Two months...

So, it is working... things i have discovered - my body doesn't really like wheat or dairy that much... eliminating them makes me feel so much better!

Since i took my two month picture, i've lost three more pounds.  We are still "cheating" once a week, and i've started running on the treadmill that T bought this spring.  We were thinking it would be exercise i *could* do, but now my arm/shoulder/hand seems to be healed up, and i'm not using any painkillers, so hopefully i will be able to go back to our regular workouts, too!

And here are month two results:

Too shy...

Here's the deal...

I weighed/measured/took pictures on Jan 6th and Feb 6th, and once i saw the initial pictures i knew i couldn't post them on the internet.  Oh, the shame!

BUT

After a month of eating this way - i have lost five pounds (the first week, and nothing since then), and added one inch?  How?

I was so sad...

And then i got my husband to complete the humiliation by taking the Feb pictures, and man, something is weird.  Because there is a big difference in those pictures.

Maybe it's just that my posture is getting better?  But while the scales and the tape aren't giving me much love, the camera decided to be my friend this month.

I'll stick it out for another month and see if we can't break on through...

 What do you think?

What is working

This new way of eating is pretty strict most of the time.

No white flour, no sugar, no fruit, no grains, no corn, no potatoes, no dairy.

That's a lot of nos.

and a lot of meat, and a lot of vegetables :)

and a lot of thinking as to "what can i make?" (answers - there are a ton of things, and they aren't even that slower to get together, it's just a different way of thinking.)

A few things i've enjoyed lately - ham wrapped in lettuce (would have been even better with some homemade mayo, but i'm out), beef with half an avocado, sliced and placed atop slices of beef, with a little bit of nuts and some salad on the side.  Pork rinds, when i'm getting antsy for something crispy.  Chicken with the skin on, and seasoned a ton.  Eggs with salsa and guacamole.  And a lot of vegetables (i'm buying a lot of frozen veggies so the prep time doesn't overwhelm me as we make the change - we still have some fresh, but some frozen, too).  Root vegetables, roasted, are delicious and get a crispy caramelized coating if you toss them with some olive oil, salt and pepper them, and cook them in the roaster with your meat...

The other thing that is working for us is *condiments*.  When you are omnivorously eating, condiments are just something on the side, extras.  And not even that appealing.   But when your diet is more restricted, suddenly you are looking at them differently.  What we are enjoying lately are stuffed olives, mussels or oysters (tinned), grainy mustards for sauces or dips, homemade roasted garlic aioli (mmm) or mayo, homemade chimichurri (click the link for delish recipes from Tyler's Ultimate - i love them!)  of course nuts, including toasted soy nuts.  Pickles. Travis is liking him some sauerkraut (but i can't get into the kind that's packed into a little plastic bladder.  Packaging fail!)  Artichoke hearts are delicious little morsels that are allowed and that pack a punch of flavour.  Marinated mushrooms (marinated in olive oil and tamari - my 15 year old son loves these so much i have to make sure to get a few within 24 hours or he'll have eaten them all).

Condiments make a difference!  Try them again if they aren't a regular part of your diet - they may be the thing that lets you "be good" for one more day :)

results so far...

Okay, we are following the Four Hour Body regimen, with a big cheat day on Friday.

Also, this last week i did zero exercise, as i was on painkillers and antiinflammatories, and wanted to make sure i was doing the best i could to not do anything (that means no fiddling, too... )

Anyway, i'm still down 5 lbs since Jan 1 - on Tuesday i'll measure and see if i lost inches, too :).

I really like the cheat day thing - it makes me feel like all those forbidden foods are within reach, if only i can stick out my meat wrapped in lettuce sandwiches for six days in a row ;)

I will admit to making banana loaf on Thursday, knowing that banana bread is better the next day :).  I also made two banana breads, so i was reasonably sure there would be leftovers.  I also made cowboy coffee cake (actually, two of those, too), so the odds were definitely on my side.

I'm finding some days are really hard, craving crackers, bread, potatoes etc.  Even just to be able to have some rice.  But I am feeling better on the inside - my skin, digestion, teeth, all feel better with this regimen (even without the exercise this week!).

I'll post again with measurements soon :)

Update on Tim F and his "Slow Carb"

Well, this is a nice start to the year!  This is working nicely so far.  I'm bringing this to the "paleo blog' which has sat unnoticed for a long time, because this latest venture takes us very close to paleo country :)

It's been ten days into the new year, and i've lost three of the 25 pounds i wanted to lose, which is pretty nice progress.

The "Slow Carb" diet that Tim Ferriss talks about in his book "The Four Hour Body" is part of what we're doing, but we're also following a bunch of bizarre sounding ideas re: fitness, cheat day, workouts and exercises (a new exercise for me :  cat vomit?  Also "myotatic crunches" - i don't know why he gives them such strange names, but they *work*, especially for a mom who's had abdominal diastasis.

All during the week we are eating "clean" which according to this regime means no white flour, no sugar, no fruit, no dairy,  no potatoes, rice, grains of any kind...  It kind of leaves us with meat and vegetables (although once i get my shipment of almonds i'm making those little "raw chocolate" balls from Serene Allison's cookbook!)

But then, on Friday, it's all rules out the window, and all the things i wanted all week long i can have :)  Last friday i ate a kind of stale, but still delicious, marshmallow square - you know those ones made with peanut butter, coconut, marshmallows, toffee chips?  The ones that were always a hit at church socials, oh, thirty years ago?  I made some "for the children" around Christmas, popped them in the freezer of the fridge and forgot.  When i found them and realized what they were (opaque tupperware!) - i shared them all out, but left a couple in  a ziplock for Friday :)....

I think i'll just do the measurements once a month, so that i'm more likely to see results, but i'm weighing just about every day (so is T)...

And we're working out every other day (we could do more, but this is doable for me right now) - i don't think we've had one workout that lasted more than 15 minutes, but they are generally pretty intense while we're working.  Hard to enter on loseit.com as they don't know what to make of crossfit workouts like Fran where you have 21 reps of something and something else, then 15 of each, then 9  of each - was that five minutes of each?  Anyway, a little guesstimating is going into logging the exercises, but this is working!

Measurements and a workout to try...

I finally took my measurements and while i'm not breaking it down here, i will tell you that the total of the three numbers is considerably higher than it was when i was 16...

and the number is 109 inches (yikes!)

So i've got work to do.

Meanwhile, it's been a brutally hard day - a lot of pain from whatever is ailing me - my poor husband is surfing the internet to see what is the worst possible thing it could be and trying frantically to get me life insurance before i drop dead - but i have a feeling we'll figure out what it is and be back hiking in the mountains soon.

In the meantime, Lulu, my 8yo son has come up with a workout for me.  He says "you might lose one or more pounds if you do it twice a week".

So here it is:

Lulu's workout:

50 pushups

30 squats

30 snatches with 25 lb barbells

50 jumping jacks

And that's all!  He doesn't need to lose any weight, but he'll be working out with me tonight.  My arms are in a lot of pain, but we're pretty close to bedtime drugs and i'd rather be sore and have done my workout than in pain anyway and getting fatter :)

Lose It!

I don't know if this will help, and we'll see how faithful i can be once "real life" resumes tomorrow - but i'm on www.loseit.com as Stephanie F if anyone wants to be friends and lose weight with me :)

http://www.loseit.com/index.jsp#Friends:Profile

Melissa, i'm looking at you! LOL!

Here is my "motivation" picture... me with my sisters, parents, my littlest daughter, my littlest nephews...

I'm the one in purple, and this was only about a year ago...

Four Hour Body by Tim Ferriss

I am sitting at the computer, with a 2.80$ book in my cart. Computer says "Add 47.20$ worth of books to qualify forfree shipping"


First off, the book I am trying, unsuccessfully, to buy is out of print - the used copy in my cart won't qualify anyway. Secondly, the free shipping offer only applies to US shoppers.


I know this, but I turn to my husband and ask him if there's a book he wants. Is that a blush I see? He doesn't meet my eye as he mumbles "Four Hour Body".


I have a feeling that the teasing I endure for keeping up with the doings of Brangelina will swiftly come to an end. I buy him the Kindle version, order a different book, and even with two books for our son, still don't make the 50$ ceiling. Sigh.


However, he keeps reading and reading and I know what that means - a new bandwagon and I want on! I give him my Economist, grab his iPad and I've got a rudimentary to do list and a shopping list for tomorrow


Here's the website to check out the idea..www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog

Sober Second Thoughts

I love the Mark Zuckerberg thing of less privacy – i think we’d all be better off if we thought before we spoke/did things and considered what if Auntie Agnes or my mom saw this?

On the other hand, it does make the thought of starting a weight loss blog verrrrrrrry scary ;) – one false move and i’m sending “Before” pictures to everyone on facebook...

Anyway, i'm back on the wagon - while not 100% paleo, we're going "slow carb" a la Tim Ferriss' "Four Hour Body" - a book my poor husband was embarrassed to buy, but that has a lot of info that seems  in line with his other interests - Pavel Tsatsouline, kettleball, MILO, crossfit, paleo, tabatas, etc etc...

So, just in time for the New Year i've got a new meal plan, a new grocery list, and i'm sore like crazy...

We had a great workout on New Year's Eve - it was very intense for me - i've been dealing with a rotator cuff injury and possibly arthritis in my hand?  So haven't done a lot of extra physical movement... 

But it was great!  We did tabatas (shoulder press, squats, chest press, leg extension ab exercises) and then some vigorous rowing :)...

I"m sore, and my clothes are tight :) but i'm ready to get back on the wagon and lose some of the pounds that mysteriously appeared this summer... (in time for next summer?)

wish me luck?