Fighting the Urge

Today.

Well. What can I say except I DID IT!!

What? Well, I resisted the urge to use food to comfort me!

My boss called me into his office right around lunchtime and informed me that I would have a new supervisor.  This is the latest in a long string of undesirable changes, and it was really not something I was prepared to deal with.

So my first reaction was to head over to Zaxby’s and get myself a chicken finger plate or Wings ‘n’ Things, and fried mushrooms AND a diet coke.

But I wasn’t willing to allow stress to win – not this time, SUCKA!

So I went to the market and stayed in the produce section and bought some fruits and veggies.  And THEN I went to Zaxby’s.  And I got a grilled chicken salad. And I went back to my office and I ate it and it was GOOD and I had no reason to feel guilty afterwards!!

Breakfast: English muffin, egg, yogurt and peach. And water

Snack – protein bar,  water

Lunch – Zalad and Diet Coke (ok I broke down a little)

No afternoon snack

Dinner – roast beef sandwich, water.  NO CHIPS OR OTHER UNHEALTHY SIDES!

Snack – Cottage cheese, nectarine

I resisted the siren call of cookies. I am very impressed with me. And since I am feeling better, back to working out tomorrow!!

today…Pilates!

I just did Pilates for half an hour, and I am here to report that I was apparently born without core muscles!  Especially the back muscles, they seem practically non-existent!  I’m going to have to work really hard on this.  But I’m feeling good about the food I’m eating…I have never eaten this much fruit in my life!  And I’m staying with one diet soda per day at the most, like Cupcake.  I hate to think of all the years I drank many, many diet sodas, thinking “Zero calories!  Why not?”

News on Exercise

OK so you know how the mysterious “they” have been telling us for years that a half hour of moderate exercise three times a week was beneficial…could even help you lose weight. I always felt like that was wrong, that it was too easy, too good to be true!

Turns out, I was right. The news today was that in order to lose weight you have to BUST IT for an hour a day!  Check out this article on Healthhabits!

That makes more sense…and the minute I can breathe again I am back at it, because I think it works!

Day 5:

Usual breakfast plus hot tea with lemon

Snack:none. Felt too bad!

Lunch: 2 pcs thin crust veggie pizza

Snack: none! Slept through it.

Dinner: Bear Cristo sandwich, salad

Weight loss: 4.6 pounds

Day Four

So ummmm, I have this suck ass cold and I can’t breathe so I have not worked out since Sunday and I already miss it!

Today I had:

Breakfast: Egg, english muffin, yogurt (Planned to eat banana in car…never got to it)

Snack: Protein bar

Lunch: Pizza. And WATER!

Snack: NONE

Dinner: Chicken, salad, pita bread

I think I will have a snack tonight!

I haven’t had ANY diet coke today.  WATER!

After reading all the crap I have read about artificial sweeteners, I am making a very concerted effort to stay away from them!  Apparently your body has no idea WHAT to do with them, so it processes them like sugar and screws with your pancreas and insulin levels and hunger and weight.

So I am allowing myself 1 diet coke each day – no more than 20 oz. And only when I feel it’s absolutely necessary. Because sometimes it is!!

I was SOOOOO busy at work today – I think that is an excellent strategy – STAY BUSY!  It definitely keeps my mind off of food and all kinds of other issues that make me stressed.

So if someone asked me the most important things to do to lose weight:

1. Drink water

2. Sleep enough

3. No fast food.No fried food.

4. Limit sugar and sweeteners. Eat fruit to satisfy your sweet tooth – eventually your body WILL crave it!

5. PLAN AHEAD. Meals, snacks, days when you will be out of your routine. Lack of planning usually leads me to making an unhealthy, seemingly easy choice.

What are your best tips?

Some musings about protein

A healthy diet includes some protein at every meal.  “Eating a little high protein food at each meal helps reduce the appetite plus the body uses energy to convert protein to carbohydrates.” (from weightlossforall.com)  However…”Many foods that are relatively high in protein are also high in fat…try to limit your intake of protein sources that derive more than 30 percent of their calories from fat.”  (from new-fitness.com)  So what do those high-protein, low-fat foods include?  Cottage cheese, with 17% from fat…milk, with 5%…low-fat plain yogurt at 25%…light meat chicken at 26%…tuna at 12%.  Then there’s oatmeal, brown rice, spaghetti, whole wheat bread, lentils, lima beans, and kidney beans.  Nuts are high in fat, as are cheese, eggs, beef, and peanut butter.  Dang!  Why are the ones I like the best the ones with the most fat?…………Oh.  Yeah.

Well, Cupcake, this is definitely going to take some work.  Some getting accustomed to.  We’re going to have to become more EVOLVED, eating-wise! 

Candi’s Day One

Did pretty well…ignored yearnings for chocolate cake that is sitting on counter…ate vegetable quiche and salad for dinner…a handful of peanuts instead of Chex mix…LOTS of fruit…

But I haven’t exercised yet today – too “busy”!       And I gave in and ate microwave popcorn and had a diet soda, both of which I should start limiting.  But Cupcake is right!  You don’t START OUT being perfect…you have to work at it!  It’s a gradual process.

Day 3, Cupcake

So it’s Monday.  I did not make it to the gym at 5 AM.  I WILL work out tonight when we get home – that’s why I have all these work out DVDs, FitTV and Exercise TV On Demand, right?

Right!

So I had a little epiphany this morning when I was beating myself up for not being perfect.

“You’ve only been doing this for 2 days. How can you be failing already? You have eaten things you knew better than to eat, you chose not to go to the gym, blah blah blah!”

And I realized – in order for this to work long term, it has to be a lifestyle change and it has to be made up of NEW, LEARNED behaviors!!

Now, when your child is LEARNING something, are they perfect at the beginning, and slack of as time goes by? No!! You learn from mistakes as you go and each day you get stronger and smarter and better!!

So why, with “dieting,” do I expect myself to be perfect from the first moment??

No wonder I get frustrated with myself!  I’m expecting myself to do it all backwards!!

Breakfast: English Muffin, egg, light yogurt, peach

Snack: Protein Bar

Lunch: Lean Cuisine, Kale

Snack: Protein Bar

Dinner: Chicken Salad Salad, Pita

WATER WATER WATER!

Supplements: Calcium, Multi-Vitamin, Vitamin B Complex, Hoodia

And, 2.4 lbs lost over the weekend!!!

Eating for flavor, enjoyment and wellness

I was reading GI News (Glycemic Index, not G.I. Joe) and someone sent in a question:

‘I only have a week to get into tip-top shape before a big, glamorous event. What can I do to reduce bloating and fluid retention and look and feel great?’

And the answer, from Professor Jenni Brand-Miller, was interesting:

• Do two 30-minute walks every day for a week (a total of 60 minutes a day), including one first thing in the morning to set your body clock.
• Up your fruit and veggie (bar potatoes) intake. Eat nine serves of veggies and fruit everyday (at least six serves of veggies), and the more colourful the better.
• Eat for flavour, enjoyment and wellness, not weight loss.
• Cut back on salt and salty foods.
• Buy some magic underwear

What does that mean, “to set your body clock”? Does exercising in the morning make a difference? And NINE servings! Something to strive for.

But I have frequently asked myself that question when I have an event coming up and I want to feel and look my best for it. I think this is good advice!

Day Two

Healthy Breakfast: English muffin, 1/2 tsp margarine, poached egg, light yogurt, strawberries, giant cup of tea with lemon (antioxidants, also good for the sinus infection I think is brewing!)

Exercise: Walking a 5k cross country trail with my friend Jeff. Jeff used to be fat but, being gay, he knew he had to lose weight to catch himself a man!   Now he and his partner run marathons. He understands the struggles of losing weight and, since we have been friends for almost 10 years, he knows how much of a THING this is for me.  Update: we walked for an hour and 15 minutes!

Then, if it DOESN’T rain I will finish the freaking grass!

Lunch – london broil, salad, pita, water and lemon

Snack – depends on what I find at the grocery store, some sort of fruit and protein

Dinner – Meatloaf, green beans, mashed potatoes, kale

Also, I just turned OFF the Food Network. I love love love it BUT the chef said something about needing bacon on everything to make it taste good and I thought – I CANNOT lose weight and listen to this all the time!

And Candi – welcome to blogging! IT’S SO MUCH FUN! And I am such a nerd!

The Wrong Foods?

Cupcake is a few days ahead of me in starting our healthy adventure. This weekend I had a wedding to go to, and a lot of company (and food) in the house, so I resolved to start my new food and exercise plan on Monday. I’ve been doing a lot of research on the glycemic index and glycemic load, and paying attention to these concepts seems to be a good way to improve health and achieve LASTING weight loss. Objectives include:

• Eat fewer white foods – less white bread, pasta, potatoes
• Limit sugar intake
• Eat more whole grains, beans and nuts
• Keep portion sizes conservative

Lately I’ve been gaining weight without increasing how much food I eat, and I’m wondering if it’s because I’m eating the WRONG foods instead of TOO MUCH food!

I’m also going to go back to strength training. I’ve mostly been walking for exercise, and I think my body is used to it and finds it easy now, so it’s time to add something different.

Okay Cupcake, I’m ready to join you!