Silver Sonnet's Lines to Losing

Wow--I'm up here posting before breakfast, even before coffee. But this site was SOOOOOO helpful to me last time I did this, I just feel like it's a life line.

In reading over my diary posts from when I was losing weight, I noticed some things about the way I was eating. So later today, I'm going to copy all the "menu posts" and use them as a starting place for getting back on track. And I'm buying vanilla yogurt. It's so easy for me to bog down trying to be perfect: yogurt has sugar, and I don't want to eat sugar. But I REALLY don't want to eat artificial sweeteners, so I end up eating a bag of chips instead. That's crazy.

And I'm getting some frozen veggies in low-fat cheese sauce. I used to put them over baked potatoes or rice, or stir them into veggies or even just eat them (plain or with extra veggies added) with whole grain bread. Fast, easy, and I can take them to work for healthy lunches.

Today's lunch is likely to not be so healthy. I'm going with my daughter to her doctor's appointment, and I'll sure we'll end up eating out. Since she's pregnant, we'll eat wherever she's in the mood for, and I'll just have to try to find something that won't throw me off balance.

Breakfast will be raisin bran with blueberries, organic 1% milk, and maybe some flax seed. And I don't know, yet, what I'll do about supper. I'm going to the store, so I'll see what looks good.
 
Food today:

Breakfast--Raisin Bran (1 c) with a little 1% milk.

Lunch (at a favorite restaurant)--a small cup of potato soup, 3 small pieces of garlic bread, and a smoked turkey sandwich.

I bought plenty of good stuff at the grocery store, so I'm all set to succeed :)
 
Right now, I don't know if I should love FitDay or hate it. I just logged (approximately) my food so far for today, and I'm at 1044 calories and 28 grams of fat(and that's before supper). Until then, I was thinking I hadn't done too badly because I'd ordered soup instead of waffle fries and because I hadn't ordered the Ultimate Fries (waffle fries with three cheese, bacon, onion, and ranch dip--yum!).

Now, though, I know I need to keep supper small and super healthy, and I know I need to get down there and pack food for breakfast and lunch tomorrow. Luckily, I bought some of those cups of dry organic bean soup, so that and some fruit and veggies should work well for lunch. Now I just have to decide what I'm doing for supper tonight and breakfast tomorrow.

Jujube, are you here yet?
 
Supper was leftover casserole: whole wheat rigatoni "lasagna" with a zucchini sliced on top. Yum :)

Fit day says I 1402 calories (I'm good with that), 34.6 grams of fat (9.1 saturated), and 32 grams of fiber (I'd rather that were higher, but I can't fuss considering I ate out for lunch).

I may have a yogurt with cinnamon, probably, before I go to bed, but on the whole, I'm very pleased.
 
Silver Sonnet said:
Supper was leftover casserole: whole wheat rigatoni "lasagna" with a zucchini sliced on top. Yum :)

Fit day says I 1402 calories (I'm good with that), 34.6 grams of fat (9.1 saturated), and 32 grams of fiber (I'd rather that were higher, but I can't fuss considering I ate out for lunch).

I may have a yogurt with cinnamon, probably, before I go to bed, but on the whole, I'm very pleased.
Click to expand...

Yogurt and cinnamon..thats a new combo I haven't heard of/woulda thought to put together
 
I may have invented it. I was looking for a way to get more cinnamon in my diet because it helps with blood glucose control, but it's surprisingly hard to get "just 1/2 teaspoon" every day. So I just mix some into the yogurt, and it's great with or without fruit.
 
:waving::hurray:Welcome back... I just came back about 2 weeks ago myself.. I didnt do that good while I was gone. I went up and now I am going back down. Which is good. And you are doing AWESOME!!! You keep it up girl.. I know it was ment to be for us to lose togther.. :)

Im sorry to hear about your husband. My dad had the same thing happend to him.. Stroke and now he is blind in one eye, I belive it's the right?? I'm glad to hear that you are still going strong and now you are gonna better yourself.. We got this girl.. LIke TINA use to say"Lets Rock"...LOL!!

You have a good day, Stay Positive and drink that WATER!!!!
 
Hum--it's been SIX days since I posted here. That's never a good sign. Honestly, in the six days since I was here last, I've eaten everything in sight. I even went out and bought junk I never eat and ate that (cheese in a spray can--what possessed me to buy THAT?!)

Panic, probably. The fear of being deprived of everything, even though I know that, once I get on track, I do NOT feel deprived.

And I've been having problems with my health--ongoing since mid December--but suddenly worse. My blood pressure is up in spite of the meds I'm taking, and I'm having trouble breathing, especially at night.

The last time I did this—the last time I got serious about my weight and my health—I was on summer vacation. I was away from home, away from my teaching job, away from most restaurants, easy access to junk food, away from all that. I was basically camping on the coast and playing construction worker for the summer. I was cooking either over a campfire or in a microwave. And I was in the Katrina zone, so even the grocery stores didn’t have much in them. I had no demands on my time and very little stress. Even my financial situation looked promising for a change.

I lived like that for 3 months and managed to stay on track for another 2 months after I got home, and in those 5 months, I lost 45 pounds, easily, almost effortlessly. Then, in November of 2006, I began putting that weight back on just as easily. I just couldn’t get a handle on it like I’d done over the summer.

The first WW meeting that I showed a gain on the scale was my last meeting. I justified quitting by telling myself I couldn’t afford it and that the only meeting in the area was in a very inconvenient place and at a very inconvenient time. Honestly, I felt like a failure, even though I’d been losing weight virtually every week for the last five months.

Now, I have to find a way to do these things at home, without my sister who was such a big help in keeping me centered, on track, and believing in myself. I’m excited, but I’m also realistically scared. I have diabetes, high blood pressure, and was recently hospitalized with congestive heart failure. I HAVE to lose weight and get healthy. But I know that any little slip is likely to send me running for the safety of a bag of chips. And I know that, of course there will be slips.

So how do I do this—again? How do I learn to trust myself and forgive myself without going overboard and eating everything in sight? How do I make myself go out in public and walk when I feel like a worthless slob?

I have to find a way to make this work.

Well, the first step, I suppose, is just to START. I did that (again!) this morning. I loaded up my dog and my hubby, and we drove to the walking track. I always think that's stupid, driving somewhere so I can walk, but if I walk in town, I have to struggle with the dog on a leash, and at the track she can run while I walk. So I didn't listen to the little voice saying "stupid."

I used to do 5 miles a day. But today my sore knee, muscle cramps (an ongoing problem for several months now) and breathing problems made me stop after only half a mile. Still, it's a start, and that's what matters.

I came home and ate a healthy breakfast:

Old fashioned oatmeal with prunes stewed in apple juice (no sugar) and a splash of organic 2% milk.

My plan for lunch is leftovers from hubby's birthday party yesterday:
Low-fat Caesar salad with grilled chicken tenders. I'll probably have grapes or an orange with it.

Supper should be roasted veggies (onion, potato, zucchini, carrot, sweet potato, cauliflower, and whatever else I can find) and some sauteed organic kale. Yogurt and cinnamon, maybe with blueberries, for dessert.

Then, tomorrow, it's back to work, and we'll see how I do there.
 
SO I'm basically an idiot. That's clearly the only rational explanation.

I've been in bad shape all day, blood pressure through the roof (198/122) in spite of my meds. Probably a result of eating so much junk at the party yesterday. So I'm VERY careful all day. Oatmeal with stewed prunes and a gentle walk for breakfast. Salad and grilled chicken for lunch. Then some crackers. Then an apple. Then some more crackers. THEN, while I'm preparing the nice, healthy supper of roasted veggies, I eat several handfuls of chips just because they're there.

Salt. Fat. Chemicals. All the things I don't want, don't need, and can't handle because they make my bp go up and that puts me in congestive heart failure mode.

I was feeling BETTER. Could it be that I WANT to be sick?
 
Ok, I'm more calm this morning. I didn't get sick(er) from the chips, but I'm still not proud of them. And I do feel lots better today, after just one day of managing to eat (mostly) well. By the time I went to bed, my bp was down to 143/94--good for me.

Of course, it helps that I finally got some sleep last night.

I'm deeply involved in reading Dean Ornish's Reversing Heart Disease. I'll start on the recipes tonight, so that always inspires me.

So far today, I've had my coffee and a whole wheat English muffin with a slice of 2% milk American cheese. I'm at work today, so lunch will be a cup of just-add-water black bean soup and an apple, plus lots of water (I hope!)

Supper might be pasta with asparagus and a salad; not really sure yet. And I plan to walk as soon as I get home if it isn't pouring rain.
 
Yuck! Mark that soup off my list of edible foods :p It was only 170 calories and 12 grams of fiber, but it was ALSO bland, gritty, and just not good. Yuck!
 
Hey Silver

Checking in to say Hi and give a quick wave of the we can do it flag. Others journals are really good reading, makes me feel not so alone in the "fight". How are you finding fitday? It's what I plan on using.

Every thought of making homemade soup instead? It's one thing I'm going to try as usually I adore a nice cup of (non gritty!) soup.

I'll be following your journal so keep it up!
 
Hey, Feenix! I'm glad to have you here; I feel a little crazy talking to myself all the time :p

I LOVE FitDay. It can be a bit frustrating to find just what you want sometimes, but when that happens, I just Google it and put it in manually. I've tried lots of different programs, and FitDay is the one I keep going back to.

And yes, home made soup is great, but I tend to rush around on the mornings I have to work (poor me--two whole days a week) and can't get anything packed, so I'm looking for something I can keep in my desk for emergencies. Otherwise, it's grilled cheese from the Goose :p
 
Getting enough sleep is good.

Is it feasible for you to make large batches of homemade soup, freeze them in individual containers, and then grab and go as necessary?
That's what my wife does, and she makes amazing vegetable soups.
 
It's definitely feasible. I just have to get off the computer and/or away from the grandkids long enough to actually do it :)

I love to cook, and I spend a lot of time planning, but those plans don't always get acted on. Hopefully, as I get back on track, I'll get better at doing those things.
 
Some yummy ideas here



I hate cooking with a passion but might try out a couple of those.

Just started using fitday today and it does have some great functionality. I put my (late) breakfast into it (apple/yogart/walnuts) and was floored by the number of calories in walnuts (which I love). Least they have good fats. I'm sure it'll open my eyes to just how many calories are in things.
 
It does that. And I love to put all my info for the day in first thing in the morning. It makes me plan my day, and I can easily see if I need to make adjustments. The best thing is, though, there's lots of stuff I just won't eat because it's simply too much work to figure out all the nutrition info and put it all in :)

Thanks for the soup link. I'm sure I'll have fun with it.

Ok, something's wrong. EVERY afternoon/evening, I start eating junk--lots of it. Today: whole grain oatmeal with stewed prunes. Then lunch at a Chinese place--Korean chicken (skinless, no coating, sauted, but not fat free and some potato; then a small piece of apple strudel and a sliver of cheese cake (really a sliver--I didn't know it could be cut so thin!). That's PLENTY of food--too much food, probably. But I get home and I eat a couple of flax seed cookies and a couple handfuls of Fritos. Then "supper" is some whole grain crackers and a couple wedges of Laughing Cow cheese.

I need to be sure to get plenty of fiber at lunch, I think. And I need to plan a reasonably substantial snack in the afternoon. Maybe I need more water. I KNOW I need to get the chips out of the house.

Well, tomorrow's another day, and even though I have to take my daughter out to lunch at the Goose (nothing healthy there), I'm going to do my best to do well.

Oh--and two days in a row with no real exercise unless shopping counts....
 
This morning (after a hectic start of the day and, possibly, forgotten meds), I had a plain English muffin from McDonald's on the way to work. Well, I ordered it plain, but it actually had some kind of oily substance on it--maybe some fake butter or something?

Lunch with my daughter at the Goose. They hadn't put the salads out yet, so I had a grilled cheese and a bag of low-fat pretzels.

Then, for supper, I had a baked potato topped with frozen broccoli in low-fat cheese sauce, a Romaine salad with balsamic vinegar, about an ounce of roasted garlic bread (no added butter or oil), and about 3 ounces of pan-sear ham (again, no added oil).

Now I'm stuffed, but I may have yogurt and cinnamon later.

As of now: 1038 cal, 30.5 g fat (27%--too much), only 8.9 g fiber.
 
Dang, reading your journal always makes me hungry. Sounds like you know how to put together some really tasty (and healthy) dishes.

You mentioned the 30.5g of fat being too much? Does it not depend on the type of fats? E.g. one of my days consisted of 51.3 grams of fat, but over 20g's of that was from walnuts. Hmm, looks like it's something I need to read up on.
 
Sorry I vanished. The holiday was crazy.

Of course, good fat is better than bad fat. But ALL fat is 9 calories per gram while carbs and protein are closer to 5 each. And, because I'm diabetic, I have to watch my fat intake closer than most people do. I aim for 10% of my calories a day to come from (mostly good) fats.

I've been reading up on some of my health issues, and I'm more inspired than ever to get this working again. Yogurt bar and an apple for breakfast, and a grilled chicken sandwich for lunch. No idea what's for supper, though, other than a BIG check to the tax man :p
 
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