Weight and Food Tracking
On the morning of August 15, my weight was 178.0. That was up a little more than 8 pounds from my lowest weight of 169.8. You see my food logs from that time - no, I wasn't doing anything that should have caused weight gain. I attribute it to hormones.
This morning, I was 176.7. This whole time, I've been between 176.0 and 178.0. So, the weight is holding steady, which is all I'm aiming for at this point (I need to write a separate post about the purgatory between loss phase and maintenance phase.) But anyway, no cause for alarm w/r/t the scale.
Apparently (at least right now when my routine and habits are relatively stable), I don't need to count every macronutrient every day in order to maintain my weight. As long as I keep track of what I'm eating and make sure the protein is high, the carbs are low, and the fat is reasonable, I can maintain my weight loss.
I'm going to try tracking every bite, but without all the nutritional analysis. This is basically what I did at the beginning of this blog; then I slowly started tracking other things. A few weeks after surgery, I realized my proteins were too low, so I started tracking calories and protein. It wasn't until October 21, 2009, over six months after surgery, that I started tracking carbs. On December 1, 2009, shortly after a particularly horrible gall bladder attack (I'm assuming that's what it was, since I never bothered to get the scan), I started tracking fat. I said I was only going to do it for the "next few weeks," but I wound up tracking fat for the next 9+ months.
I guess it all comes full circle. At least for right now, I'm not going to track macronutrients. I'm not worried about getting enough protein, as I continue to have 2-4 protein supplements a day in addition to eating high-protein, and relatively low-carb meals. BUT - if I notice repercussions on the scale, or if I start allowing more bad habits to creep in because of this change, I'll go back to a more detailed form of tracking.
Yoga
I hurt my wrist trying to do crane pose at Greenville Yoga (formerly known as North Main Yoga) on Saturday:
Yeah, mine didn't look like that so much.
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I'm slowly preparing myself to say goodbye to my beloved City Yoga. I took my last Sunday morning class with the founder of the studio this past Sunday. The yogis and yoginis of City Yoga have apparently taught me well: When I was visiting Greenville Yoga this weekend, the teacher could tell from my practice that I normally study an alignment-focused style of yoga (Iyengar and Anusara are generally very alignment-focused.) It was awesome to feel like my asana practice is reflecting what I've learned from my teachers. I am thankful to the teachers at City Yoga, particularly Annie, Stacey, and Dara, for helping me build the foundations of my yoga practice.
Food
I broke my blender after just a few months of protein frosties. I went out immediately that day and bought a new one, the same make and model as the old one. Perhaps I should have gotten something sturdier and more expensive, but I've grown attached to this specific type of blender.
My biggest struggle over the past couple of weeks of not tracking has been - you guessed it - avoiding compulsive eating. This challenge has been exacerbated by the fact that I've been going to bed later than usual, sometimes even 2 AM on a weeknight (which has impacted my cardio exercise schedule.) I have eaten some things that people consider "bad" - I did a cupcake sampling with full sugar cupcakes from a local bakery, never eating all of any cupcake, but tasting 13 of them. I ate some sugar-free chocolates, chocolate Goldfish crackers, plantain chips, even a few pretzel M&Ms. With the exception of the Goldfish crackers, I was successfully able to eat a few bites and toss the rest. I'm less worried about my forays with sugar/carbs than I am about my ongoing propensity to overeat. For example, yesterday, I gorged myself with raw cashews. I also had a few plantain chips, less than 1/3 of a bag. I am not worried about the plantain chips, but my inability to stop eating past the point of fullness is frightening. I will continue to work on this, as I surely will be for the rest of my life.
Anyway, I've made some pretty awesome WLS-friendly dinners over the past couple of weeks. Here are some of the goodies I've been enjoying:
Food
I broke my blender after just a few months of protein frosties. I went out immediately that day and bought a new one, the same make and model as the old one. Perhaps I should have gotten something sturdier and more expensive, but I've grown attached to this specific type of blender.
My biggest struggle over the past couple of weeks of not tracking has been - you guessed it - avoiding compulsive eating. This challenge has been exacerbated by the fact that I've been going to bed later than usual, sometimes even 2 AM on a weeknight (which has impacted my cardio exercise schedule.) I have eaten some things that people consider "bad" - I did a cupcake sampling with full sugar cupcakes from a local bakery, never eating all of any cupcake, but tasting 13 of them. I ate some sugar-free chocolates, chocolate Goldfish crackers, plantain chips, even a few pretzel M&Ms. With the exception of the Goldfish crackers, I was successfully able to eat a few bites and toss the rest. I'm less worried about my forays with sugar/carbs than I am about my ongoing propensity to overeat. For example, yesterday, I gorged myself with raw cashews. I also had a few plantain chips, less than 1/3 of a bag. I am not worried about the plantain chips, but my inability to stop eating past the point of fullness is frightening. I will continue to work on this, as I surely will be for the rest of my life.
Anyway, I've made some pretty awesome WLS-friendly dinners over the past couple of weeks. Here are some of the goodies I've been enjoying:
Support Group
Last Tuesday, August 24 was my last WLS support group meeting in this town. The group gave me an angel pin as a going away gift/good luck token. They typically give them to people at their last meeting before surgery, but because I didn't have surgery here, I didn't have one. It was so sweet of the group leader to make sure I got an angel emblem as I head off on my new journey; it really made me feel a full part of the group. I will miss these folks.
There is a group at GW Hospital in DC that meets with about the same regularity, so I hope to build a nice community there.
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