Shedding Those Holiday Pounds….

In Control……. 

It feels so good to be back on track and in complete control. The holidays were great, but it does feel nice to have the stress of the shopping and decorating and planning behind me. The un-decorating is complete and the house is back in order. I feel like I’ve literally become a hermit since the 1st of January, but it has been nice to get organized and get back to a routine.

I’ve really been playing with my meals these last three weeks. Around the middle of December, when my weight was creeping up on me, I knew once the Holidays were past, it would be a lot easier to get myself back to my routine of planning and being more particular about what went into my mouth. A friend of mine had experimented with a cleanse a few months back and she talked about how great it made her feel. She struggles a bit with shoulder pain, and when she eliminated gluten and dairy, her aches and pains seem to subside and she had said that she just felt better all around. I began to consider it. We talked about it a few times, and I really had never looked into the whole “gluten” free eating, and I really didn’t know what gluten was in, except that I was pretty sure it was in bread and pasta. That’s about all I knew. I was curious to try the dairy free really just to see if I could cut back on eating cheese while I tried to get these holiday pounds off.

After feeling so puffy and putting on those holiday pounds, I knew I would want to get them back off as soon as possible. The closer the 1st of January came, the more I thought about eating really differently for 21 days. 

The day after Christmas I threw out all of the items that I had let drift back into my house. Crackers, chips, cookies, cereal, breads and candy. That Friday, I had decided to try the WW Simple Start plan to get me back in the weight loss zone. I liked this new plan because I could eat Light English Muffins, whole wheat pasta, shredded wheat, popcorn and even potatoes! This sounded great, I just needed to watch my portions. Week one was a success, and I already felt less bloated.

Week two on WW Simple Start was great too, and in the middle of this week (New Year’s Day) I decided to give the “gluten free” and “dairy free” thing a try. I was curious if I could drop my holiday pounds a little quicker. My shoulder pain has continued to increase, so I was hoping for some relief in that department as well. No luck there as of today. 🙁

My weigh in on Friday went really well. Before my meeting, I went through my Weight Loss Tracker. I blogged about the 10 pounds I gained through November and December, but when I looked at my book, it’s a little more drastic than that! So I made a few notes so I never forget!

This is October 18th. I weighed 153.8! Awesome, right? I thought so. 

 

This is December 20th. Just NINE weeks later! 167.2!

That’s 13.4 pounds!!! Egads. But I am happy to say that three weeks later, I am down 6.2 pounds.

Friday’s Weight? 161.0. 

 

Going to the beach in a little less than 5 weeks is certainly an incentive, but overall, it just feels really good to be taking care of myself again. This has been a good lesson for me to gain that weight so quickly and feel how much I DID NOT like myself at that weight! That 13.4 pounds felt like 30 pounds!! It’s also been a good lesson for me to understand that November and December of 2014 will involve a plan and a lot more discipline!!

After 11 days of no gluten and no dairy, I can honestly say that I know that I am eating less points in general. I wouldn’t give up cheese and milk forever and I have no plans to give up gluten, but eating less of those items and paying attention to how much I am eating, is certainly doable.  I am curious how differently my body will feel at the end of 21 days without those items. 

I like a change, so this has been a great way for me to start off the new year. I also enjoy the challenge of finding different things to eat. Although the Almond Milk smoothies don’t have as much protein as my whey smoothies, I really do like the taste!

So, I am doing the Simple Start, I’m just not eating everything on the list that it says that I can eat. I don’t know how many weeks I will do the Simple Start. Would you believe that a small part of me actually misses counting points!!

 

 

Breakfast

Coffee, Almonds and an un-pictured Banana

 

Lunch

Romaine, Salmon, Olive Oil and Pepper

 

Snack’s

Almond Milk Smoothie

2 PPV

Ingredients

1 Cup Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk

2 T. PB2

1 Frozen Banana, broken into chunks

1 packet Truvia

3 Ice Cubes

Directions

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. The banana’s are what give it that ice cream texture that makes it soooo delicious!

 

 

Spicy Oven Roasted Chickpeas

Ingredients

1 Can Chickpeas, Drained and Rinsed

1 T. Olive Oil

1/2 tsp Chili Powder

1/2 tsp Cumin

1/4 tsp Cayenne Pepper 

1/4 tsp Sea Salt

 

Directions

Mix all ingredients in a bowl.

 

Spread on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Place in the oven on the middle rack and bake at 400 for 30-40 minutes.

 

I baked mine for 35 minutes and they made a great tasting spicy, crunchy snack!

 

Dinner

Leftover Mexican Shredded Chicken, asparagus