Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Obsessed

Not with my weight. With the thermometer.

And no, I'm not trying to conceive (perish the thought -- quite the opposite!!). Instead, I'm sick, so I'm obsessively checking my temperature to see if I have a fever. When I was little, a fever was the gold standard for illness in our house. You feel like crap? Let's see if you have a fever. If you don't have a fever then you're not really sick. It's just allergies. Off to school with you, here's your box of tissues!!

Since that time I've learned that, lo and behold, you can be sick without running a fever. And as an adult, that's how most of my illnesses tend to run. I can feel like I've been run over by a bulldozer, and the thermometer will cheerfully report 98.6, with maybe a 98.7 spike mid-afternoon.

Then again, it might be that my thermometer has issues... because according to it, I've been dead for an hour.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

The One in Which Amanda Beats Her Scale Into a Bloody Pulp

Subtitled: Do Scales Actually Bleed? We're About to Find Out...

Starting Weight: 166

Week 1 Weight: 162

Week 2 Weight: 159.75

Week 3 Weight: 158

Week 4 Weight: 156*

Week 5 Weight: 156

Week 6 Weight: 157

Week 7 Weight: 156

Week 8 Weight: 156

I believe we have hit the infamous plateau, boys and girls. Considering my weight has stayed virtually the same since Week 4, since a one-pound. one-week deviation especially during "that time" can't be considered a legitimate variation... yep.

If it looks like a plateau, if it smells like a plateau (pheew! Icky!!) it must be a plateau.

My daily caloric intake, averaged weekly, runs from 1200 calories per day to as high as 1350 per day. The math says I should be losing weight. My metabolism as calculated for age, weight, height, and activity level has me burning 1700 calories per day for merely existing with my basic daily activity. We're talking with no added exercise here. So a 350 - 500 calorie daily deficit would SEEM to bring a pound of weight lost every 10 days max.

Instead? I got nothing. Not even a fraction of a pound.

I'm not underestimating my calories. I weigh and measure everything that isn't pre-portioned. I read packages. I get that I'm really having 2 servings of soup when I down an entire can of Progresso Light. I just can't get worked up over the fact that I'm consuming 120 calories instead of 60. Oh the horror!

Not.

Now if I take my weight loss since I started all this, I'm still on track. I'm 10 pounds down in just 8 weeks, so perhaps my body is just resting a bit and will reward me with a drop in the next couple of weeks. I don't know.

But for now? Color me peevish.

Monday, April 19, 2010

Food Fest

Oh Zucchini Parmesan, how I love you... or at least I will once you're done baking. I'm starving here.

I've actually been pretty good this weekend all told. I baked a cake, but even with that I was relatively saintly because we all just had one piece, and then I took the remainder (1/2 an 8" diameter single-layer round cake) to my mother's house so she could give it to her bridge ladies. It was an amazing cake: dark chocolate, with white chocolate glaze, and a red raspberry coulis, all made from scratch.

Oh drool. I'm amazed the second half of it made it out of the house, quite frankly.

------------------------

Outside of that little blip, I finally tried quinoa, which is pronounced KEEN-wa, and not qwin-OH-a, if you're pronunciationally challenged like I am. And it's good stuff! I've linked to the Wikipedia entry on it, but the short version is that quinoa is treated like a grain, like rice, barley, and so forth, but it's actually a seed and as a seed its protein punch and fat content (therefore its caloric hit) are all higher. All that said, it ends up being reasonable considering the nutritional value.

I opted for a savory preparation although I saw several recipes for more sweet dishes as well. I cooked it in chicken stock, along with a diced onion, 4 pressed garlic cloves, 1/4 cup fresh chopped basil, and about 2 tbsp julienned sun-dried tomatoes. It ended up tasting like a pomodoro pasta dish, if you're a fan of that sort of thing.

I am, for the record. And it was good.

-----------------------

In addition to the successful quinoa experiment and the cake fest, I also did a pork tenderloin in the slow cooker. Now it's not like pork tenderloin needs the slow cooker for purposes of tenderization or anything, but holy cow it was good. The recipe I found had me cooking it in onion soup with wine (I used sherry), soy sauce, freshly ground pepper, and minced garlic. After only 4 hours on low it was done.

There's barely any left, and poor Choreboy hasn't even come home for dinner yet!

-----------------------

Well, we'll see what the scale brings this week. I'm mixing it up a bit on my caloric distribution and trying to knock off this plateau-ish place where I've been hanging out for the past few weeks. If all else fails, there's always exercise. I'm just weighing my fear of re-injury on the one hand (hello, stress fractures!) and fear of complete boredom on the other (NO running, NO incline... holy cow, am I eighty?)... and between the two of them I'm what-iffing my exercise plan to death.

I need to cut that out.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Lying Liars that Lie

Starting Weight: 166

Week 1 Weight: 162

Week 2 Weight: 159.75

Week 3 Weight: 158

Week 4 Weight: 156*

Week 5 Weight: 156

Week 6 Weight: 157

Week 7 Weight: 156.

YEAH BABY!!! Take THAT you stupid scale.

Ahem. I might be the tiniest bit overwrought...

In case you missed the unholy fit I threw yesterday, I sneaked an early peek at the scale and that lying jerk gave me a 159. What the...??? Fortunately, when I got on the scale this morning (after drinking massive coffee and water to counteract any water retention that might have been mucking about with me), it said 156.

Now I'd have preferred a 155. But perhaps that's for next Thursday.

It's good to have goals.

---------------------

In other news, I totally broke with a lifetime habit and ordered a salad at McDonald's.

No lie. In all my days I have never once eaten a McDonald's salad, and I believe it's safe to say that in the past twenty years I haven't had anything but a burger from there... and usually it was a quarter pounder. Possibly a double quarter pounder.

Crap, I'm making myself hungry.

But anyway, I went out to dinner tonight with the boys, my folks, and my nephew (age 3). The Elder had his turn to pick, so he went with Mickey Dee's. I'd usually have gotten a Happy Meal considering I'm in full-on caloric meltdown, but I already had Subway for lunch and knew that would put me over the top of my range, so I hit the internet and scouted out the salads.

I ended up with the grilled chicken bacon ranch salad (260 calories) with the creamy southwestern dressing (100 calories). Not too shabby. It was even relatively tasty. Now I'm sure the sodium in that sucker is going to kick my ass, but it's better than the burger, which I might as well have just duct taped to it.

Perspective. It's a good thing.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

We Are Not Amused

I'm not looking forward to tomorrow's weigh in. I sneaked a peek at the scale this afternoon (I know, bad Amanda) and it said 159.

Yes you read that right. One hundred fifty-nine. Now how in the hell did that happen? I have no idea. My daily caloric average is 1246 for the week, the bloatfest in theory should have passed... so... where is my 156?

Hmmm????

We'll see what a night's rest and the morning's efforts bring. But as it stands, I'm ticked. I eat like a hog Easter weekend and show just one pound up even with the bloat, then I'm perfectly behaved from then on and am now up three pounds from my original weight?

I think I hate being forty.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

I Got Nothin'

I'd really like to put a blog entry up for y'all. Okay, I'd like to put one up for myself too.

Problem is? I got nothin'.

No news on the food front. I'm on plan, which is standard except when it isn't.

I'll either weigh 156 on Thursday or I won't.

I'm really tired of my food right now. I need to find something to switch it up a bit.

I didn't bake a cake this weekend. Choreboy's scale rejoiced; I felt a bit... undone. As if there were something I should have been doing. Like baking a cake.

I scooped the litter boxes. It's amazing how much output three cats have in one day.

I can't believe I said "output" instead of the more scientific "cat turds."

Clearly I am losing it. It's time to shut down the computer and read something nice and soothing.

Nite.

Friday, April 09, 2010

My Idea of Fun

I just spent the past 20 minutes going through our local grocery store's circular ad.

And I enjoyed it. I, like, got all bouncy in my computer chair and stuff.

"Honey, those soups I like are 2 for 1! Hey, so are those nuts you like -- you know, the cracked pepper and sea salt ones?"

"Oh!! Zucchini is 99 cents per pound!!!""

My. God.

I need a drink.

(fortunately, wine's on sale too...)

Thursday, April 08, 2010

Results of Operation Damage Control (Weigh-In)

Starting Weight: 166

Week 1 Weight: 162

Week 2 Weight: 159.75

Week 3 Weight: 158

Week 4 Weight: 156*

Week 5 Weight: 156

Week 6 Weight: 157. Le sigh.

Well, I could see that coming so I'm not completely shocked. But on the other hand I'm actually tickled pink that I'm just at 157, because considering the time of the month that's due to arrive sometime between Friday and Monday (don't get me started on my hormones), a one pound gain is minimal. It can even be blamed partially if not entirely on the bloatfest that is my life.

So all that said, I'm going to consider Operation Damage Control a qualified success. No, I'm not at 156. But I enjoyed my birthday and Easter, which was good. And I got right back on plan Monday, which was excellent. And the pound the scale is reflecting is a small enough gain that as long as I stay on plan I can consider it more of a standard fluctuation for someone who's attempting to maintain (which I was for the past couple of weeks) rather than a "true" gain.

Now the trick will be what shows up at my weigh-in on Thursday, April 15th. My taxes are filed, we've got a refund coming, so I'm not stressed about that. Something good has to come on April 15th -- like, say, a 156? I'll take a 156. Or lower. I'd take lower!!

----------------------------

I've been watching The Biggest Loser this season (like most seasons) and one of their "Trainer Tips" really caught my eye. Jillian's tip was to have a couple days when you're really strict about your eating, a few when you're more moderate, then relax some a couple of days. It makes sense, and in large part that's pretty much what I do.

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday I'm hyper-vigilant about what I eat. Thursday and Friday I'm definitely more relaxed about it -- if I hit my max on my calorie range I don't stress about it. And either Saturday or Sunday I just say the heck with it and hit 2000 calories or so. The other weekend day I'm somewhere between 1200 and 1550, just depending on how I feel.

In general it works out. Now on weeks like the past couple I've had it's a bit more of a challenge to spread everything out, but overall it seems to be fairly successful for me, and the variety with what/ how much I can eat helps to keep me from burning out from obsessive calorie restriction and counting.

Speaking of more relaxed Thursdays, it's Subway day for me. Whew. Food I can chew -- I'm psyched.

Wednesday, April 07, 2010

Holy Cow, it's Thursday Eve

And by that title, I mean it's Thursday Eve like Christmas Eve (as opposed to being cutesy with Thursday evening), only with more freaking out. How did that happen already? Weigh-in is imminent, and my fingers are crossed.

I definitely stand a chance of being at 156 tomorrow morning. I weighed myself on the evil home scale this evening and it said 156, so I'm ballpark-ish at least. But that home scale is also weird and freaky, so I'm taking it with a grain of salt. Also there's the fact that it's the week before you-know-when and I'm having a major bloatfest this month.

Of course.

So while I'm not in the depths of despair, I'm not overly confident either. We'll see what the scale brings. But regardless, I believe Operation Damage Control was a success, even if it ends up being a qualified variant.

In other news, I survived my fortieth birthday quite nicely. Choreboy did an amazing job with his surprise, and managed to get my pregnant little sister and her husband to fly down here from NYC, so that was totally awesome. She's about 19 weeks and has just entered that "cutely pregnant" stage. I'd be envious except I know that in about 20 more weeks I'll still be sleeping through the night and there's a strong likelihood she won't be.

I've done my time in the newborn trenches, thankyouverymuch.

(All that said, when I found out she was expecting I squee'd to Choreboy, "My sister's having a baby for me!" to which he responded, "She'll likely want to keep it."

Me: Yeah, she'll probably want to raise it and everything.

Him: I like that girl more and more every day.)

It was a great evening, and between that and Easter Sunday I'm sure I consumed more than my fair share of that which should generally be eaten in moderation... but I really enjoyed it regardless.

So anyway, I'm definitely forty. And it's kind of okay, the more I get used to having a 4 in front of my age than a 3. I wouldn't say I've totally adapted, but I strongly suspect I'll live.

It's better than the alternative at any rate.

I'll check in tomorrow with the weigh in results. That is, unless my aging brain once again takes a pass on the whole "Wow, it's Thursday!" thing.

Have a good one, y'all :)

Saturday, April 03, 2010

Eggs, Eggs, and More Eggs

I went to the grocery store today, and when I came home the first thing I did was put the eggs away. I went to the fridge, opened it . . .

. . . and found three dozen eggs already sitting there.

Clearly, I am in my dotage.

Friday, April 02, 2010

Weigh-In Results and Edited to Add

Good grief, I am getting old -- I totally forgot to give the Thursday weigh-in results yesterday:

156.

YES. On target for Operation Damage Control. I'll take it.

Also, just as a side note, for those of you who read yesterday's entry, I just thought I'd share that today's breakfast?

Was an egg and broccoli. Clearly there's some sort of broccoli fest going on that has me doing this, only I wasn't notified beforehand.


Oh and I turn 40 today. That is all.

Thursday, April 01, 2010

Last Meal

Is it possible to binge on broccoli? Because if so, I believe I just did... for what I intended to be my last meal in my thirties.

I would have had enough calories to stay in range and eat a normal dinner tonight, except my bosses thought it would be amusing to get a little cake, scribble Happy Birthday (misspelled) and an "A" on it (not enough room for the whole "Amanda") with decorating gel, and tell me *this* was my birthday cake. Which would be just fine (hey, they don't have to get me a cake) except this was an April Fool's decoy (they really did butcher it -- it was a hoot) and the bigger, prettier one comes tomorrow.

Unfortunately, I had a slice of the tiny one. There's 280 calories I'll never see again. Did I mention it was a pound cake? Yep, and just the fact that it was a pound cake erased its other sins.

But anyway, I was down to about 150 calories remaining for the day, so I planned to have an egg and broccoli for dinner.

What I ended up having was an egg and broccoli. And more broccoli. And more broccoli. Until I ate the entire steamer's worth, the equivalent of a bag of, say, a Publix frozen broccoli bag.

So yep, it was a broccoli binge.

And adding insult to injury, I then finally said the hell with it and ate another piece of cake.

I give. Plan Damage Control starts Monday. For now, I say Let Me Eat Cake!!!