Dieting Again, Bring on The Cabbage!

I'm trying to make small tasty changes to reduce calories, carbohydrates and fats in my diet to lose weight and keep it off. So, I'm eating less carrots and more cabbage, cauliflower, green squash and other lower glycemic vegetables.

So last night this was dinner:

And since I didn't have eggs in the morning, I cooked eggs on it for my protein. All this was very simply cooked in a large covered frying pan:

• onion
• squash
• fresh garlic
• bit of vegetable oil
• after partially cooked added the:
• tomato
• cabbage
• and a few minutes later the eggs
• topped with coarsely ground black pepper, no salt at all

Delicious and filling. It was a full meal. I had eaten lots of salad at lunch, so I didn't need anything raw. There's enough fiber here.

Since the laws of kashrut also require leafy vegetables, such as cabbage to be cleaned and checked, I cut up a cabbage and soaked it in salt water. After a few minutes I took out the cabbage and checked the water. Since it was clean, I rinsed the cabbage well, let the water drain out and then packed the pieces in a plastic bag to be kept refrigerated. That way it's ready to be used. I do the same with cauliflower, lettuces etc. If you find bugs, even after a second soak and rinse, check etc., then  call it a loss and dump it. When you buy these vegetables in the winter, the proper season, they are pretty clean. I don't bother buying broccoli and cauliflower in the summer; that's when they are full of bugs and had been in storage.

Why Do I Eat So Much?

So far this Chanukah has been awful for my low carb "eating regime."  I don't call it a "diet."

Diets are temporary, and if I would consider my low carbohydrate eating, which I started about four years ago, "temporary," yes, a "diet," then I would have gone off it and regained all the weight I had lost "with interest" as the Israeli saying goes.

Most years I have maybe one day I eat what I shouldn't, but we're now on the third day of Chanuka, and I ate too many carbs and sugars and oils and calories on each of the first two.  This is not good.  I think this started even earlier at something last week, where the dessert was just fattening stuff and no fruit.  (Yes, now I remember; I was at a staff party after Shabbat, and only the fattening stuff was served.  I should have had brought a fruit platter along.)

Normally, if I eat enough fruit, I won't have a "sweet tooth" for the restricted stuff.  I wrote "restricted" rather than "forbidden," because sometimes it's better to have a taste or more in order not to agonize, obsess, think about the foods.  When I'm doing well, just a taste is enough.

The key to staying on track when trying to keep weight off is to have lots of healthy, low fat, low sugar alternatives.  If the choice is between being hungry (not having anything to eat) and eating the wrong foods, most of us will end up gorging on what should never be eaten.

So, I'm going to the kitchen right now to make myself food to take along with me today, food I like, which is good for me to eat!

I Asked For The Fruit!

A few weeks ago we were at a big, special birthday party.  I ate a very low carbohydrate meal, like a good girl.  Then they brought out the dessert.  As you can see, I requested the fruit.  Yes, there was fruit on my piece of cake, a half a fresh fig and some grapes.

Sometimes it's better to compromise than obsess; that's as long as it's done infrequently.  Also, if the cake (or other off-diet treat) doesn't taste truly good, stop eating it.  Quite often they look better than they taste, but not trying and thinking about it is worse, because then there's a chance of gorging and losing control.

I Bought It!

I was so confident that the dress had been sold that I walked into the store and looked for it.  At first I was so relieved not to find it, but then, there it was waiting for me.  Why else would it still be there after all this time?  I tried it on again.  Yes, besides needing something for the low "V" neckline, which I can use for other outfits, it was made for me. 

The skirt is lined, so it doesn't need a slip.  It's of a very good fabric which doesn't wrinkle, packs easily.  It's the "icing on the cake*" for my new "slimmed down" wardrobe.

Of course, I still need more "everyday" tops which I haven't been able to find.

*Never reward with food.  Don't use food as a comfort, not for yourself, kids, grandkids etc.

I Have Returned, And There's Less Of Me

Yes, I'm back! I landed at 5am this morning. Pictures to follow, G-d willing, eventually.

I've already been to the pool! So I just missed one morning of the season, since it opened on Sunday. There was a nice crowd of women, and many were new to the "women's hours."

After my shower, I weighed myself, and I'm a few hundred grams, about a pound less than before. That's not bad considering that I tried not to make my "new way of eating" a burden to others. It's pretty easy to keep low carbohydrates even eating out. Of course those salad plates and main course with two side dishes (usually a piece of fish, meat or poultry with a simple green salad plus steamed vegetables) cost more than sandwiches. I was glad to discover that I had lost weight and not gained.

I did treat myself to Mint Chip Hagen Daz. I bought a pint and took two nights to finish it. That took self-control, since I could easily have eaten the whole thing in one night. I had another couple of things I normally avoid, but only enough to be polite.

Once my pictures are on a cd/dvd, I hope to write a series of reviews of kosher restaurants in New York.

Just What I Had Wanted To Hear: "You look awful in that skirt!"

Really!

I'm not being sarcastic, facetious, ironic or anything like that. After five months of the Start Fresh weight loss diet, I was waiting for some "hints" that I had ought to retire my "straight" skirts.

It has been bothering me that even with 23 pounds, or 10 kilos off, I can still wear the same clothes. The skirts aren't falling off. OK, most do have at least some elastic, even the zippered ones. So I guess that I just don't stretch the elastic as much as before.

I really was happy to hear my friend tell me how ridiculous I look in the skirt, that it just hangs on me like a badly fitted sack.

Today, I wore a relatively new skirt. I bought it barely a year ago. It's an A-Line, with an elastic waste. It cost a lot of money. It doesn't feel the same as I remember. I remember "filling it out." Now it just hangs.

I'm supposed to feel happy, but being that I'm less than half way through my weight loss, --don't say "diet!-- I know that this isn't the time for a totally new wardrobe, as if I could afford one. I just need to weed through my closets and take out the big of the clothes and leave what still looks OK. I must spend as little as possible, because G-d willing by next summer I'll be at least another size or more smaller.

Let's just call this the "problems of the rich." No, I'm not "rich in money." Thank G-d my "changes in eating" are paying off, and I'm losing weight. I shouldn't complain.

Bartering, Dieting and Spending Less

True Confessions...

Especially, now, when I don't have any income, I need to barter. A friend offered "altering" and the sewing of new clothes in exchange for my photography skills. Considering that I can't afford to buy new clothes, that's useful.

I just paid ns20, under $5 for fabric for a skirt. Thank G-d a lot of my clothes are getting too big on me. I just took out a bag of sweaters and blouses to give away. I've been told that the smaller, standard, one-size-fits-all are much less expensive than the "women's" larger size clothes.

There's a big problem in the proliferation of stores, designers and departments of fashionable "women's" clothes. It's now so easy to dress well when overweight and obese. It's too easy for sure.

It used to be almost impossible to find gorgeous clothes in large sizes. Now it isn't. I love the wardrobe I've built up over the years. I feel rather stupid saying that it "breaks my heart" to give away some of the clothes, but that's how I feel.

You can rack that up to the reason I was so ambivalent about dieting, trying to lose weight. I knew that a significant weight loss would necessitate a new wardrobe. I guess I sound sort of foolish and stupid saying this.

But I am thankful that the Start Fresh weight loss diet, which is not in any way one of those torture diets, has worked so effortlessly for me. It should G-d willing improve my health. Being a religious person, I do take it as a gift and message from G-d. It's funny that when I first signed up, I threw out for the application a number of pounds I needed to lose without even thinking or planning. Later investigation did show that it would leave me at a decent weight, within the recommended. I'm now almost half-way there. And I've started a Diet Support Group. I do it as a volunteer at this point. Maybe that will be my new profession, but I must lose more weight first.

It's almost 8:30am. On with my day!

Diet Talk

Since I'll be dieting for at least a year, ok the rest of my life, I may as well establish a Diet Blog Carnival, though by the time I send the info to bc,I hope to find a snappier title. How about?

Blogging About Losing Weight Carnival

For me, the key to dieting has been the fact that I honestly believe that I can live on the principles I've adopted from the Start Fresh kosher weight loss diet.

Obesity is a super-major problem in today's world. When I was growing up, mid last century, there was only one chain of "large" clothing stores, Lane Bryant, but today it is so easy to find gorgeous clothes in large sizes for both men and women and children.

Even if I reach my "target," meaning lose fifty, yes, 50, pounds, about 22.5 kilograms, I'll still be overweight according to the charts. That's frightening, because I know that soon, I'll be losing less than a pound a week, and there are only 52 weeks in a year, so I have to consider that it may take me about a year and a half to gradually change my body to something it really should be.

I'm only interested in a gradual weight loss, because I want to reach a way of eating, which I can live with and not feel that I'm dieting. That's the key. That's my aim.

The other night, daughter #1 reminded me that I actually have a very small frame, but the extra weight is evenly distributed, so that people who didn't know me before haven't a clue. I mentioned it to someone who only knows me as a fatso, and she was surprised. I then mentioned it to someone who first met me thirty years ago, and her reaction was:

"You were a chatichah, (a knockout.)"

That shook me up, because I had always thought myself fat.

I can't predict the future, but I can learn how to eat less, G-d willing. Now I'll set up the new blog carnival and edit in the submission link. I hope to hear from all sorts of bloggers about losing weight, diets etc. No doubt that many of the links will be ads. I'll make it a separate category.

Here's the link for sending in your story/post!

Please publicize the carnival, thanks.

Yes, just call me muse!

A "muse" is an inspiration, so since Fred has used my photos for his works of art, that me his "muse," right? I just knew that I had chosen the right name for blogging.

I had a good time at the pool today. My neighbor called me at 6:15 to ask if I wanted to go early with her. By 7am, we were on our way. It's my day off, and I like to take it easy. A leisurely time in the pool is taking it easy for me. While talking to a fellow "granny," we were bemoaning how hard it is to lose weight at our age.

"It goes up so easily; nothing goes down." she said

"Of course things go down." I answered. "Our height goes down; we shrink from osteoporosis."

I also heard praise of the chessed, kindness here in Israel. One of her children has "special needs," and she praised the help she gets. Otherwise they wouldn't be able to cope. They moved to Jerusalem, since they found a better school than where they were before. It's nice to hear something good for a change. The political situation is so horrendous that sometimes it's hard to remember how much good there is here.

There's a nice post about caring on Nuch Epes A Chosid.

I hope you're sitting in a room that's warmer than this one is! My fingers are frozen!