Wednesday Weekly Weigh-In

Don't dig your grave with your own knife and fork.  ~ English Proverb

Current Weight:  214.6 lbs

There is no point in doing this if I don't hold myself accountable.  So I will post my current weight each week - Oh God!... (I reserve the right to hide in shame if I find I've gained more than I want to admit).  I couldn't decide what day would be best so I went with Wednesday because I like the alliteration.

When I started walking 3 mornings a week about 2 months ago, I weighed 220 lbs, and since then I have been fluxuating up and down about a five pound range of 219 to 214.  So at least today I'm toward the bottom end of that range.  And what a way to start the day.

Last year, I tried calorie counting with exercise.  I lost about 20 lbs in two months.  And my obsessively competetive nature kicked in.  Each day, I found myself trying to eat less calories than the day before and beating myself up when I didn't succeed.  I was eating about 500 calories a day! Not healthy at all. 

Then, I hit a plateau and no matter how little I ate and how much I exercise, I couldn't lose a pound.  Frustrated and HUNGRY, I gained back not only the 20 lbs I lost, but also another 5.  Sigh.

No more counting calories.  This time, I'm just trying to eat more fruit and veg, less meat, fresh, healthy snaks and the biggest one, I'm trying to actually eat breakfast.

Breakfast:  Oatmeal or high-fiber cereal.  On weekends I'll have a veggie omelet.
Lunch: Salads.  (No more fast food)

I'm having a lot of fun with the salads.  I make my own dressing and I'm playing around with various oils and vinegars.  Right now I made one with Extra-Light Olive Oil and some really flavorful balsamic vinegar.  And for spices I'm using garlic, oregano and thyme. Sometimes mustard, sometimes soy sauce. Really tasty.

As for the actual salad, I figure just about anything that tastes good with vinegar on a bed of lettuce can't be that bad for you, so I pretty much add a smidge of every veg I have and several pantry items for good measure.  Lots of flavor and substance with not too much calories and bad fats.

Below is todays salad with Green Leaf lettuce, tomatoes, corn, cheddar cheese, sauted mushrooms, roasted red peppers, gorgonzola cheese, deli ham, cottage cheese, mandarin oranges and craisins.  YUM.  I love craisins.  Gives you sweet and tart at the same time.  (comes in at about 350 calories - but who's counting)

I use all kinds of other stuff as well: beans, hard boiled egg, tuna, left over beef or fish from last night's dinner, barley, rice, pasta, whatever I have available.  Keeps things intersting and different, instead of just "Oh God, salad AGAIN?"

Dinner: A small piece of lean meat or fish, I make a sauce for fish with non-fat yogurt, cucumber, garlic and whatever spices or herbs I fancy at the moment.  Goes really well on salmon.  And a vegetable (leftovers of which usually end up on my salad the next day.)  Sometimes I just saute some veggies.  Sometime in the future, I'll share some recipes.

So, I'm not trying to go low-carb or high-protein or whatever is the current miracle diet, I'm just trying to eat fresh and healthy and get my butt out and moving and see if that helps me lose weight, or at least feel better in the body I have.  Wish me luck.  We'll see how it goes.