7 days ago I weighed 155 pounds.
Today I weigh 152 pounds.
I will continue to give updates on my diet every Saturday until the end of NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month). I hope to lose 20 pounds in total. I realize it’s not much. I also realize I am not obese. I could refer to myself as a “healthy-sized” woman, call myself “curvy”. But no matter how I spin it, according to the Body Mass Index (BMI), I am overweight. (It’s kind of shocking how easy it is to slip into the obese range as well.)
BMI Categories:
Underweight = >18.5
Normal weight = 18.5-24.9
Overweight = 25-29.9 (Here is where I am)
Obesity = BMI of 30 or greater
I’ve been writing everything down. I keep a list of the foods I eat in a Numbers spreadsheet. (Apple’s replacement for Excel.) I keep a fairly decent idea of the calories I consume as well. It’s been quite the learning experience. For example, I had no idea how hard it is to buy something without high fructose corn syrup!
I know the information below is probably pretty damn boring to most people, but who knows. Maybe someone will find some of it helpful.
(Organic items are marked as such.)
For breakfast I’ve been eating turkey bacon and eggs or cottage cheese and a South Beach Diet high protein cereal bar. I dig the peanut butter ones. Generally speaking, I try and avoid sugar substitutes especially while breastfeeding. The high protein South Beach bars are sweetened with sugar alcohol. I’m not entirely sure what that means, but it’s tasty and doesn’t leave an aftertaste like Splenda, NutraSweet, etc. TobyJoe has made me a couple of breakfast omelets as well.
I snack on nuts during the day, olives as well. My goal has been to avoid hunger, so spend a lot of time snacking. Glenny’s Soy Crisps are an awesome substitute for potato chips. I really love the barbecue flavored. Creamy Ranch is good as well. Glenny’s Soy Crisps are a mere 140 calories per bag. I also snack on string cheese and Babybel. I’ve also treated myself to a couple of dark chocolate covered almonds. (And when I say “a couple” I really mean two.) I’ve also had a couple of pears.
For lunch, I dig into the leftovers from the night before. TobyJoe cooked a couple of Indian dishes. He made a masala chicken dish with peas. I had chicken hot dogs twice. We usually get Applegate Farms especially if our local organic meat guy doesn’t have any on Saturday at the McCarren Park Farmer’s Market. I skipped the catsup (not hard for me) and added mustard or Hain Safflower Mayonnaise.
For dinner this week we made a lot of chicken. All of our meals included a vegetable. There was usually a salad involved. One night we made barbecued seitan, another night some tempeh. I had a veggie burger (Boca) on Thursday. Tonight we’re making chili. (If anyone cares to know more about what we’ve eaten for dinner, feel free to shoot me an email and let me know. I don’t want to drone on and on about it.)
I have had a few glasses of red wine as well. The hardest part was parting with the glass of Guinness I got so accustomed to having. It’s great for milk production, but it’s also great at giving me a belly. I’ve also had some difficulty giving up milk chocolate, an item I have craved incessantly since Emory was born.
Sadly, I haven’t done a lick of exercise this week except for lifting a chubby baby. That needs to change. I must get out and run again.
Updates on my weight loss will take place every Saturday in a section called Saturday Stats until I reach my goal.
Part of NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month), where one writes every day for the month of November, which is easier said than done.
Well done Mihow! You are very brave to post your stats here. I’ve been SB-ing for a month now and have lost almost 14 lbs so far, without much exercise either. It’s amazing how fast the weight comes off when you cut out sugar and refined carbs.
CONGRATS!!
I lost 5.2 pounds last week. This week, I’m not sure yet. I weign in Monday morning.
Congrats! Just started reading your blog, very nice writing.
try http://www.thedailyplate.com it’s free and may work better than your spreadsheet
I’m way higher than you in weight and I have lost 18 pounds since Sept 20
i’m convinced that breastfeeding helped me lose weight after owen was born. i bet it will help with your weight-loss as well.
Might I make a suggestion in the exercise department? You should check out “Walk away the pounds” by Leslie Sansone. It’s a series of “in-home walking” videos. They are not boring or tedious like most home work out videos, and they are surprisingly easy, but still yield wonderful results! And you can do it right in your living room and you never have to leave Emory’s side. My 4 year old does the videos with me (they are THAT easy), and he loves it, it’s fun. They are just wonderful. You can find them on half.com and ebay for dirt cheap or you can buy them right from the website here:
http://www.lesliesansone.com/
Also, like the poster before me mentioned, breastfeeding will definitely help you to lose weight faster and more efficiently than normal. So use this time to your advantage. Good luck!
Its actually very hard to slip into the overweight and obese BMI categories – you have to be really bad to do that… or have a pregnancy factor in ( your body is still recovering and you’re holding onto more water and fats for milk production ).
While I think the best way to lose weight is a 2-3 month low-fat vegan diet like the McDougall plan ( you will drop every ounce of fat if you stick to it)… I’l offer these learnings I’ve had over the years:
– its easy to cut out high fructose corn syrup: stop eating processed foods
Congratulations Mihow! I think one of the most interesting things about diets is realizing what a lot of our foods are really made of. Keep it up – your homecooking is sure to help!
Congrats on the weight loss!! I linked over from Dooce.com to the first post, you gains and losses totally mirror mine! I even started dieting on Nov.1st again because of an Iphone photo!! I lost 3lbs in the first week too!!
Im a little freaked out!
Keep up the good work and don’t be discouraged!
Congrats! 3 pounds is damn good for one week. When I weighed myself this morning I was only down 2oz. from last week, but I pretty much blew the weekend. Sounds like you’re doing good though – not letting yourself get hungry is key, and having healthy stuff to snack on is even better. Apples and carrot sticks are my snacks.
Keep it up – you can do it!
I believe sugar alcohols and Splenda are the same thing, unfortunately. Booo. You know what might be better for you? Kashi granola bars. They have a peanut butter version which is delicious and you’ll feel good knowing you’re not putting anything chemical or too sugary in your body. They’re good carbs. Your kidneys will thank you.
having lost 40 pounds a couple years ago, I know just how you feel. also, fyi, guiness has fewer calories than wine. a pint per glass i mean. seriously. it is just that awesome.