Off and Running!

Today is the first day of the Hot 100 challenge.  I'm calling it Day 100 and crossing it off on my chart because I survived it in fine fashion.  I met all my goals easily in the first flush of challenge enthusiasm.  I have a book that I've decided to use during this challenge.  It's  Linda Spangle's A Daily Motivator  100 Days of Weight Loss:  The Secret to Being Successful on Any Diet Plan.  She doesn't even talk about what foods to eat, but instead has 100 days worth of short  (two page) topical essays. She addresses motivational issues like food triggers, getting support from family & friends, slowing down your eating, and emotional eating.  For today, for instance, she challenged the reader to think about something s/he may be afraid of concerning these next 100 days.  I admit I'm a little scared of failure because I've NEVER reached my WW goal in several past serious efforts.  She asks the reader to make a new ending to that fear and write it down.  Mine was "I've tried many times to reach my WW goal, but always before, I've failed, BUT this time I'm a lot more knowledgeable about the right things to eat, I have embraced regular exercise, and I have a great support network at home and on my blog so I CAN and I WILL succeed."

I've noticed over the past few days that my rate of eating is starting to creep back up to "rather speedy" in relation to Jay, my really slow eater, and to DH.  I'm going to have to do a little clock watching and slow things down a bit again.  Eating slowly really does help me enjoy my food more and also give me time to hear my "I'm Full" signal before I eat more than I need.

Spring Focus Update

Sarah started this timely challenge at the beginning of May.  Her timing was perfect.  I challenged myself to lose 12 pounds in two months and have set myself several behavioral challenges as well.

Weight Challenge:  I have lost 15.8 pounds (at my Weight Watcher weigh-ins on Wednesdays) since May 4th.  This is an astonishing rate of weight loss for me.  I attribute it to, surprise, surprise, diet and exercise.  Things are looking good to lose a bit more before the end of the challenge.

Eating:  Believe me, I AM eating.  Breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  I'm using the WW CORE (Simply Filling) plan which I understand is quite similar to the South Beach plan.  This is the way I plan to eat--forever.  It makes a lot of sense and DH likes it too.  We have eaten this way for two years.  It's very "doable." Each meal, for almost two months has been basically on plan.  I have vacationed away from home and celebrated family occasions and eaten out occasionally during that time.  It took planning, but I feel like I ate like I wanted to eat.  A very "clean" diet.  There have been a few 'off-plan' things during that time--like a shared dessert on our anniversary and a handful of almonds on a cross country plane ride, but by and large, I have stayed OP (on plan).   I have deliberately eaten more fish than I used to (cutting down to 1 or fewer red-meat meals/week).  I also stopped having dinner left-overs for lunch the next day.  Instead, I plan a lighter lunch, without a starchy food.   I normally eat 6-7 fruits & vegetables/day and I eat plenty of fiber (from the fruits & vegetables, whole grain cereal in the morning, and whole grain pasta or brown rice with dinner).

Portion Control:  I spent a couple weeks checking on my portions by weighing and measuring.  I found that I was (surprise, surprise) over-estimating.  I think this was a good exercise, but I'm back to estimating--I hope more realistically.   I'll repeat the portion checks occasionally in the future to keep myself on track.

Drinking Water:  I started this at the beginning of the challenge.  I regularly drink 8+ cups of water a day now and will continue this.   I benefit from feeling full.  I especially need this in the summer as I need to rehydrate after exercise.

Exercise:  For the past two weeks I've challenged myself to exercise every day.   DONE!  I run four or more miles 3-4 times a week (if it's very hot, like today, there are some walking  bits interspersed).  I bike 13+ miles two or three times a week.  If I've run very early (like today) I may bike after dinner.  I also lift weights (resistance) at my gym two or three times a week.  If I haven't done any of these things (it's happened once in the past two weeks), I will exercise with my Wii (tennis or yoga). 

     This Week:

     Mon--Run--4 mi

     Tues--Gym--20K lbs

     Wed--Run--4 mi

     Thu--Gym--21K lbs

     Fri--Run--6.2 mi

     Sat--Bike--14 mi

     Sun--Gym-22K lbs,  Walk--2 mi

     Mon--Run--5 mi

Eating Slowly: A little over a week ago, I decided to try to eat more slowly.  I'd heard the suggestion before and was quite aware that I was a speed-eater, but I'd never really tried.  I limited my challenge to eating dinner.   This has been a real eye-opener.  It was hard, at first, but I have been able to increase my average eating time (10 minutes is a generous guess of how long I took to eat dinner).  For more than a week, I've taken 15 or more minutes to eat dinner.  The benefits are 1) I feel more "normal" eating more slowly, 2) I enjoy the food more--savoring flavor, texture, mouth-feel, and taste,  and 3) I have more of a chance to hear my own signals that I am "full."

Last Place

We were having dinner tonight and I happened to glance over at my son and I noticed that he was finished with his dinner. DH was taking his last bite. I still had about 1/3 of my meal on my plate. YES! Score. I came in last in the race to eat slowly. And it really did take me by surprise. You might remember that I set a goal this week to slow down my eating at dinner. I've been doing that. At first I kept watching the clock and intentionally setting down my fork for long spells. The first day, I stretched things out for 15 minutes; then 17; tonight I took a pokey 20 minutes to eat my spaghetti and salad. Yay me! I don't claim to have conquered this bad habit of mine, but I now know that I can eat more slowly if I try.

The benefits of eating slowly are manifold. I have actually had a time or two when I didn't want to finish my dinner in the past few days--that's unheard of. Last night, when we ate out at a fancy restaurant, I was a bit alarmed when my order of grilled scallops came and I found there were only 4 scallops! [you know that feeling you get when the other person's order comes and his/her plate is overflowing and you get one of those tiny 'artistic' plates with a bit of food in the center and lots of colorful dribbles of sauce filling in all the white space on the plate?] First I was disappointed because there wasn't very much food and I was hungry. Then I worried about how in the world I would drag out eating 4 scallops, 3 red potatoes, and 4 leaves of spinach [yes, I counted] for 15 minutes. But you know what? The food was wonderful. I cut my scallop into several pieces and savored the flavors. It was perfectly cooked. I probably gave DH at least half a scallop to taste. I cut pieces of the spinach leaves and tasted the fresh bitter flavor. I noticed the herb (tarragon?) on the potatoes. DH and I had a good time remembering our first married dinner 37 years earlier. Before I knew it, the waitress was refilling my water glass for the 4th or 5th time and it was an hour later. I was perfectly satisfied with my meal and enjoyed every bite--slowly. I had a skim cappuccino and a few bites of DH's creme brule for dessert. I have a friend who is a proponent of the "slow food movement." I'm going to borrow a page from her book and declare myself a member of the "slow eater movement." Next, maybe, I'll tackle eating slowly at breakfast and lunch. Maybe.

The answer to the question in my last post. The photo was taken at The Cloisters, overlooking the Hudson River in NY. The pink buttons are from the Metropolitan Museum in NY to show that we had paid for our admission. If you've never been to the Cloisters, I highly recommend it. They built a medieval cloister/monastery in NY city from the remains of several French and Italian monasteries. It's incredible. They have authentic gardens in each of the five cloisters. Here are a couple more pix:

AHA Moment

We were eating dinner tonight when I happened to notice my son, Jay. I was just about finished with my meal, DH was almost done, but Jay, as usual was still working on his dinner, only half done. Jay is a good eater, he always eats everything he is served and has very few dislikes (he doesn't love nuts, but will work around them). He's just slow. Not the slowest eater I've ever known, but definitely slower than I am. That was my AHA moment. Maybe I should try to slow down when I eat. I've done a lot of tweaking of different things in this life-quest of mine, but I've never even thought of trying to fix this obvious fault. I need to slow down.

Jay was a champion at the Special Olympics in this picture when he was 9.

He's still a champion slow eater!

So this week, that will be my Spring Focus goal. I want to work to slow down my eating. I'm embarrassed to admit, but I usually spend 40- 60 minutes cooking a great meal and only about 10 minutes eating it. My initial goal is modest. I want to spend at least 15 minutes eating my dinner. I'll put smaller amounts on my fork, put down the fork between bites, stop for drinks of water, talk a bit more with DH and Jay, and, if I have to, pace myself to Jay to slow down.

Jay's 14th birthday--he even eats birthday cake slowly!

Jay is our youngest. He is 28, works in a sheltered job in a retirement home restaurant, saves every penny he earns, has a terrific sense of humor, knows the prologue to Romeo & Juliette by heart, picks up litter when he takes his two, mile-long walks around our neighborhood, and loves to shuck corn. He has Down Syndrome. He reads at about a 5th grade level, loves to write in his black & white speckled composition books, and has the world's best collection of VHS & DVDs (all the great musicals, Fairy Tale Theater, every season of Monk, every season of Due South, 12 versions of Romeo & Juliette, the Disney classics, and many other great movies).

I'm doing great, so far, on my goal to exercise every day. I'm going to go work out with my Wii tonight and tomorrow morning is my last day with the C25K. YAY!

Jay shucking corn on the cob a few days ago. He's a handy guy to have around.

How about you? Do you need to take a lesson from Jay about eating more slowly?