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:

Anniversary Edition

Then

(awesome California strawberries)

(our first dance was a polka!)

and Now

Tomorrow is our 37th anniversary! We're both getting up early. John is taking the day off to watch some of the World Cup soccer. I'm going for a run after breakfast--a long run. I'm trying for 6 miles. It's supposed to be a beautiful, non-humid day. John's going to watch the first game at 7:30 and then we'll root for USA together, in the mid-morning game. I'll make a deluxe salad (greens, chopped mangos, toasted pine nuts, beets, roasted chicken, a sprinkle of craisins) and we may take a bike ride to the park (about 7 miles away) and eat al fresco. One more game (England) in mid afternoon and then, later, off to dinner and a movie. I plan a lovely bubble bath and maybe a nap while he's watching the afternoon game! I'm going for an OP day.

Can you name the location of the "now" picture? [Hint--notice the pink buttons we're both wearing]

Wednesday Round Up

I've got quite a few irons in the fire, goal-wise, on the diet and exercise front. I'd thought I'd bring you up to date on how things are going.

Exercise: Two weeks ago I set myself a goal to exercise seven day a week. I've been able to do this. Sometimes I had to work around the weather--can't bike in a thunderstorm, but I have some options and use them when I need to. Most of my exercise takes 45-60 minutes. Here's my exercise for this past week:

Wed--Ran 3.7 miles, C25K Week 8 Day 3

Thu--Gym, Lifted 18,000 lbs. 11 resistance machines, 2 sets of 15 reps.

Fri --Ran 4.1 miles, C25K Week 9 Day 1

Sat --Ran 2.6 miles, C25K Week 9 Day 2

Sun--Wii Tennis, Singles, Grand Slam, 90 minutes (rained out of bike ride)

Mon--Ran 4.2 miles, C25K Week 9 Day 3 -- Last Day!

Tues--Gym, Lifted 20,000 lbs. 11 resistance machines, 2 sets of 15 reps.

Wed--Ran 4.1 miles

Water: One of my first non-scale goals with the Spring Focus was to drink 8 or more cups of water each and every day. I have pretty much aced this one too, except for a few days when I was traveling, at a concert, or otherwise knew I would be unable to get to facilities. I love this one. I think it has helped tremendously. Not only to keep me well hydrated, but also to keep me feeling fairly full. I think many times I probably ate because I mistook a thirst signal for a hunger signal. This one is definitely a keeper.

Portions: Another recent goal was to really check out my portions. I did, by measuring and weighing, and found that I was overestimating serving portions. I cut down my portions, especially of whole grain carbs (ww pasta, brown rice, ww orzo, ww couscous, corn) and think I've reached a happy place in my portion size. I've stopped measuring and weighing, but think this is a good thing for me to check up on every once in a while.

Weight: I was hesitant to set a goal weight loss for the Spring Focus, but finally allowed as how I'd love to try to lose 12 pounds in the two month challenge time, between May 4th and July 4th. I'm pleased and amazed to report, that, as of my weigh in today, I've lost 15.8 pounds. If you haven't read Charlie's

(Back to the Fridge)

post about the Stupid Switch, go there as soon as you finish this post. I firmly believe he's right. My switch is definitely in the "on" position right now, and I'm going to tippy toe around so as not to accidentally toggle it to "off!." So today, I was down another 2.6 pounds. YIPEE!!!

Is your switch "on" or "off?"

192.2

With a Little Help from my Friends

(No, this is not another post about being a slow loser.)

The other day when had just started my run I saw one of these guys apparently just about to cross the paved running trail from the wooded side to the parking lot side. I've rescued turtles there before, but this one was big. Easily 15 inches from the nose to the tip of the tail. But I didn't want to see a parking lot tragedy, so I gingerly lifted it, holding the sides of the shell. The turtle used his legs to try to scratch me away and turned his head toward my fingers. Another runner stopped to help and had the good idea to lift the turtle by its tail. We repositioned it about 15 feet into the woods, pointing wood-ward. I looked up the turtle when I got home and realized that it was a snapping turtle. I'm sure glad it didn't reach my fingers!

I'm a pretty self sufficient person. My older brother often calls me 'Miss Capable." I like that adjective. I think it describes me. But not so much during this journey. I had not really realized how much I rely on help during this quest of mine. I'm a little like my snapping friend. I have definite ideas on what I want to do; sometimes my ideas aren't the best.

Take exercise, for instance. DH is an exercise fiend. He's lucky enough to have a job where he's able to work out at a great gym for an hour and a half every single day over the lunch hour. He still lifts weights at our local gym, bikes, and referees soccer a few times a week. The trouble is, except for soccer refereeing he always asks me to exercise with him. And often I don't wanna. I want to choose my own time. My own pace. Honestly though, left to my own devices, I procrastinate and half the time don't get around to going. I need his asking [nagging] to get me there. I've started to rely on it.

And food--you guys are my friend there. I learn things all the time from reading your posts and listening in as you think through strategies for reasonable, responsible eating strategies. I'm often inspired by recipes you mention and I shamelessly adopt your suggestions about things like portion control, and drinking water, and eating slowly.

My goal to eat slowly is going fine. I stretched it out for 15 (l-o-n-g) minutes last night and made it to 17 minutes tonight! I have to say that it's hard. I have to really think about not putting a new bite into my mouth on the heels of the previous bite. I've also noticed that I don't need as much food. I'm almost ready to stop eating before the food is gone. BTW, Jay noticed his picture on my last post and wanted to know what was up. I told him and now he's taken to checking on whether or not I'm eating slowly enough! Let's hope that doesn't last--I don't need two fellas nagging me. LOL

My WI is tomorrow. I doubt it will be another 3 pound loss, but I'm hopeful that I'll drop at least one. Stay tuned.

How about you? Do you look for help or do you tend to snap at help like my turtle friend?

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?

Friday Surprise!

Happy Friday! I continued my new-found habit of getting up early to run and was rewarded with a great run in perfect weather. Today I started week 9 of the C25K and I'm feeling like a real runner again. That's a good feeling. I'll never be speedy, but I'm enjoying watching my average pace per run decline steadily. You can always check out my progress with my little Nike+ Mini just to the right of this post. If I don't run for several days in a row, she'll start dissin' me.

I was surprised and delighted this morning to see that Karen, at Waisting Time gave me a blog award! My first blog award ever. I was so excited that I ran up stairs to show my husband. Thank you Karen!

The award requires me to list seven things about myself that you probably don't know. I'm fairly new at blogging here, so my job is a little easier.

Here goes: Seven Things you Probably Don't Know about Me.

1. Although I don't think of myself as a picky eater, my daughter pointed out to me that I don't like any fruits starting with the letter B. That's right--bananas, blueberries, boysenberries, bilberries--not my cup of tea. The only other fruit that I don't care for starts with an R (raspberry).

2. I have a long middle toe on my left foot that, combined with my running, caused me to have a purple toenail most of the time. I did buy a size larger (and longer) running shoe on the advice of my running store friend, so the toenail now only turns purple when I run longish runs with hills. I usually paint my toenails in summer for this reason.

3. My mom was my #1 cheerleader. She died 17 years ago, but I always wear her ring (a West Point miniature that was her engagement ring) if I want to feel her there when I'm doing something important. Like my first day of teaching, or my 10 mile race last year, or when our children got married.

4. I'm a bit of a statistics nerd. When I saw the Site Meter gadget on blogs I read I signed right up. Of course I love comments (thank you, thank you), but I also love checking out who's checking my blog out. I set it so it didn't count my own visits to my site. When we were on our vacation, I got rather worried because I noticed one person kept checking out my blog all day long, with lots of page views and hour long visits. Was someone stalking my blog?? Only after I read the description carefully did I realize that it was me-- using the hotel's wifi IP address!

5. My third grade teacher, Miss Shelly, told my parents that I was "not college material." Fortunately, I was the fourth child and they didn't take her opinion as Gospel. I was a National Merit Scholar, did well at Stanford, was top of my class in Law School, and have two Master's degrees (Library Science and Education). I'd like to meet her some day.

6. When I get a greeting card, I tend to read it and take everything it says literally. You know, 'you are a beautiful, thoughtful, intelligent, fun . . . . person.' 'Yes,' I think,' they chose this card so carefully and it describes me perfectly.' This 'Beautiful Blogger' award had me looking in the mirror!

7. Probably one of the reasons that teacher said that to my parents is that I got D's in Penmanship and Reading until I reached 4th grade. Well, I still got pretty miserable grades in penmanship (love, love typing). I became a reader practically overnight when my 4th grade teacher, Mrs. Heckman, read to us for an hour every day. I discovered the public library and checked out the book (Misty of Chincoteague) so I could read ahead. And so began my lifelong love of reading. I read voraciously. I re-read favorites once a year. I love a well written book. And I love being a children's librarian and seeing children discover a love a books and reading. Thank you, Mrs. Heckman.

The second requirement of the award is to pass it along, and so I'd like to pass this along to a lovely list of Beautiful Bloggers. Please check out their blogs and enjoy!

1. kimert @ Just Another Mom on the Run

2. Mary @ A Simple Twist of Faith

3. Sarah @ Round

4. Barefoot Jax @ Fattie 2 Fittie

5. Diet Buddy Daily

6. Tonyne @ The Unlikely Success Story

7. Lori Lynn @ Sunflowers and Daisies

If I don't wrap this up soon my computer's gonna turn into a pumpkin and it'll be tomorrow. But I wanted to mention the wonderful Spinach Strawberry Salad I made to go with dinner tonight. I bought a Costco container of strawberries and wanted to made an start on using them while they were at their peak. I made over an old, non-WW friendly recipe to fit my plan and it was de-lish. The salad disappeared before I thought about taking a picture, but the recipe may get an encore appearance in the next couple of days.

Lots of thank you's in this post. I want to thank all of my readers for coming by. You have to know I still get excited when I get comments and even when I just see you've been browsing without commenting.