When you do everything right...

Just a quick post to remind myself that even when you do everything right, life doesn't always cooperate.

I have been weighing myself just about daily, of course the only one that counts is Sunday mornings. But despite the warnings not to, I weigh myself every day. Here is a lesson in support of the the naysayers of weighing yourself every day:

I am up 3 lbs for no apparent reason at all.

I've done fine food-wise this week with the exception of indulging in a Slutty Brownie yesterday. Though, my food intake was still under my BMR. Monday and Tuesday my calories were actually 1600-1700, which is under my 1800 goal.

I rode my bike Sunday, giving an extra workout to the start of the week, and with my run Tuesday my calorie deficit should be around 2,000 at this point in the week.

I also have been drowning myself in water.

I write this not to complain (OK, not entirely at least), but to prove a point that sometimes you do everything right and your body doesn't cooperate.

I know the week is only half over so I can only hope that my body will get with the program over the next few days.

Everything happens for a reason

I know I said I was going to write a Fitbloggin' local Nashville recap but these lovely ladies already did it so I will just link you to theirs - Skinny Emmie and Tippy Toe Diet. I just want to reiterate their sentiments about it being a very laid back group, most of us who just met, but felt like we were are old friends. I hope for those of us in Nashville can continue to do monthly meet-ups, even if it's just to walk, share a meal or whatever!

So, I originally wrote this post to share with you something that I noticed/happened on Monday.

I'm a big believer that all things in life happen for a reason and there are subtle signs that guide you to make the right choice. I know it sounds cheesy - even to me as I write this here in this space, but case in point how I tend to follow my gut and/or signs:

After only eating 280 calories for lunch Monday, I was still hungry an hour later. 280 calories is a far cry from my 400-500 normal lunch intake.

At midday, I was also about 200 calories from where I should be at this time of the day so in my sick little mind this meant I could work in a candy bar from the vending machine and still come in at my 1650 calorie goal for the day.

How many times have I rationalized eating something less than healthy because I have calories "left over"? Thousands.

So I pulled out my $1.25 in cash and headed down to the machine. "a Twix," I thought, "This way I can eat 1 piece before my meeting and 1 after." Walking up to the machine, I notice all the prices have gone up by $0.10. Most items (even the "healthy" animal crackers) are now $1.35. I only brought my $1.25. I stood there for many seconds scanning the machine to see if my $1.25 could buy anything in the machine, desperate for my candy bar fix. Short of a 5 piece pack of gum or some peanut butter crackers, there wasn't.

Sure, I had a dime in my desk I could have grabbed and went back to get my Twix bar, but I took this as an omen that I know I really don't NEED a candy bar even if I DO have 200+ calories to "spare". So I took it as a sign that I shouldn't have the candy bar and went back to my desk.

I often do this. I eat something less than healthy just something just because I "have the calories". I've been conscious about what's gone in my body this week. I'm still getting over my sweet/salty cravings, but I think this week has been light years better over the last several weeks as far as keeping my calorie intake down.

All I can do is be honest with myself about making good choices at each meal and hope that they add up to pounds lost.

Emily's famous blueberry pancakes

I am queen of winging it in the kitchen. I am constantly taking a recipe and either trying my best to healthify it or changing it up based on ingredients I have on hand. Very rarely do I follow a recipe to a T. Sometimes this ends in disaster. But Sunday this ended in the best blueberry pancakes ever.

Saturday on my grocery store run I bought some beautiful blueberries. I had blueberry pancakes on my mind for the rest of the weekend.

But I couldn't just make plain ol' buttermilk pancakes, now could I?

I started with Todd's Famous Blueberry Pancakes recipe (However, I'm not sure who Todd is). I only did a basic healthification this time around subbing 3/4 cup of whole wheat flour and 1/2 cup rolled oats for the 1 1/4 cup of all purpose flour. I also used the aforementioned fresh blueberries.

Each pancake is approximately 72 calories with 3 g of protein and they were very filling! I had 3 pancakes with 2 tablespoons of syrup and 2 slices of center cut bacon for a meal of 383 calories - well within my realm of a normal amount for breakfast - and I was sustained all morning, even through a late morning/early afternoon 2.5 mile walk before lunch.

I could have went farther and used applesauce for the butter or flax seed + water for the egg. Or cut the sugar out. But I was OK with those small trace amounts of fat, cholesterol and simple carbs. But taking these steps could decrease the calories per pancake by 7 whole points, should you care to do so. (9 calories if you use skim milk)

I've found my best strategy for weight loss isn't about cutting foods I like out of my life, but more about making modifications to bring some better nutritional value to these foods. Would it be sensible to say I was never going to eat pancakes again? No! I love pancakes for breakfast every once in awhile and if I can get a little more nutrition by using whole wheat flour and oats in my batter then why not indulge myself?

[Side note: I am never good at taking pictures, so I contracted Stephen to take a picture of the reheated results this morning, but alas I don't think they look too great reheated (a lot like shriveled disks), so you get nothing.]

Have you ever been hiking in the dark? No? Well stay tuned for my report on Wednesday from my very first full moon hike I shall experience tomorrow night.

Help....I'm hungry

I decided this week to cut my calories from my daily 1900 to 1650. It's an experiment to say the least and I'm freaking HUNGRY.

My reasoning behind it was I haven't adjusted my calorie intake since losing 60 lbs and I just randomly decided it was time. I started thinking about the doctor's visit I had a couple months ago. My doctor has one of those fancy scales and it measured my BMR at 2,100. Honestly, that's lower than I imagined. Even though that is the number I'm burning if I only lay in bed all day, I realized I was consuming 1900 calories a day - really close to that BMR number.

Let me tell you, 1650 is NOT a lot. It basically removes all the cusion I had in my day for when I attended a party, lunch meeting or happy hour and didn't have complete control over my environment.

The week hasn't been perfect. There was at least one day with margaritas and Mexican food involved.

I've also been hungry. Like right now. It's 9 pm at night and I'm starving. I've already met my calorie goal for the day (there was an icing incident when I made cupcakes earlier), so I'm most likely going to drown myself with water and go to bed slightly hungry. I hope my body will adjust next week and the feeling of hunger will subside.

What are your favorite low calorie meals and snacks? I've been turning to a lot more fruits and veggies this week.

A filling lunch

I think this is a new personal record for me, I had a FEAST at lunch and it was only 433 cals. Basically I ate everything in the fridge at work that I had been stockpiling all week. It included:

- A salad with (CSA) romaine, (CSA) cucumber, tomato and light Sicilian Roasted Garlic Balsamic Vinegarette
- A turkey sandwich with sprouts and spicy brown mustard
- 1 peach
- 1 banana
- Reduced-fat string cheese

I am SO full.