Good Morning All.
Happy Easter to those that celebrate it.
In yesterdays post I said I would talk about...
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What were our starting weights?
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What was our first task?
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How long we have currently been on this?
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How is it going thus far?
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Also, I will share a recipe I found we have loved.
I have "struggled" with my weight for most of my life. Until I got married I was usually just on the higher end of a healthy weight. Being an emotional eater I know where my issues with food started. I had a less than ideal childhood and I believe once out of the situation I didn't know how to cope with everything at such a young age, so I turned to food. I suppose it has been a good(bad) friend ever since.
I wish I knew what Matthew's trigger is. I think he may just have bad habbits. Such as watching tv and wanting to eat. For instance today is Sunday. So tonight we have "Shameless" and "The Last Man on Earth", usually we would watch it and order pizza while Matt would drink a bottle of wine.
Over the years we finally realized that we are 1 addicted to food. So much so that it will improve our mood to get the food we want, and we become grumpy if we don't. Another thing we have come to realize is that we are each others enablers.
A recent example of that: This weekend we went to Matt's parents house and he and his brother put a trampoline together, we played games, and just visited. Then they were planning to go out and have a free day/date night. Matthew wanted to go, so I agreed. Whats funny about this, is we were trying not to spend money, and thats one of the reasons we went over there in the first place. Because we knew the kids would have free fun, and we could visit etc, without spending a dime. We were good, packed every food we (us and the kids) would eat that day.
Before we even left for the dinner I told Matt I wasn't thrilled with the idea of a free day or meal. Because the day before I started I had eaten pizza and gained a few pounds. It took a few days to get them off. It didn't seem worth it.
(I only started the whole food/plant based part last friday(3/27/2015). Matthew had started about a week before me, maybe 2.)
However, he was saying I should just have one meal. I still was saying I didn't really want to. He said well I am gonna go off if thats ok with you. Now I could have said I wish you wouldn't but I don't feel I have a right to say no to something he wants to do. Right before we got to the restaurant I told him I would go ahead and go off for this one meal, because I didn't want to end up regretting it.
Says quite a bit about how much of a slave to food I am. That I would regret not eating "crap".
What were our starting weights? Matthew started this adventure at 275. I started at 235. :-/
What was our first task?
Matthew's dad progressivley introduced him to this diet. He first started him/us on drinking enough water. Which, for those who don't know that is suppose to be half your body weight in water. I have been drinking 115 ounces a day. After begining this( a day after Matthew) I realized I wasn't drinking nearly enough. Maybe 30 ish ounces a day. I had been chronically dehyrdated for years.
I love researching, so I had to look up if being chronically dehydrated could cause you to gain weight/ retain fat etc.
The answer is Yes.
Our bodies are mostly water so if it isn't getting enough it will try and hold onto the little it has.
As well as if it doesn't have enough our bodies don't function properly.
How long we have currently been on this?
We started the water part about a month ago.
Like I said above, I started the whole food about a week ago. Whereas Matthew started 2 weeks ago.
How is it going thus far?
Surprisingly well. Feeding a family of 4 six small meals a day can be quite expensive, but other than that its going well. I have found, I am not so drawn to the junk food. Don't get me wrong, since I am sitting here writing about food, and what not I am currently thinking of pizza, and how it tastes. However, I have noticed as long as I eat my small meals every 2 hours like I am suppose to, I am perfectly fine. At least as long as the food is good. If I try a recipe and its blah then I am just thinking well, I could just order a pizza.
Matthew has lost about 20 pounds
I lost about 5 while doing the water, and eating "normal" foods, but eating slightly less.
Also, I will share a recipe I found we have loved.
Rotini and Black Bean Salad
Ingredients:
8 oz whole wheat/whole grain rotini pasta
6 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp minced garlic
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 can black beans
1/2 c. cherry tomatos (I used roma tomatos)
1/2 c. frozen corn, thawed
1/4 c. chopped green onion, white parts
juice of 1/2 lemon
1/4 c. chopped fresh chives
1 tbsp fresh cilantro
1 ripe avocado
salt/pepper to taste
1 tbsp fresh cilantro (I used an entire bunch)
*First of all, I
doubled the recipe above. Then, I added 1 red bell pepper, 1 bunch
cilantro (instead of 1 tbsp), 1 tsp cumin, several dashes cayenne
pepper, & garlic salt to taste. I also used more beans and corn
than it called for. In addition, double the dressing recipe. As the
pasta sits, it absorbs the dressing. You need to add more prior to
serving. I grilled chicken breast to put in the salad for the family
members that eat chicken. If I would've had fresh spinach, I would have
put that in it as well.
Cook the pasta according to the directions on box. Rinse with cold
water and drain. Whisk together the balsamic vinegar and garlic in a
bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Then, whisk oil in until dressing
thickens. Add beans, corn, onion, chives, cilantro, bell pepper, etc.
to the pasta. Pour dressing over pasta and toss. Add cubed avocado to
pasta and fold in. Refrigerate at least an hour or longer before
serving.
I hope you guys like this recipe, and enjoyed todays post.
If you try it let me know what you think.
!!Have a great Day!!
