Week 9: Weigh Day and Updates (Den)

WEIGHT LOSS:  I lost the weight that I gained (almost 2 pounds), so I’m back to 26 pounds lost, and it feels good to get that 26 back on my site sticker. I’m pretty happy with that, and I’d love to see some new weight loss this week. But, I won’t be particularly sad if I don’t lose weight. I have not been exercising, so I feel that while I am missing that component, I should not be overly expectant of losing pounds. I did try to work in the yard over the weekend…lugged around rocks, and raked, and weeded. My legs are still hurting!

FOOD: Honestly, I’ve just been maintaining along without much regard for tracking. I think that not tracking at this point is not a great idea. I would like to continue monitoring. I don’t want to be obsessed, but tracking calories does keep me aware of my goals. So, this is a goal for the remainder of the week…to return to more consistent tracking.

Weigh in (Kori)

Another good week. I bought a planner, used it and started a liver cleanse today. I lost 1 pound this week, so I am 8 ounces from 30 pounds!!! Not bad for 2 months. I am feeling great and have been getting to the gym. My husband and I are doing the cleanse and he had a blow out last meal last night. I stuck with what  I usually eat. This morning he asked me why. I realized that this cleanse does not mean I am not going to ever eat again so I did not feel the need to overeat or eaat foods that would make me feel icky today. I have more at stake now, my health and my happiness. I have not had heartburn for 2 months, this used to be a daily occurance. I will post mid week and let you know how the cleanse is going.

Saturday weigh in (Kori)

Drumroll..........I lost.........5 pounds this week!!!!! I am excited. I knew the last couple weeks had been rough and I felt like the stress and emotions were really affecting me and once i let some things go, my body let the weight go as well. I learned something from my health counselor this week. She tole me "Kori "NO" is a complete sentence" That is some awesome advice. I tend to be a people pleaser and take on too much. I need to manage my time better so I don't get so overwhelmed. It's a work in progress. One thing I will do is buy a small date book for my purse. I use my outlook from work on my phone for work appts but I am not good at using it for personal dates which tend to be the ones that get me stressed out cause I have too many. I will get a calendar and make sure I don't double book myself or schedule things too closely. One step at a time. Now I am off to the gym with my honey.

Week 8: Weigh Day and Updates (Den)

WEIGHT LOSS:  I finally did it…I gained 1.8 pounds. But ya know, it’s not as bad as it sounds. As I said earlier this week, I was up 4 pounds, so I’m better than I was! I’ve had my act together the last few days, and I am optimistic that the 1.8 will be gone quickly and I’ll be back to working on fresh, new pounds. Hey, sometimes when you lose weight, it finds you again…like it has a built-in GPS! I’ll try to give it the ol’ slip one more time.

FOOD:  I juiced up a big batch of green juice, pulled out my favorite snack food (almonds), and stopped going out to eat. These are good, positive steps towards recovering from this week’s gain. I hope to have good news to report next week.

Overeating is really a mental thing with me. I do love food, but it’s more than that. When I lose my focus, I tend to just keep hurting myself. If I eat a few Doritos, my mind tells me that I should “hurry up and eat the whole bag” so it’s not a temptation anymore. That’s warped. I know. It’s the same way with blowing my diet one day…I feel like I might as well blow it for the week. It isn’t logical at all (and I’m a pretty logical gal), so I don’t understand how I let myself fall into this same trap over and over. I’m not giving up on myself this time. I’m gonna keep returning to healthy choices until THOSE CHOICES are the habits that I can’t seem to break. I won’t give-up, Kori! I’m gonna do this with you! You just wait and see!

Week 7: Weigh Day and Updates (Den)

WEIGHT LOSS:  I didn’t lose anything at weigh-in Saturday, but that is my own fault. I’m not making excuses, but I will say what happened. We’ve been down a vehicle for weeks. That means that Todd and I are sharing my Jeep, and it also means that we are frequently in the vehicle together. Bad combination. It doesn’t take much to get me to stop and eat out, and Todd is always hungry!

FOOD:  We finally found a 4runner for Todd, so he is back to driving his own rig. As of Tuesday, I have my Jeep back to myself and I am taking restaurants off of my to-do list! You cannot control the portions or the ingredients. Sure, it’s fine to eat out once a week or something, but beyond that, it’s hard to manage a diet around restaurant eating…at least it is for me. No matter my intentions, I eat too much even when I order good things. And when the boys are ordering appetizers and desserts, I want in. It’s always super hard to eat vegan – vegetarian is doable, but vegan is hard (butter, cheese, cream, etc. are often part of the vegetarian restaurant fare). Restaurants don’t work for me, so I must bid them farewell.

Today is Wednesday, and I took a peek at the scale which says I’ve gained 4 pounds in the last few days. I know there’s some water retention in there, but some of it is real, legitimate weight gain. So, I’m going back to my plan and I will weigh on Saturday, and hope for improvement over today’s number, but won’t be surprised to see a gain this week.

I’m not giving up. I couldn’t seem to stop this backslide quickly enough, but I’m gonna dust myself off and refocus. I hope I don’t have to report a 4 pound gain on Saturday.

Busy week (Kori)

This week I lost 2 ounces.

It has been busy and stressful and I was unprepared. These all led to us eating later meals that were hastily thrown together. I am going to spend today getting ready for the week. My house is a mess and that also throw me into fits and nothing seems settled. As a family we are going to take care of the piles and catch up on the laundry. These two things can throw me into a tailspin. I do not work well in chaos. Actually, I should explain....I am a neat freak. Things have a place and when they are not there it gives me fits. I have tried to lighten up and I have, a little.

So on to a new week of feeling no stress, eating better and be prepared.

Weigh in (Kori)

Finally!!!!! I am under 300 pounds!
I am excited and I never ever want to see the 300's again. I managed to get through a nasty cold, a memorial service and celebration of life, a visit with the husband of a friend who ended her own life 4 years ago, and a lunch and a movie out without breaking my diet and I kept my blood sugars intact. It was an emotional weekend and that on top of being sick would generally be a recipe for disaster.
As an emotional eater, I have to be soooo careful at times like these. I got through it by being resolved, prepared and focused. I reasoned with myself that I felt bad and my heart hurt but did I need to feed it? Would that make the pain go away? Thankfully, this time the answer was no. Instead I surrounded myself with friends and family. I am blessed by all those people around me who support and encourage me.
I ordered two new books about nutrition, one is about the importance and benefits of greens and the other is on cooking with whole foods. I look forward to getting them.
I weighed in at 298.0 which is a weight loss of 2.4 since last week. On to another successful week!
Den, great job on your 4 pounds. Hope you had a wonderful day with your family.

Week 6: Weigh Day and Updates (Den)

WEIGHT LOSS:  I had to lose weight this week because I said, “If I don’t lose weight, then I’m not eating any pizza at my own pizza party Saturday.” I LOVE PIZZA, but don’t eat it very often because I rarely indulge in cheese now. But, Saturday is an exception, because we are going for pizza!!! I lost 4 pounds this week. I don’t encourage food rewards, so I see my pizza date as more of a goal challenge -- I’m not going to eat pizza because I lost weight…I lost weight to make sure I could eat pizza. See the difference? No? Well, I’m still going for pizza!

EXERCISE:  My exercise is lacking due to the damage in my back. I stood while teaching Thursday (about 3 hours) and my back, hip, and thigh ached terribly. Then I caught that cold, and the congestion has now taken up residence in my lungs and spawned my asthma troubles, requiring me to break-out my inhaler and live on mucinex for the time-being. Last night I drank and breathed a hot, steamy cup of lemon water with honey and fresh ginger, and I was amazed at how well I felt. But before that, I was an old, wheezy, crippled woman!! I’m just not ready to return to exercising yet, but I think I'm closing-in on it. My goal for this week is to do arm exercise routines with the weights.

REWARDS: Only 4 more pounds to reach my reward! I haven’t decided what to get…maybe a smaller size!! I really want a Vitamix blender, but they are WAY TOO EXPENSIVE. So, maybe the blender can be a 50 pound reward or a ONEderland reward in 35 more pounds.

FOOD:  I’ve started juicing again, and I’ve gone organic with my juice produce. The boys don’t much like my daily Green GoGo juice – cucumber, celery, kale, green apples, spinach, spirulina algae, lime, and ginger. OK, so it takes a little getting used to, but it’s great for the blood pressure! I didn’t buy any prepackaged foods like boca burgers, soysages, or chk’n patties. AND we are going down to the Whole Foods Market this weekend. Love that store, but it’s on the other side of town and don’t get over there very often (about a 45 min. drive). Luckily, it’s down by the pizza parlor, so we will already be in the neighborhood…which will be a good reminder that pizza is a very rare treat that must take a back seat to my regular nutrition program.

Have a great week!

Mid week (Kori)

I am home today with a nasty cold that is making me feel like poo. Also, lost a dear friends husband to suicide on Saturday. I saw her yesterday and we held each other and sobbed, a very sad and reflective week.

Den, I find it funny how we continue to be on the same page even though we are thousands of miles apart. Adding more greens has been my focus this week and I feel great. I have eaten kale, collards, swiss chard, spinache and napa cabbage this week and I am loving the new flavors.

Had my follow up visit with my provider this week and confirmed what I already knew. I am a model patient :) she told me so. hehe.

Down 21 pounds, blood sugars are great. My first question was "when can I get off the meds"? She started laughing at me and told me to stop being an overacheiver. She said she will not even discuss it with me until my next check up in two months. I was frustrated but I can see her point. I am sure a lot of people go in after the first month and they have improved but it's going to take long term effort for me to get off the meds.

Here's to the long haul.