Ever so slowly, I'm paying off my sleep deficit; the latest herbs from the acupuncturist seem to be a slow-acting Kryptonite to my new super-power of random heat production. At least, whatever else they're doing, they're removing the feeling of malaise that accompanied each flash. I'll take it.
Last weekend, I swiped the Magnesium Citrate we had got for Elizabeth a short while back; she wasn't using it, and I'd heard it was very good at inducing a drowsy state if taken before bedtime. And it is. Unfortunately for Elizabeth, it was also very good at it's more traditional use (laxative), which is why she didn't fight me over my theft. I am finding this morning that it is indeed very good at both functions, so I may have to find a way to take less of it, or take it less frequently. I don't want to induce any sort of dependency.
We ate well yesterday, I think - eggs and bacon (turkey, not so great), and sausage for breakfast, no lunch for me, but a small snack of berries and cream, and at dinner time, some cheese and cashews followed by the asiago ribeye at Applebee's, with the potatoes and mixed veg. And a few walnuts to finish the evening with. Oh - and a Godiva Gem in a mint-chocolate-chip flavor. We found them at Target and figured that eaten one at a time, over a week or more, they wouldn't kill us. And they are damn tasty.
I lost a good bit of the weight overnight - down to 143.2 this morning, which is better. I know a lot of it was water associated with the muscle stiffness from painting. Which we will be doing more of, over the coming weeks.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Monday, April 11, 2011
Monday
Wow, what a weekend.
Friday and Saturday were in Phoenix, helping Elizabeth out by acting as an upstairs maid and laundry serf. Six loads, if you can believe it. Plus miscellaneous cleaning, cooking, shopping, rehanging whiteboards (Command Adhesive Picture hangers are way cool). I think it was helpful.
Didn't eat terribly well those two days - I stepped on her scale on Saturday morning and saw 144.2, and I think that was accurate. But I did introduce her to the bunless option at McDonalds, and she agrees with me that the burgers taste exactly the same with or without bread. Unlike In-N-Out - protein style is good, but you actually miss the bun. With luck, knowing about bunless Big Macs will keep her from the chicken nuggets in future. We finished the trip at the Chili's in the airport, eating chips and salsa and artichoke dip. Oh, well.
Sunday was drudge-around-the-house day back home, more or less. Shopping, cooking, laundry (another load or two), and painting. I got the walls of the being-redone bathroom primed and painted, as well as the ceilings of it and the entire bedroom (there is nothing worse than painting ceilings, although I do appreciate the ceiling paint that goes on pink when wet and dries white). We had a good breakfast (Cracker Barrel does amazing low-carb), Mexican for lunch (not so healthy), and for dinner, a very nice pot roast with new potatoes and carrots. Put a little butter on a new potato that's been braising in pot roast liquid for an hour, and it's like eating beef/butter-flavored velvet. Very nice. I seared the pot roast and the mirepoix in bacon fat - much nicer than the "vegetable oil" that the recipe called for.
A couple of observations: I was very tired and achy yesterday morning, but in spite of that, had the stamina to prime and paint, including ceilings, for something like 6 straight hours. At the end, my shoulders and feet and hips and hands were all incredibly sore and stiff. I took 3 fish oil and some Advil once I was done for the night, and this morning, my hands and shoulders have a faint memory of being stiff yesterday, and my feet feel fine. I'm sure that our less-inflammatory diet helps this work as well as it does, but I am ever-so-grateful that it does work.
Especially as I will need to repeat the process - we both hate the paint color, now that it's dry. Bother.
Friday and Saturday were in Phoenix, helping Elizabeth out by acting as an upstairs maid and laundry serf. Six loads, if you can believe it. Plus miscellaneous cleaning, cooking, shopping, rehanging whiteboards (Command Adhesive Picture hangers are way cool). I think it was helpful.
Didn't eat terribly well those two days - I stepped on her scale on Saturday morning and saw 144.2, and I think that was accurate. But I did introduce her to the bunless option at McDonalds, and she agrees with me that the burgers taste exactly the same with or without bread. Unlike In-N-Out - protein style is good, but you actually miss the bun. With luck, knowing about bunless Big Macs will keep her from the chicken nuggets in future. We finished the trip at the Chili's in the airport, eating chips and salsa and artichoke dip. Oh, well.
Sunday was drudge-around-the-house day back home, more or less. Shopping, cooking, laundry (another load or two), and painting. I got the walls of the being-redone bathroom primed and painted, as well as the ceilings of it and the entire bedroom (there is nothing worse than painting ceilings, although I do appreciate the ceiling paint that goes on pink when wet and dries white). We had a good breakfast (Cracker Barrel does amazing low-carb), Mexican for lunch (not so healthy), and for dinner, a very nice pot roast with new potatoes and carrots. Put a little butter on a new potato that's been braising in pot roast liquid for an hour, and it's like eating beef/butter-flavored velvet. Very nice. I seared the pot roast and the mirepoix in bacon fat - much nicer than the "vegetable oil" that the recipe called for.
A couple of observations: I was very tired and achy yesterday morning, but in spite of that, had the stamina to prime and paint, including ceilings, for something like 6 straight hours. At the end, my shoulders and feet and hips and hands were all incredibly sore and stiff. I took 3 fish oil and some Advil once I was done for the night, and this morning, my hands and shoulders have a faint memory of being stiff yesterday, and my feet feel fine. I'm sure that our less-inflammatory diet helps this work as well as it does, but I am ever-so-grateful that it does work.
Especially as I will need to repeat the process - we both hate the paint color, now that it's dry. Bother.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Thursday
We really need to stop eating Chinese. Both Lee and I had digestive upset afterwards, and I gained 3/4 of a pound - 143.2 this morning. Yes, the scale gives structure to my days. Sue me.
I don't know if it was the Chinese food, the chips and strawberries throughout the day, or the walnuts I ate while watching Mythbusters last night. Pushed, I'd go with the strawberries - a large container of them sliced up, very sweet on their own, so not at all the berries of my Paleolithic ancestors. And they made me hungry later in the day, which led to the chips.
Bummer all that, because I had bacon, sausage, and strawberries for breakfast, and have an even bigger container of them on my desk to eat before day's end. Followed by airport food - flying to Phoenix to be the household help for Liz this weekend - her life has got a bit crazy of late. So I don't expect to be thinner by tomorrow morning. However, I do vow not to accept any of the snacks on the flight tonight.
I don't know if it was the Chinese food, the chips and strawberries throughout the day, or the walnuts I ate while watching Mythbusters last night. Pushed, I'd go with the strawberries - a large container of them sliced up, very sweet on their own, so not at all the berries of my Paleolithic ancestors. And they made me hungry later in the day, which led to the chips.
Bummer all that, because I had bacon, sausage, and strawberries for breakfast, and have an even bigger container of them on my desk to eat before day's end. Followed by airport food - flying to Phoenix to be the household help for Liz this weekend - her life has got a bit crazy of late. So I don't expect to be thinner by tomorrow morning. However, I do vow not to accept any of the snacks on the flight tonight.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Wednesday
Lesson learned. After a fast day, (mostly; I did have chips and trail mix mid-day), it is unwise to do anything really painful. Had to change a band-aid on my finger and it had stuck to the wound. I managed it, but nearly passed out - grabbed chocolate almonds and cheese, and eventually a hunk of solid sugar before I felt better. I don't know if there is a Paleo way to deal with something like that, other than biting a bullet while doing it, maybe. Or a shot of whisky (I have a bunch too - would have been a good reason to dig in!) The sugar did help. So, it's not for eating daily, but can be medicinal, I guess.
Apart from that eating and the mid-day snacks, I had a bunch of leftover pork roast yesterday, and some cashews. I think that was it. Back to 142.4 again this morning. Lee was out of town until around 7 last night and apparently ate well - said he had fasciculation (bubbling) in his calves overnight - just shy of cramps. We'll keep with the straight and narrow and get him down below 200 again soon, I think.
Breakfast this morning was eggs and real bacon. I have a bunch of cut-up strawberries to eat throughout the day - bought a big box of them at Costco over the weekend, and they're very sweet, so I don't want them to go to waste. Don't know what we'll do for dinner. Wish I'd left one of the pounds of our new grassfed ground beef out to thaw!
Apart from that eating and the mid-day snacks, I had a bunch of leftover pork roast yesterday, and some cashews. I think that was it. Back to 142.4 again this morning. Lee was out of town until around 7 last night and apparently ate well - said he had fasciculation (bubbling) in his calves overnight - just shy of cramps. We'll keep with the straight and narrow and get him down below 200 again soon, I think.
Breakfast this morning was eggs and real bacon. I have a bunch of cut-up strawberries to eat throughout the day - bought a big box of them at Costco over the weekend, and they're very sweet, so I don't want them to go to waste. Don't know what we'll do for dinner. Wish I'd left one of the pounds of our new grassfed ground beef out to thaw!
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Tuesday
If I could type this without my right forefinger, I would; I removed a small area of fingertip with a mandoline slicer yesterday, slicing potatoes for an experiment - Pommes Anna in the crock pot. I wish I could say it was worth it, but all I managed to prove is that 11 hours on "High" is too long. So I don't think we'll do that for Easter - probably try an au gratin version in there instead. It did smell good, though.
I didn't really eat dinner last night - had chips (aagh!) and salsa, cheese, and a little chocolate and nuts instead. Just the all-snack evening. Lee's out of town again, so I also am fasting breakfast. 143.0 this morning, lost some of whatever it was I put on over the weekend.
I got some size 10 pants from LL Bean yesterday in the UPS. Also some shorts. I tried on the pants, and they're woefully too small, despite my matching the size 10 measurements on their size chart exactly. So the pants go back, I think. The shorts, on the other hand, also size 10, are fine - roomy, even. Not sure what's going on; it may be the style I went with on the pants. What's really irritating, though, is that I have the same pants in a 12, and they're tentlike. So I have no options, except maybe to go with a slightly different style of pants - one like the shorts. I guess. Can't sew right now; the sewing room is where my clothes are while we're redoing the master bathroom. It's just a bit annoying.
My new order of grassfed beef arrives today - I found a local source, Sun Prairie Beef, that has ground beef for less than what we're paying for bison at Costco. And given that bison is grain finished (at least, I'm fairly sure that the brand we buy is), it will be healthier for us. So that's pretty exciting. If this is any good, I'll look into some of their other offerings - steaks and roasts and what not. I feel like we could get some significant health benefits from switching to grassfed - that, and trying harder to get away from the franken-oils; we still get a fair amount of that stuff through processed food (like chips) and at restaurants. So worth the effort, I think.
I didn't really eat dinner last night - had chips (aagh!) and salsa, cheese, and a little chocolate and nuts instead. Just the all-snack evening. Lee's out of town again, so I also am fasting breakfast. 143.0 this morning, lost some of whatever it was I put on over the weekend.
I got some size 10 pants from LL Bean yesterday in the UPS. Also some shorts. I tried on the pants, and they're woefully too small, despite my matching the size 10 measurements on their size chart exactly. So the pants go back, I think. The shorts, on the other hand, also size 10, are fine - roomy, even. Not sure what's going on; it may be the style I went with on the pants. What's really irritating, though, is that I have the same pants in a 12, and they're tentlike. So I have no options, except maybe to go with a slightly different style of pants - one like the shorts. I guess. Can't sew right now; the sewing room is where my clothes are while we're redoing the master bathroom. It's just a bit annoying.
My new order of grassfed beef arrives today - I found a local source, Sun Prairie Beef, that has ground beef for less than what we're paying for bison at Costco. And given that bison is grain finished (at least, I'm fairly sure that the brand we buy is), it will be healthier for us. So that's pretty exciting. If this is any good, I'll look into some of their other offerings - steaks and roasts and what not. I feel like we could get some significant health benefits from switching to grassfed - that, and trying harder to get away from the franken-oils; we still get a fair amount of that stuff through processed food (like chips) and at restaurants. So worth the effort, I think.
Monday, April 4, 2011
Monday
We had a pretty good weekend - it was sunny and warm (84) here on Saturday, so I was able to get my vegetable garden cleaned up and ready for the season, and even planted some lettuce and spinach seeds, since they prefer colder weather. It felt so good to be outside, lifting some mildly heavy things (bags of composted manure) and creating Vitamin D.
Yesterday was another season entirely - started out warm, but ended the day alternating between rain and snow, and below freezing overnight. It was 21 this morning. Good timing with the rain/snow mix, though - it watered my seeds in for me. We spent most of the day sitting around, staying warm and dry. I was a little achy from the exercise of the day before, but not much. A couple of extra fish oils do seem to help with that a lot.
We tried to eat well this weekend, and mostly made it, but I had gained a goodish bit by this morning - 143.8, according to the scale. I was a little surprised. It may be muscle tissue, or some inflammation water from being stiff and sore. I guess it's a wait and see item - what will tomorrow look like?
Yesterday was another season entirely - started out warm, but ended the day alternating between rain and snow, and below freezing overnight. It was 21 this morning. Good timing with the rain/snow mix, though - it watered my seeds in for me. We spent most of the day sitting around, staying warm and dry. I was a little achy from the exercise of the day before, but not much. A couple of extra fish oils do seem to help with that a lot.
We tried to eat well this weekend, and mostly made it, but I had gained a goodish bit by this morning - 143.8, according to the scale. I was a little surprised. It may be muscle tissue, or some inflammation water from being stiff and sore. I guess it's a wait and see item - what will tomorrow look like?
Friday, April 1, 2011
April Fool's Day
Sad but true - I spent time this morning trying to figure out where the apostrophe goes in "April Fool's Day" - and I still may not have it right. Pretty sure one is needed, though.
On to germane topics. I had a conversation with Liz yesterday, while she was trying to find some lunch. She was in one of the on-campus convenience stores, and wondered aloud how she'd ever survived her first two years eating "that way". Said something about two weeks eating nothing but Spaghettios, and then wandered out to find some place that would give her tuna, either on Subway's "thin bread" or maybe on lettuce. No, she's not fully on board with abandoning wheat products, even when they give her nasty digestive symptoms, but she is trying, and she does seem to "get it" - that we shouldn't be going heavy on the starchy grain-based food. It's a start.
Lee and I went to Chipotle for dinner - he had a bowl with no beans, but with rice, and liked it better that way. I had barbacoa tacos on soft corn tortillas - ate 2 of the tortillas and the last taco's filling with a fork. You can eat pretty darn well there with not a lot of effort, really. He is stalled again - saw the underside of 200 for a couple of weeks, then went on travel for a while and lost the momentum. I told him we could get religious for a while - much more low-carb - and get him back on track, and we can.
I linked to Dr. Harris' Paleo 2.0 post yesterday, and just want to say again how on-target he is. Let the science lead, and eat in ways that don't cause harm. We include dairy, occasional rice, and occasional corn (and occasional bad cheat days!), and have improved our health across the board (granted, Liz has traded digestive issues for balance issues, but I think would still say she is happy to have lost the digestive issues). I should also admit that I'm drinking a Red Bull (sugar-free) right now - something that surely would not have been available to Grok or his tribe. (I'm still fighting night sweats, and haven't slept well for going on a week now - although I do remember dreaming about running in a 5K or something last night - wouldn't have done that while awake.)
I did have some chocolate and some coconut after dinner last night - also rather a lot of cheese, now that I think of it - we were both starving after dinner, for some reason. 142.2 this morning. If we do go stricter low-carb for a while to get Lee re-started on weight loss, I imagine I'll see that go down a bit. Probably not much, though - I do think I'm where my body thinks it ought to be.
On to germane topics. I had a conversation with Liz yesterday, while she was trying to find some lunch. She was in one of the on-campus convenience stores, and wondered aloud how she'd ever survived her first two years eating "that way". Said something about two weeks eating nothing but Spaghettios, and then wandered out to find some place that would give her tuna, either on Subway's "thin bread" or maybe on lettuce. No, she's not fully on board with abandoning wheat products, even when they give her nasty digestive symptoms, but she is trying, and she does seem to "get it" - that we shouldn't be going heavy on the starchy grain-based food. It's a start.
Lee and I went to Chipotle for dinner - he had a bowl with no beans, but with rice, and liked it better that way. I had barbacoa tacos on soft corn tortillas - ate 2 of the tortillas and the last taco's filling with a fork. You can eat pretty darn well there with not a lot of effort, really. He is stalled again - saw the underside of 200 for a couple of weeks, then went on travel for a while and lost the momentum. I told him we could get religious for a while - much more low-carb - and get him back on track, and we can.
I linked to Dr. Harris' Paleo 2.0 post yesterday, and just want to say again how on-target he is. Let the science lead, and eat in ways that don't cause harm. We include dairy, occasional rice, and occasional corn (and occasional bad cheat days!), and have improved our health across the board (granted, Liz has traded digestive issues for balance issues, but I think would still say she is happy to have lost the digestive issues). I should also admit that I'm drinking a Red Bull (sugar-free) right now - something that surely would not have been available to Grok or his tribe. (I'm still fighting night sweats, and haven't slept well for going on a week now - although I do remember dreaming about running in a 5K or something last night - wouldn't have done that while awake.)
I did have some chocolate and some coconut after dinner last night - also rather a lot of cheese, now that I think of it - we were both starving after dinner, for some reason. 142.2 this morning. If we do go stricter low-carb for a while to get Lee re-started on weight loss, I imagine I'll see that go down a bit. Probably not much, though - I do think I'm where my body thinks it ought to be.
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