The Final Fifteen Pounds

When something isn't working, it doesn't always mean trash it. So after battling hunger last week, and that setting me up for eating the wrong things at the wrong time, and after listening to guys like the Fat Burning Man, I decided to up the fat and protein content of my smoothie.  This morning I began drinking a smoothie with coconut oil and raw farm fresh free range chicken eggs added. It definitely kept me satiated until lunch time! Yes! I would still like to drink more water during the day. But there's a big but. It can be hard for me to get to the restroom between 11:30 and 3:00.  So I'm thinking through that.  I believe more water will help. So yes, I do feel better. In a week or so, I'll know if the tweaks are impacting my weight loss. How to tweak it?  Remember that the diet is an experiment. It's okay to try different things to get it to work. Not everything works the same way for everyone else, but there are basics that probably ...

What a day... I just wanted to eat.  Working through it....  Here's the win: no doughnuts. Everyday, on the loudspeaker, there was an announcement - "doughnuts on Friday in the conference room." I didn't so much as lift the box to see if there were some healthy bear claws hiding in the box. That's a win. Not even a sniff sample. Ate apples -- win. Ate my salad -- win. But there's an oops - Back at the oops in a minute. Didn't eat any candy on my way to tutoring assignment. Found a place with 50 cent (not the rapper) ice-tea, unsweetened. Win. Confession: I like to eat peanut M & Ms before I tutor. It gives me that lift I need to make it through the two hour tutoring session. But the iced tea did the trick. And oh yeah, I didn't drink any soda. Doesn't seem like a big deal today, but a week ago, that was huge.  What I could have done better: eat more protein or fat at breakfast. I'm realizing that I need to change the ...

There it is, right in front of you, sweet and sultry, saying here I am.  What to do?  The STAAR test in Texas is our state mandated, big-deal test. And we just spent Tuesday and Wednesday doing it. Even Monday was affected. Teachers are spent. Kids are restless. And admin is tired and appreciative of the hard work that teachers have put in. And what is the best way to show your appreciation? Bring on the doughnuts! It really is a nice thing to do. But for the teacher who is trying to lose weight, especially this one, it's a trap. Because I feel like I deserve it.  Is that sweet hole what I really want? I know it's not what I need. Do I really want to dump sugar, processed white flour and fat into my stomach? I don't. But it tastes so good.  But when I'm trying to lose weight, here's what happens (and this is what happened with Coke and me recently): it resets your body's expectations. It's something that happens in the brain. Now, the br...

Ever tried to quit a habit that was so hard to stop it made you scream? I'm trying.  The latest scoreboard: Weekend = No soda. Win Monday = No soda. Win. Win. And there are good reasons why it started to work. I casually read diet and nutrition stuff. I listen to podcasts like Fat Burning Man , Half Size Me  (it's kinda girly but I still get a lot out of it), and Bulletproof Radio . And they don't all agree with each other on the best ways to lose weight.  But one thing they all agree on (the blogs, the podcasts, and the books) is that drinking sugar is really bad for us. It's starting to sink in. And so I haven't imbibed over the last three days.  But I did every day last week. Half a soda each day. Dang it.  And my weight isn't budging down. Not an ounce. And I mean I posted and everything about how to start a new habit in one day . Remember that? And I believe it. But I didn't have enough foundation in place to make it wo...

Sometimes it's important to stick with habits that you know work, not look for some new thing.  So a few weeks ago, I stopped drinking green smoothies for breakfast. Why?  Because our blender broke. It wasn't the long-run plan.  Yesterday, I drank my first green smoothie in weeks and was so happy.  The green smoothie is packed with mega nutrients per cubic inch. If you have never had one I very much recommend you try. The one con is the blender. You need a high quality blender. We use the Vita-mix. They are pricey.  By the way, they are a great company that stands by their product. We are a large family with two adults and five boys. The Vita-mix is used more than any appliance in the kitchen. We have used ours roughly for more than a decade. We got a good deal from the company on a rebuilt model.  And we are back in business. Here's how you do a great green smoothie : start with a great blender use excellent greens - mo...

Yesterday, after days of struggle, I got back on the weight loss plan!  You might be saying, "Yesterday? That's not much to go on."  I disagree. It's a lot to go on.  Here's why. Remember, I have already lost 40 pounds. I do know how to do this. I have maintained a 188 pound or less weight for a year.  I haven't experienced a day where I actually followed the food plan for a long, long time.  And what made me realize it, was writing things down. Writing it here.  I expect to stay on this now for the long haul. Instead of having long stretches of wobbles and bobbles, I'm looking at miles and miles of being on my game with occasional side trips. Here's how I got back on the horse: I had a plan. Everyday, I look at my plan and say to myself, "What did I do well?" Everyday, I also say, "What can I do better?" Wrote about it every day. Worked at keeping a food log.  Easy to meet exercise goals. ...

Note: I have an issue (more than one, but I'll just stick to this one for now). When I blog about a topic, I seem to get worse at it. I've been writing at stressrelief4teachers.net  since April '14. I started to notice a pattern. If I write, I struggle with that very thing I'm writting about, that week. It's like I have a gremlin messing with me. But the gremlin is me. My head. This week, I have shown how to NOT start a weight loss program.  Eat fast food.  Eat too much at a sitting. Those two things right there can mess it all up even if everything else is right. And here's the deal, most everything else is right with the plan.  Started the day with green smoothies - except one day. Exercised more than 10 minutes daily average. (except on Wednesday) Started a food log - but it needs work because I ate some meals that = no can count. Wrote daily.  Weighed in daily.  On the weighing in daily, I know the advice-givers are all ove...

It's been a journey. But it's a journey that stalled about a year ago. My goal is to weigh 173 pounds. That should put me in the healthy weight category. I have blogged a good bit about how I lost 40 pounds at  stressrelief4teachers.net . I even wrote a few posts about trying to lose 10 pounds in 10 weeks . I lost seven. Still a win, right. Except, I gained it back. The 7 pounds that is, not the 40! This blog is a record of me losing the last 15 pounds. I'm not sure how long it will take. But I think 10 weeks is reasonable.  Here's my plan: Keep a food log for the first five days. I'll use myfitnesspal to help. Weigh myself every morning Blog about it every day (except Sunday) Lay off the processed foods Avoid fried foods No desserts except fresh fruits and foods made out of unprocessed items No soda Exercise six days a week for at least ten minutes. I know that sounds wimpy, but I'll actually exercise more than the 10. This minimum gets me up a...