Clothing Purge and Packing June 2017

I think this is the first time in my entire life I've been packed for a trip earlier than the day before.  It's Saturday, and we will leave our apartment at 3:30AM Monday morning.  On Thursday evening, I put all, and I mean ALL, of my clothes on the couch bed in the guest room.  I knew that with a baby it would take me more than one day, so I had asked Cameron to pull out the couch bed for me to have space to spread out my clothes.  A friend of mine came over and helped me do the initial sort: trash, give away, too small, maternity favorites, and keep. 

All of my clothes on the couch bed

We got through almost all of them in just a few hours, and I finished yesterday (Friday).

The clothes in the back are sorted, the clothes in the front left for the next day.

All the "keep" clothes

Bags of clothes to give away

"Maternity Favorites" and "Too Small"

Also on Friday, I went through the "keep" clothes again and made an inventory.  I wanted to see where I have "holes" in my wardrobe, so I will make wise choices about what clothes to buy when we're in the States.  Here is my inventory:

Jeans – 2

Jean shorts/capris – 0 (taking maternity shorts to US)

Tank tops – 15 (almost all size M, 4 are maternity)

Zip-up hoodie – 1 (black, want to replace with diff color)

Sweaters (regular) – 10

Work-out gear:

                Leggings – 3 (1 long, 2 capri)

                Shorts – 3 (2 are too small)

                T-shirts – 4

                Tank tops – 3

Sentimental t-shirts – 12

Solid t-shirts – 15 (almost all snug/not flattering)

Short-sleeved pattern/dressy – 1

¾ sleeved shirts – 1 (striped, snug/not flattering)

Long-sleeved shirts – 5 (1 striped, 1 w/ writing)

Thermal winter gear:

                Shirts – 2 (both white)

                Pants – 2 (1 white, 1 black)

Purses/bags:

                Large day bag – 1 (need to replace)

                Large hobo bag – 1 (reversible)

                Medium crossbody – 1 (can fit water bottle)

                Small crossbody – 1

                Small clutch – 1

                Small drawstring gym bag – 1

Hoodies – 2

Leggings – 5 (1 fleece, 1 house only, 2 are maternity)

Flowy pants – 2

Warm sweatpants – 3

Medium weight sweatpants – 3

Skirts – 4 (1 corduroy, 1 maxi, 2 knee-length, all snug)

Vests – 1 (teal flowy)

Dresses:

                Sleeveless – 2 (maxi)

                Short-sleeved – 6 (1 use as shirt, 3 wrap/snug, 1 fancy, 1 maxi maternity)

                ¾ or Long-sleeved – 3 (1 flowy, 2 clingy/snug, all knee-length)

Button-up shirts – 3 (2 flannel, 1 chambray)

Romanian “ia” shirt – 1

Thin open sweaters – 2

Warm open sweaters – 4 (2 are cropped)

Denim jacket – 1

Blazers – 2 (orange & navy)

Warm poncho – 1

Scarves – 17 (2 blanket, 2 thin)

Shoes:

                Tennis shoes – 2

                Casual flip-flops – 1 (brown Tevas)

                Comfy walking shoes – 2

                Dress sandals – 4 (wedges)

                Ankle boots – 2

                Dressy ballet flats – 1 (metallic)

                Tall boots – 3 (tan, black, and navy rain boots)

                “Hiking” tennis shoes – 1 (replace?)

Need/Want to buy:

Swimsuit – 2

Jeans shorts/capris – 2

Tank tops – replace collection w/ size L

Zip-up hoodie – 1 neutral but not black

Work-out gear:

                Shorts – 1 size XL

                T-shirts – 1 w/ inspiring quote

                Long-sleeve – 2 w/ inspiring quote

Solid t-shirts – replace collection w/ size L/more flattering

Purse – large brown leather day bag that can hold laptop

Leggings – navy, brown

Skirts – replace collection?  High-waisted?  A-line? Solids & patterns?  Denim?

Dresses – Short-sleeved & long-sleeved, A-line, wrap? Solids & patterns?  Denim?

Blazers – pink? Green? Patterned? Springy?

Warm-open sweater – anything but navy

Casual flip-flops – navy and/or tan Tevas?

Dress sandals – strappy tan neutral wedges

Tall boots – dark brown

“Hiking” tennis shoes/boots

A lot of my clothes I have had for a very very long time, some longer than 10 years.  I'm looking primarily to replace my tank tops, solid t-shirts, and dresses.  Most of them are not only too small - they accentuate my waist.  Before I got married, I used to do 100 crunches every night, but since I stopped and my belly got stretched from pregnancy, I really don't want to accentuate my waist these days.  I'm looking for a more relaxed fit.  But by "replace", I don't mean that I plan to necessarily buy the same number that I had before.  I used to want to have everything in every color, but now I'm narrowing my color scheme down, so I'm looking primarily for brown, navy, white, teal, burnt orange, pink, and green. 

 
Today (Saturday) I went through the clothes again to pack for our trip.  I went pile by pile, setting aside the clothes I want to pack and putting the rest back in my closet.

Folded clothes that I'm not packing

Hanging clothes that I'm not packing

My suitcase

Sugar Detox - Days 15-18

It's been a few days since I've written about the sugar detox, because we never did make a menu for the week, and not much has changed.  As I said in my last post, we ate the same thing on Day 15 as Day 14, because we had leftovers.  But we did eat our 1 oz of dark chocolate, and it was AMAZING!  I ate mine with some coffee while working on our finances, and it was a great pick-me-up.

Fruit & yogurt parfait

Wednesday morning (Day 16), we were out of eggs.  :(  Cameron had been wanting to try a fruit & yogurt parfait, so we decided to try it for breakfast.  I have always HATED yogurt, but recently I've noticed that I can't tell a difference if it is savory, like as a substitute for sour cream in tacos.  We had gotten the berries on Tuesday with our grocery order, and they were really good - way better than the frozen ones.  I had tried to order plain granola, but it turns out it was actually a cereal with some other seeds and things in it, but it didn't have any sugar, so we decided to use it for the parfait.  It was pretty much what I expected - disgusting - but I managed to eat it all without gagging.  We didn't have any other diet-friendly food I could eat for breakfast, and I didn't want to go to the store.  It felt to me like I just ruined perfectly good berries.  Plus, I used up my 2nd serving of dairy for the day at breakfast, so I couldn't have any cheese for lunch or dinner.  Also, as I suspected, I got hungry earlier than I do when I have eggs.  We ended up ordering making taco salad for lunch, which wasn't as good w/o the yogurt, but it helped that we had avocados.  I've come to really like our taco salads, and I never thought I could like a taco salad w/o tortilla or tortilla chips.  We do put corn in it, though, which is really good.  We just ordered Subway salads for dinner.  I ate my chocolate in the afternoon again while I was working on the finances.

Thursday (Day 17) we had our usual eggs and tomato for breakfast.  We had the same lunch and dinner as Wednesday - taco salad for lunch and Subway salad for dinner.  Since the taco salad was ok w/o cheese, I saved my cheese for dinner.  I had half my chocolate in the afternoon and half after dinner for dessert.

Friday (Day 18) again back to our usual breakfast.  For lunch, I decided to try to make quinoa and add it to our salad.  We cooked the chicken on our new George Foreman grill, and it is so much more tender and juicy than cooking it in a pan.  It was the regular Italian salad plus quinoa.  I found it to be incredibly filling.  We both liked the quinoa, and we talked about maybe trying to use it to make Chinese stir-fry dishes in the future.  For dinner, we are planning to make a hash like we did on Monday, but with sweet potatoes.  Since I won't need/want cheese for dinner, I had it with lunch.


Tomorrow (Day 19), we will eat the same thing as today.  Then Sunday (Day 20) will be our packing day, since we leave for the US early early Monday morning.  So, we are planning to have McDonald's salads for lunch and Subway salads for dinner.  Easy with no cooking and no cleanup, but still within our diet.

When we go to the US, we will be starting week 4, in which we can add 2 starches per day, such as bread and rice.  It doesn't mention it, but I would consider white potatoes to be a starch just like bread/rice, so I think we will also consider potatoes as an option.  It will be really helpful to be able to eat a sandwich or potatoes while we are traveling.  We are not going to stress over keeping our diet while we are in the US.  We will probably indulge a little in some of our favorite foods that we miss, but overall we are shooting to keep the principles of the diet.


I'm a bit frustrated that I haven't lost any weight, but I do feel better, and I really believe I have lost my addiction to sugar.  I haven't experienced any "crashes" where I feel lightheaded and need to eat, which used to happen daily.  Cameron has been eating exactly the same things as me, and he's lost 4 kg (8.8 lbs).  I did lose one inch on my belly and hips since I measured myself mid-May, so that's encouraging.  And I finished the C25K running program yesterday, which feels good.  I have a lot more energy and feel better overall.  I just wish that my clothes fit and that I didn't still look pregnant.  My waist at the bellybutton is 2 inches bigger than my chest.  :(  I'm hoping to find some more flattering tops and maybe dresses when we're in the US and buy a pair of jean shorts/capris to wear this summer.  I don't want to buy too much, because I'm going to keep trying to lose weight, but I also don't want to feel frustrated every time I open my closet, because nothing looks good.  When we return in August, I'm planning to look into personal training to start some weight training to hopefully help increase my metabolism.  This isn't easy, and so far I haven't seen the results on the scale that I was expecting, but I'm going to keep trying.

June 29, 2017

April 11, 2017

Baby Sara's Summer Clothes 2017

Because we're going to the States soon, I wanted to take an inventory of Sara's clothes.  I counted and categorized all her size 9 month clothes.

Sara's 9 month clothes categorized on the desk (there are a few more in the dirty laundry)

Sara's dresses and rompers (in between Cameron's jacket and her old winter coats)

Swimsuit – 2               

Short-sleeved onesies

            Color/pattern –2

White – 4  

Short-sleeved shirts – 6

Sweaters – 2 (+1 pink size 6 months)

Dresses/rompers – 12

Leggings – 4

Jeans – 0

Shorts – 2

Skirts – 1

Sleepers

                Short-sleeved – 1

                Long-sleeved w/ feet – 1 (wear in US w/ AC)

Socks – 10

Needs:

Color/pattern short-sleeved onesies – 4

Leggings – 4

Denim shorts – 1 

Lately, she's been wearing short-sleeved onesies and leggings around the house, because she needs something that covers her knees when she scoots around.  I'm bringing the sweaters to the States, because it will be hot outside but cold inside.  They don't use AC as much here, so she's not used to it. I originally put that she needs more color/pattern short-sleeved onesies and leggings to make 10 of each, but my mom already bought her 4 onesies and 2 leggings.  

She's ready to go!  :)

Sugar Detox - Days 13-14

Yesterday we had McDonald's salad for lunch and leftover taco salad for dinner.  That taco salad is AMAZING.  The addition of corn really helps make up for not having a tortilla/tortilla chips, and the yogurt is great.  The homemade taco seasoning is fine - I don't notice much of a difference.  And I am still loving the ground turkey.

I had a great idea about making a sweet potato/egg/etc. hash for breakfast this morning to change things up, but we didn't have any sweet potatoes.  We ended up putting ham in the eggs instead of spinach, which was a nice change. 

Last night, we sat down to make a menu for next week, but it was just too hard.  On week 3, you add grains such as barley, quinoa, and oatmeal, more fruit such as grapes and clementines, and 1 oz of dark chocolate per day.  For some reason I had it in my mind that we would be able to add an additional serving of dairy per day, but that is not in there.  :(  Our biggest problem with menu planning, is that we don't normally eat barley, quinoa, or oatmeal.  In order to incorporate them into our diet, we would have to look up and try new recipes, which is so much work.  And so often the recipes include things we can't eat yet, like other fruits.  Also, I wanted to make sure the store that I order my groceries from had those things before putting in all the work to find and choose recipes.  I was able to find them, plus a semi-prepared quinoa and vegetable dish to try.  As I was ordering groceries, it was getting later and later and Cameron kept falling asleep, so we ended up not making a menu for next week yet.  We did, however choose what to eat for today.  Because I hadn't ordered groceries or even gotten our new staples from the store near us, our choices were pretty limited.  We were too tired to go grocery shopping and didn't want to go today either, because it is our Sabbath day.  So we had to scrounge around to figure out what to eat.  We didn't have lettuce, avocado, steak, or sweet potatoes.  We ended up deciding to order delivery Subway salads for lunch, and I took my breakfast hash idea for dinner.  I made ground turkey w/ sausage seasoning, egg, carrots, corn, and spinach.  It was actually pretty good.  We also had berries for dessert, which are growing on me, but the frozen one we bought are pretty tart.  I ordered some fresh berries, which will come tomorrow.

We decided to keep things simple by just eating the same thing tomorrow (Day 15) as we did today, even though it starts a new week.  Although, I did buy a dark chocolate bar, so I will definitely add that tomorrow.  I bought it today on my way from from my run in the park, and I wanted it so bad while I was waiting for our salads to come, but I just drank more water.  (I had cashews, coffee, and an apple before my run.)  My run today was the worst I've had.  It was just so stinkin' hot.  And my calves were aching the whole time.  I did week 8 day 1 today, but I'm planning to just skip to week 8 day 3 and do it early Thursday morning.  It's supposed to be over 100 F starting Thursday, and someone told us they measure the temperature north of the city in the forest.  So it's way way hotter here in the concrete jungle.  Thank goodness the park I run in has a lot of trees and shade.  I'm waiting until Thursday, because I want to give myself and extra day of rest for my calf muscles.  We're leaving on vacation next Monday, so that's why I'm skipping week 8 day 2 - I'm just really stressed with packing, etc.

So maybe we'll make a menu for the week, or maybe we'll just wing it.  I looked up some recipes this evening and saved them.  It's just really annoying, because I feel like I've done this already.  When we first moved here, I looked at recipes, tried them out, saved the good ones, altered them to my liking, etc. - I even made my own recipe book.  Then with minimalism, I narrowed my menu down to our 5 favorite meals and just a couple of places to eat out.  It was so great.  And now, I feel like I'm starting all over from the beginning.  It's a lot of work, and it's really annoying.  But maybe, if we put in the work now, we will eventually get to that great minimalist menu again with our new diet.

Sugar Detox - Days 10-12

Adding new meat has been a major help with boredom.  It is still a bit annoying that it takes longer to prepare our meals, but we're getting used to it.  I'm finding that my appetite is starting to shrink, as I think I'm eating for hunger instead of for sugar cravings.

On Thursday (Day 10), I ate my first sweet potato since starting the detox.  It was INCREDIBLE.  It tasted like candy.  Before the detox, I would've put butter & salt on it, but it was great with just salt.  Also, I decided to "bake" it in the microwave instead of making fries in the over, because, not only was it faster and easier, it was also incredibly hot in our non-air-conditioned kitchen.  We ended up having green beans (with salt & garlic but no butter) as our other side, just for something different, and they tasted really good to me, too.  I actually only ate half of my chicken, because I just didn't want anymore chicken.  I used a homemade ranch seasoning on the chicken.  I expected to get hungry quickly, but I was ok.  It also felt really good to have an easier prep meal.

Thursday evening I got a salad from Subway with ham.  I took it "to go" as I went to visit a friend.  I ended up getting on the wrong metro train and then having a hard time finding the Uber that I requested (poorly placed pin).  It took me 1 1/2 hours total travel time to get to my friend's apartment.  Before the detox, I would've been panicked because I didn't have any snacks with me AND I didn't have any cash to buy a snack.  But I was surprisingly ok waiting until I got there to eat dinner.  The ham was SO GOOD.  I used to always double my meat, but I took a gamble and just got the regular serving.  Also, it helps that Subway has avocado.  I was expecting to need a snack of cashews to compliment the salad, but I found that the salad was enough food.  I did eat a few cashews & almonds when I got home from visiting a friend, but the salad filled me much longer than it used to.

Friday (Day 11) I met a friend for lunch at Subway.  In case you're wondering, I ate Subway about this frequently before the sugar detox, too.  But I also used to get a hamburger meal frequently at McDonald's, and the McDonald's salad doesn't have avocado.  Anyway, the worker forgot to ask me if I wanted cheese.  I decided not to make a big deal about it and just ask for parmesan.  It ended up not really being enough food.  I was still hungry after eating.  I had a bag of cashews in my purse with like 5 cashews left in it.  I was a bit panicked, because I had a doctor's appointment and not enough time to buy a snack.  I was hungry, but not weak/lightheaded like I used to feel if I didn't eat enough.  I was actually ok to wait all the way until I got home from the doctor without feeling like I was going to pass out.  This affirms my theory that it was a blood sugar spike and crash that was my problem.  If my blood sugar doesn't spike, it also doesn't crash.  This is really relieving to not be constantly worried if I have a snack with me at all times.  I can actually make it without one.

For dinner on Friday, we made the same sweet potato and green beans, but changed to a steak.  This time I was able to give Cameron a good medium-rare like he likes, so I didn't overcook it.  Unfortunately, the steak was still tough.  It had a really good flavor, but it was hard to chew.  I don't know if we are going to try to keep buying steak, since both times it has been tough.  I really don't feel like searching other grocery stores to try to find good steak.  I'm sure it's possible, but I don't know if it's worth it for us right now.  Also, the fruit tea was really good, even without sugar.

Today (Day 12), I ran at 12:30PM.  It was really really hot.  I ate some cashews and drank coffee and water before my run.  I felt like adding an apple would be too much, but I stuck it in my fanny pack just in case I felt like I needed it.  During and even after my run, I still didn't feel like I needed the apple.  Just water was enough.  When we got home, Cameron asked if I would like to have just an avocado & tomato salad for lunch.  I really didn't think that would be enough food, but it was really hot, and I figured I could always get a snack later if I got hungry.  About an hour later, I ate a small amount of cashews and one slice of ham, but that is still a smaller portion for lunch than I would've served myself before the detox.

By far the greatest part of having meat other than chicken is GROUND TURKEY.  We used to get it all the time, but the grocery store we use for delivery doesn't have it.  They also don't have shredded cheddar cheese, so Cameron went to the other big store to get several of both to keep in our freezer.  We had been just ordering the ground beef/pork mix, which is pretty fatty, then we would drain the grease as best as we could.  It was incredible cooking the ground turkey today to see that there was basically no grease.  Then it was incredible again the texture of eating ground meat instead of grilled.  I chose yogurt instead of cheese (I could only have one serving of dairy since I used my other serving to put milk in my coffee), and it was SO GOOD.  Also, last time we had taco salad, we didn't have any corn, so that also made it really good. 

So my main takeaways from the past few days are: loving new meats (deli ham and ground turkey), and realizing that I don't need as much food as I used to eat.

Sugar Detox - Days 8-9

I am so sick of eating chicken salads.  I feel like we just eat the same thing over and over again.  Maybe it's because for two days in a row we've eaten it for lunch and dinner.  The different spices were not enough.  It's annoying to have to grill the chicken and cut all the vegetables day in and day out.  And yesterday when I went to the small store near us, they had only two avocados, so we have to have half each in our salad, which was annoying. 

I was reading the article again, and I can't find where she made a big deal about it being lean meat.  Maybe I'm just tired and I'm overlooking it, but I think we are going to branch out into other meats, regardless.  We have some unopened deli ham in the fridge that says it has no sugar.  We used to buy ground turkey at a different store, so Cameron may go get some in the next few days.

This is the chicken taco salad I ate for lunch yesterday.  The homemade taco seasoning was pretty good, but it would've been so much better (different from our usual salad) with ground meat.  Also, I really missed sour cream.  I normally would have cheese and sour cream on my taco, but I only had one dairy for this meal, so I chose the cheddar cheese.  I bought some plain yogurt last night, so I will try it instead of the cheese whenever we eat the leftover taco chicken. 

This is a picture from my dinner out last night.  I ordered grilled chicken breast and a salad with lettuce, tomato, and cucumber.  It was functional with the diet, but so so boring.  The only redeeming value is that the tomatoes were really good.  I put oil, vinegar, and salt on the salad, and I even tried putting oil and salt on the chicken to add flavor.  It was very unsatisfying.  However, for "dessert" I had cranberry and mint tea, which was surprisingly good with no added sugar or honey.  After I got home, I ate some mixed nuts I picked up at the store, because dinner had no healthy fats.

Today for lunch we had the same Italian chicken salad.  However, it was really hot today, and we both ran in the park.  Cameron was mentioning that it was annoying that he couldn't drink Gatorade, so I had the idea to put apple slices in the salad, which was good and I think helped us recuperate from the heat.

The original plan was to have the taco salad for dinner, but it didn't happen.  I was running late for Bible study, so I got a salad from Subway.  It is really good to feel like I can order what I need to eat from Subway.  I got grilled chicken and they have avocado, so that was good.  Instead of sauce, I asked for oil, salt, and oregano.  It was pretty much exactly what we've been eating at home.  Maybe in the future, we can order Subway salads for delivery when we are in a hurry/tired/just don't feel like cooking.  We've been feeling really frustrated at not having any easy options, so it's nice to feel like we finally have one.  Cameron had asked me to pick him up a Subway salad on my way home, but it started raining really hard all the sudden, so I took a taxi and he ate an egg & cheese omelette.

So at this point, we're just feeling bored.  We may revisit our menu for the week to add some different meats.  But I am super excited about eating sweet potatoes tomorrow!

Sugar Detox - Day 7

One week down, three to go.

I was thinking that some people might find it boring that we eat the same thing for breakfast every day, but we've always eaten the same thing for breakfast every day.  Now it's just a slightly different thing.  We used to eat scrambled eggs with bacon bits and bread with cream cheese (me)/peanut butter (Cameron).  Now we eat scrambled eggs with spinach and tomato slices.  Although we did sometimes eat pancakes on Mondays, so maybe we can try to figure out how to mix it up a little once a week with our new diet.  It's very comforting to know our routine, though.  Usually around 6AM, Sara starts moving around in bed and says, "Hey" with a big smile on her face.  We get up and I feed her while Cameron showers.  Then we all head into the kitchen and Sara and I "help" Cameron fix breakfast, i.e. we sit in a chair while he does everything.  Sara has gone from loving to touch the crinkly bread bag to loving to touch the crinkly frozen spinach bag, so not much has changed in her world.

Today Cameron told me it looked like I was running faster than usual.  I ate my apple right before my run, and I think I'm going to make that a habit.  It was good to get a little boost before my run.  I might skip it on the days I don't run, though.  We'll see.

For lunch we had leftover soup from yesterday, but I forgot to take a picture of it again, so no picture.

For dinner we had STEAK!!!  Unfortunately, it wasn't as good as it could've been, because I overcooked it with our new George Foreman grill.  It's been a long time since I've used one, and I forgot how fast they are.  But it was still really nice to have something other than chicken.  Maybe one of these days I'll get up the courage/make the time to ask a butcher to make me some lean ground beef, but who knows when that will happen.

We made our menu for week 2!  On week 2 we can add berries, another serving of dairy (making 2 servings per day), and starchy vegetables, such as sweet potatoes, squash, and corn.  The first few days we will have to make due with what we have, since I didn't order groceries yet, but we tried to make it work.  We probably could've been a little more creative, but we are also working with some meals where we will be out of the house.

Here's the menu:
Tues. June 20
Breakfast: (same)
Lunch: Taco salad w/ chicken, lettuce, tomato, avocado, corn, black beans, homemade taco seasoning
Dinner: Cam: our normal lunch salad w/ buffalo sauce instead of Italian, Jess: out

Wed. June 21
Breakfast: (same)
Lunch: Cam: Buffalo salad, Jess: Italian salad
Dinner: Leftover taco salad, berries for dessert, fruit tea to drink

Thurs. June 22
Breakfast: (same)
Lunch: Grilled chicken, sweet potato fries (baked), avocado & tomato salad
Dinner: Cam: Buffalo salad, Jess: McDonald's salad + avocado at a friend's

Fri. June 23
Breakfast: (same)
Snack: carrot sticks and hummus
Lunch: Cam: Buffalo salad, Jess: Italian salad
Dinner: (same as lunch from Thurs.), berries for dessert, fruit tea to drink

Sat. June 24
Breakfast: (same)
Snack: carrot sticks and hummus
Lunch: salad w/ Chinese spices - ginger, sesame oil, soy sauce
Dinner: Steak, baked sweet potato, avocado & tomato salad, berries for dessert, fruit tea to drink

Sun. June 25
Breakfast: (same)
Lunch: McDonald's salad + avocado
Dinner: (same as Sat.)

Mon. June 26 (same as Sat.)