My Hero

Fitday, my hero. Ok, after being all demotivated after thinking about calorie restriction, I decided to play around and see if I could hit two birds with one stone. In other words, could I get my nutrients in (most over 50% RDA-wise) and still be at about 1700 calories. And, most importantly, not eat a ton of nasty diet food.

I don't like fat-free anything, although I will tolerate low-fat--and I don't do artificial sweeteners. And packaged food is not really my cup of tea, either. Which means that a lot of the tools that other weight loss bloggers use are pretty much out--no Le@n Cuisines for me, thank you very much.

The surprise is that I can do pretty well--the only thing that is knocking about in my calculations is iron (80%) and sodium (way, way too high). Everything else looks like I could manage it, and that I would possibly be tired of eating if I had to eat everything I scheduled.

Here is what my menu would look like:

Breakfast
Oatmeal, made with milk, and dried apricots.

Lunch
Turkey with swiss on wheat
crackers with hummus
spinach salad with roasted red peppers and black olives, lemon juice dressing
baby carrots
almonds
banana
(Note: I could never eat this much for lunch.)

Snack
cottage cheese with frozen raspberries

Dinner
Broiled cod
corn on the cob
1/2 sweetpotato with brown sugar
brussel sprouts
a pat of butter to share between veggies

Dessert
fat-free kettle korn
mug of milk

Ok, I didn't put the servings with them, but it would be what I think of as workable servings (half an ounce of almonds, 3 oz of turkey, etc.). I would be completely stuffed and probably wouldn't want either the snack or the dessert. Or the carrots, but I don't like carrots anyway. It always surprises me how much you can eat of veggies. When I first started nutrition tracking, I did have some lunches where I could not eat more than half of my lunch.

The thing is, that if I were exercising regularly, I probably could put that away much easier.

So, this might be do-able, but I will have to do some major menu-planning. So if my fitday looks as if I became superwoman and ate ridiculously well today, just know that this is me fiddling around with it.

W/M and update

On Friday, I weighed in and today I measured, which brings us to:

W: 159
M: 41-34.5-41

I am still working on my goals, but I am having the most trouble with eating my cup of green veggies and reading my devotions (of all things). Yesterday, Dr. MM and I went for a nice, brisk walk at a nearby park before eating Mexican food. OMG. I ate so, so much--or at least it felt like it. Really, I had a lot of chips and salsa, two large glasses of soda, about a fourth a cup of refried beans and the same amount of rice, and two chicken enchiladas. Not a horribly huge amount of food, I guess, but much more than I usually eat at a time.

We've decided that I'm not making enough food for our dinners usually, which is probably true. After a week of feeling just not right, I am usually dying for a really good meal that fills me up (and that I don't have to make). So, we are going to add another veggie to our meals, to get us up to three kinds instead of two. (We're a meat and two type of family.) Then maybe we won't feel the need to pick at snacks after dinner because we will be satisfied already.

Also, I am sick of being this weight/size. Actually, I'm just annoyed that my clothes don't fit as well as they did earlier this summer. Most of the time, I don't focus on changing my weight here because I would rather eat healthy foods and do fun, active things and let weight take care of itself. If it does. I do think that those things are more important than any arbitrary number on a scale, and that if I eat well and exercise then I can be happy and enjoy life. But this week, I have been annoyed at the four bulgy pounds at my waist. Grr.

So, I'm going to step it up a notch. I am going to focus on increasing my exercise, because a) I need to be better about that anyway and b) I don't like to mess with my food! Ha. And because I prefer to track vitamins and fiber instead of calories anyway. After all, I don't really know what calorie goal I should be aiming for anyway--2000 seems to be too much, everyone (on the internets) seems to say that 1200 is too low. This dieting calculator seems to suggest that if I wanted to lose 9 pounds, then I could only eat 1476 calories a day, but that is taking all 500 theoretical weight-loss calories from diet instead of diet + exercise. So. If I give myself 250 more calories, I get 1726. Which I think is not too low or too high (in my loosey-goosey Feelings, which is undeniably accurate).

The thing is that I don't care enough about making myself eat 1726 calories. As I wrote that paragraph, I became bored with the entire idea of focusing on eating less. Why? I think that it is because I will have nothing to show for it. When you can run a certain distance, you can participate in a race--where you can get a free t-shirt! Or you can ride your bike on a trip, and have pictures! Or do something with other people and have memories. You can't have memories of eating 1726 calories. Yes, technically, I will have weight loss to show for it, but what can you really DO with weight loss? Not much. Yes, some people can do more after weight loss, but I'm in the vanity weight-loss category. I'm just doing it to improve the fit of my clothes, and maybe the way I look in pictures--both things that I think are dumb reasons to change your body.

So now that I've demotivated myself, I think I will go get ready for my day! Ha! No, really, I would like to lose nine pounds by the end of the year, so I will focus on running a little bit more, getting my bike out of storage, and eating another serving of veggies for dinner. Or something.

BMR: 343.5
FMR: 321.27

Day 9

1. Floss every night.
2. 15 minutes of moving every day.
3. Eat a cup of green.
4. Use a moisturizer with sunscreen every day.
5. Say no to soda. (I've been sucked in again.)
6. Have a cup or piece of fruit.
7. Read your devotions.
8. Plan for 8 hours of sleep every night.
9. 15 minutes of upkeep so I can pass for a charming Southern belle.

Well, yesterday I did everything but say not to soda. Grr! I needed some caffeine in the afternoon to keep from snoozing, so that is where that came in. Otherwise, not a bad day. Of course, I am off to a bad start today because I didn't think about what I wanted to do about today. Sigh. At least I'm just adding earrings, which is one I do anyway.

Also, my running plus walking added up to being extremely hungry yesterday. I need to be more careful about eating a filling lunch. I'm glad that I have something to look forward to each day because of this list. It really helps to have it already thought-out and ready for me to try.

BMR: 343.5
FMR: 322.27

Day 8, times 2

1. Floss every night.
2. 15 minutes of moving every day.
3. Eat a cup of green.
4. Use a moisturizer with sunscreen every day.
5. Say no to soda. (I've been sucked in again.)
6. Have a cup or piece of fruit.
7. Read your devotions.
8. Plan for 8 hours of sleep every night.

The ones listed in purple are the ones that I am not having much trouble with. The rest I am either not doing or doing about half of the time. What was that? Planning! I should do more of that!

I'm going to bed in about 10-15 minutes, and I will be able to get 8 hours of sleep tonight. Flossing will be done with my evening chores. Tomorrow, I will have one of the single-serve packs of brussels sprouts for lunch as well as an apple. Water will be my friend! I will move my devotions book to my chair when I get up, so that I will deal with that at breakfast time. Also, I will find a podcast tonight to download for my walk tomorrow morning--and lay out my clothes for walking. Tomorrow, I will also be moving to day 9--15 minutes of upkeep. I will do that in the morning, after my shower (eyebrows tomorrow).

Today, I met up with a new potential running partner, who was very nice. We ran just over 2 miles at about 13-14 minute/mile pace. Perhaps it will work out that we can run together each week--that would be great!

BMR: 343.5
FMR: 324.27

I return! Again.

No, I haven't fallen off the wagon completely. We were on vacation, and the days leading up to vacation were wildly busy. That is why planning is essential. It is good to have this very basic plan, but I still need to check in on how I am going to implement it each day/week. Some building blocks are pretty easy to keep up once you start (moisturizer), but I sloth out of flossing and choosing green over potatoes if I have a chance. Tomorrow will be another day, though, and I am going to start it as if it is day 8--which means that I can actually start tonight with my plan for 8 hours of sleep.

When I weighed in on Friday, I was 158. This weekend we went to the beach, and spent a couple of hours yesterday jumping the waves on our boogie boards. Too much fun! I didn't get too sunburned, just across the tops of my shoulders. And I got to wear my brand new (clearance rack) tankini, which was fun, and it fit really well. I ended up walking around some each day as well, so a nice active weekend. We bought little boogie boards this time around, and next time we will get an umbrella and some chairs. I've never lived so close to the beach before, so we will just add little bits at a time until we are good going down for a day and hanging out! Of course, this will probably need to wait until spring--I don't think we can get back there in the next couple of weeks.

BMR: 343.5
FMR: 326.35

Day Seven

1. Floss every night. Check!
2. 15 minutes of moving every day.
3. Eat a cup of green.
4. Use a moisturizer with sunscreen every day. Check!
5. Say no to soda. (I've been sucked in again.) Check!
6. Have a cup or piece of fruit. Check!
7. Read your devotions. Check!

Well, I have already eaten about 3/4 a cup of green today, and dinner is still left. Good for me! I chose to get those out of the way as early as I could today, since other people were feeding me. There was a breakfast and lunch buffet at the meeting, so I had fruit medley for breakfast and then a little salad with lunch. Besides the roll, the salad was the best part of lunch--it was a catered Southern-style lunch, and most of it was just too heavy. Yes, I ate all the dressing anyway, but I love dressing, even when it is cafeteria style.

Yesterday, my nutritional picture was so-so. Only zinc was below 50%, and my calories and fat were inline with what I would like. The problem was that I ate so much candy corn. I don't know why I buy it, because I have no self-control with respect to it. Of course, it makes me feel awful. What I really would like is a single little snack pack of it, like I would get when I went trick or treating. That is enough.

I loved trick or treating, even when we would go to our elderly relatives' homes and get apples and sweet potatoes instead of candy (and one year I think we got quarters). They didn't do trick or treating, but they liked to see us dressed up. Then we would go to the two dozen houses in our neighborhood and get candy. If we were lucky, we would get home in time to give out candy to the couple of people who always came to our house. I grew up in a tiny little rural area (it's not really a town), if this sounds strange, and we didn't have any neighbors within a half mile of our house. When I got older, and my mom was an elementary school principal, sometimes her students would show up at our door--it was like a treat their parents gave them! That was fun.

Day Six

1. Floss every night. Check!
2. 15 minutes of moving every day. Check!
3. Eat a cup of green. Check!
4. Use a moisturizer with sunscreen every day. Check!
5. Say no to soda. (I've been sucked in again.) Check!
6. Have a cup or piece of fruit. Check!

Ok, I haven't gotten my focused moving in today and I can't count mall walking again. I need to start making that a priority at the beginning of the day no matter what! I may do 15 minutes of Pilates or something before bed tonight and be able to check it off, though. Same for number 6--an apple is calling my name!

Yesterday, I ate a lot--2400+ calories. It doesn't show up on fitday that way because I am too lazy to put in the amounts for candy corn, and I ate a ton of it. (Today, too!) Of course, because I ate so much, my nutritional levels are pretty high--only vitamin D is below 50%. Fiber was ok, too, because of the popcorn. The major culprit for yesterday's poor calorie and fat choices is movie food--popcorn, coke (on my first no coke day), and chocolate-covered almonds. The good thing about these foods (not the coke) is that they are actually decent foods underneath the fatty coating. So, I'm not too upset about that--I could have eaten jr mints, which is pure sugar. I think from now on, I'm going to abstain from movie treats. They don't add that much to my movie-going experience, so it shouldn't be too hard to break that habit.

The great thing about having this list is that I am motivated not only to try to do the things on this list, but also some of the things that are coming up on the list. I feel pretty great about that. Oh, I just realized that I could walk up and down my stairs for 15 minutes and call it exercise. I would run, but we made jokes about the elephant living next door to us--really, I think it was their dog--because of our neighbors' stairs yesterday. I'm pretty sure that none of our neighbors can run as fast up the stairs as the "elephant" did.

Edited to add: I don't know what possessed me to walk up and down our stairs. I just did 10 minutes of it, plus 5 minutes of stretching afterwards. I like how off the cuff I am in the previous paragraph: "Oh, I'll just walk up and down the stairs. No big deal." Ha. On the other hand, I just found my rainy day exercise.

1. Floss every night. Check!
2. 15 minutes of moving every day. Check!
3. Eat a cup of green. Check!
4. Use a moisturizer with sunscreen every day. Check!
5. Say no to soda. (I've been sucked in again.)

Yesterday, I ended up not planning well enough for my cup of green. Right now, my only options for green is salad. When I go to the grocery store next, I will have to get some broccoli for eating raw and maybe something else that looks good. Also, I should have had some salad for lunch, but I didn't think of it at the time. Just like exercise, I should eat the best at the earliest possible time.

Today, I am starting again with no soda. Living with Dr. MM, we have cokes in the house all the time, so it is harder to avoid them. I had one yesterday, but that is it. I know I can do this, it just takes a tiny bit of thought.

Yesterday, on the nutrition front, was not so great. Calories (1559), fat (29%) were ok, but I missed most of my nutritional goals. So I didn't eat a whole lot, but what I did eat was junky. Vit A, D, K, b-6, b-12, and zinc were all under 50% and sodium was high. Live and learn.

BMR: 343.5
FMR: 326.85

Weights and Measures

W: 158
M: 40.5-35-41

As for yesterday's nutritional break-down, we have a victory! Only five cookies! Perhaps that is because that is all that was left, but still less than the day before.

Most of my nutrient goals were hit, with only vitamin D under 50%. Others that didn't hit 100%: vit. A, vit B-16, vit B-12, iron, zinc, selenium (99+%), calcium, phosphorus, magnesium. Most of these were pretty high, besides D, I am only concerned about vit. A and will need to try to eat more of that in the next few days. Sodium was just over 2300, at 2386, so much better! Fiber was still low at 16, as was protein at 42. Fat was just a little high at 32% of my calories. Calories were good at 1811.

When I start recording, I am always surprised at how little I tend to eat when I am paying attention. I mean, yes, I ate five cookies and two chocolates yesterday, but if you take those away, then my calories are at 1400, which is pretty low.

Anyway, I need to think of ways to eat more protein. I have been wanting cottage cheese recently, and that usually increases my protein. Other than that, I will try to eat a good protein for lunch--like an egg or some tuna. That should help.

1. Floss each night. Check!
2. 15 minutes of moving. Check! (more walking at the mall)
3. Eat a cup of green.
4. Use a moisturizer with sunscreen every day. Check!

That is what I'm working on today. I didn't go walking this morning because my heel is sore. I think I caught it from Marla. Anyway, I figured I would give it a rest until I go shopping (again) this afternoon, and it will make me do my Pilates project that I have been putting off. Yesterday, I ate two mini-salads for my cup of green and will probably eat one more today for lunch. Also, I bought my moisturizer yesterday, so after I dry my hair in a minute, I will be able to check off number 4! I like having this list, because I can plan ahead for the things I want to do, but not have the pressure of doing them now. Planning is really one of the most important things for healthy living, so I'm glad I made up my little tool!

Yesterday' Nutrition Breakdown

Yesterday was the first day that I got back on track with fitday. I did pretty well, despite the three dinner rolls and six cookies. All of my nutrients are over 50%. Most were met, with the deficient ones being: vitamins A and D, iron, zinc, calcium (99+%), and magnesium. Sodium was too high, at 3288 instead of under 2300. Fiber was low at 13 instead of 19+. Calories were within range (1766) although heavy on the fat (37%). Protein was too low (72 instead of 124 grams). Maybe I can do better today on the nutrients!

Day three

1. Floss each night. Check!
2. 15 minutes of moving. Check!
3. Eat a cup of green. Check!

Number 3 is the new thing I am doing today. I went to bed earlier than usual last night, so I got up not long after 8 am. Getting up at that time made it a lot easier to get outside. I even downloaded a podcast to listen to this morning, without it feeling like a chore! (Sometimes that sidetracks or demotivates me.) Basically, if it is after 9am, I feel as if it is too late to go outside and exercise. Why bother? I'm already being lazy by sleeping in! I hate sleeping in, it makes me feel very lazy and ruins my day. I did run some today, a little less than a mile (not all at once).

My cup of green today is going to be broken up. I think I will have some salad greens for lunch and then I will have some mixed veggies (including broccoli) tonight with dinner. That should get my cup of greens going!

Also, I have started recording fitday again. No judgment, just getting back in the habit--although I hope that I don't eat six cookies again today. Weight and measures on Friday!

BMR: 343.5
FMR: 328.35

Sigh.

Well, we all know where good intentions lead.

But, it is a new day! Or it will be tomorrow! I am trying to set up some basic routines to get me back on track. One of them would be to go to bed, so that I can get up in the morning and do some exercise. I walked all over the mall today, so I am more tired than usual. Maybe tonight will be the night!

Anyway, I am borrowing from Flylady and her 31 beginner's steps--I am going to create my own personal beginner's map to a healthier, happier me. Each day, I will add one new thing to my routine and build on that! (Today is day 2.) My beginner's steps are things that wrench me out of sloppy slug mode and make me feel my best. I do many of them everyday anyway, but sometimes I need reminders--like put on makeup! I like wearing good makeup, so I should take the trouble to do it. No, I don't know if I have all this spare time that I am making up 15 minutes here and there, but I can tweak it as I go along. Of course, I spend about 4 zillion hours a day on the computer, surfing the net, so I have plenty of time to work this stuff in. While this is the minimum I want to do right now, it is not ranked in order of importance. Also, somethings might overlap.

1. Floss every night.
2. 15 minutes of moving every day.
3. Eat a cup of green.
4. Use a moisturizer with sunscreen every day.
5. Say no to soda. (I've been sucked in again.)
6. Have a cup or piece of fruit.
7. Read your devotions.
8. Plan for 8 hours of sleep every night.
9. 15 minutes of upkeep so I can pass for a charming Southern belle.
10. Pick out some great earrings to wear.
11. Dress as if you are special.
12. Makeup!
13. Eat one serving of whole grains.
14. Make the bed.
15. Do something fun that you love (cook a great meal, read, work on a sewing project, etc.)
16. Eat a veggie with lunch.
17. Go outside for 20 minutes.
18. Take care of your hair.
19. Spend 30 minutes enjoying the end of the day before lights out.
20. Write someone you care about.
21. Do 15 minutes of stretching.
22. Drink a glass of water with breakfast.
23. Walk a mile after supper.
24. Go to bed before midnight.
25. Eat a piece of fruit with supper.
26. Spend 2 minutes cleaning out your purse.
27. 15 minutes of focused relaxation
28. Pick your clothes out for the next day.
29. Spend 15 minutes with Dr. MM.
30. Spend 15 minutes taking care of your desk.
31. Spend 2 minutes cleaning out your car.

Yesterday, I started flossing again. And today I walked at the mall for HOURS. Really and truly, I think I got there about 3 and I left at 7. Yes, I did buy lots of clothes, but not 4 hours worth.