April 1, 2010
Blah. But we did walk 3 miles today. That's somethin. Had lunch at Jason's Deli with colleagues and Steph --- salad bar of course. Dinner tonight was stove-top cooked potatoes that came in a "steam fresh" pack ... and I seasoned em up and grilled them in some olive oil. I'm so ambivalent about things right now....
April 2, 2010
Jogged a mile tonight. First time since November. Felt great. Tired and a bit sore already, but man I'm so proud of myself! Guess I'm back into jogging.
PS Will the person who sent me the email about the interesting exercise/running suggestions please resend me that email? And Adam would you please resend me the recipe emails you sent? I transferred to a new web host provider and lost all my emails....Waah...if anyone else emailed me and you have not received a response, please email me again.
April 12, 2010
Walked a brisk 1.5 mile tonight with the pups. Then as soon as we got back, I went for a 1 mile run (jog)...without stoppin once. Steph rode her bike alongside me, kinda like a pace car. It was awesome. The night was beautiful and I felt so accomplished. At work today, my boss and I discussed exercise and diet and extreme weight loss, sharing our before pictures. Unfortunately, her before picture is truly a before picture. She lost a lot of weight and moved from obese to perfectly fit and healthy. I moved from obese to fit and healthy, and now back to obese. I'm working on getting back to fit and healthy, but it's odd for me to look at my before, then after pictures...and then look in the mirror to see where I am today. I have so far to go, but will keep trying. Exercise is at the forefront of my mind at the moment, though healthy eating isn't too far behind.
April 13, 2010
Ran another mile tonight. It was SO much harder than last night, but Steph and I figured out that it was likely due to our eating dinner too soon before I ran. But hey, I did it!
Got an email from a friend tonight...asking if it was hard for me to get back into jogging...and what I do to keep myself running straight for the whole mile (big deal for me right now)...Thought I'd share my answer here.
I started back on April 2nd, with my first run again after months and months and months of doing NO cardio whatsoever. Then I went more than a week without running again, and just picked it up again. So I don't know how to answer "was it hard to get back into it?" I know from experience that jogging/running gives me better results than ANYTHING I've ever done before. I also know I'm not doing high raw at this moment, so I'd BETTER get my butt in gear exercise-wise.
I think the main thing I do when I jog, is I do NOT stop. I may slow down, I may feel like I'm barely doing more than a walk, but my legs are "jogging" --- lifting up and down, moving at more of a jump than a walk, so it's jogging for me...and gives me the sense of accomplishment. I also HAVE to focus on breathing in through my nose, out through my mouth. Oh and I chew gum while I run; that keeps my mouth moist, which helps soooo very much from feeling dehydrated. I listen to my ipod. BIG help there! Keeps me focused on something else. I'd even suggest podcasts. They REALLYkeep your mind off what you are doing. Oh and I only jog at night. The dark keeps me from thinking what others mightbe thinking about this fat girl jogging, or what i might look like. AND it's cooler outside, which helps me, cause I HATE to be so hot I'm miserable when I work out. And finally, I tell myself, I can do ANYTHING for the 20 or so minutes it takes to run the mile. Once that 20 minutes out of my 24 hours in a day is done, it's DONE. I'm done exercising in only a brief moment in time (in the day that is)....Hope this helps...that's about all I got...
April 25, 2010
Tomorrow's the day I start my half of the challenge Annette and I gave each other, to basically get our butts in gear and do this for real. I had this whole thing planned for my Sunday that I would take pictures of my current self; make a thorough grocery list, go to Trader Joe's and Wal-Mart for groceries, print out pictures of my "thin" self (at 208) to motivate me when it gets rough, make a list of all the foods/drinks I can eat, make a list of my goals: what I will do, what I won't do, what I hope to achieve, etc. Well that entire game plan got shot out of the water because all day and night was spent taking care of Steph. She's had dental pain for some time now, but this weekend, a cavity-filled tooth broke and the pain jumped through the roof. Of course it happened on the weekend, so she couldn't be seen until tomorrow morning, at an emergency dental appointment. Anyway, I haven't gotten to do much today related to the next chapter of my journey. So I'll try and lay it all out here. I know I won't, until tomorrow, get to the "list of all the foods I can eat, so I won't let myself get into a bad situation and eat something I shouldn't." Stay tuned for that.
Watch the From SAD to RAW Facebook page for daily food pictures, updates, etc. And feel free to join Annette and I on our challenge!
Grocery List from today:
- Silk Pure Almond Milk (ONLY because I had a FREE coupon...I still fully support Blue Diamond's Almond Breeze)
- 2 half gallon cartons of Tropicana low acid orange juice
- 1.5 pounds bananas
- 2 sweet potatoes
- 2 russet potatoes
- 4 pounds oranges
- 3 pounds gala apples
- stalk of celery
- 2 pounds carrots
- pineapple
- grape tomatoes
- 3 bags romaine hearts, premium romaine, italian salad mixes
- sun-dried tomato halves
- red seedless grapes
- garlic bulb
- red onion
Goals:
- Eliminate gluten products: bread (other than the occasional Ezekial toast), pasta, rice, chips. Will choose gluten-free foods instead.
- Eliminate fried foods. Will choose baked, steamed, stove-heated foods instead.
- Eliminate sodas, coffee. Will choose hot tea, juice, water and unsweet iced tea instead.
- Eliminate dairy, eggs, animal by-products (other than honey). Will choose vegan foods instead.
- Eat 75% raw foods, with the remaining 25% to be healthy vegan cooked.
- Increase water intake --- strive for 32-64 oz a day.
- Exercise 5 days a week (walk, bike, jog).
Weight: not sure, will weigh in the morning
April 26, 2010
First day is over. I think had I not been so incredibly distracted with having to go in to work for an hour, then go to Steph's dentist with her, fight the staff there for some understanding of her dental phobia and the amount of pain she was in, then head to the pharmacy to pick up her four prescriptions, get some lunch, go to her oral surgeon for a consultation for a double root canal on two abcessed teeth, get her home, fed and medicated, feed the dogs, do dishes, laundry and water plants, pack our lunches for tomorrow, shower and finally sit down to journal...well I might have had a more difficult first day back on the wagon. Busy is a great diet aide! I ate great, however I did choose one non-vegan item today: blue cheese crumbles on my salad tonight.
I actually am rethinking my goal of being completely vegan, and may just shoot for 90% vegan. In addition, I am rethinking my goal of being completely gluten-free, and again, may just shoot for 90% gluten-free. Either way, I will be making major life changes; I think I just have to be careful not to fall in to the "all or nothing" trap of saying I'm 100% anything. But if today is any indication of what I can accomplish, I'm on the right track. I'm sure to some readers it would appear that I've failed at day 1 and so I'm changing what I plan to do, so I don't look like a failure. I don't see it that way. I feel great and will occasionally reassess so I feel successful at this journey.
I posted many pics today on the Facebook fan page of the food I ate on day 1. It's definitely a photographic journey.
Food Intake:
- 16 oz orange juice
- Ruby Tuesday's: plain baked potato with added A1 sauce drizzled over it; one trip to the salad bar: romaine, grape tomatoes, peas, black olives, carrots, roasted sunflower seeds, dried sweetened cranberries, mixed raw nuts (brought from home), low-fat balsamic vinaigrette dressing; unsweetened iced tea
- to-go cup of unsweetened iced tea from Ruby Tuesday's
- large salad: romaine lettuce, grape tomatoes, dried sweetened cranberries/cherries, black olives, dry roasted/unsalted peanuts, blue cheese crumbles, fat free balsamic vinaigrette
- unsweetened iced tea
- handful red seedless grapes
- bowl of 1 banana, 1 orange, handful red seedless grapes, raisins
- big bowl air-popped popcorn, spritzed with olive oil and salted
- unsweetened iced tea
- 2 celery sticks, one with dip of natural peanut butter
Exercise:
none (it wasn't even gonna happen today with what's going on with Steph's teeth)
Weight: 278.5
April 27, 2010
The journey continues. Today was actually decent, considering I was tired from no coffee and possibly the beginning of detox. I didn't really want anything for breakfast, so I started the day with half a bottle of water, then some orange juice. At lunch I was thoroughly disgusted by my salad, which I recall is normal for my first few days. It takes me a bit to grow accustomed to salads again. Eventually things start to come around and I will crave salads. I'm just not there yet. It's only day two. So I picked at my salad and then enjoyed my celery with peanut butter. In the afternoon I was hungry, but didn't have anything but some orange juice and a fruit leather. I had the fruit leather, but really wanted some nuts or something crunchy.
Tonight when I got home, I did not want a salad, and was really tired; so I opted for a smoothie instead. I cut up a whole pineapple, ate several large chunks, fed Steph a few, then made us a pineapple-banana almond milk smoothie. It was good, but I wanted it to be a bit creamier and heartier than it was. It ended up being a bit bland, which is weird, cause the pineapple was phenomenal!
I was thinking today about how when I jump back on the wagon, how ridiculously easy it can be. Frighteningly, somewhat unsettlingly easy. What happens is that the constant, obsessive thoughts about what my next meal will be, what restaurant we will go to next, what dessert I'll have after my meal, the fact that I'm still "hungry" even after eating plenty of food...those thoughts just go away. There's no thought anymore, because it's not an option. When I'm eating SAD (Standard American Diet), there are SO many options, so many possible bad decisions I can make. When I'm eating high raw, "clean," or whatever you wanna call it, I am limited in what I can put in my mouth. No, people, I'm not saying this is a boring life with no choices and no variety. I'm simply saying the option to be bad has been removed. It's like I have this invisible list of things I can eat, then there's the rest of the world. They are two separate things, and never the twain shall meet...or something a little less dorky. And it's radically different than when I'm just trying to make "better" choices. Let's say I'm choosing to have a low-carb, gluten-free veggie wrap with baked Lays potato chips and/or pasta salad with Italian dressing; instead of a standard vegetarian lunch of a cheesy-mayo-veggie sandwich on white-flour bread with Doritos and/or potato salad and a Coke (obviously what I love to eat when I'm eating SAD). If I try to just be generally "healthier" versus "high raw, high vegan, high gluten-free," I find that I have no control, no will power, no structure. Yea, this is a better way to live. Maybe some of you can relate to this? Food Intake:
- 8 oz water
- 10 oz orange juice
- banana, gala apple
- 10 oz orange juice
- 1/4 c. mixed raw nuts
- 1/2 salad: romaine mix, grape tomatoes, celery, raw walnuts, Trader Joe's Goddess dressing
- 8 oz water
- unsweetened iced tea
- celery sticks with natural peanut butter, gluten-free pretzels
- organic fruit leather
- smoothie: fresh pineapple, almond milk, ice, agave nectar, frozen banana
- large bowl of air-popped popcorn spritzed with olive oil and salted
- 16 oz flavored water
Exercise: still none; here are my excuses: I'm exhausted from a combo of detox and Steph's dental trauma this week; I'm having to work 11 hour days to make up for being out yesterday due to Steph's dentist appointments and being out on Thursday for her surgery
Weight: 280 (excellent, I gained two pounds)
April 28, 2010
Detoxing. Headache since 1:00 pm today. Didn't take any medicine, just dealt with it. I was also a bit moody this evening, not wanting to really talk. My eyes feel heavy and a bit tight. I'm at the end of my period, so I'm glad for that. Eating healthy, detox, my period, dealing with Steph's tooth issues and her surgery tomorrow has made for a rough week.
I was hungry a lot of the day, even though I felt like I ate plenty. At lunch I do know the soup was really only broth, cause I didn't eat the pasta pieces, nor the potato pieces or beans. I just don't like beans much. So by afternoon break, I had to go to the cafeteria and buy a container of salad to eat during overtime. I added the crunchies I had brought from home, figuring I might have to buy some salad. My stomach had been growling like mad til I had a banana in the afternoon, and then the salad in the late afternoon.
Lost three pounds today, so that's one good thing. I also made a great choice today, that was really a no brainer. An email was sent out by a colleague offering Hershey's kisses on her desk. It didn't even cross my mind to say thank you, but not go over to her desk. I'm on!
Ok, off to bed. Tomorrow is Steph's surgery day, so I'll be with her all day. Will continue to make healthy eating choices.
Food Intake:
- 10 oz orange juice
- 16 oz water
- 12 oz orange juice
- banana
- cup of red seedless grapes, 4 chunks of fresh pineapple (heaven!)
- 12 oz unsweetened iced tea
- canned progresso minestrone soup (didn't eat the pasta, beans or potato pieces)...so basically broth
- 1/2 pack gluten-free pretzels
- organic fruit leather
- banana
- unsweetened iced tea
- salad: spring mix, romaine, cherry tomatoes, blue cheese crumbles, sweetened pecan pieces, dried cranberries and cherries, lite italian vinegarette dressing
- smoothie: almond milk, fresh pineapple, frozen bananas, agave nectar, vanilla extract, ice
- large bowl air-popped popcorn spritzed with olive oil and salted
- 16 oz flavored water
- several celery sticks with natural peanut butter
Exercise: still none...likely not til Sunday
Weight: 277 (down three pounds)
April 29, 2010
Today was the first moment where I had emotional food cravings. I knew exactly what it was from and was able to work through it. Steph had a rough double root canal surgery and afterward we went to Jason's for me to get salad and for her to get soup. She didn't get anything too terribly appealing to me - chicken pot pie soup and a complimentary cup of chicken tortilla soup from the manager, but for some reason I wanted to eat bad. It was like having sympathy pains and I wanted to emotionally eat to somehow make HER feel better. So odd. I abstained and just overate a bit on nuts and dried fruit.
Lost another pound today. Woohoo!!!
Food Intake:
- 16 oz orange juice
- cup of hot Earl Grey tea with honey and soy milk; cup of hot English Breakfast tea with honey and soy milk
- banana
- Jason's Deli: unsweetened iced tea; salad bar: one large plate of salad - romaine, grape tomatoes, red bell pepper, green peas, dried cranberries and raisins, roasted/salted almonds and cashews, raw walnuts, dry toasted almonds, low-fat vegan country french dressing; carrots with red bell pepper hummus; 2 strawberries, several apple slices, more almonds, cashews, walnuts, raisins, dried cranberries
- refill unsweetened iced tea
- smoothie: frozen banana, almond milk, orange juice, vanilla extract, agave nectar, ice
- buncha celery sticks with natural peanut butter
- glass of flavored water
Exercise: none
Weight: 276 (down one pound)
April 30, 2010
Forgot to mention yesterday that I had bad liquid diarrhea mid-morning to early afternoon yesterday. I know, ew. But just thought I'd share in case others are following their bodily functions while on a high raw diet. I've also had an on again, off again headache the last two days. It's just a low grade burrowing feeling right along the sinus line. I'm pretty sure all of this is detox, as I've eaten really really well this whole week. I've been high vegan, high raw and aside from feeling hungry when I haven't eaten enough, I feel pretty great. I can't tell any change to my body yet, and as of this morning, I had gained one pound. But I'm not worried. I'm on a long distance run, not a short sprint.
Don't forget to check out my Facebook page for daily photos of the things I'm eating.
Food Intake:
- 12 oz orange juice
- banana
- 20 oz water
- salad: romaine, grape tomatoes, dried sweetened cherries and cranberries, blue cheese crumbles, sweetened pecan pieces, fat free Trader Joe's balsamic vinaigrette
- 16 oz water
- 1 1/2 c. red seedless grapes
- 20 oz water
- 2 navel oranges
- Jason's Deli: unsweetened iced tea; salad bar: two medium plates of salad: romaine, grape tomatoes, red bell peppers, green peas, green olives, dried cranberries and raisins, roasted/salted almonds and cashews, raw walnuts, dry toasted almonds, low-fat vegan country french dressing; carrots and 4 organic/vegan crackers with red bell pepper hummus
- cup of hot Yogi chai black tea with organic honey and one little container of half and half
- refill unsweetened iced tea
- licked the knife of the natural peanut butter as I got snacks ready for work tomorrow
- a few sesame sticks, few raw cashews/almonds, few sweetened dried banana chips
- swig of orange juice
Exercise: none
Weight: 277 (up one pound)
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