Lifestyle Progress Report #1

On February first, I wrote the third of a three-part post about some of the lifestyle changes I need to make, in order to begin to lose weight and become/stay healthy (see Need For Change - Part 3).  I thought I should deliver my first progress report.

On a strictly factual basis, I've lost a few pounds.  Nothing noticeable yet (when you've got a lot to lose, it takes quite a while for poundage loss to be visible), at least, not to anyone else.  But I can feel it...which is really what matters.

Beyond the stats, here's what I've done and noticed:

• My meal planning has really been effective - and, frankly, much easier than having to figure out, at 4:00 in the afternoon, what on earth I'm going to make for dinner (I'm sure you know what I'm talking about).  I'll post about meal planning separately at some point.  It's been a great way to up the number of veggies we consume, and it's enabled us to completely avoid going out for any restaurant meals that we may otherwise have been motivated to eat.  We're not huge restaurant goers in the first place, but we surely would have gone out at least once in the past few weeks.

• I'm continuing to drink green tea, which I really enjoy the taste of now, and which I find even helps fill me up a wee bit...or maybe it's just that drinking it makes me feel like I'm doing something good for myself and it helps motivate me in other areas.

• I'm not snacking at all in the evenings.  This never came up on my list of things that I needed to change, largely because I didn't think about it at the time.  My habit prior to a few weeks ago was to have a small snack a few evenings a week - but I've stopped completely, which has perhaps made a bigger difference than I would have thought.

• I'm trying to drink more water, more consistently, more consciously.

• I've still been eating dessert on a regular basis - about once/twice a week.  We never used to eat dessert until Matthew became a toddler, at which point we started having something dessert-like after dinner - never something big, but nonetheless, dessert.  I've been working at reducing our (Matthew's!) expectations in this regard and it's working.  Now, eating dessert even 1-2 times/week might sound counter to my goals, but it's not, really.  I find that if I totally deprive myself of some of the sweet foods that I love, I will end up completely overdosing on it on a single occasion. I'm way better off planning for an occasional desert and then really enjoying it.  So, a decadent chocolate fondue was on the menu for Valentine's day (along with a huge platter of strawberries, pineapple, bananas and angel food cake).  My plan is to make one nice dessert every weekend, and to thoroughly enjoy it that night, and maybe the next if there are leftovers!  This coming weekend, it's going to be a peach/yogurt trifle (maybe with chocolate shavings on top cause, well, you need something chocolate); the next weekend has a chocolate pudding cake scheduled into the meal plan.  Yummmmm.   It's a nice way to balance my efforts and reduce the cravings I have for things like chocolate; and a way to really look forward to, and indulge in, something I enjoy.

• I've been a bit more conscious of the quantity of food I put on my plate at dinner time, as well as the proportion of the different types of foods (again, upping the veggie quotient a little and reducing some starches and protein quantities).  Again, a small difference, but a difference nonetheless.

• Shortly after starting to take vitamins on a regular basis just after Christmas, I started experiencing more energy (what's not to like about that??!!).  I continue to have more energy than I'm accustomed to - despite being sick, and despite having been up so much at night while Matthew's been sick.  This is probably the single best benefit I'm experiencing so far as a result of some of these changes.  It may also be the thing that gets me going on the next big change I need to make...exercise (shudder)!

Really, as I think about it, I've made a number of smaller changes all at once.  In part 2 of this post, which has been written and which will appear tomorrow morning, I want to talk a bit about why these changes scare the pants off of me.