Migraines and deciding how much to lose

We did it – we got a Costco membership. I’m not sure if that’s good for my diet (like the big box of Scotch Oats) or bad (like the samosas and ravioli). That is why I didn’t write yesterday – we were out all evening shopping and I was beat. I had woken up at 4:30 a.m. that morning and started thinking about the presentation I was to do. I wasn’t nervous, just my mind felt the need to once more go over what I was going to say and how I was going to say it.

The scotch oats I started in the crock pot last night – an idea I got from Good Eats – along with diced apples, pecans and cinnamon. I ate it but the kids wouldn’t touch it. It does get brown at the edges and forms a skin on top. Just now, when I was searching for Alton Brown’s recipe I came across this one which uses the crock pot like a double boiler. Definitely have to try it.

My co-workers and I went out to Tony Roma’s for lunch as we celebrated the graduation of the student placed with us since September. I had Roasted Vegetable Tuscan Flatbread: Crisp flatbread loaded with cheeses, roasted grape tomatoes, artichoke hearts, red onion, zucchini, Feta cheese, fresh basil and a hint of balsamic reduction. I don’t find the Tony Roma’s menu to offer much that works for me. I’m still wondering if it was too heavy on the cheeses.

My middle and youngest were having friends over for a play date, so I KISS’d (Keep it simple, stupid) and just made spaghetti with tomato and vegetable sauce. They all chose to skip the sauce and just put cheese on. Too bad, because it was a great mushroom/onion/garlic/herb sauce. My eldest did try it but pushed aside the mushrooms.

For an evening snack I had fruit with Greek yogurt. Forget PC brand Greek Yogurt – it’s texture is very gritty. Liberty has a fat-free greek yogurt that’s really smooth.

I made the broken glass cake tonight. I altered the original recipe to include much less sugar and fat but I still think I could have reduced it more.

I did the core workout from the Yoga and Pilates video I bought about a month or two ago and then 15 minutes on the treadmill, 9 of those were jogging. My goal is to be able to jog for the entire half hour.

What I found helpful the last couple of days: Learning to work with my body to avoid migraines. As I was getting into exercise, I found the frequency of my migraines increasing, especially when I would try anything higher impact or that really stressed my neck, like Pilates. But I found if I gradually increased intensity, and did lighter exercises when my body was especially sensitive (e.g. just walking), over time my migraines have lessened in both frequency and intensity. Pilates seems to have been especially good as a lot of the exercises strengthen the neck. The DVD I’ve been using incorporates a lot of stretching, too.

What I continue to find challenging: Deciding how much weight to lose. Yeah, I have a goal, 4 pounds down from what I weighed this morning. But sometimes I feel that my lower body will still be carrying around too much fat at that weight. Then I wonder if my difficulty in losing that last bit is just my body’s sign that it’s pretty much where it needs to be and I should just stop here. Some people have told me I look great and they don’t think I need to lose more, the extra hip and thigh is just genetics, etc. Are they right? Are they just being nice?