Progress is where you find it.

This morning I was recording my weight (day three of our two-weeks on Phase I) and noticed the cycle of numbers involved.   First, I was down a pound from yesterday -- Phase I is like that.   Second, this brings my total since Saturday to 3.5 pounds.  My total weight loss since May 15 (2nd anniversary of starting the South Beach Diet the first time) is 4 pounds.

And the one I take comfort in the most -- today's weight is 232.0 . . . exactly 50 pounds off of my peak weight on May 7, 2011.

I've backslid my way away from some of my other goals, but they're coming back . . . for example, I can still wear my size 40 slacks, down from a size 48 two years ago.   But I can't wear my size 34 belt from 1984.  I'm working on it though . . .

Hope to see 230.0 by the weekend.

We're going to "bend" a little bit over the weekend, since we have company coming.   I'll let you know how it goes.

A new beginning

As many of you know, I kept this blog from May 2011 through Summer-ish of 2012 as I was working on losing weight.

Here's the summary, for those who don't remember or weren't along for that journey:

In late 2010, I had been walking for exercise, and my sons had managed to injure my left knee . . . so I stopped.   At the same time, years of overeating had caused my weight to balloon to 278 pounds (I wrestled at 167 pounds as a senior in high school, so being 100 pounds heavier than that was a bit of a wake-up call).   In dealing with my leg injury, my doctor heaped upon me insults and lectures.  (I'm saying this good-naturedly, honest.)    His greatest hits included two comments:  1.  "You used to be an athlete, didn't you?" and 2:  "If you want to see your sons graduate high school, you need to lose significant weight."

So on May 15, 2011, with me at 278 pounds and my lovely bride at 196 we began the South Beach Diet, and started to exercise with a purpose (although the exercise has been limited mostly to walking).  In a mere three months, I was down to 244 pounds.   We plateaued briefly during the winter, but got back to serious weight loss in spring 2012 and our weight loss peaked last summer, with me at 217 on July 4, and Karen at 164 on July 1.  (Ahem -- motivation is where you find it . . . my 25th High School Class Reunion was July 13)

By Autumn, as you can see in my previous post in September, we had resumed a number of bad habits, but were generally sticking with smaller portion sizes, and eating better than we had before the diet. . . . but -- I hit the two year anniversary of the big lifestyle change (May 15) having put back 20 pounds.   So, today, June 15, we're starting Phase One of the South Beach Diet anew.

We're hoping to drop below our previous lows, and hoping you'll come along for the ride.

Breakfast this morning was the South Beach Staple . . . one egg, a strip of turkey bacon and no carbs.  We're getting ready to head for the grocery store, and the plan is to be totally carb-free for the remainder of the week.  We have family commitments next weekend, and we're going to hold to our previous policy of "bending" the rules a bit when with family -- THEY'RE not on a diet.

I'm planning to make regular updates to this blog -- and probably to go back and re-read the whole thing for inspiration tonight.

Continuing on

I titled my last blog post "The Lost Month" and suggested that I had considered calling it the "Lost Summer."   Since that post on August 5 was my only post for the month, maybe I should have.

Anyway, I started the month of August a half pound lighter than my one year anniversary of the diet on May 15, and ended August a pound heavier than that.

Proof we'd slipped into all sorts of bad habits was abounding. . . so the last week of August and the very first few days of September, we celebrated our return to being serious about the South Beach Diet by finishing off all of the carbohydrates in the house.

We returned to Phase I of the diet (basically eat only meat and vegetables) on Tuesday morning the 4th of September, and it's worked as advertised once again.  As of this morning, I'm 215.8 pounds, which is down about 5 pounds from last weekend, down 5.2 pounds from "Day 1" of the second year of the diet and down 66.2 pounds from where I started in May 2011.

We're still not going to be as strict as we were last year, but we ARE still dieting.  (For example, the boys have asked for Papa John's Pizza for tonight, as a reward for good behavior the first two weeks of school, so we're relenting and ordering.)

Here's a product plug, for those who've stuck with me. . .

We stumbled upon Jennie-O's "Turkey Ham" a few weeks ago and tried it.  The boys not only didn't realize it wasn't the genuine article, but Joshua (my pickiest eater) actually asked during the meal if we could "have this again soon."   It comes in about a 2.25 pound block and we roast it in the oven for 30 minutes at 350 degrees and carve at the table like you would a normal ham.

A 58 gram slice is a proper serving, and 4.5 grams of fat with 2 grams of carbs.   Works great for the diet.

The lost month

Or maybe I should title this "The Lost Summer."   As I type, I have the spreadsheet on which I track our progress.   On May 15, 2012, I reset the "Original weight" to my current weight of that day, the one year anniversary of the start of this little odyssey. . . Now, 82 days later, the "Total Weight Lost" is a mocking "-0.5"

Since May 15, my peak of weight loss (reached twice - June 4 and again June 25) has been 4.5 pounds.   On July 1, I was actually down 1.6 pounds.  

I'm consoled, however, by two facts:  1.  my worst day this summer was July 25, when I was actually UP 3 pounds from May 15 and 2.  Looking back last summer, I actually gained 9 pounds in July, so this summer's been a breeze comparatively.

Now, we're into August, and dealing with Vacation Bible School for the boys the next three evenings, and the Illinois State Fair starting Thursday.  We're going to try to behave (I bought groceries through Thursday yesterday afternoon, and the only really bad behavior I anticipate is the pizza-and-chocolate-chip-cookies combo my younger son chose for Wednesday night.  It's a product I've never seen, DiGiorno pizza with 12 chocolate chip cookies.  Apparently you throw the cookies in the oven as you take the pizza out.   Doesn't look promising for the scale on Thursday morning).

We're looking forward to the start of school for the boys in 3 weeks as a chance to get back onto a more regular schedule and get started back down the dial.

Steady . . .

Every authority with which I'm familiar warns that major weight loss is a lifestyle change, and that at some point your progress will slow.

I think we've reached that point.   This morning was my lowest weight since we started this process (218.6), but . . . it's only about a half pound less than I was a week ago.  On the plus side, I've lost a half pound in a week that saw a couple of restaurant meals and a week that was so hot outdoors that my exercise was limited.

The next few weeks will be a bit of a challenge -  Saturday is my 25th High School class reunion.  I'm planning to eat, drink and make merry, with no regard for my weight.   The Saturday after that is a 70th reunion for the Scout Troop I used to lead.  I've been on the committee that's been planing this event for the last six months, and I have to say, the banquet looks excellent.

The full week after THAT reunion, the boys will be with my in-laws.   We're not travelling this year, but we will take the opportunity to do some things we normally can't do, like eat out at restaurants that don't have crayons and paper place mats.

So . . . for the rest of July, being steady on my weight seems like a pretty good goal.

Updates

Sharing with Man's Best Friend.   The first picture below is our 10 year old Boston Terrier, Lucy.   A few weeks ago, Lucy developed a bit of a limp, so we took her to the vet.   She was diagnosed as being overweight and out of shape!  (Sound Familiar?)   So she's had her diet changed up, and she was curious about all the pictures Karen and I were taking so she came to see what was going on . . . and I couldn't resist taking her picture.

I'm a little rough around the edges after working in the garden on the 4th of July, but I wanted a self picture at 219 pounds.  The belt I'm wearing is a 32 inch belt that I bought in New Mexico in 1984.

This is my lovely wife after losing 31 pounds.  We're both still losing weight.

For comparison, here's Karen at her peak weight in April 2011

We're pretty pleased with our progress, even if it has slowed some since the beginning of the diet.

Back on Track

We had a good week, diet wise.  Both my wife and I lost significant amounts of weight this week, sticking strictly on our Phase II of the South Beach Diet until the weekend.  Monday morning I was still on my "food hangover" from the weekend and had slipped back up to 223.5 pounds.  By Saturday morning, I was hitting my lowest weight since the mid-1990's at 218.4.

We indulged yesterday at my nephew's birthday party (who can say no to Cake and Ice Cream with 3 year olds?), but overall behaved very well.

This weekend, we're sampling the bounty from our garden.  Last night's dinner was a ginger-garlic pork stir-fry with fresh summer squash and zucchini from our garden.  The squash and zucchini made an appearance this morning in a "Garden omlette" (one egg each for each of us, along with a quarter cup of the garden veggies and a single strip of turkey bacon cooked and crumbled into the veggies).

Ahh, but lunch. . . for lunch I got creative (actually it was all Karen's idea) and made a summer squash soup.  Here's the recipie as done, and what I plan to do next time.

First version - the reality:

Two cups diced summer squash, plus a quarter cup of thinly sliced rounds of zucchini.
     (The squash needs to be rough diced so all the pieces are close in size, so they all cook the same)
Olive oil
2 cups chicken stock (vegatable stock would work better, but I didn't have any)
Kosher salt
Black Pepper
1/4 teaspoon basil (a purist would call for fresh leaves, I have dried)
1 tablespoon sour cream

Gently sweat the summer squash with a pinch of kosher salt in a half tablespoon of olive oil until soft (3-4 minutes)

Add the chicken stock, bring to a boil and then cut the heat to low.  Simmer gently uncovered for 10 minutes.

While the soup is simmering, saute the rounds of zucchini until soft and slightly carmelized.  (If you don't want to brown them, sweat them at a lower heat instead)

Reserve six of the zuchhini rounds for garnish and add the rest to the soup.

Move the soup to a blender (or use an immersion blender) and puree until smooth.   Add salt and pepper to taste.

Ladle the soup into bowls, garnish with three rounds of zucchini and a half tablespoon of sour cream per bowl.  Sprinkle half of the basil over each bowl as an addional garnish.

Second version -- what I'll do next time.

The flavor was good, but the soup was too thin, and there were bits of zucchini peel floating in it, which were quite a distraction.  So, for next time:

3 cups of diced summer squash, plus six thin rounds of zuchini for garnish and a half cup of peeled and diced zucchini.
Olive Oil
1 1/2 cups chicken stock
Kosher salt
Black Pepper
1/4 teaspoon basil
1 tablespoon sour cream
1/4 cup whole or 2% milk

Prepare as before, sweating the diced peeled zuchini with the summer squash.
The soup should be fairly thick, and pale yellow.

Next time I plan to prepare it the day before and serve cold, adding the milk as needed to thin it right before serving.