Small Changes or Just Hormones

 Last week I was seeing my weight bob around on a roller coaster but never really going down. It went up, it went up some more and then it went down a bit and then up some more... you get the idea. 

So I vowed to change up a few things.  My eating has been pretty good so I knew I didn't have to make any drastic changes, but I wanted to experiment and see if just a few things were causing me to stall and have bloat. 

So I cut out nuts and cream in my coffee and really cut down on my cheese.  And low and behold after a few days of skipping my handful of nuts after work and cutting out the cream in my two cups of coffee in the morning, I saw a drop. 

My weight on Thursday was 173.3 and by Sunday it was at 170.9.  OVER A WEEKEND!! Ok... that never happens. 

We went out for dinner last Thursday for St. Paddy's day. I had salad and a couple glasses of wine. We entertained friends on Friday and had a plethora of sushi and a couple wine coolers.  Saturday was a busy day but we figured we would just have munchies for dinner on Saturday (hot wings, a few nachos) and still ended up with a loss on Sunday morning! 

Say what??  But maybe it wasn't the foods I had eliminated. Maybe it was just my body ready to shed the extra water weight that I had put on last week. 

However, the weight continued to drop over the next few days (170.2) and then on Tuesday I ate cheese. And Wednesday I ate nuts. And my weight started popping up again. 

My weight was 171.5 this morning. So really not bad and just a bit over the weight on the weekend but after eating the cheese and nuts I know that it causes me to bloat and retain water. Not to mention they are extra calories that I really do not need.  Maybe the slight gain is just my body getting ready for my TOM which is literally just around the corner. But maybe it's the food? 

This weekend/week I will continue to experiment with different foods and see how they affect me. But for now, no coffee cream, no nuts and sadly, no more cheese.. at least for the immediate future. 

Like being in an ocean

 My weight is doing some weird bobbing around. When I last posted on thursday of last week, my weight was at 171.7.  A good solid weight and down from the previous week. 

Since then, it has bobbed up, and dipped down. Much like floating out in the ocean.  I have not been super strict which I know is the reason why it's bobbing and dipping. 

Weekends are still such a struggle. 

Here's hoping that I can keep things in order this weekend. That is my goal for this week. 

No snacking between meals and no processed carbs... the darn crackers and pretzels are such a temptation for me. Oh and no nuts. I tend to snack on nuts cause they are a healthy fat but I know whenever I eat nuts I tend to stall, or gain. So no nuts... as much as I love them! 

weight this morning... back up to 173.3. 

So frustrating. 

Moving Forward

The past week was successful. 

We moved MIL into a seniors home which involved a lot of packing, moving, unpacking and sorting.  We hired movers but my husband and I did all the rest. We managed to get her into the home and it's lovely. Hopefully she will be happy there. 

With all the moving activities, we were not great at cooking and ended up doing take out most days.  I was pretty good with the takeout with the exception of sushi night. But I'm not giving up my sushi.. no way, no how! 

My blood glucose is looking really good. I am currently only measuring once every 2 weeks or so, but the fasting blood glucose has been dropping and is in the normal range. 

Intermittent fasting is going really well and I have dropped the snacking in between my 2 meals. I eat at 1ish and then again at dinner (between 5-6:30).  I stop eating for the day at around 7. 

I have coffee in the am and then a cup of tea with ACV at about 11. It seems to be working for me in terms of curbing my cravings. 

My weight this morning was 171.7 so about a lb down from last week. Nothing earth shattering but feels good to see it go down. 

I have also started doing some mild exercises in the am (mostly for my blood pressure) which has been on the rise a bit lately. 

Slowly pecking away at the spring cleaning, which feels amazing to clean out cupboards etc and also to declutter.  Pantry is on my list next... that one is always fun! 

So all in all a good week. 50th birthday party for friend this weekend but should be manageable. 

Get me off this ride!

March 1 - 172.6 

There it is.  So basically the same weight as the start of last month and well last 6 months and let's be honest, the last 12 months! 

Will this time be different? 

God I hope so -  I'm getting tired of spinning around this Hamster wheel! 

I don't want to set any specific goals for the month in terms of lbs lost etc as numerical goals tend to push me in the opposite direction when I don't see immediate results. So, instead I'm going to set myself health and wellness goals. 

1. Intermittent fasting 18:6 or 16:8 7 days a week 

2. No chocolate 

3. Drinks only on weekend and ideally, only 1 day 

4. Declutter 2 main rooms in the house per week. Give away items that are still in good condition that I won't use or just throw away.  A decluttered house is good for the soul! 

5. Tackle spring cleaning tasks in the house like cleaning out drawers and cupboards and cleaning blinds and windows!

Excited to Turn the Calendar Page

 I'm just done with February. 

Too many emotions this month. 

The dog got sick, dealing with MIL and trying to get her into a home and a mismash of crappy weather. 

And on top of that, my weight has been steady. Pretty much weigh the same at the end of February that I weighed at the beginning. 

So Hello March!  I look forward to seeing you. 

not saying that things are going to drastically change this month as we still need to get MIL in the home this coming weekend and I'm sure there will be stresses that come along with that but other things will hopefully improve. 

We should start seeing warmer weather and can start planning yard work and what our garden will look like this year. 

Maybe I'll also get the weight down a bit as I inch closer to my 50th birthday at the end of May. 

I did not check my weight this morning but I will do so tomorrow and record it officially as my starting weight for March. 

Things I do want to continue is my intermittent fasting as I have been feeling better with that. 

I do want to cut out the sweets. Way too many bites here and there of chocolates, candy etc. Need to just cut them out completely. 

Walking 2 dogs seems more challenging and we don't move as fast as I would like. The distance that I used to cover in 20 minutes at lunch is probably 1/2 of what it used to be and at a much slower speed so I either need to move faster or move more often. It might mean taking the dogs for 2 separate walks again which will eat up more of my lunch hour but will get me moving more which I desperately need. 

So onto March.... Let's do this! 

Scale Obsession

I'm a daily weigher and if the number is either too high or surprisingly low in my mind, I become an obsessive weigher. In that I weigh myself every time I go to the bathroom which can be about 6 times during my working day. 

 Over the last few months I have been so proud of myself for not being scale obsessed. I even went a few days without weighing at all! Something I rarely do. 

My weight was always somewhere in the 172-175 lb mark. So higher than it has been and higher than I truly like it but nothing to make me obsess. 

Well a few weeks ago I started to see that weight drop. I believe it was a result of what I was doing in terms of intermittent fasting and cutting out excess carbs. I even hovered back to the 170 mark and guess what? 

I became scale obsessed again. I want to get over that darn 170 wall so bad and see the 160s on a regular basis. It has now been over 2 weeks and I'm back in the 173 range. 

 

I know I'm making better choices for my body and what I'm eating but I just want to see the scale go down and I don't want to be scale obsessed anymore either! 

I do like the scale keeps me accountable and on track, but I don't like the hold is has on me. 

Oh well, I've been like this since I was a teenager so I guess some things just don't change and I need to work with them, rather than fight them. 

What weekend?

This weekend was a blur. 

We were supposed to see friends on friday for dinner but at lunchtime I just wasn't feeling the vibe of getting dolled up to go out to dinner so I cancelled. Felt bad, but in the end, the other couple had similar feelings. 

I thought I would take the big boy for a walk - just him and I as the puppy can be annoying to him on a walk and he doesn't really get his true exercise, not being able to walk at his own pace. We headed out after I finished for the day, going for a decent walk with a final stop at the park for a run around. I let him off the leash once we got to the park so he could have a sniff around on his own. We stayed for a few minutes and then headed home. 

Later that evening, when my son got home from his dinner, around 10:30, he went in to see the big boy and say goodnight and something was wrong. He was unable to stand and his head was bobbing around. His pupils were dilated and his heart was beating really slowly. We rushed him to the emergency hospital in town (about 30 minutes away). They did some tests on him as they expected that he had ingested marijuana. His urine test came back negative but they said, it could be a false negative as he was still presenting with the signs of THC toxicity. My baby.  He must have found weed in the park. The vet recommended that he stay with them for the night, get IV fluids and they could run a few additional tests.  

I didn't sleep a wink on friday night. Saturday we sat around and just worried about big boy.  The puppy walked aimlessly around the house looking for his buddy.  The hospital checked in with us a few times on saturday and said that although he was improving with the IV he was still showing some neurological deficiencies. :(  My baby.  The vet said that it still looked like THC toxicity, even though the test was negative. They suspected it was likely an edible. 

Sunday morning at 6am I called them and they said, he looked much much better and if we wanted to take him home, he was well enough to come home. 

I was absolutely relieved. Thank GOD!!! 

That dog is my world.  I got him when I started working from home over 7 years ago so we are together all day, every day. We have our routine, our ways, our life.  I know I don't have him forever but it was way too early to even think of saying goodbye. 

One thing I know is that he is overweight. He's a lab!!! he loves food (like his momma) and as dog parents, we reward and show love with food!  Well, that has to change. 

He needs to slim down a bit so we can keep him as healthy as possible. 

So he will be joining me in creating a healthy lifestyle and healthy eating habits. It's going to be hard with having the puppy here as well, as the puppy gets so many treats with training etc. But it has to be done. 

For me, my eating has been on track. There was stress over the weekend but I still managed to eat under control. The IF is going awesome. On saturday I broke my fast at 3pm and then shut the window at 7, so 20:4 for that day!  I'm trying to do an 18:6 fast day and so far it's going well. I find myself less hungry and eating within that window is good. I'm trying to make sure I'm getting a good amount of protein and fat during my eating period to keep me full for the remainder of the day.  I'm going to check my blood glucose later this week and see if there are improvements.  

My weight was 170.4 this morning. Down 3.1 from last week. There could be some stress loss or PMS loss in there somewhere as well, but as of now I'm excited about that. 

Close to getting over that wall, once again!