Day 8, and counting

As of this morning, I'm down 3.5 pounds from my Day 1 weigh-in.  Yippee!  That's a fun perk, especially since I don't feel like I'm starving myself to lose weight.

Today, however, I did struggle with not being able to have certain foods (pizza, coffee, chocolate, butter...).  We had a lunch playdate with friends, and they were serving pizza.  I sat at the table eating salad and soup with 6 people who were eating pizza and breadsticks.  Mercy.  That was a tough one.  And so hard not to eat Owen's leftover crusts at the end.  My mind was whispering, "Just a little bit wouldn't matter..."  Yes it would!  The meal plan says that if you have any of the sensitivity foods you have to start your 28 days over again!  Yikes!  That's good motivation.  That, and the 3.5 pounds.

We'll be visiting grandmas this weekend, so added to the ordeal of packing for overnight, I will also have to pack provisions for myself...to be prepared in a kitchenette.  No cooking available!  And I'm not sure the other seniors will take kindly to my smoothie-making noise at 8 in the morning.  Hmmm....still trying to figure that one out.

I have been missing coffee quite a bit.  Not the caffeine, but the warmth and the cream and sugar I put in it.  I like decaf and have that the majority of the time.  But I can't do it without cream and sugar.  Both are off limits right now.  So...I've learned to like tea.  I'm trying to avoid caffeine there too, and I can put a little honey in it, and that is enough to soothe me.

I am aware of feeling much more energetic and lacking that sluggish time that tended to hit me mid-afternoon, which is great.  And I'm even finding it easier to get up and out of bed to exercise in the morning.  Today, I woke up before my alarm!  These are the things I need to remember when I think I'm dying to have things I don't even want to mention by name because it makes me feel hungry.

Hanging on by my fingernails today!!

Day 5.5

Update:  I made it past the church cake, people.  It was tough, but I made it.  Then we went to my friend's house, and they served Davanni's pizza.  Lord help me.  I brought my own salad and white chili, so I was able to eat that and enjoy it totally.  But I had to touch the pizza to serve some to my kids.  Pure torture!!

I have also just realized that I associate Bible study with coffee and snacks.  I'm planning to spend tomorrow morning (Owen's preschool day) working on my lesson.  On his school day, I typically like to sit at a coffee shop or Panera to do it--gets me out of the house and away from other distracting chores.  But, now I can't go to the coffee shop or Panera because I can't eat or drink anything there!!  Oh goodness.

Oh, and I can't have gum either. Or mints.  They have soy in them.  Seriously?!  Is nothing sacred??

See, I'm having a fit, all because of the church cake.

Tomorrow is another day.

Day 5

I'm hanging in there!  I had some passable oatmeal for breakfast this morning at 8:00, and I made it to after-church lunchtime at 1:00 without having a meltdown.  Yeah!  That stuff really sticks with you.

We had company over for dinner last night, and I fed them the white chicken chili I was making for myself.  They actually liked it!  So nice to not have to make 2 separate meals for dinner time, especially with company over.

Going to a baptism service for a friend today and I just read they're serving cake afterward.  Oh man. This may be my first bout of temptation.  Cake, coffee, and church.  They go together somehow.  I'll be packing my own dinner for the gathering at the friend's house later at least.  But, oh, the cake.

Still feeling physically good and energetic.  Have a slight headache most afternoons, but nothing that requires ibuprofen.  And I truly haven't been missing any foods or feeling deprived.  It helps that I am always full after meals and getting to eat things that I like that taste good!  Mostly.  Cooked spinach, for instance.  Never. Again.

Day 3

I've made it to day 3 of my new eating plan, mostly unscathed.  This plan is not for the faint of heart!  But only because of the work involved.  I actually feel full all the time.  I had 2 snacks (allowed) on the first day because I felt like I'd be starved before getting to eat.  Yesterday, I had one snack.  Today, zero so far, and I'm stuffed from my lunch.

The work involves all the meal prep.  No Poptarts here!!  My first two days, I felt like I was cooking or prepping for cooking all day long. Literally.  Now that I've got a few leftovers banked, I'm sailing a little smoother.  And I really like to cook and to try new recipes, so I didn't expect that to feel so hard.

Today was the first day my breakfast was palatable.  First day, I had a gluten-free oatmeal with raspberries. Sounds good, right?  However, no sugar is added, and you're supposed to add protein powder.  My protein powder tastes like sawdust and feels about as good on my teeth.

Yesterday, I had a smoothie for breakfast.  My kids were jealous!  Until I had trouble getting the whole thing down.  Ice to strawberries ratio was way off--too much ice, therefore, little flavor and too much smoothie to drink!  Plus, the protein powder (again!) and flax this time (woohoo!) were too gritty and grody.

Today, I had a mixed berry smoothie, reduced the ice, increased the water and reduced the protein powder and flax.  Hooray!  A smoothie I actually enjoyed!  I'm hoping our cheapo blender makes it through this 28 days with me.

I'm drinking a ton of water, much more than is normal for me, so that added another challenge for a day and half.  I didn't know how I'd ever leave the house!  Today has been better.

I'm feeling good and am still motivated to keep this up.  This plan has caused me to think about how much mindless eating I have done before and would easily do now too if I wasn't recording everything I eat and drink for 28 days.

So far, no cravings that have made me want to buckle...although I did almost lick the mac & cheese spoon (Owen's lunch) when packing up the leftovers.  Yikes!  Habits, habits.  I do love me some mac & cheese.  But what I love more today is feeling good and energetic and healthy!

Hello again

Hello friends!  Good gracious, life has been full. Which is obvious when I see that I haven't posted one blessed thing here since January.  Yikes!

I'm starting to blog again to keep myself accountable.  You see, I'm starting a new eating plan tomorrow, and it lasts for 28 days.  I'm excited about it tonight, on the eve of a new beginning.  But I'll check back in and let you know how it's going.

I'm cutting out common food sensitivity foods (ie. eggs, dairy, soy, gluten...everything that is good in this world).  This will "detox" my body, hopefully get me on track to feeling at my prime, and help me to discover if I may have any foods that make me feel less than awesome so I can avoid them in the future.  Some folks have also lost weight while doing this.  We shall see.

I just returned home from a 2 1/2 hour shopping trip to buy all the food I'll need for this first week.  It took me an eternity because I had to read labels and look for foods I've never even heard of before (arrowroot flour anyone??).  Did you know that gluten and soy are in everything under the sun?!  Just saying.

In the sake of full disclosure, I will let you know that I stopped at Dairy Queen on the way to the grocery store to buy my healthy food.  I had a giftcard that had been languishing in my purse for months, and since I won't be allowed to even look at dairy for 28 days (28 days!), I decided to have a last hurrah.  Small Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Blizzard.  I shall miss you small Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Blizzard...and every other kind of Blizzard.

Wish me luck!

Public Service Announcment

Older church ladies of the world...do not, under any circumstances, ask a younger church lady, "When are you due?" unless you are 100% certain she is actually pregnant.  How can you be 100% certain said younger church lady is pregnant, you ask?  When you hear the words from her own lips, "I am 100% certain I am pregnant."  In no other circumstance should you speculate and therefore ask the younger church lady outloud, "When are you due?" 

Yes.  This happened to me today.  I was the younger church lady.

I had this happen a few years back as well.  My response a few years back was to laugh nervously and say that I was still carrying baby weight and I was wearing an empire waste shirt, so it was easy to make that mistake (I never wore that shirt again, by the way!). 

This time, I maintained my dignity, composure and eye contact, and when asked, "When are you due?" said calmly, "I...am not."  The older church lady said, "Oh...well..." and slunk off.  Which is as it should be. 

Oddly enough, I had just read an article in an etiquette section of a magazine regarding this very issue.  The author encouraged the non-pregnant "younger church lady," when asked this horrifying question, to maintain eye contact, tell the offender she is not pregnant, and let all the awkwardness hang there without making excuses for yourself to make the other person feel better.  That way "the older church lady" bears the load of the awkwardness, hopefully being shamed into contrition and learning to never ask that dreaded question to anyone not in a hospital gown and pushing again.

So, to my fellow younger church ladies....you are welcome.  I may have saved you from one older church lady today.

Sophie's Rapunzel Party

We celebrated Sophie's 7th birthday today with a friend party.  It was a Rapunzel theme.  Thank goodness for my friend Laura who had done this for Lydia's birthday this past summer.  She lent us a bunch of stuff that made the party look cool.

This braid, for instance.  It trailed from the entryway back to the bedrooms.  We spent a 100 degree August day crafting it in her backyard last summer.  Good memories. 

 Another Laura addition.  Cute, huh?

 Sophie dressed as Rapunzel to greet her guests.

 She even had a Rapunzel braid in her hair.

 Another element borrowed from Laura...a pin the pan on Flynn Rider game.

 These were the little frying pans they had to hit him on the nose with. Cute!

 In Tangled, Rapunzel visits a pub called the Snuggly Duckling where she meets a lot of ruffians.

 

Our ruffians ate blue jello (lakes) with orange sailboats floating on top...

 ...and cinnamon/sugar braided breadsticks, hotdogs, Doritoes and fruit.

 When the girls arrived, they got to "paint the walls" like Rapunzel does in her tower.

 They took turns getting their hair braided and flowered by Laura--again, she was so helpful!  Couldn't have done it without her!

 The girls got to decorate their own floating lanterns.  This project did not go as well as I had planned--there was some frustration with keeping them open and un-crunched. 

 Then we played the pin the pan on Flynn Rider game.  Poor Flynn.

 Lunchtime!  One little guest told Greg, "I don't DO hotdogs," shortly after telling me, "Your house is small."  Thank you for sharing!  (don't worry anyone who actually reads this blog...it wasn't your kid!).

 Sophie received sweet notes from friends...

 ...lovely gifts...

 ...and even hand-decorated giftbags!

 Then, for a non-traditional birthday dessert we had rootbeer floats.  Fun!

 And as we waited for moms and dads to collect kids, we danced and sang to a little bit of music from the Tangled movie. 

It was a great time!