My Bad-A** Boots

Finally, my w*lmart days are over.

Last year, I bought a cheap, cheap pair from the cheap cheap place where you go to get something, because something must be done and anything will be better than nothing (I'm not a sherpa who can go barefoot in the snow!) and I came home in November with boots that fell apart in March. (Yes, for those in the know, that meant I spent all of April with my feet wet.)

I was glad they fell apart. I would hobble home from walks with hubby and the dog, complaining bitterly about how much my feet hurt.

Well, no more!

I now have these puppies from Mountain Equipment Coop.

The name on the box is "Keen Delta" but I've renamed them my bad-a** boots, as in "Puppy, leave go my bad-a** boots!"

I plan on enjoying my walks this winter. Who knows? Maybe we will get adventurous and even sally into the river valley.

Nov 2, Day 33

Sleep:

Late to bed. Lights out, maybe 10:30? Intermittent sleep (but not too bad). Woke up slightly sweaty at one point. Overslept the alarm (6:45) Woke up at 7:45-8:00 instead. Everyone overslept. Big rush to get the kids out the door.

Activity Level:

10:00 am. 2 mile “walk” with a Leslie Sansone video. Intense and challenging. Fabulous.

Food:

8:30 am Breakfast

Leftovers:  kippers, roasted cauliflower, acorn squash.  Teaspoon ghee. 1/8^th cantaloupe. Black coffee. *I’m noticing my nose runs just a bit when I eat. What’s up with that?

Fullness after eating: 7

12:01 pm Lunch

Leftovers: root soup, and some of Melissa Joulwan’s  “You’re the Top” Tuna salad on spinach. A couple of tablespoons of black olives. 1 oz cashews and some raisins.

I had a dental appointment at 1pm and I wasn’t that hungry. I just wanted something to tide me over.  It worked well.

Fullness after eating: 7.5

6:00 pm Supper

Made a hash of lean ground beef, two enormous sweet potatoes (one white, one orange), ½ small zucchini, and an apple.  Steamed broccoli, water.

Fullness after eating: 8

Mood:

Feeling great. Had lots and lots of energy today. In fact, I considered running for the bus, but not being used to thinking that way, didn’t. At another point today, I considered whether to wait ten minutes for the train, or walk. I probably could have walked it. In both cases, I wish I’d trusted my body a bit more. It was -4 Celcius and there’s a foot of slush out there. Next time!

Nov 1, Day 32

 Sleep:

I was in bed by 9:30 (yay) Lights out at 10pm. Fell asleep moderately quickly. Woke up around 3am to use the bathroom. I was covered with a sheen of sweat. Hit snooze at the 6:45 alarm, got out of bed relunctantly at 7:05. Once I was up, I felt great, though.

Food:

8am Breakfast
Canned kippers warmed up, steamed spinach and pre-roasted acorn squash. Sliced fresh strawberries and black coffee.  The kippers (which I haven’t had in twenty-five years) smelled revolting but tasted great!  I tried to take my time and eat and swallow every bite before I took another.  There wasn’t a lot of fat in this meal  (only 1/2 teaspoon of ghee on my squash).

Fullness after eating:  6.5 Perfect for breakfast.

10:15 Snack
Feeling shaky and dizzy after 40 minutes of light housekeeping.  Ate ½ avocado, drank a glass of water.

1:15 Lunch
Last night’s supper and a bowl of pumpkin soup.

 

Fullness after eating: 9.5. Too much soup!

6:00 Supper
Chicken thigh, stuffed with minced garlic and a few bits of purple onion, roasted cauliflower, roasted beat and onion salad and boiled green beans. Bowl of pumpkin soup to start.

Fullness after eating: 7.5-8.

Activity Level
Thoroughly embarrassed I didn’t get to it today.  I just ran out of time this afternoon.  I did walk two blocks quite easily through foot high slush and snow. That would not have been possible two months ago without going slowly, carefully and in pain. I am grateful for that.

Mood
Kill all the things.

*Is there a way to stay satiated for five hours without feeling stuffed after every meal?

Oct 31, Day 31

Sleep:

Poor. I had a hard time falling asleep last night (given the weird schedule I got into while I wasn’t feeling well) I swear it was 3 or 4am before I fell asleep, even though I was in bed at 11.  Up at 7:15-7:20.

Activity:

Around 2pm. One mile walk with a Leslie Sansone video. I was going to take a rest day, but I felt I had a little energy to burn! It was challenging but felt good. Warmed me up, too.

Food:

8:00 Breakfast.

1/8^th cantaloupe, 2 egg frittata with 1 ½ cup sauteed vegetables (fried in cocnut oil: onion, green and red pepper, zucchini) a handful of spinach (inside the fold), and black coffee

Hunger when finished:  9. Too full.

12:30 Lunch

 Melissa Joulwan’s recipe for "You're the Top!" Tuna Salad. Plate full of spinach, slice of pre-roasted acorn squash. Water

Hunger when finished:  7 (Just right)

5:30 Supper

Roasted yams, sweet potatoes, carrots and parsnips (in CO). Fresh tomato wedges. MJ’s Stove Top Pork Carnitas. Roasted Red Beet and Onion salad. This was the spread for my family of four.

We're really primal--we don't even use knives and forks!

Hunger when finished:  7.5 The meat was quite fatty, but soooo delicious.

Mood:

Great—‘til it came time for everyone to get ready to leave and the doorbell was ringing every five minutes and I wanted to get their picture and nothing was working. I growled too much.

My Whole30 Plus...A Do Over

On October first, I began to follow a dietary protocol known as the Whole30. All in all, it did not go well. OK. It did not go as well as I thought it would. Which is different. I am pleased with the fact that I lost 16 pounds. I am also pleased that it restored me to good spirits, instead of leaving me to want to rabidly hoard and snack on potato chips every single night of my life. I bought new clothes, new earrings and I even treated myself to an expensive new hair cut! (I bought new make up too--and wore it! It was an exciting month.)

Here are my before and after pics. Can you tell which is which? (Oh wait, I told you about the hair cut!)

Nonetheless, I have several reasons for continuing my whole 30 for yet another 30 days.

#1 I have been sick since Day 26. I am now just starting to eat again and get my energy back (day 31)

#2 I want to work on my sleep hygiene. It's been a circadian mess, since, well, forever. I need to be up in the mornings by 6:45--I need to be in bed by 9:45 for nine hours of sleep. Until I start getting that, I won't know if I need less.

#3 I am still having problems identifying hunger cues. Usually, my first "clue" when I'm hungry is prowling around in the kitchen. When this plan was working, I could reliably identify "hunger" because it was roughly five hours since my last meal. I need to *know* that feeling.

#4 I want to work on finding other ways to relieve stress. I have used food as a crutch for a long time and I haven't really "broken" the habit. (It's just in remission while I'm on the whole 30, thank heavens.) I want to find at least two ways to handle stress that I can use "on demand" as it were this month. (Exercise helps, but it would be weird to start jogging in place when I'm frustrated standing in line at the store!)

#5 I believe my leptin receptors are waking up, but they're not all there yet! I re-read ISWF on the weekend and it mentions that snacking after supper is a sign of leptin resistence. I still have the urge to snack after supper. I want to deal with that while I *know* I'm not really hungry. (See #3 above.)

#6 Can I say this? I love eating this way! So delicious. I love the challenge of finding new meats and new ways to cook it--on a budget. I am challenging myself to find at least one new whole 30 food per week and find ways to cook it/use it.

So, here we are. I've taken my measurements and weighed in. (It is going to be hard to stay off that scale! I have over 100 pounds to lose and it is such a motivator!)

Here we go!

As best I can, I'm going to log my food, mood, activity level and sleep every day for the next thirty days.

Moving

I walked a block and a half to an appointment a few days ago.

When I got there, everything hurt. The area where my leg meets my pelvis was in spasm, my lower back twinged. It was hard to put one foot in front of the other, I felt the urge to waddle.

The very next day, I did a work out. The day after that, today, I did another. When I was done my one mile walk (with the indefatigable Leslie Sansone) I added a stretching routine designed for increasing mobility (by British trainer, Joanna Hall).

The stretches were hard. The Lying Spine Stretch, for example,

was nearly impossible for my left leg.

I was very grateful the Opposite Arm and Leg Reach

included a variation with me on the floor.

I was afraid I'd fall.

The Full Body Stretch nearly choked me.

and I just about cried trying to peel my vertebra off the wall one at a time during the Wall Roll Down.

 

 

 

 

But I can't wait to do it all again, tomorrow.

 

 

(Other stretches in the routine included the Side Bend, the Seated Spine Rotation, and |my all-time favourite, the Cat Curl.)

My goal is continue this month as I have begun: a walking workout and a stretching workout every day. It's easiest that way.

OMG! It's All Marketing....

I quickly scanned through The new Diet book that is "Six Weeks to OMG...be Skinnier than All Your Friends," in the check out line at Wal-mart this evening. (It was a long line.)

I read about the cold bath, the no-breakfast and the coffee. I read something quickly about exercise. I read something about not eating fruit and that smoothies were a bad idea. I noted the author was a personal trainer, an Englishman, and had a degree or something in something sports related.

I came home and looked it up...and among many things, I found this "day-in-the-life" post at some forum by Madamemecholet:

OK Frangran a simple summary:

Wake and drink black coffee

Plunge in cold bath only 15 degrees for 15mins or take a long cold shower.

6am - 10am - get up and do 45 min workout - Gym/DVD/Run (cardio)

Skip breakfast

9am - 12 - eat 1st meal (3hrs after exercising)- not cereal. High protein, eggs etc, low carbs.

10am - another black coffee

12.00 - Do 30 min exercise, brisk walk/skipping

1pm - eat lunch (30mins after exercising). Again 1/2 plate protein. low carb.

NO SNACKS

6pm - 15 min exercise (skipping/brisk walk), wait 15mins before eating.

7pm - eat dinner. 1/2 plate protein, low carb. Finish dinner at least 2 hours before bed. Do not eat again.

10pm - blow up a balloon 20 times. (inner stomach muscles)

I may have missed loads, but this lot has stuck in my head. Basically you exercise - wait - then eat. You don't snack. Eat high protein, low carb meals (not 'no' carb but minimal carb) Skip brekkie, try and fit in 3 meals but 2 will do. You drink black coffee, take cold baths and blow up balloons.

Sounds bonkers doesn't it - but it's working for me.. 4lbs lost in 6 days.

An hour and a half of exercise a day? No wonder the bloody "diet" works!

You limit your intake of fruit (no sugar, no insulin spikes), fill your plate with half carbs and half protein, so it takes a while for your stomach to empty and you feel full longer, and given there's no snacking, you actually get hungry. Unfortunately, you can't lose weight, nor keep the lost weight off unless you can accept being hungry (even though it's not pc to say so) --'cause that's when your body actually turns to all that stored fat and actually uses it.

As well, if you don't eat anything after 7pm until 3 to 4 hours after you wake up the next day, you are fasting for about 1/2 a day, every day.

Add an hour and a half a day of excercise (and that's 1 1/2 hours more than you usually exercise), you will get hungry!

The coffee, the baths, and the balloons? Irrelevant, or only minimally relevant. Gimmicks. A marketing ploy to garner lots of attention and thus lots of sales.

That's not necessarily a bad thing...nor is drinking the coffee and taking the baths, really. It creates a sort of "boot camp" atmosphere, it gives one a sense of schievement, and, perhaps, even pride in oneself for doing something difficult. That can be quite the boost to one's morale. Edited to add: Joel Runyon has already fleshed out this idea: the cold shower, the cold bath? It's all about conquering fear.

Amen.

But I highly doubt it's sustainable. All soldiers need shore leave: and that's not something someone who reduces their weight can ever have again.