Primal Update

Well I think it's time I play catch up with you all.  I am as of this morning 12 pounds less than I was at my previous post in September, not too shabby.  Last week I celebrated 6 months on the primal blueprint plan and have felt wonderful and way more sure that I am going to stick with this plan than any other plan before it.

My eating plan hasn't changed, though this week I thought I'd try something different and that's not to include snacks in the middle of the day.  For one I'd like to see how having no bananas affects my weight loss and even though almonds are the best snack EVER I'm trying to train myself not to need snacks in the middle of the day (twice a day no less).

I still have my nighttime dark chocolate, weird though I eat 72% cocoa, I used to love the 85% but Walmart sells a nice big bar of 72% that lasts hubby and I almost 2 weeks (only 1-2 squares a night each max) whereas the 85% is not economical for us.  Then one day I found some 85% on sale, I bought a bar and thought it tasted terrible.  It's still over the 70% so I'll stick with the Walmart one for now until I stop seeing results and that'll be the first thing to go.

On another note, in 5 days I will celebrate (God Willing) 13 years sobriety, who'd a thunk it? Not me or anyone who drank with me.  I'll be getting my 13 year chip soon (will post pics) and will try to find a recipe for a primal cake if not no cake, I don't need it bad enough.

That's all for now, thanks for stopping by!

Sassle :)

Progress Report

Almost 5 months into Paleo or shall I say in my case Primal and I'm at my lowest weight (236 lbs) since I started gaining weight in 2006.  This is the longest I've ever stuck to any plan, eating this way is plain old easy for me.  Some people on my Facebook group have asked me what do I eat.  So here's a breakdown.

Now please keep in mind, I'm not 100% paleo/primal.  However, I don't eat grains, flour or added sugars.  I don't eat anything processed except these steaks hubby and I buy at Walmart, aside from that everything in my mouth is fresh either from an animal or a plant.  Also I allow myself once a day a square of dark chocolate and it's usually 85% cocoa but sometimes hubby buys the 72% and I still have a square of that.  I think those are my only sins on this plan, oh yeah and I have one banana every single weekday.  I work and my first break in the day I have a small to medium size banana as a snack.  I know bananas are high in carbs and sugars (natural) but I still have them.  I can only imagine how much I'd weigh if I didn't add the banana to my diet.

Breakfast:
2 eggs
1/4 lb of bacon

Lunch:
Spinach salad
with avocado, tomato, chicken, one egg and shallots or onions. (no dressing)

Dinner:
meat du jour (i.e. chicken, steak, sausages, pork chops)
cauliflower (or broccoli or a spinach, tomato and onion salad) again no dressing.

Snacks:
Banana
almonds
piece of chocolate

3 times a week I do a Leslie Sansone 1 mile video walk away the pounds.

That's it, this is what's been working for me, no hunger, no cravings, I feel as though this is normal.  Maybe some diehard paleo peeps will find fault in it but this is what's working for me.

Quantities aren't mentioned or portion sizes because I try to eat a normal portion of everything (except bacon but c'mon give a girl a break lol)

Thanks for stopping by!

Sassle

Paleo Check In

I am at 251 lbs, which is the lowest I've been since 2009.  I'm just 2 pounds away from the glorious 240's (did I really just say that?) but more important is I found a post where I say I went down to 239 pounds.  I forgot I got that low, I thought my lowest was 245.  It's weird these numbers encourage me as big as they are, I guess it's because they are closer to the 200 pound goal than 250 and up.  I'm getting there.

Today I went thru my closet and am donating 7 pairs of pants there's still more to go thru but I still feel like its time for me to get rid of the old.

This week alone I've dropped about 3-4 pounds and as silly as it sounds I believe its because I am keeping my carbs between the 50 and 100 grams.  I did some walking this week, slow, steady and ate fruit, nuts, salads, cheese burgers, chicken, sweet potatoes etc. and I am thisclose to starting that TOM and still I lost weight.

Hubby who is 6' is now down to 206 pounds, he looks amazing and healthy, we both love this lifestyle.  I visit MDA daily and other paleo/primal websites for new recipes (Hubs wants paleo desserts) and quite frankly ladies and gentlemen this is the first time I am not afraid to go back.  That speaks volumes as to how this lifestyle fits with me.

That's it for now, must get dinner ready (liver, onions and veggies).

Thanks for stopping by!

Sassle

I haven't updated since May but I'm still eating paleo.  I have lost 32 pounds, 10 since my May 21st post.  I have dropped salad dressing and butter.  I don't have the desire to drop cheese just yet though I do not have any in my lunch salad anymore.  I have count down immensely on pop/soda though I'm not 100% free of it.  I like this way of eating, I can't help it, I get a delicious breakfast every day, a salad for lunch and a great dinner of protein and vegetables.  I even get dark chocolate (80% and up) on occasion.

Overall I am satisfied with the results, they are a bit slow but that's ok, maybe this time it'll stick!

I'll be back tomorrow! Time to take the dog out!

Thanks for stopping by!

Sassle!

Paleo update

This is my 3rd week on the paleo/primal life style.  I love it.  Its easy, it's effective (I've lost 22 pounds) and it's tasty.  So much makes sense now.  I never understood why I always felt like crap after I ate of bowl of pasta (I love(d) pasta..!!) There were things I just didn't digest well, things I craved and I'm talking serious binge worthy cravings.  It sort of reminds me of alcoholism, it's as though I kept tempting myself by allowing sugar, flower and wheat in my diet.  These foods triggered insane cravings in me.

Craving talk aside, my body is shrinking, I fit in a pair of jeans that I couldn't fit into 3 months ago (before paleo).  Right before I started I still had to wear a long winter coat and last week it got chilly outside so I put it on while I sat on the porch with hubby and the coat was baggy in the tummy area.  This is progress and it'll only get better.  How can I knock something that is making me lose weight, feel better, is good for my health and so much more...

I believe I'm 90% paleo because I'm still eating some dairy in tiny quantities; butter (on mashed cauliflower or other vegetables), cheese (in salads) and dressing (on salads) and diet soda.  I plan on creating my own paleo friendly dressing this evening, tons of recipes online and I might even tackle paleo mayonnaise (easier than you think).

This is a tasty, healthy and effective way to eat in my humble opinion.

Of course please check with your doctor before starting any new diet.

Thanks!

Sassle!

Blog Name Change... I've gone Paleo!

I changed the blog title.  You see I went and gone paleo/primal on myself.  I love it, day 5 of my paleo journey and I've already lost weight, 13 pounds to be exact, though I'm thinking the first 10 are water based because I did a heck of a binge the weekend before I started.  Cake and chips with anything my heart desired.

I have no idea how this came about, I don't know how I ended up at Elana's Pantry blog and thru there I heard  the term paleo and remembered I had a Facebook friend who told me she ate primal/paleo.  And things just sort of took off from there.

You see I believe eating the South Beach way prepared me for this, it showed me which way I liked eating the best, I just can't do weightwatchers, I tried.  I tried so many different plans that worked but temporarily and still made me feel hungry, confused and worried that I would crave sugar for the rest of my life.  

At Overeaters Anonymous they suggest we cut out sugar and flour.  I've cut out sugar, flour and wheat.  I feel great and most of the time I'm not even hungry.  I won't get into details just yet what the diet consists of but I'm satisfied and this is on Day 5.  This is the only eating plan where I don't feel like I am cheating.  This is the only eating plan that makes sense to my body.  I can't wait to see the continuous results on the scale, in my clothes and how I'm feeling.  I want to tell the whole world about this, but for now I'll just share it with you.

You can get a ton of great information from Marks Daily Apple on the topic, oh and check out the success stories on Marks blog, the one that really interested me was this one.

Thanks for visiting!
Sassle!

The 3 Things I know for sure that have worked for me

I have been having a hard time.  I have been thinking a lot of weight loss, which route I want to take, overeaters anonymous etc.  But that's all I've been doing.  Thinking.  Which is bad for me since I suffer from a thinking disease (AA'ers and OA'ers know what I mean).

I found an old spread sheet that I found online almost 10 years ago, it's a Weight Watchers spreadsheet by this guy called Ray Ruediger and here is a copy of the spreadsheet.  It's the old fashioned Weight Watchers point system saved onto excel.  It's pretty awesome, back in 2003 I lost a ton of weight using this spreadsheet.  Every day I wrote what I ate and counted my points and just lost weight, that along with Leslie Sansone's Walk away the pounds I actually lost 93 lbs.!  Pretty awesome huh?

So I know 3 things for sure:

1. The South Beach Diet works for me.
2. Weight Watchers works for me.
3. Leslie Sansone's Walking Away the pounds works for me.

Now with the above knowledge and going to Overeaters Anonymous, I think I can and will manage the weight loss in a healthy manner.

Right now I am allowing myself 34 points a day (based on my weight) and I have decided to bring back Leslie Sansone into my life.  She had helped me shrink my waist to a ridiculously small size way back so I figured I'd give it another go.

I slept funny last night and woke up in pain, right shoulder blade, neck and shoulder are killing me, but I decided to try this mini-walk from Leslie 

Do you see how brilliant this woman is? It's only 3 minutes, I can do 3 minutes (you can do 3 minutes) and I did and all it did was make me want to do more! Um, I haven't yet, I just did the three minutes and felt the need to share the news with you guys.  But seriously, isn't this brilliant?  So I think after I iron my clothes for the week (in the next 30 mins) I will attempt her one mile and see how great I feel after that one.  What my whole point is the woman had me with three minutes, she knew I could do it and would probably want to do more and if I can't do more right away I will do her three minutes a few times a day, though I'm not sure how many calories I'll burn in such a short period of time but any exercise is better than none.

I feel good, feel positive and feeling hopeful.

Thanks for stopping by!

Sassle

Hi! My name is Sassle and I'm a compulsive overeater.

I just joined OA (Overeaters Anonymous) today.  Since I am a veteran of 12 step fellowships (Hello AA) I decided after seeing myself destroy my health with sugar, fried foods and flour.

I will try to post my experience with the program, I have a temporary sponsor who already gave me homework.  I am to list my red light foods, green light foods and orange light foods.  For example a red light food for me would be donuts, cake, cookies, chips, french fries, cheese burgers... you get the point, anything that I can and will binge on.  My green light foods would be something like spinach (no other come to mind all of a sudden).  Orange light would be whole grain bread which I'm thinking probably belongs in the red light group because whenever I'm on a "diet" suddenly I can go bread crazy.

I have spent the weekend researching OA and have been very pleased with what I have found, there is a world of support out there and quite frankly I'm tired of doing this alone and failing.

Part of my recovery is writing so I think I'll be doing some of that here on the blog, hopefully some of my experiences can help someone else as well.

Thanks for stopping by!

Sassle