense hunger. I read a wonder paper by a young man who has an interesting website, Christopher Westra, who wrote a paper about learning to eat many new foods and for a year I genuinely worked at eating new things. I didn't know that there wer37 types of apples, and that there were a variety of fruits and vegetables that were low glycemic, highly nutritious, and that I could learn to love.I finished a good day today and am closing out to get a good night's sleep, so that can stay centered. Sleep is a part of this program for me; being tired weakens my resolve. Tomorrow I face the two breakfast day and a long one. I'm a working single Mom, so am beginning to think about how to approach exercise which has been missing my life for almost a year. One day at a time. I am going to log all of my food on My Food Diary and hop into bed. More tomorrow. I will fix the links to the things of interest tomorrow, in case anyone wants the information.

I was absolutely amazed and excited about having 4 people comment on my blog. Please keep commenting. How wonderful! Your insights will help me every day of the way. Maybe I should change the name of this blog to "Every Day of the Weigh." Oh and by the way, I am not going to weigh until September 22, 2010 -- one month from thestart-date. Not weighing is an important part of my earlier success -- more about that later too. Thank you for reading this. I am going post some photos later this week.