This week's work
Weight: up .4 pounds from last week; total lost: one pound
Exercise: none to speak of. Walked back and forth to court at least once most days (about 10 minutes each way), walked a couple of miles yesterday running errands; maintained my knee exercises but didn't add anything else to my strength training.
Eating: had a couple of treats (popcorn once, a lemon bar after temple night, etc.), ate dinner out one night, but otherwise ate well.
On the whole, I'm discouraged this week. I didn't feel like I was particularly indulgent, but I actually gained a little bit. Argh! I can't really give up much more. I'm hardly eating any grains, and all whole grains and brown rices. I don't really feel like I can give up my fruits. I know I need to exercise more, but I've had a lot of extra knee pain this week. I need to just walk anyway since my knee hurts no matter what I do, apparently...
Menu for Next Week
Monday: FHE picnic (so I'll pick up some crackers/cheese/fruit at the grocery store on my way home)
Tuesday: Breakfast burrito & some vegetable (what veggies go with a breakfast burrito??)
Wednesday: Balsamic chicken & frozen veggies
Thursday: Meatballs & frozen veggies
Friday: Chicken tenders (from freezer) and green beans
Saturday: BBQ Chili
Sunday: Black Bean Salsa Chicken
On the whole, I'm frustrated, but whatever. It's mostly frustrating because I know plenty of skinny people who are eating these fast food lunches every day, going out at night, eating all kinds of treats, and I'm eating so healthy and getting nowhere. Ugh. But I'll hang in there...I'll be bitter, but I'll hang in.
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Week 1 - DairyAir
Well, ladies, I did ok. I was also down by 1.4 when I weighed in (how about that, my twin? I weighed in on Wednesday when I remembered, and then came down and saw that you were 1.4 this week too -nice!! Of course, it took me 3 extra days to get there, but still...)
My biggest struggle is breakfast. I hate hate hate most breakfast foods and I can't stand the smell of reheated meats, so I could use some suggestions about what to do in the morning. I can't reliably eat eggs, but I can gag one down from time to time in a pinch. Dairy doesn't always agree with me, so I try not to eat too much of it, especially in the morning. When I'm doing a good job eating healthy, I have a few slices of lowfat deli lunch meat and a V8, but I really don't like lunch meat all that much, so it is hard to maintain that for more than a few days. What do I eat in the morning??
As for the exercise, I've done terribly at that one. I walk the kids around a bit, but it typically isn't very aerobic. But I guess at least I'm not sitting on my duff eating snacks, so the walks are good for something. I've done no stretching or pilates or yoga or strength training. Lots of things are very jiggly still.
But today I am doing taxes (by hand!) for the in-laws (can you say filing late? I can!) and I haven't had a single treat. I wanted to get out some Rolos I have left over from cookies I made awhile back, but then I had one dark chocolate covered almond and a can of V8 instead. I am inspired and encouraged when I read about the good choices you guys make, so keep posting!
Food plan:
Not a very good plan this week, I'm using up stuff that we have in the freezer, as they're getting to be a little overstuffed. But I'm serving veggies at every meal and filling half my plate with veggies, and I have a bunch of lettuce so that I can have salad every day. I need to get my act together and open the freezer and make a plan, rather than just reaching in, pulling out a mystery meat and serving that up for dinner. My to-do list is now 5 pages long, so I'm not sure my act will get together any time soon.
My biggest struggle is breakfast. I hate hate hate most breakfast foods and I can't stand the smell of reheated meats, so I could use some suggestions about what to do in the morning. I can't reliably eat eggs, but I can gag one down from time to time in a pinch. Dairy doesn't always agree with me, so I try not to eat too much of it, especially in the morning. When I'm doing a good job eating healthy, I have a few slices of lowfat deli lunch meat and a V8, but I really don't like lunch meat all that much, so it is hard to maintain that for more than a few days. What do I eat in the morning??
As for the exercise, I've done terribly at that one. I walk the kids around a bit, but it typically isn't very aerobic. But I guess at least I'm not sitting on my duff eating snacks, so the walks are good for something. I've done no stretching or pilates or yoga or strength training. Lots of things are very jiggly still.
But today I am doing taxes (by hand!) for the in-laws (can you say filing late? I can!) and I haven't had a single treat. I wanted to get out some Rolos I have left over from cookies I made awhile back, but then I had one dark chocolate covered almond and a can of V8 instead. I am inspired and encouraged when I read about the good choices you guys make, so keep posting!
Food plan:
Not a very good plan this week, I'm using up stuff that we have in the freezer, as they're getting to be a little overstuffed. But I'm serving veggies at every meal and filling half my plate with veggies, and I have a bunch of lettuce so that I can have salad every day. I need to get my act together and open the freezer and make a plan, rather than just reaching in, pulling out a mystery meat and serving that up for dinner. My to-do list is now 5 pages long, so I'm not sure my act will get together any time soon.
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Week One - Bacon
This week's work
Weight: down 1.4 lbs from last week; 1.4 lbs total
Exercise this week: minimal. Walked about a mile yesterday running errands, but haven't been doing any big exercising because of my knee. Have been doing my knee exercises and stretches; switched into my new shoes, so hoping that helps.
Eating: A bit of emotional eating, but think I've set things up better for this coming week. I just don't do as well with my eating when I'm just home, alone, bored. I will do better when I'm working and have something to keep me busy--it's just too easy to sit around and eat when I don't have anything else to do!
Menu plan for week 2:
Monday: Meatballs & rice, green beans
Tuesday: Balsamic Chicken, frozen veggie
Wednesday: BBQ Chili
Thursday: Breakfast burrito
Friday: ? Temple night...
Saturday: Indian food lunch (restaurant) with JoAnna and Lindsey, so apple or small snack for dinner instead of for lunch
Sunday: Puff pancake if not too hot, otherwise, leftover from some other meal (if I have something, otherwise, something from freezer)
Anyway, I'm hoping that this week is better than last week. Writing down the menu, I realize how little I have in the way of quick things planned to eat. If I'm going to eat something from the crockpot, I really need to cook it on the weekends and freeze it, because I will be at work for too long to leave something in the morning and come home to it, I think.
Do you have any easy, healthy meals that I can throw together really quickly? What kinds of veggies should I be looking for as far as fresh produce goes? And where is the cheapest place to buy canned green beans (remembering that I'm a green bean snob)?
Weight: down 1.4 lbs from last week; 1.4 lbs total
Exercise this week: minimal. Walked about a mile yesterday running errands, but haven't been doing any big exercising because of my knee. Have been doing my knee exercises and stretches; switched into my new shoes, so hoping that helps.
Eating: A bit of emotional eating, but think I've set things up better for this coming week. I just don't do as well with my eating when I'm just home, alone, bored. I will do better when I'm working and have something to keep me busy--it's just too easy to sit around and eat when I don't have anything else to do!
Menu plan for week 2:
Monday: Meatballs & rice, green beans
Tuesday: Balsamic Chicken, frozen veggie
Wednesday: BBQ Chili
Thursday: Breakfast burrito
Friday: ? Temple night...
Saturday: Indian food lunch (restaurant) with JoAnna and Lindsey, so apple or small snack for dinner instead of for lunch
Sunday: Puff pancake if not too hot, otherwise, leftover from some other meal (if I have something, otherwise, something from freezer)
Anyway, I'm hoping that this week is better than last week. Writing down the menu, I realize how little I have in the way of quick things planned to eat. If I'm going to eat something from the crockpot, I really need to cook it on the weekends and freeze it, because I will be at work for too long to leave something in the morning and come home to it, I think.
Do you have any easy, healthy meals that I can throw together really quickly? What kinds of veggies should I be looking for as far as fresh produce goes? And where is the cheapest place to buy canned green beans (remembering that I'm a green bean snob)?
Friday, June 3, 2011
Celebrating Me
I read online this morning that today is National Donut Day, which made me instantly want a donut. I had to walk directly past a Tim Horton's today. I did not stop. I didn't even look in at the donuts. I also walked past a place with a yummy, yummy drink that I wanted (mora en leche, if anyone is keeping track), and walked past a place with DEEEEELICIOUS macaroons without buying anything.
Headed to the kitchen to open up a can of green beans and heat some meatballs and rice from the freezer.
I am so tough.
Headed to the kitchen to open up a can of green beans and heat some meatballs and rice from the freezer.
I am so tough.
New Shoes
I recently went to the doctor because I've been having some knee problems. (I am an old woman now, and apparently, my future is full of joint failure. Sad.) I didn't think the doc could really do anything for me, but I went so that I could continue to whine to Somebody's Mother about my knee hurting.
Anyway, one of the things the doc told me to do was to buy new shoes.
I would've felt better about his instructions if he had been willing to finance those new shoes for me (unemployed + living in an expensive city + needing high-quality athletic shoes = OUCH!) but I survived. I ordered a few pairs online through Zappos, which does free shipping both ways (YAY!) so that I could try on the shoes and send back the ones I didn't like. After much deliberation, I finally committed to a pair of new shoes (it would take a whole different blog to talk about my commitment issues) and today, I wore them outside for the first time. Now, I'm committed and can't return them. I'm pretty happy with them. They are definitely much squishier than my last shoes, so they should make my knee a bit happier. Tomorrow, I'm going to ride the bus over to the park (not that the park is far away at all, but this way I can confine my exercise to a softer surface to be gentle with my knee for a bit).
When LL was visiting, we walked a LOT and I really enjoyed it, so I'm looking forward to being able to get out and exercise a bit more in my new shoes.
Moral of the story: even though it can be expensive, we have to do the things in our lives to facilitate being able to be the healthy women we want to be.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
The Rules
Each week, we need to do a few things and check in with each other to make sure we're all staying on track. Here's what we discussed, but it could be altered, depending on what everyone thinks:
- Three 30 minute cardio sessions per week (at minimum)
- Two 20 minute strength sessions per week (at minimum - things like pilates, abs, weights, yoga, stretching, knee strengthening, etc.)
- Email out meal plan on Friday night for the next week - plan to shop ahead and only keep the foods on hand that are good to be eating so that there's no catastrophe if someone (me) craves some emotional eating (this one is going to be extra hard for me, because I live in a city full of delicious food that can be delivered. I will be strong.)
- Limit exception foods (refined carbs, dessert-ish things, potatoes, other cheater foods)
Thoughts?
Getting Serious! Again!
Time to get serious about this, ladies. Liz and I talked about getting a fresh start - I will let her post the rules/plans. I can't remember 'em all. :-)
But today is the starting day! Some people don't want to post their weight on a blog, which is fine, but I want to keep track of things here, so I'm going to post how much weight I am hoping to lose so that I can count down to my goal. To get down to my target weight (W), I need to lose 32 pounds, as of my weight today which I have written down in a secret location known only to me. Plus I emailed it to Liz. And maybe she forwarded it to Mom. So my weight today is W+32.
My food plan: I plan to bake up 2 cookies for myself on nights when I'm needing a treat. Other than that, no baked treats, no ice cream, no dessertish foods, candy, etc. I am going to eat 2 dark chocolate covered almonds every day with my cashews. Lots of fresh fruit, salad, whole grains.
My exercise plan: take a nice walk with the kids in the morning after school drop off and a nice afternoon walk when we pick up Javier. Once school is out we'll just go for a couple of walks every day. 30 minutes on the elliptical in the morning (missed that one today...). This is under development, as I do need to find exercise that fits into my day and helps me get things done (like heavy yard work substitutes for an aerobic session). Strength/abs.....I'm not feeling it, but I remember that Liz put that on the list of things we have to do. I guess that would be my Pilates DVD/chart. I have no idea what I will do for strength training. Carry laundry baskets up and down the stairs?
But today is the starting day! Some people don't want to post their weight on a blog, which is fine, but I want to keep track of things here, so I'm going to post how much weight I am hoping to lose so that I can count down to my goal. To get down to my target weight (W), I need to lose 32 pounds, as of my weight today which I have written down in a secret location known only to me. Plus I emailed it to Liz. And maybe she forwarded it to Mom. So my weight today is W+32.
My food plan: I plan to bake up 2 cookies for myself on nights when I'm needing a treat. Other than that, no baked treats, no ice cream, no dessertish foods, candy, etc. I am going to eat 2 dark chocolate covered almonds every day with my cashews. Lots of fresh fruit, salad, whole grains.
My exercise plan: take a nice walk with the kids in the morning after school drop off and a nice afternoon walk when we pick up Javier. Once school is out we'll just go for a couple of walks every day. 30 minutes on the elliptical in the morning (missed that one today...). This is under development, as I do need to find exercise that fits into my day and helps me get things done (like heavy yard work substitutes for an aerobic session). Strength/abs.....I'm not feeling it, but I remember that Liz put that on the list of things we have to do. I guess that would be my Pilates DVD/chart. I have no idea what I will do for strength training. Carry laundry baskets up and down the stairs?
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