I think I should introduce myself before going much farther, in case people read this, but not any of my other blog posts.
My name is Cathy. I am the stay-at-home wife of a Baptist pastor, living in eastern Ontario. We have ten children, ranging in age from almost 6 to almost 26. Three of our children have left home (two of those are married; one has given us our first grandchild). Of the seven who are left, one is an adult working as a carpenter full time and paying rent by helping us remodel our house. Another is almost an adult, and has plans to move to Virginia if he is accepted as a Joel Salatin apprentice. The last five are still in home school, so my days are still very full. Full, but rewarding. :)
Last week I started a series depicting my THM journey. I "went public" because I believe I need the accountability. Writing this paragraph at the end of the first week, I can definitely say going public has helped a lot. You can read my first post here.
February 28, 2014 -- Weighed in at 207.0. Ate three butter-fried eggs for breakfast. Drank water kefir pretty much all day. I drink water kefir pretty much all day every day, so I'll not mention that again. Snacked on cheese somewhere around noon. Celebrated my daughter's birthday at our church after youth group/Bible club. We had brought an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen, but I remembered to bring all the stuff I needed to make a chocolate muffin in a mug and a cottage cheese raspberry whip, so I had that instead. Later, though, I ate the chocolate bunny my husband had bought me. (Note to self: Ask him not to buy me any more chocolate, not even if I beg.)
March 1, 2014 -- Weighed in at 205.8. Ate two butter-fried eggs for breakfast. Had a family day skating on the Rideau Canal, where my daughter took this photo of me pushing my grandson in his stroller:
I have probably a dozen or so "before" pictures I could have picked from, but I decided to let this one be it. I smiled for the camera even though I knew my daughter would post this on facebook. She and I have talked a lot about self image as relates to our bodies, which conversations would fill several blog posts of their own. In fact, we had such a conversation today, as we traveled the canal together. (She skated, I walked with the stroller.)
Considering the fact that I spent 4-5 hours walking almost non-stop today, I felt myself justified in getting a poutine. For the uneducated, this Canadian delicacy consists of French fries and cheese curds with gravy poured over it. I'm sure that sounds gross to some people, but we all think they are delish. I only get one when I'm at the canal (which is no more than once a year, or less), and only when I don't get a beaver tail. I also had a small cup of hot apple cider.
On the way home, we stopped at Tim Horton's where my husband treated every one to doughnuts and hot chocolate. I had come prepared for this. I pulled my knitting out of my backpack (which I carry everywhere instead of a purse), and knit fast and furious on what will probably be the first of many hats I plan to donate to a rescue mission in Ohio (where a friend of ours is a men's counselor). This will be a good way to keep my hands occupied when we are out in public and there is non-THM food around. After I use up all my leftover yarn, I'm going to buy some cotton and start on dishcloths.
All that walking just about did me in, though. I have plantar fasciitis in both feet, so after hobbling into the house, I plunked myself down in the recliner for the rest of the evening. Asked one of my girls to make me a peanut butter sandwich. She used homemade whole wheat bread, and it tasted good.
I worked out where we were on the canal on Google Earth, and I'm guessing I walked close to six miles. That's a lot when you're walking on ice and trying to keep your balance!
March 2, 2014 -- Weight: 205.2. My feet feel like they are broken. Thankfully it's Sunday, and I don't have to do much. A friend sent me a link with plantar exercises, which I hope to start tomorrow.
Breakfast was chocolate muffin in a mug and cottage strawberry whip. I ate it on the way to church since I was running late, but it was so filling I could not finish it. I left it in the van since it's still cold and snowy here, and finished it on the way home. I did eat a piece of the chocolate that was being passed around by someone in the church. I'm debating about whether to let this be a once-a-week treat, or to say no to it altogether.
Sunday dinner: The big thing in this house is to keep Mom out of the kitchen on Sunday afternoons. The children are all adamant about this. This is the day Mom gets a break from the kitchen, so while they make dinner, I get to put my feet up--and stay out of the food. :D Today they made scrambled eggs and a mixture of fried potatoes, sausage and onions. I ate the eggs with a little ketchup, though I'll have to look later to see if ketchup is S acceptable.
Snack after evening service: peanut butter sandwich made with slices of cheese instead of bread. Yes, I am quite aware of the lack of veggies in my life. Plan to fix that tomorrow.
March 3, 2014 -- Weight 202.6. Chalking up that drop to be the 6 miles on the canal catching up to me. All the same, I don't want to lose weight that fast, so I determined to eat every three hours today, whether I felt hungry or not. Started with a chocolate muffin at 7:30. Those things taste amazing, but they are soooo filling. I felt like a stuffed pig already when Tom came in 15 minutes later and announced to the children that he was taking me out for breakfast and all the normal Monday morning errands. I was totally not expecting that!
Thankfully, we did some of the errands before breakfast, so by the time we got to the diner I felt like I could eat again. Normally I get the Atkins breakfast (no carbs), but we were at a different diner this time, so the plate of eggs and bacon came with toast and home fries. I did eat the toast with a teeny tiny bit of jelly, but passed on the home fries. But by the time three hours had gone by, I still felt way too full, so decided to wait another hour before eating an FP cottage strawberry whip.
After that, it was time to take the girls to piano lessons, so I was in town when the next three hours was up. I shared some pepperoni and cheese sticks with them to hold me over till supper. (Meanwhile, I had been at the library studying my family herbalist course--I don't trust myself to go shopping alone. Too much chocolate in every single store.) I also finished a hat while one daughter went into the mall for something. While the family ate lasagna, I ate a huge plate of greens with a sprinkling of parmesan cheese and some ranch dressing. Seriously, that is enough food for one day!! I am stuffed full to bursting, and never once felt hungry. I'm thinking I'd like to feel hungry between meals.
Oh, I forgot. One of the girls got a small peppermint patty from her piano teacher, and she gave it to me. Yes, I ate it. I need to learn how to make THM patties.
March 4, 2014 -- Weight: 203.8. I expected this after all the food I ate yesterday. Also, I'm figuring the weight loss from the canal has stabilized. And I know that you're not really supposed to weigh yourself every day. I will probably do something different next week.
Spent 25 minutes snowshoeing. The wind and the recent snowfall almost erased my previous trail, so I had the fun of breaking it out again. Came home and felt hungry. There is something about working up an appetite that makes me feel like I "deserve" to eat, and that I'm not being a glutton. I like the feeling, but I don't know if it's a good one, or an accurate assessment of why a person does or should eat. Somehow I suspect not.
Breakfast: oatmeal sweetened with xylitol and cinnamon, and a cottage strawberry whip.
Lunch: Took me a while to get over my "full" feeling from breakfast. Ended up with a four-hour gap instead of three. Decided I needed dessert for lunch, so after eating the piece of mozzarella a young son cut and gave me, I looked through the book and decided on Peanut Butter Chocolate Cookies (page 387). Chose to bake them in a square pan as bars instead of as cookies. Baked 20 minutes instead of 10. I ate two small bars, finding them a bit too sweet. Next time I shall reduce the sweetener amount.
Snacked on those bars, one here, one there, for the rest of the day. Sounds bad, but I didn't eat nearly as many of them as I would have of a pan of regular brownies. There were still a lot left, even after sharing them with a few of the children. But they've respected my announcement that they were mine, made without sugar, and were good enough to ask instead of just taking.
I did eat a piece of homemade whole wheat bread fresh out of the oven, with some butter on it. I know I should learn to make Gwen's whole wheat sourdough bread, but I've not had good success with sourdough, so I'm a little leery of it.
March 5, 2014 -- Weight: 202.8.
"O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is; to see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary." --Psalm 63:1-2
Oh Lord, fill me with that kind of longing for You!
Breakfast: Scrambled eggs with cheese, two biscuits with butter, one also with apple butter. Biscuits and apple butter not THM friendly.
Lunch: This was one of my busy days, when I just didn't want to take time to actually make something. Had a few more of those chocolate peanut butter cookie things, with a couple pieces of cheese.
Supper: About half an apple and some cottage cheese. I really was not hungry, which was why I didn't eat the whole apple.
March 6, 2014 -- Weight: 202.8
Breakfast: Chocolate muffin in a mug, cottage strawberry whip.
Walked down to the local Tim Hortons to buy some K-cups for a friend. This was a round trip of about 5 1/2 miles. Normally, I would use that distance to justify a doughnut or two and some hot chocolate. However, I did not want to have to confess to that in this public journal, so I refrained. (See what I mean about needing accountability?)
Lunch: Somehow I skipped lunch. I didn't mean to, but it happened.
Supper: Salad with cut-up chicken breast, with ranch dressing. Finished with two more of those chocolate peanut butter bars.
Midnight snack: One chicken breast.
March 7, 2014 -- Weight: 201.8
End of Week One assessment:
Weight loss: 5.2 pounds.
Successes: Having to report to a public journal made me less likely to eat unhealthy foods.
Areas for improvement:
1. I need to eat more meats and veggies.
2. I need to eat more regular meals.
3. I need to space out my exercise to daily short bursts rather than 2-3 long, hard "marathons".
4. I need to weigh myself less often so as not to be obsessed with numbers. Planning to try for Friday mornings only.
That's an auspicious start Cathy. Yes, I agree with your self-assessment that you need to eat more vegetables. May I suggest that once a week you set aside some time to prep some ziplock bags or containers that you put some paper toweling in, and then put the ready to eat vegetables on top. Some things that work well for me include these, all washed and trimmed: zucchini, yellow squash, radish, sugar snap peas, mushrooms, thin green onion (scallions), spinach, romaine lettuce, ice berg lettuce whole leaves, a few carrots, celery, whatever color of bell or sweet salad peppers I can find at a good price.
ReplyDeleteI don't necessarily eat them all raw, but when I'm making some eggs in the morning it's quick work for me to chop chop chop a ready to go scallion, rip up some spinach leaf handfuls, and just toss in some diced bell peppers into some coconut oil, and soften it a bit, sprinkled with pink salt and some garlic powder. It's a lot like why you had cheese frequently this week -- because it was handy and accessible. That's what it takes for this mama of six to get more veggies in, pre-prep. Oh I left cabbage off my list accidentally. I have one of the kiddos put a head of cabbage through the food processor's slice blade, and put it in a gallon zip lock bag (or two). Then I can fry that up and add it to lots of things where it essentially disappears. I dislike it raw. It produces less gas cooked anyway. If any of these inspire you, I'm glad. I have quadrupled my veggie intake and reduced my cheese intake I think.
Thanks. I was thinking of doing something like that myself, especially to have some finger veggies I can grab, like what you'd see on a veggie tray. I was thinking of having other things prepped, too, like ground beef already browned, chicken breasts cooked, etc. I hadn't realized how much of a "Drive Thru Sue" person I am until this week.
DeletePerfectionism kills THM! It is just about having the knowledge to make better choices when you are in control. There will still be out of control moments but they may not happen as often or go as far amiss as your previous life. It is not helpful and can actually sabotage your efforts to weigh yourself regularly - once a year is perfect so throw out your scales. Little ups and downs can mean anything. If you are eating well and go up a bit you may get discouraged and overeat when you just don't need to know about it. All that matters is how much you have lost and kept off for a year. If you have not lost as much as you thought you should have after a year, that may not be failure. It could be you just had more "dragons to slay" than others who lost quickly. If you have changed some habits for life that is "slaying dragons." It gets easier when you have a foundation of good habits and just a few little changes to make to get a weight losing equation. Can't believe I stumbled on this page and you are also familiar with THM. I have been dying to talk to you again but somehow wasn't sure if it would be ok. Please call me anytime if you have felt the same!!! Twink
ReplyDeleteHey you!!! :) My first question when I saw your reply was, How did you find me? Second question was, How did you find THM? I had wanted to tell you about it myself, but last October it was still too new to me, and I haven't seen you since then. I guess it's been working well for you then?
DeleteI hear you about the scales. And your comment got me to wondering: When did people start having scales in their homes? I've been looking it up, and all I can really find is that bathroom scales started becoming popular in the 1940s. I'm going to guess it had something to do with the societal shift from rural to urban, combined with the many labor-saving devices that were more and more abundant (especially after World War 2), since that's when more people were engaging in less and less physical labor, and began to be more concerned about the weight they began to gain instead of burning off as fuel.
Perhaps I will become even more old-fashioned and chuck the scale. The children like to play with it, though. :D
Wow I really seem to have all the answers! Sorry for sounding like that old friend. I just get excited talking about fitness stuff. I hope I am not annoying.
ReplyDeleteIf you are healthier than I am, and it's not due to any illness or disease, then you have practice I don't have, if not answers. Part of my reason for posting here is precisely because I tend to have more answers than practice. I needed accountability with the practice part. I'm finding that posting once a week isn't going to work for me, though. Maybe I'll be on here once a month.
DeleteDo it!!! Chuck the scales...such a good example for the children to learn from and for them to remember when they think back as adults. I found out about THM from my good friend Joanne who homeschools and has a Christian bookstore in her home in Bathurst, New Brunswick. She always recommends wonderful books. I have a long and many-layered history with dieting, body image, self-loathing and disordered eating, which made me very hesitant to embrace any new diet fad. I wasn’t even sure I should be thinking about my weight since I’m not really heavy – just getting a little bigger but probably appropriate for my age and stage. Still, I really disliked that I had a growing spare tire around my middle and got to wondering if the book might have information to help me with that, which it did. Because of my past, I was unwilling to go at this as a diet – I would only make those changes I felt I could stick with. If the results came slowly or not at all, it would be no worse than diving into a diet that led to binge eating and feelings of guilt and failure. With a very non-stringent mindset, I was shocked that I did get the changes I was hoping for. I was surprised too that my cravings changed from doing this. Even though I never deprive myself of something if I want it badly, the cravings are just healthier and more manageable now than when I started. I think it is from finally having enough fat in my diet and protein with every meal. My family is not very interested in this type of thing and that hasn’t been a problem either. I make meals they are used to and maybe just a separate side dish for me, if needed, to make my meal fit with S or E. If I am too rushed to make a separate side dish, I usually just adjust my portions to make the meal more S or E than it would have been before I had this knowledge. For instance, for pasta, if I don’t have the time or desire to make myself a substitute I will just take a lot of salad, a bit of pasta and heap the pasta sauce on top of both, calling it an S helper. It’s not perfect but it still gets results. If I feel somehow deprived to miss out on the full amount of pasta everyone else has, then I go ahead and eat it - no guilt allowed. My THM eating is just for the times when I feel in control. If I was looking for a quick weight loss with this method, I wouldn’t be seeing it, so I don’t weigh myself very often, yet I am seeing other positive changes every week or so and the spare tire disappeared the first week. I know that after a year of doing this, I will be at a healthier body weight than when I started and that is good enough for me. I think some of those people on the FB page who have lost a lot of weight with THM have done it like a diet and will struggle to stay on-plan and keep the weight off. You can tell by some of the other testimonies that they relaxed and had fun with it and will not have any trouble continuing on.
ReplyDeleteHow I found you here: it has to do with your son who preaches but in a round-about way.
Thanks for sharing all that with me. I don't know if I've ever in my life had a full day where I felt like I enjoyed eating without guilt, without also longing for something I had not allowed myself to have. I am mentally very health-conscious, but in practice not so much. I know that I focus on food and scale numbers far too much, but all that has been so engrained into my psyche from my earliest memories that it's almost hard-wired in and irremovable. When I first heard of THM through friends on facebook, I wondered if I was setting myself up for failure by getting the book. But it sounded so sensible and so do-able that I went for it.
DeleteI find that I am a "reaction eater", meaning I eat in response to stress, as a reaction to anyone who says I shouldn't eat such-and-such, after feeling like I'm not getting anywhere (so what's the use in trying), and when I'm between chores and taking a break.
Recognizing what my problems are and doing something about it are two different things, but I long for the day when I can put all this behind me and just enjoy the good life God has given me without being so concerned about food.
Another subject: that last sentence of yours has me even more curious, and someday maybe you might e-mail me the round-about trail you followed. :)
Also, please tell your husband that we faithfully follow his weekly posts and are praying for him and your pastor as they labour on the streets each week. May the Lord bless their ministry and give fruit for their labour.