Appetite in Flux, Suddenly Needing Carbs

About a decade ago, I radically changed my eating habits, reducing carbs and grains drastically. The result was a fifteen 15 kilo, thirty 30 pound weight loss, which, I've pretty much kept off all this time. The key was to increase cooked vegetables, especially, squash, cabbage and carrots. I found them most satisfying. I made this change, which I tried not to call a "diet," because diets are temporary and I knew that the weight would pile back on with interest if I reverted back to my old eating habits.

At the time, we weren't at all in a good place financially, so I also had to find low cost foods. That's when I discovered that a couple of spoons of sesame paste, the stuff you use to make techina at home, is a fantastic and filling low-cost protein. It also keeps well for meals to go, when paired with cooked vegetables. That was my "take to work meal," sauteed onion, carrot and squash topped with sesame paste.

Recently, maybe because I have fewer scheduled things to do this year, I've begun to crave carbohydrates. I still stay away from pasta, which has always been a "control" problem with me. When I need something quick and easy to "fill" me, I take oats, not the super instant, and just add some boiling water and cover, until they are edible. I don't add anything to it, no milk, sugar, cinnamon nada. And shockingly, I've even started buying/eating the rice crackers, though I had always considered them terribly addictive. When I eat them, I follow the rule of never eating from a package. I set up a plate and only take out one or two at a time. When I need a very filling snack, I'll spread some of my sesame paste on a couple of them.

The most difficult thing in recent months, or longer, is that I can't find a breakfast that satisfies me. No matter what I prepare, whether it's a muesli of oats, goat yogurt and fruit, or an omelette with lots of vegetables, I want something more.

I used to eat the same exact breakfast pretty much every day for years, and now that just doesn't work for me. Maybe I just have to schedule in variety and have my breakfast suit pre-breakfast activities and also where I am. I usually sleep out once a week.

The Diet Saga is never over. For those of us who have been obese, or very overweight, keeping control of our weight is a lifetime sentence/job.

Diet Dilemma: Will Water Exercise Get Weight Off?

After dropping to the lowest weight I had been for a couple of years, due to a few factors, including a Jewish eating Holiday and a weekend in a hotel, a few of those annoying kilo returned.

Last summer, although I exercised a lot in the pool, no weight left. If anything חבר הביא חבר chaver hevi chaver, a friend brought a friend, and I weighed more at the end of the summer than in the beginning.

So, I'm back struggling, trying to eat less, walk more and also tone my muscles in the water. This morning I was pleasantly surprised to see a better number on the scale, B"H. It's a struggle for sure.

Diet Tip: Banish "The Clean Plate Club"

One thing that has been consistent in most of my life is that I was a founding member of  "The Clean Plate Club." That was even before the "baby nurse" my parents had hired after my sister was born introduced the name to our lexicon.

I almost never left food on my plate. I can't remember ever being served something I didn't like, even vegetables.

That may have made me into a "good eater," something praised by my family, especially because I wasn't a fussy eater. And since desserts were rare, candy forbidden, and we had lots of freedom outside to play, I wasn't fat as a child.

Dieting is a losing battle!

But as I got older and bigger, so did my appetite and at some point I was overweight, even mildly obese. For the past ten years I've been working hard at getting weight off and keeping it off.

First I cut out carbohydrates to almost none, and I also limited my protein portion. By doing these two simple things, I was able to lose about 30 lbs, or close to 15 kilogram. And I've kept most of it off.

To be honest, as time went on I've become less strict. One of the reasons is that research has shown that varying your calorie count, including having one day "off" a week actually speeds your metabolism. That helps the weight stay off.

About a year ago I discovered that five kilo had snuck back.  I've spent the last year fighting to get them back off. A month ago I succeeded, but now after some holidays and a hotel vacation a couple just crept back.

The good thing about having the weight off for so long is that my body has adjusted to the lower weight, and frequently, I realize that I'm "full," when there's still food on my plate. That is a new phenomena for me. So, as quickly as I can, I "clean" my plate by either packing away some of the food or throwing it in the garbage.

It's not a waste to throw out food. It's a waste to add it to your waist!

Nu, And How's The Diet Going?

It's certainly no secret that I have been struggling with my weight for a very log time. A number of years ago, I made it a very public diet which you can find by using the search engine of this blog by asking for "public diet," "diet saga," "low carbohydrate" and other labels.

I did manage to rid myself of about fifteen 15 kilo or thirty plus 30+ pounds, most of which has stayed off ever since, but about a third, five kilo found their way back about a year ago. When that unwanted weight had reached three kilo, I went to war, but lost the battle and gained another two kilo. But about six months ago, after the pool closed, I tried a few different tricks, about some of which I have blogged.

Over 12,000 steps is pretty rare for me.
12,000 is now very common.

The first thing I did was to make more time to walk, since the pool had closed. Three months of water exercise hadn't reduced much, except that my body looked and felt better. And even the experts say that walking is better for weight reduction than swimming. I increased my daily steps, as I could see on the pedometer.

The second thing I did to lose weight was to change my breakfast. For years I had been eating a large vegetable omelet, but not that long ago I felt terrible sugar/fruit cravings as soon as I finished it. I took that as a hint. Maybe I need to eat fruit for breakfast, since the omelets and vegetables weren't satisfying my hunger.

Now, for the past few months, I have fruit, fresh ginger and goat yogurt for breakfast. I must admit that there are days when I crave cashews afterwards, so I eat a few. It's clear that I need more protein early in the day in addition to the sugar/fructose.

Another thing I've noticed, and I do weigh myself almost daily on the same scale, is that the fewer restaurant or catered meals I eat, the lower my weight is. It goes up a bit when I've eaten out. And it's lowest when all the food I've eaten has been my own home cooking.

My weight seems to have stabilized close to where it was post-big diet, bli eyin haraa, let's not tempt the "evil eye." I do have days when I eat things I "shouldn't," but there are diet mavins who actually  say that once a week or two it is good to go off the restrictions. It stimulates the metabolism to work harder and burn calories more quickly. Also, it makes the "diet" easier to live with, and that is a major trick/technique. If you adopt a diet you find impossible to live with, you won't be able to stick to it very long.

And how is your diet going?

Fat, Fat Go Away

I guess that my diet saga will never truly end. I have very slowly gotten off about five kilo, 11 pounds after they had been vanished in a rather successful diet a few years ago. But I know well that they can return in an instant. Because it has happened.

Walking has helped. I've raised my weekly step count. That is until the flu stopped me. But at least I didn't gain weight with the flu. I still haven't returned to my pre-flu walking.

I caught the pedometer stop count davka at such a crazy number.

The hardest thing is to get a nicer looking body. I lost a bit of weight, but I am still very overweight and growing older. OK good news that I'm still alive. Thank Gd

Some Things I Should Never Buy...

The other day I walked into the health food store in Sha'ar Binyamin. I'm not quite sure why I went there. I didn't really need anything, but I bought a bit of nuts and then... I saw my weakness, what's called in Hebrew, the yetzer haraa. Evil inclination, temptation or chocolate covered mints. This health food store sells them by the weight.

I was able to resist all the dried fruit -yay- but not the mints. I love mint sweets, especially Hagan Daz mint ice cream. At least I can only get that in the states, and I doubt if I'll ever be there again. Sigh... Good news bad news...

I stored the mints in the freezer, with the nuts. And for the first few days I barely nibbled. But then on Friday I was so very tired, super-tired. And you know what they say about diets and not getting enough sleep. When your body craves sleep, it tries to overcompensate with sugar.

So, suddenly the mints got all eaten up by yours truly. Then I began telling myself that it was good that I ate them all at once. Now I won't have any to eat. No more temptation...  Does that make sense? Insufficient sleep plays with the brain and makes it a bit wacky.

May this be a much better and lower calorie week...

Losing The Diet Battle

People who see my almost nightly post about how many steps I've taken each day as I kick off my shoes must think I'm winning the battle. But the truth is that I'm making pretty much no progress in getting off the weight that snuck on the past couple of years.

A very important diet principle I stick to is to make/design an eating plan you can live with. That's because if you have a numerical weight goal, which requires a food and exercise regime that isn't really sustainable, you'll quickly go off of it and yo-yo. We all know what that means. It means that the weight will return "with interest."

Not only are we all different, but our bodies change with time. The medical experts say that even our metabolism gets sluggish, not just our minds with age...

So far, I like this pedometer application, and it's working well. The three numbers (you can set it to do miles and inches) I follow most carefully are:

• steps
• kilometers per hour
• time exercised

I've really been trying to keep to two hours of being active each day. Now, being active also means the simple walking around the house while doing daily chores. You can also see on the graph, that I have periodic heavier active times. Now that it has been raining, thank Gd, I also walk quickly around my house to get the steps increased. 

Food is pretty easy to control, since most meals are home, but after about a decade of trying to diet/keep my weight down, it is harder to deny myself some foods. But the good thing is that smaller quantities of food like dates and cake etc now satisfy my sweet tooth.

I hope you're not bored by this, because my diet saga will continue for the rest of my life. And how is yours going?

Tough Choices and Easy Failures for Dieters

I think that this week will be a bad one for my weight loss quest. Last week, even with the Jewish Holidays, I managed to reduce a bit. But this week, I'll be eating in restaurants a few times.

Yesterday I showed up for a brunch on a very empty stomach. I even made a point of getting a decent walk in beforehand. I was very hungry by the time I sat down. OK, I saved a few calories by being able to substitute a second coffee for the juice. You may not realize this but juice is just the sugar, the calories of the fruit without any of the roughage which is so good for your system. And also it takes a few apples/oranges etc to fill a glass with juice.

The breakfast/brunch I ate was like two meals, with two eggs, some lox, cheese, salad, a bit of bread etc. But I could rationalize that brunch is "two meals."

BREAKFAST + LUNCH = BRUNCH

But then... suddenly this irresistible calorie laden vision appeared in front of me:

I failed to resist. OK, I had half of the cake, none of the jam and just a spoon of the whipped cream --just to check if it was real of course-- Sometimes self-control deconstructs and just disappears.

To quote Scarlett O'Hara:
"Tomorrow is another day..."



And since today is yesterday's tomorrow...

Latest Breakfast, No Cravings

Last week I wrote that I've been trying a new breakfast, and it seems to help stop the morning fruit cravings.

I just had to change my standard breakfast. Besides having such a difficult time getting weight off, immediately after eating my vegetable omelet, I'd crave fruit. That meant that something was wrong. There were certainly enough calories and nutrients in the omelet.

So recently I began making myself a "muesli," oats, goat yogurt and fruit. There are two advantages to that. One is that it's a healthy breakfast and includes a fruit. And the second is that I can eat eggs at a different meal. If I'm going to eat an early lunch, or have brunch with friends, then I just have the yogurt and fruit, sans oats.

Diet-Phobic, Don't Call it "Diet"

One reason many people just can't "diet" to lose weight is that the recommended portions are just much too small. Yes, I'm one of them. For decades I refused to hear about diets, because the idea of eating a few spoonfuls of food and shrinking the plate just made me phobic.

Yes, diet-phobic!

Am I the only one diet-phobic? I honestly doubt it.

Another, probably related, thing I don't particularly like is when people serve me, deciding how much of the various foods I will eat. Inevitably I would have prefered less of one and more of another. Maybe I'm just contrary and it could be called a "control" thing. Whatever you want to call it, the psychological effect on "dieting" is pretty bad.

And the most important part of "dieting" is the ability to make it a life-changer, finding a way to permanently eat in a way that the weight will stay off.

It certainly doesn't pay to work hard, lose weight and have it return with interest before you've worn out your new clothes. Let's say you manage to lose weight for a special event, get some great clothes, look spectacular in the pictures and then just a few years later people look at the album and say:

"Who's that?"

I've always said that it's best to make a few livable, sustainable changes, which may not produce the perfect body of your dreams, but you can continue eating that way.

I basically did that almost ten years ago. The weight stayed off until just over a year ago, and all that came back was barely a third of what I had lost. That is considered successful weight loss. And I'm already working hard at banishing them again. I have no doubt that this will happen periodically for the rest of my life.

My basic eating plan is to include a lot of cooked vegetables, which are filling and tasty. Here's yesterday's lunch.

The beef was cooked for Shabbat, and I heated it up with an onion and and a big chunk of cabbage. Salad was simply a cucumber and tomato. Since my husband and I have an empty nest, I cook a week's worth of meat, mostly chicken, when I cook for Shabbat and we reheat it during the week. That's most efficient for us.

I hope this helps, me, you and all.

Baile Rochel and Me, Too, Dieting Blues, Burnout

The weight has been creeping up. Not all of my clothes fit all that well anymore. A few things are no longer even wearable. Yes, I need to somehow re-energize, re-motivate myself to stick to the "guidelines" that got 15 kilo, over thirty, yes, 30 pounds off less than a decade ago.

Yesterday I was at our local clinic for another stage of the usual, not quite, annual check-up. After relaxing a few minutes, Blood Pressure was fine, Baruch Hashem, bli eyin haraa sans medication. But then I had to be weighed... That is not my favorite thing. OK I do weigh myself at home almost daily, but here the numbers are between me and my scale. At the clinic there was this super skinny, anorexic-looking nurse who not only saw the number, but she recorded it for everyone who can access my file, which is computerized, to see.

As if my weight wasn't bad enough, it calibrates some body-fat index according to recorded height, and mine was too high. Thank Gd she didn't recheck my height. At my age one does not get taller, and it's not just that more of my grandkids are taller than me, but my grown daughters seem to be getting much taller than they used to be, too. That index may possibly be even worse.  A few days before at the "slam a heavy door on a sensitive part of the body from all different angles test" I had written my highest remembered height on the form I had to fill in.  Ignorance is bliss, or at least makes it all seem better.

The nurse very gently tried to recommend that I contact their dietician, but I refused. I tried to explain how nothing makes me hungrier than being told what to eat. Also, she didn't know me when I was really obese and then managed to get the weight off. I told her that I could lead a group myself. Years ago, I had even taken a coaching course.

Then she asked me if I exercise and looked rather doubtful when I said "yes." So I whipped out my cellphone and showed her the Pedometer. I had to explain how it all works, also on a one day page. It gives amount of time physically active, distance, pace and steps. This is the type of thing I teach when I tutor Computer and Cellphone Tips.

Maybe the time has come to call our accountant and open my little "free lance" business. Diet Coach is what I need to be. And a group would be nice. I did it a number of years ago...

And it's certainly the time to restrict my "treats" to Shabbat and work harder to get the weight off again. I guess it's "Public Diet" time again. But I'm not telling you my weight. Some things must stay between me and the scale.

I Must Get about 5 kilo, 10 lbs Off Again!

I don't look like this anymore...

As long-time readers and old friends may remember, close to ten years ago I managed to lose about fifteen 15 kilo, thirty 30 pounds or so. And most stayed off really well. Well, until the past year or so, when a few began to sneak back.

Many of you may know the scene. A pound or two can be tolerated and not really noticed by others. Clothing still fits, and some old friends still picture us as obese, so when confronted with a slimmer than obsess us, they tell us that we've lost even more weight. Although we know it's not so...

And then the 2-3 pounds morph into 4-5 and then eight, nine or even ten, and suddenly the nice new, smaller-size clothes don't fit so well anymore.

Yes, it's time to stop eating "almost like a normal person." I must "rediscover" my self-control full-time. "Most of the time" is not enough, because the "few things extra" keep adding weight. And I must stay away from temptation... And I must try to exercise more.

And like any "addict," I have to admit that I have a problem. Yes, that's why I'm blogging it. Sigh...

Fighting Those Creeping Kilos/Pounds

my scale and my clothes don't lie

photo credit

Here I am about seven years after my big weight loss of thirty plus pounds, fifteen kilo, and I must admit that about a third of the weight has found me. One of the problems is that I've lost the motivation, the self-disciple.

Weight Gain During Menopause

And even worse is that my body shape is changing, more "apple" than "pear." That can happen even if weight stays stable after a certain age.  I've noticed it with some of my friends.

It's not that I've gone back to the diet/way of eating that facilitated all that weight that had over-padded/packed my relatively small frame, but I now eat things I shouldn't and enjoy dessert when it's offered. That wouldn't be a problem if it only happened once a month or less frequently, or even bi-weekly, but it seems that there are occasions weekly or even more often when I'm offered an irresistible dessert, or something of similar calorie danger.

I guess motivation has taken a nosedive... I probably need more sleep, too. All the studies say lack of sleep makes us hungrier, and even worse, reduces our self-control aka impulsivity problems.

Just to keep you in the loop....

Trying to Knock off a Few Pounds/Kilos

As some of you may know, a few years ago, I managed to lose about 15 kilo or 30 pounds. I blogged all about it here, and you can find posts by using the search box and searching for "losing weight," "public diet" and a few other keywords like those. And like many who have lost weight, a few of those unwanted pound/kilos have returned. This has happened before, and I've managed to get them off, but it's never easy, and it seems like each time, more find me. This time I got a good/bad 3 kilo (about 7 pounds) up on the scale, which meant that some clothes didn't fit. So I've been struggling to banish them.

If only it was as easy as when for the 52Frames photo challenge "Dream & Fantasy" I cropped and photoshopped the picture on the left into a nice slim me.

I'm working hard trying to get the unwanted weight off by walking more and trying to eat less. I've become very dependent on keeping track of my steps with the WalkLogger application on my phone. And when it somehow misses steps, I just tell myself that it's good that I've really walked even more than the app shows.

And if you're curious, I've knocked off/reduced at least half and can now wear the black leather skirt I got myself last year in the 2nd hand store I like. I wore it a lot during last year's trip to the states.  Too bad I couldn't fit into it this year. Serves me right, I should have been on top of things and never have gotten fatter. As many of us know, the challenge to keep off the weight is for life.

And remember, as it says so very accurately on this mug I bought a number of years ago:

"Dieting is A Losing Battle!"

A Challenging Replacement...

I really shouldn't complain. The digital scale I bought about six years ago when I started a diet support group worked well until a couple of months ago. Then I had to jiggle it a bit to see my wight. And then nothing worked. The scale was dead. I figured that it must be the battery. The very same battery had worked for almost six years. I turned the scale over and saw that it would need one of those round batteries.

I had never had to deal with any of them before. I didn't know what they were called. So, as you can see, I photographed it, in situ, yes, without touching it.

It took me another week or more to finally go battery shopping. I went to the local grocers where you can get pretty much anything but fresh fruits, vegetables and meat/poultry. Those departments are in the freezer section.

I knew they had batteries of all sorts, since I even got some for my father's hearing-aids when he lived with us.

So the other day I walked into the grocers. There was a kid working there. I whipped out my phone and showed him the picture of the battery:

"Where can I find one of these?"
"Duh?
"You have them. Don't you?"
"Over there." He pointed.

So, I walked over and found these cardboard battery packs perforated so you can buy just one. The code was the same as in the photo. I ripped one off and went to pay.

When I got home I prepared for the "replacement operation." I turned the scale over and put it on a chair, then opened the battery spot. That went fine, except that I just couldn't get the battery out. I didn't want to break anything. Finally I gave up and called a neighbor. He came armed with some tools and managed to pry the battery out. Then I replaced it with the new one. I put the scale on the floor and hopped on, saw numbers and hopped off. It was live!

The next morning I rather nervously stepped on after my shower, terrified that many kilo had sneaked on me while the scale was out of commission. Thank G-d, pretty much the same as before. That's a relief.

Diet Update: And I Didn't Even Need "Control-Top..."

Almost two years ago I bought myself a nice blue dress in my favorite outlet store in Jerusalem. I bought it because the price was right, only about 20% of original price, yes, that's 80% off* and pretty flattering except for a big of bulge that could be flattened down with control-top pantyhose. I planned on wearing it the following summer after at least a couple of weeks of getting fitter in the pool.

Well, last summer started with my mother's death and then no pool membership. Also I kept the Jewish mourning Law about not wearing new clothes pretty strictly. And somehow I ended up gaining a few kilo. I even tried to give the dress to my daughters who weren't interested.

Late this winter I put myself on a regime to get those few kilo off, and I succeeded! And the year of mourning is now over.  So this morning, for Shabbat I decided to wear the dress. I put it on and to my surprise, I discovered that those "bulges" were gone, so I didn't need the control-top pantyhose. Thank G-d!

*I found the tag, and the discount was greater than that. Original price was ns590, and I paid ns69!!!!

The 5 Shekel Cup of Coffee and More

It's getting more and more common to see signs like this one in Jerusalem. Yes, a NS5 five shekel cup of hot coffee.

There are also a few small ns5 restaurants, like the one in the middle of Ben Yehuda Street in which I got a filling meal for ns10 a couple of months ago.

Since then, there has been a price revolution in Israel. Yesterday I had some carrot juice in the veteran juice bar on the corner of Histadrut and King George. They now sell their smallest carrot juice for just ns5, too. Since I was buying the juice to sub for lunch I splurged on the medium for all of NS8.

The roll is barely the

size of my palm.

Just a small warning. The quantities are smaller in most cases, so beware. But considering the well-known fact that obesity is mainly caused by eating portions that are too large, I recommend going to these five shekel restaurants if you're on a diet or just want to keep the weight off. You'll pay less, eat less and won't waste food that you've paid for.

So Much Walking

The day before yesterday I walked a lot, as I wrote on Shiloh Musings, but that's peanuts compared to yesterday's walking.

Today I got out of a ride in Ma'alot Dafna, near Ramat Eshkol.  Then I made my way, rather roundabout, to the Municipality Building. From there to the David Citadel Hotel to meet someone.

Then we went to the "triangle" of Ben-Yehuda, King George and Yaffo.  After that we walked to Meah Sha'arim.  Then we ran towards the bus station, so she could catch a bus.  I leftt her near "Beit Egged."  And then I walked back to town, via Machane Yehuda.

Next was to meet a friend at Ben-Yehuda and King George.  I helped her spend money/shop for gifts for her family.  When she finished I hailed her a cab.  And then I took a bus to my bus and went home.

Whew! I hope this helps me keep my weight down.

What a Difference Five 5 Pounds, Two Plus 2+ Kilo Make

A few months I finally realized/accepted/admitted that my weight had gone up a bit for the first time since I had lost about 30+ lbs or 15 kilo five years ago.

Not only had the scale been telling me so, but I also remembered that in the summer I hadn't been able to wear some of the skirts I had worn the previous summers.  At the time, I had blamed it on the fact that I hadn't been to the pool much. Because of my mother's death and my being restricted/forbidden "pleasure" swimming during the shloshim 30 day period after the funeral, it just didn't pay for us to shell out our limited financial resources on a three month pool season.  I'm the main one to take advantage of the membership, and I wouldn't be.  My body sure paid the price for that money-savings.

Not only was the scale complaining, but I began to suffer more aches and pains.  Of course I made up lots of excuses for them. Easy since I work in a store which is physically challenging.

I did not like those numbers the scale kept showing me, and I certainly didn't want to get used to the size I was becoming.  So, I tried to cut down, just a bit.  Since I had been eating a lot of fruit, including a fruit snack of a couple of small (yes, really small, since they were cheap) oranges soon after breakfast, I tried postponing that snack.  Amazingly, I discovered that if I didn't eat the oranges when I first began feeling the craving and did something else, the craving would just go away.  Then I'd discover that it was almost lunchtime, and I'd wait a bit while preparing lunch.  That resulted in not eating the two oranges.  On workdays, I'd have a small clementina sometimes before lunch if I was hungry.  Or sometimes I'd just have lunch a bit early, and then I'd have a fruit snack before supper.

The result was that I found myself eating two or three fruits a day instead of my previous six or so.  In addition, during my visit to the states, I didn't have too many opportunities to eat, so my weight began to drop and get to the maintenance weight I had been enjoying for the past four years.

An unexpected bonus has been that my aches and pains have been reduced, bli eyin haraa. I still have to work on the fitness, muscle tone to make my body look better.  But that first step, of losing just five pounds, has made a great difference.

Nu, maybe I can drop a few more and keep them off, G-d willing....

Being Prepared

I've found that the key to functioning is being prepared. And being prepared means making sure I'll have the food I need. So I prepare my food at home.

Here's my breakfast for my weekly study day in Matan.

It's a quick vegetable omelet, which I make the night before.  When I travel in the morning, I make my food to go before going to sleep.  That way it will cool well in the fridge, making it safer for traveling.

I also take fruit, water and sometimes coffee, too.

This method saves money and calories, and I function better when I eat the food which is good more me.  I also prepare my husband's food for work etc.  He has managed to lose and keep off a lot of weight since we started this routine.