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[A Touch of Evil]

[ Day 8: Monday, July 19th, 2010 ]

Breakfast:
1 scrambled egg with bell peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, and kalamata olives (about 10 or 12 olives). 2 wheat tortillas.

Afternoon snack:
1 small banana/strawberry smoothie made some apple juice.

Lunch:
1 large salad with various veggies and ranch dressing. Healthy chips (no transfat, no cholesterol, about 90 calories)

Night time snack:
apple/strawberry/banana smoothie made with milk and ice. (made 4 servings, I only had 1)

Dinner:
1 egg cooked over easy in a sandwich with 2 wheat slices, black olives (about 4, sliced) and bell peppers. (no cheese)

Tip of the day:
Fight unhealthy cravings for junk food by eating something else that is infinitely healthier.  

[A Touch of Evil]

[ End of week 1 ]

I weighed myself today. I weigh the same. crying 195 lbs. I had a feeling this would happen. I also completely forgot that I wanted to start drinking green tea today so I definitely will tomorrow. I'm going to try and start at 3 cups a day (just at every meal). Green raises metabolism which will help in losing weight. But I think it targets belly fat too (or maybe all fat?) Either way, it's really healthy so, as much as I hate the bitter taste of green tea, I'm going to force it down my throat if I have to.

Also, I only walked 3 times this past week and each walk wasn't even an hour long. I really have to try harder and remember to stick with the plan. Adapting to new life changes is tough but I'll keep trying. Maybe I should try doing some weight lifting too, or any kind of exercise that will work my muscles out. Apparently more muscle will aid in higher metabolism. I'm going to try and get back into running again like I did last summer. I just have to push myself I suppose.  

[Sunsway]

Hey, nothing to feel bad about. It's a major lifestyle change and adapting gradually is a good method. Throwing yourself into it might feel great at first, but eventually you'll burn out -- everyone does.

Have you tried setting some goals? Maybe you could take it week by week -- first the daily walks, next week cutting out the high-calorie dressings, then maybe going down from large to medium portions... gradual changes like that. Might make it a bit easier.  

[Euthanasia Phase]

Hello! Adjusting to a new diet and exercise plan can take some time, and often it takes a few changes to finally settle into something that works.
Looking over your food intake, overall it seems very healthy! You're obviously making an effort to keep a balanced and nutritious as well as low-calorie diet. The only thing that looks potentially problematic is the ranch dressing. Perhaps measuring out a tablespoon, and having it once or twice a week would help quell cravings but keep everything within reason? Going by your "tip of the day", choosing something healthy can help fight cravings, but completely cutting something that you like out of your diet may also backfire.
Also, green tea is wonderful for boosting metabolism (and I didn't know about the belly fat effects... eek ). If you don't like the taste of regular green tea, you might want to try Lipton's diet green tea with mixed berry flavoring. It has all the benefits without actually tasting like green tea - my dad hates green tea, but he will voluntarily drink this stuff. Weight lifting is also a real metabolism booster - anything that builds muscle is.
Finally, don't worry as much about the number on the scale. Weight fluctuates a lot, and it's possible that the result was due to water weight instead of your habits. You might want to try weighing in every day for awhile to get a general sense of how your body reacts to certain diet and exercise habits.
Good luck! smile  

[A Touch of Evil]

Thank you both for the advice. The reason why I don't weigh myself everyday is because I don't want to become obsessed with a number. Also, I usually choose the fat free ranch dressing....but at my work, the salad bar has a low calorie italian dressing so I should probably use that instead.

Other than that, I've been eating small meals and TONS of fruits and veggies.  

[A Touch of Evil]

[ Day 9: Tuesday, July 20th, 2010 ]

Breakfast:
egg veggie sandwich made with 1 over easy egg, sliced black olives, and bellpeppers. 2 wheat slices. (no cheese)

Afternoon snack:
5 strawberries.

Lunch:
Went out to Souplantation (only because we desprately need groceries). I tried making the salad smaller than usual (even the brother mentioned, "You didn't put much") and I used non-fat ranch. Then I had a small bowl of soup (cream of potato and rosemary) and then a really small serving of noodles. They had two different types that were new so I only put less than one scoop of both in the small dish. I was really trying not to over eat. Then just 1 glass of strawberry lemonaide.

Dinner:
1 homemade small wheat burrito with 2 Tbsp of chili beans, some bell peppers, broccoli, caulifower, and 6 black olives (sliced).

Exercise:
40 minute walk/jog.

I was pretty proud of myself today, This morning, I put on my workout clothes, and walked/ran with Tipsy. I started the walk with the first 5 mins of fast paced walking. Then alternated every minute or so between walking and jogging. I'm going to do this everyday because I really want to build up my endurance and eventually be able to run 2 miles (8 laps around a track) non-stop. If I can even do 4 laps non-stop running, I'd be soooo happy. I hate being limited by my body. I just want to freely exercise.

I enrolled in a Saturday hiking class for the fall. So now I'm enrolled in 2 PE classes. I'm really excited.

Tip of the day:
Remember to do some stretching before and after running.  

[Stars in my Pocket]

Ah! Freely exercising.

I said the same thing in my journal, I think, along the lines of "I just want to be able to run as far as my body will carry me, as far as I want to go". Same concept.

I'm with you girl! Do you have a mp3 or CD player you can take with you? You should try the C25K program. I'm on week 4 as of today and I am already running a half mile at a time (equivalent of 2 laps), walking a quarter mile (1 lap), running 2 more, and walking one. If you have an mp3 player or CD player you should download the C25K DJ Beatsmith "Podrunner" series. It starts from week 1 to week 9 (where you run the equivalent of 13 laps nonstop!) and has music and chimes for when you run/walk. It starts off easy and builds you up, so if you're interested you should definitely give it a shot!  

[A Touch of Evil]

Stars in my Pocket

Ah! Freely exercising.

I said the same thing in my journal, I think, along the lines of "I just want to be able to run as far as my body will carry me, as far as I want to go". Same concept.

I'm with you girl! Do you have a mp3 or CD player you can take with you? You should try the C25K program. I'm on week 4 as of today and I am already running a half mile at a time (equivalent of 2 laps), walking a quarter mile (1 lap), running 2 more, and walking one. If you have an mp3 player or CD player you should download the C25K DJ Beatsmith "Podrunner" series. It starts from week 1 to week 9 (where you run the equivalent of 13 laps nonstop!) and has music and chimes for when you run/walk. It starts off easy and builds you up, so if you're interested you should definitely give it a shot!

Yes, as a matter of fact, I looked on the website and saw the basic running/walking schedule for those 9 months weeks. It looks really solid and legit so I bought the iphone app for it. It seems really neat and helpful so on friday, I'm going start. I'm currently feeling the shin splints and soarness from yesterday and today so I think tomorrow I'll rest. I'm really excited to start it though. Yesterday, my walk/job resembled day 1 of week 1. And instead of doing only 3 days a week, I might do it 4 days a week.  

[A Touch of Evil]

[ Day 10: Wednesday, July 21, 2010 ]

Breakfast:
6 strawberries.

Afternoon snack:
1 oats n honey granola bar.

Lunch:
1 scrambled egg with veggies (olives, bell peppers, broccoli, cauliflower), 2 wheat tortillas. 1 glass of horchata.

Evening snack:
handful of cashews.

Dinner:
Quessadilla, with skim milk mozzerella cheese, 2 wheat tortillas, olives, and bell peppers.

Exercise:
30 min walk.

Tip of the day:
Try to eat meals at the same times everyday. Try not to sleep in too late.

Just a rant:
Today my eating was all screwed up because we didn't have anything all morning so I practically starved myself until we went grocery shopping. We didn't even have any fruits so I haven't made any healthy smoothies lately. I'll get back to it tomorrow though.  

[Sunsway]

Hiking class sounds awesome! I adore hiking -- except last time a got a tick, that wasn't fun. Thankfully I didn't know that they were anarchids at the time, just funny-looking insects with a suspicious number of legs.

Newayz, your breakfast looks a bit dismal. Pat on the back for not binging when you actually found food.  

[A Touch of Evil]

[ Day 11: Thursday, July 22nd, 2010 ]

Breakfast:
strawberry/banana smoothie made with 1 banana, 6 strawberries, 8 oz of ice, and about 5 oz of soy almond milk (unsweetened). 
1 apricot. 

Ashley's birthday was today and we had tons of different foods and snacks and icecream cake as well as all sorts of soda.

Party food:
1 soda. Some doritoes and tortilla chips with nacho cheese, deviled  egg potato salad, baked beans, Mexican rice (wheat), and shrimp kabobs, 7 total (each kabob had 2 shrimps, 1 mushroom, 2 pieces of bell peppers and onions)
2 small pieces of cake. 

I'm pretty proud, I didn't over eat or get seconds. Later on night, I had some shrimp kabobs, but didn't exceed 7.

Midnight snack:
1 homemade piece of muhna-eesh.

Drank plenty of water through out the day.

Exercise:
about 2 hours playing in the pool.

Tip of the day:
Try to create new cravings to replace the old ones. Instead of craving chocolate and eating it, eat a banana!  

[A Touch of Evil]

[ Day 12: Friday, July 23rd, 2010]

Breakfast:
2 small pieces of muhna-eesh, 4 strawberries, 4 cherries.

Afternoon snack:
1 smoothie made with 1 banana, 6 strawberries, 1 apricot, 4 oz of unsweetened soy almond milk, 8 oz of ice.

Lunch:
An egg veggie sandwich made with 1 egg, 5 black olives (slived), bell peppers, and 2 wheat sliced of bread.

Evening snack:
Handful of cashews (while at work).

Dinner:
3 small pieces of muhna-eesh with melted mozzarella cheese. (I probably shouldn't have eaten so much but it was comfort food because some stupid prank caller thought it'd be funny to curse me out at work, so I went home pissed off and hungry.....not a good combination......at least I told him off and pissed him off even more so it was pretty funny but I was still sooooo angry. At least this weekend was my turn off. Thank god.)

Lot's of water all day, and I snacked on small pieces of mozzarella cheese twice today.

My legs are still soar from a few days ago when I ran/walked. I'm so out of shape, it's embarrassing... sad Tomorrow, I'm going to start the C25K whether my legs like it or not. Hopefully Matthew and I will get to run together, that'd be nice, but either, way, I wanna exercise everyday and just push through the soarness.

Tip of the day:
Be compulsive when it comes to exercising! Don't be easily distracted by the couch potato life-style, instead, just get up and walk/run! My body will thank me in the future.  

[Munkers]

I'm kind of envious of how much fruit you get in your diet! I really do need to eat more. >_<

I know you're bummed that the number on the scale hasn't changed much, but here's something you probably didn't realize. When you work out and especially when you start something new or do anything that creates soreness, part of the process of your muscles repairing themselves and getting stronger involves them holding on to more water than usual. That fluid build-up leads to more weight on the scale, but as you adapt to things your body will eventually shed that weight.

Looking forward to seeing someone else start in on Couch to 5k. I've shocked myself with how far I've come and I think you'll be really proud of yourself for what you'll be able to do in just a few weeks. heart  

[A Touch of Evil]

Munkers

I'm kind of envious of how much fruit you get in your diet! I really do need to eat more. >_<

Yes! To be honest, I was 197 before I officially started dieting. I started making those fruit shakes, and dropped 2.5 lbs in those few days before I started my diet. That's what kinda got me started. I'm just glad I haven't gained anything.

Munkers

I know you're bummed that the number on the scale hasn't changed much, but here's something you probably didn't realize. When you work out and especially when you start something new or do anything that creates soreness, part of the process of your muscles repairing themselves and getting stronger involves them holding on to more water than usual. That fluid build-up leads to more weight on the scale, but as you adapt to things your body will eventually shed that weight.

OMG really? I didn't know that........maybe then I shouldn't weigh myself for another few weeks, just until my body adapts to all the exercising, then I'll go to a weekly routine of weigh-ins. But then again, I'm too nosy.

Munkers

Looking forward to seeing someone else start in on Couch to 5k. I've shocked myself with how far I've come and I think you'll be really proud of yourself for what you'll be able to do in just a few weeks. heart

Oh thank you. I told Matthew about it too and he's also interested. We both might get a chance to run together tomorrow, but not sure. I'm definitely going to run though. This "break" of mine went 2 days too long. At least my legs don't feel like they wanna explode and fall off. lol  

[Stars in my Pocket]

C25K! :D
You said 9 months earlier... but just to clarify it's 9 weeks. (:
You run a 5k at the end of 9 weeks (or longer if you repeat some workouts). I find that when I 'up' the workout (move up a level etc) it is difficult, sometimes I want to give up but I just dont, I push though it and it's doable, even if it's difficult. Best of luck!