Funny Story & A Question

In my earlier post I forgot to relay the story of J-boy's pronouncement this morning.  We were laying in the bed when he reached down to my feet and said "From here (indicating my feet) to here (indicating the tops of my legs) and from here (the top of my head) to here (about the middle of my rib cage) you don't need to lose any more weight."  My dear, sweet, precious husband.  I love him so much and he is a very intelligent man, but I had to explain that isn't the way it works.  He said he knew that, he just wanted to tell me that he liked the size of those areas!!  Of course, I didn't need him to point out to me that my backside & belly are the issues.  They always have been.  It was sweet though, and gave me a morning chuckle.

On to the question - I am trying to get off artificial sweeteners.  I have stevia growing in the yard that will be ready in the late summer as I understand it.  In the meantime, I'm using all the artificial sweeteners that I have on hand and I'm not buying any more.  I'm not buying diet colas, or anything 'diet' that has artificial sweetener in it.  So, my question - What do I drink?  I suck down the water all day long.  Usually, after my third 32 oz glass of water I give myself a treat of tea, crystal light, or cherry coke zero.  Now what?  I've heard of agave nectar, but haven't done much research to know if it will work with hcg.  Honey won't.  I've used honey in between hcg, which has the added benefit of helping with allergies since it is local honey.  I mostly like that in hot tea, not as much in iced tea.  I'm drinking that plain more & more.  Still, I'd like some suggestions.  What are some good ideas?  What are some things that aren't exactly what they claimed?  I need to know.

Saturday Scale Report

I weighed 178.0 this morning.  I spent my early 30's stuck at 177 and thought I was fat.  Alas.  That is just 13 pounds from the goal the doctor set for me, and 24 from the goal I set for me.  The closer I get to those goals though, the more I think my goal should be more like 145, particularly when I see BMI charts.  But...I don't want to set unrealistic expectations and start thinking I've failed as I did before.  I'm telling myself now, that if I don't lose another pound, I'm still successful.  Now if I could just make myself believe it.  :)

On a happier note, I've been to Publix and loaded up on fresh fruit for the week.  J-boy has even agreed to do his own modified version of the 7 day diet with me starting on Monday.  He's not going to do that vile, nasty soup either.  He makes a fairly nutritious vegetable soup that he is going to use for his base.  I can't get past the tomatoes.  That, and having all the food stirred up together like that.  I have control issues.  I need to know what is going in my mouth!!

I had another successful visit to Stein Mart.  I got some really cute tops.  Suddenly last week none of my tops fit.  I still have a lot of t-shirts, but since I work in an office in a management position, I don't get to wear those to work often.  It seems like all along this journey, one article of clothing is suddenly lacking in my wardrobe.  First no skirts fit, so I made a run on Goodwill.  Then no shorts, so I went to Ladies of Charity, a local thrift store.  It is my favorite, but it is only open certain times of the year.  Today I needed blouses for work, and I saw SM was having a 12 hour sale.  I got 7 tops that are stylish and suitable for the office.  Four of them were on sale, and the lady in front of me had a spare coupon she shared with me, so I got an additional 30% off.  I like it when that happens.

The Right Decision

On the way to work this morning, I began to think about my weekend plans. Nothing unusual there, I generally use my car time for planning. I began to think about going to Publix for fruit. I love their fruit. I thought about the watermelon, YUM, one of my very favorites. Then I moved on to cherries and pineapple, oh my. My mouth might have even begun to water. Then I realized - "I'm fantasizing about fruit!!" How in the world did that happen? My food fantasies in the past included ice cream and cookies, not fruit. Fruit was what I ate when there wasn't any of the 'good stuff' left!




I was and am so excited that something has changed inside of me. I really, truly want the fruit. I don't think I'd turn down a warm chocolate chip cookie, made from scratch. I definitely would turn down one of those hard store bought ones. Something has changed. Go me! I feel good about my decision to do my modified version of the seven day diet.



I am trying to keep my expectations about weight loss in check. My purpose now is to shake things up a bit, and move back to a more normal, but low carb way of eating. The way I intend to eat from now on, only with a few more calories once I get to my goal weight.



In another vein entirely, I have on request of my faithful readers this weekend. Sunday is Father's Day, and I lost my own dear Daddy 6 years ago. I've learned to live day to day without his presence in my life, but on special days like this one, I still miss him a lot. Say a prayer, send good karma, or whatever you do for me on Sunday and for all of us who have lost our precious fathers. Do the same for those who are estranged from theirs. If you still have yours, give him an extra hug from me.

A Few Good Things

I think that my last few posts have been downers, under the guise of complete honesty. There are good things too, which outnumber the bad, better health is the biggie. Things like lower blood pressure, better cholesterol, proper blood sugar are a part of that. I thought I'd list a few more tangible things that I've been experiencing lately:

• Fun with clothes. I have been having a great time getting dressed in the morning. I have lots of nice new to me clothes. It is so much fun to go to the store - any store - and find cute things that actually fit. I've really enjoyed shopping at Goodwill! The stores here are clean and the clothes are well organized. In fact, I think I'm going to shop for some blouses this weekend.

• Jewelry. I have a ton of jewelry that I'd just stopped wearing. I know that some of it had gotten small. Chokers were just about literally choking me, but I think too that I didn't care to draw a lot of attention to myself while I was so big. It was not a conscious decision, but it happened. Now every morning, I sort through and find just the right baubles to accompany my really cute clothes.

• My sunglasses* don't bump my cheek. I have very chubby cheeks. That makes for a youthful appearance, but it is a hindrance in finding sunglasses that 'fit'. If the lenses are large they touch my cheeks. I don't like that.

• Fitting in stadium seats. Tuesday night J-boy scored a couple of free tickets to a concert. I was a little surprised when I sat down and no part of my body touched the sides of the seat. I even felt a little bit skinny!!

• Moving around with more ease.  This is huge for me because I am a klutz.  I didn't realize quite how much the extra weight was contributing to my klutziness, but it did.  I am by no means graceful now, but I'm a long way from the lumbering mess I once was.

• I almost enjoy getting up in the morning.  I think I'll always be a sleepy-head, but I'm enjoying stepping on the scales and seeing it slip down.  

*A couple of years ago the sunglasses that I'd had for years and years fell apart. I'd probably had them for at least 10 years, no exaggeration, perhaps even 15. Since I have the chubby cheek issue, when I get a pair that works, I stick with them! It was near my birthday so one of the very thoughtful gifts J-boy got me was a pair of $3 sunglasses from a local dollar store. He really intended for them to be a pair for me to wear while I got the ones I really wanted. But I liked these, and thought they looked good on me. When I cut the tags off I noticed that they were labeled 'almost Chanel' or something like that. I thought it was hilarous and enjoyed going around telling people about my Chanel knock-offs. Sadly, those sunglasses broke while we were in Miami beach close to a year later. I was heartbroken. Again, J-boy came through as it was once again near my birthday. He couldn't find the Chanel ones, but got a red pair since that is my favorite color. Those broke on our last day of the cruise, somewhere in the Bahamas, just a couple of weeks ago. I have a way to go until my birthday so I couldn't wait for another gift pair. J-boy and I happened to be in the same dollar store the original Chanel-NOT glasses were purchased just a few days after we got back from the cruise. I was delighted to find another pair exactly like the ones that broke in Miami. They were still just $3 for that almost designer look. And they don't touch my cheeks at all!!!

Time for a Change

I'm beginning to think about yet another eating plan.  I've been a little disappointed with my results on this latest round of hcg.  I'm getting a bit of a "been there, done that" sort of vibe from my body.  After 15 months of switching between that & low carb, my body needs something else, I think.  I struggled and struggled to get past the 182.6 hump, and I expected once I crossed that hurdle, I'd skate on down about 10 pounds.  That had been my pattern in the past, and since it did not continue this time, it is time for a change.

 

I really want to break this stagnation and move forward.  I had anticipated enjoying the bounty from our back yard garden this summer.  I've still got a while to go before much is ripe, so that can still be the centerpiece of my summer diet.  What to do in the meantime?  I have just about made up my mind to do what I call the 7 day diet.  Others call it the cabbage soup diet, and still others call it the Sacred Heart Hospital diet. 

 

First let me say that I thing the claims about losing upwards of 20 pounds during the course of the diet bogus.  Of course I intend to lose weight, but my thinking is that this whole thing will be a real shock to my system and hopefully break through this barrier.  The premise behind switching between two eating plans is that the body gets used to one way of eating over & over and stagnates.  It worked for over a year, so I think there is some validity to that.  Now I just need to find another way to shake things up.  The more I contemplate things the more I think this is the way to go. 

 

Even the causal reader of this blog knows that I hate almost all vegetables, and must be quite curious as to how I intend to eat cabbage soup for seven days.  In short, I don't.  Along with the disgusting, vile, nasty soup, each day has an additional menu.  For instance, on day one all fruit is allowed except for bananas.  I can eat lots of good fresh fruit all day and be satisfied.  Day two is all vegetables.  That will be a little more challenging, but I can find enough that I like to make it through that day.  Days three through seven have their own accompaniment.  I'll just eat that.

 

My plan now is to start that on Monday since I have to finish the course of hcg.  I'll do this for seven days and then hopefully, the bountiful harvest in my backyard will be ready.

Happy Realization

I was just doing my Wii workout/weigh in and suddenly noticed that I'm only 6 lbs way from overweight!!  Soon, I will no longer be obese.  I think I'm going to buy myself some new shoes to celebrate reaching overweight-hood!!!

Weekend Issues

Weekends are hard for me.  I have lots of errands to run and chores to do that I can't/don't do during the week because of this pesky job I have that requires me to go every, single day!!  It is easy to keep a glass of water at my desk during the week and chug it down all day long.  I easily get down a full gallon of water during the day.  Of course, I hope my employer doesn't dock my pay for excessive time in the ladies' room!  Anyway, being more scattered during the week, messes up my planning for meals too.  Since I don't have a set, I think about food more.  I suppose I have to.  But thinking about it isn't good for me because I think about chicken strips, ice cream, cookies, whatever the last fast food commercial I've seen.  That's not good.  I'm trying to create mental images of happy, carefree people eating broccoli rather than ice cream...

Anyway, this weekend was particularly hard.  I made 75 cupcakes - not a typo - 75!!!!!  I made 6 batches of cream cheese frosting with which to frost & decorate them.  I am about half way through that part of the job.  I had to stop because I was beginning to lick my fingers and that is bad.  I haven't now learned how to moderate with sweets.  Then I had one cupcake failure.  It fell on its side and got a little mushed.  In the old days, I would have had to eat it.  I should have immediately tossed it in the trash, but my frugal nature wouldn't let me.  Instead, I wrapped it up and put it in the refrigerator for J-boy.  I won't eat it.

I'm too close to my goal.  They aren't worth it to me right now.  When I get to my goal weight, I have a few other food related goals like learning to eat 'treats' in moderation.  Today, I had to just walk away.  Maybe it is time to break out the Wii fit.  Did I just say that!?!?!