Tip: Celebrate Success

Oh, heavens, I messed everything up. I caved and bought a digital scale, figuring it would give me increments my dial scale couldn’t. Yes, it gives me increments, but oh, dear, the digital scale says I weigh more than my dial scale says. How will I handle that disconnect in my accounting? I’m thinking about it.

I don’t want to discourage myself by taking a leap of several pounds backwards from what I weighed on my dial scale a day earlier. I’m open to suggestions on how to handle my dilemma. I posted my question on Facebook, and a few of my friends asked if I could calibrate the digital scale. No, it allows for no adjustments. One friend said to take helium. Although that suggestion might be good for laughs, I’m still looking for the perfect answer. Until then, I’ll report both weights.

Regardless of what scale I use, though, I have lost thirty-eight pounds, which is cause to celebrate. As a result, I’ve been going through my storage closet and pulling out expensive clothes I refused to donate after I gained weight. I donated most of my cheaper smaller-sized clothes when they no longer fit, but I kept a few nice pieces, believing that one day I might fit into them again. That day has arrived. Last week I slipped into a hand-painted jacket I bought some twenty years ago and haven’t been able to wear for the past ten years. It fit perfectly again. I found a Bob Mackie sweater vest probably worth hundreds of dollars that I bought brand new in a thrift shop about five years ago, but my blouses were too long and showed from underneath, so I never wore the sweater vest. Why were all my blouses so long? Plus-size blouses are big in every respect. To accommodate my large stomach, the girth had to be large, but as a result, the shoulder seams hung down between my shoulders and elbows, short sleeves reached my elbows, long sleeves covered my thumbs, and the lengths came down below my expanded butt. Now that I can wear smaller blouses, they are also shorter, so I can again wear many of the fancy jackets I’ve been storing.

As far as fashion goes, I had grown into a complete slouch. I used to love to wear bright-colored, unusual clothing. My eye was naturally drawn to things with sparkles, dangly things, or unusual designs. Once I grew into larger sizes, my clothing choices grew limited. When I shopped for clothes, I bought what fit, not what I loved. My clothes became plain, bland, and gigantic.

Remember, please, that I’m still not thin by any stretch of the imagination; however, now that I am bordering on a size 18 to 20 instead of a 24 to 26, I can wear shorter blouses and stylish jackets, and I’ve plundered my closets and pulled out the bright, cheerful clothes I love. When I wear something I like, I become more conscious of my hair, makeup, and jewelry, whereas for years I just slapped myself together and left the house without spending much time on my looks. Nothing helped, so why bother?

It’s so much fun to see the real me coming back to life. I’m finding my true self again and enjoying my clothing choices and personal image. Now I’m just waiting for an excuse to wear that Bob Mackie vest.

Rediscovering and reactivating my beloved clothing choices has been a wonderful way to celebrate this point in my success, and I have other, smaller clothes I’ll enjoy fitting into in the future. I know it is not only possible; it’s inevitable.

Here’s today’s weigh-in information, and I’ve lost another pound.

Starting weight: 245
Weight last week: 207
Goal weight for this week: 206
Actual weight this week: 206 dial scale, 210.2 on new digital scale
Goal weight for next week: 205 dial, 209.2 digital
Total pounds lost: 38
Goal weight: 150

Tip: A Salad a Day Keeps the Weight Away

Glory be, I love this food plan! I weigh myself once a week (or more; let’s face it, even I cheat!), and yesterday was my weigh-in day, and I lost two more pounds. I’m like an alcoholic who’s finally gotten sober and becomes addicted to sobriety, talking about it all the time. Seems all my friends and family members want to join me in my food plan, and they’re losing weight, too. As a result, healthy eating and losing weight top the list of our conversation topics.

I don’t mind. It’s a good thing to see folks around me climbing on my bandwagon toward success. It helps me, and I help them.

I keep saying I’m not on a diet; I’m on a food plan, and I can eat whatever I want, as long as I keep portion size in mind. Last week at the supermarket I saw samples of cake. I took one of the small slices, unwrapped it, and took a nibble. M-m-m good, one of those moist pudding cakes. I moved my cart to my now-favorite section of the supermarket, the produce section, and I took a second nibble of the cake.

Isn’t it funny that the first bite of dessert is always the best? I swear, it’s downhill from there. The second bite was good, yes, but the first one was better. I saw a trash bin near the corn and tossed the remainder of the cake in the trash. It’s fun being completely conscious of what I consume. I fulfilled my sweet tooth without mindlessly inhaling the entire slice of cake.

Let’s get back to the produce section. One of my biggest food-plan tips would be to make at least one meal a day a salad. I never get bored with my salads, because I get all sorts of add-ins. Oh, sure, I use the usual lettuce (I prefer Romaine), spinach, cucumbers, radishes, carrots, and other items from the produce department, but I love to add things that surprise my taste buds, too, such as fresh basil, tasty croutons (in moderation), chopped pecans (in moderation, and chop them yourself; they’re much tastier than the pre-chopped, expensive ones), pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, beets (either plain or pickled), olives (in moderation), granola, dried cranberries, raisins, dried blueberries, corn kernels (in moderation), cilantro, and you name it. Don’t forget the protein, though. Yes, add enough protein to make the salad stick around, so you’re not hungry in a couple of hours. Here’s my favorite protein to add: an egg; chopped leftover pork, beef, fish, or chicken; a chopped slice of chicken bologna, chopped turkey bratwurst…you get the picture. Simply remember the portion size. Limit the protein to the size of your palm of your hand, and you’ll be within portion limits. The leafy greens, however, do not have to be measured or weighed or anything. They’re good for you, and the more greens you have in your bowl, the fewer fatty things you’ll put in it.

Do be aware that some of the items I listed as add-ins are high in fat—avocado, seeds and nuts, olives, croutons, and the like, so include them in moderation, just enough to taste.

When it comes to the salad dressing, forget all those “diet” or low-fat dressings! You’re usually paying for added water, that’s all. All you have to do is know how much dressing to use. Use no more than two tablespoons, and I assure you, when you toss your salad, two tablespoons of dressing will coat every leaf and other item in the bowl. Trust me. If you want more dressing, you can add in a little plain yogurt to your creamy dressings or a little more vinegar to your vinaigrette dressings to expand them almost harmlessly.

So today’s tip: A salad a day keeps the weight away.

Knowing that you will have a salad for lunch or dinner makes meal planning simple and cuts down on your shopping decisions, both in a supermarket and in a restaurant. I like things simple, don’t you?

Before I give this week’s statistics, I need to add something that several people have written to warn me about. I have a goal of losing one pound a week, but people tell me that goal is unrealistic; some weeks I won’t lose that much, and as I stay on a food plan, my body will adjust, and the weight won’t come off as quickly as it does at the beginning of a food plan. These folks are completely right, so I should have clarified two things.

My goal of one pound a week is an average loss. In this way I won’t be disappointed when I lose less than a pound, because some weeks I have lost as many as three pounds, and the average is still good. Secondly, I set my goals high, maybe even unreachable, but I’d rather aim high and do well, if not perfectly, than aim low and perform less well.

If you’re reading my blog and thinking of losing weight, please sign up to follow my journey. You’ll get tips along the way, and we’ll all support each other in our goals. The more the merrier.

Now for today’s statistics:

Original weight: 245
Weight last week: 226
Goal weight for this week: 225
Actual weight this week: 224
Goal weight for next week: 223
Total pounds lost: 21
Final goal weight: 150

Tip: Stick to the Fresh Food Section in the Supermarket

Today is a hungry day for me. Who knows why we have days when we are hungrier than other days? Still, those hungry days are difficult when I’m working so hard to reach a healthier weight. Here’s what I’ve eaten so far today: For breakfast I had about three heaping spoonfuls of vanilla-flavored yogurt with some shredded wheat and Kashi Go-Lean cereal topped with strawberries and blueberries. That’s a big breakfast for me, but a few hours later, Mr. Hungry knocked on my door, long before lunchtime. I drank about four ounces of V-8 juice to stave off my hunger until lunchtime.

For lunch I did not feel like eating a salad, which is my usual lunch, and the pork steak I was thawing was still frozen, so I looked in the cabinet for something to eat. All sorts of things begged for attention: potato pancakes, pasta, couscous, all filled with dreaded starches. Instead I chose a can of Progresso hearty beef soup. The soup spoke to me today. Hmm. The label said it held two servings per can. Ha! I pay attention to that information, though, because the calorie and fat count is based on the serving size the manufacturer arbitrarily sets. Progresso soups do not call for added water, so I knew I’d eat the entire contents of the can, which doubled the 225 calories per serving listed on the label. Okay, so my lunch would be about 450 calories. I’ll talk more about calories some other time, but for now, know that I don’t actually count them, but I do keep them in mind. For example, I know that for me to lose weight I must eat fewer than 2,000 calories a day. Dare I eat a 450-calorie meal when fewer than 2,000 calories a day is my target? Of course. I had fewer than 350 calories for breakfast and 25 calories in my mid-morning V-8 juice. I still have 1,175 calories left before I push the 2,000-calorie limit. I plan to have a few ounces of pork and a large serving of sautéed squash for dinner, so okay, here goes! Open soup, pour in bowl, insert bowl in microwave, heat, and savor.

Here’s the concern, though. Whenever I eat prepared foods, such as a can of soup, I’m likely eating much more salt than I should, so I’ll make sure not to use much salt if any at dinnertime. I also paid more for that can of soup than I would have paid for the ingredients for a fresh salad, if I’d made myself a salad for lunch. I try hard not to eat prepared foods, but I’m human. It makes me think, though, of all the prepared products that are on the shelves that allegedly help people diet and lose weight. Atkin’s, Special K, South Beach, and many other types of diets are represented on the supermarket shelves, all at high prices and all manufactured at some remote, possibly rat-infested facility. Ugh. Look at my photo of the many products available at Publix. Almost a whole aisle of the stuff.

Diet foods abound, it’s true. Big companies love to charge big bucks for products manufactured in their facilities for people who prefer not to prepare their own food, but my food plan makes food preparation so simple and inexpensive I usually have no excuse to shop anywhere but in the produce and meat section of the store.

For the price of six servings of bland, processed, manufactured diet food, I can buy a package of three fresh Romaine lettuces that provide the foundation for fifteen or twenty meals. When I am being the very best food planner (although I’m not always ideal), I shop primarily in the produce section, meat section, and dairy section, all around the outside edges of my supermarket. I even buy my salad dressings in the refrigerated cases on the side wall. I then go down the aisles in the middle only to get paper towels, toilet paper, or dog food. Oh, I do get whole grain cereals, too, which are in the middle of the store.

I keep in mind, though, that almost everything in the middle aisles of the supermarket is not only more expensive than what I can make for myself, but also loaded with salt and those dreaded starches, the very thing my food plan moderates. On those inner aisles I find bread, pasta, crackers, cereals, nuts, popcorn, potato chips, soft drinks, pancake mix, sugar, and more. On the outer, refrigerated walls, I find yogurt, eggs, meat, seafood, and an entire cornucopia of fruit and vegetables. Guess which choices are better for me.

When I buy 99% of my food items on the outside edges of the store, my total price tab is lower than expected, and certainly lower than if I buy frozen dinners or packaged food. In addition, I have fresh, delicious food to eat.

I’m not saying I don’t buy frozen fish, but it’s not packaged as a meal. I buy large packages of frozen, individually wrapped tilapia, for example. The price is great, and I can pull out one portion, let it thaw for a few minutes, sprinkle it with garlic powder and onion powder, and sauté it with slices of squash or florets of broccoli and cauliflower. In a matter of minutes I have a low-cost, sensible, healthful, tasty, meal.

Still, I am human; I slip and slide and backslide, and I still have food in the house that I purchased before I decided to return to my sensible food plan, so those things may get consumed over the next months, but I’ll be mindful of what I eat. What I refuse to do, though, is fall prey to those prepackaged manufactured pieces of diet-food crap sold at the supermarket. Period.