Beaded Flip Flops

Take a good look at these beautiful beaded flip flops I bought on a whim at Walgreen's a month ago. I won't be wearing them because they are super uncomfortable! My husband tried to talk me out of getting them, saying they didn't have cushioning under the beads and that it looked like the beads would cut into my feet as I walked. I hate to admit it, but he was right. I wore these across the street to the mailbox one time, and I won't be wearing them again. I love how they look, though!  Still, $9 wasted. :(

I weighed in at 155.6 this morning! I now have two pairs of work pants that fit, yay! I lost 1.4 pounds yesterday. I walked both dogs half a mile, and I walked all over the high school where I substitute taught yesterday. Here is what I ate:

Berry Special K and organic vanilla soy milk
2 toasted slices of wheat bread with 2 tablespoons chunky peanut butter
Raw baby carrots
Tootsie Pop sucker
Salmon patty, Robert Rothschild Farm Roasted Pineapple Habanero Sauce
Steamed broccoli, cauliflower and carrots
1 mini York peppermint patty

147.2 August IS Autumn in Spokane, WA

OK, so when Oreo and I went on our morning walk today, what did we hear? Yep, leaves crunching under our feet! I admit it. I was wrong. August IS autumn here in Spokane, WA. I took this photo this morning. Yes, indeed, the leaves are starting to fall!

I really was not ready for summer to be over yet, but the temperature is only 72 today. I am back in jeans, but still stubbornly wearing tank tops. There is a definite chill in the air. It probably comes off the snowy mountains just north of us.

I lost 1.4 pounds yesterday. I have no idea how. I did walk my mile, and I also shopped at Costco and Walmart. Here is what I ate:

Small bowl of Special K and organic soy milk
1/4 cup peanut M&Ms
El Monterey beef burrito with salsa
Raw carrots and 1 tablespoon Parmesan spinach dip
Hamburger patty with 1 tablespoon BBQ sauce
Hostess fruit pie, apple flavor
1/4 cup peanut M&Ms

148.8 One Candle Loses Nothing By Lighting Another

I found this saying painted over a classroom door at a high school where I substitute teach. What a perfect metaphor for teaching. What a great reminder to share our experience, strength, and hope with those who need encouragement.

I can see why people draw the line at sharing hard-earned expertise for free, though. Experts need to eat, too. They should not feel ashamed for wanting to profit from their skilled advice and teaching.

I guess we need to think of the flame as hope, or faith. It genuinely costs us nothing but time to share that with others who need it. What's more, to continue the metaphor, if we light all the other candles the room is no longer dark. We can see what is in all the farthest corners. The more friends we have, the more fulfilling  our lives become.

I lost 1.4 pounds yesterday and am back inside my target weight of 145 pounds to 149.9 pounds. I walked my dog a mile for exercise, and I also put in a few minutes on the stair step exercise machine in our home gym. I avoided the maple bar donuts and potluck lunch at church. Here is what I ate:

Small bowl of Special K, blueberries, and organic soy milk
2 slices of toasted Kirkland whole wheat bread with 2 tablespoons chunky peanut butter
El Monterey beef and bean burrito with salsa
10 corn tortilla chips
Half a can of Amy's organic lentil soup over steamed broccoli

146.4 Sweaters in June, and Coats

Yes, I am wearing sweaters in June. It's overcast and chilly here in Spokane -- not all the time, but often, especially in the mornings. It's not going to be like this for much longer, though. The summer is coming. It is. It had better come!

Yesterday at church a guy told me a story about his trip to San Diego. He went in March, when there is still snow on the ground here in Spokane. It was 70 F in San Diego and sunny. That is our summer, here in Spokane. He ran around in shorts and sandals. He felt a little weird, though, because all the locals were in their coats. That was meant to make me and Scott feel OK for wearing coats to church when no one else did, and it worked. :)

Here I am in late June in a sweater, showing off my birthday cards. Funny, they are all purple and green! Kris, even on yours, the cake dish is purple. Do card companies get together and color-coordinate? Or, do all of you who love me know I like purple and green together? It's a mystery. Thank you all again, for your cards! I mailed thank-you cards for the gifts, but I mailed them from the local school and I am starting to think you won't get them until September!

We walked the dogs more than 2 miles to a few garage sales around our neighborhood yesterday. Yes, we are going to have our own garage sale soon, and get rid of some of this stuff. Yes.

I lost 1.4 pounds yesterday, and I really don't understand how. It must have been all that walking. That is the secret: the more you exercise, the more you can eat. Here is what I ate:

Sliced Fuji apple candied with 4 tablespoons chunky peanut butter and 36 chocolate chips
Half a sugar twist and a quarter of a nutty frosted donut at church
One El Monterey bean-and-cheese burrito from the Costco frozen-foods section, with salsa
Half of a Qdoba steak quesadilla made with pico de gallo and dipped in sour cream and guacamole
6 mini York peppermint patties

145.6 Quaking Aspen Spokane Valley

I noticed the largest Quaking Aspen trees I have ever seen yesterday, while waiting at the bus stop to come home from substitute teaching. You know how normally it feels awkward, standing at a bus stop and watching all the drivers go by in their cars while you have to take the bus? Well, waiting at a bus stop is not bad at all if you have beautiful Quaking Aspen trees like these to gaze at. I just watched them quake in the wind and listened to the rustling of their leaves for most of the 20 minutes I was waiting for the bus.

The first few minutes I noticed the caps and gowns some of the students had with them. I asked them how it felt to be graduating from high school next week and what they would be doing after graduation. That was fun, too.

I took a short video of these Aspen trees, as well. Yes, that is my voice you hear in the video. It is very short, just a few seconds. If you know what to listen for, you can hear the Aspen leaves rustling as they quake in the wind.

 In other news, today makes three months that I have kept the weight off! It was March 2, 2012 when I first posted that I was at my goal weight of under 150.

Keeping the weight off is the hardest part for most of us. It is easier this time because I have viewed this as a lifetime lifestyle change, and not just a diet that I was on for a while. I know I can never go back to eating cookies and ice cream whenever I feel like it. I don't even keep that stuff in the house, so that I don't think about it most of the time. I have trained myself to think of an apple with peanut butter as a treat.

I lost 1.4 pounds yesterday. It was probably mostly water retention weight from the salty chili dip I ate Thursday for dinner. I walked the dogs a mile. I walked half a mile associated with taking the bus home from work. I substitute taught, which entails being on my feet most of the day, walking around the room to see what students are up to. Here is what I ate yesterday:

Fuji apple with peanut butter and chocolate chips
Two peanut butter cookies from the vending machine
Raw baby carrots with Parmesan spinach dip
Three snicker doodles that the students made
Bean and cheese burrito with salsa
Fuji apple with peanut butter and chocolate chips
Cup of corn tortilla chips

144.2 Coffee: Why Cold Water

The first time I drained a water heater, I understood why I needed to use cold water -- not only for coffee, but for tea, hot chocolate, spaghetti, rice, steamed vegetables, and anything else I would be putting in my mouth. Water heaters get coated with a white film that drains out with the water. It is thick. Our water drained out into the gutter, and the white film made up about a third of what came out. That film is the reason you are supposed to drain your water heater every few years. I don't think ours had ever been drained. It was gross.

If you use hot water from the tap to make anything you will be drinking or eating, then you are ingesting this thick white film. Ew! Turns out, this coating on the inside of water heaters is mostly salt. I don't know about you, but I don't want salt in my coffee!

Not only do I use cold water for coffee and cooking, I let the cold water run for a few seconds before I start collecting it into the coffee pot or pan. The farther I am from the water source, the longer I let it run first. This clears out any water that has been sitting in the pipes for any length of time, and is more likely to have sediment in it. I have lived my whole life drinking tap water rather than bottled water, but I know to run it a few seconds before I collect it. If you want to conserve water, then just rinse out some dirty dishes as you let the water run before collecting it. Or, let the water run into a container that you use to water plants.

I am still sick with this cold, coughing now as well as sneezing. The runny nose has slowed down, thank God. Because I am sick, I am not exercising. My body seems to be burning up all the calories I eat just to combat the sickness.

Here is what I ate yesterday and lost 1.4 pounds, just from fighting illness:

Small bowl of Special K, strawberries and organic soy milk
Cup of Healthy Choice chicken and rice soup
One bean and cheese burrito with 3 tablespoons of salsa
Cup of corn tortilla chips

I am back to drinking coffee today, so I know I am getting over my illness. That is how I can tell. It should be noted that I drink my coffee black, without any sweetener. I have ever since I read Dr Tarnower's book in high school in the late 1970s. Do you know that a typical cup of doctored coffee at Starbucks has 450 calories? Yes, it does. I bet Starbucks uses cold water to make that coffee, though.

144.4 Yo Yo Dieting and a Headstand

Yesterday, I lost 1.4 pounds that I gained the day before. Yes, I am yo yo dieting, but only with a pound or two. I am sure a pound or two is an insignificant amount of weight gain or loss, regarding the health benefits of staying thin. My biggest health concern now is how long it is going to take for all this excess size 20 skin to shrink and fit my new size 8 body. My RN mom says if I were 60 years old, it probably wouldn't, but at 48 it eventually will.

In fact, research presented at Ohio University in June of 2011 indicates that yo yo dieting rats lived almost as long as rats on permanent low fat diets. The yo yo dieting rats lived 25% longer than rats on permanent high fat diets. These rats were yo yo dieting in four week cycles. Four weeks on a low fat diet and then four weeks on a high fat diet.

The other day I got the urge to do a headstand once again. I used to do these daily, when I was a kid and on into my early 20s. I have always had exceptional balance, and a headstand is all about balance. It is also dangerous and just about impossible while weighing too much, though! This is my first headstand since at least 1994, if not earlier. I stayed up for a minute. This was really just for fun, although I guess you could make it into a workout by seeing how long you could stay up. It works just about every muscle in my body.

Yesterday we went shooting, walked the dogs half a mile near the range, and then picked up brass for two hours. Picking up brass means slow walking, squatting, bending, reaching and hunching. Here is what I ate and lost 1.4 pounds, along with this physical activity:

Small bowl of Special K, strawberries and organic soy milk
Baked chicken, Brussels sprouts, onion and carrots
Ritz crackers n cheese dip snack pack
Handful of raw baby carrots
Small slice of Costco combo pizza
Baked chicken, Brussels sprouts, onion and carrots
One Reeses Peanut Butter Cup
Small bowl of strawberries

147.4 The Hunger Games Costume?

Every time we go to Wal-mart, I admire this camouflage jacket with the leaves sticking out of it. I think it is adorable! I haven't thought of a reason to buy it, though. No clue where I would wear it. I wouldn't be able to shoot a poor deer even if I were to shell out $287 for a deer hunting license.

Maybe this Halloween I will buy one of these cute leafy camo jackets and wear it as a costume for being Katniss Everdeen of "The Hunger Games." Her character is an excellent hunter with bow and arrow, reminiscent of Diana from Roman mythology. In the trailer for the movie that comes out March 23, Katniss wears all black with a brown leather coat. I always pictured Katniss in camouflage while I was reading the books, though. Do they have these jackets at your Wal-mart, or just in areas with deer to hunt?

For sure, a guy who wants a Peeta Hunger Games costume should wear camouflage. I won't say more than that because I don't want to spoil the movie for you, if you haven't read the books. Peeta definitely is a camouflage guy.

We bought me this medium camouflage T shirt new at Walmart a few months ago. We had faith that it would soon fit, and how it does!

We walked half a mile into town yesterday in the pouring rain and 37 degree air. We foolishly did not wear our waterproof snow pants. My legs got wet and cold in these jeans, so we turned back. I lost the pound I set out to lose, though, and then some!

Here is everything I ate yesterday and lost 1.4 pounds, along with walking a mile wet in 37 degree weather:

Small bowl of Special K, blueberries and organic soy milk Baked chicken, onion and carrots 1 strip of bacon 3 eggs scrambled in bacon grease with garlic salt, red peppers and portobello mushrooms

148 I Do Still Read

Look how small and dainty my arm is! That is what I liked about this picture. I am reading a Louis L'Amour novel that Scott correctly thought I would like (Bendigo Shafter), while my Kindle sits idly by. I am wearing second hand BDG jeans in size 31. I sit in this chair with my feet up for at least an hour each evening.

I took it easy on the sodium yesterday, and sure enough 1.4 pounds came off. Almost for sure it was water I retained from eating sodium laden fast food on Thursday.

We walked the dogs down the street yesterday to the home of some people who go to the nearest of the two churches we attend. They invited us in for tea. We tied our dogs up in their yard and had a nice visit. After that, we walked the dogs two miles in the park.

My Mom's congratulations gift of the TJ Maxx gift card came in yesterday's mail -- only she sent TWO gift cards! She says one is for spring clothes and the other is for fall clothes later. We agree I should get down to 145 before I shop with them. Thanks again, Mom!

Here is what I ate yesterday and lost 1.4 pounds:

Small bowl of Special K, blueberries and vanilla soy milk

Salmon patty, 2 cups steamed frozen stir fry vegetable mix

Half a pound of trout breaded with Louisiana fish fry and oven fried in butter, steamed broccoli

157.6 Not Blowing My Diet at Restaurants

Scott was quiet at dinner last night, and I asked him, "What are you thinking about?" "How different you look," he said. So, I had him take this picture. He says I can stop dieting now, that I look just great!

I explained that my body mass index is still close to 25, and I will be healthier if it is under 24, so my goal is to weigh 145. I further explained it might be fun to be able to say I have lost an even 100 pounds, so I might go down to 140. I also will adjust my goal a bit depending on how my clothes fit once I reach 145. If a few more pounds would make clothes more comfortable, then why not lose a few more pounds?

This is the sweater that I plan on wearing to the Valentine's Day banquet, unless I find something even prettier. In this picture we are eating dinner at McDonald's after shopping at Wal-Mart. It was already 5:30 and I usually eat dinner at 5. I don't like to eat after 6 pm. When I do, I don't lose as much weight.

We did not walk the dogs yesterday, but we mall crawled all over Wal-Mart, and we parked in the farthest corner of the huge lot. I forgot to wear my pedometer. Here is what I ate yesterday and lost 1.4 pounds:

Small bowl of Special K and soy milk
5 chocolate dipped strawberries from Shari's Berries
1 strip of bacon
3 eggs fried in bacon grease with onions, red peppers and mushrooms

McDonald's cheeseburger (from the $1.00 menu)

159.0 Diet Day 2 of 8

I lost 1.4 pounds yesterday while eating my Valentine's Day gift from my husband: chocolate covered strawberries from Shari's Berries! I think it was mostly water weight from the salty lasagna I ate Monday night at my sister's birthday dinner. We walked the dogs two miles in the non-icy and non-snowy park. Here is what I ate yesterday and still lost 1.4 pounds:

Small bowl of Special K and soy milk
Three chocolate covered strawberries (100 calories each!)
Leftover baked chicken, onion and carrots
1 strip of bacon
Mushroom, onion and red pepper eggs scrambled in bacon grease (yum!)

I receive a bunch of "fat lady" clothing catalogs in the mail almost every day. It is satisfying to toss them. One of these days I need to tell them to stop delivery. I do receive a few catalogs that have "misses sizes," including Monroe and Main. I had a great time this morning looking through their catalog and noting that everything in there would not only fit, but would look good on me!

166.6 Diet Day 3 of 13

I lost 1.4 pounds yesterday and now weigh 166.6! I am getting reacquainted with bones I have not seen in ten years. My ankle bones used to be hidden under a roll of fat and swelling. My knees used to get swallowed up in thigh fat when I sat down. I still have a double chin, but I think that may be just old age catching up with me. It would be awesome if losing the remaining 21.6 pounds eliminated my double chin, though!

We walked the dogs 1.3 miles yesterday and then shopped our Walmart Supercenter for two hours. Who knows how far we walked inside that store. We bought two Shania Twain CDs and two movie DVD collections: The "Kill Bill" series and "The Matrix" series of movies. We had a Shania Twain concert with our dinner and then watched "The Matrix" over again last night. We agree it is one of the best movies ever made.

School started up today after Christmas break. I took my phone to bed and fully expected to be called in for substitute teaching, but so far I haven't received a call. That's OK. I will play the game I downloaded the other day: Sid Meier's Civilization V.

Here is what I ate yesterday and still lost 1.4 pounds along with walking 1.3 miles:

Small bowl of Special K, strawberries and soy milk

Leftover baked chicken, onions and carrots

Hamburger patty, 1 tablespoon BBQ sauce, 2 cups steamed broccoli, cauliflower and carrots

***Edited later to add these links to other days when I lost a lot of weight on my diet:

• lost a pound (12)
• lost 1.2 pounds (2)
• lost 1.3 pounds (1)
• lost 1.4 pounds (9)
• Lost 1.6 pounds (8)
• lost 1.8 pounds (2)
• lost 2 pounds (2)
• lost 2.2 pounds (1)

 

169.0 Lost 1.4 Pounds in One Day Eating Cookies

I lost 1.4 pounds yesterday and now weigh 169.0! I cheated a bunch, too: I lost count at 12 decorated sugar Christmas cookies. Well, I also walked two miles yesterday and did about 5 minutes on the stair step exercise machine, if you take them all together.

No, I did not expect to lose weight by eating more than 12 cookies. It was a planned cheat on my diet during keep trim eating. I was indulging.

But now that I see this result, I remember that lately, on low-carbohydrate message boards, I have heard people say they lose more when they eat more, after a long period of eating less.

I don't pretend to understand the science of it. I only know I ate more than a dozen sugar cookies made with butter and decorated with more sugar yesterday -- and lost 1.4 pounds.

I did not eat anything in the time period that started two hours before I went to bed. I walked a mile before lunch and then another mile an hour after lunch. I have read various theories on how this timing matters or doesn't matter. I am just adding this data to my record in case it might be significant.

Here is all I ate yesterday, and lost 1.4 pounds on keep trim eating:

Small bowl of Special K, strawberries and organic soy milk, black unsweetened coffee

December 20 chocolate from my Advent calendar

1 slice of Christmas bread

5 decorated Christmas sugar cookies

(1 mile walk)

2 cups steamed broccoli with 1/3 cup grated Mexican Blend cheese melted over it in the microwave,
Diet Coke

5 decorated sugar Christmas cookies

(1 mile walk)

Baked chicken, onion and carrots, caffeine-free tea

At least 2 more decorated sugar Christmas cookies

178.8 Keep Trim Day 9 of 14

I'm back below 180! I lost 1.4 pounds yesterday. I walked a mile and two-thirds. I just ate the minimum I needed to keep my stomach from growling:

Small bowl of Special K, strawberries and organic soy milk, black unsweetened coffee

Handful of raw baby carrots with 2 tablespoons Parmesan spinach dip, Diet Dr Pepper

1 hamburger patty, 1 tablespoon BBQ sauce, 7 steamed Brussels sprouts with nothing on them, caffeine-free tea

I drank lots of water yesterday, too. It is tempting to skip the rest of this keep-trim period and go right back onto the diet again. However, Dr Tarnower is adamant that our bodies need these keep trim periods, so I will stick to the schedule of two weeks on the diet and then two weeks of keep trim eating.

179.2 Keep Trim Day 6 of 14

Woo Hoo! Back down to 179.2! I lost 1.4 pounds yesterday. I did walk my mile, with one of the dogs, in the snow. I also did two 5-minute sets on the stair step exercise machine.

I am wearing my 34 x 30 jeans today! I finally have enough wiggle room in them to be comfortable. I wore my size medium pajamas last night, too. I can pinch a whole inch away from my skin in them.

Here is what I ate yesterday and still lost 1.4 pounds:

Small bowl of Special K, strawberries and organic soy milk, black unsweetened coffee
Half a cup of parmesan spinach dip, 1 cup raw carrot sticks, Diet Dr Pepper
1 sample bite of taco at Costco
2 small hamburger patties, 2 tablespoons BBQ sauce, 1 cup steamed broccoli, caffeine-free tea
5 M&Ms

We received our Advent calendars in the mail yesterday. Thank you, Nancy! I wanted to break mine open right away and have the first chocolate for dessert after dinner. Scott talked me into having 5 leftover Halloween M&Ms instead. He pointed out I would have been disappointed on December 1st if I had eaten that candy now! We always have lots of fun with our Advent calendars, so thank you again!

182.6 Diet Day 3

I weigh 182.6 today, which means I lost 1.4 pounds yesterday! I didn't walk a formal mile, but I did go to the mall and check out 5 different stores. Thank you Mom for the generous offer of the gift card once I am at my target weight of 145! I pick TJ Maxx for the gift card. They have a good selection and they are organized the way I like: all the pants together, all the skirts together, etc.

I also checked out:

-- Old Navy (where they had the cutest blazer in peach, white and cream but I don't fit into the medium size yet)

--Nordstrom Rack (where everything is still too expensive, even though it is marked down)
--Sears (where they organize by designer and label, so it is frustrating trying to find things)

--JC Penny (where I managed to find and buy these argyle sweaters with matching turtle neck shirts, even though they organize the same frustrating way)

I can fit into these argyle sweaters and shirts, but they are too tight for teaching. I will just have to lose the remaining 37.6 pounds before I can wear these pretty sweater ensembles.

Here is what I ate yesterday and lost 1.4 pounds:

1 cup Special K, 1 cup strawberries, 1 cup soy milk, black unsweetened coffee

Diet Ham Salad, Diet Coke

1 baked chicken breast with 1/2 cup baked mushrooms, caffeine-free diet soda

185.7 Keep Trim Day 5

Well, Monday's gain must have been at least partly water gain from salt in my food, because yesterday I lost 1.4 pounds. I wasn't even in ketosis, so most of it must have been water retained because of eating too much salt.

I walked my mile yesterday. I was taking it very easy, so as to definitely lose the .6 of a pound that I gained Monday, even if it wasn't water. Here is what I ate yesterday. (Basically as if I were on a diet day instead of a keep trim day):

1 cup Special K, 1 cup strawberries, 1 cup soy milk, black unsweetened coffee

Diet Ham Salad, Diet Coke

7 meatballs, 5 pineapple chunks, 7 steamed Brussels sprouts, caffeine-free diet soda

I was hungry between meals yesterday. I was accustomed to keep trim eating and not to the diet. My stomach must have stretched a bit more than I want it to. I just sipped herb tea or water between meals, to help aleve the hungry feeling.

198.6! And I Resisted Cookies!

My weight today is a record-breaking 198.6! I hated the new scale the other day when it said I weighed almost 5 pounds more than my old mechanical scale said. Now, I am loving my new digital scale. It shows me my weight-loss down to a tenth of a pound. I can see that I lost more than a pound yesterday, I lost 1.4 pounds to be exact! That is really valuable information, and well worth the imagined set-back of the extra 5 pounds, in my opinion.

I resisted cookies yesterday! Nevermind that my husband has Reeses Peanut Butter Cups in the fridge. I brought my lunch to church yesterday so that I could attend the fellowship hour after the service and resist the goodies they serve. Yesterday they served yummy-smelling chocolate chip cookies. The ladies I sat with asked me what I was up to, but they were satisfied once I explained, "I brought my lunch so I don't fill up on sweets." The lady sitting across from me even agreed and said, "Yes, I don't do that, either," (meaning she doesn't fill up on sweets, either).

Here is what I ate yesterday:
-----------------------
Small bowl of Special K, strawberries and organic soy milk
-----------------------
Diet Ham Salad
2 cans of Diet Coke
-----------------------
3 ounces of leftover pulled pork and BBQ sauce from Qdoba
1 cup of lightly sauteed onions, mushrooms and yellow pepper (instead of rice or beans)
lots of ice water the rest of the evening
----------------------

We did not get our walk in yesterday. The exercise I got was: walking to and from the church to the car, walking down and up the stairs at church and to my basement to do laundry, vacuuming the house and straightening the living room, and ballet-barre-style toning exercises as I described yesterday.