10 Pounds in 8 Weeks or Subtract 35,000 Calories–Week 3

Light and Lusty Tomato Soup–Yesterday’s Veggie Lunch. My recipe here.

OVERALL:

Week 3 of my fitness program and I’ll admit it’s not going as quickly (is that “as well”) as I’d like–if I’m measuring success by weight loss, that is.   I’ve lost 1.5 pounds after finally buying a scale and also figuring out how it works.   I feel better in certain ways.  For instance, it’s always nice to be taking care of yourself, isn’t it?  I stretch out daily, so my body feels looser, more able.  I thought the grocery bill might go down after giving up most cooked  or restaurant lunches and quite a bit of meat, but vegetables and fruit are expensive.  As you know.  I’m struggling with mid-afternoon munchies, which is a new thing; I rarely snack.  A tablespoon of almonds or a tiny piece of low-fat cheese and a big cup of decaf green and mint teas mixed are my solution.  Perhaps 1 or two Triscuit triangles for crunch…this is not easy.

As I’m slaving over the soup book–re-writing and editing, I’m sitting at the computer way too much.  I am thinking of moving it to the kitchen counter every other hour to stand rather than sit.  I think it’d be better for me anyway, though recent research shows those office workers who are standing all day long at high desks are having serious foot (feet?) problems.  We’ll see.

As a foodie, I often ponder the problems our country has with both hunger and obesity.  I think even more about our entire world and pray for the progress of all those working to alleviate hunger.   I’m struck by and often heartsick that I, along with millions of other Americans, must count every mouthful because I’ve been blessed by such plenty.  That there’s an over-bearing, over-arching, over-whatever diet money-making machine in the United States that is such big-business that many people make a living at trying to make people like me smaller.  The irony is not lost on me.  I would like, as one dear friend once said, to “not eat more than my share.”    Read about the real, desperate need for food in Syria on the World Food Programme site here.

HERE’S WHAT I’VE DONE:

Kept up with my 4x week aerobic exercise, which is some variation of or, most often, this particular Leslie Sansone 2 mile workout on youtube.  I do it in family room while watching one of the news shows to which I easily admit I’m addicted.    I add 2# weights in my hands for about half of the walk for the arm exercises.  Daily, I do a stretch routine that includes all the muscles I can find.  I often include prayer in this routine.   Twice a week, I do a regular strength-training session with the 5-6 # weights recommended by my former physical therapist who insists low weight and slow reps are the key to strength.  Not continually increasing weight as so many folks believe.  I have suffered from tendonitis repeatedly, have herniated discs in my neck, have had surgery for carpal tunnel, lots of hand therapy…  In other words,  I’m careful with hands and arms.

I have kept my food promises, but fight cravings for carbs like pizza. I have some and try not to have too much; I include salad.  My breakfasts are a cup of fresh fruit with 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt and  a spoonful of my homemade, very-low fat granola and a small bit of nuts.  If not fruit and yogurt, I make a veggie omelet:

Sometimes I cook vegetables like  half an onion, a yellow squash, mushrooms, etc. (whatever I have–often spinach) and make enough vegetables for two days, storing the rest in the refrigerator.  This hastens the breakfast cooking, though a veggie omelet just takes a few minutes anyway.

My lunches may be fruit salad, green salad, or vegetable soup, which just feels better in Saint Paul during the winter. (It’s snowing as I speak.  I do love it.)

 My vegan-gluten free soup is totally luscious and I’ve made it several times now.  My husband is fine having it for dinner if I’ve eaten a more regular meal at lunch and must stick to vegetables for supper.  I add some garlic bread or a piece of baguette broiled with cheese for him.

Vegetable Soup a la Provence– recipe here  0 Points on Weight Watchers

Dinners may be something like this:

My One-Pan Salmon with Spinach, Peppers, and Onions:  recipe here.

  Or I might add a little something to the vegetable soup:

Oven-Baked Vegetable Soup with Poached Egg, recipe here.

Last night, I worked on a new stir-fry, which I’ll share next week sometime.  It’s a fusion of Thai, Chinese, and maybe Minnesotan  as it contains walnuts–our unofficial state nut that grows right here on my street.

You can see I haven’t been starving, but you can also see what I’ve been doing.

Thanks for your support!  I’d love to hear about your fitness efforts!  Wednesday blessings.

Sing a new song,
Alyce

… … … … … …

In case you missed last week, here’s what I’m doing:

My current fitness goals include these objectives:

  •  lose ten pounds in eight weeks by changing/cutting back on my food intake and to….
  •  put in 30 minutes of aerobic exercise 4 days a week (outdoors when possible)
  •  do a stretch routine daily
  •  weight train 3 times a week
  • blog my progress weekly

If you do the math, we’re talking about (how do I get) 10 pounds off by Saint Patrick’s Day (Sunday, March 17), which, if you’re a long-time reader, you know is when I have a houseful of potato soup and soda bread:

I have a total of 35,000 calories to get rid of by any means that works.  I can do the math.  I know what foods have what calories (I’m a food blogger and have cooked all my life!) and I know what calories are burned by my typical exercise routines.  If I wanted to buy a beautiful $35,000 car for cash, I’d have to bank the money monthly–right–until I had enough to walk in to the dealer and lay down my check. (I’m doing that actually–for a trip, not for a car.)  To lose weight, I use the same concept, but in reverse.  I START OUT WITH the 35,000 in my “bank” and I take some out each week until there’s nothing left.  If God is good (and I know that’s the case), I’ll have lost 10 pounds.
My way.  Still eating things I like within reason.  To make things rounded off and easy, I plan to take away, subtract, lose (whatever) 4,000 calories per week for a total of 32,000 calories.  The other 3,000 or 377  per week (53 per day) will come from less fat and dairy in my regular daily diet.

The weekly goal is to take away 4,000 calories per week for a total of 32,000 calories like this:

  1. 30 minutes of low aerobic exercise (walk/light dance w/ 2 min run) a day 4 days a week (400 cal.)
  2. No cream in my coffee 6x a week (Even God rested on Sunday.) (600 cal.)
  3. No meat -2 nights a week/Cut back a bit other nights (1,000 calories)
  4. Vegetables or fruit ONLY 4 lunches per week–the lion’s share (2,000 cal.)

10 Pounds in 8 Weeks or Subtract 35,000 Calories: Week #2

One dinner from last week.  I love one-pan meals.  I’ll blog this on dinner place.

I have my black coffee in front of me.
I just ate my egg white-veggie omelet with salsa. YES!
The only change from a “regular” morning is no cream in my coffee.  Pretty painless, huh?

I did stay on the program ..  with a couple of deviations:


I don’t know if I lost any weight for sure as I just finally bought a scale and weighed myself this morning.  No, I’m not giving you that information.  I do feel a little smaller and my jeans are a bit more comfortable.  I did my exercise without complaint even, though a couple of days I probably cut out a few minutes earlier than I’d hoped to.  I am happy and hopeful and upfront.  So:

Exercise for the week…

I did the morning stretch routine every day, weight training 2x (so I missed one of those), and walk/dance 4x (I add a little more interest to this linked indoor 3 mile walk routine) while I watched Morning Joe or even Ina Garten late afternoon.  I found the late afternoon didn’t work for me at all. I was stiff and unhappy.  Mornings are best for Alyce.   If you’ve never tried an indoor walking routine, try Leslie Sansone (she has a variety of workouts on youtube) and see what you think.  It’s icy here; I’m better off indoors.  I do walk outdoors as weather permits, but really enjoy the variety of steps involved in an indoor routine.   The second link above (Leslie Sansone) is to a beginning walk.  You can work your way up to more difficult and more time-consuming programs or you can also cut back and use her 2-3 minute computer breaks, which I love.

Herb-Spinach Egg White Omelet

Food:

I kept a breakfast routine of egg white and vegetable omelets Monday-Friday, which is what I eat in the winter anyway.  Saturday, I made oatmeal with raisins, almonds, and milk.  Sunday I had a 1/2 cup plain yogurt and blueberries.    My lunches consisted of  fresh fruit or vegan vegetable soup (below)– which I blogged–for four days only.  The other lunches I had what I liked within reason:  a veggie burger with half a bun and cole slaw  or scrambled eggs (with yolk!) and vegetables with salad and a glass of white wine for Sunday brunch.

30-Minute Vegetable Soup a la Provence

If I became peckish in the mid-afternoons, I had a few nuts.  I always drink a mixture of green and mint teas in the afternoon, which I continued.  I increased my water intake.  Dinners were as always–not a lot of change–but cutting back on servings and being careful about fat content.  They varied from salmon (above) to chicken chili to skinny-crust anchovy pizza with salad.  Friday I made barbeque ribs and potato salad with vinaigrette for a mid-winter summer treat.

This week I plan to vary my lunches by taking time to create a large salad I can eat off of for a couple of days.  I’ll make another vegetable soup; we’ll see what’s in the frig!

I take a regular multi-vitamin and 1200 mg of calcium each day.

In case you missed last week, here’s what I’m doing:

My current fitness goals include these objectives:

  •  lose ten pounds in eight weeks by changing/cutting back on my food intake and to….
  •  put in 30 minutes of aerobic exercise 4 days a week (outdoors when possible)
  •  do a stretch routine daily
  •  weight train 3 times a week
  • blog my progress weekly

If you do the math, we’re talking about (how do I get) 10 pounds off by Saint Patrick’s Day (Sunday, March 17), which, if you’re a long-time reader, you know is when I have a houseful of potato soup and soda bread:

I have a total of 35,000 calories to get rid of by any means that works.  I can do the math.  I know what foods have what calories (I’m a food blogger and have cooked all my life!) and I know what calories are burned by my typical exercise routines.  If I wanted to buy a beautiful $35,000 car for cash, I’d have to bank the money monthly–right–until I had enough to walk in to the dealer and lay down my check. (I’m doing that actually–for a trip, not for a car.)  To lose weight, I use the same concept, but in reverse.  I START OUT WITH the 35,000 in my “bank” and I take some out each week until there’s nothing left.  If God is good (and I know that’s the case), I’ll have lost 10 pounds.
My way.  Still eating things I like within reason.  To make things rounded off and easy, I plan to take away, subtract, lose (whatever) 4,000 calories per week for a total of 32,000 calories.  The other 3,000 or 377  per week (53 per day) will come from less fat and dairy in my regular daily diet.

The weekly goal is to take away 4,000 calories per week for a total of 32,000 calories like this:

  1. 30 minutes of low aerobic exercise (walk/light dance w/ 2 min run) a day 4 days a week (400 cal.)
  2. No cream in my coffee 6x a week (Even God rested on Sunday.) (600 cal.)
  3. No meat -2 nights a week/Cut back a bit other nights (1,000 calories)
  4. Vegetables or fruit ONLY 4 lunches per week–the lion’s share (2,000 cal.)

    Sing a new song and thanks for your support,
    Alyce

    10 Pounds in 8 Weeks or Subtract 35,000 Calories

    I had a little too much Christmas.  Hm.

    I am going out on limb here.  I’m putting my behind (insert your favorite epithet here) on the line as well as in gear.  My current fitness goals include these objectives:

    •  lose ten pounds in eight weeks by changing/cutting back on my food intake and to….
    •  put in 30 minutes of aerobic exercise 4 days a week (outdoors when possible)
    •  do a stretch routine daily
    •  weight train 3 times a week
    • blog my progress weekly

    If you do the math, we’re talking about (how do I get) 10 pounds off by Saint Patrick’s Day (Sunday, March 17), which, if you’re a long-time reader, you know is when I have a houseful of potato soup and soda bread:

    And it is NOT that potato soup and Irish soda bread are particularly highly caloric (they’re not), it’s just my date.  The one I chose because it’s eight weeks away.
    I thought if I blogged my process, I’d be a little more accountable.  The choir will be asking me on Wednesday nights, “How’s that ten pounds going?”
    Here we are at our Christmas party.
    My fellow Friday bloggers (many of whom are very healthful indeed) will probably post comments about my ingredients or dance routines.   

    My sisters will email, “Well?

    My friends will be looking at me every week. 

    My couch potato dogs will be after me to take them on more walks and play ball more often.  (It’s -14 F this morning; we’re staying home, guys.  We do play ball down the stairs on really cold days.  Your mother wouldn’t be pleased.)

    Why not  a regular diet program?

    I cannot seem to stick out a “regular” diet program any more or, if I do, it’s not successful.  I stayed on South Beach for months.  I think I lost five pounds, which I promptly gained as soon as I added bread back into my diet.  Dave lost nearly twenty in around 10 weeks.  I’m not saying it’s me and I’m not saying it’s the diet, but I’m JUST SAYIN’ I can’t get any of it to work.  I am a life-long Weight Watcher.  I’ve gotten to goal more than once and then fell off the wagon.  Sad.

    After thinking about it for quite a while and talking to a number of friends who had worked out their own systems (one was: no snacks and cut back on serving size at dinner for a year for a total weight loss of 22 pounds), I came up with mine just because I’d like to be able to move more easily and quickly and have my clothes fit better.  If it works, I may try it for another eight weeks sooner or later.  Another ten wouldn’t hurt.

    What I usually eat:  One of the things I wanted to do was to keep a portion of my meals just like they always are.  My typical day begins with a veggie/egg white omelet or Greek yogurt, fruit, with 2 T homemade, lowfat granola.  I drink coffee with milk or cream–probably 3 cups a day.  Lunch is leftovers, homemade soup, or if I’m out–soup, salad or veggie burger.  Dinner you know–it’s often on here.  I often drink wine with dinner.  I’m not a dessert person, though I like to make them. (A pie or cake could sit here and mold before I’d eat it.)   I ‘m a chocolate addict and so rarely keep chocolate in the house.  I’m not a snacker and evenings are not a problem for me.  I don’t eat much bread.

    FYI:  I have no health problems and all my “numbers,” according to my recent physical reports are “optimal.”  The only number I need to change is that of my weight.

    Here’s what I’m trying:

    I have a total of 35,000 calories to get rid of by any means that works.  I can do the math.  I know what foods have what calories (I’m a food blogger and have cooked all my life!) and I know what calories are burned by my typical exercise routines.  If I wanted to buy a beautiful $35,000 car for cash, I’d have to bank the money monthly–right–until I had enough to walk in to the dealer and lay down my check. (I’m doing that actually–for a trip, not for a car.)  To lose weight, I use the same concept, but in reverse.  I START OUT WITH the 35,000 in my “bank” and I take some out each week until there’s nothing left.  If God is good (and I know that’s the case), I’ll have lost 10 pounds.
    My way.  Still eating things I like within reason.  To make things rounded off and easy, I plan to take away, subtract, lose (whatever) 4,000 calories per week for a total of 32,000 calories.  The other 3,000 or 377  per week (53 per day) will come from less fat and dairy in my regular daily diet.

    The weekly goal is to take away 4,000 calories per week for a total of 32,000 calories like this:

    1. 30 minutes of low aerobic exercise (walk/light dance w/ 2 min run) a day 4 days a week (400 cal.)
    2. No cream in my coffee 6x a week (Even God rested on Sunday.) (600 cal.)
    3. No meat -2 nights a week/Cut back a bit other nights (1,000 calories)
    4. Vegetables or fruit ONLY 4 lunches per week–the lion’s share (2,000 cal.)*

    *Raw  salad, cooked vegetables, fruit salad, an apple with a little yogurt, etc.)

    I’ll let you know how it’s going! I have no idea if this will work, but I’m giving it a go.  I trust my own intellect and instincts.

    I’ll track my intake, exercise, and weight loss on my fitness pal--a fine, free tool you might like to explore.

    I’m singing a new song and would really appreciate your support,
    Alyce