Yo Yo

I’m battling my weight this summer and so far the pounds are winning.  Here’s the problem:

• I’m cooking dinner every night.
• I’m trying new recipes.
• We have left-overs for lunch.  That makes 2 big meals a day.
• The cookies, whoopi pies, buttermilk muffins, buttermilk syrup, and caramel frosting have been big hits.
• We had a 3 day family reunion with 5 big meals.
• We went to Education Week and Big Sky.
• We went camping and ate well all weekend.

But I’m really tired of seeing the same pounds creep back on, so I’m doing Weight Watchers (unofficially) with a friend.  The accountability and support help a lot.  She’s doing great!  She’s also writing down everything she eats, and trying harder.  I’ve been up 3 times and down once.  Hopefully I’ll get fully engaged mentally with this process because:

• Our summer guests are moving out and I won’t be cooking so much.
• School is starting and I won’t have time to try new recipes.
• A different routine and schedule has to be better than the one I’ve been on this summer.
• I won’t be traveling or celebrating as much.

I’m putting it down in writing here to help get me on track.  I’m sure all three readers of my blog will be waiting anxiously for updates.  I’ll keep you posted.

Leaning Toward Veganish

I watched Oprah this week where she challenged everyone at Harpo to go vegan for 1 week.  The vegan expert said her husband ate vegan at home, but chose fish and eggs when he went out to eat.  She encouraged people to lean in to veganism; one day a week without meat, buy some substitute products, try some recipes.

That's about where I am.  We only eat meat a couple times a week.  Terry drinks rice milk.  I just bought a vegan butter substitute.  I also bought tofu, and I'm trying recipes from the sneaky chef that include vegetable puree in almost anything.

I know I need to eat different to be healthier, feel better, age better, and maintain a better weight.  I find it helps (but it's hard) to eat 4 cups of vegetables and 2 medium fruits everyday.  If I do, I make better choices all day.  When I was dieting, I had to add a couple servings of protein every day - usually meat.  I've found if I eliminate the meat, then I need carbs.  That's not good.  Since I'm not fond of cooked vegetables, or soups, I end up with no warm food.

I'm going to keep leaning toward being veganish by trying more recipes, eating meat sparingly, and trying more substitutes.  I think I need to check labels better and buy more local and organic things.  It will be a big life shift, but I'll lean in slowly.

That being said, I just bought a new Taste of Home Potluck Favorites cookbook.  I think 95% of the potluck favorites have either cheese or sugar in them.  They all look great!

Tailgate

I've been to meetings, rallies, and town halls.  We've wore buttons, made signs, and e-mailed legislators.  Yesterday I went to a tail gate party and rally in the rain.  This is what I've concluded.  As upset as I am about these anti-teacher bills, it would be a lot easier to handle if I wasn't dieting.  What fun is tailgate party if you cant eat the hotdogs, chips and cookies.  (There was even a cremated dog left on the grill.)  When I'm leaving the State House damp and cold, it would be great to stop at Flying M with friends for hot chocolate and a big scone.  Every time Terry has joined me, we drive past Chicago Connection on our way home.  A pepperoni, mushroom pizza would comfort me.  I'm just saying, this legislative session and this diet have been a double whammy.

Cravings

Here's a few things that sound really good, but I'm not going to eat them for another month or so: 

• popcorn that they sell at school on Fridays
• whole grain goldfish crackers
• a peanut butter and jam sandwich on multi-grain bread
• and of course pizza

Funny that there aren't sweets on the list.  It is hard to hand out Twix, Smarties and Laffy Taffy to the safety patrol at the end of each week for payment.  I just want to snack on one after another while I check my e-mail, but I think that's more habit than cravings.

Saturday's Decision

We went to dinner with Bry and Amee on Saturday night.  It was a nice time and the food was great.  We ended up at one of my favorite places for seafood, Fresh Off the Hook.  Now I have the inspiration I need for my Academy Award dish.  I'm going to take shrimp cocktail.  I can eat that on my diet.  It's good.  Everyone likes it.  And now I just have to think how it ties in with my favorite movie last year.  Right now I think I'm going with Toy Story 3, because all the kids at the daycare are shrimps.

Diet and Exercise

I've been whimping along with P90X.  Everyone in my family is powering through these DVDs with Tony Horton's extreme exercise program.  We have a chin-up bar, yoga blocks, and room to work out one at a time in Ty's old room.  We check in with everyone's progress.  I think Ty is probably killing all of us.  He was doing workouts like crazy during Christmas break and soon after that he started doing doubles (twice a day).  Stacey and Mike are probably in second place.  I'm definitely in last.  I do the two bonus workouts on the introduction DVD.  They're shorter than the real thing, and I modify.  I've done the KenpoX, but all the kicking and punching is too violent for me.  I've tried the YogaX twice, but I only like the last 42 minutes of the 90 minute workout.  The first 48 minutes are crazy-town; and I thought Yoga was calm.  So the only workout I really do is the XStretch, which I like.  I get up around 5 to workout whimply.

Part of my problem is that I'm dieting at the same time.  I think I need more calories and more energy.  But what I really want is less fat and less weight, so something has to give.  I am sticking with it though until I get back to my Weight Watchers goal of 2008.  I'll be ready for summer.  I think all the P90Xers in my family will stick with it too.  They'll be ripped in 90 days.