Time To Smarten Up

OK. This is It.

I am not waiting for "Monday". I am smartening up TODAY!

If I only had a quarter for every time I have said something like this on my blog.

Will I EVER learn?

I have slipped the last few days. I had Chinese Food Friday night and a Burger and Fries Saturday night.

Aside from the weight issues that come along with these food choices, there is very little point in spending a lot of money on Organic Food to make sure you have a "clean" body and then turning around and eating crap now is there?

Answer: No there is not.

So...once again....I am giving myself a big, swift, kick in the ass.

Today is a healthy day. No exceptions.

The only good thing as that I don't wallow in guilt about past choices. It is done and I cannot change it so there is no point in dwelling on it.

Onward and downward.

Be healthy,

Alan

I'm Going Through MANOPAUSE!!!

I swear I am.

I don't really have mood swings but I get hot flashes, feel tired a lot, and burst into tears for absolutely no reason.

Life is good right now. I have nothing to be upset about, and I am not upset, but I can be walking up the stairs or standing at the toilet and a wave of tears hits me. It lasts about 30 seconds. I wasn't upset before...I'm not upset after...but for a thirty second period...the flood gates open. Completely irrational.

I did google "Manopause", which is more formally known as Andropause. It apparently hits about 30 - 40% of men around my age.

To be honest though...Andropause is the result of testosterone reduction, but I don't think I have that. If anything I have been doing stuff that causes an increase in Testosterone levels...and frankly...the sex drive hasn't gone down which is a primary sign.

I am actually wondering if the same types of symptoms can occur if you actually trigger a a change in the other direction. I have added all of the following to my life:

1) Increased Proteins
2) Increased Fruits and Vegetables
3) Increased Exercise
4) Increased Whey
5) I am taking the Amino Acid "Gaba" as a supplement which is also naturally made by the body and can increase Human Growth Hormone.

All of these things can INCREASE Testosterone levels.

So...maybe it is "manopause"...but perhaps is better described as self-induced manopause caused by a hormonal imbalance in the opposite direction from what is normal.

So "Don't Cry For Me All My Bloggies...the truth is I'll never leave you...though it may get harder...for you to hear me...I'll soon stop crying...and then you'll hear me" :-)

Be healthy!

Alan

At The Danger Point

It has arrived. The danger point. The point at which I can easily go from healthy to unhealthy.

I have been slipping the past couple of days. My work outs aren't as strong, I couldn't make it to Weight Watchers yesterday (although that was for work reasons and not because I was avoiding it) and since I didn't go to Weight Watchers I somehow felt that meant it was ok to have a Big Mac and an Apple Crisp McFlurry.

I am not afraid to treat myself, but there are much better ways. A night out with friends would definitely be more worthwhile than five minutes in a take out restaurant.

At this point I still feel in control. I feel like I have the power to stay on track.

Experience has taught me, however, that if I allow things to slide for another day or two I am in real trouble.

So...no excuses...healthy eating today.

As my friend Pamela would say: "I am so worth it".

Be healthy!

Alan

Overdoing It

OK you all by now that I am a huge proponent of exercise a part of a weight loss plan.

I do believe, however, that you have to introduce it into your plan when you are ready for it. I didn't lose my weight exercising, I started after the bulk of the weight loss, but it does help to finish the job and keep the weight off.

I knew when I started losing weight (this time around...the 80th I think) that I do everything to extremes.  If I took too much on at once I would fail. That is what always happens. I do too much and then I give up.

So exercise came later and it is now a critical part of my life.

Sometimes I still take it to the extreme though and I do too much. That happened a few days ago. I went straight from an hour of Cardio into a training session with my friend Anthony.

It wasn't a regular training session. I felt really pumped and I wanted to push myself and push myself and push myself.

The result was an amazing workout but I had trouble functioning for the next three days.

It wasn't so much the soarness. I seem to have really good recoverability...it was plain and simply the exhaustion. I really didn't function well for about 48 hours. I just wanted to sleep.

If I slept...I wanted to sleep more. It is amazing how much it drained me. I was unable to workout for a couple of days which kind of counteracted the amazing workout a bit anyway.

Extremes are like that. They have a way of forcing you to undo what you worked so hard to achieve.

It's the same with food. Starve yourself and you will pig out eventually. I know I will.

So once again I need to teach myself balance. Balance...balance...balance. Seems so easy. Why isn't it?

Be healthy!

Alan

Listening To Your Feedback

Yesterday I ate too much for dinner. It was healthy, but I didn't need two large helpings. I felt really bloated afterward.

The reality was, however, the mistake was made. So what happens now? Should I just accept it?

To a certain extent yes. It is in there and there is nothing (healthy) I can do to resolve that.

I did do a couple of things though. First I did a bunch of squats. Not really sure how much that will help but I do know exercise is good, and some guy on the Doctor Oz show yesterday was saying that if you pig out the most important thing was to do some quick exercises immediately afterward. He suggested doing 2 minutes of squats...so that is what I did...it can't hurt anyway.

The second thing...and perhaps the most important thing...was on the advice of a friend in England and that is...remember how I feel. Take that bloated, awful, feeling and store it in my memory banks to pull out the next time I am heading in the same direction. WW calls this "listening to your feedback".

The bottom line is I still feel great though. If I am going to pig out, pigging out on healthy food is still much better than pigging out on crap.

Be healthy!

Alan

It Has To Be Said Again - Life Is Too Short To Shorten It Further

I woke up yesterday to a shock.

A man by the name of Thom Bainbridge had passed away.

I am not going to pretend I know Thom well. I think I only met him once.

Before my relationship with Jamie I was in a seven year relationship with a great guy named Sean, and Thom is Sean's mother's brother.

I have remained close to Sean's family though and am really looking forward to his Mom coming to stay with us next month.

Thom had connected with me on Facebook and he often responded to my posts with a witty remark. He was a unique man, and to be totally honest, I was not always swift enough to "get" his witty responses...but I did sometimes...and I enjoyed them.

I enjoyed them so much that I actually went into a state of disbelief with the news of his passing. He was only 61 and his passing was so unexpected.

My thoughts have been with my Sean and his husband Ken, his siblings, his mother Cathy, and the whole family. I know I will miss Thom so I can't even begin to imagine how much they will. My heart also goes out to Debb who I know found a special friendship with him through Facebook.

It once again makes me realize how precious life is. I don't have a parent or a grandparent who made it to 70. Fortunately I now have long living Aunts and Uncles to give me hope.

Nonetheless, we cannot take our life for granted. To do anything to jeopardize further the short time we have here just doesn't make sense..and yes...this includes what we stuff in our face.

If the bad foods we eat doesn't give us a Heart Attack it might give us Cancer.

I like eating the crappy food as much as the next person but the reality is we don't need it and we shouldn't eat it. Consumption of crap should be a "treat" and not a daily occurrence.

I don't know the details of Thom's death, nor is it really any of my business.

I doubt it was food related but that really isn't the point.

The point is life is too short already. We should be doing everything we can to not only make our lives as long as possible but to be healthy enough to enjoy the life we have.

My deepest condolences to the family of Thom. May he rest in peace and may you, as a family, find peace. My heart is with you all.

Be healthy,

Alan

Change It Up

Are you doing the same thing all the time?

I try to change things constantly but sometimes habit takes over.

I realized that at the gym the other day. On my "weight training days" I always mix it up, but for the longest while now on the cardio days I do elliptical and then I do elliptical and then I do elliptical.

It is not only boring, after a while it doesn't produce significant results. Your body knows what to expect and it is also knows how to adapt to handle it. If your body knows how to handle what it is getting, it doesn't make any effort to change.

You want change right?

I think the same can be said for food. I think if you eat the same things day after day after day, you not only get bored but your body doesn't get the "shock" it needs to change gears.

Sure if you eat too few calories you will probably still lose weight, but not in a healthy way. If you keep mixing things up I would wager to bet that even if you eat a few more calories your "fire" is staying stoked and you still lose weight.

So I changed up my exercise two days ago. I did what I call "Circuit Cardio".

I still did elliptical for a bit but then I raced over to the bike and did that for a bit and then I raced over to the rowing machine and did that for a bit, and finally ended up on the stepper. I felt so much better afterward . I felt like I had ACTUALLY exercised instead of pushing myself through the daily motions.

With exercise you can probably get away with doing the same machine as long as you use it differently. At our gym we have a different type of elliptical machine that is hardly used. It is called "Octane". If you exercise at a gym I suggest looking for it at your gym. It is an elliptical that you can set on "Xmode". All Xmode does is tell you to use the machine differently. Do it normally, do it in reverse, do it fast, do it slow, do it squatting, do it fast and in reverse and squatting. You don't need an "Octane" machine" to do this. Any elliptical will do if you send yourself your own instructions. I did this yesterday and was thoroughly exhausted when I was done. The same type of machine...but a major change.

So my suggestion is find something to do different. Exercise, food, whatever. Why not have dinner for breakfast and breakfast for dinner tomorrow? There really are no rules...just traditions. Go on...go wild!

Mix up your body and you get results. That is what I believe.

Be healthy!

Alan

"BLTs" and "The Stuff Dreams Are Made of"

I fell into the BLT trap yesterday...the land of "Bites, Licks, and Tastes".

I was preparing some staples for the house. I made Chicken stock, some bread made from Spelt, Kamut, and Oats called "Rock Awesome Bread" (but it isn't hard like a rock), and homemade Peanut Butter.

Of course I was fine with the chicken stock, but as I was making the bread I found myself tasting the dough (the texture was more like thick cookie batter than dough so it isn't as gross as it sounds) and then testing the peanut butter...repeatedly.

Naturally, after it was all made I had to also have toast with peanut butter on it.

No regrets but the amount these BLTs added up to was not exactly what would be considered in the realm of "weight loss territory".

It seems no matter how much I hear about those dangerous BLTs I seem to forget all about them when it matters. Ahhh well...onward and upward.

I am not sure if the Peanut Butter was a trigger but I went straight from that into candy cravings. We watched an episode of "The Good Wife" that we had recorded, and in it a character is consoling himself by eating a bowl of left over Halloween Candy. The candy itself wasn't appealing (you know that stuff that is shaped a little like a curved Hot Tamale but it Orange and White and nothing but sugar) but as I was watching the show all I could think was...."I want that candy!". This kind of surprised me as I really haven't been craving any sugary foods for a while.

I didn't have any candy in the house (thank goodness) but the cravings clearly stayed with me as I woke up from a dream this morning where we had gone on vacation to some place we had stayed at before, and in the room I found unopened Christmas Gifts we had bought for people but had never delivered to them. In the dream, Jamie was sleeping and I realized all the gifts were candies. When I awoke I was opening the gifts, stuffing the candies down my throat while simultaneously hiding the excess in my underwear drawer so I could eat them all weekend without Jamie knowing.

What a dream!

I am not sure if all this means I should give myself a taste of sugar to satisfy the craving. Doing that, however, could lead me down the never ending path of destruction.

I will resist and be strong.

Be healthy!

Alan

IT'S NOT EASY IS IT?

Have you ever watched Fat Fighter's on Little Britain?

It's a series of skits that are a clear take off on Weight Watchers with the world's worst leader Margery Dawes.

I am going to post a link to it here so you know what I am speaking of. I find it quite funny but it is also a little insulting so some might find it offensive. If you do, my apologies. My favourite clip in the link is the third one with Rosie O'Donnell. The second one I'm not a huge fan of. I think the last line goes a bit TOO far. See...even I have my limits :-)

CLICK HERE FOR FAT FIGHTERS CLIPS

Anyway, one of Margery's favourite lines is "It's not easy is it?". It's funny because it is true.

It's not easy.

The thing is, we can take something and look at it from two different perspectives. It can be funny, or it can be damn irritating and possibly even offensive. It can take a paradigm shift to see the humour in things.

Sometimes I think that as I travel along this road my frequent perkiness can probably be irritating to others if they don't happen to be feeling particularly perky or if they have been struggling without success for a while.

My hope is that by sharing my ups and downs we can laugh a little along the way and get ourselves out of those slumps. Perhaps, though, I might piss some people off along the way with my "bubbliness" (is that a word?). I worry about that the most at the WW meetings when I am particularly talkative and don't shut up. If you watch closely though you will notice I am very quiet when I am GAINING weight. :-)

If you are feeling down and struggling, I hope my blog is helping and not hindering. I hope that if you struggle when another succeeds you can find a way to look at it as an inspiration to find your own success.

If you do you will succeed. If you read my blogs often enough you will know I can also drastically fail...but only temporarily.

We are on the same journey. We may take different roads to get to our destination, but if we check in with each other along the way we WILL all get there.

I know we can ALL do this.

Be healthy,

Alan

Cheated And Won!

I weighed in last night and I was down three pounds. Yeah!!!

To be honest though...I cheated.

I normally work out in the morning but I couldn't yesterday so I worked out in the afternoon. Right before weighing in I built-up a sweat on the treadmill and then sat in the Sauna.

I would do this on a normal day...but I don't usually finish twenty minutes before I step on the scale.

I am sure a lot of the weight was just water loss.

I don't care...I will take it!

The good thing is that it motivates me to be extra good next week. I want to BEAT that three pound loss.

I am now 187.4 pounds. I vowed in my blog of November 8, 2010 that I would not stress about weight as long as I remained under 190 pounds....then I went above 190 pounds. It is nice to be back in the realm of my own personal acceptability.

Although perfectly happy where I am I would ideally like to go down to 176.4. That happens to be my "50 pound" weight loss number. It is an arbitrary number but I feel in peak form when I am at that weight.

I have a doctor's note saying 185 pounds is an acceptable weight for me (which allows me to attend Weight Watchers as long as I stay below 187 pounds).

According to Canada Health Guide the maximum healthy weight for my height is 179 pounds, but I like 176.4 so I am going back there.

I used to think that I could never go back to this weight because I had gained muscle and that weighs more. It doesn't really work that way though...I'm not sure why.

When I went to 176.4 pounds without muscle people kept telling me I looked too thin...when I went to 176.4 with muscle the last time I seem to retain some weight in my face so it just looks....well...better.

So 176.4 pounds here I come!

A special congrats has to go out to our friend Pamela who comments on the blog regularly (often via Facebook). As of last night she s now down 70.2 pounds.

Way to go Pamela! We are all so proud of you!

Be healthy!

Alan

Must Force Myself To Eat Today

Today is one of those days where I am going to have to force myself to eat. It is weigh-in day and I still have that dieters mentality that says I need to avoid food to get the right number on the scale.

The problem is this: I weighed in on my own scale this morning and I am down three pounds. Sounds good right? Unfortunately it is not as good as it sounds.

I weighed-in in the buff. They won't let me do that at WW. I am sure clothes and a days worth of food will result in a tight race....so my mind automatically races to the conclusion that I shouldn't eat until after I step on the scale tonight.

There are reasons why WW tells you not to weigh yourself between meetings. I will probably never listen, but I am sure this is one of the reasons.

I will eat today. I do try to eat similar things each Wednesday to maintain some sense of consistency on the scale.

I owe it to myself to think health first, weight second...but I don't want to.

When did I get so fixated on numbers? I need to smarten up and I will smarten up.

I will eat like a normal person today and let the scale fall where it may. I do still have a gym workout and will not be able to get to the gym until this afternoon. That may result in my being "down" but I know that it would really just be temporary water loss from working out.

Either way it doesn't matter. I just need to keep doing what I am doing and look at the lifetime plan.

Be healthy!

Alan

Support and Commitment.

I was at a meeting a while ago where a lady was quite frustrated with herself.

She was not frustrated because she wasn't losing weight...she had actually lost a lot and was a "lifetime" Weight Watchers member. She was frustrated with herself because she needed weekly support to get there and stay there.

She had been going to meetings for years and really felt that by now she should "get it". She should be able to do it on her own and that her inability to do so was a failure.

Unfortunately, in my opinion, the leader she spoke to (it was not my leader) gave what I feel was a very wrong response.

She suggested that the lady try coming once a month instead of weekly. Perhaps that was all the support she needed, and she would feel better about it.

I never saw that lady again.

I used to be a bit like her. I valued my friendships but ultimately I wanted to do everything on my own. If I did it on my own my successes were mine and my failures were seen by no-one.

I don't know when it happened but at some point I became the opposite person. As this blog will attest to, I thrive on support.

I suppose I have to be totally honest and also say I thrive on attention. I wouldn't be doing this blog if I didn't now would I?

The correct answer, in my opinion, would be that there is absolutely nothing wrong with needing support, and going out and getting the support you need to succeed is a sign of strength and not weakness. I believe this with all my heart.

So today I want to say a big thank you to all of you for all of the support I have received from you.

I also want to encourage those who are going it alone to find a better way. It is just too hard.

I am not saying you won't succeed. A good friend of mine has lost a tremendous amount of weight on her own and kept it off for years. I think it is a rare exception though. Most of us need support to do it, and we need support even more to maintain it.

So if you are doing this alone find a friend, a colleague, a group....anything. It makes life easier.

This blog can indeed be your group...as long as you keep coming back, participating, and communicating your successes and set backs. Commitment is critical.

If you have been contemplating starting your own journey, I say...it's time to start. Don't wait until a decline in health forces the journey.

Be healthy!

Alan

To Stick To Plan Or Not To?

My stomach is almost back to healthy. It's still slightly quirky but I am 95% of the way there.

It created an interesting scenerio from a WW perspective.

Yesterday I didn't eat all that much but what I did eat was mostly dry bread type stuff. I just felt like the stomach acid needed to be absorbed.

If I had been on the normal WW plan I really wouldn't have an issue. I would be pretty much within my daily points allowance.

With the "simply filling" technique, however, you don't get daily points you only get a certain amount of weekly points. Over the weekend I used them all.

So...the question becomes...do I put myself on a strict "Power Foods Only" diet as the plan would dictate, or do I just return to life as normal and not worry too much about it.

My initial instinct was to simply return to life as normal. The deprivation/indulge cycle is what ultimately gets me into trouble.

Having re-looked at the their new Power Foods list, however, there is no reason why I can't eat Power Foods only without feeling deprived.

So I will try to stick to plan....but I won't be silly about it. Health first...weight loss second.

Be healthy!

Alan

Too Much Wine or Bad Wine? Likely Both

I didn't blog yesterday.

I was in bed...until about 4:30pm.

That is not totally true as I had to show a property at 10:30am so I was up from about 9:30AM to 11:30AM. Then back in bed.

I think I drank bad wine Friday night. I deserved to be a little unwell the next day because I drank too much (It was my first drink of 2011 and, stupidly, I over did it).

The thing is though...my stomach still isn't right and it is two days later. That is not normal.

I had bought some Organic Wine. I had never tried this particular wine before so I made sure I served myself the Organic Wine and the guests a wine I could trust the taste of.

I took one sip of my wine and new right away it was awful.

I think the mistake I made was that I assumed the wine was awful because it was organic. I have rarely had organic wine before and thought to myself "maybe organic wine is one of those organic things that just don't taste as good". So I drank the entire bottle anyway (and about two glasses of the regular wine).  I was...drunk.

I know you are probably going to say this is "too much information" but lets just say the toilet bowl and myself became friends later in the night.

I never really got a hangover but the stomach is just jumping all over the place. The only good thing is that the scale is reading great numbers because nothing stayed in me.

I am pretty sure the wine was bad. I will now know not to assume organic wine is ok but is just "organic" if it doesn't taste right. Bad is bad.

So...I am sitting typing this and the stomach is still playing tricks but I am on the mend.

Just have to put it behind me and move forward. The good news is I have zero desire for alcohol. I think I will try to keep it that way for a while...and try to practice a little moderation next time.

Hmmm...moderation...always my biggest challenge.

Be healthy,

Alan

The Benefit Of Not Going On Vacation

As most of you know I was supposed to have left on a Mediterranean Cruise December 28th.

Had the cruise actually happened we would have arrived back home last night.

I can't help but reflect on how different things likely are given that I didn't go.

Being at home for New Years really left me with no excuse for not re-kicking off the health regime.

Had I been on the cruise I would have done my best (and I think I would have done well) but I am pretty certain that this morning I would be sitting here typing a blog about how I need to get back on track and lose the weight I gained.

Instead, I can sit here and type about how I have actually made it to day 14 of the year with pretty near perfect healthy eating habits.

I am really happy with where I am, and as much as I love cruises, I think it is a good thing we didn't go on this one. It has ensured the year started right.

We went out for lunch with our friends Naoko and Albert yesterday. We had a great time and I ate extremely healthy. I had an organic Salmon Salad with Lentil Soup. I did allow myself one piece of bread and had one piece of Grilled Calamari and one Grilled Shrimp from the appetizer dish (it looked like it had some bread crumbs on it and was greasy so I didn't think I should eat more than one of each).

For me...going out to eat and being "good" is perhaps my best accomplishment this year. I am normally positively awful when I get to a restaurant.

Tonight we are having dinner with friends. Jamie is making Chicken Curry which I am sure will not be a "WW" approved meal, and alcohol will touch my lips for the first time this year, but I have planned for and deserve this indulgence.

Looking forward to it :-)

Be healthy!

Alan

It's Working!

Well...I made it to the gym (eventually) and to Weight Watchers yesterday.

I can now officially say my plan of syncing Holistic Nutrition with Weight Watcher's Simply Filling Technique is working!

I ate Holistic Foods from the WW "Power Food" list and only counted the points when I was eating a non "Power Food". I chose non Power Foods whenever the WW Power Food option was a low fat processed item. I had 49 weekly points to work with and I was able to add 40 exercise points.

I worked within these parameters, found it fairly easy, and was able to lose 2.4 pounds!

It wasn't anywhere near the 6 pounds I unofficially lost from my initial Saturday start date to the following Saturday, but this figure is more "real" as I was sick for part of that Saturday to Saturday evaluation. Besides, 2.4 pounds in a week is actually a much safer rate of weight loss and is more likely to be "fat loss" rather than a "muscle loss".

I am real happy. It inspires me to continue eating holistically healthy.

A special congrats goes out to Carolyn at Weight Watchers who attained lifetime membership at WW yesterday. That means she reached goal, has maintained it for the last six weeks, and can attend Weight Watchers free from now on as long as she doesn't go more than two pounds above her goal weight. I don't know Carolyn well but she really adds value to the meetings. I like her a lot and am REAL happy for her.

It was also great to see Pamela back. Glad you are feeling better :-)

So it was a good day all around yesterday.

Here is to continuing on the Road to Nutrition and Health!

Alan

Do We Make Excuses?

I am sitting here contemplating whether or not I will go to the gym this morning.

We had a "snow storm" last night so there is the question of whether or not I will be able to get the car out from the back lane behind our house.

The truth is, however, as I look out my back window, the storm seems to be pretty much of a non-event. There is maybe 2 - 3 cm of snow on the ground.

It is true it might be a little icy, and that may mean a little extra effort is involved...but that little bit of extra effort so easily becomes an excuse to stay home.

Why do we find it soooooo easy to make the wrong choices but then find it sooooo hard to make the right ones? Sometimes I swear I search for excuses to take the easy route.

So I sit here contemplating whether or not I will go.

Theoretically, simply the fact that I am typing the reality of this situation should tell me to get up off my rump and go...but it isn't....I am sitting here thinking...."I don't want too!!!!"

I can only promise you one thing. I WILL get to the gym today, but it may not be until later. I feel like going back to bed. Maybe I am just listening to my body...but probably I am just making an excuse.

I WILL GO THOUGH!

Those caps were for my benefit...not yours :-)

I have made my decision....right now I am going back to bed.

The real question will be whether I can get to Weight Watchers tonight. I suspect Burlington, where the meeting is, got more snow than we did. Any advice from WW members out there in Burlington area?

Be healthy!

Alan

The Boredom Factor

I really need to find new ways to enjoy myself. It seems everything in my life is centred around food.

We like to go out to eat with friends or have people over for dinner, but that usually involves bad choices and copious amount of wine.

I want to try to cool it for a while...but cooling it can be boring.

It is definitely healthier, and definitely better on the pocketbook...but not so much fun.

This, however, is a sacrifice I am willing to make for a while. Until I find stability at home, food-wise, I don't want to challenge myself in the outside world too often.

We are having a lunch with friends on Thursday and having a couple over for dinner Friday night so it is not like I am a complete hermit. Friday will be the first time my lips have touched alcohol in 2011. For those who know me I know what you are thinking....shocking! It is true though.

How sad my life has become when not drinking wine for a couple of weeks feels like it should be an entry in the Guinness World Book Of Records!

We do want to watch the pocketbook right now so I think it is a good thing.

I started tracking all my expenses on Quicken. It really is amazing how fast the money goes out the door. I want 2011 to be the year of being at least a LITTLE smarter.

So...healthy eating it is for now...but feeling a tad bored. I am 100% on track though and that makes me feel great!

Care to inspire me?

Be healthy,

Alan

Its working but I'm feeling hungry

I am eating a lot.

With my "Power Foods" list in hand (the list of foods I can eat until I am satisfied) I have eaten quite a bit of food.

The only time I get hungry, though, is late evening, and then because I go to bed hungry I wake up hungry in the morning. Fortunately I don't wake up hungry at night.

I usually have a good sized breakfast, a not so big (but filling)  lunch, and a pretty big dinner. Dinner has been earlier than usual (around 5:30 - 6pm) and by 9pm I'm hungry.

I probably should eat something at that point, but eating what I think to be a lot of food during the day and then letting myself be a bit hungry at night seems to be resulting in weight loss, so I think I will stick with it a while longer. A cup of tea at around 9pm helps.

Perhaps when I re-reach my goal, in order to stop the weight loss I will add a light evening snack.

I haven't been eating any sugar either...well...about a tablespoon of brown sugar in a recipe and that is it.

I do crave sugar a little bit (not excessively) but I am going to stay away from it as I want to find out if there is any truth to the belief that if you stay away from something long enough your tastes will change and you won't want it. We will see.

Anyway...I am feeling a little hungry but otherwise REALLY good. More important than the weight loss I can see the body starting to transform back into a look I like much better.

It is going to be a great year.

Be healthy!

Alan

The Calendar - Time For Change

Do you need something a little different to try. Just to do SOMETHING different?

I have found that one of the biggest challenges with weight loss is getting bored with the same old same old. It isn't always necessarily food. Sometime it is just any change that is needed.

Every year or so I go back to a trick my mother taught me when I was about 10 - 12 years old. It is really stupid and really simple but for some reason it seems to work when I need a change.

I know this is going to be entirely too much information but seeing as I have this compulsive need to share my ENTIRE life with the world I will let you know that as a youngster I was a bed wetter. I wet the bed until I was about 12 years old.

After many doctor's appointments etc, it ended up being a calendar (Ok ...maybe it was just aging and coincidental timing) that solved the problem.

My mother bought a calendar and put it on the wall by my bed. Every day I didn't wet the bed she drew an "X" on that day on the calendar which stood for "success". It became a game to see how many days in a month I could get an "X". Damned if it didn't work. For some reason the visual really helped.

So every now and then I get a calendar out (the old fashioned kind...and not an online one) and place it where I see it all the time.

If I have been good I draw one line from the upper left hand corner to bottom right. If I have also tracked my points I draw a second line from the bottom left hand corner to the upper right. If I totally blew it the square for that day stays blank. As time goes by I get a clear visual in my face of how well I am doing.  You can do this even if you don't track points. One diagonal line could represent a reasonably good day, and an "X" could represent a perfect day.

I know...it is silly...but if you do it I bet you will find it motivates you to get as many "Xs" as you can.

I pulled a calendar out this morning and am going to do it retroactively from January 1st. I have been on a quest to be "perfect" as long as I can hold out starting January 1st, and have tracked foods according to the "Filling Foods Plan" technique everyday so that means I get to start with 8 "X's". Yeah!

It is important to remember a perfect day doesn't necessarily mean you were perfect. It just means you stayed on your plan, whatever that plan may be. I had fried Fish Cakes and fried Sweet Potatoes the other day, but it was "on plan" and I counted it, so it is still a perfect day.

As Mikey says: "Try it...you'll like it"!

Be healthy!

Alan

One Complete Week of New Strategy Complete

I did it!

One whole week with the new strategy! Now all I have to do is do it for the rest of my life.

I managed to combine the "Simply Filling Technique" taught at Weight Watchers with a holistic approach to nutritional eating. It worked like a charm.

To be honest I was 9 points over my point allowance for the week, but it doesn't concern me because I was also 25 points short of my activity points goal. This was because I was sick at the start of the week and didn't go to the gym, and then eased myself back into it.

So...if I had been able to exercise the way I like, I would have had an additional 25 points to play with and then I wouldn't have been over "points-wise" at all. I would actually have been 16 points under.

According to my scale I managed to lose a whopping 6.6 pounds in the seven days of doing it. Yay! This puts me back in my comfort range of "under 190 pounds" but only with clothes off. It is supposed to be my comfort range with clothes on. Hey....stop visualizing!

I am really only going to say it "officially" works when I weigh in at WW next Wednesday and can say I did an entire week while healthy....but it is looking good!

I actually didn't have bread at all this week. This surprised  me as I usually crave it, but making sure I got enough healthy whole grains seemed to take away the desire to eat bread...and that is a good thing. I really didn't think about it much.

I also had zero alcohol. That too is a good thing...but realistically...unlikely to continue.

If I had exercised normally, there still would have 16 points left over for wine, which is almost enough to allow me a bottle a week.

That is doable for me during the weight loss phase (why oh why am I STILL in the weight loss phase?) and after that I will be able to have a few more points so...bring on the wine...just not yet.

The most important thing though is that I am putting health first and weight second. I refuse to adjust my eating habits because I am going to step on a scale in the next 24 hours etc. etc. The only thing that does is start a cycle of starving and eating.

I really hope this is maintainable.

Be healthy!

Alan

Healthy Junk Dinner

Every now and then I get a real craving to eat junk for dinner. Something tells me I am not alone.

Yesterday I decided to plan a junk-like dinner that wasn't totally junk. The theory being that if I have a "planned" one I wont be craving an unplanned one later.

My favourite junk food is a Burger and Fries.

First up was the French Fries.

In order to be "healthier" I thought I would make Sweet Potato Fries. When I have attempted these at home before, however, it has been a disaster. I don't think they taste quite as good when baked, and the pre-packaged ones have more ingredients on the label than just "sweet potatoes" which I don't like so I cut my own.

Cutting my own presents issues though. The fries are never the same size which means some will burn (especially where the Fries thin at the ends) and some aren't cooked enough.

It occurred to me that fries don't necessarily have to "look" like fries. It is much easier to get consistency of width if you cut them more in the shape of potato chips so I sliced my potatoes into even width circles. It works much better.

I decided I was going to fry them in oil. I didn't want to deep fry them (just some oil on the bottom of a fry pan) and did not want to use Olive Oil as the heat temperature would be so high it would turn the Olive Oil into something similar to a trans fat. So I used Coconut Oil. It is very stable and can withstand high temperatures.

I know that the debate about Coconut Oil is huge. It has a very high level of saturated fats and many equate that with it being unhealthy or disastrous for weight loss. I personally do not believe the evidence supports that theory. I believe it is propaganda from Canadian/American manufacturers who do not want us to buy a product they can't produce in vast quantity. I think it is an extremely healthy oil that is a "medium string" fat which means the digestive process it goes through does not result in weight gain.

Having said that my WW friends can't give me a hard time, whether they believe me or not, because I counted every point of Coconut Oil I used so it is totally on plan.

The Sweet Potato Chips were perfect.

I even made my own ketchup to go with them. Who knew making ketchup was so easy?!

To go with the Chips, I had home made Halibut Fish Cakes. They were also fried in Coconut Oil (yes...I counted these points too) and it was a great substitute for the burger.

Third item on the plate was a salad.

It was the perfect "junk food dinner".

I splurged and stayed relatively healthy.

Be healthy!

Alan

Motivation Prevaled

Real happy today.

I  weighed-in for the first time "post-christmas", and I am down. I am barely down (only .2 pounds) but it is down for the first weigh in after the holidays. It shows I am on the right track!

I also managed to stay strong with what I consider to be extreme willpower yesterday by forcing myself to eat normally pre weigh-in, and by keeping myself from indulging post weight-in.

The real success was with dinner though. My cousin Barb, who also attends WW, asked me if I wanted to go for dinner after the meeting. I felt strong, and hadn't had dinner yet (although it was waiting for me at home) so I said yes, but was...well...a bit afraid.

I was afraid because dinners at restaurants are usually my big downfall.

After we ate I was so relieved. We went to a Japanese Restaurant, I ordered Miso Soup, Sashimi, and Salad. I asked them to put the dressing on the side ( I hardly touched it) and also instructed them to skip the rice.

I had an enjoyable meal, didn't miss a thing, and left feeling like I had my health in tact.

Things like this make me so happy.

I know...it's sad....I need a life LOL.

Now all I have to do is figure out what to do with the leftovers in my refrigerator that were supposed to be my dinner. They may actually get divided up and become a couple of breakfasts. The food is all what WW would call "Power Foods" and there is no rule that says you can't have dinner for breakfast. My nutritionist friend Anthony has Turkey for breakfast all the time...so why not?!

Some really good friends returned to WW yesterday after a December absence too. It was real nice to give them a big hug (two actually). It is such a great group of people.

I'm ready for a new healthy day. How about you?

Be healthy!

Alan

P.S. Doesn't Jennifer Hudson look amazing?!!!!

Danger Time - Appetite Is Coming Back

It always happens after I get sick...I reach a certain point in my "return to health" and I suddenly want to eat everything in sight.

I felt a bit that way yesterday, although it was controllable and I did control it.

I have to weigh-in at WW tonight so that should keep me in control today. My hope is that after the two days the cravings will subside and tomorrow I will be fine. I just have to survive the drive from WW back home without stopping to eat. A piece of fruit in the car is probably a good idea.

I don't think I will falter either way though. I am pretty determined to succeed right now. I REALLY want to know if it is possible for Holistic Nutrition and WW to truly work as one, and it will ONLY be possible to find that out if I stick to my plan until at least one week today.

Of course I want to stick to it longer (like...for life) and I intend to, but if I don't survive a week I won't even know if the theory can become reality. So...I will survive (isn't that a song?).

Tonight I still anticipate that my weight will be up a bit. As I mentioned before it is my first weigh-in post Christmas...but by next week...it better be down :-).

The "old Alan" really wants to starve myself today to get the best possible result on the scale tonight, but it only sends me into the starve/eat cycle that perpetually keeps me messed up, so I will eat like it is any other day.

Yesterday I finally finished the Amaranth Porridge, had a fruit and veggie lunch, and then Tempeh, Quinoa, and Salad for dinner. A very healthy day.

It will be an omelet for me this morning (can't wait), the fruit and veggie lunch again, and then dinner will be leftovers (Chicken, Salad and Brown Rice).

Leftovers need to be eaten and Wednesdays are hard nights to cook because of WW, so it is a great night to get rid of the extra things in the Fridge.

I fear this blog has become incredibly boring today (it is making even me fall asleep) so I will say tah tah for now, and...of course...be healthy!

Alan

We Are On A Roll!

I know I know...it is day four of my new plan...whoopee...hardly an indication that it is sustainable.

I really hope it is though. It feels "right".

I feel like I have finally found the perfect balance between Holistic Nutrition and Weight Watchers. They both seem to be able to totally work in sync...but we all know I have thought I found "it" before.

Of course, I still have to see if it actually results in weight loss, but I am in-line with the WW program so theoretically it should.

I did pass up on a dinner out tonight. Our neighbours invited us to go for Indian food with them. Jamie went but I passed for two reasons:

1) I am still recovering from being sick and although I love Indian food, it just did not sound appealing right now.
2) I just started this new regime of healthy eating (new again anyway) and although I know I have to factor in the realities of real life eventually, it seems a little too soon.

If this plan works I will be able to say in April, which will be when I complete a full year of blogging, that I have really made significant changes. If it doesn't I fear I may still be exactly where I was when I started.

So here is to hoping!

Be healthy!

Alan

DAY THREE - FEELING MUCH BETTER

I stuck to the new plan for the third day in a row. Whoopee!

The Roasted Chicken was delicious yesterday.

It is a really interesting experience for me as I am throwing so much of my "diet" mentality out the window.

I am cooking with butter again (organic goat butter) eating the skin on my chicken, but not eating ANYTHING processed. It has been a little easier to do that while sick. I haven't had much desire for processed food (or wine for that matter).

I believe that I am doing this primarily within Weight Watchers "Simply filling" technique but time will tell when I step on the scale.

I am making some assumptions when doing the "Simply Filling" plan though.

For instance: Chicken Breast with the skin removed is a "Power Food" which means I can eat it until satisfied and not count the points. Chicken Breast WITH skin is not a Power Food, and therefore you have to count the points of the WHOLE thing. Both the chicken and the skin. I didn't count the points of the chicken itself. I considered that a Power Food and then googled the nutritional information on Chicken Skin. I counted the points for the skin I ate only.

Why have I decided to eat the skin? There is a very well respected Nutritionist by the name of Sally Fallon who has written a holistic cookbook along with Mary G. Enig, PhD who is an expert of international renown in the field of lipid (fat) chemistry. This is the cookbook I am making most of my meals from.

In her book she states: "Don't forget to eat the skin and the dark meat as well as the white. The skin provides valuable fat-sluble vitamins and antimicrobial fatty acids, while the dark meat contains more minerals than the fat."

So...I have decided to eat the skin and dark meat for now. It is important to note this decision is from a nutritional perspective only and not from a weight loss perspective. It is not a free ride. I have to count the points for it (which means sacrificing something else) and if weight loss isn't happening it will be the first thing to go.

My hope is, that by allowing myself these healthIER indulgences (caps on purpose) then it might prevent the cravings for fat I get down the road that land me in a Chinese  Restaurant ordering Sweet and Sour Spareribs.

I won't be able to tell what the impact from my new technique is when I weigh-in Wednesday as it will be the first time I have weighed in since "pre-christmas" and I only started my new plan three days ago. I will be able to tell one week Wednesday. I expect to be "up" this Wednesday.

To be honest I should get a hint as to how the plan is working this Saturday as I weighed myself at home before I started the new technique last Saturday morning. I will weigh myself at home again this Saturday and see what the unofficial results are saying.

My only real concern is that part of the "balancing" that allows me to do this is a commitment to ten hours a week at the gym, but I haven't gone to the gym the last two days because I was sick. I will go back today. I am not sure if I can still get ten hours in for this week, as it would mean two hours every day the rest of the week and I really don't want to push myself today, but we will see how much I can logically do.

The plan will only work for a lifetime if I can adjust it to deal with realities such as periods of illness.

Just had some more Amaranth Porridge (I made to much so I will be eating it for about four mornings) will have a fruit and veggie lunch, and then Jamie and I will split an Organic Steak with Salad and Brown Rice for dinner.

It feels so good to be feeling better. Not 100% by any means...but definitely better :-)

Be healthy!

Alan

Day Two - After A Rough Night

Day two of the New Year is here...that means it's time. If you had New Years Day festivities I can understand why you may not have started eating better yesterday...but there is no excuse for today. It's time!

I implemented my new plan perfectly yesterday. It was an incredibly healthy day. The Chilean Sea Bass turned out perfect. Jamie kept saying "I loved that fish" all evening long.

He should...it was ridiculously expensive. The piece I bought cost $55.

Still, we made half last night and split that half between us so it works out to $13.75 a person for our fish last night. For a New Years treat is wasn't that much. There was a time when I wouldn't think twice about spending the same amount of money for lunch at McDonald's.

To be honest though...I'm not at all "healthy" right now.

A week or so ago I blogged about my concern that I might catch the "bug" Jamie had, given that the stress of dealing with our vacation had pretty much drained me and brought my resistance down. I also wasn't eating particularly well over the holidays.

Well...fear became reality.

I am sooooooo sick. I can't remember having a night as bad as I had last night. Freezing then boiling, pounding headache, aching muscles. It is not fun.

I can say I am so glad I am not on a cruise ship like I am supposed to be right now. There is a reason for everything.

I tried to deal with it the natural way and pumped tons of Vitamin C and Oregano Oil into me, but at about 5am this morning I caved. I couldn't stand the headache anymore and took two Ibuprofen. I HATE taking drugs. Sometimes though...you have to do what you have to do. It was either Ibuprofen or call my nutritionist friend Anthony at 5:00AM saying HELP! I was too kind to do that (and besides...I know he shuts off his phone at night).

Being sick doesn't mean I can't keep eating healthy though. I had Amaranth Porridge with Flax Seeds and Stevia for breakfast, will have a Fruit and Veggie concoction made in my VitaMix for lunch and tonight is Roasted Chicken, a couple of small potatoes and salad.

I will "health" myself into being healthy.

Really hoping I can avoid taking anymore medicinal drugs.

Be heathy!

Alan

The First Day - Happy New Year!

It is here! This is the first day of the year.

This is the day to decide that 2011 is going to be your healthiest year ever and then go for it!

I have already begun. I started the day with whole bran porridge sweetened with stevia (it was really quite good), am going to have a lunch that consist of primarily fruits and vegetables. For dinner it is Chilean Sea Bass, Organic Brown Rice, and a mixed greens salad. I am off to a good start!

Tomorrow will be the fist "test' as we are eating out with friends, but I purposely encouraged a lunch rather than a dinner. Restaurants are my weakness and I need to learn not to cave-in and order unhealthy when I get there.

I think that it will be easier for me to do if I start with a "lunch" out and work up to a "dinner" out once I am more stable. I checked out the menu ahead of time and they have a grilled chicken with garden salad. I think that would be the perfect choice.

Really looking forward to having the healthiest year of my life.

I hope you are too.

Be healthy!

Alan