Thursday, February 28, 2013

Thursday

For the length of time this week has taken, so far, it could be the week before the best vacation ever planned.  It just drags.  Sleep was interrupted by sick dog again last night - 3 am, I think.  I got back to sleep again pretty quickly, mostly because I never heard the dog at all, just Lee getting up to deal with it.  I'm still tired, though.  We ditched breakfast this morning to sleep in a bit - and I may have actually slept.  I wouldn't call today a fast day, though; I armed myself with 2 V-8s, a bag of olives, and one of cheese.  I've had a V-8 already; don't know if I'll eat more now, or try to wait until lunch, to give myself a 16-hour fast, anyway.

149.4 this morning; here's yesterday:
  • scrambled eggs
  • bacon
  • tea with cream
  • the usual supplements
  • shepherd's pie (beef, tomatoes, peppers, corn, potatoes, cheese)
  • iced tea
  • one bag of Lay's
That was it.  I spent much of the evening helping Elizabeth with work.  While it wasn't what I had planned, exactly, it did keep me from eating, and I guess that was a good thing.

Still avoiding sugar - and I'm happy to say that the Girl Scout Cookies have left our house, so they're no longer there, talking to me.  Should be easier now.

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Wednesday

Rolfing yesterday focused on my left hip and, I think, got it fixed.  I'll give it a couple of days, but I was able to sleep on it last night, which was a very good thing.  It feels a bit out of place this morning, but that seems normal for Rolfing - takes a bit to get used to being fixed.  My right arm/shoulder is a bit better; not entirely, but all in all, the two of them allowed me to sleep.  The dogs, however, did not.  3:00 something for Anneke, 5:00 something for Roscoe.  Not sure what they got into yesterday, and I hope they're over it.  So I feel mildly achy and ugh.  Such is life.

150.2 this morning.  Apparently, I am not losing weight just now. Here's yesterday; I think I can place the blame, but I could be wrong.
  • tea with cream
  • scrambled eggs
  • bacon
  • the usual supplements
  • two bags of peanuts (I got horribly hungry mid-day, possibly due to the smell of the donuts in the morning)
  • breadless Cuban sandwich - pork tenderloin, ham, swiss cheese, pickles, mustard
  • a bag of Lays
  • several green olives
  • potato salad
  • Possibly a piece of cheese
I was thinking things over yesterday, and came to the conclusion that my diet is a bit monotonous - too much cheese, basically.  It is the convenient go-to snack food for me, and I eat it to excess.  I need to think of other snacks - for now, ones that don't include sugar.

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

One other thing

For what it's worth, I have so far kept to my Lent renunciation of sugar (sucrose).  I have eaten fruit in various forms (apples, dried strawberries), but nothing else that is overtly made with sugar.  Except maybe the almond butter - I got it to make a concoction with coconut oil, cocoa powder, and sea-salt, and it has sugar in the ingredient list.  I've had two teaspoons of it so far.  Not sure if that counts or not.

And it was super easy to resist the donuts this morning, for which I am very grateful.

Tuesday

Better sleep last night - I should make Lee take Advil PM more often, I guess.  No idea if there's a causative link there or not; it may be that I was just exhausted.  In any event, I think I only woke up once - at 2 am - and was asleep very quickly.  Next thing I knew was the alarm going off.  That's good.

149.6 today, so my weekend o' munchies wasn't as damaging as it appeared, I guess.  Not to say I didn't munchie out last night.  And I'm cranky this morning.  Hormones?  Ugh.  Here's yesterday:
  • scrambled eggs
  • sausage
  • tea with cream
  • the usual supplements
  • chicken BLT thingie from Mark Sisson's cookbook, but without the avocado
  • cheese (about 6 pieces, I think)
  • walnuts (less than 1/2 cup)
  • a snack-sized bag of Lays
That was it; it just seemed like a lot, I guess.  Not much else going on today - Rolfing tonight, the first of the "polishing" sessions where we go back and re-balance things.  I'm hoping the things include my left hip and right shoulder/arm, which seem to be stuck in "slightly painful" mode.

"Fun" adventure this morning - I had to pick up 8 dozen Krispy Kremes for work and get them to a meeting I will be attending.  Always nice to do charitable things for others, I guess.  Won't be having one myself, thanks.

Monday, February 25, 2013

Monday

Rough weekend.  Needed rest, but didn't get it; sleep continued to be elusive.  Ate crap; I don't know if it was the sleep debt or what, but I had the munchies all weekend.  Combine that with our purchase (instigated by me, but not on that scale!) of 50 vending-sized bags of Lays potato chips, and you can see how bad things could get.  I think I have eaten about 4 of them, total, so it could be worse.  But 2 in the bathtub yesterday.  Just so very wrong.  150.4 and damn glad to be no worse this morning.  

I don't think I'll bother with the rundown of yesterday's eating.  Lots of snacking.  I would like to mention, though, that the walking/stairclimbing has been paying off; I'm finding it easier to stand from a seated position than it has been for a while, and I attempted a real squat on Saturday and was able to pull it off.  So that's something.

Made potato salad over the weekend - an attempt at eating resistant starch - and it came out brilliantly.  Most of the time, Cooks Illustrated is just the bomb.

Friday, February 22, 2013

Friday

Thank heaven!  This shouldn't have been a long week, but it was - ever so long.  And I'm tired.  I got decent sleep last night; a slight change in nightwear and I didn't spend precious hours disengaging it from the sheets (and saving myself from shoulder strap strangulation).  But I need more - I'm achy and sleepy and just ugh.  I don't know if the weekend will help or not - the time's available, but it could end up being hot flash city.

Anyway.  Enough whining.  I am not sure I can describe yesterday's eating, other than junking out.  Nevertheless, I ended up at 148.8 this morning.  Which is more than fine - quite bracing!  Also surprising, given yesterday.  Here's the breakdown as well as I can recall:
  • cheese
  • tea with cream (but not a full cup because the dog started drinking it) (yes, it was a very frustrating day)
  • no supplements
  • Zapps Cajun-spice Crawtator chips (potato chips with flame-thrower fuel on them) - I ate these like an addict reunited with her drug, and had to force myself to stop.  And they weren't what I really wanted to eat, on top of that.
  • more cheese
  • beef stew and rice (two helpings of the latter)
  • dried strawberries (also eaten near-manically)
That was it, and maybe it wasn't so bad, but it hardly seems calculated to foster weight loss.  I hope to do better today.  And despite my tired-and-achiness, I did climb the stairs to work today.  Maybe yesterday was more about dragging a snowblower around in the gravel drive than about what I ate.

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Thursday

Another wretched night for sleeping; it wasn't hot flashes particularly, but I could not get or stay comfortable, even in my sleep.  So when the alarm went off, it was at once a curse and a blessing.  

I'm working from home today; no idea what that will do to my eating, but guessing nothing good.  149.2 again this morning, and darn glad to be there.  Here's yesterday:
  • scrambled eggs
  • bacon
  • tea with cream
  • the usual supplements
  • peanuts (got hungry mid-day for salt)
  • meat loaf, sauteed in butter with mushrooms and onions and beef stock (really good way to do leftover meatloaf!)
  • green beans
  • a handful of cashews (more for salt)
  • walnuts
  • possibly cheese
Not sure what's up with the salt cravings, but they are definitely there.  Maybe I'll make a cup of bouillon today, see if that helps any.  Had more fasciculation in my calves last night, but no cramps, except in the arch of my left foot - and it wasn't acute, just achy.

I didn't have "breakfast" this morning, but I have already had 3 pieces of cheese, so roughly equivalent.  Could be a long day.

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Wednesday

Got sleep last night, thank heavens.  I woke up once, at 1:45ish, I think, was awake for maybe 10-15 minutes, and knew nothing until 4:50.  So badly needed!  149.2 this morning - that almost sounds like real weight loss.  We shall see, no doubt.  Here's yesterday:
  • tea with cream
  • scrambled eggs
  • bacon
  • the usual supplements
  • an apple
  • a bunch of assorted cheese cubes (probably about 4 oz)
  • almond crackers
  • cheese
  • cashews (only 1 handful)
  • walnuts (from the container, no idea)
That was it.  An interesting observation - for reasons I don't get, my calves are fasciculating this morning - no cramps last night, and yesterday wasn't exactly a carb-free day, and I'm taking quite a few more mineral supplements these days than before.  

On the menopause front - still having hot flashes.  I would guess that last night's ended up being all early or something, or that I'm either getting used enough to them to avoid waking up to fling covers around, or that they're starting to be less acute.  

Continuing to walk and climb stairs every day.  My knees are starting to feel stronger, which is a great development.

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Tuesday

"To sleep, perchance to dream."  Oh, would I like to!  Not much chance last night - I'd got through a bout of hot flashes and fallen asleep at a comfortable temperature, only to hear the dog groaning.  Since she's had a few stomach issues of late, that's not a noise we can afford to ignore - as if she'd let us, anyway.  2:11 am, let the dog out and back in.  Attempted to get back to sleep (took under an hour, but probably more than half an hour).  4:11 am, woke up freezing.  Dog began groaning again - that may have been what woke me to start with.  Let her out and back in.  Tried to get back to sleep; failed.  Alarm went off at 5:30.  I am a wreck.  I feel weak, muscularly, and mildly dizzy and disoriented, although I was able to drive to work.

149.4 this morning again.  Here's yesterday:
  • tea with cream
  • the usual supplements (added zinc daily and B-complex on Mondays)
  • almond flour crackers
  • grape tomatoes
  • an apple (way too sweet)
  • a bunch of cheese cubes
  • taco meat with pico and queso on it
  • green beans
  • "Mexican" rice
  • roast beef
  • meat loaf
  • cheese
That was it last night, I believe.  Dinner was at Country Buffet, so peculiar.  And something I ate did not sit well - my stomach spent the later evening growling and bubbling.

I'm just a total mess today.  2 meetings to get through, and I think I'm putting off some things that are not due quite yet, until such time as I'm in my right mind.  Ugh.

Monday, February 18, 2013

Monday

Interesting weekend - not that we did anything particularly interesting, but that I seem possibly to be in a weight-loss state.  We shall see if it continues, but this morning, I'm at 149.4, and an evening of clam chowder (certainly roux-based) and movie popcorn only added 0.2 pounds Saturday morning, and it was gone by Sunday, with friends.  So, cool, if true.  Here's yesterday:
  • bacon
  • tea with cream
  • the usual supplements
  • cheese
  • almond-flour crackers
  • tortilla chips
  • salad with steak in it, with blue cheese dressing
  • 4 slices of dried strawberry
I wasn't much hungry, which definitely helped.  The crackers are amazing - almond flour, salt, herbs (in this case, parsley), an egg, and olive oil.  Roll 'em thin and bake.  No idea how many of them I ate, but not the whole batch, since I have a few with me today for snacks.  I was just needing something that was semi-good for me and snack-worthy - and not baby carrots.  They worked.

Skipped breakfast this morning to sleep in - won't dignify it by calling it a fast.

Friday, February 15, 2013

Friday

Up a pound and a half - not sure why.  150.2 this morning.  My digestive system was unhappy last night, and is still a bit off; maybe related.  Here's yesterday:
  • bacon (about 5-6 pieces, I think)
  • tea with cream
  • peanuts (mid-day - was very hungry)
  • hot and sour soup
  • beef with broccoli
  • rice (maybe 1/2 cup)
  • scotch (2ish fingers; very bad drive home)
  • walnuts (I thought it was 1/2 cup or so - may have been more)
So a short list, but potent, apparently.  Obviously the peanuts were a bad move, but it was snowing, so I didn't want to leave the building to get lunch, and I had $1.20 in small change, which limited my in-building options.  

Had an omelet and a few hash browns (out) for breakfast today, and will be having fish or shrimp for dinner tonight.  I think I'll make some potato salad this weekend, and maybe have it with meatloaf or grilled burgers or something.  Also salad dressings, and I need to shred the pot roast for tacos or something (original plan for last night, did not happen).

By the way, the scotch was to recover from a 2-hour commute with ice.  Yecch.

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Thursday

Yesterday was a little harder than I'd expected - probably because my usual fasting pattern is to skip breakfast and lunch and eat dinner.  Skipping breakfast and dinner and eating only lunch left me with a mindset on the way home from work that food would be waiting, and having to overcome that was a bit tough.  But I made it.  148.6 this morning - don't know how much of that is "real".  Here's yesterday:
  • tea with cream
  • the usual supplements
  • Caesar salad with shrimp in (about 5 decent-sized shrimp)
  • more tea with cream
That was it.  So on top of everything else, lunch was exceedingly small.  That said, I wasn't cranky or shaky or headachy from it, so I would say I still have my blood sugar well under control.  

I did resume the iodine - and last night, after falling asleep fairly easily around 9:30ish, woke after dreaming, as if ready for morning, at 10:45.  Very strange.  And I could NOT get warm this morning - I'm still a little cold.  Probably related to menopause - everything else seems to be.  Blecch.

I am parking farther from the building and have been taking the stairs every day this week, I believe.  So far, so good, on that front, though I truly can't get 1/4 mile away to park.  It's something, though.

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Wednesday

Okay, I'm officially starving.  Some days, fasting is harder than others - but at least, today, I'm only fasting until lunch - and then afterwards until tomorrow.  Offering it up, as they say.  149.6 this morning.  Yesterday was fairly light:
  • tea with cream
  • the usual supplements (welcome back, Iodine)
  • scrambled eggs
  • bacon
  • chicken tortilla soup
  • a few (3-4) tortilla chips
  • 4 chocolate almonds
That was it.  If I'd been home, instead of at Rolfing, I'm sure I'd have eaten more - and at the moment, rather wish I had.  Oh well.  Planning on a very large salad for lunch.  Very large.  Possibly with shrimp in it, if available.

Rolfing was excellent - my back feels like a 20-year-old's this morning, although I'm a bit bruised at the top of my hips in back.  She also got some work done on my right arm, which is complicated - a lot of moving parts contributing to that shoulder pain.  Next session involves cranial and facial muscles, including the insides of my mouth and nose.  Should be interesting.

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Tuesday

Yesterday was sort of back to normal - maybe the first normal day since vacation, as far as eating goes.  150.2 this morning, to boot.  Here's yesterday:
  • tea with cream
  • the usual supplements
  • scrambled eggs
  • sausage
  • pot roast with reduction gravy
  • braised cabbage
  • chocolate almonds (2, I think)
  • candied almonds (the olive ones - finished the jar, but fewer than 9, which is a 'serving')
That was it.  Seems like days with short lists (even if the multitude of things on the long list involved one bite of each) are better.  Sleep was not good, and I've resumed the iodine.  I don't think the bad sleep is from iodine supplements, but from estrogen variation.  And nothing seems to help with that at all.

Mardi Gras today.  I believe we will be having one last Mardi Gras mimosa this evening, and then shutting sugar consumption down for Lent.  I'm fasting weirdly tomorrow - lunch will be my sole meal, and it will be a salad.  We're doing church at 6:15 am, because no other time works - Lee has some sort of golf meeting in the evening.

Monday, February 11, 2013

Monday

I'm not sure whether the scale was off all weekend, or if yesterday's eating did it.  150.8 this morning after two mornings at 149.0.  We introduced rice - and possibly got along too well.  We shall see.  Here's yesterday:
  • scrambled eggs
  • bacon
  • ham
  • tea with cream
  • no supplements (oops)
  • cheese
  • walnuts
  • a very few potato chips
  • chocolate almonds - about 4
  • roast chicken
  • rice cooked with chicken broth and mirepoix, with a few peas thrown in
  • candy almonds (the ones from a couple of Christmases ago, that look like olives) - about 6 of them
Not a great day, actually.  Spent the weekend cooking; made some intense beef stock along with the chicken, and had stuffed peppers for dinner Saturday.  Pot roast is going in the crockpot as we speak - we'll be having it with braised cabbage for dinner.  

I did re-read PHD over the weekend.  I'm thinking I need to pay attention to the cravings and figure out what they're saying about nutrient deficiencies.  Salt seems to be one thing I crave, certainly - crunchy salty things.  Chocolate sometimes, but that seems to be slowing down - possibly the copper supplements are helping?  Maybe the salt craving speaks to iodine after all?  Dunno.  I should try eating the pickles when I'm in that mood - instead of the walnuts, certainly.

Interesting week ahead - fasting for Ash Wednesday, except that I have a lunch thing with a staffing supplier scheduled.  So I will be fasting breakfast and dinner, and eating a salad for lunch.  Best I can do under the circumstances, I think.

At least I got some sleep last night - Saturday night was utter crap.  So, something.

Friday, February 8, 2013

Friday

We ate pizza last night.  Real pizza, crust and all.  It was quite good, but honestly, so is Meatza and pizza-top and any number of other pizza-like things I've created over the past 3 years.  Nonetheless, kinda nice to know that if the world gets grim, I can give Dominos $30 and eat something that isn't hopelessly bad for us.  And interestingly enough, it was very satiating - I had some chocolate after, but didn't need to keep chewing all night, so only that.  150.6 this morning, so about 2 pounds of water gone to boot.  A good day.  But I doubt I hit the PHD nutrient proportions at all - and I don't think I'm going to calculate them.  Here's the whole day:
  • tea with cream
  • the usual supplements (by the way, I'm stopping the iodine for a while; I've heard it's bad for sleep and my sleep is utter shite right now)
  • strawberries with a little cream
  • chili leftovers
  • more strawberries
  • gluten-free crust Dominos pepperoni pizza
  • 1/3 of a 70% cacao chocolate bar
And that was it.  

As a part of making a few incremental changes over the next weeks, with an eye toward leaning out a bit and getting the nutrition in order, I've parked my car as far from the building as I can while leaving it in our parking lot - at least, I think it's the farthest point.  Seems like the reduction in walking involved with this job has been a bigger impact than I would have thought - I was getting maybe 1/2 mile per day before, so I guess it could.  So I'm trying to get it ramped up a bit - add a little walking on weekends, as well, which should help with leg stamina.  And I might go to the gym and use the leg press this weekend.  Or something.

In addition to re-reading PHD, I bought the Kindle version of the Primal Blueprint, and will be reading it as well.  A little refresh of principles, throughout.

Beef stock this weekend - cooked to gelatine.  And a pot roast with the intent of braising it with cabbage for one dinner.  And maybe a roast chicken.  Cooking is good.

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Thursday

152.8 this morning - maybe could have been worse.  Here's yesterday:
  • Tea with cream
  • the usual supplements
  • a spoonful of coconut oil
  • beef jerky (ultimately, 2 bags)
  • two clementines
  • a bag of peanuts
  • two helpings of bean-free chili
  • a handful of shredded cheddar
  • a small handful of cashews
  • half an orange-dark-chocolate candy bar
That was it - 1677 calories (for what that's worth), 90g protein, 94g carbs, 92g fats - 23%-24%-53% ratio.  I got as far in the PHD last night as the recommendation to aim for a body-composition ratio, which is 65% fat, 22(ish)% protein, and 13% carbs.  So that's my goal going forward.

Today so far, I've had a bowl of strawberries with cream, and tea with cream - and I brought the rest of the chili for lunch.  It was really good, and I got it cooked in about 1/2 hour - same recipe as I let stew in the crock pot all day, just made quickly on the stove.  So I'm wondering if there's some point to do the crock pot at all for it.  

I'm considering doing a Domino's GF pizza for dinner - will first see what the rest of the family thinks - and I think we'll need to order more than 1, since they're supposedly rather small.

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Wednesday

So.  On a day in which I ate 7 pieces of cheese (call it 7 oz; might be less), 3 clementines, and 2 chocolate cherries, I gained over a pound.  Could someone please explain how that works?  I put it in LoseIt, and came up with a substantial caloric deficit along with a high-fat ratio to carbs and protein, although the carbs were over 30g.  Still, it doesn't make much sense to me.  152.6 this morning.

Had Rolfing last night for hip flexors - much less painful than having MAT on the muscles just in front of my spine, so not a big deal.  She was also able to sort an issue I'd created with my left hip at the ball, so that feels much better.  That said, as I type this, I'm starting to sweat profusely, and I'm still suffering from having been at sea - the world won't stop moving.  I do wish that didn't happen to me each time we go on a ship - 2 weeks to get back to normal.  Payback for the transition to shipboard balance being so easy, I guess.

I'm putting together a plan to get nutrition and fitness on track now that we're back.  I want to gain strength in my arms and legs, and tone up overall, as well as balance my nutritional needs - I think that I'm lacking something and the lack is causing me to snack too much and eat things that are not good for me.  PHD has been retrieved from the bookcase, and I'll start on it again tonight.  And I think I'm giving up sugar for Lent.  Still working out what that might mean.

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Tuesday

I was starving yesterday - most of the day.  So I ate.  151.4 this morning - ironically, the weight that started me on my Paleo way of eating was 191.4, just after our previous cruise.  And two Mardi Gras' ago, I weighed 141.4.  And will again.  Here's yesterday:
  • the usual supplements
  • tea without cream
  • a few walnuts (to take Advil with)
  • two bags of peanuts
  • double quarter-pounder with cheese, no bun
  • small McDonalds fries
  • salad with greek dressing
  • gyro meat
  • saffron rice 
  • strawberry-mango juice
  • cheese
  • walnuts
  • chocolate cherries
Too much food, I think.  I haven't got PHD out of the bookshelf yet, but will be.  Today will be a light eating day - I've had a couple of pieces of cheese so far, have clementines with me, and will probably avoid dinner prior to Rolfing since it's a session that deals with a lot of abdominal muscle attachment points and is supposed to be easier on an empty stomach.  Not a fast day, exactly, but not not, either.

Monday, February 4, 2013

Monday (after vacation)

All things considered, I think we did pretty well on vacation.  4 days in New Orleans followed by a 7-day cruise, and I'm at 150.2 this morning, possibly on the way down from a high of 153.4 (suspect, though, since I weighed myself on the ship and don't know if the scale is similar or not).  The dress fit fine and so did my jeans after they came back from the shipboard laundry - phew!  We only ate partly well in New Orleans - it's hard to eat there without consuming flour (roux), and the food is across-the-board awesome.  On the ship, it's possible to spend 7 days eating, with breaks for drinking, but I think we did well.  We ate a lot of fruit, which is a bit of a change - I don't really think I ate a whole pineapple, but it sure seemed like it at times - we got a section, sliced up, along with 3 kinds of melon, also sliced, every afternoon, and since I don't eat melon, I ate all the pineapple many of those days.  

We also walked a lot - hard to avoid in the Quarter, truly, because bringing a car in there is seriously insane.  On the ship, we did at least a mile on 3 or 4 days, and our last shore day, probably walked more than 4 miles alone, shopping in Cozumel.  Also lots of stairs - we did pretty well avoiding elevators for all trips of 4 or fewer decks.  My knees need work, though - they're just not strong anymore.  I think a leg press machine is in my future.  Use of one, that is, not purchase.

Yesterday's eating is trackable, since there wasn't much of it, so here it is:
  • the usual supplements
  • berries with a tablespoon of whipped cream (sweetened)
  • tea with half-and-half (several of those)
  • 3-egg omelet with ham, cheese, tomatoes
  • possibly a little bacon
  • turtle soup with sherry (definitely roux-based, but nearly the best thing to eat there is)
  • salad with blue cheese dressing
  • cheese
  • walnuts
  • chocolate cherries
The last three were eaten after arriving home, as I was too tired to shop or cook, and was pretty darn hungry.

So, today?  Back to the usual patterns to start with, but I think I'm going to re-read the Perfect Health Diet, cover to cover, and make some of their recommended changes beyond the supplements.  Though I must admit I'm rethinking the iodine supplementation - read something somewhere that hinted it might be behind some real sleeping issues I've been having lately.  I probably do have more energy during the day from it, but I think I'd rather have the quality sleep.  Still considering.