Keep an open mind about being grain free

Keep an open mind when looking at weight maintenance tools or even ways to better your health.

It was recommended to me to stop eating grains and processed sugar about 10 years ago. I  could not "digest" that information. It turns out it was the right thing to do, I needed both to try it, and spend several months not eating grains to see the health benefits and an "ah-ha!" moment.

Wow! Kicking grains (sugary stuff too) to the curb has really changed up the whole weight maintenance and my overall health. It's unreal how much better I feel, how much better my blood work is from a metabolic & lipid perspective. Joint pain is now gone; eat wheat and ouch!

I know that going grain free is not for everyone, but I'd like to encourage anyone approaching weight maintenance or looking for better health to give it a 30-60 day try. I know I can tolerate some soy and a little bit of rice flour, and even a tiny bit of processed sugar, here and there, but it's the exception and not the rule.

If you try it and start adding back in foods like wheat, rice, soy, etc- it becomes apparent what foods aren't really sitting well with your body.  Had I not gotten wheat free, I would not have learned this lesson and I feel that I'd be right back up there on the scale. I found that dairy makes my sinuses really congested. I can eat dairy, but breathing free is nice, too. My choice. Mostly, I choose dairy free.

Believe me, If I could eat grains/dairy and feel great I would. If you can and you can stay healthy, I applaud you. Lucky!!! But don't feel bad if you can't. Find something that works.

Weight maintenance is a lot more about being wheat free. I work all 12 rules in Refuse to Regain everyday. It's very HARD to maintain a good work-life-weight maintenance balance. Life was much harder being obese, in pain.

Choose your hard. I know that grain free is not the answer to weight maintenance, but I can safely say I struggle a lot less. Keep an open mind. Keep up the good work. We are stronger together.

PS- set down the mini-snickers bar and the candy corn if they are like crack to you!
Otherwise you may end up feeling like this:  No Bueno!!!!   My second year of Halloween abstinence has me hooking into the good feelings that weight loss and maintenance has to offer. I'm worth feeling good. We all are.

Fast Food should not be "normal"- video from Yoni Freedhoff

 Fast Food should not be "normal" video

I really liked this youtube video from Yoni Freedhoff.

http://youtu.be/AmhatRCSB1k

I agree with his message. There is very little fast food I can eat and stay at my goal weight now that I eat from a Paleo/ Primal template. And that is a good thing, in my opinion. It will keep me healthier, longer.

I can modify some restaurants to make items work.

1. Chipolte- salad bowl with meat, lettuce, salsa, and guacamole

2.  California Pizza Kitchen- Cobb salad, no croutons. Ask for oil and vinegar or bring my own for dressing.

3. The Counter-Custom Built Burger- fabulous, I can build my own. No bun and only Paelo type fixings. Love.

4.  Food Trucks- there are several local food trucks with Paleo offerings, so lucky!

5. Mexican- fajitas with vegetables, add guacamole- hold the tortillas and chips.

At nicer restaurants
5. Seafood - very tricky to make certain that flour hasn't been dusted around.

6. Steaks- yes, this works. Pair with a salad.

What doesn't work so well

1. McDonalds
2. Chineese
3. Pizza
4. Italian

Rule 3- Weigh Yourself Everyday

I'm choosing a rule, with a sub-rule from Refuse to Regain (by Barbara Berkeley, MD) to write about. My opinions are my own, your experience may vary.  I would highly recommend the book.

Weighing In Daily

Daily weighing in is the second most important weight maintenance tool I use. The first is avoiding "S" foods- (sugar, starchy foods, grains) . The author, Dr. Berkeley recommends weighing even if you've had a bad day day before "weigh bravely"- I totally agree.

What works for me

1. Recording: Weighing in the first thing in the AM and entering my weight at "My Fitness Pal" keeps a record of my weight data.

2. Trending:My weight is a number. It's data. When I plot my weight, I can more easily spot trends upwards, note any temporary gains.

3. Tracking strategy :My weight graph helps me decide if I need to start tracking or logging food (My scream weight- where I would flip to my weight loss plan- is 119, although I feel best around 114-115, so I will start to track food around 116 or so)

4. Examples -Exercise: My weight graph indicated that my weight really stayed in a "locked in" position during the month of Sept. What I did differently: I was involved in a "walking challenge" and I was walking 10,000 steps a day. In October, my walking dropped to closer to 8,000 steps a day. Once I boosted my  walking to 10,000 steps and scaled my fruit in-take back to 1.5 servings, the scale leveled off in an area that I feel really dialed and healthy. I would not have picked up on this. Lesson learned- my exercise needs to be closer to 1 hour a day. 30 mins worked for weight loss, not for weight maintenance.

Scenic stop on Hwy 1,Central California

5. Examples- Diet: See the sharp spike up on the far left side of my graph, Last week of Aug? I was on vacation in the central coast of California. I stopped at farmer's market and bought a lot of golden raisins. And they were good. And, I ate them every day. And, it was too much sugar. Lesson learned. I still eat raisins, but only once and a while. If I do this again, I will get a single serving of raisins.  Without that data in the form of a weight graph, I would have missed that lesson. Worse, I might have set myself up for a weight gain and taken myself out of my maintenance area.


6. Temporary spikes (gains)- yes, I have them. This is no big deal because I have learned to deal with temporary gains. It's normal for me. I hop on the scale, I weigh 1-2 pounds higher with no change in diet or any reason. And then the scale goes back down and stays down. Daily weighing has helped the way I deal with those days. It's completely normal. When the weight goes higher and stays higher- I revert to tracking my food again and looking at what I'm eating and why I'm eating it. The answer is ALWAYS there.

What didn't work

1. Not weighing daily or weighing in monthly. Not enough of a quality check.
2. Not taking action when I was trending upwards the moment I noticed I was trending
3. Flawed thinking (I'll go back to my WW meetings when my weight is back down)
4. Thinking I could loose weight by exercising my poor food choices.
5. Eating the foods that got me overweight and expecting to stay in maintenance
6. Freaking out over normal, temporary gains. I had no way to see them before.

Wow!  What a lot of great lessons learned with the daily weigh- in.  I work in the science field, and evaluating graph based data and making decisions is part of my job. I'm just glad that I can apply what I do at work in my home life and use that tool to it's fullest. This rule rocks- in my opinion.

I know that this is not the right tool for some people. So if daily weighing is not right for you, don't do it. (find another tool- like how your clothing fits) I hope you'll find your own applications for your daily weigh-in.

Paleo, Primal, Low Carb Resources , Fasting

Paleo & Primal Resources-my favorite

Reading & Blogs Paleo & Primal
The Paleo Solution  (Robb Wolf)
Marks Daily Apple  (Mark Sisson)
The Whole30           (Melissa Hartwig)
Top Paleo Bloggers resources   (Alison Golden from the Paleo/NonPaleo website)\

Auto-Immune Protocol
The Paleo Mom (Sarah Ballantyne, PhD) ** she's not a low carb fan, but good AIP info**
The Wahls Protocol Terry Wahls, MD (MS, Auto-Immune diseases, clinical trials)
AutoImmune Wellness Mickie Trescott and Angie Alt
Phoenix Helix          (Eileen) Great AIP resources

Processed Food Addiction

Dr. Joan Ifland, PhD - Processed Food Addiction Resources, low cost support and recovery group, food addiction quiz

Blogs Low Carb

Low Carb Dietitian - Franziska Spritzler, a Registered Dietitian and Certified Diabetes Educator
Diet Doctor  Largest Low Carb Group in the world


Recipes:
Nom Nom Paleo     (Michelle Tam)
Sarah Fragoso          (Sarah Fragoso, recipe link)
Balanced Bites        (Diane Sanfilippo)


Podcasts: Paleo/Primal


Vinnie Tortorich                  (Vinnie Tortorich and Anna Vocino)
Paleo Solution Podcast        (Robb Wolf)
Nom Nom Paleo Podcast     (Michelle Tam)

The Primal Blue Print         (Mark Sisson)

Dishing Up Nutrition           (Nutritional Weight and Wellness)


Podcasts: More Favorites, not all Paleo/Primal
Freakonomics Radio                       (Stephen Dubner)
Stuff Mom Never Told You            (How Stuff Works)
TedTalks                                          (Ted Conferences)
Happier with Gretchen Rubin         (Gretchen Ruben)
Quit Binge Eating Podcast             (Alen Standish)
Half Size Me Podcast                      (Heather Robertson)
The Rich Roll Podcast                    (Rich Roll)
This Is Your Life                             (Michael Hyatt)
Simple Life Together                       (Dan & Vanessa Hayes)
Sober Conversations                         (Herby Bell)
The Tim Ferris Show                        (Tim Ferris)
Bulletproof Radio                             (Dave Asprey)
Ben Greenfield Fitness                      (Ben Greenfield)
Found my Fitness                              (Rhonda Patrick, PhD)
60-Second Science                            (Scientific American)
Dr. Drew Podcast                              (Dr. Drew)
Over Eaters Anonymous                   (OA)
Overeaters Anonymous Virtual         (OA)
Speakers Bureau             


 Books:

Everyday Paleo & Everyday Paleo Family Cookbook  (Sarah Fragoso)
The Paleo Solution Diet   (Robb Wolf)
The Primal Blueprint       (Mark Sisson)
Practical Paleo                  (Diane Sanfillippo)
It Starts With Food       (Dallas and Melissa Hartwig)
AltShift Lasting Fat Loss  (Jason Seib)


Just a few of my favorite resources. Very glad that I've embraced the Paleo & Primal template.

Rule 2, step 3- Think strategically

I'm choosing a rule, with a sub-rule from Refuse to Regain (by Barbara Berkeley, MD) to write about. My opinions are my own, your experience may vary.  I would highly recommend the book.

Rule 2, step 3- Think Strategically




During the 3 month opt out (that time after weight loss, in the first 3 months of maintenance) the author (Barbara Berkekely, MD) suggests several strategies or behaviors and encourages us to come up with our own.

Out of the ideas listed in the book, several really popped to the top of my list to try.

1. Observe others closely- (my own comments) this behavior for me cements why I won't be going back to the Standard American Diet (SAD). Holy Smokes. I see what people pack back at regular meals, special meals, and the items that are set out for snacks and in candy jars and dishes. What????  I know, I used to be one of them. I was part of the problem by what I brought & bought at the store. What I served at home and at pot lucks.  I own that, and it wasn't so long ago. When I was eating "S" foods, I could not maintain my weight in a healthy range.  If I did maintain, it was at a very high BMI.

Observing others also indicates who is on a similar path as I am. It's very interesting. Hard to remain silent when one is feeling so good. I wait until someone asks why I'm not grabbing mini-snickers bars or when someone comments on the good smelling chicken curry and wants to know how I made it. That's when the window for talking about a Primal/ Paleo style of eating is open. Or why I don't subscribe to moderation theories.  That I could eat that crap "yummy food" but I'd gain weight back in a flash. Or that I'm healthier now than I was in my 20's.  Or that I struggle much less. Or that I don't have joint pain any  more.

2. Wear Revenge clothes
 (my own comments)
Yeah, I do this on some days, and I like it. Most of the time, I dress professionally during the week. But,I only wear clothes that fit well these days.

Something about being the "fat kid" growing up, being teased, being told "move more, eat less", and that I should eat sweets in moderation otherwise I would set myself up for a binge. (What???).  Wait, Wait  for it,...... Zip Zip Hooray. That's the sound my zipper on  my size 4-6 pants make every morning that I slide into them. I make no apologies here. And, I've dressed dumpy for years. Getting clothes that fit properly and look decent is one of the highest NSV in my book. It doesn't have to cost a lot if you go to second hand stores and pace your new clothes. For me the psychological aspect of baggy, ill-fitting clothes is just not good. And if you have gained weight ( it happens, I know, I've lived it)- get clothes that fit. Tight clothes fool no one.

Okay- feel free to discuss any strategies that work(ed) for you below. The book  has even more. I'll leave you with a favorite quote of mine. Weight maintenance is a whole new life.


"Learn it, know it, live it"  (Brad Hamilton- character from the movie Fast Times At Ridgemont High)

8 months weight maintenance -holding pattern

 Highest Weight : 187.4
Goal weight: 115.4
Current Weight: 115.0
Height 5'1"
Months at goal weight (+/- 2 pounds) = 8 months

Weight Holding steady:
My weight has really leveled out this last month or so. I track my food about 1-2 days a week, or anytime I see any number in the 116's or above. Keeping my carbs below 100 gms per day will cause loss. Keeping my carbs above 130 grams per day will start to cause gain. The carb "window" is very narrow. No wonder counting WW points did not work for me in weight maintenance.

In the month of Sept, I participated in a walking challenge. I pretty consistently walked over 10,000 steps a day, with many days being higher than 10,000. I was hitting 8-10,000 per day before the challenge. It's unclear if the extra walking kept my weight with little fluctuation, or I have my diet pretty dialed in, or both. Or none. Who knows?

Strength training: Very regular at one day a week, with half of Sept being 2 days a week.  I'm getting comments that I look strong and toned. Awesome. For October, I'm still going to the gym once a week, but I'll focus more on exercises I can do at home. I have new motivation, but I want to test out my new routine myself, then report back in a month.

Restored beach house- love that look

Photos: Still summer here in So. Cal. Fabulous for fall photo ops. I have no problems getting motivated to be outside, walk like crazy, and take photos.

 Food and Recipes:  As luck has it, both Sarah Fragoso's new cook book "Everyday Paleo Family Cookbook" and Chrissy Gower's "Paleo Slow Cooking" were available at my So. Cal Costco . So I bought both and I'm trying all sorts of recipes for batch cooking. The rest of the year is crazy busy, so batch cooking will keep my eating on track. Photo is from Sarah's book- it's slow cooker curried chicken.  [Edited to link to the recipe], so go and BUY those books if you are into good , gluten free recipes.  Next recipe, a roasted lemon chicken and bone broth. Yum!