Inspiration

One of my friends has been losing weight too. She was probably about as heavy as I was/am. And now she is amazingly small!

She is such an inspiration! So I asked her how she did it and she told me what I knew to be true - that she just trimmed down by eating smaller portions and exercising. She specifically said that she uses interval training on the treadmill and she only eats until she is no longer hungry, as opposed to eating until she is full.

It got me thinking about my own diet and exercise plans.

I still haven't broken it down for you all the things that I don't like about the JM.com meal plan, but the size of the meals is one of my problems with it. In general I don't need to eat that much food and being poor I can't afford to eat that much good quality food. It's just too damned expensive. For instance today I went to the store to buy myself some food... I purchased a bag of fresh spinach, a bag of frozen corn, and a 6 pack of eggs. I was not going to buy anything else because I haven't really got the money for anything else...but Knorr brand rice side dishes were on sale buy one get one...so I decided to buy them - even though I can't even pretend they are in any way healthy. I'm trying to cut down on my carbs, but they are filling and so damn cheap. I can't get filled up as efficiently on spinach.

If I am mindful I can make one package of that rice last for 3 or 4 meals easy and I might even be able to spread it farther if I am creative with my food.  It would be difficult to make the spinach last as long and the spinach cost nearly twice what i paid for both bags of rice mix. :/ Granted they were bogo. But that still means that 1 bag of rice for $1.60 = (lets be conservative) 3 meals. A cost of $0.54 per serving where as the bag of spinach cost $2.50 = (being generous) 4 meals. A cost of  $0.63 per serving.... I guess thats not that big of a difference. However I can eat just the rice and fee that not only have I filled my tummy, but that it was a tasty and satisfying way to do that. For the spinach to do that I need to add something tot he meal...a dressing and protein etc. That adds to the cost. It is very difficult for me to eat healthy when I am wondering if I will have enough money get to work (gas/tolls etc).

Sigh.

No one said it would be easy. And if I can work on shrinking my stomach it will make it cheaper to buy groceries, as I can stretch the foods I east.

Here's is today's damage:

Breakfast: Belvita biscuits and red bull

Lunch: 1/3 a Knorr rice bag with added - fresh spinach, frozen corn, frozen mango, diced red pepper, frozen peas, and 4 turkey meat balls

Dinner: Not yet eaten.

Exercise: 50 minutes on the elliptical and 15 min of stretches and random exercises (squats, push ups, chest press)

Weight: 197

Working on goals? 

Not really. I have skipped soda at work the last 2 days I worked. But I ate fried food so it kind of balances ( one step forward - one step back). I have not been logging my food here or anywhere.

(Roughly) 1 Month In

I started this weight loss journey again on January 15th 2014. Though it is only the 12th I suspect I will be too busy on Saturday to write so I will go ahead and check in today.

Hows it going?

Ok.

Food?

Cooking slightly more than I was before. The blog is most definitely helping in that respect. I want to show people new recipes...If I'm going to do that I'm going to have to cook new things. So yeah that's am improvement. I still have some serious road blocks. I want convenience foods to east especially at breakfast. And doubly so on the days I work which was only 3 days a week all of January but starting this week I will be getting 4 days of work each week...for the foreseeable future.

So what am I eating? I have reintroduced myself to oatmeal on my days off...which I do really love. I wish i could easily obtain coconut yogurt as I like Swiss Breakfast even more than oatmeal but I can't eat dairy. My sister found a pin about making your own yogurt...mayhaps I will look into trying that out with coconut milk, which I can get all day long. On my days I work I eat Belvita Breakfast Biscuits.  I like these, they are at least reasonable as far as nutrition and you really cant find argument with their convenience.  Occasionally I will eat a banana on the way to work, or on my days off for that matter.

Lunch is often whatever I can scavenge around work or the house. If i'm at work I'm normally eating a bowl of soup or some noodles with cream soup instead of sauce. Occasionally I will take the time or effort to make a wrap sandwich. Rarely will I eat fries, even though they are available all day - every day I am at work. If I'm home, I will likely eat some convenience protein - frozen meatballs, frozen chicken nuggets - and I will pair that with salsa or frozen vegetables (warmed up of course) and most of the time I will make a starch like a slice of frozen garlic bread or a bundle of noodles.

Unless I have cooked for the blog that day that is what dinner will look like on my days off too. On the days I work I often will eat a dollar menu item from a fast food location on my way home. But Since starting the diet I have not once stopped at Dunkin Donuts on my way home, so that's good right?! My financial situation (only working 3 days a week really bites into your wallet) has prevented me from getting take out except for 2 or 3 times all year. Again that's pretty good, right? I'd like to say I'm not tempted to eat the unhealthy take out Chinese food, but I check my bank balance nearly every day (at least mentally) to check and see if I can buy it.

Liquid calories...

So yeah...I drink Red Bull. But I only have 1 a day. This is not only due to financial concerns, but I am being a responsible person here. I feel like Red Bull is maybe not the best thing to drink. I really should drink more water. It would be easy for me to drink water at work...especially since soon they will be swapping the soda contract at work from Pepsi to Coke. As long as they don't get Mello Yello on the fountain at work I will have no problem switching to water. I can put the MiO back into my purse and I will swap to water...I'm promising myself to make that change this coming month. Also I want to get into drinking more tea. Research has said lots of great things about tea (yeah the link goes to Teavana but the sources cited on the link are to honest to goodness research). I don't care for the tannin taste but I could learn to like it.

Exercise?

Back in December - before I rededicated myself to losing weight - I went to the gym only a single time. I have been averaging 2 times a week this past month. Not bad...Not good... But not bad. I like seeing improvement. And i can see improvement in the coming month as well.

Blogging...

Massive improvement in the blogging front. It had been literally Years since I had written anything. and now I have 5 (counting this one) posts in the last month. I would like to blog at least a brief food journal check-in every day. And I would like to have more articles and more recipes. I want to really become active on this blog. That would be awesome.

Results So far...

Weight 199  from a starting weight of 206 So a total loss of 7 pounds in 4 weeks!

Inches...I only measured my waist anf hips when i started this...Though I feel like I should measure more things and track them here starting this month. But at any rate my Starting waist was 44.5 and is now 42.0 and my Hips were 49.5 and are now 49.0. So I have lost inches.

Dress Size...No change yet. But my size 16s which is what I was wearing at the start of this are getting pretty lose. Probably only a few pounds away from size 14.

Goals.

In the coming month (by March 15th) I will lose an additional 5 pounds, and be wearing a size 14. I will also be able to sustain 30 minutes on the Arc trainer. And I would like to break the 12 minute mile on the elliptical trainer. (I can't seem to get the photo to post facing the right side up...what ever. This is from Feb4 Just over 13 minutes for my mile on the elliptical trainer.)


Plan.

I will eat more protein at breakfast. I will try out and hopefully find an better alternative to the breakfast biscuits for my work morning breakfasts. I will go to work out 3 days every week. I will log my food every day at JM.com and I will also log them here every night.I will write no less than 1 article every week and 1 recipe every week.

Back in the game

Its been a while! I ended up taking a professional cooking job and that chewed up so much of my energy that I ended up taking a really long hiatus from blogging. But no matter.

 I'm back and ready to begin with renewed vigor!

 I'll start by saying that I gained all of the weight back. I was exactly 205 (same as my starting weight last time I did this) on New Years Day this year...which reminded me I needed to get back on track.

 My sister - the perennial dieter - had belonged to a diet plan that required the purchase of a Bodymedia Body Bug. She still had it but had since moved on to a different diet plan, so he gave it to me.

 I had been contemplating buying a Fitbit or another activity tracker but seeing as this was available right in my own house...I thought...why not give it a try. I checked out the website and was annoyed that there was a fee associated with using it...but there was also a special being run at that time with Bodymedia's partner Jillian Micheals (of Biggest Loser Fame). One free month. Sure I'll try anything for free!

I've been wearing and using the bodybug arm band now for 15 days. I have not yet tried everything that the Jillian Michaels website has to offer...but here are my opinions so far.

1.) I'm not sure I buy the ad copy from Bodymedia on how it keeps track of your calorie consumption or how it knows when you are sleeping. (I swear it is my own personal Santa Claus - It sees me when I'm sleeping, It knows when I'm awake. It knows if I've been bad). But by wearing this thing I'm made to be conscious...all the time...of my desire to lose weight. Like tying a string around your finger or wearing a rubber band to prevent you from doing something you don't want to do. This thing on my arm reminds me that I'm supposed to be trying to do better.

2.) Its not completely uncomfortable...but its not so comfortable that you forget you are wearing it. For the first week that I was wearing it the fat on my arm caused the band to fold in half in places. It was both unpleasant and embarrassing. Now I have lost a bit of weight or I have found a location on my bicep that doesn't cause it to create the fat roll quite as badly, so it is better. No my biggest complaint is that it has bare metal that must be in contact with my skin in order for the device to work (see point above abut scepticism on that score). This bare metal is irritating, it bothers my skin. Bare metal against my skin always bothers me, its why I don't wear a watch.

3.) Jillian Micheals website provides a very all inclusive program with both menus and exercise programs. I have some specific complaints about both the menus and the exercise programs but for now I will just say that they are not perfect but I suppose they might work for some people, just not me.

4.) It can't be all bad though...because I have lost 6 pounds in 15 days.

 Here's is today's damage:

 Breakfast: A package of Belvita breakfast biscuits and a Red Bull.

 Lunch: 1/2 Tijuana Flats mahi taco salad

 Dinner: Not yet eaten.

 Exercise? 32 min on the eliptical trainer and one complete rep of Jillian Micheals beginner (Ha!) Circuit training.

Weight:  200

One Year Later

Renewing my commitment.

I promise to cook. I promise to go to the gym. I promise to be aware of my drinking. I promise to avoid Ramen.

But like all New Year's Resolutions these will have no power if I don't do something else first...

I must schedule them.

My new iPod will be the best friend I can have for this purpose. If I schedule it I will have another layer of accountability. And the iPod has a calendar built into it. I will cook on Mondays and Saturdays. I will go to the gym on Saturdays, Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays. I will Blog on Thursdays and Sundays and/or Mondays.

Short term goal...

To lose 10 lbs by the end of February

Mid-length goal...

To lose an additional 10 lbs by June

Longer term goal...

To lose an additional 10 lbs by Labor Day

Obstacles...

My new lifestyle...I have recently begun going out to the club much more regularly and the drinking has therefore increased. Unlike last year I am not willing to forgo the alcohol for the weight loss. This means I will have to work doubly hard and be more aware of my alcohol intake.

The continuation of my former lifestyle...In that I am working 2 part time jobs and still broke. I need to remember to eat breakfast even though I am generally frazzled in the mornings, and more difficult...eat lunch after I have been cooking for 4 hours or so. Working with food really kills my appetite.

Original starting weight...207lbs (or so)

Current weight...186lbs

2009 weight goal...156lbs

Ultimate weight goal...125lbs

Today's log:

Food: No breakfast. Lunch was leftover Chinese food...Mai Fun (rice noodle dish) and some stir fried mixed vegetables with a Red Bull. Dinner was half of a ham and provolone sandwich with spinach a dill pickle and some mayo on a French roll. Post Dinner...an Effen Cherry Red Bull at the club and I am making some pasta right now for eating before I go to bed.

Exercise: Went to the gym and used the Elliptical trainer for 45 minutes went 3 miles! Did a little dancing at the club.

Where did I go wrong?

Comming up on my one year anniversary in just over a week. How did I do?


Well...I did great right up until April. I did pretty good for 4 month. What do I want??!? A cookie?!

I didn't completely fuck up though...I did lose some weight. I did make some lasting changes to my life.

I didn't stick to the plan though. I never realized how much losing my job would screw up my plans. I wasn't employed again until August - the end of August! Blame it on the economy.

But what happened then. I got a job...I should have jumped right back on the diet train but I didn't. WTF?

I don't know. I wish I did. I will however use the oldest excuse in the American Lexicon...I didn't have the time.

So...Where do I stand?

Weight: 187lbs (down from a starting weight of roughly 208lbs)
Average meals cooked in a week: 0 (yes, you read that right...I don't cook anything anymore. I suck...I know.
Average number of breakfasts eaten in a week: 3 (I know... seriously...Last year I would have rather faced a firing squad than miss breakfast and now I am a habitual skipper)
Average times I get to the gym in a week: 1 (I am being kind here. I get to the gym like 3 times a month and they generally are all in the same week)
Alcoholic drinks at home in a week: 0 (this much is still in effect. I will have on average 1 drink at home in a month but it is usually to try something someone else is drinking.)
Alcoholic drinks in a week out: 2 (in a normal week, the first weekend a month is Leather and Lace at the Inferno and then it is more like 5 or 7 drinks but that is only at the club)
Ramen consumption: 0 (with the exception of the couple times I was sick and then I only had a few and stopped eating them when I was better)

How can I do better?

I'm wondering how I could do worse.

Joking aside...I really do see now how much blogging made a difference. I was answerable to this media for my actions and inactions. If I want to keep losing weight I need to:
1.) Blog at least once a week. More often if I can make the time to do so.
2.) Freaking eat breakfast everyday.
3.) Cook at home (this one is hard because I cook for a living now...I know it sounds counter-intuitive but...remember the friends episode with the gynecologist..."Do you ever come home from work and not want to look at another dress?")
4.) Get my ass to the gym - I'm going to shoot for the standard 3 times a week
5.) Keep the drinking down to a decent level. (I feel where I'm at in a normal week is pretty good. Special occasions notwithstanding)


Today's food:
Breakfast....Lunch...(I slept late, as it was a Snow Day for work) A can of Campbells Chicken and Rice soup with Corn, crackers, and some sesame oil, and Bangkok Blend Spice.
Dinner: an embarrasing large portion of serve-yourself Chinese from Sentry, a small container of Italian Feta Pasta Salad from Sentry, A can of Red Bull, and half of a very dry, very large cupcake
Post Dinner: I have had most of (and I intend to finish) a 20 oz bottle of Mello Yello.

Exercise:
Just getting the bus to ERic's today was a work-out. The snow was deeper than my knees. I didn't go to the gym. My pedometer ran out of batteries today so... no numbers.

Breakfast of Champions?

Unless you live under a rock, you surely have caught some of the Olympics either in the news or even some of the “Live” coverage on tv. My favorite events are the triathlon and swimming. But even if I wasn't a fan of watching the swimming competitions I would have watched them this year. Micheal Phelps is an amazing athlete. He just might help encourage people to hit the pools in their areas (not me of course as I'm allergic to Chlorine alas). So in someways you could definitely say he is a role model but not in the realm of healthy eating. Several news agencies have gotten an interview from him describing his training diet.

Now... I suspect that in his off time (when he is only in the pool like 4 hours a day instead of the 12 or so hes in the pool when training) he doesn't eat like this (if he did he would weigh a 1000 pounds!). But here is a typical days worth of food for America's Midas Touch swimmer:

Breakfast: Three fried egg sandwiches; cheese; tomatoes; lettuce; fried onions; mayonnaise; three chocolate-chip pancakes; five-egg omelette; three sugar-coated slices of French toast; bowl of grits; two cups of coffee

Lunch: One pound of enriched pasta; two large ham and cheese sandwiches with mayonnaise on white bread; energy drinks

Dinner: One Pound of pasta, with carbonara sauce; large pizza; energy drinks

The caloric estimate tips the scales at over 10,000 calories!! More than 5 times what the average person should eat in a day!!!

Not to mention the cholesterol and saturated fat he is ingesting. Who ever his nutritionist is, I hope they know what they are doing. It would be a real shame for him to keel over of a heart attack from clogged arteries.

Don't eat like a champion if this is the champ you intend to emulate.

What is healthy...Exactly?

I’m doing this whole Blog thing because I heard it will help me lose weight. I want to lose weight. Ideally I want to lose the weight much the same way I gained it – unconsciously. Since that won’t happen, I want to lose the weight in as healthy a way as possible.

But what is healthy? I can think of a bunch of things that aren’t healthy weight loss plans – Anorexia, bulimia, eating only yellow foods, etc. But these are all extreme examples. (for some more extreme examples check out this Daily Mail Article)

American’s are health obsessed and some of the least healthy people on the planet. Is too much information as bad as too little when it comes to health knowledge? There are as many health myths out there in cyberspace as there are sites with good solid advice about health and it is nearly impossible to distinguish the difference. Even if all we are talking here is weight loss and not health in general (health in general being one of the main reasons I’m on this expedition to begin with).

I sit down at my computer to find out the best things I can do to help myself lose this weight. I wonder if: Eating late at night makes you fat? Low-fat foods help you lose weight? Pasta makes you fat? Drink 8 8oz glasses of water a day is really the way to go? I look at the RDI (Recommended Daily Intake) and wonder what on earth constitutes a serving?!

I am no health expert. My degree is in Psychology, not nutrition. So how am I supposed to figure all this out? For instance…When I started my new job on campus I found an article that laid the whole 8 glasses of water thing on the table. (I don’t still have the article or I would cite it…I’m looking for it again so I can tell you all where I got this) According to what I read the 64 fluid ounces of water came from the Surgeon General’s recommendations in 1969. The whole thing came from 1 study that ascertained that the average human body loses 64 ounces of liquid in digestion and respiration, and therefore that would be the amount of liquid that the body would need to replace to keep the body running smoothly. The Surgeon General then went on to state that this liquid was found in the food that we eat and that therefore much less was needed to be taken-in in the form of water and other beverages. So from what I read the 8-8oz glasses of water thing is a myth. But then my overly active brain goes into analysis mode…Did all this come from 1 study? Have these findings been replicated? Who were the study’s participants? Are they representative of me or even the average American today? (Let us not forget that the study that gave us the average age of puberty onset and the normal body temperature of people came from a study at an orphanage, where most of the children were underweight and had low grade infections.) Were these people active? What was the water content in the 1960s of the average diet in comparison to today? And on and on…

If I go over every aspect of my diet with as much mental energy as the water question I will be so mentally exhausted I will probably lose weight because I have no energy left to eat. And these questions don’t even begin to scratch the surface. To me healthy also includes social and environmental questions like: Is organic the healthier way to go not just for nutrients but for the world? Can I afford to be a locavore? Is it even possible to get enough meat to satisfy my protein needs without eating corn-fed animals? Is it possible to cut high-fructose corn syrup and trans fats out of my diet?

My brain hurts. Yours probably does too.

Month 2 Check In

Today is February 27, 2008 and that puts me 2 months into the lifestyle change. Hows it going?

Food:

I have not hardly cooked at all this month. Some of this lack can be blamed on my horrid flu that I had in the middle of the month, some of it can be blamed on my sparse bank account, some can be blamed on my being too busy/too lazy ( a combination that is truly winning!).

Exercise:

I’m still averaging 5 days a week, I might even say (when I’m not dying from the flu) that I got in 5.5 days a week on average. I am going to the gym for a longer amount of time than last month so I can say that I am improving in this aspect. I even went in to see a personal trainer last week and got some new weight training exercises to do!

Self-Denial:

I still haven’t had any alcohol or Ramen. And although I do miss having both as options I can say that I could go forever with out them if I needed to (thank goodness that is not likely to happen)

Weigh In:

I hopped on the scale that is at the gym (Supreme) in the women’s locker room this afternoon just before my work out. I have decided that this is the most reliable scale I have available. (Though I do appreciate the gift of the new scale from my dearling sister) According to this scale I weighed just under 195 today.

Verdict...I've lost another 3lbs. Total weight loss in 2 months….12lbs!

Reflection:

This was a tough month on me. I got sick which is never anything I bounce back from easily. It always takes me a little time to get back into my routine. I would have liked to see more weigh loss (especially if I am going to be able to have booze with my sister when I go visit at the end of next month), but I am still pleased to see some progress. And I can in fact say I do see a difference now. My clothes fit looser and my face is a bit slimmer (no more double chin!). I don’t have more energy yet. But I have seen a fairly dramatic drop in my appetite. This is both a boon and a bane: I eat less overall as I am less hungry and I nearly never want a snack between meals, but I have to force myself to eat breakfast as I have no appetite in the mornings anymore. Oh well, I still do what I can.

Plan:

I want to try and cook something next month as I will soon be out of frozen home-made dinners. This may be a bit of a challenge as I am flat broke and can not even afford Red Bull (though I keep buying it as the thought of giving it up too makes me want to cry). I need to go to the gym 6 days a week for at least an hour each time.

Today's food log:

Breakfast: A banana and a Red Bull

Lunch: A left-over Hawaiian Chicken Sandwich from Falbo’s

Dinner: Some hot wings from Sentry and a slice of Sentry pepperoni pizza with a Red Bull
Snack: A bunch (literally) of green grapes and some blueberries

Gym: Supreme from 3:30 to 5:30 Cardio on the elliptical and arm weights

Month 1 Check In

Well... I starting this Diet Blog on December 27, 2007 and today it is January 27, 2008. One month into the diet-exercise-life plan. Time to check up on my progress.

Food:

My cunning plan is turning out to be much more difficult than I had made it out to be. I am averaging one home cooked meal a week totaling on average 6 servings. I am supplementing the dearth of home cooked meals with packaged stuff of dubious nutritional value and by eating out far more than is recommended when you are supposed to be on a diet. In my defense I will say that I have been watching my serving sizes in general and feel that I am overall eating less than I was a month ago. I couldn't hazard a guess as to how many calories I was taking in in a given day but i'm still fairly sure it is in excess of what i ought to be taking in.

Exercise:

I'm not getting in every day. I am failing to go nearly every Sunday and Tuesday. But that still leaves the other 5 days of the week which I regularly manage to get to the gym on. So I would say I go 5 days a week and sometimes 6. I've been lengthening the time I work out until just yesterday I was on the elliptical trainer for a solid hour! I've been doing mostly aerobics on the elliptical trainer but I have started branching out into the weight machines for a little variety and because gaining muscle is a way to encourage weight loss. I now consistently get 2 miles or more in the first 30 minutes I'm on the machine. I do ache for spring and summer when I hope to do some exercising outside.

Self-Denial:

I have not had a drop of alcohol since New Year's Eve. I did have that one Ramen I noted on January 15 but I've not bought any more and I've not found anymore lurking in dark corners of my cupboards (other than that crab flavor one I bought in Aruba but that is more like a souvenir than food...I have no intention of learning what crab flavor ramen tastes like.).

Weigh In:

Scales are funny things. Since I've started this diet I have has the opportunity of weighing myself on 4 different scales. I have even had the chance to weigh myself on 3 in one day. They never agree on my weight. For this reason I have to say that my starting weight and my current weight have to be taken with a large grain of salt. I have no actual idea what I weigh except for alot. But according to the scale in the ladies changing room at Supreme Health and Fitness my "Starting" weight was 207. (I lied on my original journal entry but I've since edited it to reflect a more likely starting value) According to the same scale I weighed in at 198 on Thursday.

Verdict...I've lost 9lbs.

Reflection:

Obviously something is working. I've lost more than 2 pounds a week. I don't think I look any better. I might look a little different but not thinner per se . My clothes don't fit any different. I don't have any more energy.

Plan:

I want to keep at it. Something is working and I don't appear to be having any adverse reactions to anything (last year I tried a radical low calorie diet and began to get sores on my arms and legs - vitamin B deficiency). I'm going to endeavor to cook more and eat out less. I am going to keep going to the gym 5 to 7 days a week. I am still going to lay off the booze until I lose the first 20 pounds (I'm nearly half way there).

Point of Note:

I am no Saint. I did spend 2 days sitting on Eric's couch eating dough nuts and watching tv. I was PMSing and needed to be bad for a couple of days. I'm not proud of it but I'm also not going to beat myself up over it. I get PMS. When I do I need to comfort myself. If that means white cream filled bismarks and Rough Science for a couple of days I'm going to do what I need to in order to get better and on an even keel. The same should be said of yourselves. Everyone cheats eventually...some more than others, but everyone cheats. The important thing to remember is that one or two days is not the end of everything.


Today's food log:

Brunch: Parmesan chicken and risotto (no spinach as I used the rest of the leftovers in lasagna)
Dinner: Onion Rings and a chicken sandwich at BW3's
Snack: 1/2 a Clementine (shared with Eric)

No gym today