One Week Down

So.... today marks day 7 of the new way of eating in our house.

We are both getting pretty good at figuring out our bubbles.  Or as Mike says, bubbles be damned, I'm eating better and that's what matters.

He, however, doesn't have the dietitian meeting and judgement looming over his head.  So I can't say bubbles be damned, I must use the bubbles.

I have spent a week with now caffeine.  Well, at least no coke zero.  I suppose the fat free, sugar free chocolate pudding powder might have a little caffeine in it, but....

We figured out pretty quickly that eating the same thing every day is easy and actually makes life better than trying to figure out every day how to have something different.  And, since we made lasagna early in the week and can only eat one piece a meal, we finished it tonight.  It ended up making 5 meals for us - wow, that's pretty good.

We also had pork chops one night.  Now that was a new experience for us.  We have always cooked our pork chops in the crock pot in gravy.  Well gravy is a TON of fat.  So Mike cooked them in the crock pot in water.  Let's just say, they were fine, but they certainly didn't have the flavor we are used to them having.  We chopped the left overs up and they went into salads today for lunch.

I discovered that frozen grapes, that others have said are wonderful, are NOT for me.  And once I have the surgery they really won't be for me.  After surgery I can't have skins and such not chewed up and when eating the frozen grapes I ended up with skin left over every time.  And, really didn't like the flavor as much as when they are fresh.  So I will stick to regular old grapes.

I discovered that I DO like yogurt.  I tried it years ago and didn't like it so I have always avoided it. Well, I am supposed to have 3 snacks a day - each of them 8 ounces of milk.  But, I can have yogurt for one of them.  Well, I like milk, but....   So, I thought I would try yogurt again, but definitely with fruit.  So we bought a low-fat yogurt with strawberry.  LOVED it.  But found out that since it was only LOW fat and had the fruit, it had the protein of the milk but double the carbs.

So, yesterday we went shopping and spent a long time in the yogurt department comparing nutrition labels.  I found out that the Great Value light fatfree yogurt has the same protein and carbs as an 8 ounce servie of skim milk.  Woo hoo.  AND, they are rather inexpensive as well!  So we bought several flavors.  Had Key Lime first - nummy, nummy.

Mike decided to try brussel sprouts.  Hee hee - he'll be finishing the bag that he bought, but I think that won't be a purchase again in the future.  His exact words, "A little salsa and you can get anything down."  Needless to say, I didn't bother to try them if he disliked them so much!

Exercise - I guess we need to get on that one this week. We started the whole food change and completely did it, no slowly, just jumped right in.  I guess it's time we need to "jump" into the exercising thing.  Our problem is finding the time to do it in our busy lives.

I know, you all will say that your lives are busy and you find time.  But I think YOU might actually like exercising.  I haven't gotten to that point...liking exercising.  But, it's something I have to start and something I have to at least do, whether I like it or not.  So.... it must start.

Our problem - we are fair-weather people.  If it's raining, too windy, too cold, icy, we won't be walking.  So...we either need to figure out a place to walk inside or spend the money to get a treadmill.  Time will tell what we figure out.

On the up side of the last week.

• My headaches from the lack of caffeine have finally stopped.
• I found out I like yogurt!
• Our food budget will be changing - more on the veggies and fruit.  But less on the meats and such since the meals we make last for several meals.
• At times, I am not starving.
• I am drinking lots more water.
• I have pretty much mastered the not drinking 30 minutes before, during or 30 minutes after meals.
• I have NOT cheated this entire week.  When I did have 1 cookie, I found out what it counted for on my bubbles and bubbled it.  So it wasn't cheating!  :-)

On the down side of this last week.

• I may have said that at times I am not starving.  Well those times are few and far between.  Most of the time I am starving still!
• We used to be able to shop once a month (except for milk and eggs).  We got really used to that.  Now we need to shop weekly to get the fresh veggies and fruits and yogurt and such.
• I'm still not drinking enough water.  Must work on that.
• We have not started exercising yet.  :-(
• Worried about my kids.  With the two of us eating the leftovers every night, they are left to "fend" and that means fewer "meals" for them.  We need to figure out how we are going to make sure they are still getting well-rounded meals instead of cereal and cheesy tortillas all the time.

So, we did some good things this week and we have some things to work on.

Oh wait - I forgot to tell you the BEST up side.

I LOST 6 POUNDS THIS WEEK.