Sunday, December 21, 2008

Stage 2: Vegetables

One serving of vegetables is 25 calories. For leafy greens, one serving is a full cup. For other vegetables, one serving is 1/2 cup. Vegetables with high fiber are marked ** and at least one serving of high fiber vegetables should be eaten each day. For sauces and salad dressings, the contents should be <5>

Leafy Greens:

  • Arugula
  • Bibb
  • Endive
  • Escarole
  • Red or green leaf
  • Romaine
  • Spinahc

Green Vegetables

  • Artichoke
  • Asparagus
  • Broccoli **
  • Brussels Sprouts (yuk)
  • Collard Greens
  • Green beans
  • Kale
  • Mustard greens
  • Snow Peas **
  • Sugar snap peas **
  • Swiss Chard
  • Zucchini **

Other Vegetables

  • Bean Sprouts **
  • Beets
  • Bell peppers
  • Cabbage
  • Carrots **
  • Cauliflower
  • Celery
  • Cucumber
  • Eggplant (yuk)
  • Garlic
  • Hot peppers
  • Jicama
  • Leeks
  • Mushrooms
  • Onions
  • radishes
  • Scallions
  • Tomatoes
  • Water Chestnuts
  • Yellow Squash **
  • Spaghetti Squash

At this stage, avoid high starch content veggies:

  • juice
  • corn
  • peas
  • potatoes
  • yams
  • sweet potatoes
  • winter squash.

Stage 1: Protein

I looked back in my blog and noted that I already posted the list of acceptable proteins back in June, so I don’t need to retype that all now.But the list is posted below. The goal is to get 12oz of lean or very lean protein each day from meat. Of course I also get some more protein from snacks and shakes, so the 12oz is really the minimum. In actuality, I should be getting 150 grams of protein, 150 grams of carbs and 30-50 grams of fat in my diet each day. The different stages fo 20/20 basically just add in sources for the protein, fat and carbohydrates. Additionally there is a goal of 25-40 grams of fiber per day.

 

Very Lean Protein list:

  • Chicken (white meat no skin)
  • Turkey (white meat no skin)
  • Chicken Breast
  • Ground Turkey or Chicken Breast
  • Cod
  • Flounder
  • Haddock
  • Halibut
  • Trout
  • Tuna Steak
  • Tuna canned in Water
  • Ground beef (4-5% fat)
  • Duck or pheasant no skin
  • Venison
  • Buffalo
  • Bison
  • Ostrich
  • Egg whites (2)
  • Egg subs (1/4 cup)

Lean Protein List

  • USDA or Choice grades of Lean Beef trimmed of fat (Round, Sirloin, Flank Steak, Tenderloin, Roast, Steak (T-bone, porterhouse, cubed, filet mignon), Ground Round, Skirt Steak, Pot Roast
  • Fresh Ham
  • Canned cured or boiled ham
  • Canadian Bacon
  • Pork Tenderloin
  • Pork Center Loin Chop
  • Pork Rib Roast
  • Lamb Roast, chop, leg or cubed
  • Lean Veal Chop or Roast
  • Chicken Duck or Turkey dark meat, no skin
  • Chicken white meat with skin
  • Ground turkey
  • Herring, Salmon, catfish,

The Stages of 20/20

Now that I am almost done with the 20/20 Lifestyles program, I'm posting the different stages here as a reminder to myself about how good nutritional habits work. I should have probably written this stuff down when I first was going through the program, but at this point its been 6 months, so I need a refresher anyway. Coming up: stage 1.

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Great Running Music

Something that I didn't add to yesterday's blog... one of the things that kept me going and pumped up during my run yesterday was the music that I had on my Zune. On the way to the gym I heard "Firestarter" by The Prodigy. I realized that I had that album loaded onto my Zune, so I started it as I started to run. My run took me from "Smack My Bitch Up" to all the way through "Climbatize"... Very fast paced music and great to run with...

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Great Morning Run

Morning weight: 174.6lbs

This morning I managed to drag my butt to the gym for a morning run. I had gone to the gym on Monday in the evening and I ran out of energy earlier than I wanted, so I thought if I ran in the morning today maybe that would be different. I walked into the gym thinking that I was tired and that this was going to be a crappy run. Boy was I wrong... I warmed up at 6mph for ten minutes and since I was feeling good, I bumped up to 6.5mph. Ten minutes later I bumped to 6.7mph. Finally ten minutes later I bumped to 7.0mph and ran for Ten minutes. That's 40 total minutes, and it felt great! I'm also noticing my mood is significantly better this morning than it was yesterday at this time... Don't know if its the exercise, but I'm just going to assume so! :)

This week is going to be a really solid week for exercised... I've already gone to the gym Monday, Tuesday and today. I'm meeting my trainer tomorrow, Friday AND Saturday, so I will have earned a very deserved rest day on Sunday!

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Get Going Again

Morning Weight: 178lbs

I'm attaching my latest weight chart to provide some accountability for myself. As you can see the last two weeks have NOT been optimal. This past week I've been consuming too many salty foods, caused primarily from eating out almost every night. My weight is up about a pound from a week ago and you can see what large fluctuations I've had in the past two weeks. Clearly I did not have these fluctuations prior to this period, so I need to closely follow the guidelines of my diet now and get things under control.

I will be in Austin next week and will have no choice but to eat out, so I will not eat at a restaurant until then if I can help it. I also will talk to my dietician in another hour and a half, but my preference would be to not add anything back into my diet this week... I've not been worried enough about what I've been eating and so have not been truly paying close enough attention. So, I'm recommitting myself to this plan as of today!

Weight August 5

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Weekend Recap

Morning weight: 177.6 lbs

Tuesday morning is granted a bit late to recap the weekend, but there are several things that are top of mind that I want to get into here. Friday we went to our neighbor's house for a BBQ and I was very good about watching what I ate- I brought over my food scale and some measuring cups so that I knew exactly how much chicken and tomato/cucumber salad I ate. Then after that I eyed a chicken sausage that was sitting there begging to be eaten. It was delicious. It was also full of sodium and it caused me to retain a massive amount of water leading to a weight reading on Saturday morning of 180.8lbs... well above my 180 pound threshold that I was so proud of crossing.

To make matters worse, I really did not eat enough carbohydrates on Friday and did not get enough sleep. The result is that my run on Saturday morning, which was supposed to be 1 hour long ended up being half an hour and a 15 minute walk back uphill home. I felt miserable and deflated..I had no energy left, and after such a great run on Wednesday last week I had expected a much better run.

Sunday was a MUCH better day... although I stayed up late watching the Sopranos on Saturday and fell asleep on the couch, I still managed to sleep in on Sunday morning and had plenty of time to chill/wake up slowly. After my breakfast and morning snack I started to feel more energetic, so I went to the gym to do a treadmill run. That run felt fantastic! I ran solidly at 6.5mph for 30 minutes and then did a speed workout for the next 30 minutes. First interval was 90 seconds walking followed by 8.5 minutes at 6.7mph. Second interval was 90 seconds walking followed by 8.5 minutes at 7mph. The final interval was 90 seconds walking followed by 3.5 minutes at 7.5mph. (all of this was at a very modest 0.5% incline).

My legs have definitely felt sore after the speed run, but it really felt good and I'm glad I did it. Even more encouraging was that my heart rate was in the upper 160's even during the 7.5mph section... normally I would have expected 170's, so I'm getting in much better cardio shape these days.

Friday, July 25, 2008

28.5 to 20

Morning weight: 179.2lbs

Yesterday I had my 5 week measurements taken at the gym. Actually, it has been 7 weeks since I started the 20/20 program, but this was the first opportunity to get the measurements taken. Overall I've done extremely well. In the 7 weeks, I've lost 21 pounds, lost two inches from my hips, 1 inch from my waist and here's the kicker: I wend from 28.5% body fat to 20.0% body fat. My lean body mass has remained constant at 141pounds. If I maintain that lean body mass, then when I hit my goal weight of 160 pounds, I will be 11.9% body fat. If I increase my lean body mass, which I do expect to do, I will have even lower body fat.

I'm excited for a sunny weekend in Seattle... I'm going to go for an hour run on both Saturday and Sunday. I hope that these runs feel as good as my run on Wednesday felt! This is getting fun!!!

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

What a great run

This afternoon I went on a run with my trainer, and it was really a great feeling run for a change. Its been quite a while since a run actually felt good. Today we ran some trails near the club....we did several short but steep hills. The hills didn't feel too great, but hills never do. What felt great was how easy the run on the flat areas felt....it didn't quite feel effortless, but so much better than a month ago.  

I know that my cardio shape is improving quite a bit- before I started this program, my resting heart rate was 62. Now its 58...that's a pretty good improvement for a month and a half! My trainer said that by the time I'm done with the program in December, it could be as low as 49! We'll see....

Bring on the Legumes

Morning Weight: 178.6lbs

I tried blogging yesterday but Windows Live Writer froze and so I never got the blog posted. I bring this up because this is now the third blog entry I have written where my weight is below 180lbs. Why I mention that is that each time when I write in my weight, my fingers naturally gravitate toward writing 180 something vs 170 something. I just keep second guessing myself- whether I truly am 178 as opposed to 188!

With that in mind, below is my latest weight chart, which is starting to look like a mega mountain to go skiing on!

Today I will have my weekly appointment with my dietician and I expect to get legumes back in my diet. Legumes are things like kidney beans, chick peas/garbanzo beans, soy beans (EDAMAME!!!) and others. While overall as a category, this doesn't seem quite as exciting as say the vegetable category that I got back in week 2, I am super psyched about it due to the fact that I will be able to eat Edamame again, which makes it worthwhile to go out for sushi. I won't be able to get any sushi rolls or nigiri sushi, but I will be able to get edamame and Sashimi. YUM!  I cheated yesterday at lunch. I got a 20/20 Chop salad from the ProClub. It was only cheating because it was a Stage 6 food that included legumes and not a Stage 5 food, which is the stage I am currently in. It wasn't really good...the dressing was terrible so I won't be buying that one again.

Weight July 21

Monday, July 21, 2008

For the First time in Four Years

Afternoon Weight: 179.6lbs

I am under 180lbs for the first time in four years!!! I'm very excited about this because for years I have been trying to get back under 180 and have never quite made it due to numerous issues (Willpower, schedule etc...)

I knew I would lose weight while in Atlanta, but I didn't completely expect to be under 180. Atlanta was tough because I did not have my regular food sources to run to... I didn't have berries or shakes or even adequate food sources in some cases. But I did pay close attention to what I ate and didn't overdo it.

OK, so now the goal is to get under 170 in  a month's time! Woo hoo!

Friday, July 11, 2008

Getting Close

Morning Weight: 182.2 lbs

Only once in the last four years have I been lighter than my weight reading this morning. I am getting excited about breaking through this barier and getting in better and better shape.

I've taken a few photos over the past month using my work PC's web-cam. I made a video out of the photos this morning- I think they do a pretty good job of showing the weight coming off! Hope the quality doesn't suffer with this upload!


Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Slower going

Morning Weight: 183.2lbs

Weight July 9

Here's my latest weight chart. I'm still making steady progress downward, but the last week has been quite slow going. I'm basically down 1.6 pounds since a week ago. Given that I was traveling and had a few non-dietary moments over the past week, its still good to see the loss. But I really do want to be closer to 2 to 2.5 pounds per week. The good news is that of all the measurements I took over the past year, there are only 7 where I was of equal or lesser weight than where I am now. The lowest was 181.8lbs, and it happened when I was sick last year and didn't eat much for a few days, and as soon as I got better I ate more and gained it back, so I don't really view it as a solid weight measurement.

I added fruit back into my diet last week, but I really didn't eat much fruit over the past week, so I'm considering not adding anything back this week...I would be adding Dairy back in, but I don't think I really integrated fruit into my diet yet. I did have an apple today after lunch, and I have to say it was delicious.

So my goal for next week before I leave for a week in Atlanta is to hit 181.0 lbs. Then when I come back from Atlanta I would like to be below 180... I will have to really watch what I eat in Atlanta, and I don't like the fact that everything will be essentially buffet style conference food. That type of food is rarely of the variety that will be good for me.  I'll talk with my dietician about that today. 

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Glad I didn't run the Seafair Marathon!

Morning Weight: 184.4lbs

I'm still losing weight steadily, but boy is it ever slower than the first week! Now I understand why diets are so difficult to succeed at- you really have to be dedicated to continuing eating well on a daily basis. One interesting observation I made in the last week- on Friday I ate Isiernos Chicken Sausage for dinner. My overall caloric goals as well as percentage from Fat, Carbs and Protein were all right on target. However, given that the sodium content in the sausage was high, I ended up 1.4 pounds heavier on Saturday morning than I was on Friday night. That's a ton of water retention!

Speaking of water, the annual Seafair marathon and half marathon was held here in Seattle this past weekend. I had considered targeting this race at some point in the future. I am really happy that this wasn't the year with all the issues they had- 400 people were left stranded by inadequate bussing and never made it to the starting line. Secondly, the course was far hillier than the course profile represented. Thirdly, they RAN OUT OF WATER on a VERY hot day!! That's inexcusable- it puts runners lives in danger! So I'll stick to my mediocre/cold weather races for now!

Friday, June 27, 2008

Hot Dogs, Hamburgers and Potato Salad...Oh My!

Morning Weight: 185.2lbs

Today we had a division-wide "Morale Event" which basically consisted of gathering everyone on the soccer field at MS and feeding them lunch. There were also some prizes, but alas, I was not a winner! Lunch consisted of sorts of summer treats that I would normally gorge myself on: Hamburgers, Hot Dogs, Potato Salad, Ice Cream. I had to stand there eating the occasional Cucumber slice (which they had as one of the garnishes for people's hamburgers). I was tempted, but I resisted.

But the GREAT news is that I have a working grill again! Woo Hoo! Tonight I may grill up some chicken sausage or a steak... Haven't figured it out yet and I have a trainer appointment between now and then.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Seattle Drivers = Crazy

Morning Weight 186.4lbs

OK, so I must have a sign on my car today that says "Please force me off the road". First as I was merging onto 520, some jackhole in a Scion decides that he really does not want me to merge. So at 40 miles an hour with the end of the on-ramp looming I had to force myself into the lane...I had to merge while the front of his car was still about a third of the way overlapped with the rear of mine. Then just after I405, a motorcycle driver on a very big touring bike decided that he could merge in front of me with literally inches to spare. Its not like he was accelerating into my lane to go faster. He merged at the exact same speed and forced me to heavily brake to avoid killing him. Whoever it is parked in the garage below my building, so I am tempted to leave a truly nasty note for him. Finally, as I was exiting 520, at the last minute some idiot in a small pickup truck decided that the HOV lane was not where he wanted to be- he wanted to be in the exit lane. He swerved directly into my path and almost even hit the divider between the HOV lane and exit ramp.

On the diet front- I went to see my dietician yesterday and I am now permitted up to two servings of cheese a day! Woo hoo...naturally it must be low fat cheese, but I'm ok with that. Also, a serving is not necessarily defined as whatever the cheese label says it is. It's defined as 7g of protein. That means for the Laughing Cow Lite cheese, I can have up to 3 wedges per serving!! That's more than I usually eat, so I'm happy about that. I lost 2.4 pounds over the course of the past week, and the dietician told me that I am really doing well in terms of eating well and losing weight. 2.5 pounds/week is a healthy amount to lose. One concept that I will need to get used to is not expecting every day to have lost weight. Today for example I am .2 pounds heavier than yesterday. I will continue to monitor on a daily basis, just because I enjoy graphing it out, but I won't worry about not losing from day to day, so long as I am down by next week's dietician appointment.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Starting Week 3

Morning Weight: 186.2 lbs

Today I will see my dietician for the third time and I will begin week three of this diet. I'm down 2.4 pounds from a week ago, which I am told is about what I should expect for an average week- two and a half pounds. However, since I lost much more than that in the first few weeks, it seems a bit of a letdown for me.  I didn't exercise as much this past week, mainly due to my trip to Austin which killed two days of exercise.

In another 5 pounds, I will have some more clothes to wear. Technically I can now fit into a number of pairs of jeans that I couldn't fit into a few weeks back, but they are still a bit tight.But with five more pounds, they should be good to go!

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

New Chart


I just saw Lane had posted her revised chart, so I'm going to post mine as well. I agree with Lane that this is just too hard to want to do this again, so I will have to learn how to maintain once I've lost what I want to lose!


My Jeans are loose!

Morning weight: 186.6 lbs

I'm walking around in my jeans today and I noticed that they are feeling significantly looser these days! Today was the first time I have gotten up on the scale after a trip to Austin where I actually weighed less than I weighed before I left. My diet was a bit weird though yesterday in Austin. I had primarily a lot of protein, but not much in the carb department. I forgot that in Texas if you order a vegetable skewer to go with your 6 oz Filet Mignon for lunch, its going to be drowned in butter. So I didn't eat the veggies at all. I didn't really have a dinner, though I had several snacks  (soy nuts) during the day to make sure my calorie intake was where it was supposed to be.

Tonight its back to the gym for a workout. I ran on Saturday but since I wasn't feeling well on Friday I had cancelled my session with my trainer. So it feels like I haven't really exercised in a long time, despite the fact that it hasn't been so long.

Friday, June 20, 2008

Coughing again

Morning weight: 187.2lbs

Well I woke up this morning coughing and congested. I had feared the scratchy throat over the past two days would develop into something like this. It doesn't feel too bad, so hopefully with some good sleep tonight and tomorrow night it will be a memory by the time I get on the plane to Austin on Sunday afternoon.

I made salmon for dinner last night, and although it was quite tasty, I'm starting to think that it's not worth making salmon at home. Reason number one: The house stunk like fish for the rest of the night, despite having the windows open. I even still smelled it a bit this morning. Reason number two: Bones. I HATE having to pick bones out of my salmon. So much so that I prefer to just not eat it!

Today I am taking a rest day - with my cough I want to take it easy.. I canceled my training appointment for the day and will not do any cardio. I'll pick up the cardio again over the weekend.

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Vegetables!

Morning Weight: 188.0 lbs

I am now in that part of the plan where consistency will be key. I'm losing little bits of weight each day rather than the large amounts I was losing each day during the first two weeks. But I am ahead of where I thought I would be, so that is great. I have a calendar set up in Excel on my computer which shows how much I will weigh each week on each day if I assume that I can lose 2.5lbs/week. I'm rather excited, because after plugging in my actual weight for this week I'm already 3lbs ahead of plan. This means that I could reach my goal weight of 160lbs three weeks before the end of Phase 1 of my program. That's good because then I will have that much more time to determine how to maintain my weight and build good maintenance habits. That's something that I will really need to learn- I know how to lose weight, but maintaining is a completely different story!

The big news (hard to believe I am calling this big news) is that as of last night I can have vegetables again - at least most vegetables. In celebration of this I cooked up a mixture of zucchini, carrots, peppers, onion, broccoli and asparagus last night. Never in my life have vegetables tasted so delicious. And since I used cooking spray instead of oil, there was no fat content in the mixture. Normally I would have used quite a bit of olive oil, which as far as oils go is a very healthy one to have, but I know that I must use way too much. Also, my dietician told me about numerous ways to substitute foods for the shakes that I'm having to consume. Now I think I may only have to drink 1-2 a day. This morning I was going to cook up an egg white omelet with onions and asparagus, but I couldn't figure out the proportions correctly to get it right. So I just went with the standby strawberry protein shake with blueberries and peanut butter.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Feel a cold coming?

Morning Weight : 188.6

Yesterday I finally got to do some weight training, though not a lot. Since I had hurt my hand at Christmas time, I have not been doing any pushups…let me tell you… they were really tough even though I only had to do 15 of them. Granted it was right after I did 15 reps of bench press, but still I was shocked at how hard they were. I'm looking forward to getting back in shape in my upper body.

I am down a bit more than 5 pounds from a week ago, so I am happy with my first week results in 20/20. I will meet with my dietician today…hopefully I will get to add some vegetables into my diet at this point, if not I'll have to wait a week. One thing is that this morning I woke up with the feeling in my throat that I'm getting a cold or something. I REALLY don't want to get sick again… I was sick almost the entire month of May, and I've been feeling good, eating healthy, getting good sleep, so hopefully I will be able to fight this off.

Today I will take the day off from cardio…my legs are definitely feeling the increase in activity. Yesterday I did 30 minutes on the bike and 15 minutes on the much dredded stepmill. I hate that thing. At least with my trainer there talking to my while I'm on it, the time does go by quicker than if I were to do it alone. My hope is that I will be in the 183lb range when we go to Warren in two weeks…that will be a good weight. I will have to buy a blender and a food scale for the house in Warren to keep to my diet!


 

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Plateau

Morning Weight: 189.2lbs

Well it happened. Despite being 100% on plan yesterday, my weight did not budge at all, which goes to show that now that I've pretty much lost the excess water weight, it may become very frustrating to weigh myself every day. I did weigh myself an hour and a half earlier than usual (5AM vs 6:30AM), but I don't think that should have made much of a difference. Getting up at 5AM for a 6AM meeting was quite the shock to the system…its different than when I travel East and get up at 8AM because even though it is technically the same time, there is no activity in the streets here, and that makes it seem very early!

I'm getting used to the shakes again… There are two flavors that I can tolerate: Strawberry Protein shake with Blueberries, and Vanilla protein shake with Blueberries. For my morning snack, I've made a vanilla protein shake with strawberries, so we'll see how that goes. I will get a free lunch at the ProClub today…I found a coupon in my startup package for a free shake and free protein, and that expires at the end of the month, so I thought I better go ahead and use it!

Monday, June 16, 2008

Too Few Calories yesterday

Morning weight: 189.2lbs

I underconsumed yesterday. I never thought I would hear myself say that, but its true. I had my normal morning shake with berries and peanut butter. But at lunchtime we were watching the European Soccer games at a bar with friends and all I had was 4-5oz of grilled chicken with no shake. I did have half a protein bar about an hour later to try to compensate, but it wasn't enough. The rest of my day was on plan but I essentially missed the calories from a morning snack and half of my shake calories at lunch.

It was not a good idea. I had trouble getting up this morning despite great sleep and a good amount of it too (8.5 hrs)…and when I woke up I had a bit of a headache…it went away quickly after I had my morning shake, but clearly being under on calories was not a good thing. So I guess I will continue to choke down the shakes and protein bars. '

At least the weather this past weekend was good and Lane and I got to take Lucy out for two long walks, which helped me to get my step count high for the two days. Today I'll do a 30 minute run and then a 30 minute bike ride. Hopefully by getting back on meal plan today I will have enough energy.

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Craving Variety

Morning Weight: 191 lbs.

Woo Hoo I'm down another pound to bring the total since start at 9 pounds! Soon I will go double digit. I went to the gym and had another session with my trainer. Today I did 45 minutes on the stationary bike and then an Ab routine. That doesn't sound all that difficult compared to some of the exercise I've done in the past, but I was definitely feeling it. I think with this restricted diet, although I don't have energy problems walking around, it is a bit tough when exercising.

I am looking at the list of food that I'm allowed to have and coming up with a plan… I'm getting a little bit sick of chicken all the time, so I'll probably buy some salmon and some filet mignon at the store this afternoon. Most of all I wish I could have something less sweet all the time… the shakes and protein bars are all formulated so that they are a bit sweet, but I am getting sick of it. I know a lot of people like sweet stuff, but not me.

Friday, June 13, 2008

More progress

Morning weight: 192 lbs

I'm now at the same weight as I was when I started this blog almost a year ago. It's kind of a slap in the face that I had to lose weight to get back to where I started! But this new diet that I'm on seems to be doing the trick. I know, however, that the first 10 pounds will be shed much quicker than the rest, so I keep waiting to step on the scale and find that I haven't lost weight from the previous day. Until then, however, I will enjoy seeing the weight peel off. The point that I am really excited for is still several weeks in the future. I am really looking forward to crossing below 180lbs. I have not been below 180 since the summer of 2004, and so that will be a great milestone for me, and it would seem that its about a month away, which is great because that's when I'll be in Atlanta for a week. I'm going to have to figure out how to follow the plan while there, but that's something that I will start talking with my dietician and therapist about so that I'm prepared.

So now I'm "only" 32 pounds above my goal weight…

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Has Spring Arrived?

Morning Weight: 193.2 lbs

I looked at my phone's weather gadget on the way to work today and it said that this afternoon will be sunny and 69 degrees. Could this finally be the arrival of spring/summer? Or will it be just another of several teases, where the weather gets nice for a few days but then reverts to long spells of nastiness? We are all obviously hoping that this time it will be different.

Well, I am down in weight again, and today will be the first true day of being on the diet my dietician gave me. I was almost completely on it yesterday but since I didn't quite know what it was going to be, my lunch ended up being off plan, though it was still a very healthy salad. Right now, I am not allowed to eat anything other than protein shakes, protein bars (as a shake replacement) and lean or very lean protein meats (salmon, tuna, chicken, lean cuts of beef). This morning I also began my morning vitamin/supplement routine: 2 fishoil capsules, 2 multivitamins, 1 calcium tablet and 1 tablespoon of fiber. The recommendation from the club is to keep the fishoil capsules in the freezer to prevent "Fish Burps". My god if that actually happens, I think I will be VERY grossed out.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Protein Lists

Very Lean Protein list:

  • Chicken (white meat no skin)
  • Turkey (white meat no skin)
  • Chicken Breast
  • Ground Turkey or Chicken Breast
  • Cod
  • Flounder
  • Haddock
  • Halibut
  • Trout
  • Tuna Steak
  • Tuna canned in Water
  • Ground beef (4-5% fat)
  • Duck or pheasant no skin
  • Venison
  • Buffalo
  • Bison
  • Ostrich
  • Egg whites (2)
  • Egg subs (1/4 cup)


 

Lean Protein List

  • USDA or Choice grades of Lean Beef trimmed of fat (Round, Sirloin, Flank Steak, Tenderloin, Roast, Steak (T-bone, porterhouse, cubed, filet mignon), Ground Round, Skirt Steak, Pot Roast
  • Fresh Ham
  • Canned cured or boiled ham
  • Canadian Bacon
  • Pork Tenderloin
  • Pork Center Loin Chop
  • Pork Rib Roast
  • Lamb Roast, chop, leg or cubed
  • Lean Veal Chop or Roast
  • Chicken Duck or Turkey dark meat, no skin
  • Chicken white meat with skin
  • Ground turkey
  • Herring, Salmon, catfish,

My Mealplan for the next two weeks

Lane and I visited the dietician today, and here's my meal plan for the coming week or two (she didn't really say, but I think the initial stage is 2 weeks, depending upon my weight progress).

Breakfast:

1 protein shake with ½ cup berries, 1 tablespoon peanut butter, 2 vitamins, 2 Omega 3 capsules, 1 Calcium capsule, 1 tablespoon fiber

Morning Snack:

1 protein shake with ½ cup berries or protein bar

Lunch
6 ounces of very lean or lean protein, 1 fat serving (if very lean protein was choice), 1 protein shake with ½ cup berries

Afternoon Snack
1 Protein shake with ½ cup berries or 1 protein bar

Dinner
6 ounces of very lean or lean protein, 1 fat serving (if very lean protein was choice), 1 protein shake with ½ cup berries

All the vitamins and shakes/bars are 20/20 branded, created for the program to keep things standard.

Fat choices (to meet 45 calorie goal)
1 tsp oil
10 peanuts
6 almonds
1 tbsp sesame seeds
1 Tbsp Sunflower seeds
2 tsp peanut butter
10 olives
1 tsp reg mayonnaise
1 tbsp low fat mayo
1 Tbsp reg salad dressing
2 tbsp low fat salad dressing
1 tsp butter

A little Self Assessment


I just went through my entire blog archive and plotted my recorded weight in Excel and created this chart. I think its clear to see that when I reported weight and was blogging regularly, my weight did come down. When I didn't record weight or didn't blog, my weight skyrocketed. Interestingly, I got down to the low 180s at several points during the past year, but never kept it going...


A New Favorite

Morning Weight: 194.6 lbs

I have a new favorite protein shake at the gym… Chocolate shake with Strawberries and peanut butter added in. I tried this for the first time on Friday afternoon last week, and I didn't really like it very much because I thought the peanut butter was a bit weird. But I did notice that it filled me up and left me feeling less hungry for quite a while, so I tried it again yesterday morning for breakfast. It worked like a charm- I was not hungry again for four hours. I noticed that the shakes I had been drinking (Vanilla with Strawberries and Blueberries) did not leave me feeling satiated for more than an hour and a half. I had another one this morning after doing a 35 minute run at the gym (it feels good to get my exercise done so early in the day!), and I was really digging it…the taste totally grew on me.

The only thing is that when I logged it into my food log online (which is what I will have to do for the 20/20 program) it shows as only 270 calories. I'm really curious to hear what my dietician has to say, because the online meal tracking system tells me I should be getting more than 500 calories in my breakfast…I'm not sure what I'm supposed to add..the shake is really quite filling. Maybe I'll need to eat something before the shake and then finish my meal off with the shake. I guess I'll find out today!

So last night I was good food wise- I did snack on quite a few triscuits, which I know will be outlawed by my dietician today, but otherwise I ate healthy and only drank water/club soda. Its good to see when I'm good, the weight comes right back down, so my unhealthy weekend (which wasn't really that bad comparatively) is now clearly in the past… And now, I will be forced to behave on the weekends and I'm truly psyched to see how quickly I get back in shape.

Monday, June 9, 2008

It starts this week

Morning weight: 195.4 lbs

This is the week that I start the 20/20 program and I am excited to get going. My weight is up from Friday's weight, but given that I wasn't really following the diet this weekend, I'm not too disappointed. After all, I'm still significantly lower than last Monday morning when I did my weigh in at the gym. I really am looking forward to knowing what I can and cannot eat… Today I've had a protein shake, a protein bar and an Asian chicken salad. I don't think its been enough food but I am hesitant to start eating anything else. I went to the gym at lunchtime and got a good 30 minute run in.

I've also been wearing a pedometer to track how many steps I take in the course of a day. My goal is 5,000 and most days I have been able to exceed that. For today thus far I've taken 2,688 steps and I'm about halfway through my day. But I do actually need to exceed 5,000 steps, so if at the end of the day I'm not close, I will have to take a walk outside to get the steps in.

Friday, June 6, 2008

5 days in

Morning Weight 193.7 lbs.

Today is Friday and it's the fifth day for me eating well and not drinking, and the results so far are very promising. My poor eating and drinking habits had led to me retaining water – that's the only obvious answer for having shed close to 7 pounds in the first few days of eating healthy. I've tracked calories and I have not been under-eating- I've been close to my own goal of approx 1750 calories a day. The first four days I found to be quite easy because of my high motivation to stop being a fat-ass. Today I had a protein shake in the AM that was quite good and filling, but an hour and a half later, I was walking to a meeting when the smell of eggs and bacon hit me in the hallway. That was the first time that I've been truly tempted on this diet to just forget my willpower and dig in. But instead I ate a half a protein bar- thank god I had that in my office. At lunch I had an Ahi Tuna steak from the café and a salad…very healthy, but as I was waiting for my Ahi to be cooked, I stared intensely at the Tater Tots. They were calling my name. Good thing I can't hear very well. This is leading me to the realization that this is going to be a very tough few months. But I also know that if I am prepared and have healthy alternatives I will be able to resist temptation for the most part. Looking forward to a casual weekend, but I will have to have my guard up. It's going to be another lousy weather weekend where it seems more like winter than summer. Its even supposed to snow in the mountains tonight and tomorrow!! Ugh. So I'll have to make sure I have some healthy alternatives around to keep from eating and drinking out of sheer boredom. Wish me luck…

Thursday, June 5, 2008

20/20 Doctor Visit

Weight: 195.6lbs (down from 200lbs on Monday!)

I had my first 20/20 program doctor visit today and we reviewed my "prescription" as well as all the testing that was done on Monday. I'm not in that bad of a condition- I'm 38 with a Body of a 46 year old, but with the potential through lifestyle modification to get the body of an 18 year old back!! That's exciting to me because it gives me hope that I can really be in great shape coming out of this program. The one thing that the doctor really picked up from my initial evaluation and health screening questionnaire is my drinking… Obviously during the program I won't be drinking anything but even after the program I will have to be very careful. I think the way I will treat it is that I will plan out each week the exact amount of allowable alcohol and also plan out when I'm going to consume that. That way if I go to a football game, for example, I can plan that if I get 3 drinks that week, then I can have them while enjoying the game.

The other interesting thing from my initial reading of the health assessment that the doctor gave me is that I should not use Advil/Ibuprofin but instead Tylenol. Turns out that anti-inflammatories like advil and other brands can lead to water retention and interfere with the way blood pressure works. I had no idea.

I'm really getting excited for the program to start, and I'm really happy with the progress I've made just this week- I've eaten very well and consumed no alcohol- even at a business dinner last night at a great Seattle steak restaurant.

Monday, June 2, 2008

Initial Fitness Assessment

This morning I had my initial 20/20 program fitness assessment. There really wasn't much to it. I had a weigh-in (ugh 200lbs), they took body measurements and also did a bicep strength test and a flexibility test. My body fat is currently at 28%! So clearly I have a lot of progress to make, but that's why I'm in the program. I will meet with my program doctor later this week and I start my training sessions and dietician appointments next week. So even though technically I'm not fully on board with the program until next week, my goal is to start losing weight and adopting the healthier lifestyle this week. This will be kind of a self test- to see if I can be disciplined enough to make the first step on my own- without having trainer and a dietician telling me what to do. I also think that if I can flush through any water weight this week, that will get me started on the real program in a better way. So as of today, no more caffeine (not that I get a lot anyway), no more alcohol, and planned meals with portion sizes under control.

So along those lines, food today will be:

Breakfast: 20/20 Protein Shake with Soy, Whey, Blueberries and Strawberries

Lunch: Grilled Chicken breast + Side salad with oil + Vinegar

Snack: 20/20 protein shake

Dinner: 6 oz filet mignon, steamed broccoli.

Friday, May 23, 2008

My Wife Is Famous!!!

Check this out: http://qik.com/video/84404

20/20 Introduction

I have officially joined the 20/20 Lifestyles program at my gym (www.proclub.com). The first step is to attend a two hour introductory seminar given by the program founder, a doctor. I went to the seminar a little over a week ago (I know, this is not really a timely post! ) The doctor went through the 20 reasons why people are overweight- he suggested that everyone in the room probably has 4-5 reasons among the 20. The seminar was really interesting- he talked about weight and health issues from a biological point of view..it wasn't just about "Put down the fork fattie"… He talked about enzymes and hormones that affect the way people eat, he talked about sleep, he talked about not eating enough at the right time of the day, he talked and talked for two hours. The interesting thing for me is that on an enzymatic or hormonal level, a lot of the processes were self-reinforcing… so by the time you have bad eating habits, your enzymes and hormones go through processes that keep you in that cycle, which also leads to High Blood Pressure, High Blood Sugar, Insulin resistance, high cholesterol and other issues…

The next step in the program is to get blood drawn for a initial reading of blood sugar and cholesterol… I had that done on Tuesday this week. The next step is that there are a number of initial things that need to be done: I will see a counselor next Friday, the following Monday I will get an initial fitness assessment done, Mid week I will have a meeting with a 20/20 program doctor who will probably scare the heck out of me with my initial health evaluation. Then the week of June 9th I will start my fitness program- three times a week I will strength train with my trainer, and I'll do cardio I think about 5-6x/week. I also will meet with a dietician weekly starting June 11.

I have been sick for three weeks which has really put a damper on my pre-program training. In fact I haven't done any cardio since the beginning of the month- I've had a nasty cough that has completely drained all my energy. I finally went to the doctor on Tuesday and he put me on some anti-biotics which has started to help. We are going to Vancouver this weekend for a few days and we'll bring our bikes…hopefully I'll be able to enjoy a little bike riding. I'll be in Austin next week but I plan to start really watching what I eat and start exercising so that I don't wait until my dietician appointment on the 11th.

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

New Beginning

It was almost a year ago that I started this blog with the goal of documenting my weight loss, and I am now heavier than I was a year ago. There are many reasons including the fact that I have been completely inconsistent in my approach to losing weight. I get very motivated for a period of a month or two, I experience good results, and then I get content and don't continue to follow through. I have been rewarding myself whenever I get a good start by going back to my old habits of over consuming.

I look at my wedding photos, and while they are great and I couldn't be happier with how the wedding turned out, I look fat in all those photos. So fine, I will forever be documented as heavier than I would like for my wedding, but that doesn't mean that I have to accept it going forward.

So I've taken the first real concrete step to changing my habits and lifestyle so that I can get to my goal weight and be a much healthier person: I got my doctor to recommend me for the 20/20 Lifestyles program at the ProClub- my gym here in Seattle. I'm not sure how long the program is going to be- it is a minimum of 12 weeks but can go all the way to a 32 week program depending on the starting point. I'm basically physically fit at the outset, but I need to lower my blood pressure, my cholesterol and my blood sugar levels. I will learn in the program how to do all of that since the program combines physical training with meeting with a dietician weekly as well as some group sessions with others like me. Now I have to say at the outset, I'm not really looking forward to the group sessions… I don't want to have to sit around explaining why I am overweight… I have a very good idea why. But the program does boast very good long term results:

  • Participants lose an average of 43lbs or 17% of their body weight;
  • 73% normalize blood glucose levels and eliminate the need for medication;
  • 79% normalize blood pressure and eliminate the need for medication;
  • 61% normalize their cholesterol and eliminate the need for medication

I'm on blood pressure medication but nothing else at this point, and my readings for glucose and cholesterol don't yet warrant medication, but if I don't do something substantial now to change the way things are going, I will likely have to take medication in the future.

So I am going to do this program and follow it very strictly, and I WILL lose the weight and be healthier.

Oh and with the new weight I do plan to get back into half marathons and 10Ks and the like, and I bet my performance will be better than ever!

I'm excited to get started and I will start regular blogging again once I start in a few weeks so that I can document how things are going and to stay motivated!

Monday, April 14, 2008

Well Geez...why am I not losing?

Weight: 193lbs

Haven't written in a while, but that's mainly because there's no good news to report. But at least there's no bad news to report either! Today I went to the doctor and had my blood taken. The strange thing is that the nurse asked for "Ms Rau" at the door... I had checked in and I would have assumed that the receptionist who gave the nurse my chart would have noticed that I'm not female. So I joked with the nurse (actually I think she was a technician) that I did not want her to do anything like a pregnancy test on me! 

So we'll see what the results for the test are. As you all know I'm heavier really than I've ever been and I've been struggling to lose weight now for years. I'm hoping to qualify for the 20/20 program at my fitness club (proclub.com) but I also don't want to qualify. That would mean that I've really fallen off the deep end when it comes to working out and controlling my intake. 

I can't help but think that the lousy winter weather that continues here in Seattle into the second month of spring may have something to do with it..I did ride my bike outside this past weekend, but this coming weekend its supposed to snow again. Ugh...I'm completely sick of this weather. But I guess going to Austin next week will help with that...here's to hot humid sticky weather! 

Friday, April 4, 2008

Ugh…Setback

Weight: 195.4lbs

So I had a great day yesterday through the morning and afternoon, and had a solid workout of interval running for 35 minutes followed by 60 minutes of strength training. That's the good news. The bad news is what happened once I got home. It's not really horrible news, but it was the kind of night I cannot afford to repeat often. We were waiting around for our neighbor to come home and make the venison sloppy joes she had promised (and we were looking forward to). I should have bought a snack leaving the Pro Club to curb my appetite…but then again, at that point I didn't know we were not eating at home. I had thoughts of just finishing the Quinoa Tabouleh I had made the previous night and possibly finding some meat to grill for a healthy conclusion to the day. Instead as I was waiting I grabbed the bag of kettle chips and downs about a serving full. (At least I didn't finish the whole bag!) Then when we made it over to the neighbor's house she had three different kinds of cheeses to nibble on. And nibble I did. Apart from that I had a good portion of venison sloppy joe mix (I didn't have it on a bun in a late attempt to control my calories) and some steamed asparagus along with some Merlot.

So I'm up in weight today. I know that a portion of it is due to water retention from having eaten foods higher in salt than I normally eat…Lunch may have also contributed to that with Pho soup… I'm sure there's quite a bit of sodium in the beef broth that is used as the foundation…though my blood pressure reading yesterday of 124/80 did not seem to indicate that I had taken in more sodium. Today I am back to plan with two hardboiled eggs, a slice of multigrain toast with peanut butter and an apple for breakfast. I will have a salad at lunch and I will go easy on the olive oil to curb my calories from fat since that is high from the peanut butter and eggs this AM. I don't know what I will do for dinner, but I'll have to think of a tasty low-cal option to cook.

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Aggressive Driver!

Weight: 193.8lbs

The good diet of the last few days is definitely having some positive effects, along with the daily exercise regime. The weekend is coming up, so I am starting to concentrate on doing well over the weekend. Last night I made a good Tabouleh using Quinoa instead of Wheat Bulger. The recipe is very simple- Quinoa, lemon juice, onion, tomato, olive oil, mint and parsley. Of course, there was no fresh mint, so I used a tiny bit of mint extract. And I added in cucumber and that was a good addition. I thought it was delicious, though Lane did not quite agree…just not the type of taste she's interested in. Its definitely a unique taste- I remember my mom making Tabouleh when I was a kid and it was a taste that grew on me…very minty. Since I know now that Lane won't be eating it, I may try adding in some sliced black olives next time…I think that would make a good addition to the recipe.

For the rest of the day I ate quite well- salad for lunch, apple for a snack and no bad snacking. I did have two glasses of red wine, which added some calories, but I was still right around my target of 1800 calories. I was 73 calories over.

Today on the way to work there was a real jerk on the road..it started on the long on-ramp to SR520 from the Seattle Arboretum. The driver ahead of me zoomed onto the on-ramp very quickly and then slammed on his brakes as he hit traffic. Then he put his vehicle in park and waited at the top of the ramp for the entire ramp to clear (around 2 minutes). Meanwhile traffic behind was piling up all the way into the arboretum. I tried to pass him on the right, but of course as soon as I did he started up again, racing to the meter at the bottom of the ramp. So then after he merges onto 520 (at top speed making sure to cut someone off) he moves into the left lane and starts driving very slowly allowing the car in front of him to pull far away. I pulled in front of him, and that seemed to piss him off royally. From the 520 bridge all the way to Redmond this guy was swerving in and out of traffic, cutting numerous people off. He would drive slow in the left lane and when people tried to pass him on the right, he would speed up to keep them from passing. I'm sure that behind him traffic must have become quite erratic- fast then slow, then fast… He never got past me after I passed him on the bridge, but he was always a couple car lengths behind. He kept going into Redmond when I exited the highway.

Luckily since I was sitting immediately behind him on the ramp and noticed what a jerk he was, I noted his license plate number and vehicle type and reported him as an aggressive driver online with the Washington State patrol. Hopefully by giving them all the details I gave them, he will get a call about his driving.

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Meal Tracking

Morning weight: 194.4lbs

I'm down in weight from Monday's scare at 197lbs. I originally didn't post my weight on Monday, mostly because I am ashamed of it and was not ready to admit just how bad it got. But hey, if I cannot be honest here, then what's the point of this thing? So as usual, the first weigh in usually is after a period of bad eating and that leads to water retention, so its not really a true picture of where I am. I do think the 194 reading this morning is more accurate.

So I am now using training peaks.com to monitor not only my exercise, but also my nutrition. I just inputted my breakfast and lunch. I am amazed…I've eaten what I would consider two pretty healthy meals, but I can see that I am going to have to better balance fats, carbs and proteins. Right now I'm a bit heavy on the fats, and that's based on cottage cheese at breakfast, and the olive oil, tuna and sunflower seeds that I put on my lunchtime salad. So far today it looks like 42% of my calories have come from fat, where my target is really much closer to 30%. That being said, the fats that I have consumed have largely been good heart healthy fats. The training peaks tool is a bit tough to get started with for the nutrition tracking, but I think once I have identified the foods I normally consume as "Favorites" that will make the process easier.

Heading to the gym tonight to do at minimum 30 minutes on the bike…It's a really nice day outside but still a bit too chilly to consider cycling outside, but that should come in another few weeks.

Monday, March 31, 2008

A new record (and not a good one)

After a several month hiatus, I am back. I stepped on the scale this morning and I am quite surprised that it didn't break. I am now officially the heaviest I have ever been, and I do not feel good about that. Of course I totally understand why I got to where I am, but that doesn't help matters. I knew I would not like the results already- I have been feeling the gain in all my clothing- none of it fits well anymore and that makes things quite uncomfortable.

So I am back to tracking calories in Calorie king. I am back to watching what I eat and following some simple rules on eating: measure my portions, eat natural foods like fruits and veggies, do not eat out much, do not eat bad snack items like chips etc… Its no wonder after three straight weeks of basically eating out that I would have gained so much, but now I need to buckle down. My new motto is : "Put the fork down, fatboy!" J

Need to start being serious about exercise too. This weekend I didn't do any exercise whatsoever. I guess it doesn't help that the weather in Seattle was miserable, but that shouldn't prevent me from going to the gym after all! So no more lying around. Hopefully next week at this time I'll have something positive to write…

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Chugging along

I've been very good this week thus far so here's hoping that will continue. I've had salads for lunch the last two days, which have kept the calories down and yet they are very tasty. Yesterday I went to the gym and did 30 minutes on the cycle, 30 minutes on the stepmill and then strength trained for 60 minutes. Let me tell you, the stepmill is about the most boring piece of cardio equipment you could ever hope to work out on. It took a lot of willpower to finish those 30 minutes…even with 4 minutes left in my 30 minute routine I was soooooo tempted just to jump off and call it a half hour…but I persisted. The good news is that on my schedule I only have to do the stepmill one time each week, so I think I will be able to manage it.

I'm getting a new attitude about working out and weight loss. I spend a LOT of money each month to get personal training sessions that are really excellent. However, in the past few years I have basically negated that by over-indulging on the weekends and when I travel. I need to view the personal training as an investment, for which I should expect a positive return. I haven't been viewing them that way, and reminding myself that they are an investment can hopefully help me out when I get a craving to eat or drink something I don't need. Yesterday in our coffee/kitchen area at work someone had left chocolate covered pretzels and someone else left three packages of Japanese rice crackers. I was very tempted, but then I remembered the Ellen Degeneres on TV saying "What….like you aren't going to be able to have this food whenever you want?" … So I left them alone.

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Chamomile Tea at 2AM

I woke up at around 1:15 this morning after almost four hours of sleep. I had a nightmare about a dog attacking me that I just really couldn't shake. Then of course my mind started to race with all sorts of thoughts- about work, about the wedding... about everything. Why is it that when all you want to do is sleep your mind doesn't cooperate? After 45minutes of laying there completely awake I decided to get up and make some chamomile tea. I really hope that this will make me drowsy again.... I want to get back to sleep. There's only so much mundane websurfing you can do at 2:30 AM! Maybe I should count sheep...

Monday, January 7, 2008

Rest Day

I went to the gym yesterday and set up my January cardio schedule with my trainer. Since it is January, I fully expect the gym to once again become way overcrowded, especially early in the week. So I am taking Mondays off, since that's the worst day of the week. I'm strength training on Tuesdays and Thursdays in the evening, and that's going to be tough with the crowds. I think I'll go to the gym in the early morning on those days to get my cardio in… Yesterday I did 70 minutes on the indoor cycle. The first 50 minutes were at my normal resistance (13) and then I dialed it up to 15/16 for ten minutes. After almost an hour of cycling, that was pretty tough, but I made it through...so I'm glad that today is a rest day on my legs. Between the cycling and the workout on Friday, my legs are TIRED!

Friday, January 4, 2008

Maybe I’m NOT in good shape!

Yesterday I went to the gym to go for a run. The good news is that makes three cardio sessions this week. The bad news is that I did not feel great on my run yesterday…I had hoped to run 45 minutes but I could barely muster 30 minutes. I may not have eaten well yesterday because I definitely felt weak at the end of the 30 minutes…not just tired. Well, that's alright…as long as I remain consistent and keep exercising on a daily basis I'm sure that I will get my cardio shape back quickly…its not like its been THAT long since I've done consistent cardio. I'm about to head to the cafeteria for lunch now and I think I will make a large healthy salad for myself. Looks like its sushi tonight so overall a good day of healthy eating! Now on to the weekend and hopefully my willpower will continue!

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

2008

Well, now its 2008 and its that time of year when I put down on paper some ideas for the new year. I have not achieved my goals for weight, so this seems like a great time to redouble my efforts and re-commit myself to losing weight. The good news is that I am still in great shape overall…I can run for miles, I can cycle for hours, I have a solid cardio base. However, I can use some work when it comes to muscle conditioning and overall weight.

So now that it is January here is my plan:

  1. Eat sensible lunches and dinners. For lunch I will have either a salad or the Vietnamese Pho soup from the cafeteria. For dinner, I will be eating 3-6 ounces of lean meat (lean beef, chicken, fish), fresh vegetables and salad. No beer, wine or alcohol for the time being. No junk food, no crackers, no cheese, no chips, no dips, no fried food, no bacon/egg sandwiches…. I will be eating enough healthy foods so that I shouldn't be hungry, and I know that after a week of doing this I will begin to have fewer cravings for the bad stuff… the first week is always the most difficult. Most important will be the weekends since that is when I tend to binge and eat/drink the wrong things at the wrong amounts.
  2. Exercise- minimum 5 days a week cardio including a balance of running and cycling (indoor for now). Minimum 2 days/week of strength training…. Even if meeting a trainer is not possible for both those sessions, I have to commit myself to going into the gym and strength train on my own. I have been doing so for years, so I do know a number of excellent strength training exercises…I just need to do them.

That's it…this is not a complicated plan, nor do I need a complicated plan. I just need to follow the plan carefully and consciously.

I do not know my starting weight today, and that's not important. I know I must have gained weight in December due to travel/lack of exercise/eating. I'm going to give myself a week to shed the initial water weight before weighing myself…that way I won't get overexcited at the loss of several pounds in the first week only to cheat on my diet after that first week. What will count will be solid consistent weight loss in the weeks after the first week. So essentially, whatever I weight next Wednesday will be the starting point for my tracking.

Lucy in the Arboretum

Where I have lived, visited and want to go.