Sugar = Hunger?

I have a theory.

Remember a few weeks ago when I was doing so well?  Then we went on vacation and I thought I could just slip right back into the groove.  Well, not so much.

I am finding that I am starving.  All the time.

And the one thing I really changed over that vacation was allowing myself to eat sugar.  I had been really good with cutting it out and wasn't even missing it until I started eating it again.  We had ice cream and cookies and candy.  And now I'm just hungry all the time.

I'm thinking there is something to this.

Now I'm going on another vacation so I expect I'll have a hard time again.  It's going to be difficult to get back to that point where my body was doing so well without sugar.  Honestly, I didn't even miss it, and now I can't get enough of it.

Hence my theory that sugar leads to being hungry.

Now I have to start all over again.

After vacation.

The "Good" Hurt

I am so sore today!

I started back up the bowflex and total gym yesterday and also did better on my walk/jog in the morning.  I'm paying for it today, but it really does feel "good."  It's that pain that means I am doing something - AND that it's working!

I haven't lifted the weights since September and, boy, I can really tell.  I was down on the weights from 100lbs to 80lbs for basic lifting, so I've lost a lot of muscle.  My legs are sore from the squats.  I can't do "real" squats due to my knees, so I have to do them on the total gym (which is really wonderful on the knees!).  I can really feel it today!

I'm not doing as well with the eating.  I think my stomach stretched on vacation.  I'm actually having my stomach growl all the time!  And I'm eating, so I don't know what's up.  And then at night (my worst time for will power) I end up OVER eating.  One good thing is that it is summer, so we are having veggies from our garden!  I made squash, turnips and green beans the other night for dinner.  There is nothing so good as fresh garden veggies!!

I'm taking a day off for my muscles and will lift, walk and total gym again on Saturday.

Feeling good!

Vacation in Tybee

We had a wonderful 4 day weekend in Tybee Island, GA this last weekend!

We ate a lot of food and I'm up some pounds because of it, but it was a really fun time and I'm back on track now!

We went to The Lady and Sons (Paual Deen's restaurant) and the food was just fabulous!  My body was a bit  angry with me (which is actually a sign that I've been eating pretty well up until this trip!).

The above are Shrimp and Grits and a loaded Bloody Mary - just wonderful!!

We also had to go to the Savannah Candy Company store - just smelling the wonderful aroma probably added about 3 pounds!!

This was a fantastic oyster from the River House in Savannah - I don't know if I've ever had oysters so good!  They also made a fried calamari that was definitely the best calamari I've ever had.

Clearly I ate and drank a lot on this trip!!  I feel refreshed and ready to get back on track!  Our next vacation is visiting my folks in Virginia later this summer - I know I'll be eating a lot then as well, so I'll try and be super diligent with my food choices until then!!

Happy Summer, y'all!

Updated Graphs

I just put in March, April and May weight loss graphs in the Stats & Stuff section.  I didn't realize I had lost so much already!  I started off at 202 lbs and now am 193 or so (I was down to 192.8, but I ate french fries with ranch dressing tonight, so I know I'll be back up in the morning!).  That's 9 lbs!  I had no idea I had lost that much since March.

Feels good!  Now I really wish I hadn't eaten those french fries!

Well, tomorrow is another day.  I'll do better!

Watermelon/Cayenne Drink

I'm not a big fan of the "weight loss drinks" that abound on the internet.  I don't think there is any easy trick to losing weight.  It's a lot of hard work and perseverance.

That being said, I've found a recipe for a fun drink that has a little "kick" to it and that I can make in my juicer!  It's 1/4 cup of watermelon (1/4 cup of the actual juice), ice, cayenne pepper and 8 oz of water.  You are supposed to drink it after every meal and it is supposed to increase metabolism and keep cravings at bay.

It's actually quite tasty.  I ended up squirting some lime into it as well.  I figure even if it doesn't do what it claims, it's still a great way to get me to drink more fluids.  That's one of my downfalls - the inability to drink all that water we are supposed to drink.

In other news, now that it is summer, my 2 youngest daughters (ages 15 and 8) have started coming to the track with me to walk/jog.  I tell you what, I wish I had the energy of my 8 year old.  She can just run and run and run.  Me?  Well, I walk more than run ... actually I never RUN.  It's more of a jog ... which is actually slower moving than my walk.  My 15 year old says I'm "adorable."  Good grief.

I'm down a lot of weight.  I'm in that zone where it's not hard right now.  I love this zone.  I'm careful with what I eat and have switched to trying to keep sugar out of my diet rather than just counting calories.  At night, I snack on almonds or other nuts.  Sometimes I will have popcorn.  And I try not to eat after 7:00 at the latest.  Sometimes I can't hold to that, and I'm okay with that.  I'm not on a "diet."  I'll never survive if I don't allow fun things.  We even had ice cream the other night.  As long as I don't go wild and eat it every day, I'm good.  And right now, it's easy.  I know I'll hit a rough spot at some point.  I always do.

But for now, I'm back down to 193-ish.  I had been back over 200 earlier this year, so it's coming.

It's helpful because my 15 year old is all about getting in shape this summer, so she's helping look for recipes and helping me stay on track with exercise and is a wonderful buddy in this!  I love summer!