Lost three more pounds this week. I still don't entirely know how, but no doubt the increasingly limited calorie consumption has a big deal to do with that. It seems like a million years ago that I started this thing, and if you had asked me then if I ever could have pictured myself at this point, where I am eating under 1,500 calories per day, I would have laughed right in your face.
Yet, here we are. With our 1,487 calorie-per-day budget.
I won't lie: this is not easy. Obviously I am not at a plateau, because I am still losing regularly, but I definitely feel like this is a really rough patch. I'm hungry pretty often. Some of this is because my life is kind of boring, and when I get bored I want to eat just to have something to do, but some of it is also because 1,487 calories is not very many. I will find a way to make this work for me, as I have managed to do so far. But it will continue to not be easy, and as we get into fall and our fresh produce options become limited, I fear it will only get worse.
This week I am trying to "broaden my horizons," foodwise, by not eating so many Lean Cuisines. I have favorites, and I don't want to get bored with them just like I am getting bored with everything else. Today I am having soup for lunch -- and by the way, if you're reading this, Campbell's Soup people, thanks for making so many of the Chunky Soups in the "Healthy Request" variety. Seriously. Plain old vegetable soup doesn't always do it for me, but chicken corn chowder sounds downright decadent to me right now.
Also, I am trying a new dessert -- Hostess 100-calorie lemon cupcakes. I am generally a big fan of the ice-cream-based dessert varieties, but sometimes you want a little something different. This is one of those times.
Still trying to keep up with the daily exercising, even if it is only a little bit. I will keep doing 60 wall push-ups every day until they don't hurt any more. I took yesterday off from my "flappy chicken arm" exercises, and I didn't do any ab work, but I will be back to my routine today.
8.23.2010
8.19.2010
12W12S2P: The One With The Brain Damage
I've totally gone full-tilt-boogie-off-the-rails with this current obsession with my "flappy chicken arms," and this time I mean it. I've done wall push-ups and some very sad little basic crunches for the last three days in a row, and last night after dinner I was researching triceps exercises on the Internet. I think my arms are going to fall off, no lie, and a whole bunch of things have been snapping, crackling, and popping when I get out of bed in the morning.
My chiropractor is going to kill me.
Anyway ... much like writing down what I was eating in the beginning helped to keep me honest -- and seriously, this kind of journaling is SO HELPFUL for this kind of thing -- I imagine that an exercise journal will also help, so here is a list of what I have done since Monday. This might be the last one of these you get, too, because have I mentioned that I think my arms are going to fall off?
Any more suggestions, let me know.
My chiropractor is going to kill me.
Anyway ... much like writing down what I was eating in the beginning helped to keep me honest -- and seriously, this kind of journaling is SO HELPFUL for this kind of thing -- I imagine that an exercise journal will also help, so here is a list of what I have done since Monday. This might be the last one of these you get, too, because have I mentioned that I think my arms are going to fall off?
- Monday: 60 wall push-ups (6x sets of 10 with different inclines and hands in different positions), 30 standard ab crunches (with terrible form), 20-count of "reverse crunch pose" (where I lay in a yoga-type pose with my gut sucked in and my knees tucked into my chest -- not sure what I think this will do, but I sure feel something in my lower abs)
- Tuesday: 60 wall push-ups (4x sets of 15 with different inclines and hands in different positions), 30 standard ab crunches (still terrible form, but I am working on it), 30 "crossover" crunches (where I aim opposite elbows at opposite knees), 30-count of "reverse crunch pose," 30-count of this thing I used to do in swimming where I keep my feet 6 inches off the floor and make a small backstroke kicking motion (I think we called it "six inches," so that's what I'll call it from now on)
- Wednesday: 60 wall push-ups (4x sets of 15), 30 standard crunches, 30 cross-crunches, 40-count of reverse crunch pose, 40-count of six inches, 20x each side of 4 different arm exercises that I got from my sister (using soup cans for weights)
Any more suggestions, let me know.
8.17.2010
12W12S2P: Emergency Update
I am still thinking more often than not about joining a gym, but I haven't fully committed to the idea yet, which means that perhaps there is hope for me yet. In the meantime, in an effort to feel like I'm doing something -- because, COME ON, these chicken wings are not going to magically tone themselves overnight -- I have taken a very drastic step:
PUSH-UPS.
Do you know how long it's been since I've done push-ups? Me either. I don't think I ever even did them when I was swimmer, far back in the uncharted backwaters of time. They didn't start sending swimmers to the gym as part of their regular training at my high school until I was a senior, and by then I was the manager / announcer, so it was moot. Maybe we did push-ups and sit-ups with the Y, but I don't remember.
So, it's been a while. And I've done 90 push-ups in the last two days, plus 30 (terrible) crunches and some kind of pose that I remembered from the three yoga classes I ever took, which did something to my lower abs and now it hurts a little bit.
And before you accuse me of being butternuts crazy -- WHICH I TOTALLY AM -- I did not just jump in to doing full-on push-ups. Right now I am doing wall push-ups, at various different inclines and with different hand positions, until I find the ones that work the back of my arms and my shoulders the way I want them to. There might be some chest-exercize-action going on, too, but I can't tell because my boobs are in the way.
I am also looking into some programs on Fit TV, because hey, we totally have that channel! And since I'm already paying for satellite TV, it's not going to cost me anything extra. Which is always good. I know I still need to get my ass in the pool regularly, and light some weights for real, but this is a start, right?
PUSH-UPS.
Do you know how long it's been since I've done push-ups? Me either. I don't think I ever even did them when I was swimmer, far back in the uncharted backwaters of time. They didn't start sending swimmers to the gym as part of their regular training at my high school until I was a senior, and by then I was the manager / announcer, so it was moot. Maybe we did push-ups and sit-ups with the Y, but I don't remember.
So, it's been a while. And I've done 90 push-ups in the last two days, plus 30 (terrible) crunches and some kind of pose that I remembered from the three yoga classes I ever took, which did something to my lower abs and now it hurts a little bit.
And before you accuse me of being butternuts crazy -- WHICH I TOTALLY AM -- I did not just jump in to doing full-on push-ups. Right now I am doing wall push-ups, at various different inclines and with different hand positions, until I find the ones that work the back of my arms and my shoulders the way I want them to. There might be some chest-exercize-action going on, too, but I can't tell because my boobs are in the way.
I am also looking into some programs on Fit TV, because hey, we totally have that channel! And since I'm already paying for satellite TV, it's not going to cost me anything extra. Which is always good. I know I still need to get my ass in the pool regularly, and light some weights for real, but this is a start, right?
8.15.2010
12W12S2P: Hungry
I lost another two pounds this week -- huzzah! Since I started using Lose It and keeping track, I've lost 14 lbs., and before that I lost at least 15 lbs., so right now I am confident in saying that I am down about 30 lbs., which by all objective measures is fantastic. I've definitely lost 5% of my starting weight, and probably more like ≥ 10%. I've also lost 10% of my goal weight, although I am not sure that counts for much, but once I get started with numbers and statistics I seem to keep "inventing" new ones. No doubt it's another one of my myriad of mental illnesses. I wish the pounds would come off faster, but I realize that I did not get Like This overnight, and I shouldn't expect to reverse the course in a snap, either. Baby steps, grasshopper, as they say.
Still, though, for all the progress I've made -- and it is A LOT, seriously -- I still have a ways to go. I'm 10% of the way to my goal weight, with a big ol' 90% to go, and I don't want to say I am running out of steam, not exactly, but I am definitely running low on enthusiasm. Right now my daily limit is 1,507 calories, and if I lose 2 lbs. or more this week, my allowance will be under 1,500 calories. That ... doesn't sound like much. Not to me, anyway. I believe I am doing things healthily and reasonably, and I am finding ways to work with some of my original 12W12S goals (fruit or veggie at every meal, sensible snacks, still finding ways to fit Mountain Dew into my menu everyday), but I don't know how much longer I'll be able to keep this up and not feel hungry all the time.
That's my big plateau, right now -- getting over this semi-constant hungry feeling. It started while I was on vacation, and I haven't really been able to find a way to abate it yet. I've been drinking plenty of water and decaf diet drinks, I've been trying to fill up on high-fiber foods, I've been eating at consistent times every day, but I still find myself unsatisfied, somehow. I don't know if it's the balance of the foods I've been eating, or the spicing, or if I'm getting bored, or what. Do I need more protein? Less salt? Should I switch out my grapes and bananas for berries and grapefruit? Maybe I'm becoming a more efficient calorie-burning machine since I've starting losing weight? I just don't know.
But I am daydreaming about cheesecake and chocolate and caramel lately, and it's starting to become a test of my resolve every day. So far I haven't succumbed. I guess until I figure out how to get past this point, I should probably stay out of the bakery aisle at Wegman's. And get my kid to stop singing about making pie. Anybody have a spare muzzle I can borrow until I get over this hump?
Still, though, for all the progress I've made -- and it is A LOT, seriously -- I still have a ways to go. I'm 10% of the way to my goal weight, with a big ol' 90% to go, and I don't want to say I am running out of steam, not exactly, but I am definitely running low on enthusiasm. Right now my daily limit is 1,507 calories, and if I lose 2 lbs. or more this week, my allowance will be under 1,500 calories. That ... doesn't sound like much. Not to me, anyway. I believe I am doing things healthily and reasonably, and I am finding ways to work with some of my original 12W12S goals (fruit or veggie at every meal, sensible snacks, still finding ways to fit Mountain Dew into my menu everyday), but I don't know how much longer I'll be able to keep this up and not feel hungry all the time.
That's my big plateau, right now -- getting over this semi-constant hungry feeling. It started while I was on vacation, and I haven't really been able to find a way to abate it yet. I've been drinking plenty of water and decaf diet drinks, I've been trying to fill up on high-fiber foods, I've been eating at consistent times every day, but I still find myself unsatisfied, somehow. I don't know if it's the balance of the foods I've been eating, or the spicing, or if I'm getting bored, or what. Do I need more protein? Less salt? Should I switch out my grapes and bananas for berries and grapefruit? Maybe I'm becoming a more efficient calorie-burning machine since I've starting losing weight? I just don't know.
But I am daydreaming about cheesecake and chocolate and caramel lately, and it's starting to become a test of my resolve every day. So far I haven't succumbed. I guess until I figure out how to get past this point, I should probably stay out of the bakery aisle at Wegman's. And get my kid to stop singing about making pie. Anybody have a spare muzzle I can borrow until I get over this hump?
8.10.2010
12W12S2P: Recipe
That little addendum to the code name up there? The "2P" part? That's "Phase Two." Because we are now in 2P, people, and that means we're getting creative all up in this beeyotch. I said yesterday that one of my new goals is to keep dinner at 600 calories or under (all the better to leave room for pistachios and Skinny Cow fudge bars and MOAR MOUNTAIN DEW), and sometimes that requires some fancy footwork. Again, as I said yesterday, thank heavens I can cook. Here is what I whipped up for dinner yesterday, and it was pretty darned awesome, and if I did my math correctly, it was also under 500 calories. G loved it, and Shae even ate some. (Not a lot, because she is Having A Phase, but she tried it, at least, which is progress.) It's a little bit spicy -- not hot-spicy, but slight-afterburn-spicy -- so beware if you don't like Mexican-style food. I marked some possible substitutions with a blue "*" asterisk for easy reference.
CHILE-STUFFED PEPPERS
Makes 3 servings. By my math (with help from Lose It!), I figure this is ~425 calories per serving.
Cut off top ½" of peppers. Do not discard tops. Remove seeds and membranes from peppers to make "bowls." Blanch in salted boiling water for 5-7 minutes or until peppers are softened but not mushy. Carefully remove from heat and rinse with cold water until cool enough to handle. Drain, pat dry, and set aside.
Preheat oven to 350°F. Clean and finely chop tops of peppers. In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add chopped pepper tops, ground beef, and onion. Cook for 7-10 minutes or until meat is browned and vegetables are softened. Add diced tomatoes and cook for 5-7 minutes or until most of liquid is evaporated. Add rice and cook 3-5 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in 3 tablespoons cheese.
Arrange pepper "bowls" in bottom of a small baking dish. Fill each pepper with ⅓ of meat mixture, packing with the back of a spoon if necessary. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon cheese over each stuffed pepper. Bake at 350°F for 7-10 minutes or until cheese is melted and browned. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before serving and enjoying.
Possible Substitutions: Any ground meat can be substituted for the ground beef. If you don't like spicy food, you can substitute a can of plain diced tomatoes, or if you like extra spicy food, you can substitute a can of chili-seasoned diced tomatoes or diced tomatoes with jalapeños. Mexican rice or a bean-and-rice mix can be substituted for Spanish rice, and any other kind of cheese can be substituted for the cheddar. Note that any changes to ingredients may affect calorie counts.
CHILE-STUFFED PEPPERS
Makes 3 servings. By my math (with help from Lose It!), I figure this is ~425 calories per serving.
- 3 large green bell peppers
- 1 tablespoon olive oil (optional)
- ½ pound ground beef, 90% lean*
- ¼ cup onion, finely chopped
- 1 can diced tomatoes with green chiles, drained*
- ⅔ cup Spanish rice (packaged, prepared according to directions)*
- 6 tablespoons shredded cheddar cheese, divided*
Cut off top ½" of peppers. Do not discard tops. Remove seeds and membranes from peppers to make "bowls." Blanch in salted boiling water for 5-7 minutes or until peppers are softened but not mushy. Carefully remove from heat and rinse with cold water until cool enough to handle. Drain, pat dry, and set aside.
Preheat oven to 350°F. Clean and finely chop tops of peppers. In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add chopped pepper tops, ground beef, and onion. Cook for 7-10 minutes or until meat is browned and vegetables are softened. Add diced tomatoes and cook for 5-7 minutes or until most of liquid is evaporated. Add rice and cook 3-5 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in 3 tablespoons cheese.
Arrange pepper "bowls" in bottom of a small baking dish. Fill each pepper with ⅓ of meat mixture, packing with the back of a spoon if necessary. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon cheese over each stuffed pepper. Bake at 350°F for 7-10 minutes or until cheese is melted and browned. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before serving and enjoying.
Possible Substitutions: Any ground meat can be substituted for the ground beef. If you don't like spicy food, you can substitute a can of plain diced tomatoes, or if you like extra spicy food, you can substitute a can of chili-seasoned diced tomatoes or diced tomatoes with jalapeños. Mexican rice or a bean-and-rice mix can be substituted for Spanish rice, and any other kind of cheese can be substituted for the cheddar. Note that any changes to ingredients may affect calorie counts.
8.09.2010
12W12S: Phase Two
So my original 12 weeks and 12 steps are up, and it's time to do some serious evaluation of myself. Here is what I got out of my self-designed program so far:
- Taking baby steps? AWESOME. Because they're totally stick-to-able. (Yes, I know this is a fundamental tenet of Weight Watchers and stuff, but it's like most kinds of therapy: you are not helped until you admit that you are ready to be helped. The Rules don't work until you are ready to follow the rules.)
- Designing a diet around Mountain Dew? ALSO AWESOME. Because who feels like they're on a diet when you're allowed to have Mountain Dew every day? Not that I actually drink it every day -- I brought a bunch with me on vacation, and only had like three of them, and two of them were on the same day -- but knowing that an indulgence is not only allowed, but practically encouraged? Unbelievably liberating.
- It's a good thing I am a decent cook who can make meals that fit into my calorie budget as well as making my husband and daughter happy, or else we'd all be screwed. When G and I did Weight Watchers together many years ago, we both got sick of it pretty quickly because we were eating a lot of chicken and brown rice and bleargh. Now? Not so much, and I'm still down about 40 lbs.
- Greek yogurt is DA BOMB.
- Breakfast ≤300 calories (includes protein, carb, fruit)
- Lunch ≤400 calories (includes entree, vegetable)
- Dinner ≤600 calories (includes protein, carb, vegetables)
- Snacks ≤200 calories (includes daily Mountain Dew allotment and desserts)
8.07.2010
12W12S Update: Week 13? Or 14? Or Maybe 58?
I don't know what week this is, but I can report this: I lost 2 pounds on vacation, even though one day I had Doritos for lunch and one day I exceeded my daily calorie allotment by, like, 700. No joke. And I had a Swedish fish gelati from Rita's last night that was seriously among the most delicious things I have ever eaten in my whole entire life.
The big takeaway from this vacation: the Seaside Heights boardwalk kind of turned me off food, because it's totally lousy with gross tacky "Jersey Shore" crap and it made me not want to eat again, ever, for at least 12 hours. Also: it's really hard to get in the 30 minutes of ocean swimming that you expected to do when the water temperature is 57°F. Which it was, yesterday. Hopefully watching baseball games on television counts as "exercise."
Now that my full 12 weeks are over, I am going to re-evaluate and set some new goals. Using LoseIt! has really worked for me so far, so I am going to stick with it. New plan coming, as soon as I decide what it is.
The big takeaway from this vacation: the Seaside Heights boardwalk kind of turned me off food, because it's totally lousy with gross tacky "Jersey Shore" crap and it made me not want to eat again, ever, for at least 12 hours. Also: it's really hard to get in the 30 minutes of ocean swimming that you expected to do when the water temperature is 57°F. Which it was, yesterday. Hopefully watching baseball games on television counts as "exercise."
Now that my full 12 weeks are over, I am going to re-evaluate and set some new goals. Using LoseIt! has really worked for me so far, so I am going to stick with it. New plan coming, as soon as I decide what it is.
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