Kill 'em with Consistency

The phrase is "Kill them with Kindness". But after the last few weeks I've had I am changing it/or adding to it "Kill them with Consistency". I was so excited because I had finally seen a drop in weight (3.5 lb.) for the first time since December. But the next week came and exactly 3.5 lb. were back. I was ticked. So the following week I didn't do anything special. In fact I exercised only one day and not very hard, and I felt like I had overeaten all week. I got on the scale feeling like I probably had gained 3-5 more pounds. And to tell the truth, my mental state felt like it was in the same state as it had been in many times before, when you feel the frustration of doing a lot of things and not getting any results and then giving up and doing what ever you want and not wanting to be held accountable for no exercise or eating a lot of junk. So I had kind of done that sort of "I don't care anymore" attitude, although of course, still within in my no sugar realm. So what I mean is too many late night Taco Time runs, a lot of popcorn with butter, too many cliff bars etc. Anyways, the next week I get on the scale (again thinking I had gained 3-5 pounds) and to my surprise I had lost 2.5 again. So what do I take away from all of this besides going insane?
#1 Life is Frustrating. It is for everyone, I am not immune.
#2 When I don't eat sugar or corn syrup, my binges are usually things with a lot of fiber and it is really hard to over eat because every thing is real food and it is filling. It is really easy to NOT OVER indulge, just because you are full. This is a BIG TIP for me to learn.
#3 My weight gain is small. I am used to big weight gains of 10-30 lbs. What I have been documenting is nothing in comparison. 1-3 pounds gained and lost each week is nothing compared to what I have had in the past. It is somewhat of a relief too that I am not on that roller coster.

So when I say "Kill em with Consistency", it's that balance over time that I have gained through my new eating habits. I have felt better (balanced) for the last 21 weeks. It's such a way of life for me now. I'm not counting all the things I pass up anymore. I eat when I am hungry. I stop when I am full. My weight loss has not been a lot, but again that was not my main reason for doing this, but rather a side event. Also, this week I am working on the consistency of my exercise which will be an interesting observation once I can coordinate these two once again.

I am still a smelling "fool", and I do mean "Fool". I love to smell things, but I have to really watch myself as I am turning into a weirdo. I have to remember to just keep that inside the walls of my own home. :) I really enjoy the aroma of something yummy.

This last week I read an article on MSN home page. It was talking about how breast cancer can be related to our poor exercise and eating habits. It doesn't discount the cancer being past down through the genes. It said that that has always been there through the ages of time. What they have seen through all these years, which is causing the number of breast cancer patients to incline, is a difference in the eating habits and exercise habits in women. Women are more sedentary now and the diet is filled with sugar and fat. When you weigh more you are at higher risk for breast cancer. They believe that the number of genes being past down is the same but the diet and exercise is worse and that is what is causing the number of breast cancer patients to go up. It was a very interesting article and if I can find it again, I will post it here.
Good health is all encompassing. It is worth it to be healthy. It affects every thing we do and our purpose of being here on this earth. I am glad that I am on a good path. I am going to just keep putting one foot in front of the other. It's the consistency of one year that I needed when I started this thing. I'll try to add a little Kindness too.

It takes a trip to Mexico...

Hola! The past two weeks have been very interesting. Last Tuesday, I returned from Cancun, Mexico. We had a fabulous trip full of exciting adventures. I ate lots and lots of fruit and vegetables. We had a wonderful time. My husband enjoyed any smoothie or virgin pina colada, or ice cream he could get his hands on. I drank a lot of bottled water and then had a lot of diet coke at lunch time. I can't drink it after 3:00 or I will be up at 3:00am. I am not a big fan of diet anything, but when you have nothing else, it started to taste good. So good that one day after I got home, I had to make a conscience decision that I absolutely do not want to trade a really bad habit (sugar) for another really bad habit (caffeinated pop). So I enjoyed one more (They had a diet Dr. Pepper at the Dairy Queen far away from my house), and have made the decision every day to NOT have one. That stuff is addicting and I am an addictive person, so I have to say no. BUT, what I did find was a new way to drink herbal tea and I absolutely love it. A lot of Mexican food is prepared with limes. I love it on every thing. One night they brought us some herbal tea. It was orange spice with a wedge of lime and some honey. Oooooh. The combination of the cinnamon, lime and honey was heaven. I had it every night after that as my little treat. I came home and bought a big bag of limes at Costco and I make my lime herbal tea every night. Delightful. Also, I make freshly squeezed orange juice for breakfast every day. One day I did my regular 2-3 oranges and then I sliced a lime and juiced half of it with my orange juice. Wowza! That is an awesome drink. The lime adds a little kick to it and it is fantastic. -I also ate a lot of papaya. I love this fruit and haven't had any that good since I was a missionary in Brazil 19 years ago. I ate it and other fruits for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I also ate a lot of vegetables. Everything there was fresh and I relished in the fact that I didn't have to prepare or clean it up. It was heaven. It was so nice to have a change of pace, a variety of foods, and an adventure of new activities. We got lots of sleep, rest and relaxation. Just what I needed.

Coming home, my weigh in date was one day late. I weighed in on Tuesday instead of Monday. I was down .3 . Somewhat depressing as I had such a wonderful vacation and had better expectations. I do think I was retaining water because of the flight however.
Today, Monday, is my next weigh in and to my joy and surprise, I am down 3.5 from last week. My total is now 17.1. I have been on a plateau since December, so I have felt good about the loss and feel renewed to get my exercise going again in hopes of continuing the loss.

The sugar/corn syrup is not even a temptation any more. It is so weird because I have many other things to worry about, I am glad this is not included in that anymore. This is a blessing and exactly what I was hoping for when I started this whole thing.

This week was my daughter's birthday. I made cupcakes for her school class, and cake and ice cream for our family. I also went to a bridal shower where they served the most beautiful looking cupcakes -chocolate, angel food cake, and strawberry. I didn't try one, but was tempted because they were so pretty. My friend had half of one and couldn't finish the rest. She said they looked prettier than they tasted. I believed her and was disappointed even though I wasn't eating it. Isn't that funny? In my former life of eating treats, I would have eaten the whole thing, taking home extras, trying every flavor, even admitting that it wasn't that good. What is up with that? See why I am trying to change? It doesn't make sense sometimes. For me it is a mental game that I'm not playing anymore. However, I really do like to smell the things I am not eating. Does that make me a weirdo? When we were in Mexico, Scott got so used to me asking to smell that he would shove it into my nose before taking a bite. We always got a good laugh at that.
Well, to summarize, I think it is always good to try different things, to shake up our normal routine a bit. I think that is what has helped me get through that plateau. Variety is good for the body and mind. It took me a trip to Mexico, but I feel ready to face everything again, to try a little harder, exercise a little more, try a little more variety in my diet.
My vacation did it's job!