Everything fits!

Well, almost.  I had been in the terrible habit of buying things that I hoped I would fit into some day, back in the days when I was working and could afford thrift store and garage store prices.  These were hopeful, sizes 10 – 14, as opposed to the 16+ I was wearing.  As I came into the size 14s, I realized what a bad idea buying clothes I couldn’t try on really was.  Half of these fit funny, and I stopped buying clothes altogether.  For about the last 6 months, I’ve just been wearing what I grow (shrink?) into.  Everything I’ve ever bought now fits, though some will need a few less pounds on me to be comfortable.  Most I don’t like, and even at thrift store/garage sale prices, it’s a lot of money wasted, not to mention taking up valuable room, and moving houses once or twice or more.   I’m glad I have so many clothes left at this size, I must have spent a few years here in the past.  If I lose more than another 5 pounds, these will start to be baggy, and I’ll have to consider clothes shopping, which is still traumatizing to me, even though I’m very easy to fit now.  My Halloween costume is a size M, little disco roller blade outfit thingie, a bit risque.  I’ll wear tights under it, so I don’t flash my ass to the world, and don’t freeze, as I’ll be on bicycle.  I am thrilled that it fits, I had my fingers crossed, though I’ll put it int the category of better with 5 less pounds.  My gym clothes are getting baggy, after 45 pounds I’m surprised it took so long.  Maybe garage sales and flea markets are right for me right now, though I still can’t try things on.  At least if something is $1-$2, not $8 (or $80), I don’t mind so much.  I think clothes shopping will always cause mild terror in me, likely due to how my mom always used that opportunity to humiliate me about weight, but I’m just going to let that go by.

I’m in a funk, not quite like other depressions from my past, but just unmotivated, indifferent, bored.  I can’t get myself to put any energy into looking for work, and haven’t been able to find out what’s going on with my unemployment.  My social life is improving slightly.  I’m exercising a lot, but am dissatisfied with the classes here, so it’s not giving me the endorphins or whatever it is I’m really seeking (the truth comes out!) .  The bridge to the city is broken and it’s too tough to get there to do better, not to mention that it’s expensive.  I’m going to try a Latin Dance class this morning, I’d prefer Zumba and Body Sculpt this afternoon, but I think I have company coming for a day or two.  “Nice to see you, friend from CT, I’m off to the gym, see you in a few hours!  There’s the fridge, if you’re hungry!”   Not that I’m not tempted, but I try to avoid being like that.   Maybe I’ll just go for a local hike, instead, try to think some shit through.

I went for a short hike with two friends Tuesday.  J mentioned and was happy for a friend who lost 80 pounds “the old fashioned way”.  Then she asked how much I’ve lost, as I’m doing that too.  I’ve been 60 pounds heavier, though that was long ago (probably when I first met her).   About the same size of the other woman with us, more or less.  We were talking about the insanity of the diet industry, and crappy food and obsession.  I mentioned that I used to be obsessed and self-righteous about it, and J reminded me that I had not liked her decision to do weight loss surgery.  I didn’t remember that until she mentioned it, but I apologized, said I’ve grown up a lot since then, and am not so judgmental anymore.  I should probably explain myself to her more when I get a chance.  Some people are just genetically fucked.   These two women are much more comfortable with the weight they are (or were) then I have ever been, or likely will be,  at any weight.  I feel like such damaged goods, I feel like I’ve spent my life obsessing about my weight, and now that my weight is almost “normal”, I need to back off, psychologically speaking.  I’ll still have to exercise a bunch and not overeat, but that doesn’t need my full attention, just the effort to continue, and the scale to keep me on track.

I need a focus in life besides my weight.  I’m thinking of turning my cable off, no tv means I’ll likely leave the house more, isolate less, which would be a great start.  I still need to get interested in something, but I have to find that, and I won’t find that in my tiny apt.

Food!

I like to eat food, though I’m picky as hell, and I’ve got some strange eating habits.  I’ve been adjusing them as I lose my extra weight, and they’re more or less working for me, or I tweak more.  I’m eating less fake meat, more real meat.  I’ve been semi-veg most of my life, but I find these days (because I exercise a lot?), if I don’t proactively eat a bit of red meat occasionally, I’ll crave burgers.  I do eat a burger maybe once a month, maybe 1/3 of the time with fries, usually with salad.  I’m eating more fat, less processed carbs.   This means full fat cottage cheese, yogurt, mozzerella, but skip the pretzels, crackers, bread.  I use butter, but not in copious amounts.  I probably eat more cheese than I should, but I don’t like meat, and don’t usually care for vegan.  I also burn through my food quickly, so if I don’t eat moderate fat at least, I have to eat more often, which is more effort, work, thought, etc.

I eat a few slices of bread/week.  PB&J on regular ww bread if I go hiking, not often these days, due to rain and price of gas.  One of my favorite breakfasts is an omelette.  I sautee shiitakes, add spinach or bok choy or micro-greeens, one slice of chopped bacon, a handful of cheese, an egg, all on a slice of 12 grain toast.  Very high fiber meal, and though it sounds heavy, consider that I used to go out 2-3 times a week for bacon/eggs, which was usually 2 eggs, 2-4 bacon, home fries, two slice of whole wheat colored toast with that butter flavored liquid that they drip on that, whatever it is (trans-fat?).  No fiber or veggies, and 2-3 times the food.   An easier and more common breakfast is home-made wild lox, chive and cream cheese schmear, spread on two ww mini-bagels, from TJs, with sprouts of micro-greens on top.  Just today I changed to cream cheese from neufchatel, because the low-fat has me hungry again in three hours (I’m lazy and don’t want to have to think about what to eat all the time).  Other things that I eat are dry cereal (used to use chocolate soy milk, but now I eat it dry and crunchy like potato chips), fake bacon (going to drop this when supplies run out-maybe), and my new meal, a dollop of greek yogurt with a mini-banana, a few strawberries, and blueberriesif I have them, and triticale flakes.  Unlike Dannon or Yoplait, this is not pre-sweetened yogurt, thus all the fruit to make it edible.  Those strange grain flakes are also not sweetened, though they look like granola, they taste bland.  I also just switched from sugar in my coffee to Splenda, though I think I’m going to switch back, it seems to make me anxious when my stomach is empty.  Or else I could just eat some food with coffee, as opposed to an hour or two later, as I’ve been doing.

Lunch and dinner are interchangeable, depending on what I’m doing.   If I’m eating a big meal, I try to make it at lunch, and then I can just eat salad for dinner, maybe with an ear of corn or sweet potato (this is decided by hunger levels, not calorie counting).  Occasionally I’ll eat a hot dog w/onions on a sprouted whole grain bun, or a veggie burger w/onions and potato chips on a whole wheat bun.  I go out and buy the smallest bag of chips I can find, which used to be 1 serving but is now 2.5.  I put as many as will fit on the burger, and inhale the rest.  (Potato chips are the only thing I think of when people discuss trigger foods)  I eat a veggie burrito once a week (used to be a lot more often when I lived in SF), and that will keep me full for at least 8 hours, easy and cheap.  I don’t mind this at all, my blood sugar is stable (exercise?)  and if I liked being that stuffed, I would eat huge meals more often.  Whole wheat tortilla, brown rice, cheese,whole beans, piles of salsa-not so bad, just big.  I make pizza sauce from tomato paste and garlic and herbs, and put it on whole wheat pitas, with broccoli and roasted peppers and onions and mushrooms and pepperoni.  I shred hot pepper jack cheese and mozzerella once every month or two and store it in the freezer, use it for this and the omelettes.  I always have this in the house, but if I want cheese to munch, there is none.  The bacon I also make 6-8 pieces at once, store in the freezer, take out one slice at a time.  Cooking and the single woman, gotta make shortcuts, ya know?

I also try to keep leftovers.  Tomorrow I make macaroni casserole, and I’ve already sauteed maitake mushrooms, roasted zucchini, eggplant, sweet red chilis.  Tomorrow I’ll add a can of tomato paste and a large can of crushed tomatoes, maybe some mirin, herbs, make some sauce.  I’ll add some cheese mix, also ricotta, and mix it with whole wheat macaroni.  It seems most people try to cut pasta out of their lives, and I could see the potential problem with overeating this dish, except for the whole wheat macaroni, which will ensure that I don’t.  Also to be made later this week is cauliflower soup, which I have some purple cauliflower, purple potatoes, and I’ll add yogurt and herbs and chicken broth and wild rice and whatever else makes it taste okay.    Sugar?

I add sugar to a lot of my food, but I still think I eat less of it than anybody who eats processed food a lot.  A lot of food that I eat elsewhere is very sweet to me.  I rarely drink soda, usually just ginger ale on an airplane, maybe another time or two per year.  I don’t often eat cake, though on rare occasion I’ll split a slice of chocolate cake, or eat one or those mini-cupcakes.  I always have dark chocolate almonds in the house, and they often go rancid, even stored in fridge, because I forget them.  I eat a LOT of fruit, and lots of veggies, sometimes as salad, sometimes as crudites if I’m feeling lazy.  I make dressing from mustard, olive oil, hempseed oil, balsamic and white wine vinegar.  I steam kale or collards a few times/week, sprinkle with lemon juice.  I was mixing these greens, or broccoli, with some spicy tofu skin from my farmers market, but last time I bought it, it was nasty, so I’m taking a break.  Sometimes I make fish, stir-fry, curries, random other stuff.

I think most of my current eating habits are compromises from what I used to eat to what I have decided is healthy and what I need to do to lose/maintain my weight loss.  If I try to eat too healthy, I won’t like it, and will toss it and eat something much worse.  If I don’t put the bacon and cheese in my egg, I won’t stand the veggies and whole grain bread.   If I don’t put the pepperoni on my pizza, I won’t tolerate the veggies.  If I don’t put sugar in my pizza sauce/pasta sauce/soup, and it’s bitter, I won’t eat it, thus missing out on all those veggies.

I don’t have a perfect diet, but I consider it far better than the frozen fried chicken, canned soup, grilled cheese, and mozz/tomato sauce on an english muffin that I ate growing up.  I never ate with the family, as they always discussed my sister’s athletics, and I hated meat, which is what they usually ate.  No garlic, onion, spices, beans, fish, full-fat dairy in my childhood home.   We did eat produce, at least.  I think I’ve come a long way.

Some of this may seem kind of heavy for a weight losing middle aged woman, but I keep my metabolism somewhat jacked up, between exercise and cigarettes.  Plus, only half my genetics are working against me, as my mom is one of those freaks who eats junk food all day and doesn’t gain.  Not so my dad.  I got big from bingeing, dieting, and general overeating.  Even when I wasn’t eating disordered, I still ate too much.  Now I can eat anything, and if it’s heavy, I eat less.  I’m really liking this intuitive eating stuff, as it makes the food bit comfortable, as opposed to the batshit crazy it’s always been until quite recently.   Best of all, I think it’s sustainable, meaning I can do this the rest of my life, not temporarily.

My body screams for…kickboxing?

I think I’ve figured out why I’ve been on a plateau, and how to break it.   Oddly enough, I came across it not even thinking about weight, just my state of mind.  I recently moved across the bay about 1.5 months ago, joined a new (expensive) gym, as the chain gym to which I belong has a really substandard branch nearby.  The classes are weak, here.  They’re slow.  The yoga is okay, cardio is tame.  When I woke up yesterday morning, I was feeling grouchy and restless.  I needed something to burn away all the “piss and vinegar” that I was feeling, so I drove over the bay, went to a kickboxing class that makes me feel better, and yoga, since I spent $4 on bridge toll, I’d better make it worth it.  I worked harder in that class than I do in three here, my whole body/mind feels it, and I’m still tired today.  I’ll likely even take the day off from the gym, just walk.

Now my theory, that I need this more intense workout, to burn my increasingly stubborn fat, needs to be tested with the scale, but I think it will work.  If nothing else, it certainly improves my mood.  I’m going to quit my new gym, and use the $60/month to drive across 2x week, Wednesday evenings (step, body sculpt) and Sunday (kickboxing and either yoga or this other intriguing looking class called willpower & grace, which looks to be a mix of dance and calisthenics).  I especially like the step class, I crave it and enjoy it like I used to enjoy drugs I no longer do.  Instead of the tapping and stepping we do at the class here, we fly over the bench.  I’ll still go to the crappy branch here, to fill in the gaps, and that’s where I weigh myself.  I have around 8 pounds until I’m no longer “overweight”, going to try to get there by my 41st b-day, in December.

Old vegetables smell like farts

Vacation was fun, eating wasn’t too difficult.  I managed to get in plenty of veggies and fruits, some that I bought, some from the food bank.  I ate out about half of the time, deciding after day 1 that I would try to avoid deep fried (after quesing out over fish and chips-my second time eating fries).  I have gained 2 pounds in the last month, between moving, quitting smoking, and vacation.  Maybe more, maybe less, it’s hard to tell as I lost scale continuity by moving.  Two scales across two days gave me 159, so that’s where I’ll call it.  I am trying to go to 148, which is where I’m technically not overweight anymore (by BMI).  Yes, I know BMI is not great, but I gotta pick some arbitrary number, so why not?

I’m starting a class in green chemistry today.  It sounds interesting, though the timing is unfortunate.  Saturday mornings are when I get up and drive to SF at 7 am, go to the farmers market, step class, body sculpt class, veggie burrito (brown rice of course), and whatever else I have to do.  I have a huge pile of mail at my last apartment, need to try to visit the landlord, have a beer in his yard, smooch on his rottie dog.

Speaking of beer, I don’t think I’m giving alcohol enough credit in my lack of losing weight.  Though I know better, somehow I don’t account for it, or really compensate foodwise for how much I drink.  Which was a bunch on vacation, not a whole lot at home.  But I also rode a crappy old 10-speed for about 5 hours/daily, including locking up for some hikes.  But realistically, I can take an oerall look back on my diet, and as it starts going up in starch and cheese, weight loss stops/reverses.  I think it’s mostly because that means I’m eating out a lot, which means I’m eating less vegetables, bigger portions, less whole grainy, more alcohol.  But I’m back, and tomorrow morning I can finally get to the farmers market, restock my fruits and veggies.  Hooray!

I started smoking again.  Made it to the second to last day of vacation, then folded.  I’ll try again in a week or two.  Shit.