Isn't this a weight loss blog too? (for now)

Progress resumed. I last weighed in "publicly" on December 10th and I was 132.75 lbs. and right after that, realized that it was wiser to stay in maintenance mode since our home turned into a holiday cookie making factory and seemed to have delightful indulgent food every where we turned. (If you recall, right after the Philly Marathon in November I was 136 lbs!!!! What the....????)

I went back to regimented healthy eating on January 3rd. And...

Why yes, I do weigh myself on an antique medical scale.

Now I'm looking at 131.75 lbs. And as I anticipated, if I stay focused AND realistic, I can lose about a pound a week. I can lose more if I make more time to burn calories OR if I don't mind feeling weak and atrophied by cutting my intake. No thanks. I'm good with a pound a week. I'm aiming for at least 45 minutes of cardio a day that keeps me at my aerobic base while still allowing myself to run three times a week. Running puts me at my anaerobic thresh hold and although it burns calories, it actually hinders fat loss progress. On the days that I run, I cut my aerobic base cardio to 30 minutes.

This is my main cardio source right now. It's really boring, but I'm getting used to it:

As a runner who never downloads nifty apps and always purposely leaves her Garmin at home, I'm sure that it's not so shocking that I do not require high tech new fangled fitness equipment. We picked this elliptical up on craigslist for like 60 bucks. It retails for about $250. And no, I would never step out of the house in that outfit unless there was a fire or some sort of emergency. As per this post, I take great delight in wearing all the back-of-the-dresser clothing for my at home workouts. I watch more TV than ever now. This eliptical-ing cannot happen with just music or awkward silence. I would surely die of boredom.

What am I eating?

Same ol' breakfast:

This is 1/4 cup of oatmeal, 1/4 cup of whey protein isolate, 1/4 cup water, a tbsp of flax seed meal, 1 tsp natural almond butter, and a few chocolate chips. A minute and 15 seconds in the microwave and it's ready!!! I wake up at 5:30 am and this breakfast keeps me full through lunchtime.

Oh, and I eat the same thing for lunch (every day during my work week) but I add some berries or banana and some Greek yogurt. Yes, it's kinda boring. But I'm so used to it that I don't even think about how boring it is. If you think about it, going to the bathroom isn't very exciting, nor is driving to work or washing your hair, yet we do all of these things in order to yield a desirable result. So... same goes for my monotonous lunch.

I do have some sort of snack after work. Sometimes it's a wisely chosen healthy snack. Occasionally it's a snack size bag of crunchy cheese doodles or something in the same ridiculous category. Either way, I try and keep the snack under 200 calories.

Wouldn't it be truly pathetic (and not very smart) if I had the same thing for dinner? Well, I don't... and don't get all uppity about my fruit and vegetable shortage. I make up for a lot of it at dinner:

An abundance of the above concoction is usually accompanied by a turkey burger, tilapia, or a small steak. Salad greens with light dressing tend to accompany it as well, though not all the time. NO white carbs. No butter or cheese.

I will confess that now that I am running only a few times a week and I'm not beating myself up if I don't cover ____ miles/week, I'm drinking more coffee. I'm at four cups a day. And it's lovely. It's also lovely to be at peace with the occasional FEELING of hunger. When I was in marathon training mode, I was always worried about giving my body enough fuel for the next run. If I felt hungry, I assumed my body was telling me something. Right now, I'm just responding to that hungry feeling with "oh that's ok" and waiting until it's actually time to eat.

If you counted my calories, you'll notice the number is quite low. But I have the kind of metabolism that doesn't require a lot. (Pity party please.) Many of you would lose more than a pound a week if you did what I'm doing. Let's see what happens next week and see if I can get back under 130 before the month's end. The ultimate goal is to get to the mid 120's right around the time I start to increase mileage in preparation for 13.1 New York. (this actually takes place in Queens NY. Hey, I didn't name the race.) I am testing the lighter = faster theory. If the theory is sound, I'll drop a little more for the NJ Marathon in May. Relax, I'm barely 5'3". Going as low as 120 (I can't imagine less right now) is fine.

I'm like an animal...

This entry won't be as interesting as it's title. Sorry. I'm referring to my eating habits. Animals don't go around looking for all kinds variety and are not highly selective as to what they want to eat or what will satisfy their cravings.

I eat the same thing for breakfast and lunch every day. It's the only way I can keep my protein intake high enough and keep hunger from being a nuisance or distraction. Once upon a time, humans ate for survival and maintenance purposes only. They weren't sad about it or bored with it. They didn't have much of a choice. They didn't need to satisfy their cravings or have variety. Eating was an essential part of life, not an indulgent part. Now all we have to do is take a look around us and we can see that it's completely opposite.

I have worked hard to change my perspective on food. (I also implement this change for my sons.) If I don't constantly look to please myself with it, then it will be so much easier to control what I eat. In spite of the title of this post, I am human and I do indulge occasionally. But the requirement of having to "enjoy" a meal is no longer. During my work week, I eat only to keep hunger away and only to build and fuel my body. I don't need variety and I do not gain pleasure from the food that I eat for breakfast and lunch every day. I look forward to eating mainly to satisfy the nuisance of hunger. But other than that, it's kind of all business.

My breakfast and lunch are pretty simple to prepare. These are the main ingredients:

I combine 1 scoop of protein powder (equal to 1/4 cup) with 1/4 cup of oats and 1/4 cup of lowfat (usually 2%) milk. Then I add a teaspoon of natural peanut butter. Sometimes, if I'm low on milk, I'll use water. (Milk for coffee is more important if that gallon is almost empty.) Sometimes I'll add a teaspoon of flax seed meal. Sometimes I add a few semi-sweet chocolate chips.

This goes in the microwave for 1 minute 15 seconds. It can also be baked in the oven or cooked in a frying pan like a pancake. The consistency is something like a dry oatmeal cookie or a scone. This breakfast is around 300 calories and it has over 30 grams of protein. No, it is not the most delicious breakfast I have ever eaten in my whole life. It does not taste better than Belgian waffles or french toast or an omelet that is saturated with cheese. It (severely) pales in comparison to the Nutella stuffed crepes at IHOP. But it proves that higher protein intake builds a better body. I'm convinced that my leanness and any muscle definition I have has a lot to do with this recipe. Mainly because I can't stay on a strength training regimen right now. (No good reason for that.)

I eat the same thing for lunch. I microwave this in a tupperware container to bring to work and I add 4 sliced strawberries or most of a banana and about 1/3 to 1/2 a cup of Dannon fat free vanilla yogurt. I guess I'm satisfying any cravings for something sweet without tipping the scale of gluttony.

My dinner choices do vary, and I usually have some sort of snack right after work. I'm not *that* boring.

I have tried this recipe with other types of protein powders and it seems to work best with Dymatize Elite Fusion. Anything else can cook up too dry or taste very artificial.

If you try this, let me know what you think.