Am I Skinny Yet? Friday Check In 3/18/16

I really hate having to post this check in but to me this blog is about accountability so I have to.

Yep, as of this morning I have gained back the 5 pounds I lost a couple of check ins ago.  I'm trying to not stress about it because of two reasons I know that the scale just does not understand.  First, I have been exercising quite hard this past week.   Not run a marathon hard but for me, I have stepped it up a bit and my muscles are tired and holding water.  I think this because yesterday I weighed 2 less pounds than today.  I really worked hard on the elliptical yesterday and drank a lot of water.  Secondly, my clothes seem to fit better.  Losing inches is better than losing weight right?  I know, me too, I'd rather lose weight.  How crazy is that?

Here's a few stats for the number nerd in me.

Exercise:

150 push ups

150 sit ups

5740 average steps - a mixture of elliptical and outside walks.  This number is pretty much made up...I cannot get my Vivofit to sync but I know I've averaged over 5000 steps everyday and some days were in the 7000's.

Diet:

I did not really track my diet very well but I will say that I ate too much pizza.  Did I really say that? I made pizza early on in the week and some how my husband missed out on it and requested I make it again.  I was more than happy to do so.  So lots of pizza and a bag of Ruffles did not help the weigh in at all.

Diet:

Since completing my gallbladder cleanse I have been struggling in staying faithful to my diet plan.  Trim Healthy Mama apparently is still on vacation and 5:2 Fasting is in the principals office.  Seriously, I get so grumpy toward my family on my fasting days that I cannot even stand me.  The past few days I've been on the Fast Five.  Basically I only eat in a five hour window.  It keeps the grumpies away but not sure it's helping the weight loss department.  I will give it another week, hopefully with more control, and rethink it.

Am I Skinny Yet? Nope! Friday Check In 3-4-16

I actually am skipping this check in and I am bummed about it because the diet experiment was going so well.  Thanks gallbladder.

I have a sluggish gallbladder that requires some maintenance a few time a year.  After doing a lot of research, I decided to try and keep it for as long as I can, even though it can be a pain.  I have blogged about it in the past, so if you are curious about how I do this click here. You really may want to read it if you have any of these symptoms.

It does impact my dieting and fasting for this next week.  I am chugging apple juice like there is no tomorrow to help soften the stones before I evict them.  I drink well over 500 calories a day in juice alone so fasting is not going to be effective and I am eating a low fat diet (bye bye pizza) and I'm constantly hungry.  I cannot wait to have this over.

I'm planning to do the cleansing fast on Monday which means Tuesday will be spent expelling the stones and life gets to resume on Wednesday.  I will let you know next Friday just what the damage was.  The good news is that the bloating and weight gain usually goes away pretty quickly.

Monday, Monday Let's Fast

More than following some Trim Health Mama principles, I'm hoping to lose weight by incorporating intermittent fasting, namely 5:2.

A couple years ago we watched a documentary on PBS about fasting and how beneficial it can be to your health and aid in weight loss.  I did lose weight on it and felt amazing.  My blood pressure decreased and inflammation as well.  So why did I quit?

Like most diets I became unbalanced.  I would think, if two days are so great, three days would be better and that morphed into JUDDD (up day, down day or alternate date fasting). I soon became hungry and grumpy and always cold.  I was sick of myself and alienating my family so I decided to change the Fast Five diet.  On Fast Five, you open up a 5 hour eating window each day.  I was happier but it stalled my weight loss so I stopped fasting altogether.

I'm hoping to transition two fast days back into my diet.  Today I am fasting and will do my next day on Thursday.  The proper way to fast is to eat dinner the night before, fast the following day by limiting calories to 500, go to sleep and wake up and eat a normal day. My normal day will be kept under 2000 calories.  This puts you in a calorie deficit, gives your body an opportunity to burn stored fat, and a chance to heal.  The deficit alone should put me on track to lose 1.5 pounds a week.  Couple that with separating the fuels via THM (Trim Healthy Mama), my goal is to lose 2 pounds a week.

My typical day of fasting looks something like this.

Mornings:  Coffee and a THM sipper 
Afternoon:  More sippers and plain water
Dinner:  I probably have used 100 calories by now, so I need to eat around 300 calories. I like to have soup or a low carb wrap with a wedge of Laughing Cow Cheese and a slice of turkey.
Before Bed:  Usually a hot tea or likely a hot cocoa.  Lately I am loving a hot strawberry drink which consists of unsweetened cashew milk, 2 strawberries, coconut oil and sweetener, all blended up and heated.  Sounds weird, but it's delicious.

I still have a few more finishing touches on my diet plan that I will write about soon.