January Wrap Up

About a year or so ago, when I lived in Minneapolis, I got a pilates DVD from the library. It was good - hard for me since I am overweight, and because I am not a physically flexible person. After trying the DVD out, I looked it up online. One of the Google results that popped up was on a website called The Kim Challenge. I read the review, and then browsed the blog, and was instantly hooked. Kim catalogues her daily food intake, and also shares other thoughts about herself, body image, exercise and food. Through Kim's website, I was introduced to a whole new world of food blogging. It has been over a year, and I still read Kim's blog every time she updates it. I also am a regular visitor to lots of other food blogs.

So, when I eventually decided to make a food blog for myself, I decided to base it on Kim's website. I have already shamelessly copied her style of posting her meals. Lacking her originality, and being extremely influenced by her style in general, I am now also going to copy Kim's style of rounding off each month with resolution evaluation and setting new monthly resolutions. Her resolutions have always motivated me to try harder to work on myself and my own self-care - especially related to food and my body. Kim, if you ever read this, you are my blogging hero! I adore you and your blog and your ideals!

RESOLUTION EVALUATION:

1. Eat mindfully and in moderation: I did this for the most part. I had more energy for this at the beginning of the month. Towards the last two weeks, I have not been doing this as consistently or well. This will continue to be a goal next month.

2. Exercise more: I have definitely been exercising more. I set a goal of 3x/week, which I have not always met. But I have been doing at least 2x/week. I also have been doing more things than just walk - I have joined a folk dance and a square dance class, and have been going to contradance nights. The folk and square dance classes are not really strenuous exercise, but they do involve moving and not sitting. And they are easy on my knees.

3. Blog: Most days this month, I have blogged. I sometimes forgot to take pictures, and sometimes have been too busy to post. But I did log almost everything I ate whether I had a pictures or not at least within two days. So I did more than moderately well on this goal.

4. Reduce my debt: This is not really a food/exercise goal. But it involves self-care. This month, I paid off the last of the money I owe friends. So from now on, I can chip away at the credit card debt - it will take me about a year to get rid of this, but I will do it eventually!

5. Pamper myself more: I have been doing this also. It is not always very clear what I am doing to pamper myself more. I think of the dancing as self-care. The hanging out with friends is self-care also. I also gave myself a pedicure and bought myself Belgian Truffles. Perhaps I ought to pay more attention to what I do to pamper myself. This will be a continuing goal for me.

That's it!

I am never counting points again. This past week I have been eating out a lot - with my conference and what not. If I were counting points, I would be overwhelmed at the hundreds of points I was consuming, would feel guilty, and then perhaps eat some more to soothe the guilt. And I would gain a few pounds. That has been my modus operandum all my life - WeightWatchers or no. If it was not WW Points, it would be mental calculation of calories, or fat grams or whatever. So like I said yesterday, I was convinced that I must have gained a bunch of pounds because I ate out and not always healthily for the last week. Any other outcome would have been unimaginable!

Imagine my surprise then when I dragged myself hopped onto the WW scale today and saw a small weight loss. It's not a lot - only 0.4 lbs, but still! I realize now that the difference this week was that I never once felt guilty. I thought I would gain weight, and I was saddened by the thought, but I did not shame myself or lay loads of expectations onto my own shoulders. And I am nearly half a pound lighter.

Since I gave up counting points, I have lost 5.6 lbs, and have eaten more food that I like than I ever have done before without any of the associated guilt. I also have not had a single week of weight gain. I know it will happen at some time in the future - perhaps even next week, but I know if I continue the way I eat and exercise now, any gain will only be transitory. At long last, I think I have found the method that works for me!

Breakfast
Toasted (very) WW English Muffin w. Strawberry Preserves; Tea

Snack
Putting Conference Goodies to use - Chamomile Tea

Lunch
Palak Paneer Hot Pocket, Orange

Cranberry Trail Mix

Dinner
Rosemary Triscuits, Habanero Cheddar, Cranberry/Maple Wensleydale

Edamame

Exercise
Square Dancing Class

Wonderful Wensleydale

For the last two weeks, I have not been consuming as much dairy as I usually do. I always have lots of milk, yogurt and cheese in my daily food intake. Of all dairy products, cheese is my favorite. I could eat cheese at every meal of the day! When I went to get cheese today, I decided to get something I had not purchased before. I got two varieties: Aged Cheddar w. Habanero Peppers (The peppers were so hot, I could barely taste the cheese. But very good!) And Wensleydale cheese w. Cranberries and Maple Shavings. With the Wensleydale, it was love at first taste! It will be purchased again and again from now on. Welcome to my diet, Wensleydale!

Breakfast
Idlis w. Tamarind-Coconut Chamandi

Lunch
Palak Paneer Hot Pocket, Pear

Snack
Rosemary Triscuits, Cheddar w. Habanero, Wensleydale w. Cranberries and Maple
Then I got a bit more!

Dinner
Whole Wheat Flatbread w. Spinach, Baked Falafel; Orange

Edamame

On another note, WeightWatchers weigh-in is tomorrow. I feel apprehensive. I have been eating out all of last week and not always in good ways. I anticipate a gain of a few pounds.

Home Again!

I am back home. It feels good to sleep in my own bed, under my own roof. But I do miss the wonderful city view. I had lunch with a couple of friends and then went for a long walk with one of them. I'm tired. But I am happy.

Breakfast
French Toast w. Pecans, Honey; Tea; Prunes

Lunch
The three of us ate about 3/4th of this: Tofu, Bean Curd and Tempeh dishes
White, Brown and Fried Rice

Exercise
Then I went for a walk - this was my view. (3 miles)

Snack
Frozen Yogurt w. Peach, Rose and Chocolate Syrups

Dinner
Perugu Garelu
It's a gross-looking picture, but Chickpea flour and yogurt can't taste bad, can they?

Edamame

Contemplation: Boot Camp

I did something very scary today. I signed on for a month of Boot Camp classes! I think I will start on the first of February. This is really scary for me. I have always had a fear of exercise. Especially in a group setting. Even more so of rigorous exercise. A complexity of factors contribute to this fear - I am worried that I will not be able to do what everyone else is able to. I am afraid that I will whine and give up too easily. I am afraid of how my body looks and moves compared to the lithe and lissome bodies of others in the class. I am afraid I will be holding the others back. Perhaps all of these are excuses.

Today I decided to be somewhat excuse-free. In between sessions today, I checked my email and found a group deal for a month of boot camp classes. I did not give myself time to think. I purchased it right away and decided to worry about what I would do with the membership later. I will probably end up going. One wonderful trait I have developed over years of fiscal difficulties is that when I pay for something, I make sure that I get what I am entitled to from that something. I hope that my zeal to extract full value from my purchases overrides my fear of exercise - especially exercise that is called "boot camp".

Breakfast
Same as yesterday - Fruit, Bagel/Cream Cheese, Coffee

Snack
Starbucks in Seattle!
Drinking decaf at the birthplace of Starbucks. It was foggy!

Lunch
Box Lunch at the conference - Grilled Veg Sandwich, BBQ Chips, Diet Coke.
I only ate a piece of the cupcake and saved the apple for another time.

Dinner
I decided that I did not want to eat train food for dinner. So, I bought this at the hotel:
Vietnamese Salad Rolls w. Soy Dip

Train Snack
Pretzel chips and Roasted Garlic Hummus

Satisfied in Seattle

Seattle is a beautiful city full of beautiful people. It is apparently ranked the #1 big city for single young professionals. I went out to lunch today with a fellow conference attendee, and as we walked along the streets of downtown Seattle, I was admiring the people as much as I was admiring the skyscrapers. It was difficult not to be inspired. After the last two days of out-of control eating, I resolved to make today a bit more under-control. I ate a lot of different things, but made wise choices, and am more than satisfied.

Breakfast
Half a Bagel w. Cream Cheese, Assorted Fruit, Coffee w. Cream

Lunch
We went to a Vietnamese restaurant. The food was so wonderful that I did not remember to get my camera out until the entree came along.
Unphotographed Fresh Salad Rolls, Eggplant Satay

And then I remembered to take pictures:

Crepe w. Bean Sprouts, Shiitake Mushrooms, Fried Tofu

A GIANT bed of greens.
I was supposed to wrap pieces of the crepe in lettuce and add some herbs.

I did not manage to eat it all

Afternoon Snack
I skipped an afternoon breakout session and came to my room to chill, drink coffee, and despite being caffeinated, to take a nap!

Dinner
I unexpectedly met one of my intern-cohortmates from last year. She is here with her hubby and baby. We had dinner and did some much needed catching up.
Seven Flavor Tofu w. Brown Rice - I could get used to eating Seattle food every day!

We ate a whole table full of food!

And laughed at baby-antics! She is the cutest baby in the world!

Fewer Words. Out of Control Pictures.

Not many words today. I am at the conference. My eating is already out of control. But I committed to documenting it all, and here it is:

TUESDAY

Breakfast
Puttu and Sambhar. Odd combination. I only ate half of this.

Hot Chocolate at Work

Lunch
Quinoa Salad w. Spinach

Coworker's birthday cake

Second round of cake

Snacks

Kettle Corn

Lentil chips. Then I ate some more.

Luna Bar

Dinner

WW Flatbread w. Spinach, Baked Falafel, Hot Sauce

Kettle Corn

WEDNESDAY

Breakfast

I started early with some unphotographed Quinoa w. Pears and Pecans

Train food - Bagel, Cream Cheese, Hot Chocolate

Lunch
More Trainfood (unphotographed Soy Burger)

Snacks
Cashew Cookie Larabar

Unphotographed Luna Bar

Dinner
The conference reception had lots of finger food - all of it non-vegetarian.
So I went out and got some Qdoba food.

Clif Bar, Lentil Chips

I am on the 30th floor of my hotel right in the middle of downtown Seattle. Here's my view. The real view is about 10000 times as good as the picture.

Datapoint Three

A couple of weeks ago when I decided to not count WeightWatchers points and see how it goes, I had a phenomenal loss (3lbs) in one week. I decided that one time was not enough and to collect more data to see if it really works. The second week I lost 2lbs. Today I had my third weigh-in since then. I lost again, but only a measly 0.2lbs. I am not disappointed - far from it! My eating this past week was completely out of whack with my long days and lots of eating out. I was actually expecting a gain, so a 0.2lb loss seems like a pretty good success to me. When I saw the minuscule loss on the scale, I started giggling. I don't think the scale liked that because it went back up 0.2 lbs immediately. So I stopped giggling and the scale now appeased returned me to the originally calculated loss. Good old scale! The day after tomorrow I go out of town and God knows what the scale is going to tell me at the next weigh-in.

In other news, I joined another dancing class - it's a square dancing class. This one is an hour and a half long and does not weigh on my knee as much as the folk-dancing does. It's also a smaller class. I loved it!

Datapoint Three - Not disappointing.
Square Dancing - Exhilarating.

Breakfast
Same old idlis and Sambhar

Lunch
Quinoa Salad, Orange, Chocolate Chips

Snack
Jasmine Tea, Chocolate Fudge

Dinner
Perugu Garelu - This is the Andhra version of Dahi Vada. It consists of pieces of medu vada in yogurt spiced with ginger and chillies. It was the last of the yogurt, so I ate it right from the pot.

Spinach Pakodas. I ate this. Then ate three more.

Exercise
Square Dancing

My Body Aches

I woke up late today and everything from the neck down ached. It was a good ache though - yesterday's contradancing had me exhausted. I stretched a bunch and took a nap after lunch. That set me right.

I also made some baked falafel. I omitted the parsley and cilantro and added mint and lime juice instead. It was a bit too wet before I baked it and it turned out very misshapen. But it tastes fantastic!

Lunch
I woke up too late for breakfast and too lazy to make lunch.
Microwaved Masala Maggi Ramen Noodles

Kettle Corn

Snack
Spinach Pakodas

Dinner
Quinoa Salad on a bed of Spinach, Baked Falafel