Tomorrow

OK. Tomorrow is a big day...it's the Superbowl. Not that I give a flip about football, but the important part of this is that I am going to a Superbowl party where pretty much no one cares about the game. There is, however, large amounts of food. I am going to eat. In fact, I am going to have a full-on, balls-to-the-wall free day. Yep.

Before you get all worried, the Body For Life plan gives you a free day every single week...it allows you to take care of any cravings and convince your body that you are not, in fact, starving. I lost 50 pounds on that plan, and I never missed a free day. I don't do that plan anymore because it's too hard on the other six days, but there's no reason why I can't take a free day now and then. Of course, I have to make sure that they don't come along too often, and that I keep the wagon firmly in sight--and get right back on it the next day.

To make up for the massive amounts of calories I plan to eat tomorrow (starting with REAL, homemade waffles with blueberries and strawberries and real whipped cream and sausage on the side), I restricted myself to vegetables and fruits today and may do the same on Monday--I have a feeling I won't WANT to eat more than that by then! Then, back to life as usual.

Quick update: stats

Just wanted to give some totals:

Weight loss this week: 2 pounds
Weight loss this month: 10 pounds
Total weight loss since last May: 29 pounds
Left to go: 39 pounds

I'm sore!

Is it weird that I love it when I'm sore from riding, dancing, working out, or other such satisfying activities? It's a combination of feeling good about having done something so good for my body and happiness in being able to do such an activity. This morning, I woke up a little sore from riding, since it's been so long. I love it!

It was sooo nice to be back in the saddle yesterday. My ride went well, my new saddle felt great, and Molly felt great. I'm going to ride her every other day for now, longeing her in between...the thought of me being just a little lighter and her being just a little stronger every time I get on her is an exciting one!

HUZZAH!!!!

I decided to cheat and weigh in early, because I've been SO GOOD for the past couple days...and guess what?

199 POUNDS!!!!!

I did it! I met my first micro goal...I can ride my horse again!! I am going to get on her TODAY!!!!!! I could cry, I'm so happy. I haven't been under 200 since I've had her. She better be happy! :D

What's my next 10-pound goal? I have to think about it. I might come back and edit this post when I decide.

What's your motivation?

Most of us have some sort of motivation for wanting to lose weight, whether it's because we can't find our size in regular stores anymore, because we've become too heavy for the activities we enjoy, or we just want to be more healthy. For me, it is all of these things, and having a short term goal with a big reward (i.e., lose 10 pounds and I can ride my horse) helps to motivate me and keep me on track. However, sometimes I lose sight of my goal, and I need a push here and there.

Sometimes this push comes in the form of inspiration. I was looking at some pictures of my belly dancing teacher, Mychelle, and I was thinking, "Damn. I want to look like that." I also want to dance like that.













Then, I thought about other people I know I'd like to emulate. I'd also like to look and dance like Grace Kato, my friend, sometimes teacher, and just a fabulous person.


Of course, I also like to ride horses, and I want to ride better. I'd like to be able to ride like Patience Prine-Carr or Allyssa Baird.


Of course, they all take good care of themselves! Looking at them and wanting to be like them makes me want to go out and take a few laps around the block! What inspires you? What motivates you to drive past Burger King and go home to make a healthy salad instead?

Aaaahhhh my favorite aspet of weight loss!

Last spring I bought a suit. When I tried it on, everything fit fine, although the jacket was a little tight in the arms (a common problem because I've always had big arms). However, when I wore it to work, I was really uncomfortable all day because it was even tighter when I had my elbows bent for typing, etc., and I had to take it off. I haven't worn it since then, but this morning when I was trying to find something to wear for church, I decided to try the jacket on again to see how it fit. It actually hangs on me, and I'm wearing it as I type and it is perfectly roomy!!! I love it when I lose enough weight for my old, small clothes to start fitting again. It's almost like getting new clothes! Also, people keep telling me I look skinnier, which I also love. :)

Confession

I did something bad today. If you've read my journal, you've seen it. Yes, you read right. I ate an ice cream cone. I was really good all day and my calories and fat were good...but I wanted one. So I had it. And I still ended up pretty good for the day, plus I got a lot of exercise between going to the barn and teaching a dance workshop. So, I'm not sorry! I'm not! It was good, and I enjoyed it, so there.

For dinner, Greg made a chicken curry dish with brown rice...really good!

Official Weigh-in

All right...last week I weighed in at 204. Today...drumroll...

201!

Three pounds; excellent! I still need to watch my fat and carbs--they're often too high, even though my calories is OK. I also need to get more exercise!! I taught two dance classes last night, which had me moving a bit, and I'm teaching another tonight and will go social dancing for a couple hours after.

I hope my readers are doing well! Please check in and tell me how your weight loss is going!

Great place to eat on a diet tip of the day: Jack's Urban Eats

Jack's Urban Eats is a small chain in the Sacramento area, but Pluto's is very similar and there are several throughout California. They have a variety of things on the menu, including sandwiches, entrees, sides and salads. The salad is what I go for most often, and that's what I had for dinner tonight.

You can get a half or full salad (the full is HUGE) with your choice of toppings for a reasonable price, and you can add meat--I added a fillet of salmon for a delicious, nutritious and filling dinner!

The day started out pretty fatty, so I needed the low-fat dinner to balance it out. Ended with low calories and a pretty good carb level. Fat is still a bit high...I didn't realize the steak tacos are so much higher in fat than chicken! I normally get chicken when I get them but felt like switching it up a little...but I could have had two chicken tacos for the fat in the one steak. I need to have some fruit, so I think I'll have a few blueberries.

I splurged today

A couple days ago we decided we needed to eat some of the food in the freezer, because it's just sitting there and our wallets are hurting a little. We found some pork ribs and thawed them and decided to have them tonight. Hey, I've been good for a couple weeks now and kept my calories really low. You have to live a little every once in a while, as long as you don't let it get out of hand!

Knowing they would be high in fat, I went really easy on the fat the rest of the day...no cheese, which is my weakness. We also had potatoes with it, which is naughty, but good gosh I love 'em. I ended the day with a pretty decent calorie total, fat was just about 38g, so that could have been worse, and carbs were pretty high. On the plus side, I had about 20g of fiber. And oooohhhhhh they were good! Totally worth it. I hope I still think so when I step on the scale on Friday!

Diet Meal Idea of the Day: Pancakes. Yes, Pancakes!!

I'm not a big pancake fan, but every once in a while they sound good. However, pancakes have long been known as a diet no-no. However, thanks to General Mills, even dieters can enjoy pancakes from time to time.

General Mills Fiber One Complete Pancake Mix is made with whole grains--at least 10g per serving (a serving being 3 thick pancakes about 4" across), according to the box. This supplies 5g of fiber, which is 20% of your daily recommended amount. 3.5g of fat and no trans fats. The worst part is there are 36g of carbs--but some diet experts will tell you to subtract the fiber from that number because you need fiber, so really it's only 31. 4g of sugar and 6g of protein...in pancakes! We made ours with a few blueberries thrown in and added some sugar free pancake syrup.

Of course, how good can whole grain pancakes be? I'll tell ya, these things are good. They have a different texture than regular pancakes for sure; it's almost like a light biscuit texture. It's not tough and grainy like some whole grain products can be. I really liked it!

Of course, I can't do this every day, but it's definitely a nice treat every once in a while! A win.

Mmmm Indian food

OK, if you look at my log today, my calories look really low...but we had Indian food for dinner and I can't find anything on fitday that fits, and I have no idea how to create what we ate! It was sooo good thought...I had onion rava masala dosa, which is a sort of pancake made with onion and spices, stuffed with...I don't know! Potatoes and spices and some other stuff. Greg had Ghee Roast Masala Dosa, which had the same filling but a different kind of pancake and we shared. Probably high on the carb side, but I didn't have much in the way of carbs the rest of the day so I forgive myself, and I think low in fat. It was VEGETARIAN. In fact, the whole restaurant is vegetarian...and it's one of those "express" type places where you get good food, fast and cheap. It's called Mylapore, and it's located at 1760 Prairie City Road in Folsom, suite 160.

Diet recipe of the day: Stuffed Acorn Squash

Tonight for dinner we had stuffed acorn squash, recipe courtesy the Food Network (link below). Really, really yummy! A little high in carbs, but as long as you use wild and/or brown rice, they are good carbs--just watch how many you eat the rest of the day. I also only ate half of my squash. Also, we substituted turkey sausage for the ground pork to make it a little more heart-healthy and served it with a nice salad. A great winter meal!

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/stuffed-squash-recipe/index.html

Tonight, I think I'll go ballroom dancing (last night was country).

Great day today!

I had a gigantic salad for lunch--there's a place up the street that has a great big salad with your choice of up to 10 toppings for only $6.95...by the time I finish one, I am full! Then, Greg made tuna steaks and wild rice and salad for dinner...mmmm. Went country dancing and danced a lot, so it was definitely a productive day on the weight loss front!

Official Weigh-in Day!

I couldn't wait to wake up this morning to see if all my sacrifice has done any good. You might recall that my weigh-in last week was 209. Today....drumroll....

204!!!!!

That's right, five pounds in one week. I can't keep up that pace forever, but what a wonderful feeling! I am now back to where I was before I fell off the wagon during the holidays. I now have only four pounds to go before I get back on Molly and ride. WOO HOO!!!!!

Fit in exercise where you can

A common excuse for not exercising is, "I don't have the time!" However, you do not have to lump all of your exercise together in one sitting. A few minutes here and there throughout the day will add up! When I was working in an office, I used to sneak into the bathroom when no one was around and do releves. Today, I took my mom and dog for a walk, about 24 minutes but it flew by.

Then, I was driving to the barn (25-30 minutes each way) and I thought about what I could do in the car. This sounds silly (and I'm sure it looked silly, too), but I had both hands on the wheel and I started flapping my elbows in time to the music. After a song, my arms were tired! Hey, it's calories burned. I also did some curls--no weight of course because I was driving, but I focused on flexing the bicep and did 60 reps on each arm and then reversed it, focusing on the tricep while I straightened the arm, then bent it again. Not the same as working with weights, but at lease I burned some calories while I drove, and my arms definitely need slimming down.

I'm going to try to work in little bits here and there--a few leg lifts in my chair, belly dance while I wait for the shower to heat up, etc. I can do this! Tomorrow, I weigh in. Of course, it's 12:05 so it's already tomorrow...

A yummy meal idea

Greg and I had some inspiration in the grocery store, and it turned out great! This is something we used to do with ground beef, but we don't eat ground beef anymore. sigh. Anyway, this tastes almost the same and is really yummy, yet low in fat!

Turkey Soup Burgers

1 pound ground turkey
1/2 packet onion soup mix
1/4 cup water
Whole grain buns or bread

Optional:
Cheese
Lettuce
Tomato
Low-cal mayo
Avocado
Onions

Mix together the meat, soup mix and water and form into four patties. Grill on the barbecue or fry in a pan with just a drizzle of olive oil. Top with your favorite burger toppings. Makes four servings.

Another website you should try

A website I found extremely useful when I was doing some articles on supplements was NutritionData.com. At the time, I found it useful for seeing the exact makeup of different types of foods, including their anti-inflammatory values. However, the website has a wealth of other tools for planning your diet. The Daily Needs Calculator takes basic data like your height, weight and activity level and tells you about how many calories you burn in a day, plus how much of certain nutrients you need. There are also many useful health-related articles, and you can customize the tools to save information you use regularly. Check it out!

Animals are great exercise

Having animals makes for a fun and easy excuse to exercise. Taking the dog to the park and running around with her or playing with her at home and taking my horses for walks are good ways to get me moving. It's something that needs to be done to make the critters happy, and they force me to move faster than I would normally be inclined. Also, Mom said she would start taking walks with me, so that will be good. Not that she's a pet, of course. :)

I also really love dance, so dancing is a great way for me to get exercise...I just have to find the time to do it!

Also, my good friend Beth, who has a degree in biology and was a research scientist, thinks I have an overabundance of yeast in my system (long story). She suggested acidophillus pills to take care of it...she said that too much yeast can also retard weight loss, so maybe this will help!

Cravings

The thing about me and cravings is that I rarely have them. When I do, I can usually dismiss them...I can even look at a menu and ignore the things I wish I was having and order something healthy instead. However, when you put something I like in front of me, especially if it has a smell, and it's hard to resist. I was doing pretty well until my mother (she lives with us) cooked dinner for my daughter. She made what she calls sausage and eggshells, which is eggshell pasta and Italian sausage in spaghetti sauce. An all-time favorite of mine...and I caved. Sigh...I did manage to keep it to a pretty small portion, though. Then I had a piece of chocolate. Once I start on the downhill slide, it's hard to stop it! It's a good thing the rest of my day was pretty healthy. Tomorrow I must do better!

I'm not going to list my menu here anymore, since I'm putting it on fitday. Feel free to check it out! I will, however, try to keep posting thoughts about the day, milestones, diet tips I come across, etc.

Sitting firmly on the edge of the wagon

Today was a pretty good day. Could have gotten more exercise, though. That is the hardest thing, besides not eating bad food (yes, I realize there are two basic components to losing weight: not eating bad food and getting exercise. They're both hard, OK?). It's hard to find the time! I need to find a way to get it in, though.

Food

Breakfast: one slice of whole grain bread with natural peanut butter
Lunch: two chicken soft tacos
Dinner: Phuket Salmon with brown rice and a little Pad Thai

If you live or visit near Folsom and like Thai food, you must try Thai Paradise! SO GOOD. If you've never tried Thai, you must. While there are many fried foods and other bad things to avoid, there are many veggie, seafood and chicken dishes that are very healthy. And, it's really not that weird!

Exercise

Worked my two horses. Walked/jogged with Molly to the gate and back and ran part of the way to and from the pasture. Ran around the dog park with Maggie.

PS...my size 18 jeans were starting to get snug and I gave up on the 16s over the holidays. Now the 18s are loose again, so I should be able to get back into the 16s. Yay!

PPS...I joined fitday.com. It's really cool...has nutrition and calories burned calculators and all kinds of other tools. Today it says I ate 863 calories and burned 2614. Whoa.

Perched precariously on the wagon

Today was pretty good. I didn't belly dance this morning because I'd planned to go ballroom dancing tonight, but ended up going out to dinner with friends instead! Oops. I did go play with the horses and ran halfway to and from Molly's pasture.

Breakfast: 1 slice of whole grain bread with 1T natural peanut butter (no sugar)
Lunch: Manhattan style clam chowder (the red kind--like 2g of fat)
Dinner: 1/2 veggie sandwich and cup of veggie soup at Panera

Patience says no riding until I lose 10 pounds. I don't think the schooling show is going to happen for a variety of reasons, so I'll have to focus on the 10-pound goal for now and then pick something else for after that. The no riding thing is only fair--after all, Molly had a month off, so she's lost a lot of her previous muscle and fitness. I'll spend the next month muscling her up and slimming me down, and then we'll be ready to rock and roll!

Weekly Weigh-in and some other thoughts

Today's weigh-in: 209. 1 pound loss...not good. I'm not beating myself up over it because I WAS sick, but I need to make up for lost time. I need to stop making excuses, no matter how good they seem, and just get the job DONE!!!

For those of you who live in the vicinity of Roseville, Folsom and Shingle Springs, California, pick up a copy of this month's Style magazine. My husband and I wrote a huge feature in there about people who took charge of their health and made some big changes...very inspirational! Here's part of it, but only one of the stories is there...if you go to the Sierra Style website and look at the issues for Foothills and Roseville, you can see two more.

One that you will only find in the Roseville issue (the physical one; I don't see it online) is the story of Debe Tucker. This woman decided in March of last year that she wanted to lose 162 pounds. That is a HUGE undertaking! And I'm whining about 50?? Here's the amazing thing: she passed the 100 pound mark on December 18th. She is doing it all by diet and exercise. No surgery, no pills. Very, very inspiring! She uses a personal trainer, Suzanne Moen at Roseville Health & Wellness, who keeps her on track. I will be following Debe throughout the year, so we'll be keeping her honest...but I have a feeling this very tough lady doesn't need it!

Another woman, who posts on the Chronicle of the Horse discussion board, wants to lose 100 pounds so she can start riding and doing dressage again. She's just starting her journey, but she has already lost 10 pounds! She has a blog here, where she talks about her plan and progress. Check it out!

Dragging myself back onto the wagon

OK, today wasn't bad. I had some oatmeal for breakfast, Healthy Request Vegetable Beef soup for lunch, grilled shrimp with veggies and salad with low-cal dressing for lunch, and two tacos al carbon just now for a snack (one steak, one chicken). Overall, the day was pretty low in fat and not bad for carbs. I taught two dance classes, so I got some exercise there, although I really need more than that in a day. I think tomorrow I'll see if I'm up to doing a belly dance tape!

Walking back toward the wagon

All right, so I fell off the wagon when I was sick and wasted some precious weight-losing days. Damn! OK, the wagon is not far away. I can drag my fat butt back onto it! We bought diet stuff at the store today.

Food

Breakfast: Kashi Go Lean Crunch with skim milk

Lunch: Chicken rice soup and a salad with FF dressing (I know, rice isn't so great, but I'm still sick you know! It was a small cup)

Dinner: Mom made chicken and dumplings. What was I to do? I had chicken and ONE dumpling. I should have skipped it, but *whine* I'm sick.

Exercise

I went to the barn. I walked out to the pasture to see Molly, then back to the barn to free longe Max. Not enough, but I'm sick! More than I've gotten all week.

Tomorrow, I do better!

Ugh!!

OK, I have to confess. I've been bad. Greg and I have been sick in bed for the last two days and couldn't manage to go to the grocery store, so we've been eating the crap in the house. It's a poor excuse, I know...but damn it, I'm sick!

I'm actually feeling a bit better today, so I think tomorrow I might be able to go out to the store and to the barn. I'm going to buy some healthy food!!!

blech

I am definitely sick. I spent the whole day in bed, being a lump.

Food

breakfast: homemade chicken soup, sans actual chicken, with Barilla Plus pasta (it's whole grain, but tastes good anyway. Sonoma Diet approved!)

Lunch: salad with chicken on it

dinner: salad with steak on it

Riding update

By the way, I started riding again. After a visit from the horsey chiropractor and a saddle that fits both of us (plus the weight loss), Molly is a much happier camper! However, after having a month off, she's gotten a bit flabby so I'll be doing some ground work for a while to get her built up again. The cool thing is, I put on my half chaps, which fit perfectly before, and they are now baggy!

Day two

Ugh, woke up with a sore throat. This means that either I snored all night (possible), or I'm getting sick. If the former, it goes away within an hour or so...it didn't. In fact, I'm feeling pretty crappy right now. This is what happens when I don't get enough sleep several nights in a row...which I haven't. I have terrible sleep habits. I need to make sure I get enough rest over the next couple of days so I don't derail my plans! Here's my Revisited Healthy Lifestyle Confession for today:

Food

Lunch: taco salad with chicken. No shell!

Dinner: salad with a little gorgonzola and sliced almonds with low-cal dressing, one slice of whole grain bread with a little chicken salad on it.

Snack: haven't had one yet. Going to try not to...if I do, it'll either be Curves popcorn, which is low fat, or a bit of cheese.

Exercise

Did some belly dancing this morning and a little more tonight
Took Greg and Maggie for a walk in the park, probably about a mile and a half. Maggie and I ran part of it.
Went to the barn to work my horses. Took Molly for a walk to the gate and back three times, running parts of it. Probably about two miles total, including walking back and forth to the pasture.

Weigh-in

210 pounds (ouch)

I will not weigh myself every day!! Once per week, that's all I get. I tend to obsess about the scale, weighing myself every day, but it's not healthy or constructive to do that. Much better to wait a week!

Happy New Year! Let's get back in gear!

My long-distance dressage coach says if I lose 20 pounds by the dressage schooling show on March 29th, I can show first level! For my non-horsey readers, that's pretty cool because I've been working toward that for a couple of years. I have three months to do it, so it shouldn't be a problem!

I'm going to start using this blog as my daily journal of what I eat and how much I exercise and any thoughts for the day. Maybe having to own up to my bad behavior will discourage me from it!

Food:
Lunch: Chinese Express. had black pepper chicken, mushroom chicken and vegetables, iced tea
Popcorn at the movie (yep, bad)
Dinner: steak and potatoes and salad
Snack: grilled cheese

OK, that wasn't very good. At least lunch was a good choice!

Exercise:
Took two laps around the mall. Got a migraine and called it a day.

ETA: decided my head was better enough to sit on my Pilates ball (great for the abs) and do some curls (30 each arm) and crunches (40).