Beyond Willpower

So, our lowering our cholesterol plan   is going well. So far we've implemented everything except two things on that list. (Wine and exercise, still waiting to hear back if we can use the gym at work!). I won't know about my cholesterol until February. BUT, in jan of this year it wasn't that bad. I checked online and nothing was more than 10 points above or below where it needed to be other than my triglycerides which were a little bit higher. I'm cooking at home WAY more often and not eating out so much. I bought a slow cooker so I can make bulk food easier and take it to work. The slow cooker just came yesterday. So that will start tomorrow! In other news, I bought a light therapy box to help my winter depression. Normally by this time I'm feeling down and I'm doing just fine so hopefully this continues to work out! Anyhow, will continue to keep you updated!

So joey had a dr appt yesterday, he has gained a good bit of weight since his appt last year, and he had blood work done and his doc called today to let him know his cholesterol is high and he needs a 'strict diet'. (no talk of statins yet, but they are the devil so we're trying to avoid that for both of us, my cholesterol is high as well.) His dad has had a heart attack so I hate it, but I'm worrying. Heart healthy changes we plan to make: 1.) Lean meats only 2.) Oatmeal for breakfast 3.) Start taking pharmaceutical grade fish oil 4.) Start taking cinnamon supplements (lowers blood sugar AND cholesterol) 5.) Drinking a glass of wine a day (Good for raising good cholesterol) 6.) Switching our unsweetened black brewed iced tea to unsweetened green brewed iced tea. 7.) Increasing fiber (half of every meal should be fruits/veggies) 8.) Juicing carrot/apple/orange  juice once a day. (high fiber/lowering cholesterol recipe) 9.) Exercise to lower bad and raise goo...

Joey and I just got back from a vacation, where I'm certain I gained at least 5 lbs (in crab), but I don't know/won't know because I'm not weighing myself. I weigh myself a week or so before going to the Dr. and that is it. It seems, aside from pigging out on vacation, that I have maintained a 25 lb loss but haven't lost any additional weight to my knowledge. Maintaining it get's a great big 'huzzah!' from me, because I haven't even been doing anything except eating when I'm hungry and stopping when I'm full. I have managed to maintain a 25 lb loss doing that alone. So, now Joey and I are home, and on the same page about our weight loss goals. We are eating meat, but far less of it and have decided to make veggies half of our portion at dinner, a tiny bit of meat and a grain. Tonight we had a giant salad and a bit of chili and rice. It was very filling, I didn't even finish my chili, but I must say it was quite fab. Lean ground beef, ...

I'm an optician. I work with two other opticians at my job and we are all on and off again concerned with our health and diet. We never seem to ALL THREE be concerned at the exact same time. That seems to finally have changed! Right now, all three of us are concerned. So, I came up with a plan. We have a mini fridge at work and a microwave. I also bought a toaster oven for us today. We are all SICK of eating out and ordering in for lunch. I went to Aldi's (local cheap grocery) and bought 45$ worth of groceries. I got some lean and fit lunch meat, cheese, pb and j fixins, salad fixins and some healthy snacks, like fruit and wheat crackers.  We are all going to chip in each week and take turns getting the groceries. I figure once we are started it should only cost 30$ a week to keep us replenished and stocked on stuff. That's only 10$ per person, per week. We are paying more than that for certain buying junk food and eating out every day! So this will save money AND be a ...

OMG. I am so sorry for being gone so long! Things have been happening here. In my last post I said I'd be counting calories but I just can't. I CAN'T. I mean I can, but I know I can't stick to it for the long term, so I am just trying to make better choices, stop eating when I'm full and I haven't weighed myself in MONTHS. Joey hid the scale, for both of our sake since we have scale dependent self esteem! So, some Non Scale Victories that I've had since my wedding last March 9th, on our 19 year anniv. 1.) My face is finally starting to look a little thinner: BEFORE: (at my wedding, with a friend, not sure why everything looks so shiny here) DURING: 2.) My body is finally following suit: BEFORE:  (Me getting my ring from my best woman at my wedding lol) DURING: (me rocking this dress, attending a burlesque show!:) 3.) My underwear that I had that were the biggest size I could find for my HUGE hips, are actually fitting n...

I've decided after much reflection, to go back to tracking calories. I know that it works if I stick to it, I just can't stop when I get to where I want to be. I have to track then, for maintenance. I'm honestly pretty frustrated by this, and I can't even go back to my dieting 'home', sparkpeople, because I feel they are being influenced by....well, by money. They posted this whole blog thing about how diet drinks REALLY aren't bad for you and we've all been duped! All of this based on some study that seemed to be research conducted by the american beverage institute or something with a big banner across the top for this institute (aka lobby?) and I just feel like they've sold out in a big way. It used to make me mad how they would put banner ads for pizza hut across the top of the page, but this? It's too much. Also, I know it's been a bit since I posted. I've thought about it often, about what I could say, but we've not really m...

Well I haven't been around lately, just busy and tired at the same time, that combo makes for far less yoga and blogging. Luckily I'm in such a healthy eating routine that I havne't been knocked from it. Last night I tried a new recipe I found online. It was for black bean burgers:   [Photographs: J. Kenji Lopez-Alt] One of the things about black bean burgers is that they are notoriously mushy and they can even fall apart at times. Over at Serious Eats  you can find the recipe and read the article that goes along with it, explaining the trial and error, the fucking SCIENCE that went into creating this amazing 'meaty' textured black bean burger. I highly suggest you make a batch. It's a little more work than usual for such a thing but the reward is totally worth it in the end. Joey loved these burgers so much he said we need to make them when he has friends over on Sunday we are also trying to eat healthier. He even had one for lunch today ...