Weigh-Day - Detox Week

Check out the scale giveaway on Roni’s Weight Loss Blog! I can win an Affordable Food Scale from Eat Smart and so can you! Click here for contest details!
I want one of those super expensive, super awesome Green Star juicers (makes everything...including banana ice cream that tastes just like Chunky Monkey, but is only made from bananas, no sugar or cream). Around the holidays they were giving a food scale away with them, but I didn't buy one - the juicer's a reward for losing 40 or 50 lbs somewhere down the road...but I sure could use a scale now! :)

Anyhoo....
As expected, the scale was up a tiny bit (0.2 lbs) this morning from yesterday because my low calorie day from being sick on Thursday gave me a falsely low # on the scale Friday. But it's still all good.
Today I'm at 161.6 which is a total loss for the detox week of 6.2 lbs! Sweet!

Basically, that undoes the damage I did to myself in January plus another 0.6 pounds gone. So - it's a good jump start to my healthy lifestyle recommitment.
I'm 0.6 pounds away from being back to my 15 pound loss, ~3 pounds away from my October low and 10% total loss, and about 6 or 7 pounds from being comfortably (key word) back in my size 14s! (never thought I'd be happy to be BACK in 14s, but hey...we start from wherever we're starting, right?)

I updated all my measurements (to the right), but I'm not sure how accurate they are. It's hard to measure yourself - especially your arms...
But, everything in the midsection seems about right.
I'm down 3.0" at the smallest part of my waist, 2.25" at my belly button (which is actually the top of my hip bone...I'm very short-waisted), and 0.5" at my hips. I will always be biggest at that part and lose most slowly from there too...it's just where I store my weight and why I'm at a bigger size than a lot of you probably would be at the same weight. It's also the place I'm likely to have loose skin when I get to goal...that lower tummy area...blech.

This detox is actually 11 days long and today's supposed to be a juice fast day. But you're not supposed to fast if you're recovering from being sick, which I am, so I'm not fasting. I'm just going to keep eating the way I've been for the 7 day 'prequel' to the fast. I'm thinking of just seeing if this is something I can keep up for a while since it's not an extreme detox...just very clean eating.
I'm going to add yogurt back in, and eventually I'll add some sweeteners (my favorite hot sauce has agave syrup), gluten (haven't decided about bread, but at least so I can use soy sauce here and there and the multi-grain tempeh I have in my freezer) and soy protein isolates (fake meat products - hard to live without them at least sometimes - Saturday is usually veggie sausage day).
I'm going to try to continue to eliminate or strictly limit refined carbs, many sweeteners, caffeine, and unhealthy fats. No more 100 calorie packs, muffins at Starbucks, regular chocolate consumption, etc. I think those things are just good for my sleep and anxiety, not to mention my waistline.

Here's what I learned this week.

1) I eat a lot of convenience/pre-packaged foods - frozen meals, veggie burgers, crackers, granola bars, cereals, cups of yogurt, etc.
2) It takes planning time and effort to eat a diet based on whole foods. Planning is going to be the biggest factor in my success.
3) It's hard to eat too many calories when you're a vegetarian not eating a lot of prepackaged foods and planning ahead.
4) It's easy to eat too many fats (avocado, nuts, almond butter, etc.) when you're looking for filling snacks and avoiding packaged things. Even good fats need to be in the right proportion to your total calories, carbs and protein.
5) It's very easy to eat too much sodium if you're not paying attention, and especially if you're eating a lot of pre-packaged foods. I need/want much less salt if I season after the dish is finished cooking - just while I'm eating.
6) I can eat the recommended # of WW points, but come in way too low on calories. I'm going to enter my food in SparkPeople's nutrition page AND WW Online for awhile, so I can track both. I'll get a more complete nutritional picture of my diet and feel comfortable that I'm getting enough calories in the right proportions of food-types.

Yesterday quick totals (actual/goal) are...

Calories: 1,373/1,200-1,550
Fat: 41g/32-56g
Carbs: 212g/163-236g
Protein: 53g/60-127g
Fiber: 43g/25-35g
Sodium: 1,116mg/0-2,300mg

WW Points: 23.5

I ate...

Breakfast: 1 banana
Lunch: 1/2 portion of leftover light split pea soup w/coconut milk; 1 c. red cabbage; 6 baby carrots
Dinner: 3 Tacos w/soft corn tortillas (not 100% sure these were legal on the detox), mixed beans, mixed veggies, red cabbage, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, hot sauce; and 1 beet with rosemary, olive oil and garlic.
Snacks: 9 cashews; 13 Mary's Gone Crackers - herb; 1 large orange; vanilla whey and berries protein shake w/flaxseed oil, bluegreen algae, probiotics, and cran water.

Whew! I think that's all for today.
Have a good one!
I'll be right here glued to my desk studying ALL DAY...that's what being sick and out of commission for 3 days does to my weekend! Yay! :-P

Detox - Day 6

Just a quick update.
I was feeling so sick yesterday. I went to work, but struggled through. I tried to make myself eat, and eat healthy things, but it was a struggle and I got less than 1,000 calories. Also, I wasn't able to work out for the 2nd day in a row.
So - take this with a grain of salt, but I was down another 0.8 lbs today to 161.2, which brings my total loss since the 'official' weigh-day last Saturday to 6.4 lbs.

For breakfast, I had an orange.
For lunch, I had leftover split pea soup with coconut milk.
For snack I had 3 stalks of celery with 1 tbsp. peanut butter.
For dinner I had sweet potato fries (made with 1/2 sweet potato and 1/2 tbsp. olive oil), 1.5 c. broccoli, 1/3 c. homemade hummus (chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice, garlic), and 15 sesame rice crackers

Total Calories: 962
Total Fat: 47g
Total Carbs: 123
Total Protein: 29g
Total Fiber: 28g
Total Sodium: 1,278 mg

Total WW Points: 21.5

I'm slightly concerned that I could eat this few calories and still be 0.5 above my daily allowance - I know I'm not including WPs or APs, but still...what if I decided, as some do, that I wanted to save those WPs and APs for a special weekend day...that means I could eat fewer than 1,000 calories all week long and have that be 'legal'? A little odd. I guess it's not a perfect science - just guidelines. But for now I'm going to keep checking calories, etc. in addition to points

Detox - Day 5

Down 1.4 lbs this morning to 162.2 - so I lost the 0.4 the scale showed yesterday plus another pound. And that means I'm 0.6 past my original goal for Saturday! Yay! That's a total of 5.6 gone.

I've been feeling really sick, though. At first I thought it could be the detox, but it's probably more likely that I've caught something from one of the kids at school. We were out for a snow day yesterday, but Monday and Tuesday a bunch of the 4th grade was gone because of a stomach virus. 4th grade is on the 2nd floor and my room is in the basement, and the rooms of most of my kids are on the 1st floor - so I don't have that much contact with 4th grade except for 1 class. One boy, actually - I used to have 3 fourth graders, but 1 is out with pink eye and one just moved, so he's all I've seen this week.
The 1st and 2nd graders, which are most of my students, have had sore throats and sniffly noses.
Also, Ryan says strep is going around his office. He hardly ever catches anything. I, on the other hand, catch everything. That's a big part of the reason I'm doing this detox and trying to start making the healthiest choices I can.

Yesterday and this morning, I've had a fever around 101.5 (As best I can tell...the thermometer needs a new battery), a sore throat, a headache and stomach cramping but nothing beyond that. Plus, I had the most difficult time concentrating yesterday. I only got through about 50 of 150 pages I needed to read. Oh well. I did my best. I'm just useless when I'm sick.

I didn't post any pics yesterday. I took one - of my lunch, and I'll post that now. Here's what I had the whole day.

Breakfast
2 rice cakes
2 tbsp. almond butter
1 apple

354 cal.
7.5 pts.

Lunch
leftover tofu & veggie roast with 4 leaves of kale (~1.5 cups)

619 cal.
10.5 pts.

Dinner
leftover light split pea soup with ~0.4 cups of coconut milk

284 cal.
9.5 pts.

Snacks
1 large orange
10 sesame rice crackers

167 cal.
3 pts.

Totals: actual/goal

Calories: 1,424/1,200-1,550
Fat: 67g/32-56g
Carbs: 187g/163-236g
Protein: 44g/60-127g
Fiber: 31g/25-35g
Sodium: 1,498mg/0-2,300mg

WW Points: 30.5 (used 9.5 WPs)

Overall - not a bad day. Too much fat, not enough protein, but it's okay.

I did notice that when I entered my lunch into WW online just by calories, fat and fiber, it told me it was 14 points - but when I thought that sounded high and went back to enter each ingredient separately, it changed to 10.5 points...hmmmm....just something to think about.

No exercise - I had 45 min. on the elliptical and 20 min in the sauna scheduled, but wasn't feeling up to it.

That's all!
School is delayed 2 hours because of ice on the roads. I'll probably go in, but I haven't decided for sure. I just feel very weird and feverish and crampy and weak. I'm pretty sure I won't be able to drive the hour and 40 minutes to Knoxville and back for class this afternoon, but we'll see. Hope everyone's feeling well :)

Detox - Day 4

Up 0.4 lbs today to 163.6. It's fine. I think that falls within the realm of normal fluctuations. I got rid of my initial water-weight and maybe now it's time for more normal patterns, although I'd still love to get to 162-ish by Saturday.

Yesterday was the first day I did not have a salad, but I had a good amount of veggies. Actually - nutritionally, yesterday was probably the best day I've had. (proportion of carbs to fats to protein, grams of all those, fiber, etc.) I also did not have an orange or much greens, which are required on the detox (citrus, not an orange specifically). So, at the end of the night I took a supplement which is supposed to take the place of the greens and drank a big mug of warm lemon water for the citrus.
Also - I had tofu for the first time this detox. It's not the most highly recommended on the detox, so I'll have leftovers for lunch and then no more until next week.

Here's the breakdown

Breakfast
Smoothie with 1 scoop whey protein, 6 strawberries, 1/2 c. raspberries, 1 tsp. flaxseed oil, 2 tbsp. E3Live (algae), 1 tsp. FloraKey (probiotics), and 1 c. cran-water (1 part unsweetened cranberry juice to 7 parts water)

223 cal.
3 pts.

Lunch
1 c. light split pea soup w/celery, carrots, kale, shiitakes, garlic, & parsely
6 baby carrots
~1 c. red cabbage

158 cal.
2.5 pts.

Snacks
13 Mary's Gone Crackers - original
6 almonds
10 cashews
1 pear

355 cal.
8 pts.

Dinner
Tofu roast with carrots, cashews, red and gold potatoes, cauliflower, shiitakes, olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper, & sage (1/4 of what's in the TwitPic)

534 cal.
12 pts. !!! (mostly from the potatoes and oil)

Totals - actual/goal

Calories: 1,264/1,200-1,550
Fat: 45g/32-56g
Carbs: 178g/163-236g
Protein: 57g/60-127g
Fiber: 35g/25-35g
Sodium: 1,586mg/0-2,300mg

Points: 24.5

Activity: Cher fitness video :) (it's good!) - entire video
38 min. step
10 min. abs
32 min. lower body

(~3 APs)

We're off school for a snow day today!!!
I have so much work to do for class, so I'm definitely going to take advantage of this day and get a lot done.
Hope everyone has a great day!

Detox - Day 3

I love my scale :)
Down another 0.8 today to 163.2
That's 4.6 total gone from my official Saturday morning weigh-in to now (Tues. morning).

I know only some of that is fat and some is water and some is whatever crap I've just been storing inside me that the detox is helping me get rid of, but whatever it is, I'm glad it's gone.
My goal was to get to 162.8 by my fast day, this coming Saturday, and I'm only 0.4 away!
I'm now just 5.2lbs from my low point (my 10% loss) on this journey in October when I totally fell off the wagon.
I also remeasured my waist at it's narrowest (-2.25 in.), my waist at my belly button (-0.25 in.) and my hips (-1.0 in.)

Plus, I slept all the way through the night last night for the first time in forever. Didn't meet my 8 hrs goal, but I got more than 7.
As for detox side effects - yesterday afternoon my stomach hurt for a few hours. Then on the way home from class I had a headache. But nothing too terrible. Definitely better than the weekend ailments.

I ate everything in my twitpic except the pear, which got smooshed in my lunchbag, and the crackers.

Here's the nutritional and points breakdown....actual/goal

Calories: 1,212/1,200-1,550
Fat: 53g/32-56
Carbs: 143g/163-236
Protein: 56g/60-127
Fiber: 39g/25-35
Sodium: 874mg/0-2,300 (that seems low...I'll have to check to make sure it's right)

WW Points: 23

Activity: nothing - I really, really just can't do it Monday :)

I have no idea what I'm going to pack today...I need to go to the store...hmmmm
Well, I better go figure it out.
See ya later :)

Detox - Day 2

The scale was down another 1.6 pounds this morning! That's -3.8 total! I wasn't expecting that at all. I thought I'd lose a couple the 1st day because of water-weight, but I guessed maybe a half a pound a day after that at the most. So - happy dance!
I'll be happy if I stay the same for the next 2 weigh-ins, because that would just put me where I'd expected to be. Nice to take a little pressure off - especially since the only exercise I schedule for Mondays is a 10 min. abs workout.

I feel fine right now, but last night Ryan and I were both pretty miserable. He started to feel sick first with a super intense headache...actually, he'd been feeling sick all weekend - even before we started the detox, so he might be fighting something off in addition to 'toxins'.
I was fine except for a light headache and kind of a stitch in my side until 9:30-ish and then I felt my headache get a lot worse, and I felt dizzy and nauseous and sort of like I was feeling waves of heat through my body. Almost like I was getting a fever....just these heat rushes - very weird. I guess that's a part of the process. The problem is my anxiety spiked also, which is the worst for me. I'm not willing to risk backtracking at all in that area. I just had to go to bed and consequently am NOT ready for class this afternoon. (crap!)
Neither of us slept very well and he wound up taking a couple Advil. We figured he needed his sleep and eating clean with Advil is better than NOT eating clean with Advil (we're not supposed to have over the counter meds). Plus, he has a meeting at a Mexican restaurant tonight and isn't really starting the 7-days before the fast until tomorrow. This is like his pre-prequel.


Sunday's nutritional wrap up looks better all around than Saturday's....(actual/goal)
1,347 calories/1200-1550
50g fat/32-56
180g carbs/163-236
61g protein/60-127
43g fiber/25-35
1,766mg sodium (started tracking that too)/0-2,300
25.5 WW Points

Fiber's still too high, but I'm not sure what to do about that....

Exercise was 65 min. walk/jog outside at the hilly park in our town. (3 APs)
I just got over the 1,000 minute mark on my exercise tracker! (below) :)

Okay - I'm off to get ready for the loooooong day. I'll be lucky if I'm home by 9:30. (blech to Mondays)

Detox - Day 1

Yay! I knew some of that weight at yesterday’s weigh-in was just water. I don’t know if I’ll weigh everyday on the detox, but I weighed this morning and was already down 2.2 lbs. to 165.6. So relieved!

I think yesterday went really well. This detox is just really clean eating, so there’s no reason it shouldn’t go well, I guess. I have a few minor concerns though…

A lot of people have trouble on this type of detox because it might be too much of a fiber increase for their bodies all at once. Being veggie, I already eat a pretty good amount of fiber, but last night I was up for an hour or so with a terrible stomachache that could’ve been because of that. I also tend to have stomach trouble when I eat avocado or beets. And, like a big dummy, I ate them both in one day. So, I’m going to get some magnesium at Walgreen’s today because that’s what the people on the support site for the detox book recommend. They also say drinking hot lemon water helps, but I'd had already had my 84 oz. - I'm only used to 64, so I just didn't feel like drinking any more yesterday.

My other concerns are that I won’t get enough protein or calories. I don’t want to slow down too much on my exercise routine (last week I exercised 5 hrs. and 20 min. – the previous 4 weeks before that combined I exercised 5 hrs. and 38 min. – so I want to keep the momentum going!). Also, I can’t afford energy dips with my busy schedule, and I don’t want to overeat when I finish the detox, so I want to eat clean but still within my ‘recommended’ calorie range. I’m already eating foods that people who do this detox with the primary purpose of losing weight wouldn’t eat. They’re listed in the book as okay to eat if you ‘don’t need to lose weight or are prone to depression.’ Things like sweet potatoes, beans, legumes, nuts – avocado would probably be on that list.

So, I decided that I would follow the detox guidelines but also track my WW points AND use my nutrition page at SparkPeople to keep track of calories, fat, protein, carbs and fiber. Yesterday I entered the info in SparkPeople and then just entered the calories, fat and fiber into the WW online points calculator to figure out points. I really liked that method! Sometimes I’m curious/slightly concerned that I could eat all my points but not get the right calories or nutrition for my body, so I’m comforted by doing both.

My food is at the left (twitpics) I took a pic of everything except my whey protein shake I had last night. At the end of the day yesterday I wound up at 23 points (my WP allowance is 21, but I earned 5 APs, so that’s all good).

My goal is 1200-1550 calories – I ate 1,169 – low, but not terrible.
My goal is 163-236g carbs – I ate 158 – low, but again, fine.
My goal is 60-127g protein – I ate 50 – I’m fine with this – protein is hard for me.
My goal is 32-56g fat – I ate 47 – right in the middle
My goal is 25-35g fiber – I ate 41 – again, too high, but not terrible.

Today I need to start eating and drinking my water earlier so I can pace myself and eat some nuts if my calories are too low. I’m going to add tofu (which we’re only allowed sparingly) or tempeh, which is fine since it’s fermented, to pick up the protein a little too.
Wish me luck! :)