Archive for February, 2008
February 24th, 2008 by Cynthia
Seems like the last few days flew by, with little chance to post! Not helped by a lengthy ISP outage last night, thanks to a cut cable up in Kennewick.
Anyway, all is going well... I had killer water aerobics on Wednesday, but then found my feet bothering me quite a bit afterwards. Hubby and I went to see The Spiderwick Chronicles... which was just OK, I enjoyed it, as I like going to the movies, but didn't feel it was a great movie in any respect. I've never read the books, they might be better.
However, I was pretty stiff and sore getting out of that theater seat! My good intentions of fixing us dinner had totally evaporated. We decided to go out and eat instead.
So, we drove up the hill to Shari's. They were offering wild caught salmon with rice pilaf on the menu. I didn't really want the pilaf, because I DID very much want a bowl of butternut squash soup and I figured having both would be loading the carbs too heavy.
So I asked the waitress if they could OMIT the rice and double the veggies (broccoli/cauliflower). She said sure! I probably should not have had the soup, since it was a starchy carb and too long after my workout, but I decided it could be a 10% meal for the week. I ate the four saltine crackers that came with the soup as well. And my dinner roll. I'm a bit of a bread addict, sigh. But otherwise, not too bad for a 10% meal!
Oh, and hubby ordered a salad, but asked if he could have a garlic shrimp skewer, as they had it listed next to a different dinner that you could order extras. I'm afraid I followed his lead and also had a shrimp skewer. So extra protein in that meal! Good muscle food though!
I still count it a victory, I made a change for the positive with my order.
February 22nd, 2008 by Cynthia
One of the tough challenges when you are trying to eat healthy is the grocery store. I went shopping last night and survived another outing without bringing home something I regretted. Here's seven strategies for shopping survival:
1. Never go shopping when hungry!
Do what you can to have eaten something BEFORE you hit the store. If you are out running errands, try to bring a healthy snack with you so that you can eat that before getting the groceries. Nothing can make temptation worse than being hungry does!
2. Remind yourself of your goals before going in.
It's easier to go through without caving to temptation if you fix your health and fitness goals strongly in your mind before entering the junk food arena. Prepare yourself for battle!
3. Know what you need to buy and bring a list!
Carry that list with you, go in, get what's on the list, checkout. Do not wander around gazing at temptation, it just makes it harder. Get the good whole foods you came for, checkout and leave.
4. Shop the perimeter.
You've heard it before, but yeah, usually the fresh produce, the milk, the dairy, the meat/fish/fowl is on the perimeter. Unfortunately, this is not as safe a plan as it once was. There are more than a few non-ideal items on the perimeter of my local stores. Things like sesame seed snacks nestled in with the veggies, pre-packaged mac n' cheese next to the meats, all kinds of sugary yogurt treats and snacks in the dairy section, etc... not to mention the assorted junk on the end aisles you must pass by!
There are good foods in the interior of the store as well, things like steel cut oats, extra virgin olive oil, spices, whole grains. The trick is getting in to get what you want without falling for the less ideal distracting foods surrounding you. Remember your goals and stick to that shopping list!
5. If tempted, read labels.
You know, sometimes, no matter how well fed you are, or how prepared, you'll be tempted. Maybe you just put in a killer workout and you feel like you deserve a treat. Maybe you just notice something that you haven't eaten in a long time and suddenly you have a craving for it.
OK, pick that "food" item up, and before you put it down in your cart, READ the entire nutrition facts and ingredients label. Take careful note of calories, serving size and how many servings are in the package. Then read the ingredients. Is it full of ingredients that make it sound like chemical soup? Is there high fructose corn syrup? Trans fats? If so, do you really want to put it in your body? Will bringing this item home put you further from your goals?
At least half the time, this works to discourage me and I put the item back.
6. When all else fails, limit the damage.
If you just can't talk yourself out of buying junk food, try to keep the damage as small as possible. Don't buy a huge bag of chips, buy a single serving size. Same for cookies. No packs of candy, limit it to one bar. They even have single serving ice cream items these days! You'll get the taste you wanted, with fewer calories. And there won't be leftovers to take you down later. Your waistline and hips will thank you.
7. Find your inner "happy" place
This one sounds a little weird, but if you can tap into this feeling, the impulse shopping feelings don't happen. There's a place I sometimes hit where I just feel like I have reached my goals and actually AM lean, healthy and fit and therefore enjoying shopping like a lean, fit person.
Shop happy, shop healthy!
February 21st, 2008 by Cynthia
Yeah, everyone wants to know what other folks are doing and eating.
It's like the grass is always greener on the other side. Or maybe it's just plain old curiosity. Truth is, different plans can work for different people, and whatever you do needs to make sense to YOU in terms of a lifestyle change. This makes sense to me... this is good sound nutrition, but if it doesn't feel right for you, then you need to find what does!
My eating habits are NOT my own creation... they are courtesy of John Berardi, author of the Precision Nutrition system.
10 habits
- Eat every 2-3 hours.
- Eat complete lean protein with each meal.
- Eat vegetables with each meal.
- If fat loss is your goal, eat veggies and fruits with any meal, starchy carbs only after exercise.
- Eat healthy fats daily.
- Drink only non-calorie containing beverages, preferably water and green tea.
- Eat whole foods instead of supplements whenever possible.
- Plan ahead and prepare meals/feedings in advance.
- Eat as wide a variety of good whole foods as possible.
- Plan to break the rules 10% of the time.
Pretty simple, eh? Easy to remember! No food groups are excluded, nothing freaky or faddish! Following these habits, I eat fewer refined or processed foods which is not a bad thing.
When you see me talk about compliance, that's simply whether my meals have followed the above habits or not. If they have, I'm good to go... otherwise, a meal that does not follow the habits is counted as a 10% meal. If I'm eating 5 meals a day, 7 days a week, then I can have three 10% meals. If I'm eating 6 meals a day, then I could have as many as four 10% meals. The catch is... a skipped meal also counts as a 10% meal! That provides plenty of incentive to keep me on top of habit #1!
Now, there's another habit that must be mentioned...
EXERCISE
Ideally, a minimum of 5 hours a week that includes resistance training and cardio. I'm not quite at that mark, but hope to slowly increase again, especially when my plantar fasciitis is better. Currently, I get 3 hours a week from water aerobics, which combines both resistance and cardio and 1 hour from doing my Nordic Track skiier (cardio) on alternate days.
February 20th, 2008 by Cynthia
Keeping up with a blog is a little tougher than I imagined, but then again, if I got into every last little food and workout detail here, it would probably be quite a bore. And if not boring for you, then boring for me, since this stuff also goes into my software.
Truth? I must put my weight loss effort ahead of the blog! The blog is meant to help motivate, which it IS doing, but not hinder by means of me parking myself at the computer typing too long! Perhaps I'll get faster at writing my posts in the future!
Monday's workout & eats
I did my usual noon water aerobics on Monday, another rip-roaring effort. Some days you just feel stronger! I swam a quarter mile after class, though that was a bit hard to get through and a very slow time of 24 minutes. I just don't have much in the way of arm or leg strength left by the time class is done! And it may have been pushing too much, as I barely moved the rest of the day, sigh! Talk about sore!
As for food... 5 meals, all compliant and a post workout drink consisting of water and 1.5 servings of Designer Whey protein powder. The eating could have been a little better, more veggies, a bit less fruit, but I ended at 2200 calories, which is about right for a hard workout day.
Tuesday's workout
Today's workout came later in the day than normal, I kept getting put off, since my legs were sore, but when push came to shove, I decided it was best to emulate a Nike commercial and "Just do it." before I had to 'fess up here that I hadn't. Certainly an area where the blog helps keep me accountable!
Nordic Track... 22 minutes and 1.7 miles. Which is a faster clip than normal, so I was very pleased with that! Average heart rate 136, max heart rate 151. My heart rate was in the aerobic zone for 18 minutes... and a bit higher for 3 minutes. I did do a couple short sprints, but no more, remembering what a disaster more was for my feet last time. I did feel a bit of numbness in my right foot, but no pain. So I think this range of 20-22 minutes is about right for now.
It's funny how you just feel better having done the exercise! I may not have been keen to get on with it, but I felt great after I had!
Food all A-OK... though I wasn't very hungry this morning, so that meal was more of a quick snack. Apple, PB, cottage cheese and celery. Not traditional, but it worked, I had lean protein, healthy fat, fruit and veggie.
Dinner was simple in the extreme, but very tasty! I literally chopped up veggies (broccoli and red pepper) during a TV commercial. During another commercial, I rubbed the chicken breasts with spices, and during a third commercial, mixed up a sesame oil/rice vinegar dressing to drizzle on the steamed veggies. The chicken hit the contact grill as soon as "Biggest Loser" was over and dinner was served about 5 minutes after that.
As for "Biggest Loser"... the contestants all went home for a week to cope with normal temptations. Most of them did quite well! The weigh-in was good for most of the contestants, they each and every one of them continued with their weight loss and the blue team put up surprising numbers! A good reminder for me to just stick with it!
February 18th, 2008 by Cynthia
Another Monday... and a new and lower weight!
Last week's 228.8 was trounced by this week's 227.4.
A loss of 1.4 pounds, which I will gratefully take! I'm afraid that I did NOT meet my compliance goal of 90%, primarily thanks to the Valentine's Day chocolate bonanza. I took four 10% meals... and that was two too many. But that's past and done and I'm moving onward. Other than the chocolate, I really didn't eat anything untoward. Likewise for water drinking... I failed to get my gallon of water in the last few days and that needs to be a focus again, as I can see my hydration level dropping on the Tanita.
Here's my promised meal compliance score card:
The last of the fresh eggs has been enjoyed and the grocery store had my normal reduced fat Alpine Lace swiss cheese again, so no more goat cheese indulgence after today. Though I admit, the goat cheese was REALLY GOOD in omelets! But it doesn't have quite as much protein and a bit more fat and costs considerably more when not on sale, so that will have to stay an occasional treat here. Still, those omelets almost transported me to the French countryside. Helped along by a small serving of red grapes.
Time for my quick smoothie and then water exercise!
February 17th, 2008 by Cynthia
A rest from everything actually, except housework and errands!
I didn't log. I did eat, but did not keep track. It was more a kind of nibble here and there day. The only unhealthy items consumed were my Lindt chocolate bar and a can of Progresso soup. So I can't say the eating was bad, but it wasn't my best. I didn't eat veggies with my last two meals, had fruit instead. I probably ate around a maintenance calorie level at best guess. Possibly less. The scale is not up this morning, for which I am grateful after eating canned soup! The good (or perhaps bad) news is that there is no more chocolate in the house!
Didn't exercise either, but did get some critical errands done and did make a start on cleaning up around here.
That's more important than you might think... with three shedding cats, the floors are getting, ah, hairy... and while I'd like to be using my fitness ball and starting back in on some upper body weights, I don't really feel like putting it or my yoga mat on the living room floor until I vacuum! So I'm picking up the floors, before doing that chore.
Today I'm back logging my eating again... and drinking my water, which I did not do enough of yesterday. Always key... taking a day off is going to happen sometimes, but if I get back to business ASAP afterwards, it shouldn't impede me too much. I may go do some Nordic Track. Won't have my music, but I can watch PGA golf with hubby while skiing.
February 15th, 2008 by Cynthia
I was rushed this morning... which basically, I have only myself to blame for. Stayed up late to watch "My Fair Lady" a favorite musical on TCM... did not have my gym bag ready to go, did not have dishwasher unloaded and there were a ton of dirty dishes on the counter and in the sink I needed to clear this morning. I was also trying to find a box for a shipment I need to make, which I have been procrastinating on.
Lack of preparation led to a 10% breakfast. I ate one of my chocolate bars.
OK... will move on, hopefully not to the remaining raspberry dark chocolate bar!
I did manage my regular protein smoothie before water aerobics, just made it a small one. Water aerobics went VERY WELL... must've been the chocolate bar, I was pumped. In zone for 45 minutes, average heart rate 125... but I was working at levels between 133 and 142 for much of class. The instructor really worked us on legs and arms after the aerobics portion too... which is why I call it cardio on steroids, because even during the resistance portion my heart rate tends to stay at 125 or above.
I actually made an attempt to swim laps after, but it bombed. I didn't have any arms left to do it with. Took me 16 minutes to cover an eighth of a mile. So I packed that in and then water walked for another 15 minutes and a quarter of a mile.
Gonna be sore from this one. 90 minutes in the pool. Hopefully the chocolate won't stick to thighs after this!
I probably should have some starchy carbs with my next meal, but I'm going to make it beans, not oatmeal for a change of pace. I have some kidney bean curry defrosted and ready to go in the fridge now. I'll either pair it with a chicken salad, or maybe, since I need to run more errands, the quickie sardine and spinach emergency style salad.
Hubby is still coughing... he liked the roiboos tea with honey and lemon last night, but isn't sure it really did anything to ease his throat. He doesn't have to work many hours today, that's probably a good thing.
Oh, the scale has been swinging up and down, heaven knows what's up with that. It was down to 226.4 day before yesterday, yesterday at 227.4 and today at 228.2 with no eating problems. Unusual. I've been drinking about the same, can't think of anything particularly salty. I'm just hoping the brief downward swings are what I will be seeing more of soon.
