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NADS1959's Recent Blog Entries
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Wednesday, April 25, 2012
I eat most of my calories just before I fall asleep. I settle down for the last few hours of my day and invariably, she comes from under the couch- the late night snack monster. I hate her and she won't leave me alone.
I know that when you eat your calories is irrelevant- that your body can't tell time. But knowing that the belief that eating food after 8:00 pm will go straight to fat is a myth- doesn't make me feel any better. If I just quit snacking and went straight to sleep, I'd waste away in short order.
I like crunchy stuff. I like salty stuff. That's what I crave and if I have time to watch one of my favorite shows from the DVR late at night, I snack. I promised myself I wouldn't, told my self I couldn't- but then of course I do it. I read all the does and don'ts on SP. Don't bring the bag to the TV they say. Do you know how much time is wasted getting up over and over to get another 2 cups of popcorn or weigh out another serving of Synders mustard pretzel pieces? I lose the flow of the show and before you know it- I don't even know who has the immunity idol! Then I get frustrated and need to eat some chocolate or something.
I'm fortunate that I only eat around 1,200 to 1,500 calories a day and so that leaves some room for snacking, but when I get up around 2,300 to 2,500 calories, I don't lose weight. Maybe I'm even allowing for it and setting myself up for the late night snack binge by keeping my calories down. Food for thought (pun intended)
But here's what is different today from days of old. I don't eat butter laden popcorn in a 5 gallon bucket. I don't eat potato chips. I don't eat chip dip. I don't eat tortilla chips or nachos or cheese puffs. I don't eat Doritos and I don't eat sun chips. I know that I have to have the crunchy stuff and that nothing else will do, but that doesn't mean that I have to single handily be responsible for the next Lays stock split. Instead, what I buy and have around these days, is Quaker rice snacks; sweet chili is my favorite but I eat the cheese, the BBQ the ranch- they all rock. The Meijer brand? Just as good. I eat reduced fat cheese nips or cheez-its. I love the pop chips especially the original and the BBQ. Skinny pop popcorn is real good or I make my own with only a tbs of oil. I eat Quaker mulitgrain fiber chips and get 3g of fiber while I'm at it. All of these snacks are satisfying and quite healthy. I even love those original Pringles Light fat-free chips! Only 70 calories in 15 chips- amazing! and unlike some- the olestra doesn't send me to the crapper so I'm good to go on those. Try them and see if they work (or don't) for you.
I've also learned, although it cost more- to buy the smaller 3 serving bags. If I mow the whole...I mean- WHEN I mow the whole bag down- I've only eaten about 360 calories and 4 to 6 grams of fat instead of masochistically plowing through 2/3rds of the larger bags.
So these days, although I still need to slay the late night snack monster- she's not completely foiling my healthier living agenda. She comes, I feed her, she's happy, she leaves- and while I'd be better off if I never saw her again- and although she thinks she is- I'm no longer letting her have her way with me. Losing weight is nice, but my real goal is-- not gaining any. Thanks to stocking up on better, healthier snacking alternatives and then eating less of them- I'm meeting that goal
Sunday, April 15, 2012
A study released April 2nd said that 39 percent of the people classified as not obese by their BMI, actually were according to their body fat composition.
"we definitely underestimate the level of obesity in our Country" said Dr. Jon Schram, a bariatric surgeon for Spectrum Health (GR Guy!).
Particularly significant for women who lose muscle mass and bone density faster than men.
48% of the women and 22 percent of the men who were classified as healthy or overweight, were actually obese.
Only occasionally did the BMI misclassify someone as obese who wasn't and they were all men- 3% of the sample. (15)
"they need to start doing exercise to lose the fat mass, and they need to get on a strenght training routine to gain muscle mass, because muscle mass is going to increase metabolic rate and result in more calories being burned throughout the day" -
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Sometimes people think I'm different. Sometimes they even say I'm different. That I should make an exception for the day or that I'm going to "blow away in the wind" or they just roll their eyes at me like my teenager might. Sometimes they just find other ways or other words to try to guilt me into eating things I wouldn't normally eat without their influence or at places that I simply don't want to. Sense I've found Spark People, I guess I've actually...become different.
Just today, I met a couple guys at McDonald's for breakfast so we could car pool to an all day meeting. I got there late because I ate yogurt and granola and the other half of the banana I started on the day before, so I didn't need to get there at the same time that they did. I wasn't interested in that kind of start to my day. I might add that it was less like I didn't want to and more like I just couldn't. It never was really an actual decision for me to make so I showed up there about the time they were finishing their sausage McMuffins and their deep fried potatoes and their cream laden coffees.
I don't feel the same way about sausage that I used to, and without even realizing it, I lost my hankering for it too. On Easter Sunday, there was a big platter of sausage patties along with links on the buffet table there too and I didn't have a single one. I wasn't making a sacrifice, that's what is so shocking to me now thinking back on it. I wasn't even drawn to them so it's not like I chose alternatives. I chose stuff I preferred to put into my self. It's a work in progress. I know it's baby steps because if there had been bacon there, I would not have moved past that particular pile so successfully. I do know however, that instead of taking 6 or 7 or 8 pieces of bacon like I used to do when confronted with a big mess of it, I would have taken at most, 3, maybe even only 1 or 2. And the stuff I did take, the stuff I really love? I took less of it. Heck there wasn't a lot of room left on my plate after I hit the salad and fruit selections anyway because somehow I knew to go there first. I knew to discriminate and give those fruits and veggies preferential treatment without even knowing I knew it. And my second trip back to that deadly grazing zone? It was for only 2 or 3 things and for very small amounts and not the second heaping plate full from days of old.
You know? Maybe it's not really baby steps after all. Maybe I've learned to walk steady and straight and instinctively. Maybe the hours I spend each and every day reading SP articles and tracking my food and tracking my fitness and searching knowledge and taking quizzes to confirm and strengthen that knowledge and interacting with other "different" Spark people who support me and congratulate me and strengthen my resolve and even call me out when I need it- has caused me to gradually change, little by little, so that I am now... different.
When my friends went back to another McDonald's during our lunch break today, I sat in the car and ate a pear, a muscle bar and some beef jerky I had brought from home. It took me seconds to throw it into the cloth bag along with my thermos of coffee and my water bottle before I left in the morning.. It gets easier and easier to be different, and it feels just fine to BE different. Most people I know are overweight and out of shape and when you think about it, don't you want to be different from them? I know I do!
I've lost 45 pounds sense January 15Th and when I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror, I can't help but smile and say to myself-
"Gosh, it is so good to be different!!
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
One of my Spark Teams- No topic off limits, started a 1/2 pound challenge this week and I guess the pressure made me crack.
Yesterday I had a healthy brunch item that consisted of a chorizo, cauliflower, scallion, and caviar all cooked into an egg. I made a ham bone soup that afternoon with my Easter ham that consisted of course, of the ham bone and a smoked pork hock but also lots of vegetables including salad vadalias, cauliflower, carrots, and onions, along with the bean mix.
I didn't snack on anything all afternoon, not even on the delicious ham that I took 30 minutes dicing up. I did however drink 4 1/4 beers, which I haven't done for a long time. For dinner I ate 2 bowls of the soup and some Mexican corn bread and settled down for a little reading as I finished my last beer of the evening. While I was reading I mowed down 5 servings of cheese nips (thank god the box became empty) and then got up and ate a raspberry whip Easter egg and a chocolate covered marshmallow egg from my kids basket. Then I didn't wait out my cravings, I picked up a bag of his tortilla chips, those really good Margaritaville ones, and even though the alarm bells were going off, I brought them over to my chair where I was reading and promptly polished off the bag which was around half full (thank god the bag became empty).
I consumed 2,925 calories on this day, about double what I normally do! This 2 days after Easter were I didn't even bother to count calories. Maybe that had something to do with it.
What should I do? Kick myself in the ass? Crawl into a tub of movie theater popcorn? Beat myself up and quit trying and let all those other losers from my Spark Team prevail? No- what I am going to do is:
#1 Realize that drinking good ale from Britain lowers my resistance and turns me into a snack jockey and so therefore commit to making this a rare hapstence during this contest (or clean out all my kids snack food before I do so).
#2 Get up from this chair and go for a long run and purge the bad day from my pores and go forward as if nothing happened and maybe still get my half pound by the Friday weigh in even though my old analog scale doesn't do half pounds (did you know some people track their weight in tenths?) and I have to lose a whole one.
P.S.- I ran the furthest that I have in years at 5.4 miles and now I'm only looking forward!
Wednesday, April 04, 2012
I don't agree with all your comments but I like the dedication and I hope you don't get your vegan card yanked. I too get sick of people who insist their way is the only right way. I think its silly that vegans and vegetarians push how healthy their lifestyle is but they don't like to talk about all the essential things that they have to focus so hard on to make sure that they can get them into their diets in quantities high enough to keep them healthy. All the good stuff found in meat, fish, poultry and for me game, for instance. That or they are fat people and want me to believe they are on to something great. I'll blog on it soon for you.
I am working on substituting one meal a week with a vegetarian option and reducing the portion sizes of my meat but it is my most favorite thing to eat. Even more than snacks I think. I eat a lot of root vegetables, greens and a ton of fruit though too.
This fall I shot a deer here in northern Michigan. I gutted it, skinned it and hung it up to age. I then carved it up into steaks, roasts, chops, stir fry and loin and I ground up all the very lean scraps with a little cow fat for an out of this world burger. I wrapped in saran wrap and then 2 layers of butcher paper and put it up in the freezer next to the vegetable and herbs that I grow. It is good for 2 years put up this way. I make sausage and jerky with it and sometimes I pay someone to corn (like a brisket) a quarter or a half of a deer for me. I like to boil the bones to make a rich stock that I utilize for soup making or a demi glaze.
Today I cooked a fantastic stew for 6 to 8 hours with a hunk of that deer. It was so good I posted the recipe for others. To me, there is something so immensely satisfying to harvesting, storing and preparing my own food this way.
To each their own and for me it's still kill it, skillet or grill it .... and serve it with a nice fruit salad and some roasted root veggies from the garden.
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