ONE MONTH UPDATE ON NEW VEGETARIAN FROZEN FOOD EATING PLAN 

26 days ago, when I started my meatless, portion controlled, calorie controlled frozen food way of eating, I mentioned that my aunt had told me the secret to losing weight was simply eating less.   It is working for me! I am down 6 pounds as I complete my 4th week, which means I am 2 pounds ahead of my goal of 1 pound a week.  

You know, eating less is not only the secret to losing weight.  It is also the secret to a healthier, longer life.  I was listening to NPR the other day and they were talking about the naked mole rat.  I googled it and found an interesting article here:  http://microbiology.science.oregonstate.edu/content/long-life-and-naked-mole-rats

Basically, the article explains the research of  Minhazur Sarker who works in the lab of Tory Hagen, a renowned researcher with the Linus Pauling Institute:    The only cold-blooded mammal, the naked mole rat has a low metabolic rate and spends its life underground; all characteristics that contrast sharply with human life. But the naked mole rat also has something that humans have pursued for centuries: the key to longevity. These rodents, Sarker says, can live up to 30 years — 10 times the lifespan of other rats. 

As the article points out:  "The only real known paradigm of increasing mean lifetime of species is dietary and caloric restriction,” Hagen says. “When you restrict calories but provide vitamins and micronutrients to maintain basic function, the species lives for an inordinately long time."

SO!  In addition to shedding fat and pounds, which reduces the risks of heart disease and stroke, high blood pressure, diabetes, some cancers, gallbladder disease and gallstones, osteoarthritis and knee problems, gout and breathing problems such as sleep apnea, I am increasing the time I have to spend on this earth being a productive person and enjoying life. 

AND NOW:  Interesting notes about the new eating plan so far:

• 1.  Giving up is no longer an option.   I have had a lot of up and down moments on the scale...sometimes my weight varies as much as 4 pounds in the same day.  In the past, this has been very discouraging and I would "give up."  By that I mean if I was on MediFast (a very restrictive eating plan) or Weight Watchers (a complicated eating plan for me as far as counting points and planning meals, shopping etc.), I would go back to something easier/less expensive, i.e. my usual way of eating, which was just eating what Dale cooks or whatever I felt like eating.  HOWEVER!!  Now there is nothing to "go back to."  The way I am eating is already easy!  I am eating a wide variety of foods, and while there is calorie and portion control built in, I do not have to think about it and I do not feel deprived.  Meals are ready in 5 minutes and there is no messy cleanup.  Frankly I do not feel like there is any other way to eat. So basically I have found the way of eating that suits me and I have no desire to eat any other way.  Of course eating out is the challenge, but even if I did splurge once a month and eat a big mexican dinner, this would have negligible effect on my overall weight.

• 2.  This way of eating is saving us money. Dale is not crazy about frozen packaged meals, but he has ventured bravely into that territory and has found it is not so bad. He is still experimenting.  But the nice thing we have noticed is how low our grocery bill has been this month.  By not preparing meals from scratch, we are saving quite a bit because we don't have to buy a lot of separate ingredients.  Not to mention the time we save by reducing the prep time in the kitchen.  

• 3.  This way of eating is healthier than it sounds.  Many of these prepackaged meals are preservative-free. Makes a lot of sense since they are already preserved by being frozen.  

• 4.  Favorite foods:  I love the Smart Ones Lasagna Florentine. And I feel like I am cheating when I have a Morningstar biscuit stuffed with scrambled egg and sausage for breakfast. Another breakfast that is full sized and doesn't feel like a diet:  Two pieces of toast (Nature's Own Whole Wheat) topped with microwaved egg (one whole egg, one egg white) mixed with Morningstar Farms sausage patty (crumbled).  Top with picante and Tony Chachere's:  300 calories. 

• 5.  Upcoming challenge:  Summer Games 2014 (four grandchildren for one week).  That means corn dogs.  And I have to admit my South Texas D.Q. Buc Days heritage is unable to withstand the crispy deliciousness of corn dogs.  I'd better stock up on some MorningStar Farms mini corn dogs...I can have 7 of these little nuggets for 300 calories and won't be tempted to dig into the kids' food.

ONE WEEK UPDATE ON NEW EATING PLAN (ACTUALLY 10 DAYS AFTER STARTING)

Down 2 pounds!  Feeling less hungry, feeling thin, very energetic, not tired.  Don’t feel deprived.  I know I can have a snack but I don’t always have it.

Enjoying meals, eat a salad or vegetable with one of my meals each day.  Looking forward to trying new entrees.  Have found some I really like like the lasagna Florentine and the portabella mushroom bowtie pasta.   Made root beer float with the vanilla yogurt.  Need to get some skinny ice cream for that.

Scale has been all over the place.  Actually went down as low as -6 pounds on Sunday.  Had several ritas on  Sat and Sunday and a few Julios’s chips.  

I feel like I can do this and that it is going to work this time.  Not at all discouraged with my weigh-in.  Feel I am still ahead of the game and thus avoided disappointment and urge to give up.

Adding in a little exercise on the elliptical each night watching old episodes of House.

A New Way of Eating: PORTION MANAGMENT

My Aunt Velma was never skinny.  Even when she was a teenager she had the kind of figure we used to call "big-boned."  Later in life, when she was in her 70's, I noticed that she had lost weight and asked how she had done it.  "I just started eating half the amount I used to eat," she told me.  She enjoyed substantial and permanent weight loss simply by cutting her portions in half.  

Since the first of this year I have been very unhappy with my weight, which has slowly crept up over the years. I had to make a trip to Portland Oregon last Christmas, and it put me in some uncomfortable situations such as cramming myself into the airline seat and holding my arms in so as not to touch my seatmate.  Also walking from one end of the airport to the other really got me out of breath.  

I really needed to lose weight, but I have tried and failed at so many different approaches that I had become stuck in an attitude of not really believing I could ever be successful.   

And then it hit me.  In our society, the portions out of control.   Think of the huge platter you get served at most restaurants.  Or how about regular family meals that serve 6 and we make it for 2 people.  That tiny container of Haagen Dazs that you gobble in one sitting is actually 4 servings...but do they package each serving separately?  No.  Because they know you are going to eat the whole container.  Don't even get me started on Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners, where the amount of food would sustain a third-world family for a month.  

If someone would just serve me my meals like they do in hospitals.  Or like the very rich, if I could just have a cook who would prepare the correct foods in the proper amounts.   Lots of people seem to do well with Nutrisystem and similar programs because they get their foods in a box and it takes all the margins for error out of the equation.  Your calories are decided for you in advance.  No cooking, no deciding what to fix for dinner, no having to slim down your favorite dishes.  

And then I realized that there is a wealth of low calorie food at my local  grocery store, prepacked  in portion-sized servings.  Individual meals, prepackaged bags of vegetables,  100 calorie snacks and more.

So last Sunday I went to the grocery store.  And came home with this:

28 entrees, 16 Individual  Frozen Yogurt, plus Laughing Cow and WW String Cheese Snacks

 I came home and planned out menus for the next two weeks, keeping my calorie count around 1100 for each day.  That way, I decided, I would have saved enough calories for a few rewarding Crystal Light Margaritas come the weekend.

Week One Menu

Now, I know what everyone is thinking.  "But the sodium count on those frozen meals is sky high!"  Well I checked and it is not too bad.  But to offset the extra sodium, I decided I needed to make sure I got in my 8 glasses of water each and every day without fail.   So I made these:

Found this idea on the internet.  This makes it really easy to drink all your water for the day.

I am so excited to be starting this new WOE.   On my first day (Monday), I woke up feeling happy to know I had three good meals and two snacks on my plate for the day and was on my way to safe permanent weight loss...FINALLY!!!   

Day One (Monday):  The first day went well.  Was very full at times.  Only weak moment was after work on the computer, the familiar urge to grab some sort of snack.  Will definitely save my p.m. snack for this time of the evening.  Avoided temptation but did take one bite of Dale’s lemon meringue pie.   Otherwise stuck to plan. 

Day Two (Today):   I plan to weigh on Mondays and Thursdays.  I should not have weighed today but I did (and was down one pound).  And I totally stuck to the plan today.  Decided to start blogging about this experience.  That’s how sure I am that it is going to work.  The science says I should lose about a pound a week, about 50 pounds a year.  So I am going to give it my all...and to try  to stay on some sort of Portion Management for the rest of my life, so there is no set date to “end” this WOE.