Here We Go Again

After losing 40 pounds in 2007, I kept off most of it for a very long time. I crept up 20 pounds and held there for many years, but recently I regained the rest of it so now it's time to get serious again. To back up a bit, there are reasons why I regained. First of all, vacations. Vacations just did not help in the weight management department, especially when I would say to myself "well, I'll be walking enough to balance out any over-eating", only, yeah, no. Didn't quite work that way. I'd gain 3, 4, maybe 5 pounds (or in the case of a 3 week 2009 trip to Europe, 9 pounds) and then never quite manage to get it back off. The next issue was a two year stint as a vegetarian, and thinking "well, I won't be eating meat, so I can eat all of these starchy carbs to make up my proteins", only, yeah, no. If you are trying to manage your weight as a vegetarian then focus on vegetables and salads, not carbs, carbs, and more carbs. I finally had to go back to meat when I got sick with severe anemia, and then I turned out to be allergic to prescription iron supplements. (I'm actually allergic not to the iron but to the sulfa the iron is mixed with, and ALL of the prescription supplements have it.) Oh, and the anemia made it impossible to lose weight as well, of course. I lost about a year to the anemia and still have to fight not to slip back into it even now. Let me tell you, it's no fun; it sucks the life out of you. I had no energy to do anything; I don't know how I managed to function as much as I did. (The doctors were threatening to put me in the hospital and give me transfusions at one point- I was pretty darn bad off.) So that's my tale of woe with my weight, and the whole time I was watching it go up since I weigh myself every morning when I get up. Every. Morning.

And every morning I would say to myself "today's the day, I'm going to get it together and get back to my goal weight", and sometimes I would manage to lose a pound or two, but I always gained that back plus a little more.

Until now. I'm over the worst of it with the anemia (I hope) and I have a good framework in place for exercise, and I'm back to weighing, measuring, and logging my food, which is key. I've lost about 8 pounds so far and that's very encouraging. I didn't think I could do it many, many times during the past nine years since 2007, but now I am! I feel very resolved and focused, much more than I have in a long, long time.

As for exercise, I am trying to go to Zumba classes (which I absolutely ADORE) twice a week, yoga once a week, (a deep stretch class), archery twice a week, and then walk the dogs most days. I also have some light exercises I try to remember to do daily, a good toe touch stretch, a few squats, some stretches for plantar fasciitis and shoulders to work out the kinks from arthritis, and some kegels. I often don't stick to the plan and do everything, but it's a goal to strive for!

For food, I try to make every bite count nutritionally and avoid "empty" calories. I'll have a small treat every few days but not daily. I've been eating a lot of salads (I <3 romaine lettuce) and making green smoothies. I'm also trying to meal prep a bit, but I have a teen boy in the house so anything I make often gets swiped before I can get it into the refrigerator!! (Although if I can get it in the refrigerator he'll leave it alone; he hates leftovers.) If I can keep some chicken on hand, or some type of lean protein, then I've got the basis for a meal. Hubby frequently makes salads and I can throw some chicken on that for a very satisfying lunch or dinner. We don't eat together as a family much anymore, which breaks my heart, but we're all running in different directions all the time with very different schedules, so we aren't usually all at home at meal time. Add our differing diets (one vegan, one vegetarian, one soy intolerant and sulfa allergic, one full on carnivore, and one who will eat anything, oh and 4 of us are lactose intolerant, just to make things interesting) and it's really getting impossible to plan meals for all of us anyway. We mostly all fend for ourselves now, which is getting very trying. Five people all cooking their own meals every day makes a lot of mess in the kitchen and is super inefficient, but what can you do? Almost forgot- we also cook a "top dressing" for the dogs too, so they get kibble with some type of cooked meat on top for two meals per dog per day. ARGHHHH!!!

So that's where things stand now. A constantly messy kitchen, but I'm losing weight again and I CAN do it! I'll check back with my progress every now and again, and maybe some of my recipes.