Exercise?

Well, no exercise again today. Good eating for sure, though.

Steel cut oats for breakfast
Salad for lunch
Tilapia and veggies for dinner.

I shall run tomorrow...

Weigh In Wednesday 1

I am down 6 pounds today and crafted this nifty tracker on the blog to help visualize where I am in the process. I have a goal but want to see what this lifestyle means for my body. Maybe my healthy weight is even lower than my goal? Now, that is an interesting thought!

Change is good?

Today was a late commute day so I had breakfast at home which was a slice of whole grain toast with one egg. This may be the beginning of my undoing.

I got to the office at 10:00 and wasn't too hungry. I had the rest of that salad from Monday in the fridge so I had planned on eating the rest of the greens in that along with the fruit and a few of the nuts. When noon rolled around, I grabbed it and ate it quickly. I threw away the container which still had the dressing, nuts and blue cheese - this is all about discipline, friends.

When I was ready to leave the office at 3 - honestly I have the best office hours in the biz - I was so hungry, it had my attention and that is really hungry for me. I grabbed a protein snack from our market at work which was about 1/2 cup chopped grilled chicken and 6 cubes of cheese. I ate it in the car on the drive home along with a bottle of sparkling water.

NOT ENOUGH! I was still very hungry when I got home and what I ate is a bit fuzzy but I believe was 1 kiwi and the rest of the steamed green beans from a few nights ago. I know it wasn't anything bad. THIS IS ABOUT DISCIPLINE, folks.

I texted Chris: I AM SO HUNGRY. He texted back: Do you want me to bring home pizza and wings? jk. NOT AT ALL FUNNY. I know he was joking. Does he know this is not a laughing matter? I am moving mountains here (mountains of fat) and this is completely serious business. I am hungry, cranky, and don't know what is going to be on the menu for supper. I am simply hungry and cannot make good decisions. My text back: For that, you get broiled fish and asparagus for dinner. I was serious until I got into the kitchen and determined that I didn't want floppy broiled fish. I want delicious, well thought-through fish - no time for that.

The boys asked for pizza, Chris offered pizza. There is no escaping pizza. That's when the little angels who keep me on track flew over to the pantry and shone the light on the whole wheat thin pizza crusts that I bought at Walmart last weekend. They sang a little too for good measure. I was grateful.

I made turkey pepperoni pizza for the boys and the above pictured gem for Chris and I. You can guess which side is mine? Mine has mushrooms, peppers, sliced tomato, red onions and olives with a sprinkling of feta cheese. Chris' has all of that but substitute feta for shredded cheddar/jack and add some pepperoni. The crusts were delicious, actually. My pizza ended up resembling a warm salad on a cracker but it was tasty,  hot, and seemed to satisfy me a little bit. I did eat half a crust (nearly) and know from not-so-simple math that the whole crust is 540 Calories so I ate 270 of that with my toppings. Not too shabby considering it was pizza, after all. 

I still have hunger pangs and am choosing to embrace the hunger as a sign that my stomach is shrinking and my body is being forced to use fat stores for energy so that extra space is irrelevant. That is my vision and I am sticking to it. I do think I need to work harder at having a better breakfast so that my lunch doesn't have to be so big, I can have a normal healthy snack and then won't be ravenous when I get home.

I wasn't able to carve out exercise time today and don't really see it happening since I just ate my salad/pizza. I may do some significant stretching and may run through a routine of warm-up exercises but not follow it with cardio. Movement is movement, for heaven's sake.

When to fight the feeling and when to give in

My body spoke and I listened. I went to sleep at 9pm last night and awoke this morning at 5:30. That isn't a bad thing since that is the time I get up when I commute so I might as well start getting up at the same time every day. It seems like a good idea to get my body in a rhythm of wake and sleep, exercise and nutrition. It is making sense now. If I need to sleep in and can, I will. I also will fight the desire to stay in bed just because it is warm or because I just don't feel like getting up. It's all about discipline, folks.

I was especially glad to be up and at 'em this morning because I was able to have a very small bowl of fiber cereal at 6 and then be able to get my cardio in without an empty or full stomach at 9. Why was I able to exercise at 9 when I have a job? I worked from 6 until 8 - that's how! And, as my profile reads: My company allows me to be extraordinarily and sometimes unbelievably flexible with my time. Basically, because I am really good at my job (a claim I am happy to make because I work hard at it).

Anyhoo: Cereal, work, gets kids to school, EXERCISE! After I dropped my little one off for the day, I went to a different local park with a paved path that winds through a wooded area. I stretched on the monkey bars a little before and warmed up for a few minutes and, at a really slow pace, I jogged the whole way around. Chris has been giving me tips on running and breathing so I focused on breathing in for four steps and breathing out for four steps and I made it all the way. I stopped when I was having to take a breath on 3 steps and walked around a second time. I ended my exercise time with some stretches on the playground. I only stayed out there for about 30 minutes because I do have a job and obligations but I carved out the time I could and did it. When I got home I made a proper breakfast for myself.

 

I am unique in that I love all things healthy - I actually love all food but don't like the way I feel physically after I eat things that are bad for me and I also have terrible guilt so this last week has taken all of the guilt out of eating and I have been able to really enjoy and look forward to meals again.

This little gem is a smoked salmon sandwich on a whole wheat English muffin with half of one of those triangles of Laughing Cow French Onion spreadable cheese, baby mixed greens, and a slice of a tomato. The portion of smoked salmon was really small, probably about 1oz. 

Since I had some of the stuff out, I made a wrap for lunch of just under 4 ounces of turkey, whole grain mustard, the other half of that cheese triangle, a couple of slices of that same tomato and some baby mixed greens - all on a Mission Carb Balance tortilla.

I made regular coffee instead of decaf for my after lunch drink and it made me hot - I am guessing elevated blood pressure. I don't want to make that mistake again. I hate that feeling.

I had a snack bag of freeze dried strawberries and bananas and then a snack bag of that crispy edamame again. After the kids got home, I had a cheese stick and decided I couldn't wait any longer for dinner.

I had a bowl of microwave steamed kale topped with a slice of last night's turkey meatloaf. What can I say? Sometimes, you just need food to fill yourself and it won't be the best tasting meal you ever had but it serves the purpose.

I am REALLY dragging again tonight. I can easily blame it on biology this week and am interested to see if I see a weight drop as a result of hormones next week. I do weekly weigh-ins on Wednesday. It is catchy: Weigh In Wednesday. It also helps me to make sure that the scale is not temporarily impacted by bloating as a result of weekend frivolity so I avoid scales on Monday unless I am just curious.

Tomorrow is Wednesday so I hope for some good results: spoiler alert, I know I have lost more than 5 pounds already :)

Who's tired?

ME!!!

I got up at the usual 6am and went to work (I have an hour commute but don't feel bad for me, I don't have to do it every day). I got to the office, made myself a cup of coffee and got to the business of planning my day. At 8:30, while meeting with one of my employees about a facilities issue, I ate: 1 Hard boiled egg WHITE and about 1 cup of fruit salad with kiwi, grapes, strawberries and watermelon. I went into a meeting where I stood to present for an hour and then took the new hires on a tour of the office (which now means walking about the same as one city block because my company now occupies one whole floor of a building that takes up a block). 

I then attended a series of meetings until 12:00 when I met my new employees in our company's cafe for lunch. I bought a salad that was big and had walnuts, dried cranberries, and strawberries with a strawberry yogurt dressing. I dipped the tip of my fork in the dressing and at that way and only ate about 1/4 of the salad, making sure to portion out those nuts while I was at it - good for me!

I worked for the rest of the day, continuing to do laps around the office which I hope burned some calories even though it didn't really elevate my heart rate. 

I had thought I would do strength training when I got home but I am BEAT! I made a turkey meatloaf for dinner with fresh green beans and mashed potatoes (for the boys) so I will have some of the leftover cauliflower. I was hungry when I got home so I had a snack pack of dried edamame that I found on Amazon  - tasty and low cal so a great snack for me.

Resting and reading for my "off" day today instead of exercise.

Day 6 - Victories and Challenges

Well, our beloved Ravens have made it to the playoffs as have the Redskins! That means football - that means beer. I will get to that in a few minutes.

I am following advice from a wellness/lifestyle change book that I am reading: Thinner This Year, A Younger Next Year Book. It is really informative and inspirational and only sometimes over-the-top. It is written for older folks and that makes me feel like I am ahead of the game in years to get caught up. When I say "older" I mean people about 7 years older than me: older, nevertheless.

Last night I learned that I should eat something before exercising but not too close to exercising so I was conflicted about exercise timing this morning coupled with the need to run errands, eat breakfast, etc. So, I decided to have:
OATMEAL for Breakfast
And then head out to get my shopping done. Since it is cold out, I also planned on going to the track at the park on my way home to get my exercise in. All went according to plan - sort of.

I warmed up and then decided I was ready to jog and jogged around the whole damn track - I did it! Clearly, my goal was too small so now I am planning to train for double and then I will double that until I can jog a 5k without stopping. That is a decent goal and not a small one for someone who has never done this kind of thing with such purpose.

So, I got home and had a healthy wrap with my beloved Mission Carb Balance Tortillas, leftover flank steak (about 4 oz.), 1/4 avocado, mixed baby spinach and greens, and salsa. For sides, Chris and I split a clementine, a bunch of grapes, and a kiwi.

Did you know that a single kiwi has the same amount of Vitamin C as an orange and twice the potassium of a banana! Eat a kiwi or a banana for that essential potassium.

I had a healthy breakfast and lunch and I exercised, good for me. Then I cleaned the bathrooms and kitchen. Good for me! Then I sat down for a football game and filled a glass with home brew. I am only having 1 and am sipping it but I am cheating. I will let myself do it. I will be really good at dinner, I am not having any snacks with my brew and I am not having more than 1. This is all far and beyond what would have been the case last week!

Supper ended up being a bed of lightly steamed kale topped with about 4 ounces of turkey and a generous serving of roasted cauliflower and beets. Dessert was another 5 M&Ms and a cup of coffee...incidentally, I never even finished that beer - so there!

Saturday reboot

No worse for the wear from last night's shenanigans and I was up and at 'em this morning. This is a new program for me in general because I have never really committed to exercising for the sake of losing weight and being fit. One or the other, but never together. This may well be the key because I have multiple goals both dependent on my getting my ass out of bed/off the couch/out of the chair.

I was out the door like I didn't have an option this morning and only chose my destination. Today, it was the wharf. Our community wharf is exactly .8 miles from my house and I knew this meant 1.6 miles total (because I do know basic math, much to the disagreement of my husband). A great way to start the morning on a Saturday (a notoriously out of control calorie day for me). 

I walked to warm up and repeated my trick from yesterday where I picked a spot in the distance and jogged until I got there. I found myself saying "I will stop at that mailbox and then seeing a sign a little further and choosing the sign instead."

Finally, there was a point where I said, I will jog from this mailbox to the water (not the wharf, the water). I did this and found inspiration there.

Jogging at a pace that can only be described as bouncy walking, an elderly Asian couple were making their way around the wharf (the wharf is square and approximately 30-40 feet on each side). They seemingly effortlessly kept going, she ahead of he and neither panting or puffing. They were dressed oddly for exercise (both wearing dress slacks and loafers). They both wished me a good morning and kept on their path, around and around and around... I rested, panting from my "sprint" and hoped they assumed I had just ran 2 miles rather than 2000 feet. They were exercising for purpose, seizing the moment on a crisp January morning, making use of their space and lengthening their lives together. SO INSPIRATIONAL!

Also inspired was my breakfast. I got back home by way of a low and slow walk - still my feet did it :). I made this for my breakfast:

Reboot Omelet:

Break two eggs into a bowl and fish out one of the yolks, just dig right in there, you can do it.

Scramble them up with a fork and set them aside.

Chop beet greens (or any greens you have on hand, I bought beets with tops so I just pulled them off - I am hard core)

Chop green bell peppers

Chop green onion

Chip 4 mushrooms

Saute the veggies in a pan with a drizzle of olive oil and set aside the cooked veggies.

Spray the pan with cooking spray and pour in the eggs.

Using a spatula/turner, move the eggs around a bit and then spoon in the cooked veggies on one side of the eggs. Using the spatula/turner, lift the side of the eggs without the veggies and fold it over top of the veggies, plate it up and eat.

I enjoyed it with the other half of the banana I used on my cereal yesterday.

Did you know that your nerve cells from your brain send messages to your muscle cells to tell them to move by shifting sodium and potassium within the cells to change the electrical current? Eat bananas, your body needs that potassium if you are using your muscles!

Lunch date with the kids and hubby at a -eek- Mexican restaurant. I ate the delicious salsa with a fork! No chips! I also had tilapia al tequila with roasted mixed veggies. IT WAS DELICIOUS! I even left the yummy-but-off-limits rice. A medium light latte was my dessert. No afternoon snack today.

Chris treated me to dinner which I asked that he keep within the parameters of my new lifestyle and he handily complied with Asian chicken tenders on skewers, brown rice with Asian flavors and mixed steamed veggies. It was delicious and I kept my rice portion really small. I also am enjoying my second glass of a nice sippable white wine.

I will be back at it tomorrow with more exercise and good eatin'