Phase II, Day 18: Goal #4 Achieved

I made it to 209.5 lbs this morning. That’s 17 lbs lost total. Rockin’.

Anyway, Hubbo and I went on our weekly “date” last night and ate at Chili’s. I was really good! I found this really helpful nutritional info chart on their website (first link takes you to a .pdf of the file) and I decided what I would have before I went. For those who are curious - or just living vicariously through my diet meals - I had the Guiltless Black Bean Burger on a Whole Wheat Bun. It comes with a side of steamed veggies, and I also ordered a salad with Chipotle Ranch Dressing (it’s actually lower in calories than some of their vinaigrettes!) I also allowed myself a Diet Coke. The whole thing was fairly delicious, I must say, but the best part was that we both ate for $21 not including tip.

Now, some of you are out there thinking, “Wow, she eats a lot for being on a diet.” And yes, my dinner last night did turn out to be somewhere around 750 calories. But I think it’s important that I share something with you - especially those of you who read this blog because you’re considering going on the South Beach Diet yourselves.

After this crazy rant of a post wherein I discovered I might actually have been inadvertently starving myself, I started upping my calorie intake. Now, I don’t know about everybody else’s bodies, but 1200 calories a day just did not do it for mine. I stopped losing for a good week.

The thing is, I didn’t really feel that hungry. I was still eating throughout the day; it’s just that all the things I was eating were so low-calorie that it didn’t add up to much. Using my-calorie-counter to compare my calorie-intake with my weight loss, I’ve discovered that my body actually needs me to eat between 1450 and 1700 calories a day in order to lose weight. On days when I don’t hit 1400, I gain. Now, I’m not a doctor, so don’t take this as any medical advice or anything; I’m just telling you what’s worked for me.

As a result, though, I have to be very careful to monitor what I eat and what I don’t throughout the day. When we decided to go to Chili’s last night, for example, I decided what I wanted and tallied it in. At that point, I realized that just ordering the Black Bean Burger, if I got it on whole wheat, would not do it for me, and I found a salad and some salad dressing to add as well.

I don’t want to sound preachy with this at all, because I’m obviously a compulsive eater who is struggling with her weight as much as anybody out there. But I’m going to say the terrible thing that all of us compulsive eaters hate to hear, and I’m going to say it because it’s true: be conscious of what you’re eating and what your body needs you to eat. If you pay attention to what you put in your mouth and listen to your body’s responses, you will succeed.

I’m not trying to get all intuitive eating on anybody, and in fact, here is a fabulous post I found the other day that voices my true (negative) opinion of that idea. But if you track what you eat and watch what the scale does after you eat it, you are sure to notice some trends and be able to place limitations on yourself that are proper for you.

And to end with something completely cliché, please remember: every body is different!

Phase II, Day 17: Holding Steady

No gain, no loss this morning, so that’s encouraging. Usually after I hit a low I start creeping my way back up on the scale for a few days again, so hanging out here at the 210.5 marker is ok with me.

However, I have the worst stomachache in the world right now. I feel totally nauseated and gross. I don’t know how I’m going to get myself to choke down any breakfast, though part of me does feel slightly hungry.

I guess I will just have some tea and find something bland (I knew that oatmeal would be good for something) to eat with it.

Wednesday Weigh-In #4

Well, today officially marks the end of week four and the last day of my first month on the South Beach Diet. I can’t believe a month has already gone by!

With 48 weeks left to my goal date of April 14, 2009, I have 60.5 lbs left to lose if I want to be at 150. That’s right, this morning I weighed in at 210.5 again. I will get there if I lose an average of 1.26 lbs per week. Thus far, my average weight per week lost (on Phase II) is 1.75 lbs. If my math is correct, continuing at that rate, I will reach my goal in 35 weeks, or January 14, 2009.

Here are the official stats:

Starting Weight: 226.5 lbs
Last Week’s Weigh-In: 212.5 lbs
Current Weight: 210.5
Weight Lost This Week: 2 lbs
Total Weight Lost: 16 lbs

Starting Waist: 45 in
Last Week’s Weigh-In: 40.5 in
Current Waist: 40.5 in
Inches Lost This Week: 0 in
Total Inches Lost: 4.5 in

Starting Hips: 47 in
Last Week’s Weigh-In: 46 in
Current Hips: 45
Inches Lost This Week: 1 in
Total Inches Lost: 2 in

Phase II, Day 15: Cheaters Never Win

Well, you’ll all be glad to know that I did in fact successfully re-board the wagon yesterday. I didn’t have a single cheat food yesterday and I got back down to 211.5 this morning. Hopefully the trend will continue in the right direction for the weigh-in tomorrow.

Also, I just have to mention the absolutely delicious lunch I made myself yesterday. I made a “pizza” on a whole-wheat tortilla. Pesto sauce, some reduced-fat mozzarella, bell pepper, and mushrooms. It was fabulous! I was still satisfied by it several hours later.

I share this with you because I think it’s important to find “diet-acceptable” foods that we really like, not just ones that we’ll deal with for the time being. To be truthful, while almost all the stuff I’ve been eating on the diet has been ok, I haven’t come across a ton of things I would say I could necessarily crave. This pizza was one of the exceptions, as is the Lemon Couscous Chicken. The way I see it, the more healthy foods I can find that I really love, the less likely I am to be tempted to eat things I know aren’t good for me just for the taste. And the more likely it is that this will actually be the “lifestyle change” it should be, not just a temporary trend.

Phase II, Day 14: The Wagon

The other night I came to a remarkable place in my weight-loss journey. I have been writing recently about how I really felt like I was learning to listen to my body - discerning the signs of hunger and fullness and all of that. Well, I realized I was full before my plate was empty. And I stopped eating! But I also learned something strange about myself. The major emotion I was battling in forcing myself to stop was worry. The exact thought was, “If I leave this on my plate, what if I am hungry later and I regret it?”

So there you have it, folks. I eat “just in case” I might be hungry later. I eat to store up. DUH, storing up food you don’t need does not help you to not be hungry later - it only stores as fat! What an idiot am I. At least I recognized it.

Anyway, the past two days I have kind of fallen a little bit off the wagon. It wasn’t totally my fault, but I do have to take some responsibility here. One, on Saturday we took my mom out to dinner for Mother’s Day. (Not Mother’s Day, I know, but we had commitments Sunday night.) My mom and I are both on SBD, but my dad picked the restaurant. Italian, of course. I was good and didn’t have any pasta, but the only dish I could find on the menu that I could order without pasta was Chicken Parmesan. Baked, yes, but also breaded.

And last night we had planned a healthy dinner, but found the restaurant we planned to go to closed. This normally wouldn’t have been a big deal except we weren’t in our own city, so we didn’t really know our way around to find any really healthy places. We wound up at Panda Express. I only ate half my rice, but still - I ate half my rice.

Today I’m at 213 again and hopping back on the wagon.

Phase II, Day 12: I May Not Understand It, But…

I love it!

Yesterday at lunch I allowed myself a chocolate chip cookie with my tuna wrap. And last night I had a slice of pizza. I did not say I had a slice of homemade, whole-wheat crust pizza. Nor did I say I had “pizza” toppings in a pita or on a portobello mushroom. I had an honest-to-God real slice of greasy pizza.

This morning, I am 210.5 lbs. I love my life.

To be fair, it’s not like I fell totally off the wagon and had three slices of pizza and a brownie for dinner (not unheard of pre-diet). I allowed myself one slice, and I had a salad on the side. That’s all there was to it. But still, eat pizza = lose weight. Awesome.

Phase II, Day 11: Shopping Around

212 lbs today, but that’s ok. At least it’s not the dreaded 214 again! And: my double-chin is gone. Completely gone! Nothing wobbles under there when I poke at it. Also, my size 16s have several inches of room in them suddenly. They were trying to fall down all day. It was really annoying in the most awesome sort of way.

Anyway, in other news: I am considering switching grocery stores.

Now don’t get me wrong - I love my local grocer. Ok, so it’s not technically a “local” grocer; it’s owned by a national corporation. But it feels local to me. The people there are really friendly, I love their produce, it’s close to my house, etc. But I’ve been thinking a lot lately about switching to Trader Joe’s.

Mostly, I’m really bummed out that my local Smith’s (branch of Kroger from my neck of the woods) doesn’t carry Pita bread. At all. The other night when I wanted Pita, I wound up settling for whole-wheat tortillas. Oh yes, the tortilla section is huge (as you would expect here in the Southwest), but there is not a Pita to be found. 

I can live with whole-wheat tortilla, but I really love Pita bread. And I’ve got a feeling Trader Joe’s carries them.

To be honest, I’ve never actually been inside a Trader Joe’s. Everyone always says how great it is and all that, but I’ve just never gone. I’ve got my comfort zone, I’ve go the store that carries everything that I need (except Pita, grr!), and Trader Joe’s is farther away from my house. I’ve never had a reason to go in. Also, I’m worried: is it more expensive to shop there with all their fancy foods?

The other option is Wild Oats (akin to Whole Foods), which is further away from me than the grocery store but closer than Trader Joe’s. But I wonder if I’d be able to find everything I wanted there - or if it might be even more expensive.

Can anyone out there promise me that I won’t be shelling out big bucks if I start shopping at one of these places?

Phase II, Day 10: Goal #3 Achieved!

I weigh 211 lbs this morning! That is half a pound under the 211.5 that I wanted to see before May 21st. Yes!

Now truly, I know that it may fluctuate and come back up and then go down again, but I’ve at least seen the number 211 on the scale, and that’s what I was shooting for. I’ve finally broken the 15-lb loss barrier that has been so hard for me to get to over the past week or so. I am pretty excited about that.

Of course, setting the next goal is going to be more difficult. I’m sticking with the same date (May 21st) because Hubbo and I leave for vacation the following Saturday and I will obviously not be as strict on the diet - or weighing myself - while we are out of town. That means I have about two weeks. I obviously want to go as far as I can, but while the book says you’ll lose 1-2 lbs per week on Phase II, I’m not sure if I believe that yet. I think my experience last week has me jaded. So while I would love to set my goal at a loss of another 4 lbs - to be at 207 lbs by Wednesday after next - I don’t know if it’s really doable.

So I’ve chosen 209.5. I want to be under 210 lbs, even if it’s just by .5, by the time we leave for vacation. And while I’m gone… Well, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Wednesday Weigh-In #3

Woohoo! Down to 212.5 lbs again today. And I had half a piece of my grandmother’s 94th birthday cake last night. Score!

My healthy choices are actually paying off. Go figure!

I’m also starting to really figure out what my body is saying to me. It’s a hard trick to learn for those of us who have never paid attention to our body’s cues before, but I think I am finally figuring out how I feel when I am hungry, really hungry, or full.

Update on my pace:
With 49 weeks to go and 62.5 lbs left to lose, I still need to lose an average of 1.28 lbs per week to be at 150 by April 15, 2009. Not bad.

Anyway, here are the stats:

Starting Weight: 226.5 lbs
Last Week’s Weigh-In: 214 lbs
Current Weight: 212.5 lbs
Weight Lost This Week: 1.5 lbs
Total Weight Lost: 14 lbs

Starting Waist: 45 in
Last Week’s Weigh-In: 42 in
Current Waist: 40.5 in
Inches Lost This Week: 1.5 in
Total Inches Lost: 4.5 in

Starting Hips: 47 in
Last Week’s Weigh-In: 46 in
Current Hips: 46 in
Inches Lost This Week: 0 in
Total Inches Lost: 1 in

Phase II, Day 8: Feeling Better

Okay, so I am slightly embarrassed by my angsty rants from yesterday. And my compulsive post-updating. I promise to do better in the future.

I’ve come to terms with it. It is really ok if I don’t lose my two pounds this week. Next week I will try harder, be better, and make sure I am eating enough to get me through the day.

By the way - starvation mode really might have been the key. My will power collapsed yesterday when I was feeling down and I made Hubbo take me out to get a Quizno’s sub. I had an 8″ Honey Bacon Club. And I ate half a chocolate-chunk cookie. I felt amazing afterwards - not like I had stuffed myself full of too much crap, but like my body and mind were coming back to life.

And this morning I was down a half pound.

I’m making sure I eat a little more than usual today. Still healthy choices, of course, just more healthy choices. For instance, I didn’t pick this morning whether I was going to have eggs or cereal. I had both. And I didn’t skip my morning snack (been doing that recently, just haven’t been hungry).

So I am in control and feeling good. Everything is going to be all right. I just have to make good choices and be patient. I can and will finish this.