First Goal Acheived!

So, like many who are trying to lose weight, my first goal was to lose 10% of my original body weight. I have done that in just about 2 1/2 months, 11 weeks to be precise. So far, I'm averaging 3.5 lbs loss a week. I cannot anticipate to continue at that rate, although it would certainly be nice. I'm in this for the long haul, and I do not want to sabotage what I've worked so hard to accomplish.

Tonight, I was challenged by a student/family potluck for my daughter, who is a senior in high school. I planned ahead and brought my own meal prep container filled with food I knew I could eat on plan. I did have a few things from the potluck, a few pieces of fruit, a piece of sushi, and a single chocolate crinkle cookie off the dessert table. I decided before going to make sure I made very careful choices. Homemade items I would not get a chance to repeat, and or items that would fit on plan and would be okay. This pre-planning and decision making is what kept me strong throughout.

To celebrate my goal my daughters plan to help me dye my hair, and then my hubby is going to take me to get it cut. I hope to do that tonight, but it may have to wait until the weekend since we have a week busy with graduation events.

My next big goal is to get below 300, that means I have about 25lbs to lose to get there. I'm planning on adding more exercise to my program, and I'm finding that challenging. So, another of my goals is to be able to ride my bicycle to the local co-op, and eventually to the farmer's market. What are your goals?

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.

The Quest for "On Plan" Coffee

So, I have not always been a coffee drinker. When I was younger I liked the aroma, but not the flavor. Then in my late teens, early twenties, I went through an obsession with espresso. I think perhaps I liked the accessories, i.e. the demitasse cups, more that the beverage. After moving to Colorado, at age 23, I was still an occasional coffee drinker. Back then my caffeine of choice was Diet Pepsi. When I did drink coffee, I always wanted plenty of cream and sugar. I continued this way until my husband, oldest daughter, and I moved to Oregon.

Then begins our Dutch Bros. stage. When we moved here we had never heard of Dutch Bros. We both agreed that Starbucks was not our thing, but a friend of ours turned us on to Dutch Bros. and we ended up pretty addicted. There have been times on and off in the 12+ years we've been in Oregon that we had Dutch Bros. daily. There have also been times that I've been totally off coffee. Somewhere, about 8 years ago I stopped drinking Diet Pepsi, and that may have been why the coffee intake raised.

My love affair with coffee was rather full blown. I started brewing coffee at home. The only problem with brewing it at home was that if I brewed a pot my husband would maybe have a cup, and I would drink the rest. (Who wants coffee that sat a day, and who wants to waste coffee?) This became a thing for a while, always with lots of soymilk and sugar, or maybe agave. Then, we decided a French Press would be better than brewed. Partly because when you brew drip coffee, it always seemed that if you brewed half a pot it wasn't strong enough. We got a couple of small French Presses, and started making our coffee that way. Still, all this time buying coffee at Dutch Bros. or other such coffee houses when we went out and could afford to.

Then, almost 4 years ago we moved to Corvallis, OR. We still drank Dutch Bros. a few times a month, and we also tried most of the coffee shops around town. We found a local coffee shop we really liked, but still tons of cream and sugar. I opened my shop and my coffee addiction really reared it's ugly head again. The shop was near Starbucks, which was and still is zero temptation for me, and Einstein Bros. Bagels. Well, the drip coffee at Einstein was good, and if I purchased it early in the day, I could have unlimited refills. This was not good for me. I got a little out of control for a while.

During all these years, and our family's attempts to get healthier, we had at some point discovered cold brew coffee. About a year and a half ago we bought a pot to cold brew coffee. If you don't already know, cold brew is much less acidic than hot brewed coffee. It also retains more of the good anti-oxidants that are in coffee. Consequently, it is naturally sweeter tasting. Still with the benefits of cold brew, my husband felt it wasn't strong enough.

Then, research led me to Turkish style coffee, and that led me deeper to using Turkish style coffee in a cold brew process. Turkish coffee is just a much finer grind of coffee. The texture of Turkish style coffee is like that of cocoa powder.  You can use any type of coffee in that grind. We like a locally roasted coffee called River Mud. To make the cold brew you mix 1 cup of ground coffee with about 1 quart of cold water, and let it sit on the counter over night for at least 24 hours. Then you strain out the grounds. We use our cold brew pot's strainer, but you could use a nut milk bag, or similar. It is really that simple.

Today, my on plan coffee is 10 oz. of cold brew, 3/4 cup of organic almond milk, and 2 teaspoons of agave. This comes in at about 55 calories. Much better than my fave Dutch Bros. drink that comes in at 440 cals for a similar size. These type of choices help me stay on plan, and not feel deprived.