Thu (8-30) TOTAL CALORIES: 1229

I was 189.5 this morning!!! My scales play tricks with me. I have to get on twice to get a good reading. The first one was 188.5 WOW! wouldn't that have been nice??? But I guess I can conclude I didn't sabotage my diet with what I ate yesterday.

Coffee, 2 cups
"Breakfast": Broiled chicken breast and slaw. I seasoned the chicken with garlic salt and a little Cajun seasoning.

 Slaw
scant cup of shredded cabbage
3 Tbsp chopped green pepper
3 Tbsp chopped onion
1 small apple cut in chunks
2 baby carrots shredded
1 Tbsp Hellman's light mayonnaise
2 packets sugar substitute
jalapeno vinegar

Cut up chicken and add to "slaw"

Snack: Two pieces of string cheese.

Lunch: Sandwich and veggies

Snack: Yogurt and a small apple

After work: Small baked potato (warm water added for moisture),
salt and pepper and a topping of
1/3 cup green peppers, chopped
1/3 cup chopped onions
1 small jalapeño pepper sautéed with
1 slice of bacon (nutrition facts given)

Calorie Count Food Log:
Thu, Aug 30 2007
Chicken Breast, 1/2 broiled 260
Salad 140
coffee 40
coffee 40
Total Calories Consumed 480
Sandwich 240
4 Carrots, Baby - Raw 14
4 Radishes - Raw 3
Activia Yogurt 110
1 string cheese 60
1 string cheese 60
apple 65
Total Calories Consumed 1,032
1/3 cup Peppers, Sweet, Green - Raw chopped 10
1/3 cup Onions - Raw 22
1 slice bacon 35
1 small Potatoes, Baked, Flesh And Skin - With Salt 128
1 small Pepper, Jalapeno - Raw 2
Total Calories Consumed 1,229

Exercise

The reason I began this diet in the first place was because my weight had become TOO HEAVY for my knees. Maybe I should have cared, but I did NOT care that my weight affected my appearance. AT least I didn't care enough to do anything.

But as my weight creeped up, my knees began to complain about it. Especially did they complain if I picked up extra water weight. Something about fluid gain makes you miserable all over. It even affects your moods.

One day when I clocked out at work, my knees actually started SCREAMING. I was afraid I was not even going to be able to walk out of the store to my car. A fellow worker who was leaving at the same time had an empty shopping cart she was going to push to the front. I asked to "use it". I used it as a "walker" to get myself out of the store. By the time I got to the front, the pain in my knees had alleviated enough that I was able to walk across the parking lot without the aid of the shopping cart.

That day my weight had "bounced up" to 210.5. It's not unusual for me to sometimes pick up a fluid gain of 3-5 pounds. But adding that fluid to 207 was just TOO MUCH.

That "crisis" --needing the cart to get me out of the store-- was my "wake up call". I knew I had to quit preferring my taste buds over my knees.

First, I got serious about my knees. I thought I needed to strengthen them. Then, it occurred to me that probably what I needed to do was NOT to workout my knees, but to strengthen my legs --above and below the knee-- so that they were doing more of the work. I began doing some leg strengthening exercises intermittently. I also did some "light-weight" stuff to help my knees.

A friend gave me a DVD of Leslie Sansome Inhome One Mile Walk. That really worked well for me because, with my knees tending to give out SUDDENLY, I was afraid to GO FOR a walk that took me very far from the house.

When I started this One Mile Walk, I could hardly get through half of it. I've done it enough now that I can make it through and even do the arm movements. It has been a great energizer for me. I'm not sure if it has helped in my weight loss. I really don't seem to get around to doing it but about two or three times a week. And it's only 16 minutes, so it can't be helping weight loss a lot. But IT HAS BEEN A TREMENDOUS AID TO MY ENERGY LEVELS.

Energy to do what you have to do just makes life better all around.