Food Dates

I wanted to write a post today about food dates.  I'm not talking about the dates stamped on food that tell you when they expire. I'm also not talking about the fruity dates that we can eat.  I'm talking about food dates that we create in our mind.  Let me explain...

Have any of you ever made a date with food?  Planning in advance what you will buy to eat and when you'll eat it?  Like getting off work on a Friday night and planning to order pizza or take-out with beer or soda and snacks and settle in for the evening to chow down?  Staying home on a Satuday afternoon and looking forward to baking a cheesy lasagna and a fattening dessert and look forward to making a night of it pigging out?  Eating fattening stuff and more of it because there is nobody around to witness your gluttony?  We looked forward to this almost like a date, with anticipation and planning. 

I know I'm guilty of it and I'm quite sure that most overweight people are too.  We probably did it without realizing how truely unhealthy this food was for us or how out of whack our portion sizes were.  We just wanted the satisfaction, the void filled.  Now we know better. Now we must change our way of thinking, we must reprogram our minds to eat healthier foods and portions.  To move more and eat less. I don't know about you but I'd rather be a wallflower without a date like that ever again.  I want to eat to live, not live to eat. 

On another note - I'm proud to say that I'm a week and a half into being back on track and I'm starting to feel better little by little.  I think it takes a while to work that junk out of your system and get your body adjusted to a healthy diet and exercise again.  My body is probably shouting, "IT'S ABOUT TIME!"

It is about time.

King, Prince, Pauper

Last summer I read about the king, prince, pauper way of eating and it totally makes sense to me and I'm trying to go by this now.  For those of you that haven't heard about it here's the jist of it: 

You eat your largest meal of the day (like a king) for breakfast. Your body has gone approx. 8-12 hours without food by now (if you stop eating after dinner) and your blood sugar is at it's lowest.  You're re-fueling for the day and getting your metabolism going. 

Eat a satisfying lunch (like a prince). Just enough to feel satisfied but not full.

Your smallest meal of the day should be at dinner (like a pauper).  You will most likely be winding down for the day and soon going to sleep and you don't want that meal sitting in your stomach while you're not active.  You want to wake up hungry ready for a big breakfast.

I would hardly ever eat breakfast before and if I did it would be something small and unhealthy like a donut.  That's becasue I would eat a big dinner and then snack all night so when I woke up I'd still be full and that's why I would never eat breakfast.  Meanwhile, I was feeling tired and sluggish all day long.  Now I get excited when I get that hungry feeling in the evening becasue I know that I'm on track and that I'll wake up hungry for a big breakfast.

I watched The Biggest Loser last evening and Jillian was on my last nerve treating her team like shit - and especially humiliating that one girl (Danni?) by pouring that water over her head.  OMG!  I know that this is her "thing" but did you notice how her team just shut down from being treated like that?  Also, she is down to 2 people on her team - that's saying something, too.  Bob and Dolvett are tough but nice, still treating their team with respect, and they get great results without humiliating anyone. 

If you were on the Biggest Loser who would you want to train you?  Here is my pick in order:  Bob, Dolvett, Jillian.

Let's have another on-track day.

So Far So Good

I had on on-point week with eating and exercise so I'm proud of that. I've decided that Monday will be my weigh-in day.  I've lost 3.5 pounds this week.  Yee Haw!  I love the big whoosh that you get the first week of being on a healthy diet.  I know it will not continue, but it sure feels good now.  It's a nice little umph to get you going. One more week and I should start feeling good.

I treated myself to a manicure this weekend with shellac polish hoping that it will help my nails grow.  My DD works at a day spa and I get 40% services and products (you can't beat that!) so that's where I went.  The atmosphere is so relaxing.  Love it.  I'm going to try to treat myself to a manicure every two weeks as my non-food reward for staying on track.  I've also come to realize that it is necessary for me to treat myself to things once in a while to help me feel good about myself.  For instance, if I buy myself a new purse or shirt, it will make me feel better about my appearance and then I'll feel good and want to continue to stay on track so I will lose more weight and start looking better.  It's a win-win situation.  Before I would always spend money on the house because it was easier for me to fix the house up rather than try to buy clothes for my fat body so that's what I would always do.  My house is fine now.  I need to start spending the money on me.  I've finally realized that I'm worth it.

Did anyone watch the Biggest Loser last night?  I did and I forced myself to do kettlebell exercises through all the commercials of the first hour. (Sunny, I thought of you - remember when we used to do this every week?)  That show is so inspiring to me.  Dolvett is so hot - omg...  Also, the latest issue of People magazine is loaded with weight loss inspiration stories. 

 



I made this Harvest Slaw recipe yesterday that I found in Better homes and Gardens.  I left out the garlic and cilantro, I thought that was a little too weird.  It was tasty, light and refreshing.  I would make this again.  I brought some for my lunch today.

That's it for today.  Let's make it another great week!

The Results Are In

I got the results back from my lab work yesterday and it's all good news.  YAY!

Total cholesterol - 181

HDL - 62

LDL - 111

Glucose (blood sugar) - 97

Triglycerides (fat in blood)- 40

Since I gained all that weight back so quickly I was afraid of pre-diabetes.  I'm so glad that everything is in the normal range. Also mammogram came back normal.  Triple yay!  Especially since my mom had breast cancer.

I got this cute Tervis cup for Christmas.  It keeps hot drinks hot and cold drinks cold.  I especially like that it reduces condensation - I hate those sweaty cups.   I used it for a cold drink the other day and it kept the same ice for 5 hours.  Using this cute cup helps me to get in my water. 

Day 3 of being back on track.  So far so good.

Taking Care of Myself

 

After months and months of slacking I'm starting to take care of myself again and it feels good.  A couple of days ago I went for my annual physical and bloodwork.  I want to see just where I'm at with everything. Getting older and having gained so much weight I'm getting concerned about cholesterol and type 2 diabetes.  My results haven't come in yet, hopefully in the mail today; I can't wait to see what they are.  My blood pressure was okay - 124/78, slightly higher than it was last time though. My resting heart rate was 70, which was okay. The bad thing is that I've gained 52 pounds since I had my last physical, which was a year and a half ago. I also had a mammogram done on the same day - still waiting for the results of that, as well.

Yesterday, my first day back on track, went well.  I stayed on track with my eating and drank 96 oz. of water.  That was a non-scale victory considering I was consuming a liter of soda a day for the past ump-teen months. I'm doing WW again, counting points.  I'm not going to the meetings (too expensive right now), just using the info from when I went last year (and quit).  I have everything I need. I knew that I had to start out slow with exercise again, since I'm basically starting from square one, so I did a one mile walking video.  I was tired and my calves burned like crazy after that.  Reality check of what I'm doing to myself.  I used to walk 5-7 miles a day.

So, onward and upward, trying to keep a positive outlook.  It's hard when doing this by yourself.  I'm used to having my DD to do this with me, since she moved out I'm flying solo.  But I can do this.

Fresh Start

I'm back.  Like 90% of the population I'm resolving to lose weight and get healthy in the new year.  Today is my first day back on track and tonight will be the first night that I have exercised in months.  God help me to push through until I start to feel better and feel the energy come back.
I keep thinking of those Special K commercials - "What will you gain when you lose?"  A LOT.
Not much time to post today, just wanted to get something out there.  I'm excited to be back on track and about what the new year can bring to us all.  We have the power to make it happen.  Now to do it.

Fresh Start

I'm back.  Like 90% of the population I'm resolving to lose weight and get healthy in the new year.  Today is my first day back on track and tonight will be the first night that I have exercised in months.  God help me to push through until I start to feel better and feel the energy come back.

I keep thinking of those Special K commercials - "What will you gain when you lose?"  A LOT.

Not much time to post today, just wanted to get something out there.  I'm excited to be back on track and about what the new year can bring to us all.  We have the power to make it happen.  Now to do it.