Struggles and Setbacks

6.3.15

"There is scarcely any passion without struggle."~Albert Camus

This week I have a couple of admissions to make. First of all, this is my first post in about three weeks. Secondly, during that time, I was off the Weight Watchers plan. This is incredibly unsurprising. I knew that my posting and my healthy eating success would go hand-in-hand. I allowed a busy and stressful time to get in my way. As you may remember, we went to Kansas City on the weekend of May 10, and I never got back on track with healthy eating until three days ago.

In my past posts, I wondered when this thing would get tough. I got my answer. A combination of taking a couple days off and the end of the school year made it difficult. And I didn’t tough it out. I took a break—a much longer break than I intended to. And, not only did I take a break from tracking points, I fell completely OFF THE WAGON. I allowed one weekend of overindulging to become an excuse to just keep eating--BBQ, cake, candy, pizza, beer—all in abundance. And it was so, so yummy J

This is a familiar spot for me. But instead of being defeated and beating myself up for the decisions of the past three weeks, I have decided to get up, get on the scale (ouch), and start again. These times are going to happen. The question is, what can I learn from this one? How can I recover faster the next time? How can I truly turn healthy eating into something I just do intuitively? How can I effectively train myself to eat in a balanced, mostly nutritious way while still enjoying less healthy fare in moderation? I don’t have an answer that I can clearly communicate in writing, but I hope that this post is one step in the right direction.

If I were to listen to a friend in the same situation, I would tell her to brush it off and move forward. I would tell her that three weeks in the scope of things is no big deal. I would celebrate her effort to get back on track. So that’s what I’m doing here. I’m sharing the struggle and celebrating this small victory.

Food for Thought

I am excited about this segment this week. Yesterday I perused Costco for the healthiest foods I could find. I paid close attention to nutrition labels. Now, don’t get me wrong. I am not an all-organic, whole foods type of person. But, I feel better when I eat mostly whole foods. Because planning is essential to healthy eating, I feel great about stocking up on some healthy staples. Here’s what’s in my fridge now:

Power Greens: my goal is to eat this entire, industrial-sized bag before it goes bad. That’s a lot of greens. I’ve started to add them to smoothies, and I’ve also added some to a quinoa dish (see below for more on that).

Artisan Romaine: This is good chopped for salads, but the leaves are also perfect for lettuce bowls. I also think I’ll have Matt grill some wedges for me.

Baby Cucumbers: I like cucumber in certain situations. These are the perfect solution. I’m chopping them up in ice water to mix things up a bit, and I also added some to the quinoa dish (still coming…) I also plan to dip them in hummus and/or guacamole.

Avocados: I added some to my green smoothie yesterday—can’t taste it, and it made it creamy and more filling. I truly think eating avocado frequently is a key to my weight loss.

Path of Life Organic Quinoa and Kale: Five ingredients: quinoa, kale, olive oil, garlic, sea salt. It’s frozen in 2 serving packages and can be microwaved right in the bag or cooked in a saucepan. I cooked mine in a saucepan yesterday and added chicken breast and another handful of greens (did I mention I have a lot of those to get through??) I topped it with baby cucumber slices and feta cheese. The feta cheese was totally the key. I decided it also needed some cherry tomatoes, so I will be adding them next time. Yummy, convenient, healthy.

Alpine Valley Sprouted Multigrain Bread: This is almost the only bread I eat now. It keeps well in the freezer, which is good, because it comes in a two-loaf package.

Fage FruYo Greek Vanilla Yogurt: great for smoothies and this new fruit dip I’m experimenting with.

Bottom line with food this week: I’m trying some new things, and so far, I’m happy with the results. But, like I wrote earlier, I am not trying to go all organic or all whole-foods. I just don’t think that’s sustainable for me. For dinner last night, for instance, we had burgers and frozen Arby’s curly fries (did you know you could buy those? They’re pretty good!) And today, Luci and I met Matt for lunch at Cheddar’s. I chose something from their “Lighter Side” menu, but it still wasn’t all that healthy. If I’m gonna do this thing for the long haul, I’ve gotta live my life, ya know?

The Stats

3.23.15: 37 lbs to lose

3.29.15: -4 (33 lbs to lose)

4.4.15: +1 (34 lbs to lose)

4.12.15: -2.5 (31.5 lbs to lose)

4.19.15: -2 (29.5 lbs to lose)

4.26.15: -1.5 (28 lbs to lose)

5.3.15: -1 (27 lbs to lose)*********10 lbs down!!!**********

5.10.15 -.5 (26.5 to lose)*********Wearing smaller pants!*********

6.3.15 +4 (30.5 to lose)

What I'm Reading

I’m still working on Tasty, which is a little strange for me. But it’s a little different than most of the things I read. This week (the first week of summer break), I binge-watched the Netflix series Bloodline instead of grabbing a new book.

New Segment: The Great Purge of Summer 2015

I am very much feeling like a captive of my things, so this summer, I am being brutal about getting rid of them. I’d really like to know exactly what I own and where it is all located. I’d like to have a set place for every object. I started with the guest bedroom, because that’s where I put all my pre-pregnancy clothes. I got rid of all of the clothes hanging in the closet and will now move on to the dresser. I got rid of some nice things, but even if I could ever fit into them again, I will want more current styles. Four bags of clothes to the Goodwill and one bag of trash. It’s a start. How many bags can I get out of my house by the end of summer break? I’m starting with a goal of 10 bags per week.

6.2.15: 5 bags gone