Light Weigh Eating

Great bread, eh? This is sourdough bread from San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf that we got this summer when sightseeing. It tasted as good as it looks.

Well, I'm happy to report that I have continued in the Light Weigh eating philosophy and have been loosing weight again. After loosing it this way, then gradually gaining it back by not following the Light Weigh principles, then trying other ways like Weight Watchers and just super healthy eating, I've shown myself that this is for sure the best way to go. The thing about the Light Weigh (among other things) is that it helps you to take the focus off yourself and encourages you to fill your life with prayer and your relationship with God and helping others. As a result, not only is life more meaningful, but many of the underlying reasons for overeating are gone. That's huge.

I am committed to eating this way for the rest of my life. I've shown myself that I need to persevere and not slack off on it. It's something I will need to always be vigilant about. Our Light Weigh group feels the same way, which is great. We are in it for the long haul. I've been telling them to be sure to stick with it and see it as long term so that I can help them not fall away like I did. One in the group is going full speed ahead and really loosing a lot (everything has clicked into place for her), the rest of us are struggling but having success.

So right now my weight is 155 lbs. That means I've lost around 10 lbs. since I've been back in the Light Weigh.

Plus, I've been exercising for abut 1 1/2 years now and that's made a big difference in my energy level and overall health, that's for sure.

Slow and steady progress and commitment to persevere...

I've even been using my bentos a bit lately for lunch. I'll try to post some pics soon!

Back in the "Light Weigh" Saddle

Today I'm starting back on the "Light Weigh" discipline of eating. I decided to stop weightwatchers. A friend asked if I wanted to start the Light Weigh again and so we've gotten a group together and we met last night. It's exciting! After 6 years I'm back at it with the encouragement and support of a group. We had a blast last night at the orientation.

This time I am exercising as well, so it will be interesting to see how that makes a difference. Last time I did Light Weigh I didn't exercise and I still lost over 40 lbs. Most of that weight creeped back on slowly and now I want to go back to that way of living and work harder on maintenance once I reach my goal.

I gained back a few lbs that I'd lost on weightwatchers. The very interesting things that I see as I read past posts is that I am right back where I was when I was posting...at 163/164 lbs. My scale is not very good and changes when I step off and then step right back on, so it's hard to say. I guess I'll have to go with 164 lbs. as my "official" start weight of this new phase. My birthday is next month, so this is a good time for a fresh start, it seems to me.

I think I am only going to check-in on Monday weigh in days, so that I don't get burned out of posting. That is my goal for now.

Speaking of goals, have you seen "Joe's Goal's"? It's a free website that helps you keep track of your goals and has reports with graphs and everything! Check out it out: http://www.joesgoals.com/

Here we go!

stay tuned...

Hello to you if you are reading this!

I have been doing weight watchers online and have lost 10 lbs in three weeks. That's pretty good. A few people where I work were doing it and having success, so I thought I'd give it a try. I've been so busy with things that I haven't been posting, but I'm going to make some Weight Watchers Bentos later in the spring when I have more time. :)

Stay tuned! (BTW, that isn't me in the picture, I just found that online.)

1-23-08 Food Log

6:45 am: 1 banana w almond butter, 1bowl oatmeal square cereal a skim milk and herb tea

10:30 am: tuna pita in a bento (see photo below)

3:30 pm: apple and peanut butter snack bento plus a bowl of oatmeal squares with 1 percent milk (see photo below)

7 pm: Cashew chicken bento with an orange for dessert and herb tea (see photo below)

Water: about 44 oz today
Exercise: none today

pita/apple snack/cashew chicken bentos

This is what I had for early lunch today. It's a whole wheat pita with tuna salad (tuna mixed with Annie's Naturals Cowgirl Ranch Dressing) with alfalfa sprouts and cut up tomatoes. It is not really a "bento" but I put it in a bento. smile.


Snack Bento: cut up apple with natural chunky peanut butter for dipping.



Brown rice heated up from dinner last night plus cashew chicken from the local chinese restaurant. I thought I'd make it cute by using the cashews and veggies to make a little face in the rice. I had an orange for dessert.

tuna bento lunch/chicken-brown rice bento dinner

This is what I had for lunch today. Tuna packed in water (drained) with Annie's Naturals "Cowgirl Ranch Dressing" to spread with my nifty bamboo spreader on Ak Mak whole wheat and sesame crachers and sliced radishes.

My dinner bento: Long grain brown rice cooked with Wolfgang Puck chicken stock topped with chicken breast tenders cooked on the Foreman grill with a small salad of alfalfa sprout with Annie's Naturals Tuscan dressing and carrots. I dipped the carrots in Annie's Cowgirl Ranch dressing.

I've been eating more than I should lately, so I was tempted to grab something else with dinner, but I was a good girl and only had herb tea.

I'm getting a sore throat. Hope it isn't strep. (But it easily could be because of my sons has strep right now.)

1-22-08 Food Log

6 am: bowl of oatmeal squares and skim milk, moroccan green tea

10:15: am tuna bento (tuna salad, ak mak crackers, sliced radishes), berry herb tea

1:10: lg passion fruit milk tea tapioca drink from "Quickly"

5:30 pm: 1 banana

7 pm: brown rice and chicken bento (see photo), 2 cups herb tea

exercise: none today
water: not much, really

Busy me! and a recipe...

I have been busy lately with my job and also still have this cold, so I haven't been posting. I think I will start posting some of what I'm eating without worrying about including every little thing and exact times, etc. This will make it more easy for me to keep going with this blog for now. I've been eating well and have continued on the Eating Clean diet. Here is a recipe for "Breakfast in a Blender" that I've found very helpful on busy mornings (and tasty!):

From The Eat-Clean Diet Cookbook by Tosca Reno:

1 scoop protien powder ( I use vanilla flavored whey protein powder from Whole Foods -- it is sweetened with Stevia)
1/3 c dry oatmeal
2/3 c skim milk (options are: water, soy milk, almond, or rice milk)
1 Tbsp natural almond butter (or other natural nut butter)
1 frozen banana (or fresh)
2 Tbsp unsweetened applesauce (I substitute or add various kinds of frozen fruit)
1 Tbsp flax seed
1 Tbsp wheat germ
1/2 c ice cubes

I blend this all in my "magic bullet"...very yummy and filling!

(275 calories)

1-2-08: veggie omlet/fruit and cheese bentos

Veggies on the chopping board, waiting to become an omlet.

6:50 am: 1 c steel cut oatmeal topped with 1 Tbsp wheat germ, 1 Tbsp bee pollen, 3 Tbsp apple sauce, 7 fresh raspberries and 1/2 ruby red grapefruit, and tulsi tea (passion fruit flavor)

10:15: veggie omlet made with variety of veggies shown above with 4 egg whites and 1 whole egg (I ate 1/2 of the omlet)

12:30 pm: red and green seedless grapes and gala apple with wedge of low fat laughing cow cheese in white bento and some of the leftover teryaki chicken strips from Whole Foods with a brown rice onigiri that I made from the rice I made for dinner the other night (the left over rice was still warm and sticky in the rice cooker, so I made some onigiri and saved them in the fridge) grilled for a couple minutes in soy sauce.

3:30 pm: 4 ak mak crackers spread with almond butter plus 1/2 banana, and tulsi tea

5 pm: "cutie" (mandarin orange)

6:30 pm: the other 1/2 of the omlet from this morning plus 2 more of the brown rice onigiri which I ate cold right out of the fridge

10 pm: whole grain chips and organic salsa (filled the white bento 1 & 1/2 times with chips)

I stayed home sick today coughing and coughing and eating felt good on my throat. I probably shouldn't have eaten the 10 pm snack, but the rest of the day seemed like I ate okay (except maybe not 2 onigiri at 6:30)

supplements: same as yesterday

water: far exceeded my 64 oz goal

exercise: none at all

1-2-07 egg white and veggie omlet/chicken and rice bentos

I was too tired to post last night. I have a fairly bad cold right now.

5:30 am: 1 tiny 1/5 oz. bag of raw nuts/raisins (cashews, hazelnuts, almonds, walnuts)
5 sections of ak mak 100% whole wheat crackers with hummus dip (from Trader Joe's)
herb tera (no picture of this meal)

9 am: Three egg whites scrambled with chopped celery, fresh green beans, onion, carrots, snap peas, turkey slices (from Trader Joe's). This was soooo good. I ate it with chopsticks.

Then I got busy and didn't eat till after I went to the grocery store...
5 pm... some of a chicken rice bowl from Whole Foods (brown rice, teriyaki chicken, shredded carrots and cabbage, and teriyaki sauce). I shouldn't have waited so long to eat.

7:30 pm: Salad with romaine and radishes (red, pink, purple, and white) with Annie's Natural oil and vinegar salad dressing and short grain brown rice (made with Wolfgang puck chicken stock) and chicken breast (cooked with Foreman grill). This was a very yummy dinner. The chicken stock makes the rice so flavorful but it does have some chicken fat in the stock which I shouldn't have.

supplements: Multi-vitamin (from Trader Joe's), 800 mg CLA (Conjugated Linoleic Acid) which is a good fat that is supposed to help with weight loss, 500 mg Maca for more nutrition and energy, and 50 mg Coenzyme Q10 which is an anti-oxidant which stimulates the immune system and give energy, and tulsi tea which is good for stress.

water: pretty close to my 64 oz goal

exercise: none to speak of as I am sick and coughing today.