15 lbs??? How? When??

First off... wedding.  We had a wedding in our family.  It was my oldest son getting married to his college sweetheart in Ft Worth, TX.  What a beautiful day and celebration!!  Here I am in my most glamorous gown... wearing all that spanx thingies to hold all the stuff in place.  

Yes, hubby got cropped out of this photo!

I'll try to do an "after" picture... once I get these extra 15 lbs off...

From my lowest weight loss to now, yep, 15 pounds.  That's 6.8kg for my non-American friends.  

HOW??  WHEN???  

Looking back on my daily weight loss calculator, I see that the weight really started to come back on AFTER the holidays.  WHY???  Well, IF I had been keeping a food journal or diary, I could look back and see what I was eating to possibly contribute to this gain.  Otherwise, I'm left to make suppositions and theories as to how I sabotaged my weight management program.  Can I blame it on the stress of the wedding?  Possibly, but why... it was joyful.  

So... getting back to the basics.  The "rules", if you will, of being Paleo/Primal. 

Let's see how I fare in the basics... (I'm not going to get into the 'why we don't eat these' right now, just going through how I've sabotaged myself):

1.  Change your eating to REAL foods (no processed junk)

• No grains.  none, nada, nyet, zip!! That includes wheat, barley, rye, rice, corn, etc.  Now, here's a possible weight gainer for me:  rice and organic corn.  I've tried to reason away eating rice (ONLY if it's non-GMO or Japanese!!) and corn (ONLY if it's organic/non-GMO or the blue kind).  Yep... I've been indulging a little too frequently in rice and corn.  Corn itself?  No, more like chips or crackers.  STOP!!  I also have a confession to make... it's easier to be "Gluten-free" than Paleo in this world.  I have slipped and purchased pre-packaged goodies that are "gluten-free", but definitely NOT Paleo/Primal.  Why?  'Cause they're so darn good.  STOP!!!

• No beans/legumes.  Well... this one is OK for me as I haven't had beans since having the gallbladder out.  If you've read this blog since it's inception, you know all about how painful eating legumes was for me back then (you can read my story here).  The inflammatory nature of legumes was really impressed upon me back then and I've not 'cheated' eating them at ALL.  (it REALLY was painful!!).  

• No Dairy.  Well... the reason I call myself Primal is that I do allow myself some dairy.  It's usually the raw, unpasteurized and organic kind (NO hormones, antibiotics, etc.), and more likely the harder cheeses.  I find that I cannot do any of those fake cheeses nor "cheese substitutes" like velveeta or American Cheese.  My intestines greatly revolt against fake stuff and the softer cheeses.  I can eat harder cheeses, as I mentioned as my system tolerates them.  I've also found that I can eat goat cheeses and some soft cheese as long as it's raw.  Needless to say, I do not drink milk anymore.  Now, if my uncle who owned the milk farm was still alive and I could get my hands on some raw milk, I might try it.  Ah well, rest in peace, Uncle George!!  Even so, I do not eat dairy often at all.  Not enough to consider it a "cheat" or sabotage to my weight loss.

• No added sugar.  Ugh.  Right here is my issue.  Right here.  I was, for a LONG time, staying away from white sugar... well, I still do, it's not in my house.  BUT, the added sugar in fruit juices (even 100% pure fruit juices
  
  are still VERY sweet) and candy are my biggest and most recent downfalls. I have been drinking Simply Lemonade (LOVE it) with raspberries and blueberries and strawberries.  It's so dang natural that I reasoned it away... a while back, I posted on fructose and how you'll need more and more to hit that rush... well, yeah.  I went from one small glass with tequila, triple sec and simply limeade to large 20 ounce cups with just the lemonade and fruit mixtures.  To get off of this, I pulled out the crystal light.  BIG mistake!!!  Made my body crave sugar even more.  Out came the peppermint patties, the Hawaiian macadamia nut chocolates, etc.  Bad, bad Debi.   

2.  Fitness!!! 

Up your fitness level, but not by overdoing the aerobic exercise!  Right now, I run 3 times a week (it's a "military have to"), but never go beyond 3 miles and mainly stick around 2 to 2.5.  Also, 6 days a week, I do tabata style exercise.  This is intense weight lifting, no weights and just body

weight exercises, and sprinting.  I only do this for 22 minutes with my Burst Fit workout videos (by Dr. Josh Axe, you can access his site by clicking on his name).  I'm not good at just exercising, so these videos give me a great 22 minute workout and I can make them as intense or as modified as I need.  Yes, some people have mentioned that perhaps my weight gain is due to starting the Burst Fit back in Feb 2014 (it does coincide with my weight gaining), but I reject that notion... based solely on what has been going between these two lips and into my body.  Yes, exercise makes a body hungrier.  Yes, I ate more.  We (Paleo types) tend to say calories don't matter, but if they're sugary, grainy calories, they DO.    

3.  Sleep.  

No problems here.  I even downloaded an app:  24/7 that records sleep (I found out I'm not a regular snorer!!  YAY!) and tells you if you're sleeping deeply or lightly by how much you move in your sleep (yes, you have to sleep with your iPhone in your bed).  So, 7 to 8 hours a night when working and 8 to 9 hours a night when not.  I'd say, I have this one in the bag!!  

So, there you have it.  I've been eating too many pre-packaged "Gluten-free" goodies that include grains (they almost all are made from rice flours) and sugars.  I've indulged WAY to much on candy in the past few weeks (daggone Hawaiian chocolates!!!) and eaten more calories, that contain these two bad boys (sugar and "gluten-free" grains).  Needless to say, today being a Monday, I'm back "on plan" and will, most likely, hit that silly carb wall in about 2-4 days. No sugar and no grains (corn and rice, mainly) for the next month or so to get these 15 lbs OFF!!!