Okay, the not-quite-as-late Day 2 blog is here!
As you know, if you've read any of my other blogs, I have a history of being able to lose weight relatively easily, once I get started on a healthy eating and exercising plan. The main problem, of course, has always been I never finish the program out to my goal, and then I gain so much back.
One thing that never ceases to amaze me, however, is how fast eating clean can make a difference in how I feel. Counting last week's false start, I've had two pretty clean days (Thursday and Friday), followed by two regular days (Saturday and Sunday) followed by two more clean days (yesterday and today).
Already I feel the difference. I don't mean I'm ready to go out and run a marathon, but just the simple act of eating clean makes such a difference in how your body works, which in turns controls how you feel.
How in the world do I ever let myself get into those little streaks of eating bad, overeating? And how did I let that go on for so many years? Of course, next month when two of my kids have birthdays, I may be looking at that cake and ice cream and say "heck with how I feel, I WANT SOME."
We'll see.
For now, things are going well. Today was one of my busier days at work -- Tuesday always is. We have a weekly then two sections for the daily stacked on top of each other during the day, so it's truly run as hard as you can go from the moment I arrive until I leave. Actually, more than that -- I usually log on early early morning and get a few things done from the house before heading in.
But, I did manage to stay on the eating plan and get 32 minutes of cardio tonight. Here's the breakdown of what I've had today:
Breakfast
Eggs -- two whole
Lean ham -- 1-1/2 ounce
Lunch
Grilled chicken breast (olive oil marinade) -- 6 ounces
Black beans (1/8 cup)
Mozzarella cheese (1/4 cup)
1-1/2 cup of mixed lettuce and greens
Fat free Greek Yogurt
Snack
1/2 stuff zuchinni from last night's dinner
Banana
First Dinner
Lean roast pork -- 5 ounces
Baked sweet potato -- 5 ounces
Second dinner
Chicken breast with BBQ rub -- 6 ounces
Regular baked potato-- 6 ounces
that lower-calorie so called diet butter -- 1-1/2 tablespoon
Snack
Chicken breast with BBQ -- 3 ounces
Instant mashed potatoes (1/2 cup)
Totals for the day
1,820 calories
48 grams fat
187 grams protein
Water -- 75 ounces
Diet soda -- 60 ounces (yeah, that's bad)
Okay, I was a little high on the fat today, primarily because of the lower-calorie "diet" butter. That alone was 8 grams of fat and 72 total calories. I probably should have skipped the mashed potatoes as a snack, too, which was a whopping 120 calories. I could have traded the potatoes for another 3 ounces of the chicken, gotten better nutrition and saved 30 calories. That and the butter-thing are two small poor choices that really add up!
Exercise:
Cardio, stationary bike.
32 minutes, levels 3-4 at various times, 11 miles covered, 385 calories burned.
Well, thanks for stopping by. Come on back for my next blog, I'll tell you how much I weighed on Wednesday morning, after two days (I know, you're not supposed to weigh-in like that, but I did!)..
Showing posts with label eating clean. Show all posts
Showing posts with label eating clean. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 5, 2017
Sunday, April 17, 2016
More thoughts on food...and the realization I need to eat...well, even MORE!
Yesterday (Saturday) I stepped on the scale and weighed in at 251.6 -- exactly 26.2 pounds lower than the start day, 38 days ago. Just as importantly, that's 4.6 pounds lighter than I was 8 days ago.
Remember, this past week I wrote about starting on a new eating plan for the second month -- eating more each day than I did the first month, That started on Monday, six days ago, and that followed two days off of the diet, when I pretty much ate whatever I wanted, regardless of calories or content.
I was, and still am, a bit nervous about eating that much food and being able to keep the weight loss going. The weight loss efforts seem to be working anyway. I know I missed a couple of meals during the week because it was hard to adjust to eating more, but I feel that was more than countered by the fact that I know I weighed more than on Monday than I had on Friday, after that off weekend.
Needless to say, I was quite happy -- and a little surprised -- to see I had dropped the weight this week. At the same time, I noticed something as I went through the week. Early on, I had a lot of trouble getting all the food in. By the end of the week, I was getting hungry a lot during the day. I felt really good early in the week, but later in the week I was a little more tired, and on Friday night I even found myself struggling a bit to use the same amount of weight on the chest workout that I had used earlier in the week.
Part of that is the irritating habit I have of simply staying up too late each night, and that was exacerbated some by getting up earlier in the mornings to do my cardio first thing each day. Another part, however, was...believe it or not, I think I may not be eating quite enough.
I'm eating clean now, as opposed to eating for calories. What I mean is, during that first month, when I lost 21 pounds, I was watching calories more than anything. Yes, I was building my daily eating around mostly healthy food, but if the kids cooked some pizza rolls and I could fit them into my calories for the day, I might snag one or two. Remember that day someone at work was passing out those little candy mini-bites? I ate three (or was it four?), but managed to fit those into the calories. Same with the night we went to see the Irish musicians and I had some popcorn.
I went the first ten days of that month without an off day from the eating plan, but after that averaged about one off day every week.
Now, the plan for the second months is simply eating clean all day, every day for 30 days. Eating clean means lean proteins (chicken breast, lean pork, and red meat, egg whites, things like that). It means eating only healthy complex carbs -- things like brown rice, oatmeal, sweet potatoes, and on the rare occasions when I take in bread or pasta products, making sure they are whole wheat versions. It also means getting two to four servings of healthy veggies (carrots, broccoli, onions, peppers, green beans, snow peas, etc.) and a big old serving of green leafy veggies at least once most days, along with low-fat or fat-free sources of dairy and some fresh fruit along the way.
No pizza roles, no fatty meat, no sweets, and staying as far away from processed food as possible. The rice and oatmeal and the like are as close to their natural state as possible -- dry and uncooked, without any flavoring, preservatives and the like. The veggies are fresh or frozen (and not the frozen kind that have all sorts of flavoring and sodium added). The fruit is fresh or canned without added sweeteners.
And this is every day, seven days a week, no off days. The food, while it can be cooked and flavored (naturally, with herbs and sodium-free spices) so that it's enjoyable, is a fuel, plain and simple. It's made for fueling the body.
I've learned that when eating like this, the volume of food you take in increases dramatically, while the calories can stay relatively low. I've probably been a little too conservative with how much I'm eating, afraid it will slow my weight loss.
Of course, I've bumped up my cardio a lot over the past week, doing the stationary bike six days, 30 minutes one day, with all the rest of the days between 40 minutes and an hour. I think that's the other reason I've maintained my weight loss, even with the extra food.
So my goals this week are to continue with the cardio, but make an extra effort to ensure I get all the meals I'm supposed to -- 5 or 6 a day -- and see if I can get my calorie consumption in the 1,600 to 1,800 range and see where we go with that. Hopefully, that's enough to fuel my weight workouts and cardio without slowing the weight loss too much.
We'll see.
Anyway, that's the plan for this week. I'll check in later today to add my eating and workout for the day. Thanks for stopping by!
Remember, this past week I wrote about starting on a new eating plan for the second month -- eating more each day than I did the first month, That started on Monday, six days ago, and that followed two days off of the diet, when I pretty much ate whatever I wanted, regardless of calories or content.I was, and still am, a bit nervous about eating that much food and being able to keep the weight loss going. The weight loss efforts seem to be working anyway. I know I missed a couple of meals during the week because it was hard to adjust to eating more, but I feel that was more than countered by the fact that I know I weighed more than on Monday than I had on Friday, after that off weekend.
Needless to say, I was quite happy -- and a little surprised -- to see I had dropped the weight this week. At the same time, I noticed something as I went through the week. Early on, I had a lot of trouble getting all the food in. By the end of the week, I was getting hungry a lot during the day. I felt really good early in the week, but later in the week I was a little more tired, and on Friday night I even found myself struggling a bit to use the same amount of weight on the chest workout that I had used earlier in the week.
Part of that is the irritating habit I have of simply staying up too late each night, and that was exacerbated some by getting up earlier in the mornings to do my cardio first thing each day. Another part, however, was...believe it or not, I think I may not be eating quite enough.
I'm eating clean now, as opposed to eating for calories. What I mean is, during that first month, when I lost 21 pounds, I was watching calories more than anything. Yes, I was building my daily eating around mostly healthy food, but if the kids cooked some pizza rolls and I could fit them into my calories for the day, I might snag one or two. Remember that day someone at work was passing out those little candy mini-bites? I ate three (or was it four?), but managed to fit those into the calories. Same with the night we went to see the Irish musicians and I had some popcorn.
I went the first ten days of that month without an off day from the eating plan, but after that averaged about one off day every week.
Now, the plan for the second months is simply eating clean all day, every day for 30 days. Eating clean means lean proteins (chicken breast, lean pork, and red meat, egg whites, things like that). It means eating only healthy complex carbs -- things like brown rice, oatmeal, sweet potatoes, and on the rare occasions when I take in bread or pasta products, making sure they are whole wheat versions. It also means getting two to four servings of healthy veggies (carrots, broccoli, onions, peppers, green beans, snow peas, etc.) and a big old serving of green leafy veggies at least once most days, along with low-fat or fat-free sources of dairy and some fresh fruit along the way.
No pizza roles, no fatty meat, no sweets, and staying as far away from processed food as possible. The rice and oatmeal and the like are as close to their natural state as possible -- dry and uncooked, without any flavoring, preservatives and the like. The veggies are fresh or frozen (and not the frozen kind that have all sorts of flavoring and sodium added). The fruit is fresh or canned without added sweeteners.
And this is every day, seven days a week, no off days. The food, while it can be cooked and flavored (naturally, with herbs and sodium-free spices) so that it's enjoyable, is a fuel, plain and simple. It's made for fueling the body.
I've learned that when eating like this, the volume of food you take in increases dramatically, while the calories can stay relatively low. I've probably been a little too conservative with how much I'm eating, afraid it will slow my weight loss.
Of course, I've bumped up my cardio a lot over the past week, doing the stationary bike six days, 30 minutes one day, with all the rest of the days between 40 minutes and an hour. I think that's the other reason I've maintained my weight loss, even with the extra food.
So my goals this week are to continue with the cardio, but make an extra effort to ensure I get all the meals I'm supposed to -- 5 or 6 a day -- and see if I can get my calorie consumption in the 1,600 to 1,800 range and see where we go with that. Hopefully, that's enough to fuel my weight workouts and cardio without slowing the weight loss too much.
We'll see.
Anyway, that's the plan for this week. I'll check in later today to add my eating and workout for the day. Thanks for stopping by!
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