24 Weeks to the Beach! aka C gets her act together and gets cracking on her health ;0

[paragraphs]

Like a lot of people, I want to lose weight. Get fit. Feel better.  The start to 2013 has been a rough one for me - a sprained knee and an upper respiratory infection that refuses to go away completely.  Both are better, but dang, evil!  So many people have been sick this winter. I for one am ready for spring and the warmth of sunny skies to chase all this nasty away.

While I was sick and hurt, I tried to be careful about what I ate as I worried I'd gain while so immobile.  Thankfully that didn't happen but now that I am better, I am really tired of soup and Lean Cuisines. LOL. So, thinking ahead to the fact that I'll be hitting the beach later this year (late July!) in Florida, it would be rather nice to get in shape between now and then, lose this annoying 20 lbs. that I don't want, and be ready to greet my next birthday with fierceness and feeling and being awesome.

So, thinking back to how I lost a huge chunk of weight 7 or so years ago (I've regained 15 from my favorite weight, grrrrr)  I've decided to embark on a new gameplan. There are so, so many diets out there, but going back to basics is what worked before so that is what I'm going to do.  Boringly, lol, I plan to chronicle it here in an attempt to keep me honest

What I am doing is this:  for the next two weeks, until next payday that is, I will be eating the following foods daily:

Breakfast - 2 eggs, 1 pat butter an ounce of freshly-shredded cheddar to make it tasty
Lunch - large salads with either chicken or tuna or salmon, lots of veggies, and my fav Apple Blossom balsamic vinegar from Central Market mixed with fresh olive oil for dressing
Dinner - fish (salmon, swai, etc.), green beans (I love these so much)
Snacks - Fage Greek yogurt (2% fat as I prefer it) with berries, an orange or apple or grapefruit

That is around 1350 calories,  25% carbs, a 35% protein, 40% fat ratio, or 86g carbs, 120g protein, 61g fat.  

No Diet Sodas.  They are free at work which makes it a challenge. Also, sigh, giving up my love for kombucha for the next two weeks. Sob. LOL. Oh well, at 3 bucks a pop, well... yeah.  Tea is better, right? I also reserve the right to drink endless ice tea because I love it.  Other than that I will plan to have hot green tea at least 2 times a day - I have found this wonderful 'Dragonfruit' green tea I love. And lots of water though not too much as I have been known to overkill on that and get myself into trouble. Sigh.  Bad me.  

Other items:  the doc has been trying to get me onto cholesterol meds and I just... meh.  So, I've found an alternative to the evil that is natural - niacin/flaxseed oil/fish oil.  I am going to give that a go. I forgot to get the niacin today though. Bah.

Tomorrow's food will be as follows:

1. Eggs - Scrambled (whole egg), 2 large free range from my coworker, in butter
2. Cheese - Cheddar, 1 oz  
3. Mixed Green Salad - Field Greens, 3 cup
4. Chicken - Breast, meat only, cooked, roasted, 1 cup, chopped or dice
5. Cherry Tomatoes- Small - 5 Cherry Tomatoes, 5 tomatoe
6. Veggie - English Cucumber - Seedless
7. Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing - Balsamic Vinegar & Olive Oil
8. Salmon - Salmon - Grilled Plain, 6 oz.
9. Beans - Green Beans , 3.75 o
10. Chobani - Pear Non-Fat Greek Yogurt, 6 o
11. Oranges - Raw, navels, 1 frui
12. TOTAL: 1,316 calories - 59g carbs  61g fats 107g protein

And on Saturdays?  I get a splurge meal!  If I want that Kincaid's hamburger by golly, I plan to eat it.   

Am shooting for around 1350 calories a day.  When I lost all the weight before, I had far less than that, closer to 1000 a day. I lost fast, very fast, but not necessarily as healthily as I could. I kinda went overboard, yo, and lost too much. I was cold and weak and gaunt and my butt was too bony for comfort.  So I regained 20. Sigh.  And since I started work full time again, gained a wee bit more. Dammit!  But, I know now where I feel best/look best/not cold or too bony, and that is about 15-20 lbs. below where I have been stuck for a couple of years. Bah!  With so little to lose to get to goal I figure this will take awhile but I have 24 weeks to the beach, and though I don't aim to wear a bikini lol (get real) I still know I can do a lot more to feel and look better.

So here we go!  I hope I am not too annoying with this - and stick with it. :)  I will try!

Exercise - my doc said I could get going again with easy walking which means, sadly, still no dog-walking. Sorry pups but you guys are why I sprained my knee in the first place!  So I'm going back on the treadmill and on the bike. I've got my extra laptop now to do that with and that should work great.

This should be fun, right?  Eating fresh fruits and veggies, high quality meats and seafood, and after the first two weeks, I plan to switch things up a little bit but we'll get to that later. :)

Onward!

Comments

[kattale.livejournal.com]

I am so proud of you!!!! I am up about 20 pounds from where "normal" is for me - about 50 pounds from where I wish I was. And I'm in a rut where I'm just not motivated to do anything about it. I'm all about the comfort foods right now. I need to find some replacement for whatever it is I'm using food for.

If you feel like blogging about your accomplishments on a daily basis, I will cheer you on and soak up every word, hoping your diligence rubs off on me. :)

[paragraphs.livejournal.com]

I am hoping being accountable will help! That's been me. Dammit, I love food so much but I need to do this - it'll get all the bad stuff out of my system, and without starving myself. Goodbye crackers... I will miss you... But this weekend I ate a whole pack by myself and that has to stop. Stop! This should keep me happy and I packed my lunch already for tomorrow so I know I can't have anything not in my lunch box. :)

[sabriel75.livejournal.com]

Eating the good stuff can be fun too. :)

Good luck. I'll do whatever I can to help you feel you're being held accountable, since I really need the push to lose weight too.

[paragraphs.livejournal.com]

I bought such pretty foods! Went to Trader Joe's to get it this time - I usually don't shop there but thought okay to shake this up, I will go somewhere different. They had some great salad mixes for much cheaper than Albertson's so was happy about that. :)

I feel like January was a blur of pain and sick so just now getting my new year started. :)

[sabriel75.livejournal.com]

I relate to that feeling so much and unfortunately for me, both my children's birthdays are this month as well as two huge school events that take up my time. It's frightening how little time I actually have to claim for myself.

Trader Joe's foods are some of the best ever!

[paragraphs.livejournal.com]

Their salad bags - totally beat Albertson's. Sigh, I guess I will continue to shop there, dang it... LOL!!!

Someday you will find that they are off and you make dates to have dinner with them just so you can see them. :) Srsly, that is what we do! LOL.

[dremiel.livejournal.com]

You are awesomesauce and I'm so proud of you for taking care of yourself! And even prouder that you're have such clear and reasonable goals and noce concrete plans to get there.

I take high dose Niacin (the prescription name is Niaspan) and have had great results. It's safe and (relatively) cheap and it really works. It does, however, have a lousy side effect that hits most people who take it - flushing. Several hours after your dose your capillaries will dilate and you'll flush all over - and it will feel like you are burning/itching everywhere. It's awful. It passes quickly - within ten minutes but it is extremely uncomfortable. I've found that taking a baby aspirin about 30 minutes before the Niacin prevents the flushing entirely for me. Sib 2 says that doesn't work for him but the flushing goes away after the first week or so (but comes back if you go off and then back on the Niacin).

Good luck and keep us all posted!

[paragraphs.livejournal.com]

The directions I read for Niacin does go through steps - low dosage until tolerated, then more, then finally the final mg count. I hate flushing like that! But I'd rather not take statins, or the drug my doc prescribed - it is 65 bucks a month! Argh! Okay I will get that.

I am feeling good today. I'm eating fish and free range chicken but I am also going to learn to make quinoa and other things as well. I am determined to stick this idea out. I was down over a pound this morning already hee hee but the true success will be when I can get below the 5 lbs. from now stage. When I visited there, I weighed 10 lbs. less than I do now. That was a good weight but I want to knock 5 down from that. :)

[criada.livejournal.com]

I'm dieting right now, too. My trick is to stagger my calorie intake so my metabolism doesn't adjust too quickly. (With my size and activity level, I'm having an average of 1880 calories a day over the course of a week.)

[paragraphs.livejournal.com]

Yes!! That is what I plan to do after this first two weeks of eating stuff. How are you doing? :)

Yeah - my activity level right now is low low low because of the sprained knee but every day it is better. I am determined to get on the bike tonight!