I think I captured everything in LoseIt, and it's showing me with a total of 1829 calories for the day, 68% fat, 7% carbs (33 grams of which 23 were sugar), and 25% protein. Spot on what I should be doing, and definitely not a "weight-loss" calorie count. Okay, that's good to see.
However, I meant to mention this before and forgot, but 33 grams of carbs apparently isn't enough to keep the cramps at bay. I had nasty ones in the outside of my right leg last night - behind the anklebone on the outside at the same time as a shin cramp - another of those situations where stretching it out is simply not an option. Maybe we'll have some beef stew for dinner tonight from my home-alone cooking binge - with potato starch to thicken it.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Really? Really???
Got on the scale this morning and had to do a go-back. I am at 144.4 (or possibly .6; does it really matter?) this morning. I don't think that was a goal, really - I'm happy at weighing under 150. Anyway, I also did my body fat measurements, and am at 23% even this morning, and within about 3/4" in hip and waist measurements of being able to make pants using a pattern I found in my stash from the 90's (I'd guess) that has tapered legs and a waist-high waistband. I've been wanting to make those pants again - I like the ones I did make recently, but have never been a fan of truly straight legs unless they're skinny, and these are straight and a sort of medium width, so that they flap about the ankles in a way I don't care for - it doesn't look graceful. Anyway, my lean body mass is at 111.2 pounds at the moment, which indicates to me that I'm still losing fat - actually, looking at my lower abdomen tells me that - it continues to melt slowly away.
I finally got a chance to watch the movie, "Fat Head", which I'd been reading about in the low-carb/paleo blogs for a while now. It's currently available on Hulu (at http://www.hulu.com/fat-head). I loved it - laughed out loud (while sitting alone in my kitchen in front of my laptop) multiple times, and the nutrition science is spot-on and very clearly explained. I sent the link to both Elizabeth and to my sister; hope they opt to take a look. Lee even watched a bit of it over my shoulder, although he wasn't willing to stand there for 1-3/4 hours' worth, understandably.
Anyway, back to this weight-loss thing. I do keep an eye on the mirror in case I start looking anorexic, and that doesn't appear to be happening. Here's what I ate yesterday:
Breakfast: 2 scrambled eggs and 2 strips turkey bacon; 1 cup of tea with heavy cream in it
Lunch - nothing
Dinner: 1/3 pound Angus burger patty with cheddar cheese and green chile (seriously wonderful!), 1/2 cup cottage cheese, and a pickle spear
Miscellaneous snacks: 3 oz cheese (Gruyere and/or Kerrygold sharp cheddar), 1 cup of strawberries with 1/3ish cup heavy cream, 1 square of Lindt 82% cacao chocolate. Possibly a cup of tea with heavy cream in it.
I wasn't hungry, except briefly around 2:30 (so useless for lunch-eating!). I mean to put that log into LoseIt just to see what the calorie count is. In the meantime, I guess this new loss a)signals I haven't hit my genetically appropriate weight yet, and b) means a few Christmas cookies won't do me much harm (unless the gluten or other wheat toxins get to me).
I finally got a chance to watch the movie, "Fat Head", which I'd been reading about in the low-carb/paleo blogs for a while now. It's currently available on Hulu (at http://www.hulu.com/fat-head). I loved it - laughed out loud (while sitting alone in my kitchen in front of my laptop) multiple times, and the nutrition science is spot-on and very clearly explained. I sent the link to both Elizabeth and to my sister; hope they opt to take a look. Lee even watched a bit of it over my shoulder, although he wasn't willing to stand there for 1-3/4 hours' worth, understandably.
Anyway, back to this weight-loss thing. I do keep an eye on the mirror in case I start looking anorexic, and that doesn't appear to be happening. Here's what I ate yesterday:
Breakfast: 2 scrambled eggs and 2 strips turkey bacon; 1 cup of tea with heavy cream in it
Lunch - nothing
Dinner: 1/3 pound Angus burger patty with cheddar cheese and green chile (seriously wonderful!), 1/2 cup cottage cheese, and a pickle spear
Miscellaneous snacks: 3 oz cheese (Gruyere and/or Kerrygold sharp cheddar), 1 cup of strawberries with 1/3ish cup heavy cream, 1 square of Lindt 82% cacao chocolate. Possibly a cup of tea with heavy cream in it.
I wasn't hungry, except briefly around 2:30 (so useless for lunch-eating!). I mean to put that log into LoseIt just to see what the calorie count is. In the meantime, I guess this new loss a)signals I haven't hit my genetically appropriate weight yet, and b) means a few Christmas cookies won't do me much harm (unless the gluten or other wheat toxins get to me).
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Tuesday
Exciting news! I posted the link to Gary Taubes' new blog on Facebook yesterday, and actually got my sister to read it. It's just possible she'll buy and read his new book when it comes out, and if what he says makes sense to her (it certainly did to me), perhaps she'll change how she eats and improve her health. I tried to convince her to read GCBC (I would even have lent it to her), but perhaps my use of the phrase, "800-page magnum opus" put her off. I won't push the issue - in the wake of the salt water thing, I just can't - but I will keep my fingers crossed.
Ate nothing between breakfast and getting home after work last night; while peanuts are available in the machine, the fact remains that they're Omega-6 heavy and therefore pro-inflammatory (somehow, that doesn't seem quite the right antonym to anti-inflammatory). And I have something impinging some of the nerves in my hands right now - I slept funny over Friday night, I think - so I need to be settling inflammation down, not adding to it. Doubled up on salmon oil this morning as well.
Poor Elizabeth! She got cramps from potassium imbalance yesterday in her cheek and stomach and could not get them to go away. I advised pigging out on avocados for a while and watching the salt. Hope that will help, as she is starting finals this week and could do without the distraction.
We got some boffo good cheese at Costco last weekend - a lovely aged Gruyere. I opened it to cut up into snack-sized pieces last night and had dogs at my feet immediately. They are crazy fond of cheese, especially Swiss-type cheeses, so the smell must have called to them. But they didn't get any. I ate the edges, probably even with wax (not entirely sure about the wax - but the edges were somewhat shiny). Costco also had a French butter with sea salt, so I got some of that. I am assuming that the cows were pastured, but without evidence (I haven't opened it up to see the color yet). Given that, without bread, we don't have a vehicle for butter, I figure I can splurge on it when I do buy. And it's healthy! That's always a good reason.
No shift in weight overnight. Seems like I really am settling in the high mid 140s, and that seems to be about right. I certainly like the way it looks in clothes - and if I can just remember to do a few crunches (to exhaustion) and or lift occasionally, I could potentially make my next swimsuit a bikini again. At 50, and without grossing out people in my vicinity. Yee hah!
Ate nothing between breakfast and getting home after work last night; while peanuts are available in the machine, the fact remains that they're Omega-6 heavy and therefore pro-inflammatory (somehow, that doesn't seem quite the right antonym to anti-inflammatory). And I have something impinging some of the nerves in my hands right now - I slept funny over Friday night, I think - so I need to be settling inflammation down, not adding to it. Doubled up on salmon oil this morning as well.
Poor Elizabeth! She got cramps from potassium imbalance yesterday in her cheek and stomach and could not get them to go away. I advised pigging out on avocados for a while and watching the salt. Hope that will help, as she is starting finals this week and could do without the distraction.
We got some boffo good cheese at Costco last weekend - a lovely aged Gruyere. I opened it to cut up into snack-sized pieces last night and had dogs at my feet immediately. They are crazy fond of cheese, especially Swiss-type cheeses, so the smell must have called to them. But they didn't get any. I ate the edges, probably even with wax (not entirely sure about the wax - but the edges were somewhat shiny). Costco also had a French butter with sea salt, so I got some of that. I am assuming that the cows were pastured, but without evidence (I haven't opened it up to see the color yet). Given that, without bread, we don't have a vehicle for butter, I figure I can splurge on it when I do buy. And it's healthy! That's always a good reason.
No shift in weight overnight. Seems like I really am settling in the high mid 140s, and that seems to be about right. I certainly like the way it looks in clothes - and if I can just remember to do a few crunches (to exhaustion) and or lift occasionally, I could potentially make my next swimsuit a bikini again. At 50, and without grossing out people in my vicinity. Yee hah!
Monday, December 6, 2010
Cold Monday
It's about 27 outside; not at all nice. I had several conversations about the cold weather over the weekend, and about people being cold. I know low thyroid will make people cold, but it seems like being under-nourished would have the same effect - what I think I remember hearing as a child: "no fuel for the furnace". In such conversations, I find the words, "eat more fat" coming to my lips more and more often. In groups of people who don't eat the way we do, that can prompt some rather odd looks. Oh, well. I live for the day when I hear a commercial that includes the phrase, "heart-healthy saturated fat" in it (we can all dream).
Ate pretty well over the weekend. We saw a show on the Food Network Friday - one of those "The Best Thing I Ever Ate" ones - that included a pure Paleo recipe (not on purpose, I imagine, but it was). Saute some chopped onion in butter to wilt it a bit, add ground beef and fry that up. Top with wilted spinach (I sauteed it in ghee), and a couple of beaten eggs, and cook until the eggs are done. Top with grated parmesan cheese. We tried it for breakfast yesterday, and while I need to tweak the proportions - no recipe was given, so we just eyeballed it - it was really good. And I'm not a big spinach fan.
I also made my own eggnog. A survey of the commercial brands all included HFCS, so I did a bit of research and found a recipe that involved a bit of cooking (in case the eggs had any salmonella about them). It is definitely the same thickness as commercial, but the flavor is a bit different and I haven't quite figured out why. But I very much like the fact that it isn't nearly as sweet - a recipe that served 6-8 had just over 1/3 cup of sugar in it. So a good start - and I may try adding a hint of vanilla; I think that might be the missing flavor (either that or bourbon, since I made it non-alcoholic).
146.2 this morning. I don't think that's the lowest I've ever been, but it's down from the 147.0 I was all weekend. I also seem to be losing inches around my waist - the lower abdominal subcutaneous fat I still have seems to be shrinking. Good news and bad - my clothing is getting a bit loose again. The good news is that maybe I can produce a six-pack - at nearly 50 years old. That would actually be way cool.
Lee says he's losing weight again. I'm not sure what triggered it, but good to hear.
And Gary Taubes is blogging! I've been hoping that would happen one day - I read a lot of nutrition blogs these days and loved his book, so the combination should be wonderful.
Ate pretty well over the weekend. We saw a show on the Food Network Friday - one of those "The Best Thing I Ever Ate" ones - that included a pure Paleo recipe (not on purpose, I imagine, but it was). Saute some chopped onion in butter to wilt it a bit, add ground beef and fry that up. Top with wilted spinach (I sauteed it in ghee), and a couple of beaten eggs, and cook until the eggs are done. Top with grated parmesan cheese. We tried it for breakfast yesterday, and while I need to tweak the proportions - no recipe was given, so we just eyeballed it - it was really good. And I'm not a big spinach fan.
I also made my own eggnog. A survey of the commercial brands all included HFCS, so I did a bit of research and found a recipe that involved a bit of cooking (in case the eggs had any salmonella about them). It is definitely the same thickness as commercial, but the flavor is a bit different and I haven't quite figured out why. But I very much like the fact that it isn't nearly as sweet - a recipe that served 6-8 had just over 1/3 cup of sugar in it. So a good start - and I may try adding a hint of vanilla; I think that might be the missing flavor (either that or bourbon, since I made it non-alcoholic).
146.2 this morning. I don't think that's the lowest I've ever been, but it's down from the 147.0 I was all weekend. I also seem to be losing inches around my waist - the lower abdominal subcutaneous fat I still have seems to be shrinking. Good news and bad - my clothing is getting a bit loose again. The good news is that maybe I can produce a six-pack - at nearly 50 years old. That would actually be way cool.
Lee says he's losing weight again. I'm not sure what triggered it, but good to hear.
And Gary Taubes is blogging! I've been hoping that would happen one day - I read a lot of nutrition blogs these days and loved his book, so the combination should be wonderful.
Friday, December 3, 2010
Friday
Went and ate Mexican last night - I was quite peckish when I got home from work - and that was after having a candy-machine package of trail mix (peanuts, the odd cashew, raisins, and M&Ms) mid-afternoon. The trail mix was a conscious decision; with the holidays upon us, I see a lot of messages on TV and other places about eating sweet things, and I thought that would deal with a mild craving without damaging things too much. It was very good, and it did the trick.
I also considered purchasing some eggnog while shopping last night - until I read the labels. It ought to be simple, right? Eggs, heavy cream, nutmeg, sugar. I'm pretty sure that's the recipe. But everything I picked up contained HFCS and several ingredients with too many syllables. So for now, I passed. Maybe I'll make a small batch - after all, at home, we have eggs, heavy cream, nutmeg, and sugar. I bet homemade will taste more like what I remember as a kid, too; the stuff these days is too sweet and lacks body (sounds like a wine tasting response - sorry, but I don't know how else to describe it).
I sent Lee more details of weight-loss practices he might try - found the weight loss page on PaNu and copied and linked it. I hope he reads it and tries some of the suggestions, because he still reaches for the low-fat fake yogurt and the bananas and the only one slice of bread because it stuck to the sandwich filling, and the fake sugar in his coffee. He still has a lot of visceral fat, and that's the stuff that really has the health impact, so I am hoping he'll start seeing some success again. He had a physical on Wednesday and I'm interested in his blood chemistry results (is it sad that I can reel off a list of things he should ask about?) - especially the blood glucose in his case, since he's on statins and I imagine his lipids will look statin-like. Supposedly they also tested C-reactive protein, which is an inflammation measurement, and that will also be an interesting number, since he has significantly reduced inflammatory stuff like wheat, even if he hasn't been totally successful at eliminating it.
Oh, and I was at 147 this morning - I think it's healthy that I'm starting to obsess less about my weight. I also like that I have the key to getting through the holidays without damaging my health this year!
I also considered purchasing some eggnog while shopping last night - until I read the labels. It ought to be simple, right? Eggs, heavy cream, nutmeg, sugar. I'm pretty sure that's the recipe. But everything I picked up contained HFCS and several ingredients with too many syllables. So for now, I passed. Maybe I'll make a small batch - after all, at home, we have eggs, heavy cream, nutmeg, and sugar. I bet homemade will taste more like what I remember as a kid, too; the stuff these days is too sweet and lacks body (sounds like a wine tasting response - sorry, but I don't know how else to describe it).
I sent Lee more details of weight-loss practices he might try - found the weight loss page on PaNu and copied and linked it. I hope he reads it and tries some of the suggestions, because he still reaches for the low-fat fake yogurt and the bananas and the only one slice of bread because it stuck to the sandwich filling, and the fake sugar in his coffee. He still has a lot of visceral fat, and that's the stuff that really has the health impact, so I am hoping he'll start seeing some success again. He had a physical on Wednesday and I'm interested in his blood chemistry results (is it sad that I can reel off a list of things he should ask about?) - especially the blood glucose in his case, since he's on statins and I imagine his lipids will look statin-like. Supposedly they also tested C-reactive protein, which is an inflammation measurement, and that will also be an interesting number, since he has significantly reduced inflammatory stuff like wheat, even if he hasn't been totally successful at eliminating it.
Oh, and I was at 147 this morning - I think it's healthy that I'm starting to obsess less about my weight. I also like that I have the key to getting through the holidays without damaging my health this year!
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Thursday
Finally got a night's sleep last night, with the assistance of Advil (I think) PM. So I'm woolly this morning - feels like I'm surrounded by a muffling curtain of semi-transparent heavy plastic or something. At least my stomach seems to have settled down, sort of. I was ravenous this morning and still feel a bit hungry and weak. The doctor told Lee yesterday that there are salmonella outbreaks active in New Mexico right now; probably that's what we ran into. The last time I ate something with salmonella poisoning, it took a couple of weeks before I felt human again.
146.8 this morning, although the scale considered options between that number and 149 something, I think, before settling. Whatever.
146.8 this morning, although the scale considered options between that number and 149 something, I think, before settling. Whatever.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Ugh
I no longer think we had food poisoning over the weekend, but that we ran into a virus of some sort, since I think both of us had some degree of fever with it. That, and the fact that I thought I was over it on Monday and yesterday only to have it resurface this morning. Sort of. Anyway, I'm fasting again because I cannot abide the thought of eating right now.
148.4 this morning after drinking rather a lot of tea, and with my stomach all bloated and nasty. I'm functional, but not enjoying it.
148.4 this morning after drinking rather a lot of tea, and with my stomach all bloated and nasty. I'm functional, but not enjoying it.
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