Friday, April 5th, Cardio & Cafe

Good Morning Botts:

I was out of the office yesterday and my computer at home kept shutting me off last night as I try to respond to everyone's post yesterday.  I will answer everyone today.  It looks like it is going to be a nice day today and a fantastic weekend with temps in the 70's.  I am giving my niece a baby shower on Sunday that I am looking forward to.  My eats for today are:

Breakfast:  Coffee & Miralax

Snack:  Quest Cookie Dough Bar

Lunch:  Quest Brownie Bar

Snack:  Protein Shake

Dinner:  Subway 6" Steak & Cheese

Snack:  Vitatop

I hope everyone has a great day and a wonderful weekend too.  Don't forget those vits and fluids.

Good Morning!!! Spring is coming. I can hardly believe it. Now if I can just manage not to freeze to death until it really warms up.

I'd love to say that I had a fantastic nutritionist appotintment. I will say it wasn't a BAD appointment. The question I posed after she looked over my food & exercise log and declared them wonderful was  simply "Why am I still Fat?" She couldn't answer that.

She did think I was waiting to long between my evening meal and breakfast. So I'm going to try and eat breakfast within the first hour of getting up. And she was pretty convinced that I needed to add a few more "good" carbs to my meals and snacks. Basically she stressed the importance of more balance this far out from surgery. I agreed to try her way for the next month while continuing to keep the logs of food, exercise and blood sugar levels. I'm optimistic and skeptical at the same time.

Breakfast:  Skim Milk & protein bar

commute:   coffee

snack:       homemade granola bar

lunch:       Ham & swiss on whole wheat & an apple

snack:       Triscuits & string cheese

dinner:       Leftover chili & tossed salad

snack:       greek yogurt & a dusting of some sort of cereal on top

Hopefully the weather won;t be too bad after work so I can take the dog for a good walk. It was damp and windy this morning. Got the morning vitamins and meds in so I'm off to a good start.

- Iris

Hi Iris:

What is your current calorie, protein, fat and carb ratio right now?  It may be that you just need to adjust your foods instead of your numbers to start the scale moving again.  For example:  for me to lose weight, I have to keep my calories at 1000 or less and my protein, fat, carb ratio to 1/2 protein, 1/4 fat, 1/4 carbs.  (100 protein, 25 fats, 25 carbs).  For me to maintain, I can eat around 1200-1300 calories, 100 protein, 60-70 carbs and 25 fats.  This is how my metabolism works.  I have seen some posters say they can eat 1800-2000 calories a day and maintain.  I will gain on anything above 1300 calories a day. 

Iris

I have a friend that is a wls support group leader and has maintained her weight well.  She says that she discovered that in order to loose she need to eat protein within 30 -60 minutes of getting up in the morning.  She struggled for months to get a break a plateau and that is what did it for her. Doesn't know why.  I mentioned this to my doctor and he agreed.  Protein in the morning soon after waking.  It's worth a try.

Hi Iris,

Have you considered changing over to muscle building workouts in addition to cardio?  Weight bearing exercises add muscle, which burns fat more efficiently, and effectively (no, muscle does not weigh more than fat...a pound of fat weighs a pound, so does a pound of muscle, feathers, etc).

But I have seen it in action (not for me because I didn't stay with the gym long enough), but it does work, and you don't have to decrease your caloric intake drastically, because you will NEED those calories, and sometimes more.

Cardio is great, but to really burn fat, and continue to burn long after a workout, weights are the way to go.  That will be another goal for me once I can lift, push or pull again.  Right now, lifting a frying pan is almost off limits :)

Today we are having our monthly pitch-in at work and I always struggle to stay within my calorie budget and rarely do I succeed.  I don’t know if I will ever get my brain reprogrammed into thinking that meals like these (pitch-ins, church dinners, family reunions, holidays, etc.) do not give me an excuse to overeat.  I want it to become natural for me to think that the occasion is special but the eating is not!  I’m not there yet.  I will always be a work in process and I’m okay with that. 

EATS

Early Morning:  2 cups coffee w/SF hazelnut creamer

B:  Unjury Protein Shake

S:  Minestra soup, 5 bite-size meatballs

L:  ½ cup lasagna, ½ cup chicken penne, Italian cream cake

S:  Unjury Protein Shake

D:  ?  Nothing or maybe something light

S:   Nothing

(You probably figured out that the theme of the pitch-in is Italian)

TOTALS:  So far…  1452 Calories, 103 g Protein (only 8 calories left in my budget)

Angela:

My secret weapon to not bingeing on the family reunion meals is this:  I eat a protein bar right before I go.  I am still full from the bar so I can only eat a few spoons of something really yummy.  It took my mind time to wrap around this idea but I used a quality 170 calories and 20 grams of protein instead of spending the 170 calories on 1/3 of piece of cake loaded with carbs.  I still enjoyed my favorites but only a bite or two of them.

Good Morning Botts

I got up very early this morning to make an hour drive to The Woodlands for a workshop to introduce me to my new IPhone 5.  It was fast and furious and although I learned some things it mostly served to show me I need to sign up for one on one instruction.  I am OLD and I can't remember half of what she said and it went too fast for taking notes legibly.  For $99 dollars I can get one on one instruction for a year.  There is no limit to the number of sessions I just need to make an appointment.  Once I verify that this is correct I will probably do it.   That's cheap for unlimited instruction for a year.

Today my eats are

Breakfast     Ready to drink chocolate protein drink

Lunch           Protein bar

snack            Protein soup

Dinner           don't know yet

snack            protein pudding

Tomorrow I will take a day trip.  The wild flowers are blooming.  I am hoping to find fields of Texas bluebonnets and Indian paint brush along with the purple verbeana and yellow whatever they ares that I see around town.  It is supposed to be a beautiful weekend.

Got that protein going.  I love the spring when all the flowers are in bloom.  It is going to feel like summer here for the next few days.  Gotta love it!!!

Question, Tess and Angela :  Where do you get your Unjury protein shake mix?  I tried GNC online, Netrition.com, Vitalady, and the Unjury site, which was the only place that had them available.  It was 22.00 (I think) for 17 scoops, and 6.95 shipping.

I'm still going to try it, but was wondering if I could get it for less than the shipping cost.  Thanks!