Weight Loss Wednesday #4

 

My total weight loss as of last week was 8.2 pounds.  This week I've lost 3.1 pounds for a total loss of 11.3 pounds!   I'm sure part of that was actually last week's weight loss, masked by water retention of the "hormonal" kind, ahem.  None the less, I'm happy with the big change in numbers!

What's Working:  Tracking my food and activity on the app is really helping to keep me accountable and motivated.  I highly recommend tracking, even if it's just in a notebook.  

What's Not Working:  I've been doing laps in the living room, and it's getting boring.  I'm plan to start walking outside now that the weather is finally spring like.

Headed in the Right Direction

Let me preface this post with, I am not a go to the doctor for every little thing person.  Truth be told, I don't go very often.  Being overweight tends to bring some health issues with it, such as diabetes and high blood pressure, which can come with their own issues.   In my endeavor to lose weight, regain mobility and functionality and strive for overall better health, I did schedule an appointment.

What I found out, is that my A1C is GREAT!  I'm not even pre-diabetic, praise the Lord!  All of my blood work came back in the normal range for that matter. 

My blood pressure, is however, elevated.  Unfortunately, we have found, by trial and error, that my body does not like blood pressure medicine.  I've had allergic reaction to 3 out of the 4 types of meds, one of which was a pretty severe reaction.

We've found that diuretics work, but depleted my potassium and magnesium, causing almost debilitating fatigue.  Once I figured that out and added supplements into my diet, the fatigue has subsided and I'm back in the land of the moving off the sofa club.  My blood work showed that my potassium is still on the low end of normal, so I will work on adding more foods that will increase that.  The magnesium is on the high end of normal, so I'll cut that supplement in half moving ahead.

I'm headed in the right direction to better health, not just a smaller waist line. 

Weight Loss Wednesday #3

Last week I was down 6.4 pounds, this week I've dropped another 1.8 pounds, for a total weight loss of  8.2 pounds so far!  

What's working:  I think consistency is what is paying off.  I'm eating a lot of the same things (peppers, carrots, hummus, avocado toast and salad) each day.  

What's not working:  Consistency is boring!  Giggle.   But honestly, staying upbeat when the numbers are moving slow is a struggle.  I get frustrated with "slow and steady".  

Fighting Discouragement

I am a results driven person.  "Get it done" is my motto.  Weight loss doesn't work like that, and I get discouraged when I don't see things changing as quickly as I'd like them to.  But I'm no dummy, I'm not about to pray for patience!

A couple of scriptures came to mind this morning, so I thought I'd share those here with my readers as well.  I mean, after all, I can't be the only one who battles discouragement when looking at the scale, right?

So, today, remember you can do it, don't get tired, and don't give up.  I told my BFF this morning that I was feeling discouraged, our humor isn't for everyone, but I'll share what she sent me anyway.

Feeding On the Wrong Things

I recently had an epiphany, or at least a light bulb moment.  My struggle with my weight started not too long after we moved here, almost 15 years ago.  At that time, my husband was working night shift, and sleeping through midday.  Our kids were 6 and 4, and I was homeschooling, taking them to all their activities (sports, dance, co-op) and taking care of everything else at home.  It was busy, very busy.

I remember distinctly having a conversation with my Mom early in that season of extreme busyness, when she asked me when did I spend time in the Word.  Now, I've been a Christian since I was 6, so I knew that "in the Word" meant reading my Bible, praying, worshipping and being actively involved with God.  I remember very vividly, the look of shock on her face when I said "Mom, I don't have time.  Sometimes I don't even have time to take a shower." 

I realized (epiphany), just recently, what I'd done was let my soul starve, which in turn created a void, that I apparently tried to fill with food.Honestly, I don't consume nearly as much food as my spouse or teens, but everything just seems to stick to me.  I've been perplexed for years as to why my weight has increased like it has. It got to the point of even going to the doctor to see if there was an issue with my thyroid or blood sugar levels; both of which are normal. 

As I'm in this new season of very little going on, I've reconnected with God in a more intentional way.  I'm spending a great deal of time reading, praying and listening to good, sound, Biblical teaching.  I'd love to say all the weight just melted off, but that's not the case. However, I am seeing steady results on the scale.  I'm not craving junk, I'm enjoying whole foods and I feel better physically.  More importantly, I'm more peaceful, and am once again excited about the things of God.

I encourage you to make time for God, and He'll help you get the rest done.  And you know, if it doesn't all get done, does it really matter?

Weight Loss Wednesday #2

 

Last week, my total weight loss was 5.3 pounds, this week I'm down another 1.1 pounds for a total of 6.4 pounds lost!   Yesterday would have been a better day to post, apparently there is some hormonal weight retention going on today. (Hurry up menopause.)

What is working:  Tracking my food is really helping me.  I don't have to put calories, measurements or anything.  I do list what I had for each meal and snacks, then rate it as small, medium or large.  I also rate each meal as mostly healthy, somewhat healthy, or not very healthy.  This program focuses on realizing that weight loss is an ebb and flow and not a straight line up or down.   Since I'm not having to measure every single thing, it makes it more convenient - and more likely to keep up with.  My fruit and veggie consumption is tracked by the program, and each week it tells me how many servings of each I've had.

What isn't working:  Eating out! We had out of town guests a few days this week and we ended up eating out.  I made good meal choices, and drank water each time.  One day we went to a Mexican restaurant, and I chose a fajita salad, and only ate the meat and veggies.  I left the yummy fried tortilla bowl.  The other meal, we went to a pizza/sub shop. I did order a sub, but got extra veggies on it and didn't eat the chips that came with it.  Those might not sound like big deals, but I'm not going to try to fool myself into thinking I'm never going to eat certain things.  I made choices that still worked with my goals, but didn't make me feel like I'd "fallen off the wagon" and blown it.    The part that didn't work, is just the amount of sodium that was in the restaurant food.  I was very puffy for a couple days from extra water retention, but that quickly cleared out.

How did you do this week?

Crustless Spinach Quiche Recipe

I'm making a conscious effort to try new foods.  Quiche wasn't necessarily on my list, but someone gave me a huge bag of fresh spinach from their garden, so I thought this would be an excellent way to use the spinach and try something new.  I was FLOORED at home spinach shrinks up in a saute pan!

I found a recipe online here, but had to adjust it to what I had on hand.  Below is what I actually used.

• 1 tablespoon bacon grease
• 1 medium onion - diced
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
• 5 large eggs
• 2 cups shredded colby-jack cheese
• 6 cups fresh spinach 

Preheat oven to 350.  Melt bacon grease in pan, the add onions and cook until tender.  Stir in garlic and spinach, saute until spinach wilts.

In a large bowl mix together eggs, salt, pepper and cheese.  Stir in onion/spinach mixture and fully combine.

Spray/grease a pie pan.  Pour mixture in and smooth/even out in pan.  Sprinkle with parsley.

Place on center rack and bake 30 minutes, or until eggs are set.  Let cool 10 minutes before serving.

This was such a delicious quiche!  Great for break or brunch, or even dinner for that matter.  I hope you enjoy it.

Weight Loss Wednesday - #1

The Omada app keeps my information and updates daily.  But, I decided I'd schedule a weekly weight update here on the blog too.  The app is great for daily accountability, which I apparently needed more than I realized, but this weekly update here will help keep me accountable to my readers as well.  

I officially started using the app on February 12, 2023, so I'm technically about 3.5 weeks into this journey.   As of today, I've officially lost 5.3 pounds.   Honestly, I was at 7 pounds, and then we had out of town guests for a few days, and my eating was less structured.  However, when we went out to eat, I chose water as my beverage, and opted for salad, or added extra veggies to my meal.   I didn't really do that bad, but I can tell there's a lot more sodium in restaurant food, and I'm puffy.  I'll expect a bigger scale victory next week as I drop retained fluid from those days.

What has worked: Using the smaller plate and cup!   So simple, but yet effective.

What has been a struggle: Boredom.  Honestly, my biggest issue is getting bored and looking for snacks to break the boredom.  I have found that a banana with some dark chocolate dessert hummus is very satisfying.  

What has been your biggest struggle this week?

Learning to Like New Things

In an endeavor to not get bored to tears with food, I'm trying some new things.  My thinking is that if I fix foods that have more layers of flavors, I'll enjoy the experience more, even when eating less.  So far, I've not had any horrible experiences.

I was SHOCKED to find that I actually like avocado toast.  The first time I tried it, I had one piece of sourdough bread left in the house, and was convinced that I was going to ruin it.  None the less, I mashed up the avocado, spread a tiny bit on a small corner and put some Everything Bagel seasoning on it.  I was really surprised when I didn't hate that first bite.  Truth be told,  by the time I was finished, I was a little disappointed that I didn't have another piece of bread to toast!

My brother gave me a couple of bags of dried chickpeas/garbanzo beans.  Why he had these is beyond me, but none the less they found their way to my pantry, so I decided to make hummus.  Mental note, make only half the bag next time.  My gosh, a bag of dried beans makes a huge amount of hummus.  I also realized that if I'm going to do stuff like that, I need a food processor.  I know the texture wasn't right, but my hand mixer tried its best.  

Ok ya'll, I'm a country girl.  I grow vegetables, and yet I somehow did not know that green bell peppers were just unripe red/yellow/orange bell peppers.  I loathe green peppers, but Aldi's had a 3 pack of red/yellow/orange and I thought I'd give them a try.  Again, I was really surprised to find that I don't hate the flavor of these peppers.  I cut the red one in strips and used it to dip in the hummus.  After 3 days, I realized my other peppers were going to get soft before I used them up.  I decided to roast the remaining peppers with an onion and had those for dinner, along with venison and potatoes.

I've been eating a lot of salads for lunch.  I'm trying to incorporate as many flavors and textures as I can on the plate so I don't get bored.  Here I have mixed greens, fresh pineapple, pecans and chia seeds; and of course a side of hummus and carrots.

Each of the photos is with the new little blue plate.  The pepper slices in the first photo give a good idea of how small the plate is.  The other photos look like there's a lot more food on the plate than there really is.

Have you ever expected to hate a food and find that you actually like it?

In the Beginning, There Was Change

My husband's work benefits offer two programs that I've started to use over the last month.  One is called Hinge Health, and is an online resource that focuses on doable, at-home physical therapy to help heal, well your hinges.  Years of over lifting and over work have left me with back pain, so I'm in the "Back Therapy" program.   The other program is Omada, which is an online weight loss program.  I highly recommend both programs, if it's something your insurance company offers.  If not, you might check into the out of pocket cost, it may be worth it.

One thing I realized, is that the all or nothing mentality that I normally try to do where weight loss is concerned, just doesn't work.  Moderation really is the key, who knew?  I've determined that nothing is going to be "off limits", but things will have to be limited.

Along those same lines, I also realized that "just one cup of coffee" or just "one plate at dinner" is open ended based on the size of dinner plates and coffee cups.  A quick, easy fix was that I traded my regular coffee cup (on the right) for the coffee cup that came with my dinnerware set.

Honestly, I don't like coffee, I like flavored creamers.  With this whopping big cup, I was getting way too much creamer and its accompanying sugar.  Not to mention, all that extra caffeine wasn't helping my blood pressure any.  The smaller size lets me enjoy a cup of coffee and the creamer, but in moderation.  I was drinking 2-3 of the big cups a day.  Now, I'm at 1 of the small cups in the morning, and possibly a decaf later in the day.

I also bought myself a really cute, 8.75" dinner plate.  It's sitting on top of our regular dinner plate in the photo below, to show you the difference in size.  This automatically helps with portion sizes when the plate just doesn't hold as much.  I try to aim for at least half the plate being vegetables of some sort.

I got a pedometer at Aldi's that worked for a week and then stopped.  Then Omada sent me a fancy, nice one.  I realized that the one at Aldi's wasn't working much to begin with as it never got over 1000 steps, and I knew that couldn't be right.  My first goal is to get to 7,000 steps daily, on a consistent basis and then we'll go from there.

Try making little changes that you can live with. Life is too short to be in bondage to "can't have".

Welcome to My Journey

Hello happy readers!  Welcome to my new site!  You may (or may not) recognize me from my homeschooling blog Learning Curve, or my catch all homemaking blog, S.A.H.M. I Am!   My homeschooling journey is quickly coming to a halt, as my youngest will be graduating in the next few months.  

My catch all blog, while I like the content, also identifies with that 20+ year time frame.  During those 20 years, I've done a dang good job (if I do say so) of raising and homeschooling our kids and taking care of our home and everyone else in our extended circle.   I have not, however, done a good job of taking care of myself.  My weight is a big issue, which brings with it other issues like high blood pressure and poor self-esteem.  I've also lost sight of things I enjoy doing. 

I invite you to join me on this journey of Becoming Joesette!  I'll be sharing my weight loss journey, my interests, my faith and my reentry into both the adult world, and the work world.  I just have to figure out what it is I want to do now that I'm grown up, and you get to watch that happen.

My goal will be to post several times a week.  See you soon!