Cheffing

Posted on September 10, 2012 by Kay

I am a great cook so when I cook I feel like a chef. Or maybe I just watch too many reality cooking shows about food and the people who make it. Anyway I “cheffed” tonight and made a marvelous meal.
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Grocery Shopping

Posted on September 9, 2012 by Kay

Today begins the first week of my return to food shopping. It’s been about six months since I’ve gone to the store for more than coffee and condiments. Today I actually had to use a cart instead of the handheld basket to hold my bounty of chicken, beef, guacamole, bananas, and quinoa and other items. I’d estimated everything to cost about $60 without the coffee and the final price was $67.24 which was right under my budget of $67.50. I feel good about that, especially knowing I’ll save over $400 a month! Since I haven’t bought groceries for the week in a long time I went online to the USDA to estimate how much I should spend. Although I’m a chick, I’m six feet tall and bigger than the average chick so I looked at the costs for men. I chose the moderate plan because I think that includes fresh fruits, some packaged food. and some organic items.

Later this afternoon I’ll plug a week’s worth of meals into the nutrition tracker to see my calories, nutrients, and micronutrients. I realize I’ll have less flexibility by cooking my own meals but I plan to remedy that by cooking a new recipe twice per month.

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Weigh-In Wednesday… And a Disappointment

Posted on September 5, 2012 by Kay

Today’s weight was 481 which means I’ve gained back the 3lbs I lost last week. But that’s not the disappointment; I’m used to my weight fluctuating week to week so that’s okay.

What I’m disappointed about is the way I look in pictures. I was recently at an event where I happily posed for pictures. I looked good and felt good and I was having a great time. I’m happy I didn’t see the pictures until the next day. Who I saw smiling back at me was not the happy, outgoing, funny friend but some hugely fat behemoth who didn’t deserve to have fun. My hair looked good though! It took me longer than I care to admit to myself to bring myself back around and point out the positives.

  • I’ve lost the most weight I’ve ever lost in my life, so far.
    I’m proud of myself.
    Everyday I take conscious steps to get closer to my goals.
    Not only is my weight down but I am much healthier than ever before.

    • Once I did that I felt much better and able to have a healthy day.

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    Weigh-In Wednesday… And a Pause

    Posted on August 29, 2012 by Kay

    It’s that time again. It seems that Wednesday mornings come around so quickly since I began weighing in once a week. I swear I’ll write more than on Wednesdays but they come so quickly. So if I don’t write again until next week, blame it on Wednesdays, not me.

    I weighed in today at 478. That’s a loss of 3lbs since last week. I am now down 85lbs. I’m so close to being minus 100 that it blows my mind. This process is humbling, fun, scary, overwhelming, and worth every damn second.

    After some serious consideration I decided to pause my BistroMD delivery. The food is as tasty as its ever been, especially now that I’ve gotten some yuck foods off my list. I definitely love the convenience of it, both the at-home delivery and the microwave-ability of the food. The reason I’ve decided to pause is because I’d like to save money. I have big plans for this time next year and it’s going to require some capital. I believe the years of learning from SparkPeople and months of BistroMD and Diet-To-Go have taught me how to cook and eat best for my body. I believe I can now do this by myself and I’m ready to take on that challenge. It’s been about 6 months since I’ve gone to the grocery store and shopped for food for the week. How very weird. I don’t even have condiments anymore, all my mayo and cheese expired months ago and I never had a reason to replenish them. I currently spend $185 per week for BistroMD and I expect I should be able to spend less than half of that and make some quality home-cooked meals. I’ll probably spend the next week and a half planning menus. By then I’ll have eaten all my meals and I’ll be ready to grocery shop!

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    Weigh-In Wednesday… And A Minty Discovery

    Posted on August 22, 2012 by Kay

    Ay yi yi. This post languished in my Drafts folder until I noticed it today. Sorry for the late post.

    I weighed in at 481 today which is a loss of one pound since last week. It’s such a small amount, just a tiny little town, but I’ll take it. No one climbs a mountain without first crawling. Or something like that.

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    Weigh-In Wednesday… And a Big Sigh

    Posted on August 15, 2012 by Kay

    After gaining weight last week and weighing in at 489 I wasn’t sure what to expect this week. I was pleasantly surprised to see I’d lost 7 pounds. I’m down 81lbs as of this morning. Yay! Sorry, no pic of the scale this morning but I’m going to remember the camera for next week.

    Oh, I’m not exercising now. Although I was cleared to resume my normal workouts, I worked out two days in a row last week and it made me feel like I should go back to the hospital. It’s so frustrating to have my mind ready, my conditioning ready, but something as basic as my heart won’t cooperate.

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    Sad.

    Posted on August 13, 2012 by Kay

    I feel sad. Although the cardiologist I saw in the ER told me I coul resume normal activities, I don’t think that’s a good idea for me. I only walked a mile on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. My arrhythmia really bothered me on Sunday and I felt badly the rest of the day.

    I wasn’t going to write this next paragraph but I promised to be honest and upfront with you. I’m feeling quite discouraged. I don’t feel like I should work out again until I follow up with the cardiologist in a few weeks. I decreased my calorie range because I’m not burning many calories without working out. I’m tryingmy best not to panic or get depressed about putting on weight. I feel defeated. I’ve worked so hard on getting healthy and now I feel like the universe has reached back a d slapped me down for trying. I’m not content at 70+ pounds; I have so far to go. I guess I’m done for now.

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    Wednesday Weigh-In… And an Explanation

    Posted on August 8, 2012 by Kay

    Weighed in today at 489 which is up three pounds from last week’s weigh in. Im pretty sure this is just due to bloating from the high sodium foods in the hospital and the copious amounts of IV fluids I received… Oh right, I still haven’t written the post aboutpay visit to the ER. Exhausting story short, I visited th ER on Monday due to dizziness, shortness of breath, and heart palpitations. Turns out I was dehydrated and I required multiple bags of fluids for rehydration. In fact I had two IV’s going at the same time at one point. I have a very mild congenital heart condition that didn’t react well to the dehydration so I had to stay overnight for some tests and monitoring. I’m fine now, back at home with no restrictions. I’ll continue to workout although I will drink a minimum of 24 ounces of water before I proceed. I’m going to take it easy for a couple of days and will resume my normal workout schedule by the middle of next week. I haven’t walked since Monday and I miss it!

    Oh, and some good news: I’m super healthy! My blood pressure is good, no diabetes, hypertension, thyroid issues, etc. I already knew that but it’s good to have it confirmed.

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    Weigh-In Wednesday… And a Pledge

    Posted on August 1, 2012 by Kay

     

    Firstly, I pledge to you that I will weigh in every week, usually on Wednesday’s. I have been weighing in once per month but today marks the beginning of a weekly weigh. My body likes to do a 2-step forward, 1-step backward dance with weight loss so don’t be discouraged if you see a week of no loss or even a gain. It all comes out in the wash :)

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    Food is not Friendship

    Posted on August 1, 2012 by Kay

    Food is not just fuel for the body; it can stand in for love, compassion, companionship, and friendship. I’m happy to say food doesn’t mean any of those things to me anymore but it can still mean those things to other people. I have fantastic coworkers but unfortunately some of them think I am rejecting them personally if I say “no, thank you” to their food. And there is always food. Sometimes it’s fresh fruit from their tree but most times it’s doughnuts, candy, baked goods, and dinner foods. If the food is in the kitchen it’s easy enough to avoid but when it’s brought to me by friends it makes it a bit harder to say no.

    A friend brought me a plate of his homemade food the other day. I said no and he just stood there, dumbfounded. I mean I said it in a really nice way and even made a joke but he still didn’t take it well. He said he brought it specifically for me and he wanted me to taste his cooking. I could’ve continued to say no but I tasted it anyway. After he left my work area I put the food in the trash.

    Food doesn’t equal friendship. If I don’t eat the the food, I still like you.

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