This Time It Will Stick...A 40=something woman tries Primal page 5

[olehcat]

So it's Saturday, and I am 147.2 Slowly, slowly, slowly. I'm hoping so hardcore to be 146.something by tomorrow, the official weigh-in.

Honestly? I don't need fast weight loss. Yes, I'm impatient to be out of my CODE RED CODE RED weight zone, but as long as it's happening, it can be slow, especially if it allows me some flexibility in diet occasionally. I just need to know that it's going to happen, and I'm not going to stay in the upper 140s forever and ever. Or worse, gain.

So things I'd like to tweak for the coming week:

I need to cut back on wine. It's such a pleasure for me, and I feel like I've been cut out of so many pleasures in my life this year that I'm reluctant to let go of one more. But still. Wine is not ideal for weight loss. I know this. I was trying to get to a point where I didn't actually buy wine for home but just had it if I was at someone else's house or if I went out. But one of my greatest pleasures is sipping wine while cooking, then enjoying the rest of the glass while I watch a favorite t.v. show while this beautiful relaxation comes over me.

I want to make sure I'm eating very clean at least 5 out of 7 days. That is, I want to make sure that I'm keeping things very basic, just meat and vegetables.

I need to eat less almond butter. I don't even like the almond butter I got. I accidentally got salted, and I really really prefer it unsalted (plus it's way healthier). I need to limit to one spoon a day instead of 3.

I allow SOME flexibility on Friday. LIke yesterday I had some dark chocolate covered pretzels because I had to be in an excruciatingly boring meeting all day. Damn, they were good. I enjoyed them. AND I had a few doughnut holes. Normally that kind of thing is completely taboo for me. But it felt good, and my weight still went down the next day, haha, albeit only slightly.

I need to drink more water. This is challenging. I do not have time to go to the bathroom every hour at work.

Anyway, that's what I'm going to try to tweak this week: less wine, less almond butter, stricter overall for 5/7 days, more water.

I am satisfied with my exercise progress. I am running/walking 3-4 times a week, taking a walk some of the other days, and doing the basic primal strength moves 3 times a week (with the assisted chin ups only 2 times a week). I am doing 10 girlie push-ups, 10 squats (they WERE unassisted, but for some reason yesterday I had to be assisted because the muscle in one of my legs felt overly sore/weak), 30 seconds of the most assisted plank (most modified, I mean). My goal for this week is to continue as is, and add a few more reps to everything.

[olehcat]

Another update on same day.

So I think coconut oil made me very sick today. I've narrowed that out since I regularly eat everything else I had eaten this morning, but coconut oil is rare, and I cooked primal pancakes in it this morning. Ugh, ugh, ugh. Let's just say that it would be WAY tmi to indicate how I'm pretty sure it was the coconut oil and not something else or some random bug, but I honestly hate feeling this bad all day long. I don't think coconut oil is for me. Either that or the coconut milk I used in a curry recipe last night. I'm not sure what to think because I DO use coconut milk quite a bit in recipes and I love using it. I would hate to not be able to use it anymore. But I also can't afford the time that today's illness has cost me.

[olehcat]

Okay, so yesterday was sick all day, hardly ate anything past noon except maybe one banana. Here's where I was longing to have some non-primal saltine crackers at home! Those would have tasted like heaven yesterday. Or toast. Or rice. Or all those things we're not supposed to eat on primal. Comfort food for being sick. Whenever I'm recovering from stomach flu or food poisoning, I always want ginger ale and saltines. That's it. And neither of those are primal. If I had had them around yesterday, I would have had them.

Anyway, lesson learned. Coconut oil is not for me. I don't even think I'm willing to ease myself into it. I can't risk losing another whole day like that.

HOWEVER, my official weigh in proved to be lower than it would have been had I not gotten sick yesterday, haha.

Sept. 30: 149
Oct. 7: 147.4
Oct. 14: 145.8

Hmm...I wonder if I can count today's loss? Or will I zoom right back up to 147.something by tomorrow if I eat anything at all?

It also gives me an idea that maybe on Saturdays before my official weigh-in, if I don't have any sort of social event going on, that maybe I should fast from noon onward or at least eat very light. Then I can always guarantee a drop by Sunday's weigh-in.

On the other hand, I've been contemplating getting rid of the scale altogether as it is evil and I tend to get obsessed by it. But I don't know. I like numbers. I like data. I can't help it.

[DCarr10760]

Hi!

I'm wondering if CO is having the same effect on me. Same symptoms :-/

Re: the scale thing. I'm a daily weigh-er. I know the pitfalls and that my weight will naturally range a bit. Still I'm happier on days that show a loss and less happy on days that don't. So it is a bit of an emotional roller coaster, but if you can manage to keep from being discouraged and binging if your weight unexpectedly rises, there is nothing wrong with weighing daily IMO.

David

[olehcat]

@David - thanks for dropping by! Oh dear on the coconut oil. I guess it's not for everyone. I'm a bit disappointed since I heard such good stuff about it, and it's possible that if I eased my use that I wouldn't have problems but after yesterday, just not willing to try right now, haha.

Yeah, I feel compelled to be a daily weigher. I weighed myself today and it was not so good. I'm also not surprised. I do have to get used to those ups and downs. I think what concerns me is that I'm worried the trend isn't going downward, I'm worried the trend is going up and down and repeating among the same numbers.

So this morning I weighed myself and it was 148.2, yikes! Seriously, how does that even happen? How can one go from 145.8 to 148.2 in one day? It's so funny, the opposite rarely happens where you have a sudden dip downward like that. Well, I can actually tell you what happened. I ate. I mean, not huge amount, but remember on Saturday I hardly ate and my system was being cleaned out. So probably that 145.8 number was not real anyway, *SIGH* But it was so nice to see. Anyway, not only did I eat, but as what happens after a stomach illness the idea of fat or protein or even vegetables made me seriously nauseated just to contemplate, so this really ruined my chances of eating on plan. SO I did eat things off plan. Add this to going to my parents' house for dinner where I always drink more wine than planned and eat stuff that while is not totally unhealthy is often not on plan. So yeah, yesterday I did not eat a lot as my appetite is still not fully back, but when I ate it wasn't always on plan. Plus I had soup last night, so probably it had higher amounts of sodium in it. Okay, that oughter explain my weight jump, right?

HOWEVER, I may have a mini triumph. I could add it to the triumph thread, too, I guess. I went to buy wine yesterday to bring to the dinner, and the woman asked for my i.d. (I'm 42, remember). I was thinking, oh boy, probably she just has to ask anyone who looks under the age of 50, as I have been carded before at this age. Anyway, she looked at my i.d. and then at me and then said, "ReallY???" I just grinned and said, "You just made my day." I mean, let's be realistic. I don't look under 21, but obviously there's something there.

[DCarr10760]

Well here's the list of things that I have identified that affect my weight. Warning, sometimes it gets a bit graphic.

If I become dehydrated over several days I will lose several pounds. Generally this is when I have been dieting with a big caloric deficit. I go along thinking I am doing great, but its mostly lost water weight. However I then eat something salty and bang! Next morning I'm pounds heavier. To put this into perspective, a pint is a pound, the whole world round, so it doesn't take tons of water to affect wight one way or the other.

If I exercise to the point of muscle soreness. Part of the healing process after tearing the muscle fibers involves retaining fluid. This will show up as a weight gain. In two or three days I shed the water, but the muscle now weighs a tiny bit more.

Poo/Pee. If things aren't moving too well (or if they are) it will affect my weight this way or that. :-/

Usually several of these things are happening all at once, so it's confusing. It does help if I weigh myself first thing in the morning post-pee and before I eat of drink anything.

Yay for you for being carded! My hair is rapidly graying so stopped happening to me in the Clinton Administration!

[olehcat]

@David -- I think your post here was JUST what I needed to hear this morning! I always weigh myself first thing in the morning after using the bathroom.

Yesterday I had a LONG LONG day -- work all day, a three-hour class, and then a writer's workshop for 2 hours. So basically was gone from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. So eating primally was definitely a challenge, as I only had access to a refrigerator until 3, therefore I couldn't have too many things that would go bad or make me sick if they weren't kept cold. But somehow I did it and was so proud of myself for not breaking and stopping at McDonald's somewhere along the way, especially when I felt really hungry after my class. However, I did not drink nearly enough water. Despite not eating that much yesterday, I felt bloated up like a balloon by the time I crawled into bed.

And sure enough, this morning? 149.2. WAT? *sigh* It's like the weight loss universe is laughing at me.

So discouraging. I almost wanted to do what I've always done -- just throw everything away, as why am I working so hard to only eat certain foods if it's not going to help me lose weight while the weight just falls off everyone else, but then I realized, I really do feel bloated from water. My thighs feel SWOLLEN. And I ate some meat yesterday that tasted very salty. And I had some olives. Also very salty. I realized that just about everything I ate yesterday that wasn't veggies was high in salt. And I had had very little water. Perfect storm for massive water retention.

Or so I hope.

Also I have some sore muscles, especially a calf injury that flares up occasionally, and I had an intense run on Sunday. So it could be fluid retention there, too.

So today I am going to stay the course, going to drink TONS of water (I will have more time to use the restroom, as my schedule will be a bit clearer today). Perhaps there shall be a big drop by tomorrow.

[olehcat]

Things are a little better...

I weighed in today at 146.4, which is lower than I was this time last week. So maybe, just maybe, I can get below 145 by Sunday weigh-in. I can dream, right?

I have not been as strict as I had hoped this week but have done surprisingly well considering the stress levels and over-busyness of my life lately. Have also deliberately stopped some off-plan impulses in their tracks. Like yesterday morning I suddenly got it in my head that I WAS going to get a cranberry scone from my favorite coffee shop. I didn't care, I was going to have it, work is stressful. But when I got to the drive-through window, I just asked for coffee. I didn't get it. I DID have 1 chocolate covered pretzel at work that morning, but that was WAY less damage than the scone would have been.

I'm building up my running about 3 times a week, and will add interval training as soon as I get a good base level (30 minutes without stopping). I know running is not particularly primal, but for me it's enjoyable exercise, so that's why I keep it.

[olehcat]

Today was up a little, to 147, but I'm not surprised. Yesterday I was supposed to run, but I did not. It was very windy and rainy and chilly and I'm a wimp. Ha. So today it is, no matter what, but I will probably go to the gym.

Also, I ate a little off plan. Not huge amounts, but I found myself in high craving mode yesterday. Maybe the stress of my job or boredom with the food I've been eating, but I wanted chocolate. I stuck to dark chocolate but I had more than I normally would have. The biggest off plan thing was that I ate out at a Thai restaurant with friends last night. I could have eaten on plan easily there, but I got tofu as the meat because I just love how they prepare their tofu there, and I had rice, and not just a little of it like I normally do. I was really hungry when I got there, and so I just kept eating more and more of the rice, of which I had only planned to have a little. Also I had a few bites of noodles. So yeah. Not a stellar day in primal land for me. I think I have to give myself a few days like this sometimes because honestly, I tend to be very inconsistent and when I tell myself I can never, ever, ever have certain foods again (and sometimes I Just crave rice), then it's all over for me, and I give up the entire lifestyle.

I am considering fasting again. Intermittent fasting, or what I did sometimes a few summers ago, just eating an evening meal with a 2-hour food time window. I did this pretty successfully a few years ago for a week or two. I don't know. It's hard though, with social pressures, and I eat with a lot of people at lunch and you know at least one of them will notice and have to point it out and I do not do good in discussions about my body as a science experiment. The reason I'm considering it, is that I think I need to contain my eating in a much smaller window of time. That will solve a huge amount of temptations in my life, if it's just not an available time to eat. I'm sort of scared to start because I know it's a brutal couple of days while your body adjusts to fasting. I hate just thinking about how hungry I am all the time. I know what happens is that fades significantly after a few days. But it's hard. Especially with my current schedule. So we'll see. Maybe I'll ease into it, but skipping breakfast first, then lunch, etc.

[olehcat]

Howdy again! Hope everyone is doing well.

So I didn't weigh myself today because I knew things would not be great. I slipped up a bit on Friday and yesterday.

But I learned something. It's funny, I don't really regret slipping up because I really enjoyed what I ate (I now make it a policy that when I slip, I ONLY slip with stuff that's truly stuff I want, not just because it's there). However, my stomach did not enjoy it so much! I woke up with stomach pains Friday night that I haven't had for awhile, and it's usually from eating stuff high in flour/wheat, like if I have pizza or cookies. Also last night I felt bloated and just icky. THat clarity of thought was gone and I was unfocused. It really IS night and day.

So radical thought, all. I think because I'm being so wishy-washy about everything and therefore not losing weight, I am going to do this thing where I am super strict Monday through Friday. That is, I'm going strict salad:

So my plan is to have a bigass primal salad for lunch and a bigass primal salad for dinner. In the salads shall be lettuce, kale, other veggies like cucumbers, chicken breast, a hard boiled egg, avocado, other veggies, a bit of cheese (not a lot), a few nuts. I will probably fast or just have coffee until lunch. If not, will have eggs for breakfast. And no wine during the week. This will be very low calorie and probably hard, but it will only be for five out of seven days. On the weekend, I will eat more, but try to stick primal, in which I will feast on fatty meat, like bacon, etc. I will probably go slightly off plan a little once a week for the next few weeks as certain events are coming up (like a party next Saturday, another Halloween event on Halloween, my niece's birthday party, Thanksgiving, etc.). So what I'm hoping will happen will that it will jump start some weight loss and therefore give me more confidence. I NEED to see results and so I need to be more radical on days when I DON'T have life getting in the way of my way of eating.

I'm SOOOO inspired by success stories here. I can't stop reading the triumph threads and the success stories. I want that to be me so much, and sometimes I worry I don't have what it takes to succeed at anything. I don't have drive, and yet I spend so much energy angsting about not losing weight or not succeeding. If I could put half of that energy into just getting it done, then I could be a success story too.

So, here I am on Sunday, approximately 147-148 pounds (I'm sure I'm up since Friday). The most I've lost is about 1 pound since I started this a few weeks ago and NOT because of the diet, all because of lack of compliance. I hope I'm not one of those people that are just at some "set point" in weight where I'm meant to be a bit chunky. I want to prove my body wrong, if that's the case!

I canceled a doctor's appointment recently because I did not want to get weighed at the doctor's office. I know that's so wrong, but I'm determined to at least lose 10 pounds before I get that humiliation. If I lose 10 pounds, i will be within a healthy range for my height (or close to it), albeit at the very upper range of it, but still.

I so badly want to be 110 pounds, which sounds perfect for my weight. Shoot, I'd feel svelte at 120, I think, too. I've wanted this for so long and yet my weight just keeps creeping upward because there seems to be a split between what I want and what I do to achieve things. So yeah, here we go.