Back at it!

Just a quick blurb to update.... the last month I have been crazy with work and life.  Maintained the diet and had my 40th birthday (yikes!)

Now I'm back to concentrating on losing another 15 pounds.  I'm feeling great these days - my waist is coming back, my hips are shrinking and my clothes don't really fit!  Here's are some pics of week to week, so far.

Week One

Week Three

Week 4

Week 5

So there you have it... I'm getting there!

SIZE 8!

Wow.  I bought a pair of size 8 pants yesterday.  Another inch off my hips... gone.  These results are working for me.  Every time I think of cheating or question whether or not I need to do things this way, the results show up.  i tried on a bunch of cocktail dresses that I would have to squeeze into this summer - not only is there no squeezing, the shirts are all in need of taking in. A lot.

I'm in the routine of this diet now... it's easy and hobit now to eat, prep, supplement, document.  I have a lot of spare time, though.  Haven't been going out very much.  Watched House of Cards on Netfilx (which was awesome).  Lots of Pinterest and Facebook going on, just to while away the hours.  Planning to paint my bedroom and living room.  Rearrange things for spring.  The dog has become accustomed to me being home more, which is fine.  Except when I want to go out.

Things are good - work is busy, the diet is a success... looking forward to celebrating my birthday in a couple of weeks with friends and family...

Time for dinner.  Chicken or steak?

Where did the week go???

This past week was a hectic work week - I found myself exhausted by the time I got home.  I needed calm and sleep and that is what I gave myself.

So to catch up - last Tuesday I had my second check in - 3 more lbs, which took me to 148 lbs - the lightest I've been in 6 years.  I was elated. I did a happy dance.  I realized that the excitement i saw other people have around their weight loss wasn't disingenuous - you work for it, and the results are worthy of celebration!

This week there were a few physical cravings i hadn't anticipated - sugar, being the main one.  I have never had a sweet tooth - I prefer savoury over saccharine. But last week i found myself wanting a treat - a sweet treat.  Luckily I had ordered the IP Crispy Cereal Treat - a diet Rice Crispie Square with vanilla icing drizzled on top.  i loved them as a kid, and have found them the perfect little yummy bite when I feel like being naughty.  I hope they work when I crave bourbon.

Socially, I've been out a few times.  Tea here and there.  Went for dinner with a friend - managed to stay on the plan and enjoyed the evening, though I found no desire to extend it too late.  800 calories isn't a lot to take in, and I find I'm tired by 10:30 most nights.  Last Sunday I went to a restaurant/bar opening.  Free drinks everywhere - so people were getting into it.  I was sipping soda water, which I was encouraged to maintain by all the comments on how I looked great and was obviously losing already.

With the week being busy, I found myself cooking in a hurry - cold chopped salads for lunch with a shake, chicken and salad for dinner.  Not a lot of time for creativity, but I was grateful that the pouches do the thinking for me.  Tomorrow is grocery day - I'll be prepping as much as I can in advance so I'\m better organized.

My clothes are starting to fit differently - I need a belt for all my pants.  Shirts aren't gaping at the bust, blazers are buttoning up.  In total, I've lost an inch off everywhere, more or less.  I feel good, save for the occasional fatigue.  I'm adjusting to being at home more - suddenly I'm nesting; making my home pretty and comfortable is a priority.  The dog is happy I'm around more, that's for sure.

Oh and I'm addicted to Pinterest.  I've created a hidden board called "Skinny Me with a bunch of clothes and looks I'll be all over once my waist is below 30 inches.  It's another way to kill time.  A lot of time, really. It just goes on and on forever.  Some great recipes on there as well.  But clothing is more fun.

I'm starting a video blog - well, restarting.  Learing that my laptop video capcity is poo.  Will be recording from my office, which is hopefully better.

Here's to another 4 lbs coming off this week --

Thursday/Friday - Island Time

My 16 yr old niece has a penchant for performance.  She always has, since she was a wee one.  Her high school has been putting on an annual dance review for the past three years and I have sadly been unable to attend, until last night.  I came across to Vancouver Island with my parents via Duke Point and headed to Chemainus, where Aislinn goes to school.  The performances were great - some more "dancing" than dancing, but the kids were having fun, and a hell of a lot more brave than I ever was in high school.  Aisy was awesome (of course), performing to Spaceman by The Killers in her pajamas.  Why not.

Travelling on the ferry was a weird trigger.  I always, since a very young age, have had a cheeseburger with fries and gravy on the boat over to the island.  Always.  So ordering my spinach salad with salmon, reading the dressing label for five minutes and watching my parents split a delectable chicken burger was more difficult than expected.  I wanted gravy.  Like WANTED gravy.  It was the first time I would say I had not only a physical craving, but also an emotional one.  I may have pouted a bit.

Once we got to the island and I had some tea, I felt better.  I still wanted gravy, but I wasn't pouty and annoyed like I was on the boat.  After the performance I realized I needed to eat, so once we got home I downed some soup and headed to bed.

Today is a beautiful day here on Thetis - the sun is out, and though it's still cold, it's bright and cheery.  The fire is stocked and I'm cozy on the couch with Jack, preparing my vlog for Vital Body... which I will get into later.  I had a Leek Soup with mushrooms and peppers added in for lunch.  My sister has a Magic Bullet system, which is great for IP products, especially since I managed to forget my shaker at home.

They also got satellite internet, so I can work from here and no one back home knows the difference.  Which is so close to bliss I can't even describe...

I'm in charge of dinner, so for the first time, I'll be cooking two meals, or at least one and a half... one for me and everyone, and sides for everyone else. (Carrots and potatoes, argh.)

I do love having the leisure to prep dinner starting at 2 p.m.  I would have made a fabulous 50's housewife.  Cooking is one of the things that truly brings me joy.  The though process, the detailed preparations  the timing.  But mostly, it's watching people eat and be happy.  From a creation of mine.  (And Mother Nature's bounty, obviously.)

I have rib eye steaks, some ground beef for extra servings (our party grew in size), carrots, taters, broccoli, mushrooms and who knows what else I can forage up.  I'm going to rub the steaks and let them get a good sear on the BBQ.  Trying to figure out a plan for the ground beef...  maybe a mini shepherd's pie with the carrots and potatoes and some of the mushrooms?  Not a bad idea... can make that ahead, too.

I must go... the culinary genius is percolating..

Day 7 - Weighing In

Tuesdays are hell for me.  Literally.  I am always in a meeting with a client from noon til anywhere between 3 pm and six pm.  This wreaks obvious havoc on a diet program, never mind the agonizing stress it brings - but that's another tale altogether.

So I sat in a "short" meeting - three hours.  I purposefully had an early shake before leaving so I could get through the meeting, have a late veggie only lunch and eat a late dinner.

Before dinner, I went to my first "check-in", where I was weighed and measured and all that fun stuff.  I lost 4 lbs in a week, and 1/2 an inch each off waist, thigh, arm and bust.  % body fat went down by .25%, if memory serves.  All in all, I felt pretty damn good with my results.  Considering I haven't been able to get under 150 lbs for 6 years, being weighed at 151.4 lbs got me excited.  It's really happening.

I was extremely full of veggies by the time I was done dinner; steak tournedos with Dijon and tarragon, chard and spinach, and roasted cauliflower and parsnip puree, which was heavenly, I might add.

The thing about Tuesdays, being the most stressful day of my week by far, is that I used to drink quite a bit once I got home and headed out.  Some days I went straight to the Irish Heather and sat there til I was numbed enough to move. Slowly.  So today I had the challenge of getting through the day with no alcohol and had to find another stress release.

I had a hot bath.  It was nice, but didn't stop my head from spinning in work-related concentric circles.  I cleaned, which just made me tired.  I collapsed on the couch with the dog at my feet and decided to browse Netflix.

I found the solution...  I started watching Star Trek: TNG from episode 1... god, I love Netflix.  I am a closet nerd and loved TNG when it was on the air.  So my new "me-time", the new bourbon, is Jean-Luc Picard.   I hope Patrick Stewart doesn't mind me using years of his work as a cocktail-replacement, but there it is...

Make it so.

The skinny on SKINNY

Last night, as I was questioned yet again why I was drinking tea sitting at my favorite watering hole, I mentioned to a female friend that I was looking forward to being "skinny again". Her reaction was immediate and chastising.  "Don't say skinny," she whispered with a quick shake of the head.  "Healthy, fit.  You're beautiful, you don't have to be skinny."  She was intense and sincere, borderline concerned.

My first reaction was to chuckle.  The person, albeit a social acquaintance, doesn't know me terribly well.  Politically correct verbiage has never scored high on my priority list, but since I'm writing this blog, I thought I should explain why I use the word SKINNY, and not any of the Oprah-endorsed terms that float around book-clubs and white-wine-soaked lunches.  And in starting to write about it, I came to a whole other angle...

Initially, I would say, "I say skinny, because skinny is the word I choose to use."  "Skinny", to me, does not mean I am seeking to suddenly sprout six inches, lose my curves and become a super-model.  I'm 5'3 and always have had a classic hour glass figure.  I have no intention of changing that, nor would I want to in a million years.  I don't say I want to "become healthy", because being able to wear the clothes I love on Pinterest is a stronger motivator to me than making my body into a locally sustainable farmer's market, and I already have a perfectly healthy sense of self.  I've fought for it over the past decade, and I'm not about to use a term that suggests I'm suddenly a fucking caterpillar/butterfly analogy.  I don't say "fit" because to me that implies exercise.  I hate exercise.  I know I will have to do some, but I have no desire whatsoever to have cut abs, defines biceps or thunderously muscular thighs.  I have one word for that: ew.  Not that other women don't look great when they're fit and cut and all that, it's just not for me.

But upon writing and editing and chewing on this all morning, I realize the statement that caught me most off guard was "you don't have to be skinny."  I know what the speaker intended - she was speaking from a place of female empowerment, not accepting social pressure to conform to a body type, etc. And in a general sense, in a girl-power, teach the kids to love themselves way, I totally agree.  But the verbiage irked me.  It poked at the back of my brain, annoying me... so here's what I came to.

I take a basic issue with this empowerment psycho-babble that circulates the airwaves and gives us permission to be idiots, waving our fingers in the air saying "You don't know maaaay!" like a bunch of braying mules.  I believe it's time to redefine the word SKINNY.  Let's try this, shall we?

S is for SHARING
Guess what?  You're NOT entitled to be fat. (genetic/medical conditions are obviously exempt here) You're not entitled to eat in excess, tax the medical system with your engorged heart, cholesterol-laden arteries, your crushed joints, and the slough of complications that come from being over-weight.  This "right" is not in any constitution, Magna Carta, MLK speech, spiritual text of ANY origin, no where.

You're not entitled to contribute to the ever-present inequality of our economic system.  Do you have homeless and starving in your city?  Your neighbourhood?  I bet you do... SO PUT DOWN THE FORK.  Share a bit, Petunia Pig.  Donate some of your food to a food bank.  Make a meal for someone convalescing or in need.  Be skinny with your consumption.  Eat less. Be excessive with your spirit.  Indulge in giving.

K is for KNOWLEDGE
Know what you're eating.  At all times.  Know what it does to your body, your environment, your planet.  Educate your self - there are dozens of documentaries, books, online blogs, twitter accounts, all about food, sustainability, diet, ecology and agriculture.  You don't have to become a zealot to understand how our food systems work, and how messed up they can be.

I is for INTEGRATION
Nothing works on it's own.  Balance and inter-connectivity are essential to making major lifestyle changes work.  I can't go back to 6 drinks a day and think I can stay thin.  Unless I take up a drug habit.  Which I'd rather not.  I have to make time to take care of myself - time to shop for foods carefully, time to prep and cook, time to be active.  Working at my desk for 8 hours straight is no longer an option (as a self-employed person, this is harder than you might think).  I have to prioritize ME in here, or this will never stick.

N is for NARCISSISM
Let's just admit this and get it out of the way.  As much as we all pay lip service to "everyone is beautiful", I know, and YOU know, we don't really believe that.  Semantically, I would change that to say "There is beauty in all things" or "There's something beautiful in everyone", but we as a society have a standard of beauty.  It's there. It changes with fashion and time, but it's there.  I'm not interested in shifting how we LOOK at each other.  I think the shift needs to be how we VALUE each other.  I can think someone needs a make-over, but still value their contribution to work, or even society at large.  Hilary Clinton has fat ankles.  She's an amazing woman with influence and obviously a will and strength of iron (Hi Bill).  But, maybe go back to pant-suits, Hil.  I love to dress up.  I love heels, I love accessories, I love turning heads in a room.  I like compliments on my appearance.  Accept it, put it in it's place, and move on.

N is for NO
To low-self esteem.  To self-doubt. To loneliness. To despair.  To self-loathing and judgement.  To fear of your own skin.  No more.

Y is for YES
I'm not going to list the yes' for you.  We all have our own yes'.  What are you saying yes to?  What are you inviting into your life by deciding to make a lifestyle change and commitment to that change?  How may doors can you see opening, and happily closing?  It's exciting, isn't it?  The prospect of being YOU.  Exactly how you really want to be, with no excuses, no fear, no hiding beneath the weight of the past, whatever your past was.  Yes to letting go.  Yes to SKINNY.

Before I sign off - please know that writing this was really for me - I needed to say this to myself.  I have no intention of coming off preachy or like a day-time talk-show host.  Some of the things I wrote here were hard for me.  There may have been tears.  Maybe.  But I already feel lighter, and I guess that's something, isn't it?

With great thanks to Lauren Gibson for the inspiration...

Day 5 - first weekend...

I had a relaxing Saturday... tea with a friend, a quick client meeting, then  I walked home from the meeting - some yay-me reward shopping downtown on the way (for me, this was a pair of shoes.  OK, two pair.  They were on sale, obvs.), which was cold but that only kept my pace brisk.  I stayed home in the evening (me, home on a Saturday night?!?!?).  Had a yummy chicken dinner...  Similar to Friday's, but I dosed everything up with a bit hit of garlic for extra flavour.

I recently hooked up my internet connection at home again, so I dug into a night of Netflix and went to bed early.  Jim Gaffigan's jokes about working out and being overweight were even funnier, if not at least poignant.

Today is Sunday.  I work up and had a shake before running out to have a coffee with Jason (friend of mine who lives a few blocks away).  His gf is coming into town tomorrow, so he needed groceries, and I needed to stock up for the week.

I loaded up my basket with at least the basics I'll need to get through the week.  Grocery bill $55.  Not bad, considering I spent close to $300 a week going out... yikes.

My grocery list today was:

Spring Mix and Spinach
Zucchini
Cauliflower
Mushrooms
Radishes
Swiss Chard
Cucumber
Parsnips
Poultry Mix Fresh Herbs
Mint

Omega 3 Eggs

Sirloin Steak medallions
Boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Pork Loin Chops (bone-in)

Upon my return home, I opened the fridge and realized I really hadn't cleaned out the fridge in preparation for this whole new diet, so I got a bucket and a garbage bag and ruthlessly threw out anything that didn't fit the new plan.  I then restocked with all my nice fresh groceries.  I then did the same with my pantry cupboard... the results were very satisfying.  Nothing there that shouldn't be.  All sorted and ready for preparation and a new week of creative recipes.

Week two.  Admittedly, I wish it was week 10 or 14 or further in.  I am looking forward to my weekly weight-in to see the results of my first week, for sure.  But, I've never been known for my patience.

 So, I wanted to make a few things clear about me, personally.

I am single.  I have no kids, no boyfriend, no husband.  This simplifies my diet considerably   I'm not cooking for anyone else, and I fully understand how this would make it so much easier and achievable than a person who is cooking for a whole family, and, god forbid, picky eaters.

The biggest adjustment this past week has been eating three times a day.  Even now, I have finished half my omelette, and as much as it's extremely tasty, I'm full.  So I can spread my 4 cups of veg over the day, but I have to ingest this much food.

Also, I have to say I have NEVER in my life had this many vegetables in my diet.  Evereverever.  I was always a meat and potatoes girl.  Vegetables might enter in to the picture if they happened to be next to the potatoes and accidentally got on my fork.  Salads were nice, but rare.  Not only is eating a lot of veg a new thing, but cooking them is pretty new, too.

Having been in the food industry, I know how to cook, maybe more than average.  I understand seasoning and different cooking methods.  I just rarely used them.  Here are a few things I have used this past week that might help you out if you're new to veggies, too...  I also highly recommend The Joy of Cooking - it has all the basics and more, from cooking methods to substitutions.  It's really the best basic.  Most chefs I know have this in their own home kitchens.

Blanching your veggies makes all the difference in the world, especially if you like crunchy vegetables.  By blanching for 30 secs and immediately submerging in ice water to stop the cooking process, you will always have brightly coloured, clean and ready to eat veg.  However you wind up cooking the vegetables - roasted in the oven, sauteed stove-top, baked in parchment (which is amazing done with fish, by the way), blanching is a great first step.  Yes, you can eat veg raw and washed, and you can cook them from that same state, but you will lose a lot of the nutrient value from those 4 cups of veg, and on a low-caloric intake diet, that doesn't make much sense, does it?

My favourite veggies always have either garlic and/or ginger infused into them, depending on what I'm doing with my protein - Asian style foods either both or ginger, anything Continental (French, Italian, Greek, etc), garlic.  Olive oil will give you a nice saute instead of butter (I'm a huge butter fan, truct me, but for now...)

Because today is Sunday and I have the day to do laundry and putter around my house, I am roasting off two heads of garlic in foil and storing in a clean jar for the week.  Roasted garlic is much milder than raw, and you can add it near the end of the cooking process and still get lots of flavour with out fear of burning raw garlic (which becomes bitter and can turn any vegetable dish into ruin.).  I am also making a larger portion of a basic salad dressing to have on hand.  I can add fresh herbs or other seasoning at a whim.  My basic dressing is Dijon, apple cider vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper.  I have discovered that using an electric milk frother (for lattes or what have you) is awesome at emulsifying dressings.  They come out looking creamy and perfectly blended.  I got mine at London Drugs for 7.99.

Now that I feel set up for the week, I think it will be easier to maintain what will be a very busy work week, along with a lunch for work.  I foresee salads for the week  - which is fine.  Just need to be sure to get the protein from IP in there as well.

I'm off to a friend's place for dinner - she's doing a cleanse, which makes our meal requirements pretty much even.  She and I normally would dive in to at least one bottle of fantastic wine, but at least we can commiserate over kale and tea.

Til tomorrow.