SunshineDay's Diary: 'Nothin' but Blue Skies....".

[SunshineDay]

Day 8 of the Challenge, and wow, I can say I really do feel improvement! A few asides: my wedding ring feels 'looser'. Not exactly sliding over my knuckle with ease (yet), but feels less constrictive overall and 'turns' more easily. Also, yesterday I was wearing a pair of size 18 jeans that, despite supposedly being the same size (according to the number) and cut as my other size 18's, have always been somewhat 'smaller', and on any given day often wouldn't fit as comfortably when my other jeans would be fine. Since I don't as a habit weigh myself, I have always used this particular pair of jeans as a 'barometer' of sorts of where I'm at -- and, I'm pretty sure they weren't fitting this past spring. So the fact i was wearing them yesterday, and reasonably comfortably at that (still a little snug -- but hey, they zipped! Triumph!) is very encouraging ....

On the other hand, I was waiting at a hair salon yesterday afternoon while my daughter had her hair cut, in a small, narrow, stacking-type chair, where I could feel the side-arm thingies pressing slightly uncomfortably into the sides of my thighs (which are massive and really spread out when I sit). So yes, a good reminder (as if I need any) to stay the course...!

My meals for yesterday:

B: WW Tortilla stuffed with micro'ed potato mixed with onion, lettuce and tomato.

L: More of the same, because it was darn tasty (but also to use up those silly tortillas). Steamed fresh, garden green beans.

S: "Chocolate Oatmeal" (oatmeal cooked with a little added cocoa powder), with sliced fresh strawberries, a few dried cherries, and a touch of maple syrup. Delicious and it really feels like a treat...!

2nd S: The nibbling of fresh tomatoes out in the garden while weeding.

D: Homemade Minestrone Soup.

[SunshineDay]

Food Update so far for September 8th:

B: WW Tortilla stuffed with micro'ed potatoes mixed with chopped onion and lettuce, a bit of mustard and Braggs.

S: 2 prunes

L: Portion of ww pita stuffed with the same potato combo. Leftover Minestrone Soup. Apple.

D (yet to come): Perhaps more leftover soup? -- though this is the night that my daughter and I will be going over to my folks to watch our favorite tv program, and as such I know I will likely be trying to avoid snacking on the goodies my mom usually has on hand. Perhaps I'll whip up a bowl of 'Chocolate Oatmeal' before going over there -- besides being very filling I find it really strangely satisfying....

[SunshineDay]

Well I survived the outing at my folks relatively unscathed. I did indulge in a glass of grape juice (Juicy Juice brand), in addition to finishing off a bit of tossed salad my mom had in the fridge. Plus I helped myself to a total of 3 cashews. But all this in the face of ice cream and various other treats that were around, but not even on my radar. And I'd ended up NOT preemptively resorting to the 'Chocolate Oatmeal' this afternoon beforehand, so it's all good ....

In any case, dinner tonight (at home, before going to my folks) was yet more micro'ed potato, mixed with chopped onion and a little hummus, and stuffed in half a pita with lots of lettuce. I also finished up a smidge of leftover baked sweet potato that was in the fridge, and one piece of homemade tofu jerky.

Feeling positive, peaceful and strong after one full week on the program -- a big thanks to Chile for instigating this September Challenge...!

[Chile]

Good going!

I'm planning to try your chocolate oatmeal sometime soon when I need a special treat. May be a while because we've got so much fruit on hand that it pre-empts anything else for "dessert."

[SunshineDay]

Mmmm, Chile, the fresh fruit sounds lovely indeed (we ourselves haven't done any grocery shopping in nearly two weeks, and are down to only apples by way of fresh fruit right now). As for the 'Chocolate Oatmeal', that was my first time trying it just the other day. i could feel my pesky sweet tooth nagging me so I threw that combo together and it really hit the spot ....

[SunshineDay]

So it's Day 9 of the Challenge, and I can definitely say I feel real improvement, no question. I'm just so much less puffy and bloated, and what a lovely feeling it is. Lying in bed this morning upon waking, I noticed my tummy felt just ever so much flatter, to the point of actually feeling concave (yippee!). At 5'-7", I'm very long-waisted (long torso/short legs), carrying most of my weight in my butt, hips and thighs -- as such, my waist has always been a little bit smaller in proportion to the rest of me (curvy figure). But at some point along the way in recent years I went beyond the tipping point and started developing a significant gut as well (go me). Not good! So, it's real relief to be apparently reversing that trend...

Potatoes are baking in the microwave as I type this -- a breakfast of potatoes wrapped in WW Tortilla (only one or two left) awaits, then it's off to the Gym this morning.....

[SunshineDay]

Day 10 of the Challenge, and a Saturday at that. No particular plans for the day beyond general putzing around the house, and that's fine.

So it's only been a little over one week, but I will say I'm finding a lot easier to better stick to the plan this time around than it has in decades, and I think I know why. I had great success with the plan 20 years ago, when the weight just sort of melted off with practically little effort at all. Then I married, and in short order subsequently gained all kinds of poundage with my two pregnancies. Weight that never came off again, despite all my various attempts over the long years. The thing was, that first time around the McDougall carousel I was single and child-free. Obviously that gave me all kinds of Control in my life -- control over what I bought, ate, and brought into the house by way of food. But those middle years of childrearing and family raising were something else entirely! Soooooo much more challenging to stick to my resolve when trying to also meet the needs of a demanding family... Now that my two kiddos are older (one even out of the house away at school most of the year) once again I'm finding it considerably easier so far doing my own thing around here than I can remember it being in all this time. I guess thanks to the fact I'm not needed so much to focus anymore on the day-to-day meal planning, prep and cooking for the others (though that's not to say I don't miss the days of younger kids. I do! (sniff!)...).

in any case, yesterday's food update:

B: Potatoes/onion/ lettuce wrapped in WW Tortilla

S: Small glass of orange juice.

L: Potatoes/onion/lettuce/tomato wrapped in WW Tortilla (and the tortillas are history!). Plus a sweet potato.

S: Went a little cuckoo when fixing my daughter some canned indian food (Jyoti brand) and rice in the afternoon. I have a real weakness when it comes to Indian Food -- I mean I LOVE the stuff, canned, fresh, frozen or otherwise, and ended up indulging in several (big) bites of her Mattur Paneer....

S: Feeling munchy later in the afternoon, I made and ate 'Chocolate Oatmeal' with a few dried cherries and raisins and a touch of maple syrup...

D: Another baked potato.

[f1jim]

Great job and more importantly, you grasp the details of what is different and what is the same about McDougalling now vs then. A common observation we see here on the journal pages is that it was so much easier the first time and this time it's a struggle. Your observations are spot on and just one of the many sets of differences between the attempts at McDougalling. It's always the details that either promote our success or drive us to crash and burn. Once you have a handle on whats causing the struggle you can make the corrections to move forward. Almost always it's in the planning and preparing of the food. When we lose control over much of this it's nearly impossible to stay the course. Congratulations on having the insight to see your own life processes and the influence they have.
f1jim

[SunshineDay]

Thanks so much for the encouraging words, Jim -- I really do appreciate it! I do feel more in control now, and indeed, it does feel as though my perspective really is different -- for one thing, I can truly focus on myself this time around in a way that just wasn't doable back when I had young children (bless 'em ..)....

I am lucky in that my husband is vegetarian and together we raised a vegetarian family. We were even vegan (though not strictly McDougall) for a goodly decade or more -- until I could feel my kids beginning to get squirrelly with all the restrictions (not understanding why they were so different from their friends, and not happy that they couldn't taste the cake and ice cream at their buddie's birthday parties, etc etc). I started to sense potential mutiny amongst my ranks, and it finally dawned on me that if I wanted the kids to be even just Vegetarian (and not totally rebel, heh) things just HAD to become a bit more relaxed around here. It began with paying less attention to 'hidden ingredients' ("Don't ask, don't tell"), and eventually went on to actually allowing dairy cheese, yogurt and ice cream into the house (though I've always put my foot down on straight-up milk, and have never allowed eggs beyond as a 'hidden ingredient'. Not really consistent I know, but we all have to have our limits! ...). At first I resisted consuming these things myself, but, somewhere along the line, I made the gradual transition into just eating what the rest of the family was eating. So, flash forward to today, while it's perhaps not the BIGGEST stretch in the world for me to come back around to the vegan way of life (and 'McDougalling') it still is a bit of one, with a number of adjustments to be made....

.....Which brings me to...pizza (just speaking of adjustments to be made)....

My family has had the tradition of making pizza, from scratch, nearly every single weekend (unless we are out of town, or exceptionally busy) for I don't know how many years now. It's really an ingrained habit! It's a communal effort -- I start by making the crusts in the bread machine, DH and the kids helping to cut up the toppings (all veggie: onions, mushrooms, peppers, olives, veggies sausage), grating the cheese, spreading the sauce and toppings. I mean we have been doing this for years and years upon years (even with older kids now, and one even out of the nest). Well, tonight is officially family Pizza Night (my first since the Challenge)..., so, it's going to get a little interesting.....

On the food front for yesterday, 9/10 (it was a 'clean up the leftovers' kind of day):

Late Breakfast: Baked potato chopped and mixed up with some leftover canned chili beans. Finished the rest of the roasted broccoli.

Late Lunch: Finished the leftover cabbage/onion/potato 'Colcannon-y' mixture. More baked potato mixed with leftover chili beans (finishing THOSE up).

Late Snack: Finished up my daughter's leftover canned Indian Mattur Paneer (peas) and rice (accomplished in only a couple of bites, but not on plan).

A still later snack: 'Chocolate Oatmeal'.

By this time I really wasn't hungry for dinner, so, aside from a little grape juice after coming home from an evening event, was finished eating for the day....

Exercise: DH and I walked last evening to a local festival and back -- for a total of about 1.5 miles....

[f1jim]

Pizza is one of those "event" foods for my wife and I. We used to eat pizza from local places regularly. When we started McDougalling we did some figuring out of what we could and couldn't use. Very much like you we assemble the ingredients together and since each of us has somewhat different tastes we make two. Everything is easy to put together including the sauce, and we usually drag out the George Forman grill and grill veggies on it, adding them to the pizza. We add things like corn, onions, capers, the kitchen sink! We really don't miss the cheese and all the meats. Neither one of us have ever been keen on soy cheeses so we leave that off. It's become one of our favorite meals.
It's great you have such a cool tradition. I am sure lot's of memories are being made each weekend.
f1jim

[SunshineDay]

Thanks so much for the reply, Jim -- and indeed, what is it about Pizza? Something that makes it a loaded topic for sure, and in every sense of the word, heh . It does have that celebratory 'thing' to it for some reason (--as for making family memories, Pizza Night is one of the things my 18 year old son really looks forward to when he's home with us for visits ...). In any case i really do appreciate the helpful suggestions....

So, I've been thinking about how I'm going to handle the pizza making tonight. I've not mentioned to my DH or DD yet what I've been up to with this Challenge, just because it's not come up (not that they would take much notice anyway). We do usually make two pies for Pizza Night (my husband loves to pack the leftovers for lunch for the week), but I'm planning to just request for part of one of the pizzas to have the cheese left off, and that will be my portion. The crust will be white (unfortunately, since I am out of WW flour), but thin, and contain no oil -- and the red sauce (we just use a jarred pasta sauce) probably wont either. I'll be adding plenty of extra veggies (plus basil from my garden ...). So, I think this will be a reasonable compromise -- this way I can still eat with the family (we'll probably be watching a movie or some such) but without veering too far off-plan (and I'll make a point of stocking up on WW flour for future pizza nights)... Like everyone says, it's a Lifestyle, and i want to avoid that 'dieting mindset' -- which I KNOW from experience doesn't serve me well in the long run....

In other news, since today is to be a little warmer than it has been in several, I grabbed my trusty size 18 capris. Gosh, they zipped and buttoned with ease, and with room to spare in the waistband -- really comfy! Note these same pants were feeling pretty much akin to sausage casing when I tried them out on the first warm day late last spring -- so definite improvement!

[Chile]

Dang it, I have a meal plan for tonight but now, for some odd reason, I'm craving pizza! I've got the ww Kabuli crust in the freezer, Trader Joe's fatfree pizza sauce (or frozen tomatoes to make into sauce), basil in the garden, onion & eggplant & zucchini & bell peppers & hot peppers that could all be grilled, and there are even some capers in the fridge door. I'd be good and only put olives on my DH's half.

So...go with a third batch of zucchini chili, which I need to make in order to make the eggplant chana masala tomorrow, or just throw the plans out the window and have pizza?

Pizza, pizza, pizza! I can make the chili tomorrow, maybe even in the solar oven if the morning is clear.

Thanks, ya'll.

[f1jim]

I had the same problem when this pizza thread started. Now it's pizza for dinner for us too! It's like a contagious yawn around here! Sorry for hijacking your thread.
f1jim

[Marla]

Did someone say Pizza?? Mmmmm....

Friday night is usually pizza night around here (except when we don't feel like pizza; then it's pasta night). I make my crust in the bread machine too. Only takes an hour. Earlier this summer I started making the crust with all whole wheat flour (used to use half white) and without salt. We've adjusted

Do you all use a pizza stone to cook the pizza on? We think it results in the tenderest, crispiest crust. Just love it.

Hope you enjoy your pizzas, Sunshine, Jim, and Chile!

[f1jim]

Yes we each have a stone they cook on.
f1jim