"To Thine Own Self be True, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man."
Inspiration for Weekend of Week 1 Induction: To Thine Own Self BE TRUE!
*******************************************
Random Thoughts:
It's one of the coldest days in NC...at least this morning. Maybe traffic won't be so bad. I don't really feel like going to the grocery store afterwards myself. Will do that later.
Fiance has a headache today; not sure if he feels up to going to a concealed weapons class tonight. Yes? No? Answers affect dinner plans. We stay home in the end; napping too late to really feel like going. Dinner plans turn into "grab" and I look for something OP. I grab chicken wings, then force some lettuce down later.
PERSONAL HAZARD (S)- Not being alone (other's schedules and wants come into play), the RE Investor's seminar scheduled Sat morn, not Thurs morn (same hazards, more traffic to deal with perhaps)
******************************************
Assignment:
Progress so far:
Doctor Appt: Did it.
READ THE BOOK: Did what I needed, still referring to book as I "work the system," seems I need to figure out portions with tomatoes - part of the beef dish I love to make.
ONGOING ASSIGNMENT: Induction Week - all systems go! (Food, Water, Exercise)
NEW ASSIGNMENT: Look ahead each day to the next day's menu; make sure it's ready to go.
Vitals:
BP -
Weight: 184.5 - N/C from yesterday, again.
Cholesterol: Numbers from 30 May 08 (Doctor's office):
Total: 250
Trig: 56
HDL: 93
LDL: 146
Vitals that day: Wt: 171 BP: 126/82 Pulse: 72
Exercise:
Stretching 2 mins
Cardio zero
Strength zero
Water: 96 oz - managed to get that in, even if everything else was off a bit. Easier in a hot, dry, seminar room (drank 32 oz then).
Food:
Breakfast: egg beaters with cinnamon, onion powder and splenda, as an omelet; 3 precooked maple sausage links, microwaved for 30 sec., 2 mugs coffee w/ S/L and milk
Lunch: chicken wings with ranch dressing - a lot of them...noticed they have 2 carbs per 5? need to count how many a bit closer; probably had 18? was feeling hungry or irritable
Dinner: made my "beef goulash" with cinnamon, parsley, salt, cayenne, diced tomatoes/paste and browned beef, plus a sprinkling of splenda. Sometimes add chunky mushrooms to it, not tonight. Had 2 leaves of romaine later to finish off the lettuce veggies for the day.
Snack:
Dessert:
________________________________
NOTES:
Wt: No change in weight; may not mean anything other than not exercising. May be a reaction to having the avocado yesterday (the book warns that avocadoes and olives may affects some people's weight loss), or could be the jello. The box says there's no carbs. Not sure that could really be true.
BP: Not taking it regularly anymore, but still checking. It's always up after I'm stressed over something, otherwise it's pretty good (118/76 and a pulse of around 60) so I'm not going to stress over it.
Ketones: Didn't check today.
Showing posts with label blood pressure. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blood pressure. Show all posts
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Wed Day 3 Week 1 Induction, Jan 14, 2009
"To Thine Own Self be True, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man."
Inspiration for Day Three of Week 1 Induction: Just one day, just a few more hours - Eat, Drink, Exercise - You Can Do it!
*******************************************
Random Thoughts:
Exercising yesterday seems to have paid off; plus I am definitely in ketosis (low end, but it's still the right place to be!).
Running around all day with my dog (in the car), then getting the car checked out, it didn't seem I"d find time to do exercises. Later, fiance took me shopping for a new dress for a ball at the end of this month. After not sleeping well the night before (had to pee one time, then the dog, who was in the garage for the night, wanted to go out about 40 min later, and that just really broke up a good sleep).
So, by the end of shopping, I'm ready to sleep in the car on the way home. I even started justifying how I had walked the dog for 20 min and could just skip exercising (the strength stuff) because I was tired and would make it up tomorrow. Then I remembered that I wanted to do them every other day and I needed to finish 3 of them this week to be on track with that, and that 30 minutes is a lot faster than an hour.
Set the kitchen timer for 5 minutes, turned on the radio (great dance music, great for exercising to) and stretched the whole time (5 minutes can seem sooooo long), then reset it for 10 and started doing crunches to 200...30 in one position, change the legs to one side and then the other, trying for each being 30, that kind of thing...legs straight up in the air, ankles crossed one way then another, and also the pelvic tilts to work the back, anything to kill the pure boredom...
Finally set it for 20 minutes and just worked thru arm exercise using my wine bottles and then some of the butt-kicking exercises...much better than the machine at the gym. I really should keep them in the mix, even when I get back to a gym...
...which I did visit today to check out the facilities...there's a basketball court and a boxing ring and training center - no pool or spa - does that tell you anything? But there was an exercise room with a CD player and speakers. I talked to a couple of women who were there and got their takes on the gym, too. Have to see it at a busy time I think.
PERSONAL HAZARD (S)- Forgetfulness - getting distracted easily and not liking strength exercises all by their lonesome.
******************************************
Assignment:
Progress so far:
Doctor Appt: Massage yesterday really seemed to help my shoulder. She did deep tissue and was aware of my condition. I still have a popping sound there every once in a while....will keep an eye on this for a week and see how I do with stretching and exercising.
READ THE BOOK: Refering to it constantly whenever I want to know how many carbs are in a food (quick list in the back) or which veggies are on list 1 (2 cups) and which are on list 2 (only 1 cup, but usually the ones Ilike most, doh!).
ONGOING ASSIGNMENT: Induction Week - all systems go! (Food, Water, Exercise)
NEW ASSIGNMENT: Look ahead each day to the next day's menu; make sure it's ready to go.
Vitals:
BP - 118/68 p 64, 8:30 am
Weight: 185.5 - down 1 and 1/2 lb WOO HOO - very good AND unexpected! Exercising and sticking to my less than 20carb menu paid off!
Cholesterol: Numbers from 30 May 08 (Doctor's office):
Total: 250
Trig: 56
HDL: 93
LDL: 146
Vitals that day: Wt: 171 BP: 126/82 Pulse: 72
Exercise:
Stretching 5 min before strength
Cardio 20 min, walking Bailey (Old English Sheepdog) before his vet appt.
Strength 30 min
Water: 96 oz, plus the soup
Food:
Breakfast: 2 egg beaters with cinnamon, onion powder and splenda, as an omelet; 2 precooked maple sausage links, microwaved for 30 sec.
Lunch: - Grilled flank steak salad - measured 2 cups lettuce for the salad - dressing
Dinner: Chicken soup (broth with chicken and celery today)
Snack: 2 oz cream cheese with cinnamon and splenda, 3 T of orange jello
Dessert: nothing
________________________________
NOTES:
Wt: Wt down 1 and 1/2 lb. - very unexpected!!
BP: Looks normal for when I am not at the doctor's office. Guess stress raises it the most?
Ketones: Checked again this morning. Definitely in ketosis.
Inspiration for Day Three of Week 1 Induction: Just one day, just a few more hours - Eat, Drink, Exercise - You Can Do it!
*******************************************
Random Thoughts:
Exercising yesterday seems to have paid off; plus I am definitely in ketosis (low end, but it's still the right place to be!).
Running around all day with my dog (in the car), then getting the car checked out, it didn't seem I"d find time to do exercises. Later, fiance took me shopping for a new dress for a ball at the end of this month. After not sleeping well the night before (had to pee one time, then the dog, who was in the garage for the night, wanted to go out about 40 min later, and that just really broke up a good sleep).
So, by the end of shopping, I'm ready to sleep in the car on the way home. I even started justifying how I had walked the dog for 20 min and could just skip exercising (the strength stuff) because I was tired and would make it up tomorrow. Then I remembered that I wanted to do them every other day and I needed to finish 3 of them this week to be on track with that, and that 30 minutes is a lot faster than an hour.
Set the kitchen timer for 5 minutes, turned on the radio (great dance music, great for exercising to) and stretched the whole time (5 minutes can seem sooooo long), then reset it for 10 and started doing crunches to 200...30 in one position, change the legs to one side and then the other, trying for each being 30, that kind of thing...legs straight up in the air, ankles crossed one way then another, and also the pelvic tilts to work the back, anything to kill the pure boredom...
Finally set it for 20 minutes and just worked thru arm exercise using my wine bottles and then some of the butt-kicking exercises...much better than the machine at the gym. I really should keep them in the mix, even when I get back to a gym...
...which I did visit today to check out the facilities...there's a basketball court and a boxing ring and training center - no pool or spa - does that tell you anything? But there was an exercise room with a CD player and speakers. I talked to a couple of women who were there and got their takes on the gym, too. Have to see it at a busy time I think.
PERSONAL HAZARD (S)- Forgetfulness - getting distracted easily and not liking strength exercises all by their lonesome.
******************************************
Assignment:
Progress so far:
Doctor Appt: Massage yesterday really seemed to help my shoulder. She did deep tissue and was aware of my condition. I still have a popping sound there every once in a while....will keep an eye on this for a week and see how I do with stretching and exercising.
READ THE BOOK: Refering to it constantly whenever I want to know how many carbs are in a food (quick list in the back) or which veggies are on list 1 (2 cups) and which are on list 2 (only 1 cup, but usually the ones Ilike most, doh!).
ONGOING ASSIGNMENT: Induction Week - all systems go! (Food, Water, Exercise)
NEW ASSIGNMENT: Look ahead each day to the next day's menu; make sure it's ready to go.
Vitals:
BP - 118/68 p 64, 8:30 am
Weight: 185.5 - down 1 and 1/2 lb WOO HOO - very good AND unexpected! Exercising and sticking to my less than 20carb menu paid off!
Cholesterol: Numbers from 30 May 08 (Doctor's office):
Total: 250
Trig: 56
HDL: 93
LDL: 146
Vitals that day: Wt: 171 BP: 126/82 Pulse: 72
Exercise:
Stretching 5 min before strength
Cardio 20 min, walking Bailey (Old English Sheepdog) before his vet appt.
Strength 30 min
Water: 96 oz, plus the soup
Food:
Breakfast: 2 egg beaters with cinnamon, onion powder and splenda, as an omelet; 2 precooked maple sausage links, microwaved for 30 sec.
Lunch: - Grilled flank steak salad - measured 2 cups lettuce for the salad - dressing
Dinner: Chicken soup (broth with chicken and celery today)
Snack: 2 oz cream cheese with cinnamon and splenda, 3 T of orange jello
Dessert: nothing
________________________________
NOTES:
Wt: Wt down 1 and 1/2 lb. - very unexpected!!
BP: Looks normal for when I am not at the doctor's office. Guess stress raises it the most?
Ketones: Checked again this morning. Definitely in ketosis.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Tues Day 2 Week 1 Induction, Jan 13, 2009
"To Thine Own Self be True, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man."
Inspiration for Day Two of Week 1 Induction: Just one day, just a few more hours - Eat, Drink, Exercise - You Can Do it!
*******************************************
Random Thoughts: With my schedule today (court appearance via telephone at 10 am), I need to be prepared for both today and tomorrow's menu. I think I am, but will go over both day's menus to make sure I have everything I need thawed, and prepped if necessary.
Gatorade is on sale, so bought two new bottles for $1 and fiance is drinking them so I don't even have to waste the gatorade to get my bottles! Lot cheaper than the $3-4 bottles folks sell with their logos on it, and I do like to switch out the plastic since they say now we shouldn't keep refilling them. Not sure how long it takes before it becomes carcinogenic or whatever it is, and how much is concern we will buy less water (I rarely buy water as it is hard to find it at room temperature and I don't drink cold water easily.)
PERSONAL HAZARD (S)- Busy schedule, uncertainties, have to be prepared.
******************************************
Assignment:
Progress so far:
Doctor Appt: Numbers are below; made appt to get "gifted" massage; need to find physical therapist still for shoulder, tho exercising seems to be helping as well.
READ THE BOOK: Everytime I glance in the book looking for something (a recipe, my index cards (on which I scheduled my meals this week, as well as my grocery list), I see other stuff I could stand reading again.
ONGOING ASSIGNMENT: Induction Week - all systems go! (Food, Water, Exercise)
NEW ASSIGNMENT: Look ahead each day to the next day's menu; make sure it's ready to go.
Vitals:
BP - was very low this morning (94/64 p 51, if I remember correctly - I wasn't really awake yet) - later, at 10 pm, they were 113/72, p 64
Weight: 187.0 - down 1/2 lb WOO HOO - that's good, esp. without having exercised yesterday (the scale actually kept bouncing to 186.5 but ended on 187.0, YES!!)
Cholesterol: Numbers from 30 May 08 (Doctor's office):
Total: 250
Trig: 56
HDL: 93
LDL: 146
Vitals that day: Wt: 171 BP: 126/82 Pulse: 72
Exercise:
Stretching A little this morning (2 min?) - 10 minutes after zumba
Cardio 50 min zumba (included strength in the cardio, but only counting minutes as cardio)
Strength
Water: 96 oz, plus cups of pure chicken broth, taken when I ran some errands (took a cup of broth and my bottle of water (32 oz).
Food:
Breakfast: Salmon rolls (lox) with cream cheese; 1 cup of coffee w/ milk, S/L
Lunch: - chicken soup (broth with chicken today)
Dinner: Grilled flank steak, sauteed spinach, a salad - measured 2 cups lettuce for the salad (mixed lettuces), added blue cheese dressing, and measured 1 cup raw spinach, then sauteed it. Doesn't make a lot of spinach, bummer that!
Snack: 1/2 avocado right before dinner - 14 carbs in a whole one, so this was 7 - I checked both the book and my menu - each item - to make sure I could do this, I really REALLY wanted the avocado. Unfortunately, NC doesn't seem to sell good avocados. Again, this avocado was bland and more watery-tasting than I am used to getting in OH. Will need to find yet another source.
Dessert: 3 T of orange jello - checked and this SF jello has zero (0) carbs... Hip hip hooray. Maybe the hospital was onto something?
________________________________
NOTES:
Wt: Wt down 1/2 lb.
BP: Way down this morning on waking - will try to take this afternoon, then again at 6 pm. Looked normal around 10 pm.
Ketones: Looks like I might be getting into ketosis.
Inspiration for Day Two of Week 1 Induction: Just one day, just a few more hours - Eat, Drink, Exercise - You Can Do it!
*******************************************
Random Thoughts: With my schedule today (court appearance via telephone at 10 am), I need to be prepared for both today and tomorrow's menu. I think I am, but will go over both day's menus to make sure I have everything I need thawed, and prepped if necessary.
Gatorade is on sale, so bought two new bottles for $1 and fiance is drinking them so I don't even have to waste the gatorade to get my bottles! Lot cheaper than the $3-4 bottles folks sell with their logos on it, and I do like to switch out the plastic since they say now we shouldn't keep refilling them. Not sure how long it takes before it becomes carcinogenic or whatever it is, and how much is concern we will buy less water (I rarely buy water as it is hard to find it at room temperature and I don't drink cold water easily.)
PERSONAL HAZARD (S)- Busy schedule, uncertainties, have to be prepared.
******************************************
Assignment:
Progress so far:
Doctor Appt: Numbers are below; made appt to get "gifted" massage; need to find physical therapist still for shoulder, tho exercising seems to be helping as well.
READ THE BOOK: Everytime I glance in the book looking for something (a recipe, my index cards (on which I scheduled my meals this week, as well as my grocery list), I see other stuff I could stand reading again.
ONGOING ASSIGNMENT: Induction Week - all systems go! (Food, Water, Exercise)
NEW ASSIGNMENT: Look ahead each day to the next day's menu; make sure it's ready to go.
Vitals:
BP - was very low this morning (94/64 p 51, if I remember correctly - I wasn't really awake yet) - later, at 10 pm, they were 113/72, p 64
Weight: 187.0 - down 1/2 lb WOO HOO - that's good, esp. without having exercised yesterday (the scale actually kept bouncing to 186.5 but ended on 187.0, YES!!)
Cholesterol: Numbers from 30 May 08 (Doctor's office):
Total: 250
Trig: 56
HDL: 93
LDL: 146
Vitals that day: Wt: 171 BP: 126/82 Pulse: 72
Exercise:
Stretching A little this morning (2 min?) - 10 minutes after zumba
Cardio 50 min zumba (included strength in the cardio, but only counting minutes as cardio)
Strength
Water: 96 oz, plus cups of pure chicken broth, taken when I ran some errands (took a cup of broth and my bottle of water (32 oz).
Food:
Breakfast: Salmon rolls (lox) with cream cheese; 1 cup of coffee w/ milk, S/L
Lunch: - chicken soup (broth with chicken today)
Dinner: Grilled flank steak, sauteed spinach, a salad - measured 2 cups lettuce for the salad (mixed lettuces), added blue cheese dressing, and measured 1 cup raw spinach, then sauteed it. Doesn't make a lot of spinach, bummer that!
Snack: 1/2 avocado right before dinner - 14 carbs in a whole one, so this was 7 - I checked both the book and my menu - each item - to make sure I could do this, I really REALLY wanted the avocado. Unfortunately, NC doesn't seem to sell good avocados. Again, this avocado was bland and more watery-tasting than I am used to getting in OH. Will need to find yet another source.
Dessert: 3 T of orange jello - checked and this SF jello has zero (0) carbs... Hip hip hooray. Maybe the hospital was onto something?
________________________________
NOTES:
Wt: Wt down 1/2 lb.
BP: Way down this morning on waking - will try to take this afternoon, then again at 6 pm. Looked normal around 10 pm.
Ketones: Looks like I might be getting into ketosis.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Sunday ending Week 1, Jan 10, 2009
"To Thine Own Self be True, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man."
Inspiration for the WEEKeNnD: This is my life!
*******************************************
Random Thoughts: I was good to myself in some respects: I watched most of the football games, tried a new recipe, altering it for low-carb (Cashew Chicken), and read 1 chapter of a book, then also did personal grooming stuff that makes me feel good, including taking a whirlpool bath.
PERSONAL HAZARD (S)-Not really any today but it took so much time doing other things that I ended up having to exercise during the football games.
Later, SF chocolate ice cream and cashews - I knew I could have some (both are not high carbs), but also neither is allowed during induction, and I technically wasn't in induction, but I'd been trying to get close. I had tastes of both of these, and that made me want more....
See? Today didn't start out with personal hazards, but because didn't feel hungry, I didn't eat three meals, and then I used "logic" to allow myself to have just-ever-so-slightly some extra cashews (there are 5 carbs in about 9 cashews) and a taste of SF chocolate ice cream...which only has 4 net carbs per 1/2 cup...
Tasting them just made me want more, tho, and that's where the temptation comes from AT THIS STAGE of the diet (Phase I, Induction) and which will be more obvious later when we start adding carbs back in ("carbs beget carbs" - or eating some makes you want to eat more, part of our "carb addition" that we have to deal with as we go to lifestyle maintenance).
******************************************
Assignment:
Progress so far:
Doctor Appt: Done. But I think I need to find a Physical Therapist for my shoulder, and make an appt for a massage (gift from fiance for Xmas)
READ THE BOOK: Built a menu on Saturday, tomorrow will need to doublecheck carb numbers. Go grocery shopping...read on labels again - will post on that soon as well.
ONGOING ASSIGNMENT: Also: NO SUGAR and DRINK ALL MY WATER (can't forget those two). EXERCISE!!!
Vitals:
BP - didn't take today
Weight: 188.0 - same as yesterday (n/c)
Cholesterol: Numbers from 30 May 08 (Doctor's office):
Total: 250
Trig: 56
HDL: 93
LDL: 146
Vitals that day: Wt: 171 BP: 126/82 Pulse: 72
Exercise: PRIORITY for TODAY (end of week)
Stretching
Cardio
Strength 30 minutes - woo hoo
Water: 64 oz so far, will finish the other before I sleep
Food:
Breakfast: 2 scrambled eggs with a slice of American cheese, 1-1/2 sausage patty; 2 mugs of coffee w/ milk, S/L
Lunch: Skipped - late breakfast, 4 o'clock dinner - but then I snacked!!!
Dinner: Cashew Chicken, altered for low carb (did not 'bread' chicken)
Snack: Some cashews. 2 oz cream cheese heated with cinnamon/splenda, added whipped cream w/splenda to fluff it up, a spoon of SF choc ice cream -- yep snacks were a bit over on the carbs...no more tomorrow!
Dessert: SF lime jello with whipped cream w/splenda
________________________________
NOTES:
Wt: Wt isn't down, but it stabilized at least and did not rise.
Inspiration for the WEEKeNnD: This is my life!
*******************************************
Random Thoughts: I was good to myself in some respects: I watched most of the football games, tried a new recipe, altering it for low-carb (Cashew Chicken), and read 1 chapter of a book, then also did personal grooming stuff that makes me feel good, including taking a whirlpool bath.
PERSONAL HAZARD (S)-Not really any today but it took so much time doing other things that I ended up having to exercise during the football games.
Later, SF chocolate ice cream and cashews - I knew I could have some (both are not high carbs), but also neither is allowed during induction, and I technically wasn't in induction, but I'd been trying to get close. I had tastes of both of these, and that made me want more....
See? Today didn't start out with personal hazards, but because didn't feel hungry, I didn't eat three meals, and then I used "logic" to allow myself to have just-ever-so-slightly some extra cashews (there are 5 carbs in about 9 cashews) and a taste of SF chocolate ice cream...which only has 4 net carbs per 1/2 cup...
Tasting them just made me want more, tho, and that's where the temptation comes from AT THIS STAGE of the diet (Phase I, Induction) and which will be more obvious later when we start adding carbs back in ("carbs beget carbs" - or eating some makes you want to eat more, part of our "carb addition" that we have to deal with as we go to lifestyle maintenance).
******************************************
Assignment:
Progress so far:
Doctor Appt: Done. But I think I need to find a Physical Therapist for my shoulder, and make an appt for a massage (gift from fiance for Xmas)
READ THE BOOK: Built a menu on Saturday, tomorrow will need to doublecheck carb numbers. Go grocery shopping...read on labels again - will post on that soon as well.
ONGOING ASSIGNMENT: Also: NO SUGAR and DRINK ALL MY WATER (can't forget those two). EXERCISE!!!
Vitals:
BP - didn't take today
Weight: 188.0 - same as yesterday (n/c)
Cholesterol: Numbers from 30 May 08 (Doctor's office):
Total: 250
Trig: 56
HDL: 93
LDL: 146
Vitals that day: Wt: 171 BP: 126/82 Pulse: 72
Exercise: PRIORITY for TODAY (end of week)
Stretching
Cardio
Strength 30 minutes - woo hoo
Water: 64 oz so far, will finish the other before I sleep
Food:
Breakfast: 2 scrambled eggs with a slice of American cheese, 1-1/2 sausage patty; 2 mugs of coffee w/ milk, S/L
Lunch: Skipped - late breakfast, 4 o'clock dinner - but then I snacked!!!
Dinner: Cashew Chicken, altered for low carb (did not 'bread' chicken)
Snack: Some cashews. 2 oz cream cheese heated with cinnamon/splenda, added whipped cream w/splenda to fluff it up, a spoon of SF choc ice cream -- yep snacks were a bit over on the carbs...no more tomorrow!
Dessert: SF lime jello with whipped cream w/splenda
________________________________
NOTES:
Wt: Wt isn't down, but it stabilized at least and did not rise.
Friday, January 9, 2009
TGIF - Day 5 (Jan 9, 2009)
"To Thine Own Self be True, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man."
Inspiration for the Day: TGIF - Enjoy the weekend; remember this is my life!
*******************************************
Random Thoughts:
PERSONAL HAZARD (S)- Fiance at home today; then he asked me out to lunch, if I wanted. A sabotage? A dare? Dare I say 'no'? (No way, out we go!)
My next hazard is still being tired - I woke up very irritable, cold, hands and shoulder sore, went back to sleep after an hour, then abruptly awoken later by workers in the street doing something. Going out for lunch - the skies are beautifully blue in NC in January, at least this year! - was good for me, which means it was good for fiance who didn't like my being so grumpy.
Also received some of that "stressful" mail that can throw me for a loop. Solution: called the xh to discuss with him, called his housekeeper as well (since I couldn't reach him on his cell), and we ended up leaving VM for each other, but all seems well. In essence, the mail said I had to be back in the state of Ohio next week- in court, and they mailed it on THE DAY that I had to let them know if I couldn't make it. To make it worse, I initiated this because of a typographical/administrative error they made on a document going to the court. The notice I received was vague about what was going on, and I was concerned my xh would think it was something more than that and get his lawyer involved and both of us would waste money when all I wanted was an error to be corrected in the document that was going to be signed by the court. I know that they are working to do the right thing, but they do have to deal with a lot of folks and I am just one of many, so I try not to add to their burden. Going to court for this is just a bit over-the-top, but how the system works sometimes. But it looks like we're going to be able to be reasonable about this, which is good.
******************************************
Assignment:
Progress so far:
Doctor Appt: Done. But I think I need to find a Physical Therapist for my shoulder, and make an appt for a massage (gift from fiance for Xmas)
READ THE BOOK: Yeah, yeah, yeah - don't I have all weekend?
ONGOING ASSIGNMENT: Prepare menu for 1 week, using book and lists of foods (induction chapter), then create shopping list. Also, learn how to read labels - both in the book.
Also: NO SUGAR and DRINK ALL MY WATER (can't forget those two). EXERCISE!!!
Vitals:
BP - after waking: 122/69, pulse 50 (2nd take, 1st was 118/66, 51) ;
Weight: 189.0 - up a 1/2 pound - see notes below
Cholesterol: Numbers from 30 May 08 (Doctor's office):
Total: 250
Trig: 56
HDL: 93
LDL: 146
Vitals that day: Wt: 171 BP: 126/82 Pulse: 72
Exercise: PRIORITY for TODAY (slacked yesterday)
Stretching 5 min
Cardio none
Strength 30 min: crunches, weight workout using wine bottles, a lighter one for my shoulder with tendinitis, and using resistance, plus some squats
Water: half a bottle (32 oz) done - so about 16 oz. ; 2 bottles now - up to 32 oz; one more to go! -EOD: Finished it all!!
Food:
Breakfast: Some bacon and coffee - about 5 slices (these are thin, pre-cooked), and 1 cup coffee, milk, S/L.
Lunch: 10 Buffalo chicken wings, a caesar's side salad (pushed the croutons to the side after offering them to my fiance who was having (carbs, we won't say what kind! shhh!) and a diet soda. I asked for splenda-sweetened (Coke Zero and Pepsi One come to mind), but these are the other kind of diets.
Dinner: Probably will have leftover stroganoff with it thrown over carbs for the carbs person in the family and with a side salad for me so I can feel smugly superior despite his attempts to sabotage my efforts by taking me out to lunch earlier ;) Anyway, where I didn't have will-power before, I am having it now. But that's the wrong word. What I really have is determination and commitment. Today, it only took determination. Sometimes it takes commitment - remembering my commitment to myself and how important it is to me to get to my goal.
Snack: 4 oz of cream cheese, bacon bits, splenda, cinnamon
Dessert: 2 Atkins' bars, one after lunch, one after dinner
________________________________
NOTES:
Wt: 1/2 pound up from yesterday. Since I am not showing (on the ketone strip test) that I am burning carbs over fat, I am probably also dealing with the low metabolism I got myself into. So, not exercising yesterday probably had a lot to do with my not dropping another pound and with my showing a bit up. So, another reason to make sure I exercise today: to see if that has an effect tomorrow (tho I know metabolism goes up and down sl-o-o-o-w-ly so it's likely just to help me sweat out some bad stuff and not actually be "up" yet).
Inspiration for the Day: TGIF - Enjoy the weekend; remember this is my life!
*******************************************
Random Thoughts:
PERSONAL HAZARD (S)- Fiance at home today; then he asked me out to lunch, if I wanted. A sabotage? A dare? Dare I say 'no'? (No way, out we go!)
My next hazard is still being tired - I woke up very irritable, cold, hands and shoulder sore, went back to sleep after an hour, then abruptly awoken later by workers in the street doing something. Going out for lunch - the skies are beautifully blue in NC in January, at least this year! - was good for me, which means it was good for fiance who didn't like my being so grumpy.
Also received some of that "stressful" mail that can throw me for a loop. Solution: called the xh to discuss with him, called his housekeeper as well (since I couldn't reach him on his cell), and we ended up leaving VM for each other, but all seems well. In essence, the mail said I had to be back in the state of Ohio next week- in court, and they mailed it on THE DAY that I had to let them know if I couldn't make it. To make it worse, I initiated this because of a typographical/administrative error they made on a document going to the court. The notice I received was vague about what was going on, and I was concerned my xh would think it was something more than that and get his lawyer involved and both of us would waste money when all I wanted was an error to be corrected in the document that was going to be signed by the court. I know that they are working to do the right thing, but they do have to deal with a lot of folks and I am just one of many, so I try not to add to their burden. Going to court for this is just a bit over-the-top, but how the system works sometimes. But it looks like we're going to be able to be reasonable about this, which is good.
******************************************
Assignment:
Progress so far:
Doctor Appt: Done. But I think I need to find a Physical Therapist for my shoulder, and make an appt for a massage (gift from fiance for Xmas)
READ THE BOOK: Yeah, yeah, yeah - don't I have all weekend?
ONGOING ASSIGNMENT: Prepare menu for 1 week, using book and lists of foods (induction chapter), then create shopping list. Also, learn how to read labels - both in the book.
Also: NO SUGAR and DRINK ALL MY WATER (can't forget those two). EXERCISE!!!
Vitals:
BP - after waking: 122/69, pulse 50 (2nd take, 1st was 118/66, 51) ;
Weight: 189.0 - up a 1/2 pound - see notes below
Cholesterol: Numbers from 30 May 08 (Doctor's office):
Total: 250
Trig: 56
HDL: 93
LDL: 146
Vitals that day: Wt: 171 BP: 126/82 Pulse: 72
Exercise: PRIORITY for TODAY (slacked yesterday)
Stretching 5 min
Cardio none
Strength 30 min: crunches, weight workout using wine bottles, a lighter one for my shoulder with tendinitis, and using resistance, plus some squats
Water: half a bottle (32 oz) done - so about 16 oz. ; 2 bottles now - up to 32 oz; one more to go! -EOD: Finished it all!!
Food:
Breakfast: Some bacon and coffee - about 5 slices (these are thin, pre-cooked), and 1 cup coffee, milk, S/L.
Lunch: 10 Buffalo chicken wings, a caesar's side salad (pushed the croutons to the side after offering them to my fiance who was having (carbs, we won't say what kind! shhh!) and a diet soda. I asked for splenda-sweetened (Coke Zero and Pepsi One come to mind), but these are the other kind of diets.
Dinner: Probably will have leftover stroganoff with it thrown over carbs for the carbs person in the family and with a side salad for me so I can feel smugly superior despite his attempts to sabotage my efforts by taking me out to lunch earlier ;) Anyway, where I didn't have will-power before, I am having it now. But that's the wrong word. What I really have is determination and commitment. Today, it only took determination. Sometimes it takes commitment - remembering my commitment to myself and how important it is to me to get to my goal.
Snack: 4 oz of cream cheese, bacon bits, splenda, cinnamon
Dessert: 2 Atkins' bars, one after lunch, one after dinner
________________________________
NOTES:
Wt: 1/2 pound up from yesterday. Since I am not showing (on the ketone strip test) that I am burning carbs over fat, I am probably also dealing with the low metabolism I got myself into. So, not exercising yesterday probably had a lot to do with my not dropping another pound and with my showing a bit up. So, another reason to make sure I exercise today: to see if that has an effect tomorrow (tho I know metabolism goes up and down sl-o-o-o-w-ly so it's likely just to help me sweat out some bad stuff and not actually be "up" yet).
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Thurs Day 4 - Jan 8, 2009
Changing the lay-out, let me know what you think...
"To Thine Own Self be True, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man."
Inspiration for the Day: I can do this.
*******************************************
Random Thoughts: I need to focus on something else today. Maybe I should force myself to go to the gym....have never used it; having strange reluctance to go at all. Never made it to the gym, but did get some errands run - a return package to a computer repair spare parts warehouse that had to be there by the 15th or they would ship it back to me and charge me for the shipping. What?!?? Sounds like a scam to me! We'll see now: USPS said should be there and I asked for a signature. Cutting into my refund something fierce!
PERSONAL HAZARD - Don't like structure or feeling controlled. Sometimes sticking with a "diet" or a "plan" can seem that way. It's not bothering me yet, but I have to be cognitive of this in myself.
New Hazard - Fiance came home and worked in the home office during the afternoon - not conducive to doing zumba at home (it's fairly loud when I turn on the music), so I took a "off" day for exercising. The ediets BootCamp I joined allows only one day off exercise a week, and that's all I intend to do at this point, but I figured it would be on the weekend, now I've gotta push a little harder to make sure I get it in every day now - and with fiance around (he usually always works home on Fridays).
*******************************************
Anyone else out there trying to make a go on their health this year using low-carb? Got any good recipes you'd like to share? I've got links to some good food sites over to the right, but am always looking for more, especially if I can pinpoint a recipe tried by someone other than the author. Tell me how easy it was to make, how it tasted, if others liked it also, and whether you'd do it again.
******************************************
Assignment:
Progress so far:
Doctor Appt: Done.
READ THE BOOK: Yesterday I read about tomatoes; found new recipes. Time to do the menu and double-check the section on how to read labels (so I understand the weird sugars that are included in some products at times, and to remember why hydro-something products are bad, bad, bad)>
ONGOING ASSIGNMENT: Prepare menu for 1 week, using book and lists of foods (induction chapter), then create shopping list. Also, learn how to read labels - both in the book.
Also: NO SUGAR and DRINK ALL MY WATER (can't forget those two).
Vitals:
BP - after waking: 124/74, pulse 62
Weight: 188.5 - One more day, another pound down (it's just the first week, not expecting similar results next week, but nice to see :) - down 4 pounds for the week already (started Mon)
Cholesterol: Numbers from 30 May 08 (Doctor's office):
Total: 250
Trig: 56
HDL: 93
LDL: 146
Vitals that day: Wt: 171 BP: 126/82 Pulse: 72
Exercise: Zip for today
Stretching
Cardio
Strength
Water: 96 oz by lights out (about 12:30 am, after watching Florida and Tebow prove that Oklahoma hadn't really faced strong defenses in the past; okay Tebow didn't have much to do with that, but he was fun to watch when he'd run 15 yards against the Sooners...which they could play Utah now....shame Utah beat Alabama because Andre Smith (Left Tackle, offensive line) wasn't there to protect John Parker Wilson; Utah thinks they're the goods now...sorry about that, I am not buying it)
Food: Remembering a day later: what DID I eat?
Breakfast: Funky omelet/crepe made with 1/2 c eggbeaters, cinnamon, splenda, and parsley. Actually pretty good (and another adventure in food land). 2-3 mugs of coffee black for a change.
Lunch: Ate leftovers: my meat goulash stuff: ground beef with cinnamon, parsley, splenda, tomatoes, cayenne pepper, s/p. Wish I could ate raisins and sauteed pine nuts to it (brings out their flavor) but not in the menu yet...and I know raisins may never be but once in a blue moon when I'm back on maintenance.
Dinner: Was going to have turkey sausage and cheeses while watching the BCS bowl tonight, but after running errands, I was hungry, so then I ate the meat goulash (about 4 pm) and later made some beef strogranoff (eDiets' friend's recipe mixed with a book) - even added corn starch - 1 T for the entire dish, which has 7 carbs per T, but I figured it would have about 1-2 carbs per serving only. Had a couple of servings of that: beef strips, onions, mushrooms, beef broth, water, nutmeg, s/p, 1 T corn starch, then about 3/4 cup of sour cream. I used evens on the beef strips, onion, mushrooms and broth: 1 package of meat, 1 whole onion, 1 pkg mushrooms, and 1 cube Knorr's beef bouillon with 2 C water, then a bit more water after I added the corn starch. I let this cook about 1/2 hour before I added the corn starch and another 1/2 hour after I added that, then put in SC and served. For carb addicts not dieting - let them eat it over noodles; we are supposed to add a salad (which I neglected at this point, whoops!)
Snack: Hmmmm - don't think so - kept drinking water when hungry-ish and ate about 4 hours apart.
Dessert: Cream cheese with splenda and cinnamon in the nuke-a-wave - about 4 oz.
________________________________
NOTES:
Wt: Still dropping a pound a day it seems. Will probably drop off next week - down to 1-2 lbs for the week.
KETONES: Got the strips and tested this morning - above a trace, but doesn't seem to be much higher, so will consider results inconclusive and assume I am not in ketosis (the phrase used to describe when I start burning fat over carbs). Supports need for a menu to keep me under 20 carbs as I am probably not doing that or I should show more on the stick.
Is anybody out there?
"To Thine Own Self be True, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man."
Inspiration for the Day: I can do this.
*******************************************
Random Thoughts: I need to focus on something else today. Maybe I should force myself to go to the gym....have never used it; having strange reluctance to go at all. Never made it to the gym, but did get some errands run - a return package to a computer repair spare parts warehouse that had to be there by the 15th or they would ship it back to me and charge me for the shipping. What?!?? Sounds like a scam to me! We'll see now: USPS said should be there and I asked for a signature. Cutting into my refund something fierce!
PERSONAL HAZARD - Don't like structure or feeling controlled. Sometimes sticking with a "diet" or a "plan" can seem that way. It's not bothering me yet, but I have to be cognitive of this in myself.
New Hazard - Fiance came home and worked in the home office during the afternoon - not conducive to doing zumba at home (it's fairly loud when I turn on the music), so I took a "off" day for exercising. The ediets BootCamp I joined allows only one day off exercise a week, and that's all I intend to do at this point, but I figured it would be on the weekend, now I've gotta push a little harder to make sure I get it in every day now - and with fiance around (he usually always works home on Fridays).
*******************************************
Anyone else out there trying to make a go on their health this year using low-carb? Got any good recipes you'd like to share? I've got links to some good food sites over to the right, but am always looking for more, especially if I can pinpoint a recipe tried by someone other than the author. Tell me how easy it was to make, how it tasted, if others liked it also, and whether you'd do it again.
******************************************
Assignment:
Progress so far:
Doctor Appt: Done.
READ THE BOOK: Yesterday I read about tomatoes; found new recipes. Time to do the menu and double-check the section on how to read labels (so I understand the weird sugars that are included in some products at times, and to remember why hydro-something products are bad, bad, bad)>
ONGOING ASSIGNMENT: Prepare menu for 1 week, using book and lists of foods (induction chapter), then create shopping list. Also, learn how to read labels - both in the book.
Also: NO SUGAR and DRINK ALL MY WATER (can't forget those two).
Vitals:
BP - after waking: 124/74, pulse 62
Weight: 188.5 - One more day, another pound down (it's just the first week, not expecting similar results next week, but nice to see :) - down 4 pounds for the week already (started Mon)
Cholesterol: Numbers from 30 May 08 (Doctor's office):
Total: 250
Trig: 56
HDL: 93
LDL: 146
Vitals that day: Wt: 171 BP: 126/82 Pulse: 72
Exercise: Zip for today
Stretching
Cardio
Strength
Water: 96 oz by lights out (about 12:30 am, after watching Florida and Tebow prove that Oklahoma hadn't really faced strong defenses in the past; okay Tebow didn't have much to do with that, but he was fun to watch when he'd run 15 yards against the Sooners...which they could play Utah now....shame Utah beat Alabama because Andre Smith (Left Tackle, offensive line) wasn't there to protect John Parker Wilson; Utah thinks they're the goods now...sorry about that, I am not buying it)
Food: Remembering a day later: what DID I eat?
Breakfast: Funky omelet/crepe made with 1/2 c eggbeaters, cinnamon, splenda, and parsley. Actually pretty good (and another adventure in food land). 2-3 mugs of coffee black for a change.
Lunch: Ate leftovers: my meat goulash stuff: ground beef with cinnamon, parsley, splenda, tomatoes, cayenne pepper, s/p. Wish I could ate raisins and sauteed pine nuts to it (brings out their flavor) but not in the menu yet...and I know raisins may never be but once in a blue moon when I'm back on maintenance.
Dinner: Was going to have turkey sausage and cheeses while watching the BCS bowl tonight, but after running errands, I was hungry, so then I ate the meat goulash (about 4 pm) and later made some beef strogranoff (eDiets' friend's recipe mixed with a book) - even added corn starch - 1 T for the entire dish, which has 7 carbs per T, but I figured it would have about 1-2 carbs per serving only. Had a couple of servings of that: beef strips, onions, mushrooms, beef broth, water, nutmeg, s/p, 1 T corn starch, then about 3/4 cup of sour cream. I used evens on the beef strips, onion, mushrooms and broth: 1 package of meat, 1 whole onion, 1 pkg mushrooms, and 1 cube Knorr's beef bouillon with 2 C water, then a bit more water after I added the corn starch. I let this cook about 1/2 hour before I added the corn starch and another 1/2 hour after I added that, then put in SC and served. For carb addicts not dieting - let them eat it over noodles; we are supposed to add a salad (which I neglected at this point, whoops!)
Snack: Hmmmm - don't think so - kept drinking water when hungry-ish and ate about 4 hours apart.
Dessert: Cream cheese with splenda and cinnamon in the nuke-a-wave - about 4 oz.
________________________________
NOTES:
Wt: Still dropping a pound a day it seems. Will probably drop off next week - down to 1-2 lbs for the week.
KETONES: Got the strips and tested this morning - above a trace, but doesn't seem to be much higher, so will consider results inconclusive and assume I am not in ketosis (the phrase used to describe when I start burning fat over carbs). Supports need for a menu to keep me under 20 carbs as I am probably not doing that or I should show more on the stick.
MEMORY: Ain't what it used to be; maybe I should write down what I eat since I don't seem to be next to the computer all the time it would take to post here throughout the day?
Is anybody out there?
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Wed: Day 3 - 7 Jan 09
Vitals:
BP - not taken today - took it around 6 pm and had 144/85 with pulse of 72.....a bit higher on the first number
Weight: 189.5 - Down another pound! (Then again, I think the 192.5 to start was "off" so I may just be adjusting like the stock market does from time to time)
Cholesterol: Numbers from 30 May 08 (Doctor's office):
Total: 250
Trig: 56
HDL: 93
LDL: 146
Vitals that day: Wt: 171 BP: 126/82 Pulse: 72
*************************************************
Exercise: 75 min
Stretching 15 min stretching, 5 min x 3 times during the day
Dancing - Did Zumba this evening - 45 min cardio
Strength - 200 crunches, plus some squats - total 15 min
Water: about 1 cup so far; starting on breakfast coffee now - finished all 96 oz, didn't have to stay up late to do so (only had a little left by 11 pm)
Food:
Breakfast: 2-egg omelet with 2 T of the sauteed mushroom/onion mix made the other day, again using egg-beaters and adding dill weed, s/p. I should write a whole post on the magic of dill weed - learned to put it over eggs from a college bf's mother, whose father came from Sweden. It kills the fishy taste of both fish and eggs. But it is great for grilling/roasting veggies and for chicken soup (shhhh, it's a secret ingredient learned from the master (mistress) of chicken soup, Joan Nathan). Just starting on coffee: 1 mug of coffee w/1 T of milk & sweet'n'low (S/L)
Lunch: Before I went to the grocery store and CVS, had some Turkey/Ham roll-ups with Amer cheese (two slices) and Romaine leaves (4) - no problem in the store (also took water with me to the car, didn't take it inside the store- one exception to always having water with me, tho there are fountains and my water was in the car)
Dinner: Make my ground beef goulash - brown ground beef, add parsley, lots of cinnamon, some onion powder, salt, red pepper, a dash of splenda, and a can of diced tomatoes (with juice) and then some tomatoe paste. Tomatoes are in the second section of vegetables (1 cup per day) and seem to have some carbs. I ended up eating about 1/2 pound of beef, 1/2 can of tomatoes, 1/2 of about 3 T tomatoe paste. Parsley was negligible, as was everything else (maybe 1/2 T of splenda?).
Snack: No snack today.
Dessert: No dessert tonight (just more of the beef)
************************************************
NOTES:
DAY THREE IS USUALLY THE HARDEST, but since I am not following a menu that has been set at 20 carbs a day, I am not really sure if I'm doing induction or not. If I count the carbs later, and find I have been under 20 carbs, then I am. For now, I will assume I am between 20-30 carbs (the dinners I've been having are unclear as to what a portion size is, worst case, they are 20 carbs by themselves).
Cholesterol numbers seemed high to me; fiance said they were good...Found out they also count how many times I breathe in a minute (12) - a respiration count. What does that tell? Anyone know?
Wt: I'm down 1/2 pound every time I pee (Mom, it's my blog, I can say that) so, before I peed this morning, I was down 1/2 pound, then remembered I hadn't peed yet (I went during the night some time, drinking water so late last night before I went to sleep - but hey, sometimes you gotta do that to get all your water in. I always try to keep some by the bed, too, for when I wake up thirsty. Always try to sip some whenever you can.
***********************************************
Assignment:
Progress so far:
Doctor Appt: Dr's office in Ohio called back - gave me all my numbers (posted above for reference). My weight on 30 May 08 was 171 or 172 lbs - see? I can't even remember - and truthfully, it doesn't matter to you which it is, right? Maybe that day I worried about changing of a pound, but nah, a pound can be water weight (see notes on peeing above) or water retention, TTOTM, strength exercises which are creating muscles (yes, this is a faster way to slim down because it will require more energy to build the muscles, but because muscles weigh more than fat, you may see a gain while your body shapes up - this is why eDiets and other diet programs will have you measure yourself, too. Your clothes are a great indicator of how you are doing. Are your panties riding up? That was always a good indicator to me that I was overweight (tho bad panties can do the same thing, no matter what your weight).
READ THE BOOK: No reading yesterday, tho I did look over a cookbook my fiance owned that was an Atkins cookbook. I asked him to pick out some recipes that sounded good to him. He picked red cabbage salad (yuk!) and something else that sounded easy enough to make, but a bit different from me. See what happens when you fall in love with someone from NY? Who eats cabbage? Okay, I know people do - I grew up with it in cole slaw, mostly, and my dad would make corned beef and cabbage when the mood struck him (twice I think in my life time). So, I will learn a new recipe (yes, I have to follow recipes for salads usually, except the basic "pour dressing over top" - like for Greek salads or Arabic chopped salad - both very yummy and worth learning, but I always follow the book (Rose Dosti's Middle Eastern cooking, in my case, but I'm sure other books carry similar recipes (at least the same names) as hers is no longer in print or available.)
ONGOING ASSIGNMENT: Prepare menu for 1 week, using book and lists of foods (induction chapter), then create shopping list. Also, learn how to read labels - both in the book.
Also: NO SUGAR and DRINK ALL MY WATER (can't forget those two).
***********************************************
I still need to buy some new Ketone strips at CVS.
If you're reading this, chime in and let me know by leaving a comment (anonymous or otherwise, I don't track) letting me know if you've chosen a food plan yet and what it is. Have you made a commitment yet? Have you chosen a food plan? Where are your areas of most difficulty? Is anyone doing low carb? If so, which one did you choose?
Inspiration for the Day: IF it's meant to be, it's up to me - STICK TO YOUR GUNS!...It's Day THREE!
***********************************************
Random Thoughts: Another late start - I was up earlier, a storm was brewing and my fiance misplaced something I helped him look for (not found yet!). Got a call from the doctor's office, then went back to sleep and slept and slept...thru the rain I heard each time I woke up (yes, put the dog up during that time.) Bailey is back outside now and it looks like the storm has passed (per www.msn.com/weather), and I am feeling tired. I think someone else starting Atkins last week commented on feeling tired on day 2. Fiance was sick yesterday, so wondering if that could be part of it, too (he had a fever and slept a lot). Don't feel like that, thankfully. Just blah. Maybe what I need to do is take a quick shower, put make-up on and get dressed? That usually makes me feel better even tho I hate showers and love hanging out in comfortable clothes. I do need to get some shopping done, and mail a power cord for my laptop back to UBC. Had to breakdown and get the universal from HP for my compaq presario. The generics I've found thru 2 sources are both not quite up to quality (the pin is too short).
PERSONAL HAZARD - Feeling blah; weather being odd; my hating to drive in traffic (which is always on around here, a new area for me), particularly when I don't know where I am going very well
************************************************
"To Thine Own Self be True, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man."
************************************************
BP - not taken today - took it around 6 pm and had 144/85 with pulse of 72.....a bit higher on the first number
Weight: 189.5 - Down another pound! (Then again, I think the 192.5 to start was "off" so I may just be adjusting like the stock market does from time to time)
Cholesterol: Numbers from 30 May 08 (Doctor's office):
Total: 250
Trig: 56
HDL: 93
LDL: 146
Vitals that day: Wt: 171 BP: 126/82 Pulse: 72
*************************************************
Exercise: 75 min
Stretching 15 min stretching, 5 min x 3 times during the day
Dancing - Did Zumba this evening - 45 min cardio
Strength - 200 crunches, plus some squats - total 15 min
Water: about 1 cup so far; starting on breakfast coffee now - finished all 96 oz, didn't have to stay up late to do so (only had a little left by 11 pm)
Food:
Breakfast: 2-egg omelet with 2 T of the sauteed mushroom/onion mix made the other day, again using egg-beaters and adding dill weed, s/p. I should write a whole post on the magic of dill weed - learned to put it over eggs from a college bf's mother, whose father came from Sweden. It kills the fishy taste of both fish and eggs. But it is great for grilling/roasting veggies and for chicken soup (shhhh, it's a secret ingredient learned from the master (mistress) of chicken soup, Joan Nathan). Just starting on coffee: 1 mug of coffee w/1 T of milk & sweet'n'low (S/L)
Lunch: Before I went to the grocery store and CVS, had some Turkey/Ham roll-ups with Amer cheese (two slices) and Romaine leaves (4) - no problem in the store (also took water with me to the car, didn't take it inside the store- one exception to always having water with me, tho there are fountains and my water was in the car)
Dinner: Make my ground beef goulash - brown ground beef, add parsley, lots of cinnamon, some onion powder, salt, red pepper, a dash of splenda, and a can of diced tomatoes (with juice) and then some tomatoe paste. Tomatoes are in the second section of vegetables (1 cup per day) and seem to have some carbs. I ended up eating about 1/2 pound of beef, 1/2 can of tomatoes, 1/2 of about 3 T tomatoe paste. Parsley was negligible, as was everything else (maybe 1/2 T of splenda?).
Snack: No snack today.
Dessert: No dessert tonight (just more of the beef)
************************************************
NOTES:
DAY THREE IS USUALLY THE HARDEST, but since I am not following a menu that has been set at 20 carbs a day, I am not really sure if I'm doing induction or not. If I count the carbs later, and find I have been under 20 carbs, then I am. For now, I will assume I am between 20-30 carbs (the dinners I've been having are unclear as to what a portion size is, worst case, they are 20 carbs by themselves).
Cholesterol numbers seemed high to me; fiance said they were good...Found out they also count how many times I breathe in a minute (12) - a respiration count. What does that tell? Anyone know?
Wt: I'm down 1/2 pound every time I pee (Mom, it's my blog, I can say that) so, before I peed this morning, I was down 1/2 pound, then remembered I hadn't peed yet (I went during the night some time, drinking water so late last night before I went to sleep - but hey, sometimes you gotta do that to get all your water in. I always try to keep some by the bed, too, for when I wake up thirsty. Always try to sip some whenever you can.
***********************************************
Assignment:
Progress so far:
Doctor Appt: Dr's office in Ohio called back - gave me all my numbers (posted above for reference). My weight on 30 May 08 was 171 or 172 lbs - see? I can't even remember - and truthfully, it doesn't matter to you which it is, right? Maybe that day I worried about changing of a pound, but nah, a pound can be water weight (see notes on peeing above) or water retention, TTOTM, strength exercises which are creating muscles (yes, this is a faster way to slim down because it will require more energy to build the muscles, but because muscles weigh more than fat, you may see a gain while your body shapes up - this is why eDiets and other diet programs will have you measure yourself, too. Your clothes are a great indicator of how you are doing. Are your panties riding up? That was always a good indicator to me that I was overweight (tho bad panties can do the same thing, no matter what your weight).
READ THE BOOK: No reading yesterday, tho I did look over a cookbook my fiance owned that was an Atkins cookbook. I asked him to pick out some recipes that sounded good to him. He picked red cabbage salad (yuk!) and something else that sounded easy enough to make, but a bit different from me. See what happens when you fall in love with someone from NY? Who eats cabbage? Okay, I know people do - I grew up with it in cole slaw, mostly, and my dad would make corned beef and cabbage when the mood struck him (twice I think in my life time). So, I will learn a new recipe (yes, I have to follow recipes for salads usually, except the basic "pour dressing over top" - like for Greek salads or Arabic chopped salad - both very yummy and worth learning, but I always follow the book (Rose Dosti's Middle Eastern cooking, in my case, but I'm sure other books carry similar recipes (at least the same names) as hers is no longer in print or available.)
ONGOING ASSIGNMENT: Prepare menu for 1 week, using book and lists of foods (induction chapter), then create shopping list. Also, learn how to read labels - both in the book.
Also: NO SUGAR and DRINK ALL MY WATER (can't forget those two).
***********************************************
I still need to buy some new Ketone strips at CVS.
If you're reading this, chime in and let me know by leaving a comment (anonymous or otherwise, I don't track) letting me know if you've chosen a food plan yet and what it is. Have you made a commitment yet? Have you chosen a food plan? Where are your areas of most difficulty? Is anyone doing low carb? If so, which one did you choose?
Inspiration for the Day: IF it's meant to be, it's up to me - STICK TO YOUR GUNS!...It's Day THREE!
***********************************************
Random Thoughts: Another late start - I was up earlier, a storm was brewing and my fiance misplaced something I helped him look for (not found yet!). Got a call from the doctor's office, then went back to sleep and slept and slept...thru the rain I heard each time I woke up (yes, put the dog up during that time.) Bailey is back outside now and it looks like the storm has passed (per www.msn.com/weather), and I am feeling tired. I think someone else starting Atkins last week commented on feeling tired on day 2. Fiance was sick yesterday, so wondering if that could be part of it, too (he had a fever and slept a lot). Don't feel like that, thankfully. Just blah. Maybe what I need to do is take a quick shower, put make-up on and get dressed? That usually makes me feel better even tho I hate showers and love hanging out in comfortable clothes. I do need to get some shopping done, and mail a power cord for my laptop back to UBC. Had to breakdown and get the universal from HP for my compaq presario. The generics I've found thru 2 sources are both not quite up to quality (the pin is too short).
PERSONAL HAZARD - Feeling blah; weather being odd; my hating to drive in traffic (which is always on around here, a new area for me), particularly when I don't know where I am going very well
************************************************
"To Thine Own Self be True, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man."
************************************************
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Tues 6 Jan 09 11:30 am-EOD
Updated below for the end of yesterday
Vitals:
BP - not taken today - took it around 6 pm and had 144/85 with pulse of 72.....a bit higher on the first number
Weight: 190.5 - woo-hoo! down 2 lbs from yesterday!!
Cholesterol: HDL, LDL, Tri: ???
************************************************
Exercise:
Stretching this morning: minimal, it's a late late start today, not fully awake yet even - got several of these in during the day (still working with tendinitis in shoulder, arthritis in hands, too (mostly in the morning)- end of day: 15 min stretching
Dancing in the kitchen: hmmm, with fiance at home today not likely if he works (tho I think he called in for a personal day, not a work-at-home day) - still, I'll need to deal with someone around and who will need personal attention - probably what most of you deal with constantly, too, especially if your children are still at home. By end of day, did 15 minutes zumba!
Walking - the two of us took Bailey for a while, slow at first, but we did 20 min and I feel a bit warmed up now. I could feel the work in my muscles on the rises (hills), too. So, better than I thought after the first 8 minutes :) Total: 20 min
Water: None yet - about 1/2 a bottle now - or 16 oz. in addition to the coffee and a cup of decaf tea, but I want to count water only. Stayed up after 9:30 when fiance turned in for the night and finished water while playing text twist, hearts, mah jong, free cell, and spider solitaire - went to bed at 11 pm. Total for the day: 96 oz (plus all the coffee and some decaf tea)
Food:
Breakfast: 6 slices crispy bacon(microwave), 3-egg omelet with 2 T of the sauteed mushroom/onion mix made the other day. I'm trying my fiance's egg-beaters this time. We bought them in bulk at Sam's the other day. I also always microwave bacon, but this stuff is pre-cooked (bought in bulk also) and cooks very quickly. I made him some scrambled eggs, too. Always some coffee (:)) on my second cup now: 2 mugs of coffee w/1 T of milk & sweet'n'low (S/L)
Lunch: Pretty much breakfast is lunch today - we both got up late, after staying up late for the game last night (Texas beat Ohio State, boo hoo, tho my niece's husband went to Texas, so half of the family was against me) then Bailey got caught in the rain this morning about 5:30, so we rescued him and went back to sleep. Slept til 10:30. About to eat breakfast now at 11:30 am.
Dinner: Had the other half of the dinner from last night - Michael Angelo's Chicken something - delicious! - has artichokes and capers in it, some tomatoes, too - plus some leftover veggies (picked out the carrots - it was a Green Giant Infusion Steam-in-bag (for 2) mix I found at Walmart or Target or some-such).
Snack: 1/2 oz of melted cheddar
Dessert: 4 oz of creamed cheese with cinnamon and splenda, heated in the microwave til it gets fluffy - my fiance tasted it and turned his nose up, but for me, it satisfies the sweet tooth cravings for a while (and I'm one who likes a small piece of chocolate after a meal...) Discovered this raiding a work fridge in a conference room - we had a whipped cream cheese by Philly in the fridge, it had cinnamon in it. I was allowed cream cheese (Atkins), so I took some of that one day. Note - this was our public fridge for guests, not co-worker's stashes - I also did not take a lot, but learned I liked the flavor of cinnamon with the cream cheese. So, don't be afraid to try something new. As I told me son who had to eat meals with me - it's only one meal (which you can always spit out), and since it won't kill you to eat it one time (think of the depression-era folks, folks!), think of it as fuel and go on. Just don't make it again if you don't like it. Adventures in food! Let the games begin, hee hee....
************************************************
NOTES:
Cholesterol numbers may be called into me today; awaiting another call from doctor in Ohio's office;
Wt: happy with 2 lbs down from yesterday's weight, which was up a bunch from my last weigh-in before that (like about 5 lbs!) Maybe it was no sugar yesterday, maybe it was releasing water since I hadn't drank all my water on Sunday and I did on both Saturday and Monday. *************************************************
Assignment:
Progress so far:
Doctor Appt: I called the doctor's office in Ohio; they couldn't find my file but will get someone to find it and the numbers and call me back (at least that's their plan; I suspect the file may be hiding now.)
READ THE BOOK: I read a few of the chapters yesterday - they are hard to get thru at times, but there is so much information giving reasons why and how this diet works, that it's pretty vital that we understand. I know it helped me whenever I had to adjust the diet on the run, shooting from the hip, flying by the seat of my pants....you get all these cliches? Most diets allow no deviation, but life is not like that - stuff happens. Reading this book prepares you to deal with unexpected circumstances on your own. You will know what to do, or at least have a clue. Then you go back and read that part again, so you understand the information even better. When you get hungry, you'll know what to eat and why. You'll know why eating low-fat is not going to help you and will probably really throw off your ability to burn fat in the beginning, plus knowing how to read labels and know "low fat" usually means higher sodium (salt) and/or higher sugars.
****New assignment: Learn how to read labels! ****
Still need to read the chapter on Induction then create a menu for a week.
NEW ASSIGNMENT: Prepare menu for 1 week, using book and lists of foods (induction chapter), then create shopping list. Also, learn how to read labels.
**********************************************
I still need to buy some new Ketone strips at CVS.
If you're reading this, chime in and let me know by leaving a comment (anonymous or otherwise, I don't track) letting me know if you've chosen a food plan yet and what it is. Have you made a commitment yet? Have you chosen a food plan? Where are your areas of most difficulty? Is anyone doing low carb? If so, which one did you choose?
Inspiration for the Day: NO SUGAR * NO SUGAR * NO SUGAR...It's Day TWO!
*********************************************
Random Thoughts: My breakfast is getting cold, but it can be zapped in the microwave if too cold, just about 20 seconds would reheat it well without overcooking it.
12:30 pm - ate it cold, tasted great. I think I ate it quicker tho. I'm feeling cold again, and so reheated the rest of my coffee. Feeling hungry again, but know that I should not eat again yet - I had enough to eat (mentally know this), so what are these feelings that make me want to eat?
Psychological - could be because my tummy is used to being bigger, pressing against my clothes, after I eat? So, psychologically I feel I can't be done eating? Also, eating it cold and so quickly, I've eaten it but it hasn't registered yet.
Cold - it really makes me want to eat.
Not feeling full - makes me want to keep eating stuff that tasted good.
4:10 pm - not a lot of progress today. Someone online mentioned deviled eggs today; fiance morphed that into egg salad. Boiled some eggs (cover with water, boil water, then turn off and let sit for 20 minutes, simple). Added a low-fat mayo to his with salt and peppah; used regular mayo for mine, it had zero carbs (his had 1) per serving. His on high-fiber bread, mine plain. I added some dill to mine as well, then thought shredded parmesan might be good. Not so sure on that; maybe it should have been melted or room-temp first? Making some decaf tea with splenda - family size tea bag in a pitcher 5 min in the microwave, add splenda to taste (about 1/2 the amount of sugar I used to use for sweet tea - which was 1 cup before - this southern gal loves sweet tea and this is no substitute, but it does stave off cravings....hope it doesn't cause any today. --- I do need to get out and get some exercise somehow today or tonight. He slept all day by the tv (which I turned off).
PERSONAL HAZARD - fiance had bag of cookies out, some on-sale xmas hard candies. I put those in the pantry so I wouldn't have to look at them, then teased him about putting out hazards for my diet. After yesterday, I know I can do this (hey, there's plenty of cheese in the house and i have eggs, bacon, and sausage, so I should be able to find something warm and filling and full of protein if I get cravings to eat. I'll focus on those for my emergency foods.)
************************************************
"To Thine Own Self be True, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man."
************************************************
Vitals:
BP - not taken today - took it around 6 pm and had 144/85 with pulse of 72.....a bit higher on the first number
Weight: 190.5 - woo-hoo! down 2 lbs from yesterday!!
Cholesterol: HDL, LDL, Tri: ???
************************************************
Exercise:
Stretching this morning: minimal, it's a late late start today, not fully awake yet even - got several of these in during the day (still working with tendinitis in shoulder, arthritis in hands, too (mostly in the morning)- end of day: 15 min stretching
Dancing in the kitchen: hmmm, with fiance at home today not likely if he works (tho I think he called in for a personal day, not a work-at-home day) - still, I'll need to deal with someone around and who will need personal attention - probably what most of you deal with constantly, too, especially if your children are still at home. By end of day, did 15 minutes zumba!
Walking - the two of us took Bailey for a while, slow at first, but we did 20 min and I feel a bit warmed up now. I could feel the work in my muscles on the rises (hills), too. So, better than I thought after the first 8 minutes :) Total: 20 min
Water: None yet - about 1/2 a bottle now - or 16 oz. in addition to the coffee and a cup of decaf tea, but I want to count water only. Stayed up after 9:30 when fiance turned in for the night and finished water while playing text twist, hearts, mah jong, free cell, and spider solitaire - went to bed at 11 pm. Total for the day: 96 oz (plus all the coffee and some decaf tea)
Food:
Breakfast: 6 slices crispy bacon(microwave), 3-egg omelet with 2 T of the sauteed mushroom/onion mix made the other day. I'm trying my fiance's egg-beaters this time. We bought them in bulk at Sam's the other day. I also always microwave bacon, but this stuff is pre-cooked (bought in bulk also) and cooks very quickly. I made him some scrambled eggs, too. Always some coffee (:)) on my second cup now: 2 mugs of coffee w/1 T of milk & sweet'n'low (S/L)
Lunch: Pretty much breakfast is lunch today - we both got up late, after staying up late for the game last night (Texas beat Ohio State, boo hoo, tho my niece's husband went to Texas, so half of the family was against me) then Bailey got caught in the rain this morning about 5:30, so we rescued him and went back to sleep. Slept til 10:30. About to eat breakfast now at 11:30 am.
Dinner: Had the other half of the dinner from last night - Michael Angelo's Chicken something - delicious! - has artichokes and capers in it, some tomatoes, too - plus some leftover veggies (picked out the carrots - it was a Green Giant Infusion Steam-in-bag (for 2) mix I found at Walmart or Target or some-such).
Snack: 1/2 oz of melted cheddar
Dessert: 4 oz of creamed cheese with cinnamon and splenda, heated in the microwave til it gets fluffy - my fiance tasted it and turned his nose up, but for me, it satisfies the sweet tooth cravings for a while (and I'm one who likes a small piece of chocolate after a meal...) Discovered this raiding a work fridge in a conference room - we had a whipped cream cheese by Philly in the fridge, it had cinnamon in it. I was allowed cream cheese (Atkins), so I took some of that one day. Note - this was our public fridge for guests, not co-worker's stashes - I also did not take a lot, but learned I liked the flavor of cinnamon with the cream cheese. So, don't be afraid to try something new. As I told me son who had to eat meals with me - it's only one meal (which you can always spit out), and since it won't kill you to eat it one time (think of the depression-era folks, folks!), think of it as fuel and go on. Just don't make it again if you don't like it. Adventures in food! Let the games begin, hee hee....
************************************************
NOTES:
Cholesterol numbers may be called into me today; awaiting another call from doctor in Ohio's office;
Wt: happy with 2 lbs down from yesterday's weight, which was up a bunch from my last weigh-in before that (like about 5 lbs!) Maybe it was no sugar yesterday, maybe it was releasing water since I hadn't drank all my water on Sunday and I did on both Saturday and Monday. *************************************************
Assignment:
Progress so far:
Doctor Appt: I called the doctor's office in Ohio; they couldn't find my file but will get someone to find it and the numbers and call me back (at least that's their plan; I suspect the file may be hiding now.)
READ THE BOOK: I read a few of the chapters yesterday - they are hard to get thru at times, but there is so much information giving reasons why and how this diet works, that it's pretty vital that we understand. I know it helped me whenever I had to adjust the diet on the run, shooting from the hip, flying by the seat of my pants....you get all these cliches? Most diets allow no deviation, but life is not like that - stuff happens. Reading this book prepares you to deal with unexpected circumstances on your own. You will know what to do, or at least have a clue. Then you go back and read that part again, so you understand the information even better. When you get hungry, you'll know what to eat and why. You'll know why eating low-fat is not going to help you and will probably really throw off your ability to burn fat in the beginning, plus knowing how to read labels and know "low fat" usually means higher sodium (salt) and/or higher sugars.
****New assignment: Learn how to read labels! ****
Still need to read the chapter on Induction then create a menu for a week.
NEW ASSIGNMENT: Prepare menu for 1 week, using book and lists of foods (induction chapter), then create shopping list. Also, learn how to read labels.
**********************************************
I still need to buy some new Ketone strips at CVS.
If you're reading this, chime in and let me know by leaving a comment (anonymous or otherwise, I don't track) letting me know if you've chosen a food plan yet and what it is. Have you made a commitment yet? Have you chosen a food plan? Where are your areas of most difficulty? Is anyone doing low carb? If so, which one did you choose?
Inspiration for the Day: NO SUGAR * NO SUGAR * NO SUGAR...It's Day TWO!
*********************************************
Random Thoughts: My breakfast is getting cold, but it can be zapped in the microwave if too cold, just about 20 seconds would reheat it well without overcooking it.
12:30 pm - ate it cold, tasted great. I think I ate it quicker tho. I'm feeling cold again, and so reheated the rest of my coffee. Feeling hungry again, but know that I should not eat again yet - I had enough to eat (mentally know this), so what are these feelings that make me want to eat?
Psychological - could be because my tummy is used to being bigger, pressing against my clothes, after I eat? So, psychologically I feel I can't be done eating? Also, eating it cold and so quickly, I've eaten it but it hasn't registered yet.
Cold - it really makes me want to eat.
Not feeling full - makes me want to keep eating stuff that tasted good.
4:10 pm - not a lot of progress today. Someone online mentioned deviled eggs today; fiance morphed that into egg salad. Boiled some eggs (cover with water, boil water, then turn off and let sit for 20 minutes, simple). Added a low-fat mayo to his with salt and peppah; used regular mayo for mine, it had zero carbs (his had 1) per serving. His on high-fiber bread, mine plain. I added some dill to mine as well, then thought shredded parmesan might be good. Not so sure on that; maybe it should have been melted or room-temp first? Making some decaf tea with splenda - family size tea bag in a pitcher 5 min in the microwave, add splenda to taste (about 1/2 the amount of sugar I used to use for sweet tea - which was 1 cup before - this southern gal loves sweet tea and this is no substitute, but it does stave off cravings....hope it doesn't cause any today. --- I do need to get out and get some exercise somehow today or tonight. He slept all day by the tv (which I turned off).
PERSONAL HAZARD - fiance had bag of cookies out, some on-sale xmas hard candies. I put those in the pantry so I wouldn't have to look at them, then teased him about putting out hazards for my diet. After yesterday, I know I can do this (hey, there's plenty of cheese in the house and i have eggs, bacon, and sausage, so I should be able to find something warm and filling and full of protein if I get cravings to eat. I'll focus on those for my emergency foods.)
************************************************
"To Thine Own Self be True, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man."
************************************************
Monday, January 5, 2009
Mon 5 Jan '09 Day One 9 am-1030 pm
Vitals:
BP - not taken today
Weight: 192.5 - up
Cholesterol: HDL, LDL, Tri: ???
**********************************************************************************
Exercise: Stretching this morning: 2 min plus another 3 min - 10 min by end of day
Dancing in the kitchen: 5 min - added another 5 minutes, finished with 20 min
Water: None by 9:25, 2 cups of coffee (or 3-4 if using a cup measure) - 2 mugs....
I'm closing in on 32 oz at 3 pm. - finished 96 oz around half-time (9:30 pm?)
Food:
Breakfast: 7 slices bacon, 2 oz cream cheese w/ flax seed and cinnamon, 2 mugs of coffee w/1 T of milk & sweet'n'low (S/L)
Lunch: 5 more slices of bacon and about 1 oz of cheddar cheese - I need to get some more food. I know i need lettuce, but it's cold in here even at 68 degrees. Must forage for dinner....read the book and figure out dinner. I think we have Michael Angelo's Chicken something, tangy, lemony...with capers. I think it's low carb, so I will need to check. Maybe not good for induction, but might be good for tonight as my other carbs have been low and technically I am not on induction, but having a "no sugar" week.
Dinner: Had the Michael Angelo's chicken - it was either 10 carbs or 20 carbs for the amount I had, plus some steamed veggies from Green Giant (sans the carrots), 3-5 carbs there,
Snack: Dinner was around 4:30, so snack was around start of the game, 8 pm: 2-3 oz of cheddar cheese, melted, and about 1/2 cup of sauteed mushrooms and onions (3-1 ratio) leftover from yesterday. Cheese is minimal in carbs, tho there, and mushrooms are one of the 2-cup veggies, and onions the other cup type. Also had a handful (5-7 leaves) of lettuce.
All in all, ended well. Maybe not quite induction level, but no sugar (the one killer goal on food today) and lower than I've been doing. Tomorrow, I'll check the portions against the carb counter and see how I did.
*********************************************************************************
NOTES:
BP is 130/80 normally/lately, but last recorded was 110/55 with pulse of 76, then 67...normally pulse is around 60 or lower. Not sure whazzup with the drop in BP there, but haven't taken it today. Usually not a thing I do; not a thing any of us need to do.
Wt is up from 187.5 at end of December. Whazzup with that, too? I can guess.
- Went thru 2 TTOTM (monthly visits, for the guys), part of the pre-menopausal process my ob-gyn said I was too young for (am I still too young for that?), in the past 3 weeks.
- Could also be retaining water since I didn't get all my water in yesterday.
- Ate poorly yesterday - a lot of carbs more than I would ingest for 100 carbs per day, so could be, could be, yet one day's food is not likely to do that much damage (5 pounds) (experience tells me so).
Cholesterol - have an appt in March to get numbers updated with new doctor, so I need to call doctor in Ohio to find out what the old ones were. Bit of a problem getting my records transferred, so that will help in that as well. One of the doctors should have the numbers, but it may take time to find them. Will put in last numbers when I get them.
************************************************************************************
Assignment:
Progress so far:
Doctor Appt: Need to call the doctors' offices to track down cholesterol numbers, ask about BPs they took, too,use the average. (Will use existing numbers, not get new ones til March since I do have numbers.)
Read the book: Definitely want to look back at this as I prepare to write up a 1-week menu, todays new assignment - but not to be started until the book has been read UP to and THRU the chapter on Induction. I know I need to plan menu so I have ingredients on hand, for meals and snacks, so I am not surprised and caught without something for hunger attacks, attacks of boredom, stress eating, and convenience eating.
Personal Hazard: Fiance likes to add "carbs" to the shopping list. Just like that, no specific carbs, just "carbs" and whatever fills the bill. I keep trying to explain to him that I am addicted to carbs, but I think he is, too, and just doesn't care.
Note to self: Remember, you can't change someone else, so don't. Change only what you can: yourself and your response to outside stimuli.
NEW ASSIGNMENT:
Prepare menu for 1 week, using book and lists of foods (induction chapter), then create shopping list.
*********************************************************************
Things I have (now) that I had to buy when I started Atkins before:
Flax Seed - found in a health food store, still here after 2 years, optional (but I like it sprinkled over cream cheese with cinnamon, idea from Dr. Atkins' book)
Multi Vitamin - got at Sam's Club, before I was just lax on vitamins (still not strict with them)
Calcium with Vit D - discovered I don't quite get enough calcium and since I need even more at age 50 (in 2 years), added this to my list of things to take
Potassium - need for leg cramps that I may get during induction - and for ensuring I get enough potassium anyway (not in my multi-vitamin)
Ketosis Strips - got at CVS, need to get new ones now for this new start
Splenda - grocery store, bulk in bags, not individual servings - use in place of sugar, except I use S/L for coffee (in individual packets).
So, here's the beginning - we're not quite to induction, there is prep work to do, but we are not flailing. Time to check in with my support group. As you read the book, think about who can be part of your support group. If you're reading this, chime in and let me know by leaving a comment (anonymous or otherwise, I don't track) letting me know if you've chosen a food plan yet and what it is.
Have you made a commitment yet? Have you chosen a food plan? Where are your areas of most difficulty?
Inspiration for the Day: Think Three for the new year: Food, Water, & Exercise
**********************************************************
Random Thoughts:
9:59 am....beginning to think about lunch, still finishing breakfast (some cream cheese and coffee left)...means I am getting hungry? what's available?
11:00 am...finally got up from the 'puter. My legs are stiff, particularly just above the backs of the knees - definitely need to stretch again. Go into the kitchen, my earlier enthusiasm for dancing comes back with a great little song on the radio - love this station! 93.5 lots of "get up and dance" music, from the 70s to today. My feet are cold, dancing doesn't help them. Why do I need warm food when I am cold? I slice some cheddar off the block and throw it over the remaining 5 slices of bacon cooked earlier (reheated pre-cooked slices earlier, bought in bulk, not what I wanted, but do appreciate the laziness of it). Zap it for 30 seconds. Melted cheddar and bacon; a great potato topping even without the potato!! Have to figure out how to have lettuce later (turn up the heat?) Drink some water - maybe hot water?
Note for tomorrow's assignment: NO SUGAR THIS WEEK....should be a given, but again, it will lose 5# for anyone who hasn't been off sugar already....would love to see who tries to prove me wrong on that!
2:56 pm - still cold; fiance said to put on his hunting socks (I said his "wildcat hunting socks" - I just joined the eDiets Bootcamp Challenge group called Wildcats, so that would be me! He had no clue, of course. I'll tell him later). What is it about being cold that makes me not want to do ANYthing? Except sit in a warm bath and read, lol. I'm drinking my water, but not quite down 32 oz yet. I always start slow in the morning.
**********************************************************
"To Thine Own Self be True, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man."
***********************************************************
Friday, July 18, 2008
Drinking Water
One of the frugal blogs I try to keep up with (I've Paid Twice for this Already - see related articles in the sidebar) brought up the question of whether or not anyone drinks tap water anymore. Good question!
Since water is one of the three legs on the footstool of changing to and then maintaining a healthy lifestyle, and since we are all getting more and more worried about paying for everything, I thought it would be a good time to discuss water. If you check out the "I've paid twice for this already" blog, you'll see many of these comments already mentioned in my comments there.
A few years ago, I was a member of a team of MBA students doing a consulting project that dealt with water fountains. Our research steered into the marketing area and we looked at how people (target audience) were viewing water. At that time (2002), water was just beginning to replace sodas as the money maker for the soda manufacturers, and its price was beginning to equal that of soda. As an international team, we took a worldview of the market, but also were pinpointing the US which was where the manufacturer we were working for was located.
The water that you buy in bottles is not strictly tap water, but is tap water with some flavor additives (such as sodium) added in. Given the cost of transporting water, most sodas are postponed in their manufacturing so that the major liquid element is added to the soda closer to its intended audience. In other words, water is obtained and added to the soda mixture very close to home - i.e., it's the stuff that you get out of your tap, too.
Some areas of the country will have hardened water naturally, and most homeowners deal with that by adding a water softener if they can, at least to their drinking and cooking water (who wants to scrub out a lime deposit from their pans? Or think about that stuff going into their stomach?) Bottling plants will also adjust the tap water to a palatable mixture of their own choosing, but nothing that is added tends to add those unwanted things like extra sugars, sodium or calories, and if they do, it is noted on the bottle. So be sure to become a label reader!!!
Other than that, I think one's like or dislikes of tap water are based on what they are most used to - we can pretty much adapt to anything, but decreasing our luxury level from necessity to nice-to-have is harder than increasing it in the other direction. You will have to go through a little pain to make that gain and be happy with less than what you could have (a sugary caffeinated soda that has you zipping around the office for a few hours before you hit that afternoon "lull" that is probably caused from the sugar high from lunch (sugars, carbs ingested there) suddenly being depleted.
This is why I like Atkins: Atkins avoids that by limiting those and increasing the proteins ingested because they take longer to digest (6 versus 4 hours, generally) and will keep you feeling "not hungry" longer. Using water to "fill in the gaps" in your stomach and in your mind is a great way to bridge some of those moments, but cannot overcome a sugar/carb low period. You just have to suffer through those - like a hangover - and vow not to do it to yourself again!!
So, start drinking the tap water and treat it like both a vitamin pill ordered by the doctor (in huge quantities and throughout the day), and be glad it also helps you on your pocketbook. Few restaurants charge for water, and you'll be glad for the extra $1-2 per day if you've been paying for soda. Try it iced, chilled, and straight up (sans ice) to see which works best for you. Good restaurants will suggest, but many can also provide this if you ask, adding a lemon slice to it. This might help you in your transition.
Remember that this is a transition. Your taste buds will need to change, and your bladder will also be undergoing changes. In addition, your body becomes accustomed to the increase in water, which it desperately wants, and will initially hoard the water (increasing weight temporarily, and perhaps bloating) until it accepts the fact that you are going to give it more water regularly.
Your body will then stop hoarding what you give it and release the increased water and weight. If you start to decrease later, you may be able to pick up on this when you start craving salty foods. This is a sign your body is wanting more water (salt retains water). So, drink about 8-16 oz of water within the next hour and see if the salty craving has passed yet before repeating.
If you still crave salty foods after 4 hours, then you might give in and find something healthy but with salt. The salt will affect your blood pressure, though, so it might be best to resist it completely if you can. If not, at least you tried to decrease the craving by increasing the water content of your body.
Cheers! Chug-chug-chug
Since water is one of the three legs on the footstool of changing to and then maintaining a healthy lifestyle, and since we are all getting more and more worried about paying for everything, I thought it would be a good time to discuss water. If you check out the "I've paid twice for this already" blog, you'll see many of these comments already mentioned in my comments there.
A few years ago, I was a member of a team of MBA students doing a consulting project that dealt with water fountains. Our research steered into the marketing area and we looked at how people (target audience) were viewing water. At that time (2002), water was just beginning to replace sodas as the money maker for the soda manufacturers, and its price was beginning to equal that of soda. As an international team, we took a worldview of the market, but also were pinpointing the US which was where the manufacturer we were working for was located.
The water that you buy in bottles is not strictly tap water, but is tap water with some flavor additives (such as sodium) added in. Given the cost of transporting water, most sodas are postponed in their manufacturing so that the major liquid element is added to the soda closer to its intended audience. In other words, water is obtained and added to the soda mixture very close to home - i.e., it's the stuff that you get out of your tap, too.
Some areas of the country will have hardened water naturally, and most homeowners deal with that by adding a water softener if they can, at least to their drinking and cooking water (who wants to scrub out a lime deposit from their pans? Or think about that stuff going into their stomach?) Bottling plants will also adjust the tap water to a palatable mixture of their own choosing, but nothing that is added tends to add those unwanted things like extra sugars, sodium or calories, and if they do, it is noted on the bottle. So be sure to become a label reader!!!
Other than that, I think one's like or dislikes of tap water are based on what they are most used to - we can pretty much adapt to anything, but decreasing our luxury level from necessity to nice-to-have is harder than increasing it in the other direction. You will have to go through a little pain to make that gain and be happy with less than what you could have (a sugary caffeinated soda that has you zipping around the office for a few hours before you hit that afternoon "lull" that is probably caused from the sugar high from lunch (sugars, carbs ingested there) suddenly being depleted.
This is why I like Atkins: Atkins avoids that by limiting those and increasing the proteins ingested because they take longer to digest (6 versus 4 hours, generally) and will keep you feeling "not hungry" longer. Using water to "fill in the gaps" in your stomach and in your mind is a great way to bridge some of those moments, but cannot overcome a sugar/carb low period. You just have to suffer through those - like a hangover - and vow not to do it to yourself again!!
So, start drinking the tap water and treat it like both a vitamin pill ordered by the doctor (in huge quantities and throughout the day), and be glad it also helps you on your pocketbook. Few restaurants charge for water, and you'll be glad for the extra $1-2 per day if you've been paying for soda. Try it iced, chilled, and straight up (sans ice) to see which works best for you. Good restaurants will suggest, but many can also provide this if you ask, adding a lemon slice to it. This might help you in your transition.
Remember that this is a transition. Your taste buds will need to change, and your bladder will also be undergoing changes. In addition, your body becomes accustomed to the increase in water, which it desperately wants, and will initially hoard the water (increasing weight temporarily, and perhaps bloating) until it accepts the fact that you are going to give it more water regularly.
Your body will then stop hoarding what you give it and release the increased water and weight. If you start to decrease later, you may be able to pick up on this when you start craving salty foods. This is a sign your body is wanting more water (salt retains water). So, drink about 8-16 oz of water within the next hour and see if the salty craving has passed yet before repeating.
If you still crave salty foods after 4 hours, then you might give in and find something healthy but with salt. The salt will affect your blood pressure, though, so it might be best to resist it completely if you can. If not, at least you tried to decrease the craving by increasing the water content of your body.
Cheers! Chug-chug-chug
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Keep It Keepin' On
It's been a few days since my last blog. Last year, when I first had the notion that I was going to finally do something about losing the weight I'd gained back, it went like this as well.
I didn't have time sometimes this week - I'm pretty busy during the week now, exercising. I have a son who likes to see me from time to time, but he also had injured his arm last week and couldn't exercise, so I exercised at home. I don't work out at home as well as at the gym, tho I did work up a sweat!
Excuses you're familiar with? These are why I didn't sit down and write a blog. PLUS - and I hate to admit this - I was a little intimidated by you guys. What if I didn't write something that made sense, or I let my thoughts just scatter across the board? I surely don't want to be laughed at, up here at the "front of the class" talking about how I lost weight!
Have any of you ever tried (or even seen) a Zumba class? I didn't see one until March - late March - 2007. So, in January, I at least didn't have that intimidation. But I did have the knowledge that I was out of shape. No way could I exercise for an hour.
To be honest, I had ridden a bike for 20-30 minutes before, but no one I rode with rode very fast, so that was hardly exercise if I had company. I could get 20 minutes of rollerblading with the boys in IF I sat down after the first 5 minutes. I have weak ankles and that hurt! But after the 5 minutes, then I could go for another song. And sit down. And drink some water. And then after awhile, do another 5 minutes. Eventually, I could get in 20 minutes of exercising this way, and lots of good water.
If you're not drinking water, start now - find a temp you like and a way of tracking how much you drink. Back then, I was going with the common admonition to drink 8 glasses a day. I wasn't always doing it, but I knew I should drink more than I was. I like the 32 oz Gatorade bottles. Even then, I'd already discovered this from buying them for the boys. Now I buy them and empty out the Gatorade if I lose mine. The wide mouth is great for guzzling; the size fits in my minivan's cup holders, and I don't have to count past 2 to get 8 cups in. Drink one; refill it once. Drink it. I can manage to keep track of that during the day - usually.
But exercising. It's like this blog. I'm starting slow. I'm learning. And one thing I knew about me and exercising - even last January! - was that I will not do anything for long if I don't love it. So, no jogging for me. Same for walking - I just get bored. I get bored easily, too.
So, I made a list of things I like to do, and that is why I had started bicycling and rollerblading. I like ice skating and am not very good at it, but my oldest son had nixed it completely early on. So, he has "quads" for rollerskates, while I and his brother have rollerblades. We just don't get out anymore (their choice, not mine). I also don't get much exercise bicycling with the younger one who has smaller tires which require a lot more work to pedal. That takes about as much energy as walking, tho it is a bit less boring.
So, what else made the list? Dancing! I've always liked dancing, but I realize this might not be your cup of tea. Find what works for you!!!
What did I do for dancing? First, and this was when the boys were babes, I requested (and was gifted from my Mom) a clock-radio for the kitchen so I could "dance" while I cooked and spent time in there. (Also keeps me from wandering away when I'm bored and letting something burn - oops!)
In January 2007, I used my love for dancing while I was out of town on a business trip. I played a song on my computer (but could have been the radio in the room) and tried to dance to it - joy de vivre and all - for the entire song. Guess what? I didn't quite make it! I thought it was 5 minutes long; turned out to be 3-1/2, but I'll round up and say 5 minutes, who cares?
But it was fun! And a bit of a point to me to say - Hey! Despite all the fun in your love life, you need to get back in shape for other things, too!
Yep, was not having trouble attracting men with the extra 30 pounds on, nor any of those bedroom activities which at our age goes on for hours, but couldn't go full-steam on a dance song for 5 minutes. I knew I had some blood pressure problems with stress the year before (my doctor had wanted me to come in and get it regularly checked, but I was nixing the idea of any BP meds. I knew how it affected men's sexual "abilities" and did not want the same effect on my own libido. (There are some aspects to blood pressure that I enjoy!)
I also knew both my Dad and my sister have diabetes and have sleep apnea. My Dad had also had a heart attack within the past three years, tho minor. His Dad had had triple-bypass surgery (no heart attack) in his later years, and one of my grandmothers had had a lot of strokes, particularly in the year before she passed away. These are the things I knew I was in danger of succumbing to, if I didn't get my health back.
How many of us have NOT seen a relative (usually male) who is out-of-shape then gets a visit in his 50s or 60s or even 70s from the death-doctor - a big scare that usually does something to cause him to finally lose weight and become thin again? I decided I didn't want to wait and do it later. I wanted to do it now.
But for now, I just decided that I would try another day to try and dance to the song and maybe not try to do it like a teenager next time.
And so, I am writing a blog a week later, and perhaps the next one will be in another week, or maybe I'll write tomorrow. I'll try not to let you readers intimidate me. Maybe I'll tell my family I'm writing a blog, but probably not yet. I won't tell til I really feel like I'm doing it. For now, it's my secret, shared with those who lose weight with me (and are my support network) and with those other zumba enthusiasts who understand how doing something we love really helps make it a lot easier! (As Beto says, "Ditch the workout, join the party")
For me, it is finding whatever YOU like to do so that you know you enjoy these things that help you get into the healthy shape and state you want to be in....and that too is personal for you. And then, don't give up just because you weren't successful the first time you tried, or even if you waited a week and you're tired and don't feel like doing it, just go try it a little bit. Do half a commitment. See if it makes you feel better. See if it makes you smile.
If you ever did this before, or if you give it a try now and it works for you (maybe it takes a month to see that it worked), please post a comment (where it says "comment" below, it is really a link to how you can post a comment to this particular blog post) and let me and the other readers know about it!
I didn't have time sometimes this week - I'm pretty busy during the week now, exercising. I have a son who likes to see me from time to time, but he also had injured his arm last week and couldn't exercise, so I exercised at home. I don't work out at home as well as at the gym, tho I did work up a sweat!
Excuses you're familiar with? These are why I didn't sit down and write a blog. PLUS - and I hate to admit this - I was a little intimidated by you guys. What if I didn't write something that made sense, or I let my thoughts just scatter across the board? I surely don't want to be laughed at, up here at the "front of the class" talking about how I lost weight!
Have any of you ever tried (or even seen) a Zumba class? I didn't see one until March - late March - 2007. So, in January, I at least didn't have that intimidation. But I did have the knowledge that I was out of shape. No way could I exercise for an hour.
To be honest, I had ridden a bike for 20-30 minutes before, but no one I rode with rode very fast, so that was hardly exercise if I had company. I could get 20 minutes of rollerblading with the boys in IF I sat down after the first 5 minutes. I have weak ankles and that hurt! But after the 5 minutes, then I could go for another song. And sit down. And drink some water. And then after awhile, do another 5 minutes. Eventually, I could get in 20 minutes of exercising this way, and lots of good water.
If you're not drinking water, start now - find a temp you like and a way of tracking how much you drink. Back then, I was going with the common admonition to drink 8 glasses a day. I wasn't always doing it, but I knew I should drink more than I was. I like the 32 oz Gatorade bottles. Even then, I'd already discovered this from buying them for the boys. Now I buy them and empty out the Gatorade if I lose mine. The wide mouth is great for guzzling; the size fits in my minivan's cup holders, and I don't have to count past 2 to get 8 cups in. Drink one; refill it once. Drink it. I can manage to keep track of that during the day - usually.
But exercising. It's like this blog. I'm starting slow. I'm learning. And one thing I knew about me and exercising - even last January! - was that I will not do anything for long if I don't love it. So, no jogging for me. Same for walking - I just get bored. I get bored easily, too.
So, I made a list of things I like to do, and that is why I had started bicycling and rollerblading. I like ice skating and am not very good at it, but my oldest son had nixed it completely early on. So, he has "quads" for rollerskates, while I and his brother have rollerblades. We just don't get out anymore (their choice, not mine). I also don't get much exercise bicycling with the younger one who has smaller tires which require a lot more work to pedal. That takes about as much energy as walking, tho it is a bit less boring.
So, what else made the list? Dancing! I've always liked dancing, but I realize this might not be your cup of tea. Find what works for you!!!
What did I do for dancing? First, and this was when the boys were babes, I requested (and was gifted from my Mom) a clock-radio for the kitchen so I could "dance" while I cooked and spent time in there. (Also keeps me from wandering away when I'm bored and letting something burn - oops!)
In January 2007, I used my love for dancing while I was out of town on a business trip. I played a song on my computer (but could have been the radio in the room) and tried to dance to it - joy de vivre and all - for the entire song. Guess what? I didn't quite make it! I thought it was 5 minutes long; turned out to be 3-1/2, but I'll round up and say 5 minutes, who cares?
But it was fun! And a bit of a point to me to say - Hey! Despite all the fun in your love life, you need to get back in shape for other things, too!
Yep, was not having trouble attracting men with the extra 30 pounds on, nor any of those bedroom activities which at our age goes on for hours, but couldn't go full-steam on a dance song for 5 minutes. I knew I had some blood pressure problems with stress the year before (my doctor had wanted me to come in and get it regularly checked, but I was nixing the idea of any BP meds. I knew how it affected men's sexual "abilities" and did not want the same effect on my own libido. (There are some aspects to blood pressure that I enjoy!)
I also knew both my Dad and my sister have diabetes and have sleep apnea. My Dad had also had a heart attack within the past three years, tho minor. His Dad had had triple-bypass surgery (no heart attack) in his later years, and one of my grandmothers had had a lot of strokes, particularly in the year before she passed away. These are the things I knew I was in danger of succumbing to, if I didn't get my health back.
How many of us have NOT seen a relative (usually male) who is out-of-shape then gets a visit in his 50s or 60s or even 70s from the death-doctor - a big scare that usually does something to cause him to finally lose weight and become thin again? I decided I didn't want to wait and do it later. I wanted to do it now.
But for now, I just decided that I would try another day to try and dance to the song and maybe not try to do it like a teenager next time.
And so, I am writing a blog a week later, and perhaps the next one will be in another week, or maybe I'll write tomorrow. I'll try not to let you readers intimidate me. Maybe I'll tell my family I'm writing a blog, but probably not yet. I won't tell til I really feel like I'm doing it. For now, it's my secret, shared with those who lose weight with me (and are my support network) and with those other zumba enthusiasts who understand how doing something we love really helps make it a lot easier! (As Beto says, "Ditch the workout, join the party")
For me, it is finding whatever YOU like to do so that you know you enjoy these things that help you get into the healthy shape and state you want to be in....and that too is personal for you. And then, don't give up just because you weren't successful the first time you tried, or even if you waited a week and you're tired and don't feel like doing it, just go try it a little bit. Do half a commitment. See if it makes you feel better. See if it makes you smile.
If you ever did this before, or if you give it a try now and it works for you (maybe it takes a month to see that it worked), please post a comment (where it says "comment" below, it is really a link to how you can post a comment to this particular blog post) and let me and the other readers know about it!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)