Week 8 Results

Yesterday was so hectic, I just had no time to report my results.  In fact an interesting thing happened.  I had so many errands to run,  people to transport, and things to attend like track meets that I just did not have time to eat.  I really believed that.  That is an amazing transformation.  What really happened was I did not have time to get back home and eat a nice clean meal.  I did not even think about picking up some fast food.  Just last December, during the Christmas shopping rush, I used every errand running opportunity to drive through Chick-fil-A.  In fact, I planned errands around lunch, looking forward to that chicken sandwich, waffle fries dipped in honey mustard sauce, and sweet tea.   Hopefully I am forming new habits, because I did not even consider stopping by for even a grilled chicken salad.

WEEK 8 RESULTS




Fasting Blood Sugar for 3/22/11 through 3/28/11


82
86
75
91
77
78
96

Morning Blood Pressure for 3/22/11 through 3/28/11


96/60
99/54
107/72  Less sleep???
102/57
98/59
97/65
100/59

Dreaded Scale Numbers for 3/23/11 through 3/29/11


-0
-1
-1
+0.5
-0
-0
-1
So minus 2 1/2 pounds this week.  That brings my total to minus 27 1/2 pounds since January 1, 2011.  Friday will be April first, so I will post a total loss for the month of March on Friday.  I would love to lose another pound or two by then, but I never know what that unpredictable scale is going to do.

Exercise for 3/22/11 through 3/28/11


elliptical 60 minutes 4.3 miles  
walked outside for 53 minutes and 12 seconds  4 miles
elliptical 34 minutes 2.1 miles
elliptical 34 minutes 2.4 miles
elliptical 46 minutes 3.3 miles
Sunday nap and rest day! Love it and look forward to it!
elliptical 46 minutes 3.2 miles  lower body exercises/weights
It has gotten cold like winter again, and I am looking forward to nicer weather to walk outside some again.
I am sore from adding the weight training on Monday.  I plan to be more diligent about the weight/exercise training in April.

It is a busy but good week.  I hope to blog again by the end of the week with goals for April.  I leave you with a sweet picture of my youngest and Lila the guard kitty.  The fun cousins have gone home, and all is right with the world with the two bunking back in the bed together again!

Lila Guard Kitty

It was so sweet I had to post it.  Every night Lila sleeps with my little man.  In fact I wrote about it here. My little man gladly gave up his bed the last three nights so his visiting cousin could sleep in it.  In fact, he insisted on having a practice night the day before his cousin came, so he slept on the floor four nights.  (Some battles with six year olds are just not worth arguing about!) Anyway I thought it was the sweetest thing that Lila joined him on the floor each evening.  She didn't stay on her usual spot on the bed, but snuggled right next to the little guy.  Oh a boy and his cat, huh?  (Please excuse the toy boxes everywhere....the cousins had a big time playing!)

Lunch today was Costco's yummy frozen salmon burgers grilled with grilled asparagus and carrot sticks.  My hubby also had a bowl of avocado salad.  I had mine minus the whole wheat bun.  I am doing pretty well not eating most things.  I made pancakes, muffins, and bought other goodies for the boys and their two visiting cousins.  None of it was too tempting.  Although I did let myself eat a leftover grilled hamburger patty yesterday.  I had not had beef since at least January.  I ate the beef patty for lunch, and I was really sick all evening.  I tried not to be very far from the bathroom if you know what I mean.  Having eaten beef all my life, I had no idea it would do that to me.  I do not think I will try eating beef for a while. Anyway, I made it through all the regular temptations of cookies and junk, but my hubby's sister dropped this off along with the boys on Tuesday.

Lately I have been doing well when it comes to enticing food, but I knew this gigantic bakery loaf of deliciousness was just out of my temptation conquering league. I have a weakness for cinnamon bread covered in white sugary sweetness.  I stared at this, sniffed it, and admired its shininess through that cellophane. By Wednesday morning I knew I had met my temptation match, so thinking quickly I sent it off with my girlie to the high school office.  I knew that yummy baby wouldn't survive the day in the teachers' lounge.  I felt good about the regift, and even better that I didn't have to hear that bread calling my name one more second.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Easter

Last week was spring break and I finally finished de-snowmanifying the house, organized some areas, and released the spring decor.  With the sunshine and gorgeous weather we are having, it is nice having a little spring on the inside.  I wish I could do some inside flowers; tulips are my favorite this time of year, but Lila the bad kitty eats anything green we display in the house and later throws it back up....so no fresh flowers sadly.

                Lila the bad kitty; we love you even if you do eat our plants.

Below is my pantry.  This will probably stay organized for a skinny minute since I have lots of helpers getting things in and out of here.  I have to throw in a couple cupboards too....exciting blogging going on here!  But you know they do say when you start getting your weight issues under control it spills over into getting other areas under control.

Please do not judge me on my contents.  There are a lot of people eating here that would plot a mutiny if I strictly enforced my new clean eating on everyone.  Baby steps!

My snowman dishes are gone from the cupboard and shelves until next winter.  It is always refreshing to get out the lighter weight dishes.

Now it was time to eat on those plates.  We had salmon salad and carrots.

I had a great walk/ little jog today outside.  I started out slow and figured it was going to be a tough day for exercise.  Something happened, maybe the gorgeous weather inspired me or those endorphins kicked in, but I ended up doing 4 miles in 53.12 minutes.  I did not start my strength training yet....maybe tomorrow.

Week 7 Results

Breakfast this morning was oatmeal with berries.  I was a little skeptical about oatmeal sans melted brown sugar, but the berries were very sweet and made it delicious.  This has been a good week.  I was a little discouraged with the scale.  I really increased my exercise, and decreased my food intake on a few days, and still the scale did not want to move enough for my liking.  I am still eating very clean though, so I am going to trust the process and hope the scale will move a little quicker again one of these weeks.
One other strange thing is happening; the more weight I lose, the fatter I get.  I guess that means that I am finally starting to face reality.  Yes, my clothes are looser, and I am fitting into some things I have not worn in a long time, but wearing shirts that do not drape on me and are not covered up with a sweater or jacket shows me I have a long way to go.  I am actually not discouraged by this, but excited to see the fat rolls roll  off.  There is hope in knowing the shirt I have on today will look even better in a month or two.  Finally all the clothes staring at me in the closet are inspiring instead of incriminating.

WEEK 7 RESULTS


Fasting Blood Sugar


3-15     93
3-16     94
3-17     96
3-18     80
3-19     91
3-20     81
3-21     94
I am really not happy with my blood sugar numbers this week.  I tried a lower carb clean eating day yesterday for an experiment, and my blood sugar was 82 this morning.  I would like to see the 80s more consistently.  I am hoping that when I get to a normal weight in a few months I will be less insulin resistant.

Morning Blood Pressure

3-15     102/67
3-16     97/58
3-17     98/64
3-18     78/51
3-19     89/56
3-20     90/58
3-21     109/66

Dreaded Scale Numbers


3-16     -1
3-17     -1.5
3-18     -0
3-19     +0.5
3-20     +0.5
3-21     -0
3-22     -0.5
So I ended the week with -2 pounds.  I started out losing, and I guess I was hoping that trend was going to continue all week to end in a little bigger number than 2.  That makes -25 since January1,2011.  23 of those pounds are from the last 7 weeks.

Exercise


3-15     elliptical 41 min. 2.7 miles
3-16     outside walking/ a little jogging for 43:43 min. 3.2 miles
3-17     walked/ a little jogging outside for 32:40 min 2.4 miles
3-18     just house cleaning...does that count?  :)
3-19     elliptical 46 min. 3.2 miles
3-20     rested
3-21     elliptical 46 min. 3.3 miles
Right now I am reading the book below.  Tosca Reno is an advocate of clean eating, aerobic exercise, and weight lifting.  This week I hope to start adding in weight lifting/strength training.  I need to try to sculpt a lot of this flabbiness as my weight decreases.  I am enjoying her book.

My personal review on Zija.

I will not be buying any more Zija.  It is supposed to be made from the moringa plant and be very nutritious.  I did not notice any improvements from drinking the powder every morning or the tea every other evening.  I did not like the xm3 capsules at all.  They have several ingredients including caffeine.  I really reacted negatively to the capsule.  It made me feel jittery and made my heart rate higher.  In fact, I woke up after a very restless night with a resting heart rate of 95.  That scared me.  You are supposed to take one capsule a day, and I only tried them two days.  I will not be taking the other five capsules.  I researched caffeine, and for me it is not a healthy option. Since I have been caffeine free since at least February 1, 2011 I probably was very sensitive to the caffeine.  I do not like a line of products promoting good health that includes a capsule with caffeine.  I am going to stick to my clean eating plan and skip the Zija.

Perspective

It's a beautiful thing...an eleven year old learning to mow.  Oh happy day!  It was just such a beautiful spring day.  My six year old was not to be left out on the picture taking, and showed off his playset skills below.

A couple thoughts on perspective.  The other day I was walking and slightly jogging when I noticed my shadow in front of me.  It looked long and almost thinnish.  Since it was the only entertainment I had, the longer I stared at it the taller I stood and the faster I jogged.  I became one with the shadow and started thinking I looked like that.  Looking lean and long made me feel healthy and strong; like I could conquer the world, or at least that three mile walk.  I finished with one of my best times yet, and walked into the house with an invigorated stride.  There was a purpose in each step, and a swivel in my hips.  When I passed the mirror in my bathroom I did a double take when reality stared back at me.  I was a little shorter and a lot wider than my shadow, but it was too late, I was inspired because I had gotten a glimpse of what can be.

Another thought on perspective.  I am constantly wondering how much weight I can lose by certain events coming up.  Today I was trying to zip up some old size 12s.  Miraculously they zipped, but left a lot of wobbly bits stuffed inside of them.  I immediately started adding up how many weeks there are  until I attend a special luncheon in April, and how many after that until Easter.  Oh there are events after that to keep losing for such as beach week, VBS, the Fourth of July, and my birthday in August.  Then of course there are all the fall festivities to attend for my daughter who will be a senior.  I so look forward to looking nice for her.  After that there's our anniversary in October, and a girl can dream about wearing something nice on a trip with her man.

Then I realized, that not very long ago I had an entirely different perspective when it came to events in my future.  Instead of the events spurring me on to eat healthy and exercise, the events were my excuse to never start.  It went something like this....I cannot start eating healthy in August because we celebrate five birthdays that month, and forget September because there's another birthday and the beginning of school is so stressful.  October?  Why start in October when not only is there another birthday,and my anniversary, but hello Halloween and all that candy.  November you guessed it...another birthday (a family of nine has a lot of birthdays), and of course Thanksgiving.  I would not have even considered starting a healthy eating regime during December with all those parties and Christmas baking.  That really only left one month on the calendar to eat healthy: January.  Yes the coldest, literally darkest month of the year I was going to give it my all to revamp my eating habits.  I did not have long because Valentines was always right around the corner, followed by spring break in March, and Easter with all the candy not long after.  That would get me to May when I declared summer break and decided who can eat healthy on vacation?  That vacation lasted me until August where I hopelessly decided there would be nothing I could do about the fat situation until....yes...January.

I don't know that I ever really admitted all that denial to myself, but I used all those events as excuses not to eat healthy, instead of viewing those events as inspirations to get fit and healthy for.

One last perspective.  I used to give in to temptation, usually in the form of my nightly ice cream bowl, with the thought that what is one more day going to matter?  I could always start tomorrow.  There were a lot of tomorrows in the last six years.  Now I am seeing a little more clearly that tomorrow is today.  TOMORROW I WILL BE WHAT I AM TODAY.  Today if I am eating healthy and exercising, tomorrow I will be growing stronger, thinner, and healthier.  Today if I am eating unhealthy junk and sitting on the couch, tomorrow I will be feeling sluggish, fatter, and hopeless.  And very soon tomorrow turns into July, and October, and December.  Very soon.  Today is tomorrow; I want to live life to the fullest every day.

Happy 97th Birthday Memaw!!

My husband's parents brought his sweet Grandma over for a little birthday celebration last night.  The Saint Patrick's Day birthday girl celebrated 97 years young.  She is a southern lady who always enjoyed her white bread (none of that dirty bread she says referring to wheat bread), cornbread, fired okra, and a long list of other no nos like sweet tea and coke.  I think one key to her longevity, besides the obvious inherited great genes, might have been that she ate what she wanted but she never overate.  She worked hard getting her exercise from life instead of treadmills, ate modestly, relied heavily on her faith, and had a wonderful support line of family and friends.  When she headed out last night, walking slowly toward the door with the help of her cane, she gave me a very familiar tight squeeze followed with encouragingly lovely words.  Her birthday , yet she brightened my day.  I am going to stop being so stingy with my squeezes and encouraging words; I want to brighten some days of the people around me.  Watch out people around me...some brightening is coming your way!

My morning Zija drink.  I am trying the Zija program this week.  The drink, made from the Moringa Tree is not bad.  The detox tea I drink every other night is not bad either.  The XM3 capsules are scaring me.  I am really affected by any kind of supplement anyway, so I may be a little more sensitive than some people.  However, I have only taken 2 of these, 1 the first day, and 1 the 3rd day.  The first day within 45 minutes of taking it my face was flushed red, my head felt weird like zinging, my heart was not exactly racing but I felt like I was nervous or full of anxiety.  So I looked at the ingredients and it contains caffeine among other things.  Caffeine is very controversial, and Dr. Junger in his book Clean does not recommend it for several reasons.  After my first bad reaction I did not think I would try another pill, but Thursday I found myself curious about giving it another shot.  I did not react quite as badly (must have been getting used to it already), but it made my heart rate higher.  I also did not sleep as well, and woke up with low blood pressure, but a high heart rate.  That scares me a little, so I don't know if I will try the pill again.  I am taking a day off to think about it.  

Spring break this year equals cleaning up and cleaning out.  I am getting a lot done, so maybe the Zija drink is giving me some energy!  Also, my walking with a tiny bit of jogging included was great the last two days.  The dreaded scale seems to be moving a little better this week too.  Hopefully I will have good numbers to report next Tuesday.  

One-Half A Double Chin Gone

I still have another half left to go....of my double chin that is, but before I headed out this morning I was wearing the same outfit I headed out in on February 11, 2011.  I wanted to take a couple shots to see if my face is looking any better by March 16, 2011.  Not a huge change yet, but I think the puffiness is better.  Maybe in a couple more months cheek bones will appear!

The pictures above were taken this morning.  The pictures below were taken on February 11, 2011.

I am headed outside to walk off my Chick-Fil-A chargrilled chicken salad.  Miracle of miracles, I did not touch one waffle fry or nibble one chicken nugget from my boys lunch.  That's just one of the many new perks they get from Mom's new clean eating!

Week 6 Results and Giveaway Winner

First up is the winner of one of my favorite books.  I enlisted the help of my handsome assistants.  There were only two names to put in the hat.

My assistants are dressed in the spirit of spring break even though the high was a chilly 49 today.  

Lisa you won!!!! Please contact me in the comments with your email.  I will email you to get your mailing address.  You are going to love this book; it is changing my life!

A little explanation on why this is week six results and my total weight loss goes back to January 1, 2011.  There are obviously more weeks than six since January first.  In January I weighed in for my weight at the beginning of 2011.  I did not really start any real eating plan due to traveling twice that month, but I did lose 2 pounds.  So two of my total pounds lost were in January.  February 1, 2011 I did the Clean Program and I started counting my weeks that week.  It really doesn't matter I guess, except the longest I usually manage to stay consistent on any weight loss plan is around 12 weeks and I like seeing the number of weeks grow hoping I will eventually pass that marker.   This week I am trying something new, and will explain a little about it after my results.  I couldn't keep out of the dates a few times this week and it showed on my fasting blood sugar numbers.  Interestingly, when my fasting blood sugar goes up my blood pressure does also.  Salt does not seem to affect it, but sugar really does!

WEEK 6 RESULTS

Fasting Blood Sugar

3-8     95       I gotta stay out of the dates!

3-9     92       Same problem.

3-10   82       You guessed it....NO dates.

3-11   94      I do not really know what happened here.

3-12   76      

3-13   92

3-14   97     Really not liking this one.

Morning Blood Pressure

3-8     92/52

3-9     86/59

3-10   104/63

3-11   93/63

3-12   90/51

3-13   101/63

3-14   91/69

These numbers don't show it quite as much, but I felt like my overall blood pressure later in the day was running slightly higher.  Not bad yet, but now really low.  I think it is related to my higher sugars.

Dreaded Scale Numbers

3-9     -0

3-10   -0

3-11   - 0.5

3-12   -0.5

3-13   +0.5   I was not a happy camper this morning.

3-14   -0

3-15  -1.5   Finally!  The Lord knew I needed the encouragement.  

So a total loss of -2 for week six.  That brings my total weight loss since January 1, 2011 to -23. I actually have exactly 10 pounds more to lose until my bmi says overweight instead of obese.  When I get there, I may be brave enough to post my weight on the internet. :)

Minutes of Exercise

3-8     50 minutes of walking with a friend at the church track.

3-9     41 minutes/ 2.7 miles on my elliptical.

3-10   46 minutes/ 2.9 miles on my elliptical.

3-11   46 minutes/2 miles on my elliptical.  

3-12   55 minute walk/ 3.34 miles outside with my sweetie.

3-13   Rested.  Took a record long Sunday afternoon nap!

3-14   34 minutes/ 2.2 miles on my elliptical

I am also keeping track of my heart rate (average and highest), and my calories burned.  I know my mileage is pitiful for my time, but hopefully as I continue to get in better shape it will improve.  I am very happy with six workouts for this week!

Since my sugars are a little higher and I have been feeling a little snacky, Mr. Smoothie and I decided today to do a few days of the strict Clean program eating.  Today we had a berry smoothie for breakfast, broiled salmon, asparagus, and a green avocado and carrot salad for lunch, and a green juice below for dinner.  

The new thing I am adding this week is called Zija.  It is a drink made from the moringa plant.  If you google it you find lots of information on how nutrient dense this plant is, and how they are using it to feed starving children.  A friend of mine is selling it, and so I bought one weeks worth to see if it makes me feel better.  I will let you know what I think after my one week trial.

If any of you have any experience with this product I would love to hear what you think. 

Giveaway and Discouraged

My Giveaway ends Tuesday evening so PLEASE leave a comment here or at the bottom of this post, and your name will be entered in the running.  This book is one of the best motivational books I have ever read, and I really look forward to giving one away.  Please comment!

It is par for the course: discouragement.  How do you handle it?  I could use some tips.  This week I have worked harder than ever.  I increased my exercise and ate really well.  I did have dates twice and it shows on my blood sugar readings, but no desserts since February 1, 2011.  For me that is a miracle in itself.  The scale is laughing at me.  It just doesn't want to budge, and I have deadlines.  Deadlines in my head...you know...Easter, summertime,  vacation Bible school, Fourth of July, my August birthday.  Most of all, it is just so discouraging to work so hard, concentrate so keenly, plan so meticulously, stand on that stupid elliptical so long, and feel like my body is not responding.  I guess it is not responding quickly enough is more true.  I am in this for the long haul (I pray and hope), but discouragement still happens.  When the scale doesn't move I think of all the things I didn't eat.  I begin to concentrate on all the things I "gave up" instead of all the things I am getting.  Whether or not my dreaded scale moves I am getting smaller,seeing lower fasting blood sugar levels, lower morning blood pressure numbers, smoother skin, and looser clothes.   I also keep thinking about the request for prayer on the nursery sheet yesterday; real problems like children with cancer, people without jobs, sick adults, people needing organ transplants.  The list was long, serious, and overwhelming.  Those are real problems many people are facing this Monday morning, and I need to pray for them, throw on my tennis shoes, hop on my elliptical, and be thankful I can eat right and exercise no matter how loudly that scale is laughing at me.  Okay, pep talk to myself done.  Do I feel better?  It is still raining outside and I still feel discouraged, but my head knowledge tells me "When you know better you do better"( Maya Angelou).  So I will try to work on my patience and choose the right things today.  Hopefully the scale will move eventually!

PLEASE comment so I can put your name in the hat for this motivational book!!!

GIVEAWAY, GIVEAWAY, GIVEAWAY

This is my first giveaway, and I am very excited.  I am excited because I really believe in the principles in this book.  I enjoy reading this book.  I say reading because I still pick it up and reread the highlighted portions that motivate me and keep me going in the right direction.  Lysa Terkeurst is an amazing woman with an amazing story.  She motivated an entire community to adopt 33 children from a Liberian orphanage after she and her husband adopted two boys.  She walks the walk, and makes a difference in the world.  It only makes sense that the wisdom and lessons she has learned come through brilliantly in this book.

Made to Crave is finally helping me get out of my six year cycle of yo-yo dieting.  I think it can help you too.  If you would like to put your name in the hat to win this brand new copy of Made to Crave just leave me a comment about anything you would like to say at the end of this post.  I am looking forward to hearing from some of you.   I will throw the names literally in a hat, and let my little guy pick one out.  I will pick a winner on Tuesday, March 15.  I will need your contact after I announce the winner.  If the winner does not contact me within 24 hours I will pick another winner.  I will only mail to addresses in the USA.

It makes me smile just thinking about sending this to one of you, because I know it will change your life for the better (as it is doing to mine).  Now I am gonna grill some chicken and enjoy this sunny weather!

Eating and Weighing

My Dreaded Scale

To eat or not to eat; to weigh or not to weigh; those are the questions.  I have stopped living to eat (some), and started eating to live (some).  BUT am I eating to weigh?  This week I have been conscience of the dreaded scale not moving downward as quickly as I would like, and translating this into my eating.  Should I eat those nuts?  Will they stop the scale from mysteriously going down?  What about those beans?  Surely beans alone weigh a lot in my intestines; maybe the scale will go up?  Eating to weigh is bad and good I think.  I do fine some days and then other days like today, I feel like this whole eating correctly thing is like a very hard job.  I feel the pressure today to hold it together; like if I do not focus, the "eat whatever I want monster" will emerge.  Not a gigantic binge, but just whatever I want, which leads to a lot of days of eating whatever I want.  Back to the dreaded scale, I remember my morning weigh-in today, and how nice it was that I finally went down 1/2 pound.  I think about letting the "eat whatever I want for dinner monster" out, and then I think that maybe if I hold on and eat correctly, the dreaded scale will smile upon me and move down maybe another 1/2 pound in the morning.  I so want the dreaded scale to be down for many reasons: my little rose jacket hanging unworn in my closet, my blog I report to next Tuesday, my husband who is cheering me on, my shorts that I want to wear....oh the list goes on infinitely.

This is where I explain why in the world I am blogging about this.  Today I felt the scale pressure, and a little thought danced across my silly head.....it went something like this'" You are doing really well, and this scale pressure might be getting to you.  Maybe a little experiment is in order for, let's say, just one week.  Try weighing just one time instead of every day.  And what better week to try it than SPRING BREAK next week?! "

Now I know many people, including a very good friend of mine, cannot weigh more than once a week.  It would drive my friend crazy to step on the scale every day.  We are all wired differently, and I am thankful for that!  But for me, pressure and all, the dreaded scale really needs to be faced daily.  I know if I do not have that pressure to consider what goes into my mouth in a very tangible cause and affect way, by the result that I see every morning on the scale, I may begin to stuff my mouth a little too frequently.  I have a short term memory issue combined with a bad procrastination problem, that would enable me to forget what I ate in light of the fact that I could procrastinate eating correctly since my judgement morning with the dreaded scale is so far off.  A few days of that and my weekly weigh in might be disastrous.

So I guess I will continue to weigh daily, and eating to live along with eating to weigh will become part of my glorious lifestyle change.  I hope and pray that someday it will not feel like pressure and hard work, but just a normal way to live.   It is better, much better, than the old me EATING TO GAIN.  Never stepping on the scale, eating whatever I wanted, and growing quickly out of all my clothes.  Much better!

A few pictures of what we have been eating lately.

Breakfast this morning.  Oatmeal banana berry muffins with no flour,  The berries were great.










Lunch for my man and me.  Salmon salad and avocado salad with homemade dressing.  We really love this simple dressing on lettuce and avocados.  It feels clean and refreshing.  The dressing is just equal parts of olive oil, red wine vinegar, and half a fresh squeezed lemon.  Delicious.

Yesterday I made a homemade soup with a tomato paste, water, and chicken broth base.  It had adzuki beans, garbanzo beans, spinach, onions, carrots, garlic, and tomatoes in it.  It really was good, but it gave me the worst headache.  I think it was the tomatoes.  Sadness.  No on the tomatoes I guess.

My Chef Peter (11) made this for lunch yesterday, and asked me to take a picture of it.  He so loved the cleanse I did that he begged me to let him try it.  He actually did it from Thursday through most Wednesday at dinnertime.  He loved it, and it inspired this plate he called the fruit basket plate.

The day before we had broiled salmon and asparagus for lunch.  This is so easy, and good.  It is topped with garlic, Dijon agave sauce.

Week 5 Results

Brunch today was an omelette with mushrooms, onion, spinach, cheddar cheese, and topped with salsa.  After the cleanse I was missing my eggs and cheese.  I do not plan to have them often, but they were nice and warm on this cold rainy day.
I am off of the strict cleanse, but still eating very clean.  Mr. Smoothie finishes his three week cleanse today, and he has lost 20 pounds as of this morning.  I am still numbering my result weeks in order because I have a long ways to go until I meet my final goal of a healthy BMI level.  I am happy with this weeks results.  This coming week I plan to write down my exercise every day to add to my result tally.

Fasting Blood Sugar


3-1     83
3-2     73
3-3     88
3-4     88
3-5     86
3-6     85
3-7     96    Sadness.  Apparently I can't handle the dates.  More information to follow below.

Morning Blood Pressure


3-1     96/55
3-2     99/63
3-3     92/58
3-4     97/63
3-5     90/54
3-6     97/57
3-7     99/58

Dreaded Scale Numbers


3-2     -0
3-3     -0
3-4     -0   This is getting old!
3-5     -0.5   Three days for half a pound!
3-6     -0.5  
3-7     -1    Happiness a whole pound today!
3-8     -1    Smiling at the dreaded scale.
So the weight seemed to come of slower, but I did end the week with a minus 3 total.  That brings my total loss since January 1, 2011 to minus 21 pounds.

There they are; those yummy, sweet and delicious dates Mr. Smoothie brought home from Costco.  Yes, a Costco size bag to boot.  My grandpa  came over to America on a boat from Greece when he was a teenager.  Every Christmas of my childhood my four aunts made platters of powdered sugar dusted dates, and dates filled with sweet fillings and topped with nuts.  I love dates.  I did not fill them or roll them in anything, and parceled out a reasonable serving and a half ( 10 smallish dates), but alas my morning blood sugar number was really affected in a negative way by those overly sweet treats.  I hate that.  Oh how I hate that.  I even gave it a two day trial.  Today I let myself have just two and combined them with some protein in some almonds.  I will see what happens to the blood sugar level tomorrow.  Tweaking and trying, and hoping when I get to a normal weight my body might handle sugar better.

It was a good week.  I am so ready for some sunshine and warm weather!  I will not complain when it is 102 in July!