Thursday, June 30, 2016

Detox, day 24: wheat

Today's reintroduction - wheat.  I'm breaking this into two separate reintroductions, because I am a bit anxious about bread. ;)  I feel like I bloat up when I eat bread, so today we are trying pure wheat, in simple one-ingredient whole wheat pasta.  Cold pasta salad for lunch and a hot pasta for dinner - I managed to avoid tomato sauce in the pasta too, since we think it gives my husband heartburn and we want to try to eliminate all the possible variables.

I think I'm feeling okay overall these days. I'm definitely not as energetic as I had hoped I would be, given all these "bad" things I've eliminated in my diet.  But I do at least have the energy for my daily hour of dance workouts! :D

For future reference: went 23 days gluten-free and don't feel anything awesome in particular so I don't really think that gluten-free is the complete answer for me.  Maybe gluten-less-often though?

Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Detox, day 23: oats recovery

Neither of us noticed any effects from yesterday's oat adventure, so I'm going to go ahead and say that's good to go for us both.  Hooray. ;)

Personally, it was a bit challenging to negotiate the calories and macros given the addition of the oats!  I definitely wouldn't normally choose to spend the calories on two servings of oatmeal, but that's the name of the game in this reintroduction phase.

I did end up parking a half-hour walk away from the concert last night, and walked around a lot before the show.  The walk back to my car was dark and frankly creepy (apparently no one else does this any longer?  I thought folks did this to avoid traffic but I was wrong!).

The concert was challenging though, with all of the incredible food smells surrounding me for several hours!  Garlic fries should be illegal. ;)

Tomorrow, we go for whole wheat!

Tuesday, June 28, 2016

Detox, day 22: oats

Hooray for reintroductions!  During the reintroduction phase, we'll add one new food - and 2-3 servings of it - each day, followed by one day back on the detox (and more if needed to 'recover').

Today we started off with oats, so I made a serving of oatmeal - certified gluten-free plain oats made with water and cinnamon - for breakfast to eat with my usual smoothie.  However, it was just too much for me, so I ate about half of it for breakfast and saved the rest for lunch.

Last night I baked oatmeal cookies that were only oatmeal, unsweetened applesauce (which I hadn't eaten since pre-detox), cashew butter, cinnamon, vanilla and salt - I omitted the raisins and sweetener listed in the recipe, and actually doubled the amount of oats.  I ate two of them as a late morning snack and discovered I shouldn't have done that - it was just carbs on an empty stomach, so I was hungrier more quickly.

I've got 3 more left to eat tonight (to equal that second serving of the target food) and will have them alongside dinner so I won't have such a carb hit at the same time.  These aren't particularly tasty - they definitely need the raisins and the sugar would've been nice.  However, these are relatively low calorie/sugar/carb for an oatmeal cookie - mine came out to 73 calories, 4g fat, 3g carbs, 1g sugar, 1g fiber 2g protein for each cookie.  

I'm heading to a concert tonight and instead of grabbing take-out on the way or eating at the venue, I'm bringing dinner with me: leftover chicken thighs, cucumbers, lettuce and my last oatmeal cookies. I'm planning to eat an ounce or two of chicken and one of those cookies with a dollop of cashew butter before I head out to the show since I'm planning to park a 30 minute walk away (traffic leaving this venue is always horrendous, so instead of spending an hour in the car stressing out about not making any progress, might as well walk for 30 minutes and hopefully have less traffic from there).

Wish me luck!

Detox 21-day wrap-up

Yesterday we finished the first phase of the detox diet - the first 21 days with most restrictive diet.  Here's what we eliminated:
  • Sugar (in any form - natural or artificial - including stevia and sugar alcohols) 
  • Gluten (in anything – including soy sauce, soup mixes) 
  • Grains (whole or otherwise - no rice, oats, quinoa, etc)
  • Beans, except green beans, snap peas and snow peas (including peanuts and soy)
  • Dairy of any kind except grass fed or clarified butter 
  • Fruit, except for low-sugar fruits (raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, lemon, lime, kiwi, watermelon) 
  • Refined vegetable oils (corn, canola, soy, sunflower, safflower, etc.) 
  • Processed foods of any kinds (no additives, preservatives, dyes, MSG, etc.) 
  • Carrageenan, a “natural thickener” in nut and other healthy “milks” 
  • Alcohol
I was essentially following Dr. Mark Hyman's Eat Fat Get Thin plan but also following the Whole30 guidelines as well (except only doing 21 days since phase two is going to be long!).  I never felt the famed "Tiger Blood" that Whole30 devotees rave about.  Frankly, I spent a lot of these three weeks feeling crappy to varying degrees (the first few days are no joke!).  Eventually the headaches subsided, and I haven't dealt with much nausea since that first week.  My tinnitus is still bothersome, but the worst side effect is still the lightheadedness when standing up.  I try to remember to take an electrolyte beverage shot but keep forgetting.  Doh.

I am happy to report that not only did I lose 2.5 inches in my waist and 3 inches off my hips, I also lost 12.9 pounds during these 21 days.  Incredible!  Of course, the big challenge is going to be keeping those pounds and inches gone, and building off that to lose the next 17 pounds to my big milestone goal.

Things I learned during these 21 days:
  • planning ahead is essential!  I wish I had done more meal planning so we would've eaten more exciting things, but we survived ;)  
  • I'm not the biggest fan of nuts (which are key for adding the fat that Dr. Hyman endorses) - I do like cashew butter and I'm ok with almond butter, but I'm definitely over brazil nuts (which my doctor strongly suggests I eat two of every day) and sprouted sunflower seeds are ick.  But I still eat them when I need to do so.
  • When you eliminate most of your carbs, it's quite a challenge to get in your calories!  I tracked everything in myfitnesspal and never hit my 1500 calorie allotment.  Some days I was under 1000 calories after dinner so I'd have a spoonful of cashew butter with unsweetened coconut shreds to up the calories and fat.  
  • I guess my overall hunger may have declined?  I haven't really eaten anything for pleasure - food is fuel right now, so perhaps that is why I'm not overeating?  It will be interesting to see how this changes as I add foods back in.
  • I'm really glad I took my measurements before starting this, as it feels great to see those inches gone!
  • Eating the same thing for breakfast every day (and usually the same lunch every day too) is boring but at least it's easy to do!
Today starts our phase two - my doctor recommended the reintroduction guidelines from her elimination diet of choice (which is frankly very similar to the EFGT/Whole 30 rules).  Essentially, on the first day, you eat 2-3 servings of the target food and then go back to the detox for the second day.  If there are no issues that arise, you can move onto another new target food the third day.  Repeat until you go through them all, and if you did encounter an issue with a food, test it again just to make sure.  Here's the order we're going to use:
  1. oatmeal (plain, gluten-free) 
  2. whole wheat (pasta, no yeast or baking soda or other possible issues) 
  3. bread (sourdough, which has no added sugar to help focus on just the gluten) 
  4. cheese/yogurt (cows milk-based) 
  5. corn 
  6. rice 
  7. soy 
  8. cows milk 
  9. beans (including chickpeas - yay hummus) 
  10. peanuts 
  11. barley
Stay tuned for phase two! :D

Monday, June 27, 2016

Detox, day twenty-one - phase one COMPLETE!

WOOHOO!  Unless I suddenly run out and go eat a chocolate cake in the next 2 hours, we have successfully completed this three week funfest of fun times! ;)  YAY!

OK, so I'm really not celebrating all that much because I know I have another 3+ weeks of reintroduction to go through... but still.  I am so very proud of my husband for sticking with it (he originally was just on board for 10 days) - and I'm proud that I survived it too!  Go us!

So tonight we re-did our measurements and that was a delight. ;)  I lost 2.5 inches in my waist and 3 inches off my hips!  Woo!  Exciting times. ;)

I'm still feeling okay - definitely not great but not bad.  Burned a ton of calories this morning in a very enthusiastic U-Jam Fitness class and didn't feel like I was going to die afterwards, so that's good. :D

Tomorrow we start the reintroductions, and up first is oatmeal.  I made bowls of oatmeal for each of us in the morning, and some sugar-free oatmeal cookies (using applesauce and cashew butter to bind).  The intention for each reintroduction is to eat 2-3 servings of the target food that day, so this will hit that for us.

Sunday, June 26, 2016

Detox, days eighteen, nineteen and twenty

OK, here's where I'm at.  I feel okay.  I don't think I'd go as far as to say I feel "good" - these severe food restrictions are tough mentally.  My cravings have not gone away, but I think maybe my overall hunger has diminished a bit -- but then again, I don't really have a lot that I *like* to eat while on this detox. ;)  Husband has been dealing with a lot of fatigue and general malaise these past few days too.  Thankfully we see a light at the end of the tunnel.

Tomorrow is the last day of the 21 days we set out to do together - and then we'll start the additional three weeks (or longer) of reintroduction.  Not quite sure which day means I can have a huge slice of chocolate cake though. ;)

I did survive my 90+ minute workout this morning - I couldn't hang for the full 90 last week, but today I was able to handle it.  Of course, afterwards I wanted to eat ALL THE THINGS (in theory, I burned 3x the calories I had consumed beforehand?).

Tomorrow night we'll do our measurements again and see what happened.  Woo!

Thursday, June 23, 2016

Detox, day seventeen

Still not feeling the famed "Tiger Blood" that the Whole30 references (and that plan is very similar to what we're doing) - but at least I didn't feel like crap today.  I am really quite over my breakfast smoothies though (for some weird reason, they've been SO THICK lately and that just grosses me out!).

However, I am pretty tired (not nearly as exhausted as I was two weeks ago when we were starting this thing), so perhaps I should get off the computer and go to bed? ;)

Wednesday, June 22, 2016

Detox, day sixteen

Still chugging along.  Feeling okay-ish, but definitely still not FABULOUS yet, which was what was promised. ;)

Emailed with my doctor today about the end game on all of this, and she sent me an elimination diet plan that she likes.  It's very similar to the 21 day thing I'm doing already, but has more specific instructions on how to do the reintroductions.  Surprisingly, it says you only need to leave one day for recovery after each new reintroduction - but it does say that you should split things out into more groups.  So here's our new plan:

  1. oatmeal (plain, gluten-free)
  2. whole wheat (pasta, no yeast or baking soda or other possible issues)
  3. bread (sourdough, which has no added sugar to help focus on just the gluten)
  4. cheese/yogurt (cows milk-based)
  5. corn
  6. rice
  7. soy
  8. cows milk
  9. beans (including chickpeas - yay hummus)
  10. peanuts
  11. barley
Wild, eh? ;)  But when you add in the two days... yep, it's doubling our 21 day detox to 43 days.  And if anything triggers a reaction, the protocol says to try it again at the end of the list - but hey, at least by then we'd have a ton of other things added back in! :D

It's really motivating to see the light at the end of the tunnel - even if that light is just oatmeal to start ;)

Tuesday, June 21, 2016

Detox, days fourteen and fifteen (and next steps)

Welp.  Had my first big weight GAIN while on this fun detox of funtimes.  Up 1.2 pounds in one day (yesterday morning), and only lost 0.4 of it this morning.  Lame.  Really, really demotivating when you're doing this big-time depravation thing!

Still trying to figure out how to better get in my calories and fat needs, and not wait until the end of the day to go "oops, I should still eat another 300 calories...".  This is still a work-in-progress, that's for sure.

I'm feeling a bit better overall - not awesome yet, but definitely don't have the big headaches and nausea and as much lightheadedness as before.  (occasionally lightheaded though...)

I am looking ahead though - after these 21 days are up, then I will work on reintroducing food groups in (so honestly, this is more like a 30-40 day detox).  Husband and I are trying to figure out what order to tackle them in ;)  These are the groups:

  • non-gluten grains (oatmeal, corn, rice, gluten-free bread)
  • gluten (real bread - may need to split this out later to wheat vs. wheat+yeast though)
  • cows cheese/yogurt
  • cows milk
  • legumes (soy, beans, peanuts)
  • ice cream (yes, ice cream - I think I have an issue with cows milk, so we'll test that first, and if I *do* have an issue with that, I'll later try ice cream to see if that is any different!)
Basically, we'll add in one group for one day (try to have it 2-3 times over the course of that day) and then go back to the detox diet for two days and see if there is any reaction.  If none, then that food is good to go!  Husband is really itching for the gluten one - he really misses bread - so I think we might do the non-gluten grains first, and then three days later go for full-on delicious warm sourdough bread ;)  I do wonder if yeast has any effect, so if there is a reaction to the bread, I'll want to try another test group of just the gluten (whole wheat pasta, for example) without any yeast or baking soda or anything like that.  

Sunday, June 19, 2016

Detox, day thirteen

Oh thank goodness, I'm feeling a bit better today.  The nausea and fatigue yesterday and Friday sucked.  I don't know if upping my fat helped at all, but I need to keep an eye on that, and my overall calories too.  Ain't no good to put my body in starvation mode!

Made a recipe for lunch today from the "Eat Fat Get Thin" book by Dr. Mark Hyman - almond pancakes with berries.  They weren't perfect, but it was nice to have a different texture to eat.  I might actually make these again after the detox is over too.  Could've used a touch of maple syrup though - or as my husband said, "syrup, or pizza, or sourdough bread..." ;)  These days are definitely crawling by and we are both still dealing with lots of cravings.

Saturday, June 18, 2016

Detox, days eleven and twelve

Uuuuuugh.  Things have slammed to a halt on all of this.  I am so tired and cranky and tired. ;)  I am just over this - and we're only halfway there!  And then there's the reintroduction period afterwards... oy.  My weight loss is stalled - even went up 0.2 pounds this morning (day 12).  I think I might actually be eating too little, given my exercising.  So tonight, I had some extra fat after dinner (cashew butter with some shredded unsweetened coconut) and we'll see if that helps.

Here's hoping tomorrow is easier!

Thursday, June 16, 2016

Detox, day ten

Day 10 done!  Unfortunately, the weight loss has slowed to a crawl - less than a half pound over the past three days combined (compared to over 8 pounds in the first 6), so clearly my body is adjusting. I don’t feel as utterly crappy this week as I did last week. ;) But I am still riddled with cravings and not particularly enjoying much that I do eat. I am so not a nut person, and nuts are a big component of this thing (along with green veggies which I detest).

However, I did get the ultimate blow to the ego today. I was at the gym and asked one of the personal trainers who was just working at a computer if she had a moment to help me do a body fat test. I know they have these handheld devices and it takes just seconds, and she said sure. Well, she didn’t pull out that device and instead got out a caliper (the awesome photo below).

Oh hell no. I was on the gym floor for this (off to the side, but still in plain view), and she first did my tricep (aka, my big floppy batwing), bicep and then went in for the ab measurement. She asked me where my hipbones were and then tried to measure near that (but over my shirt) – I don’t think she had the right spot, and she kept scolding me to “relax” (uh ok), and two or three humiliating minutes later, we were done. She wrote down the numbers (I know there was a 4th place but I can’t remember now) – and looked it up on a chart, and came back with THE SAME NUMBER I GOT EIGHT MONTHS AGO (and 34 pounds ago). Ahem.

That was a huge massive blow to my self-esteem. Was the machine I used last year (where I did see a drop of 6% body fat with a 10 pound weight loss earlier last year) at my old gym completely inaccurate? Did this gal today totally mess up her calculations?

I know to not get wrapped up in the numbers, but I really want the concrete proof that all this work is paying off. It’s a lot of hard work and frankly depravation. I have been frustrated that I haven’t really dropped any pants sizes, but now that I’m into summer clothes, I am noticing that most of my shorts from last year are too big. But I don’t want to buy the size that I fit in right now, so I have picked up some that are the next size down and will likely wear a belt with the older clothes until I can fit in new ones. ;) I am excited that I’m wearing a shirt today that I bought a year or two ago and realized when I got home that it didn’t fit – but now it does!

Just need to keep reminding myself that progress, however small and slow, is still progress...

Wednesday, June 15, 2016

Detox, days eight and nine

Woo, day nine is almost over!  Exciting.

Thankfully, I think I'm adjusting more now.  Less headaches.  Less lightheaded spells, but I'm doing an electrolyte shot once a day (probably should do it twice a day).  Mostly just having them in the morning before I eat anything - so perhaps get to breakfast more quickly if possible?  (Not so easy to do with a slowpoke preschooler in the morning!)

I'm still hungry often, and the sugar cravings have NOT gone away.  I don't know if they ever will (but hey, I've got 12 more days to find out... ahem), but I'm definitely used to the meals more now.  I still need to work on eating more veggies though.

On a completely different topic, someone commented tonight on an old post about my beloved Trader Joe's Whole Grain Plus Bread not being available in their local stores.  I did happen to look for it today when picking up food for my son, and it wasn't at our store either!  (I went with our backup option of Whole Wheat Lavash - need to review that some time too!)  If you've seen this bread lately - or know why it's missing, please let us know!

Monday, June 13, 2016

Detox, days six and seven

The tragedy in Orlando yesterday made me so deeply sad, and I just did not feel like blogging last night - my apologies for skipping a daily post.  I am still so very heartbroken for the innocent folks who were just out enjoying a night of dancing and have had their lives cut short.

It still feels trite for me to post about my weight loss and detox and all of that, but that's what this blog is for and I am using it to help keep myself accountable.  So here goes.

Yesterday morning, both husband and I weighed ourselves and were delighted to see that the scale shows a few pounds gone - and of course, he lost a quarter-pound more than I did, despite my daily workouts and 10,000 steps and his average 2,000 steps. ;)  Wish I had his metabolism! :D

I am feeling more adjusted to all of this now, at least.  I still have a persistent headache, but its severity has lessened, thankfully.  I think the tinnitus is getting back to normal too (which still sucks, but at least it sucks less).

The one lingering issue I'm dealing with is the lightheadedness.  It's slightly better today than yesterday, but I'm still often getting a big thump in my head and feeling like the walls are closing in for a few seconds when I get up from being seated for a little while.  Ugh!  My doctor is hoping that it's just an electrolyte imbalance, so I'm trying nuun active at her recommendation (review to come, I'm sure!).  I'm also still trying to add salt when I can.  Hopefully this is resolving!

I am still very much wishing for a warm chocolate chip cookie or a piece of cake though.  ;)

Saturday, June 11, 2016

Detox, day five

Overall, feeling better - maybe less of a headache finally?  Still frustrated with the tinnitus though.  I was able to switch things up and do my workout in the morning - which I loved!  I really prefer to get it done in the morning, but scheduling doesn't allow that on weekdays.  I ate two hard boiled eggs as soon as I got home after the workout, in addition to my regular breakfast, lunch and dinner.  Both last night and tonight, we roasted minced cauliflower and sweet potato fries - YUM.  I know I shouldn't eat all that starch from the sweet potatoes every night, so we'll definitely skip it tomorrow but it was a nice break.

Happy to report that I haven't had any nausea today, but sadly I have still battled with lightheadedness, especially after getting up from sitting for even 10 minutes.  Blah.

So very thankful that my husband is going for this ride with me.  :)

Friday, June 10, 2016

Detox, day four

Day four overall feeling better than yesterday. Still tired. Still rocking heads and tinnitus is worse than usual. Trying to add more salt to combat the lightheaded feelings. Didn't feel ridiculously nausea tonight so that's awesome. Wish the headache and louder tinnitus would subside soon. Glad today was better than yesterday!

Thursday, June 9, 2016

Detox, day three

Ugh!  I felt better during the day, but again with the feeling like crap at night (oh so nauseated!). I did well during my evening workout, but started feeling crappy on the way home - maybe too much water on an empty stomach?  Had something different for dinner, but I'm still burping up the broccoli I had at lunch (tomorrow will be a broccoli-free day!).  Still tired and varying headachy, and really having the lightheadedness, especially when getting up from sitting for any length of time.  I read up on this, and I might be causing that by not having much salt.  So more salt in my dinner and more salt tomorrow!

Wednesday, June 8, 2016

Detox, day two

Ugh.  I've survived day two but feel like crap tonight.  Really nauseated, on top of tired and mild headache and lightheadedness.  Ugh!

Food was very similar to yesterday, but I worked out this morning and then took a ujam fitness class tonight too, and I think that was overdoing it.  I am definitely heading to bed early tonight.  I am tracking my food with myfitnesspal again, and I worry that I'm not eating enough (well, especially tonight with the second workout), so I need to think about this going forward.

I must tell you the good news though - I did lose over two pounds after that first day. ;)  Shall be interesting to see how the next 19 days go -- I don't expect a two pound loss every day, but hopefully at least 0.2 pounds ;)

Tuesday, June 7, 2016

Detox, day one

Survived day one, phew.

Started the day off with a smoothie with almond butter and protein powder and frozen raspberries and flax and chia and probably other stuff I can't remember.  It was... okay.  Weird texture. ;)

Lunch was an egg scramble with mushrooms and spinach and ham, with some nuts and coconut on the side, with cucumber too.  Later had a snack of blueberries and sprouted sunflower seeds.  Dinner was pork tenderloin, broccoli and carrots, some avocado and a few more blueberries.

I'm pretty tired, and have had a headache most of the afternoon and evening.  I went to my ujam class tonight and thought I'd struggle, but I did it all and had fun (though the air conditioning was broken and I was dripping sweat - even into my ear behind my earplug which was gross!).

I'm so proud of my husband for making it through the first day too. ;)  He had a protein shake for breakfast (with soy milk that he discovered later was sweetened - oops!), a snack of nuts, and souvlaki and salad for lunch, and the same dinner as me (but with olives instead of avocado).

Hopefully we'll get a good night's sleep and tackle tomorrow head-on!

Monday, June 6, 2016

Detox, day -1

OK, I'm going for it. Tomorrow, I'm starting a 21 day detox. This means none of the following:

  • Sugar (in any form - natural or artificial - including stevia and sugar alcohols) 
  • Gluten (in anything – including soy sauce, soup mixes) 
  • Grains (whole or otherwise). No bread or pasta substitutes of any kind 
  • Beans, except green beans, snap peas and snow peas (including peanuts which are a legume) 
  • Dairy of any kind except grass fed or clarified butter 
  • Fruit, except for low-sugar fruits (raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, lemon, lime, kiwi, watermelon) 
  • Refined vegetable oils (corn, canola, soy, sunflower, safflower, etc.) 
  • Processed foods of any kinds (no additives, preservatives, dyes, MSG, etc.) 
  • Carrageenan, a “natural thickener” in nut and other healthy “milks” 
  • Alcohol
I think I'm prepared for this.  No sugar is going to be hard - I love chocolate - but hopefully I can make it work.  I'm also a big fruit fan, and will miss my grapes and strawberries, but thankfully there are fruits that I like that are approved. ;)  I'm going to spend tonight planning out exactly what I'm eating for the next three days and go from there.  

Most shockingly, my husband has agreed to try this with me!  He's signing on for doing it for 10 days, but I'm hoping I can get him to do the full 21.  He's got a different set of challenges, since he usually just has a bowl of cereal or oatmeal at the office for breakfast and goes out for lunch with his coworkers every workday.  It's not going to be easy finding lunches that are compliant, but I've already made a little list of 5 options for him (nearby restaurants), so hopefully he can do it.  (He's not interested in taking leftovers for lunch, sadly - but will for breakfast, so that's a start!)

I'm really hoping to feel better overall, and frankly to lose some pounds and inches while on this.  I know I'm going to feel worse in a few days, but then hopefully I will feel amazing ;)  Think good thoughts, my friends!

Wednesday, June 1, 2016

Goals - May report

May is done! Let's review the goals:
  1. Lose an average of one pound a week - nope.  Happy Scale says my moving average is down 2.3 pounds over the month - and you can see the graph to the right.  I was on a great trend, and then three days in a row with parties, and it all goes to crap.  Ah well.  Two more this week too.  Ugh.  I am planning to do the detox diet (still not sure exactly which one yet) this coming month though, and hoping to see things getting back on track here.
  2. Work out at least 20 times a month - SMASHED!  I completed 31 workouts this month!  Several days with two workouts (and an unfortunate string of 3 days with none, due to overexertion... ahem).  I also tried a new class - Les Mills GRIT Strength ("LES MILLS GRIT Strength is a 30-minute high-intensity interval training (HIIT) workout, designed to improve strength and build lean muscle. This workout uses barbell, weight plate and body weight exercises to blast all major muscle groups.")  This class totally kicked my butt (and I was relieved to see that I wasn't the only one struggling!).  I hope to try it again.
  3. Cook one new (and healthy!) recipe a month - met.  I'm totally blanking on it right now, but I know I made a couple of new things earlier in the month. ;)  I also tried cooking chicken legs for the first time (I know, not the healthiest cut but it was on sale!) and that worked out well.  I am lining up a ton of new recipes to try on the detox diet, so that should work out well for June!
  4. Make an effort to eat clean and healthy the majority of the time - meh.  If I look at things closely, I feel like I did well about 90% of the time.  It's just that other 10% - and unfortunately with the timing of several days in a row with a bad meal, it's tough.  Could've been worse though. ;)
I am down 16 pounds for the year (looking at that moving trend), so though it's slow going... at least it's progress!