2018 New Year's Resolutions

This time a year ago I sat at this computer, desperate to make some major changes in my life.  Some things I know I cannot control and some of them I can.  I knew I could change the course my health was on.  So many times before I had failed on this front.  For some reason, unknown to me I was very successful this time.  Maybe I was just ready.  I'm really not sure, but once I set my mind to it last January, I never gave up.  I faltered many times but I just kept going.  My reward at the end of the year was a much slimmer, healthier, happier me. I made my goal of loosing 40 pounds by October 2017.  Having achieved that I immediately started on loosing another 10 pounds, which would give me a 50 pound loss for the year. 

I didn't make that second goal.  I was within two pounds when the holiday season hit.  Try as I might to stay on track I gave in to overeating and eating off plan and I gained back several pounds.

So as I sit here I'm ready to set my goals for 2018.  I want to get down into the low 120's.  I'm short and round and I need to get there to be at my best health as I continue my journey through the last stage of my life. 

Weight loss was not my only goal last year, but it was the major one.  So, what else will I strive to achieve in 2018?

I'll continue my goal of reading more.  My goal remains to read a novel each month.  I fell way short last year so I think I will dedicate one evening each week as my no tv night.  I think that's the only way I'll make my goal.

I'm going to work on flexibility this coming year.  To that end I'll start doing P90X Stretch Tuesday and Thursday mornings instead of my normal 3 mile walk/jog.  I've made great progress in this area, but I need to dedicate planned time for each each week.

I want to learn a new skill.  I'm going to learn how to crochet.  I've found some online resources and there's a local yarn store that offers classes.  One way or the other I'm going to be a crocheter by the end of the year.

I'm going to start job hunting soon.  In February I will be at my current job three years.  It's not where I want to be and I've been patiently waiting and learning everything I can where I am.  I'm hoping my experience and skills will help me find something somewhere else.

That's it.  It's not a long list and it's a list I think I can achieve.

New Year, New Goals

It's been almost a month since I posted last.  This is me this morning, 12/30/17.

The last month has been long and hard.  I know I've put back on a few pounds but it's not as bad as it could have been.  Going vegan was the best thing I ever did.  Now, when I'm tempted to overeat, and I have over the last month, I pick something like oatmeal, or potatoes or dried fruit.  I definitely ate too much over this holiday season, but I overate on things that are really healthy.  You can still gain weight eating a healthy diet and I did put some weight back on.  But not much.  I'm still wearing my size eight pants, although they are a little tight at the moment.  My point is that, had I been binging on donuts instead of oatmeal and potatoes I believe my weight would have gone way back up. 

So, on the eve of a new year I've been making plans for the next year.  I want to make my good habits more permanent.  I still have some weight to loose.  I still want to get down into the 120's.  I know I can get there if I stick to a vegan, whole foods diet that is as free as possible from salt, oil and sugar.

To this end, for the coming week I will be eating vegetable soup for breakfast, salads for lunch and fruit for dinner.  It's a tried and true formula for me.  If it ain't broke don't fix it.

I have been making some changes to my fitness program.  Monday, Wednesday and Friday I will continue with my routine of the 3 mile walk/jog in the mornings, and in the evenings 30 minutes of step and 30 minutes of strength building.

Tuesday and Thursday will be P90X Stretch, and  hour long long, intense stretching video in the mornings and in the evenings, 30 minutes of step and building up to 30 minutes of what I call fun exercises: jump rope, hoola hoop, jumping jacks, jumping up onto my step.  Lots of jumping.  It builds core strength and balance and is good for the whole body.

So basically, I go forward into this new year sticking to what I know works and adding some new things for variety and continue growth.

I also wanted to touch base about the "How Not To Die Cookbook".  It's great and I highly recommend it.  Every recipe I've tried was good.  I would specifically recommend both the kale soup and the collard green soup.  I made both and love both:

 Above is the collage green/black eyed pea soup.  I had it for dinner every day for a week.  It's hearty and filling but low in calories. 

Pictured above is the kale/sweet potato soup.  I thought the collard soup was the best soup I'd ever had until I made this one.  The kale is superb and pared so well with the sweet potato.

How Not to Die Cookbook by Dr. Michael Greger

 I spent the afternoon looking at the photos and recipes on this new book just out, How Not to Die Cookbook, by Dr. Michael Greger.  The photos are beautiful and there isn't one recipe that doesn't look good to me.  This book is a companion to another book of the same name, also written by Dr. Greger. 

Dr. Greger has a eating system that he has boiled down to what he calls the Daily Dozen.  All the recipes in this book adhere to the healthy, whole foods on that list.  So, as I picked out the recipes I'm going to try first, I made sure I was ticking off as many items as possible of the daily dozen.  That way I know I'm getting the most nutrition possible from what I'm eating on a daily basis.

I've been a fan of Dr. Greger since I decided to switch to a plant based, whole food way of eating.  This cookbook makes eating that way look really good.  This cookbook is going to help me balance my diet and continue to loose weight.

I paid $17.99 for this hardback book on Amazon and I got it in two days.  What a deal.  It's a very well put together cookbook with beautiful photos of every recipe.  If you are looking for a vegan cookbook, I highly recommend this one.

Weight Loss Update and What I'm Eating

The above photo was taken this morning, 12/3/17.

I was off work the whole week of Thanksgiving.  I rested and relaxed.  I didn't exercise and I pretty much ate what I wanted that was vegan.  I also cooked a big, non vegan meal for my family for Thanksgiving and I ate all the vegetable dishes.

I gained one pound during that week.  So I'm at 139 right now.  I am now wearing a size 8 in ladies sizes.  I still want to get down into the 120's before I transition to maintenance.

To that end, I spent the week working out hard and eating a compliant, vegan diet.  I didn't loose any weight.  So Here's my strategy for the coming week:

I'm switching from oatmeal to vegetable soup for breakfast.  I dearly love oatmeal and I believe it's so good for us, but it just doesn't keep me satisfied until lunch.  My homemade, all fresh soup is very filling because of the liquid and hearty so I don't get hungry until lunch, which is about 6 hours after my breakfast.  I'm going in the opposite direct for lunch; something less heavy.  I fill a six cup container with lettuce.  My toppings this week are three bean salad, sliced beets, bell pepper and two tablespoons of chow chow.  I'm not using any dressing because I used the three bean liquid and that with the chow chow should be enough.  This is a lot of food but because lettuce has so few calories its not a calorie dense meal.  For dinner I will continue to eat fruit only.  Typically I'll eat a banana or apple before my evening workout and something like grapes afterwards. 

This strategy of eating more calorie dense meals at the beginning of the day and going lighter for lunch and dinner has worked for me thus far and I hope it will continue to do so.

Here's some of the good things I've been eating:

 I heard about this Vegan Egg product some time ago but I couldn't get it locally.  Finally, it showed up at my local Publix grocery store.  It is amazing!  It taste good and looks good.  To be fair, I only eat it mixed with grits because that's how I used to eat eggs.  For me this is a treat.  I only eat it on the weekends because it's not a whole food. 

 Above is my bowl of grits with "bacon" bits and the vegan egg on top.  It scrambles just like eggs and is great for people like me who love this combo.

 This last week I put pumpkin purree into my oatmeal and pumpkin spice oatmeal.  In the above photo I have sprinkles ground flax seeds over the oatmeal.  So good!

My weekend meal was this dry bean soup mix with onion, potato and diced tomatoes served over rice.  I sprinkle some tumeric over the top.

The No Makeup Project Update

In the above photo, taken this morning, I'm wearing moisturizer, then 50 spf sunscreen mixed with a dollop of bb cream.  Over that I have on powder, blush and bronzer.  I'm also wearing eye shadow and mascara.  I only wear eye shadow on the weekends when I want to be a little more made up.

When I posted about not wearing makeup any longer I had the best of intentions.  I really want to ween myself off of makeup all together and I've been trying to wear less and less to work.

However, I've been struggling with wearing sunscreen only.  High spf sunscreen is heavy and sticky and shiny.  I can feel it on my skin, especially my neck.  One day last week, my sunscreen didn't agree with the moisturizer I had used under it and it began pilling and beading on my neck.  That is not attractive at work!

I've been working on my no makeup strategy for most of the year.  I've tried lots of combinations of products and so far this is my best technique: 

I apply a moisturizer with low spf in it first and let it dry.  Then I apply my heavy duty sunscreen that's 50 spf.  No matter what brand I try, it's always heavy.  I still have some tinted sunscreen 50 spf, but I'm saving that for the weekends when I want to dress up a bit.  For work, after my sunscreen dries I apply powder so that I'm not so shiny and sticky.  The powder really helps.  I don't think I could go without it because it makes all that sunscreen wearable for me.

I put the layer of moisturizer on my skin first because heavy spf sunscreen can be irritating to my skin when I wear it all day long.  The down side of this is that I have two layers of cream on my skin.  It moves around on my skin, it comes off onto the inside of my clothing and if I sweat it turns white and become visible.  The powder helps with these issues.

So, I guess what I'm saying is that I'm finding that I actually still need some makeup components.  My goal is still to reduce my makeup supply and consumption as much as possible.  But at this point, while I'm still in the workforce, I don't think I can completely go without some bits and pieces.

Some might wonder why I don't just go without anything, as that's what the vast majority of women I know and see do.  For me that's not an option because I've been battling recurring skin cancer for more than 10 years now.  High spf sunscreen is essential for me.  I believe that everyone should be wearing sunscreen all the time.  It would drastically reduce the incidence of skin cancer for older people like myself.