First Week of "My Plan"

I’ve got the first week of “My Plan” under my belt and here are some of my observations:

I love food (no surprises there), and when I eat the right kinds of foods, in the proper amounts and combinations, I feel healthy, energized, and definitely not hungry. Yay!

I also love being active – not too much, not too little – a walk, a hike, a couple of runs per week and yoga every other day or so. This is definitely a combination that is good for my soul!

I’ve decided to let go of expectations for now and just be aware of how I’m feeling, and to listen to my body with a kinder ear. My theory is that if I nourish my body respectfully and move it with gratitude, most of the time, I bet it will be more apt to forgive me if I abuse it a little bit every now and then!

As far as my weight goes, if I don’t lose an ounce more, so be it. I’m doing this for a sense of peace and wellbeing. So far, this week’s combination seems to offer that. Besides, there are a LOT of cute one piece bathing suits out there!

The interesting thing is that I actually did lose two pounds this week. Maybe it’s a fluke; maybe it’s the only two pounds I’ll lose. It could be my body’s way of saying “Thank you sweet baby Jesus, she’s not eating the entire bag of cheese puffs!” I’m curious to see what happens next week. It would be a lie to say: “If I don’t lose an ounce more, so be it.” (oh wait, I did say that) So, maybe not a "lie" per se’, I just know that I can't guarantee that I’ll still mean that statement tomorrow...or an hour from now, for that matter. I’m feeling pretty good at THIS moment. You know how that goes (if you’re a woman).

I’ve stuck with my “around 2,000 healthy calories” per day goal. I didn’t cut out wine OR pork rinds, or anything else that I enjoy (just not gonna happen). Here is an example of my daily food intake:

Breakfast: 16 ounce coffee with a healthy amount of Whole Milk
(50 cals)
High fiber cereal with a handful of berries and 1% milk
OR Greek Style yogurt with berries (straw, blue & rasp)
(250 cals)

Lunch: Whole Wheat sandwich w/Provolone, ½ avocado, fresh spinach, onion, walnuts
(400 cals)
1 oz. hot & spicy pork rinds! (yummmmmmmm!)
(160 cals)

Snack: Cottage cheese and a piece of fruit
OR brie, crackers and fruit
(300 cals)

Dinner: Couple of examples from this week:
Baja Fish Tacos
(400 cals for two)

Eggplant Borani w/brown rice and Challah (garlic yogurt sauce): This is a delicious Afghani dish: layers of eggplant, caramelized onion, green bell pepper and tomato slices (fresh from my mum's garden), sprinkled generously with red chili powder betweeen layers, drizzled with challah (holla for challah!)
(400 cals)
Glass or two of red wine
(250 cals)

Total: 1810 cals

Eating this way feels pretty satisfying and I don’t feel the need to eat much more. Some dinners might have a higher calorie count or I’ll just add a desert (I had one of those brownies the neighbor brought over in exchange for some peaches from our tree - I would definitely have preferred peach cobbler...note to self). Sometimes I might grab a handful of my son’s popcorn or pretzels – it usually ends up around 2000 calories!

So, Hmmmm. I like it!