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8/27/08

Me, Today...

I know how to lose these ten pounds; I know exactly what will work. It's worked for me in the past and it will work again as soon as I am ready to get down to business.

It's simple: keep a food diary, log everything that goes into my mouth, and stick to 1,500 calories per day.

(Like I told my Mom, losing weight is not hard, it's just not enjoyable ;-)

Meanwhile, my current "at least I'm doing something until I'm ready to get serious" strategy is this: I'm not eating anything past 7:00 pm.

Hey!! It's 5:31 at the moment... gotta go ;-)

8/23/08

Still Counting...

OK, so here I am a few hours later, and my pedometer reads 10,795 clicks. Yowza. Uh-huh. I haven't left the house either, other than to walk the dog a few blocks. Seriously, 6 blocks. That's it.

Granted, I am a stay at home Mom rather than having a desk job, so I'm not exactly sedentary. I'm moving all day long.

Still, are 10,000 steps really that many? Maybe I should aim for 15,000. Hmmm....

Pedometer? Or Moveometer?

I read an article in the paper a few days ago about keeping fit, and using a pedometer to aim for 10,000 steps per day. It occurred to me that my mother in law had given me one a couple of years back (she'd gotten it free somewhere and wasn't using it), and suddenly I was motivated to venture downstairs to my office and dig through piles of stuff until I found it (which in itself promised to be a workout).

Unfortunately for my digging exercise plan, I found it almost right away. For some reason I had carefully deposited it on the top of my desk in a corner so that it could be easily found (and then left it there for about two years).

Interesting thing about pedometers - for those of you who've never tried one (today is my first time): it doesn't necessarily take a step to register a count. Here I was wondering if I'd have to stomp my way through the day to get my tally, but as it turns out, any kind of movement of the hips will do. Leaning, bending, moving in your chair... all will be counted. It's kind of like "dog years" vs calendar years: you have your pedometer count vs your actual steps.

What the heck - movement is movement. And you know what is interesting? Here I sit at 3:22 pm, after having worn this thing for several hours, and my count is only at 4,531. So I guess 10,000 "movements" is a worthy fitness objective after all...

8/20/08

Dang Vacation

OK, "dang" is not exactly the word I want to use, but this is a "G" rated blog. (Besides, the vacation really was lots of fun).

Stepping on the scale upon my return home only to discover that I've gained four pounds wasn't so much fun, however.

My Mom commented that losing weight is not easy. I replied with: "Yes it is!! It's just not enjoyable..."

Oh well, what's done is done. All I can do now is start fresh!! Yippee!!

8/10/08

I'll Be Baaaaack...

....after August 18th. We're away on a family vacation until then, so I'm posting this same message on all of my blogs.

(I thought I'd be organized and write some posts and post date them for while I'm gone, but that never happened. Life got in the way, I guess ;-)

See you soon!

8/8/08

Today's Smoothie

Ahhhh... this combination was surprisingly refreshing - I'm definitely doing this one again:

banana
cucumber
lemon (without the rind)
vanilla yogurt
water

Yum.....!!

8/4/08

3 Low Cal Sweet Substitutions

I have more of a sweet tooth than a salty one... ice cream doesn't last long in our house! If I'm able to be strong and not indulge, it's usually because I've had one of the following instead:

1) Mini-freezies - they're only 10 calories each, and are mostly water.

2) Jolly Rancher candy - or ANY candy that's rock hard. Not sure how many calories each one has - anywhere between 10 and 40 - but because they're so hard you have to suck on them so they last. By the time you've had only one, the sugar craving may have passed.

3) Gum or sugar free mints - gum is particularly good because the urge to chew is also satisfied, along with the craving for flavour.

8/3/08

Oops, I Forgot The Best One!!!!

Omg, this one's my FAVOURITE and I can't believe I left it off the last post.

Veggie stirfry.... only without (drum roll)... wait for it...

rice or noodles!!!!

That's right, JUST VEGGIES. You start with chopped onion and a big scoop of butter (g'head... it's okay 'cause you're not using any other fat or carbs) and fry the onions. At that point you add anything else that's hard, such as carrots (cut into small pieces). Meanwhile you chop everything else up so it's ready. Add seasoning (pepper is my fave) and then when the onions and carrots are the way you want them, dump in the rest and stir for about one minute, just to warm them up and coat them with the seasoned butter.

YUM!!!!!!

(Any veggies will work. At the moment I'm eating onions, broccoli, carrots, tomato, cucumber, and red pepper - delicious :-)

3 Savory Low Cal Substitutions

I'm switching my focus with this post from nutritional content (i.e. smoothies) to sheer caloric value.

Indulging your salty tooth doesn't have to be high calorie. Here are some low cal options I've enjoyed:

1) Rice cakes and salsa. The rice cakes will get soggy faster than the chips would, but it's still pretty good. OR... if you don't mind being totally unconventional, you can skip the rice cakes and eat the salsa with a spoon (hey, if people can eat high calorie peanut butter with a spoon, why not low cal, mild flavoured salsa??) YUM.

2) Pretzels. They're not as low cal as the salsa, but they're much better than potato chips.

3) Canned soup. I wouldn't eat this more than 2-3 times per week because of the sodium content, but it definitely can satisfy that savoury craving with a lot fewer calories than a burger and fries...

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