Kathy: Week 2 (I Am the Tortoise)

Current weight: 149 pounds
Last week's weight: 151 pounds

Total weight loss: 2 pounds

This is not nearly as exciting as Katie's initial weight loss, so I have to remind myself to be patient! I know that I have been eating REALLY healthy this week (more about that in a minute), and I got some workouts in, too. After all, according to my initial calculations, I figure I'll lose about 1/2 pound a week...so for a first week, I've lost four times as much as I planned! 

My body feels about the same to me today as it did last Saturday, but I feel MUCH better about being in control of my eating with a good, solid plan.

Here's how I'm doing with my goals:
(To read more about my goals, check my Week 1 post.)

This photo was taken yesterday morning about 5:45 am at Curves!

1. Eat about 1600 calories a day. Three meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner) about 400 calories each, and a fourth "meal" of 400 calories spread out through the day as snacks.

This is working out really well for me. It super-simplifies counting calories! As a 55-year-old woman, I can't eat nearly as many calories as Katie can at this point in her life. But I still love food, so planning four 400-calorie meals (1 "meal" is my afternoon snack, when the munchies hit the hardest), helps me to set boundaries on how much I eat.

Have I mentioned that I LOVE breakfast?? It's my favorite meal of the day. Here's what my breakfast looks like, EVERY DAY. That's right, no decisions to make. If I like it (and I do!) why get all fancy and switch the menu around?

What a great, healthy meal; it keeps me going until lunch time.
1 cup steel-cut oats (w/ 1 T flax meal, a few frozen blueberries or raisins, and a drizzle of agave nectar)
1/4 cup egg substitute, scrambled (hubby always throws in a couple of mushrooms - yum)
1/2 grapefruit, pear, or mango
1 cup nonfat milk
12 oz. water

If you have never tried steel-cut oats, go add them to your shopping list right now. You will probably find them in the health-food section of the grocery store. They taste SO much better than regular, boring, ordinary oatmeal. The steel-cut oats have a nuttier flavor and texture, and they have more nutrients because they are cold processed. They have to simmer for 20 minutes, so I get them started in the morning, then let them do their thing while I get dressed. About 15 minutes later we come downstairs, hubby whips up the egg substitute and I cut up our fruit. Voila! So easy. So yummy. So healthy.

2. Plan my menus ahead of time so there aren't any last minute "emergencies" where I don't have a healthy meal ready to go.

This is genius. I bought a little whiteboard and used a sharpie pen to mark out the days of the week before I attached it to the front of the fridge. I figured out seven 400-calorie dinners (1 for each day of the week), and decided which menus would work best on certain days with my busy schedule.

And then I did something truly revolutionary: I decided to use the same menu every week! No kidding! Every Monday will be Taco Salad, every Thursday will be Shrimp in Papillotte, and so forth.

I can already hear what you're thinking: That would be so boring! What about creativity? What about trying out new recipes? Hey - these are NOT boring foods! They are tasty, delicious, healthy, easy recipes--I promise I'll post the recipes soon! I'm ok with eating them 10 more times for this term, and then I can rethink the plan in April. I prefer to think of this as "consistency," not "boring."

Here's the deal: On two days a week I have some built-in flexibility.
Sunday is "low-calorie crockpot recipe." I found some great recipes at this site - they even include the nutrition information and calorie counts! I do my grocery shopping on Saturdays, so each week I'll choose a different recipe to try out on Sunday.
Friday is "soup of the week." There are so many low-calorie soup recipes out there, and hubby and I love soup. My whole-wheat bran muffin recipe is to die for, and only 120 calories per muffin. I promise I'll post it soon!

Frankly, that's about all the variety I can handle right now! I've just started a crazy-busy college term, with class two nights a week and 10 books to read in 12 weeks, in addition to a full-time teaching job with papers to grade every night. It's worth it to me to have consistency in my menu plan for this term, in exchange for knowing that this consistency is healthy and within the calorie boundaries I've set for myself. If I had to constantly calculate the calories and nutrients, I'd give up in a week or two.

3. Keep up the fluid intake!
Can you hear me sloshing? A glass of milk morning and evening, a cup of carrot juice every afternoon, and lots of water in between. I'm learning to pay more attention to my thirst.

4. Exercise at least 3 x week.
It's so great to have a workout buddy. Thank you, Julia! Julia and I are going to Curves every Monday and Friday morning at 5:30 am. I'm really out of shape...haven't been since July 14!!..so I'm not burning huge amounts of calories yet, but it's healthy and it's movement, and I'm getting out of bed and doing it.

For the third workout, hubby and I started a yoga class on Tuesday nights. There are so many things I already love about this class. Here are my top 3:
1. What an amazing stretch. My muscles loved all that attention.
2. It's a tough workout, too. This will help me build my strength.
3. I slept better after yoga class than I've slept in months, maybe years. Deep, peaceful, restful sleep. and like Katie reminded us, getting enough sleep can help us with losing weight, too!