The only way I've ever found success in weight loss is to control all aspects of my food. I can't eat out if I don't have the nutritional analysis of the restaurant to which we are headed. I measure out portions and put the rest of the food out of reach. Grocery lists are made from menus and food isn't bought unless it is on the list.
I keep thinking you must know this about me, but I'm not sure I ever wrote about it. So much time and energy is put into managing food. I hesitate to call the behavior obsessive because there is so much to actually do when you are closely monitoring your food intake. And doing it for a family could be a full-time job if your family, like mine, thrives on ever changing foods and experiences.
No wonder I was overwhelmed. Exhausted. Shattered.
I would go so far as to say I was shattered. I kept picking up the pieces I dropped, but I couldn't get them to come back together. Every time I tried something I thought I already had put back in place crumbled.
It turns out that I had to give up the image that I was trying to rebuild. When I stopped being able to make it work, it was because the image was hopelessly flawed. I was doing too much. Thankfully, I have an amazing husband who hesitantly, because he knows me, stepped in. He picked up the pieces I kept trying to fix and replaced them with something new.
Something I don't control.
This is a huge step. Not only am I giving up a traditionally female house hold role, but I am no longer able to strictly control my diet in the fashion I've become accustomed. How am I going to manage to lose weight if I don't know the specifics of everything I eat?
I'm not yet sure. We're 2 weeks in and I'm thoroughly enjoying my reduced task list. I haven't had the nerve to ask my husband if he is enjoying his new responsibilities. I'm not sure I want to know if he isn't. At least not yet.
So far my weight has not suffered. He's been planning meals with my dietary concerns in mind. We've had a few things I wouldn't have considered cooking. Combinations to use up our CSA vegetables which I hadn't considered before. It's been a healthy change. I've even managed to lose the couple of pounds I gained over vacation!
All-in-all, only time will tell how we work in this new arrangement. But right now I have high hopes. Maybe relinquishing some control will do wonders for relieving stress, another theme found in successful weight loss stories. Like mine, I hope.
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Saturday, November 3, 2012
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Workout 120725: Better Burn
Wednesday's workout:
10 min Treadmill - Hill level 4 - 3.0 mph
Repeat Set
5 min Treadmill Cooldown - 2.0 mph
Stretch
Today felt so good. I was worried about my knee starting out. It felt shaky from the moment I put weight on it this morning. Turns out? I didn't need to worry. I paid attention to my form in the squats and lunges, put a little padding under my knees when I did the push ups and stopped to stretch each time I felt a twinge. All went well and this workout left me sweaty, tired and satisfied.
Reverse Lunges turned out to be the surprise of the day for me. I've been working up to doing them without using my arms to steady myself. I was able to do the first set with no hand at all. The second set I got 5 in without my arms, but the last 5 I needed the extra support. I couldn't keep my balance on the Bosu without hands at the end. However, still huge progress. I'm happy, just surprised at how hard they really are.
On a food note, I had the worst snack attack I've had in a long time yesterday. I've been craving chicken wings lately. Versus going out and eating a plate of Buffalo wings at a restaurant, I decided to get 2 drummies from the hot bar at Whole Foods. I also wanted something crunchy, so I picked up a thing of their Spicy Pub Mix - rice crackers, sesame sticks, peanuts, wasabi peas. I looked for a smaller size, but ended up having to buy the big size. I know better.
I ate the wings on the way back to work. I felt really self-conscious driving down the road eating a wing. All I could think was that I looked like some fat chick chowing down on her way back to the office. No wonder I'm fat if I gobble up wings all the time. I know this isn't true, but it was where my brain went. I was judging about me based on my assumption of what others might be thinking and that is just no good. Who knows what they are thinking? Certainly not me. And really? I'm sure their thinking about my chicken wing habit. That train of thought is still bugging me.
Upon returning to my office, I measured out my serving of the Spicy Pub Mix and put the rest in my cabinet for some other time. From that point forward, I could not stop thinking about it. I never just pulled out the container and started eating, but only just barely. Finally after an hour of grabbing another tablespoon, eating it, not being satisfied, obsessing and repeating, I took the snack mix and put it out in the community area of my office. It was far enough away from me that I didn't have to think about it any more. No lasting damage, but my head was in a very bad place. Removing the food short circuited it thankfully. I just hate that I get that way over food. Or anything really...
Next time I have a craving for wings, I'm simply going to go to a restaurant and order the damn wings. I'll eat them with blue cheese and enjoy them. Then I can be done and not go through this ordeal again.
10 min Treadmill - Hill level 4 - 3.0 mph
10 Squats with 6 lbs3 min Arc Trainer
30 sec Plank
10 Bosu Reverse Lunges - each side
10 Modified Push-ups
15 sec Side Plank - each side
Repeat Set
5 min Treadmill Cooldown - 2.0 mph
Stretch
Today felt so good. I was worried about my knee starting out. It felt shaky from the moment I put weight on it this morning. Turns out? I didn't need to worry. I paid attention to my form in the squats and lunges, put a little padding under my knees when I did the push ups and stopped to stretch each time I felt a twinge. All went well and this workout left me sweaty, tired and satisfied.
Reverse Lunges turned out to be the surprise of the day for me. I've been working up to doing them without using my arms to steady myself. I was able to do the first set with no hand at all. The second set I got 5 in without my arms, but the last 5 I needed the extra support. I couldn't keep my balance on the Bosu without hands at the end. However, still huge progress. I'm happy, just surprised at how hard they really are.
On a food note, I had the worst snack attack I've had in a long time yesterday. I've been craving chicken wings lately. Versus going out and eating a plate of Buffalo wings at a restaurant, I decided to get 2 drummies from the hot bar at Whole Foods. I also wanted something crunchy, so I picked up a thing of their Spicy Pub Mix - rice crackers, sesame sticks, peanuts, wasabi peas. I looked for a smaller size, but ended up having to buy the big size. I know better.
I ate the wings on the way back to work. I felt really self-conscious driving down the road eating a wing. All I could think was that I looked like some fat chick chowing down on her way back to the office. No wonder I'm fat if I gobble up wings all the time. I know this isn't true, but it was where my brain went. I was judging about me based on my assumption of what others might be thinking and that is just no good. Who knows what they are thinking? Certainly not me. And really? I'm sure their thinking about my chicken wing habit. That train of thought is still bugging me.
Upon returning to my office, I measured out my serving of the Spicy Pub Mix and put the rest in my cabinet for some other time. From that point forward, I could not stop thinking about it. I never just pulled out the container and started eating, but only just barely. Finally after an hour of grabbing another tablespoon, eating it, not being satisfied, obsessing and repeating, I took the snack mix and put it out in the community area of my office. It was far enough away from me that I didn't have to think about it any more. No lasting damage, but my head was in a very bad place. Removing the food short circuited it thankfully. I just hate that I get that way over food. Or anything really...
Next time I have a craving for wings, I'm simply going to go to a restaurant and order the damn wings. I'll eat them with blue cheese and enjoy them. Then I can be done and not go through this ordeal again.
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Considering Goals
Update on the calorie front:
Evaluating the week using my criteria:
As for my shortcomings this week. Brie needs to come in 1 oz serving sizes. An ounce of Brie is more calories than I expected and it's very hard to stop at just one ounce. I might venture to say impossible when there are 6 more ounces just sitting there looking yummy. Also looking back on my daily logs, I know there was more Brie consumed during the weekend, but I see no record of it. Oh how disappointing! I bet I went over more on Sunday that I think I did. Shoot! Why does cheese have to be so good?!?!?
This past week I did keep my paper journal and I even wrote in it a few times (maybe I should have written more about cheese). I like having it with me. I particularly enjoy sitting with a pen and putting down thoughts slowly with no ability to take them back. I can cross them out, but they are still on the paper under all the extra ink. There's something so nice about that.
One thing I did write was what I aim to do in the coming week. This week my goals are:
| Monday, July 16 | 1594 | |
| Tuesday, July 17 | 1615 | |
| Wednesday, July 18 | 1626 | |
| Thursday, July 19 | 1595 | |
| Friday, July 20 | 1809 | Dinner out at my favorite Mexican Restaurant |
| Saturday, July 21 | 1877 | Beer and Brie |
| Sunday, July 22 | 2065 | Family Dinner Gathering (chips and dips) |
Evaluating the week using my criteria:
- Consistent Tracking: I tracked every day! My Fitness Pal is still amusing me.
- 1600 Daily Goal: 4 days out of 7 tracked were between 1400 and 1650.
- Weekly Average:1740
- Monthly Average: 1686
As for my shortcomings this week. Brie needs to come in 1 oz serving sizes. An ounce of Brie is more calories than I expected and it's very hard to stop at just one ounce. I might venture to say impossible when there are 6 more ounces just sitting there looking yummy. Also looking back on my daily logs, I know there was more Brie consumed during the weekend, but I see no record of it. Oh how disappointing! I bet I went over more on Sunday that I think I did. Shoot! Why does cheese have to be so good?!?!?
This past week I did keep my paper journal and I even wrote in it a few times (maybe I should have written more about cheese). I like having it with me. I particularly enjoy sitting with a pen and putting down thoughts slowly with no ability to take them back. I can cross them out, but they are still on the paper under all the extra ink. There's something so nice about that.
One thing I did write was what I aim to do in the coming week. This week my goals are:
- Monday Wednesday, Saturday workouts
- Eat 1/2 exercise calories
- Roll legs (IT band) each evening
- Blog in the evenings (versus in the morning)
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Crabs and Beer
I've felt good this past week. Exercise has been reestablished. I've recommitted to our weekly meal planning and am cooking at home more often. I actually have a plan in place to use all our CSA vegetables this week. The past two weeks I've had to toss more than I'd like. This week I'll have room in my crisper drawers when we pick up our share on tomorrow. Woohoo!
Evaluation:
I also adjusted my range around my daily goal. On my tracking post last week, Heather commented that going under isn't a bad thing. Thinking more about it I put the lower limit on my calories because I didn't want get in the practice of eating too little. However, that is not usually my problem. I tend of overeat. For my 1600 Daily Goal, I'm going to continue forward with the upper limit of 1650, but use a lower limit of 1400. I'm okay with this especially considering the two days above where I would normally have been outside of my range. I wasn't going hungry either of those days. It can be a good thing.
My biggest surprise this week is how my Weekly and Monthly averages dropped again. I am positive some of that has to do with not tracking two days, but I've not tracked before and had the averages stay high. I'm steadily trending down! That is a very good thing.
| Monday, July 2 | 1648 | |
| Tuesday, July 3 | 1588 | |
| Wednesday, July 4 | 1427 | I would have gone over on this day (or come a lot closer), but my lunch spoiled. After tasting it, I had no appetite. |
| Thursday, July 5 | 1764 | Pomegranate Martini! |
| Friday, July 6 | 1438 | super low-cal diner: Polenta and Swiss Chard |
| Saturday, July 7 | --- | Family Party (honestly - it was too hot to do more than snack but I did fit in a slice of rhubarb strawberry apple bread. Sooo good!) |
| Sunday, July 8 | --- | Recovering from Family Party (pizza and salad day) |
Evaluation:
- Consistent Tracking: Two days not tracked. My family's annual Fourth of July party is pretty much untrackable. That's not totally true, but I'm okay with not having tracked it. I did try to make good decisions (like a salad with very little dressing after 2 slices of pizza at lunch).
- 1600 Daily Goal: 4 days out of 5 tracked were between 1400 and 1650.
- Weekly Average: 1573
- Monthly Average: 1690
I also adjusted my range around my daily goal. On my tracking post last week, Heather commented that going under isn't a bad thing. Thinking more about it I put the lower limit on my calories because I didn't want get in the practice of eating too little. However, that is not usually my problem. I tend of overeat. For my 1600 Daily Goal, I'm going to continue forward with the upper limit of 1650, but use a lower limit of 1400. I'm okay with this especially considering the two days above where I would normally have been outside of my range. I wasn't going hungry either of those days. It can be a good thing.
My biggest surprise this week is how my Weekly and Monthly averages dropped again. I am positive some of that has to do with not tracking two days, but I've not tracked before and had the averages stay high. I'm steadily trending down! That is a very good thing.
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Keeping Track
With my ruminations last week, I did not post my normal stats. Here's a double header in order to catch up:
Evaluation:
Evaluation:
This past Sunday, I tracked all day, but I didn't put a number above. We went out to dinner and I made decent choices, but the restaurant didn't offer nutritional analysis of their foods. I could guess, but it would be just guessing (jalapeno poppers and a broiled crab cake - yum). And it would take a lot of time to figure out. I've decided that I'm going to save myself the time and allow one meal out that I cannot figure out each week. If I don't need that allowance? Great! But if we go out to a place and the information isn't available, I'm not going to stress over it and spend way too much time trying to figure it out.
My biggest disappointment was my meal at Cheeburger Cheeburger. Apparently they cook their portabella mushroom in solid lard because it contains more calories than there 1/4 pound burger. Not cool. I was so agitated about that one. Not to mention, I think they might have also made my kid sick to her stomach. Either way, they are definitely off the acceptable dining options list for a while.
| Monday, June 18 | 1647 | |
| Tuesday, June 19 | 1585 | |
| Wednesday, June 20 | 1802 | PT Day - So hungry! |
| Thursday, June 21 | 1628 | |
| Friday, June 22 | 2090 | Chinese Takeout including Sushi |
| Saturday, June 23 | --- | Shed Demolition Day - Food was pretty healthy, but there were a LOT of sweets |
| Sunday, June 24 | --- | Post Demolition - So tired! |
Evaluation:
- Consistent Tracking: Two days not tracked. We were doing a major project at the house. There were people everywhere and kids to be corralled and meals provided. It was a fun productive weekend, but I didn't even pick up my notebook to track food during the day. The good part is that I also kept the worst of the junk food out of the house, so i wasn't grazing on bad choices. Except for donuts. *sigh*
- 1600 Daily Goal: Three days of out of 5 tracked were within 50 calories of 1600.
- Weekly Average: 1750
- Monthly Average: 1796
| Monday, June 25 | 1389 | |
| Tuesday, June 26 | 1599 | |
| Wednesday, June 27 | 1630 | |
| Thursday, June 28 | 2157 | Final PT Day and the installation of SOD |
| Friday, June 29 | 1685 | |
| Saturday, June 30 | 1841 | Cheeburger |
| Sunday, July 1 | --- | More on this after the eval... |
Evaluation:
- Consistent Tracking: I'm giving myself a gold star for tracking this past week. I was feeling awful, but I kept writing everything down. I even tracked on Sunday - I just wasn't sure how to account for the foods eaten.
- 1600 Daily Goal: Two days of out of 6 tracked were within 50 calories of 1600.
- Weekly Average: 1717
- Monthly Average: 1760
This past Sunday, I tracked all day, but I didn't put a number above. We went out to dinner and I made decent choices, but the restaurant didn't offer nutritional analysis of their foods. I could guess, but it would be just guessing (jalapeno poppers and a broiled crab cake - yum). And it would take a lot of time to figure out. I've decided that I'm going to save myself the time and allow one meal out that I cannot figure out each week. If I don't need that allowance? Great! But if we go out to a place and the information isn't available, I'm not going to stress over it and spend way too much time trying to figure it out.
My biggest disappointment was my meal at Cheeburger Cheeburger. Apparently they cook their portabella mushroom in solid lard because it contains more calories than there 1/4 pound burger. Not cool. I was so agitated about that one. Not to mention, I think they might have also made my kid sick to her stomach. Either way, they are definitely off the acceptable dining options list for a while.
Monday, June 11, 2012
Plunder
I'm thinking of making my calorie counts a weekly addition for a while. I'm learning a lot by looking at them. Also, I like the solid number aspect of this. The running averages give me an idea of the direction I'm headed.
Without further adieu here's last week's totals:
And here's my current evaluation criteria:
The biggest shock this past week was the 3000+ calorie day. I ate reasonably all day. I dropped my kids off with their grandparents and headed to a grown-up birthday party (isn't it just great that I feel compelled to classify the type of party I'm attending). I went in with a plan. At the party, I consumed 1600 calories - my entire daily allotment. My problem was that I didn't treat the buffet as a meal. I snacked. As with the dip, I need to manage buffet style in servings. The drive-by snacking got me into trouble.
The difference between Saturday and Sunday was the wine I had on Saturday. I had4 glasses a bit. Otherwise my party consumption was the same about 1200 calories. I don't regret the wine by any stretch but what I find fascinating is that I ate 1200 calories simply because I was at a party and out of my controlled environment. This is definitely where solid coping mechanisms are needed.
Without those two party days my totals would have looked a lot different. However, I am proud of how I handled the meals surrounding the parties. On Saturday I went into the day with a plan and I executed it flawlessly up to party time. On Sunday I knew I'd overdone it, so we made a big green salad and put grilled tuna on top for dinner. I don't feel upset with myself over those numbers, just interested in what I can learn.
Of course, I do kind of wonder how many times I have to learn certain lessons before they stick. *sigh* I look forward to the day when I will report that I picked up a plate at a party, filled it with a little of the things I wanted and then stepped away from the table for the rest of the night. That will be an interesting day. :)
Without further adieu here's last week's totals:
| Monday, June 4 | 1587 | |
| Tuesday, June 5 | 1666 | |
| Wednesday, June 6 | 1627 | |
| Thursday, June 7 | 1734 | |
| Friday, June 8 | 1488 | Low calories, but I was satisfied all day |
| Saturday, June 9 | 3082 | Party with Grown-ups and no kids |
| Sunday, June 10 | 2007 | Party surrounded by lots of kids |
And here's my current evaluation criteria:
- Consistent Tracking: Woohoo! I counted on all days! I can say there was a bit of portion size estimation going on on Saturday and Sunday, but being at someone else's house I feel strange whipping out a measuring cup and notebook.
- 1600 Daily Goal: Only 2 days of out of 7 were within 50 calories of 1600. I'm starting to wonder if this metric does anything for me. Having the goal is good, but I seem to be a little all over the place. Maybe that is the reason to maintain it.
- Weekly Average: 13191 / 7 = 1884. That's higher than I'd like.
- Monthly Average: 36895 / 20 = 1845. This is lower than the weekly average. For the sake of comparison, this says that my intake last week was higher than usual.
The biggest shock this past week was the 3000+ calorie day. I ate reasonably all day. I dropped my kids off with their grandparents and headed to a grown-up birthday party (isn't it just great that I feel compelled to classify the type of party I'm attending). I went in with a plan. At the party, I consumed 1600 calories - my entire daily allotment. My problem was that I didn't treat the buffet as a meal. I snacked. As with the dip, I need to manage buffet style in servings. The drive-by snacking got me into trouble.
The difference between Saturday and Sunday was the wine I had on Saturday. I had
Without those two party days my totals would have looked a lot different. However, I am proud of how I handled the meals surrounding the parties. On Saturday I went into the day with a plan and I executed it flawlessly up to party time. On Sunday I knew I'd overdone it, so we made a big green salad and put grilled tuna on top for dinner. I don't feel upset with myself over those numbers, just interested in what I can learn.
Of course, I do kind of wonder how many times I have to learn certain lessons before they stick. *sigh* I look forward to the day when I will report that I picked up a plate at a party, filled it with a little of the things I wanted and then stepped away from the table for the rest of the night. That will be an interesting day. :)
Monday, June 4, 2012
The Calorie Edition
Today I did not make it to the gym. My heel on my left foot is hurting. I don't even have to stand on it for it to hurt. While my sneakers help, the pin is still there. I have PT this afternoon, so I'm officially resting it. I also broke my elevator streak this morning at work. *sigh* I'm not thrilled, but I'm trying not to beat myself. The minute the heel pain eases up I'll be back to my goal. Someone out there help me stick to that, okay?
What I can offer on this fine Monday is a bit more thought on my calorie counting.
Last calorie edition, I said that anything within 50 calories of 1600 was a successful day. That post claimed a 55% success rate. Above shows a success rate of 10%. I am not happy with that at all. Adding all the numbers above together and dividing by 9 (since I don't have a total for one of the days) I get an 1892 calorie average. That is 300 calories above my daily target.
That number does include two weekends which are higher. To get a more well-rounded number I'll take all the days tracked over a full weeks (23704) and divide by 13 days which gives me a 1824 calorie average. That's 224 over my goal, but better than 300. I'm not in love with that number, but I'm okay with it. Given that I'm trying now, I really wonder how many calories I was eating before.
In this process of trying to meet my big goal, I am learning a lot.
The tiredness could just be because I'm working hard to make ALL this happen. The combination of exercise, job, kids and diet would make anyone tired, right? So I'm holding steady again this week. Monthly weigh-in is Wednesday which will give me another statistic to add to the pile. I can't wait to see what spin it has to offer!
What I can offer on this fine Monday is a bit more thought on my calorie counting.
| Friday, May 25 | 1536 | |
| Saturday, May 26 | 2045 | Counted after the fact |
| Sunday, May 27 | 2656 | Counted after the fact |
| Monday, May 28 | 1829 | |
| Tuesday, May 29 | 1655 | |
| Wednesday, May 30 | 1604 | |
| Thursday, May 31 | 1759 | |
| Friday, June 1 | --- | Tracked food but ate at a place with no nutritional data |
| Saturday, June 2 | 1812 | |
| Sunday, June 3 | 2136 | Pizza is impossible |
Last calorie edition, I said that anything within 50 calories of 1600 was a successful day. That post claimed a 55% success rate. Above shows a success rate of 10%. I am not happy with that at all. Adding all the numbers above together and dividing by 9 (since I don't have a total for one of the days) I get an 1892 calorie average. That is 300 calories above my daily target.
That number does include two weekends which are higher. To get a more well-rounded number I'll take all the days tracked over a full weeks (23704) and divide by 13 days which gives me a 1824 calorie average. That's 224 over my goal, but better than 300. I'm not in love with that number, but I'm okay with it. Given that I'm trying now, I really wonder how many calories I was eating before.
In this process of trying to meet my big goal, I am learning a lot.
- Pizza. *sigh* When you are dieting, don't eat pizza. It really isn't worth it. I ate 575 calories just in pizza crust yesterday. It was wonderful, delicious and just what I wanted. However, I would have been satisfied by making pizza out of a whole wheat pita which has the added benefit of being potion controlled. Meals like that help me to understand how I've gained the weight I have in my life. What felt like a reasonable dinner totaled 937 calories. Not reasonable if it is anything less than an exception.
- Weekends are hard. Those are the times when I eat impulsively or intuitively. I did better this weekend than last, but I was still much higher than where I wanted to be. Keys to doing better include eating at restaurants which provide nutritional data and eating whole meals as a family. Eating on the run with no insight into what I'm grabbing is disastrous almost every time.
- Estimating calories in a dish is a needed skill. Friday I did well, but I had an excellent lunch which I had no idea how to count. The dishes were complex and prepared by a restaurant chef. I can make an educated guess on the ingredients, but I know restaurants are notorious for fattening up otherwise benign dishes. I need to figure out what to do on days when I eat foods which I have no idea how to calculate. Maybe a flat number? As a coping mechanism, my husband has agreed that we will only eat at one place a week where I can't figure out the calories with some accuracy. I'm okay with that solution for now, but I'd like to become better at estimating this.
The tiredness could just be because I'm working hard to make ALL this happen. The combination of exercise, job, kids and diet would make anyone tired, right? So I'm holding steady again this week. Monthly weigh-in is Wednesday which will give me another statistic to add to the pile. I can't wait to see what spin it has to offer!
Friday, May 25, 2012
Calorie Counting
For the past week and a half my goal has been Calorie Counting. Here's the data:
All in all I think I've done well. I'm considering any value within 50 calories of my 1600 calorie goal to be a success. That makes 6 out of 11 days successful. Not passing grades in school, but for my first 11 days of calorie counting I find it to be acceptable.
The first day I tracked, I also input the food into Weight Watchers. There my daily points allowance was 35 points. The food I consumed that Monday was 37 points. Comparing calories to points is like comparing apples to oranges, but I was glad to see that my 1600 calories loosely correlated to the number of points I was allowed in the WW program.
Not tracking is what I have the biggest problem with. I need to track every day. I had a rough day on Thursday and just gave up towards the end of the day. It's not good that I gave up but I am proud that I kept up my tracking. Friday I intended to track, but left my book in my car and then ate out lunch and had completely given up by dinner time. As I would tell my 3 year old, that is unacceptable.
Over the past 11 days I've felt pretty good. There haven't been any crash days like I experienced 2 weeks ago and my cravings have been manageable. I've used Spark People to support calorie lookups as well as general web sources. I even started asking Siri for calorie information. I dare say it's been fun getting this setup and figured out.
I'm going to hold steady and see what my June weigh-in says about my progress. Again this month... I'm hopeful!
| Monday, May 14 | 1622 | 37 WW Points |
| Tuesday, May 15 | 1875 | |
| Wednesday, May 16 | 1620 | |
| Thursday, May 17 | 2292 | Began the day well, but made worse choices as the day progressed. Bad Choices culminated in a 500 calorie ice cream cone. |
| Friday, May 18 | --- | No tracking today. |
| Saturday, May 19 | 1608 | |
| Sunday, May 20 | 1550 | |
| Monday, May 21 | 1746 | |
| Tuesday, May 22 | 1566 | |
| Wednesday, May 23 | 1755 | |
| Thursday, May 24 | 1605 |
All in all I think I've done well. I'm considering any value within 50 calories of my 1600 calorie goal to be a success. That makes 6 out of 11 days successful. Not passing grades in school, but for my first 11 days of calorie counting I find it to be acceptable.
The first day I tracked, I also input the food into Weight Watchers. There my daily points allowance was 35 points. The food I consumed that Monday was 37 points. Comparing calories to points is like comparing apples to oranges, but I was glad to see that my 1600 calories loosely correlated to the number of points I was allowed in the WW program.
Not tracking is what I have the biggest problem with. I need to track every day. I had a rough day on Thursday and just gave up towards the end of the day. It's not good that I gave up but I am proud that I kept up my tracking. Friday I intended to track, but left my book in my car and then ate out lunch and had completely given up by dinner time. As I would tell my 3 year old, that is unacceptable.
Over the past 11 days I've felt pretty good. There haven't been any crash days like I experienced 2 weeks ago and my cravings have been manageable. I've used Spark People to support calorie lookups as well as general web sources. I even started asking Siri for calorie information. I dare say it's been fun getting this setup and figured out.
I'm going to hold steady and see what my June weigh-in says about my progress. Again this month... I'm hopeful!
Thursday, May 24, 2012
I rock!
Today I ate out with my team. I ordered a broiled crab cake and sauteed vegetables. It tasted great and now I can still have my pasta for dinner. The fries were tempting, but I resisted! It took the drive from the restaurant to my office for the full feeling to set in. But now it's here and I'm so happy I didn't eat more. I must remember this lesson in the coming weeks.
1. Research the restaurant.
2. Make healthy substitutions.
3. Stick to your plan.
I know not every restaurant visit will go this way, but it is nice to have a plan of attack which is working.
1. Research the restaurant.
2. Make healthy substitutions.
3. Stick to your plan.
I know not every restaurant visit will go this way, but it is nice to have a plan of attack which is working.
Workout 120524: Cravings
Thursday's workout:
30 min Elliptical - Cross Training 1
5 min Treadmill Cooldown
Stretch
I woke up this morning with sore abdominal muscles. Go figure. :)
But I made myself go to the gym. And I didn't just "dial it in." Apparently when you moving out of the Interval and Weight Loss setting on the Elliptical, it tells you to Pedal Backwards as certain times in the training. WOW! That was hard! I was able to keep up my intensity through the whole workout, but I couldn't do the prolonged periods of backward pedaling the programs directed me to. Each pedal Backward chunk for me was about 2 minutes and then I would start going forward again. It was a very different movement.
As I left the gym, I started to review my day. The fourth Thursday of each month my team at work goes out to lunch. I needed to stop and get money. As I'm going out to lunch I have my breakfast muffin in my purse and would eat that when I got into the office. During all this intense planning, I developed a down right obsessive craving for a egg and cheese biscuit with a side of hash browns. I'm not sure which I was more obsessed with, but my mouth was watering and my stomach rumbling. For the rest of my 10 min drive it was all I could think about.
I hate to pay ATM fees, so I know all the places locally where I can get cash without paying extra for the 'convenience'. The first plan I developed had me driving past a Chick-Fil-A. They have great biscuits. No good. Then I started to wonder if you could get cash back at Panera. I eat their Mediterranean Egg White without Cheese at least once a week. Better but still not in my plan for the day. I'm planning on eating that breakfast tomorrow. Finally I settle on Giant. I walked straight to the Iced Tea case and picked out the one variety of tea that is truly unsweetened. Then I paid with my debt card and got cash back.
Whew. Mission Accomplished.
But really? Did it need to be that hard?
Most days I'm fine. Really I am. I don't have this internal strength to turn aside all cravings. I just don't get the cravings all the time. And, in general, I make room for foods that satisfy my cravings. Like the 5 tortilla chips dipped in queso from a few weeks back. However, eating 1000 calories for breakfast on a day when I'm going to go out to lunch is really a bad idea. There's no negotiating with a craving like that. I don't know where the craving came from but damn it was strong. It almost took away my happy over getting myself out of bed and to the gym.
Almost but not quite. I won this time. :)
Unsweetened Iced Tea in hand, I at my Savory Breakfast Muffin at my desk as planned. Who know what I'll order for lunch, but at least I know I started the day out right. Whew.
30 min Elliptical - Cross Training 1
5 min Treadmill Cooldown
Stretch
I woke up this morning with sore abdominal muscles. Go figure. :)
But I made myself go to the gym. And I didn't just "dial it in." Apparently when you moving out of the Interval and Weight Loss setting on the Elliptical, it tells you to Pedal Backwards as certain times in the training. WOW! That was hard! I was able to keep up my intensity through the whole workout, but I couldn't do the prolonged periods of backward pedaling the programs directed me to. Each pedal Backward chunk for me was about 2 minutes and then I would start going forward again. It was a very different movement.
As I left the gym, I started to review my day. The fourth Thursday of each month my team at work goes out to lunch. I needed to stop and get money. As I'm going out to lunch I have my breakfast muffin in my purse and would eat that when I got into the office. During all this intense planning, I developed a down right obsessive craving for a egg and cheese biscuit with a side of hash browns. I'm not sure which I was more obsessed with, but my mouth was watering and my stomach rumbling. For the rest of my 10 min drive it was all I could think about.
I hate to pay ATM fees, so I know all the places locally where I can get cash without paying extra for the 'convenience'. The first plan I developed had me driving past a Chick-Fil-A. They have great biscuits. No good. Then I started to wonder if you could get cash back at Panera. I eat their Mediterranean Egg White without Cheese at least once a week. Better but still not in my plan for the day. I'm planning on eating that breakfast tomorrow. Finally I settle on Giant. I walked straight to the Iced Tea case and picked out the one variety of tea that is truly unsweetened. Then I paid with my debt card and got cash back.
Whew. Mission Accomplished.
But really? Did it need to be that hard?
Most days I'm fine. Really I am. I don't have this internal strength to turn aside all cravings. I just don't get the cravings all the time. And, in general, I make room for foods that satisfy my cravings. Like the 5 tortilla chips dipped in queso from a few weeks back. However, eating 1000 calories for breakfast on a day when I'm going to go out to lunch is really a bad idea. There's no negotiating with a craving like that. I don't know where the craving came from but damn it was strong. It almost took away my happy over getting myself out of bed and to the gym.
Almost but not quite. I won this time. :)
Unsweetened Iced Tea in hand, I at my Savory Breakfast Muffin at my desk as planned. Who know what I'll order for lunch, but at least I know I started the day out right. Whew.
Monday, April 16, 2012
Workout 120416: Weekend Parties
Monday morning's workout:
35 min Treadmill Walk (3.0 - 3.3 mph for 26 minutes)
Hip Abductors (10 reps 2 sets)
Bridges (15 reps with 5 sec hold)
Stretch
The past two weekends have each included family gatherings surrounded by my all time nemesis - chips and dip. Either one by itself is ignorable. But combined? They are irresistible. Following the conquering of the queso calling on Friday I was hopeful about this weekend. I could avoid the allure of chips and dip. Even if they were in the same room at the same time. Really I can do it.
Nope.
I fell off the chips and dips bandwagon again. *sigh* However, I did attempt to track all the chips and dip consumed. It doesn't appear that I've gone negative on points for the week, but I need to workout a way to deal with this weakness.
First problem - portion control. One complete chip leveraged to scoop up one teaspoon of any style dip is not a deal breaker. But the chips must be counted and the full quantity of dip must be understood. The drive-by dipping can really add up. Especially when I'm thinking "Oh, it's just one..." I must retrain myself to get a plate, place a specific number of chips onto said plate and scoop up a predetermined amount of time. And once that plate is empty - STOP DIPPING!
Second problem - social hour. I think I can train myself to control my portions. However, it is the hovering around the limitless dip buffet while chatting that seems to cause the bigger problem. While standing there, 1 chip & dip combo can turn into 20 or 30 or more! At some point, even the best laid plans can be overwhelmed. At Cal Tort, there was a short window of opportunity to obtain the illicit substance. Once averted, I was safe. For future parties, I must get my plate of chips and dip to be savored and high tail it to the other side of the room. During this maneuver I test my outstanding social skills by luring those I'm conversing with away from evil as well.
So I have a plan for the future. It however doesn't fix the tummy ache I have today from over indulging. Oh, how I look forward to the days when I'll be better at all this.
35 min Treadmill Walk (3.0 - 3.3 mph for 26 minutes)
Hip Abductors (10 reps 2 sets)
Bridges (15 reps with 5 sec hold)
Stretch
The past two weekends have each included family gatherings surrounded by my all time nemesis - chips and dip. Either one by itself is ignorable. But combined? They are irresistible. Following the conquering of the queso calling on Friday I was hopeful about this weekend. I could avoid the allure of chips and dip. Even if they were in the same room at the same time. Really I can do it.
Nope.
I fell off the chips and dips bandwagon again. *sigh* However, I did attempt to track all the chips and dip consumed. It doesn't appear that I've gone negative on points for the week, but I need to workout a way to deal with this weakness.
First problem - portion control. One complete chip leveraged to scoop up one teaspoon of any style dip is not a deal breaker. But the chips must be counted and the full quantity of dip must be understood. The drive-by dipping can really add up. Especially when I'm thinking "Oh, it's just one..." I must retrain myself to get a plate, place a specific number of chips onto said plate and scoop up a predetermined amount of time. And once that plate is empty - STOP DIPPING!
Second problem - social hour. I think I can train myself to control my portions. However, it is the hovering around the limitless dip buffet while chatting that seems to cause the bigger problem. While standing there, 1 chip & dip combo can turn into 20 or 30 or more! At some point, even the best laid plans can be overwhelmed. At Cal Tort, there was a short window of opportunity to obtain the illicit substance. Once averted, I was safe. For future parties, I must get my plate of chips and dip to be savored and high tail it to the other side of the room. During this maneuver I test my outstanding social skills by luring those I'm conversing with away from evil as well.
So I have a plan for the future. It however doesn't fix the tummy ache I have today from over indulging. Oh, how I look forward to the days when I'll be better at all this.
Friday, April 13, 2012
Small Victories
I love Mexican food. I have a weakness for queso. One of my favorite lunch places, California Tortilla, has gotten more money out of me for queso than I would like to admit. Today I needed lunch and I heard the queso calling me. I almost didn't go to Cal Tort, simply because I wasn't sure I could go in there an not eat 500 extra calories in chips and queso.
But this mornings ruminations ran through my mind one more time. I researched their nutrition online. The Southwestern Chicken Salad is a ton of really good food. And it is still good if I leave off the cheese and/or tortilla strips. I had formulated a plan. I could handle the allure of queso.
And handle it I did! My salad without cheese was just perfect. Leaving the restaurant, I'm stuffed! Small victories. Maybe next time I'll even try leaving off the cheese and the tortilla strips. I felt that would be rushing things today.
But this mornings ruminations ran through my mind one more time. I researched their nutrition online. The Southwestern Chicken Salad is a ton of really good food. And it is still good if I leave off the cheese and/or tortilla strips. I had formulated a plan. I could handle the allure of queso.
And handle it I did! My salad without cheese was just perfect. Leaving the restaurant, I'm stuffed! Small victories. Maybe next time I'll even try leaving off the cheese and the tortilla strips. I felt that would be rushing things today.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Frustrating!
I find nothing more frustrating that going out to lunch, spending time contemplating the correct menu option, only to find out after the fact that you chose poorly! Grr. Today for lunch I ordered a Chicken Rollup with a side Greek Salad. I thought the salad was the decadent part of the meal being that it contained olives and Feta cheese. I was SO wrong.
My little tiny Chicken Rollup packed a whopping 22 grams of fat and 54 grams of carbs. That pretty much blows it out of the water for being a healthy choice. I can't say exactly why I'm surprised. On average anything wrapped in a tortilla and grilled is bad news. *sigh*
Live and Learn, right? I just despise learning by failing.
My little tiny Chicken Rollup packed a whopping 22 grams of fat and 54 grams of carbs. That pretty much blows it out of the water for being a healthy choice. I can't say exactly why I'm surprised. On average anything wrapped in a tortilla and grilled is bad news. *sigh*
Live and Learn, right? I just despise learning by failing.
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