aavoid them
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
10 diet traps
This info-graphic from waitrose.com shows 10 of the top diet traps that people fall into and gives ways to avoid them. I have fallen into all 10 traps at one point or another. The first 2 have been key to most of my weight loss so far: portion control and calorie counting.
aavoid them
aavoid them
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Weigh in February 24
Starting Weight - 217 on January 1st, 2013
Current Weight - 205.4
Weightlost GAINED this week - 0.6 lbs
No surprise that I gained this week. While I mostly tried to follow the low-carb approach, I had several moments of giving in and eating everything in sight: a cup of almonds, a whole big chocolate bar, 2 donuts and chocolate muffin. Ugh.
Today is the start of a new week, so I start again.
Current Weight - 205.4
Weight
No surprise that I gained this week. While I mostly tried to follow the low-carb approach, I had several moments of giving in and eating everything in sight: a cup of almonds, a whole big chocolate bar, 2 donuts and chocolate muffin. Ugh.
Today is the start of a new week, so I start again.
Friday, February 22, 2013
Will power
....I have none.
Today was a horrible day for food choices. Faced with temptation 3 different times, I caved EACH time. And each time I felt like crap because I was eating crap that I haven't had in a while. You would think after the first or maybe even the second time that I would have learned. Nope... hours later I did it again.
I can make fabulous choices when planning, I can say No Thank you to people offering me snacks and treats at the office. But if I have access to junk food, I simply cave.
This is going to be my goal for the next while. To take control of my will power. To not cave to simple desires that I know are not good for me.
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Sleep
I've discovered on my journey to better health and wellness that sleep can be just as important (if not more) than diet and exercise. Check out this great info-graphic from The Greatist.com for lots of facts about sleep and ideas about improving it.
Get health and fitness tips at Greatist.com
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
TaeKwon-do
It's been almost a year since I started TaeKwon-Do with Liam. I aim to go to a 1 hour class three times a week. It's a great work out and a whole lot of fun, something that I hadn't expected. An hour of Tae Kwon Do can burn over 900 calories! I didn't think that I could find a sport, a contact, martial art sport at that, that I would fall in love with in my 40s, but I've fallen in love with this one.
Monday, February 18, 2013
Get Stretched
One of the things I like about Tribesports is that they have these great guides.
This one is an 11.5 minute stretching routing that work all your major muscles. Stretching before and after a workout is so important but something that many people often neglect. Stretching gets your blood flowing and increases your circulation. It can help you build better flexibility by lengthening your muscles. It can help prevent injury by warming up your muscles slowly before you hit them hard with the real workout.
It’s important to remember to stretch properly. It’s easy to fall into the habit of “bouncing” or rushing your stretches. This can do more damage in the long run. Stretching should never hurt. You may feel resistance as you are building your flexibility but if it hurts you’ve pushed yourself too far.
Come on over to Tribesports and join this challenge to Get Stretched!
This one is an 11.5 minute stretching routing that work all your major muscles. Stretching before and after a workout is so important but something that many people often neglect. Stretching gets your blood flowing and increases your circulation. It can help you build better flexibility by lengthening your muscles. It can help prevent injury by warming up your muscles slowly before you hit them hard with the real workout.
It’s important to remember to stretch properly. It’s easy to fall into the habit of “bouncing” or rushing your stretches. This can do more damage in the long run. Stretching should never hurt. You may feel resistance as you are building your flexibility but if it hurts you’ve pushed yourself too far.
Come on over to Tribesports and join this challenge to Get Stretched!
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Weigh In February 17th
Starting Weight - 217 on January 1st, 2013
Current Weight - 204.8
Weight lost this week - 3.1 lbs
I am loving the low-Carb approach to things! I not only lost 3 pounds this week, I did it without ever feeling hungry or deprived.
I averaged 1815 calories each day which is slightly on the high side for what my goal should be. The average would have been lower, but we splurged on a fancy dinner for Valentine's Day. I also averaged 93 g net carbs a day (109 g carbs minus 16 g fiber) . Considering my average before trying this approach was closer to 280 g net carbs a day, I think I've done well. I don't think I could get as low as 30 g of carbs, which some diets suggest. Given my weight loss results for the week, I really don't see the need to go that extreme at this point.
It was very interesting to not feel hungry or have any other negative effects from reducing carbs in my diet. I was worried that I would hangry or head-achy all week, but I wasn't. I had a good sized breakfast before leaving for work, small snacks throughout the day and a great dinner every night. I also drank lots of green tea and water all day long, which I'm sure helped me to feel more full. I did eat a lot more meat than I usually do. Hilary indulged me by cooking pork chops, chicken, salmon and steak for me. A meat with 1 or 2 veggies on the side makes for a very satisfying meal. I also ate eggs, twice! Hilary made a fabulous spinach frittata, one of the few ways the I enjoy eggs and on Saturday after TaeKwon-Do I even made myself an omelet.
We've decided to try another week of low carb eating. It was not that difficult (or more expensive) to put together lunches for me to take to work, and Hilary doesn't mind the meat/veg approach to dinner. The one thing that I am going to try to change up this week is my breakfast. Instead of having oatmeal/quinoa with greek yogurt, which has 40 g of carbs in it, I'm going to try cooking myself some eggs (and maybe even bacon) for before I leave for work. A 2 egg omelet has 1/2 the calories of the quinoa dish and only 1 g of carbs. Win-Win. Of course, cooking at 6:00 AM might be a challenge!
I owe a big thanks to my SIL for her fabulous suggestion! If I can keep things up I may actually reach that elusive goal of 199 lbs.
Current Weight - 204.8
Weight lost this week - 3.1 lbs
photo credit: Buzzle.com
I am loving the low-Carb approach to things! I not only lost 3 pounds this week, I did it without ever feeling hungry or deprived.
I averaged 1815 calories each day which is slightly on the high side for what my goal should be. The average would have been lower, but we splurged on a fancy dinner for Valentine's Day. I also averaged 93 g net carbs a day (109 g carbs minus 16 g fiber) . Considering my average before trying this approach was closer to 280 g net carbs a day, I think I've done well. I don't think I could get as low as 30 g of carbs, which some diets suggest. Given my weight loss results for the week, I really don't see the need to go that extreme at this point.
It was very interesting to not feel hungry or have any other negative effects from reducing carbs in my diet. I was worried that I would hangry or head-achy all week, but I wasn't. I had a good sized breakfast before leaving for work, small snacks throughout the day and a great dinner every night. I also drank lots of green tea and water all day long, which I'm sure helped me to feel more full. I did eat a lot more meat than I usually do. Hilary indulged me by cooking pork chops, chicken, salmon and steak for me. A meat with 1 or 2 veggies on the side makes for a very satisfying meal. I also ate eggs, twice! Hilary made a fabulous spinach frittata, one of the few ways the I enjoy eggs and on Saturday after TaeKwon-Do I even made myself an omelet.
We've decided to try another week of low carb eating. It was not that difficult (or more expensive) to put together lunches for me to take to work, and Hilary doesn't mind the meat/veg approach to dinner. The one thing that I am going to try to change up this week is my breakfast. Instead of having oatmeal/quinoa with greek yogurt, which has 40 g of carbs in it, I'm going to try cooking myself some eggs (and maybe even bacon) for before I leave for work. A 2 egg omelet has 1/2 the calories of the quinoa dish and only 1 g of carbs. Win-Win. Of course, cooking at 6:00 AM might be a challenge!
I owe a big thanks to my SIL for her fabulous suggestion! If I can keep things up I may actually reach that elusive goal of 199 lbs.
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
What are you giving up?
Growing up as a Catholic, I was always asked by all the adults in my life, "What are you going to give up for Lent?" Since I've always struggled with my weight, I always tried to give up things like cookies or ice cream. I don't think I was ever successful.
I no longer consider myself Catholic and I haven't thought about giving up something for Lent in years. Over at Tribesports though I have been doing a lot of healthy eating challenges, so when one came up asking us to challenge ourselves to give up something for Lent, I figured I would give it a go.
I've decided to give up potato (and other vegetable, since I much prefer parsnip) chips for the next 40 days.
My other food challenges currently include no candy for 2 weeks, a low carb diet for 1 week, drinking green tea every day and no coffee shop coffee for 2 weeks. And outside of Tribesport challenges I have also cut myself down to 1 cup of coffee a day (with half the sugar in it that I used to use), no pop and no alcohol.
The surprising thing of all this? I don't crave any of the things I've given up. I don't feel hungry or unsatisfied during the day. I don't feel deprived at all. And I'm seeing the results in my weight already. Win-Win!
So what are you giving up?
I no longer consider myself Catholic and I haven't thought about giving up something for Lent in years. Over at Tribesports though I have been doing a lot of healthy eating challenges, so when one came up asking us to challenge ourselves to give up something for Lent, I figured I would give it a go.
I've decided to give up potato (and other vegetable, since I much prefer parsnip) chips for the next 40 days.
My other food challenges currently include no candy for 2 weeks, a low carb diet for 1 week, drinking green tea every day and no coffee shop coffee for 2 weeks. And outside of Tribesport challenges I have also cut myself down to 1 cup of coffee a day (with half the sugar in it that I used to use), no pop and no alcohol.
The surprising thing of all this? I don't crave any of the things I've given up. I don't feel hungry or unsatisfied during the day. I don't feel deprived at all. And I'm seeing the results in my weight already. Win-Win!
So what are you giving up?
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Weigh-In February 10
Starting Weight - 217 on January 1st, 2013
Current Weight - 207.9
Weight lost this week - 3.1 lbs
And things are back on track! Not only did I lose the 2 pounds I gained last week, but I lost an additional pound on top of that.
I'm still struggling to keep my calories at or near my goal. For this coming week I'm going to try a new approach. Instead of focusing solely on calories, I'm going to focus more on carbohydrates. Since your body uses carbs first to fuel itself, the theory is that if you put less carbs in your body will use what it already has stored, therefore you lose more weight.
On an average day right now I consume about 230 g of carbs. The fancy name for this diet approach is Ketogenic Diet. Some people say that you should drop your carb intake down to 30-50 g per day. I really don't think I can go that extreme to start with. Hilary and I have been playing with menu options and daily food planning. I'm going to aim to get my carbs down to 100 g this week. I think cutting them in half to start is good. After all, the quinoa/oatmeal breakfast that I currently eat has 42 g of carbs alone.
I don't want to be so extreme that I'm starving (and therefore cranky) all the time. I need to ensure that I have enough snacks and food to get me throughout the day. And since I'm not a huge meat eater (there aren't any carbs in meat) I'm not likely to take a cooked chicken breast for my mid-morning snack.
We'll keep researching meal and snack ideas before we head out to the grocery store this afternoon. I'm hoping to see good results from this experiment, with any really bad side effects.
Current Weight - 207.9
Weight lost this week - 3.1 lbs
And things are back on track! Not only did I lose the 2 pounds I gained last week, but I lost an additional pound on top of that.
I'm still struggling to keep my calories at or near my goal. For this coming week I'm going to try a new approach. Instead of focusing solely on calories, I'm going to focus more on carbohydrates. Since your body uses carbs first to fuel itself, the theory is that if you put less carbs in your body will use what it already has stored, therefore you lose more weight.
On an average day right now I consume about 230 g of carbs. The fancy name for this diet approach is Ketogenic Diet. Some people say that you should drop your carb intake down to 30-50 g per day. I really don't think I can go that extreme to start with. Hilary and I have been playing with menu options and daily food planning. I'm going to aim to get my carbs down to 100 g this week. I think cutting them in half to start is good. After all, the quinoa/oatmeal breakfast that I currently eat has 42 g of carbs alone.
I don't want to be so extreme that I'm starving (and therefore cranky) all the time. I need to ensure that I have enough snacks and food to get me throughout the day. And since I'm not a huge meat eater (there aren't any carbs in meat) I'm not likely to take a cooked chicken breast for my mid-morning snack.
We'll keep researching meal and snack ideas before we head out to the grocery store this afternoon. I'm hoping to see good results from this experiment, with any really bad side effects.
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
No Candy Challenge
I had a great talk with my SIL today. She's one of my biggest supporters and can offer great advice on things that I might not see or realize on my own. She knows that I struggle with a sweet tooth. She suggested that instead of trying to cut out all sugar or make any drastic changes to what I eat, that I start off with simply not eating any candy for 2 weeks and to see how that goes.
So starting tomorrow (since yes, I had already eaten a piece of candy before I spoke with her this afternoon) I will challenge myself to not eat any candy (including chocolate) for the next 2 weeks. I've also challenged folks over at Tribesports to do the same. You are welcome to come and join us, just follow this link.
I know that I won't go out and buy myself candy, but I have very little will power if it's around. In just the last week I finished off both my Turkish Delight and all the wine gums that I got for Christmas. Lot's of people at the office keep candy dishes on their desk and I quickly lose track of how many times I scoop one up as I walk by. So this will definitely be a challenge for me. I'm feeling up to the task though!
Sunday, February 3, 2013
Weigh In - February 3rd
Starting Weight - 217 on January 1st, 2013
Current Weight - 211
Weightlost gained this week - 2.1 lbs
After 4 weeks of continual loss, I have gained. I'm not at all surprised. I was so tired all week that I was not able to keep up with any extra exercise beyond TKD and walking to work. Most nights I was in bed by 9:30. And I didn't make the best food choices a couple of days either. Still mostly in the range of healthy food, just too much of it!
So now it's time to put that behind me and move on to a new week!
Current Weight - 211
Weight
After 4 weeks of continual loss, I have gained. I'm not at all surprised. I was so tired all week that I was not able to keep up with any extra exercise beyond TKD and walking to work. Most nights I was in bed by 9:30. And I didn't make the best food choices a couple of days either. Still mostly in the range of healthy food, just too much of it!
So now it's time to put that behind me and move on to a new week!
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