Getting on a Schedule

I realized this morning that I have been kind of lazy, getting going on this thing. I'm not hungry most of the time, I think my hunger pangs have left the building. But Michael Thurmond has set up this eating plan for 3 meals and 2 snacks, 3rd snack after dinner is optional and I do my best. But I've been all over the map with times trying to get the number of meals and snacks mostly right. I'm doing ok, skipping one morning or afternoon snack a day. If I skip morning snack, lunch can be 12 noon. But then I can't skip the afternoon snack!

I divided the day from 8:30 am to 8 pm even though I hardly ever have the evening snack and I skip morning or afternoon snack. I once heard Michael Thurman say, "if you don't eat everything, you won't lose weight." But that's not true, and I am proof.

8:30 am Breakfast, 11:30 am Morning Snack, 2:30 pm Lunch, 5:30 pm Afternoon Snack, 8 pm dinner. And since I'm usually skipping afternoon snack, I can have dinner at 6 pm like normal people.

This was my breakfast this morning...

I put a teaspoon of Heinz 57 sauce in a bowl.

Sauteed shallots with a handful of spinach and 2 egg whites.

Weighed my grilled steak 2 5/8 ounces.

Tossed in the bowl with my teaspoon of Heinz 57 sauce, I probably could have used 2 teaspoons. Sometimes I use the same amount of Larrupins mustard sauce.

Another breakfast this week was Baked Oatmeal. Here is the recipe:

2 cups steel cut oats (or groats or oatmeal)

2 eggs

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt (I know I'm not supposed to have salt)

1 cup applesauce

1 3/4 cups flax milk (or almond milk or whatever kind of milk you like just no dairy)

Mixed everything and left in the refrigerator overnight. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and bake for 30 minutes.

That's almost a cup, MT called for 1/2 cup with 2 egg whites scrambled and this has eggs.

I used to have this breakfast with whipped cream but no dairy for me now! Rhett can have whipped cream. I usually buy Light whipped cream but-Costco.

Here are some other food pix from this week:

Steak and sauteed kale that I attempted to make creamed kale without the cream. There's a recipe on Pinterest (that I saved) for creamed kale without the cream but it uses cream cheese. Bummer.

This is a variation of my breakfast today using mini bell peppers and kale. I think my fav is spinach.

Last night I had the same dinner as my husband, Rhett. We ordered take out, one of my favorite meals, we split 2 Firecracker Shrimp Tacos from the Vista. I used to be able to eat both, myself. But I realized I was full after one, so there's no point in eating after that.

You may wonder how this eating out affected my weight loss? Well, I didn't lose anything today but I didn't gain anything either. That is the trade-off, you have to ask yourself is it worth it? Thankfully most days I don't even ask myself questions like this because I am determined. I know what I had to go through last time and I know what the payoff was. Ten years ago I used this plan to lose 64 lbs and got myself down to size 8. But I have to admit it didn't last very long.

When Rhett said to me Very Sharply that we weren't buying size 6! I was angry and didn't think for a second when I just instantly quit working on my health and stopped right there. If my brain had been working I would have told me, "You have worked too hard to give up now!" And it's true, this diet is a Lot of work. There are more dishes to wash. Paying attention to how much water I'm drinking all day is super important. I know if I haven't had at least 64 ounces of water by lunch I'm in trouble. I also can't be far away from the bathroom at this point. I'm outta practice drinking over 100 ounces of water a day. In time, my bladder will be trained. I remember being able to hold it for an hour, I'd be out shopping and have to go. I'd stop at the post office on the way home. My bladder was cast iron back then.

Right about now is a good time to start organizing clothes.

I've got a complete wardrobe in every size from 1X to size 6. It's all spread out between 4 bedrooms and boxes in the attic. The guest room has a full closet and dresser. Weston's old room has a full rack and the bed covered with piles of clothes. The bunk bed upstairs is super piled up with Gawd knows what and the closet in my room is still stuffed after I took most of the 1Xs out to get rid of them.

The clothes I advertised on Craigslist are hanging in the dining room and living room doorways on rods over the doorways. I had just one email asking if my prices were firm? My response didn't get them sold. I told her I had a bunch of free stuff as well. I will learn. I really thought $6 for business casual dresses was a good deal. Some of them are Liz Claiborne and some are NWT. I put $4 on the tops, $10 on a leather jacket. I dropped the prices and then I guess all this stuff is going to the thrift shop where I can 'write it off' which is a joke. I take the standard deduction, no itemizing any more. I was planning to give away things I wear all the time even though they're still in great shape.

The funny thing is I have this one pair of XL sweatpants that is too long for me but I wear them all the time. They're made by Title 9 and you can't get them anymore in this fabric which I love. They are huge on me and I'll probably keep them until I can fit in the mediums I have around here someplace...