April 7, 2011
Menu
Breakfast: Oatmeal (raisins, cinnamon, soymilk); apple with peanut butter
Snack: Clementine, Green tea
Lunch: Hard-boiled eggs; carrots; green onions; green olives; apple
Snack: Coffee
Dinner: Risotto (tempeh, brown rice, cheddar, peas, onion, garlic, salt, black pepper, paprika); swiss chard
Snack: Pineappe, herbal tea
Exercise
10 push-ups
10,000 steps
The past months have been up and down. I regained 15 pounds from my low of 117, but am now at 129. I quit logging my food into fitday and can't summon the energy to start again. I have been writing down my food intake every day, and remembered how useful this online diary was, so I decided to start again.
I have been consistent with my exercise. Every time I fell off the wagon food-wise, I tried to get right back on. There have been days full of chocolate, chips, ice cream, cookies, pizza, pasta, sugared cereal, but I have never stopped trying to get back on track.
Maintenance presents its own set of challenges. It's not harder than losing, but it is hard in a different way. For one thing, the thrill is gone. People get used to how you look. The compliments dry up. The scale is not continuing it's downward trajectory. Life is one big plateau.
It's hard to find the right mix of calories and exercise. It's tough figuring out how to incorporate certain previously off-limits foods (candy, chips) without triggering a mini-binge or a binge. At first I kept my exercise the same (10,000 steps) and increased my calories to 1800. Then I wanted to eat more, so I increased my exercise (15,000 steps). Then either I was exercising too much for the calories I was taking in, or for some other reason, but I started to eat even more and increased my exercise (20,000 steps) as my weight started creeping up. It became a vicious circle.
For the past few days I have managed to cut out the late-night snacking. That has always been the trouble. I am back to 10,000 steps and no processed food. I need to clean out my system. I have had frequent colds this winter & spring and think my worsening diet is to blame.
I have also decided to purchase a CSA share. It starts in May and I am so excited about all the fresh vegetables I will be getting every week. I can't bear to waste food, so this will be a good way to get my vegetable consumption back up to where it should be.
I am glad to be back on this board and look forward to catching up on everybody's progress.