ProjectSlimGirl

Okay so to pick up where I left off, I have stopped being raw for the most part. Half of that I blame on influences of my DH who does understand the benefits of eating the way I do but coming from a poor upbringing cringes at the amount of money I spend on my “special diet foods”. So I had a salad today and some chopped up celery and on the one hand I felt good to be eating fresh again, but I think I have to get back in the groove of things so to speak. I didn’t feel satiated and I had other food cravings all day. I think I may have to start all over again, which means going through the cravings, withdrawals, the weakness, and then the breakthrough of clarity and energy. I thing it took about 2-3 weeks for me to “get over” my old food crushes before. It will probably be until the new year that I can return to this lifestyle since I have agreed with DH to follow a temporary budget so that we can accomplish some other things. I was just thinking though, it was soooo easy to lose weight when I was eating that way.I am not so much at a plateau now, as things are just very slow and slightly boomerang-ish (gain a couple, lose a couple). I figure if I’m making steady progress with my gym routine and calorie monitoring now, I’ll be much better off when I go back raw. January 1, 2010 its on!

Its been about a month and a half if not 2 months that I have stopped being a raw foodie. The biggest part of that came from my husband moving in. After a 3 1/2 year wait of red tape with immigration, he was able to come to the u.s. to live. Big load lifted from me, being a single mom to our 3 year old and just good to have him back. This has been a big challenge as far as keeping up my raw diet. He is from central america and he’s never heard of a raw diet, and most people are not vegetarians. Lots of rice and beans, yes, but also lots of stewed chicken, barbecued meats, and pork and beef for meals. A meal just is not complete as far as he is concerned without meat. So I have begun to incorporate a lot of foods into the menu (just about everything I had overhauled just months before) to accomodate his cultural habits. For the most part I eat a separate menu from what I cook for him, but little by little I am eating more cooked foods. 

One example is breakfast: a couple of fried or scrambled eggs, about a cup of beans (refried, red, black, pinto, or ranch style) and sliced tomato on the side. A decent combo of protein, fiber, and carbs but mostly cooked. I’m also dissapointed to see our 3 year old, who was previously content with a breakfast of sliced melon, strawberries, or fruit smoothies to now chow down on greasy eggs (compared to my slightly greased pan fried eggs), fried sausage or bacon, fried beans (as opposed to just heated in its own juice or with water) and LOTS of toast with mayonaise or some type of cream that’s consumed on the side (looks like sour cream). In a nutshell a very high fat meal that’s cooked and not fresh. So as not to break the bond that he’s creating with her after being gone for so long, I try to keep my criticisms of his unhealthy eating with her to a minium, but it is very very hard. But back to me…

 I am still losing the weight little by little, but I am missing the fresh flavors and crunchiness of my raw foods. Missing the experimenting in the kitchen with the various recipes I find on Youtube, and missing the overall lightness and energy I felt with a high raw diet. The other half of my slipping away from it is the cost. For myself it was not a big deal to spend $200 at the whole foods market or $65 at the farmer’s market for a bounty of organic produce, then add the supplementals for my older kids at home (no matter how I tried they didn’t really get into it). But with my husband here, he was shocked to say the least and appalled at the amount I was spending on “my special foods”. I didn’t like what he had to say, but he did have a point about the enormous amount of money that was being spent on food alone. So I’ve come to a compromise on how much I spend on organic, and fruits and veggies altogether. I can easily buy a week’s worth of vegetarian meals for myself, but trying to buy for two different eating styles is impossible without breaking the bank. I’m at a crossroads. I do not want to go back to my old eating habits, as easy and as cheap as it would be.  I think things may change shortly. My DH doesn’t have his working papers yet, but he promises that when he gets them and is able to contribute financially I can go back to shopping at my “rich peoples’ supermarket again”. I’m really biting my tongue on that one. If he could just understand what I’m trying to do for my body and my health…*sigh*

I have ventured away from the cardo machines and incorporated some terra firma to my routine, started walking to the walmart that’s a couple blocks away, library, etc. Also went swimming this week. Half hour of doggy paddling is all, but I was winded. A little dissappointed to find out later, when I was trying to calculate calories spent) that swimming isn’t the ideal excercise for losing weight. But that’s ok because I still am working my cardiovascular system and if I can get my heart and lungs strengthened with swimming, I figure I’ll be able to endure longer sessions on the machines, or in a group excercise when I find the time to join one. Still trying to balance out my sleep schedule with the operating hours of the kids club at the gym and group classes. I’m dissapointed that the biggest slot of empty time is in the afternoon for several hours, which for me is the best time to go. But I’m still moving forward. I made up for a day missed at the gym, or rather I didn’t go because I deep cleaned my bedroom and closets for 6 hours this week. I might not have peaked my fat burning heart rate range, but I was nonstop during that time so I know some calories got burned. Also, I’m keeping an eye on my water intake and trying to remember to take  my fat burning pills (24 hour fitness brand), I don’t know if they are even working, but I’m going to finish the 30 day supply and maybe try only one other brand, maybe hydroxycut before leaving all the supplementation alone and just focusing on diet and excercise.  I like the idea of getting an extra boost to help burn fat since I’m doing so much on my own, but after reading up on them I keep coming across articles saying that they don’t really work and their a waste of money. So, like I said I’ll give it another shot with another product after the Apex fat burners and see if its a deal or dud.  Somewhat keeping an eye on calories, just enough to mentally compare if I’m burning more than consumed. Raw food been hit or miss lately, the more I cook for family (When I began 3 months ago they were somewhat on their own as far as cooking was concerned), but I’m still pretty high raw and I do have less cravings for junky food, and more for fresh veggies and fruits. One obstacle to this is trying to stay on budget. I was spending upwards to $200 between the farmers market and whole foods and “gourmet” stores. So this compromise for stocking up on the top health foods has been offset by jsust eating smaller portions of the so-so good foods and more excercise.

Just to get that out of my system.  I’ts funny, but when I’m at work or at home I have the urge to work out sometimes, but when I’m actually going through the door at the gym I’m not all that excited anymore. I’ve worked my way up to 30 minutes on the elliptical, tread ,and bike. But I can still only make it through about 15 minutes at a time on that darn stairmaster. Its so tough! I took a quick break today and added an extra ten after a while,so that’s something. In a nutshell, I do not like cardio, but I love how its trimming off the fat and making me feel afterwards. Yay me!

After about a 2 week plateau I have started losing a bit more. I had not been drinking my water as I had been in the beginning and I got really undisciplined for a while as far as eating, but I slowly got back into my routine. I had to switch up my workout routine. I’m not going after work anymore. I go straight to sleep and get up around 1030/11 and while the kids center is still open I take my preschooler to the kids’ center. So I get a twofold blessing: workout time for me without feeling too sleepy and some playtime for the little one. I’m doing more cardio now than strength training as per some advice someone gave me. I will probably start up with the weights when I’m about 20 lbs lighter than now, just as a point of reference. I’m hit or miss with being raw, but I still consider my diet high raw. I’m starting to steam some of the bulkier greens.

I’ve taken all my jeans to the tailor and they have a nice fit after being taken in on the sides. They needed to be taken in the back anyways because I size my jeans by my hips, but my waist is small so I always have a big gap in the back showing my undies. I had the tailor make them  a little snug so that I can both feel when I lose more and if I start to gain a little. They are stretch jeans, so even though they are 18s they can stretch to 20s I’m thinking. Hopefully the fit is more like a 16 now. When they get even looser (so much so that wearing a belt makes them bunch up), then I know its time to get some new ones which will be my treat. I have seen jeans in the mall that have “butt lifting” qualities. The biggest size they come in is 14, so that will be a short term goal for me to achieve.  If I can stay focused and dedicated with the cardio hopefully I can make that dream come true by the New Year.

***One thing I have noticed in the past couple weeks is craving attacks. Out of nowhere and in the middle of work, I get the desire for a particular item so bad that I can literally smell it and my mouth starts watering. Items have included flat crust pizza, cornflake chocolate chip cookies, graham crackers and milk, and mcdonald’s cheeseburgers. I actually gave in to the pizza craving after a 2 day wait and I felt both satisfied for eating it,and happy that I could at least delay the gratification.

No current weight loss  to update. I did gain 4 lbs and that is just now back off.  I missed two days working out. I had a headlamp out and went straight home after workuntil it could be fixed. Also been looking at ladies muscle and fitness mag for some ideas on how to change up my routine. I’m feeling pretty confident on the machines but it gives me more motivation looking at the hard bodies in the mag and trying some of the things. So I’m definitely feeling stronger. I know that muscle weighs more than fat, so that if I keep this up I probably won’t see a drop on the scale for a minute.  Keeping the raw diet, and my superfood smoothie in the morning. At this point nothing to it but to do it.

On a side note I have been hit by cravings out of the blue for example when I was at work and saw a girl eating a slice of chocolate cake I mostly ignored it, but for the rest of the evening I kept thinking about it to the point that my mouth was watering. Then I started thinking about sandwiches from Panera. I even mentally satisfied my cravings with the promise that if I lose 8 pounds (my initial thought that I shared with my coworker was 5, but he told me I would proably gain 5 back just eating there, so I finally negotiated up to 8). I know that sounds funny, and with any hope and discipline I won’t even take myself up on the offer but sometimes I just have to placade myself with a thought to get through the moment. So for now I’m fired up for a few minutes of cardio or extra reps on the strenght machines at the gym, but hopefully when I get to that goal I will be over the craving. Let’s see.

I went off my raw diet again today. the two culprits were both from the farmer’s market. A substantial helping of local made tortilla chips (very light and not at all like store bought-but cooked, not raw) and vegan tamales made with corn, black beens, and mild peppers I think along with spices-another cooked food. I am noticing that the longer I go raw, the easier it is to feel fuller faster and feel an overall heaviness after eating processed foods. I had two tamales along side the tortilla chips I had been snacking on about an hour earlier before.  I was also hungrier sooner, like within a half hour but when I ate watermelon, I still felt like I was stuffed. I also noticed this the other morning when I had a helping of grits for breakfast a couple days ago.  It was probably 2 servings (maybe a cup or cup and half) but I felt like I had eaten a brick. Interesting.

 I have also reached a bit of a plateau. The first 20 came off really fast and without much effort. Iwas eating tons of fruit then, and I probably was drinking more water then. I have tried to cut back on fruits and incorporate more veggies, mainly salads and interestingly enough I am not seeing the same results. I will probably be adding the more water dense fruits like melons again to see what will change.

I am happy to have completed a week of workout in spite of my work schedule too. So that’s a good thing.

I knew this work schedule would be difficult. 10 hours is a long time to be on your feet when you work in an assembly plant. Mon and Tue I was simply not able to push myself to workout either before or after work.  Last night though I tried just to see how bad it would be. I got off work at 4, was at the gym by 420, and did several weight lifting machines for my lower body.(butt blaster, hip abductor, calf raise, and some others) By 5am I was so tired that I felt like I would fall asleep on one of the machines. So I wrapped it up after an hour. I slept for a couple of hours, took the kids to school, and back to bed. I was up again by 1230 and to be honest even though it was a struggle to get out of the bed, once I was up and moving around I didn’t feel much more tired than I normally do. So I think I might try this again. I refuse to let another excuse (no matter how good the reason) stop me from working out.  Other than a bowl of grits with margerine today, I have still remained raw for the last couple of weeks.  Gained 4 pounds this week, followed by another 2 pound loss. I’m not stressing over it. I’m just going to keep with the program.

Sidenote: Why did this girl at work (who obviously had been watching me eat in the canteen) decide to offer me weight loss advice and suggest eating schedules for me? She claims I should cut down on my portions! I have been dining on large salads with tons of veggies and only a little olive oil with herbs and seasonings for dressing for the past week now and she had the nerve to tell me I should eat half during lunch, and the other half during another break. Its a salad for goodness sake. I’m completely satisfied after pigging out on my healthy dinner, while she’s at another table eating fast food. She told me she had once been 300 lbs and I guess she was trying to help me, but I was really annoyed. I had to cut her off when she suggested what kind of meat I should be eating with my meals (I’ve been a RAW VEGETARIAN for almost a month now) and she was shocked and started asking how long,and how I was getting my protein.  I appreciate concern, but I was getting perterbed by her presumptuousness. I mean I don’t even know this girl, come to think of it I still don’t even know her name! Anyways, I’m doing just fine and I don’t plan on changing. I’m just going to start eating with my back to her. It seems a lot of people have been watching me though, not just her. I get a lot of comments and or compliments on what I’m eating. It’s like people are more concious of what they’re eating based on what’s on my plate.

I was placed on a new job yesterday. It was a job I had been training on with the girl who was leaving to go to another position. There’s nothing quite like running a job on your own for the first time.This is one of the busier jobs I have had, and the only way I could keep up within my footprint (the 7-8 ft area it takes to gather items, start, and finish before the next job comes in) was to literally run. It was me running to the bin for my parts, running to the vehicle to set up the job, and some backwards walking to connect the parts, and a short but vigorous dash to a pallet of batteries  (yes car batteries) to set in under the hood and -oops, time to run back to the start line again. I was completely exhausted by the end of the night. My face had a salty glaze of sweat on it. My feet were sore to the touch, my arms were both heavy but strong feeling, and my lungs felt completely aired out. Under normal circumstance I would be begging my supervisor to place me somewhere else, but considering how hard it has been for me to get to the gym I am seriously and literally considering this my new workout. I plan to lose at least 5 pounds from this job.  This is a fact, not a wish. It will probably be 2 to 3 weeks until my body becomes accustomed to the job and/or my hands get quick enough under the hood so that I don’t have to run (as much). But for now, I am taking this as a blessing in disguise and challenging myself.  I weighed myself at the gym after work and the scale read 220.7. I was psyched, now I can’t wait to get to work and on my new job. 215 here I come!!!

Okay, so I’m still eating raw fruits and veggies. I’m doing a semi fast in between. I drink my cayenne pepper lemonade(master cleanse) late at night when I still have several hours to work still and trying to control my hunger. I’ve gone 2 whole days with just the lemonade as well. I plan on making it a week soon, but I’m not good with jumping into fasts like that. Anyways, I sometimes have lemonade leftover in the large gallon jug I tote to work. I had some left over from friday night, and didn’t work the holiday monday but returned tuesday with my leftover. I had my fruits in veggies the first half of the night, and planned on finishing the night sipping the lemonade. The first sip was quite different than I remember making it. It almost tasted like sprite or some carbonation had been added to it. It wasn’t outright nasty, just a barely noticeable aftertaste. I thought maybe the cayenne pepper had really saturated the flavor, but concluded in the end that the juice had began to ferment! I made it through two small cups before I decided to dump it.  I didn’t ever get woozy or buzzed, but I did end up with a hangover type headache from it within the hour. From now on if I don’t finish a batch of my lemonade within 24 hours, its gone.  Other than that little mis-hap, I’m down 2 pounds since weighing myself friday. That everlasting plan to go to the gym is still being worked over in my head. I’ve got to find a way to keep my energy up so I don’t use that as an excuse not to go. I know so deep in my heart that my results are going to be phenomenal when I begin to excercise.