downright amazing!

Cliff and I spent Saturday and Sunday pigging out the way we used to.  I ate ALL the brown sugar fudge that was left in the house.  We had plates piled high with food at our family holiday dinner, and ate too many nuts and sweets afterward.

I weighed 152 when all was said and done; Cliff weighed 216.

We agreed that it really hadn't been all that much fun, the mindless eating.

When we have a steak dinner out... that's fun.

Or when we buy a medium pizza and each eat half... that's fun.

Because then we're aware of every bite and what a rare treat it is.

But when we saunter through the kitchen thinking, "What can I eat now," it's a bummer.  And even worse is the over-stuffed feeling afterward.

Monday we were back on track.  We agreed to limit even healthy snacks until we got our weights were they were before.

Today, for our Wednesday weigh-in, Cliff weighs 211 and I am at 147 1/2.  Only four days after all that brown sugar fudge????  WOW!

We will keep pursuing our latest goals, which is 200 for Cliff and 145 for me.  Hopefully we'll get there by our birthdays.

By the way, ideal weight for Cliff on the charts, counting him as "big-boned", is 161 to184.  I can't imagine him weighing so little; it seems like he'd be nothing more than a skeleton.  But the less he weighs, the less burden it is on his slightly-damaged heart.

My ideal, according to insurance company charts, is 134 to 151, if I am considered big-boned.  Which means I'm pretty much "in the zone".  The less I weigh, though, the easier it will be on my knees.

We're getting there, thanks be to God.

Tags: weight, diets, overeating

back to the plan

Cliff and I went back to our old, pig-out ways for two days, thanks to Christmas.  My weight had already begun creeping up from a low of 147 a few weeks ago, as a result of evening snacking.  And alas, yesterday after the holiday feasting, I weighed 151.5.  (This morning, though, it's 149.  Whew!)

Cliff had gotten as low as 211, very briefly.  Yesterday he weighed 215.

It amazes me how we enable one another when it comes to over-eating.  It's as if I say to myself, "Oh, he's eating chips?  I should get some too!"

Anyway, we now have new motivation after being reminded how easily we slip, and I am aiming for 145.  Cliff is going for 200. 

We've decided to forgo our Tuesday Subway meals for now.  The calories really aren't that bad, but the sodium is.  And there's a certain mindset that comes with eating out, anyhow, that's conducive to overeating.  Oh, we'll still have a Subway when we're on the road going somewhere.  Just not that every-Tuesday lunch-and-dinner-both thing.

true confessions

Cliff and I have spent a whole year staying on track with our eating habits.  Oh, we'd go off the deep end once in awhile by eating out, and eating too much:  But it all worked out, we'd get back on the straight-and-narrow, and everything was fine.

Cliff has maintained perfectly.  I, on the other hand, have gained three pounds; it might even be five by now, after yesterday's indiscretions.

I blame my weight-gain on the long, dark evenings spent sitting in my Lazy-boy, snacking on popcorn or almonds or Simply Naked Pita chips.  All of those are good choices, but they aren't meant to be eaten every day, two or three servings at a time, after supper. 

Yeah, I've been a bad girl.

Yesterday Cliff had "goodie day" at work.  That's the day everyone takes their finger foods, candies, and snacks of all kinds to work to share.  As I thought of him indulging in those "goodies" (remember, he is not the one who has gained weight) I began to feel sorry for myself.  Here it is almost Christmas, and I haven't even made my favorite brown-sugar fudge once!

So, with the granddaughters cheering me on, I made one batch of marshmallow fudge and one of brown sugar fudge.  They licked the pans for me.

Then I got out the summer sausage that was given to us by a neighbor, and started on it.  Of course, it needed some cheese to go with it.  Oh yeah.  When my daughter came for the girls, she brought me the smallest bag she could get of cheese-flavored Topsy's popcorn.  I can't believe I ate the whole thing.  Dear Lord, I'm glad she didn't get a big can of it!

What I'm saying is, my eating has been totally out of control for the first time in a year.  And to think this is how I used to eat every day!

I'm fixing the Christmas dinner today:  turkey, green rice, mashed potatoes, home-made noodles, home-made yeast rolls.  I doubt I'll be in control at suppertime.

But after today, I promise you, those extra however-many-pounds it turns out to be are history.

A wonderful recipe for the holiday season

Do you love pumpkin pie as much as I do?

It's the healthiest holiday dessert that exists!  But you can make it a PERFECT holiday, or any-time-of-the-year, dessert.

Forget the crust.

Take your favorite pumpkin pie filling recipe.

Substitute non-fat evaporated milk for the  regular kind.

For every egg, substitute 2  egg whites.

Add 1/2 cup of flour (ideally 1/2 cup of whole-wheat flour) to the mix.

Spray a pie pan with Pam, and pour the filling in.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 to 50 minutes.

Serve with a tablespoon full of lower fat Cool Whip.

You'll think you are sinning, but you aren't.
 

Hmmmm

Today is weigh-day.  Of course, I weigh almost every morning, but Wednesday is the one that "counts".  If you have followed my Wednesday weigh-ins here in this journal, you might have noticed a trend upward in my weight.

Today I weigh 150.

I know what the problem is.  Evening snacking while watching TV.

Thanks to sparkpeople.com, I know exactly why I'm gaining weight:  I'm taking in over 2,700 calories per day.  Good grief!!!!

I could tell you how I used to sometimes take in twice that many calories.  I could pat myself on the back for only eating two pieces of home-made fudge every day, and doing entirely without fruitcake and cheese ball and hot hamburger dip and cranberry bread.

But none of that changes the fact that I am taking in more calories than I'm using.

Thank the good Lord New Year's Day is approaching, because I've always found new motivation at that time.  Let's hope it works for me this year!

I find the polls on how much the average person gains throughout the holidays tend to disagree:  there's this one , which says it's five to ten pounds (that's been my experience) and this one that says only one pound, and this one , which estimates seven pounds.

Looks like this year, even doing without my Christmas goodies, I've gained a couple.  And Christmas isn't here yet!

Oh, did I mention Cliff weighs 213?  He's still losing weight.

::sigh::

Things I miss

I'm pushing the upper limits of my weight just now, what with the short days, snow-covered ground and frigid temperatures... not to mention my arthritic knees, which make me want to sit more than I should.  So, I weighed 149 1/2 today.  Yeah, you can say I'm still below 150, which was my original goal.  But it wouldn't take much to put me over 150, and that rather scares me.

Cliff weighs 214 1/2, and is very happy to be wearing size 36 jeans today.

Now, if I'd gotten down below 145, I'd feel like I could splurge a few calories and have some of the Christmas goodies that I really miss.  But pushing the limit as I am, I'm afraid to make any of that good stuff, because all those foods send me out of control quite easily. 

Here's a list of foods I miss during the holiday season:

Brown sugar fudge, my mom's recipe.

Kraft cheese ball... the one where you mix three jars of different-flavored Kraft cheese spreads with some cream cheese, onion, and Worcestershire sauce, make it into a ball, and roll the whole thing in nuts.

Fruitcake.  Yeah, I know, nobody is supposed to like it.  But I do.  Especially my mom's family recipe.

Nacho chips dipped in hot cheese dip, either the easy one where you mix simply mix Velveeta with Rotel, or the hot hamburger dip I've always made in wintertime.

Home-made caramel corn.

Oh, and I always crave Pizza Hut pizza, not just during the holidays.  Once in a great while we indulge (or I should say Cliff indulges me, because he could live without pizza), but it isn't like the old days when we ran to the Pizza Hut buffet at least once a week.  I know, you can make choices like having the cheese left off, and making it vegetarian.  But that isn't what I'm craving.

OK, I'm going to go cry now.   Hurry  up, springtime... come on back!