weightfighter

Well, I had a funny schedule this past week so I did not get a chance to post a blog until today. I had my monthly check up - I have lost 3 more pounds total for my official weight to be 226. It was not a bad month (I still lost), but it was not as good of a month as it had been. We believe there is a combination of reasons why because I did loose significant number of inches. First, I did managed to work out much more this month which most likely meant I put on more muscle (and muscle weighs more then fat). But secondly, I tended to eat up the higher spectrum of my diet order then the lower level. I was on average at calories of 1500 -1600 verses 1400 -1500. One of my problems is still my issues with empty calories - 200 or 300 calories from ice cream or what not.

As a result, my plan is to maintain calories between 1350 and 1450 each day (and adjusting for workouts). Also, I am going to try to keep my “empty” calories down to between 100 - 150 calories.

On another note - I have made an awesome recipe for pumpkin pie that is low in calories (it uses pumpkin pie tarts). The link for the recipe is below. The recipe serving size is for two tarts at 40 calories per two tarts.
—-  http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts/recipe/1277216/2

So - I seem to have finally punched through my mini plateau. I lost another pound this week. I also was able to exercise three days, so yay! These accomplishments were in the midst of NC making a ruling that state employees with a BMI of over 40 will have to pay higher premiums. I am finally at 39.0 BMI, which keeps me from that issue; but I have distinct issues with this policy.

First - the state is so concerned about the obesity issue impacted the bottom line, they are not doing anything to help their employees (or the citizens of the state) loose weight effectively. For instance, many states and insurance companies offer little or no assistance with things like gym memberships or access to nutritional information. There supposedly is a clause stating that people who are overweight because of medical conditions will not be effected. What medical conditions? Does that include someone who is to ill to workout? No, it does not.

Here is my biggest peeve with this issue is that the state will not provide an exception for people who have shown they are working at loosing weight. For instance, a friend of mine who started adjusting her diet started at 330 and is now down to 300 in 3 months. But currently she still is still over the 40 BMI.

Today I made it to the gym, despite my ankle is hurting. I got my butt kicked in water aerobics. I am staying on target with the calorie count and now the gym. I will not be able to make it to the gym tomorrow, but I will go Thursday. Friday a friend and I are going to the amusement park for their Halloween park.

One day I will look like this LOL:

Over the last four or so weeks, while I was not bad, I felt as though I fell off of my good progress session. I slowed down on the weight loss significantly, had to stop taking the appetite suppressant, and could not exercise because when I did, I would get dizzy from my blood pressure. But - that seems to to be fixed.  Yay! While I am not taking the appetite suppressant, I have been able to get back into water aerobics (even though, there are slight issues with that that are being taken care of). I am also more in control of my eating then I was before. So, I am excited as I enter what I am now calling my second phase of diet.

In other information, I was looking for a recipe for low calorie squash soup and found an interesting site. The site, http://www.drgourmet.com/index.shtml , allows you to sign up for free and include/exclude different diet styles, methods, foods, etc.. Then the site provides a menu planner. While I do not plan on using each recipe, it is a good resource for different foods, recipes, options over all.

Happy Eating!

Ok - so I have been doing different things to deal with my blood pressure. I doubled the norvasc as the PAC wanted. I stopped taking the tenuate (the PAC really did not want me to do that) but that is the only “new” thing that should account for the pressure increase. Stopping the tenuate (appetite suppressant) I think was a smart and stupid thing. First off, I did this without thinking about what time of the month I was heading into. So on top of fighting hunger a little bit (not alot, I have adjusted well to that), I went through the typically cravings and did not realize why initially. And on top of it, I gave into most of the cravings. I did not blow things out of the water too bad most of the week - staying between 1400-1600 calories during the work week. Yesterday, however, I just fell off the wagon. I went to lunch with a friend who came up for the weekend. I did not do badly at lunch, but after lunch, we realized the alternator of my car was going bad. So, I drove the car to my in-laws house so my husband could replace it. This was 5 pm (we had seen a movie after lunch). The change should have only been one hour - and it became 6 hours. We were starving and had to eat what was there to tide us over (Oatmeal cookies with cream filling and chips). Finally we got dinner, and we ordered the chip basket with a beer. My entree was half of a bison burger and a side of veggies so I was not horrible, but I definitely went above the 2000 mark.

So now, I start again. Today is a new day, right. The only thing we can do is look back at the errors we made and use those decisions to make better decisions in the future. That is easier said then done, but at least it is a start. I started breakfast this morning with a veggie omelet and a side of fruit (350 calories).  Lunch will be my other half of the bison burger with steamed veggies.

Other news, I go to my family physician tomorrow to figure out the issue with my blood pressure since it is still up. It is frustrating since research says, that if there is any change to my blood pressure, it should be going down with the 38 pounds I have lost since May, not up.  So, until we know what that is all about, I am going to start looking up information and tips on staying on track even with the holidays and all those sugary and calorie loaded parties and activities coming. As I get information, I will share it….

Sorry it has been a few days since I last posted, I was on vacation with my hubby for our 5 year anniversary. I over ate and went over my calorie count both Friday and Saturday, but it was my anniversary so it was worth it! I got a new cook book “Hungry Girl” the first addition. I look forward to trying the recipes. I let you all know if any are good.

I posted this in the challenge forum, but I know some of you all do not look at the forums so I thought I would post these two recipes here. I really liked them and they are not hard at all. The chicken recipe is excellent if you are looking for quick meals.

So I have reached one of my goals this week - I tried two recipes. One was a Grilled Orange Glazed chicken and one was a Frozen peach yogurt. The chicken recipe is 174 calories a serving (about 4 ounces) and can be found through this link (I left out the oil):
Grilled Orange Chicken Fingers - Eating Well

The second recipe was for frozen berry yogurt from Healthy Recipes, Healthy Eating, Healthy Cooking - Eating Well, but my husband does not eat raspberries so I substituted with peaches. Also, I substituted regular yogurt with greek yogurt and reduced the sugar from 1/3 cup to 1/4 cup. Because of the changes, I ran the recipe through a recipe analyzer on nutritiondata.com. The link below is for that recipe:
Nutrition Facts and Analysis for Frozen Peach Yogurt

Well today I was supposed to go to the amusement park, but it was raining so we pushed our adventure off until Wednesday. Instead, I made it to the water aerobics class (and go my butt kicked!). I did a mini weigh in, and only lost 1 pound. Considering how much I over did it last week, the one pound is good.

I stayed within my calorie count today and yesterday, so 2 days down, 5 to go of achieving one of my weekly goals. Also, I worked out today, so I just need to include two more workouts this week to meet one of my other goals.  I have found some low calorie recipes (including desserts). I am going to try them over the other next couple of days.

Knowing that I was going to the amusement park, I wanted to know about how far one walks at this park. In my quest for information I found an interesting feature from Google:

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/

Through this feature, you can map out where you walk. While it is not 100% accurate, it provides a close reference. I was able to pull the satelite image of the park and map out the areas I usually visit with “stright lines” and it calculated the miles.

Yesterday I came to a realization, I was not as “in control” of this lifestyle change as I thought. The last week, while I have not blown my calorie count (I Have not eaten more then 1700 calories), I have not stayed at my 1400 mark on 6 of the seven days. One common thread - I was eating at restaurants that did not offer nutritional information. My thought process - “I can indulge this once” and that one time ends up being four or five times in the week. Last night, as I sat looking at my calorie count, I actually had to stop myself from putting down exercise that I know does not count (like walking five minutes around a store). I need to limit my “indulgences” to once or at most twice a week.

One good thing, I did keep my goal from last week. I only went to Yum-Yum’s once this week. This week’s goal is to actuall exercise three times this week AND stay at or below my calorie count. Tomorrow I am going to the amusement park which is about 1.5 miles long so I know I will stay within my count because I do not typically eat any food there so that is one activity down … two more to go.