Quick Post Before I Go to Sleep

Here's today's foods...just so I don't forget to post it tomorrow.


Morning
1 large carrot(s)
0
1 Tbsp peanut butter
2
1 sl df ww toast
1
Subtotal
3
Midday
1 serving lunch 5/9/08 (see last post)
4
Subtotal
4
Evening
1/4 pound cooked ground beef
5.5
1/8 cup onion(s)
0
1 Tbsp ketchup
.5
1 tsp mustard
0
1 sl df ww bread
1
Subtotal
7
Snack
4 items graham cracker(s)
2.5
15 items Tostitos Baked! Scoops tortilla chips
2
1/2 cup salsa
0
1 item refrigerated grilled chicken breast fillet
3
fiber one yogurt
1
Subtotal
8.5
Total Food POINTS values used
22.5
Food POINTS Balance over (-) under (+)
-0.5
Exercise
20 min walking, brisk
1
10 min jogging (this was actually 15 min of running, 15 walking but WW doesn't let you log in 5 minute increments)
1
Total Activity POINTS values earned
2

Making Healthy Eating Convenient

I just had the BEST lunch. It was possible because I've got my kitchen stocked for success. I have almost every fresh vegetable you could imagine in the fridge and a variety of lower fat meats and fish in the freezer. I grilled some chicken the other night for whenever we need it.

Today I pulled out about a half cup of frozen shrimp, snow peas, fresh ginger, garlic, mushrooms, onions, peppers, and zucchini. I stir-'fried' it in my non-stick wok (that I leave on the stove 24-7) and finished it with a squeeze of fresh lime juice, soy sauce, and some mahvelously pungent cilantro. Oh my. A treat for the eyes, the nose, and my stomach. No fat, no sugar, no guilt.

I have finally switched the rest of my fam over to whole-grain bread. Carrie balked but has come to terms with the fact that we aren't switching back. I miss the convenience of white rice and occasionally will have Jasmine rice in the cupboard, but 90% of the time we eat brown or wild rice. Sometimes I even cook whole wheat berries in with it. There are a few family members that would probably threaten to blow up the house if I took away their sugar (they're over 18 so I don't make an issue of it) but Jim and I really have replaced sweets with fruit. I keep the house stocked with it. It's expensive but it's worth it. I'm not spending the dough on convenience food or garbage treats so it's not much more.

I'm posting yesterday's food list. I was at a restaurant for lunch. There was no way to know exactly the calorie count of what I was eating. The sandwich was fairly easy to estimate because I knew all the ingredients. The soup was tougher so I looked up a recipe for eggplant soup on allrecipes.com, figured the points value, then doubled it just to make sure I wasn't cheating. I also was very conservative when figuring the sandwich as I want to be honest.


Morning
pb on ww bagel
3
Subtotal
3
Midday
eggplant soup sm cup
10
small ff sf froz yog/no cone
2
3/4 lowfat sandwich at restaurant
10
Subtotal
22
Evening
1 1/2 cup cooked green beans
.5
1 medium acorn squash
3
Subtotal
3.5
Snack
2 items graham cracker
1
Subtotal
1
Total Food POINTS values used
29.5
Food POINTS Balance over (-) under (+)
-7.5
Exercise
Total Activity POINTS values earned
0

Wednesday

Here's my log for today.


Morning
1 Tbsp peanut butter
2
pepp. farm mini ww bagel
1
Subtotal
3
Midday
1/2 cup onion(s)
0
pf ww mini bagel
1
tuna
1.5
mayo lt.
.5
Subtotal
3
Evening
2 cup mixed baby greens
0
1 cup spinach
0
1 item refrigerated grilled chicken breast fillet
3
1 Tbsp red onion(s)
0
1/4 cup snow peas
0
2 medium strawberries
0
3 Tbsp Kraft Light Done Right Asian toasted sesame
2
pf ww mini bagel w pb
3
Subtotal
8
Snack
2 pieces Hershey's Assorted Miniatures Candy
2
1 Tbsp peanut butter
2
15 items Tostitos Baked! Scoops tortilla chips
2
1/2 cup salsa
0
2 oz cooked lean boneless pork chop
2.5
2 items graham cracker(s)
1
pf mini ww bagel
1
Subtotal
10.5
Total Food POINTS values used
24.5
Food POINTS Balance over (-) under (+)
-2.5
Exercise
50 min walking, brisk
3
Total Activity POINTS values earned
3

Sorry!

I keep forgetting to post my intake! I won't bore you with the weekend.....I promise you that I logged every bite every day. Here's Tuesday's log:


Morning
1/2 cup General Mills Fiber One
0
fiber one yogurt
1
Subtotal
1
Midday
1 oz Hormel Honey smoked turkey
.5
1 tsp mustard
0
1/2 cup mixed baby greens
0
1 sl df ww
1
Subtotal
1.5
Evening
1 6-inch SUBWAY® Restaurants Turkey Breast & Ham Sub
5
1 3/4 Tbsp SUBWAY® Restaurants Fat Free Sweet Onion Dressing
1
5 oz cooked lean boneless pork chop
5.5
1 large potato(es), baked
3
2 tsp unsalted butter
2
Subtotal
16.5
Snack
1 item McDonald's® Vanilla Reduced Fat Ice Cream Cone
3
1/2 Tbsp peanut butter
1
df ww bread
1
Subtotal
5
Total Food POINTS values used
24
Food POINTS Balance over (-) under (+)
-2

Wheeee!

Guess what Jim came home with?

He's taking a week off next week. Son# 2 is coming home from college on Sunday, Son#3 is done with school for the semester, Son#4 will be around next week, Carrie's always here, and I need a workout. We aren't going anywhere nor do we have any big plans. So good old Dad came home with a Wii! Then good old Mom logged onto Amazon and pre-ordered Wii Fit. Happy Mother's Day to Mii.

So far, I've only played the bowling as we're all taking turns (and I was the one cooking dinner). I can't wait to play baseball & box a little. This should at least earn me an extra slice of whole wheat bread with peanut butter on it. Hmmmm. I wonder if WW has Wii as one of their exercise categories?

I'm going to go ahead and post today's foods even though the day's not over just in case I don't get around to it tomorrow. I have 4 points left and I promise not to go over unless I dip into my weeklies (I don't forsee that happening, I'm full!)

Have a good weekend!


Morning
1/2 small mango
1
1 item asian pear
0
fiber one yogurt
1
Subtotal
2
Midday
pbj on ww
6
Subtotal
6
Evening
3 oz Ronzoni Healthy Harvest Spaghetti style
4.5
spaghetti sauce
4
Subtotal
8.5
Snack
1/2 small mango
1
4 medium strawberries
0
1/2 cup blueberries
.5
1/2 cup General Mills Fiber One
0
1 large cooked sweet potato
3
Subtotal
4.5
Total Food POINTS values used
21
Food POINTS Balance over (-) under (+)
+1
Exercise
50 min walking, brisk
3
Total Activity POINTS values earned
3

Nothing New - Just posting yesterday's menu

I grocery/garden shopped for 6, count them, SIX hours yesterday. I saved a lot of money in the process, and was rushing so fast I barely ate anything. I ended up trying to stuff a bunch of stuff in my face at around 8:00 just to make sure I ate all my points. I still didn't make it but I'll live.


Morning
1 cup cooked oat bran
1
fiber one yogurt
1
Subtotal
2
Midday
1 6-inch SUBWAY® Restaurants Turkey Breast & Ham Sub - no cheese no dressing
5
Subtotal
5
Evening
1 6-inch SUBWAY® Restaurants Turkey Breast & Ham Sub- no cheese
5
1/2 package McDonald's® Hot Mustard
.5
Subtotal
5.5
Snack
20 items peanuts
2
1 cup Louis Kemp Seafood Co. Crab Delights Fat Free Imitation King Crabmeat Chunk Style
2.5
1/2 item pomelo
1.5
Subtotal
6
Total Food POINTS values used
18.5
Food POINTS Balance over (-) under (+)
+3.5

I've Got Good News and Bad News

Bad news first. It seems that men lose weight faster than women. Duh! Doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out. The good news is that I watched something yesterday that explained a little bit of the mystery surrounding that and how to work with it.

According to this study, when men begin an exercise program, their bodies experience the benefits immediately. Their bodies go into calorie burning mode right away and they start to build more muscle and lose weight. Apparently, our female bodies handle it differently. When we start an exercise program, for the first two or three weeks...our bodies think they're being starved to death and start to act like it by hanging on to those calories with all their might. (I know it's felt that way for me lately!)

The solution? Consistency. Starting and stopping an exercise program is like yo-yo dieting as far as the havoc it wreaks on your metabolism. They suggest cross-training so that you don't even miss days at all. This is probably part of my problem. I do my walk/run 3 to 4 times per week and it's intense exercise....but then I do nothing on my off days. Bad move. I need to either do some type of exercise video, go to the Y, or do some exercise at home in between.

Another part of the study indicated that women lose weight more effectively with longer, less intense exercise sessions whereas men can benefit from the very intense shorter workouts because their bodies start burning calories right away.

I actually thought all of this was fairly good news. I started my training a few weeks ago and haven't really lost much. At least there's some science behind it.

For those of you on Weight Watchers: This means EAT those extra points you earned with exercise so your body doesn't think it's starving! I have a hard time doing this. I always feel like I'm eating up a bunch of calories I just burned up and nullifying the benefit of the exercise, but the opposite is true.

Wednesday's Fare:

Morning:
pbj on df ww bread
6
Subtotal
6
Midday
3 oz cooked tilapia
2
1 cup broccoli
0
pbj on df ww bread
6
Subtotal
8
Evening
whole wheat blend pasta
3
spaghetti sauce
4
Subtotal
7
Snack
1/2 cups strawberries
0
1/4 cup blueberries
0
Yo plus 4 oz yogurt
2
Subtotal
2
Total Food POINTS values used
23
Food POINTS Balance over (-) under (+)
-1
Exercise
50 min walking, brisk
3
Total Activity POINTS values earned
3