Reflections with Chocolate

As I eat chocolate this evening, I've been reflecting on my day.

I got to my desk and lo and behold, there was a card and a wrapped package from my awesome coworker, Cordelia! She gave me a card congratulating me on my weight loss along with a box of her favorite tea. I can't wait to try it! I'm gonna bring it home and save it for the weekends. I'll enjoy it more when I can savor it on a lazy Saturday morning.

I successfully resisted the delicious aroma of Famous Dave's. Lunch was brought in today, and I didn't have any. (Though I really wanted to grab one of the little cornbreads. Even now they call to me...)

When I got home, the last thing I wanted to do was prepare a meal. (I'm still waiting for the enjoyment of cooking to kick in.)  I was so tempted to just grab some ingredients for a snack (approved plan ingredients, of course) but I knew I needed something more substantial. So I did cook and made a meal for this evening - plus I made extra so I didn't have to cook tomorrow night. I know. I'm smart that way.

Then I went for a nice walk with my good friend, and we had a good talk. It was a gorgeous evening. Perfect, actually. I could make a habit of walking with her in the evenings. I am not a solitary exerciser, so this is good for me!

It's been 9 days since I've started this lifestyle change. I have not cheated at all. I haven't even had my Coke Zero! Well, I figure if I'm going to do something like this, I have to be all in or not at all. And I'm definitely all in.

I'm gonna go now and reflect on how much I love my dark chocolate...

Two Cool Things

So I was so excited about my weight loss on Saturday that I emailed the author of the plan (Cynthia Sass) through her website and told her a little bit about myself and how I was doing on the plan. Imagine my surprise when I received an email from her today!

Cynthia congratulated me on how well I'm doing, wished me luck, and asked me to keep her updated on my progress. How cool is that?!

(I did take a before picture that I might share with an after picture once I reach my goal weight. I could send those to her too. We'll see if I'm brave enough.)

Another thing that I got excited about today was my daily dose of dark chocolate. I have that after my last meal as a reward before I go to bed. It's totally worth being good all day to reward myself with yummy dark chocolate at the end!

Well, I'm signing off. I know this is a quick post, but I've taken too much time away from watching "Oblivion" with my guys. Until tomorrow...

Too Much Time in the Kitchen

Eating different foods has been great. I didn't realize how much I missed foods I never ate!

I'm gonna let you in on a little secret: I've never been a fan of cooking. I've always tended to eat the easy stuff to make, like cereal, mac & cheese, pizza, sandwiches...you get the idea. Or I've enjoyed the fruits of Robbie's labor. He loves to cook. And I always thought, why should I start cooking and begrudge him of something he loves to do? (See what a considerate wife I am?)

But over the past two days I've spent more time making food in the kitchen than I have in the last six months combined. Making meals from fresh ingredients is very time-consuming! It's been taking me forever to chop, measure, toss, blend, cook, and all that you do to make healthy meals.

For example, my meal this afternoon required 1/2 cup each of chopped baby spinach, cucumber, red pepper, and celery. Robbie came in when I started, and then thirty minutes later, he came back in and I was STILL chopping. (To be fair to myself, I made two of the same meal so I could take one to work with me tomorrow. Smart, I know!)

Let's face it, I'm not adept at chopping veggies. With a knife. I almost chopped my finger off a few times, but luckily there was no blood and my finger is still intact.

Making meals from fresh ingredients has made me hope to be able to appreciate my food more. As I was chopping this afternoon, I wondered if I would ever get to a place in which I enjoy preparing food and spending more time in the kitchen. Right now I don't think that will happen, but there's always hope (and only 23 days left of the program).

Oh - and my guys ended ordering pizza again last night. Of course. But I didn't have any. I wasn't even tempted. Much.

Spillin' the Beans

First off, let me explain why I didn't post yesterday. The content would have been a lot of the same as it has all week: talking about the same food, being able to eat new food starting Saturday, hoping the plan would work... I thought I should spare you that.

So it's Saturday. And I decided to weigh myself right after I woke up to see if the last five days have been worth it. I stepped on the scale, and thought, "No way." So I moved the scale to another part of the bathroom and weighed again. I did that two more times. (It was like taking a pregnancy test, and then needing to confirm the results with three more tests.)

I'VE LOST 10 POUNDS!

Holy s**t! I've lost 10 pounds! TEN POUNDS! In five days! I was hoping for 4-5 pounds, but ten?! This plan has totally exceeded my expectations. I figure at least 3 pounds was water weight, but still. TEN POUNDS!

Because of this amazing result (which I'm sure isn't typical), I am going to share my plan. Drum roll please...
I am following the S.A.S.S. Yourself Slim plan from the book of the same name by Cynthia Sass. For me it obviously is life-changing. I encourage you to check it out, even if you have no weight to lose. It helps you to learn how to eat more healthfully.

Oh - and the other big thing that's happening today: I can eat different foods! Hooray! I loved my breakfast of a slice of whole grain toast, topped with natural peanut butter and banana slices, sprinkled with ground cloves, and a glass of organic skim milk. It was delicious! And I promise not to list out and describe my meals after this (except if something is super nummy and I want to share the recipe).

And the other good thing about eating different foods is that I get a daily dose of dark chocolate. Those of you who read my Hart Chronicles blog will remember how much I love dark chocolate. (I dedicated a whole post to it on June 19, 2006, titled "Red Wine and Dark Chocolate".) But alas, red wine is not on the plan. Think of what a cheap date I will be when I reach my goal weight!

So to unnecessarily sum up this post, my lifestyle change is working. And now I don't care if my guys order and eat pizza right in front of me.

Organic Raspberries are the BOMB

I stopped at Trader Joe's on the way home to pick up a couple of ingredients I need through tomorrow. I ended up getting organic raspberries instead of regular ones and thought nothing of it.

I have to admit, I was feeling pretty down about the diet/lifestyle change when I got home tonight. Eating the same five foods for every meal is getting pretty boring. My taste buds need variety! And cheese. (And it certainly didn't help that Will and hubby Robbie ordered Domino's and made garlic bread last night after I went to bed. Even though I had the door shut I could still smell all that deliciousness.)

So to distract myself I turned on Project Runway (Jesse Tyler Ferguson as a guest judge is really sweet) and decided to look in my book and read through all the recipes that I can start making on Saturday. I got really hungry and made the same dinner I've had for 4 days straight.

OH. MY. GOSH. I am in love with organic raspberries! I love this fruit anyway, but after 4 days I was starting to get a little sick of having them at every meal. Nope. Not anymore. I can eat them for days and days!

And yes - you read that correctly - I can start eating different foods on Saturday! I only have one day left of my five-day jump start! I'm feeling pretty good now. And my taste buds are hanging in there.

Back to Project Runway - I know that I will not look like one of those models even when I reach my goal weight. (Though I wouldn't mind looking like the model who wore the winning look tonight. Wowza!) But I am planning on looking and feeling better and healthier. And fitting into smaller sizes will be fun. Who wouldn't like that?

Until that happens, I'll keep eating my organic raspberries from Trader Joe's even when I can eat different foods. Did I mention I can do that on Saturday?

Missing My Indulgences

What I wouldn't give for a glass of cabernet and some Earl's Cheese Puffs.

It was a rough day at work and there's nothing I'd like more than indulging a little bit tonight. But thankfully (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it), there are no Earl's in the house, and the cabernet sits unopened. Instead I had my new almonds and seltzer water. Not even a close second to what I really wanted. And my poor kitties Sully and Henry didn't get to lick any cheese from my fingers. And the pup Nox didn't get a few delicious cheese puff morsels.What a disappointment for us all!

I'm supposed to be writing a food diary. The book I'm following has space in its pages for this purpose. For these five days especially, there's a prescribed set of questions I'm supposed to answer. And I haven't written in it since yesterday morning. I figure that my food diary is this blog. And that's enough for me.

So I asked my son, Will, (remember him?) if he would like to read my blog this evening. He replied, "You're writing another blog?" And then after a beat he said, "No. I don't feel like reading tonight." Thanks, kiddo! Of course, if or when he reads this blog, he's not going to be too happy that I posted his comments (or anything about him, actually). To which I say, "That's what you get for not reading my blog tonight!"

Well, I need to go prepare my food for tomorrow. (I was actually on time this morning!) 

I have a feeling I'm going to be dreaming about Earl's Cheese Puffs tonight...

Some Grocery Store Learnin'

Note to self: they actually sell almonds in other places besides the baking aisle.

Yes. It's true. I've been trying to choke down slices of baking almonds. And during my lunch today, I had a Fear Factor moment while eating almond slices and yogurt. Just think of what normally happens during those gross bug challenges and you get the idea.

So I'm texting about this with my sisters, Lynn and Melanie, and Melanie texts me a picture of the roasted almonds she likes to eat. Then it hits me - DUH - I went to the baking aisle to find my almonds. This gave me hope.

After work I went to the grocery store and looked for almonds in the Snack Nuts aisle (yes, there is such a thing). I found some roasted almonds seasoned with sea salt and decided to give them a try. And lo and behold, I like them! So this shall be the last time I post about almonds. Probably.

Another thing that happened today is that I had to order lunch from Jimmy John's for a lunch meeting that I wasn't attending. This person was in meetings all morning and asked me for this favor. I was even told that I could order lunch for myself. Oh, how difficult it was restraining myself from ordering a Turkey Tom or Slim Tuna! But I'm proud to say that willpower prevailed.

Overall, I think the lifestyle change is ok. I know I'm only on Day 2, but I think I can do this. I'm not sleeping as well as I usually do. I can attribute the Sunday night sleeplessness to the fact that I downed half a 2 liter of Coke Zero that afternoon and into the evening so it wouldn't go to waste. As for last night, I'm hoping that my body is just adjusting.

Well, I need to go prepare my food for tomorrow ahead of time. Otherwise I'll be late for work in the morning. For the third day in a row.

I Hate Almonds

So Day 1 of the lifestyle change is over. And I've discovered four important things:

1. I'm not as ravenous as I expected to be. I was still full from breakfast so I had to force down my lunch. And then I could barely eat my next meal. I hope that this doesn't screw up the plan. I mean, if I'm full and eating less, how could that hurt?
2. I CAN survive a day without Coke Zero! I have not had any soda today and only a little unsweetened iced tea, and not only am I not missing it too much, I also only have a little caffeine headache. I was expecting worse. Way worse.
3. I really hate almonds. I would even go so far as to say I abhor them. Unfortunately, they're one of the five foods I'm supposed to eat at almost every meal. And I can't stand them. I sit there looking at them like a little kid who doesn't want to eat her Brussels sprouts and sits at the table for hours after her family is done because her mom won't let her leave the table until she eats them. Seriously, it took me an hour to eat the almonds even mixed with the approved fruit tonight.
4. I feel good about myself. My boss thinks I'm crazy to do this. To which I say, "Who isn't a little crazy?" But I'm doing something for myself and it's healthy and will change my life. Yeah, that's worth the almonds. Well, almost. 

I just hope I can keep eating these same foods through Friday. After Friday, I move to the core program which includes WAY more food options.

So when it comes down to it, today wasn't that bad. Well, except for the almonds.

Lifestyle Change

I'm on the precipice of a major lifestyle change. For those of you who have read my Hart Chronicles blog, you know a bit about me. And you might be asking yourself, "Julia, where have you been?" (Or maybe, "Julia, you haven't written in so long, I completely forgot about you and your blog!") And if you haven't read my other blog, why not start now? I'll wait...

Ok. Back to the major lifestyle change. It's been 7 years since my open-heart surgery. And much to my regret (and my cardiologist's dismay which leads to the annual reprimand), I have not been taking good care of my body and heart. I've gained a bit of weight (well, maybe more than a bit), and have only been exercising sporadically. Hence, the need for a lifestyle change.

What am I doing, you ask? Am I trying the latest fad diet? I hope not. Am I going to the gym daily? Again, I hope not. What I AM doing is this: following a 30-day meal plan set out by a dietician with a Ph.D. that should help me to relearn how to eat healthfully and cut out all the junk I've been eating. (My body screams in protest, "But I LOVE the junk!")

And this change starts tomorrow, with a 5-day healthy cleanse diet, in which I can only eat 5 "superfoods" in different combinations. Nothing else. No mac and cheese, no pizza, no popcorn, no wine... (sigh) I'm cutting out soda as well. Which will be really hard because I get free Coke Zero at work. (I know! Lucky me!)

I've been "dieting" on and off for the last 7 years. (Well, more than that, actually.) And I had trouble sticking with any diet for too long. So I'm trying something radical. And the only way I feel like I can stick with the aforementioned plan is to blog about it.
You probably are asking, "Whose plan are you following, Julia?" I'll tell you this information once I know if it's going to work. I don't want to leave a negative impression on this person's life work. So I'll tell you later. Besides, I have to give you a reason to keep coming back and reading.

I am nervous, to say the least. But I admitted that I am powerless over unhealthy foods, and that's the first step, right?

So tomorrow is the start of a new beginning, much like the new beginning I had seven years ago. And I will end this post by quoting now as I did then from the song "Closing Time" by Semisonic: Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end.