Make Substitutions

Along the lines of substituting healthier food into your diet rather than starving yourself, I found this really great article on Web MD called "Thin Foods." It talks about healthy foods that actually have the tendency to help people lose weight. None of them are "magic" foods, you need to supplement eating these foods with exercise and continue to work on portion control. Some of the tips I knew about already- like eating eggs for breakfast instead of cereal. I have 2 eggs for breakfast every morning. When I told my doctor this a while ago, she took my blood levels because she was worried about cholesterol, but my levels were more than fine. Two eggs fills me up for a long time in the morning. I usually have to remind myself to eat my first snack at 10am because I'm not feeling hungry yet. Another idea is to throw in some salsa or something spicy in the eggs (I want to start trying that this week). One of the tips was to eat more spicy food. I did not know that caffeine is NOT the ingredient in green tea that helps you lose weight. Apparently it's the antioxidants called catechins. I always thought the antioxidants were just a bonus. There is a lot more great food ideas on there, but this week I am going to add just two to my diet and try to make them a part of my healthy living. Later I would like to start adding beans to my diet, buying different kinds of nuts (pecans, walnuts) and possibly experimenting with tofu.

This week:
Eggs for breakfast, but add salsa.
Green tea after my dinner in the evening.

Tonight- kickboxing, tomorrow- I might take the day off, Saturday morning- tennis.

website: http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/15-foods-to-help-you-lose

Feeling Stronger, Weighing the Same

Went to kickboxing class again last night. Before I went to the class I watched a youtube video for some inspiration. This is pretty crazy, the guy moves so fast. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8YYZGvKM-8
The class was fun, I always feel bad for whoever partners up with me. They have to show me how to hold the pads so no one gets hurt. I'm getting better pretty fast, but it's a little frustrating knowing that you might be holding up the other person's workout. Luckily it's not all sparring, a lot of it is also individual technique work or situps, pushups etc, so they still get a crazy workout for the most part. I think I need to actually practice the moves outside of class in front of the mirror, but it's not the same when you're not punching a bag or a pad.

Feeling very sore today, but weighing in at 145. I seem to need maybe one more thing during the week exercise wise. And less ice cream, but come on, what's more realistic.

Plan for the week- Today- Jump rope or Tennis, Wednesday- off, Thursday- Kickboxing class, Friday- off (maybe jump rope if I'm not too sore), Saturday- Tennis and/or Hike

Goal- 144. I just need that one pound to go!

Oh Saturday!

Saturday, why would you do this to me? You tempt me with your time to sleep in and your alcohol and abundant meals of high fat deliciousness.

So Saturday did not go as well as planned. I have to say the planning of lunch on Friday was a huge success, I got home from work, made dinner and mixed some tuna fish for the next day. Saturday morning Ananda didn't wake up in time for tennis, so I gave myself a pass instead of sticking to my plan. Then I had some sausage with my eggs. Not too horrible, but again, not sticking to the plan. Then lunch was perfect because I had planned ahead. I had a half of a bagel with tuna fish and cheddar cheese melt. I used mustard instead of mayonnaise. After lunch however, things went horribly wrong. Our neighbors had planned on a Thanksgiving dinner get together since our first attempt got rained out. So I made my foldovers and brussel sprouts and pigged out with my neighbors at the barbecue area. I also had a beer and several glasses of wine.
Sunday I felt slightly nauseous and out of it, which translated into eating more than normal at breakfast. I had chili and chips for lunch, and then for dinner we had crab legs that we had in our freezer and rice and asparagus. Not too bad of a dinner except for the butter we dipped the crab in. And I had another glass of wine. Oh, and a huge bowl of Ben and Jerry's ice cream with chocolate sauce. Oops.
Today started out much better. I weighed in at just a smidgeon under 145. Damn weekends. I ate my usual two eggs, had a banana for a snack, half of a ham sandwich with mustard for lunch, and I just ate a healthy version of the instant oatmeal. Great filling snack actually. Tonight the plan for dinner is steak, leftover brussel sprouts from Saturday, and potatoes. After that I have kickboxing.

The Weekend

I'm writing now at the end of my workday before I go home because this is the time of the week that I start to backslide. I weighed in at 143 this morning Woohoo! which is great and two pounds down from where I started (145). However, I can't celebrate too early. The weekend is when I struggle the most. Usually it starts with wine or a few beers on Friday night because, well, it's Friday night and that's what you do right? Then Saturday mornings I usually get up early and eat a good breakfast before I play tennis with Ananda, but then after that... Well, it gets ugly. For some reason weekend lunches are huge. And fatty. Or greasy. And delicious. This is what I am going to avoid this weekend. I want the scale to read 143 or less on Monday. Usually I will get to 143 and then Monday we're back to 145. This has happened for several weeks in a row now.
My plan to conquer the weekend weight gain:

Tonight- A glass of wine is acceptable, it is Friday after all. However, I'm going to combat it with my water bottle. I used to have a rule that I had to pound a glass of water in between each alcoholic drink. Surprisingly, or I guess not really surprisingly when you think about it, I drink very little alcohol because I'm full. And I feel so much better in the morning.

Lunch tomorrow- tuna fish. Maybe if I plan it out now, I will not be thinking about all of the wonderful other things I could be eating. In fact, I am going to wip up the tuna fish with mustard tonight so it's ready for me tomorrow.

In fact I should plan out my whole day's worth of food when I go home tonight. I should decide what my snack will be around 10, what my lunch will be, snack again and dinner. If I plan it while I'm not hungry maybe I will be better off. I'll post this weekend if this is succesful or not.

Exercise- hopefully Ananda will be up to tennis tomorrow, I know she's been really busy. If not, I'll hit the wall later along with 20 pushups on the court and one round of jump roping.

Sunday- I'll plan my food tomorrow night or tonight if I am up to it. I will either hike with Nate or take the dogs on a long walk.

I need to plan ahead and get over this plateau, it's driving me nuts and I don't want to give up. Kickboxing has really helped, but today I'm sore so it makes me want to just lay down. Having the dogs helps too because I go home and immediately take them for a walk instead of sitting in front of the tv. Okay, I will check in later. Here's to seeing 143 or lower on the scale Monday morning!

Brussel Sprouts Recipe

Not 100% sure how healthy this recipe is, I'm sure I could look it up, but it's a great way to eat Brussel Sprouts, which for some reason, my husband decided we needed to have. Okay.

What you need:
Couple tablespoons of olive oil.
Brussel Sprouts- halved or quartered (Can use frozen sprouts, they just come out as a softer end product, which is frankly also quite tasty.)
Parmesian cheese- 1/4 cup, or to your taste
Balsamic Vinegar- 1 to 2 tablespoons
Salt and pepper to taste.

1. Cut brussel sprouts into halves or quarters. (Halves for smaller sprouts, big sprouts you can quarter.)

2. Add some olive oil to a frying pan on medium heat.

3. Add brussel sprouts and cover the pan. I try to get the flat sides to touch the bottom so I get a crispy touch to it, but if you're in a hurry you can just toss them in. Also, be careful when adding them to hot oil, they tend to have a lot of water in them and you will get a lot of oil spraying if it's too hot.

4. Set your timer to three minutes and don't touch! Let them sit, they will get crispy on one side and when they sit long enough the unstick themselves from the bottom of the pan.

5. Take the top off and stir, or do what I like to do, and leave the top on and shake them up. Then leave them for another minute or two. I've found this last round is not as important as the first. I have done less time and had a little less done sprouts or I've left them on for a lot longer and gotten softer sprouts. This part is up to your taste.

6. Sprinkle the parmesian cheese on. This is from a recipe I found online. I also like to add smoked Gouda cheese.

7. My husband thought the original recipe was bland so he suggested adding balsamic vinegar. I thought that it sounded gross, but he has a really good feel for what spices or flavors to add to something. I threw on some vinegar the second time around and Voila! Delicious!

8. Salt and pepper to taste.

Keep in mind that the measurements are just a guesstimate. I tend to throw things together and hope they will work. I always taste throughout the process and my measurements often change depending on how I feel and the freshness of the products I'm using.

Making Better Choices

I'm at that point when I try to start losing weight where I make some changes and don't see any weight loss immediately. I think it has to be the most frustrating thing. Usually this is the point where I quit making weight loss a priority and start sliding back into my unhealthy eating habits. I'm glad that Myia, Arin and her friends are blogging right now too, because it reminds me to keep going. I'm not the only one out there who struggles or has a hard time. If I keep it up and continue to make more changes, my pants will fit better and I can go down another size. That is my long term goal. I was so close last time I lost weight to getting down to what I believe is my ideal weight and size, but I got comfortable, paddling season was over, and here I am gaining weight. I vow never to get back up to 175 again. In fact, I vow never to get to 145 again, once I get these last 10-15 off soon.
Now that Bobby is moving out, I'm hoping there's enough space to jump rope in that bedroom. That is a quick exercise that truly kicks your ass in a few minutes. And there is a lot of different moves you can do once you get back into it. I think between that and kickboxing I can do it. I need to build up the endurance and muscles. In a week or two I should be dropping weight much faster. The kickboxing instructor is not joke, you get scolded all the time. But he shows you how to do things right. I feel like Karate Kid when I'm in there. He makes you feel like you want to do it right. I do way more pushups and situps in there than I would do on my own. I go until my arms are like jelly. It's great and man do I work up a crazy sweat. I have to figure out what to do with my hair. It's too short for a pony tail, but head bands tend to fly off the back of my head. Not very tough. I usually wear bandannas to work out, but I just feel like it wouldn't be welcome in there. Any other ideas out there for short hair?
As for dinner I actually made some good choices last night. I ate some of the white rice, but only a very small portion, so I could have the taste ot it. I drank a glass of ice tea with dinner. I have gotten into making large jugs of hot tea and letting it cool, then having some with ice in a glass. Nate doesn't like sweetener, so I just add some to my own glass, he goes without. We've been buying tea from Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, they have some really tasty teas. The regular old Lipton Apple flavored tea was really tasty as a tea and so was the peach flavored tea I made. I try to all of my homely stuff at the same time. I boil the water for tea and start dinner cooking while I was dishes. I can usually get a sinkful done while I'm waiting for things to boil or sit in the oven. If I multi-task right I can do dinner, dishes and make tea in an hour and a half max. Sometimes I can even throw a load of wash in there while I'm at it. Once dinner's on the table, I'm usually worthless and don't get off the couch except to walk my doggies.

Working Out, But Eating Trash

So I went to Kickboxing class last night. That's right, I paid my good money to have the right to punch and kick for an hour. It is a very fun class. Last night there was a lot of jumping rope, pushups and some kind of pushup-kick out-roll around move that made me feel very tough. We do a lot of situps and actually got to kick the punching bags. Makes you feel very tough at the time and very sore the next day. However, it's not enough. I really need to evaluate my dinner time intake. I have been able to get a handle on my workday snacking. I pack my lunch, including snacks, and have been eating very well actually through the workday. However, the weekends and dinner time are really screwing me up. For instance, at this moment, I am drinking a beer. I am making a commitment that it is my last for tonight, but man, just one beer is such a waste of precious calories. I could have had a bowl of ice cream instead! So now I guess I have to avoid the ice cream later as well. So this week my goal needs to be watching my dinner/evening time calorie intake. I can certainly do without the beer and the ice cream.