Dana's Weight Loss Journal: 75 lbs to go! Comments welcome! Updated 9/23

[joyfulDisneytears]

OMG Congratulations! What a great job!!!!

Thanks so much!

How is your get fit plan going? Did you get your BodyBugg yet?

 

[joyfulDisneytears]

Just thought I'd pop over and check out your journal. Sounds like you've been doing realy good. I'll have to keep checking in. If I get jealous of your success maybe I'll do better on my own weight loss!
I'm right there with you on the family thing. We like our food toooo much. The only person in my family who has not struggled with their weight is my dad. Sounds like you are doing the right thing with the eating out though. Making good choices and/or halving the entrees. Been there, done that. It's hard when you are the only one at the table doing that. At least applebees has some options and you know what you are getting as far as calories/fat/etc.
Good Luck this week. Maybe we can push our raft a little closer to the island.

Hey Susan! Thanks for stopping in!

I'm glad I joined the Skinny Island thread, everyone seems very supportive. I definitely feel like writing it all down is helpful, and when I've got folks following along, it inspires me to try harder.

I hope I continue to do well so maybe I can provide some inspiration!
Let's get this done together, my fellow Hoosier!

 

[AshleyW]

Hiiii! I'm a little late in saying this thanks to having family in town, but CONGRATS on your weight loss last week!! You're doing super awesome - keep going!

 

[BrcsDisneyPrncs]

Thanks so much!

How is your get fit plan going? Did you get your BodyBugg yet?

It is set to be delivered late this week (thurs or fri hopefully) along with a few new exercise dvd's and an exercise mat - we are turning our basement into a workout area, me with the Treadmill/dvds etc, and a dojo space for my DH's martial arts.

Today is my birthday, so admittedly my eating was pretty bad today!

Keep up the good work!

 

[joyfulDisneytears]

Exercise: arm work w/ 5 lb weights, crunches, leg lifts, etc

This was all pretty minimal, it's amazing how heavy my limbs feel after just a little work. So out of shape!

Breakfast - whole wheat toast w/ natural dark chocolate peanut butter; pineapple upsidedown cake Yoplait light yogurt - 295 cal
Lunch - can of Progresso vegetable soup; English muffin - 356 cal
Snack - nacho cheese rice snacks; cocoa roast almonds - 145 cal
Dinner - 1 slice thin crust pizza w/ pepperoni, pork, mushroom; salad w/ bleu cheese dressing - 540 cal
Dessert - WW Strawberry Smoothie Bar - 60 cal

Total - 1396 cal
Water - 80 oz


Nothing interesting to report today, aside from the fam asking me to pick up pizza for dinner. I know I'm the last person to get home in the evening, but would it be possible for them to at least *try* to remember I'm attempting to cut back on the junk? Anyway, I limited myself to one piece.

I do love all these low-calorie snacks that taste like junk! All manner of flavors of mini rice cakes, decadent dessert-esque light yogurt, WW ice cream...anything to get through, eh?

 

[joyfulDisneytears]

Hiiii! I'm a little late in saying this thanks to having family in town, but CONGRATS on your weight loss last week!! You're doing super awesome - keep going!

Thanks Ashley!

It is set to be delivered late this week (thurs or fri hopefully) along with a few new exercise dvd's and an exercise mat - we are turning our basement into a workout area, me with the Treadmill/dvds etc, and a dojo space for my DH's martial arts.

Today is my birthday, so admittedly my eating was pretty bad today!

Keep up the good work!

Ooh martial arts! I always thought that would be fun to do, but have never tried it.

I'm a little ashamed to say I have zero exercise dvd's. I probably need something on the level of Richard Simmons Sweatin' to the Oldies right now, so out of shape!

And !
It's definitely okay to have an off day in my opinion, as long as you get back on the wagon tomorrow! That's always been my problem...getting back on!

 

[joyfulDisneytears]

I thought today was going to be a bad day. It was one of those days where I'd rather order food in and lay in bed and watch movies all day than do anything productive.

I woke up with a very 'blah' feeling. The stuff I packed myself for lunch today just did not sound good, but I took it with me to Grandma's anyway (I didn't end up eating it.)

At lunch I made the mistake of putting the whole bag of SunChips in front of me because I was being lazy and eating without a plate, so I wasn't counting my chips, and before I knew it I'd eaten 2 servings. I saved it by eating a pretty darned healthy dinner though.

I feel better now tonight after eating a good meal and walking on the treadmill. I did my 'walk-through-a-movie' thing again. Today's selection was ... DUMBO! I forgot how touching this movie is (offensive racial stereotypes aside, of course! ). I was getting all teary while walking. I didn't realize that the movie is only an hour long though!

Here are the numbers:

Exercise - 1 hr 10 min walk (3.5 miles)

Breakfast - whole wheat mini bagel w/ egg & turkey - 209 cal
Lunch - ham sandwich; way too many SunChips - 511 cal
Snack - strawberry Nutrigrain bar; Pepsi Max - 130 cal
Dinner - tuna salad; tomato; Laughing Cow cheese; fiber crackers; grapes - 406 cal

Total - 1256 cal
Water - 96 oz

The day turned out well even taking the SunChip debacle into account.

I just got back onto my dad's health insurance thanks to healthcare reform, but his job situation is *very* iffy right now. So, while I have insurance, I called the doctor's office and made an appointment for a physical, but she can't see me for a month. Hopefully I'll be able to actually go in when that time rolls around.

 

[joyfulDisneytears]

I was going to post this last night as usual but I was feeling really sluggish and just curled up in bed. Not sure what's up, the past couple days have been very 'blah'.

August 11th

Exercise - arm work w/ 5 lb weight, crunches, leg lifts, etc

Breakfast - Multigrain Cheerios w/ milk - 170 cal
Lunch - Black Bean Chipotle Gardenburger on whole wheat bun w/ avocado & pico de gallo; nacho cheese rice snacks - 382 cal
Snack - white chocolate strawberry Yoplait light - 100
Dinner - Portabella Gardenburger; mashed potatoes; corn; small piece of french bread - 372 (so much starch! )
Dessert - WW Giant Cookies & Cream Bar - 130

Total - 1154 cal
Water - 96 oz

Maybe sluggishness is due to low calorie intake? I don't know. I'm anxious to get that doctor's appointment in. I need to know if there's anything I need to watch, but I dread being told I'm pre-diabetic or have high cholesterol or something.

The veggieburger I had at lunch was actually really tasty the way I doctored it up w/ some sliced avocado & Mom's pico de gallo. I call it pico de gallo, though that's not really what it is, but it's closer to that than salsa. It's got all the normal pico ingredients (tomato, onion, jalapeno, cilantro), but we also throw in green pepper and a lot of spices (cayenne, red pepper flakes, etc). Anyway, it's tasty, and very low on calories. I actually took a picture of my lunch to post because it looked so yummy but I forgot my usb cable so I'll have to do it later.

Now that I look at my total for the day, I should have just eaten the meatloaf Mom made instead of that veggieburger for dinner! I was way under.

----

Grandma's sick with a cold or some such, so I'm currently sitting here listening to her sniffle and clear her throat while she's eating. I don't know where she would have picked up a virus from, nobody that comes by here has been sick that I know of. Poor lady.
She's also got a sore on her leg that's always there and we've been told it's never going to heal (it was a product of some skin cancer), but now it looks like it's infected because the area around it is all red and developing more sores. (Yuck, I know, but I'm stressing out about it so I figured I'd write it down!)
Grandma has been under in-home hospice care for the last few months, so we have a nurse that comes over once a week (along with a social worker, chaplain, and nutritionist that come over less frequently), but we weren't aware of any problems when she was here on Monday. My aunt called to tell her about it so she's supposed to come back later today. Hopefully it's something that can be taken care of with antibiotics.
I think I'll probably just let Grandma sleep the majority of the day...I know that's all I want to do when I'm sick, and she's been really lethargic the past couple days. Please keep her in your thoughts!

 

[BrcsDisneyPrncs]

I'm thinking good thoughts for your Grama!!!!

And That Pico sounds delish!

Just got my Bugg - it's charging, i can't wait for tomorrow so i can see how many calories I actually burn!

 

[joyfulDisneytears]

No movie tonight, I read while walking, which for someone as clumsy as myself is pretty hard to do! I have a somewhat embarrassing love of paranormal romance novels.

Exercise - 1 hr walk on treadmill (3 miles)

Breakfast - Kashi GoLean Chocolate Peanut Bar - 190 cal
Lunch - Lean Gourmet Shrimp w/ Pasta & Veggies frozen meal; grapes - 370 cal
Snack - fiber crackers w/ avocado & pico de gallo; lemon meringue Yoplait light - 273 cal
Dinner - tuna salad; Triscuits - 279 cal
Snack - snack size bag of popcorn; WW Giant Latte Bar; Pepsi Max - 190 cal

Total - 1302 cal
Water - 96 oz

Why yes, I did buy almost every flavor of Weight Watchers ice cream bar my grocery store had! They were on sale I love all of them, and it's a good treat at the end of the day. I also bought one of almost every flavor of Yoplait Light they had, hehe.

------

Grandma's leg is fine, the nurse just said it was from her bandage getting moist and rubbing, so we're just supposed to leave it uncovered as much as possible.
However, that cold she has was worrisome to the nurse...she said Grandma had some fluid in her upper respiratory tract, so she's being started on antibiotics this evening.
An upper respiratory infection wouldn't be a big deal to most of us, but with her age and how feeble she is, if it moves down into her lungs it could cause some big problems. Here's hoping she has a speedy recovery. I was trying to get her to rest as much as possible today but she was up and down a lot because she was coughing so much.

------

I was trying to post a picture of my yummy lunch from yesterday but my computer is being a jerkface. I'll put it up in a separate post if I get it working. Hrm...I know it's healthy food and not nearly as yummy looking as junk for the most part, but maybe I could start taking food pictures for everything like folks do in DIS dining reviews?

 

[joyfulDisneytears]

I'm thinking good thoughts for your Grama!!!!

And That Pico sounds delish!

Just got my Bugg - it's charging, i can't wait for tomorrow so i can see how many calories I actually burn!

Thanks for the positive thoughts!

The salsa/pico concoction is really good. My mom makes it alot in the summer. I'm just trying to find ways to eat it without munching on mounds of tortilla chips!

I'm interested to hear about your fancy new device. That's the thing all the Biggest Loser folks have to wear, right?

 

[joyfulDisneytears]

Got my phone working with the computer to upload pics now. I updated the software a while back and I guess when I did that it lost all the settings for my phone. Had to reinstall all the drivers.

Anyway, here was my tasty lunch from yesterday. I love fresh veggies and unique toppings on a burger! Of course this was a veggieburger, but it still applies.

The giant pink mug in the background is the Bubba Keg I keep water in. I carry that and a purple Nalgene bottle with me to Grandma's house everyday so I can be sure to keep up with the hydration. Both of those together is around 64 oz.

Edit: I resized this on photobucket, but it's still showing up gigantic. Sorry about that!

 

[indimom]

I've eaten the veggie burgers before and thought they were fine, but that sandwich looks fantastic. Amazing what some toppings will do for a burger! YUM!
Have a good day and hope your grandmother is feeling better today.
Have a great weekend!!

 

[joyfulDisneytears]

I've eaten the veggie burgers before and thought they were fine, but that sandwich looks fantastic. Amazing what some toppings will do for a burger! YUM!
Have a good day and hope your grandmother is feeling better today.
Have a great weekend!!

Thanks, I hope your weekend is great, too!

Yeah...the Gardenburgers are just okay to me without anything on them. I'll eat them without anything on top, but then it's just to fill my tummy. I have to put some condiments and fixins on for them to be enjoyable. Of course with condiments like ketchup you run into a sugar issue, but I'm not too worried about that right now. We'll see if I should think differently after I'm able to get in for my physical.

Grandma is still feeling bad today. She didn't sleep well last night so she's currently falling asleep at the table, but I'm trying to get her to finish a glass of orange juice. She never wants to drink anything normally, so now that she's sick it's even more of a struggle.

-------

My dad is going in for surgery this afternoon to have a kidney stone removed. He is planning to leave on a vacation to Florida to go golfing with a friend on Wednesday. Hopefully he feels up to it by then.

He actually had this trip scheduled for this past April, but I ended up having to take him to the ER in the middle of the night the day before he was supposed to fly down, due to another kidney stone! It was terrible for him to have to cancel it once at the last minute, but it would *really* stink if it happens twice!

 

[joyfulDisneytears]

Breakfast - banana - 121 cal
Lunch - turkey on whole wheat; pretzels - 360 cal
Snack - apple cinnamon Nutrigrain bar - 130 cal
Dinner - piece of thin crust pizza w/ pepperoni, pork, mushroom; breadstick - 480 cal
Snack - more pretzels w/ Laughing Cow garlic & herb cheese; WW Chocolate Ice Cream Sandwich - 290 cal

Total - 1381 cal
Water - 80 oz

Holy carbs, Batman! I sure didn't have a well-balanced day. No exercise either, just not feeling it right now!

I was worrying about taking care of Grandma during the day while I was over there, so I didn't eat much, and then of course that made me feel super hungry once I got home. I shouldn't have bothered with that pizza/breadstick...they were leftover from earlier in the week and stale and not tasty. Pretty lame when you go and eat something bad for you and it doesn't even taste good! At least I still came in under my max.

Not the best day to have right before my self-imposed weigh-in tomorrow, though!

-----

Dad got through surgery fine, but he's got a temporary stent in until Monday and is in a lot of pain. The doctor told him to rest this weekend so my aunt is staying over at Grandma's in his place and I'll be going over there for a while on Sunday so she can go to church. She usually just takes Grandma with her to church services but since the poor woman is sick right now that's just not a great idea.

 

[joyfulDisneytears]

Saturday morning's weigh-in: 242.2

Down 3.1! It could have been better I think, but it's certainly decent! Time to change my WISH tag to -15!

In the coming week I'm going to try my best to walk more miles. Last week I had a total of 11. This week the goal is least 15.

August 14th

Breakfast - biscuit w/ sausage gravy; orange juice - 526 cal
Snack - 1/2 avocado - 161 cal
Dinner - way too much tuna salad and Triscuits - 798 cal (I just kept eating them when I wasn't hungry anymore! WHY do I do that?! )
Snack - WW Strawberry Smoothie Bar - 60 cal

Total - 1545 cal
Water - 64 oz

womp womp womp (It's the game over noise!). Over max! And it wasn't even worth it. I sat there and ate those crackers w/ tuna salad for no reason, kept eating after I was full, and just felt gross afterward! It could have been something worse for me that I binged on I suppose, and I didn't go over by much, but I'm still mad at myself.

No exercise on Saturday either. I told myself I was going to have a break and then walk 4 miles or so Sunday, but little did I know I would be at Grandma's house all day!

Dad's surgeon told him to stay in bed this weekend, when we first though it would just be for a day. He's usually the one to stay over with Grandma on the weekend, but he's laid up and still in pain, so my aunt Vicki was staying over in his place. But she always goes to church services on Sunday, so I figured I would be over here for a few hours, but she wanted to go to both the morning and evening service. I didn't really see the point of me coming over here in the morning, waiting for her to come back, leaving and going home for a couple hours, and then coming right back...so I'm here all day. No time on the treadmill because I probably won't get home until around 10pm.

Grandma is still sick but seems to be getting a little better. Still trying to get her to rest as much as possible so I have yet to get her up for the day. On a normal day when she's well (as well as she can be, anyway), she'll sleep all day if you'd let her, so now that she's sick she's even more exhausted.

 

[indimom]

Saturday morning's weigh-in: 242.2

Down 3.1! It could have been better I think, but it's certainly decent! Time to change my WISH tag to -15! Woo Hoo!!! I'm so jealous. Can't wait to hit the 15 mark. That will feel really nice. Your really doing well. I usually find it hard to lose more than a pound or two a week after Week One. So, Good Job! Enjoy It!

In the coming week I'm going to try my best to walk more miles. Last week I had a total of 11. This week the goal is least 15. I'm right there with you on this one. My total last week was 11 also, missed my goal by four miles. We'll just have to try harder this week.
August 14th

Breakfast - biscuit w/ sausage gravy; orange juice - 526 cal
Snack - 1/2 avocado - 161 cal
Dinner - way too much tuna salad and Triscuits - 798 cal (I just kept eating them when I wasn't hungry anymore! WHY do I do that?! )
Snack - WW Strawberry Smoothie Bar - 60 cal

Total - 1545 cal
Water - 64 oz

womp womp womp (It's the game over noise!). Over max! And it wasn't even worth it. I sat there and ate those crackers w/ tuna salad for no reason, kept eating after I was full, and just felt gross afterward! It could have been something worse for me that I binged on I suppose, and I didn't go over by much, but I'm still mad at myself. So aggravating isn't it? Why do we do this kind of stuff?? At least you still had a nice weight loss this week. Just chalk it up to a lesson learned and move on.

No exercise on Saturday either. I told myself I was going to have a break and then walk 4 miles or so Sunday, but little did I know I would be at Grandma's house all day!

Dad's surgeon told him to stay in bed this weekend, when we first though it would just be for a day. He's usually the one to stay over with Grandma on the weekend, but he's laid up and still in pain, so my aunt Vicki was staying over in his place. But she always goes to church services on Sunday, so I figured I would be over here for a few hours, but she wanted to go to both the morning and evening service. I didn't really see the point of me coming over here in the morning, waiting for her to come back, leaving and going home for a couple hours, and then coming right back...so I'm here all day. No time on the treadmill because I probably won't get home until around 10pm. Glad your dad's surgery went well. Hopefully he's feeling better soon and you'll get back to a normal schedule.

Grandma is still sick but seems to be getting a little better. Still trying to get her to rest as much as possible so I have yet to get her up for the day. On a normal day when she's well (as well as she can be, anyway), she'll sleep all day if you'd let her, so now that she's sick she's even more exhausted. Well, at least it sounds like everyone in your family is on the mend. Hope you have a good week !!

See You on the Island!

 

[joyfulDisneytears]

I need to quit leaving journal entries until the day after, I'm going to start forgetting!

I was at Grandma's all day yesterday...I did get home right at 9 o'clock, but watching True Blood on HBO trumped spending time on the treadmill, since we only get a few channels down in the basement where the exercise equipment is. I True Blood! I like the novels it's (loosely) based on better, but the show is still terribly entertaining. I commandeered the tv from Dad, but he wasn't ready to go to bed yet so he sat through the whole show with me and kept asking 'Is she a vampire?' 'Is he a vampire?' 'What about them?' Poor man had no clue what was happening. I will say it's kind of awkward to watch with your dad, considering the frequency of ****-showing. (Edit: Totally didn't know I couldn't type that here, not Disney-appropriate I guess. Let's try 'breast' instead...I used the more juvenile b-term. )

I joined SparkPeople yesterday, so I'm going to start using that for tracking.

August 15th

Breakfast - Multigrain Cheerios w/ milk; large banana - 296 cal
Lunch - Lean Gourmet Chicken Alfredo Florentine frozel meal - 250 cal
Snack - Nature Valley Roasted Almond Nut Clusters - 140 cal
Dinner - turkey on whole wheat; pretzels; grapes - 456 cal
Dessert - WW Ice Cream Candy Bar - 150 cal

Total - 1292 cal (1250-1600) This is Spark's daily acceptable range for me; I'm going to try and keep it under 1500 still I think.
--Carbs - 213g (169-244)
--Fat - 32 (33-58) I should be eating more fat? Who knew?
--Protein - 47 (60-131) Way under here, going to have to start eating more eggs or dark green leafies...eggwhite omelette w/ spinach perhaps?

 

[joyfulDisneytears]

See You on the Island!

Thanks for sticking with me Susan! I don't think there are many people following along, but I appreciate all the support I can get!

I need to make a Skinny Island cheat sheet so I can learn what names go with the screennames. I've got a terrible memory!

 

[joyfulDisneytears]

Put on my Monday night shows (I watch the corny teen dramas on ABC Family...just another one of my embarrassing forms of entertainment! ), and walked through them this evening. Better walking than sitting on the couch, since ABC Family happens to be a channel we get in the basement.

Exercise - 2 hr walk on treadmill (That's 6 MILES!! )

Breakfast - whole wheat mini bagel; 2 eggs - 259 cal
Lunch - Black Bean Chipotle Gardenburger on whole wheat bun w/ avocado, pico de gallo, & fat free shredded cheddar; nacho cheese rice snacks - 398 cal
Dinner - tortilla chips w/ cheese; chicken fajitas w/ corn tortillas; rice & refried beans - 625 cal

Total - 1282 cal (1250-1600)
-- Carbs - 156 (169-244) HOW am I of all people under on carbs? That's usually almost all I eat!
-- Fat - 49 (33-58)
-- Protein - 67 (60-131)
Water - 96 oz

The calories on dinner were a complete estimation according to what I could find on SparkPeople. My parents and I went to a local Mexican restaurant, which of course isn't going to have its nutrition facts posted anywhere. For the fajitas I used Chili's Chicken Fajitas info, since I understand Chili's is notoriously bad nutrionally anyway. I didn't know what the best thing to order at a Mexican restaurant would be, fajitas seemed the safest. I also knew that corn tortillas are infinitely better for you than flour, at least.

Too tired to write more right now, sleepytime.