Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Back

I wish it were under better circumstances. I suppose they could he worse. Part of my not blogging had to do with the blogger app on my phone acting up, so I wound up uninstalling it, and with my daughter here I'm not on the computer as much. But mostly it's because despite my not wanting to regain weight I quit tracking, quit trying, and did just that. I won't even say how much, but it was more than I started blogging with.

Last week I just decided I was done. I felt like crap from eating just CRAP all the time. I don't even know why I was doing it. Stress maybe. Once it became habit it was much harder to stop. I told my boyfriend that I just felt awful. I felt bloated and huge and uncomfortable, and even doing the same physical activities I always had was suddenly getting much more difficult. I told him I needed to lose the weight. Even if I just get to, say, 145 and decide what to do from there. I was much more comfortable at that weight than I have been lately.

I decided that for now the best plan for me is to skip starches and sugars. It had just become too difficult for me to limit them. When I feel like I have more control I will go about adding them back in but moderately. For now it's just easier to stay on plan without them. I need a mental break.

So I'm not doing low carb exactly. I have found that my body just doesn't do well on that. I'm eating fruits and the higher carb dairy products, as well as small amounts of things like teriyaki sauce, and focusing on protein and fruits and vegetables. I probably wind up at around 80-100 grams a day total. It just winds up being much more filling, and thus much easier to stay within points.

So far I have dropped about seven pounds in less than a week's time. Four of it was overnight. So obviously I was very very bloated. I've gained a good amount of fat with it too though, and it needs to go.

Today I had a shake of protein powder and soy milk for.breakfast. For lunch I brought some lettuce with half an avocado and a tablespoon of parmesan ranch dressing, a thick slice of watermelon, and a cup of cottage cheese. I have an artificially sweetened yogurt for a snack later, and for dinner I am making turkey keilbasa sauteed with mushrooms and green bell pepper. I still have some points left after all that, but I haven't decided what to do with them yet. I was afraid my daughter would miss having pasta, potatoes, and rice at dinner, but I don't even think she's noticed. I bought a bag of dinner rolls for to to have if she wants, but so far she's never even wanted one at dinner. She does eat them for lunch though.

This weekend we are going to Portland to visit my aunt by train. She generally takes us out to eat for every meal, so I am planning to just try to stick to reasonble portions of reasonably healthy choices, and some limited amounts of treats. I'll track as best I can too. I don't want to undo what I've lost already.

In other unrelated news, I have been tossing around the idea of a career change for some time, but have had no idea what to go into. I initially wanted something that's not so physically demanding, but I've been hard pressed to come up with something that I'm really interested in doing along those lines. I think I have a plan now. It's kind of the opposite of non-physically demanding, but I'm still young, and who knows where it could lead. I do have some specific ideas in mind, but I won't share them just now. One thing I will share is that working in some way with people dealing with food insecurity is something I care strongly about. And my first steps, after my daughter goes back to Alaska for the school year, are to take some basic cooking classes in the evening after work, and the second part is to start volunteering in the kitchen of the resource center for homeless youth a couple blocks from my apartment.

So, that's what's been happening with me. Things are, for now, going well, and I'm happy to be back on track.