Friday

I spent some time yesterday re-reading my early entries here, trying to figure out really where things have changed in how I eat.  A big takeaway is a variation on the portion-size theme - I think I'm eating quite a bit more these days in comparison to what I ate then. I was noting breakfasts initially of 2 eggs and 2 slices of turkey bacon; yesterday, I had 2 eggs (roughly), about 7 slices of bacon and 3 sausage links and a pat of butter. I didn't use to eat much cheese during the day - now, I'm eating a lot of it - 6 pieces yesterday. I found out that the tea with cream thing didn't start until August - that I didn't add it in until I'd lost 30 pounds, and that my final 20 pounds took 6 months to lose, as opposed to the 4 months it took to shed that first 30. Granted, the holidays were in the 6 month period, and once I hit 160, I was not striving to lose weight as hard, but I think there's still something that changed between those two periods that slowed things down, that I've done even more of since losing weight that has caused pounds to return.

I think it should be quite easy to cut back a bit. Fewer bacon slices at breakfast. No more than 2 hotdogs for lunch - we've been splitting a package of 7 between the 2 of us. One piece of cheese at a time, not 3. I may dump some of the nuts we have accumulated - or at least, freeze them so they don't go bad. No more sweetened chocolate stuff. More steak-and-salad meals.

All that said, here's yesterday (with some quantities):

• tea with cream
  
• the usual supplements (listed below)
  
• scrambled eggs with peppers and cheese (about 2 eggs' worth, I think - and they were powdered eggs)
  
• about 7-8 slices of bacon
  
• 3 sausage links
  
• a pat of butter
  
• 6 pieces of cheese (2 batches of 3)
  
• a handful of cashews
  
• 1 milk-chocolate covered macadamia nut cluster
  
• salad with blue cheese crumbles and blue cheese dressing
  
• chicken covered with pork green chile and cheese - a breast with the bone sticking up
  
• sauteed green beans
  
• about 1/3 cup vanilla ice cream
  
• 1 tsp honey
  

Here's what "the usual supplements" are these days:

• One-a-Day multi for men (i.e., no iron)
  
• 1 fish oil
  
• 1 magnesium
  
• 1 K2
  
• 1 potassium
  
• 1 biotin
  
• 1 D3
  

And here's what yesterday would look like if I'd done it right:

• tea with cream
  
• the usual supplements
  
• scrambled eggs with peppers and cheese (about 2 eggs' worth)
  
• 2 slices of bacon
  
• a pat of butter
  
• 2-3 pieces of cheese, eaten one at a time
  
• a handful of cashews (maybe)
  
• salad with blue cheese dressing (no crumbles)
  
• chicken as described above
  
• sauteed green beans
  
• 1 tsp honey
  

Can I do it right? Absolutely. In reading my old entries, I was really struck by how much better the changes made me feel - and that's still true. I still have no pain in my thumb joints. I still - even with the menopause stuff - am sleeping better than I did 4-5 years ago. I think I'm generally subject to less age-related malaise than I used to be. 

So today, instead of doing the Denny's "build your own slam" with 2 eggs and 6-9 slices of bacon, I had the eggs and 2 slices of bacon and a slice of ham. Not perfect, but better. We are having steak-and-salad for dinner tonight, and maybe some sauteed zucchini, since I know we have a lot of it in the fridge just now. 

Two goals - eating less food, returning to the quantities from 4 years ago; and eating more non-starchy vegetables.  That's it.

Oh, and I was at 158.0 this morning. Normal fluctuation, and a new starting point.