Thursday, September 30, 2010

September 30th

A few leg cramps overnight - but, for a change, in my right leg, and for another change, not severe enough to get me out of bed - I just had to point my foot another direction to get the cramping to stop.  A bit more weight off - 151.8 today.  Nice, but one would think it would settle down pretty soon.  Wish I had the faintest idea what I weighed as a high school senior, so I'd know if things were going too far.  I have no intention of becoming anorexic or even unhealthily thin.

Especially since the size M belts that I ordered to replace the size L belts that were too large, are also a bit too large already.  I'm not sending them back again; I'll go find a leather punch and add some more holes instead.  But my mind is a bit befuddled by the possibility that my waist now falls into the "Small" category.  6 months ago, I was buying things marked XL, so that's just a huge paradigm shift.

Finally tracked down some vitamin K2 last night and started taking it this morning.  From what I've read, it prompts regrowth of things like teeth and bones.  I don't really know what to expect from it, but don't at all mind having strong bones as I approach my 50s.  Or teeth, I guess - can't eat meat without teeth.  I hope its effects are obvious, because it's a bit pricey, and requires a trip to Vitamin Cottage to buy, so I'd like some justification for the effort.

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

September 29th

Most of the water's gone, although I feel rather puffy still, so maybe what I should say is that I'm nearly down to the weight I was on Sunday morning (152.4 this morning), with maybe more to come.  Had a massage last night, which fixed a few things but left me feeling pretty bruised, so there could be more water to shed once that settles down.

Good dinner last night - had a pork tenderloin with a reduction sauce from the drippings and some Auslese Riesling that was too sweet for Lee's taste.  Finished it with some butter and it was beyond tasty.  Along with some green beans from the garden done in the new MealSaver microwave bags with some of the pastured butter - also quite good.

My size 10 jeans arrive today.  The mind is still boggling at that number.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

September 28th

Lost a chunk of the weight that was there yesterday, as expected - back to 152.8.  And fasting got whatever was bugging my stomach to stop.  I had a very minor near-cramp overnight (left leg, did you have to ask?), but was able to head it off by moving a bit - didn't have to get out of bed and stomp it off.  I am thinking that we've crested the issue on cramping and may finally be on the downhill side.  Because I've been down to just 1 potassium tablet a day for quite a while, and it definitely hasn't got worse.  So, yeah.

I'm tending to think that I'm going to settle somewhere in the low 150s, maybe the high 140s once everything sorts itself.  Which is fine.  Size 10-12ish for stuff, quite normal - and quite available in flattering clothing.  And healthy.  Despite the neck-ache I have this morning from sleeping on it funny over the weekend, I feel remarkably "bien dans ma peau", as French Women Don't Get Fat says.

This odyssey has been so amazingly easy for me - for once.  Usually, it's Lee who drops weight without effort.  But I feel so free - I don't want donuts or cookies or bread or candy; I prefer dark chocolate and cheese and meat and some veg and fresh berries.  I just don't see myself being even tempted to go back to "normal" eating, and the last time I lost substantial weight, once the Peachtree was done, I stopped with the calorie tracking and the daily workouts and all that stuff, and the pounds came back.  But there's nothing to stop, this time.

There was an article about Drew Carey in the paper over the weekend - he's apparently lost around 100 pounds in the past year, but by doing low-fat, low-calorie, ever-vigilant eating.  And what he described was just so hard!  And he says he's committed to keep doing it for the rest of his life, but that's so much energy to devote to something that should be natural, instinctive.

This is better.  I wish more people knew.

Monday, September 27, 2010

September 27th

So when I weighed myself yesterday morning and saw 152.2, I was really excited about what I could post this morning, because I had behaved myself beautifully on Saturday and had every expectation of doing so on Sunday, despite the fact that we were eating with family that did not necessarily eat the way we do.  And I did behave well yesterday - scrambled eggs with cremini mushrooms, turkey, and mozzarella, and a couple of strips of real bacon for breakfast, 3 naked hot dogs for lunch, and the contents of 2 stuffed shells, a giant salad, a glass of wine, lots of water, and a single scoop of vanilla ice cream for dinner.

The result?  I'm at 153.6 this morning.  Part of it's hormonal, I get that.  But I must have had something that disagreed with me, because my stomach is unhappy this morning.

Whatever.  I'm quite sure it's all water and will go away shortly.  Other notes from the weekend:
  • I tried on not one but 2 pair of size 10 jeans on Saturday and they fit well enough that I bought a pair (mail order to get the right length).  I don't think I've worn a 10 since college.  And, as a corollary, my chinos, that I was able to resuscitate a few months ago after they'd been packed away as too small, are way too big - I'm still wearing them, out of frugality, but they're clown pants.  As are the size 14 jeans I bought when - last month, maybe?  I had them on Saturday without a belt - bad move! - and was walking on the back hems and had to keep hiking them up.  So I'll be glad to see that mail order package arrive!
  • Commercially produced ice cream - Dreyers or Breyers all-natural - was so sweet as to be nearly inedible.  I think my heavy cream habit has spoiled me, because I was expecting that flavor plus some vanilla and a hint of sweetness, and I got sweetness and a hint of vanilla, and almost none of the cream flavor at all.  I ate the scoop, but next time, I may just opt out of dessert.  And at any family events I host, we're offering fruit and cheese along with whatever the main dessert might be.

Friday, September 24, 2010

September 24th

Still at 152.8, and that's after a dinner at La Loma involving corn chips and cheese enchiladas.  Yum, but nearly always carrying a bit extra with it.  So all good.  Got a minor minefield coming up on Sunday with the family dinner for the girls' birthdays - there's a real possibility that it will include pasta, and there will be cake.  So I have plans.  Eat a really good breakfast, and probably some hotdogs for lunch, and shove a bag of jerky in the car when we leave.  So if I end up having a lot of salad and being hungry (although, it really would be just a minor fast, so no huge deal), there will be nourishment available.

Not much else going on.  Lee finally got below 205, so he's happy.  Hopefully it will continue.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

September 23rd

About the same weight (+/- 0.2 pounds; I was 152.8 again this morning), and a night that verged on, but did not achieve, leg cramps.  Good stuff.  I'm wearing a skirt that is a bit too big for me today, which is kinda fun, since it's a Brooks Brothers size 14 that was edging on too small back when I bought it a year and more ago.  I think it can be altered - I certainly hope so, because I'm quite fond of it.  That, and I'm dead sick of giving clothes away, especially when similar quality replacements are so bloody hard to find.

We had stuffed bell peppers for dinner, with about 1/8 cup of rice in them each.  Oh, and green beans - Lee seemed to think we needed a side vegetable.  I also had some chocolate and a hunk of cheese and two cups of tea with cream over the course of the evening.

Finally finished the bottle of krill oil.  Supposed to be more anti-inflammatory than salmon, but I didn't see it.  We're back on salmon now - and I can tell (it inspires fish-burps first thing in the morning - blecch).  But it was doing quite well for my thumbs, and they're a mite stiff just now, so I'm hoping they'll buck up and work their magic again.

Not much else.  Be interesting to see if the cramps start tonight - or not.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

September 22nd

Down another 0.2 pounds today - I can remember back in May and June and July when it was coming off at a rate of about 1.5 pounds every other day.  But there was a lot more of it to lose then.  As things stand now, I'm about 1.5 pounds away from being roughly 25% bodyfat, which is pretty amazing.  Had a few moments of the bubbly sensation in my calves this morning early, so I suspect that tonight will be a bad sleeping night.  Hopefully, I'm wrong, though.

I read somewhere the other day some speculation that what makes vegans feel so good when they first start that way of eating is the fact that they simply cannot consume enough calories to sustain life, so their bodies start burning their fat, and the initial feeling of well-being is actually the result of a "diet" high in saturated animal fat (their own).  Makes sense to me.  And I tend to wonder if that's what allows some very low-fat diets to work adequately for a while if they are low in insulinogenic foods.  But I'm not an expert by any means.  I know what works for me, and this is it.  There are days when bread would be convenient (like Saturday to sop up the snail butter - and I had some), and days when I have a vague desire for junk food like M&Ms.  But those days aren't very frequent, and the desires aren't usually strong enough to make me do anything about them.  And I just feel so much better eating this way that it would be sheer stupidity for me to stop.  It has freed me from what was almost a slavery to junk food, and I'm so grateful.  It has made it possible for me to spend a weekend at a wine festival and eating out a lot, all the while knowing that it wouldn't be a weight-gain experience.  Really amazing.  And astonishing that this is basically unknown to most of the population.  I hope Taubes' new book takes off like a rocket - I know I'll be buying one.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

September 21st

Good fast yesterday, although, as noted, I was rather hungry earlier than usual.  Nothing earth-shaking, though, and it was no trouble getting to the end of the day without eating (although I do recall a brief desire for M&Ms at one point).  Lee made burgers with bacon, sauteed onions and mushrooms, and cheese, and we had that with salad and a semillon wine from TJs (screw-top, but still quite tasty).  Toward bedtime, after running errands, I had some nuts-n-cheeseball and a cup of tea and cream and one chocolate almond.  And after all that am down 1.4 pound from yesterday and 0.4 from my previous low - 152.8.  Crazy. 

I'm wearing the green skirt today - the one that I made a bit more optimistically than I should have.  With panty-hose, it fits pretty well, although the waistline is a tad tight, sort of.  Reminds me of how my clothes fit back in, oh, March - and that was ALL my clothes. 

Life is good.

Monday, September 20, 2010

Hungry today

I'm fasting, after having a vaguely discontented stomach all weekend (I blame the Italian sausage from Friday, but that's because I don't like Italian sausage) - thought I'd let it rest for the day.  Normally not a big thing, but I'm growlingly hungry right now (not faint or light-headed, just standard ketone-adapted hunger) and have been since maybe as early as 9 am.  Unusual.  I didn't snack after dinner last night except for a slice of cheese; maybe that's why.

September 20th

154.2 and damn glad of it this morning.  Spent the weekend indulging in wine and food at the wine festival and the fact that the scale moved not an ounce is only all good.  Especially after the creme brulee...  Ah, well. 

Friday, September 17, 2010

September 17th

A bit more of the weight off yesterday - the ever popular 0.2 pounds.  No worries.  My legs were sort of okay overnight.  My left foot - big toe, really - was doing the old-style cramps when we first went to bed; once the foot warmed up it stopped.  Then I had a minor calf cramp (left leg, what else?) at 11:20ish and after that, slept like a rock until 4:20, when I woke up worrying about bedbugs.  Don't ask - and I don't think we have any.

Here's what I ate yesterday: No breakfast - had cream in my tea.  Lunch: Pho with rare steak and well done flank steak, and ate only 2 bites of noodles.  Tasty, but not sustaining.  A slice of cheddar when I got home, then salad and soup (chicken enchilada, with black beans and corn and who knows what else) at Sweet Tomatoes.  Followed up by some pecan-and-cheese spread.  So pretty low carb; hard to spot what calmed the cramps back down.

I'd dropped down the levels of krill oil and magnesium yesterday morning because I felt so good, but noticed this morning that I'm a bit achy again.  So I cranked them back up - 3 krill and 2 magnesium.  See if that fixes it.

Wine fest this weekend.  I think we'll be able to eat pretty well (for Lee's sake, I hope so - he somehow put on 4 pounds while away).  Grand Junction always reminds me of our first stab at a South Beach diet - we were on phase 1 the first time I ever stayed overnight there, and I was trying very hard not to eat bread (but oh, how I wanted to!).  Shouldn't be nearly as much of an issue this trip, I think.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Whoa.

In getting dressed this morning, I realized (by lapping the open waistband of my pants some 6-7 inches in order to see what a proper fit would be) that my size 16 chinos may be on their last gasp.  The mirror is not friendly when I'm wearing these, and because the waistband droops to sit on my hips, they end up being too long, besides looking like clown pants.  So I thought I would go look at LL Bean (the only known source of ordinary chino pants for women) to see what size I should order the replacements in.

Currently, give or take a bit, my waist measures about 30" and my hips about 40".  I went to their sizing charts.  Size 12 (where I thought I might be able to squeeze in) is sized for a 31" waist and a 41" hip.  All well and good; that would seem to be my likely size, then.  But my eyes strayed just a bit to the left, and I thought I was seeing things.  At 29-1/2" waist and 39-1/2" hips, I could fit into a size (the mind boggles) 10.

I recall wearing a size 10 in college.  Not since.  Good gracious!

Maybe I'll wait about 1/2" or so.  I could put some tucks in the current pants...

September 16th

Phew!  Things finally are starting to sort themselves out, thanks to the day's IF and a lot of liquids yesterday.  Down to 154.4 this morning - not as wonderful as last Friday's weight, but far better than the 157 I saw earlier this week - and a lot of the aches and pains are disappearing and my stomach isn't feeling quite so odd anymore.  I had more of the cheese-ball-and-pecans, a bit of Dagoba 57% dark chocolate (honestly, not anywhere near as good as the Lindt), and a hamburger patty with mustard and ketchup for dinner last night.  The cheese-ball-and-pecans is working as I'd hoped; while I felt "snacky" last night, it was a satisfying snack (and involves both hands and paying attention to the assembly process, so I end up eating fairly mindfully and slowly, as well).

Fasted breakfast this morning; when Lee's gone, it's just easier not to eat.  And I'm still not really hungry, so it was the right thing to do.  Going for Pho at lunch, so we're looking at a 16-hour fast since last night.

Oh, and with the return to sane eating - of course, I had a nasty cramp in my left ankle and shin overnight.  I wish I knew why it was only my left leg - I must do something different with it when sleeping or something.  Really odd.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

September 15th

Bad night last night - nothing to do with leg cramps.  I don't know what I did to myself over the weekend, but the past few days have absolutely confirmed that I should never go back to the Standard American Diet.  I went to bed, exhausted and/or achy, before 8 pm, and was lights-out by 9.  The water I was carrying around was in my feet during dinner - lovely to feel the arches of my birkies while walking - and a lot of the rest of me just hurt.  Some of that water is gone now - hence the bad sleep - but I'm only down a pound (156) and still feel fairly rotten, so I think we are not done yet.

Tried a new snack option last night that I think will help for my horrid boredom eating issues.  I bought a couple of cheese balls - the kind rolled in nuts - and am spreading them on pecans to eat.  Pretty tasty, and very low carb - and not just cheese.  If I'd looked a bit longer I would have bought the cheese spread (from which the cheeseballs are made) rather than the cheese balls, but when I found it, I didn't want to go put the other stuff back.

I also tried a new brand of heavy cream - the stuff on offer at Costco. Nowhere near as tasty as Organic Valley, and all clumpy (I don't think it's bad, but it's not homogenized.  Maybe that's what carrageenan does).  So going forward, I'll stick with the latter.

Hopefully, today will see the end of the malaise and I can get back to normal.  I'm doing an IF until dinner - was so tired I opted to delay getting up rather than eating, but I was planning to IF anyway.  I feel like I owe my system a huge apology - hope it will take a rest in it's place.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

September 14th

Yikes - Ugh was only about how I felt yesterday, not about the scale reading of 155.8.  So when I stepped on it this morning, I was very nastily surprised to see it read 157.0.  Not sure what's going on here - I have been rather swollen and sore since my massage Saturday and am hoping that's part of it.  And I know that sometimes overeating doesn't show up right away as weight, so it could be "real".  If that's the case, I know what to do and will start doing it today.  Eat better.  Drink lots of liquids.  I won't do the carb binge thing again like I did this past weekend - ever.  And I'll probably fast tomorrow, since Lee's out of town.

And, since I have a couple of empty evenings, I may just go to the gym and lift a few weights.

Monday, September 13, 2010

September 13th

Ugh. 

That is not a comment on my weight, even though it's up about 2 pounds since Saturday morning.  It's a comment on how I feel.  We carbed out this weekend - Mexican for dinner on Friday, with chips, Potato Chips with dinner on Saturday, and (worst of all) fried noodles with Chinese on Sunday.  My stomach would like to have my head.  Lots of gas and pressure and general yuckiness.  I was having cravings for boredom food - which is mostly crunchy - all weekend, and I think the various forays into carbs were the result of not doing anything about the cravings.  Next time, I'll just have a bloody cookie, rather than eating all sorts of other stuff (low-carb stuff as well as the junk) in an effort to compensate.  It would, however, be better not to get bored in the first place.  In any event, I learned something.

Don't think I'll do that again.

Friday, September 10, 2010

September 10th

No fluke, yesterday's scale.  A dinner of enchiladas and chips and salsa (corn carbs, but no wheat), and it still said it this morning.  153.2.  But I paid, oh did I pay for it last night.  Several launch sequences from bed, and the last of them kept me awake for over an hour.  My calves are still popping.  But I would have to guess that it was the salt at dinner that did it, since it was restaurant food.

Noticed in the shower this morning that i can see outlines of the ribs below my collar bone.  Not so sure that's a look I was aiming for.  Wish I could direct that all loss from here out is from the butt only - or my lower abdomen subcutaneous fat. 

My fairly new jeans (Eddie Bauer, size 14) are definitely too big.  The waistline/hipline, whatever it is, gaps by about 2 inches even when just washed.  I think I could almost fit into the jeans I used to buy in college - Levis 501s, waist 30, inseam 40.  Maybe a little ways out, but theoretically feasible.


Thursday, September 9, 2010

September 9th

This morning, I was convinced that the scale had broken.  I should have gained a bit from the carbs in dinner last night.  For that matter, the carbs in dinner last night should have ensured a leg-free sleep.  They didn't; I was out of bed 3 or 4 times to sort out the position of my left foot (hmm, maybe I could make a movie about it....).  So I'm tired this morning and get on the scale and watch the numbers go up - to 153.2.  I lost another bloody pound yesterday.  After noshing on McDonalds.  No supersizing here, I guess.

As for the scale, Lee said it showed him up a pound, so it's not suddenly come down with some sort of under-reporting issue.  Man, that was weird, though.  Totally unexpected.

FWIW, I think last night established conclusively that salt is our culprit, though.  2 nights ago, no leg issues, lost a pound.  Last night, ate a small order of fries with liberal salt and a quarter pounder, probably also with liberal salt, St Vitus Dance all night,... and lost a pound.  And I know I was properly hydrated yesterday, if that matters.  So tonight, easy on the salt (although I had IHOP for breakfast, which may have queered it for the day already), and we'll see how things go. 

Hey, cool!  I didn't lie when I used salt-means-cramps as my excuse not to add bottled saline solution to my diet a couple of weeks ago!

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Yum...

Wow, wow, wow, that was tasty.  I had a McD's quarter pounder with cheese and small fries for dinner.  Not something I'd do very often - the last time I had one was in June, driving from New Orleans to Mobile at 2 am - but a nice treat.  Expect weight to go up tomorrow, but I know it will be temporary.

September 8th

Got up this morning after a rough night that did NOT include leg cramps (and a day's food that included eggs, turkey bacon, steak with butter, tomatoes, green beans, chocolate almonds, wine, and cheese - and only 1 potassium), to find that I'd randomly lost another pound.  154.2 this morning.  Not bad.  And I did my measurements for body fat and am down to 26% even.  I am still startled by what I see in the mirror - not sure I want to get complacent about that, honestly.  But it's all good.

Heard yesterday that a friend of ours has been going full on with this way of eating, and has lost 67 pounds in the first month.  He was extremely obese to start with, so the magnitude of the loss was probably pretty normal.  I'm really glad for him - he's been having some health issues and I suspect that this change will clear them up. 

And then there was the kid I saw this morning, crossing a street in front of me as I was driving to work.  Probably a Junior High student if I had to guess.  Probably weighs 250.  The fake foods and bad advice are killing an entire generation.  I felt awful for him because I'm sure his mom was doing the best she could to feed him right, and that was the result.  He was just plodding along - probably exhausted from carrying all that weight (he had a backpack, but I am quite sure it wasn't contributing but a mite).  I wonder if things will ever change, now?  The new eating guidelines released this year were the same-old, same-old.  And all the cage-free eggs advertise 100% vegetarian diet for the chickens, like that's a good thing.

And I have lost 37.2 pounds since Easter without being hungry or feeling deprived, and improved my health to boot, by doing the opposite of what is recommended by the government.  All while avoiding artificial diet aids or salt water or any other snake oil that's out there (and there's a lot).  This is not rocket science.  The problem is, the current dietary conventional wisdom isn't science at all.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

September 7th

I think today is my late Grandfather's birthday.  I typed the date and it looked familiar, and I had to stop and think about it for a minute.

Um, diet.  After a 3-day weekend, all spent at home (or out running errands, but not a road weekend), I'm net down 0.2 pounds from Friday - so the same as I was on Saturday morning.  I'm still packing some water - my fingers are stiff and swollen, anyway - so it may actually be lower.  I ate well - that is to say, I avoided carbs for the most part, except a bit of wine here and there.  Only ate when I was hungry or bored (always an issue), but since I stayed on fats and proteins even when bored, it didn't do anything bad. 

We had a meatloaf last night for dinner, and I have no way of making a good meatloaf without a few breadcrumbs, so I used a bit.  I can't say that they're to blame, but I had a lot of digestive stuff over the evening - gas and some rumbling and discomfort, and the taste of onions in my throat - I put in some onion, but certainly no more than I would with taco meat or something.  Anyway, it didn't sit as well as I would have liked, although it tasted pretty darn good - as did the cauliflower mashed with boursin and parmesan cheese and nutmeg.

Saturday I was super productive - I weeded, including spraying the driveway, cleaned out the vegetable garden some, steam cleaned the carpet, did laundry, stuffed the duvet in the duvet cover for the winter season, and probably more than that.  All while being "tired" - probably stiff and achy from bad sleep the night before.  I chalk it up to the way we're eating. 

Oh, and despite the fact that I had almost no vitamins all weekend and kept the carbs to a minimum, I had very few leg cramp issues - none at all last night, as a matter of fact.  So I knocked my potassium back to a single tablet per day and will see how it goes.  Hopefully, we've really got over the adaptation hurdle.

Saturday, September 4, 2010

September 4th

I did not leap out of bed once last night.  Woke up and repositioned my left leg to forestall a cramp, but I don't think that counts.  And got a token 0.2 pound loss to boot.  We ate at White Fence Farm yesterday for dinner - had turkey, a little dressing, a little mashed potatoes, a little cranberry sauce, all of the bean salad, half of the cottage cheese, and, yes, two (small) corn fritters.  So I'm feeling kinda good about having lost weight at all overnight - that was pretty carby.  Plus, I ate lunch, sort of - went to Taste of Colorado with Beth and got some sirloin skewer thing at La Fondue, which was pretty good.  

This weekend will be a lot of hard labor (fitting, what?).  We need to weed a lot of the yard - got some of that done already - and clean up after the dogs, who I devoutly hope are over their illness now - and clean out various freezes and fridges, and other stuff.  Three days, at the end of which I hope the house is pretty well set up for fall.  And if I eat reasonably well, I should have energy for all of it, and maybe will weigh less than 155.2 by Tuesday morning.

From the conversation with Beth yesterday, it sounds like she's looking to lose some weight.  But very wedded to the conventional wisdom; not sure I can sway her to eat fat to lose fat (and fix or improve her type II diabetes and other health issues).  She's a good friend; I'm very tempted to try.  But what we're doing seems so counter-cultural these days that I'm very wary of pushing it on others - for that reason and to avoid being perceived as a salt-water saleswoman...

Friday, September 3, 2010

September 3rd

Another night of mildly sick dog interruptions (just getting on and off the bed and under and out of the covers thereon, no actual symptoms) and one golly-whomping leg cramp at 5 am.  Man, how I did not need that.  It was one of the ones that repositions your foot on your ankle, and it took serious concentration to find a normal position once standing.  And after, my ankle just ached - not crampy, mind you, but did not feel comfortable in any position.  Ugh.

We were so tired yesterday after getting home from a few errands to find that the dog was still unwell, that we were in bed shortly after 8, and I was asleep shortly after 9.  So, aside from the minor canine interruptions, which didn't wake me up all that much, I got a full 8 hours of sleep - in theory, at least - before the leg cramp hit (utterly appropriate verb).  Just doesn't feel much like it.

It's probably the light change.  It's dark when we wake up, these days, and that is always really hard for me to deal with.  Maybe I shoulda swiped Biz' wake-to-sunrise clock.  At least tomorrow's the start of a 3-day weekend, and we can sleep in some (not Saturday, though; Lee has another golf tournament).  I have a lot of things to get done in the yard this weekend, so I would very much like not to be droopy.

Still at 155.4 - a bit annoying, but I guess it will pass.  Or not.  Maybe this is where my body wants to stop.  That would probably be a good thing, all considered - I could repopulate my wardrobe with confidence, among other things.  And I am "thin" at this point - hopefully the urge to look at myself in passing mirrors will fade away soon. 

Thursday, September 2, 2010

September 2nd

Weird night.  Lee insisted I take and Advil PM at bedtime, because I looked rather done in when I got home yesterday, apparently.  So I did.  It didn't help keep the leg cramps at bay, unfortunately, just inserted them into a drugged-sleep state so that I didn't stay awake with them after stomping them off.  So I'm still a bit groggy this morning.  And still 155.4 - it's always a bit dispiriting to have a bad night and then find that no weight loss occurred.  What was the point, after all?

Did some tape measurements, though, and my hips continue to dwindle, so my muscle mass must be improving.  Still in the 26.various range of body fat percent.  All in all, not bad.  I recently found an old pattern for some very nice pleated trouser pants, and it has my measurements entered into a fit adjustment chart that was included.  My waist is the same as it was then, and my hips are within an inch or so.  I haven't done any of the other measurements listed, since I've only been making skirts, but that's very encouraging.  No idea when the pattern might date to, exactly; I'd guess from the style that it was the 80's somewhere, and from the size that it was probably before I was pregnant - but I truly don't know. 

Ah, well. Onward. (stifled yawn)

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

September 1st

Wow - I guess August wasn't never-ending after all.  It's starting to cool down but hasn't really dug in thoroughly, leaving me spending a lot of the night playing with the temperature - pull the covers up, throw them off, turn on the mattress pad, turn it off, etc.  Pretty restless stuff.  Maybe that's what is leading to my being awake enough to stretch out my legs and cause the resulting cramps.  Which I had last night, although they were mellower than the last bout - more like what I was experiencing in early June.  But I'm still jumping out of bed to stretch them out, so mellow isn't that much of an improvement.  And, I'm sorry to say, I had a glass of wine last night after dinner, and a bunch of dried strawberries, and neither of those seemed to keep the cramps at bay.  Bummer.  I guess I'll just deal with them.

I'm back at 155.4 this morning, so I think the monthly water gain has subsided.  My fingers are still a bit swollen, though, so maybe there's more.  What with undersleep and a bit of water-weight achiness and some abdominal cramps that radiate to my lower back and make my hamstrings all clumsy, I feel rather crappy this morning.  We ran out of salmon oil this morning, so I cracked open the krill oil and took those instead - we'll see if a course of that stuff is any better at battling the routine aches and pains.  I know that I can always tell if I skip the salmon oil for a couple of days (usually weekends) because one of my thumbs will get a bit achy - nothing like they used to be, mind you, but just enough to remind me that there is some arthritis there.

Biz has reintroduced bread into her eating.  I rather wish she hadn't, because I'm convinced, after reading GCBC and a lot of the stuff on Whole Health Source, that it really isn't all that good for us.  I may suggest that she stick to sourdough (wish I knew if all commercial sourdough is fermented or not) and still keep it to a minimum.  She was eating this way more for weight loss than anything, and that stalled for her about a month ago (she never got with the program 100%), so she's less bought into it than I am.  Hopefully the bread thing won't last too long or become too large a part of her diet.