It's all about me

Kelly, glad you got to see (and liked the pics)! I am so not a "post my pics in the b&a section" - which is odd cause I'm not exactly shy...but I'm unreasonably uncomfortable with the idea of hundreds of people randomly looking at my photos??????:eek:

Sounds like this week we'll both be eating a lot of salmon...goodness knows I've eaten enough red meat over the last 10 days to satisfy my inner carnivore for weeks! It's seafood, chicken and turkey, white meat only, for me for the next week.

I'm going to go read the diet article but I did read the posts about it...and I totally agree with the title that says it's better not to go on a diet at all....I've lived that loss/gain cycle myself and recently seen first-hand in a friend the negative outcome of a "diet mentality". But, at the risk of sounding jaded and cynical, we live in a "diet" oriented society - in part 'cause that's really where the money (and lots of it) is made - 100 cal snack packs, Slim Fast, Lean Cuisine, Diet Coke, Weight Watchers, diet plans, books, pills and idiotic devices like the five mins. a day "ab blaster".....who would make money if we all just went to the store and bought real food - which we then only ate as much as we needed?
 
Casey: thanks...you look pretty darn good yourself these days:)

Photocrazed: I do the same thing usually, mix the almonds/walnuts and measure an oz of the combination. As far as the ratio between poly/mono, I pretty much take my cue from the long term Harvard study: Women's Health Initiative Dietary Modification Trial. Bottom line on fats being: the overall amount really isn't important, there's zero health/weight loss advantage in following a generically "low fat" diet...but types of fat are crucial: transfat, never; sat fat, less than 20g or 10% (which ever is lower); mono/poly fats, both have different, equally important aspects - personally I find that mono is easier to incorporate daily, but poly takes a little bit more effort- when I'm being a really good girl the two are fairly balanced.
 
I think I just did bad, I had an oz of each.. oops.

Thanks for the info.

I have been trying to keep the Sat fat low, but don't know how low it has been. I'll see if Sparkpeople can monitor it and start doing that from now on.
 
1937

Photocrazed: I was just reading your food diary thinking how great your food looked - cadbury eggs and all:) ! I think I'm always gonna do a little song and dance over sat fat just because I hate low-fat dairy and like the fattier cuts of meat. I've decided it's better for me to continue to struggle with it han ignore it althogher and wake up in 20 years clutching at my heart and going "uh oh" - cheery morning thought huh?:)

Cals at 1937 - on target. Sat fat, finally after about 10 days of excess, under 20g, fiber not stellar but okay at 27g and protein fine at 130.

Watched PBS show "Fat: What No one is Telling You" last night - that's 2 hours of my life I'll never get back:mad: . I truly don't know if it was the mood I was in (my period and really missing DFH), but the only person (including several of the expert panel members) profiled that I didn't just want to reach out and bitch slap was the woman who had lost around 100lbs and was realistic and determined about what she had to do to keep it off.

I thought if one more person said "It's hard" or laid the "blame" for our collective weight problem on "environment" I would just change the channel - but I was too lazy to reach for the remote:) . I think the most irritating part was the end panel discussion when one doc noted that according to the National Registry, the only people who were long term successful in keeping the weight off were the ones who had undergone a complete lifestyle overhaul - And another doc brushed it off with the comment "yes, but how realistic is that?"

Yeah, yeah, yeah "it's hard"...but so friggin what? When did we turn into a society where "hard work" is an unacceptable concept? Yeah, yeah, yeah, we are surrounded by fast food, delivery & take-out, and super portions and all you can eat buffets galore...and my inner cranky old lady says again "so friggin what?" The ultimate decision is still mine to make.

liquids:
coffee, 16 oz
water, 60 oz

fruits
apple, 1 small
applesauce, unsweetened, 1/3 cup
raisins, 05 oz
cranberries, 25

veggies
cabbage, cooked, 1 1/2 cups
carrots, shredded, 1/4 cup

dairy
cream cheese, 1/3 fat, 1 oz

meat
chicken breast, 1 cup shredded
chicken wing, 2 small
egg white, 1 large

nuts/gains/seeds/legumes
almonds, 1/3 cup sliced
almond paste, 2 tablespoons
whole wheat flour, 1/2 cup
oats, rolled, 1/2 cup
vital wheat gluten, 1 tablespoon
rice crackers, 1/3 serving

other
honey, 1 tablespoon
protein bar, 1

Total: 1937
Fat: 73 656 35%
Sat: 17 154 8%
Poly: 13 113 6%
Mono: 34 305 16%
Carbs: 206 717 38%
Fiber: 27 0 0%
Protein: 130 518 27%
Alcohol: 0 0 0%
 
When did we turn into a society where "hard work" is an unacceptable concept?
Click to expand...
that's been my rant du jour for the past few weeks... umm months... years... about pretty much everything :)

though until you get yourself into the right mindset... it's near impossible to lose weight...
 
1815

Steve: Thanks, I know this is a rough time for you, wish I could think of somethig wise to say that would help.
Malificent: yea, it's all about being in the right mindset to really accomplish anything - weight loss or otherwise...that's what I really want a magic little red pill for

Really bad cramps kept me hostage in my little house...all day and evening...mostly twisted into weird contortionist positions with a heating pad...no running, no gym, no work, no girls night out - no real social interaction...I am officially bored with myself. :)

Cals at 1815, rougly 300 below maint.; sat fat right on border at 20g (11%), fiber really low at only 19g and protein at 147g.

liquids:
coffee, 16 oz
water, 60 oz

fruit:
blueberries, fresh, 1/4 cup
apples, 2 small

veggies:
chives, fresh, 2 stalks
pumpkin, 1/4 cup mashed
cabbage, cooked, 1.5 cups
tomato, 1/4 small fruit

dairy:
mozz. cheese/cheddar, 1/4 cup combined shredded
yogurt, plain, whole, 1/2 cup

meat:
chicken, 2 cups diced

nuts/grains/legumes/seeds
walnuts, 1 oz
whole wheat egg roll wrappers, 3 wraps

other:
olive oil, 1 tablespoon
vit. water, 2 servings

Total: 1815
Fat: 68 616 37%
Sat: 20 177 11%
Poly: 19 170 10%
Mono: 22 198 12%
Carbs: 135 466 28%
Fiber: 19 0 0%
Protein: 147 588 35%
Alcohol: 0 0 0%
 
Ouchers !! I hope you get uncramped cym, that was painful to read :(

Bored sucks.

I hope you salvage your weekend with some fun somewhere, somehow :)
 
1771

T2Trucker: OMG I'm loving the kitty...I just sat here and watched about 1/2 dozen times and burst out laughing each and time.

Cals about 300 below maint. because I stuck mainly to fruit/veggies...just riding my monthly carb train. Sat fat fine, protein fine, fiber low cause I meant to have a serving of brown rice and was halfway through dinner before I remembered it.:rolleyes:

I was just thinking how cool my body (sometimes) functions when I just let it do what it wants. Ever since I was about eleven I've always associated candy/icecream/pastry (in large quantities) with having my period. About a year ago I read a neat article explaining the biology of the entire cycle and one of the things that stuck in my head was that all female primates experience a intense surge of carb intake at a certain point in the cycle - in one study cited men were injected with the equivalent dose of estrogen and voila - same effect. So for a day a two every month I pretty much just started chomp my way through a garden patch...

the neat thing is I figured out about 9 months ago that it really is a monthly carb craving not a monthly sugar craving - huge difference. The result is I actually tend to end-up eating less calorie wise during a time I used to eat more. Cause even if I eat 2 small apples and 1 tangerine in a single snack, it's still far less calories than one stupid candy bar.

liquids:
coffee, 16 oz
water, 60 oz
lemon juice, 1 oz

fruit:
blueberries, 1/4 cup
apple, 2 small
tangerine, 1 small
watermelon, 1 (very) small wedge
grapes, 1/2 cup
cranberries, 25 pieces
raisins, .05

veggies:
pumpkin, 1/4 cup puree
cabbage, 1/2 cup cooked
spinach, 1/4 cup cooked
onion, 1/4 cup, diced
tomato, 1/2 whole med. fruit

dairy:
cottage cheese, ff, 1/2 cup
yogurt, plain, whole, 1/2 cup
mozzer., skim, 1/4 cup

meat:
chicken, 3/4 cup diced
egg, 1 large white

nuts/grains/seeds/legume:
walnuts, 1 oz
buckwheat, 1 tablespoon
whole wheat eggroll wrappers, 2 servings

other:
olive oil, 1 tablespoon
protein bar, 1

Total: 1771
Fat: 56 507 30%
Sat: 15 133 8%
Poly: 17 154 9%
Mono: 17 157 9%
Carbs: 202 713 42%
Fiber: 23 0 0%
Protein: 124 494 29%
Alcohol: 0 0 0%
 
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1911

Cals at 1911, slightly under maint. Sat fat fine, 24g total, but 7g from coconut milk not sat animal fat, fiber good at 32g, protein low at only 77g - but too low protein for me is a rare and random occurance so no worries... Overall satisfied with choices.

liquids:
coffee, 16 oz
lemon juice, 1 oz
water, 40 oz

fruit
blueberries, 1/4 cup
apple, 1 small
grapes, 1/2 cup
raisins, .05 oz
cranberries, 25 pieces

veggies
cabbage, 1 cup
spinach, 1/2 cup
eggplant, 1/2 plant
onions, 1/4 cup diced
pepper, red, 1/4 fruit
pumpkin, 1/4 cup puree
tomato, 1/4 of whole small fruit

dairy
cottage cheese, ff, 1/2 cup
yogurt, plain, 1/2 cup
mozz. cheese, 1/4 cup

meat
oysters, 1 cup drained
egg, white only, 1 large

grains/nuts/seeds/legumes
whole wheat flour, 1/4 cup
whole wheat egg roll wrappers, 1 serving
walnuts, 1 1/2 oz
buckwheat, 2 tablespoons

other
honey, 1 tablespoon
olive oil. 2 1/2 tablespoons
coconut milk, 1 tablespoon

Total: 1911
Fat: 95 854 46%
Sat: 24 218 12%
Poly: 27 242 13%
Mono: 35 313 17%
Carbs: 203 686 37%
Fiber: 32 0 0%
Protein: 77 307 17%
Alcohol: 0 0 0%
 
1976

Decided to come up with some new recipies this week cause meals are getting a little boring. So far had great success playing with oysters and eggplant, almond paste, lemon grass curry and coconut milk. Yesterday had the "bright" idea of experimenting to see if lumpia could be made with salmon instead of ground beef/sausage...uhm, no.:rolleyes: But I'm thinking with 97% lean ground turkey....

Friend of mine asked me yesterday to "give her 15 days" (don't know why/how she came up with 15 days as a magic number) to work out a food plan and exercise routine. We're going to start tomorrow and it will either be fun or we'll kill each other (cause I already know I'm a drill sgt and she's basically lazy)...the funny thing is I asked her what sparked her new found determination and it turns out her hubby violated the unspoken "guy rule"...she asked him if he thought she "was getting fat"...and he actually said "yeah":)

Cals at 1976, slightly under maint. Sat fat stinks at 28g, fiber too low at 22g and protein fine for cals at 102g.




liquids
coffee, 16 oz
lemon juice, 1 oz
water, 60 oz

fruit
muskmelon, 1 thin wedge
strawberries, 1 cup sliced
grapes, 1/2 cup
raisins, .05 oz
cranberries, 25 pieces
apple, 1 small
tangerine, 1 small

veggies
cabbage, 1/2 cup
onion, 1/4 cup diced
grits, hominy, 1/4 cup

dairy
ff cottage cheese, 1/3 cup
yogurt, plain, 1/2 cup
cream cheese, 1/3 fat, 2 oz

meat
salmon, 8 oz
bacon, 4 thin strips
eggs, 1/4 cup scrambled
1 large whole
1 large, white only

nuts/grains/seeds/legume
almonds, slightly under 1 oz
oats, rolled, 1/2 cup
egg roll wrappers, 1 1/4 serving

other
olive oil, 2 tablespoons

Total: 1976
Fat: 95 851 45%
Sat: 28 248 13%
Poly: 14 126 7%
Mono: 43 383 20%
Carbs: 180 631 33%
Fiber: 22 0 0%
Protein: 102 410 22%
Alcohol: 0 0 0%
 
cym said:
Friend of mine asked me yesterday to "give her 15 days" (don't know why/how she came up with 15 days as a magic number) to work out a food plan and exercise routine. We're going to start tomorrow and it will either be fun or we'll kill each other (cause I already know I'm a drill sgt and she's basically lazy)...the funny thing is I asked her what sparked her new found determination and it turns out her hubby violated the unspoken "guy rule"...she asked him if he thought she "was getting fat"...and he actually said "yeah"
Click to expand...

All I gotta say Cym, is I hope she's as motivated as you are! You've got one hell of a plan in place, and if she has the discipline you do, she'll succeed.
 
Isn't if funny how success begets the desire for success from others? I hope you can help her, but don't get your hopes up. Very few actually take sound advice and run with it. They are too busy looking for the quick fix. Or, more often, they have no idea how much effort it takes to actually make This happen.

Hope all is well Cym. :)
 
Tom/Steve: I've got high hopes tempered with caution:) . Having spent so long slogging through the "details" for myself, I'm actually pretty confident (perhaps a bit overconfident) that I have enough experience to help her come up with a decent, realistic food plan..as far the exercise, it remains to be seen....truthfully though I'm having so many stupid, out of my control probems in my own life right now (i.e. car's in the shop, bf out of town) that I eagerly welcome the distraction of focusing my energy on trying to help someone else. Altruism combined with self-interest I guess. And I'm laughing at myself because I'm still slogging along (fairly successfully so far) with my work-out partner as well...I'm thinking that if my own problems don't resolve themselves fairly soon I'll start to look like a Mama Hen leading her little chicks around the gym:D ...scary thought.
 
Just don't get your hopes up TOO high. As Steve can attest, you can design the best program in the world for her, but if she's not fully motivated, she won't stick with it, and it will be no fault of yours. I typically underestimate the resolve it takes from others to win this battle, until I reflect on my own history. Being in the right frame of mind to accept good advice is really critical.
 
1358

Calories only 1358, not purposely, my belly just kept saying "no thank you, I don't want any more right now". Seeing that number this morning prompted me to check caloric averages for the last few weeks and at some point it dawned on me - I screwed up in calculating my maint. calories...and my body has totally ignored my little numbers and done the "right thing" all by itself anyway.:)

The last time I purposely went on maint. my caloric range was 2000-2100. Then I went back into creating a deficit (eating at 1500 cals) for about six weeks resulting in a weight/body fat drop and a couple more inches down. About a month ago I started inching my way back to "maint. cals". What I forgot to take into account was my changed weight & workout routine. Bottom line, my maint. cals are now closer to the 1800-1900 range, not the previous 2000-2100 range.

But, here's the neat thing, sandwiched between the days of 2000+ cals when I was thinking "cals in line, maint. range" there were enough days of "cals too low, below maint., just not hungry" to create the following averages over the last four weeks: 1820/1929/1873/1775. And it reminded me again of the phase: "the healthy human body is self-monitoring, self-regulating and self-correcting".

Irregardless how I manipulated fat/fiber/protein/nutrients, my body has been monitoring and regulating (via appetite) the actual caloric average for maintenance quite nicely on its own - despite my misguided efforts to increase it. And, I think it confirms something I've thought for a while now.

I think I have an especially strong, adverse reaction to more than a minimal intake of refined/processed foods. All forms of exercise (or lack thereof) aside, my biggest struggle over the years with weight gain/loss/maintenance has always been a sort of constant, underlying, almost uncontrollable urge to frequently stick food in my mouth with no real on/off switch regulating hunger/fullness. I have variously attributed this behavior to a million causes: emotional eating/eating disorder/sheer lack of self-control/yada, yada, yada.

But, this morning I realized that, except for the brief period when I tried to take my body fat down to 17%, my little on/off switch has been working quite nicely for the last 16 months - pretty much since I completely eliminated all but a very, very few refined/processed foods.

liquids:
coffee, 16 oz
lemon juice, 1 oz
water, 80 oz

fruit:
strawberries, 1/2 cup
apple, 1 small
raisins, cranberries, .05 oz

veggies:
cabbage, 1 cup cooked
grits,hominy, 1/3 cup

dairy:
cheddar cheese, 1.5 oz

meat:
chicken, breast, 1 small
bacon, 5 thin strips
eggs, scrambled, 2/3 cup

nuts/grains/legume/seeds
chickpeas, 1/4 cup
whole wheat flour, 1/4 cup
almonds, 1/2 oz
whole wheat eggroll wrappers, 1 serving

Total: 1358
Fat: 56 508 39%
Sat: 20 178 14%
Poly: 10 91 7%
Mono: 23 206 16%
Carbs: 121 426 33%
Fiber: 15 0 0%
Protein: 92 370 28%
Alcohol: 0 0 0%
 
I think I have an especially strong, adverse reaction to more than a minimal intake of refined/processed foods. All forms of exercise (or lack thereof) aside, my biggest struggle over the years with weight gain/loss/maintenance has always been a sort of constant, underlying, almost uncontrollable urge to frequently stick food in my mouth with no real on/off switch regulating hunger/fullness. I have variously attributed this behavior to a million causes: emotional eating/eating disorder/sheer lack of self-control/yada, yada, yada.
Click to expand...

My problem exactly, and nicely put.
 
HI there!

I love your posts! Just wanted to subscribe and to wish you well--and I feel ya on a lot of what you mentioned here. Have a beautiful day!:)
 
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