It's time for me to check in again! Stevie and I are about a month into your new eating pattern and all is well...even better than well. Stevie has lost a little over 30lbs and is looking and feeling great! He is wearing clothes he has not been able to get into for at least 2 years!! I am very proud of him, he has really stuck to the program and is trying very hard. I have has success, but not to the level of Stevie.....16lbs down!! I am still proud of my accomplishment! I can not really see a difference in my clothes yet.....except I can breath in them....lol.
The hardest thing for me to overcome has been the carb cravings. There are times I would kill for a piece of french bread...lol!!! But it is getting better the longer I stick with it. I am trying to adjust some of our old favorite recipes, cutting out the fat and upping the fiber! Stevie has gone along with everything...except cauliflower! He rebelled(I think he fed the ONE piece I gave him to the dog)
The other thing I am trying to do is eat only when I am hungry....not before...not because it is meal time.....not because I am having cravings. It is hard at times, but is getting easier every week. I also think the fact that I am so busy with sewing work right now really helps. I get busy and forget to obsess about food....lol!!! I have also managed to get off the cokes(and you know I LOVE my coke) I had gotten down to just two or three a week....and now have not had one in about a week. Unsweetened iced tea is my new best friend :)
And for the last portion of our changes....exercise! This is still a tough one for me!! But I did start walking this weekend, and it did kick start my weight loss again. I still have to drag myself out the door....but I have been trying. This is a tough one for me!
So that is our little update on the diet world of Stevie and Dale...so far so good....lots more to go!
Monday, March 26, 2012
Thursday, March 8, 2012
A week and a half in.....
So it has been about a week and a half since our new diet plan as been put into place. I am proud to say we are sticking with it and seeing progress. The scale is showing me down a total of 12 lbs....wooohoo!! But I am beginning to crave the old familiar comfort foods we know and love. So I am trying to find ways to adjust my old recipes to make them more low fat/high fiber friendly. For example......I have left over roasted chicken and decided to make some chicken and dumplins. I decided to skip the mess and buy dumplins from the freezer section at Walmart, one of the choices has zero fat....found my dumplins! I striped all the meat off the chicken and boiled the bones to make stock. I skimmed all visible fat and will cook my dumplins in this stock then add in the chicken. I am also trying to cook a much smaller portion....so leftovers do not call my name from the pot....lol!!! No fiber in this, so as a side dish I am making a big green salad :))
Now for dessert....again, craving comfort food. So I got out a box of "Cook and Serve" chocolate pudding and mixed it up using skim evaporated milk and soy milk. It will be a yummy, rich and creamy dessert.....but much better for us than my normal recipe!
My next hurdle to tackle is exercise....I am still struggling to fit this into my day, but have not given up hope! I have taken a couple of afternoon walks and hope to keep it up and lengthen each walk. My old hurting bones are slowing me down and I have a LONG way to go!
Now for dessert....again, craving comfort food. So I got out a box of "Cook and Serve" chocolate pudding and mixed it up using skim evaporated milk and soy milk. It will be a yummy, rich and creamy dessert.....but much better for us than my normal recipe!
My next hurdle to tackle is exercise....I am still struggling to fit this into my day, but have not given up hope! I have taken a couple of afternoon walks and hope to keep it up and lengthen each walk. My old hurting bones are slowing me down and I have a LONG way to go!
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Adjusting
We got great news yesterday. As the testing with Stevie continued, the doc ordered an EGD. This showed the source of his chest pain....ulcers! So 2 new medicines and we are off and running! We are so happy than his problem was not his heart.....however this does not change the fact that it is TIME to make some drastic life style changes.
We have not begun any exercise routine, but plan to start walking TODAY! It's been so long, I probably won't make it far....but every step counts! I will see if I can drag Stevie along with me....this part of life style change he is not too excited about.
The scale has had some surprises for me....I am currently down 9lbs since Monday! I really did not believe it when I saw 8lbs down yesterday and expected it to go back up today.....but it was down another pound. I am certain this is simply water weight and things are going to slow down A LOT over the next week. But hey......9 lbs is 9 lbs!!! I'll take it! Stevie's scale is steadily dropping as well.....we are headed in the right direction!
So 2 cups of coffee and one peach, soy milk and greek yogurt smoothie...and a few Advil..... and I am ready to face the day :)
We have not begun any exercise routine, but plan to start walking TODAY! It's been so long, I probably won't make it far....but every step counts! I will see if I can drag Stevie along with me....this part of life style change he is not too excited about.
The scale has had some surprises for me....I am currently down 9lbs since Monday! I really did not believe it when I saw 8lbs down yesterday and expected it to go back up today.....but it was down another pound. I am certain this is simply water weight and things are going to slow down A LOT over the next week. But hey......9 lbs is 9 lbs!!! I'll take it! Stevie's scale is steadily dropping as well.....we are headed in the right direction!
So 2 cups of coffee and one peach, soy milk and greek yogurt smoothie...and a few Advil..... and I am ready to face the day :)
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Here we go again....day zero!
So I guess this is day 1....AGAIN! It has been one year since my last post......and where have I gotten?? I have gotten fatter, my blood pressure is up, my cholesterol is up, my blood sugar is up, my pain level is up.......so what is down, you might wonder??? My exersice level, my patience and my over all well being! It's time to make a change......AGAIN!!!
So I am sure you are wondering what has brought me back to the same place, almost exactly one year later. My husband! We have been on a medical journey over the past month trying to determine the source of his recurrent chest pain. All of this came to a head Monday with him in the ER. They thought he was having a heart attack....he wasn't. They thought he had coranary artery blockage....and after a scarey 2 days and a heart cath we know he doesn't. We still do not know the source of his pain.....but we do know he is 80 lbs over weight(60 of it put on since marrying ME) We have the perfect relationship....I love to cook, and he loves to eat!! But this food is going to kill us!!!!! I know I do not want to sit back and watch us eat ourselves to death. We are very lucky that his heart is in good shape, but if we want to keep it that way then we are going to have to change our life style. I do not want to loose him....and I am sure he feels the same way about me! So it's time to take the bull by the horns and start this journey.......AGAIN!
His doctor suggested the Dr. Dupey diet. This consists of cereal for breakfast, soup for lunch and salad with lean meat for dinner.....EVERYDAY! He assures Stevie that he can loose 5lbs a week and be down 80lbs in 6 months. I'm sure he could....but how long can a person maintain that strict diet?? I know I will be bored within a week and blow the whole thing! I am going to encourage a more moderate and healthy life style change. I know my pace will not come close to 5lbs a week, but I just don't think it is realistic!
So over the next couple of day I am going to start to plan out some healthy meals, get the crap food out of the house and the good food in, and try to get moving, even if it is just a little bit. A start....any start!! I think I would like to set a goal for my self and for him......25% by the 6 month mark! So for me at my current weight that will be 62 lbs.....for him it will be 70lbs.....by Sept 1st! On your mark, get ready, get set....GOOOOOOOOO!
So I am sure you are wondering what has brought me back to the same place, almost exactly one year later. My husband! We have been on a medical journey over the past month trying to determine the source of his recurrent chest pain. All of this came to a head Monday with him in the ER. They thought he was having a heart attack....he wasn't. They thought he had coranary artery blockage....and after a scarey 2 days and a heart cath we know he doesn't. We still do not know the source of his pain.....but we do know he is 80 lbs over weight(60 of it put on since marrying ME) We have the perfect relationship....I love to cook, and he loves to eat!! But this food is going to kill us!!!!! I know I do not want to sit back and watch us eat ourselves to death. We are very lucky that his heart is in good shape, but if we want to keep it that way then we are going to have to change our life style. I do not want to loose him....and I am sure he feels the same way about me! So it's time to take the bull by the horns and start this journey.......AGAIN!
His doctor suggested the Dr. Dupey diet. This consists of cereal for breakfast, soup for lunch and salad with lean meat for dinner.....EVERYDAY! He assures Stevie that he can loose 5lbs a week and be down 80lbs in 6 months. I'm sure he could....but how long can a person maintain that strict diet?? I know I will be bored within a week and blow the whole thing! I am going to encourage a more moderate and healthy life style change. I know my pace will not come close to 5lbs a week, but I just don't think it is realistic!
So over the next couple of day I am going to start to plan out some healthy meals, get the crap food out of the house and the good food in, and try to get moving, even if it is just a little bit. A start....any start!! I think I would like to set a goal for my self and for him......25% by the 6 month mark! So for me at my current weight that will be 62 lbs.....for him it will be 70lbs.....by Sept 1st! On your mark, get ready, get set....GOOOOOOOOO!
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Week 5
It's been a week since my last post......and the main reason for that is things are not progressing anywhere close to what I want! But, I refuse to throw in the towel and give up! So today I plan to look at the reasons for this week's failure and try to come up with some ideas to help me move forward in spite of the obstacles.
The main obstacle right now is the asthma! I breath just fine when I am inside, but when I am outside more than a few minutes I feel like my lungs suddenly forget how to work and I cough like a crazy woman! I miss walking, I miss working in my flower beds, I miss having my windows open in this beautiful Spring weather! So it is not just the lack of exercise getting to me, it is the aggravation of not being able to do what I want to do....ENJOY SPRING! Tomorrow I will be trying a new allergy medicine, and hopefully it will allow me more time outdoors!
The next obstacle is the prednisone......it makes my blood sugar rise and the craving are just off the charts!!! And yes, this week I have given in....not every time.....BUT too many times!! Thankfully I am now off the prednisone and only on an inhaled steroid for the asthma. Hopefully now things can get back to normal now that the prednisone is gone!
Another obstacle is the dresses! This is very busy time of year, and I am so thankful for the orders I am getting, BUT it also makes it hard to take time to eat when and what I should. I get so wrapped up in what I am doing, suddenly I am starving and just grab anything I can find instead of a healthier "planned" meal. I also find that I am skipping breakfast often, and I am seeing the evenings that are the worst are the ones where I did not eat breakfast. I am not really hungry in the morning, but if I don't eat breakfast, then by noon I am ready to chew my arm off I'm so hungry and it seems I can never fill up.....I want to snack all evening and night!
So my plan for this coming week is.......
1. Pray the new allergy meds work!
2. Start my day with breakfast(including some protein) everyday!!
3. Have a plan for meals for the whole day before I leave the house in the morning!
4. Always have a healthy snack available when working at the store(that evil Skip's calls my name....lol)
5. Get back to exercise class! Even if I start coughing, I have to at least try!!
The scale today says I am back up to 220...that is up 4 pounds since before I got sick! Time to get it moving in the right direction again!!
The main obstacle right now is the asthma! I breath just fine when I am inside, but when I am outside more than a few minutes I feel like my lungs suddenly forget how to work and I cough like a crazy woman! I miss walking, I miss working in my flower beds, I miss having my windows open in this beautiful Spring weather! So it is not just the lack of exercise getting to me, it is the aggravation of not being able to do what I want to do....ENJOY SPRING! Tomorrow I will be trying a new allergy medicine, and hopefully it will allow me more time outdoors!
The next obstacle is the prednisone......it makes my blood sugar rise and the craving are just off the charts!!! And yes, this week I have given in....not every time.....BUT too many times!! Thankfully I am now off the prednisone and only on an inhaled steroid for the asthma. Hopefully now things can get back to normal now that the prednisone is gone!
Another obstacle is the dresses! This is very busy time of year, and I am so thankful for the orders I am getting, BUT it also makes it hard to take time to eat when and what I should. I get so wrapped up in what I am doing, suddenly I am starving and just grab anything I can find instead of a healthier "planned" meal. I also find that I am skipping breakfast often, and I am seeing the evenings that are the worst are the ones where I did not eat breakfast. I am not really hungry in the morning, but if I don't eat breakfast, then by noon I am ready to chew my arm off I'm so hungry and it seems I can never fill up.....I want to snack all evening and night!
So my plan for this coming week is.......
1. Pray the new allergy meds work!
2. Start my day with breakfast(including some protein) everyday!!
3. Have a plan for meals for the whole day before I leave the house in the morning!
4. Always have a healthy snack available when working at the store(that evil Skip's calls my name....lol)
5. Get back to exercise class! Even if I start coughing, I have to at least try!!
The scale today says I am back up to 220...that is up 4 pounds since before I got sick! Time to get it moving in the right direction again!!
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Day 29
Good Saturday morning everyone. It is a rainy, yucky morning so I was spending some time checking out the ABC News online and came across an article about the "Super Size Model" for a place call Heart Attack Grill. This man was 29 yrs old and weighed over 500 pounds and was pictured smiling and holding a HUGE burger while a sexy little chick in a nurse's costume hung all over him. Well the smiles are gone.....at age 29 he died for complications of the flu!! While reading the article, I saw that doctors said anyone with a Body Mass Index(BMI) of 40 or above is at much greater risk of dieing from complications of any illness than people with lower BMIs. So just out of curiosity, I typed in "BMI calculator" into my search engine. Turns out my current BMI is 39.5. Talk about SCARY!! I am currently categorized as "obese"...only 1/2 a point from being "morbidly obese". So I decided to see how much more weight I will have to loose to get down to simply being "over weight"......my answer is 55 more pounds! At the magic number of 162 I will transform from someone who is obese into someone who is over weight!! 55 pounds is just too large a number to wrap my head around! I am afraid if I set that goal I would feel to overwhelmed and simply give up! SO I am sticking with my current goal of 199....BELOW the 200 mark! That is 18 more pounds.....MUCH more doable for my mind!
Ever scarier....for me to be of a "normal" weight, I would have to get down to 130 pounds. I did not weigh 130 pounds in high school!!! I think my chances of ever being NORMAL are almost non existent....lol!!! But I think most of you already knew that....lol!!!
So today I think I will try to keep that picture in my head of the smiling young man holding a "heart attack" burger in his hand....and his grieving family who lost him WAY too soon. It's a wake-up call!!
The scale said down one pound today.....so one more to go before I loose the "being sick and eating too much comfort food" 2 pounds I gained!
Ever scarier....for me to be of a "normal" weight, I would have to get down to 130 pounds. I did not weigh 130 pounds in high school!!! I think my chances of ever being NORMAL are almost non existent....lol!!! But I think most of you already knew that....lol!!!
So today I think I will try to keep that picture in my head of the smiling young man holding a "heart attack" burger in his hand....and his grieving family who lost him WAY too soon. It's a wake-up call!!
The scale said down one pound today.....so one more to go before I loose the "being sick and eating too much comfort food" 2 pounds I gained!
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Day 27
Well folks, it's been a rough week! I did not fall off the wagon....I was shoved off the wagon, and I think I rolled a few times when I hit the ground...lol!!! The nagging cough that I have had for about a week turned into bronchitis...AGAIN! Doc has decided that I now have asthma which was brought on by my RA.. The asthma is being aggravated by seasonal allergies as well as exercise. All this junk combined has caused the bronchitis. So with the current state of coughing, wheezing and shortness of breath my exercise routine has gone out the window for now :( And feeling like poo, and taking a butt load of steroids, does not bring out the best in me....it brings out the overwhelming urge for comfort foods! And yes, I gave in!! I have eaten chicken and dumplins, spaghetti, blueberry muffins...you name it, I ate it!! And this morning it showed on the scale...up ANOTHER pound to 218....YUCK!
But I am on the mend, feeling a bit better...but still coughing and not quite ready to hit the exercise trail again. Hopefully all these new meds will kick in soon and help with the whole breathing thing...lol! But until then, I am determined to at least get back on track with the food! Wish me luck as the adventure continues again!
But I am on the mend, feeling a bit better...but still coughing and not quite ready to hit the exercise trail again. Hopefully all these new meds will kick in soon and help with the whole breathing thing...lol! But until then, I am determined to at least get back on track with the food! Wish me luck as the adventure continues again!
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