Another wee milestone

Last we talked I was in the midst of the Fab Uplift Detox. What a game changer! The Detox started March 26, today is April 23... I've eaten so abundantly over the last month – following both the detox guide and eliminating my other food allergies – without gluten-grains, without any sort of dairy, without eggs and without animal protein (other than a bit of fish outside of the detox)! I haven't craved any of those food and I've thrived on what I have been eating, which includes lots of nuts and seeds, legumes, some fruit and lots and lots of vegetables and superfoods!

Life has been ridiculously busy these last few weeks too, but I've still managed to find some lunch to take with me every single day. And sometimes dinner, too, on school nights! It's a lifestyle. Some may cringe and turn their heads at my lovely green/brown smoothies, but I thrive as I know all this goodness is doing so much for me and tastes amazing too, I might add.

About a year ago I guess, I hit a big milestone of losing 20 lbs since slowing getting on this bandwagon back in the summer of 2010, when I saw a number on the scale I never want to see again. Now I can say that I've lost 31 lbs! I think the Fab Detox pushed me over as I had been hovering at 28 lbs for months. Anyway, this is just another little checkmark in my mind. Even though it took a year to lose another 10 lbs, I know I've gained lean muscle mass in the process as my body has continued to change (in a good way!). All this meaning that the total fat loss is likely more than this 11 lbs I see on the scale.

Yay for being healthy the real way – by eating REAL food.

Getting the most out of my food and my grocery bill

I'm an organized person, I think I've alluded to this before. I get a wonderful high from my house being in order and things having a place to call home. With school, I'm an über-nut, I won't even go into how I organize myself for school, because you'll roll your eyes and think I'm crazy.

I've recently redone my spare bedroom/home office to work better for me. I got so into doing it that I forgot to take some key photos before and after, but I'll post about it soon. My main bathroom is also undergoing a organization renovation, it still needs to be decorated and then photos will follow. My next task will be my kitchen, my tiny townhouse kitchen... drives me insane. My I've got a project up my sleeve to tackle that one.

The kitchen brings me to my subject for today. For about a year now, I've completely changed the way I approach food, which has brought some great results. One way I have done this is to treat food as essential fuel for my body, not as a comfort or something brought upon by boredom. Once you see food in this different light, you'll be amazed at what you will stop putting in your mouth... I roll my eyes with disgust at things I ate without question just over a year ago -- and it has MUCH more to do with the ingredient list than it does with the nutritional value chart.

You hear regularly people complain about the high prices for good food, REAL food. My solution is quite simple. I put my organization skills to use and I plan. I will NOT go to the grocery store without having a plan in hand. So before my weekly trip, I find out what I've got on hand, perhaps go through the amazing box of goodies that was recently delivered and come up with a meal plan - meals for at least 5-6 days (which leaves some flexibility) and that uses everything I buy so little goes to waste. I go to the store with a plan and I know what's in my refrigerator -- awesome for my health and my budget.

It has worked awesome. No more "what are we going to have for dinner?" questions when getting home from work, the answer is on a piece of paper on the refrigerator. The real question becomes, which of these awesome meals am I going to eat today.

Gluten-free: One month later

It was just about a month ago that I determined that I was what I'll call gluten-intolerant. So I've been living the gluten-free lifestyle for about four weeks or so now, more if you include the two- to three-week period that I was doing my elimination. So what have I learned?

1. Brown rice pasta and noodles are delicious. I can't get enough and could eat it everyday.
2. I miss toast with homemade jam on the weekends. Although I have a lead on a particular brand of gluten-free bread that might be good for toast.
3. Gluten-free baking is easy and fun and makes you feel very creative.
4. The internet is wonderful. While I do not have Celiac disease, it is more and more prevalent and there are so many lovely recipes and fantastic bloggers on the interwebs to keep me inspired.
5. I miss a good sandwich. I will work on ways to reincorporate – I need to investigate gluten-free wraps.
6. Best of all, I have learned that I feel fan-freakin-tastic! No more tummy pains, bloating, or gas for me!

Since January or so I have been eating real food, whole food, not packaged food, and along with some professional advice on adding some supplemental forms of vitamins and minerals I have never felt better. Pounds have literally melted off and my energy levels have soared. Eliminating gluten hasn't been a burden, but instead just one more small change that makes me feel fantastic.

And I for one will take feeling great over a slice of bread any day!

Mini-goal attained: Halfway there

It's official. I've lost 20 pounds. It seems somewhat insignificant, because it is only a mini goal and I still have about 20-30 more pounds to go to reach my ideal weight. However, think about what 20 pounds represents. I'm thinking right now of two 10-pound bags of potatoes and that's significant.

I'm constantly smiling when I get up in the morning and get dressed and realize all my pants (no matter what size I have in the closet – the used-to-fit-perfect or used-to-fit-tight) are all too big. In fact I've started to make a donation bag with clothes that just plain look awful and frumpy because of their size.

I can also see the difference in my face, see below. The photo on the left was taken last summer, and the one on the right at my brother's wedding this past February (I've since lost another five pounds).

I'm pretty happy with the progress and to be totally honest, it hasn't been hard at all. I know I'll have to work extra hard for the next 20. But I'll get there!

New things

Earlier this week I finally bought myself a new computer. My old Dell desktop is at least 5 years old. And while it still works, it past its prime a while ago. So the new laptop is a  HP model. And so far I like it a lot. It's not your typical black/silver model either... the colour is called "biscotti". Fun and girlie!

So with new computer comes fun things like more shopping online! Tonight I placed two orders. One at American retailer Lands' End and the other from Chapters-Indigo.

A colleague at work told me about great deals on bathing suits at Lands' End and given that I'm off to the Mayan Riviera in exactly five weeks, I am in need of some new bathing suits. So shopping for bathing suits isn't my cup of tea, trying to find ones that actually fit the girls is a big issue. Bonus is that there are certain suits that come in D-DD-DDD sizes! I followed their sizing chart and measured myself, with some help from the bf. So fingers crossed they will fit! The prices in the "overstock" section are fantastic. Although I had to pay a bit of duty and a small shipping charge, I still think it ended up being a good deal.

Finally, at Chapters-Indigo, I ordered a couple books to keep me motivated on my weight-loss plan this year. A new cookbook and another book by Dr. Joey Shulman, a Canadian weight-loss expert who was highly recommended by my chiropractor/holistic nutritionist.

www.gordonramsay.com/corporate/products/books/

www.drjoey.com/books

I'm looking forward to receiving all my goodies!

Back on the bandwagon

Ok, ok. I, like I'm sure many of you, was far, far, far away from the bandwagon of eating well and working out for these past couple of weeks. But as of today, I'm  back on it. I hit my calorie goal for the day – probably the first time in a while!

My brother is getting married in a few short weeks in Tulum, Mexico (near Cancun) so I'm determined to use this as ammunition to lose a few pounds prior to going. We're staying at the Dreams Tulum Resort & Spa and I'm so looking forward to it! Have a peek, you'll be jealous :).

So a few things I'm doing:

1) I mentioned in a previous post about using the myfitnesspal IPhone app to help me. The nutritionists aren't lying when they tell you to journalize what you eat. It keeps you honest!

2) Last summer, spurred on by a recent weight gain, I attended a free seminar at my chiropractor's office called "Nutrition for Weight Loss." What an eye opener! I learned so much about how our average North American diet is basically killing us. I got great ideas for substitutions for dairy and wheat, especially. But the biggest and simplest thing I took away from that session was the tip to stop eating after 7pm, or at least 3 hours before bedtime. Doing that alone for about 3 weeks, I lost 5 pounds! So I'm going to keep that habit up. After nearly a month your body develops new habits, so I haven't really craved food in the evening for quite a while. And if I do, a glass of water or a cup of green tea will do just fine.

3) Today, we bought a XBox 360 Kinect! I'm so excited! We got this fitness game and it looks fantastic! I'm excited to get started on it as a complement to the classes I attend at the gym.

I'm pumped and looking forward to what 2011 has in store. Hopefully a smaller me!

A pound (or two) at a time

This past summer I came to the conclusion that I was not being healthy in the way I eating and I was growing increasingly frustrated with my body. From the outside, it may not have looked too bad, but there were definite issues.

I'll talk a bit more about some easy things that made a big difference in my life in another post. But for today, I'll focus on this little trick. In the last two weeks I have lost 3.5 pounds, and the major thing controlling that weight loss is this silly little free app I have on my IPhone. It's called MyFitnessPal. I downloaded it quite a while ago but have been seriously using it in the last few weeks. It's awesome!

At it's simplest, it's a calorie counter. But at it's most complex it's a massive database of everything you could ever want to eat with nutritional value for everything. In any case, it has saved me from guessing how many calories might be in something, because you can enter recipes and it will calculate the calories per serving. I've even adjusted some recipes, played around with them to cut the calories big time without compromising the taste (super useful if you bake, like I do).

It's a simple tool. And I like it.