Happy Hour

The job keeps getting better. Or, I should say the perks. Today at 4:30 PM started the Halloween Happy Hour (really 2 hours if you wanted to stay until the 6:30 PM end time), complete with adult beverages, smoking cauldrons, homemade goodies to look like eyeballs, skeleton goblets, spooky music, mood lighting, spiders and bones decorations, and more. The spread was quite impressive! I so badly wanted to take pics but that would've been too weird, I think. Yes, even weirder than the decorations. I stopped by for a few minutes but passed up everything except a deviled eyeball, I mean, egg. I didn't think drinking and driving home in rush hour mixed too well. I could imagine me flying off the Crosstown (elevated highway) without much help. ;-)

I wore 100% RTW today. I am really getting my $18's worth out of this dress.The colors are just so me. I have at least 3 top layers that match it, so I hope I'm appearing to be wearing different outfits when I mix it up every week. Probably not fooling anyone, but it's nice to pretend.

I'm also getting really good at sucking in my stomach. Heh. I'm about to explode here. ;-) But at least it actually IS sucking in now. The actual weight loss isn't as dramatic lately (probably around 7 lbs. in the last few weeks), but things are definitely shifting because I'm fitting into smaller things in the stores, in patterns, and in my closet, and my measurements are smaller.

I've had a few comments asking what I'm doing to lose the weight. Well, one thing I'm NOT doing which I should be is to exercise. I need to move my eliptical (and probably myself, my TV and DVDs too) into the empty bedroom instead of waiting to move house, since at this point, who knows when that's happening and my preferred time to excercise would be early morning and alone, which I am NOT at the moment. We're still sharing the bedroom but with two dogs between us, it's hardly a marital bed. And *someone* is a late sleeper. Pffft. ;-)

But what I am doing is actively avoiding carbs, eating around 40-60g per day with nearly all of those coming from produce. I do not eat any processed foods, except 3-4 times a week, a whole-grain, high-fiber bread "round" with one meal. I don't eat potatoes, pasta, rice, sweets/sugars, or many fruits. I do eat lots of protein (fish, chicken, eggs, nuts, seeds, and some meats but they're harder for me to chew), reasonable amounts of fat and whole dairy, and lots of veggies and some berries. I don't count calories or measure anything. It's basically Atkins (not the induction phase), but I'm not following Atkins per se. I started eating this way out of necessity after my dental work, and the "side effects" were obvious so I researched low-carb eating both on the internet and in books from the library and came up with a routine and foods within that plan that work for me.

I bring a salad to work for lunch nearly every day but sometimes I bring a low-carb wrap filled with tuna or chicken salad, with guacamole on the side, and a sugar-free Jello or Atkins bar (OK, those are processed but not quite in the same group as what I call crap). I'm never hungry. The protein, fat, and fiber take care of that. I have hardly any interest in food except to fuel myself. It's not a comfort anymore. Looking in the mirror and wearing smaller clothes is my comfort. I've actually caught myself forgetting to eat. Which is a miracle compared to what I was doing a year ago, drowning my sorrows in sweets.

I don't miss anything about my former eating habits so I really don't think I'll be going back to it. I just feel too good with what I'm doing to change it. I only wish I had found this 15 years ago. When I was at my sister's (an RN) back in July, she took my blood pressure at my request. It was only slightly more elevated than super-fit-and-healthy Tyler's, and well within the normal/healthy range. I'm guessing it's even better now. High blood pressure runs in my family so to be "normal" is doubly great. At some point, I plan to have a complete blood panel done as well as a physical. It would've been nice to know my starting point, but I'll be happy with healthy numbers now and no comparison. And maybe I will actually acknowledge my next birthday. ;-)