Things I know

I know that I will feel better if I lose weight. Not because I will be a gorgeous babe, but because I will have more energy if I have less to carry around. Clear out the baggage: in this case, the saddle bags.

I know that I will not lose weight unless I exercise. I know that exercise will make me feel better.

I know I will not run a marathon, although that sounds really good.

I know that nothing is stopping me from walking out the door and around the block --- nothing but me.

Protein

I am still having trouble finding easy to eat low fat protein. I bought Tofu and Tempeh, but I'm not sure when I'll get around to doing anything with them. I plan to use the tofu in smoothies, but I haven't done one yet. I don't know what to do with the tempeh. Maybe I'll mix it in with some brown rice and a bunch of veggies and something not on my list like sour cream. Hey, it's dairy. Just not low fat.

Today I ate brown rice (pre-made in a little container), V-8 butternut squash soup, broccoli, carrots, grape tomatoes and Havarti cheese, all microwaved together. It was good and has kept me happy all afternoon.

Too sick to eat... NOT

I am a person who can gain weight when I have a stomach virus. The only times I have ever lost weight while sick were when I had debilitating migraines for three months and when I had some sort of terrible holiday flu from Christmas to New Years.

Now I have a normal sinus/chest cold. I have no appetite, but some how manage to eat. Of course, all I can handle are sugar, fat, and carbohydrates. What's with that?

When I was younger, I used speed to lose weight. Not only did it not quell my appetite, it tore up my stomach so all I could eat were Big Macs and fries. Good lord, there has to be a better way.

yesterday I ate:
eggs, grits, cheese, turkey sausage
cantaloupe, strawberry, pineapple
chicken breast, new potatoes with herbs
green beans, broccoli, banana pudding.
saltine crackers

All you can eat

Studies have shown that if a person (particularly an overweight person) is faced with a lot of choices in food, he or she will eat more than if there are only a few choices. I don't know how much grant money it took to reach this conclusion, but the cash probably went to pay the food bill at an all you can eat restaurant in Myrtle Beach, SC.

I heard today that the grand strand has something like 1700 restaurants. I believe it. Driving down Ocean Blvd, there is mile after mile of cuter and catchier restaurants, all as big as warehouses and all offering all you can eat SOMETHING. There were three all you can eat seafood places where we ate on Sunday night, with the comparatively moderate McDonald's in between. The place we ate offered 120 different items on its buffet. Seafood was the star --- mostly fried, but also broiled, blackened, and blanched salmon, tuna, mahi-mahi, and shrimp. For those who don't like seafood, especially the kind that has been sitting under a warming light for hours, there was roast beef, manicotti, and chicken. And lots of sides: mac&cheese casserole, squash casserole, potato casserole... endless. I haven't gotten to the desserts...

Then there was Rioz, a Brazilian all you can eat meat restaurant. First they sent you around a salad/seafood bar that presented enough for two or three meals. Just getting "a taste" of about half the stuff filled my plate. Fortunately or unfortunately, no one had explained the rules to me. Once you sat down, you had a little circle thing (that I thought was a coaster) that was red on one side and green on the other. Green means... you guessed it... "GO". And "GO" meant that cute little Brazilian (or something) fellows would bring meat to your table. (Not that kind of meat.) I missed out on a lot while I ate sushi and salad (which was really good --- two rainbows and lots of protein). Then I figured out the green/red thing and tried a lamb chop. By the time I figured it out, it was winding down, but I got some sort of rump roast and passed on chicken wings. Dessert was dark and white chocolate mousse cake.

The whole atmosphere was massive --- dark with flashing lights, loud Brazilian music, packed tables. I kept hearing the masses battering the doors in. In fact, that night I had a weird dream involving a bloody revolution of zombies. OK, it was probably the lamb chop & mousse.

I have no doubt that people eat more when offered a variety of food. You want to try everything, and "a taste" is never enough. Couple that with the price of these restaurants, and you have people who want to get their monies worth eating a taste of everything.

Do I get the grant?

Sunday morning

I have pretty much gained all of the weight from the colonoscopy. Oh well.

I am going to the beach for a conference. When I have choices, I will pick veggies, whole grains, and not fried food. I will eat a rainbow every day and pick lean protein.

I will walk on the beach every day.

Goal setting

Goals suck, but I'm going to set some anyway.

I want to lose 15 lbs by New Years Day. That comes to about 1.5 lbs a week, reasonable by everyones standards.

I'm going to use this blog as a healthy eating journal. (I almost said the d word --- a kiss of death worse than the G word that I did use.)

Today, I have eaten eggs poached in grits with cheddar cheese. I added onion flakes and garlic powder, because it was close at hand. No butter or butter type food. For most people, that may not be a big thing, but it's big for me. I think of grits, bread, potatoes and pasta as a place to put my butter and cheese and even mayonnaise. I really like mayonnaise.

Tonight I will eat poached fish and mashed potatoes. Because of the colonoscopy, I have to have a low residue meal. That means no vegetables or grains. Potatoes are OK. So is white bread, but I don't eat that.

I used to eat white bread. I loved to pull a piece and roll it into a pellet of dough and eat it. Sometimes I'd put margarine and sugar on it and eat it. It was better when I learned to broil it. Add a little cinnamon to the sugar and you aren't even a marginal eater any more. You've gone legit.

I also ate white bread with margarine, Vienna sausages, and a slice of American processed cheese food, broiled until the cheese food blew up like a parachute and settled down again on the Vienna sausages.

I guess I have made progress.

The Cute Outfit Principle

Yesterday, I had to have a nuclear stress test. I was injected with radioactive chemicals and forced to walk on a treadmill for miles. OK, maybe one mile. But it was uphill.

Anyway, the instructions said to wear comfortable clothes and shoes for walking. I actually have shoes for walking. I even wear them sometimes. So I pulled them out of the closet and searched for "comfortable clothes."

Now, keep in mind that to me comfortable clothes is an oxymoron. If it weren't for neighbors, teenage children, and an occasional chill wind, I'd be a home nudist. As it is, when I get home from work, I put on a very soft pair of pajama pants and an even softer t-shirt. Comfortable, yes. Fit for wear downtown? No.

Soooooo, I decided I needed a Cute Outfit for Walking. I went to Belk's Department store and found, after much searching, a Cute Outfit for Walking that would match my shoes and my eyes, be comfortable, and not embarrass the people around me (much.) On sale, the Cute Outfit for Walking was about $80, more than I like to pay for anything, except maybe a Cute Outfit for Seeing My Husband's Ex-Girlfriend. However, I cannot in good conscience spend that kind of money on an outfit and wear it for 3 hours (5 minutes of it spent walking on the treadmill). My wedding dress only cost $200, and I have pictures of that.

Of course, it is a Cute Outfit. When I mentioned that I'd bought a Cute Outfit, in the hopes of inspiring myself to walk, the radiation tech said, "yes, that is a cute outfit." I'm not sure why it surprised me that the notion of a "cute outfit for walking" would seem perfectly normal to a lot of people I am not married to. But then, I am often surprised by people.

Now I have my Cute Outfit for Walking, I am going to get my money's worth. I am going to walk every day. At least every other day. At least, some. I have no excuse not to walk.

The weather is nice, my husband is willing, and I have SUCH a cute outfit!

A fresh start with a clean colon

On Tuesday, I will have a colonoscopy. As I have said elsewhere, I am a posterchild for colonoscopies. You have the test and they can remove the polyps before they become cancerous. How cool is that?



The other thing about colonoscopies is that in order to see those polyps, you have to have a clean colon. This procedure involves a day of clear liquids and laxatives that would clean the sewer system of a small city. In this process, I always lose weight. Not just the water weight that returns after you drink a glass of tea.



I think it works because a day of fasting and pooping gives me a new perspective on eating. It's a great way to start a healthy eating plan. Some people do it regularly, without the colonoscopy, to clean out their system, but I'm not one of those people.



Starting Wednesday, I will choose food that is respectful of my clean colon. I will eat lean protein, veggies & fruits, and low-fat dairy. I will avoid fried stuff. I will picture the grease sliding through my colon.



Come to think of it, picturing anything going through the digestive tract is enough to turn your stomach. I think this might work.

Sunday

OK, I started with a sausage biscuit and coffee. Then I went to my sister's house and it would have been rude to refuse to eat the grits, eggs, and bacon. And more coffee. For supper, we are having pot roast with potatoes, carrots, and butternut squash. I've nibbled on grape tomatoes while I make the salad for the family feast at Mark's school. That will be a nice healthy salad. It will go well with the cardiac ham and cheese macaroni casserole I'm also making.

The salad:
1 can each black beans & small kidney beans, rinsed
kernels from one ear of corn, cooked
grape tomatoes
chili pepper
1/2 a jalepeno pepper chopped
olive oil
Romaine Lettuce.

Toss first 6 ingredients and store overnight. Toss with lettuce just before serving.

I'm probably going to add some more spices, but I don't want it to be too hot. Cilantro would be good.

I wanted to add avocados, but the one I bought at the Food Lion was inedible.

I may go by the Bi-Lo for cilantro and avocado.

And yet another new beginning....

I have always said that all my journals begin "this time I am REALLY going to lose weight/ exercise/live a healthier life. This is further proof of that claim.

I wrote this 3 years ago, when I decided to write an AOL journal. It was private, but even then I didn't write much. However, I did write something, so when AOL told me they were closing down my blog and I needed to transfer, I thought, why not? (Or, since I'm channeling Sarah Palin: "why not, doggonit?")

I have not looked at this journal in three years. This rediscovery of past promises finds me at a time in my life when a healthy life change would be a really good thing. My blood pressure, though currently "controlled," is very high. I am once again taking my thyroid medication and I can tell it does make a difference. I won't lose weight because of the medication, though. Another myth shot to hell. I am feeling the stress of three jobs that pay and a couple more that don't, family, friends, and age. And of course, the elections, the economy, and the wars.

In my brain, I know that a good walk around the neighborhood with my loving husband would do wonders for my health, mind, and spirit. It occurred to me today that I am very conscientious about doing the right thing as far as work, family, the environment, etc. In most things in this world, I have left behind hedonism. I go for the long term pleasure and good rather than the cheap thrill. I recycle.

So why do I eat cold tater tots when I really need steamed veggies? Why do I order the thickburger (even the little thickburger) that will make me want to shower and take a nap, when I know broiled fish will make me feel happier throughout the afternoon? Is this one of my last bits of hedonism? Go for the cheap grease thrill instead of the long-term good health feeling?

Maybe I should go back to romance novels.

Oh well... pass the popcorn...