Posted by admin on August 31st, 2007 — Posted in Diet
"Often the fat-free version is not much lower in calories than the regular version. For example, each low-fat Oreo cookie has 50 calories. The regular version has just over three calories more". - Brian Wansink (Author)
More on his
During a recent experiment, a French colleague, Pierre Chandon, and I invited people to watch some commercials and a video episode of the 'Dukes of Hazzard.' We gave them bags of granola that were labeled as either 'Low-fat Rocky Mountain Granola' or 'Regular Rocky Mountain Granola,' as we described in the current issue of Journal of Marketing Research. In reality, all of the granola was low fat. While people watched the video, they ate the granola. Those given what was labeled as low-fat granola kept munching long after the other group stopped. After the movie, we weighed the remaining granola to see how much had disappeared. It turned out that those eating what they thought was low-fat granola ate 35 percent more, which translated into 192 more calories. When we offered them low-fat chocolate, they loaded up on 23 percent more calories.
Posted by admin on August 31st, 2007 — Posted in Diet
I have a problem, I have a really hard time with motivation. Usually it only lasts as long as I can remember that there is a good thing right in front of me. Do you remember that episode of where Dr. Crusher has a elderly friend come aboard and people/crew members start disappearing? Meanwhile "Freaky Wesley" and "Freaky Traveler Guy" are screwing with the warp drive? Everybody treats Dr. Crusher like she is bound for the booby-hatch because she is the only one who notices this is happening. Finally, in typical Star Trek fashion, she has you believing that everyone is disappearing when she forgets about them. When in fact "Freaky Wesley" is screwing with the Universe, but all will be well by the :56 mark.Like Dr. Crusher, I've got all these blessings and accomplishments around me so long as I remember them. Sometimes I feel like my brain is wired like the system tray of my Windows PC. I know that all that important stuff is doing its job, but sometimes I have to click on the little arrow to see what has been hidden.
I was reading (pro bodybuilder) tonight and he had some really great motivational phrases that I thought I would pass on to you. In the process reinforcing them in my brain.
Write down the pro's/con's of your goals: Knowing every single one of the benefits and rewards (material and emotional) that await you after especially challenging goals are completed will help you keep working toward achieving them. Identifying as many of these benefits and rewards as possible will keep you focused on the matter at hand.
As I have about 130 lbs. until I hit my goal weight, I know that I have to celebrate the small victories and intangibles that are happening as the numbers on the scale get smaller. Setting small goals are also a good way to do this. It's one thing to know that I have lost 65 lbs. so far, and that if I extrapolate that out, I should hit my goal in January 2009. That is a long way away, so setting small goals, like losing 25 lbs over the summer are a good way to go.
Our goals are based on our beliefs in ourselves: A person will set his or her goals based on what he believes about him or herself.
Going back to school is another goal I have written about on this blog. I can talk about out that all I want, but until I put some motion into that goal its just jibber-jabber. I know that I am going to have to have a heaping helping of self-confidence in my ability to swing the classes, a full-time job, a family and the commute to Walla Walla for two years.
Surround yourself with success: The majority of the people you surround yourself with must have the courage to live life at your level or higher. If you don’t this type of individuals, you’ll find yourself working hard just to stay where you are-instead of taking your life to the next level. And, you’ll be able to stay where you are only if you’re lucky!
Basically the opposite of the old saying, if you want to look skinny surround yourself with fat people. This is the way the WeightWatchers meeting has its success, you are surrounding yourself with people that are all rowing in the same direction. My group leader told me that another member had told her that they really saw the transformation of my body and I had inspired her to return to the group. Me? Really?
Posted by admin on August 31st, 2007 — Posted in Diet
I can't believe it's almost Friday already, and this weekend is a holiday weekend. I'm hoping to get lots of R and R this weekend, as well as some good workouts. I'm excited about my long bike ride on Sunday. I plan to ride the trail by my house down to Metro Center.
Today I had swim class at 2pm. I arrived early so I could swim my 400 yards. I want to try to swim 400 without stopping 3 days a week. Of course I can't swim that far yet without stopping, but I did swim the 400 before class started. It took me between 10-15 minutes. Then I swam another 500 in class doing various assessments. We swam a 25 for time (23.8), but we weren't supposed to swim all out. I got a cramp in my right calf and couldn't go all out if I wanted to. Then we had to swim to count our strokes, shooting for a low count. I did it in 11, but when we did it officially I got a cramp again and did it in 13. I think we were actually swimming for half of the time. I tried to swim in between things to get more time in. I'm going to call it 45 minutes today total.
I also went to the gym today after swimming and a quick snack back at home. I ran for 10 minutes to warm up and then did the lower body workout: lunges, calf raises, squats, and straight leg dead lifts. I tried not to lift too much, because I'm still sore in the upper body from Monday's workout. This workout took 30 minutes.
It was a good diet day today, but I didn't drink enough water.
Posted by admin on August 31st, 2007 — Posted in Diet
I have seen a lot of, shall we say, emotion, in the soy protein versus whey protein debate.
The Poll of the Week has been updated over at Build Muscle and Burn Fat, and we wanted to know what side of the fence YOU come down on. Click on the link below to particpate in this weeks poll.
Posted by admin on August 31st, 2007 — Posted in Diet
Maybe because I "worked from home" - and thankfully tomorrow is a comp day, so no work at all!! YAY! In fact I'm meeting two friends for breakfast at The Pancake House. Hopefully I'll manage to unclench this weekend, so I'm not still pissed off and spun up when I have to go back to work Tuesday.
Looks like I stand a VERY good chance of making TWO of my goals for August:
1. 5 pound weight loss
2. NO McDonald's for Breakfast
I can even drive past my "usual" McD's on the way to work and not be tempted to stop - which after stopping there every weekday for MONTHS is something just short of miraculous.
Still struggling BIG time with the whole exercise thing. Although the Evil Trainer did work my ass today - and after I worked all night! I wasn't even tempted to cancel on him, so that's a check in the plus column.
Looks like my old Boss from a past company may become my new Boss at the company I'm currently at. She was good to work for, so that's a plus. But I'm not sure I want to stay working there, and I'm not sure she can fix what feels so broken there. If she accepts the offer, she'll be starting in about 3-4 weeks.
I did decided to NOT talk to the current boss about my thoughts of fleeing. He's a total sweetheart, but he's even more beat up and burned out than me, yet he doesn't understand WHY I'd want to leave (this I learned the last time I had this talk with him). So I'm just going to try and fly under the radar and see what there is out there that might be a good fit for me.
September is going to be a rough month to get my workouts in. The Evil Trainer is gone the first two weeks - out hunting. Then he's back for less than a week and I leave town for vacation. So I'm just going to have to summon up some willpower and get my ass to the gym on my own and do the hated cardio. *blech*
Posted by admin on August 31st, 2007 — Posted in Diet
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Posted by admin on August 31st, 2007 — Posted in Diet
As I mentioned earlier in the week, my current objective is to locate some "clean" foods or recipes that do not bore me to absolute tears. I think I've had a successful week, on that particular front, and for the first time since starting this madness, I'm feeling settled and satisfied with all aspects of the plan. I wish I were a little lower-maintenance. But I'm not. I love good food....I'm married to the best cook I've ever known....and I have a very busy life which results, for one reason or another, in over-indulgence. I'm hardly alone.
This week, I paid careful attention to what I was really craving, and I tried to find reasonable alternatives. This seems to have tamed the Craving Queen who rules my mind with an iron fist....skulking about bitching and whining and making me want to drive hot pokers through my eye sockets. Simply because she could not eat a bag of Doritos in front of the television two nights ago. I didn't even know I liked Doritos until I couldn't have them.
This week, the queen also demanded pizza, ice cream, and mexican food. I told her no. I'm always telling her no. I really am quite disciplined. But the queen? She pulls rank. Always. This week, in response to hearing "no" one too many times, she went to the ball park and downed a hot dog and a hot pretzel. Well, I'm back at the wheel now, and this bus is driving directly to the gym tonight to put in some extra cardio because I don't intend to wear those two poor choices on the scale Saturday morning.
I also spent a small part of the day at the grocery store, buying the fixings for a CORE lasagna recipe I enjoy, frozen berries, brown basmati rice, and fruit. The queen backed off a bit when I presented her with pizza for dinner tonight---. Who you should go read. Right now. And while I would not grant her ice cream, I did present her with cottage cheese and half-frozen strawberries, the consistency of which was quite decadent and adequately convincing. So, it seems the queen and I have reached an agreement of sorts. She gets treats, and I get healthy. We're cool. For now.
God only knows what she's going to want next week, though.
Posted by admin on August 31st, 2007 — Posted in Diet
Boy, I've really been getting on my own nerves lately. I am supposed to be gradually easing back into carb-eating by adding WHOLE foods. What have I been doing instead? Taking up my carb count with junk and with non-junk that I'm not supposed to be eating right now. It's rather difficult to see whether I'm OK at 35 grams or at 40 grams (the next step up the carb ladder) when I'm eating enough carbs to almost take me out of ketosis.
If you're wondering whether I'm annoyed at myself, you would be correct.
And it's not the all-too-common excuse of, "You must need those foods or else you wouldn't eat them." Nobody needs a candy bar or a bowl of ice cream. Nobody needs French fries. Y'know, that kind of thing. In my case it's been too many low-carb tortillas (I have devised an excellent method of eating cheese sandwiches when feeling snacky), brown rice, and the occasional taste of something I'm not supposed to have. And too much coffee. If I'm going to do the coffee perhaps I should grab some Da Vinci sugar-free syrups, as they have no carb count while granular Splenda is one gram per teaspoon. And that's without counting the heavy cream. Le sigh.
And yes, I'm still having issues with vegetables. That's got to change.
I think I need to start over with Induction. I don't think I will need it longer than a week (if I start it tomorrow I'll be on it a little over a week, actually). But just to get the junk out of my system, make myself eat the veggies and so forth.
The weight loss is going fine and better than fine. That's not the issue. The issue is I need to be better at this healthy eating thing than I am presently.
I think something else I need to do is make menus for myself. If I know what I'm supposed to eat in a given day then it won't be so easy to go over my carb count and I won't have to worry about being under it either.
Posted by admin on August 31st, 2007 — Posted in Diet
Tomorrow is a big workout, as it will be my last workout until I do a reassessment for the Men's Health Fitness Challenge. I plan on demolishing my body tomorrow and then giving it 4 days to get ready for the reassessment. I will post on that workout tomorrow or the next day.
It's been a busy time around here completing my first full week of Ph.D. course work and teaching- which I as usual stressed out about WAY too much. I have now taught two classes (Western Civilization & U.S. History to 1877), and in my own estimation, I've done a pretty good job. Why do I think so? I have been able to work from memory, move around the room, and engage students.
So despite my fears, I feel that to some degree I've overcome them.
Posted by admin on August 31st, 2007 — Posted in Diet
Hi I 've been away for a few days and I've been itching to get back to my blog! I've been identified as having (temporary) food intolerances caused by the candida and I've had these intolerances confirmed since I last blogged. No gluten, lactose or sugar which is tricky. But since I've been avoiding the foods that I can't digest at present I do feel a lot better. Its important to find someone reliable to test you as the intolerances vary. I am also trying to vary my diet as eating too much of something can create new intolerances. Candida sure is a challenge! So I have dusted off my cook books and I am experimenting with some lovely new foods. Luckily I love salads, veggies and meats so its just a question of working out combinations to vary my diet. However lunches are trickier as I work in an office. I have found a range of soups by the New Convent Garden company which I will be trying next week. No nasties in the ingredients. These are fresh soups but I am experimenting with freezing them. I went along to the health food shop today and spent a fortune! I spotted grapefruit seed extract which I am going to take in rotation with the other anti fungals to zap the candida. I also remembered today (wish I'd remembered sooner!) than I previously had great results with SF 722 capsules. I'll see how I get on with everything I am taking now and I may move over to SF722 if needed in a few weeks. If I had recalled this product sooner I would have tried it first but my memory isnt as sharp. At least I can blame the candida! When I am better i'll have to blame old age! :) Anyway I wanted to tell you about some of the great items that I have found in my health food shop which you might like too. My fav is vegetable crisps. I buy mixed bags and they are lovely especially if you are missing potatoes (some anti candida diets say no spuds or you may be intolerant). I also bought gluten free muesli, organic cornflakes (no sugar), puffed buckwheat and puffed quinoa. All great for breakfasts or snacks with soya milk! I am going to alternate them with fried breakfasts. I've bought some millet bread to try too. Some of these foods were pricey though. If anyone can recommend a low cost website selling these things please let me know! But it was fun choosing new things to try and its brightened me up as the candida diet can get repetitive which is the last thing you want (risking new intolerances). I'm off to eat some delicious veggie crisps! :)
"Often the fat-free version is not much lower in calories than the regular version. For example, each low-fat Oreo cookie has 50 calories. The regular version has just over three calories more". - Brian Wansink (Author)
I can't believe it's almost Friday already, and this weekend is a holiday weekend. I'm hoping to get lots of R and R this weekend, as well as some good workouts. I'm excited about my long bike ride on Sunday. I plan to ride the trail by my house down to Metro Center.
