The Journey

(( J ))

Thanks eb, beth, CJ and RH! And, thanks, to everyone who has encouraged me through these changes.

Ive been eating a lot of yogurt the past few months as part of my dietary changes I instituted last summer. I generally buy 1 to 2 quarts per week. Santa brought me a yogurt maker for Christmas but I haven't had a chance to try it until today. The first batch is underway. I hope it's good!

I am incredibly challenged and encouraged by you. I can't wait to hear how the yogurt turns out. I need to jump on your bandwagon.

((JPB))

Homemade yogurt will spoil you for anything in those plastic containers.

I predict in six weeks you'll be prepared to try making yogurt without a yogurt maker.

Joe(That stuff is really, really good)Nation

((( mis ))) You'll get there in your own time in your own way. I'll be eating it for breakfast tomorrow. I'll let you know how it turns out.



Joe, this yogurt maker is little more than a temperature controlled incubator. I suppose I could use a crock pot instead. I used purchase live culture yogurt as the starter. Santa also brought some dehydrated starter. I'll experiment to see which one works best. I'll probably use some of this batch as the next starter. How do you make it without a yogurt maker?

Delicious! It's not as thick as the Greek yogurt I've been eating but I've been thinning that with a bit of milk anyway. Very tasty and great texture (I'm fussy about food textures). I flavored this morning's bowlful with some vanilla. YUMMY!

I hit another milestone this morning that was unexpected. I'm now down 40lbs!!! I was looking to lose 30, dreamed about 35 and, now, as I approach the half-way mark on Phase III (consolidation) I've lost another few pounds without really trying other than keeping on keeping on. I've been traveling a lot over the past month and was sure I'd struggle to maintain my losses while on the road. I gained a few lbs each road trip but they were gone within two days of returning home. I returned from New Orleans on Tuesday 1.5lbs higher than when I'd left the week before. This morning I'm down 3lbs from there. I feel great (except this stupid cold that I got over New Years) and my energy is good. I'm not looking to lose any more weight. Beginning next week I go into the 2nd half of consolidation and increase my starches and celebration meals. I have no idea if I'll maintain here or gain back a few lbs but it's all good either way.

Forty pounds! And the last few without trying!

I salute you. Your strength, determination, and stick-to-it-ness.

Glad you're continuing to report. And get rid of that steekin' cold.

I don't know how anybody can return from New Orleans with a gain of only one and a half pounds. The food there is spectacular.

Yogurt, I'll tell you later. Right now keep on what you're doing.

We used to make our own yogurt when we were hippies. (We made our own goat cheese (one of the yoga students paid us in goat milk) and tofu. Yes. I know (or knew) how to make tofu.

Yogurt is easier. It just takes a long time. Four hours plus time in the fridge plus time (two hours or so to drain off the whey) Phew. But, the yogurt you get is just the right tangy-ness.

One thing: good old Danon Plain makes a really fine starter, you don't have to buy anything special.

Joe(glad you are doing so well)Nation

I have missed so much of your journey JPB but congratulations!

I just now found this thread.
Much in it makes me feel good.
A honor to know JPB's and everyone else's awesomeness.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I don't think I'll ever buy yogurt again other than to use as a starter. I can't believe how good this stuff is.

We were on the 7-8" side of yesterday's snow storm. I got a little workout by shoveling the front steps/walk. That's enough for me -- I don't want to screw up my back again. I can't complain about this winter. This is only our second storm and I was out of town for the first one. It was all melted by the time I got back.

I've started forcing bulbs inside to give the house a more spring-like feel. I also put a bunch of potted herb plants in the kitchen. I was cutting fresh herbs from the garden until January. Unheard of! The grow lights are going to have to stay in the basement unless I buy a table/bench to put them on in the family room. Hmmmm...... maybe a project for tomorrow.

HOO-RAY ( as G-baby says)

wow. SO proud of you.

The yogurt sounds amazing. The only homemade yogurt I ever had I ate in Albania. It was plain and it was SO good. So much better than anything I have bought at the store since.

I want to force some bulbs as well. I have them - I just have been ignoring them.
Because I worked.

But I don't really have that excuse anymore. for now anyway.

I've gone through the first batch of yogurt and have just enough left to use as a starter for the second batch. I wondered why it was only recommended to use the base batch as a starter for the next batch once but a friend explained that the yogurt is probably easily contaminated with bugs that aren't the good yogurt bugs and it reduces the risk of ingesting the bad guys. Makes sense.

I've been feeling lazy since getting a cold over New Years. I was coughing and hacking and not exercising for a couple weeks and then I wasn't coughing and hacking but still not exercising. I was feeling cold, lazy and bored so I just signed up for a chip-timed 5K walk/run race in March. That gives me a couple months to train and a reason to get off my butt!

My last timed 5K was 45 or 46 something minutes (it's posted here somewhere). I'd like to improve on whatever it was and see if I can come close to finishing in less than 45 mins. Ready, set, GO!

Found it!


Ok... I'll take that goal. 45:30 by March.

Awesome.

I did my first timed 5k yesterday in just under 45 minutes. It was indoors on a short track (11.6 laps/mile; 36 laps = 5K). The March race will be a street course so I need to get an outdoor baseline. It feels like March outside today so maybe I'll take a break from end of month stuff this afternoon and see what I get. Still shooting for 45:30 in the chip-timed race.

January was pretty successful overall. I was traveling much of the first half of the month and I'm still losing an average of 1 lb/week. I'm about as low as I want to go so I'll jump into the 2nd half of consolidation this week. I had my bp taken yesterday - 105/68. I think I'm ready to schedule my cholesterol test and see if I can come off of the statin.

So long, January! February is blissfully short in comparison. I can tell that the days are getting longer. March is only 4 weeks away.

YAY FEBRUARY! YAY JPB!

Proud of you, woman!

I have my baseline - 49:20

It's wiiiiiiiindy out there. The only way we get into the mid-50s in January is with a strong south wind pushing in warm air. About 40% of my walk is facing south. I didn't feel nearly the benefit of the tail wind as I did the effort of walking against the head wind. Also, I must have been favoring my still-weak right leg yesterday because my left hamstring was really tight. I almost gave up at the half-way point because my left leg was hurting but I focused on form and pushed through. I was over dressed in spots, under dressed in others. What wasn't hot was cold. AND, I did back-to-back timed events on two consecutive days.

<whine, whine, whine....>

I accomplished my goal du jour - establish an outdoor baseline for 5K. It should be easy to improve on this one!