Exercising more, making better food choices

[NancysSummerSip]

I have cut out refined flour and sugar. So I still eat pasta (but whole wheat), bread (whole grain) and brown rice or rice that is white in it's natural state (aborio, jasmine and there's another one I'm drawing a blank on). I usually only eat the 3 main meals and occassionally an afternoon snack of almonds or sunflower seeds. I've tried doing the 6-7 smaller meals a day and find that all it does is makes me obsess over my next meal. So.. I try to just eat when I'm hungry and make a healthy choice at the time.

I think MM has a good point here. The whole grain carbs are going to fill you up faster on less and keep you fuller longer. And the refined stuff just isn't a good idea at all. OK, a donut or a piece of cake every so often won't kill you. Oh, and totally agree on the 6-7 small meals thing. Never helped me, either, though I know people who do it and love it.

[sheilaincali]

We struggle with finding healthy foods that we all three will enjoy. Last night it was a classic toddler show down over the carrots- however I was the toddler and I hate carrots! I agreed to one small bite but I still hate carrots.

DH and I have decided to eat better and improve our overall health. Our grocery store keeps advertising their dietitian over the PA system and on a big poster when you walk in the store. I decided to check her out this week. She has all the degrees and certifications that I assume you would want one to have. It's $100 for one initial 60 minute one on one session with her and then you get four 30 minute follow up sessions. Plus she will give you a free personalized tour of the grocery store and help with meal planning, grocery lists, advice on how to store and prepare fruits and veggies etc. She also has a monthly newsletter with additional advice and recipes.

I sent her an email to set up our initial session with her.

[chiver78]

May 30, 2012 9:31:11 GMT -5 wvugurl26 said:

I try to avoid white carbs. I know when I did low carb I completely jacked up my body. I couldn't sit straight up in a chair without thinking I'd fall out. My blood sugar tends to run low so perhaps that diet wasn't a good choice for me. I try to make good choices and not eat crap. I also try to have any junk by mid afternoon. I go to the gym after work.

Oh I forgot I was also queen bitch

Great job Nancy!!

I hover around the limits for needing meds for low blood sugar and I did okay for blood sugar on low carb. I guess I was getting enough from somewhere. it seems like it's different for everyone.

the one that almost killed me was the "blood type diet" that a good friend swore by. basically, the thought runs that your blood type determines the types of calories that your body processes the best. it also has you eating tiny "meals" every 3 hours or so during the day. I took every liberty granted for people with blood sugar issues and still had problems. I wasn't at all hungry, but the fun started when I got to the gym for the first time on the program, after work a couple days in - 5 minutes into the 30-min program on the elliptical machine, I was getting a little dizzy. didn't think anything of it, just moved over to the bike for the rest of the time. when I went to stand up after the bike, I almost fell over. my friend met up with me at the bike, and I saw 3 of her. so I sat down and chugged a sports drink from the gym's cooler and waited until it kicked in before I even tried to drive home. uh, thanks but no.

right now, I'm working on just tracking calories and making sure I'm eating less than I'm allotted by the calculator on Livestrong.com each day - and that's net, so if I move more, I can eat more. I just need to stop bring crap into the house. if it's not there, I can't eat it.

oh, and great job, nancy!!

[wvugurl26]

I probably had no business being on a diet when I did it. I'd kill to be that weight again right now. I walked everywhere and had one 12 oz soda a day, water the rest of the time. I think I was struggling with getting enough food in general. I still have days where I can't eat enough to remain upright. I try not to snack a lot but there are times where I need to get something small in my system before I crash.

The last time I completely passed out I was standing and hit my head on the concrete floor. I'd like to avoid that again. I try to make good choices most of the time and change habits as I go. Yeah its slow and it sucks but I think it is better for me.

[NancysSummerSip]

Aw thanks, guys (I'm sitting here snacking on a bag of lightly salted mixed nuts. It's MM's fault - she gave me the idea).

With both parents having died from heart disease/ diabetes complications, it really is game over now. I don't have any options left, if long-term healthy survival is my goal. My mother lived into her early eighties, but the last 15 years were awful, health-wise. My dad had three heart attacks. Both of my siblings are diabetics. Heck, their KIDS are likely diabetics. Somebody has to stop the crazy train, right?

[cronewitch]

Low Carb diets like Atkin's aren't no carb. The first two weeks are 20 carbs a day but then you adjust it upward with more healthy carbs like veggies and fruit until you get to an amount that works for you. It worked great for me when I did it and does for most people until they discover low carb junk food like snack bars.

My current diet is controlled carb 45 three times a day and 15 twice a day but almost entirely complex carbs like beans and brown rice or whole grain bread. I am trying to keep my blood sugar between 80-140 and spacing out complex carbs helps. I fit a lot of fruits and veggies into my diet but select lower carb most of the time like last night I had grapefruit and jicama and soup with beans, brown rice, beef and assorted veggies including two huge handfuls of spinach. I gained 3lbs because I didn't resist a cup of pretzels late at night.

[mandyms]

May 30, 2012 11:34:25 GMT -5 sheilaincali said:

DH and I have decided to eat better and improve our overall health. Our grocery store keeps advertising their dietitian over the PA system and on a big poster when you walk in the store. I decided to check her out this week. She has all the degrees and certifications that I assume you would want one to have. It's $100 for one initial 60 minute one on one session with her and then you get four 30 minute follow up sessions. Plus she will give you a free personalized tour of the grocery store and help with meal planning, grocery lists, advice on how to store and prepare fruits and veggies etc. She also has a monthly newsletter with additional advice and recipes.

I sent her an email to set up our initial session with her.

Shelli, you might want to check with your insurance to see if a visit is covered with a dietitian. A lot of them are now doing "preventative coverage" under the new healthcare reform act and will pay for a certain number of sessions depending on the reason.

I like myfitnesspal.com as well; very user friendly. Sparkpeople.com also has a big community forum as well as tracking (I haven't tried it). Both are free.

[swamp]

I just started using myfitnesspal.com. I love it. You can't fool yourself when the numbers are right there in front of you.

However, I think I burned more than 397 calories in an hour of zumba.

[sheilaincali]

mandyms- Thanks for the insurance suggestion. Will have to wait a couple of days then. DH started a new job and our new insurance starts on Friday. Might as well wait and not have to deal with the old insurance.

[Epiphany]

To jump in....
I'm doing no dairy / no gluten right now for inflammation per my chiropractor's recommendation. It's made me rethink how to cook and grocery shop. I'm on the lower end of weight so I get headaches easily if I don't eat often. Like others say, I have to keep a meal plan and snacks on hand otherwise I freak out thinking I can't eat anything. Dh needs to lose weight so he is happier with healthier cooking overall.

A couple of things that have worked for me:
Meal plan
Food journal - I just use a google document so I can update from anywhere
Don't buy junk food - I have NO will power. If it's in front of me I will eat it
When eating out - look at the menu online and determine what you should order
We also share meals when we eat out - portion sizes are out of control
Zucchini noodles - this is my favorite! I use a mandolin to thinly slice, add a bit of salt, let drain for 20 min, then boil for 1 min. They are great for spaghetti and other pasta dishes. DH says to use them all the time because pasta is just a place holder most the time anyway.

Oh and great job Nancy - you rock!

[Epiphany]

May 30, 2012 14:45:10 GMT -5 swamp said:

I just started using myfitnesspal.com. I love it. You can't fool yourself when the numbers are right there in front of you.

However, I think I burned more than 397 calories in an hour of zumba.

yeah, two of my friends where monitors during class and they are usually between 700-800 for one hour class

[Savoir Faire-Demogague in NJ]

May 30, 2012 10:51:13 GMT -5 @moneyjenny82 said:

I need to find another cheap fruit (not apples, not berries) to replace my bananas. I love them, but they are too high in calories.

An average banana would have roughly 100 calories, give or take... high in potasium....

[amishgal]

May 30, 2012 15:40:59 GMT -5 Epiphany said:

To jump in....
I'm doing no dairy / no gluten right now for inflammation per my chiropractor's recommendation. It's made me rethink how to cook and grocery shop. I'm on the lower end of weight so I get headaches easily if I don't eat often. Like others say, I have to keep a meal plan and snacks on hand otherwise I freak out thinking I can't eat anything. Dh needs to lose weight so he is happier with healthier cooking overall.

A couple of things that have worked for me:
Meal plan
Food journal - I just use a google document so I can update from anywhere
Don't buy junk food - I have NO will power. If it's in front of me I will eat it
When eating out - look at the menu online and determine what you should order
We also share meals when we eat out - portion sizes are out of control
Zucchini noodles - this is my favorite! I use a mandolin to thinly slice, add a bit of salt, let drain for 20 min, then boil for 1 min. They are great for spaghetti and other pasta dishes. DH says to use them all the time because pasta is just a place holder most the time anyway.

Oh and great job Nancy - you rock!

I've been gluten free for a while as well and LOVE spaghetti squash! I can live without bread, but didn't know how I'd give up my pasta and this is a nice compromise.

[thyme4change]

I've been gluten free for a while as well and LOVE spaghetti squash! I can live without bread, but didn't know how I'd give up my pasta and this is a nice compromise.

Spaghetti squash rocks.

Work was rough, but I resisted the retirement party and sheet cake in the big meeting room. I also resisted chocolate cake that some generous soul brought in for our group, and resisted cookies by the copy machine.

I didn't resist the ice cream they were giving out.

[thyme4change]

Message deleted by thyme4change.

Double post, sorry about that.

But since I have your attention, let me introduce my juggling cat...

[movingforward]

May 30, 2012 17:26:32 GMT -5 Nazgul Girl said:

Today went extremely well food-choice and portion wise. Work was rough, but I resisted the retirement party and sheet cake in the big meeting room. I also resisted chocolate cake that some generous soul brought in for our group, and resisted cookies by the copy machine. If I retired tomorrow, I'd probably lose 25 lbs the first month after the big event just based on the amount of high-calorie boobytraps in my large, eat-everything-in-sight building.

Great job!!! All that food is very hard to resist. There was always food around in my old office. It seemed like everyday there was a cake or some type of "treat" sitting around. My current office is much better about this type of thing. There are only 10 of us so we don't have as many b-days, etc.

[wvugurl26]

I went to lunch at Arbys with a coworker. I'm having a healthy dinner though. And I got in a great run after work.

[Opti]

May 30, 2012 10:21:12 GMT -5 8 Bit WWBG said:

...:::"I know everybody groans about giving up carbs, but I'm doing just that, and I hate to say it, but it's working.":::...

Isn't it more that giving them up outright only works so long as you continue to give them up? One might lose weight, but the moment one eats a little bit, the weight comes right back.

I'm sure for many, it is possible to cut back. DW always wants me to make her garlic bread when we have pasta. Then she piles the pasta on top of the garlic bread.

WWBG that's why I plan to never do low carb ever again. I had never had the experience of a quick rebound after diet weight gain until then and I'm still fighting to get those pounds off. (Didn't help I hadn't planned to go off the diet. It just so happened my oncall that week was particularly bad and I didn't have enough of the right food at home.)

I think the key is to find a balance that works for you and your budget. Protein calories get burned off more before they are stored in the body than carb calories so the calories in vs. out is somewhat different for protein, carbs, and fats. Some carbs like pasta are bad in that they burn the least before being stored in the body, i.e. high calorie conversion rate and the body tends to store water weight for these particular calories as well. A double play.

For the people who can afford low carb diets and stay on them, they do work. Good luck Nancy and be careful. No binge chocolate eating!

[chiver78]

today for lunch, I planned (ish) and brought a salad and cup of soup. well, life got in the way, and the cup of soup turned out to be a 3PM snack after inhaling the salad before the 1PM meeting (in another building!) - which was totally okay....we were sending off a colleague to his next adventure at a place where I cannot touch anything fried, due to allergies and poor food handling options on the restaurant's part. that's fine, the soup worked to buffer the 3 glasses of wine I had w/o munchies while I was there over 3 hours. so the soup actually helped out late in the afternoon....

these events are tough - people don't order stuff for themselves, and I feel weird asking for the group to take care not to cross-contaminate. anyone with allergies out there? what do you do? I generally don't drink *this much* but the last round was ordered before I could protest. I definitely nursed the glass, but we were there shooting the shit for quite awhile....and I finished the glass.

[Sam_2.0]

Last fall, DH and I decided to start making healthier choices with our food. I started using eMeals plans for our dinners (the walmart low-fat plan). And I stopped buying junk food for the most part. Since then I have lost 20 lbs - granted, 10lbs of that was baby weight. I started going to the grocery store & buying bags of produce (apples, oranges, bunches of bananas) and keeping them at work. My goal is to eat 2-3 pieces of fruit a day. It keeps me full, and by setting a goal to eat that much, I stay full and don't get the munchies often. I don't even track that on myfitness pal (my theory is that people don't gain weight by eating bananas - its everything else in the diet ).

Working out has been more of a challenge. A friend and I signed up for a charity 5K, so I had to run to train for that. I also got JM30DS to do on days when I can't get out to the gym. Nursing baby girl has helped out considerably too. And gives me motivation to eat better because she gets what I eat.

I am spending less on food, eating healthier, and feeling better. Works for me!

[qofcc]

I've been taking those healthy frozen low cal meal to work for lunch. It's not the cheapest option - they're $2-2.50 ea, but the best thing is I can buy 10 at a time stick them in the freezer and not have to think about it again for 2 weeks. They taste good but they're barely enough food for a toddler and I'm starving again in 2 hours. They were giving out samples of zip fizz at sam's club, and I ended up buying a case. It tastes like orange pop, but it's just 10 calories and an insane amount of vitamin b +some caffeine. For some reason, that's working to curb the hunger and if I drink one around 2PM I can get through until dinner (6-30-7pm) without snacking. I lost 15 lbs in a couple of months, but I seem to have plateaued and it's driving me nuts.

[constanz22]

May 31, 2012 5:38:06 GMT -5 qofcc said:

I've been taking those healthy frozen low cal meal to work for lunch. It's not the cheapest option - they're $2-2.50 ea, but the best thing is I can buy 10 at a time stick them in the freezer and not have to think about it again for 2 weeks. They taste good but they're barely enough food for a toddler and I'm starving again in 2 hours. They were giving out samples of zip fizz at sam's club, and I ended up buying a case. It tastes like orange pop, but it's just 10 calories and an insane amount of vitamin b +some caffeine. For some reason, that's working to curb the hunger and if I drink one around 2PM I can get through until dinner (6-30-7pm) without snacking. I lost 15 lbs in a couple of months, but I seem to have plateaued and it's driving me nuts.

Low cal frozen meals are an ok option once in awhile, but I would try to stay away from having them EVERY day. And when you do have them, either make a big tossed salad to eat first, or extra veggies to throw in the frozen meal. They are not filling, at all, and have WAY too much sodium to eat every day. I have found very few that I can even choke down. I do better with prepping fruit, fresh veggies and sandwich or wrap stuff on the weekends, like wash, cut and even package in single servings, so it's just grab and go for lunches. Tastes WAY better, and is more healthy and filling.

[Epiphany]

May 30, 2012 19:49:13 GMT -5 chiver78 said:

these events are tough - people don't order stuff for themselves, and I feel weird asking for the group to take care not to cross-contaminate. anyone with allergies out there? what do you do? I generally don't drink *this much* but the last round was ordered before I could protest. I definitely nursed the glass, but we were there shooting the shit for quite awhile....and I finished the glass.

I don't have food allergies perse - but with trying to be gluten and dairy free those types of events are the hardest. I'm going to a design convention in 2 weeks where dinner will consist of cocktail parties. Hors d'oeuvres passed around and wine glasses in hand starting at 4pm. Ugh. I think my plan is to not be afraid to ask for water instead of wine and bring some snacks in my bag that I know I can eat.

[Epiphany]

May 30, 2012 17:26:32 GMT -5 Nazgul Girl said:

Today went extremely well food-choice and portion wise. Work was rough, but I resisted the retirement party and sheet cake in the big meeting room. I also resisted chocolate cake that some generous soul brought in for our group, and resisted cookies by the copy machine. If I retired tomorrow, I'd probably lose 25 lbs the first month after the big event just based on the amount of high-calorie boobytraps in my large, eat-everything-in-sight building. The 500 or so coworkers I have are overall the eatin'est people I've ever worked with, except when I started my first serious job with the Feds. They were even worse, but not by much.

We also just got back from two walks we took tonight, so that is also good for today.

That would be so tough to have it around all the time! Luckily my work isn't like that except around christmas time

[findingdeadbeats]

NGFF -

Since no one mentioned it to me, and I really wish they had, you should talk to your GYN about your weight if you have abdominal fat and are going to have a hyster via that route and not vaginally.

I had one a few years back and came home from the hospital. Woke up one morning and I was bleeding and my incision split open. We rushed back to the hospital and I was told that it was common for that to happen with people with a lot of abdominal fat, because it causes to much fluid build-up behind the incision. And, in my case, I also had a huge hemotoma which caused all of the bleeding.

Once your incision fails, they leave it open to heal. It was really, really nasty for about 3-5 months while I waited for it to heal. I had to wear Kotex pads over it for months and it did a lot of draining and nastiness.

The GYN seemed indifferent about the issue and said it is very common in fat women who have that surgery. I asked why I wasn't warned about it and she said it was because of the condition I had, the surgery was no longer optional. (still would have appreciated a warning...)

There is a website called HysterSisters that also has a great message board which can give you a realistic view into what to expect. I assumed it would be like the c-sections I have had in the past and it was not. at all.

[qofcc]

I just haven't found it since they put me on a different blood pressure medicine which is known to make a person retain water.

By the way, thank you so much for posting this. My dad is dealing with severe bloating - he's gained 40 lbs since September (when he started going to this doctor) and the doctor thinks it's mostly bloating so they prescribed him water pills and now he's spending hours in the bathroom. He got out shorts for the summer last week and this is the first time I've seen his legs since the weight gain started and he looks like the marshmallow man from mid chest down. From mid-chest up and his arms, he's as thin as he ever was.

It just dawned on me that last year when he was in the ICU after a life changing accident he was absolutely terrified and his blood pressure was through the roof. They diagnosed him with high blood pressure and put him on metoprolol Tartrate which was a totally reasonable thing to do for the moment. But the doctor that took care of him in rehab and the new one, have never questioned if he ever had high blood pressure before the accident, and he's been taking those pills all this time. I just googled the side effects of that drug and these are listed as serious side effects so I'm sending him back to that doctor to see if they can figure out if he really needs to be on this stuff.

I don't think I would have connected high blood pressure pills with weight gain if you hadn't posted this, so thank you!

[swamp]

But, but, but, PBP says medications don't cause weight gain!!!!

[Jaguar]

May 31, 2012 16:58:01 GMT -5 swamp said:

But, but, but, PBP says medications don't cause weight gain!!!!

PBP hasn't had the effects of long term cortisone, I take it. I was on it it for 13 years. On the end I blew up with so much weight gain. That to the doctor's was the sign that I was immune to it.

[Apple]

I'll be off from work for about 6-8 weeks.

First, disclaimer, I was 29 when I had mine, BUT I work a very physical job and was back to work in a week. I did have to take it a little easier, but still physical. Full recovery was a few more weeks, but I felt so much better after it was done.

[8 Bit WWBG]

...:::"but I resisted the retirement party and sheet cake in the big meeting room. I also resisted chocolate cake that some generous soul brought in for our group, and resisted cookies by the copy machine. If I retired tomorrow, I'd probably lose 25 lbs the first month after the big event just based on the amount of high-calorie boobytraps in my large, eat-everything-in-sight building.":::...

Yeah this makes it all that much harder. Some people are very insensitive to how irritating it is to constantly have to resist temptation. Food is "too available" in America.

The last two days have almost been a "pay as you go" program for me. I did a 2 mile walk to pick up take out (DW was working late so I kept her company) and then a 2mi jog and 2mi walk first thing this morning.