My weight's been updated now that the scale has batteries. lol.
I have to say I'm pretty upset with how high my weight has gotten in only a year. I started last year at about 222 and now I'm almost at 280, and that's
ridiculous. I really don't know what my body thinks its doing! I haven't been this heavy in 15 years! I sure have my work cut out for me!
This is a big eye-opener for me, that's for sure.
Yesterday DH and I started the day off right, with some scrambled eggs, bellpeppers, and sauteed mushrooms for breakfast. I also made a test batch of Flax meal waffles and served those. I may continue to make them, but maybe with almond flour instead? Not sure. The benefit of the flax meal is that there is so much fiber in flax, it essentially has 0 net carbs. I served them with a little butter and some sugar free maple syrup.
Dinner was steamed vegetables and pork roast, with 1 slice of buttered whole grain bread.
But we ended up having ice cream for dessert, so that most likely put me over my goal for the day. Boo.
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MONDAY GROUP UPDATES
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I'm seeing a lot of "I didn't do so well today" posts, and it's only our first week on our health plans! We all need to take a moment and look at what it is that caused us to go off plan, and what we can do to avoid future slip-ups.
Was it eating dinner at a restaurant? Next time, look for the "light and fit" (or similar) menu, or choose a salad with the dressing on the side. Pro tip: do NOT pour the dressing on your salad. Instead, dip your fork into the dish to get a little dressing on the tines, and pick up your next bite of salad. You'll get the flavor of the dressing without all those extra calories.
Did you go to a party/event where junk food was served? Next time, eat healthy food before you go to the event. Make sure it's filling, high protein food so you're not hungry later. Bring a snack bar along with you in your purse so that if you do end up getting hungry, you can snack on something from your 'approved foods' list instead of eating junk.
Was there alcohol involved? It may not seem like it, but alcohol can pack in SO many calories. Try adding a low sugar or sugar free liquor to a diet soda, club soda, or low calorie mixer instead. Don't choose blended/mixed beverages like pina coladas, which often contain cream, syrups, and tons of sugar.
Do you like to have dessert after every evening meal? There are a wide range of healthier dessert options that still taste good: Skinny Cow is one brand of low calorie dessert options. Additionally, you can try having a scoop of frozen Lite whipped topping with a drizzle of chocolate syrup or some sprinkles instead of ice cream. Tastes good, and has far fewer calories! A cup of hot cocoa with a few marshmallows in it can feel like a decadent treat without racking up too many calories, too.
Were you too tired to cook dinner and got takeout instead? Try batch cooking! What's batch cooking? That's where you prepare and freeze multi-serving meals in advance, so that they can be reheated later without much effort from you. Choose one day a week to prepare food for the week, or do what I do: prepare 2-night meals every other day, so I don't have to cook 7 days a week. I cook 3 or so days a week, instead.
Did you overdo it on your cheat day? Take a look at how many calories you're consuming on your cheat day. In order to lose 2 pounds a week, you (technically) need to have a deficit of 7,000 calories. Sometimes just ONE meal can have upwards of 2,000 calories, especially if it contains lots of fried foods! If you're spending a whole day eating high calorie meals, you could easily reach 6k calories or more, and there went your 7,000 cal deficit. Instead of cheat
day, plan one cheat
meal instead. And you should still aim for a meal that isn't going to ruin your deficit. For example, a dinner of steak and lobster with steamed veggies is going to have far fewer calories than a burger and french fries.
Were you on the road and you "had" to get fast food? Order from the kids' menu, or see if the restaurant offers salads. Wendy's has several good salad options, and most kids' menus now offer apple slices and milk instead of fries and soda.
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WEEKLY CHALLENGE
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I'd like us to start some kind of weekly challenge! Are you gals up for that?
Challenges could be weekly workout routines, calorie goals, exercise goals, trying out new recipes, etc.
Since we're just getting started on this years' fitness routines, I think this week's challenge ought to be:
Start a Food Journal/Tracker
When you log everything you eat, it helps you see where you're going wrong. It also will help you stay accountable and stick to your goals! Charting our foods for one week will help us all see what we need to change next week to do better.
If you aren't using MyFitnessPal, you can use some other tracker -- even just lined paper and a pen(cil).
Here is a good article on the benefits of keeping a food journal: https://summertomato.com/7-reasons-keeping-a-food-journal-is-better-than-counting-calories/
The bullet points in the article are:
1. Mindfulness, not calories, is the key
2. Calorie data can be inaccurate
3. Calorie needs change daily, and with body weight
4. Calorie limits encourage the “what-the-hell effect”
5. Counting calories encourages “nutritionism”
6. Food journaling helps you identify habits <--- this is the biggest one, I think. You can see the days you're over-eating and a journal helps identify WHY it happens. Once you recognize the triggers, you can learn how to avoid them.
7. Counting calories feels neurotic
Another article, https://www.builtlean.com/2010/06/11/part-1-7-reasons-to-keep-a-food-journal/ , gives further reasons:
4) Identify reasons for binge eating
5) Provides a hard, objective record of our habits
And WebMD recommends recording time of day your meal was and the portion size, in addition to the level of hunger you felt at that time. This helps you learn to tailor your meals to your personal level of hunger, and change things like the amount of protein or fiber you eat to help you feel full longer. If you notice that you're always hungry immediately after lunch, for example, you can make a change.
What do you think? Are you gals up for the task? Let me know!
Only 1 # down, but thats ok! I'm still in it to win it! lol Hope everyone's Monday is AWESOME!
