Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Confessions!

I have a few confessions to make,some good and some not that great.

For the past week or so, I did fairly poorly. I got sick and wasn't sleeping very well at all, so I kind of said screw it to my eating and exercising. While I didn't do too horribly, I also didn't do great. Chinese takeout was kind of a staple and I ended up nibbling at work. The only exercising I did was walking to and from work,being at work,and walking to the store and then home.

In other news, I confess I've lost almost ten pounds from getting back on track and such. I'm at 196 now, instead of 203. We got a scale recently and we've decided to start weighing ourselves every week to help keep track of what we lose,or don't lose. I don't have any measurements right now, especially since I have to run off to work soon. I'll get them up this Thursday if there were any changes.

I started tracking on SparkPeople again seeing as I've gotten myself back to where I need to be. I'm starting to think more about what I eat too and planning ahead. I already have lunch figured out, packed up, and ready for me when I go on break at work.

Also, I must confess that ...

I don't like salads. I never have, I never will. I think they're bland,boring, and fairly disgusting.I don't like raw vegetables (except carrots and bell peppers) and I never thought the idea of shoving a bunch of raw vegetables together on a plate sounded good. Especially when you consider that the bulk of salads are made with either romaine or iceberg lettuces, which I find to be rather tasteless.Yes, I'm sure I could use darker greens...

But let's face it, people. Those are BITTER when left uncooked and aren't very pleasant to be eating. Don't get me wrong, I love cooked spinach and kale and other greens. But I don't want to be eating them raw. And while I guess I could make a cooked salad,I'm sure it would look very unappetizing,and the texture would probably be pretty horrible.

Nope. Nope. Salads just aren't for me. Unless we're talking a fruit salad. If so, then I'm all over that like frosting on a cake. I love fruit salads.

So, to anyone who thinks they have to force themselves to eat salads in order to be heathly, don't believe that. I mean, sure, salads (when done right) can be perfectly healthy meals or appetizers...but ONLY if you like them! If you don't, then you're just going to sabotage yourself. It'll make your plans just seem not worth it! I mean, who wants to torture themselves?

I know I don't. Which is why I've never believed in depriving yourself of foods and treats you like,as long as it's in moderation, and I've never believed in forcing foods you don't like on yourslef just because they're 'healthier'. Bah. Not worth it!

Just watch what you eat,how much you eat, and allow yourself a treat now and then, along with some exercise, and I'll think you're doing great. Of course, everyone's bodies are different, as are their tastes and minds. This is just what I've noticed works for me and my friends.

Saturday, April 11, 2009

!!

So, my roommate's being pretty awesome about my new food plans. She's joined in and is more than willing to eat the things I'd like to eat,especially since she wants to maintain her weight and she has problems doing so because of how her body is wired. She even joined SparkPeople and we're both keeping track of what we put in our mouths a lot more than we were before. It's shocking to see how things add up when you thought they were just trivial little add ons. I actually didn't even have my reward last night for doing my workout because I figured no amount of chocolate or ice cream,for any kind of work, is worth going over my calorie limit for the day.

I've had comments that I eat very lightly for breakfast and dinner, but have a fairly large (in comparison) lunch. Well, there's a few reasons for that. In the culture I come from, it's customary to eat very lightly for breakfast just to start the day. Then you have a big, filling lunch that will keep you full and working well. Dinner's light because it's usually served fairly late into the day and you don't need the energy nearly as much. Also, with where I work and the hours I work, it's not really in my best interest to eat a big breakfast. I never know when I'll get my break,and if it's early and it's a long work day, I'll be screwed over because I won't be hungry and I'll have to force myself to eat, which is never a good thing, just so I won'tget sick later on.

Dinner's usually light for me because I end up eating it an hour or two before bed.

Also, I have odd times for my meals.Breakfast is anywhere from 10am-12pm, lunch is from 1pm-3pm, and dinner's anywhere from 8pm-12am. Again, because of where and how I work, my meals are based around my schedule. I've fallen into the routine and it seems just as natural as eating at what is considered a more 'respectable' meal hour.

Before I moved out of my parents' house, I used to snack all the time,literally. I was usually eating something 'small' that wasn't a 'big deal'. Fact was, however, that I could usually tell myself that a huge sandwich was just a snack and that a bag of chips was just a little snack. Now that I've moved out and haveto manage my own money, snacks aren't bought nearly as often. They're just too expensive and not worth it. The only snacks we keep around now are 100cal packs and Light Laughing Cow cheese wedges. We also have applesauce and yogurts in the fridge. We're determined to buy and actually eat more fruit, too, as a snack.

On another note, I'm trying to wean myself off soda. I drink a lot of stuff in general because I become very dehydrated very easily, so I more or less HAVE to drink something two to three times every hour or two. If I don't, I'll have migrains and get faint and weak and nauseas. I used to be really sick in the beginning of high school because I didn't know that. Once I started drinking more, the headaches and the nausea started going away and I started feeling better.

But of course, that means I drink a LOT of soda. I can go through a twelve pack of cans in about three days if you let me. A two-liter bottle will only last about two days. It's not good for me and I know it, especially since I tend to drink only diet sodas and those are full of aspertame,which is fairly horrible for you (not calorie wise, but it's just bad stuff). I've made a decision to switch over to flavored waters and tea (yes, thewaters have aspertame too,but not in the same quantity as diet sodas). I'm also using sucralose to sweeten my tea and not aspertame or sugar.

That's all for now!

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Plans and rewards

I've decided to start using the workout mode on DDR to my advantage. On days I don't work, I'll reach my calories burned goal (150) on DDR three times in the day. Doesn't matter if I do this all throughout the day, or all at once. Just gotta do it. On days I work short hours, I'll play DDR twice. On average days, once. On my one long day a week, I get to sit and do nothing.

As a reward for following this, at the end of the day (except on that one long work day), I'll either eat two small pieces of chocolate (the ones that are already divided up but stuck together? Those.) or I'll have a hot cocoa. Whichever I'm more in the mood for. Sure, I know it kind of negates things, but it's a good start to getting me into good habits. I'm sure eventually I won't need the rewards as motivation for playing a game I like, anyway.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Meh...

I ended up not snacking last night and just had dinner. It was fairly delicious; strip steak, grilled, and cut up into a whole wheat hotdog bun with some BBQ sauce. I had butter and garlic rice on the side. I'd say the total calorie amount for yesterday was about 1,900 or so. Not that fantastic...

Especially when you consider that I did a bad thing and had a late night snack of left over hot wings and the left over mac and cheese. =/

Today I did a little better. Barely.

I had one and a half bagels today; one half with that strawberry stuff,and one whole bagel with honey peanut butter. I also had a small bowl of Nestum, which is a wheat cereal that's made and sold primarily in Portugal. I had the original (honey) flavor. I might order some chocolate flavor on the internet soon. It's my favorite. Breakfast was likely around 600calories.

Lunch was fairly small. I had two mini slider burgers with cheese and a small amount of fries. I also had about half of a small mocha milk shake. Probably somewhere around 400 calories,considering how little I actually ended up eating of my lunch.

I had a snack after I got home and played DDR (burned about 160calories~). The snack was a few crackers with two wedges of laughing cow cheese. Total calories for that wasmaybe about 150 calories.

So far, the total is 1,150 or so. Not bad, but damned close to my limit. I'm having stir fry for dinner. It'llbe pretty good and will bring my total up to about 1,500calories.

Likely won't have any dessert.

I only drank water and Coke Zero. I don't like Coke, at all,but the fast food place I work at only offers Coke products. Sigh.

Monday, April 6, 2009

Mm...lunch!

I got really hungry before break, so I ate a little cup portion of apples and grapes to tide me over. Which is a good thing, because I usually go overboard on break when I'm starving. I didn't have fish for lunch, though. I had a turkey sandwich on wheat bread with mayo, honey mustard, lettuce, and some cheese. No fries this time. I had applesauce. Drank iced tea with sugar, not sweetener, as I don't like the aftertaste. Going to guess 500 for this total.

Came home (walked) and I'm drinking some Life Water, the dragon fruit flavor. The whole bottle is about 125calories.

Breakfast plus lunch and this drink will total to 1,125 calories. Not bad, but I'm getting close to my limit. I think we're having stir fry for dinner. If not, we'll have something similar.

I'm tempted to eat the left over mac and cheese as a snack, but I think dinner will be soon. Thing is, though, I'm pretty hungry.

Maybe I'll just have that light cheese spread with a few crackers. That'd bring me up to about 1,200-1,250.

This spread is GREAT

I was a little skeptical when Ome pointed out this strawberry fruit spread.I figured it'd just be flavored whipped cream cheese.

God, it is GOOD. It's Brummel & Brown Creamy Fruit Spread. It's actually got...fruit in it. It has hydrogenated oils, however, so watch out for that and don't eat too much of this stuff.

Lunch + dinner + today's breakfast

I had Subway for lunch yesterday, with a cup of water. It was a turkey and pepperoni sub with a few other veggies and stuff thrown in.Gonna assume it was about 500-600 calories (it was a footlong). Hung out with my friends for a few hours after we had lunch (which was kind of late for me, considering I didn't get a break at work because I only worked a few hours).

Ome made dinner last night. Baked hot wings and some mac and cheese. I didn't really eat as much as I normally would have, considering I had actually ate during the day. Going to assume the amount I consumed was about 700 or so calories.

So, about 1,600 calories for the day yesterday. Not bad at all!


Today, I'm having two honey whole wheat bagels with fat free cream cheese and strawberry fruit spread and a handful of sweet petites baby carrots. Breakfast today is running along the lines of 400-500 calories. Going to say 500 for the sake of argument.

I might have fish for lunch today. I've been craving it and it's one of the healthiest things to eat at work. I'll update you guys later when I get home.

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Leftovers breakfast

Having breakfast now.It's leftovers from last night and a few nights ago. Half of a baked potato and then one mannicotti. Not too bad, I guess. Going to assume about 300 calories lie in this breakfast.

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Maybe good?

Yesterday, I didn't eat breakfast, but I did have a reasonable lunch at work,which was surprising.I had three turkey slices on a slice of wheat bread with a little mayo, some lettuce, and honey mustard. I also had a slice of toast with cream cheese. ANd a tiny amount of fries that came with the sandwich. For a mini-dessert, I had some candied walnuts. Drank Coke Zero all day.

For dinner, I went out to eat at a Chinese buffet,which means I did a lot of bad things and ate way too much. But I told myself to stop once I got fairly stuffed, even though I knew I could have ate more. I made sure to eat a lot of fruit as my dessert, and I also ate quite a bit of baked fish. So I kind of balanced it, even though I know that doesn't fully make up for all that I ate.

This morning, I'm actually having a real breakfast, which is fairly shocking, especially on my day off. I'm having two pieces of wheat toast with honey peanut butter and some more honey, four small rashers of bacon, and two fried eggs with cheese on them. I'll eat a lot lighter for lunch.We might have steak tonight, grilled.

Estimated calorie count for breakfast- 550-700.


Update:

We went to Walmart and got dinner supplies,and a little 150calorie portion of ice cream.I also drank half a Starbucks doubleshot thing. I'm assuming my halkf was about 150 calories,too. So I'm estimating 300 calories for that.

Dinner was great.Grilled steak with baked potatoes and some grilled salmon. And we had some laughing cow cheese on crackers before hand. I'm assuming the total calorie count for dinner was about 800calories.

Count for the day: 1,800. Not what I wanted, but not as badly as I usually eat.So hurrah for me.

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Aaah ;-;

Work was...not fun. But aside from that, today was pay day AND pay rent day.

I ate a bad breakfast of four absolutely gigantic chicken strips and a little cup of macaroni and cheese. Drank tea with it. Lunch was soon after and was a cup of apples and grapes. I didn't nibble at work much. I had a mini burger with cheese and a little mayo at some point and then after that I kind of started polishing off the cucumber slices we never use before they went icky.

Ome, my roommate, made dinner tonight, which was absolutely awesome and very appreciated. They were big mannicotti type things with riccotta cheese inside and herbs, smothered in garlic and onion tomato sauce. I had coke zero with it, since I brought it from work. She also made dessert, which consisted of English muffins with strawberryand caramel icecream and cool whip.

I got a ride to hobby Lobby this morning, which is across from work, but I walked from there to Walmartand then from Walmart to work. Didn't walk home, it was after dark.

No calorie count, but I'm guessing I went over. Probably in the 1,800-2,000 range right now for today. Week's, I'm estimating so far, is about ...too high. I'll start counting from today.

2

Didn't eat well today, either. Sigh. Had the last of the breadsticks for lunch and then I slept for a few hours. Ome brought me a sandwich from McDonald's; a double cheese with onion and extra cheese.It was yummy. XD For dinner, I had a little bowl of cottage cheese, a wheat toast sandwich with low cal mayo, a slice of cheese and some panchetta. I had another sandwich with the same, except instead of panchetta, it had slices of Portuguese sausage. Drank some sweet tea all day. Had a white Russian before bed.

Measurements:
Bust - 43in.
Under bust/top of the ribcage-40in.
Natural waist- 44in
Largest part of my stomach- 49
Hips- 50
Thighs- 24 and a half
Arms- 11 and a half.

As you can see,no changes.