Weight Loss Ups & Downs

Today, I'm feeling discouraged. Okay, I know it isn't actually logical. I can look at my weight-loss progress, and see I'm ahead of schedule for my goal, my body is feeling better, and yesterday I fit into a dress a friend had gotten me, but had never fit. It isn't often I have a mood like I do today, and I can actually feel my mood yo-yoing. I'm battling my own self talk.

How am I going to choose to battle this today? I'm going to bring the Lord to the battle first, by getting into scripture, and spending time with Him. Then I'm going to remind myself of the success I've had so far, and keep my eye on the prize. I'm going to take control of these emotions that are making me feel discouraged, and frankly a bit depressed.

I'm not feeling like doing that, but I am not going to let my emotions drive this train. I am having a bit of a plateau, and I know that is normal. I weigh myself everyday, and I know our weight fluctuates, and most of the time I'm content to just wait and actually record my weight when it has gone down, but it has been a few days, and I guess I was hoping for it to continue to go down. On top of that, yesterday wasn't a great day.

I'm going to give myself credit though, my not great day is nothing like even a normal day used to be. On Sparkpeople my daily calorie intake goal is between 1200-1550. I like to stay between 1200-1300, but I don't always succeed. Yesterday I felt out of control of my eating. I went out of town with my hubby, and I didn't really plan. We bought some protein bars on the way out of town, and a bag of air popped popcorn. I do eat bars as part of my normal routine, but not usually two fuelings in a row. So, I think I felt deprived. I ended up binging half the bag of popcorn. In the end, my calorie intake was 1566. I felt out of control, but I guess it ended up working out okay.

The good news, I got a new swimsuit in the mail yesterday, and I'm very happy with it. It is comfortable, I look good in it, and it fits well. The best part? I bought a size smaller than before, and it fits fine. I probably could go even one more size down. I'm really looking forward to the day when I can actually just shop in normal stores, not just online for clothing.

I apologize if this reflects my up and down feelings, but I want to be real, and this is really where I'm at today. As Scarlett would say, "After-all, tomorrow is another day."

Wow! Victorious Breakthrough

I was stressing about a number, and my past experiences with that number. The number was 330, a place I've plateaued several time. I really believe drinking 64 oz. of water before eating, and within the first half hour after waking up, have helped me break through this typical plateau. Today, I weighed in at 329, that puts me at 34lbs lost, only 3 lbs away from having lost 10% of my body weight. I'm really excited about how things are going.

Further great news, everyone in my family has lost weight. My hubby has lost about 20lbs, I'm not sure what my oldest daughter has lost, but her prom dress was too big, and she had to go with a different one because she had lost weight, and the youngest wouldn't weigh herself when we began, but since she has noticed a real change she is weighing herself now. We had been keeping our bathroom scale under the sink, none of us really wanted to know what it said, but now it is out in the bathroom and we all weigh in frequently.

Okay, so I'm excited about scale breakthroughs, but I have to tell you, I try not to obsess with the number on the scale. I'm being honest, if I step on the scale, and I don't like the number, I don't track it. In other words my weigh ins look far between when I'm plateauing. It is a mind set that the number I don't like is not permanent, and tracking it would make it permanent. 

So, non-scale victories: yesterday I walked quite a bit around downtown and it wasn't terribly strenuous like it used to be, and I stayed on plan yesterday, even with eating out and having a busy day of meetings. Perhaps tomorrow I will talk about eating out strategies that work for me.  Also, yesterday I got to wear this great dress that I had bought a few months back at the thrift store. I really like it, and it makes me feel sassy. Finally, a huge non scale victory yesterday, I have a denim jacket that I bought quite a while ago, but it never completely buttoned, yesterday I was able to button it, easily. Now how is that for sassy! (Below is the sassy dress, not on the same day, but....)

Mother's Day Blessings

Everyday I'm learning, little by little, that the little steps matter. Today, my husband got me a great Mother's Day gift, that really helps me pursue health. He bought me a kite. It is important to find things you enjoy, and I enjoy kite flying. I haven't done it in years, but I can't wait to go to the park around the corner from us and fly my kite. Yesterday was a bit cold for such things, but as spring is finally springing here in Oregon, I'm looking forward to outdoors pursuits.

There was still food at our Mother's Day celebration, but I decided I wanted spring rolls. It is a meal I adore, but don't really love making because it is a lot of prep. The family got together and did the prep, and I just helped direct. It was an awesome time sitting around the table making spring rolls and talking. A small thing that blesses a mom's heart.

Today, I finally remembered I wanted to start drinking the 2 quarts of water before I eat anything. Since I try to eat within an hour of getting up, and I want to drink the water in basically one sitting, it was a challenge. The thing is now, I feel great. Drinking that much water helps get things moving, plus I know that all the rest the water I drink throughout the day is kind of bonus water.

Finally, the best mother's day I got was when I stepped on the scale yesterday I finally dropped that pound that had been stubbornly hanging on. Right here, where I am now, has always been a place that my body wants to plateau. I'm going to have to work to shake things up so I can continue to lose about 15 lbs a month. My plan is to incorporate more exercise, and of course adding the water in the morning. I hope it is enough to shake it up, because I'm done fooling around. This weight is going to go.

Starting the Day Right

Starting the day on the right track cannot be underestimated! Today, for example, I decided to do something a little different from my typical eggs and veggies breakfast. Cereal just sounded good, and since I want to live a life of abundance, and not limitation, I decided to go ahead and have cereal. I had some gluten free Puffins Peanut Butter cereal. I stayed with a serving size, and I added a half of a cup of soymilk to up the protein content. With that I had my usual cup of coffee, today with maple syrup.

It all came in at the right caloric load. So, it balanced out to 209 calories, which is right on track for a meal. I eat 5-6 small meals a day, and keep them around 200 calories. This meal had 34 carbs, which is a little high for a typical morning meal, 6 grams of fat, 8 grams of protein, which is a little low, I like to stay at 10 grams and above, and 3 grams of fiber, which is reasonable. So, all the numbers were okay, not great, but acceptable.

Why then, am I so hungry after only an hour? I'm finding myself counting down the minutes until my next meal. This is not something I normally do. All I can gather is that it is the lower protein count, and perhaps the carb numbers. I'm not exactly sure, but I do know that either an egg breakfast, like a frittata, scramble, or even a tofu scramble, keeps me satisfied, and on track with my day better.

It is important to know how to start your day. Here is where I believe each person is individual. Some people start with fruit. I used to drink 2 quarts of water before I ate or drank anything else in the morning. This is a great way to get your body primed for the day. Actually, as I'm writing this I think I want to get back in that habit. It has several benefits. It helps your body flush toxins that may have gathered overnight while you sleep, it gives you all the water you need for the day in one sitting, so you know you will not get dehydrated during the day, and it assures that you are not going into the first meal of the day starving.

In fact, often we think we are hungry, when in fact we are thirsty. Next time you think you are hungry, try drinking water. If you find drinking water challenging, infuse it with fruit. Lemons and limes are great for detoxifying and alkalizing your body. Other fruit, like berries can be very tasty, you can even try cucumbers for a refreshing treat in summer. Another way to try drinking water is with therapeutic grade essential oils, like doTERRA. I particularly like the Slim & Sassy blend. You can find out more on my website : http://mydoterra.com/amandavellinga

Blessings to you, as you seek ways to start your day right. Let me know what that means to you.

Challenge Update plus Sweet Chili Chicken Salad Recipe

So, yesterday I had intense knee pain, and I won't lie, it still hurts. Today is not as bad as yesterday. I watched part of the legs workout on the SparkPeople 28 Day Home workout challenge, and decided that I was unable to do it. I substituted the sitting workout instead. So small victory, I did workout.

As for dining challenges at our friend's house. It turned out great. I took the sweet chili chicken salad, and avocado black bean brownies. They were delicious, and I stayed totally on plan. Today, I am going to include the recipe for the sweet chili chicken salad.

Sweet Chili Chicken Salad

Cabbage, shredded 3/4 cup

Carrot 1 small, shredded

Radish, 1-2 small, chopped

Zucchini, shredded 1/2 cup

Fresh mint and/or Cilantro about a total of 2 Tbsp. chopped

Red bell pepper, chopped 1/4 cup

2-3 ounces of shredded cooked chicken breast*

1 Tablespoon of Sweet Chili Sauce (I like Mae Ploy, or Grama's)

Zest and juice of 1/2 a lemon

1 Tablespoon sliced dry roasted almonds (I like Trader Joe's)

Mix the chicken and chili sauce, and set aside. Layer the rest of the veggies, zest the half lemon over veggies, and squeeze the juice over the salad. Top with the chicken and toasted almonds. The macros below are with 3 ounces of chicken.

Nutritional Info

• Servings Per Recipe: 1
• Amount Per Serving
• Calories: 264.6

• Total Fat: 6.8 g
• Cholesterol: 52.7 mg
• Sodium: 442.0 mg
• Total Carbs: 26.1 g
• Dietary Fiber: 4.7 g
• Protein: 23.1 g

There are of course lots of possible variations. The veggies can vary depending upon what you have on hand. Instead of almonds you could used toasted sesame seeds, or cashews. Let me know if you try this salad, and what you think of it. Let me know if you want more salad ideas. Please subscribe.

*I get large packages of chicken and cook a big batch of breasts at one time with salt and pepper on it, then I shred and store for later use.

Knee Pain and other challenges from Sparkpeople Blog 5/1/17

I'm having a hard time focusing today due to knee pain. I believe I need to make a doctor's appointment. I'm trying to do the 28 day Home Workout Challenge, but I'm not sure if I can do it today. I am going to attempt since it is only 10 minutes today, but my concern, without having watched the video, is that today is a leg workout. I'm not going to let it discourage me. 

Also challenging today, spring allergies. My hubby is mowing the lawn and cut grass kills me. My daughter is making me doTERRA tri-blend shots with lavender, peppermint, and lemon. It helps. Also running doTERRA Breathe in the diffuser. On top of all that it is that time of month. Wowser! I'm going to make it through this day victorious. 

The final challenge of the day is family fellowship at a friend's house tonight. It is always potluck. Last week I took frittata and salad, and the host had barbeque chicken legs and stuffing, both things I cannot eat. This week she plans on doing roast and peach cobbler. Thankfully, she doesn't make things overly sweet, so the cobbler won't be a huge problem. I'm not sure what I'm taking. I think black bean brownies, salad, and some sort of casserole. I need to assess what I have in the fridge. I know I have some shredded chicken I should use up. Maybe I'll just make the brownies and a sweet chili chicken salad. That sounds good, and filling. (Plus easy since I have most of it made already.) Challenge accepted! 

Pursuing Health Continued from Sparkpeople Blog 4/29/17

So, picking up where I left off, my husband and I are eating buddies, as is my best friend, and I passed my unhealthy habits on to my children. More on that later. About eight years ago we discovered a life changing book called "Food Additives A Shoppers Guide to What's Safe and What's Not!" I cleaned out our entire pantry, and we started to eat organic much more often. It is around this time when we discovered, and purchased Saladmaster. It was a missing link for us. 

So, I have been cooking on my Saladmaster for about 7 years. I think I hoped that I would naturally lose weight, and I did lose some using it. However, my old nemesis, self-control, or rather the lack of it, kept rearing it's ugly head. The food cooked on my new Saladmaster pans just tasted sooooooo goodl. It took the simplest of meals and elevated them, but did I mention that I was already a good cook, so the meals I can make on that are phenomenal. 

Here I was, with this incredible cooking system, and all sorts of knowledge about food, but no self control, or plan. I opened a small shop about two years ago, and with being so busy, my food got completely out of control. We were constantly eating out. Something we had phased almost completely out back when we cleaned out our cupboards. We even started going to fast food again, because it was affordable and we were hungry. Of course, we weren't eating for life, we were eating for death, so we had no energy. 

I'm not sure how long we could have continued on that road. I ended up in the hospital last 4th of July, with a case of sepsis that it took me months to completely recover from. My leg is scarred from it, and I came away with a diagnosis of diabetes, and hypertension. You would think this would be enough, and when I first got out of the hospital we did do better for a time. Then slowly, as we were busy, we went right back to our old habits. 

Then, going back to the beginning of this story, I closed my shop at the end of December. I'm a bit of an introvert, so at first I just needed some time of not going out or doing anything. I started cooking at home, but even that was a bit challenging at first, we had become kind of addicted to eating out. Plus, if my kitchen isn't clean, I don't feel like cooking. Then in March I started Take Shape for Life. 

I thought I would love the convenience of pre-packaged foods. Plus, TSL had made a new line of products called Optavia, which had no artificial sweeteners, or artificial flavors. However, somewhere along the line even when we were eating fast food we had checked out of the standard American diet (SAD). We had been cutting the sweetener, for ages. We had always eaten a fair amount of fresh produce. In fact, my favorite part of TSL was the lean and green meal. I love green vegetables. Well, all color vegetables really. 

I was four days into TSL when I realized I hated eating packaged food. We do not microwave, and the foods that needed to be microwaved were difficult to make.any other way The shakes with stevia were too sweet, tasted icky to me, and left a bad stevia after taste in my mouth. I felt like I was eating sweets all day, with one lean and green meal where I always wanted to eat more vegetables. So much of the food was just not to my taste. I decided it was not a good fit for me. 

That being said, TSL taught me some things that I have successfully implemented in my weight loss journey. First, eat smaller amounts more frequently. Six smaller meals a day, 2-3 hours apart. I try to have a protein at each of those meals, veggies, and a couple of meals a day I have a higher carb/fiber option. (Like a sweet potato, or beans.) Second, Dr. A's habits of health is a great book, that addresses all the issues an obese person will face during a weight loss journey. It is invaluable. Third, if I don't have a perfect day eating, I can just pick myself up and do it right the next day. 

This journey is interesting. I believe God has put me on it for a reason. I think at least part of the reason is the story of my journey. We all come from different walks of life, but no matter where we come from the pursuit of health is a something we need to be dedicated to, and it is individual. This is just the start of my story.