I just realized today as I received a comment via email that I have neglected this blog for way too long. I'll give you a quick overview today and then this week I'll start blogging in earnest again.
I got down to about 190 and then I started gaining again. :( We ended up selling our house, moving and pretty much starting over during the holidays of 2012. Add those factors together and it equals serious weight loss. Plus we moved to a place that is a winter wonderland. I love it but not exactly conducive to outside exercise when there is 4 feet of snow on the ground and it is -20 F. By the time I got up the courage to weigh myself again (and the drive to restart this journey) I was back up to 210 lbs. I had received three different boxes of other people's "fat clothes" that they had gotten too skinny to wear. And I had received them within two weeks time. If that wasn't a hint, I don't know what was.
So I started again. With the help of my amazing sister, Steph, I started exercising. I started re-focusing on my eating. It hasn't been easy. It has actually been harder to drop the weight this time around.
As of last week, I weighed 190. I've lost 20 lbs in 29 weeks. Not quite my goal of 1 lb/ week. But there have been lots and lots of victories and lots and lots of learning experiences. I can't wait to share them with you over the next little while!
I will also start adding some newer recipes to the healthy recipe blog. I may even include a few pics this time around. I'm starting to figure out this technology stuff. I still don't have darling garnishes and matching dishes - you'll just have to see the pics of food instead.
I'm so excited to re-discover this blog and talk about this journey again!
Loves to you all!
Sunday, September 15, 2013
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Update!
I realize it has been a few weeks since I last wrote. Things have been happening and not the things that you would expect. My friend, who I have been trying to help, has had some set backs. Health problems just keep popping up left and right for her. She was experiencing lots of pain while we would walk - WE WERE UP TO A MILE AND A HALF! We were so excited. But the pain got so bad that she had to stop and go to the dr. After many many tests, they found that she has arthritis in both legs and in her left foot. They are worried that she has hairline fractures in the bones in her legs as well. I am almost 37 and she is 3 years younger than me.
Let me back up..... You see, my friend struggled with an eating disorder, anorexia, through high school. The "in" thing was to be thin. I remember those days. It would frustrate people to no end that I could out eat most grown men and not gain a pound. I ate what I wanted, when I wanted, and how much I wanted. I would never have been anorexic because I liked food too much. And I would never be bulimic because more than anything in the world, I hated to throw up. But not everyone was blessed with a metabolism like mine that burned calories as fast as I could chew and swallow the food. I watched friends struggle with their weight, try to control their portions and exercise to try to fit the body image that society said was okay. And while I didn't know my friend at that time, I knew others like her.
She struggled with anorexia until after she got married and pregnant with her first baby. That is when the doctor told her that she had to gain weight. And so she started eating. And stopped exercising for hours a day. And with each pregnancy (5), she gained a bit more and moved around a bit less. There are other circumstances as well, but those discussions are for another day.
So my friend went from super skinny to....bigger in fifteen years. Just like I did. The biggest difference is what happened during our teen years. Eating disorders are a terrible monster to fight. They attack your mind, first of all, creating images that simply aren't accurate. Then, after they have a hold of your mind, they attack your body. Or rather, they force your body to attack itself. Any food that comes in is stored. Your body becomes terrified that you will starve it. Your body uses every nutrient that it can find to survive - even if that means leaching calcium from your bones and other substances from organs and muscles.
In my friend's case, once she allowed herself to start eating again, her body went into survival mode. It decided that it would NEVER be starved again. It would store EVERYTHING that went in, creating a great big food storage for itself. And the weight began to pile up. But it began to pile up on a weakened body - one that didn't have the strength to support it. She now lives every day in pain and exhausted.
Some people feel that the choices they make early in their lives won't affect them forever. Or they think that their choices only affect themselves. I beg to differ. Right now, my friend is laying in a hospital bed, undergoing tests on her weakened heart with five children and a husband at home. And all for the price of fitting the body image that society created.
This may be kind of a downer post - if it is, I'm sorry. My purpose is to make us think. Achieving health and wellness is one thing. It is an important thing. It is a vital thing. But losing weight in an unhealthy way just to match the airbrushed pictures in a magazine is just tragic.
I am still on my journey to lose weight. But I have accepted the fact that I just may be curvy for the rest of my life (which by the way is something I LONGED for when I was a skinny, straight up and down as a board teenager). The idea of me ever getting down to my supposed "target weight" of 135 or 140 is probably never going to happen. And I am okay with that. I don't want to be skinny. I want to be healthy. I want to hike with my kids and not get winded. I want to be able to jog a mile and not want to pass out. I want my shopping cart to be full of fruits and veggies and good healthy food instead of frozen pizza and corndogs. But most of all, I want to live. I want my heart to be healthy to enjoy my grandkids. I want to eat a slice of birthday cake and a dish of ice cream for their birthdays without injecting myself with insulin to counteract it. I want to live to see my children's children have children and have the strength and flexibility to get down on the floor and play with them. I want to live for years and years with the love of my life and see all of our dreams come to pass. And the only way to do that is to get on the path of health and follow it.
Let me back up..... You see, my friend struggled with an eating disorder, anorexia, through high school. The "in" thing was to be thin. I remember those days. It would frustrate people to no end that I could out eat most grown men and not gain a pound. I ate what I wanted, when I wanted, and how much I wanted. I would never have been anorexic because I liked food too much. And I would never be bulimic because more than anything in the world, I hated to throw up. But not everyone was blessed with a metabolism like mine that burned calories as fast as I could chew and swallow the food. I watched friends struggle with their weight, try to control their portions and exercise to try to fit the body image that society said was okay. And while I didn't know my friend at that time, I knew others like her.
She struggled with anorexia until after she got married and pregnant with her first baby. That is when the doctor told her that she had to gain weight. And so she started eating. And stopped exercising for hours a day. And with each pregnancy (5), she gained a bit more and moved around a bit less. There are other circumstances as well, but those discussions are for another day.
So my friend went from super skinny to....bigger in fifteen years. Just like I did. The biggest difference is what happened during our teen years. Eating disorders are a terrible monster to fight. They attack your mind, first of all, creating images that simply aren't accurate. Then, after they have a hold of your mind, they attack your body. Or rather, they force your body to attack itself. Any food that comes in is stored. Your body becomes terrified that you will starve it. Your body uses every nutrient that it can find to survive - even if that means leaching calcium from your bones and other substances from organs and muscles.
In my friend's case, once she allowed herself to start eating again, her body went into survival mode. It decided that it would NEVER be starved again. It would store EVERYTHING that went in, creating a great big food storage for itself. And the weight began to pile up. But it began to pile up on a weakened body - one that didn't have the strength to support it. She now lives every day in pain and exhausted.
Some people feel that the choices they make early in their lives won't affect them forever. Or they think that their choices only affect themselves. I beg to differ. Right now, my friend is laying in a hospital bed, undergoing tests on her weakened heart with five children and a husband at home. And all for the price of fitting the body image that society created.
This may be kind of a downer post - if it is, I'm sorry. My purpose is to make us think. Achieving health and wellness is one thing. It is an important thing. It is a vital thing. But losing weight in an unhealthy way just to match the airbrushed pictures in a magazine is just tragic.
I am still on my journey to lose weight. But I have accepted the fact that I just may be curvy for the rest of my life (which by the way is something I LONGED for when I was a skinny, straight up and down as a board teenager). The idea of me ever getting down to my supposed "target weight" of 135 or 140 is probably never going to happen. And I am okay with that. I don't want to be skinny. I want to be healthy. I want to hike with my kids and not get winded. I want to be able to jog a mile and not want to pass out. I want my shopping cart to be full of fruits and veggies and good healthy food instead of frozen pizza and corndogs. But most of all, I want to live. I want my heart to be healthy to enjoy my grandkids. I want to eat a slice of birthday cake and a dish of ice cream for their birthdays without injecting myself with insulin to counteract it. I want to live to see my children's children have children and have the strength and flexibility to get down on the floor and play with them. I want to live for years and years with the love of my life and see all of our dreams come to pass. And the only way to do that is to get on the path of health and follow it.
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Update...
So I'm not going to update with my weight for a while. It is kinda depressing when you feel like you have done great but then weigh in and nothing has changed. So I'm just going to update how I am feeling and what I am up to. My friend and I are walking together at least three times a week. When she can't go, I still try to. We went hiking as a family this past Monday and it was awesome. I only had to stop because I was winded once - granted it was only a mile hike total but it was pretty steep. I even started jogging a bit instead of just walking. I swore I would never ever be a runner. But I didn't hate it. So maybe I will call myself a jogker - a mix between a walker and a jogger. :) As for eating, I am trying to keep eating well. Luckily we are getting into summer when so many delicious fresh options are out there. I love fruit so that will help a lot I hope. Plus when it hot outside, I really don't like to eat big heavy type meals. The challenge I am facing is that we are getting so busy at night with baseball, t ball, etc. Some nights, we just have sandwiches and crackers and a bit of green salad or fruit. But I guess it is better than fast food, right?
Speaking of fast food, my daughter learned the hard way yesterday about the importance of eating good food. For the last week of school, her 7th grade science class walked the 5 blocks to "downtown" and had fast food for lunch. She ordered a hot fudge sundae, a yogurt parfait, fries, a cheeseburger and root beer from a certain fast food chain that will remain unnamed. By the time she got home from school, she was so so sick. She hasn't had hardly any "fast food" for the past six months. It was a shock to her system. Not only did she eat a bit more than she should have, but she didn't think about all the junk that was in the food. She spent most of the afternoon in the bathroom. But I think she learned a lesson - she said that she won't be eating anything other than a yogurt parfait there anymore since that is "kinda healthy".
I'm trying something new for the kids for snack time this summer - they seem to want to eat all day. So I'm going to put somewhat healthy snacks in a ziploc for them each day with their names on it. Pretzels, dried fruit, yogurt bites, granola bars, crackers with peanut butter, almonds. And of course fruit and veggies will be available in the fridge. Hopefully that will enable them to have a healthier summer!
Anyway - I'm up to about a mile per day on the walking thing. Hoping to increase it by a mile each month plus spend some time on the exercise bike a couple times a week and do some good ol' crunches, leg lifts, etc. I feel great - haven't even had to nap much for the last week or so! :)
Speaking of fast food, my daughter learned the hard way yesterday about the importance of eating good food. For the last week of school, her 7th grade science class walked the 5 blocks to "downtown" and had fast food for lunch. She ordered a hot fudge sundae, a yogurt parfait, fries, a cheeseburger and root beer from a certain fast food chain that will remain unnamed. By the time she got home from school, she was so so sick. She hasn't had hardly any "fast food" for the past six months. It was a shock to her system. Not only did she eat a bit more than she should have, but she didn't think about all the junk that was in the food. She spent most of the afternoon in the bathroom. But I think she learned a lesson - she said that she won't be eating anything other than a yogurt parfait there anymore since that is "kinda healthy".
I'm trying something new for the kids for snack time this summer - they seem to want to eat all day. So I'm going to put somewhat healthy snacks in a ziploc for them each day with their names on it. Pretzels, dried fruit, yogurt bites, granola bars, crackers with peanut butter, almonds. And of course fruit and veggies will be available in the fridge. Hopefully that will enable them to have a healthier summer!
Anyway - I'm up to about a mile per day on the walking thing. Hoping to increase it by a mile each month plus spend some time on the exercise bike a couple times a week and do some good ol' crunches, leg lifts, etc. I feel great - haven't even had to nap much for the last week or so! :)
Monday, May 21, 2012
I'm ba-a-a-a-a-ack!
Yes, I know that has been almost two months. And while I wish that I could tell you that I have just been way to busy working out and buying a whole new wardrobe to match my new exciting skinny figure, that would be a very very big lie. I have been busy. Life gets crazy most days. I have been really bad about weighing in - mostly because I don't want to see the scale. I haven't been exercising. I did NOT get down to 180 for my sister's wedding. She looked beautiful. And I looked decent, thank heavens I bought the size 18 dress though. I have a pic that was taken with me and my sisters. You can definitely tell who I am versus the others. But that is okay. I love them, even if they are skinny, beautiful and don't have gray hair or any wrinkles yet. :)
I was actually considering just abandoning this blog and my goals and just being happy as an overweight and unhealthy person. I am still aware of what I am eating (especially the two pieces of chocolate cake that I ate last night). My body lets me know when I have blown it ( like this morning) and I am trying to be good. But then something happened.
My friend was having some health problems and had a biopsy done. They found pre-cancerous cells in both of her ovaries. That is not good. Pre-cancerous doesn't mean NOT cancerous. It just means that they are almost like teenage cancer cells - not quite old enough to be "legally" considered cancer. Then the doctor told her that while she needs to have surgery to remove her ovaries, they can't do the surgery until she loses 60 - 85 lbs. That is a lot of weight to lose. And her life literally depends on her losing it.
And it made me sad. And it made me think. While I am not nearly that overweight, and last I checked, all organs were fairly healthy, my friend is not. My personality type is labeled as "The Giver". I am happiest when I am helping someone else with something, anything (there are a few exceptions to that but not many). However, one of the big downsides to the personality type is that we tend to feel that while others are worth the help that we give them, we are not "worthy" of that ourselves.
I am noticing that flaw big time right now. As I help my friend develop an eating plan, find recipes, and start slowly exercising, I am realizing that those are the things that I need to be doing for ME! I am more than willing to go walking with her so that she will get physically active but I won't do it just for ME! Kinda interesting. Something to ask the therapist about I guess.
But on the flip side, if that is what it takes to get me off my lazy rear-end, then it is working and I am grateful for it. When I said we are starting slow, we are literally started last week at walking a 1/3 of a mile. It is all she can do right now. This week, we are going to up it to a 1/2 mile and decrease our time by the end of the week. Next week we'll work our way up to 3/4. And the following week, we'll be up to a mile. Our goal is to be up to 3 miles by the start of the school in the fall and by spring next year, to be able to jog the 3 miles instead of just walking them.
But our main goal is for her to lose the weight in a healthy way, but as quickly as possible so she can have the surgery she needs. When it comes right down to it, she can either choose to stay the way she is and die very early in life from cancer or she can make the changes she needs to and live. I believe that she is choosing to live. And I am too.
So while my journey stalled for a while, I am back on track now with a renewed purpose. I probably won't weigh in much but I will keep you updated on what I am learning and how she and I are both progressing.
Love to you all! If you have stalled in your journey, get started again with us. We're taking it slow - you can too!
I was actually considering just abandoning this blog and my goals and just being happy as an overweight and unhealthy person. I am still aware of what I am eating (especially the two pieces of chocolate cake that I ate last night). My body lets me know when I have blown it ( like this morning) and I am trying to be good. But then something happened.
My friend was having some health problems and had a biopsy done. They found pre-cancerous cells in both of her ovaries. That is not good. Pre-cancerous doesn't mean NOT cancerous. It just means that they are almost like teenage cancer cells - not quite old enough to be "legally" considered cancer. Then the doctor told her that while she needs to have surgery to remove her ovaries, they can't do the surgery until she loses 60 - 85 lbs. That is a lot of weight to lose. And her life literally depends on her losing it.
And it made me sad. And it made me think. While I am not nearly that overweight, and last I checked, all organs were fairly healthy, my friend is not. My personality type is labeled as "The Giver". I am happiest when I am helping someone else with something, anything (there are a few exceptions to that but not many). However, one of the big downsides to the personality type is that we tend to feel that while others are worth the help that we give them, we are not "worthy" of that ourselves.
I am noticing that flaw big time right now. As I help my friend develop an eating plan, find recipes, and start slowly exercising, I am realizing that those are the things that I need to be doing for ME! I am more than willing to go walking with her so that she will get physically active but I won't do it just for ME! Kinda interesting. Something to ask the therapist about I guess.
But on the flip side, if that is what it takes to get me off my lazy rear-end, then it is working and I am grateful for it. When I said we are starting slow, we are literally started last week at walking a 1/3 of a mile. It is all she can do right now. This week, we are going to up it to a 1/2 mile and decrease our time by the end of the week. Next week we'll work our way up to 3/4. And the following week, we'll be up to a mile. Our goal is to be up to 3 miles by the start of the school in the fall and by spring next year, to be able to jog the 3 miles instead of just walking them.
But our main goal is for her to lose the weight in a healthy way, but as quickly as possible so she can have the surgery she needs. When it comes right down to it, she can either choose to stay the way she is and die very early in life from cancer or she can make the changes she needs to and live. I believe that she is choosing to live. And I am too.
So while my journey stalled for a while, I am back on track now with a renewed purpose. I probably won't weigh in much but I will keep you updated on what I am learning and how she and I are both progressing.
Love to you all! If you have stalled in your journey, get started again with us. We're taking it slow - you can too!
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Ugh - hate getting wake-up calls!
Well, this last week was a big wakeup call for me. My weigh ins have not been good and I've been very embarrassed which is way I haven't posted. I am back up to 198. I'm pretty disappointed in myself because I know that I am making the choices that created the weight gain.
I've been doing a lot of emotional eating and somehow, it just doesn't work the same to eat carrots and celery when you are emotionally eating. Chocolate and fat and empty carbs always seem to be my choice. I even ate chicken nuggets, mini corndogs and fish sticks. Bad! Bad! Bad! I really slid backwards over the past 3 weeks and I'm sorry.
A little over a week ago, I had two episodes where my blood sugar dropped dramatically and suddenly. That hasn't happened since I started eating better - another sign that I am really falling back into bad habits. It was really scary to hope that I would make it home without fainting while driving!
Then this past Sunday, I was getting out of a chair and basically popped my hip out of its joint. Oh my pain! It hurt so so bad. I went to the dr Tuesday and the Physical Therapist yesterday. I am feeling tons better since they popped it back into place but I do not want to have that happen again. I know that a lot of overweight and out of shape people deal with chronic back pain and I DO NOT want to be one of those people! It was awful!
So......HOW AM I GOING TO GET BACK ON TRACK?
1st - I have really thought about my eating habits lately and realized that I have been skipping breakfast a lot and for lunch and snacks I grab whatever is close by and requires no preparation. So I spent some time yesterday making some foods that I can just grab from the freezer and heat up that are healthy. I made some mini quiches for breakfasts and am working on some smoothies today. I also made a huge pot of soup and measured it into individually sized freezer containers. I'm going to make up some black bean burgers and freeze them as well as some healthy burritos. I think that will help a lot! I will be posting the recipes on the other blog as soon as I can.
2nd - I have got to get moving! As a family we decided to do a "couch to 5K" program. It is designed for people like me who literally do not exercise at all. We are doing the program with our lovingly overweights dogs too. It will take approx 20 - 30 minutes per day, 3 days per week for 12 weeks to get us ready to be able to jog for 30 straight minutes. I AM NOT A RUNNER! But I have to do something. And my family needs to do something too. And the Physical Therapist and dr told me that I HAVE to get active and strengthen my core muscles. So I will do it. Sigh.
So there you have it - my confession and my plan. I know that being down to 180 by my sisters wedding in May is no longer a healthy goal because I pretty much wasted the last three weeks. But I will be in better shape than I am now.
I've been doing a lot of emotional eating and somehow, it just doesn't work the same to eat carrots and celery when you are emotionally eating. Chocolate and fat and empty carbs always seem to be my choice. I even ate chicken nuggets, mini corndogs and fish sticks. Bad! Bad! Bad! I really slid backwards over the past 3 weeks and I'm sorry.
A little over a week ago, I had two episodes where my blood sugar dropped dramatically and suddenly. That hasn't happened since I started eating better - another sign that I am really falling back into bad habits. It was really scary to hope that I would make it home without fainting while driving!
Then this past Sunday, I was getting out of a chair and basically popped my hip out of its joint. Oh my pain! It hurt so so bad. I went to the dr Tuesday and the Physical Therapist yesterday. I am feeling tons better since they popped it back into place but I do not want to have that happen again. I know that a lot of overweight and out of shape people deal with chronic back pain and I DO NOT want to be one of those people! It was awful!
So......HOW AM I GOING TO GET BACK ON TRACK?
1st - I have really thought about my eating habits lately and realized that I have been skipping breakfast a lot and for lunch and snacks I grab whatever is close by and requires no preparation. So I spent some time yesterday making some foods that I can just grab from the freezer and heat up that are healthy. I made some mini quiches for breakfasts and am working on some smoothies today. I also made a huge pot of soup and measured it into individually sized freezer containers. I'm going to make up some black bean burgers and freeze them as well as some healthy burritos. I think that will help a lot! I will be posting the recipes on the other blog as soon as I can.
2nd - I have got to get moving! As a family we decided to do a "couch to 5K" program. It is designed for people like me who literally do not exercise at all. We are doing the program with our lovingly overweights dogs too. It will take approx 20 - 30 minutes per day, 3 days per week for 12 weeks to get us ready to be able to jog for 30 straight minutes. I AM NOT A RUNNER! But I have to do something. And my family needs to do something too. And the Physical Therapist and dr told me that I HAVE to get active and strengthen my core muscles. So I will do it. Sigh.
So there you have it - my confession and my plan. I know that being down to 180 by my sisters wedding in May is no longer a healthy goal because I pretty much wasted the last three weeks. But I will be in better shape than I am now.
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Sorry! I am a very neglectful blogger!
Hi All!
Sorry its been almost three weeks since I last posted! Just wanted to let you in on a few of my discoveries this past few weeks! Oh - and I am still holding steady at 195 - 20 lbs lost. HOWEVER, I have incentive to get busy again! My amaing sister is getting married in 2 months and I want to look good for her wedding. So I have set a big goal of losing 15 lbs before she get married! That would put me at 180 - it figures out to about 2 lbs a week. I can do this!
Now on to my discoveries -
1 - We use a LOT less oil, margarine and butter now. Since October, we have only used about 7 cups of oil TOTAL. And only 2 big tubs of margarine. For 6 people. We used to go through a big tub of margarine a month and a quart of oil and 1/2 a container of shortening. That, my friends, is a lot of FAT! Most of the oil that we've used recently is actually for items we have made for other people. For our family, we've maybe used 2 - 3 cups of it. We replace it mostly with applesauce. Or we simply cut it in half in the recipe. For pizza crust, we use 1 T instead of 2 - that sort of thing.
2 - We use a LOT more cooking spray. We use it for everything. We spray in on the frying pan before making eggs or pancakes. We spray it over potatoes cut like french fries, sprinkle them with salt and bake them until they are crispy. But I'd much rather get a trace of fat from a 1 second spray than a whole bunch of fat from 1 T of oil used to oil the pan!
3 - My children have officially made the switch to whole grains! IT CAN BE DONE! I didn't think it was possible! Even my pickiest expressed his disappointment when I served white french bread one night for dinner because he wanted to try the "brown" kind! It made my day!
4 - There are so so so many dieting/healthy eating ideas out there. I have realized that since every person is different, every person most likely has something different that works for them! My version of healthy eating is different that someone elses. What matters is that it works within what your doctor recommends and it makes you feel better.
5 - I have to have a Hershey's kiss and a glass of chocolate milk every day. As long as I have those, I can go without just about anything else without feeling deprived. And as long as I eat either the dark or the coconut cream kisses, one is usually plenty to satisfy my need for chocolate. I do only buy the low fat chocolate milk as well. I am not a plain milk drinker but I know I need to get my calcium in somehow. So I drink a 7 oz cup of chocolate milk every morning. If I don't have my milk and my Hershey's kiss, I have found that I way over eat through the rest of the day.
6 - Once again - I have found that exercise is the key. Just eating right helps me to maintain. Exercise is what helps me lose weight. And although losing weight is not the main goal, I know that I can't be as healthy as I need to be at my current weight. So I need to get motivated to exercise again. I will be starting from scratch AGAIN. I'm hoping that the better weather and warmer temperatures and sunshine will encourage me. When it is cold and gray and snowy or rainy, I just want to cuddle up in blankets and hibernate!
7 - And the final one - Mondays really STINK as the weigh in day! I am fairly sedentary on Sundays and kinda snacky! And Mondays are completely crazy in my world. So rather than get completely discouraged every single Monday from either missing my weigh in or weighing in and having the numbers be high, I decided to change it to WEIGH IN WEDNESDAY. I'll be posting on Wednesdays from now on.
Hope you are having a good March so far!
So there you go - my discoveries from the past few weeks.
Sorry its been almost three weeks since I last posted! Just wanted to let you in on a few of my discoveries this past few weeks! Oh - and I am still holding steady at 195 - 20 lbs lost. HOWEVER, I have incentive to get busy again! My amaing sister is getting married in 2 months and I want to look good for her wedding. So I have set a big goal of losing 15 lbs before she get married! That would put me at 180 - it figures out to about 2 lbs a week. I can do this!
Now on to my discoveries -
1 - We use a LOT less oil, margarine and butter now. Since October, we have only used about 7 cups of oil TOTAL. And only 2 big tubs of margarine. For 6 people. We used to go through a big tub of margarine a month and a quart of oil and 1/2 a container of shortening. That, my friends, is a lot of FAT! Most of the oil that we've used recently is actually for items we have made for other people. For our family, we've maybe used 2 - 3 cups of it. We replace it mostly with applesauce. Or we simply cut it in half in the recipe. For pizza crust, we use 1 T instead of 2 - that sort of thing.
2 - We use a LOT more cooking spray. We use it for everything. We spray in on the frying pan before making eggs or pancakes. We spray it over potatoes cut like french fries, sprinkle them with salt and bake them until they are crispy. But I'd much rather get a trace of fat from a 1 second spray than a whole bunch of fat from 1 T of oil used to oil the pan!
3 - My children have officially made the switch to whole grains! IT CAN BE DONE! I didn't think it was possible! Even my pickiest expressed his disappointment when I served white french bread one night for dinner because he wanted to try the "brown" kind! It made my day!
4 - There are so so so many dieting/healthy eating ideas out there. I have realized that since every person is different, every person most likely has something different that works for them! My version of healthy eating is different that someone elses. What matters is that it works within what your doctor recommends and it makes you feel better.
5 - I have to have a Hershey's kiss and a glass of chocolate milk every day. As long as I have those, I can go without just about anything else without feeling deprived. And as long as I eat either the dark or the coconut cream kisses, one is usually plenty to satisfy my need for chocolate. I do only buy the low fat chocolate milk as well. I am not a plain milk drinker but I know I need to get my calcium in somehow. So I drink a 7 oz cup of chocolate milk every morning. If I don't have my milk and my Hershey's kiss, I have found that I way over eat through the rest of the day.
6 - Once again - I have found that exercise is the key. Just eating right helps me to maintain. Exercise is what helps me lose weight. And although losing weight is not the main goal, I know that I can't be as healthy as I need to be at my current weight. So I need to get motivated to exercise again. I will be starting from scratch AGAIN. I'm hoping that the better weather and warmer temperatures and sunshine will encourage me. When it is cold and gray and snowy or rainy, I just want to cuddle up in blankets and hibernate!
7 - And the final one - Mondays really STINK as the weigh in day! I am fairly sedentary on Sundays and kinda snacky! And Mondays are completely crazy in my world. So rather than get completely discouraged every single Monday from either missing my weigh in or weighing in and having the numbers be high, I decided to change it to WEIGH IN WEDNESDAY. I'll be posting on Wednesdays from now on.
Hope you are having a good March so far!
So there you go - my discoveries from the past few weeks.
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Phew - just a hiccup, not a trend!
Last week was just a bad weigh in day I decided! Yesterday I was running crazy so I weighed in today and I've lost 3 lbs since last week. So I finally hit the 20 lb mark. So 20 lbs lost since I went to the doctor 18 weeks ago. Not too bad. Fairly healthy weight loss!
I am very grateful for all of you who check up on me and who read this blog. It helps me so much to be accountable to you all. I hope that you have laughed a bit and maybe been encouraged on your journey to healthy too. And thanks to Melissa who reminded me on Sunday that I was weighing in and really DIDN'T need that second chocolate. ;)
I went to a class by a nutritionist this past week. She said they teach people 6 main points when they are helping people eat in a healthier way.
#1. Eat 6 - 9 servings of fruits and vegetables per day. A serving is a half cup of most fruits and veggies and 1 1/2 c of salad greens. That is a lot. And I know that I am far from getting this. One thing to add to my "eat this - not that" list.
#2. Eat 3 servings of daity daily and take a vitamin d3 supplement. Women need 1200 mg of calcium a day and 1000 iu's of vitamin d3.
#3. Limit salt and sugar - most of our salt comes in processed foods so check the labels. I was interested to find out that as far as actual nutrional science is concerned, all sugars are pretty much created equal - sugar, honey, and the dreaded high fructose corn syrup. Lately, I'm finding myself substituting honey in a lot of recipes because I can use less and still have the sweet taste.
#4. Eat meat sparingly (includes eggs). We really only need 2 - 3 servings of protein per day. And a serving of meat is only 3 oz of cooked meat. That isn't much. She suggested having one dinner a week that is meatless. And be sure to pick the leanest cuts of meat available. For poultry that means the skinless white meat. For beef and pork, that means the loin cuts. And use beans and legumes as a substitute. I made black bean burgers this past weekend and my 4 year old told me that she likes my burgers better than Wendy's. :)
#5. Use unsaturated fats and oils as much as possible. Canola and olive oils are the best for your heart as far as nutritional science has proven at this point.
#6. Eat grains. Grains are good for us. Our goal should be to make half of our grains WHOLE. Which basically means - substitute whole grain breads for white, whole grain tortills for white, whole grain pasta for regular, whole grain cereals for Lucky Charms, etc. My family really dislikes brown rice - so that is our grain that we choose to not have as a whole grain. We use half whole wheat and half white in baking. We had to experiment to find which brands of things that we like. Harpers Homemade Bran Bread is great. Its the texture of white with the fiber of really good whole wheat. Mission Multi-grain tortillas are SOOO good. Barilla makes a thin whole wheat spaghetti that is out of this world.
A couple other tips - she said she uses whole wheat pastry flour - it's lighter than regulary whole wheat with all the nutrition. She also said in baking, use 7/8 a cup of whole wheat flour when 1 cup of regular flour is listed in the ingredients. Good to know!
Another one of her tips - she said "Don't drink your calories". The only thing she drinks besides water is milk or fruit smoothies made mostly with fruit and ice. She also adds fresh spinach to make them green. Haven't tried that one yet. I've heard its great but I kinda like my fresh spinach in a bowl, topped with salad fixings and dressing. :)
REMEMBER - even one change is a step forward! Maybe this month, decide to eat more whole grains and have one meatless dinner each week. Maybe next month, you'll increase your fruits and veggies. Then the next month, you'll give up your soda pop. Notice I did not say give up chocolate! :)
I am very grateful for all of you who check up on me and who read this blog. It helps me so much to be accountable to you all. I hope that you have laughed a bit and maybe been encouraged on your journey to healthy too. And thanks to Melissa who reminded me on Sunday that I was weighing in and really DIDN'T need that second chocolate. ;)
I went to a class by a nutritionist this past week. She said they teach people 6 main points when they are helping people eat in a healthier way.
#1. Eat 6 - 9 servings of fruits and vegetables per day. A serving is a half cup of most fruits and veggies and 1 1/2 c of salad greens. That is a lot. And I know that I am far from getting this. One thing to add to my "eat this - not that" list.
#2. Eat 3 servings of daity daily and take a vitamin d3 supplement. Women need 1200 mg of calcium a day and 1000 iu's of vitamin d3.
#3. Limit salt and sugar - most of our salt comes in processed foods so check the labels. I was interested to find out that as far as actual nutrional science is concerned, all sugars are pretty much created equal - sugar, honey, and the dreaded high fructose corn syrup. Lately, I'm finding myself substituting honey in a lot of recipes because I can use less and still have the sweet taste.
#4. Eat meat sparingly (includes eggs). We really only need 2 - 3 servings of protein per day. And a serving of meat is only 3 oz of cooked meat. That isn't much. She suggested having one dinner a week that is meatless. And be sure to pick the leanest cuts of meat available. For poultry that means the skinless white meat. For beef and pork, that means the loin cuts. And use beans and legumes as a substitute. I made black bean burgers this past weekend and my 4 year old told me that she likes my burgers better than Wendy's. :)
#5. Use unsaturated fats and oils as much as possible. Canola and olive oils are the best for your heart as far as nutritional science has proven at this point.
#6. Eat grains. Grains are good for us. Our goal should be to make half of our grains WHOLE. Which basically means - substitute whole grain breads for white, whole grain tortills for white, whole grain pasta for regular, whole grain cereals for Lucky Charms, etc. My family really dislikes brown rice - so that is our grain that we choose to not have as a whole grain. We use half whole wheat and half white in baking. We had to experiment to find which brands of things that we like. Harpers Homemade Bran Bread is great. Its the texture of white with the fiber of really good whole wheat. Mission Multi-grain tortillas are SOOO good. Barilla makes a thin whole wheat spaghetti that is out of this world.
A couple other tips - she said she uses whole wheat pastry flour - it's lighter than regulary whole wheat with all the nutrition. She also said in baking, use 7/8 a cup of whole wheat flour when 1 cup of regular flour is listed in the ingredients. Good to know!
Another one of her tips - she said "Don't drink your calories". The only thing she drinks besides water is milk or fruit smoothies made mostly with fruit and ice. She also adds fresh spinach to make them green. Haven't tried that one yet. I've heard its great but I kinda like my fresh spinach in a bowl, topped with salad fixings and dressing. :)
REMEMBER - even one change is a step forward! Maybe this month, decide to eat more whole grains and have one meatless dinner each week. Maybe next month, you'll increase your fruits and veggies. Then the next month, you'll give up your soda pop. Notice I did not say give up chocolate! :)
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