80-10-10, Day 5 ~ Inch Loss Already!

I am so excited to be on my 5th day - this is the day where I copped out and ate some cooked food the last time I tried to go on 80-10-10, so if I can successfully make it through this day then I'll have passed my first goal of 5 complete days. My next goal is to pass my all-time record of 12 days 100% on 80-10-10. It should be interesting because a friend of mine just called to see if DH & I want to go out to dinner with them as a couple.....on Thursday the 6th. That will be day 13 for me and a true test to see if I can stick with it! Depending on where we go, and what choices they have, it should be OK especially if I eat something before we go so I'm not starving. When that happens, it's hard to resist the B-R-E-A-D!

Last Valentine's Day I went to www.portlandcitygrill.com (a fancy schmancy place) with DH & a couple of others - the plates were literally like, $18 for a salad & $50 for a steak. Everyone else got their slab of meat - chicken, steak, and I was determined not to break my diet. I'd just completed a 30-day master cleanse and had a good weight loss and didn't want to lose it - plus, I had literally JUST come off of it a couple of days before, and I didn't want to get sick from just plunging into eating cooked food, especially meat or bread. Anyway, I had this little paper all typed up informing the chef of what I eat, and could he make me something nice using these raw foods? OMG seriously, I had THE BEST salad ever there that the chef made me - it was just baby greens, mangos, strawberries, and avocados with a mango-macadamia nut dressing. WOW. I'm definitely going to try using that little paper again, depending on where we go.

So! This morning it just seemed like my stomach was definitely flatter, my "muffin top" over my belt just wasn't as big. In fact, not as noticeable at all. I tried on some things in my closet that have been in my "a tad bit too small" section for months - and one of the blouses I'd bought just a week ago that was too tight to wear in public, now fits! In fact, it's very comfortable now, to the point where if I lose any more inches it'll be downright too loose in my stomach! I decided what the heck, I'm really curious to see if I've really lost inches or if it's my imagination.

With just 4 days of 100% 80-10-10 under my belt, I have lost OVER AN INCH in my waist! I also measured under my tummy pooch, which is basically my underwear line, and I've lost 3/4 of an inch there too. I am so happy because I have literally NEVER been able to lose weight this significantly when I'm nursing. Not ever! I always have to stop nursing, carefully follow a diet of mostly chicken breast/light carbs/veggies and then lift weights/cardio every other day or nothing budges. This is easy-peasy compared to that! I haven't gone running since the two times I did it on Saturday/Sunday - but I do feel like that really jump-started me on 80-10-10, both physically AND physicologically.

I didn't measure any other parts of my body - but I'll be doing that once per week and will give inches lost so far. You know what the interesting thing is? I've been wanting to lose the last 9lbs to my pre-pregnancy weight, but the scale shows only a loss of 2lbs so far. Ha ha re-reading that sentence, I'm saying "only a loss of 2lbs in 4 days" - I guess that IS pretty good for 4 days! But mostly my point is that regardless of the scale showing little progress, my measurements say otherwise.

Okay, here's what I ate yesterday...some of it was in a smoothie, but basically it consisted of:

9 medium bananas
18 oranges (I juiced them, then saved the pulp for a smoothie later)
4 cups green leaf lettuce

Pretty simple yesterday!
Calories: 2117
Carbs/Protein/Fat Ratio: 89/7/4

I was asked where I get my produce. I've been going to a place called EZ Orchards which is a year-round Farmer's Market. They have the best prices on oranges around, so I get a 70-count box there for $16-$18 (depending on what the current price is) and that includes a 10% off bonus for buying the box. I usually get 2 boxes at a time, and that will last me about 6 days or so. They also have a box they usually put out on Mondays (because they're closed Sunday, so bananas get too ripe to sell during that time) with ripe bananas at 25 cents lb - they're perfectly good, just getting those dark spots on them. I buy big bags of them to freeze & put in smoothies later, or put them in my fridge which slows down the ripening process.

My local Roth's routinely has their bananas at 50 cents a lb, so I just started buying a box there at $18 for 40lbs including the 10% off discount (apparently most stores do this type of discount). It lasts me about 6 days as well. Then I noticed they also had a sale on oranges for 39 cents a pound - I asked for a box, and they said they were actually out, but would it be OK if they substituted for a box of the more expensive oranges, but still giving me the 39 cent price? Um, yeah!!! Those oranges, wow, they were soooooooo good!! I literally wake up in the morning and can't wait to have them for breakfast. That is why I've been having so many oranges. (grin)

Apples I get at the Farmer's Market because they grow them there in their orchards, and have a box of "seconds" for 25 cents a lb - perfectly good apples, just with a deformity here & there, or a light bruise. Mangos I also get there, since they usually have good ones for 79c each or so. I get my greens wherever they're the cheapest - like this week they're on sale for $1 each at Roth's. I would like to go organic someday especially with my greens, but for now, this is what fits best for our budget. Oh yes, and grapes are also on sale for $1 lb this week at Safeway - and actually, I noticed they're $.88 lb at Albertson's. Since I go to all three of these stores once per week (via http://www.thegrocerygame.com/) it works out to just grab what is the best deal at those places.

BabyWise has been working out fabulously so far!! I'm on my 3rd day of really trying it, and here's our schedule:

7:30 - wake baby up, feed him & he's up for usually 1 hour total to play & cuddle. He fusses and goes to sleep within minutes of laying him down. I repeat this exact schedule at these times:
10:30
1:30
4:30
7:30
10:30 - at this last feeding, I feed/burp/change him and then lay him back down in his bed. So far he has gone back to sleep pretty much right away.
3:30 - he's woken up at this time on his own, and I repeat the feed/burp/change him & put him back down to sleep with no play time. He goes to sleep right away again.
7:30 - wakes up again, repeat all over.

The hope is that I can soon stretch it to 3 1/2 hours between feedings, and then eventually he'll sleep through the night & skip that middle of the night feeding. According to BabyWise experts, my milk adjusts itself so he's actually eating more during the day (produces more) and less during the night. I'm a little leary of skipping that middle of the night feeding, and actually, I feel quite rested when I've been able to sleep from 11pm-3:30am, and 4am-7:30am...so I'm fine with him continuing to do that for a bit. I just LOVE being on a schedule, it feels so much more freeing to know what to do.

Of course, there are times when you have to be flexible like at church - but if I know in my mind that "now is his normal naptime" then I can put him in his stroller and close the top, hopefully he'll continue on into dreamland like normal.