6/365 - Dinner Idea

I love to cook. I also love to eat.

No new news there.

I also love getting and sharing tasty and easy meals.

Tonight we had a steak salad that was delicious and super filling. It was even low-carb.  Seasoned, seared steak, gorganzola cheese, green onions and cucumbers happily sat on a bed of lettuce.  With an abundance of flavor already present, it only needed a drizzle of real (No chemicals and fillers) Ranch dressing before I attacked it with a fork.

My husband is eating low carbs right now and since he was making dinner, we had a low carb meal.  It works well for him, so he enjoys eating this way.  In the past I've tried to eat low carb, but it just doesn't work for me, my body rebels.  I have learned that I need fewer than the mega carbs I typically eat, but enough so I can clearly think and have an energy level necessary for my lifestyle.  When I don't eat enough healthy carbohydrates, I don't function well.

I also don't think it's okay to avoid a whole macro-nutrient in our diets.  There is a reason our bodies are designed to function well when we have the correct balance of carbohydrates, proteins and fats. Now when I say healthy carbohydrates, I'm talking whole wheat or naturally occurring carbohydrates like those found in fruits, vegetables and grains. Not the processed, nutrient-less kind so easily found in our food chain.

This salad was heavy enough to keep me full even though it was low on carbs.  I had energy for my workout and I had no desire to snack when I stepped off the elliptical. Eating low carb for a meal is good now and then, I just can't do it daily.

Allan is right, this is REALLY hard

I'm participating in Allan's Phase 4 challenge, well, at least I'm trying to do it. It's not that easy. He says it gets better, I sure hope he's right.

I don't weigh 141 like he has me listed on his chart of participants. I wish! I started at 181 on Sunday. I hope he doesn't show me gaining 40 pounds at the end of week one.

The Good
My size 12 jeans that I wore on the plane on Saturday that were too tight and cutting into my flesh, fit much better today. They were fresh out of the dryer this morning, and they're actually comfortable.

My manager bought us all really cool company logo insulated water glasses with a straw. I love it! I can add ice and it doesn't sweat like my stainless steel Nathan water bottle. I've actually been drinking more than my required 90 ounces of water (today was 116 ounces of water, plus coffee and tea - a little on the high side).

The bad
Allan said Phase 4 would be hard in the beginning and he wasn't kidding. It's been an extremely difficult three days of trying my best to stay in the 1200-calorie range. To say I'm hungry is an understatement. I feel like I'm starving to death. I'm trying to follow his eating guidelines. Actually, they're similar to Weight Watchers but without all the "free" fruit.

I've been eating a bit more protein than his plan recommends, because, well, you know I work out soooo hard. I think I've been kidding myself about exactly how hard I'm really exercising. I thought the extra protein would help with the hunger but it's not working. I know, I'm breaking the rules and if this doesn't work for me it's totally my own fault.

The ugly
I'm feeling sort of weak and light headed, and I'm more forgetful than normal. Forgetting names of people that I've known for years, losing my cell phone (found it in my car), and other things that are starting drive me a little nuts.

I can't decide if this is all in my head and I'm imagining it or if it's because of the reduced calories. I know the upside of the hunger means I'm losing weight. The downside is that it's difficult to function when I feel like this.

My workout this morning was really terrible. Thirty minutes on the StairMaster and each step felt like torture. I only completed 103 floors. I normally complete at least 125 to 135 floors (my personal best was 144 floors in 30 minutes).

My strength workout wasn't much better. The barbell that I use for bicep curls and overhead shoulder presses is 45 pounds. I've been doing it for months but today that 45 pounds felt like 65 pounds. I completed all of my exercises and reps (three sets each) but it was a struggle. I really just wanted to go home, eat everything in sight, and crawl back into bed. Usually I don't even think about food when I'm at the gym in the morning.

My calories burned on my heart rate monitor for my hour workout was 380. Usually it's 500 - 600 calories. Not good.

A word about Weight Watchers
I've been whining about the zero Points fruits and vegetables, but really, for most people I don't think this is a problem. It's really just a problem for me. I don't seem to know when to stop. I guess I'm lacking in common sense when it comes to food. After all, I did gain 100 pounds. That says a lot about my self-control when it comes to food.

I'm still attending meetings, mainly for the accountability of the weigh ins and because I love my leader.

Link to my food diary
I'm tracking my food on a different blog page -- Food Diary, with calories AND Points for everything I'm eating. It's very boring reading but I'm really surprised how many calories I'm consuming. I'm pretty sure I was eating a lot more than 2000 calories a day because 1300 calories seems like starvation to me now. No wonder I've been gaining weight.

My conclusion about this whole thing
It really is lot harder than I thought to eat only 1200 calories a day. I really hate being this hungry. I know it'll be worth it if I can get this weight off. Thanks Allan for sharing your plan with us, I appreciate it, but oh my gosh, this is difficult!

How to Shop for Healthy Snacks

A recent study on Australian children has found that children and adolescents consume more energy from low nutrient, calorie-dense foods than any other age-group, with the average child receiving 3 unhealthy snacks in their lunch box each day.

Nutrition experts recommend that parents should pack just one packaged snack each day in their lunch box. It is also recommended that this snack is either a wholegrain snack (such as a muesli bar) or dairy-based (such as yoghurt) or a fruit based snack.

Tips for best packed snacks:

• Energy: Choose a snack with 600kJ or less
• Sugar: Some sugars occur naturally in foods such as milk or fruit. To check for any ‘added’ sugar, check the ingredients list. If sugar is one of the first two ingredients listed, it is likely to be high in sugar
• Fat: It is more important to look for the TYPE of fat. Look for snacks that have less than 2g of saturated fat per serve
• Sodium (Salt): Check the nutrition label for less than 100mg of salt per serve.

Healthy Snack Ideas (Meets at least 3 of the above criteria)

The following snacks are available at most supermarkets and are suitable for children and adults.

Wholegrain snacks

• Carman’s muesli bar ‘bites’ or ‘rounds’ (346kJ)
• Uncle Tobys muesli bars (average 560kJ)
• Ski D’lite apple and pear bars (363kJ)
• Nestle milo cereal bar (334kJ)
• Real McCoy air popped corn (439kJ)
• A row of rice crackers (415kJ)
• Small tin of baked beans – no added salt (460kJ)
• Wholegrain crackers or vegetable sticks with salsa, hummus, low fat tzatziki or natural yoghurt

Dairy based snacks

• 100g tub of Vaalia (French Vanilla 425kJ) or Ski D’lite yoghurt (Vanilla crème 379kJ)
• Pauls The Wiggles Yoghurt with Real Fruit Strawberry (369kJ)
• Yoplait Go-Gurt Yoghurt Tubes Strawberry (307kJ)
• Aunty Betty’s creamed rice (417kJ)
• Reduced fat cheese sticks or cubes

Fruit based snacks

• Whole fresh fruit (250-350kJ)
• Coles Farmland or Goulburn Valley or Sweet Valley Two Fruits in Juice (330kJ)
• Golden Circle or SPC Fruit Salad (335kJ)
• Golden circle Splurtz Apple and Strawberry Fruit Puree (283kJ)
• SPC fruit snacks two fruits in strawberry jelly (376kJ)

Acai Berry Diet and Weight Loss

After having appeared on Oprah, acai berries became the talk of the town. What exciting little acai berry?

People in Brazil has been using the acai berry for a long time in various ways, including juices and smoothies made from the berries and pulp. In some parts of Brazil, acai is eaten in a pumpkin with tapioca pudding. You can also take acai ice cream and liqueurs. The acai berry is also popular among people who do diets, but not used in the same manner as described above.

Benefits of acai health

It is believed that contain acai berries antioxidants than blueberries or red wine. Some people believe that the acai berry can be very healthy and helps you lose weight, while improving overall health and wellbeing.

Other benefits of eating acai berries may include better digestion, detox your body, improve immunity, improve cardiovascular health, better vision and better concentration. It is also believed that acai berries are an effective aid to sleep, and can prevent age with normal speed. That is an incredible soft, right?

The acai can help in many ways that everyone should try it. When it comes to losing weight, the acai berry contains fatty acids in the form of amino acids and phytosterols, which when combined, speed up your metabolism, improve digestion and reduce hunger. However, the effects of acai weight loss are still being studied.

Acai berries are known to contain the same type of omega fatty acids obtained from fish, olive oil and flaxseed. These fatty acids can help lower cholesterol and are not stored as fat in your body, but instead accelerate your metabolism.

How effective is the acai berry for weight loss?

If you have had a slow start in its efforts to lose weight or you can not seem to lose those last 10 pounds, you can try to incorporate acai into your diet every day for weight loss. The acai also has plenty of fiber, which will reduce your cravings and stop eating snacks, and make you feel fuller for longer.

5/365 - How I like to pass time on the elliptical

I used to watch TV while I exercised on the elliptical trainer. It was exciting to catch up on various shows without the guilt that I was wasting time.

Then I got bored with it.

Unlike other fitness machines, you aren't bouncing all over with the elliptical trainer, your head stays study and it makes reading a wonderful option.  Of course if I'm going fast, reading isn't going to work.  But most of the time I up the resistance and go at a slower pace.  I have read many a pages while burning calories. I have come to cherish my elliptical reading time.

I just started a new book last night, If I stay by Gayle Forman. So far it's riveting because it's a graphic account of one of my worst nightmares: a car accident.

A friend of mine did an amazing review of the book.  It's the main reason I decided to pick it up in the first place. If the book is half as good as his review, I'll be satisfied.

This was a very tough day

After 25 days of vacation I went back to work today. It's hard for me to get back into the swing of things after a long weekend. After almost four weeks, it was darn near impossible. I'm so tired right now I can barely stay awake.

Today is also the first day in a really long time where I was extremely careful with what I ate.  I'm doing an experiment through the end of January. I'm still counting Points, but I'm also counting calories. Double the fun, right?

I have my doubts about the new Weight Watcher PointsPlus plan. Zero Points for all fruits and most vegetables just doesn't seem right to me.

I know someone reading this is thinking 'she didn't get fat from eating too many fruits and vegetables'. That's probably true, but it's also true that I can consume massive quantities of fruits and vegetables. Six large bananas is 600 calories. I've easily eaten six bananas in a day several times in my life, in addition to my regular meals. I seem to have a bottomless pit for a stomach. This is enough calories that would prevent me from having a weight loss and might even cause a gain.

I rarely list what I eat unless it's something I binged on like the can of cake frosting I ate about a year ago. Or the pizza and coconut cream pie I ate on New Year's Eve. In an effort for accountability I'm going to post every bite I eat, at least through the end of January.

Since I don't want to bore you all to death with my daily food intake, I've created a separate blog of my food diary. The calories and the Points will be documented. This is really for me, so I can see it all in one place. I just started it tonight, but haven't added the link yet.

Unfortunately, since I'm dead tired right now and getting up this morning was a challenge, I'm heading to bed right now.

4/365 The salty lies of our scales.

It felt good climbing up on the machine. I'm not as sore or stiff and the time didn't seem to drag like it did. I know it's only been four days, but it's amazing how quick my body responds to exercise.

Photo Credit

I already notice my muscles feel firmer, just a hint. But the thing for me to remember is I tend to firm up easier than I drop weight--which can be discouraging.  Why? Even if I gain muscle and loose fat at the exact same rate, the scale will go up at first because muscle is heavier than fat. 

I have a friend diligently going to the gym for an hour workout on a regular basis. The scale hasn't budged in over a week and she wants to quit. For some psychological reason we are attached to our scales. It's important to remember they don't tell the whole story and it's easy to psych ourselves out because of it. 

This is what I love about this goal, it has nothing to do with the scale or how my clothes feel.  It doesn't even consider my eating habits. Right now, my biggest and only concern is that daily workout.  As I work to change habits, I don't feel guilt if I over eat or feel a tightness in my waistband because at the end of the day, I feel good I'm building a workout habit and hitting my daily goal. For now, this is what I need, that sense of accomplishment. As time progresses, I'll be able to better focus on the other important changes I need to make with the confidence needed to make them.