No Food in the House

Basically this is my week and a half mark and I am doing very well. Except for the fact that I am running out of foods to pack for my mega lunch. Every morning I generally pack up about 5 or 6 items to eat throughout the day. Depending on how long my day is going to run, this may also include my dinner. For example, today is a day where I will pack my dinner because I have teaching until 5:15 and then I go to the gym and I won't be home til about 6:30 or 7pm, which is late and if I wait to eat, I may be tempted to stop at a fast food restaurant on the way home. My house is starting to get harder and harder to pull healthy foods from. So for breakfast, I am eating things like 1 chicken wing? It's quite humorous actually.

Yesterday's Subsistence

Breakfast - 2 boiled eggs
Snack 1 - yogurt
Lunch - a half sandwich with cajun turkey, pepper jack cheese and American cheese with mustard with apple juice
Snack 2 - yogurt / Craisins
Dinner - Juice Plus
Snack 3 (OPTIONAL IF AFTER 7PM) - nothing

The plan is to do some serious grocery shopping over the weekend in my efforts to make this lifestyle change more effective and to consume a healthier amount of calories per day without eating dangerous foods like fried chicken wings for breakfast. Here is what Dr. Ian from the 50 Million Pound challenge says that I will need for a 7 day meal plan:

Cold cereal (Avoid cereals with lots of sugar. Try corn flakes, Cheerios, bran flakes, puffed wheat, puffed rice, shredded wheat, etc.)

Oatmeal

Eggs

Turkey bacon or ham

Low-fat milk

Low-fat yogurt (6 oz servings)

Fruit smoothies or whey protein shakes (such as Juice Plus)

Fresh fruit (Bananas, cantaloupe, etc. Berries to mix into yogurt and add to cereal. One serving of fruit should be the size of your fist.)

Vegetables (Celery, carrots, beans, lentils, chickpeas, corn, broccoli, etc. Consider vegetables for sides, snacks and ingredients. Avoid baked beans.)

Salad Ingredients (Lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, etc.)

Low-fat salad dressing

Brown rice

Wheat, whole grain or multi-grain bread

Turkey, chicken and ham sandwich meat

Mayonnaise

Soy patties or veggie burger

Potato chips or pretzels

Lean steak, fish, chicken (5 oz servings)

Whole wheat pasta

Tomato sauce

Integrating Exercise

So of course I didn't think I was going to lose 70lbs without exercising. I just had to re-adjust my mind. I have always been an athletic person of some sorts. My calves have always been my pride. I played volleyball and soccer in high school and I worked out frequently in college. But lately, I have had trouble even running up and down the steps at my house. It is just downright shameful. I have an all-access membership to Bally's because when I got home in 2005, it was my plan to continue a healthy lifestyle. I have probably been to the gym about 15 times in the last year. SHAMEFUL is not even the word. RIDICULOUS is more like it. So going back in there was difficult. Of course no one in the gym knows my story because it is not like I am wearing these facts plastered on my back but personally starting at the bottom is rough. A brief 30 minute work-out on the elliptical. The End.

But I just kept saying my motto to myself and I kept it moving.

Sucks that I lost my MP-3 player. I have been putting off exercising for the last month and a half because of this loss. I just ordered a new one this past week and then decided to start exercising without it. It was boring as hell, but still a breakthrough none-the-less. At the end of the day I enjoyed it as I have always enjoyed exercising. It brought back some memories of sweat and bliss. I am excited for the future.

Yesterday's Subsistence

Breakfast - one fried chicken wing and a half
Snack 1 - nothing
Lunch - salad with ranch dressing, baked chicken in light gravy
Snack 2 - nothing
Dinner - Juice Plus
Snack 3 (OPTIONAL IF AFTER 7PM) - Craisins

I know that missing those snacks is going to come and bite me in the butt later. But seriously I am not hungry and I really don't have time to stop and eat them while I am at work. The problem is I am losing weight but I am losing it dangerously fast and whenever I hit a brick wall in this process, I will not be able to reduce my calories to get a jump start because they are already ridiculously low. Also I am starting to get a cold, which may mean that my body is in a bit of a shock right now since I am consuming only about 1000 calories a day, which in some opinions may be border line eating disorder. Hmmm ... I will work on this. Stay tuned.

"Just Keep Swimming"

Sunday Dinner is ROUGH!

Black folks know that they love to make people break their diets on Sunday. WOW was that rough. Fortunately they did not have my personal weakness, which is fried chicken. But they had a straight smorgasbord of everything else. HOWEVER ... I won against the Sunday Dinner Monster!! I selected amongst the grease and starch a healthy plate of food and I was satisfied UNTIL they broke out the birthday cake with BUTTER CREME ICING!!! Are they secretly trying to sabotage me? I already passed up the to-die-for pound cake! How many times do they want me to say no? OK so I broke and I had a tiny piece of birthday cake BUT I did manage to cut off half the icing. So I feel like I somewhat triumphed.

Yesterday's Subsistence

Breakfast - wheat bran flakes with half banana and raisins
Snack 1 - nothing
Lunch - meat loaf, green beans, collard greens DESSERT-birthday cake
Snack 2 - nothing
Dinner - 1 serving of Tortilla chips and regular salsa
Snack 3 (OPTIONAL IF AFTER 7PM) - Craisins

SO with that said ... the ultimate rule for Sunday dinner is no starchie sides. Eat the meat, vegetables and a tiny slither of dessert (because who can turn down good Sunday Dinner dessert?). The good thing about Sunday dinner, is that it is always early in the day so you have time to run, walk, jog, sleep the effects off before you lay down for bed.

"Just Keep Swimming"

Will Power

Will Power is such an integral part of dieting. Yesterday one of my employer's treated the office to lunch from Southern Fires. For those of you who may not know, that is a soul food restaurant in Detroit which is pretty darn good at what they do ... make people fat! My favorite plate from there is fried chicken, macaroni and cheese and cornbread dressing. So as you can see that is not profitable for someone that wishes to live beyond their forties. So I had to switch it up on them and exert some will power. I chose baked chicken and two vegetable sides.

Yesterday's Subsistence

Breakfast - nothing
Snack 1 - yogurt
Lunch - half of a rotisserie, green beans, collard greens
Snack 2 - nothing
Dinner - Juice Plus shake
Snack 3 (OPTIONAL IF AFTER 7PM) - nothing (it was after 7pm)

So with that said, I am still missing some key meals per day. Such as breakfast. I did not break the fast as planned but today I started anew and had a fresh bowl of oatmeal.

The secondary big issue is portion control. Luckily because I didn't eat those other two meals, the fact that I ate half a chicken is not a huge deal but regularly not more than 3 ounces of meat is allowed per meal. Which is really not big at all. According to the website for Boston Market, a quarter white meat w/ skin and wing is 280 calories, and a quarter dark meat w/ skin is 320 calories, for a total of 600 calories. That's probably a good estimate of the calories I consumed with my southern fires meal. Just think, if I would have gotten my usual, that is like 1500 calories in one lunch!! Then I would have went home and ate again for dinner. According to Weight Watchers, the green beans and collard greens are a freebie so to speak. I am indeed proud of myself for resisting the urge to be fat yesterday, since during bible study I was offered pizza, fried chicken and macaroni and cheese. GEEZ OH PETES ... the tests were just being flung at me yesterday. BUT I passed them all!!

"Just Keep Swimming"

Preparation is Key

I have learned in this one day that preparation is very key! I have left home without all of my meals prepared for today and I am instantly craving fast food. However, in my efforts to diet in the past, I have some powdered milk and Juice Plus shake mix. So at best I can make shakes all day long until I get home. BUT the big caveat here is that Thursday is my long day. I have work from 9-5pm, Education meeting from 6-7pm, Bible class from 7pm-8:15pm and at that point, it is too late to eat according to most health gurus. So with that said, I am letting this be a lesson learned to 1) always have snacks at my job for emergencies and 2) don't leave home without packing a meal pack.

Yesterday's Subsistence

Breakfast - nothing
Snack 1 - nothing
Lunch - two boiled eggs with about 2 ounces of American cheese
Snack 2 - 10 ounces of orange juice
Dinner - sushi (6 avocado and crab pieces and 1 each of tuna, salmon, eel)
Snack 3 (OPTIONAL IF AFTER 7PM) - nothing (it was after 7pm)

OK so as you see, I am not following the million meal per day rule very well. However, this will be a task since I am used to have one huge meal per day at about 7pm and a midnight snack before climbing in the bed. Everyday I will post what I ate the following day as I try to stick to at least 5 small meals a day. When you don't get these meals, your body goes into starvation mode and whenever you decide to feed it, it will slow the metabolism and store the food as fat so that you won't die right away in case of an emergency. So everyday that I go to bed at 12am and I wake up at 8am and then I don't eat until 6pm, my body is extra confused. When you eat frequent meals, you keep your metabolism going and you keep burning fat and you can actually lose weight.

"Just Keep Swimming"

The First Day of the Rest of My Life

Today I am beginning a new path toward my lifetime weight loss goal. Today I weigh 220.8 lbs. I never thought that I would weigh that much in my entire life. I entered college in 2001 at 155lbs. I was content with my weight and my life as a college freshman. This is my "before."

Depressed. Ill-contented. Disillusioned.

Faith brings me to a point that yearns for an "after."

Confident. Hopeful. Renewed.

This journey begins after many false starts. I have declared my readiness. I am prepared for this journey. My goal is 150lbs. That means I have 70lbs to lose. My time line is indefinite. My motto is "Just keep swimming." Pray for me.