Two Inches Per Pound

I saw my nutritionist again today. The weight is falling off me right now. I've lost 11 lbs since I started seeing her last month. My BP is down from 140/92 to 110 over 91. She said that the bottom number often takes longer to go down than does the top number (although the bottom number will rise rapidly). So although the top number is good, the bottom number needs some work! I will continue to watch the sodium, drink water throughout the day, and eat fruit. These things are all helpful in balancing mineral levels and helping the heart to work less hard.

Other things I will continue to focus on to improve my BP is getting enough sleep and getting back to the gym. I'm terrible at both! I've gotten out of the gym habit, but was doing 45 minutes 5 days a week before seeing the nutritionist. Now I'll aim for 30 minutes of cardio, 5 days a week as my goal for the year. This is probably more reasonable. I also need to work on lowering my anxiety level. I tend to stress over things, like my dissertation research and studying for my comprehensive exams, as well as the normal stuff we all worry about such as relationships and work issues. But I can take those anxieties to an extreme. I'm going to try meditating.

As part of each twice-a-week visit with the nutritionist I am weighed and have my BP checked. I am also measured from time to time. She says that every pound of fat lost is approximately 2 inches in size decrease throughout the body. In measuring me we came up with over 24 inches in size difference between today and when I started with her! The greatest loss was in my upper chest. She says that if you lose much more than the 2 inches per pound, the extra is likely water loss. If you lose much less than 2 inches per pound, you are often losing muscle, and that is a warning sign (this is with no weight-lifting or exercise).

These numbers are all averages of course and cannot be taken literally. Still, they are nice to keep in mind. I usually don't measure myself, but actually seeing the difference in size -on paper, at least - made me feel good today. I'll feel even better when my clothes start falling off of me!

My mostly-raw diet is going all right. I still have problems deciding what to eat, because I want quick and easy meals and simply have to get used to the fact that eating raw takes more time and makes a bigger mess. These aren't to be viewed as negatives but simply facts that I need to work into my routine. I also tend to eat the same foods all the time, so I am constantly refreshing my memory as to additional foods to eat. When I get frustrated about food choices, I also get overwhelmed and end up under-eating. Yesterday was one of those days; I ended up drinking a Naked Fruit Protein Smoothie (500 calories) to make up for skipping dinnertime because I couldn't decide what to eat. My nutritionist suggested a lower-calorie smoothie from Trader Joe's, which I will try. I tend to hate smoothies that come in a can, (Naked Juice is in a plastic bottle in the refrigerator section) but it will be my emergency beverage for those days when I've run out of food, haven't set aside enough time to prepare a meal, or can't make up my mind.

My main goals for 2007 are to have 50 lbs off before the holidays, to get my BP back to 120/80 maximum, and to get active again. I don't think I'll actually lose 50 lbs before November, but it's something to aim for.

I gained two pounds over the past week. I realize that many things cause weight to fluctuate, but I did eat waaaaay too much over the weekend. A new friend and I went hiking and then ate dinner at a restaurant that evening. I did not try to make up for the overeating, but by week's end I found that I had "undereaten" about 38 points total. This was mainly because I did not feel like snacking (except for one day where I ate pretzels) and because I ate low-point frozen meals and salads. I may have gained because I undercalculated my weekend points- who knows? The good thing is that even though I gained two pounds I still tracked my foods, ate what I should have over the rest of the week, and drank a lot more water than I usually do. I even remembered to take vitamins every day. I'm also proud of my hiking day. I got a lot of exercise completing my home organization, too: I had to put shelving together and do some heavy lifting over a three-day period. Doesn't count as cardio or anything, but I did get some musclework in.

Although I like WW for it's simplicity and dedication to health rather than to fast weight loss, it discourages me that I feel I'm "on a diet." That feeling occurs when I'm following the program properly but still feel hungry. At that point, I want to eat more but I tell myself I can't because of the point value of the foods. There are a few times when I feel so hungry on WW that I eat an extra meal. I don't go over my points because they give you an extra 35 for the entire week, which can be split into 5 a day (this week I couldn't do that because I'd eaten my extra 35 in one day!) I think that it's the types of foods I eat that lead me to feel hunger between meals. Perhaps it's the carbs or something in the processed frozen foods. Also, you don't get much buik in a "lite" frozen meal, so I don't always feel satisfied. It'll take me a while to adjust to these portion sizes if I keep eating frozen meals.

When I ate raw, I eventually stopped being so strict about counting calories and fat, or doing portion control. I ate when I was hungry, stopped when I was full, and still lost weight -and felt good! So although WW is great for losing weight and is very healthy, I'm still eating foods that scream "DIET" to me, and which don't fully satisfy me.

To deal with the hunger and lack of "satisfaction" I will try to take more fruit to work with me, and maybe make bigger salads. Over time I should phase out the frozen foods in favor of whole foods that I prepare myself, but that will depend on how much time I want to spend in the kitchen. That Vitamix is looking better all the time! I can quickly chop up a bunch of veggies and herbs and stick 'em in the fridge. I figure the money I spend on the Vitamix will be made up by not spending that money on the salad bar at Whole Foods!

I still have my days where I feel lonely and depressed, but I'm not eating my way through them. Unfortunately, I am not at all motivated to go to the gym and have yet to go this year. I have all the equipment I need so I have no excuse to avoid it except my mental state. I could probably use the endorphins to get me through the rough times, so I really need to start going.

Note to JennP who left a comment this week- it's nice to know others are trying (or thinking of trying) the same thing I happen to be doing. I do believe that I can adapt WW to a raw diet as I head in that direction. And maybe I'll get there sooner than later, since I'm not at all happy with the foods I'm eating now!