Three H: Holy, Healthy, Happy

16.8 Pounds Lost in Two Months!

Well, I woke up to an unexpected snow event today. I thought we may get a few flakes that wouldn't stick around and we ended up with a new forecast of up to 3 inches.  After an Atkins Mocha Shake and a trip to the dollar store for basic provisions, my husband called because his car (which needs new tires) was sliding all over the road and he needed me to pick him up from work. Our daughter and I made it safely there to pick him up and bring him back but saw several cars that had slidden off of the road. Traffic was backed up as schools and businesses released shortly after opening. When we came home I scrambled four eggs in butter with a little shredded cheddar and whole milk mixed in for fluffiness. I had just bought a loaf of whole wheat bread so I splurged on a slice of toast with real butter. That was lunch. After spending time inside together, we bundled up so out daughter could play in the snow with the neighbors' kids. I ran around giving each kid a ride on a pull sled w...

In the beginning I was hesitant to put a face to the name on this blog. I've since decided that "Before" and "During" photos would help motivate me on days when "After" seems either impossible or forever far away. I didn't take any measurements or photos on the day I started and, since I'm usually the person taking photos, I am not in very many of them. I had to go back to September to find one of me for the "Before" image. The "During" image was taken just a few moments ago, after 7 weeks of dieting and about 17 pounds of weight loss. Much of the weight has come off my midsection, but I've also noticed that my face, neck, and chin are feeling and looking a bit smaller than a few weeks ago. "Before" and "During" Project 52: Health Improvement Week by Week

Adding Exercise Next Week I’m gearing up for adding exercise into my plan for improving my health week by week. So far I have only been cutting out carbohydrates (rice, bread, cake, pancakes, sugar, ice cream, candy, potatoes, and corn). In 7 weeks I have lost and kept off 16.8 pounds by diet alone. That’s less ass to haul. :) It will really help my feet, legs, and back for when I get started exercising next week. In addition to giving myself a chance to lose some weight, I decided to wait until the first week of March to add exercise to give the world a chance to tilt itself closer towards spring in the Northern Hemisphere. Warmer weather makes exercise easier. We’re still a bit too far out for this weather forecast to be very accurate, but it looks a heck of a lot better to walk in than the ice and 15 degree temps we had last week! The days circled in red are the days I'll be walking the first week.  Walking Goals for March I’m starting incredibly small by walk...

Wondering what you can do with a Veggetti? Here's an easy recipe I enjoy!  Ingredients: Two large, fresh zucchini Minced Garlic tsp, or to taste. Handful of Chia seeds ( Why? )  Butter, tbsp. *Gasp!*  Salt & Pepper (to taste) One jar* of Classico Florentine Spinach and Cheese pasta sauce (Use two jars if you are also preparing traditional pasta for your family). Aidell’s Chicken Meatballs- Italian Style with Mozarella Cheese (packaged pre-cooked) ¼ Cup Shredded whole milk mozzarella cheese Instructions: Melt butter in a skillet on medium heat Cut the ends off the zucchini and cut in half so you have two small cylinders. Insert the zucchini in either end of the Veggetti gadget (thin or thick; I prefer thin). Twist the zucchini in the Veggetti gadget and it will create “noodles” of zucchini. (You will also end up with leftover “cones” of zucchini. I toss them, but you may wish to use them somehow.) Sautee the zucchini noodles in butte...

On days where the number on the scale ticks up a pound or so, it helps to step back and look at the overall trend. I zigzag up and down, but the overall trend is downward. 

Progress How am I doing? Well, my weight has crept back up a tad, but it’s also the week of my period so I’m not overly concerned. This morning I weighed in at 270.6. I’m trying to focus on the overall trend rather than the day to day zigzags… and so far, I’m still trending down. Since I’m Catholic and yesterday was Ash Wednesday, I found myself fasting (one normal meal with two lesser meals just enough to keep me going) and abstaining from meat as we begin the season of Lent to prepare for Easter. (FYI- We Catholics are the reason that the fast food chains boast about their fish sandwiches “coming back” each spring. Think about it! We fast from meat every Friday between Mardi Gras and Easter. That’s a lotta beef they’ve got to make up for!) We recently had an ice storm in our area; weathered northerners would find it laughable, but since we don’t have as much infrastructure here to deal with ice and snow, we basically just hibernate and sit tight until it’s over. By yes...

I have had great success recently and I couldn't be happier. Truly, this time I am going to do it!  I weighed in at 269.0 this morning! Not only have I escaped the 280's, I have outrun the 270's! This achievement, however small it may seem, is monumental to me.  I am also feeling tremendously better overall. My energy levels and stamina have both greatly improved. I think I'm also sleeping much better, and that is just based upon dietary changes alone. Since I mentioned sleeping better, this is also a good time to confess that I have sleep apnea. Sleep apnea gets a bad rap as being something only really fat old guys get, but really, anyone can have it. Carrying around extra fat on your body can make it worse, but you don't have to be fat to have it. In fact, in one episode of Mythbusters, Adam Savage couldn't complete the sleep study needed for testing the myth because he wasn't sleeping well enough. He was having apnea episodes.  What is sleep apnea? In sim...

I'm a musician, nerd, and I like Disco. A few years ago, my husband gave me this for Christmas: It is a bust (no pun intended!) of the Marvel Comics character Dazzler. She's a mutant with the power to transduce sound into dazzling light displays. She's also a singer and performs on stage wearing rollerskates. In short, she totally rocks. While I don't look anything like Dazzler, this is a bit how I see myself. In my mind, Dazzler is sort of an ideal version of myself. I don't mean that in a harmful "I-played-with-too-many-Barbie-dolls-as-a-kid" sort of way. I mean it more in a "Dazzler is a sexy woman and so am I" sort of way. It's just that the blonde hair and bust are about all we have in common (right now).  My daughter found this little statuette one day and told me, "Mommy, I found your statue of you." I laughed and asked her, "Why do you say that's me?" and she replied, "Because she has the blond...

What am I doing to stay on track? The biggest thing that has helped me stay on track with this year's resolution to improve my health is the way I constructed my goal. Instead of saying "I want to lose X pounds by the end of the year" I said "I want to make a health plan and follow it all year long." This simple change has made a huge difference in my mindset and ability to stay on track. I feel that I finally have the horse in front of the cart. If I do the steps and take the measures, the weight loss will naturally follow. While seeing the weight come off has been motivating, there are days that the weight has gone up. Having PCOS, I cannot rely on weighing in only once per week to see my progress. Because my body responds inappropriately to certain foods (similar to a diabetic) I can't go an entire week between weigh-ins because progress may be easily masked. In the past I have fluctuated as much as 5 pounds overnight. Suppose such an outlying data po...

It's February and I'm sick. No big surprise there. Usually around this time of year I end up catching some kind of cold which leads to a sinus infection. Surprisingly,  the sinus infection part of the deal lasted very briefly this time. Only a couple of days versus a week. Yellow drainage was only a part of my life for about two days. I'm still having some congestion and cough, though, so I went to the store to pick up some Robitussin. If you're on the South Beach Diet or need to watch carbs and sugar, consider sugar-free medicines and cough drops. They'll ease your suffering without adding unwanted carbs to your diet. My local grocery store didn't have sugar free Robitussin, but I did find it in a generic. Not only is it sugar-free, but it is also dye-free which I like. I had some a couple of hours ago and the flavor wasn't too bad. It does contain aspartame, so if you're not a fan or have issues with it, you may want to forgo taking it. But I haven...

The overarching theme for this year is to take measures to improve my health "one week at a time." To simplify this for myself and increase my odds of success, I made each week of the entire first month exactly the same; it has helped me get into the swing of things in terms of changing my habits. Weeks 1 - 4: Follow the South Beach Diet Phase 1  For folks who may be interested in trying this (especially if you have PMDD or PCOS) it might help to have some additional snack and meal ideas. Like many Americans, we eat out far more frequently than we should, so you'll notice that there's a lot here from restaurants. Here are some of the meals I've consumed in the past month: Hwy 55 Burgers and Shakes (formerly Andy's): I get either the hamburger steak with grilled onions and bell peppers or the grilled chicken tips with grilled onions and bell peppers. I use salad for both of my sides instead of the cole slaw and fries the meal automatically comes with. I...

Current Success vs. Prior Success Alright! I have come down quite a bit in my first month, although admittedly not as much as I would have hoped. On Monday, January 5th, I weighed 285.6 lbs. Today, on Wednesday, February 4th I weighed 272.8 lbs. That is a total loss of 12.8 lbs!  In past attempts at the South Beach Diet, I have lost about 12 pounds in a week. It's taken more like a month this time, but I have a few hypotheses on that: I'm not following Phase 1 as strictly as I possibly could have: For instance, we ran out of milk and the convenience store only had whole milk, which I drank because I didn't want to be wasteful. However, I still lost weight, so maybe the fat in the milk is not the issue.  I ate sugar free chocolate candy. I think that might be a Phase 2 goodie but I needed a chocolate fix, ya know? I ate a few fried things. Like a small serving of fried okra. And one time I was in a different city trying to find somewhere I could pick up a quick bite...