Rules - one at a time

I attribute my lifestyle improvements/weight loss success to staying realistic.  I did not try to make a whole bunch of changes all at once, instead implementing one change at a time, getting used to that, and then adding another change.  Each new change is like a new rule to live by, and approaching then one at a time makes it manageable.

Jan 2014
Rule #1.  Stop drinking
This one was a challenge, which is why I don't think it would have worked well if I had been trying to exercise or alter my diet at the same time.  I also approached it as in "I'm going to quit for awhile" instead of "never again."  My experience may not be typical, but after a few days without, and with the encouragement of the weight loss starting due to not drinking, I no longer even wanted to drink anymore.  Knowing that I still could if I wanted helped, and in the almost two years since, I have only drank socially maybe eight or nine times.  Not too shabby considering the old me would have drank about 600 times in those two years!

Early 2014
Rule #2.  Portion control/limits on snacking
The old me could easily fall into a snack hole and eat one thing after another in the evening in front of the TV.  Reheated leftovers, a slice of pizza, a sandwich, or a cup 'o soup were all fair game.  Many nights I was literally eating a fourthmeal between dinner and bedtime.  I decided to go "spartan" and either not snack at all or put some serious limits on it.  For me, no snacks at all, kinda like when I had a doctor's appointment the next day that required fasting for bloodwork, was "full spartan."  Regular spartan would be eating one dark chocolate Hershey bar.  My basic snacking rules are:
smaller meal portions - pizza is the best example - instead of 3-4 slices, I stop at two slices and find I am pretty full anyway.  After thinking like this for a little while, your stomach has less room and you won't need to shove in extra food!
no snacks from the fridge - only portion controlled snacks, nothing that needs heating or could turn into a meal
no snacks at all until 11:30 PM.  I found that if I could delay any snacking until that late, I could do better at maintaining self control
water and mints - I keep drinking water to keep from noticing hunger pangs as much, and eating a mint or three (Wint-o-green Lifesavers) made me feel like I was snacking

March 2014
Rule #3.  Smoothies for breakfast
I could not have faced a smoothie for breakfast if I was still feeling the effects of the previous night's drinking.  So it was beneficial that I added this rule only after drinking was solidly in my rearview.  By March, my weight loss was going strong, so it made sense to work on eating healthier.  I have had a smoothie for breakfast every day since then except for a week long vacation in Florida.

With these three rules in place, I rocked 2014, losing 45 pounds.  I found that starting the day with a healthy smoothie made me more aware of what I was eating for lunch and dinner.  I was a lot more likely to order something like fish at a restaurant and eat less in general.

March 2015
Rule #4.  Salads for lunch
While researching a FoodSaver purchase, I saw mason jar salad ideas on Pinterest.  Up until then, my wife and I would enjoy a homemade salad for a day or two before it got wilted and gross.  Since there is quite a bit of prep work involved, we tried buying those bags of salad, but they simply do not taste as good as "real"lettuce.  So after getting the Foodsaver, it became a regular thing for us to make a big salad on Sunday and jar it up for the week.  Typically we will make 8-10 salad jars on Sunday and each have one a day during the week.  It sure makes lunch more efficient and saves money too.  I add in a protein (leftover chicken, extra taco meat, a packet of tuna) and some dressing and I am good to go.  No need to drive and pick up food or take time to make food - no thinking involved!  By varying the protein and dressing, along with trying different types of hot peppers and other salad ingredients, it doesn't get boring.
I will take pictures and post about the salad making process soon.

June 2015
Rule #5.  Swimming
Over the summer I took my kids to the pool at lunchtime when I was working from home, 2-3 days a week, plus another pool visit or two on the weekends.  Since my kids are all good swimmers, I started doing a few laps before playing around with them in the water.  I think I did less than 10 laps the first time.  When school started up, I kept going on my own, 3 times during the work week and one or two more times on the weekend.  I am up to 46 lengths per visit now (November).  Feels great afterwards, and if I ever start to feel lazy, I just think of the Nike slogan (Just Do It) and remind myself that it only takes 25 minutes or so.

I don't know what the next rule might be, but I am solid with the above 5 rules, so adding a sixth won't be any problem when I do!

Efficiency

It's easy to sprinkle extras into your smoothies, and there are lots of options.  I started with chia seeds. Years ago, a co-worker started eating chia seeds due to their superfood characteristics.  At the time I thought it a bit odd, only knowing chia seeds from the couple of Chia Pets I had raised.  Plus he would eat them by the pinch out of a sandwich bag.  But seeing chia seeds listed in numerous smoothie recipes, I gave them a try.  I found a convenient jar of unmilled seeds at the grocery store.  Unmilled seeds are supposed to be better because milling in advance loses some of the nutrients.  The Nutribullet I use pulverizes the seeds, although some blenders may not be able to handle seeds as well.

This brand has a top designed for pouring or measuring

Each day I sprinkle a teaspoon or two into my smoothies.  The jar of the Salba brand I found is great for this sort of thing since it has a lid like the ones you see on grated parmesean cheese.  Before long I started adding flax seeds and almonds to each smoothie.  I keep the empty chia seed jars and use them to hold my other smoothie extras.  This makes it a lot quicker when preparing my morning smoothie as I can just sprinkle some chia and flax seeds in before blending.  I also keep the almonds in a chia seed jar, pouring the 5-6 almonds I need from the larger opening.  I even made "labels" for the repurposed jars.

Original and reskinned jars

I recently added a fourth jar to my lineup.

Hemp seeds.  Apparently a Kashmir superfood

Sprinkling in my seeds is pretty efficient.  It is still a little time consuming, especially with three different seeds.  I started including the almonds in my baggies of frozen ingredients.  Perhaps there is some way to further improve the seed additions...

Swimming

Since late June, I have been swimming laps as a form of exercise. I was on the swim team in high school, bit I haven't done swimming or any other form of exercise on a regular basis in the 20+ years since.

That said, I am enjoying the workouts, and have upped them in both regularity and distance since I started. 3x a week is now 5x, and 10 lengths per session is now 40. I have been doing a combination of breast stroke and freestyle, gradually increasing from a 70/30 split (favoring breast stroke) to almost 50/50 now.

Today's smoothie: Rasperry Squash

Before adding water

Today's smoothie was a yummy one and I plan on making it again.

Raspberries are very good at covering up other flavors.  When I first started making smoothies, I actually stopped adding then since they overpowered the more subtle blueberry and strawberry flavors.  But now that my smoothies have evolved to contain more veggies and wheatgrass powder, I like having the raspberries do their thing.








Ingredients:

• 1 carrot, peeled and chopped into 1-2" pieces
• 1 rib celery, chopped into 1-2" pieces
• 1 TBS plain Greek yogurt (Chobani)
• 4 frozen strawberries
• 1/8 cup frozen blueberries
• 1/8 cup frozen raspberries
• 1/8 cup frozen butternut squash
• 1/5 banana
• 2 Kale cubes
• 1 scoop wheatgrass powder
• 6 almonds
• 2 tsp chia seeds (whole)
• 2 tsp flax seeds (whole)
• Water to the fill line
• Blend for 1 minute

Yield is just over a pint

Kale Ice Cubes

16oz bag of fresh kale

Kale was one of the first “superfoods” I added to my smoothies.  I started out with a 70/30 split between fruits and veggies.  Fruit smoothies are healthy, but they do contain a lot of sugar, so it is good to find a balance you can live with.  At first I only used carrots and celery for veggies, with the bulk of my smoothies being strawberries, blueberries, and bananas.  Once I got into the rhythm, I tinkered with the formula to make them healthier and increase the veggie ratio.  Initially started adding raw spinach or raw kale.  One week I would buy spinach, the next, kale.  I alternated because I had heard that some veggies contained oxilate acids that could build up in your system and cause problems like kidney stones.  Alternating seemed like a good idea, but I was still concerned about the oxilates.  Also I was wasting kale as the big bag would not stay fresh in the fridge for an entire week.

I read that steaming the kale removed a large portion of the potentially harmful oxilates…but that would not be feasable to do on a daily basis.  Then I saw an idea on Pinterest that solved the problem – make kale ice cubes to add to smoothies.  This appealed to my lazy side as I could make up good sized batches in advance, further streamlining my smoothie making in the mornings.  And by adding more frozen stuff to the smoothies, it made them thicker and colder – good things in my book.  I find that the kale cubes alter the color of the smoothie more than the taste, and I feel a lot better not having to be concerned with oxilate build up.  After doing a couple batches of my kale cubes, I added parsley to the mix.  Reported to be full of good things, I had been adding fresh parsley by hand to my smoothies.  By including them in my cubes, I further improved my efficiency.

Frozen Kale Cubes

Recipie

Depending on the size of your steamer, this will require several batches – I manage to do it in four batches. 

• 2 large 16oz bags of kale
• 1 bunch of flat leaf parsley
• Filtered water
• 6 ice cube trays
• Blender/Magic Bullet
• Vegetable steamer
• Gallon size freezer bags

Rinse the kale and place in the steamer

Steam for 5-6 minutes

Rinse the parsley

Put kale, parsley, and water in blender

Blend for one minute

Transfer blend to measuring cup

Pour into ice cube trays

Wash out the trays afterwards

When frozen, store cubes in freezer bags

2 Gallon bags full of Kale cubes!

Rinse the kale and place in the steamer.  Steam the kale until it is soft/wilted, but still a vibrant green (5-6 minutes).  Remove from steamer and place in cold water to stop the cooking process.  Transfer to the blender.  Rinse the parsley.  Remove parsley stems and add to the blender a portion of the bunch that matches the portion of the kale being used.  Add filtered water so that it reaches about half the height of the greens.  Blend for one minute.  Transfer the blended kale into a measuring cup for easier pouring.  Fill ice cube trays and freeze.  Repeat as needed.  Store in freezer bags.

When I do this, it yields 6 trays of kale cubes - 96 cubes total.  Since I add two cubes per smoothie, one such batch of kale cubes will last me 48 days.  Make sure to thoroughly wash the ice cube trays afterwards to get rid of the green residue.  Worth noting that other people in your household (kids in particular) will find the green cubes disgusting! 

XXL No More

I have been at this for awhile.  This is the first that I am writing of it, but I have been losing weight for the past year and a half.  60 pounds so far.  Well, 59.2 pounds to be exact.  I have tried to lose weight in the past, but this sure is the longest that I have stuck with it.  By a whole lot.  What I am doing now must be more effective than the things I have tried in the past...or just easier.  Yeah, probably that, because I am lazy.  Not reality TV show lazy, but if doing nothing at home is on the menu, I'm buying.

Like a lot of people, I tried Weight Watchers before my wedding.  I didn't have a dress to fit into, but I had been steadily increasing my belt size in the five years since college.  My future wife suggested that we try Weight Watchers together.  She wanted to lose a few pounds, while I could have stood to lose 20 or more.  Counting points seemed kind of silly, but I agreed to give it a try.  A couple of friends at work, fellow indulgers in high calorie lunches, joined me in the quest to drop some pounds.  We would gather in my cube and weigh in, documenting our progress on my white board.  We set a goal of one month and each put in $50.   My future wife was shocked that our weights would be on display for anyone at work to see, and she informed me that women would never do such a thing.

Undeterred, I went into it full bore, and managed to lose a decent amount of weight quickly.  I remember clipping my toenails the night before the end of month weigh in, thinking that it could make the difference.  I needn't have worried however, and I won handily.  My friends both encouraged me to extend the contest by another month.  They knew I was soon to be on honeymoon at Oktoberfest where I would be rapidly undoing the work I had just done.  I declined and took the cash, leaving them with empty assurances of resuming the contest when I returned.

So while Weight Watchers did help me win $100, it wasn't a long term solution.  I was doing things like choosing low calorie beer in order to be able to drink more, or I'd skimp on points during the day so I could eat better later.  I did like stepping on the scale and being able to write down a smaller number, but budgeting points and guilt was not for me.

It lasted about six weeks.  My most successful weight loss program until now.  And I did try a few other times.  Nothing as "official" however.  I would simply make myself promises and then promptly break them.  I'll get a footlong sub, but only eat half and save the other half for tomorrow.  A couple of bites later, and I would have eaten seven or eight inches of that sub, leaving myself with only a snack for the next day.  Or, I'll just stop getting chips and fries with my sandwiches and burgers.  But everyone else is getting them...and these are just going to waste...   

That's how I ended up weighing 245 pounds.  I remember doing a double take when stepping off the scale that morning in January, 2014.  245!  I wasn't weighing myself with any regularity at the time, so the last time I had looked, it might have been in the 230s.  That's still pretty close to 225, which is not really that far away from 200.  239 and feeling fine?  Maybe, or at least I was telling myself that.  In reality, it was jut the latest evidence I was ignoring.  Pants feeling tight?  Get some baggy jeans and opt for shorts with better elastic.  XL T-shirts getting snug after the dryer?  Why not hang them to dry instead.  Heck, invest in XXL going forward.

This time it was different.  I made changes at a basic level, changes that I could stick with.  I did research as I went, and I am sharing that with you here.  Smoothies, kale ice cubes, and mason jar salads are just a few things I learned and figured out how to do efficiently.  So rather than starting to write about my experience at the beginning, full of enthusiasm but not a lot to say, I am doing so later, with quite a bit of experience under my belt.  Success too!