KISS: Keep It Simple September
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I've been meaning to post here since it first went up. Sorry for my lateness. I've been on an egg fast since Sunday, because I'd let things get out of hand and when I replaced my scale batteries I saw the weight going up a tiny bit. Simplicity is good!
KISS Goals/Plan:
1) Simplify my eating by continuing the egg fast on workdays and regular LCHF on weekends, focusing primarily on meat, eggs, vegetables, and a little dairy on my non-egg-fasting days.
2) Drink at least 96oz water but preferably 128oz (I have a 32-ounce water bottle and try to empty it 4 times a day).
3) Take my supplements every single day.
4) Declutter my finances. I won't go into detail on this.
Expected results:
1&2) I don't expect to lose as much weight on subsequent egg fasts as I did this first time (I am down 5.6 lbs over 5 days of egg fasting), but I will be happy with a couple pounds a week on average.
3) Have more energy and fewer undesired symptoms (like muscle cramps, etc.).
4) To begin to see the light at the end of a very long tunnel and to not be in constant crisis/stress mode, which should substantially improve my relationship with my husband.
Starting Weight:
September 1 Weight: 189.4
Today's Weight: 187.4
I also took measurements yesterday and will be tracking them to see my progress.
Alright, here's my final check-in for September.
Progress:
1) After switching to intermittent fasting (16:8 every day), I maintained that throughout the month. Couldn't get simpler than that! BPC for breakfast, then a normal lunch and dinner.
2) I still struggle with water intake on weekends or really any day I'm not at work, but I still try to have at least two of my 32-ounce water bottles full of water even on my lower intake days.
3) I set an alarm as suggested by some of you great folks. It goes off every Friday and Saturday at 9pm. Unfortunately I did not get off my butt and take my vitamins when it went off. But hey, it's progress, right?
4) I got a second job! I'll be working every other weekend. Not only will it bring more money into my household and help me stay afloat and get out of debt faster, but it will help to further my career as well.
Results:
1 & 2) My weight has bounced around a lot this month. I hit the 50-pounds-lost mark this week.... twice. I'm back up to 49 pounds lost this morning. But whatever. I hit the mark. I'm at 187.2 this morning but have gone as low as 185.4 in the past few days. I've lost 21% of my initial body weight, and I couldn't be happier. I have not taken updated measurements since the beginning of the month, but I know I've gotten smaller by the way my clothes fit.
3) I definitely have fewer tired days and haven't had a leg cramp episode in a couple weeks or more.
4) I see the light. It's tiny and far off, but it's there.
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ceciliaslater wrote: »I will simplify my life by:
1) Avoiding the scale. I weighed in today (155.8) and will not weigh again until September 30th. I'm normally a daily weigher...
2) Not counting calories/macros. I will stick to only foods that I know meet my macro goals. Hello eggs, bacon, butter, steak, etc.
3) De-stress by doing activities I enjoy at least 3x per week--this does not include exercise. Think crochet, horseback riding, etc.
Final check-in time!
1) Avoiding the scale. I did great with that for the first two weeks or so, then went downhill from there. I've recently slipped back into weighing every day. I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing, since daily weighing isn't really discouraging for me.
2) I did not count or track any calories or macros all month. I did well with eating only LCHF foods, for the most part (minus the occasional glass of [whole] milk or few blackberries here and there. Oh, and that one little roll of sweetarts...). I weighed in this morning at 154.2lbs, so I managed to lose 1.6 pounds this month without tracking or counting anything and without restricting anything other than carbs. I'd call that a successful experiment.
3) Doing activities I enjoy. Yeah, this definitely fell by the wayside. I need to spend more time focusing on me, I suppose. But there's just so much other junk to do every day...0 -
KnitOrMiss wrote: »KnitOrMiss wrote: »KnitOrMiss wrote: »KISS Goal:
- Get back to basics. Lately, I have been trying too many faux foods (almond flour is so NOT my friend), letting my quantities creep (not even carb foods, just in general), eating too much of keto desserts to the point of getting sick or eating way too much, stopped eating basic foods/depending on weird stuff.
- Focus on my water. I haven't hit a single water goal in a month. SAD.
- Work towards getting more sleep. I had gotten up to getting nearly 7 hours a night (up from 4.5 average), and then I added in some mindfulness destressing, which took up far more time than intended, and I'm back to 4.5-5 hours a night... I just can't do that! And if something prevents me from sleeping when preferred (insomnia or life, etc), work on getting more self care in - it's relaxing and needs to become routine.
Implementation Plan:
- Focus on meal prepping for my breakfast. Eggs, sausage, cheese, etc. Batch cook on weekends/evenings so I can just reheat in the mornings. Stop experimenting. Get back to individually portioned fat bombs and fat bombs that agree with me more. Repeat: eggs, meats (not generally processed), and the veggies I love. Have the majority of my daily intake be real food, not some fill in item that "fits the fat macro" but has no other nutritional value.
- Drink a water bottle fully before getting out of bed. Retool my reminders on my water tracking app to be more value-added. Make it a habit again.
- Going to start tracking tomorrow night, then work to add a minimum of 10 minutes per night until I'm over 6 hours of sleep. Target is 7 hours, as I just don't know if 8 hours is feasible, as going to bed at 9 pm means dinner then bed - no couple time, which is essential to both of our sanity. The first and last 30 minutes of my day should be all about me, rejuvenating and relaxing. I have a few new things I'm hoping to put in the rotation this month.
Expected results:
I want to get that scale and those sizes trending downward again. I've been kind of stuck in a "transporter loop" of my own making. I've looped past this low weight at least twice, and it is my intention to make this time the last time. All of these items above will add peace and quality of life to mine. My primary focus is on my health, and I want to make some more good strides before my next check ups in October.
Update (5/10 - a little late)...- Basics - Still haven't kicked the dessert portion habit. I've gotten lazy in not wanting to prepare fat bombs and desserts in batches, so am going for the easy stuff that has carb creep. But I've intentionally run myself out of a few easier ingredients, so working that angle. (EEEK - ran out of breakfast stuff. Must make tonight!)
- Water - I'm getting closer, but still no cigar. Since I'm mostly avoiding the scale, today was the first day I finished my water bottle before getting going. Was great, but slowed down my other morning water...
- Sleep - I'm THANKFULLY back up to about 6 hours per night as my average, up from under 5 hours, so I'm going to stick with that and work on adding more. Not stepping up evenly, but any time I make it to bed before midnight is great. Also got up 15 minutes earlier today.
- Blogged today about feeling stuck and all. Had a rough day yesterday due to a personal unniversary...but didn't go off plan... Oh, and been knitting or coloring nearly every night. It is definitely helping with better sleep.
I did better with the fat bombs last week. Didn't portion them, but had a consistent portion each time. But, I've tracked 8 days in a row my diary entries - today will make 9. It's helping mindfulness.
Water, I'm up to 80 oz daily consistently, but still struggling to get back to 120 oz.
Sleep - I'm hit and miss. Some days 5 hours, some days 7+.
I'm still feeling like a mess, but at times, at least I feel like there's a little order to the chaos.
Basics - I've mostly dropped nearly all desserts - rare indulgences now, and truer portion control returning. I know I have my mid-day fasting to thank. Breakfast has become some shakes with alternate protein sources, since haven't had a chance to seek out a decent protein powder (nothing local, no internet access)... Got tired of eggs all at once. But having cocoa in my morning shake fully satisfies my chocolate urges 90% of the time. Nice.
Water - I've hit my water goal several times this week, and was within a glass yesterday. I'd venture a guess that I've been at least a week or so in a row (Sunday might have been the exception) with over 100 oz of water.
Sleep - this is still chaotic, but more days than not, I'm going to bed earlier than expected, so that's progress, folks.
Blogging/venting - I think I've done okay here. I may not have blogged publicly, but I've written much in the last week...
For me, the key this month to reigning in my chaos across the board was the peace I found in my midday fasting. I'm splitting my calories fairly evenly between breakfast and dinner - 50/50 or 40/60, but a decent split. I'm finishing breakfast by 9 am - ish... Most days I'm not eating again until at least 7 pm. By that 3rd or 4th hour, I'm getting that fabulous burst of ketone burning energy. It's been great. By not eating at lunch, I'm not killing for something sweet by 2-3 pm. It's been great. In fact, by having the smoothie in the morning, and slowly weaning down my dairy for nut "milks" and such, it is helping me crave less stuff. I think that is more due to the nutrition in the shakes (see www.healthfulpursuit.com for options).
I have also dropped fully into the next size...and the scale finally decided to agree this morning. Dropped a pound, though I'm up from the end of August's scale - so I guess i need to break down and do measurements at some point... LOL I always avoid them, because if they haven't changed, too, then I start questioning my sanity and progress and everything...
But, overall, I'd say progress this month, and I hope the fasting stuff isn't a fluke, because honestly, I'm enjoying having a few minutes to my day that aren't based around the chaos of "rush rush rush." 0 -
Yippeee I actually lost 3 pounds without tracking my food or weight in KISS. I didn't do well with my yoga but overall the month was a success.0
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Well, I sure didn't keep my promise for the September challenge. I was planning to get back to ZC but my garden veggies were so abundant that this just did not happen. I turned September into a fasting challenge instead, alternating fasting once or twice per week with a little bit higher carb count when eating, and this worked well actually. I lost 9 pounds, my highest monthly weight loss in months.
The October challenge does not appeal to me, so will likely continue with my September regime, more fasting since I love it, with less veggies...... Right after Canadian Thanksgiving next Monday. Mind you cycling my carbs seems to work for me too, so a higher carb day followed by strict Keto with fasting is like magic.0 -
I didn't wrap up my September challenge reporting because I was crazy busy with unexpected trips to care for my dad and do some work for him. But my challenge went pretty well.
I did reduce my artificial sweetener in my coffee to an amount I'm comfortable with and feel that the sweetness level is good with the reduction so I'm happy. I did stop weighing so much and actually even less than planned due to being gone periodically. But I actually think I prefer to weigh daily and am going back to that.
I don't feel like September was particularly simple for me but it had nothing to do with my working on health.
I did go from 142 to 138.2 during the month so I can say the August stall I was experiencing is officially over. Until the next "unplanned maintenance" my body decides it needs. When that happens, I know not to over analyze everything I'm doing to try to figure out a cause because i know it's just a part of the process now.0
