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Another Monday

I figured today would be a good time to update.  My job is going well, I am still really happy with it.  The waking up part is still very difficult for me, hopefully after a few months it will be easier.  *crosses fingers*  I have to admit that I am not doing so well with the elevator thing… I am really tired when I get in and 4 flights of stairs is really daunting.  I realize that is an excuse… but hey, I have been on time every day for 2 weeks, so I have got to pick my battles and appreciate the victories I have.  In less than a week, I will be 33.  I have not decided how I feel about that yet, aside from the whole double 3 thing being sorta cool when combined with the 3/3 date of my birthday.

Anywho…

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Path towards health

My plan to become healthier and lose mass is fairly straight forward.  Bring my lunch, eat reasonable a breakfast and dinner and never use the elevator at work.

I will admit, however, that the elevator plan is easier in the evening.  Going down stairs is much less taxing.  I hope that in time, the morning flights of stairs will become easier.

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Day Two

I am tired, but am looking forward to the day.  I hope that I can get enough caffeine in my system to help keep me going today.  I am starting to anticipate a really long week.  I can definitely see the benefits of arriving at work 2 hours early, however this schedule will take a lot of getting used to.  Yesterday, I woke up at 4:45 AM and did not get to sleep until about 10:45 PM.  I have been taking melatonin for two weeks now to help regulate my sleep cycle into an earlier schedule.  I do think it is helping, but I imagine that a week or two on this schedule will ultimately be what forces my body to accept the new schedule.

I am keeping my word with myself so far that I will take the stairs.  I do not think that my arrival at work yesterday counts against this commitment though.  One must know Where the stairs are in order to make use of them.  Now that I know where they are, I cannot use that excuse.

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Strange Sounds can result in fun

So, one day I am playing with the dog and I hear this strange sound coming from upstairs.  The sound persists and eventually I am forced to investigate.  I ask Joe what he was doing, and he is evasive (like I shouldn’t have seen that coming).

Eventually, though, he gives in and presents me with this:

Isn’t it cute?

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Splenda… the funk factor

Splenda, according to some people, is an adequate replacement supplement for sugar.  These people even go so far as to buy big bags of the substance and use it in their cooking.  I, for one, do not know how they can stand it.  For me, Splenda causes any food or liquid that it becomes a part of to have an unnatural aftertaste.  You taste the food and then a brief moment later, you get the funk.  It tastes bad enough to skip sweets all together if splenda were the only option.  I’m certain that there are supporters of this “sweetener” who would argue that in a blind taste test, where the participants did not know they were consuming this “sweetener”, that the substance would go unnoticed.  Let me tell you all, here and now, that this is not the case.

One day in my growing trend towards healthier eating habits, I came across Light Cranberry Juice Cocktail in Sam’s Club.  I didn’t know it has Splenda.  Ocean Spray cranberry juice is one of my most favorite drinks, so it never occurred to me to check.  I drank the stuff thinking it tasted off, eventually I broke down and looked at the label to try and figure out what was wrong with the drink and I discovered it then… “Flavored with Splenda”.  That explained it all.

I believe I ended up giving the rest of the bottles away to someone, because anything with Splenda (at least for me) is no longer a consumable product.

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May 25

I think it might be more realistic to do my log the next day, as it will allow me to write the post in all its glory one time.

Breakfast
Minute Maid_® Enhanced Pomegranate Blueberry
I was not entirely sure how much I would like this when I bought it, but I was pleasantly surprised.  I realize juice is not much of a breakfast, but it didn’t cause me to have hunger pains or anything.

Calories: 120  (240)
Total Fat: .5g (1g)
Sat. Fat: 0g
Cholesterol: 0mg
Sodium: 20mg (40mg)
Protein: 0g

Snack One
One Dannon Activia Light Vanilla Yogurt cup
I was not expecting to like this.  Since I’m a vanilla ice cream fan, I have found that other vanilla flavors don’t really have the same yum factor.  This was not bad though.  Does it beat ice cream, no… but it certainly is good enough to eat a second time.  (as if I would not finish the box of the stuff i have in my fridge)

Calories: 70
Total Fat: 0g
Sat. Fat: 0g
Cholesterol: <5mg
Sodium: 70mg
Protein: 4g

Lunch
Healthy Choice Fresh Mixers Steak Portobello
These meals are not half bad for what they are.  While I acknowledge that they certainly will not be winning any culinary awards, they are handy to have around if you’re needing a quick meal.

Calories: 290
Total Fat: 6g
Sat. Fat: 1.5g
Cholesterol: 15mg
Sodium: 600mg
Protein: 16g

Snack Two
One Serving of Planters Dry Roasted Peanuts.  I realize that the caloric information on this is repetitive, and will continue to be (as i have a huge can)… I apologize for that.  However, the point of this exercise is to count calories.  I suppose there is the small point of sharing my opinion on the taste and quality of low calorie meals and snacks that I try.

Calories: 160
Total Fat: 14g
Sat. Fat: 2g
Cholesterol: 0mg
Sodium: 190mg
Protein: 7g

Totals Before Dinner

Calories: 760
Total Fat: 21g
Sat. Fat: 3.5g
Cholesterol: <20mg
Sodium: 900mg (and whatever comes in a small packet of salt)
Protein: 27g

Dinner

I tried to be creative at dinner, unfortunately I do not have a calorie count… But I did use good ingredients.

I made Tilapia Wraps.  I’m uncertain as to how good this recipe actually is, as my husband hasn’t eaten it yet.  I have a feeling that the curry I used was not quite right for the recipe, but I was too chicken to use the spicy curry. The dish ended up being on the sweet side, and I’m thinking that did not combine in the best way with the garden salsa I had selected.  However, having said all that, it certainly was not inedible and I’ll be eating left overs for lunch on Thursday.

My recipe had the following in it:

2 Tilapia Filets
3 teaspoons of Chile flavored Olive oil
1 teaspoon of a Tandori type curry
few dashes of French sea salt
Tomato flavored wheat tortillas
lettuce
small sprinkling of grated cheese
about 3/4 cup of garden salsa

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Slacker

For Tuesday May 24th, I started out good but ended badly. I had my 290 calorie French toast sticks for breakfast, peanuts for a snack, a theoretical healthy frozen steamer for lunch that was clearly unremarkable (i forgot about whether I enjoyed it in a matter of hours)… After that it went downhill. The day was stressful, so I ended the day with some comfort food. I don’t do that often enough to receive any grief… So no emailing me about the evils of comfort food. My sundae was a small, so I at least did not pull out all the stops and get a large.

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May 23

So, Its is now May 23, almost 3 months after my “Day One” post, and here are the results… not much.

I lost about 10 pounds… it was early on, so the only real positive thing I can say is that I kept it off and I didn’t completely jump off the bandwagon.

So, in an attempt to renew my efforts, I will start posting my food log Daily… dum da duuuum.

Here it is:

Breakfast
One un-yummy Carnation Instant Breakfast Essentials
*note* I spilled a good portion of this on my desk, so an unknown quantity of these calories were actually consumed by my wastebasket.

Calories: 250
Total Fat: 5g
Sat. Fat: 1.5g
Cholesterol: 10mg
Sodium: 180mg
Protein: 14g

Snack One
One Serving of Planters Dry Roasted Peanuts

Calories: 160
Total Fat: 14g
Sat. Fat: 2g
Cholesterol: 0mg
Sodium: 190mg
Protein: 7g

Lunch
Two Fantastic servings of Campbells Chunky New England Clam Chowder
and I added 1 packet of chick-fil-a salt, because these soups have been disturbingly bland.

Calories: 130
Total Fat: 3g
Sat. Fat: 1g
Cholesterol: 10mg
Sodium: 410mg
Protein: 5g

Snack Two
One cup of Dannon Activia Light, Blueberry
I did not have high hopes for this blueberry yogurt, but I was pleasantly surprised. Pretty good for only 70 calories and 0 fat.

Calories: 70
Total Fat: 0g
Sat. Fat: 0g
Cholesterol: <5mg
Sodium: 65mg
Protein: 4g
Dinner
Salmon burger
Salmon patty 130 calories
1tbsp mayo 100ish calories
Bun, 100ish calories
Lettuce, tomato

1 peanut butter cookie … Yeah I know shame on me(200ish)

Juice 2 cups, 200ish calories

Totals So Far
It looks (with the numbers) that I went overboard on the sodium, but I just looked it up on google and came up with a site that basically identifies a daily sodium intake minimum of 1500 milligrams and maximum of 2300 milligrams. So, considering that I have 1-2 meals left to eat, I believe I’m doing pretty well.

Here is a link to the article
http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/foodnut/09354.html

Calories: 1470

Total Fat: 22g
Sat. Fat: 4.5g
Cholesterol: <35mg
Sodium: 1255mg (and whatever comes in a small packet of salt)
Protein: 35g

End of Day Summary

Today was not really a fail,  1400ish calories is still probably lower than my calorie burn for today, not that I used my body bugg to know for sure.

I did learn something though,  If it is my intention to go home and do a workout upon arrival, I should not call my dad on the way home from work.  I love my dad, but man that guy can talk.  I am not sure if I fall into that category or not… I know I did when I was in high school.

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WordPress Noob

Ok everyone have a chuckle at my expense, I’ve been locked out of my WordPress site because I couldn’t remember how to get to the admin login page. DUH

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Day One

I have completed day one of my diet. I have started, so a good part of the difficulty is done.

I initially planned to have subway breakfast and lunch, with a few apples and whatnot as snack. That plan was ruined when I arrived at subway to find it closed. So… Instead, I had the following:

Breakfast:
Lean pocket
crystal lite

Snack:
Carrot and dip pack

Lunch:
Healthy choice portabella Parmesan risotto
String cheese
Gum

Snack:
String cheese

Dinner:
Subway 6″ ham sub

I did my workout to a bootcamp style set I bought, they worked lower body and I finished the day with a calorie burn of 2250 and a step count of 3431.
My targets, respectively were 2350 and 10000. I have no idea what it would take to take 10000 steps in one day. With a goal like that, who needs a workout.

Day Two awaits.