Time to End the Pain!

Okay, as you all have noticed - and certainly let me know! - I haven't updated the blog all summer! My last post is from May 29. The primary reason for not blogging is that I just haven't done well at all with this newest effort. I repeated my same pattern of starting out enthusiastically, then having something happen to hamper one aspect of the plan, and then falling off all together! Who wants to blog about that? I thought the accountability of having a blog to journal about my progress would keep me on track this time, but no - I just went into my typical avoidance mode!

I haven't necessarily returned to ALL of my bad eating habits (although I don't know if Chase and Jenn would agree with that!) but I definitely had difficulty with the whole 300 calories every 3 hours. I mean - how hard is that? But yet I manage to find an excuse for not being able to do it. I wonder if it's the "pressure" of a weight loss program? Everytime I've done any kind of weight loss plan, I have the same pattern. And the more someone comments about the fact that I'm not sticking with the plan (Chase!) the more likely I am to emotionally rebel and go further off the diet.

When I was at the doctor the other day on another matter I asked him about it. Surely, I asked, there is some kind of safe weight loss or appetite suppressant drug that I could take that can help me - I just can't do it myself. But he just shook his head and said no - I shouldn't look for a fast or quick solution - just gradually alter my eating habits to get rid of the bad stuff and do more healthy stuff, and be satisfied to lose maybe a pound a week. What he had to say just really sort of woke me up and ever since I've been thinking about how to do that. There's no diet plan or weight loss program that I haven't tried, and I've had the same results everytime, so maybe it's just counting calories in a more relaxed way - trying to stay under say 1500 calories a day, but not obsessing about it.

The one tool I have that I think will help even with a non-stressful way of trying to lose weight is the Hungry Girl book and website. As long as they keep posting delicious recipes that you can eat for less than 200 calories, plus the great education they do on how many calories are in a lot of restaurant foods, at least I'll be mindful about what to order and what not to order. I highly recommend www.hungrygirl.com.

And the other thing I may eventually do is try to go back on the Blood Type food plan that will eliminate wheat and other products from my diet. I was the most successful when I was doing that, and I felt really good at the time as well. While not "classically" allergic to wheat - no celiac disease, etc. I do find that I do better with eating a lot of wheat products. I'm also thinking I might be mildly allergic to peanut butter.

Of course, my biggest bugaboo is still the lack of exercise. I was doing well for a while on the Wii Fit, and then stopped with that. At the time I blamed a sore back and hip, and I think it's true that doing the Hula Hoop routine wasn't great for my hips, but now I feel better and I don't really have any great excuse. Just lame reasons for not getting more exercise. At some point I'll figure that out!

So all this to say that this is my last Diet Wars blog entry! But that doesn't mean I'm giving up on getting more healthy, I just think I need to be more private with it. And once I achieve any reasonable success - believe me - my blog fans will hear about it!

However, do "stay tuned" for another blog adventure. I'm a writer, but writing the kinds of stories I want to write is another area where I lack discipline, due to lack of time. I've been thinking about the various story lines I've started that I want to get back to, so I've hit upon a blog writing exercise that I can include my friends in. Sort of an online writer's group. Once I've gotten started on that - I'll let everyone know and post it to FaceBook.

I want to sincerely thank everyone who did read my blog, who encouraged me, who shared their own difficulties with weight loss, and who bugged me when I wasn't posting entries. It's nice to know I have such a supportive group of friends and family.

Crunchy Munchies

My challenge this week is getting the munchies - especially after 9 p.m. I've been trying, based on the advice of my trainer, not to eat after 9 p.m. I usually consume most of my 300 calories at dinner, which leaves little for a snack. But between 8 and 10 I get REAL hungry. I need to make the lo-cal jello dessert one friend gave me the recipe for, but I'm usually hungry for crunchy things - pretzels, crackers, popcorn, or dry cereal. Fortunately I'm not craving sweets, although I may get a cookie or something slightly sweetened like yogurt, especially if I've had spicy food. But it's the crunchy munchies that threaten to do me in.

Because....even if in and of themselves, small portions of any the crunchy items aren't too bad - I'm firmly in the "you can't eat just one" camp - and so I'll find myself saying "I'll have just one, or a few" and before you know it I've finished off the bag! Gotta get a plan to keep that from happening.

Last night it happened again but I rationalized it with the fact that I had "run" (actually slow jogged in place) for 15 minutes with the WiiFit. And in Weight Watchers when you exercise you earn extra points - so I figure I can justify having a snack because of the exercise I did - Sorry Jenn!

Any ideas or tips for making myself full enough on 300 calories to not get the munchies will be appreciated!

And what does anyone think about the over the counter diet aids that are supposed to suppress appetites? Years ago I used dexatrim for a while - but the caffeine in it made me REALLY hyper! Now they have caffeine-free dexatrim, but I wonder about the other ingredients and how safe they might be. Any thoughts?

An Interesting Effect to Being Calorie Conscious

I suppose this will elicit a big "duh" from most of you, but it finally occured to me why there's value in counting calories. I typically have shied away from diets that required keeping track of calories, preferring either "prepackaged" foods, counting points, looking at fat content, etc. So these last two weeks have been an education for me as I've had to be conscious about how many calories I'm ingesting. First of all, as I mentioned before, there's virtually nothing on any restaurant menu that is less than 300 calories. So I've learned that I'm just going to have to go prepared to work to have lunches and even breakfast in the office and keeping low calorie snacks on hand.

But the one thing I discovered after reading some blog materials that shared the number of calories in various food items and also researching restaurant websites on my own - the thought of ingesting more than 300 calories at a time is no longer appealing to me. When watching commericals on television related to food, and seeing all the tantalizing dishes being waved in front of your face, now instead of doing the "ooh and aah -I want that!" mantra, I find myself saying "Jeez, can you imagine how many calories are in that?" I actually am finding that I'm turned off by the food products I see in front of me that are likely laden with both fat and calories. I find that instead, I enjoy rising to the challenge of finding something for 300 calories that I can eat and feel somewhat satisfied.

So now, I've got some kind of "trigger" that helps prevent me from eating a lot of calories, just because of that new level of awareness I have. I suppose this is something I should've "gotten" years ago, and likely I wouldn't be in the state I'm in now if I had understood this fairly simple principle sooner, but - it's better late than never! I think this will make my current goals a little easier to attain. We'll see.

This week was a good week in that I was in some challenging situations that I managed to handle quite nicely. We ordered pizza one night and I was able to eat only one slice and be happy with that. Had some salad along with it. Had an unexpected lunch invitation with friends on Wednesday, and they wanted to go to a Thai restaurant. Yeesh - I love me some chicken or tofu pad thai, but know how much oil they cook it in and know I can't go anywhere near it. Fortunately they had a nice tossed salad with curried chicken strips and a typical Thai peanut sauce. I kept the sauce on the side and just occasionally dipped the chicken strips in it, just enough for a taste. I felt very virtuous that day.

Challenges

My only real challenge right now I think is the exercise part. I did take my grandson for a walk in the park the other day, and at least once this week I've done the Wii Fit and Wii Boxing. But I'm having a lot of aches and pains and it's getting very hard to do the exercise. It was all I could do to walk a 1/2 mile, maybe a mile loop with the grandson, and yesterday I tried lifting 5 lb. weights and could barely get my arms up - couldn't even get my extended arm up to shoulder level with the weights. My right hip and leg have been aching like crazy as well. I don't know if these aches and pains and difficulty lifting are symptoms of being so out of shape, symptoms of age, if there's something "wrong" with me health wise, or if it's because I have been doing a little more activity than I've been used to. But it's a little concerning and I'll be keeping track of all of that to see if I need to see my doctor.

Speaking of Wii Fit, though, I forgot to mention in my first blog about Wii Fit about the "fitness age" feature. After the system takes your weight, determines your BMI and puts you through a few balance exercises, it gives you your "fit" age - as in how old your body really is. I shouldn't admit it here, but honest to God it told me that I have the body of a 75 year old! Twenty years older than I really am! Maybe that's why I have all the aches and pains! The Veema better be kicking in soon!

-3 and Counting!

My first week with the new fitness plan and I lost 3 pounds. That's a good start. That's including the fact that while I did exercise more than I have been, I still didn't exercise a lot, and it's also including the fact that I "lost" it a little bit on Friday and ate more than my 300 calories every 3 hours. However, my "binge" was still on healthy food - I didn't go out and get a Sonic Snickers Blizzard like I wanted to, so that's the good news! I'm happy.

I neglected to mention before that I'm not going to necessarily post my weight loss every week like I did when I first started this blog. You'll notice that feature is gone from the blog. With the Wii Fit, you can only put a goal for weight loss at 22 pounds at a time. So I figure that when I reach that first goal of 22 pounds lost - I'll post that, and then reset the goal on Wii Fit. That's also roughly in keeping with Weight Watchers which recommends you only set a goal of 10% of your current weight.

I've been having fun checking out the fast food websites to see what, if anything, is on their menus that is 300 calories or less. Obviously there's precious little! Even the little Jr. Deluxe Burger from Sonic that I love so much is more than 300 calories. But there are a few items. Some of the breakfast items - egg burritos for example - are around 300 calories, and you can usually find a salad with grilled chicken for 300 calories. However, that is dependent on which restaurant and how much additional "stuff" they add to the salad. For example, I love the McDonald's Southwest Grilled Chicken Salad, but because of all the extra ingredients (beans and corn and the delicious Southwest Dressing) it's way more than 300 calories. However, the Tendergrill Chicken Garden Salad at Burger King, with their packet of fat-free Ranch dressing, is exactly 300 calories - and that's typically pretty filling. I've noticed, though, with BK that they've started skimping on the salad part - it's a much smaller bowl and fewer tomatoes and carrots. But of all the fast food restaurants, I like their grilled chicken the best. Jack in the Box gets the worst scores from me for skimping on the chicken part.

I also happily discovered that a slice of pizza is anywhere from 140-196 calories, which means when we have pizza day at work this week I can at least have that one slice and added with a salad should have a very satisfying meal. As long as I can eat foods like this, even the smaller portions, at least I won't feel deprived.

I am going to start a new feature in the column to the left, sort of my own version of Hungry Girl. When I discover these little jewels of information about foods and calories, I'll post them here for everyone to access.

So who's up for a 1-slice per person pizza party?!

Vitameatavegamin!

The third approach I'm taking to this new fitness/weightloss regime is to add a vitamin supplement. This came about unexpectedly and by happenstance, and according to my son, the skeptic, is totally unnecessary and possibly dangerous.

I'm sure that vitamin and mineral supplements are necessary for me because I'm likely not getting enough through my food. But I'm notoriously bad about staying consisent on taking vitamins. I'll take prescribed medication, but staying consistent with taking a vitamin is just asking a lot of me. Not sure why, it just is.

A couple of years back a friend had me taking numerous natural supplements through a company she was working with and swore by. I was taking all sorts of things, and they each had a specific body part or health concern they targeted. But I usually had to take two to three doses of some of these supplements a day and I wound up taking 10 to 20 pills at every meal! Granted, after I had been on them a while, I really did feel better, but taking that many pills at once was just not doing it for me. And...they were expensive. I hung in there as long as I could with them, but I just couldn't sustain that level of vitamin/mineral intake!

Since then I've tried taking B12 in the morning, because my doctor determined that I'm B12 deficient, and I've tried to be consistent with taking Fish Oil in the evenings. But even just that level of intake, in addition to my prescribed medications, was more than I could do.

When I was at my hair stylist last week, she started telling me about a liquid vitamin/mineral supplement she's taking called Veema (see www.veema.com for more information). It's a two ounce shot of juice you drink each morning and it supposedly is a miracle worker. It naturally inhibits hunger (though not the sole reason to take it) - Susan said she had lost 10 lbs. in a month without trying. As well there is a long list of things it wards off , like arthritis pain, plus it enhances sleep, improves skin, eyesight, etc. She and her skeptic husband were swearing by it. She had heard of it from friends who had been on it a while and were talking about it as though it was the Fountain of Youth. It's made of the Mangosteen fruit, Aloe Vera, and Green tea and includes beaucoup vitamins and minerals, even some trace elements of minerals that you don't typically see.

This is where my son, the skeptic, went ballistic - when he read the number of "rare earth" elements that were in the drink. Frankly I thought "Rare Earth" was a 70s rock band, but at any rate, I figured there are only trace amounts of those elements in there, and I'm not too concerned. The proof, they say, is in the pudding. So I'll have to report back in a couple of weeks to see if I feel like it's having any positive affects on me.

I figure that surely I can handle a two ounce shot of juice in the morning. It tastes pretty good, so I don't have to "choke" it down like I often did pills, and it will be easy to remember to take. And they even provide a little "shot" glass to measure out the juice. It is a little pricey - $70 a month. But that's a lot less than what I was paying for the other vitamin regimen I was on, and most "serious" multiple vitamins are nearly that much.

I have to admit though, to say I'm taking a liquid vitamin supplement called Veema reminds me of the "I Love Lucy" episode where she was filming a commercial for a similar substance called "Vitameatavegamin." Apparently this "vitamin supplement" was 95% proof, and the more takes of the commercial she had to take, the more she had to drink the stuff, and the drunker she got. It's quite a hysterical episode, as she tries to say the name "Vitameatavegamin" and the drunker she gets the harder it is for her to say it. I'm pretty sure there's no alcohol in the Veema, but my son snidely remarked when he started reading the list of ingredients, "Oh, right here at the top it says it contains 'snake oil'!"

Update to my blog post from yesterday - I have intended to insert my "Mii" self into my profile photo, which is mentioned in the blog. Obviously I haven't done that yet. Stay tuned....

And Now the Exercise!

It's an unfortunate fact that the best way to lose weight is to decrease caloric intake and increase exercise. I'm working on the reduction of caloric intake, and doing okay so far, but now I've got to gird myself up for working out more often. It's always a dilemma in terms of time and place. Ideally joining a gym or the Y would be best, but I don't have the money in my budget to do that right now. There is a small exercise room in the apartment complex where we live, but I've had difficulty making myself go there. In pretty weather (i.e. - not too hot, not too cold, not raining, sleeting or snowing!) I've been known to bring my walking shoes to work and go walking in the nice little park near my office, or even just huff and puff up and down the very steep road by the office. Some evenings in the spring and summer if I come straight home from work I can go down to the little greenway that's within walking distance of my home (except that you have to cross over the interstate on a bridge - which freaks me out a bit!) And on weekends I sometimes drive to a state park that's about 30 minutes away to walk the two-mile loop there.

But the exercise needs to be sustained and that's where I tend to "flake" out. I get so annoyed with myself because I always feel so much better when I work out, even if I'm initally sore and tired because I'm so out of shape. Just one workout causes me to feel like I'm breathing easier, have more energy and believe that all things are possible. But my biggest problem is eventually getting bored, or busy, or whatever lame excuse I need to stop doing the exercise.

Wii Fit
We also faced the dilemma of how Jenn the trainer could monitor my progress. Being pregnant and the mother of an active almost two year old, we weren't sure it would always be practical for her to go with me on my walks or other workouts. And she wanted to make sure I wasn't cheating when I exercised, or going out to ostensibly exercise but skipping out (not that I would, you know!) Chase and Jenn have the Wii Game system and had been enjoying the Wii Sports that are on there - and some of those can cause you to work up a sweat. But the Wii Fit system would also help us keep track of my weight loss progress and BMI index. So we all chipped in and bought the Wii Fit system.

Wii is a pretty cool system but a little intimidating. You hold a remote that is what interacts with the system, recording your scores in the games you play, etc. With the Wii Fit, it almost becomes like "Hal" the computer in 2001: A Space Odyssey - you feel like it's human and knows your every movement! There is a pad you stand on that is both a scale and part of the recording mechanism in addition to the remote control. The first time you get on it puts you through your paces to weigh you, determine your Body Mass Index, measure your balance, and even determine your fitness "age."

The features are fun, funny, and sometimes annoying. To start you create a virtual version of yourself called a "Mii." You design the body, hair color, etc. to try to get it to look as much like you as possible. That's the "you" who will be doing the exercises on the TV, based on the movement you make yourself while holding the remote. After you've created your "Mii" the system starts assessing your weight and BMI. Then, whatever your weight is, the "Mii" morphs into that size! (See profile photo) So now I have this fat little virtual me on the screen reminding me of what I need to do.

To add insult to injury though, and to make sure you stay motivated, after that, every time you step on the scale when you first turn the system on, the scale makes this audible "oompf" sound - smart-alecky thing! And it tells you when the last time was you accessed the system and chides you for not being on it more often!

So this is my plan now: every couple of days I'll work out on the Wii Fit, where they have yoga exercises, aerobics, strength training, and balance games. I'll try to get in 30 minutes at a time, and as out of shape as I've been that feels like more than enough. I'll rest on alternate days, although on those days at lunch I'll probably at least get out and walk. On other days, instead of doing Wii Fit, I'll do Wii Sports. They have a boxing game on there that really gets you going - so that's a nice aerobic exercise that's fun too. And on weekends I'll still try to get out and walk the two mile loop at Long Hunter Park on Saturday or Sunday. The goal is to stay active, but not to get into a routine that eventually gets boring.

When I do get on the Wii Fit, it offers to weigh me every time and recalculate the BMI, which you can opt out of, but I'll probably do it at least once a week. It records your weight and shows your progress on a chart - so you're getting the visual aid of seeing how you're doing.

I can only hope that as I lose weight, my Mii person will gradually reduce in size.

She damn well better!

Addendum - A Small (or maybe large) Gripe

I 've noticed over the last few weeks that there are all these pop up ads on the Internet about earning thousands of dollars by simply going into websites and creating links, supposedly for Google. It sounds appealing and easy, but I knew there had to be a catch. In the meanwhile, I started noticing that on any website I visit, and even here on this blog, there are links that lead to nothing but more ads or comeons for various products or institutions.

Most website owners will have links to more information on their various pages. Those are underlined once and is set up to give the reader and opportunity to find more relevant information on the subject. The key word here is "relevant." See the double green underlines on some of the key words in my blog? Those are the links that have be created by these folks supposedly earning the big bucks for doing it. But if you click on those links they will go to pop-up ads or totally non-relevant websites or search engines.

To me, this is the equivalent of spam or phishing and it annoys the heck out of me. I resent going into a website that has legitimate links and also finding this non-legitimate ones. And I really hate that they're popping up on my blog! I don't want the friends (or strangers) who may read this blog to think I'm pushing something I'm not. I'm not sure if there's a way I can get rid of them - but I will if I can. There's probably no way to legislate having this stop, but I find it personally offensive.

Now that I've aired my gripe, continue reading below for the continuing saga of weight loss and fitness!