Final verdict: Standing desk, and where I am right now.

So I've been trying the standing desk for a month, and today, I decided to dismantle it and go back to my regular desk.

Why?

Well, I gave this thing a herculean try, but I found it was just driving me away from my desk and into the living room, instead of encouraging me to stand more. As it turns out... my feet HATED it. My legs and back felt great, but I felt the beginning of arch pain that I could NOT risk turning into plantar fasciitis.

Most importantly? I missed my cat.

You see, I have a fat, 11-year-old cat who is my work partner and lap buddy. Since I switched to the standing desk, I haven't had him.

Overall, I didn't feel like the benefits outweighed the negatives, for me. Was it a fun experiment? Absolutely! I think that I may try again in the future when I can afford to get a little more equipment, like proper shoes and a mat to stand on.

Where am I, right now?

I'm in limbo. No, I don't mean my physical location. ;) I'm still in Georgia, and there's a nice, vigorous rainstorm going on at the moment.

No, I'm talking about my weight loss routine. I'm stagnant. I'm paying for a gym membership that I can't get out of, and haven't used, in months, although honestly I would love to... I just can't get the motivation to go.

I did go by a bike shop today to inquire about bike rides they do weekly; they do regular 25 mile rides several times a week.

I need to get my head in the right place. I'm not even tracking my food, and making terrible choices. I've gained about 5 lbs.

This is unacceptable.

My goal for this week and next: To get in three weight training sessions. The other things will follow.

My New Secret Weapon... revealed!

Okay, I've been hinting at my new secret plan, and today, I finally get to reveal what it is.

I was privileged enough to receive an advance review copy of Sparkpeople's new book, "The Spark Solution: A Complete Two-Week Diet Program to Fast-Track Weight Loss and Total Body Health."

 I've been stalled for a while, mostly because of self-control issues, and when I was offered a chance to check it out, well, who am I do say no?

The plan has been absolutely fantastic. The food is good (as anyone who has tried one of Chef Meg's recipes can tell you) and the plan is easy to follow; it's about education. It's a "diet" book, I suppose, because it provides you with specific foods to eat, but what it really does is teach you how to make smarter choices. It provides specific foods you might eat, and then provides an alternate option that is better, and teaches you how to make clever substitutions that lower calorie count and boost nutrition. I'm sticking white cannelini beans in the weirdest stuff now, and I'm amazed at how much bulk I'm getting as a result. ;) Seriously, who would have thought to stick kidney beans in an enchilada?

Overall, I have really enjoyed this book. It's written in the upbeat, positive style that is Sparkpeople's unique voice, and includes tons of helpful tips that when applied, can result in big changes.

I will admit I didn't do much in the way of the exercises; I have an exercise plan I follow, and prefer more advanced strength training moves. But I have been following the plan, and have been thrilled. In the first week, I lost two pounds. I'm down 4, total! Given that my weight hasn't moved in months, that's what makes me happiest. The best part is how I am not hungry; these plans provide perfect nutrition to stave off cravings, and I find I don't even miss the stuff I'm skipping.

Now, you may ask, why in the world should you get this book? Well, for starters, the freebies that come with preordering (3 months of SparkCoach, a bucket of sparkpoints, and some DVDs) are well worth the cover price anyway.

But if you're just starting out on your journey, or are stuck and bored with the plan you have... I seriously think you should consider this. I mean, come on, a diet plan that includes cookies for breakfast? Seriously? (I'm not kidding. There are breakfast cookies.)

This isn't a diet like other diets. It doesn't promise to shed pounds with little effort, or "burn fat" more than others. It's about teaching you to make healthy choices for life. Teaching you to think about what you're putting in your body, and eat for energy. It's about mindfulness. None of these recipes are "diet food" - my favorite is the curried tuna salad sandwich. I used to make my tuna sandwiches with tuna, a splotch of light mayo, and a slice of cheese. This recipe uses curry powder, cucumbers, cranberries, and a bit of greek yogurt, and it's served warm. I added a little bit of shredded mozzarella for a cheesy addition. Stuffed into a sandwich round, it was honestly the best tuna sandwich I'd ever had. :)

Nearly every recipe includes veggies. Even things that you wouldn't expect to find veggies (like the aforementioned enchiladas) have added vegetable content in ways that aren't intrusive. It doesn't feel like you're sneaking them in, but it DOES make it much easier to get those vegetable servings in each meal.

Now, there were a couple of recipes that I got a bit frustrated with. Some of this may have been my lack of sleep, but one or two were too complicated for my liking. I couldn't afford a big trip to the grocery store for some of the ingredients. However, thanks to the information in the book, I felt comfortable swapping out things in the recipe for stuff I had on hand (no cucumbers? Dice some bell peppers instead!) because that's kinda the whole point.

Best of all, this is a two week plan, but the subtitle is very misleading. This isn't just a two-week diet plan. This is a handholding introduction to healthy living, and after you finish the plan, it arms you with the tools and resources to keep moving forward. One thing any of you who have seen or read anything I write now, I don't diet. I don't deny myself, I don't skip things I enjoy, and I refuse to disallow myself any food.

That didn't change following this plan.  I averaged around 1600 calories a day (a little more than the plan recommends, but necessary for me) and still had days where I had takeout pizza, or even a bowl of ramen noodles. But I did stick primarily with the plan, and will continue to follow it for a while. I stopped for about a week, and found myself immediately feeling rough again... not tracking and ignoring the things I learned caused me to pay a price. I'm planning on doing it again starting this week.

This is a plan I like. And the cheesy chicken pouch? Dear lord, that thing is a sin, and no one who is "dieting" should ever eat it. At least, it tastes like you shouldn't.  But that's what I love about the Spark Solution... you can have it, and eat it, too. Guilt free.

So please, if you're looking for a change in your routine, just getting started, or are plateaued and want a change, preorder the Spark Solution. If you do this plan, you won't regret it.

Besides, it's just two weeks. How long have you been fat? Two weeks is nothing. You have that kind of time. Try it. :)

Full disclosure! I received an advance copy of this book for free from SparkPeople and did not receive any form of payment for my review.

When did I start eating low-carb?

Anyone who knows me knows how I feel about low-carb diets. I don't like them, I don't support them, and while I know that they work for some people, they're not a good choice for me. I really don't feel like people need to eliminate entire food groups from their diet to succeed.

You see, I LIKE carbs. I love pasta. I adore pizza. I really do love it!

But over the past year or so, I've been making healthier choices, and have started choosing complex carbs over simple carbs. I eat a lot more veggies. Instead of pasta four times a week, I might have it one. I skip my morning breakfast biscuits more often than not, now.

I have been noticing on my nutrition reports, though, that I'm usually under the minimum ranges for carbs, and I'm not sure how that happened. (Click to expand.)

The green range is where I'm supposed to be.

Here's my graph from the first couple of months I used Sparkpeople. (very low points are likely days I didn't track accurately.)

Now, I don't really see this as a problem; the carbs I do get are high-quality. I don't avoid bread, I eat whole wheat. I like my pasta, but I mix it half-and-half. I'm more likely to skip the tortillas, but I still enjoy a good fajita bowl.

It's just weird; I didn't choose this, it just happened. I don't stress about it, and believe me, on the days I work out, I make sure I get enough (you can tell what days those are, they're the ones in the green ranges.)

Strange how habits change.

Good, better, best?

What should you be eating to get fit?

So often people ask "Is this healthy?" or "Should I eat this or this?"

I say you don't have to have the best to be healthy, lose weight, and get fit.

Running is one of the best calorie burners around, minute for minute. It's cheap, it can be done anywhere, and it scorches calories like nobody's business.

But if you can't run, or hate running, what good does it do you? So, when you have a choice between nothing, running, and something, you go for something. A walk you will do just as well. Because what matters isn't how many calories you burn in an hour, but how many calories you eat over the course of a week, and you adjust that number anyway. Your 1 lb per week will come off the same if you burn more and eat more, or burn less and eat less.

Whole grain bread is better than whole wheat bread. But if you hate the taste of whole grain bread, and won't eat it, what good does it do you? I would rather eat sawdust than your average loaf of "whole grain" bread. I can't stand the texture. Is Nature's Own Honey Wheat the absolute best thing for my body? No, it's not. There are tons of brands that are healthier, lower calorie, have more fiber, more whole grains, or whatever.

But I like the taste, it's far better than enriched white bread, and my husband and kids will eat it without complaint.

If I bring in a loaf of whole grain, it molds.

Black beans are all the rage these days, and are in all kinds of "healthy" dishes, used as replacements in all sorts of "fake out" meals that trick you into thinking you're getting something your'e not. That's all well and good, but I happen to HATE black beans! So, which is better... a black bean burger that turns my stomach, or a lean ground beef patty that has my mouth watering?

Is organic better for your body and environment? Absolutely. No one needs pesticides, and research has shown the antibiotics in commercially produced meat aren't good for any of us. But when organically grown meat is $1 or more per pound more than regular, it may not be a good choice for you. I could buy all organic, but my food bill would double, which would make my available budget less, and at the end of the month, we'd be eating ramen noodles and mac and cheese, instead of lean meats and fresh veggies.

Best isn't always better, and good is sometimes just fine. So don't be bound by what is "best", "healthiest", or aim for what's absolutely perfect.

Work with your budget, your tastes, your needs, and don't beat yourself up for not being a perfect vegan health nut who only shops at specialty locally grown farmer's markets and whole food stores.

Start where you are. Don't insist on perfection. Work with what you have, what you like.

After all, that organically grown handmade tofu and wheatgrass veggie burger made only from fresh, whole ingredients is useless if it tastes like cardboard and your family won't eat it.

Photo courtesy of Newbirth35

You are what you eat?

So I just watched a documentary on Netflix. It's called Hungry for Change. Before it got to the end and devolved into a juicing and detox infomercial (seriously, I hate that stuff... if I want to eat more fruits and vegetables, I will eat more fruits and vegetables, nutrients and fiber intact, and you can't detox anyway. Your body doesn't work that way, and there is NO credible science that they work.) it was actually very enlightening and intelligent.

One of the things they talked about constantly was how our bodies get effectively addicted to sugar, because sugar is in EVERYTHING. If you're a big white bread eater, that gets basically metabolized right into sugar, too.

This made a lot of sense to me. I know that when I eat simple carbs, I STAY hungry... I can't get enough. Eat chinese food with lots of pasta or rice, or italian with pasta, or mexican with flour tortillas, and I'll be hungry again in an hour... no matter how much I ate.

I'm not a low-carber. I don't endorse the diets. I'm sure they work for some people, but I'm not interested in eliminating nutrients, nor reducing them. Carbs are not the devil. I like carbs. A LOT! In fact, carbs are actually the body's preferred quick fuel source. There's a reason distance runners carbo-load before marathons! The problem comes when we eat overly refined carbs that metabolize straight into sugar when we eat them, and eat more than our bodies burn, so it gets stored right away as fat. And leaves the body starving for nutrition while it's full from the calorie overload you just gave it. High in calories, low in nutrition.

I recently saw a person on SP who was complaining about gaining weight in spite of eating in her calorie ranges. I peeked at her trackers, and was stunned to find that yes, she's eating between 1200-1550 calories a day, but 30-50% of that was all candy and sweets! Trips to Starbucks, candy for lunch... its no wonder she isn't losing! All calories are not created equal. 100 calories of broccoli is so much you can't finish it, and it's packed with vitamins and minerals that keep you full and healthy. 100 calories of chocolate is gone in a flash, and leaves you hungry and wanting more. If you want your body to be healthy, you have to fuel it properly.

I think what I DO need to do is start focusing on the quality of my foods. I'm already moving in that direction. I eat whole grains instead of refined white stuff. Whole wheat bread, pasta, etc. I'm trying to add more veggies; I'm up to 5-6 servings of vegetables a day... up from 0-2.

I'm going to focus more on eating healthy and clean. Whole foods, made-from-scratch seasonings and such. Part of the reason I have such a sodium problem is because I tend to easy to make kits and prepackaged stuff, frozen prepared foods (like pre-breaded chicken) and stuff to heat and eat.

So I think my project for the next month is to make as much of the food I eat as possible to not have a nutrition label.  Fruits, veggies, and meats from the outside perimeter of the store. I'm going to aim to reduce my sugar intake. I'm not going for perfection here, I'm just going to start adding this stuff gradually.

Today I already started down that road; dinner consisted of fajitas with fresh-cut bell peppers and onions, with chicken breasts. The kids both got a helping of raw bell peppers and onions. While at the grocery store, we took a look at some cereal. The two boxes I picked up were strawberry mini wheats, and Special K with strawberries.

On the box of strawberry mini wheats? No mention of strawberries. There's a long laundry list of long, unpronounceable chemical names, but no strawberries in it. Mmmm, it does have sorbitol, though!

The Special K? Rice. Whole grain wheat. sugar, wheat bran, strawberries, brown sugar, wheat fiber, less than 2% salt, and malt flavoring.

This is the natural progression for me. I'm already aiming, instead of "I can't have it but I want it" for "I can have it but I don't want it." I don't deny myself anything, but as I've learned more about
what's in my food, how many calories things "cost", that they just aren't appealing. I am resolving to read those labels, and choose things that have the fewest. While eating some "reduced sugar" instant oatmeal today, I looked at the label in horror to find a list of some 20+ ingredients, including artificial sweeteners and flavorings.

So I threw it away, and bought a container of instant oatmeal. Ingredient list: Oats. I can add my own brown sugar and maple syrup if I want it.

I had chips with dinner for the first time in a month, and it just... wasn't good. I didn't even finish them. I've gotten to where I always have a bag of carrots and broccoli in the fridge for easy snacking. I just need to expand my options. Instead of grabbing an msg-laden fajita seasoning mix, I need to make my own. I have dozens of cookbooks I never use. I just need to stop being lazy, and start doing what is good for my family, and for me.

Besides, it's hella cheaper than going out to eat all the time.

Head Games...

Head games, it's you and me baby 
Head games, and I can't take it anymore 
Head games, I don't wanna play the... 
Head games 


Yeah, so I have Foreigner in my head this morning.

I'm psyching myself out again. I've been on this plateau for so long (okay, it's not a plateau, it's maintenance, be honest with yourself, Heather!) that an actual loss doesn't feel real.

So I lost a pound last week, and recorded it on my official weigh in day. 190.6

Well, only four days later, I'm reading 187.

Wait... what?

Okay, I know all the mantras... fluid loss, takes time, don't weigh every day, yadda yadda. I'm not the sort to be married to the scale, but I've had a hard time with sodium lately, so I'm using the scale as sort of a sodium reaction meter.

I've been very inactive; I've been to the gym once, and I have thrown in a little weight lifting here and there with my husband at home, we're talking less than 10 minutes, with some squats and bicep curls just to keep moving.

I'm going to assume this is a fluid loss, since I've been maintaining for months so it's a little like starting out anew.

I still don't trust it, though. I don't want to record it, and then have to change it when I hit another spike.

So I'll continue to monitor this, and if it averages out all week... I'll count it.

But man, I hate these head games. ;)

I will report that my anniversary dinner went well last night. I chose a 9 oz filet mignon (OMG GOOD), broccoli, a smidge of pasta, and a side of oysters. I stayed more or less in my calorie range! Even with snacks, I didn't go over. Well, not by much. Usually I OD on special occasions, with gleeful abandon.

Now, my real weight loss happened in my wallet. Maybe that 3 lb loss is actually the loss of a $100 meal from my pocket. ;) Ah well, it was worth it.

Photo courtesy of Calgary Reviews

The perils of self-delusion

A lot of us try to figure out where, exactly, all this weight came from. How we got so big. When it happened that we accepted being fat. How do we not see what we're doing to our selves?

My theory is that you DO see... you just don't want to acknowledge it. Even when directly confronted with it, you aren't ready to accept it, yet.

I can use my own husband as an example of this. He has been in denial about his weight gain for quite some time now. He still tells people his sizes are "large" and "34 waist" even though he hasn't been either for years, and wears ill-fitting pants that look terrible on him.  He's between a 36 and a 38... probably bearing down on 38, though his belly is far larger. IF I had to guess, he's probably easily 46 around his belly button.

When asked how much he weighs by someone the other day, he said "185" - when I'm almost 50 pounds lighter than he is at 190, and I know this because he was just weighed a couple of weeks ago at 235 by the doctor - which I was present for. He honestly heard 185, because that's what he wanted to hear.

He says his large gut is because of bloating (because he has a medical condition that can and has caused bloating in the past, but it's always gone down after a few days... this has been persistent for over a YEAR. It's fat, hun.).

He says his butt hangs out of his pants because they shrink in the dryer.

He's finally starting to have to admit that there's a problem, though. It's gotten badly enough that his too-small pants are rubbing open sores on his stomach scar, that his belly is hanging out of his too-small shirts. He said earlier today that he's going to have to start buying XL shirts. He missed the XL boat 20 lbs ago. He's a 2X or I'll eat my hat.

I love him, but he's very self-deluded right now. He knows I'm very health conscious, and count calories, and I've made a lot of progress, but he's not willing to trade in his plates of fried food and refusal to eat regular vegetables yet, nor start exercising. When he's ready, I'll be there with him, but until he's ready, it won't happen.

It's so difficult when I'm struggling to stay on board this train, and he's refusing to acknowledge he needs to be on it at all. If we could do this together, we could help each other so much. Instead of fixing his favorite high-calorie low-nutrient meals, we could make healthy things together. I've gotten him to eat a little healthier, by subbing salads for baked potatoes now and again, or always making veggies when I cook, but since he's the primary cook, it's always fried pork chops, steaks and taters, french fries, and macaroni and cheese. He's always downing sodas... at least 2-3 per day.

It doesn't help when he sabotages me. It's not on purpose, ever, but my willpower is very shaky these days. I just can't always say no when he presents me with my favorite foods, like Velveeta shells and cheese (360 calories a cup... and that's not even considering the sodium overdose.) He'll surprise me with treats. He bought a bag of powdered donuts "for the kids" and when I asked him what they were for, he said "breakfast."

Really? We have two young children, one of whom is confirmed ADHD, and you're feeding them powdered sugar for breakfast?

It's not that he wants me to fail (not consciously, at least) but he genuinely has no idea how what he brings into this house affects me. I can even see the difference on those rare occasions we go to the buffet. his plate is always BROWN, and I always load mine and the girls' up with colorful veggies. The problem is when he fixes one of their plates, it's just as brown as his. It doesn't help that we live in the south, home to fried chicken, fried fish, french fries, and vegetables so drowned in fats and meats that whatever healthy might have been in them is long gone.

It's an uphill battle that I'm fighting by myself. I can't make him join me until he's ready. If he can't even accept his own weight when he sees it on the scale himself and is told by a nurse, how can I expect him to do it at home?  So I struggle within the bounds I'm given, and hope and pray that he'll eventually join me. I ask him to join me on walks, I talk about my calorie range and hand him celery any time I'm nomming a veggie tray. He knows, he's just not ready to join me.

I can't make him see, all I can hope is that he'll see the way I did. And when he's ready, I'll be there to celebrate with him and hold his hand through the process.

Photo courtesy of John Hyun

Look ma, I haven't forgotten!

I wasn't going to blog today, because I didn't feel like I had anything to say, but I realized well, I do!

Today has been a pretty good day. I actually did an 8 minute interval training video (the one linked on the first day of the January Jumpstart fitness challenge) and it was fun! A lot more intense than I expected. I've been concerned about my ankle, and that's been holding off activity, but I haven't had much pain beyond when I sit on it (I sit indian style a lot) and such, so I figure it's time to start testing.

I couldn't do any jumping, so I modified things, but my heart rate was definitely up (should've worn my HRM!)

I managed to hit almost every nutritional goal today, too. I stayed in my calorie range (just barely over the minimum, actually) and hit all my nutritional targets on the nose. The only one I didn't get was sodium: I NEVER hit the sodium targets. I was much lower than normal (I average 4-5k, today was just over 3k) so I'll count that as a win.

I'm going to keep moving forward, babying my ankle, but I know I need to MOVE if it's going to get back where it was. It's been almost a month now! Don't worry, I'm not straining it, and I'm paying close attention.

Anyway, things are going well. I just need to keep exercising every day. I'm aiming for 10 minutes while my ankle's still not 100%. I'll build back up to 30 later!

Nummy side dish, inspired by my 6 year old

As I mentioned yesterday, my oldest daughter (6) came up with a cool idea for a salad, and as promised, today I made it for her! I've shared the recipe on Sparkpeople right here.

Here's the spiral slicer I used to make magic. I did the carrots with the flat blade, which makes neat little ribbons and chips out of them.

The carrots, all chipped up and ready to be mixed

Freshly peeled zucchini! 

I use the small blades to make angel-hair-sized zucchini. This mixes great with pasta, or substitutes for pasta entirely!

After mixing the carrots and zucchini, I chopped up some very crisp roma tomatoes!

Added a smidgen of cheese to the stuff (maybe an ounce, total) and tossed with her favorite dressing: Italian! Seriously, ever since her first salad at Olive Garden, it's her favorite. Give her the choice, it'll almost always be italian.  Makes every waiter we meet give a second take.

The mastermind trying her brilliant idea

The youngest (4) devouring her zucchini

Not just attractive, but fun to eat! She wasn't as crazy about the zucchini as she thought she'd be (she likes it better sautéed with garlic and olive oil, the little foodie), but she ate all the carrots and tomatoes, and her little sister ate her non-dressing-version with great gusto! 

Added bonus: The delectable ribs grilled by my grillmaster husband. And yes, they were every bit as good as they looked. I will say with pride I only ate a small portion of these! 

Personally, I had two bowls of the salad myself (with ranch dressing) and plan to add this to my regular rotation! Without dressing, this salad is about 60 calories. About 100 with dressing.

From the mouths of babes

Today my six year old had a FANTASTIC idea for a dish. I got a spiral slicer a while back, and I've throughly enjoyed it. It's a great alternative to (or enhancement for) pasta. Run a freshly peeled zucchini through it, and you have a light, filling way to get extra veggies. I'm a little low on calories for the day, because of an indulgent breakfast and lunch (new york strip for lunch, and a sausage and cheese mcmuffin for breakfast.)

I tried a little experiment and found that while it requires a bit more elbow grease to make it work, carrots work too! I shredded half a carrot to add to my zucchini for some more bulk and flavor. I sauteed the mixture with a smidge of olive oil and some ground sea salt and garlic. Tossed with some lemon pepper alfredo... it was SO amazing, and filling.

Which brings me to my daughter. She wanted some too, so I served her some mixed zucchini and carrots as well (with tomato sauce.) She had a fantastic idea: Salad!

She wants me to make a shredded carrot and zucchini salad, with tomatoes, cheese, and italian dressing (her favorite.)

How do you say no to THAT?

So I am going to make that for her tomorrow. And there will be pictures!

When self control is out of control

So the biggest problem I have is eating. I'm good at exercising; I LIKE to exercise! Just now, for example, rather than give in to the fridge-rooting snack attack, I went for a bike ride. Now, I don't often do that... today was an example of a superlative moment inspired by Sparkcoach. It was even less exercise and more fun!

But realistically, the reason I haven't lost more weight than I have is I eat too much. NEver enough to gain weight, really (I tend to naturally eat a maintenance, now that I'm more aware of what I eat) but without a weight-loss deficit.

So I emailed Sparkcoach and asked for some advice, and I really, really like the response I got. Basically, the suggestion was to focus on the one or two foods that I have trouble with. I've noticed that when I eat pasta for lunch or skip breakfast, I tend to make poorer choices later, or I'm more likely to snack.  I love pasta though, so what do I do?

I think what I need to do is focus more on balanced nutrition. Pasta's just fine... it's good for me, I usually eat whole wheat. But by itself, it's not enough to really keep me full. So I'm going to work on always adding a salad,  and heavier amounts of protein to go with it.  I want to up my veggie count; perhaps add a can of spinach to my pasta sauce? I have a good alfredo recipe with chicken, but I can definitely add some more veggies to it. Maybe some roasted tomatoes or peppers.

Yesterday I actually even juiced up my ramen noodle cup by adding a can of peas and carrots to it!

We're a little tight on the budget side right now (I was supposed to get paid Friday, but the labor day weekend means I'll get paid on Tuesday) so I'm struggling to provide food for everyone, much less healthy food for me.

So my action plan is going to be to focus on augmenting or replacing my problem foods (I love zucchini pasta, so I can either mix or replace pasta with that) and then once I have that in order, I need to focus on managing my stress levels. It's dialed up to 11 around here, with school, my husband's health, and the addition of more responsibilities through church (I've temporarily taken up my old job as webmaster while they find someone else), the ramping up of the NaNoWriMo preparation season...  I'm just about ready to lose my mind.

So I want to invite you to join me in a September challenge.  I'm going to focus on one problem area at a time, and eliminating those, so that I can take on the next three months (generally the toughest, most stressful months of the year for me) head on, and get this weight loss challenge in gear!

Photo courtesy of publicenergy

Adventures in Healthy Eating

So today I tried a new experiment. One of my trainers at the gym posted a fantastic Rachael Ray recipe for Parmesan Crusted Tilapia, and I had to try it, and I even attempted to make it healthy enough for my whole family to eat! Not only did I succeed, it was fantastic, and I'm stupidly stuff, and still haven't met my calorie minimum for the day.

Here's the base recipe I tried. I also made southern style squash and onions, and served it over white rice with a side salad. I used a more substantial parmesan for it, so my was a bit... err. crustier. But SO good.

Here's the plate I fixed for my 6 year old (alas, my 3 year old refused everything. I swear, I give up.)

And here's my plate. I'm especially proud of the presentation, and the fact that I drizzled my dressing instead of drowning the salad in it!

Total calories, WITH double helpings of the fish? 583 calories. WOOT. (No, I didn't eat all that rice. I ate about half a cup.)

My new goals, and my latest successes

This has been an incredible week. I've really been motivated, and I've been absolutely successful at meeting my nutrition goals. My Sparkpeople Nutrition Tracker helps me track my calories, and I've been sticking with the program. I've been working out regularly, and have started a 10 minute fitness challenge. Not for during the week, really, because I have no real trouble getting to the gym anymore (except when my daughter's not in school, but that's another blog post entirely) and I work my ass off in those classes. The 10 minute fitness challenge is for the weekends, because I tend to sit on my butt all weekend in front of the computer. So my goal is to consistently get a minimum of 10 minutes of activity a day... no exceptions. Even on the weekends!

Saturday was fantastic. My whole family got up and went out in the street to play! The girls rode their scooters, my husband bought a new skateboard, and I walked the dog! It was just plain fun.

I ate well (which is a major accomplishment) and did so without denial. I even pigged out on grilled ribs.

Last night was a real dietary accomplishment. My family adores Old El Paso enchiladas. You can get a dinner kit, and they eat the heck out of them. Problem is... they're TERRIBLE. 1 serving is almost 400 calories, and that's without all the extras I like, sour cream, extra cheese, etc.

Well, I got to looking, and realized a LOT of the calorie oomph is from the flour tortillas. If I dump those... that cuts the count in HALF.

Holy cow.

So I made up a recipe here on sparkrecipes (here, if you're interested) and realized that with this, a serving is under 200 calories! That INCLUDES my cheese! This also means I can add other toppings like sour cream and olives guilt-free.

To top it all off, the real icing on the cake, today I weighed in... and I've lost THREE POUNDS. I've gone from 196.4 to 193.6. That is phenomenal! I'm so proud of myself, especially after my recent 8 lb setback. I hit 190, then ballooned back up to 198 because I got lazy. I'm so proud of myself. The best part of all of this is I'm making a lifestyle change. I'm changing how I think of food. Yesterday I got a vanilla coke from the fridge for my daily caffeine fix. I drank half of the can, and just plain decided I wanted water more. IT didn't taste right, and I was craving water. Today, I did it again.. only this time, I grabbed the coke, wrinkled my nose at it, and put it BACK in the fridge... I've been drinking water since.

I can't believe it. It's really, truly happening.

Great abs are made in the kitchen... not in the gym

I just heard this ancient nugget of wisdom, and while the attribution for the original quote ranges widely (up to and including Arnold Schwarzenneger) the point behind it is simple.

Doing 1,000 crunches won't result in washboard abs.

What I think is a better quote is that "Great abs are made in the gym, but revealed in the kitchen."

What does this mean, exactly?

One big myth you'll hear a lot of overweight wannabe exercisers state is that they want to target X body part, or lose weight there. Back at the beginning of the year, I watched two ladies with very large backsides and thighs do the same thing for the two weeks they were there. Walk on the treadmill, then get on the thigh machines.

Day after day.

It was clear that they wanted to lose weight in their thighs.

Thing is, exercise doesn't work like that. Oh, you can tone your arms, or crunch your way to washboard abs... but you're not going to lose weight by doing planks.

You have to eat right! My trainer at the gym tells us often: You can't out-exercise a bad diet.

See, I'm one of those lucky people who carries most of her weight in her abdominal area. Heck, look at the title of my blog!

What the "great abs are made in the kitchen" means is that you have to eat right, because when you gain weight, you'll gain it wherever you're genetically predisposed to do. Right now, when I tighten my abs, I can FEEL the strength. I've been working on them hard, for five months. I HAVE washboard abs.

They're just hidden under 30 lbs of eeew.

So what I have to do is lose weight... I can't lose weight in targeted areas, I have to lose weight ALL OVER. By eating less than I burn, regularly exercising, I can lose that weight, and eventually, my gut will go. I'll show off the washboard abs I can FEEL under all that fat. My genetics tell me that my stress and my overeating puts weight there.

My habits in the kitchen will defeat it. I can do more crunches than anyone I know... but I won't be able to see them until my eating habits are caught up.

So let's spread the word:

Great abs are made in the gym, but REVEALED in the kitchen!

Tai Chi and Trying to Recover

So this week put me face-to-face with my nemesis: School breaks. See, my routine during the week is to drop my kiddo off at school, then head straight to the gym, where I work out for 1-2 hours, depending on what classes are available.

On weekends, and when my daughter is out of school, I find it very difficult to get up in the morning. See, I work from home, and pretty much crawl out of bed when I like, and hit the computer. I'm not a morning person, and tend to not go to the gym if I don't go first thing. There's always something else going on to distract me.

So my daughter had three days off this week. So that meant I didn't go to the gym for three days this week. I'm already planning for the summer, though; I've made a friend at the gym, and I've already told her that when summer gets here, she's getting my number, and she's to text and nag me to come to class with her.

This SUCKS. I'm already gaining weight from not tracking my caloric intake (I've been good today, actually tracking my food, but I've been BAAD for several weeks, and gained back almost 9 lbs.) The stress level in this house has been catastrophic lately, too. My husband has been very sick. He ended up in the ER yesterday thanks to a nasty seizure last night. He slipped a disc, fractured his foot, and dislocated his jaw a bit. He's been sick almost constantly for weeks, and my stress level has just been through the roof. I think that's part of why I gained weight; I snack when I'm stressed. I'm trying to be more mindful, and have made sure to stock HEALTHY snacks.

Now, in more fun news: My daughter LOVES Tai Chi. After watching Kung Fu Panda 2, she wanted to try Tai Chi, and since I have a Tai Chi video, I put it on for her, and we did Tai Chi for 20 minutes while supper was getting ready. She loved it (she's 6) and it was good for me, too. I think we're going to start doing it more often, because she was so relaxed. She's a bit hyperactive, so anything that calms her down is good. I think Tai Chi would be good for her, too, because it gives her an awareness of what her body is doing, where it is, and how to make it do what she wants. She needs better balance, too. She's starting soccer this weekend, so I think being able to follow instructions and focus on her body will be extra good practice for soccer.

Tomorrow it's back to the gym, and I'm going to bust my butt to make up for the effort I've wasted this week.

The good, the bad, and the ugly.

The truth is... there is no ugly in this post. There's not even that much bad!

Over the holidays, I totally failed at my fitness goals. I went to the gym once, didn't exercise at home, and frankly, the only thing I did to exercise was I walked with my nieces for a couple of miles over Christmas.

Still though... I watched what I ate, made a lot of healthy choices, and only had two "naughty" days of eating... out of two weeks! I'm very proud of that. And those naughty days were totally earned. I had a trip to Outback Steakhouse, and one Waffle House morning breakfast that I allow myself to enjoy occasionally. AT least I don't go three or four times a week like I was doing!

I got a new digital scale at home for Christmas, so I've been using that... it seems to match up closely with the one at the gym. So I did what I haven't been able to... I weighed myself for real, naked. See, at the gym, I have to stand outside of the locker room fully clothed to weigh myself. So Monday, I got on my home scale when I woke up, stripped down, and decided to see what I REALLY weigh.

190.

ONE HUNDRED NINETY POUNDS. I even weighed myself again after zeroing the scale to make sure.

That means I've lost over 20 lbs.

That makes me SOO, so happy. And I had my very first comment Sunday morning about losing weight. The nursery lady asked me if I'd lost weight, and I was able to finally smile and say yes!

That is a good, good feeling!

Well, that's not what I expected.

One of the reasons I think I'm having such a high-speed initial weight loss is actually my caloric intake.

I'm actually having trouble meeting my goals! That's both exciting for me, and a little worrying. I've reached the point now where my stomach is adjusting to the lower portions. I'm eating much less per meal (If I had to guess at my caloric intake before tracking, I'd say I was eating at least 2,500 to 3,000 calories a day.)

But just now, I prepared a lunch on purpose... I measured and weight everything out, so that it was all one serving, as opposed to whatever I felt like I wanted. I even tried to cheat a bit (add another half serving of the tortellini) but I shook my head, and put it back. One serving, no more.

I made the meal. The spagetti sauce (one serving = half a cup) seemed like a LOT of sauce for the pasta I'd made, but that's a serving, so I added it.

Added my serving of cheese, too.

And.. I couldn't finish it. I ate 2/3 of the thing, and threw the rest in the trash. I was full!

That's just mind-boggling for me.

I'm a little proud, too. I just don't want to get in the habit of eating too little, you know? I've been consistently (for the last 3 days) coming up after dinner 60-80 calories below the minimum recommended by Sparkpeople. It's not a big deficit, but it's one I'm going to make sure doesn't get bigger.

Lord knows, at 204.6 lbs I can afford to lose the weight! I'll keep eating small, healthy snacks throughout the day when I get hungry, like I have been, to make sure I don't undereat.

The Good, the Bad, and... well, that's it, really.

This has been both a good weekend, and a bad one. The bad first:

I haven't exercised since Thursday. Labor day weekend just screwed up my routine, and I gave in to the loving "encouragement" from my husband to just "take a day off." After my wonderful Thursday trip, I've done nothing. I feel sluggish and icky, and can't wait until the morning when I can run off my blues. I'm probably going to stay for an ab class, too, so I'll need to drop kiddo off early so I can have time to walk my 5k your way goal.

Now, for the good:

I've conquered the calorie mountain, all weekend! I planned ahead for a bad meal or two, and my net result is that I am STILL under goal for the day, which leaves me just enough room for a bedtime snack. :) I would skip it, but my tummy's a bit growly, so I'm probably going to fix myself a slice of toast or something.

I'm proud of myself... even though I helped myself to FOUR (count 'em) slices of pizza, I didn't eat the crusts (I didn't subtract the calories from my count, though, I had trouble counting calories from my salad at lunch), and my good choices early in the day gave my waistline some wiggle room.

I still don't believe my husband's insistence that I look amazing already (I mean, please, it's 3 lbs, not 30) but it makes me feel good.

What I'm waiting for? The comments from people I haven't seen in a while: "You look great, have you lost weight?"

I want to smile, and declare, "Yes, I did!"

Caloric Win!

I've added up all the calories from dinner (which is cooking) and even if I go a bit crazy with supper on the cheese, I'll STILL be dead on 1500 points. That's incredible for me! I really don't eat small meals. Sparkpeople has me on a 1580-1950 calorie diet. I actually need to eat a bit more than that to be healthy, but if I don't, I won't sweat it... lord knows, that cookie from last night will cover the difference.

The best part... while I'm sitting here waiting, my stomach is growling. That means I'm eating because I'm hungry... not because I'm bored.

I won't declare this a total victory yet... not until I survive from now until bedtime without overdosing on snacks. But I have THAT covered, too. I have 100 calorie packs of pretzels, cheese, all kinds of things that are low-cal and tasty.

And I'll be drinking water for the rest of the day, too.

Sesame Teryaki, 2 miles, & Calorie Counting

I'm going ot go ahead and warn you... this is going to get a bit rambly!

I'm on week two, day 3 of the 5k Your Way plan at Sparkpeople, and I happily walked 2.3 miles today. I really felt like I could do a lot more. I took the day off yesterday, pretty much from all exercise. I wasn't feeling well (my stomach kept randomly hurting. Not nausea, just hurting.) so I was lethargic and icky.

I woke up late this morning... I had a really hard time getting up. I think it's as much because I didn't exercise yesterday as because I was sleepy.

Anyway, I just felt... good. All morning, I've felt good. While I was walking on the treadmill, my usual 3.0 mph setting just didn't feel fast enough... I kept outrunning it! so I turned it up a couple of notches. 3.2 felt better. Honestly, I wanted to go even faster than that, but I figured that hurting myself would just be kinda stupid.

So I listened to music, and clocked just a bit of 37 minutes, and though I didn't actually want to stop on the 2 mi marker, I did anyway. :) Did a little bit on one of the weight machines, but I wasn't feeling that.

It's funny how that works; the harder you work, the better you feel. I can tell such a big difference in my energy level and breathing from a month ago.

I think my biggest challenge on this weight loss thing is going to be FOOD. I'm a snacker. Yesterday I was borderline on my calorie limit (I hit the 1,900 top mark.) I would have been fine... but I had to have that ONE big cookie before bed. I also had a lot of fast food, something I very rarely do. One of my favorite things in the world is to get breakfast at Burger King or Waffle house.. but I discovered much to my dismay that my beloved sausage and cheese croissanwich has 420 calories! That's just insane. That got me off to a bad start, and a trip to the hospital (appointment, not emergency) resulte in a trip to McDOnalds... that lovely southern chicken sandwich? 400 by itself. We won't even talk about those stupid fries.

Sigh.

Today, I'm off to a much better start. Instead of a trip to BK, I had a bowl of Special K. I made some Simply Asia sesame teriyaki noodles, and they were so fantastic, and filling. Surprisingly light on calories, too; a third of a package (which is almost more than you can eat) is only 300 calories. I spiced it up with some fresh sauteed mushrooms and broccoli to give it some nutritional oomph. It was REALLY fantastic, and super easy to cook. I wanted more, but much to my pleasure, I didn't eat more than my allotted serving. :) It's nice to know that a low-cal meal can be so filling. I've noticed that a lot about asian foods... they pack a lot of punch in the full belly department, without sacrificing your calorie count for the day.

I did learn something about caloric intake/calorie burning that I didn't really have solidified in my head. See, I had it in my mind that you need to work out at least as much as you eat... basically, you burn it off by moving. I guess it's the whole "you have to walk X amount of minutes to burn off that muffin" crap you see on shows like the Drs (I hate that show). What I realized (and please, don't make fun of me, I'm new to all this) is that you do have a substantial resting caloric burn rate. The personal trainer at the gym told me that, and Sparkpeople's mobile app tells me my basal metabolic rate is 2,069. That's with no activity, just sitting on my buns like usual.

So I suddenly feel better about those numbers on the treadmill at the gym! All I could see was that it said "140 calories burned" and get discouraged that it was so few.

Now I get it!

So what all this rambly-ness means is that I can do this!

I know, this is probably the most boring post ever, but I wanted to get all this down for future reference.