Goals for Kristen

/ coffee
This is day 1 of no coffee. I'm not cutting out caffeine entirely, just coffee (for now). Rocking the tea =)

Yesterday I realized I was just feeling more and more tired, no matter that I was drinking a TON of coffee.

So far, I feel great! Heh, I know it's definitely too soon to say anything, and the afternoons will probably be the hardest. I'll celebrate after 10 days, and then maybe start cutting out the other caffeines

Current Mood: optimistic

Stop the caffeine!
I slept so poorly last night that I'm cutting myself off from caffeine at 5pm today.

That means I have 4 minutes to finish this coffee. Tomorrow I'll move it up to 4pm.

Bleah. I hate being too tolerant of caffeine. Plus, I can't go through a con this way. I'd need cases of redbull, I'd go broke!

If not progress, at least not a total loss...
I've been bad lately. Going off the diet, trying to get back on. NO exercise for like two months. I finally made it to the gym twice in the past week and a half or so, which felt great. Today my arms are sore, which given my workout last night means I need to go more often. I hadn't been weighing myself recently, because I'd been sure I'd gained back a lot. But I finally did last night, and saw 186, which is pretty good since I usually weigh myself in the mornings... That was totally encouraging. I hadn't gotten below 180 yet, so that's not even a 5lb gain! Woot!

Now, to be good... I gotta work hard especially since summer is coming up. My goal is 170 again... although the timing for my ultimate reward depends on how I feel about myself, so it may not be a number issue.

Current Mood: optimistic

progress?
Well, I've been stlightly better about drinking water, but I need to get better still. The other day I was back up to 185 :( but then again, the fact that I can say "up" to that number is pretty good. And this morning I was again at 181-182. So that's good. I'm not noticing any physical change though, so I'm trying not to get too discouraged there. I haven't been going to the gym lately, so I should really get back into that. Technically speaking I'm only 7 pounds from my goal. But then, I'm not getting my reward until I feel ready for it. =)

wow...
I've been pretty bad lately, cheating here and there, not drinking enough water, etc..

But when I stepped on the scale this morning I was pleasantly surprised (nearly shocked) to see 182.

Must be a fluke. Either way, I haven't seen less than 185 in a long time. That's -13 lbs so far.

I think that's enough incentive for me to make the extra effort and try to not slip as much as I've been. I hope it is anyway :)

This week I'm going to really focus on the water thing. I'll update on that subject around Friday.

Current Mood: happy

This makes me happy...
I'm wearing size 12 slacks right now!! Granted they're a semi-stretch cotton, but the 14s I have in the same style are definitely too big. And just a few months ago I was wearing 14s and even bought a couple pairs of 16s...

This is encouraging =)

Current Mood: cheerful

50%!!!
Haven't updated in awhile... the last few weeks I've just been hovering around 7-8 lbs (more on 7). I know some of that has to do with not working out much at all, and I haven't been that good about drinking water (trying to get better)

But this morning I weighed in at 185. That's 10 lbs, which is halfway to my "reasonable" goal!

*happy dance*

Current Mood: hurrah!

Atkinsing, still doing pretty good...
Well, so far I've lost 8lbs. Woot! It is a bit harder during the Christmas season, and I have cheated a couple of times with chocolate. But I'm still trying... I packed my breakfast and lunch with me today, and am bringing a side dish of zucchini in lieu of potatoes to go with dinner at my dad's tonight (the rest of which sounds like it will be pretty low). So I should be OK for today. Doing Christmas Eve at my mom's I'm also bringing some sugar free drinks and I found a sugar free chocolate sauce with hazelnut syrup, both using Splenda. I'm going to mix them and attempt to have something resembling Nutella ;) I thought the mini saugages we always have (lil'smokies) would be full of carbs, but I checked and they're relatively low- I'll just have to not eat too many. (Its something like 2g per 6 sausages)

Trying to still avoid TOO many sweet things, even with no sugar, but about once a week A and I treat ourselves. I'm still trying to perfect that custard... I tried it with unsweetened cocoa this time, and managed to keep the 4g/serving from the original coffee recipe. It set a little better this time, but could've been a touch sweeter. I think I know how to improve it next time.

Also, I haven't been to the gym once in the past two weeks, and I know that's affecting how I feel. I'm going to try and make it this afternoon after work.

Current Mood: hopeful

Week 1 finished
I lost 4 pounds!! I told myself to absolutely not get too excited for the first weigh-in or so. I can't wait for next week =)

As I told A this morning: This is by far the best diet I've been on. I'm actually enjoying the food, and don't feel deprived, even though I'm eating about the same quantity, maybe a little less. Last night we made the espresso custards with homemade whipped cream. My technique needs some work, but I think they were quite tasty. And only 4 carbs each =) That's a treat worth doing again.

Current Mood: great

On Eating Out (slacker)
Thursday I did that work lunch at Mimi's. So I asked for the low-carb menu, and chose a chicken and vegetable platter. We've been eating a lot of chicken...but I like it. I should mix it up tonight and do something beef, I think..

Anyway, the platter said it had 15 total carbs. Eeek. But I substituted the blue cheese dressing for a vinaigrette (mostly preference), and didn't eat a couple of the veggies. It had a whole tomato, and lots of cut up carrots (about 1 medium), which I didn't eat. So I think I kept it under 10 grams, which was okay. We got there before the lady we were meeting, so I got the menu then, and it wouldn't have even been noticed that I was on the diet except one of my co-workers brought it up. Oh well. I don't like talking about what I eat, mostly because I get a lot of the criticism (well-meaning or otherwise), and just because I don't like talking about it. But it wasn't a big deal.

Monday I'm doing sushi. ... What can I eat at a Japanese restaurant?? I have a few days to research. I like sushi, but I'm not very familiar with it all. I know rice is out :P

Current Mood: good

temptations
Hmm... there is pumpkin cheesecake in the coffee room. *sigh* I'm trying really hard to convince myself that I like neither pumpkin nor cheesecake. It's really hard, but at least when I go look at it, that's easier. It has nuts. I don't do nuts :P

Plus, my teabag quote is appropriate, if maybe a little heavy:

"Choose well, your choice is brief, and yet endless"
-Goethe

Along the lines of quotes, I don't know where I heard this, but I've repeated it to myself in the face of great tempations: "There is nothing tastes as good as being thin feels."

I don't have very much of a sweet tooth, generally, so that's good. Next post will be on eating out. I go to lunch today at Mimi's Cafe. I know they have a low-carb menu, but I'll still have to pick and choose without making a big deal out of it. I don't want to make any kind of big deal about my diet in front of our work associates/clients.

Day 3
So far this bringing food to work thing is going great. A and I prepare our dinner and the next day's lunch at the same time. A couple things of note:

First off, the sugar-free robitussin is SO gross. Bleah. Yeah, my cough is still here but I'm trying alternatives after realizing that nyquil had ~19 grams of carbs. AND my sugar-free halls coughdrops have 3 each. *sigh*

Second, peppermint tea with a little bit of splenda is very yummy. =)

The next couple days and the weekend will be interesting. I have a work lunch tomorrow that I'd all but forgotten about. Eek! my first attempt at low-carb eating out. I'm going to try and check out the menu today so I don't have to be the slowest one ordering tomorrow.

Also, I'm going to try and not drink coffee today, although I might give in midday. Yesterday I only had one cup though. Yay!

Current Mood: good

So far so good...
This day is going pretty well so far, but it's not over yet. And one of my co-workers brought in a delicious-looking chocolate cake! At least I don't have to walk by it every time I get up, but it's still pretty close and temping. I'm thinking of asking if she'll move it to the back room... but I'm resisting so far, so that's good! I'm actually not as hungry as I thought I'd be. I had breakfast about 10am, and have eaten half my lunch by now.

Current Mood: good

A new start
Tomorrow morning (technically today) I start the Atkins Diet. While I have some apprehensions about it, I think as long as you actually pay attention to what you eat (ie, not a diet consisting of bacon grease), it is a very good principal. I'm really excited about this plan, plus I have a partner =) I've never done it as a team before, and I'm feeling very optimistic.

My starting weight is 195. I'm glad to see I haven't gained weight since last I checked, which was awhile ago. My goal remains the same. More updates as they happen!

Edit: I hadn't looked back to see what my previous goal actually was, and I've decided to change it. While being 170 would be very nice, I'm going to pick the slightly more reasonable goal of 175.

Current Mood: optimistic

New Plan
I'm on a new diet. It's the "eat what I can afford" diet. I figure if I work at it, I can cut down a lot of my grocery costs, and still lose the weight I want. Maybe I'll mix in the shakes every few days or so.

I've discovered Campbells "healthy choice" (lower fat and sodium) soups. I think I'll be getting these often. At a little over a dollar a can, you can't beat it for a cheap lunch. Okay, maybe you can, but I can't do ramen every day :P Their chicken and rice is workable. Okay, so it's not homemade, but it's not that bad either.

Also: Water, water, water. I intend to always have a glass with water next to me at work. I'm cutting out soda- too expensive and bad for me.

I'm actually kind of optimistic about this, but I don't want to get too excited. I'll do a weigh-in in about a week or so. I've also been making it to the gym about once a week for awhile now. I'm gonna try and make that two.

Current Mood: lunching

Day 19
A huge lunch disaster was avoided today. I made up my breakfast shake this morning, and two more at the same time for later. So I have them sitting in the fridge, but when lunchtime rolled around I started getting the munchies, and thought "Screw this, I'm going to the mexican place next door and getting a burrito."

But in the end, I realized I wasn't actually hungry per se, just a little bored with drinking the same old. But that's a lame excuse, imo. I keep telling myself I really want this, more than the immediate satisfaction of food, and that it's going to be so great to reach my goal.

Compliments help too. Some people are noticing, some people even that I haven't told about this diet. Which is pretty cool. =)

So instead of eating, I picked up some grapefruit juice for a snack. I LOVE grapefruit juice! And I'll have another shake when I'm actually hungry.

Tomorrow morning I'm going to the gym. Hopefully I'll have good news afterwards.

Current Mood: better

Haven't forgotten... (Day 17)
I haven't forgotten to post, but I haven't had great news either. I did the shakes halfway for the whole week, and not at all on the weekend. But I have been watching what I eat. I haven't been making it to the gym at all :(

I did an unofficial weigh in on Friday, and was half-relieved, half-bummed that I'm still just down 6lbs. I'll be going back with the shakes tomorrow.

Hopefully next time I'll have a better report.

Current Mood: meh

Day 11
Well. I took a break on the weekend. It's WAY harder than I expected to get back on it, harder than it was starting the first couple days.

One happy note is that I was down 6 lbs on Friday, which is the last time I went to the gym.

Today I was irritable and cranky, and haven't been able to stick to the shakes. And now I'm running late and don't have time to make one for dinner.

I hope this gets better.

Current Mood: disappointed

Day 5
I weighed myself today. I've decided to only use the scale at the gym. That way I don't weigh myself too often, and it gives me a little extra incentive to go work out ;)

- 4 lbs!!!

Okay, so I know it's really too early to count that as any kind of accurate. I mean, I know my weight fluctuates a couple of pounds throughout the month, but still... it was VERY encouraging to see that drop right from the start. I had a great workout, I ran what was probably my fasted mile, ~ 10:40. I don't always count, but I know that was a good run for me ;) My arms are sore from a pole workout last night.

And I've been good today. I'm sticking to the shakes (mostly*), and it's actually being a little easier than I thought. I don't miss food too much, although I can tell I'm going to really enjoy it when I start eating normally again. Hopefully I won't be eating junk food anymore. The way I see it, if I'm gonna splurge on a meal, it had better be worth it. No McDonalds crap for me.

Mmmm...pumpkin pie.

* 1 chocolate chip cookie (which are completely gone now, yay, no more temptation), a handful of veggies with lunch and a ZonePerfect energy bar. Oh and some apple cider I have simmering on the stove right now...

Current Mood: ecstatic

Day 4
I know this week is going to be a big challenge. The weekend was relatively easy, partly because I didn't have much going on. I'm going to have to learn to juggle social situations... so far taking the shake in a bottle works pretty well. Although I did give in and have a small dinner with friends last night, and didn't drink the shake I had brought for dinner. But given that it was the only solid food I had yesterday, I feel ok about it.

Making them up 4 at a time seems to be a pretty good idea. Taking out the blender each time is getting to be a pain.

Today I resisted the urge to get lunch. I had to go out to the bank anyhow, and I almost picked up something tasty on the way back in. But once I got to thinking about it, I realized I didn't want to deal with a food coma (which I knew would happen at this point if I ate anything larger than a snack), and I convinced myself that I really want to reach this goal. So I picked up some frozen veggies (yum! no sarcasm here), which I just finished with my lunch shake. I'm also drinking more water today.

I feel great :)

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