9/365 Not sure what to do about Sundays

I'm not sure what to do with my postings.  I'm thinking that I might take Sundays off from blogging, it's probably one of the most busy day of the week for me.  Sometimes I don't even turn on the computer. 

So for now, I think I'm going to be a no show on Sundays. Just because you don't see me, doesn't mean I'm not keeping up with the challenge.  :)

Choosing your hard

Losing weight is hard. Being fat is hard.
Choose your hard.

This isn't an original thought of mine, but I love it. Someone at my Weight Watcher meeting on Saturday said she read it on a blog on Sparkpeople. I Googled it and found the Sparkpeople blog that wrote it in Jan 2011, Lyn wrote it in a July 2009 post, and someone else wrote it in a caloriecount message board in 2008 (this was fun, it's weight loss mantras). I'm sure people have been saying this for a very long time. Regardless of who originally came up with the thought, it really hit home with me.

Last week was hard. I was hungry, and complaining constantly to anyone that would listen that I was starving to death. Even increasing my calories to 1,500 a day on Thursday didn't help. I was still insanely hungry. In addition my workouts were terrible. I've gone to the gym every day since Jan. 2 for an hour to an hour and half, but until yesterday every day was a struggle. I did it, but not with joy in my heart. To say I was off my game is an understatement.

I'm not really sure what was going on last week but thankfully by Saturday it was like my batteries had finally recharged. The extreme exhaustion, the insatiable hunger, even the depression, all lifted. I feel like my old self. Even my workout on Saturday was one of my best workouts ever (I rule on the StairMaster!). The day before I had written in my exercise journal "Worst workout ever. What is wrong with me?!". Saturday and today I feel happy and energized. It's good to feel like myself again.
Favorite song of the week
It's sort of funny that the first song I downloaded in 2011 is P!nk's F**kin' Perfect. One of my New Year resolutions is to swear less. Notice I didn't say stop swearing totally, but to not make it part of my everyday conversation. Some things, like when you stub your toe on the bedpost, demand a bad word or two. Everyday conversations, not so much.

When I first heard this song on the radio I totally loved it, it's by one of my favorite singers, P!nk (love her!). One of the best concerts I've ever seen was the P!nk Funhouse Tour in 2010.

This song reminded me of one of my favorite posts that I read last week. It may be one of my all time-time favorite's, Roxie's Perfect Parts. I love this post. It's one of my biggest struggles in life, stopping the negative voices in my head. I'm the queen of putting myself down.

F**kin' Perfect by P!nk




Favorite recipe of the week
This was in the Jan/Feb 2011 Weight Watcher Magazine.
This is excellent and the serving is huge (1 3/4 cups).

1T canola oil
1 medium onion, chopped
3/4 lb ground chicken or turkey
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
1(32oz) carton low sodium chicken broth
10 oz can diced tomatoes with green chiles (I used Rotel's)
1(3/4lb) sweet potato diced and cubed
1 large parsnip peeled and sliced
2 T chopped fresh cilantro

Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion and cool, stirring frequently, until softened. Add chicken and cumin breaking up chicken until browned. Stir in broth, tomatoes, sweet potato, and parsnip, bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until potato is fork tender (about 15 minutes)
A serving is 1 3/4 cup and only serves 4.
PointsPlus value 7

280 calories
8 g total fat
53 mg chol
24 mg sod
27 g total carbs
9 g total suger
5 g fiber
26 g protein
86 mg calc

Favorite tea of the week
This tea has been around for a long time, but I just discovered it. Good Earth Original. It's spicy and naturally sweet. It doesn't need sweetener. It only has 16 grams of caffeine (compared to coffee that has 100 grams), or you can get the decaf version. Delicious and calorie free.

Plan for this week
Continue my exercise streak. No days off since Jan. 2. I plan to keep with this trend. I'll throw in a few light workouts here in there, but for the most part I want to give it 110%. It's the only thing that keeps me sane. If I was able to drag myself to the gym last week when I really just wanted to crawl in a hole, curl up and die, I'm pretty sure I'll be exercising the rest of my life.

Weight Watchers
I want to give the new plan a fair chance but still track the calories. I have to keep up on my food journal. I slacked off for a couple of days, so it's time to get back at it.

Also, a new year resolution, I must attend at least one meeting a week. It's a new rule for me.

A word about the new PointsPlus. Be sure to recalculate your foods using the new calculator if it's something that's not in the Food Tracker, even brand names differ. I've gone back to eating Franz Thinwiches (even though Dave's Killer breads are much healthier but they're too hefty in Points).

I had been using the Arnold's Sandwich Thins in the online food tracker, which use to be two Points (which is what Franz calculated out to be in the old plan). I just assumed when Arnold's said three Points on the new plan my Franz would also be three Points. This morning I recalculated Franz and it's only two Points based on the new plan. Don't cheat yourself. You need every Point you can get. :)

I'm finding even with the fruit added in, in reasonable portions of course, 3 - 4 servings a day, the PointsPlus are calculating out to be roughly 50 calories each. It's very odd how this is working out but you can see it in my Food Diary.

Polar Heart Rate Monitor
If you don't own a Polar Heart Rate Monitor you're missing out on one of the greatest exercise motivators that was ever invented. I totally love mine. Over the last three years I've purchased three. They keep improving them, adding more features. My favorite is still one I bought almost two years ago when I saw my personal trainer at the time had one, it's pink and much more feminine than the black bulky ones I own.

A couple of times I've gone to the gym without my Polar HRM and my workouts really suffered. It's the best tool I've found for giving you an accurate heart rate and keeping track of how many calories you're burning. You can't trust the machines. From what I've seen their calories burned count are unusually high, often double from what the HRM displays.

Tony posted a giveaway for a Polar HRM, but even if you don't win, if you leave a comment you can get a discount on a Polar HRM.

*****

Here's to a great week for all of us.

And remember...

Losing weight is hard. Being fat is hard. Choose your hard.

I'm choosing losing weight.

Chai Spice Tea

(makes 4 servings)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups water
  
  


• 2 cups 2% milk
  
  


• 4 tea bags, black tea
  
  


• 2 slices fresh ginger, cut into 1½” slices
  
  


• 2 tbsp honey
  
  


• ¼ tsp allspice
  
  


• ½ tsp ground cardamom
  
  


• ½ tsp ground nutmeg
  
  


• ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
  
  

Preparation:

• Bring water to a boil in a saucepan. Add tea bags, reduce heat and simmer for about 2 minutes. Remove tea bags.
  
  


• Add remaining ingredients to tea and bring to a boil.


• Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes.
  
  


• Strain and serve hot.
  
  

Make 4 Servings:

Weight loss recipes Amount Per Serving (¼ of recipe (312 g)): 95 Calories, 4 g Protein, 15 g carbohydrates, 0 g Dietary Fiber, 2 g fat, 1 g saturated fat, 9 mg cholesterol, 67 mg sodium

8/365 - Eating Habits

At the end of the old year, I always feel the need to eat all sorts of naughties so I can start the year off fresh-- only to crash and burn a week or two later.  I know this about me and I learned long ago not to fool myself into believing "This is the year."  So I don't make that as a goal for obvious reasons.

Photo Credit

Last time I did a 365 day challenge, it wasn't until the end of February that I decided to change my eating habits.  Often times I would walk off the machine only to make myself a chocolate sundae or a huge mug of hot chocolate. (We have two birthdays to celebrate in January so there is always ice cream left over) After 50 or so workouts I finally felt motivated to work on my food choices and I started to see a change in my body shortly after.

This time I feel different. It's the end of week one and I'm feeling good. Food doesn't have a hold on me like it did during the holidays and I feel strong enough to make better food choices.  How do I know? Because I have several sources of chocolate in my house and I don't feel compelled to attack them. When I'm having a hard time with eating, no source of goodies--especially chocolate--has a chance of survival over a 24 hour period. Since the lifespan of my chocolate is two weeks strong, it says a lot about my will power.  The fact that I want to make dietary changes earlier this time means the habits I used to have aren't far off and are easily returning, like riding a bike I suppose.  Certainly motivation for creating a solid habit in hopes that one day it will be easier to stay on the road of health then to slide back into negative habits.

Now I have to admit, I haven't been chocolate free, just able to consume in rational portions. You can lose weight eating chocolate if you keep the amounts small. I've done it before and I'll do it again as I practice moderation.  To swear off chocolate entirely would be crazy.

7/365 - Keeping my perspective.

It's been seven days since I started my challenge. One week exactly. I was pondering this today and my thoughts began to go deep.

Seven days is nothing when you think that you still have 358 days left of the year.  It's also insignificant when you clump up the days, call it a week, and count 51 more weeks.  How depressing is this type of math?

Very.

I then saw someone tweet me something along the lines of, "Yay for a week of exercise" and my perspective changed.  I remember when I would make short term goals, say I was going to work out Monday through Friday and then I only got to Wednesday...and that was considered a good week too.

Perspective is funny like that. It can take a simple action and make it look one of two ways:

1. It can look hard, unattainable or impossible.
or
2. It can appear to be easy, highly likable or absolutely doable.

So it got me thinking.  If every goal we make for ourselves has the ability to be looked at either way, as something we can or can't do, it leaves us with a choice. Can we do it or not? Often times, I feel I don't have a choice because of circumstances. But really, if it's all about perspective, which we are entirely in control of, why not choose to see everything as doable and then go out and do it?

I choose to see 365 days as doable and my after picture as obtainable.

A return to sanity

I'm starting to wonder if I'll ever make peace with food. Today was suppose to be day number four of eating 1200 calories. My average calories for the previous three days was 1294 a day, not quite my 1200 goal.

My energy level was zero when the alarm went off at 4:45 a.m. today, my normal time to get up and head out to the gym before work. This morning I just couldn't do it. I was so tired that I shut off the alarm and went back to sleep.

When I finally woke up at 7:30 a.m. my husband had already left for work. I still felt like I couldn't get out of bed. I decided to stay home from work. I was so tired that even getting ready for work sounded like more than I could do. After two days back from a 25-day vacation I took a day off. I couldn't help it. My body and mind weren't cooperating.

I ate a healthy breakfast and then went right back to bed. I didn't get up until 11 a.m. When I finally got up I was still exhausted. I felt like I couldn't move.

I realized that although the 1200 calories a day plan works for a lot of people for quick weight loss, it's just not right for me. I'm not criticizing the plan all. I'm just not willing to feel extremely hungry, tired and weak all the time. To be really honest, if I had to live like this the rest of my life I think I'd rather not live.

Now what?

I need to do something since I really need to lose a minimum of 25 pounds (preferrably 35). The only logical thing is to go back to the Weight Watcher plan and follow it faithfully.

I still think it's the best weight loss plan out there. I've been reading the Getting Started book for the new plan (again).

Just for fun I'm still going to track my calories and Points for the rest of the month. I didn't track anything today because honestly, I was just to tired and I really didn't care about much of anything. I ate more than 1200 calories and I feel much better tonight. I'm not seeing stars when I stand up to quickly.

I want to keep my calories under 1500. If I track the Points and calories for a month, I can get a good idea of how the zero Point fruits are affecting my daily calorie count. Once I get an idea of how many fruits I can eat and still stay under 1500 calories, I'll keep that as a limit for myself.

I feel like for me, this is the sane thing todo.

A Weight Loss Motivation App for the iPad

Thanks to Adriana for giving us 25 free copies to hand out. Here is the scoop;

This app helps you visualize your weight loss. It's great motivation for losing weight!

You begin personalizing the model by setting your current height and weight as well as your heaviest weight and your goal weight.

Keep a track record of your weight loss and visualize how you'll look when you reach your next lower weight goal.

Your model is based on BMI calculations so she will look different for women who weigh the same but are different heights.

See the Weight Loss Virtual Model on the iPad (or on iPhone/iTouch here).

As of today (January 6th) we have 25 free apps (for the iPad version only) available to the first people that email support.psmedia@gmail.com and ask for their promo code for the "Weight Loss Virtual Model for iPad". Email now to get your free app! (Update January 9th: We still have free copies left.)