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The last two days have been filled with simple eating, plenty of fruits and vegetables and no high sodium food. Throw in a little bit of exercise and lots of fluids and this sounds like an obvious recipe for success, right? I have noticed that my body is not even remotely craving sugars like it did just a week ago when I first challenge. It seems my brain and stomach adjusted pretty quickly and have been very accepting of the foods I am consuming and the daily calorie intake associated. Even heading into Wednesday’s meals, I had not lost a lot of weight, but have been feeling really good with no bloating and a renewal of energy I have been lacking for a long time.

Here was the full menu from Wednesday (including exercise):

-vitamin
-apple
-bagel with cream cheese
-Dunkin Donuts large coffee
-Market Day Chicken Breast Tuscan meal
350 calories, 16g fat, 4.5g saturated fat, 22g carbs, 28g protein, 660 mg sodium
-grapes (2 servings)
-30 minutes of Wii Sports
-12 minutes of Elliptical Training

For those of you not familiar with Market Day, it is a special program done through local schools around the country as a fundraiser. Market Day sells plenty of food items for every occasion (lunch, dinner, appetizers, dessert, etc.) and the vast majority of them are easy to make or quick to cook. Their full meals like the Chicken Breast Tuscan do have an above average amount of sodium when you consider the portions are not very big, but the rest of the nutritional statistics are pretty decent. My dinner on Wednesday took just 7 minutes in the microwave to cook.

Would you believe it? The scale on Thursday morning flashed 174.1 pounds - a two pound reduction in a single day! I knew eating out the first two days of the week would have an impact, but I didn’t think the difference in results when staying away from the restaurants would show this quick! Body fat and body water were consistent with Tuesday’s weigh-in.

Here was the full menu from Thursday:

-coffee
-apple
-vitamin
-peanut butter and jelly sandwich
-coffee
-1 Miller High Life (The Official Beer of Campise Nation)
-Market Day Roasted Turkey with Stuffing meal
300 calories, 10g fat, 5g saturated fat, 23g carbs, 26g protein, 810mg sodium
-grapes (2 servings)
-30 minutes of Wii Sports

I went nearly seven days without an alcohol beverage, so I decided to treat myself to a single beer with dinner on Thursday. My overall menu for the day was eerily similar to Wednesday’s if you didn’t notice and not very calorie intensive at all. I will admit that the servings of grapes yesterday were larger than the first batch I had on Wednesday, but they are still a much healthier alternative over Doritos or cookies. I am predicting a case of Wii Tennis Elbow by the end of Week 2 if I keep this level of play up - any takers?

Unbelievable! 172.2! Believe me - I had to look at that number three times while typing this to make sure it was correct. This would mean that I lost FIVE pounds during just the first week challenge. I will tell you that this is above even the expectations I had for myself from the onset. If these are the results I can expect from a drastic change in diet to healthier eating, I am all for it. However, even I know that a single day does not constitute a trend. In order for me to truly be successful challenge, I would like to consistently make my weight for a period of time. Still, little did I know how prominent the impact could be by removing sugars and setting a few simple guidelines around what I eat and when I eat. We still have a lot of work to do and I want to make sure Week 2 has similar success in getting me closer to my optimal weight.

Tag: weight loss challenge

We had our friends come out for a weekend a couple weeks ago, and together we decided to make our combined quest for more beautiful and healthy bodies into a fun competition - Biggest Loser style!

We’ve decided to put our money where our mouth is. We’re going to weigh in every Friday, report to each other, and whichever couple has lost the highest percentage of weight gets 2 round trip tickets to Florida, where we will be departing for a Caribbean cruise! If that’s not enough, losers have to spend the entire time on the cruise ship in nothing but a bathing suit! So, the round trip airfare is motivation for the husbands, and the thought of baring it all on the cruise is more than motivation to us girls!

(more…)

Tag: Biggest Loser

In this article on WebMd we find that keeping a food diary is a good way to help dieters loose weight. The original study, published in states that the subjects had to keep daily journals and meet weekly with others who had the same goal. The outcome, the paarticipants lost, on the average, 13 pounds over six months. The study also found that the more diligent a dieter was at journalling the more likely they were to be succesful.

After the study was conducted, these suggestions were made…

  • Write as you go. Don’t wait until the end of the day to record what you ate and drank. “We recommend they write it down as soon as they can after they eat,” says Stevens.
  • Focus on portion size. Practice at home with measuring cups, measuring spoons, or food scales. And be aware that people tend to underestimate how much food they’re served.
  • Use whatever type of food diary works for you. It doesn’t matter whether you use scrap paper, a personal digital assistant (PDA), or a notebook. What matters is that you use it, says Stevens.
  • Don’t skip your indulgent days. “We encourage people to keep records especially on days when they’re tempted to eat,” says Stevens. “What gets measured tends to get changed.”
  • Cook at home. You’ll have more control over what you consume, and you know what that food contains, and how much of it you’re eating. That makes for a more detailed entry in your food diary. (from WebMD)

I had to wonder about this. Yes, I can see that there is added accountability from keeping the journal. No lieing here, we sometimes eat a cookie and don’t admit it! Also, it’s easy to forget what you’ve eaten, so if you journal all day you can look back and reflect. I do wonder, in the world of fitness and good health, how many people could keep this up long term.

I do blog daily, but I’ve never really thought about writing down everthing I eat after I eat it. I tried to do it but it seemed unnatural. The one thing I do practice daily is menu planning.

I’m one of those reluctant grocery shoppers. Don’t get me wrong, I love to shop! I just can’t enjoy shopping for hours a month for food. Instead I plan a weekly menu that includes all three meals and snacks. I post this menu on the ‘fridge for all to see. If pizza is on the menu for dinner, the boys know not to eat the pepperoni on a sandwich for lunch. For fun snacks, like rice krispie treats, or cookies or such, they sit out on the counter so anyone knows these are open game if wanted.

How do the two compare? I don’t write after the fact, but I do write before. I think of it as being proactive; I know everything I’ll eat before I do it and I’ll have plans for snacks sitting out if I need something. This keeps me from getting hungry and binging, but it allows me to set fitness goals and keep them.

I also like that the study particpants had to meet with others. There are reasons why Weight Watchers or Jenny Craig are so popular. People love meeting and working with others. You bond with people who have a common goal, you enjoy the friendships you’ve made, you encourage others when they need it and you have a person to be accountable too. Group fitness is a wonderful way to keep motivated if you are new to life long fitness.

So, try writing down your food and drinks for a week, and find a friend to walk with or talk too who might have similar goals. See how it makes you feel, and see if it works for you.

Most importantly make sure you have a fit day!

Doris

Tag: diet journals

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