Day 5

Is it really even Day 5? I don't feel like I've been doing this forever anymore, lols. And I'm not hungry all the time! My stomach isn't alerting me 30 mins before ever scheduled eating. I swear all I thought about the other day was food, when and what I was eating, how to prepare it, how many calories was in it. And now it's more like natural and less emotional probably. I mean I know I'm an emotional eater. It started during Jr High and has just continued with me through life so far. Now that I'm thinking about what I eat and why I want to eat things, it's become so much more clear to me why I was so unhealthy and gained so much weight.

Breakfast/snack - SK chocolate peanut butter snack bar, banana

Lunch - Sweet Tomatoes, small serving of cold pasta with tomatoes, kidney beans, olives, and regular ranch dressing (such a splurge I know), small side of ceasar salad, small side of potato salad, a couple spoonfuls of Buffalo Chicken soup and Pinto Basil soup, 1/3 cup macaroni and cheese, 1 low-fat cornbread muffin, 1 pralin crunch muffin (omg this was sooo tasty, I could have eaten another one!)

Snack - Skinny Cow Peanut Butter Ice Cream Sannich (this was alright, I wish I would have bought the mint ones instead, M insisted on the peanut butter ones)

Dinner - SK Chocolate, 1/2 cup Greek Yoghurt, 1 peach

Snack - WATERMELON!

Lunch sounds like it was a lot but it was a lot of little bits of this and that. Normally at Sweet Tomatoes I tend to eat a lot of all my favorite things and leave the place feeling over-stuffed. Today I put things on my plate more sensible. Tried the soups and stopped eating them when I didn't particularly care for them. The mac'n'cheese was a splurge just because I love their's. Also, the praline crunch muffin apparently has 250 calories in it (I checked the website), it was sooo tasty but I'm not entirely sure if it was worth that much.

I'm trying to do the stop-when-you-feel-full and leave some left on the plate mentality. I've always been one to clean my plate whether or not I was full 10 bites ago. This isn't particularly healthy. I'm starting to realize that this is really bad and why I used to eat so much food. It's a whole mind change for eating, but I'm really trying to stick to it now! I read this earlier from a website and thought it fit perfectly:
"Do you stop when you're full?
Many people still have a "clean your plate" mentality. You will have much more energy and feel less tired if you only eat as much food as your body needs. Think of it this way--you don't continue to fill your car with gas when the tank is full, so why would you do it to your body?"

A note about dinner: SK Chocolate was terrible! I'm not one to like cornflake cereal (even though I love it with the strawberry twist), and that's what it was! With little pieces of pretend chocolate thrown in. I poured my bowl and saw all the little chocolate piece fall into my bowl looking all decadent. I'm still a fat kid at heart so I snatched one up to eat it and...it was like a little pad of subtlety chocolate flavoured crisco. Ugh! Well I still ate it with my greek yoghurt for dinner, although I doubt I will be eating it again. It might be better with milk, but I hate eating cereal with milk (I won't eat cereal once it loses its crisp factor). And since I'm trying to eat more slowly (and listen to my body when it says its full), I doubt I'll finish the box. Le sigh.

About the running: I expected it to be all kinds of hot and muggy outside like it was all day today (M, C and I went out shopping and I bought nail polish!). We're even under an air quality alert but I knew I had to go out running anyway. I went out and it wasn't bad at all; it had just started cooling off out. I ran slightly more than yesterday AND I covered more distance. I would have run more but my lower stomach/intestines area started hurting (not like a cramp but hurting nonetheless), so I just briskly walked the last half of the return trip.

I even saw interesting things during my run! I saw (1) walking lady; she was behind me when we started and I saw her again when we crossed on my return trip, (2) mallard ducks; okay these aren't all that interesting because they hang out in our yard all the time. My favourite thing to do is get in their space, they quack if you're within a 15 ft radius of them! (3) tractors in operation, and (1) red cardinal. Fun times! :D

I can't wait to cut into that watermelon! I'm also excited about making watermelon rind pickles! It's a southern classic! My grandmother (who passed away) used to make them and I LOVED eating them at her house. Now I'm going to make my own!

Bob

Day 4

Breakfast/Lunch - SK protein chocolate peanut butter meal bar, banana

Snack - SK chocolate pretzel bar, peach

Dinner - 5oz steak, 3/4 cup couscous, 1/3 cup low fat onion gravy, 3/4 cup low fat potato and leek soup

Snacks - 5 large roasted marshmellows, 1 skinny cow mint truffle bar

Day 4 and it's already becoming so much of a routine, eat small meal, have a snack a few hours later, drink LOTS of water. I'm getting used to it and not being super hungry all the time anymore. Gosh, Day 2 I was hungry all day long I swear! The extra skinny cow bar was a weak moment. I had planned to have the ice cream bar and then I ended up eating the marshmellows with the fire we had outside...and then I still wanted the ice cream bar. So I gave in and ate it anyway. No big deal.

I ran the same amount as yesterday today. I didn't think I'd get any running in today with all the family stuff going on but I did. Afterwards I thought dinner might come up, I think I either ate too much dinner or ran too soon after or both. =/ But a little bit later I felt good for having done my run, even if the girl down the road and her boyfriend drove by and gave my dirty awkward looks. I was wearing bike shorts under soffe shorts with a tank top. Oh well, yay for running! Us fat gals can run if we want to! :D

I've watched the scale go down a bit. Last night, right before bed I weighed for my lowest weight yet: 223! I was so elated! I can't wait to keep watch the scale go down down down. Yeah I'm impatient, but yay yay yay! Just have to remind myself of these super good moments when I'm feeling not so well or the scale doesn't budge for a day or two or three. I can do it! :D

That's all for tonight.
Bob

Day 3

I woke up this morning late again. So eating schedule again thrown completely off.

Waking up snack - Yoohoo, 1/2 pickle

Lunch - Outback, bread, salad with tomato dressing, alfredo pasta

Snack - Large peach, 1/3 cup Plain Greek Yoghurt

Dinner - SK red berries, 1/2 cup Plain Greek Yoghurt, Carrot and Daikon salad (7 baby carrots and 1/5th daikon sliced and tossed in rice vinegar)

Snack - 1 peach, 1 tablespoon whip cream


Let's have a little side-note ramble for my EPIC LOVE of Greek Yoghurt. It's soo tasty and not like normal yoghurt. It's not sweet and it's not overly liquidy. It has more of the consistency of sour cream and a delish and unique taste. I love the plain non-fat varierty with all kinds of things: a spoonful of strawberry jam, fresh peach, fresh strawberries, SK cereal apparently. I've also heard it's great to use in cooking in place of sour creme or cream cheese. I can't wait to try this out sometime. I've tried some of the flavoured varieties and none of them have really appealed to me, epscially NOT the vanilla flavoured ones! Those are a complete ruin to the taste greek-yoghurt-ness! Right, end rant about greek yoghurt.


I went for my run today. I ran probably like 30% more than the last two days. It was really good. I took my MP3 player with me and jammed out to some tunes. I felt really awesome afterwards. I then got the exercise ball out of the closet and did some short workouts, just something to get me moving. Really awesome day overall.

More tomorrow folks!
Bob

Day 2

Breakfast - Chocolate Peanut Butter Meal Bar, Banana

Snack - 6 Rosemary and Herb Triscuts (omgz, these taste amazing btw!)

Lunch - Vegetarian Burrito (at local Mexican restaurant), large flour tortilla with tomatoes, onions, zuchini, and black beans, I decided to skip the chips, salsa, and sour cream to cut down on calories

Snack - SK Chocolately Pretzel bar (this was actually really delish, I liked the chocolate layer on the bottom and the crunchy pretzel on top)

Dinner - SK Cereal Red Berries, 1/2 cup Greek Yogurt, peach, 1/2 pickle

I knew today would be hard. Day 1 is always really easy because you're riding that wave of awesomeness from a new undertaking. I didn't wake up early enough to eat breakfast at a decent breakfast time, but I ate when I got up and moved my meal schedule down. My body should probably be used to it cause we've been eating dinner so late.Since M and I ate lunch out, it's another night where I won't cook because I'm having SK for dinner. She doesn't seem entirely pleased about this, but whatever.

I do go have my run today, like I said yesterday, I knew it would be hard. While at G and P's yesterday, C and I did some squats and lunges. These made my thighs ridiculously sore today. Running was not as successful. I ran about the same amount as yesterday, if not a little less.

This brings up an interesting and extremely relevant topic: patience. I have like zero patience for anything. I like instant gratification and now now now. It's really hard to work on something and not be able to immediately see results. Thus, I'm going to have to really put a lot of effort into being more patient, especially with losing any weight.

It's also really really hard to stick to Special K with yoghurt for dinner and then make an ice cream sundae for M and not eat any of it. Soo tempting. I just kept thinking: do this and get out of the kitchen, you don't need it, you're strong and won't do it. And I didn't.

Well...it's supposed to just get easier from here right? I really have no clue. But I'm all for sticking with it. I really do want to change. I want to lose this weight and eat differently.

Last night I weighed myself after blogging and I weighed 225.6. It was kind of cheerful to see. I swear every time I try to put effort into losing weight the scale always goes up up up. Speaking of that, I weighed tonight and it was 227. But things fluctuate around. I'm not worried, cause I can do this! :D

For tomorrow, I will get up early and eat breakfast. I will eat SK for lunch so that I can make a yummy dinner with all the fresh veggies we bought at the supermarket the other day. I will drink lots of water and go for my run, pushing myself a bit further. I'm going to put together a playlist tonight so I can run with some inspiring music.

Ta for now!
Bob

Day 1

Breakfast - SK double chocolate protein meal bar, banana, peach

Snack - SK snack bar chocolate chip cookie

Lunch - Ruby Tuesday's biscuit, 1/2 hamburger, sliced tomatoes

Snack - 6 Rosemary and herb triscuts

Dinner - 1 cup SK Red Berries, 2/3 cup Greek yogurt, 1 cup skim milk, 1 peach


So I kind of bleh day overall. M got up early to go to G and P's to clean. She wanted C and me to go along and keep G company while she cleaned. I kind of hoped C wouldn't get up and go with us cause I wanted some time to talk to M about the diet and exercising stuff. But C got up and went with us anyway.

Kind of bleh. I chunked down breakfast before we left and packed my snacks to take with me. Breakfast made me feel sick, up till like 2 hours later when I finally had snack. I'm not one to usually eat breakfast especially right after waking up. I ate the snack bar at G's next to C.  She looked at me and asked "What is that?" I showed her it was a SK snack bar and told her it was kind of like a Rice Crispy Treat. She wrinkled her nose up and goes "How much FAT is in that?" I shrugged and checked the label, 1.5 grams. Last night, I read a lot of reviews and stuff about the SK challenge. It's a low fat diet, of course the snack bars are going to be low-fat duh. It just bothers me how condescending C is sometimes.

That and I talked to M last night about today. She wanted to eat for lunch, so that meant breakfast and dinner I would have SK. And now M is all huffy because I'm not cooking dinner or wanting to go out to eat. No wonder it's so hard to stick to a diet, no support. And now I feel guilty cause Mum's going to have a sannich for dinner.


Took a break from blogging to go outside and talk to M. I still wanted to go for a run today. I talked to her last night. The bike is inaccessible for awhile so I'll have to stick to running everyday. M told me she would run or at least walk with me. She went on a short run with me. She had to stop before I did. I ran about 1/4 mile down the road and then walked back some and ran back some. The run itself was nice and tiring. I haven't run anywhere in a good while. I know it wasn't very far, but I've never been one to run before now. I came back in and had some more water. The plan is to run every day. In a few days I'll be able to run farther. I know tomorrow will be harder cause I won't want to run.

I did have a good inspirational think today. In the car I was thinking about running. I don't really like to run anywhere. But last night I was looking at some other weight-loss blogs and some girl's goal was to run a marathon. M had brought up awhile ago that K runs marathons all the time and she wanted to eventually run one with him. I kept thinking that if I start running, one day I could run a marathon with him or in general. And I would be fit then and everybody in my family would look at me and be proud of me. Not that they aren't proud of me now...they would just probably be more proud of me.

I did tell C about the SK challenge tonight. She actually seemed really positive about it. That was a really nice surprise! I'm hoping this continues, lots of positive response and encouragement.

Yay for keeping up with my goals! I haven't been really hungry today except for right at meal times, they were a bit skewed with traveling to G and P's but it was fine. Goals for tomorrow: run down the road at least as far as I did today, drink 2 nalgene bottles of water or more, eat special k for two meals, have two snacks, have one nicely portioned meal.

That's it for today folks.
Bob.

Day 1/2

Okay readers. I've finally done it. The Special K diet. You can roll your eyes and bemoan life. Tell me how it doesn't work and eating cereal is blech. This is stuff I already know. But I'm ready for a change, something different.

I've tried several diets before, and they just didn't work for me. I've tried the South Beach Diet (not really, something M forced upon the family when I was in middle school and gave me this terrible self-image of being really fat), the 3-hr diet, and well just using various other dieting techniques. Nothing has really stuck with me.  I cut out soda's awhile back.While at school I drink a healthy amount of water. Now I'm home for the summer and things aren't going as well.

Foodwise, I love to cook. Watching the food network is total inspiration to try new things and cook like never before. I love to buy all kinds of fresh and whole ingredients to make my own homemade dishes.

So I'm doing this Special K Challenge. I figure it's for two weeks and it's fairly simple. Two bowls of cereal or meal bars. Two snacks. One Regular Meal. Something I can handle. It's how we eat at my house anyway. You're on your own for breakfast and lunch (unless we go out to eat). Then C or I make dinner (or we go out to eat, but since C and I both love to cook, more cooking has been happening lately).

I officially start the day tomorrow but I'm going to also record everything I eat. It's really important for me to write and keep track of what's going on. So here's today's list (baring I don't eat anything else...maybe some fruit. Or water. I've heard if you drink a glass of water that helps if you get nommy and don't want to eat anything before bed. This could be lies. M told me this.)

Breakfast - Yoohoo, Reese' Peanut Butter Egg, and a Peach


Lunch - 1/2 Baked Ziti al Forno at Olive Garden, 1 plate salad, 2 breaksticks with alfredo


Snack - Chocolate Chip Cookie (?) Special K bar [Side note: this was okay. It was about like eating a chocolate Rice Crispy treat. Meh, but chocolately.]


Dinner - Cracker Barrel veggie plate, carrots, green beans, turnip greens, and mac n cheese, 1 1/2 biscuits with butter and apple butter


Later Snack - who knows yet? Maybe another peach, we have a lot of those




Already I'm kind of feeling discouraged. D especially doesn't seem too keen about this. Fam is notorious for buying cereal and then not eating it. He looked at the grocery bags today and goes, "Who is going to eat this?" M replied that I would and it was for the Special K diet. He scoffed. Not a great start =/


I'm hoping to also be more active. I'm not really sure how to do this. I'm terrible at most sports. I don't like running, though side note: I have lots of dreams where I'm running, fast, free and amazing. There's no pain or shortness of breath, I'm just running past and feel amazing. When I wake up from these dreams I always want to go running but I don't think it ever happens. I should start running right? And other physical activites around the house? Well there aren't a whole lot. I should try and get the exercise bike out of storage. I hated it when it was in the fam room at the old house. Maybe I will feel more inspired to use it now that I want to change.


And I really do. I want to change things about my body and how I look. I don't think I need a nose job or anything like that. I'm just...really overweight. I keep thinking, I can lose all this weight and find adorable clothes that fit me. I know my bones aren't going to get any smaller so I will always be a certain size, but I'd like to be a few sizes back where I used to be.


My long-term goal in mind, over a year or so is to lose 50 pounds. Current;y, I weight 228lbs and I'm 5'10".

The slightly less long-term goal is to lose 20 lbs. If I loose 20 lbs, my BMI will say that I am no longer obese. I really really really want to not be obese.


My short-term goal is to lose 6 lbs and start a work out schedule. I want to keep to this strict SK (Special K from now on will be abbreviated. And there was much rejoicing. Ho-ray) and start exercising to show myself and other people that I really mean business. I feel like if I can accomplish this, I will feel more enthused about changing my lifestyle and being a better me.

For tomorrow, I will talk to M about bringing the bike in the house (or putting it somewhere useable, we might have a trial finding it). I will eat breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, and dinner. With plenty of fruits (and prolly some veggies) with the meals and with snacks. I will also drink at least...2 bottles of water (the big Nalgene bottle's worth, that's 32 ounces times 2, so 64 ounces of water). I will spend time tomorrow envisioning me fitting back...into my SR prom dress. It only just doesn't fit. I would really love to wear it to Rocky Horror sometime because it is the PERFECT Mrs. Lovitt dress.

I've read different diet books. And I think the best thing I can do is to mediate everyday on being that new slimmer me. I think I should start doing the yoga on the wii again. That way I can learn the routines and spend the time meditating on looking better and feeling rejuvenated.

I haven't told C about this undertaking yet. I'm afraid she might try to mock me or give me that "What stupid thing are you doing now? look." I did tell M about it though. She is also trying to lose some weight (though not SK diet). We'll have to work together I think. I'll need all the support I can get. I'm just afraid my close people will do more to discourage me and get me down rather than encourage and support.

Hmm..I'm really hungry right now, going to get a peach and some water.

Well, I think I've said everything I need to tonight.

I'll see you tomorrow friends!
Love, Bob