Week Two- Day Two -- Late work day

Food
Breakfast: Banana
Lunch: Part of a porterhouse steak, green beans, and a small potato
Supper: The rest of the steak in a sandwich with some steak sauce on it
Snack: An apple and a yogurt
After work snack: small piece of fish and tomato "sandwich" made with ONE slice of bread, mayo and tomato.

Exercise: None

Week Two- Day One

Breakfast Peanut butter toast

Snack: a few nuts

Lunch: Sandwich wrap made with tortilla, turkey breast, roast beef, lettuce, shredded cheese and dressing

carrots, radishes, peach

Snack: More nuts and a diet coke

Supper: Fish, slaw, and green beans

Snack: Dressed up slaw ( Same slaw to which I added apple, raisins, pecans & another packet of sugar substitute

Week One- Day Seven

I was down at least 4 pounds this morning! Maybe 5. My scale jumps back and forth on its "diagnosis".

Breakfast: one banana and a piece of peanut butter toast (with a little margarine on it)

In church snack: three pieces of sugar free hard candy

Lunch: Ryan's mega bar
a small piece of steak, two ribs with BBQ sauce, one small ear of corn (buttered), turnip greens with pepper vinegar. Salad with a dressing of olive oil and vinegar. One buttered roll. Two cookies, a very small portion of cherry cobbler and some vanilla ice cream

I'm hoping I can convince myself that water with lime juice in it is all I need before going to bed.

Week One- Day Six

Breakfast a banana


Lunch: Porterhouse stead

Snack: cantaloupe

Supper: Chicken and rice,
Cooked apples-- cooked with cinnamon and sugar substitue

Snack: A bacon-egg-cheese-onion sandwich

Week One- Day Five

Breakfast: a banana

Lunch: Porterhouse steak
Green bean salad
Cantaloupe

Snack: a few mixed nuts

Dinner: Chicken and rice
Green bean salad
cantaloupe

Snack: 2 (cold) chicken wings) salad made with raisins, sunflower seeds, croutons, grated cheese, radishes, carrots, onions and lettuce Dressing: jalapeño vinegar, olive oil, sugar substitute, garlic pepper, salt.

Week One- Day Four

Breakfast: Coffee, banana (105) and a breakfast bar (140)
Snack: a few nuts(100) and pork skins (160)

Lunch: chicken and rice with carrots, celery, onion, and water chestnuts added
eaten with a stick of celery (400) (1 cup of white rice is about 200; add another 100 for the chunks of chicken; and another (100 for everything else just to be on the long side)

Snack: Cheese stick (60)

Supper: 5 chicken wings (120) and a very small potato, raw (50)
Cup of raspberry cappuccino (75).
snack: apple (80) with peanut butter (3 Tbsps-140)
10 mixed nuts = 86

Week One-Day Three

Breakfast: Peanut butter sandwich

Snack: nuts and diet coke

Lunch:Chicken and rice to which I had added cooked green pepper, onion, & crushed pepper

snack:yogurt and a peach

Supper:Salad with radishes, carrots, onion, grated cheese, boiled egg and sunflower seeds and golden raisins

Dressing made with white vinegar, sugar substitute, some mayo, garlic/pepper seasoning, also ground red pepper.


Snack: The rest of last night's tomato soup to which I added some sautéed onions, garlic, and celery and some crushed red pepper.

Week One- Day Two

Breakfast:about a cup of Oatmeal with milk and a banana

It didn't hold. I got hungry at 10:30; maybe because I usually get a snack at work at this time every day.


Early lunch: Ate rice and chicken cooked with onion and green pepper
small piece of cantaloupe


Afternoon Snack: two cheese sticks and a grapefruit

Before bed: Tomato Soup

Week One-Day One

Breakfast
2 boiled eggs
1 banana

Snack
a few mixed nuts

Lunch
Sandwich wrap made with Basil Tomato wrap (100) and lettuce, turkey, roast beef, some mayo, and a salad dressing
Baby carrots and radishes

Peach
Diet coke

Snack
an apple

Supper
Tilapia
slaw
mixed vegetables with some margarine

Getting Back in the Saddle Again

Hopefully while I'm off from work this week, I can take some time to chart out my meals and their calorie counts.

The 7-Day Low-Carb Rescue and Recovery Plan

This book seems to be aimed at people who have had a degree of success with low carb dieting but have fallen "off the wagon." But it is for anyone who wants to lose weight.

Their FIRST objective is NOT to lose weight. They tell you right up front that if you are wanting a quick fix, this is not the book for you. They are aiming for a change in the way we eat and that is what they work to introduce in their "7-Day" Plan.

The 7 Days actually can grow to more than 7. It would have been more accurately called a 7-Step Plan. Probably they wanted to reel in more readers with the idea that it was something that could be done in a week BECAUSE IT IS POSSIBLE THAT IT COULD BE.

The seven steps are done one at a time with the next being added only after the previous are being done comfortably as the plan dictates.

The point, reiterating, is to change the way we eat. Since that is not so easy to do, they took a workable approach. Before they subtracted, they added.

These are the seven steps:
One
Continue to eat as you have been eating, but add one low carb protein to every meal and snack. (They give a list that you can choose from.) There is no limit to how much you can eat or there is no designated amount of the amount of low carb protein that you add. The idea behind it is that you are going to add into your diet an element that is going to help stabilize your blood sugar for a longer period of time than what you were previously eating did.

Two
Continue to follow the guideline of One. In addition, add on low-carb vegetables and/or salad to lunch, dinner, and snacks. Make sure the vegetables and salads you add TASTE GOOD. The amount you add is not as important as being consistent. ADD these to what you would have eaten BEFORE the plan. You don't add anything at breakfast; just continue with guideline One at breakfast.

Three
Continue with guidelines One and Two. In addition, BALANCE all meals and snacks. That is, include a good portion of low-carb protein, vegetables, and/or salad in relation to high-carb foods that you would normally eat. Use the amount of protein that you eat in a meal to determine the amount of high carb food that you eat. You don't need to weigh or measure; just use your eye to balance the portions. To get a good balance, for breakfast the protions can be divided up to half high-carb foods and half low-carb foods but never more high-carb than low-carb.

At lunch, dinner, and snacks, continue the same balance: eat only as much high-carb food (including starches and sweets in total) as you eat of low-carb protein at that meal. You may choose to eat more low-carb protein than high-carb foods but never the reverse.

Four
Continue guidelines One, Two, and Three. Additionally, at all meals and snacks, eat TOWARD your carbs. Hold on until you've finished your low-carb protein, vegetables, and salad before you begin to eat your high-carb foods.


Five
Continue guidelines One, Two, Three,and Four
Hold on and save all of your high-carb foods for meals only.
At all Snacks, eat only low carb foods.

Six
Continue guidelines One through Five. Additionally, at all snacks AND at one meal eat only low carb foods. Hold on and have all of your high-carb foods at no more than tow meals daily.

Seven
Continue One through Six. Additionally, at two meals AND at all snacks eat only low-carb foods. Hold on and have all of your high-carb foods at only one meal each day (which they call your "reward meal").

Continuing Success
Whenever you experience intense cravings, chances are something you ate is throwing your insulin levels out of balance.

Going back to the beginning, let me say here that Beginning Success is geared to enjoying what you eat. They emphasize making the things that you add to your meals taste good to you or you will not keep on with the changes that you make.

So, I'm supposing that they feel it it more an imbalance of the wrong foods over the right ones that leads to weight gain.

Oh, I will have to check this out. (I haven't finished the book yet.) But I think that they also say in there somewhere that as the foods you are adding cause you to be less hungry, cut back your portions.

The end result of that is smaller portions of food that is balanced. Or, in other words, a healthy eating plan.

Eureka!!

I went by Dollar Tree on my way into Huntsville last evening. I had my grandboys with me and was letting them "shop" for some treasures. I meandered on over to the books. There was one there that caught my attention.

The Seven-Day Low-Carb Rescue and Recovery Plan

I picked it up and started browsing through it.

Pretty good.

Hmmm. For $1 I might get MORE out of this that I do for the $2 I spend on Woman's World ever week. (They always feature some diet.)

When I finally got home I settled in and began reading it.

I must say I'm impressed.

I'm much more impressed by what they had to say in this book that I was when I checked out their other book. They also wrote the Carbohydrate Addict's Diet. I took a quick look at that and dismissed it entirely. I'm not sure which book was written first, but I sure like their approach on this one a lot better.

So much so that I got up this morning and started off doing what they suggested.

If you forgot to brush your teeth last night

If you forgot to brush your teeth last night, did you decide this morning to throw in the towel and never brush your teeth again? Since you're obviously a slob who doesn't have enough self- discipline to remember to brush your teeth, why bother brushing them at all if you forgot to last night?

Of course not.

So if you had ice cream for dinner last night, or didn't exercise yesterday, or gained a pound this week, don't throw in the towel! Make a healthier choice for dinner tonight by eating something lean. Go for a short walk. Weigh in again next week.

Just do NOT give up.


Sparkpeople

A borrowed mantra

"I can eat whatever I want,
but I can never eat all that I want."

Peggy Skaggs

This Is My New Plan.... #679 probably

I've been planning to do something about getting more weight off since the first of February. February 1 was an arbitrarily chosen date based on my normal yearly schedule.

Holidays over.

Fellowship meeting behind me.

Inventory done.

But this year other factors contributed to the demise of my good intentions.

I've been watching a number of folks I go to church with get slimmer and slimmer. They are not all using the same method.

One chose the Idiot-Proof diet. Others are counting points. Others are just watching their portions. But a number of them are LOSING. And here I am still trying to decide what to do to start.

Last night I came up with an idea that I thought might work for me.

I lost the weight I did last year counting calories. I like that method but it really did take a lot of time to count up everything I had eaten every day and right now I just don't want to take that much time to count calories every day.

I have been trying to think of something that will work with my changing schedule. And I came up with this plan:

MY NEW PLAN

Get a three ring binder. (I bought a small one and the paper for it.)

Divide it into sections of Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, and Snacks.

Then divide each section into calorie levels, say of 200, 300, 400, 500 calories.


If I choose a 400 calorie breakfast, then I'll have to choose a lower calorie lunch. Or if I have a low calorie breakfast and lunch, I can choose a higher calorie supper. But I will have handy right there in my notebook the right calorie size choices that I need so that I won't have to be doing a whole lot of counting EVERY day. Meals with precounted calories. And I will have CHOICES to look at so that I'm not trying to figure out what I can eat as I go.

And, I will have a list of snacks to choose from that fall into the 100-200 calorie range and I won't be trying to figure out what I can eat that will be the right amount of calories.


All I'll have to do is go to my "handy-dandy notebook" and find something of the right number.

I can write my recipes for anything that is good down and put it right there in my notebook.

So, at least I've taken the first step.

I bought the notebook and paper.

It's HARD to be overweight.

It's HARD to lose weight.

It's HARD to maintain weight loss.

You just have to pick your hard!

Good Habits

This post was taken from a Spark Message Board written by Tango5617 (Her post precedes all the comments so if you go there to find it, you have to go to the first entry.)

"Well, I've just checked, and as of April 4th, I've been a member of Spark people for over two years now. What has changed?

I've lost nearly 40 pounds so far, most of it in the first 7 months with Spark people. Then, I maintained that weight loss through about 7 different major life stressors (ended an engagement, quit a job, moved, death in family, serious illness in family, moved again, started new job). It's been an interesting year or two.

What helped?

My new good habits that Spark people taught me.



1. Start small. Every little bit counts (both in exercise and in nutrition).



2. Track everything. This helps you control what you can, while forcing you to realize what you can't control.



3. Develop good habits and it's harder to be derailed. If you're consistently tracking everything, it's easier to see that occasional off moments don't have to mean sliding completely off track. Just because I overate at one meal doesn't mean I've "blown it" and might as well take the rest of the week off. Tracking shows that all it really means is that you can start fresh the next day, or the next meal.



4. Take it one choice at a time. When I started, I didn't even know what I didn't know. Looking at my life now, I've changed in so many ways that it would take a LONG essay to even list them all. None of it happened overnight; all of it happened one choice at a time.



5. Be gentle with yourself. You can only do your best. Some days your best isn't as good as it is other days. Realizing that this is ok, and that it's a natural cycle has made such a difference. As I've learned to be more forgiving of myself, I've found my manner towards others also becoming more gentle. I like who I'm becoming.



6. Sharing with others really helps. It's scary to ask for help sometimes, and it can even be really intimidating to realize you need help. The positive community of all the Sparkers has really made a difference to me. I know that many times, logging on and chatting with team members made a difference. The accountability factor can be incredible. Most impressive? In my darkest night, when I was ready to throw in the towel completely, feeling that if I couldn't track everything every day then I should probably just quit and try again once my life settled down, I posted on the "Help!" thread. Almost immediately, two strangers took me to task in the most loving way possible, and called me on my behavior. Just because I couldn't do everything perfectly didn't mean I had to give up. Such a valuable lesson, and delivered at just the right moment. (I kept tracking as I could, despite my crazy travel schedule, and now I'm delighted to realize that I can estimate fairly accurately how much I've eaten. This, for a non-mathematical English major, is a substantial accomplishment, and one I would never even have aimed for otherwise!)



7. Scaffolding really works! The idea is that you can take success in one area and use it to build success in other areas as well. For example, my new awareness of nutrition in the grocery store has led to greater awareness of cost, which has led to better budgeting than ever before. Learning how to break down huge goals, such as "lose weight," into manageable chunks has helped me to begin breaking down another huge goal, "keep a tidier house." It all ties together!



So, on my second anniversary, Sparkpeople, I just wanted to thank you again for saving my life. My habits are much healthier and I've learned how to succeed. I'm lighter in body, stronger, and more able to tackle everyday challenges. I'm happier and more able to choose my happiness. I'm even a nicer person.



Thank you. I look forward to seeing what the next two years bring!"

-Tango

SPARKpeople is a weight loss website which provides community support, a nutrition tracker, fitness tracker, and weigh-ins FOR FREE.

Interested? Check them out.


A 15 minute "desk workout" from Sparkpeople

The Core Plan

The following is excerpts taken from an article About.com published on Sept 3, 2004

The Core Plan controls calories by focusing on a core list of wholesome, nutritious foods without tracking or counting. The list includes foods from all the food groups -- fruits and vegetables, grains and starches, lean meats, fish and poultry, eggs and dairy products -- to ensure that all nutritional requirements are met. People can also have occasional treats in controlled amounts on the Core Plan.

More Satisfaction, Fewer Calories
The Core Foods List was created to provide maximum eating satisfaction without empty calories. It emphasizes foods that have low-energy density, or few calories per unit volume.

"One of the key things scientific research has shown is that from a very young age, people are trained to eat a volume of food, not a certain amount of calories.

"To lose weight, people should eat foods that have low-energy density, that is, foods that are high in volume, but low in calories," said Weight Watchers Chief Scientific Officer, Karen Miller-Kovach.

"We also identified foods that are linked with overeating and removed them from the Core List. Once the Core Plan was developed, we tested it until we were convinced it allowed people to achieve healthy, effective weight loss, with no counting or tracking.

To learn more about Weight Watchers services, products and publications, visit WeightWatchers.com. To find the nearest Weight Watchers meeting location, call 1-800-651-6000 or click on the Find a Meeting link at the top of the homepage. Weight Watchers offers subscriptions for people wanting to follow Weight Watchers online.

This article was adapted from a news release provided by WeightWatchers.com.

I've been looking around at various "diets" to decide what way I want to lose more weight. I am thinking strongly about trying out this plan simply because there is not so much involved in trying to put some kind of number value on everything you eat. Whether it's counting points or counting calories, I just don't want to figure all that out right now.

The essence of the core plan, for those who aren't familiar with it, is that you can eat as much of the following foods as you wish (as long as you don't stuff yourself), while following some basic "good health guidelines", (which require you have a certain minimum daily intake of water, fruits and vegetables, dairy, and 2 tsp of "healthy oils" --olive, canola, flaxseed oil. Also, a multi-vitamin)

Here's the list of "allowed" foods:
~lean meats, fish, poultry
~nonfat dairy products, eggs
~whole grains (not whole grain products, just the whole grains themselves)
~sweet potatoes, potatoes, whole wheat pasta, brown rice
~beans and legumes, tofu
~more or less all fresh, frozen, or canned fruits or vegetables as long as they aren't in syrup(but not juices or dried fruits/veggies)
~coffee, tea
~most condiments (I've interpreted "most" as "all") and all herbs and spices, of course

"Limited" foods are:
~"healthy fats" 2 tsp required per day
~potatoes OR brown rice OR whole wheat pasta limited to one meal per day

Also, you get 35 extra "points" per week (more if you exercise) to spend on "non-core" foods at your discretion, if you want an occasional pat of butter, or a glass of wine or bump up your dairy from "non-fat" to "low-fat", etc.

Got 10?

"Where did the day go?"

Is this a common question in your life? Many of us jam-pack so much stuff into our daily routines, seemingly there's no time to relax for just one minute, let alone exercise. Lack of time is one of the most common excuses for not having a decent fitness regimen. But do you realize that in the time it might take you to go through your e-mail, you could fit in a good workout? We're not talking about giving up 60 minutes either; all you need is 10.

Just 10?
Forget the "all or nothing" mentality when it comes to exercise. Fitness does not live or die by 60-minute workouts; there is middle ground. Short spurts of exercise, when they accumulate, have been shown to share similar benefits of longer workouts.

Your body will reap numerous benefits just by becoming more active. This approach is perfect for times when you don’t have time for a regular workout, or when you want to start off slowly and build up a routine.

Easier Than You Think
Treat these 10 minutes like you would a regular workout. Take 1-2 minutes to warm up and get the muscles ready, including stretching. Follow with at least 7 minutes of exercise at a medium or high intensity. Then make sure to include a 60-second cool down.

Since it’s brief, it’s important to work at a fairly high intensity to obtain all of the benefits. Work at raising your heart and respiration rates. Just like regular workouts, try to include cardio, strength training and flexibility work in your shortened routine. Either knock out all three during the 10 minutes, or plan a 10-minute segment for each area.

Example: Push out 10 cardio minutes on the stationary bike. For strength, do push-ups, wall sits, or lift dumbbells. For flexibility, it’s helpful to just stretch every day. Work different muscle groups and keep it simple. After 10 minutes, you will feel healthier and be on your way to developing solid fitness habits.

But I Still Don’t Have Time
It only takes 30 minutes a day, broken up into manageable chunks of 10. Start with a quick exercise when you wake up. The second session? A lunch break is possibly the perfect time to re-energize and get the blood flowing again. The last 10-minute blitz could come in the evening, even while you are watching TV. It’s an ideal way to involve the family as well. Go for a power walk after dinner with your spouse or ride bikes with the kids.

It is all about convenience; if you try, you can fit exercise into your schedule no matter where you are. Do it at home or at work, outside or in the living room. Start building exercise spurts into your daily routine and you’ll start feeling better.
Article created on: Spark Small Bits of Fitness Add Up
Exercise Comes in All Shapes and Sizes
-- By Liz Noelcke, Staff Writer 5/14/2004

Small Changes Can Make Big Differences

Taken from an article found at Healthlink

"Most physicians and, I believe many of our patients, find the challenges of dealing with obesity overwhelming. Sadly, approximately 127 million adults in the US are overweight. Of those, 60 million are obese, and 9 million are severely obese. As the entire population of the US is just under 300 million, over half of all Americans weigh too much! When looking at the adult population over 20, the figures are even more disconcerting with just under 65% overweight or obese.

One common response is to go on a "diet." For most people, this implies an attempt to abruptly change one's eating habits and/or exercise patterns, often all at once and at great expense. Americans spend more than $33 billion annually on weight loss products (books, programs, pills, etc.).

The sad fact is that while some of these may yield impressive results in the near term, virtually all of the people who experience that first flush of success gain back all of the weight they lost within one year. Maintaining the needed discipline is just too hard for most people. In addition to the frustration that failure can bring is the accumulation of all of the weight loss stuff that you bought. They seem to end up in the trash or some dark corner in the cupboard. The equipment is stored only to emerge again at some future yard sale.

While I understand the desire for people to want to quickly lose weight, the reality is that just doesn't make sense. There is not one obese person in the world who went to bed one night thin and svelte and awoke the next morning to find themselves grossly overweight. If we didn't put the weight on overnight, why do we think that we can lose it that fast? Besides being unrealistic, it is also unhealthy and creates a cycle of failed attempts that result in profound discouragement.

My hope is that people would focus on the development of a healthy lifestyle as opposed to losing weight. If getting healthier is what you really want, you will lose weight as a byproduct. This means making small and sustainable changes that you can weave into your daily routine over time. It also is an opportunity to create a pattern of small and sustainable successes that build confidence through progress instead of undermining it.

I will list just a few things that you can do that will make a difference. Pick just one, and to start with, pick the one that will be the easiest for you.

1. Make an appointment to see your doctor for a brief physical exam to look for high blood pressure, diabetes, and elevated cholesterol as well as to get an accurate baseline weight and some initial counseling.
2. Have a healthy breakfast every day. People who skip breakfast often snack throughout the morning and are likely to eat a much larger lunch, thereby actually increasing their calorie intake.
3. Look carefully at the beverages you drink. Many people wrongly think that fruit juices are a useful when trying to lose weight, when in fact they are sources of extra calories. The same is true for sweetened ice teas and some "athletic" drinks. Water or diet sodas are preferable.
4. "Sneak in" some exercise. Stairs instead of the elevator, a daily walk after a meal or parking further from the door are all easy ways to begin.
5. Moderate your alcohol intake. One glass of wine or one bottle of beer per day is more than enough.
6. Slow down your eating - you will develop a sense of fullness that can reduce the amount that you eat.

In addition, weigh yourself no more than once per week and always at the same time. Don't get upset with yourself if you fail once in awhile - just keep going!! There are many more first steps out there - check out the website of the American Obesity Association for other ideas and strategies."

I emphasized the words in bold and did the strikeout.

The person responsible for writing the above article was not identified.