I was allowed 2000 calories today and I didn't even hit it. I didn't try to keep it low, but I guess with a busy weekend day I wound up skipping a couple of snacks. I had oatmeal for breakfast and half of it spilled so I only used 100 calories. I decided to have a piece of my homemade zucchini bread about an hour later because I was still hungry(100). For lunch, we took the kids out for a special treat and I got a grilled chicken sandwich and fries(668). For dinner we had linguine Alfredo(500) and salad with a little dressing(100). Dessert is mint chocolate chip ice cream (300). That only totals 1768. I hope that tomorrow is as easy because it is an 1800 calorie day. I guess tomorrow I will come up with next week's plan. I am going to have to make one of the days a lesser amount I think.
The part of today that is even more shocking to me is the part about my clothes. My friend Sassy had mentioned that she might have financial hardship as she loses weight and I understand that. I said to my husband today that a lot of my underwear is too big, including my bras. My pants today could fit another half of my waist in it with me and that is only from losing 15 pounds. I have a lot of clothes that are in my closet from after my first pregnancy that haven't fit in a while...they are mostly winter clothes so as soon as the weather changes I am hoping to get into some old clothes. I didn't gain that much weight after my second pregnancy but just enough to have to get new pants. I can fit in the old pants now but they are too tight. Some of them have become less tight this past month when I tried them on so I know I am on the right track. I have one pair of black pants that are just so huge they literally fall down when I am walking. They are not flattering, but I can't see buying a lot of new clothes until I lose a lot more weight. Last winter a lot of the shirts I wore awfully tight around my bust so I hope to change that. For me though, I never seem to lose weight in my chest. I would like to but I am not sure that is int he cards. I figure if I lose some of the fat on my back that will help the shirt situation. We shall see. I know that i will have to buy new clothes next spring/summer so I guess I will be asking for gift certs to various stores for x-mas and my b-day. That is a good thing to ask for!!!
I would like to lose 10 more pounds by the time I go away at the beginning of November. We are going away then and I would like not to gain more than 3 pounds while we are away. I figure by then I will have a pretty good understanding of how many calories many foods are worth and I can estimate when we eat out. I may not have the ability to zig-zag the calories, but at least I can try to stay below my 2000 calories allotted. I can babble more about that another time.
Off to relax and put my foot up so it is ready for tomorrow's exercise.
Saturday, October 6, 2007
Friday, October 5, 2007
Another successful day
As the week comes to an end I am feeling really good about it. I stayed under my calorie count today(1900) by about 75. I am not near my pad of paper where I keep the list so I can't write down the amounts today, but I do know that I was under and that surprises me. I felt like I ate a lot today, but I guess it was all within range.
I had a late breakfast/early lunch which was a salami cheese wrap with mustard. I also had cookies with it. For a snack I had a Rice Krispy treat. Later on I had a lollipop to cure my sweet tooth.
At dinner, we had a strange group of items. I had 6 chicken wings, 4 mini egg rolls and a baked potato with sour cream. It was like an appetizer plate for dinner. It was weird, but a really nice combination of food. We had never had the egg rolls before, but I bought them at Costco the last time I was there. There are only 180 cals in 4 egg rolls. That seems like a lot of food for such a small amount of calories.
I was even able to exercise this morning for 35 minutes which is 10 minutes more than I have been able to walk this whole week. It felt really good. Glad I exercised today though because the foods I had today were a bit on the salty side so I may pay for that on the scale this weekend. I think I may wait to weigh in until Sunday since I had all that salt today.
Tomorrow is my 2000 calorie day so that will be pretty easy I think unless we go out. Even then a salad will easily keep the count down. Looking forward to a weekend of nice weather!
I had a late breakfast/early lunch which was a salami cheese wrap with mustard. I also had cookies with it. For a snack I had a Rice Krispy treat. Later on I had a lollipop to cure my sweet tooth.
At dinner, we had a strange group of items. I had 6 chicken wings, 4 mini egg rolls and a baked potato with sour cream. It was like an appetizer plate for dinner. It was weird, but a really nice combination of food. We had never had the egg rolls before, but I bought them at Costco the last time I was there. There are only 180 cals in 4 egg rolls. That seems like a lot of food for such a small amount of calories.
I was even able to exercise this morning for 35 minutes which is 10 minutes more than I have been able to walk this whole week. It felt really good. Glad I exercised today though because the foods I had today were a bit on the salty side so I may pay for that on the scale this weekend. I think I may wait to weigh in until Sunday since I had all that salt today.
Tomorrow is my 2000 calorie day so that will be pretty easy I think unless we go out. Even then a salad will easily keep the count down. Looking forward to a weekend of nice weather!
Thursday, October 4, 2007
So I began my day with a treadmill walk. I have been doing some faster walking to see if my foot can take it. I walk for 3 minutes at about 2.7 miles an hour and then about 3.2 miles an hour for 3 minutes then 3.0 for about 3 minutes. Then I repeat the cycle. It helps me walk faster without too much stress on the foot. I enjoy walking outside too, but the problem is I don't think I walk fast enough. I am going to walk outside tomorrow morning though for a change.
My total calories allowed today was 1800. I kept it under with a total of 1797. I had oatmeal for breakfast(130) and tuna with crackers for lunch as well as some cheese crackers and grapes(382). For dinner I had meat lasagna with cream of mushroom soup and green beans(555). During the day I had a piece of zucchini bread for snack(100). We usually don't have sweets during the week for dessert, but we had some cake that needed to be used before it went bad so I had a piece for dessert(330). I think overall it was a good day. I feel better than yesterday because my cramps are gone.
Tomorrow is a 1900 day and I am thinking about limiting it to 1800 because I know I can and give myself 2100 on Saturday for a splurge. I will see how the day goes. I should be pretty busy, but some times that is harder to be careful. I am going to try to plan the food out the night before like I do when I am working a full day. Usually I just list the items that I am putting in my lunch bag and if I eat them I add the cals, otherwise I just cross them off. For example, I always bring a fruit, a granola bar and some kind of cracker or veggie(for the crunch). Today I ate the cracker and the veggie so when I got home from work I crossed off the other too. When I write them down I write out the cals so I can figure out what I have allotted for various meals. It seems to work for me.
My total calories allowed today was 1800. I kept it under with a total of 1797. I had oatmeal for breakfast(130) and tuna with crackers for lunch as well as some cheese crackers and grapes(382). For dinner I had meat lasagna with cream of mushroom soup and green beans(555). During the day I had a piece of zucchini bread for snack(100). We usually don't have sweets during the week for dessert, but we had some cake that needed to be used before it went bad so I had a piece for dessert(330). I think overall it was a good day. I feel better than yesterday because my cramps are gone.
Tomorrow is a 1900 day and I am thinking about limiting it to 1800 because I know I can and give myself 2100 on Saturday for a splurge. I will see how the day goes. I should be pretty busy, but some times that is harder to be careful. I am going to try to plan the food out the night before like I do when I am working a full day. Usually I just list the items that I am putting in my lunch bag and if I eat them I add the cals, otherwise I just cross them off. For example, I always bring a fruit, a granola bar and some kind of cracker or veggie(for the crunch). Today I ate the cracker and the veggie so when I got home from work I crossed off the other too. When I write them down I write out the cals so I can figure out what I have allotted for various meals. It seems to work for me.
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Today I had a realization
So I know that I haven't had my dinner or snack, but I have that mostly planned out. I had my normal oatmeal for breakfast and a mid-morning snack that totaled 370. I had a lunch meeting again so I made sure to have mostly sald but I also had some fish. I skipped the dessert which looked great and I am happy that I did. The lunch total was 650. For dinner we will be having steak(300), parsley potatoes(200) and peas(70). I also had celery and salad dressing(100) for snack after work and I had a lollipop today(100). So my total for the day will be 1792 and I can still have a snack. I have only 208 cals left so I will have either popcorn or a granola bar. Either of those will leave me under my allowed limit for today(1900) so that will be fine.
Now on to my realization.....I was looking in the cabinet a few minutes ago to see if I could have a teaspoon of peanut butter for a snack. (This is a rough day for me because I got my period so I am extremely hungry for salt--peanut butter solves that for me). I looked at the calorie content of that small amount and realized it was about 90 cals. I was shocked. I can't tell you how many times in the past that I have just taken a spoon or two of peanut butter around 4:30 for snack. The amount of calories I have been consuming doing that is outrageous. I also will occassionally just eat what my kids left over for lunch instead of just making my own. Then I am hungry in an hour and eat another small meal. I can't even imagine the amount of calories I was consuming before I really started watching what I ate. I know this may seem like a silly realization to some, but it was really eye opening for me. It also helps me to realize how much I should give my kids to eat because they do not need as many calories as adults. Their portions are reasonable now when I feed them their meals. When we are at someone else's house I still try to make sure they don't eat too much. I notice that when they eat too much they get little bellies also. I am desperately trying to teach them about portion size in a kid friendly way and without saying the word diet. We teach them that we need to eat balanced--a veggie or a fruit is served at every meal. We also teach them that they don't need to eat too much. The hardest part was teaching our girls that you can't eat toast and pancakes because it is too much bread.
A new rule that I might have mentioned before is that we only eat baked goods desserts on the weekend. DUring the week they can have fruit or graham crackers or jello for dessert. It is hard for them to understand all the time, but our oldest understands that we want her to be healthy. She enjoys it actually. I don't want to seem like we are making our kids diet, we are just teaching them about nutrition on a leve they understand. With so much childhood obesity and the struggle that I have always had, I don't want them to have to suffer.
Anyway, enough rambling. I just wanted to share. Hope I didn't bore anyone!!
Now on to my realization.....I was looking in the cabinet a few minutes ago to see if I could have a teaspoon of peanut butter for a snack. (This is a rough day for me because I got my period so I am extremely hungry for salt--peanut butter solves that for me). I looked at the calorie content of that small amount and realized it was about 90 cals. I was shocked. I can't tell you how many times in the past that I have just taken a spoon or two of peanut butter around 4:30 for snack. The amount of calories I have been consuming doing that is outrageous. I also will occassionally just eat what my kids left over for lunch instead of just making my own. Then I am hungry in an hour and eat another small meal. I can't even imagine the amount of calories I was consuming before I really started watching what I ate. I know this may seem like a silly realization to some, but it was really eye opening for me. It also helps me to realize how much I should give my kids to eat because they do not need as many calories as adults. Their portions are reasonable now when I feed them their meals. When we are at someone else's house I still try to make sure they don't eat too much. I notice that when they eat too much they get little bellies also. I am desperately trying to teach them about portion size in a kid friendly way and without saying the word diet. We teach them that we need to eat balanced--a veggie or a fruit is served at every meal. We also teach them that they don't need to eat too much. The hardest part was teaching our girls that you can't eat toast and pancakes because it is too much bread.
A new rule that I might have mentioned before is that we only eat baked goods desserts on the weekend. DUring the week they can have fruit or graham crackers or jello for dessert. It is hard for them to understand all the time, but our oldest understands that we want her to be healthy. She enjoys it actually. I don't want to seem like we are making our kids diet, we are just teaching them about nutrition on a leve they understand. With so much childhood obesity and the struggle that I have always had, I don't want them to have to suffer.
Anyway, enough rambling. I just wanted to share. Hope I didn't bore anyone!!
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
A new recipe and a surprise
I am going to start by saying I have such a headache all day today. I had stress at work that was resolved, but still, enough to get my mind racing. I am also due to get my period which often is preceded by a headache. My foot also gave me a bit of pain today because it is still bothered by the yardwork I did on Sunday. So, that being said, I still had a good day.
I don't know why, but I weighed myself today. I decided to do that because I wanted to see if I gained water weight since I drank about 15 glasses of water yesterday. To my surprise I lost a pound. I was so excited!!
Today was a 1700 calorie day for me. I kept it under at a total of 1683. It was easier than I expected. I am one of those people who needs to eat every 2 hours or so in order to be successful when dieting. I wrote out the list of all the snacks that I put in my lunch bag this morning before leaving for work. When I got home, I crossed off the one I did not eat and added up the others. I had added them all before I left so I knew I still had enough for dinner---I left 895 for dinner. That method worked out for me. I will do it that everyday I think.
For breakfast, I had apple-cinnamon oatmeal. I am trying to have that often because it is good for cholesterol(150) and it is low in calories while still filling. Lunch was left over lobster ravioli and a rice krispy treat. For snack I had cheese crackers and later I had a granola bar.
I made turkey croquettes today and they turned out really great. Each croquette had a little less than 300 calories as I figured it. I always add a few calories if I am not certain. I think it was probably about 285, but since it was all ingredients that I put together and had to do calculations for, I used 300 for the intake amount. With the croquettes I had pierogies and broccoli. For snack I had popcorn--about a cup.
The recipe was from www.foodtv.com and I just searched for "turkey croquettes." My husband really loves croquettes so I wanted to make them especially good. He was so happy that he had 2 and wanted more. We froze the rest though for a second meal since it made so much.
Well, I am happy with today so hopefully I will have another great day tomorrow.
I don't know why, but I weighed myself today. I decided to do that because I wanted to see if I gained water weight since I drank about 15 glasses of water yesterday. To my surprise I lost a pound. I was so excited!!
Today was a 1700 calorie day for me. I kept it under at a total of 1683. It was easier than I expected. I am one of those people who needs to eat every 2 hours or so in order to be successful when dieting. I wrote out the list of all the snacks that I put in my lunch bag this morning before leaving for work. When I got home, I crossed off the one I did not eat and added up the others. I had added them all before I left so I knew I still had enough for dinner---I left 895 for dinner. That method worked out for me. I will do it that everyday I think.
For breakfast, I had apple-cinnamon oatmeal. I am trying to have that often because it is good for cholesterol(150) and it is low in calories while still filling. Lunch was left over lobster ravioli and a rice krispy treat. For snack I had cheese crackers and later I had a granola bar.
I made turkey croquettes today and they turned out really great. Each croquette had a little less than 300 calories as I figured it. I always add a few calories if I am not certain. I think it was probably about 285, but since it was all ingredients that I put together and had to do calculations for, I used 300 for the intake amount. With the croquettes I had pierogies and broccoli. For snack I had popcorn--about a cup.
The recipe was from www.foodtv.com and I just searched for "turkey croquettes." My husband really loves croquettes so I wanted to make them especially good. He was so happy that he had 2 and wanted more. We froze the rest though for a second meal since it made so much.
Well, I am happy with today so hopefully I will have another great day tomorrow.
Monday, October 1, 2007
I am amazed at myself!
So today was the first day that I "officially" counted calories. I allowed myself 2000 calories today because I I went out to dinner. Prior to dinner I had eaten 845 calories so that left about 1150 for dinner.
Breakfast was apple cinnamon oatmeal. Lunch was a salami sandwich with mustard on wheat bread. I also had a cup of chai latte. It was about 120 calories, but worth it. I will have to buy more of that since it was the last bit of powder. When the kids came home I made a yogurt banana milkshake. It was okay, and it totaled about 105 calories. When I make it the next time I am going to use less yogurt and more milk. I had a zucchini muffin and some grapes with that for about 150 calories. I am one of those people, in case you haven't guessed by now, that needs to eat often during the day. So after calculating dinner and estimating high on a couple of things, I think I used up about 980 calories on dinner. As I see it, the total for the day is 1825. I thought that I would easily go over today since it was my first day and I was going out to dinner. I only ate about a third of my salad and about half of my dinner. Since I didn't make the food it was harder for me to estimate. I have a calorie counting book, but it is for name brand foods so I really need to get another book for every type of food.
Anyway, I am happy with the food I ate today and how my calorie breakdown occurred. Tomorrow will be a new experience because I am going to work tomorrow and not taking my calorie book. I am going to stick with an easy food day. I am back down to 1700 tomorrow, but that won't be that terribly difficult since I am out of the office for a few hours in the morning. My downfall is after about 2PM. I am going to try to drink a glass of diet soda at that time if I need it. We'll see, sometimes I get so busy I am distracted until I get home from work.
Looking forward to another successful day!
Breakfast was apple cinnamon oatmeal. Lunch was a salami sandwich with mustard on wheat bread. I also had a cup of chai latte. It was about 120 calories, but worth it. I will have to buy more of that since it was the last bit of powder. When the kids came home I made a yogurt banana milkshake. It was okay, and it totaled about 105 calories. When I make it the next time I am going to use less yogurt and more milk. I had a zucchini muffin and some grapes with that for about 150 calories. I am one of those people, in case you haven't guessed by now, that needs to eat often during the day. So after calculating dinner and estimating high on a couple of things, I think I used up about 980 calories on dinner. As I see it, the total for the day is 1825. I thought that I would easily go over today since it was my first day and I was going out to dinner. I only ate about a third of my salad and about half of my dinner. Since I didn't make the food it was harder for me to estimate. I have a calorie counting book, but it is for name brand foods so I really need to get another book for every type of food.
Anyway, I am happy with the food I ate today and how my calorie breakdown occurred. Tomorrow will be a new experience because I am going to work tomorrow and not taking my calorie book. I am going to stick with an easy food day. I am back down to 1700 tomorrow, but that won't be that terribly difficult since I am out of the office for a few hours in the morning. My downfall is after about 2PM. I am going to try to drink a glass of diet soda at that time if I need it. We'll see, sometimes I get so busy I am distracted until I get home from work.
Looking forward to another successful day!
My plan update
So as I talked about last time I wrote, up until now I have been simply watching portions as I prepare my daily meals/snacks. I did some calorie counting this past weekend and I found it to be easier than expected and another way for me to feel more accountable. I had decided that I would begin the actual counting this week and simply stay within the limit that I am allowed. I have changed my mind since reading more about the calorie zig-zagging and now I too am going to change my daily allotment.
My daily allowance is 2024. That includes 3 times a week of exercise which I hope to increase to 4, but depending on the foot I can't always even get the 3 full sessions in so I will see what happens with that. I am giving myself 2000 calories a day. I start my weeks on Monday, but I will add in yesterday since I officially started yesterday. So for the upcoming week(10/1-10/7)
[Sunday: 1800]
Monday: 2000
Tuesday: 1700 & exercise
Wednesday: 1900
Thursday: 1800 & exercise
Friday: 1900 & exercise
Saturday: 2000
Sunday: 1800 & exercise
I really haven't veered too much from the 2000 calories because I am not sure how much I should reduce from my calorie intake so that it is realistic. This will be something of an experimental week for me. I feel that I already eat healthy foods, but now my job is to make sure my intake of them is at the right portions. This way I will know exactly how much I can afford to eat after dinner when I am dying for a snack. As I see how this method works for me, I am sure that I will decrease the amount of calories on some days and add to others. We often plan outings for the weekend at least a week in advance so I can calculate that into my schedule.
Well, now that you know the plan, hope to be able to report that I can follow it. I feel so motivated and supported that I believe I will be successful
My daily allowance is 2024. That includes 3 times a week of exercise which I hope to increase to 4, but depending on the foot I can't always even get the 3 full sessions in so I will see what happens with that. I am giving myself 2000 calories a day. I start my weeks on Monday, but I will add in yesterday since I officially started yesterday. So for the upcoming week(10/1-10/7)
[Sunday: 1800]
Monday: 2000
Tuesday: 1700 & exercise
Wednesday: 1900
Thursday: 1800 & exercise
Friday: 1900 & exercise
Saturday: 2000
Sunday: 1800 & exercise
I really haven't veered too much from the 2000 calories because I am not sure how much I should reduce from my calorie intake so that it is realistic. This will be something of an experimental week for me. I feel that I already eat healthy foods, but now my job is to make sure my intake of them is at the right portions. This way I will know exactly how much I can afford to eat after dinner when I am dying for a snack. As I see how this method works for me, I am sure that I will decrease the amount of calories on some days and add to others. We often plan outings for the weekend at least a week in advance so I can calculate that into my schedule.
Well, now that you know the plan, hope to be able to report that I can follow it. I feel so motivated and supported that I believe I will be successful
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