I believe that proper diet and exercise need to be a part of my weight loss. Although I haven't given up, this wasn't my strongest week. Let me tell you about my obstacles with the hope that you can give me suggestions about how you overcome those, or at least how you would overcome those if you were in my same situation.
This week was my anniversary. Being my anniversary I had to do a nice dinner for Teresa. I stayed home from work on Tuesday and then made dinner. I have several signature dishes and I made her one of those dishes this week. It wasn't the healthiest of dishes, but was primarily veggies, so not the worst, either. What I did have was a piece of cake that I bought, but it was a very small piece. So, all in all, Tuesday was not too bad, but not the typical salads that I had eaten in past weeks either. Roger said a couple of posts ago that a salad only diet wasn't going to be able to keep me interested. I have to say that I'm finding that is the truth. I enjoy the salads, but I would have a difficult time continuing with just salads. I've learned that I can eat more than just salads, I can even eat a little piece of meat or a small dessert, as long as it's not the norm and I remember portion control.
In your comments for this week, I would love to know what is your favorite healthy dish to eat. If you have the recipe, post the recipe, if not, just post the name or description.
The next difficulty that I had, which also had to do with my anniversary, was that Teresa and I went on a surprise (surprise to me) overnight outing on Friday. Because we were away from home, we went out to eat. We decided on Outback and I ordered a grilled Tilapia dish with a seared tuna, sushi style, for an appetizer. I thought that it was really healthy and because it was one of their healthy dishes, the portion sizes were not large, either.
I go on TDYs often enough (that's a business trip for all non-military people) for two to three weeks. Eating out everyday for two to three weeks has it's harmful effects. So my question is, How do you guys recommend doing things for someone who is on a diet and looking to eat healthy?
Last part is exercise. I did horrible this past week. I exercised on Tuesday only. I could go on and give you excuses, but I just didn't manage my time appropriately. I know that if Lee reads this, he's going to kill me at work and then harass me on the blog... or maybe the other way around.
Here's what is new with my exercise. I don't know if I've mentioned this before. I bought shoes that have an insert that syncs with my iPod touch. It measures my pace, my distance run and calories burned and stores them. It allows me to make goals and then tracks that progress. So, for September, for example, I would like to walk / jog a total of 30 miles or more. It also allows me to publish the results. So, I'm going to be starting to publish my workouts on there as well. With that, you can look at my results daily and then comment here or shoot me an email, or yell at me at work, if you find that I'm missing runs or workouts. I think that I have it setup so that it publishes it directly to facebook, but I'm not positive about that. If not, here is the link, feel free to come and check out what I've been doing.
Skinny Steve H's Runs
I really need your suggestions as to what you do to keep on a schedule or to make sure that you have the time. What do you do to make sure that exercise is a part of your daily routine, if anything?
Well, how was that for being shorter?
To reiterate, if you can think of anything here are the three things that I need / want from you in your comments.
1. Favorite healthy dishes, with recipe or description.
2. Your ideas of how to get the most out of two or three weeks of eating out.
3. What do you guys do to make sure that exercise remains a part of your schedule, what are your tricks of the trade?
Now onto my results:
Journey's starting weight: 260
Week's Starting weight: 250 Pounds
Current weight: 248 Pounds
Weight Loss last week: 2 Pound
Total weight loss: 12 pounds
% Weight Loss this last week: .8%
% Weight Loss total diet: 4.6%
Time jogging without stopping: 5:20
Thanks for following, tune in next week for week 5 reports!
9 comments:
Yahoo dear! Lookin' good. I was very impressed with your control and choices at Outback when we went. But, being gone for two weeks is going to be super hard. Going to the grocery store and getting your hummus and flat bread sounds like a good idea. There are actually lots of things you can take in to a hotel room that won't go bad that will keep you eating healthy. Fruit and veggies for example. Most fast food places also have GREAT Salads and they serve the dressing on the side which is good when you are trying to keep your salad healthy.
As far as exercise, with Steven in football you may have to move some exercise to either the morning before work *gasp* or during your lunch hour. I guess we can go after football, but you know how I am about bed time. :)
Love you dear, keep up the great work.
Congratulations! You're still sticking with this and keeping your head up even when you have slipped here and there and that is NOT easy to do.
I'll have to think about the healthy dishes and send some recipes to you. I would recommend that you look at recipes and know that almost any recipe can be altered just a bit to really reduce the calorie content. Know the big things to look for that will pack on calories as they are primarily fat based: creams, butter, sauces, mayo etc... The calorie density is very high with almost zero nutritional value. Nuts are very calorie dense, but excellent for you, in moderation of course.
Salads aren't going to keep you interested or full. Variety will keep you going. Do you like fish? Fish is very healthy and is a great choice for lean protein. Have you seen the various packaged fish in the grocery stores? (in the canned tuna area) Mike takes those to work for lunch - he never eats out except for tdy.
Do you have to eat out while on tdy? Can you eat out only once a day? Make the most of it by knowing what the calorie killers are - dressings, sauces, breads etc... and avoid those. Always get the dressing on the side when you get a salad and dip your fork in the dressing and then put some salad on your fork. Don't eat fried things. Don't eat the bread. :-) Eat a baked potato without butter and sour cream (it fills you up without massive fat calories that way) - salsa can be really good on potatoes.
Exercise is always the hardest. Set a goal and do NOT let yourself miss it. This can be easier to do with exercise than eating. Allow yourself to fall down and get back up with eating, but with exercise, don't allow yourself to miss the makr. Don't allow yourself an 'oh well, I don't have time' because as you saw last week, if you do it once, it will keep happening. Exercise is the most important part of all of this. Remember, more muscle means you burn more calories when you're doing absolutely nothing.
Keep your exercise goals reasonable right now so you can say I WILL walk x number of minutes every day, NO MATTER WHAT. And keep it, no matter what. If you don't think you can make that 30, then find something you KNOW you can make happen, no matter what.
When dieting, exercise is the one part that is going to make you happy. Skipping foods that you want to eat is not going to make you happy right away. Reducing calories is not going to bring immediate happiness. Not eating that piece of bread or bowl of ice cream is not going to make you happy in that moment. But exercise has the power to make you happy in that very moment!
A 2 lb weight loss last week was great! You don't want to lose too much too fast - it won't be lasting if you go too fast.
By the way, I think your long posts are fine. There is a lot to discuss when embarking on such a journey, and since it's your 'accountability journal' you have to bare all!
Keep up the good work, we're cheering for you!
Steve, you're doing great - two pounds a week is a maintainable, healthy pace for weight loss.
I travel a lot for work, too, and you're totally right. It's really tough to eat healthfully and in good portion sizes. Here's what I do:
There are a lot of hotel chains that offer rooms with kitches for Per Diem. I prefer Townplace Suites or Residence Inn by Marriott (no, they're not paying me).
The first thing I do before I head to the hotel to check in is stop at the grocery store. I get salad-y stuff, healthy snacks, and steel cut oatmeal for breakfast. I even pack myself healthy sammiches for lunch.
I won't lie and say I behave perfectly on TDYs, but this helps me TREMENDOUSLY.
Keep it up!
Hey Steve! Keep up the great work.
I read the part earlier in your blog about Army. Let me through some statistics your way and see what you think.
walk-jog-run and you burn roughly 80% of your total body weight per mile in calories. So 250lbs moving a mile burns 200 calories. Doesn't matter how fast, it only does when you are elite-fit, I don't worry about that, it only matters that you move.
To maintain your current weight, not that you want to, you need roughly 2500 calories. 3000 calories in a pound. So you'd have to walk-jog-run 15 miles to burn a pound off.
Army did three things for us in Basic/AIT. 1) exercise all day, walking, marching, pushing, pulling, yelling... but moving all day. 2) controlled eating. No snacking at random and no sugary snack or drinks. 3) motivation, graduation, satisfaction of completion and probably some more -tions, too.
So, bottom line at the bottom: Start your day with a walk, take a walk at lunch, and end your day with a walk with the family. Every day. Even if it starts at ten minutes a walk. Don't make it exercise, just make it something you do. Remember you move and burn calories at a, relatively, constant rate, so just move.
Mike
Way to go on the 2 pounds Bosie. That's fabulous. I have a great Weight watchers recipe that I love. It's Parmesan Chicken:
I like to use the thinly sliced boneless/skinless chicken breasts, it cooks easier and is more tender.
1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts
4 egg whites
1 cup italian breadcrumbs
can tomato sauce
2 cups part skim mozarella cheese
olive oil
box whole wheat pasta
Pour half can tomato sauce at the bottom of 9x13 pan and spread around.
Dip chicken into egg whites, then into bread crumbs and put into frying pan with olive oil. Lightly brown both sides of chicken and put into casserole dish. Cover chicken with remaining tomato sauce, and top with cheese. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes at 350.
Cook pasta according to box directions. Top pasta with chicken and tomato sauce from pan.
So, this is a healthy recipe that I really love and it's really good.
As far as keeping to a schedule, I don't really have any advice for that cause I'm a stay at home mom. I excercise whenever I put the kids down for a nap. :)
Well, can't wait til next week's blog entry!
Steve - Keep up the great work! If you're looking for recipes try www.allrecipes.com and select the healthy recipes option. There are a ton of choices there. I go on TDYs a lot and the best thing to do is NOT to go out to eat. I go to the local grocery store and stock up on healthy fruits/lean cuisine meals, etc. and go to the hotel gym to work out while everyone else goes out to dinner. It's all about choices...choose to do what's right for you. Again - you're doing a fantastic job. Keep your goal in mind and stay disciplined. ~ Wha
Steve - your still going strong and thats a good thing. Don't give up!! I get up @5:30 in the am before I go to work and work out with weights & treadmill for an hour. I don't know if thats feasible for you or not, but its worth a shot!! Love ya Mom
It is feasible, I am just not a morning person. I'll need to make adjustments to make things happen, and that may be something that I need to adjust.
Alright, here is my 2 cents...
1. No excuses, exercise (wednesday mornings are sports at PT, you are welcome anytime)
2. Broiled Salmon
3. Stay at a Candlewood Suites or Homewood Suites, go to the store and eat in your room as much as possible.
4. Stay strong and Don't Slack
Post a Comment