Thought for the day:
"Everything that is happening at this moment is a result of the choices you've made in the past."
-Deepak Chopra
Guess I did made some good choices last week, I used a 20 my Flex points last week because I felt so darn hungry; but scale was still my friend. Yesterday when I weighed in I had lost another 1.6 pounds Yippee! That's a total of 20.4 since I began this challenge. That is 20% or 1/5 of that 100 pounds! Whoop-Tee-Do!
I can't tell you how good this feels! I'm getting into clothes that I haven't worn in a while, and my knees don't hurt as much; I also have more energy. Who would have thought only 20 pounds could make so much difference.
I feel like dancing a Happy Dance!
I bought some yummy scented Bath and Body Works shower gel and lotion to celebrate the milestone. A non-food splurge!
The week in review:
What I did right-
a. Ate Breakfast daily.
b. Kept a diary of every bite that crossed my lips.
c. Drank a minimum of 6 glasses of good old H2O daily.
d. Walked for 60 minutes, 5 days of the week.
e. Continued the Yoga practice. It does feel good to stretch.
What I can do better-
a. Try a couple of new recipes so I don't get bored.
b. Look for a beginners Tai Chi DVD at the library, I didn't get there last week.
c. Treat myself to a non-food splurge.
d. Find some additional ways to unwind and reduce stress.
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Battling Hungry
Thought for the day:
“Health food may be good for the conscience but Oreos taste a hell of a lot better.”
- Robert Redford
For the last couple of days I have been feeling so hungry. I'm eating three meals a day and 3 small snacks but I’ve still felt very hungry!
This evening I just had to try out the brand spanking new George Foreman Digital Grill that my daughters gave me for Mother's Day. Aren't they thoughtful? The chicken grilled on it was delicious. I know that lovely little appliance is going to get plenty of use.
I love small kitchen appliances the way a man loves power tools.
I'm trying to add some extra protein with my flex points and hoping that it will satisfy my appetite. I'm afraid if any more fiber is added to my diet I may get a little too rumbly in the tumbly.
A while back when I was having an evening when it seemed I just couldn't get my hunger satisfied and I didn’t want to use up all of my flex points, so I tried using the filling foods. I cooked a crown of broccoli and ate that but still wasn't satisfied. I ate a can of green beans and when I still felt hungry I ate a can of sauerkraut.
BIG MISTAKE!
The next day I had so much gas I had to turn my radio up while I was at work to try and cover up the other sounds coming from my cubicle. As if that weren't enough, I was doing twist and shout to the bathroom repeatedly all evening.
Boy, did I learn to be careful with the fiber.
“Health food may be good for the conscience but Oreos taste a hell of a lot better.”
- Robert Redford
For the last couple of days I have been feeling so hungry. I'm eating three meals a day and 3 small snacks but I’ve still felt very hungry!
This evening I just had to try out the brand spanking new George Foreman Digital Grill that my daughters gave me for Mother's Day. Aren't they thoughtful? The chicken grilled on it was delicious. I know that lovely little appliance is going to get plenty of use.
I love small kitchen appliances the way a man loves power tools.
I'm trying to add some extra protein with my flex points and hoping that it will satisfy my appetite. I'm afraid if any more fiber is added to my diet I may get a little too rumbly in the tumbly.
A while back when I was having an evening when it seemed I just couldn't get my hunger satisfied and I didn’t want to use up all of my flex points, so I tried using the filling foods. I cooked a crown of broccoli and ate that but still wasn't satisfied. I ate a can of green beans and when I still felt hungry I ate a can of sauerkraut.
BIG MISTAKE!
The next day I had so much gas I had to turn my radio up while I was at work to try and cover up the other sounds coming from my cubicle. As if that weren't enough, I was doing twist and shout to the bathroom repeatedly all evening.
Boy, did I learn to be careful with the fiber.
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Mother's Day
Thought for the day:
"Of all the rights of women, the greatest is to be a mother."
-- Lin Yutang
Happy Mother's Day!!
It's a great day! A day to appreciate mothers, and I like to get appreciated.
When my children were still little, it was the day I was served breakfast in bed. My three children would get up and fix a breakfast tray with Fresh Dandelions from the yard in a little vase, toast, cold cereal, milk and orange juice. I could always hear them in the kitchen getting things ready, but so as not to spoil their fun I would lay in bed, playing "Possum" until they came in to awaken me with their surprise.
Preparing my own breakfast this morning, it occurred to me how important a healthy breakfast is to get the day started. It also occurred to me how much my idea of breakfast has changed in the last couple of months. While I have always eaten breakfast, I didn't always have a good breakfast. Often, the most important meal of the day consisted of sugary, starchy, doughnuts and coffee with lots of cream, a bagel with cream cheese, an Egg McMuffin with deep fried Hash Rounds, or a supersized coffee shop muffin slathered with butter.
These choices often had me hitting the vending machine about an hour later for more sugary or fatty starches to hold off my hunger until lunch.
Now my morning meal and snack looks a lot different. Often it resembles the simple breakfast my kids would prepare on Mother's day; cereal with milk and a side of fruit. Now the cereal, either cold or hot, is whole grain; the milk is low fat and the fruit is fresh and in season. On weekends, I might have eggs turkey bacon or sausage and whole grain toast with fruit spread.
The great thing about this change is that I am not hitting the vending machine an hour later. I don't need a snack until coffee break. Even then it’s usually fruit and yogurt, which keeps me satisfied until lunch.
Our Mother's were right about a good breakfast being the most important meal of the day.
Yesterday was weigh-in and the scale was my friend again. This week, I lost another 3.2 pounds. The total amount of weight I've lost since beginning this "Challenge" is 18.8 lbs, Wow! That's like losing 6 cans of shortening!
Like James Brown, I FEEL GOOD!
This is definitely a work in progress.
The week in review:
What I did right-
a. Ate a good Breakfast daily.
b. Kept a diary of every bite that crossed my lips.
c. Drank a minimum of 6 glasses of good old H2O daily.
d. Walked for 60 minutes, 5 days of the week.
e. Actually tried some Yoga moves from a beginners Yoga DVD. I liked it well enough to repeat the experience after the back my legs stopped hurting enough to give it another try.
What I can do better-
a. Try a couple of new recipes so I don't get bored.
b. Look for a beginners Tai Chi DVD at the library
c. Treat myself to a non-food splurge.
d. Find some additional ways to unwind and reduce stress.
"Of all the rights of women, the greatest is to be a mother."
-- Lin Yutang
Happy Mother's Day!!
It's a great day! A day to appreciate mothers, and I like to get appreciated.
When my children were still little, it was the day I was served breakfast in bed. My three children would get up and fix a breakfast tray with Fresh Dandelions from the yard in a little vase, toast, cold cereal, milk and orange juice. I could always hear them in the kitchen getting things ready, but so as not to spoil their fun I would lay in bed, playing "Possum" until they came in to awaken me with their surprise.
Preparing my own breakfast this morning, it occurred to me how important a healthy breakfast is to get the day started. It also occurred to me how much my idea of breakfast has changed in the last couple of months. While I have always eaten breakfast, I didn't always have a good breakfast. Often, the most important meal of the day consisted of sugary, starchy, doughnuts and coffee with lots of cream, a bagel with cream cheese, an Egg McMuffin with deep fried Hash Rounds, or a supersized coffee shop muffin slathered with butter.
These choices often had me hitting the vending machine about an hour later for more sugary or fatty starches to hold off my hunger until lunch.
Now my morning meal and snack looks a lot different. Often it resembles the simple breakfast my kids would prepare on Mother's day; cereal with milk and a side of fruit. Now the cereal, either cold or hot, is whole grain; the milk is low fat and the fruit is fresh and in season. On weekends, I might have eggs turkey bacon or sausage and whole grain toast with fruit spread.
The great thing about this change is that I am not hitting the vending machine an hour later. I don't need a snack until coffee break. Even then it’s usually fruit and yogurt, which keeps me satisfied until lunch.
Our Mother's were right about a good breakfast being the most important meal of the day.
Yesterday was weigh-in and the scale was my friend again. This week, I lost another 3.2 pounds. The total amount of weight I've lost since beginning this "Challenge" is 18.8 lbs, Wow! That's like losing 6 cans of shortening!
Like James Brown, I FEEL GOOD!
This is definitely a work in progress.
The week in review:
What I did right-
a. Ate a good Breakfast daily.
b. Kept a diary of every bite that crossed my lips.
c. Drank a minimum of 6 glasses of good old H2O daily.
d. Walked for 60 minutes, 5 days of the week.
e. Actually tried some Yoga moves from a beginners Yoga DVD. I liked it well enough to repeat the experience after the back my legs stopped hurting enough to give it another try.
What I can do better-
a. Try a couple of new recipes so I don't get bored.
b. Look for a beginners Tai Chi DVD at the library
c. Treat myself to a non-food splurge.
d. Find some additional ways to unwind and reduce stress.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Nurse's Day
Thought for the day:
"Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd."
- Voltaire
Today I was pleasantly surprised. Our "Nurses Day" luncheon was totally friendly to my weight loss plan. We were offered rotisserie chicken or beef brisket, roasted potatoes, iceberg salad with or without vinaigrette salad dressing, and a delicious fresh fruit salad. Believe it or not, there was no bread or cookies in sight! Yippee!!!
My plan was in place but not needed.
Now, I was offered muffins and Danishes this morning, but I had already eaten breakfast and brought fruit, low fat cottage cheese, and a high fiber lite English muffin to eat for my morning break. After rationalizing that the average super-sized muffin would cost me about 500 to 600 calories, probably about 10-12 points, and I would much rather have a couple of margaritas made with a sugar free margarita mix this weekend for those calories. The muffins didn't tempt me at all.
Overall the day was pretty good and I stayed on program - even after having eaten seconds of the chicken and fruit salad!
Flex points are wonderful!
Do you think my employer is reading this blog?
"Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd."
- Voltaire
Today I was pleasantly surprised. Our "Nurses Day" luncheon was totally friendly to my weight loss plan. We were offered rotisserie chicken or beef brisket, roasted potatoes, iceberg salad with or without vinaigrette salad dressing, and a delicious fresh fruit salad. Believe it or not, there was no bread or cookies in sight! Yippee!!!
My plan was in place but not needed.
Now, I was offered muffins and Danishes this morning, but I had already eaten breakfast and brought fruit, low fat cottage cheese, and a high fiber lite English muffin to eat for my morning break. After rationalizing that the average super-sized muffin would cost me about 500 to 600 calories, probably about 10-12 points, and I would much rather have a couple of margaritas made with a sugar free margarita mix this weekend for those calories. The muffins didn't tempt me at all.
Overall the day was pretty good and I stayed on program - even after having eaten seconds of the chicken and fruit salad!
Flex points are wonderful!
Do you think my employer is reading this blog?
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Be Prepared
Thought for the day:
“Success depends upon previous preparation, and without such preparation there is sure to be failure.”
- Kung Fu-Tzu Confucius
Tomorrow is Nurse's Day, so my employer is planning a luncheon for us.
The food is supposed to come from the St. Louis Rotisserie. It’s a menu of rotisserie roasted meats and poultry, with sides of salads. Sounds good, right? I guess the real question is can I stay on point?
Once again, I need a backup plan.
I have left-over salad from tonight's dinner. It's definitely part of the backup plan. Experience tells me the salads that will be served are going to likely be saturated with oily dressing rather than served with the salad dressing on the side.
The main course meats should be pretty lean but are likely sliced for sandwiches. I'm taking a leftover chicken breast, just in case. Usually the bread is either dinner rolls or white and wheat breads, but not whole grain or anything with much fiber. I'll take an alternative, maybe a low carb tortilla or one of those Healthy Life sandwich rolls. I'll also take alternative condiments, like lite mayo and my favorite Dijon mustard, just to be safe.
I'm sure there will also be desert, but I'm not holding out much hope for fresh fruit so I had better take some strawberries, a 1/2 cup of Vanilla flavored Greek yogurt, and a ¼ cup of Fiber One Cereal to sprinkle on top.
OK! Now I'm ready for the Nurse's Day Luncheon.
It will be a pleasant surprise if I don't need anything I'm packing.
Experience tells me otherwise.
“Success depends upon previous preparation, and without such preparation there is sure to be failure.”
- Kung Fu-Tzu Confucius
Tomorrow is Nurse's Day, so my employer is planning a luncheon for us.
The food is supposed to come from the St. Louis Rotisserie. It’s a menu of rotisserie roasted meats and poultry, with sides of salads. Sounds good, right? I guess the real question is can I stay on point?
Once again, I need a backup plan.
I have left-over salad from tonight's dinner. It's definitely part of the backup plan. Experience tells me the salads that will be served are going to likely be saturated with oily dressing rather than served with the salad dressing on the side.
The main course meats should be pretty lean but are likely sliced for sandwiches. I'm taking a leftover chicken breast, just in case. Usually the bread is either dinner rolls or white and wheat breads, but not whole grain or anything with much fiber. I'll take an alternative, maybe a low carb tortilla or one of those Healthy Life sandwich rolls. I'll also take alternative condiments, like lite mayo and my favorite Dijon mustard, just to be safe.
I'm sure there will also be desert, but I'm not holding out much hope for fresh fruit so I had better take some strawberries, a 1/2 cup of Vanilla flavored Greek yogurt, and a ¼ cup of Fiber One Cereal to sprinkle on top.
OK! Now I'm ready for the Nurse's Day Luncheon.
It will be a pleasant surprise if I don't need anything I'm packing.
Experience tells me otherwise.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Staying On Track
Thought for the day:
"If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude."
- Maya Angelou
The work week begins anew. Working in the yard, out in the sunshine yesterday improved my attitude tremendously, so I was ready for the office this morning.
Finding a new snack helped too. Emerald makes 100 calorie packs of Cocoa Roasted Almonds and they are yummy! With a pack of these in my lunch pail, that Snicker bar in the vending machine doesn't call my name nearly as loud.
I have been looking for a yogurt based recipe for creamy salad dressings, specifically Cesar Salad dressing. I found a recipe in an American Heart Association cookbook for Creamy Garlic Salad Dressing. It was good fresh, but not so good after it had sat in the fridge overnight. Back to the drawing board.
Now, as promised, I exercised! I got the Yoga DVD out, rolled out the yoga matt, and managed to pull off Bharadvaja's Twist, Baddha Konasana, Sukhasana, Simhasana and the Virasana seated poses okay. When I tried Padangusthasana – the one where you stand up, bend over, and grab your big toes - I just couldn't get there. The Dolphin pose didn't work for me either. The Adho Mukha Svanasana or the Downward Facing Dog, I could do, but it hurt the back of my calves.
Obviously, flexibility is an issue. Oh well, no pain no gain, right?
My body is so sore today.
My favorite part of yoga is the meditation and breathing exercises. They may be useful for stress relief and focus. Both are weak areas for me, so I probably need this.
"If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude."
- Maya Angelou
The work week begins anew. Working in the yard, out in the sunshine yesterday improved my attitude tremendously, so I was ready for the office this morning.
Finding a new snack helped too. Emerald makes 100 calorie packs of Cocoa Roasted Almonds and they are yummy! With a pack of these in my lunch pail, that Snicker bar in the vending machine doesn't call my name nearly as loud.
I have been looking for a yogurt based recipe for creamy salad dressings, specifically Cesar Salad dressing. I found a recipe in an American Heart Association cookbook for Creamy Garlic Salad Dressing. It was good fresh, but not so good after it had sat in the fridge overnight. Back to the drawing board.
Now, as promised, I exercised! I got the Yoga DVD out, rolled out the yoga matt, and managed to pull off Bharadvaja's Twist, Baddha Konasana, Sukhasana, Simhasana and the Virasana seated poses okay. When I tried Padangusthasana – the one where you stand up, bend over, and grab your big toes - I just couldn't get there. The Dolphin pose didn't work for me either. The Adho Mukha Svanasana or the Downward Facing Dog, I could do, but it hurt the back of my calves.
Obviously, flexibility is an issue. Oh well, no pain no gain, right?
My body is so sore today.
My favorite part of yoga is the meditation and breathing exercises. They may be useful for stress relief and focus. Both are weak areas for me, so I probably need this.
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Losing My Attitude
Thought for the day:
“Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.”
Thomas Jefferson
Wow, it has been a very taxing week, work was a bear, resulting in my having a less than enthusiastic and quite irreverent attitude about it and until today I have been too stressed out to do anything but come home and vegetate.
I can't count the times that Snicker bar in the vending machine at work called out my name, between it and the Bar-B-Que potato chips there was quite a cacophony in my head. I do love the JUNK FOOD when I'm feeling stressed. At least I didn't give in. I just kept remembering 13.4 pounds down and those other 86.6 pounds aren't going anywhere if I cave in.
While all the office drama didn't weigh me down enough to keep from taking my after-lunch walk. In fact, a walk in the breeze actually blows the stink off my attitude just enough to get me through the rest of the day. However, those good intentions of adding to my exercise regimen didn't happen so there were some feelings of apprehension on facing that onerous scale this morning...
I stepped up to face the results of my past weeks efforts and deprivations. The news is good, I have lost another 2.2 pounds, for a grand total of 15.6 pounds lost. CAN I HAVE A DRUM ROLL PLEASE!!!
Now to work on those other 84.4 hideous pounds of unflattering flab, in the coming week I vow to add more exercise, even if I do break out in a sweat.
In review, the week actually sucked; but I did some stuff right anyway.
What I did right-
a. Ate Breakfast daily.
b. Kept a diary of every bite that crossed my lips.
c. Drank a minimum of 6 glasses of good old H2O daily.
d. Walked for 45 minutes, 5 days of the week.
e. Had 2 teaspoons of healthy oils daily.
f. Had at least 6 hours of sleep a night.
What I can do better-
a. Try a new recipe so I don't get bored.
b. Get in some additional kind of exercise by trying a yoga DVD that I bought. (I'll do it this week, I promise)
c. Find a way to improve my attitude.
d. Load my I-Pod with some up-tempo music.
e. Find some non-food and non-alcohol ways to unwind and reduce stress.
I can feel my attitude improving already losing 2.2 pounds helps.
I want to be a BIG LOSER!
“Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.”
Thomas Jefferson
Wow, it has been a very taxing week, work was a bear, resulting in my having a less than enthusiastic and quite irreverent attitude about it and until today I have been too stressed out to do anything but come home and vegetate.
I can't count the times that Snicker bar in the vending machine at work called out my name, between it and the Bar-B-Que potato chips there was quite a cacophony in my head. I do love the JUNK FOOD when I'm feeling stressed. At least I didn't give in. I just kept remembering 13.4 pounds down and those other 86.6 pounds aren't going anywhere if I cave in.
While all the office drama didn't weigh me down enough to keep from taking my after-lunch walk. In fact, a walk in the breeze actually blows the stink off my attitude just enough to get me through the rest of the day. However, those good intentions of adding to my exercise regimen didn't happen so there were some feelings of apprehension on facing that onerous scale this morning...
I stepped up to face the results of my past weeks efforts and deprivations. The news is good, I have lost another 2.2 pounds, for a grand total of 15.6 pounds lost. CAN I HAVE A DRUM ROLL PLEASE!!!
Now to work on those other 84.4 hideous pounds of unflattering flab, in the coming week I vow to add more exercise, even if I do break out in a sweat.
In review, the week actually sucked; but I did some stuff right anyway.
What I did right-
a. Ate Breakfast daily.
b. Kept a diary of every bite that crossed my lips.
c. Drank a minimum of 6 glasses of good old H2O daily.
d. Walked for 45 minutes, 5 days of the week.
e. Had 2 teaspoons of healthy oils daily.
f. Had at least 6 hours of sleep a night.
What I can do better-
a. Try a new recipe so I don't get bored.
b. Get in some additional kind of exercise by trying a yoga DVD that I bought. (I'll do it this week, I promise)
c. Find a way to improve my attitude.
d. Load my I-Pod with some up-tempo music.
e. Find some non-food and non-alcohol ways to unwind and reduce stress.
I can feel my attitude improving already losing 2.2 pounds helps.
I want to be a BIG LOSER!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)