Day 17 on The Kind Diet. I'm feeling great but a little discouraged that the weight isn't coming off very quickly. I think I expected it to be a lot faster. I haven't touched sugar, meat (well that hasn't been a problem for about 2 years), dairy or any processed foods in over two weeks. You would think that my body would be responding favorably.

The other day I noticed that the rice I was having for breakfast was gummy. For whatever reason I thought that purple jasmine rice that I bought at Whole Foods would be perfect quality and not processd. I think I'm wrong so I switched it up to brown rice and noticed right away that I was more regular. Ahem.

Another thing that I was cheating a little on was my daily 1/2 of a peanut butter and honey sandwich. Cut those out and so now I'm down to just eating vegetables with hardly any grains and a little bit of beans here and there. I don't feel deprived but I'm wondering what life will be like when I venture out into the restaurant world.

Each day just seems to get a little better. Last night I stayed up till 10:00! I had no nap yesterday either. That so never has happened in I don't know how fricking long! I'm upbeat and the hot flashes are backing off somewhat (another sign that the body is adjusting to the new plan).

The problem I'm trying to deal with right now is keeping my mouth shut. I seem to want to blab to everyone about how to eat. I'm not, I just want to. My husband is not impressed and I can tell he wants to go out to dinner. He asked if we wanted to go grab pizza the other night. Nnnnnooooo!!!! Um, yeah. I'll have some pizza sauce with some onions on that please. I don't think so!

Day #8. I'm feeling the best I've felt so far. It was a dark and icky place to be last week. I was crying and depressed. I'm pretty sure that that had to be the detox process that my body is going through.

The fact that my eyes seem to hone in on anything sugary isn't helping me. I went down to the basement and opened the freezer for something and there was this delicious looking ice cream cake from my son's birthday last week that hasn't been finished. In the other freezer I found my husband's stash of candy that I had never before discovered. Somehow I just seem to be finding all of this crap that I, so far, haven't indulged in.

I weighed myself this morning and was down 2.2 pounds from last Monday! Yay! I was pretty stoked about that. I know that it would have been a bigger loss if I had not partaken of all those roasted salted almonds. They seemed to beckon me when I was having a hunger fit and couldn't figure out what natural piece of food to stuff in my mouth quickly. Almonds and raisins seem to be my downfall right now. I guess that's better than cookies and candy, right?

Today marks Day #7 that I have been doing the Kind Diet. No sugar. No white flour. No, and I mean absolutely NO, animal products (dairy, eggs, meat, etc.).

I'm happy to report that the withdrawl symptoms have managed to let up a bit. I don't feel weak and shaky at this point. Yesterday, I did open the freezer and found a bag of left over Christmas treats that someone (probably me) had put out there. I was vaguely tempted but then remembered my focus and was back on track. Well, actually, there are a LOT of treats lingering about my home but I have been good and have not partaken as of yet.

The hot flashes are still a problem although I do feel that they are beginning to let up a bit. I'm sure it's the stress that my body is feeling from going through the withdrawls. I'm hoping that they will go back to their little evil abode sometime soon.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow morning to see if I have indeed dropped any weight. I really am hopeful and will be a bit surprised if I don't. Not eating all the crap simply MUST have a positive impact on my body. Right?

Oh, and another thing . . . Dude, there are ass loads of dishes involved with this food preparation thing!!!!!

Back in the Saddle Again!

Ok. It's been a few months since I've posted here. I guess you could say that wandered off the path A LOT!!! I gained back all the weight I had lost plus more. The holidays didn't help any. I got depressed. I had a lot of family issues that contributed to the problem.

However, I'm back again! I have decided to not do Weight Watchers. Best decision of my life, I think. I have decided to do the eating plan that I am learning more about in my schooling. I eat gobs and gobs of leafy greens then some fresh fruit, whole grains and some nuts and seeds. I try to eat what the Mother Earth provides naturally.

The real journey started on Monday the 4th (that would be four days ago). The first day was great because the first day is always great. Then the second and third day sucked. I was depressed and wanted desperately to grab onto any baked goods or something with sugar. Of course, that was my bratty rebellious body throwing a temper tantrum.

Today I feel stronger. I am enjoying my green smoothie and just had my weight loss tea that I made this morning with carrot, daikon, shoyu, umbeoshi plum and nori. Sounds gross but it tasted great. I am about to have a breakfast of rice and wheat with some raisins and walnuts! Yum!!! Yes, my taste buds are changing and my body is going through the detox process. I know I have rough days ahead but my goal is to be healthy and at my ideal body weight again. I know I can do this!!!

In addition, I have been pulling myself out of bed and actually getting in action again. I have run every morning this week (which is an improvement over the one or two days a week previous). I'm trying to amp up my yoga practice again (although yesterday was pathetic at best).

I love my body and I love the earth and I want to do what is best for both of us. I am being kind to my body by nourishing it with good foods and I am being kind to Mother Earth by eating the plants that She has provided for us and leaving the animals alone.

Drears!

I weighed in yesterday and only lost 1.1 pounds. I was so bummed. Here I've been keeping track of all my food (and even being honest about it) and exercising like a crazy woman. I'm not letting it get me down, though. I will be victorious!

Today I forced myself to go running in the hills. Usually, that run was a "no brainer". Today, with all this extra weight on, it was hell! The hills seemed longer and steeper than usual. There were even hills where I didn't remember there being hills. At any rate, I finished and felt pretty great about my accomplisment.

My next secret weapon? I've just started taking these supplements that are some kind of a green tea extract. You take 3 at lunchtime and they give you a lot of extra energy for the afternoon and amp up your body's metabolic rate. Today? Yeah, they seemed to do the trick. I had energy (I DID go running at 3:30 p.m. which is usually my slumpy "eat everything that I find" time) and I didn't go crazy and frantic about food. It was good.

Two days ago I stepped on the scale and was mortified. I know I'm not the only one to be frightened by the numbers that pop up but, nonetheless, it traumatized me. I spent most of my adult life being 132 pounds. After I hit 40, it jumped to 140 and parked there for the duration. When 50 arrived, 150 was the new number that became my norm. Okay, I'm 51 and I saw 165.5!!! Not good.

I did what I have always done. I signed up for Weight Watchers. This time is different. I have a handy iphone with a WW app on it. I don't have to go to the meetings! I can get all the information I want right there on my handy dandy phone. I paid my money (that's where it hurts my husband, Mr. Perfect) and started right in.

Tuesday (that was two days ago) I was motivated, dedicated and quested for the best. I stayed within my points and felt great about it. I ran (yeah, I'm a runner - we'll talk more about that later) and rode my horse (yup, I do that too). Got my exercise in and experiemented with a couple recipes. I made pumpkin barley soup for dinner and pumpkin pudding for dessert. All good stuff.

Wednesday I woke up feeling on top of the world. Of course, I slept in and woke up at 5:00 a.m. (I'm an early riser). Sleeping in meant that I blew off my run on the treadmill. I did, however, go to my yoga class and had one of the best practices I've had in a long time (um, ahem, yeah I do that too). Because of my extra weight, I'm not able to get into a lot of the poses that I've traditionally been able to do but all that is about to change!

The problem with Wednesday came later. I had my whole day's food planned out and logged into my tracker. I was in the middle of cooking up some Moo Shu Tofu for my twins and I when Mr. Perfect called and asked if I would join him for dinner. Since he spends a lot of time away from home, I felt like I should go and spend some much needed one-on-one time with my man. We went to Chevys (so not good) and I indulged excessively on the chips and salsa (they brought us 3 baskets because our meals took so long to arrive). I did, however, have a nice fat salad with salsa as my dressing for my main course.

That brings us to today. Once again, I slugged out and slept in till 5 missing my morning run on the treadmill. I did go to yoga and had an okay practice. Could have been better. My favorite yoga instructor taught the class so that made it a whole bunch better. After I picked up the kids from school, though, I went out in the hills and ran with my dogs. Feeling a lot better for that.

Tonight? Yeah, I'm making that Moo Shu Tofu again. Hopefully, it will turn out splendid. I've made a vegan (I'm a vegetarian and 90% vegan), sugar free pumpkin pie for dessert. Had a sneak preview of it last night. Pretty dang good!!