One Pickle @ a Time - my journey

Okay so after I posted my daily foods, I binged.

1/2 ck breast
1/2 low carb bagel bar
1/2 low carb bagel
South Beach PB cookies
Bryers low carb ice cream sandwich

That binging all lead to an extra: 360 calories, 20 protein, 22 carbs, 13 fat.

So yesterday ended at: 1175 calories - 134 protein - 42 carbs - 34 fat

Minus the calories, I pretty much stayed within my other guidelines.

Why did I binge: Two of my favorite shows were on, they lasted until 9pm. I like to eat when watching tv.

When they are on next week, I will .... eat my afternoon snack later, save my pre-dinner snack and make dinner a little later. This way I can eat dinner and have two snacks while the shows are on. I'll make sure one of my evening snacks are beef jerky this way my mouth stays busy for a long time lol.
 
Today ...

Breakfast: Yogurt

Snack: Ham & Cheese egg beaters

Lunch: Shake, cheese string, 1/2 low carb bagel w/ egg, kewi strawberry jello

Total so far: 380 Cal - 52 Pro

Afternoon Snack: 1/2 grilled chicken breast on 1/2 low carb garlic bagel |120 cal| |13 pro| |6 carbs|

Total so far: 500 Cal - 65 Pro

Planned Dinner: 1 ck breast and 1/2 c cottage cheese - |240 cal| |28 pro|

Planned Snack: 1/2 cinn. pecan raisin low carb bagel bar |50 cal| |3 pro| |4 carbs|
 
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Epi, I'm glad to hear you're back and in doing so well! Good Grief, in days of past, I would NOT have stopped at only two Chocolate Dipped Strawberries ;)

You're doing great!
 
Today:

Breakfast: yogurt |80 cal| |12 pro|

Snack (oy): egg on a low carb bagel |150 cal| |21 pro|

Lunch: 1 ck breast, string cheese, shake |290 cal| |39 pro|

Snack: low carb cinn. raisin bagel |100 cal| |6 pro|

So far @ 3pm: 520 calories and 73 protein

Planned dinner: veg. 'burger' |130 cal| |15 pro|
1/2c cottage cheese |120 cal| |12 pro|

Planned snack: Eggs |70 cal| |12 pro|

Total: |840 cal| |112 pro|
 
So I talked with 'my man' about the limbo I am in when we are together. Because we travel back and forth between states to be with each other, when we are together it is sometimes not at either of our homes and we take a mini-trip together - which means eating out and me not getting enough water.

I told him that I'm in this constant limbo because it takes me 2-3 days to get all of the bad stuff 'flushed' out - get my water weight under control - lose any real pounds gained and begin the losing process again.

I said that he is so supportive of me and even when we pick restaurants but that it is hard for me to make good choices when he orders gourmet hamburgers and other indulgent meals. It would be helpful if he had some sort of nutrition plan and followed it too.

He said 'I know' but nothing more than that, so I waited a while and then asked him what he was thinking (typical woman question, I know) and he said playing online party poker. I didn't want to push it because then it would seem like i'm nagging and that I KNOW doesn't help anyone. But OY VEY! Sometimes he can be such a schmuck!
 
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Okay so I had vegan burger for the first time. It's not too bad. Great calorie count and protein with out the fat and cholesteral.


On an exercise/calorie burning site, it said that if I walk for 30 minutes, I burn almost 200cals. But if I watch TV for 60 minutes I burn 146 cals. I just don't understand that.
 
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Hi Epi,

Just checking in to see how you are doing. What kind of vegan burger did you have?

I understand the difficulties with your boyfriend and eating, but I think you have to reside yourself to the fact that you are on your own. Maybe when he sees how great you do he will jump on board with you.

I have the same problem except my boyfriend doesn't like anything so his choices are very limited. We have always cooked separately for the most part. We have lived together for almost 6 years and we even do our own grocery shopping (or I give him the list of things I want when he goes). I hate grocery shopping.

The only vegetable he will eat is corn. I have tried to get him to try things, but he has to just do it on his own. He has his own issues with diabetes, but I can't be responsible for him, so I let him be. We usually don't agree on restaurants, but if we do go, I just have to ignore what he is eating and enjoy my food. I am afraid we are all on own with this endeavor.

Your doing great. Your decrease in blood sugar levels etc... are most excellent. Keep up the good work.
 
Hi Epi,

Nice to see you still fighting the good fight.

The calorie chart I use shows watching tv for one hour at the burn rate of 68 per hour. With so many charts on the internet I guess it's hard to say which one is right or wrong but 146 seems really high unless porn is involved.
 
Pineola: It was a Morning Start or something brand. It was an impulse buy - but a good one lol.

Trucker: I thought it sounded off too - I mean, how is it fair that I can sit on my a** for 2 hours and burn more calories than if I walked. I used this site:

"unless porn is involved" - Um, I don't think I've ever made it through more than 15 minutes of a porn movie :eek: :p Too much excitement, I stop watching. ;)
 
It is very difficult bringing up sensitive subjects subtly with men, because I think a lot of the time, they don't realise what you are actually trying to say, e.g. that you want him to eat healthier food around you, then if you try to bring it up again for some clarity, they think you are nagging! If I were you, I might wait a couple of days, then actually say, it would be great if you could eat healthier foods around me, as we are not together all the time, and it would help me. He could still eat whatever he wanted while you were apart. Maybe you just need to be a bit more direct.;)
 
Last night I went a site and sent him the link. You enter your sex, height, age and then it shows you what a healthy weight is within 10%. I think it floored him that he is about 80lbs over-weight.

So he started looking at what calorie count would keep him at his current weight and what calorie count he could go down to. He is going to try 1800-2000 cals a day and a balance of carbs/pro/fat.

We talked about keeping a food journal and being honest in it. So he wrote down everything he had to eat yesterday, he was proud of himself that he had 2,000 calories but then saw that you can have few calories but far too much carbs and fat, he had about 200g of both of those.

He said he would start doing the salad bar at work for lunch. The problem he has with food is portion control. He doesn't understand what a portion is. He usually gets 3 to 4 times the 'serving size'. When we have been to salad bars together, his salad looks to have anywhere from 500-800 cals on it.

I fly to new york in a couple of weeks, I think maybe if I get him a scale and measuring cups and start showing him what a serving looks like - maybe it will help him. Also with his meats, he buys the really big and thick meats, but unfortunately those are like 3 times the serving size.

Baby steps ...

Today:

Breakfast: egg beaters on low carb bagel |170 cal| |24 pro|

Lunch: vegan burger with 1 tbsp ranch |165 cal| |15 pro|

Snack: shake |90 cal| |15 pro|
egg beaters: |35 cal| |12 pro|

Total so far @ 2pm: |460 cals| |67 pro|

Planned dinner: baked fish |100 cal| |17 pro|
cottage cheese |120 cal| |12 pro|
1/2 ck breast |60 cal | |8 pro|

Planned snack: low carb cinn. raisin pecan bagel |100cal | |6 pro|

Total: |875 cals| |110 pro|
 
becoming aware of what you're eating is the first step... there are a lot of websites out there that show portion sizes - like a deck of cards is something - your closed fist is something else.. maybe that'll help him.. I know i have the same problem with portion control... it's hard... measureing cups do help a bit..
 
Had my 6 week appointment today with my bariatrics doctor. 23lbs in about six weeks, I'm happy with that (if I hadn't needed to re-lose weight after a couple of travelling trips I would have lost 35 lbs - but who cares!).

Every six weeks I have a Body Composition Analysis. The body is composed of total body water, dry lean mass (protein/muscle) and body fat. This is a machine that I step on and it sends pulses or something through my body and comes back with a print out of what my body is made of.

I know a lot of people are skeptical about the healthiness of a very low calorie diet (VLCD). But it is only safe when under medical monitoring. So far in six weeks I have managed to reduce my blood pressure from an average of 140/90 to about 115/75. I reduced my cholesteral by 30pts and my blood sugar by 20pts.

And now! Comparing how my body was composed six weeks ago and today, the weight I have lost has been 75% fat and 25% lean mass. This is the exact % they want, but they would rather see my fat loss be around 85-90%. My BMI went down 3pts!!!!!! Obviously I'm still over but that number is coming down. My new basal metabolic rate is 1703 kcal.

I asked them about what my final weight should be, she said that the charts that calculate your 'healthy' weight based on height/sex - is a nice starting place but until you know what your lean body mass is - you can't accurately calculate what a healthy weight for you is. My lean body mass is high, normal people have 18-25. Mine is 36. Which means that I will never ever be the weight that those charts say unless I'm being unhealthy or I lose my muscle instead of fat.

point is - under this fat I am strong and as long as I continue to keep my protein intake high, I will be losing fat not my muscle.

Okay today:

Breakfast: Yogurt |80 cal| |12 pro|

Snack: protein bar |100 cal| |10 pro|

Lunch: egg beaters |70 cal| |12 pro|
Shake|90 cal| |15 pro|

Dinner: 2 pieces of chicken |400 cal| |36 pro|
Salad w/ cottage cheese |100 cal| |12 pro|

880 calories and 97 protein
 
The eggbeaters sound great! Thanks I will just have to get some the next time I go for groceries!


Epi that machine sounds really interesting. I would be scared to find out how much fat is actually in my body. I mean I know I have a lot to lose but something about seeing a print out would be difficult for me to see.

You are doing really well. Good for you
 
Wow, congratulations!! It is great to see the results of all your hard work in black and white. You can't argue with scientific fact ;) And it is so interesting how you were told that you couldn't be healthy in a normal 'healthy' range. It just goes to show how flawed the BMI is!!

And I'm glad that you have been able to work things out with your partner, hopefully now there will not be so much tempting food about!! And now you can both start building a healthy life together. My husband eats quite unhealthily and drinks a fair amount, but he doesn't get hangovers much and he is a healthy weight, so he really has no motivation to change things. I am quite glad that my poor eating habits are so visible, because it forces me to face them.
 
Hi epi!
Great progress. So strong and losing alot of weight, you are doing awesome. :D I would love to get on one of those machines prob be kinda scary seeing how little muscle I have. :p
Its nice to hear you have a reasonable doctor. Not everyone is made to be 120 pounds.
Have a great day. :)
 
Hi Epi

Just wondering how things are going. Haven't seen you around in a couple of days. I hope that all is well and that you are doing wonderful.

At any rate have a wonderful weekend.
 
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