Saturday Weigh In

Steven says to me, "It's so nice to finally see you happy after a weigh in."

My response: "I agree."

Today I stepped on the scale and it read 280lbs.  This is a 4lb loss since last Saturday, and a 2lb loss from Monday at the Doctor's office.  So the advice to diet less and exercise more was spot on.  I'm very excited, to say the least.  It makes getting on that exercise bike a whole lot easier.

 

 Emily asked in my last entry what my dietary guidelines are.  The formula is simple.  I went to Practical Weight Loss Site - How To Lose Fat and Keep It Off. to figure out two things.  The first, how many calories I need to maintain my current weight at my current activity level.  The second to figure out how many calories I'll need to maintain my goal weight at my goal activity level.

For my current weight (280) at my current activity level (moderate - vigorous exercise 3 or 4 times a week), I need to consume 3009 calories to maintain this weight.  To lose weight I have to cause a daily deficit; 500 less to lose 1 pound a week or 1000 less to lose 2lbs a week.  For me this means I eat 2000 calories per day on all my "on program" days, which at present is 6 days a week.

Saturday is my "free" day, where I eat what I will need to eat to maintain my goal weight (145) at my goal activity level (vigorous exercise more than 4 times a week), which is 2400 calories. I subtract nothing, because I'm training myself on how to eat once I hit goal to maintain that weight.

 

Of that 2000 or 2400 calorie requirement, I aim to make the most of these calories.  I eat a high fiber, high calcium, low fat diet.  Low fat mostly because I have had gallbladder trouble and I cannot eat high fat foods like deep fried stuff on a regular basis, because my gallbladder cannot be aggrevated processing all that extra fat. 

Basically it's the food pyramid dietary guidelines.  I eat no more than 30% of my daily calorie intake from fat (and nomore 10% of that saturated), I aim for 25+ grams of fiber and over 1000 mg of calcium.

I can eat anything I want, as long as it falls under these guidelines.  It's always been about choices.  If I can fit a piece of cheesecake into this daily guideline, I'll eat a piece of cheesecake.  I just make up the differences in other ways.

 

However, what it's made me realize is I can eat more food if I make better food choices.  Let's go to Burger King for a moment.

Meal One:

Regular Whopper with Cheese      800 calories     49g fat
Large French Fries                        500 calories     25g fat
Large Coke                                  330 calories      0g fat
============================================
                                                   1630 calories  74g fat

Meal Two:

Fire Grilled Shrimp Caesar Salad  180 calories   10g fat
Garlic Parmesan Toast bites           70 calories     2.5g fat
Chili                                             190 calories    7g fat
Large Diet Coke                              0 calories     0g fat
=============================================
                                                    440 calories    19.5g fat

With Meal One, that would pretty well wipe out much of my day's calories requirements in just one meal. 

With Meal Two, however, I haven't spent all my calories in one meal, which means I'm free to make other choices just as good throughout the day, eat a lot more and be more satisfied.  With meal number two, I can even sneak in a sweet treat and still meet all my caloric and dietary requirements.

 

There is no diet.  It's retraining how I look at food.  I can still eat well and enjoy the food I eat.  I don't have to fall under that misconception that I can only eat carrot sticks and celery for the rest of the year to lose weight. 

I can eat like a normal person and enjoy the things I eat - therefore developing life long eating habits that will ultimately be better for my health AND my waistline.  I'm a big believer this is the ONLY true way to get the weight off and keep it off, rather than bounce from fad to fad and create really dire health risks by yo yo dieting. 

 

Of course the thing that will help the diet the most is how I get the body moving.   The reason I hit that frustrating plateau was that I kept trying to make dietary changes rather than get a fire stoked underneath activity.  In order to get off this plateau I'm going to have physically jump off of it, hike down from it or run far away from it.  It's going to require some really hard work.

 

And I think the key to the exercise is finding something I can enjoy doing and something I can commit to.  Nothing is in stone.  I can ride the bike this week and do something completely different next week.  So to help this process I'm going to go to some gyms and the YMCA next week and figure out who has the best facility to fit our needs (because I'm dragging Steven with me) both with time and money.

 

An interesting thing occurred to me this morning.  I realized that I don't spend enough individual time with my kids.  I am so stressed about treating them fairly that I've become an unfair parent by treating them exactly the same, when they're two different people.

So I decided that as soon as I get my wheels I'm going to start taking my handsome boys on dates.  And you want to know where my mind automatically went?  Taking them out to restaurants.  I was going to center all my attention on them around food.  Fortunately I was able to self correct before we even got started down that detrimental road.  Instead I started to think of fun stuff I could do with the kids that didn't involve food at all.  Things I never would even considered - things like bowling, minature golf, buying the family bikes and biking together, going to natural places like parks and lakes, fishing, boating, etc. 

 

The most important thing to consider as I'm doing those things is to not be afraid to fail.  I have issues with that, as you well know.  I have to be willing to land on my face and come up laughing, instead of feeling such self loathing I couldn't be "perfect".  It's not going to be easy, granted.  But nothing I've done this last year has been easy, and I wouldn't change a thing.  

 

Tip of the Day:  NOT ALL FATS ARE CREATED EQUAL. Some fats are actually good for you.  Where you probably should pass on the King Sized french fries, you can definitely grab a handful of nuts as a snack.  You can smear a bit of peanut butter on your high fiber toast in the morning for a sweet treat that will help hold you over until your mid morning meal.  Live life on the wild side, throw some avocado on your salad.  Fish like salmon has omega 3 fatty acids  that can actually help you prevent heart disease. 

How fat helps your diet is that, unlike carbohydrates, it digests slowly and causes no insulin surge which leads to over eating.  Plus it keeps you satisfied longer.  Hence, no deprivation. 

 

WORKOUT DETAILS - TBA

 

DAILY STATS - TBA

DAILY AFFIRMATION: My strength is as limitless as my resolve to make the changes I know I'm worthy of making.