Tuesday, March 26, 2013

A week's worth of food

So... Dear Roomie and I are switching back to using Happy Herbivore recipes for all our meals (except where we add oatmeal along with our smoothies at breakfast, due to how many pills I have to take every day). I'm working on doing the same thing I did at the beginning of the year when we were doing this: writing each meal for each day of the week down in my planner, along with what page of which cookbook the recipe is on. That's what works for me.

On the monthly pages of my planner, I'm writing down my weight per day in kilograms. Yes, I'm American, not in the military or medical fields, and I use the metric system. There are a couple very simple reasons for this: about a year ago, I applied for a job in Canada. It looked like I stood a decent chance of getting it. I decided to start learning the metric system. The second reason is more silly: many websites needed to calculate BMI and other measurements only let a person input their height as a full number, such as 5'7" or 5'8". I'm 5'7.5" inches tall... or 172 cm. Using the metric systems lets me put in my height more accurately. Silly, I know, but it makes sense to me.

So for this week, this is how our meals look:

MondayBreakfast: Oatmeal and Banana Frosty Smoothie
Lunch: Thai Tofu Noodle Soup (from Happy Herbivore Abroad)
Dinner: Greens Quiche (we flubbed this meal and had Jason's Deli since we were away from home at dinner time) (from Happy Herbivore Everyday)

Tuesday
Breakfast:
Oatmeal and Cinnamon Bun Smoothie
Lunch: Green Quiche
Dinner: Mock Chicken Noodle Soup (from Nava Atlas' Vegan Soups and Hearty Stews)

WednesdayBreakfast:  Oatmeal and Neapolitan Smoothie
Lunch: Mock Chicken Noodle Soup
Dinner: Taco Soup (also from Nava Atlas' Vegan Soups and Hearty Stews)

ThursdayBreakfast: Oatmeal and Pick-Me-Up Smoothie (from SkinnyMs.com)
Lunch: Taco Soup
Dinner: Class night, so Subway

FridayBreakfast: Oatmeal and Protein-Packed Green Smoothie (from Whole Foods.com, spinach subbed for collards)
Lunch: Tofu and Broccoli Satay (from Happy Herbivore Abroad)
Dinner: (Open)

I never try to plan for the weekend. It's either leftovers from the week or I'm out of town or pasta. Because I love me some pasta. I could eat it every night... if I wouldn't keep putting on weight.

So that's this week.

Saturday, March 23, 2013

From the top

This is where I start shaming myself into losing weight and exercising more. The temptation may be huge to sit in my computer chair at home or at work--and cuddle my kitties--but I'm going to have to start making myself get up and get moving at least a few times a day.

ShopKick has been good for at least getting DR (Dear Roomie) and me out of the house every so often, but more often than not, I find myself reluctant to go to the gym. I feel like I should be glad that I'm at least getting out of that house; I've not always been good about doing that. (In fact, I've said more than once, if I could live life as a hermit, I might well do that.)

But now it's time to get my embarrassment on. It's time for the "where I'm starting from" pictures to go up. And why yes, I am dreading it.

Currently, I weight 74.7kg/164.6lbs. I'm 172 cm/5'7.5" tall. (My goal is 59kg/130lbs.) These photos were taken Wednesday, when I was at 75.2kg, but the measurement were taken today. I'll try my best to do both on the same day from here on out.


20 March 2013, 8pm
Waist: 81.5cm/32"
Hips: 104cm/41"
Thigh: 57cm/22.5"
Forearm: 22.5cm/9"
Wrist: 16cm/6.25"
Neck: 35cm/13.75"
This gives me the following stats:
  • BMI: 25.25
  • Body Fat Percentage: 27.08%
  • Waist-to-Hip Ratio: 0.78

Thursday, March 21, 2013

A starting point

I'm starting this blog to keep myself on task with eating right, exercising, and losing weight. I'm starting from scratch after losing and gaining earlier this year.

In January this year, I started following Happy Herbivore with a minimum of exercise. On January 2nd, when I first recorded for the year, I weight 74.5kg/164lbs. By the end of February, I was down to 73.5kg/162lbs. 1kg/2lbs in 2 months may not be fantastic, but it was steady weight coming off.

On March 1st, I started the McDougall's Maximum Weight Loss Plan, hoping to lose a bit more a bit faster. Instead, the opposite happened: during the 2 weeks I was on MWL, I gained enough weight to get up to 75.2kg/166lbs.

Apparently, MWL works for some people, but neither my roommate nor I are among them.

I'm going to be blogging on here various things: recipes I've tried from various websites and cookbooks, exercises I've done, and (horror of all horrors) photos of my progress.

And the title of the blog is from a song by my favorite musician. I'll let Google help you figure it out.