Thursday, January 7, 2010

Well, I'm an idiot...

The battery was dying in the scale. Dur. I don't think I ever truly got to SW-25. I think that was the dying battery. I had to re-think and re-frame - would I have been happy with SW-15 if I had never seen that SW-25 measurement? Losing 15 pounds in 7 weeks is pretty impressive - that is over 2 pounds a week, and the 7 weeks in question span all the major winter holidays, so I'm ok with SW-15. In fact, I'm proud of SW-15. It's a healthy rate of loss. It's a sustainable rate of loss. It's a huge step in the right direction. And this time I know I will reach SW-25 and beyond. I'm making a real lasting change, not just dieting for a few weeks and then forgetting about it, like I have before. I've got a string of holiday-free weeks in front of me, and I've just added exercise and sugar substitute (in my afternoon and evening tea) this week, so I have nowhere to go but down from here. 15 pounds is more than I've ever lost in my life. I'm ok with 15.

I increased my elliptical to 20 minutes yesterday. I could probably do an hour, but I would hate every minute. I'm hoping that if I increase by 5 minutes every 3 or 4 days, I can gradually build up to an hour without all the screaming and cursing (not to mention the quitting) that I'd do if I did it all at once. The 5 minutes I did the night that Brandon dropped it off nearly killed me (I had an asthma attack, which didn't increase my feelings of well-being!). To be up to 20 minutes already is progress. Also, I'm getting up earlier in the morning, which is healthier. Good things, good things...

New Food I've Found

While BJ was gone earlier this week I found that I didn't have time to have breakfast (it didn't help that both days were trash days!) and get the kids to school on time. I hit McDonald's and got a 300 cal Egg McMuffin and a bag of apple dips (no caramel) the first day. The second day I went to Marsh and found that Jimmy Dean has a turkey sausage, egg white, cheese, and croissant breakfast sandwich that tastes WAY better than an Egg McMuffin (and is bigger!) and only has 290 calories. Woo hoo! 10 calories! But hey, every bit counts, right? So, I got a package of those to keep at the office. They're cheaper than McMuffins, too. I got four for the price of two McMuffins.

Morningstar Farm's grilled "chicken" patties are awesome. You can't even tell they're fake chicken. I had one for lunch today, on a 120 calorie wheat bun with some lettuce and a teaspoon of ranch. (I may switch from Ranch to Hellmann's light mayo - they sent me a taste test in the mail and I literally couldn't taste the difference between light and regular - I guessed wrong!). What is that - 80 calories for the "chicken" thing, 120 for the bun, 25 for the ranch, negligible lettuce - that's a 225 calorie sandwich. I could've added tomato, except the tomato I had was nasty. I also had a bowl of soup, for another 80 calories (Progresso Light Chicken & Dumpling). A very satisfying 305 calorie lunch... Not at all bad.

We tried Gimmie Lean brand "sausage" (what is up with me and the fake meat? I'll tell you - real meat has a lot of calories and fat!) last night. It was pretty blah in spaghetti sauce, but I froze what was leftover last night and had a quarter cup of it in an omelet (one egg, one egg white) this morning, with a slice of Kraft Fat Free Singles "cheese" - not bad! A piece of Aunt Millie's light bread, toasted, with I Can't Believe It's Not Butter spray, and I had a really filling 211 calorie breakfast.

I also need to thank whoever is in charge of apples for making Honey Crisps available nearly year round. I can't stand red delicious or the other styrofoam-flavored apples that used to be available in the grocery stores. Gala are ok, but Honey Crisp are far superior, so thank you apple buyers everywhere.

Other Diet Related Stuff

At Mimi's urging, I watched the premiere of The Biggest Loser. She, and several of my other Facebook friends are fans. Before I reveal what I think about the whole thing (no fair cheating if you're a blog reader and a FB friend!), tell me what you think about the show. I'll save my thoughts for next week, after the second episode of the season airs.

Not Diet Related Stuff

We've gotten several inches of snow yesterday. It looks really pretty out there, as long as I don't have to go anywhere. We elected to skip gymnastics today, since there is no reason to go out in this if you don't have to. Grammaland is supposed to get up to 13 inches of snow over the next four days, so I hope all of you have all your bread, milk, and toilet paper (the things that always sell out when the forecast calls for a snowstorm!).

Oh, Right, the Kids...

They're fine. They're bored. Claire picked the wrong season to reach that "I won't keep my clothes on and you can't make me" age. Brrrr!

I think I'm going to have to spin off a diet blog. It's silly to keep writing about the diet in the mommyblog. What do you think? Keep it here or spin it off?

3 comments:

mwiesjahn said...

I think diet stuff is interesting, so no need for a spin-off. Although I do subscribe to Women's Health and Fitness magazine....

Rob Monroe said...

I think it depends - are you dieting or are you going to change the way you eat and exercise for good? (Diet versus lifestyle change, I guess) Diet might be fun as a separate blog - you could try different diets and tell the world your findings. Lifestyle change should stay right here - a real mom with real kids and a real hubby and real issues with how and what to eat. I think it's an aid to the reality of life. Keep it here.

Erin said...

I love TBL. I've watched seasons 4-current (8? 9?). But, I'm overweight, have been since I started watching, and frequently find myself eating ice cream during the show (I wish I were kidding). So, it has not worked it's magic on me, but I do find it inspiring.