Back in May, I had just decided to do the Blood Type Diet (BTD). My husband and I are of different blood types, yet we both saw improvements in following our different diets. I tried to cook mostly meals we could have in common, or alternate out meals — one night I would fix him something, then the next night he would eat that for left-overs while I cooked myself something; or I’d fix two different entrees with the same veggies in common; but sometimes I’d just fix different meals — sometimes different left-overs for everyone in the family. It worked out okay, but took a bit of getting used to. Then, over the summer, we fell off the wagon — I tried to cook compliant, but many times my husband would request something off-diet, or we’d be visiting with friends or family, or have company, or church meetings, or traveling and having to eat out, etc., so I’m basically starting all over again. Whatever weight I lost in those first few weeks, I gained back. The health benefits my husband saw by cutting out the major avoids (wheat, corn, coffee, and most dairy) were amazing, but lost over the summer. The more compliant he ate, the fewer complaints he had — many of them, we didn’t even notice (or I noticed but he didn’t), until they came back — mostly sinus problems, stiff/sore shoulders & neck, problems sleeping, etc.

So, even though we haven’t been doing the BTD over the summer, I’m more committed than ever to it. With the return of school, we’ve gotten into a schedule, and that has helped get into a routine which includes better diet. I’m trying to fix my husband compliant foods, but I’m his wife, not his mother, so when he eats off-diet, all I can do is give a gentle reminder, raise an eyebrow, or say nothing at all — I cannot force him to eat right. He doesn’t always tell me when he eats avoids at school (typically coffee because he’s so tired, although sometimes he’ll grab an ice cream bar or something bad like that), but I can usually tell because of the change of attitude he has, depending on how compliant on the diet he is. I haven’t told him yet, but I can tell. Within half a day at least of eating wheat, he gets a stiff neck. For myself, I really don’t have health complaints other than being overweight. For the past several months, (perhaps even the past year) my weight has fluctuated perhaps 5 pounds a month and slightly risen from its baseline perhaps a pound every month or two. Initially on the diet, I noticed 5 pounds dropped off, but gained those back over the summer, so basically, I’ve started this second round about the same as I’ve been for most of the year. I don’t have a strict figure about what I weighed to start with, unfortunately, but my weight was as high as 220 some days (or nearly so), and definitely over 215 for the most part. Even though it fluctuated a bit (since I weighed myself every day, which some people say is a no-no), it came down a bit too, but not below 210 before the summer. Then I gained it back.

That weight gain has been the impetus for me to start the GenoType Diet (GTD), which is a variation of the BTD. (You can read more about both of those here.) I’m a “Teacher,” based on my measurements. At first, my weight was still fluctuating but on the slight downward trend — an initial loss (probably water) of a few pounds spurred me on, and then I continued the fluctuation that I didn’t like. Rereading the book, I saw that there were guidelines for how much of the various types of foods to eat — 2-5 servings of carbohydrates every day, 1-3 servings of turkey per week — that sort of thing. I realized that I was eating too much turkey, peanuts, peanut butter, cheese, etc., and not enough fruits and vegetables, so I made up a diet check-sheet for myself.

This has helped quite a bit, because I only eat what is on the list. I’m not craving food like I was, and I’m having more self-control. Before, I would let myself eat “just one” cookie, which would turn into a handful of cookies. Now, cookies aren’t even on my list! I didn’t realize I wasn’t eating enough vegetables — I thought I was doing a pretty good job; it’s still a struggle for me to eat 4 per day — most days I get 2 or 3. However, I’m staying within range on all the other things, so I’m no longer eating tons of turkey and carbs while also not getting any vegetables, or only one serving per day. That means that when I’m hungry, instead of looking to see what I have (and ending up eating stuff I shouldn’t), I look at my list to see what I’m allowed, and what I’m short on, and eat from that.

So, while my husband is still struggling with extreme tiredness and not being very compliant (although he sometimes talks about getting back on the wagon), I’m feeling great. I feel clean inside. And I’m losing weight, which is the main benefit I want. When I started the diet, I weighed about what I did when I gave birth! Within the first week after both births, I lost 20 pounds (including baby). Although I lost all the weight the first time, I kept much of the weight the second time, and then added back to it in the three years since I had my younger child. I’m tired of being the weight I am.

Today, my weight is 207, which is lower than I’ve been in months. Is it weird to feel “thin” when I weigh what I do, and am still well over “obese”? [This is an extremely interesting slide-show of various people of all shapes and sizes and whether or not they are underweight, normal, or overweight, according to the BMI. For a brief description of it, the "underweight" people look downright anorexic, the "normal" people look thin to normal, and the "obese" people look fairly normal to slightly chunky, while the "morbidly obese" look fat to very fat. I think the purpose of the slide-show is to demonstrate that the BMI is not a very good tool to determine whether someone is truly healthy or not. It certainly fits that purpose!] If I exercise, I tend to lose a pound a day; if I don’t exercise, I lose about a half a pound or so. Sometimes I don’t weigh every day, though. I’m thoroughly enjoying the diet. I don’t have the cravings I used to; I’m not hungry as much, and when I am hungry, it’s not an intense “gotta find something to eat now!!” feeling like I used to have; I’m eating more healthily (no sugar, no white flour, etc.). I just feel good.

Since Jan. 8, I’ve lost 7 pounds. That’s about two pounds a week. That’s cool! I can live with that! In fact, I will live longer now, statistically speaking. Kinda makes you think, doesn’t it? I’ll live longer, be healthier, and happier. Those are pretty good goals to have.

My secret? Counting calories. This is for the specific purpose of thinking before I eat, and knowing how much I’m actually consuming. It’s way too easy to just eat handful after handful of junk, and never realize how you’re just loading up on calories like that. But when you write stuff down, you can really see how much you’ve been eating (and for me, how little in the fruits-and-veggies categories I typically eat). This has helped me make a conscious effort to improve my diet, and it’s given me a dose of willpower to help stave off the munchies. Eating with a purpose, instead of just eating because it’s there or because you’re bored.

I feel like I’m melted and poured into them, but I can actually put them on and button them, which two weeks ago, I couldn’t! Today is my weekly weigh-in day, but I forgot to weigh myself before I ate breakfast, so I decided just to skip it. I haven’t been exercising this whole past week, so probably just lost one pound anyway. Maybe I’ll remember in time tomorrow. The good news is that yesterday I didn’t eat too much at lunch, because (unfortunately) my husband had a fever so the whole fam stayed home. (Didn’t want to “share the love”!) I didn’t count calories yesterday, per se, because I ate a lot of tidbits instead of real meals. But I kept sort of mental track of it, and think I stayed about 1500. Even if it was as much as 1800, I’d still be a lot less than my former typical 2300 calories per day. So we’re all good! (And my husband is feeling better today, after sleeping some 13 hours last night.)

As much a fan as I am of counting calories (it’s a whole lot easier than I thought, and really gives me a feeling of control!), I am an even bigger fan of eating healthy. (If you check out my pages here on the right, you’ll see that I am no health guru–I need to lose probably about 50 pounds; my problem hasn’t so much been eating a lot of bad food, as it is eating too much food in general, plus too much not-so-healthy food.) But even before I decided to control my eating and my weight instead of allowing them to control me, I tried to eat generally healthy–I ate out very little; used whole grains a good deal; didn’t eat much fried food. I will admit that my biggest problem is sweets; but I do have some high-calorie favorite foods (like my home-made stuffed pizza) that I would eat too frequently and always too much.

As I’ve been reading other people’s blogs about losing weight, it really surprises me how many people will eat artificial foods instead of real food. That’s just not healthy–I don’t care how much lower in fat and/or calories it is. I used to work with a woman who probably weighed 300 pounds, and all she drank was Diet Coke. That’s low-cal, so it’s good for you, right?–or at least better than regular Coke, right? I have to say I am just really suspicious of all artificial sweeteners. Sugar may be bad for you, too, but at least it’s naturally bad, not artificially bad. I’ve heard that consuming artificial sweeteners actually makes you want sweets that much worse, because you taste sweetness, and your body expects it but doesn’t receive it; then because your body is primed for sugar, it begins to crave it. That might have been this woman’s problem. And she drank a 2-liter a day. So it might have been 10 calories compared to 1000, but it wasn’t healthy. Water would have been a much better choice.

There’s a similar phenomenon with other “diet” foods–foods that are not healthy for you, and are just low-fat or low-calorie concoctions similar to typical junk food. So instead of eating real junk food, you’re eating fake junk food. This makes sense? So when it comes to food, I’d choose regular sour cream (you know, the ones that just say “cream” on the ingredients list) vs. the artificially low-fat or non-fat sour cream (made from who-knows what chemical concoctions). Full-fat foods are more satisfying, anyway; and you can use less of it to keep your fat and calorie intake down.

You can lose weight and be in worse health. You might not suffer from certain obesity-related illnesses, but you may be slowly poisoning your body with artificial ingredients that they put into “diet” foods to make them palatable even though they’re low-cal and/or low-fat. Have you really looked at the ingredients list on some of these foods? If there’s even one ingredient on there you can’t pronounce, you should put it back. Same for anything that says “hydrogenated”, or if it has “trans-fatty acids.” Normal foods (you know, stuff that grows out of the ground, or animals that eat stuff that grows out of the ground) are easy to pronounce and generally healthy. Nutritious and good-tasting, too.

So instead of using fake foods as a crutch to get you from eating full-fat and high-calorie junk foods (cookies, chips, and other fried foods and sweets), why not make a complete change, from cookies to apples for your sweets; and from chips to celery with peanut butter for the crunchy-salty snacks? You can scarf down a couple of cookies or one large apple for the same calories; but the apple is healthy while the cookies are not; and it takes a lot longer to eat the apple than the cookies, which means it’s likely to be a lot more satisfying; and the apple is a lot bigger than a couple of small cookies, so you’ll be fuller. Eat more and lose weight–what could be better than that?

I’m slacking up a little this week. I guess I’m blaming my husband’s 3-day weekend getting me off kilter. I didn’t exercise all weekend; but I did do a video on Monday. Then I didn’t do one yesterday and haven’t done one today (but there’s still time). I pigged out on Sunday (see my daily diet), but have been keeping it in line since then. Yesterday I went over 1300 calories (but still under 1800, so that’s the bright side), and today I’ve eaten less for breakfast and lunch, to save calories for supper. I’m a little hungry but not too bad. I need to exercise, though. I just get in a rut, though, you know? I like to do things at a specific time, and if I get off schedule, then I don’t go back and do what I missed. Now I feel like sitting at the computer and checking email, surfing the net and looking at blogs. But I ought to exercise. (Actually, I ought to clean my kitchen and go through all the mail that I’ve put aside until later.) So I guess I’ll do that–one or the other. I’m going to get off the computer very soon.

I must have “body dysmorphic disorder”–you know, when you see yourself differently from how you actually are. I’m just kidding of course. I don’t like the terminology of mental illness–it seems so defeatest–”the devil made me do it” and “I can’t help it”-ism.

The truth is, I don’t appear to myself the way I really am–and I doubt that most people really have an honest self-image of themselves. For most people diagnosed with this “disorder” they feel fat or think they look fat when they really are quite thin. Some people think their hips are too big; and no matter how much weight they lose, their hips are still out-of-proportion (in their mental view of beauty) to their body size. I’m the other way–I’m bigger than I feel. Weighing myself and taking my measurements was a real eye-opener to what I really must look like–you know, when I’m not dressed up and looking at myself in the mirror, sucking in my tummy, etc. If I saw someone of my height, weight, and body measurements walking down the street or on TV, I’d probably say to myself, “Boy, she needs to lose weight!” But I can look at myself in the mirror and think, “Yeah, I need to shed a few pounds.” And then eat three pieces of pizza for lunch. And not exercise.

I can read statistics of how people who are overweight have a much higher tendency to various illness in life, like heart problems, high blood pressure, diabetes, and cancer; and I can think, “Yeah, those people need to lose weight, start exercising, and watch what they eat, or they’re headed for trouble!” But “those people” includes me. I am overweight; I am at risk of developing diabetes.

The problem is, I feel healthy. I’m rarely sick; I don’t have high blood pressure; I don’t like to work out but I can. I look in the mirror and I know I’m overweight, but it’s easy to minimize how badly overweight I am. The numbers don’t lie, though. And my numbers show that I’m at an increased risk of all sorts of health problems in the future. When people are put in a higher-risk category on things like life insurance or health insurance because of their weight–because studies show that people at that weight, BMI, or whatever is the “yardstick” are more likely to get sick and die–it’s easy to say that they need to lose weight, and they need to exercise, and they need to bring their bad numbers down and their good numbers up. It’s easy to say that they have problems and they need to get a handle on things. But it’s not them. It’s me.

What does budgeting have to do with dieting? For me, everything!

This past week, I’ve been counting my calories, and not only have I not struggled with reducing my calorie intake, last night I actually ate an evening snack when I wasn’t truly hungry just to increase my total caloric intake for the day. According to a calorie counter, I typically took in 2300 calories per day, so I was aiming for 1800 or less, so that I could lose about a pound per week. If I could get down to 1300 calories per day (which seemed so far-fetched), then I’d lose about two pounds per week. Well, just by counting my calories and thinking what I was eating, I have eaten about 1300 calories per day, plus I’ve exercised more than typical (one video per day), and have lost about 3 pounds this week!

There’s something about stopping before eating and really thinking, “I have only 1300 calories every day to eat, so if I eat these cookies that are 300 calories, that just leaves me 1000 calories for everything else–breakfast, lunch, dinner, and any other snack.” For me, that’s just not worth it! Before, I wouldn’t have thought twice–it looked good, it smelled good, or I knew it tasted good and wanted to try it again, and I would have just eaten it.

It’s like trying to live within your income–if after you pay all of your necessary expenses (food, shelter, utilities, transportation) and other bills, you have $100 per month to live on, should you really buy a Nintendo Wii for $500, just because you want it? If you don’t have the money, you’ll have to put it on the credit card and pay for it later. That’s like what I’ve done with my weight–I didn’t have the calories in my diet but I ate it anyway, and I gained weight. I’m paying for it now. Now I have to live on fewer calories, because I’m working off my “debt”–my weight. And just as with money, you can either make more or spend less (or both), so with your weight–you can eat less or exercise more (or both). But change will not come just by wishing for it.

I weighed myself–in the middle of the day, too!–and discovered that I’ve lost another pound since Monday (or was it Tuesday?). Anyway, it’s actually been really easy–that’s the weirdest part. Making myself write down what I eat, and how many calories it is, has kept me from eating mindlessly, which has kept my calorie intake down. Today I was below 1300, and it wasn’t even that difficult! Sure I get hungry sometimes, but I got hungry before and would eat and be hungry pretty quickly afterwards (probably mostly habit). So according to my calorie counters, I must have eaten about 2300 calories per day to attain/maintain my current weight. This week, I decided to keep it about 1800, or less if I could, so I could lose about a pound per week. Well, without any real difficulty, I’m keeping it about 1300 (which means two pounds per week), plus I’m exercising at least every day–and sometimes two videos per day. I’m so excited!! I’ve still got a long way to go, but writing it down like this makes it seem not just possible but doable. I guess I’m a math nerd–I can wrap my brain around these numbers, while somebody else might just have to “feel” it. I need to have this concrete kind of thing, though–it keeps me honest.

Yesterday (Jan 16), I went into the torture chamber, as far as trying to keep on a diet is concerned–I went to my mom’s. Not only is she an excellent cook, but she likes to bake all sorts of sweets, and *always* has something on hand. Usually when I’m there, I eat without thinking–if it looks good, I’ll eat it; or if I think about it, I’ll eat it; or if I happen to be going through the freezer and see a bag of cookies or candies, I’ll eat one or two–you get the picture. But I didn’t eat any sweets while I was there!!! Triumph! I did eat too much for lunch, but ended up not going over my calories because I had a low-cal breakfast and wasn’t hungry for much supper (which is, like, a first for me). All in all, I’m feeling pretty good.

I wasn’t hungry when I fixed my kids something to eat for supper, so just made them PB&Js, and *boy* did I want to eat some peanut butter! But I wasn’t hungry, so I didn’t eat any. Another triumph! (I did eat what spilled out over the sides when I broke it into pieces–but I *had* to, to keep my kids from making a big mess.)

I didn’t do a full video, but did most of my Daisy Fuentes aerobics video before my husband came home, when I stopped. So all in all, it was a pretty good day.

Considering how much worse it could have been–how bad it usually is!–I’m quite pleased. I took food to eat at my mom’s, but then she was making her fresh home-made buns and had hamburger meat she needed to use, so we had grilled hamburgers–absolutely delicious. I made mine smaller than I normally would, but didn’t skimp on the cheese or ketchup. My sister was there and she fried chicken strips and french fries. I steadfastly resisted the urge to eat them, and ate my bean dip instead. Then I ate my hamburger when it was done. Then, sad to say, I did have a few french fries and a piece of chicken. The french fries were mostly off of my younger son’s plate–he was grumpy and wouldn’t eat, and I didn’t want to waste them; but the chicken was all my own doing. When I got home and figured out how many calories I had eaten, I was shocked to discover it was nearly 1,000! How was that possible?! Yet, thinking that normally I would have had another bun or two (with butter and/or cheese–and the buns are about 120 calories apiece, plus whatever butter or cheese would have been), plus at least one cookie and probably more sweets I normally would consume, and a larger hamburger, and at least another chicken strip and probably a full side of fries, I probably ate about half the calories I normally would have eaten there! And if I hadn’t been watching my calories, I probably would have had a much more caloric breakfast, and eaten a full supper regardless of my actual hunger.

As I said before, Triumph!

These past few days, I’ve found a couple of different calorie counters that determined that at my height, weight, and activity level, I must be consuming approximately 2300 calories per day to maintain my weight. That’s what I needed to know, but I sure didn’t like hearing it! So, I’ve decided to count my calories and try to lose about a pound per week, which means I need to cut about 500 calories per day. The funny thing is that I’m down about 1000 calories per day, and I’m not sure where it came from! How did that happen? Sure I get hungry sometimes, but usually I’ll just drink a glass of water or eat an apple or something healthy. Honestly, I don’t think I’m really that much hungrier than I was when I didn’t think about what I ate and just shoveled it all in. Maybe I just think now about how food affects me–that is, it makes me gain weight.

My particular problem is that if I don’t eat until I’m over-full, I don’t feel satisfied. No, let me rephrase that so it’s the Biblical definition–my problem is gluttony. It’s habit, I know, but it’s hard to break. It’s particularly hard when in certain situations, like going to an all-you-can-eat restaurant–you feel like you haven’t gotten your money’s worth if you don’t stuff yourself sick. Also, meals like Thanksgiving and Christmas are supposed to be feasts, right? We’re supposed to chow down and eat till we can’t button our pants any more, right? Well, if we ate on a daily basis and worked on a daily basis the way the Pilgrims did, we could probably afford to feast like they did. The only problem is, I think what we eat on a daily basis is more like their special feasts. And then there’s the meals at my mom’s house–her homemade tacos and pizza–I eat like a teenager, but gain weight like an adult.

And it’s gotta stop. That’s why I’m making myself count calories, so I know how much I’ve taken in. It’s far too easy to forget that you ate something, or to minimize how much you ate: “It was just a bowl of cereal, and 1 serving size is just 130 calories!” True, but what about the fact that a bowl-full is over two servings? and you forgot the full-fat milk you poured over it! All of a sudden your “healthy snack” of 130 little calories becomes a full meal of 500 calories–that’s 5 miles you’d have to walk or run to get that extra off! Enough!

So I’m down 1000 calories per day! And it’s easy (but not fun). I feel different, too–maybe it’s my empty stomach, but I feel cleaner and lighter inside. Probably because I’m not weighed down by so much daily food–and so much extra sugar and other bad stuff I shouldn’t eat. Plus, I’m exercising again. I’ve got my old videos out, and I’m doing one or two a day! Two pounds a week looks doable for now!

Just for the sake of honesty, it’s about 9:30 in the morning right now, and my stomach is grumbling. So I’m going to go have an orange or something.