Catching up--get used to it!

Yeah, well, maybe it would have been fair to warn you that I'm a flighty blog-keeper.  Sometimes I feel like posting a lot.  More often I start doing other things and then remember this exists.

In any case, it was way more important to spend a lot of time with my daughter before she went away to college and once we got back from dropping her off I had to attend to all the other things I put off while we were getting ready.

It was my goal to go pretty low-carb for about a month and I made it just about through August.  But I had every intention of being very liberal with carbs when I got close to Katie leaving.  I wanted to make a lot of her homemade favs and hit a few restaurants we like and then, during drop off, I knew we would have to be eating some school and restaurant food.

When I'm on a food program, I try to make better and conscious food choices.  On a menu, I try to make the best selection I can from the choices I have.  If I think I'll be indulging, I try to pick my times and keep to the plan for the rest of the day.

This has worked out pretty well.  I kept asking myself "is this what I want to spend my carbs on?"  The answer has been yes for cookies and tarts at a reception; tuna casserole; fruit; a doughnut from the Apple House; real NY style pizza; papdum and maybe the sauces at an Indian restaurant; packaged peanut butter and some things I've forgotten but you get the idea.  Not worth it to me were rice; bread; crap pizza; ice cream; chocolate milk; candy and a bunch of other carby things.

Lots of cheat days! I even skipped a couple of workouts!  Still, the bloating has remained at bay, I enjoyed many good times with my family and I even lost a few more pounds (about 5lbs total now).

In other news, I made two kinds of Cloud Bread.  The original recipe was good but then I found one for a loaf of cloud bread and I tried that one. Both were pretty good.  Have to say I like them better right out of the oven, they seem to taste eggier once refrigerated.  But everyone here liked them overall and I was nice to bite into something bready for a change. Not hard to make, but I do need my mixer which means hauling out the ten-ton Kitchen Aid. I'll make it every now and then. It sure is pretty out of the oven.

Carb count, breakfast, workouts and sweating. Food Diary 8/16

Hey--so here's this installment I drafted about three weeks ago and never got around to  posting:



I hadn't been adding up my daily carb count, but decided to get a rough idea today.
WOW-that yogurt has a lot of carbs and relative to other fruits, blueberries are toward the high end.  I thought that meant I'd have to find another alternative.  It can't be eggs.  They make me sick if I have too many.  I hate eating veg for breakfast. Lox is great but very expensive. :-P

But I started adding up the whole day and I'm still coming in way under 100g. If I'm going to spend my carbs, I'm happy to do it in the morning with I breakfast I like.

As far as the effect on my workouts (running), I'm finding I'm sweating a lot more and keeping my pace up might be harder, but can't tell because some days I'm on the treadmill and some days on the street. Reading up on the sweating I found that it's pretty common and way worse for some people.  I'm only noticing it if I exert myself others are sweating all day at first.  Now--I also get fun fun hot flashes, but I can tell the difference but hard to explain how.

Breakfast
Yogurt with blueberries and pecans

Lunch
Egg Salad:
and a few mini peperonis while I waited for the eggs to boil.  Love those peperonis and the label says 0 carbs, go figure.
(note to self, boil eggs to have on hand!)

Routine

I used to think I should be this spontaneous, go with the flow person.  Should is such a damaging word, right?  The fact is, I thrive on routine.  If I don't have a foundation of routine, then I can't break it! For me, the dull, dreary day to day stuff of getting through life gets done faster, easier and more reliable with routine.  I'm still not great at it, but when it sticks, I am able to keep up with keeping up and then have more time to do the fun stuff.


Here's my current routine:
Mornings--Can vary, but I usually get these basics done: See Pete off to work and handle the dog.  Do all the bathroom stuff then, check email etc, have breakfast, get dressed and get the bed made.  When I'm really organized I get the whole bedroom/bathroom cleaned up, but that's hit or miss.

I did that program where you kept the sink clean all the time--Fly Lady was it?  Didn't stick with it, but took the advice to get everything I had to do upstairs done before coming downstairs and when I can do that it works really well.

Mondays--30 minute run
Wednesdays--over to the gym to lift, mostly do upper body because I find it incredibly boring and figure the running takes care of my legs.
Fridays--30 minute run

I usually cover just under 3 miles in my runs, but it varies depending on whether I run outdoors, the weather and how I'm feeling that day.

I sometimes skip it, but have been able to maintain this schedule for a few years.  I used to run three days a week but I gained a lot of weight and heard tell I could be stressing my system.  Moved to two days and leveled off nicely. Not trying to prove anything to anyone or even be especially fit, just want to keep moving so I can move to do the things I want to.

Food yesterday and today so far:

No/low carb was easier yesterday

Breakfast--plain yogurt with pecans and peaches
Lunch--canned salmon with cream cheese and mayo mixed in.
Snack--carrots with guac and some almonds
Dinner--sausage with green beans.  The kids had rice with this that I skipped.

Felt peckish around 8pm and decided to ignore that.  Drank a lot of water.

Today
Breakfast--3 eggs scrambled with some milk mixed in. Water.
Heading out to meet a friend for coffee.  Will be tempted to get a cookie.  Have to find a nice alternative.

Have a great day!