Tuesday, October 5, 2010

A year? Really?

How is it possible that I stopped this over a year ago????  Well, the reason is simple.  I have lost all my excess weight, I am in top physical condition.  Ok, so maybe that is a big lie.
Actually, I am not sure what happened!  I did train for and complete a half marathon.  I did lose a total of over 30 lbs.  I did then gain it all back plus MORE.  Sigh.  So, here we go again.  I will be seriously writing this for me, if you choose to read along, great....the more the merrier.  But, I can not guarantee how often I will update or how witty I will be. (If I ever was witty!)
I am going to take the approach that worked for me before:  The Game On diet.  http://www.thegameondiet.com/
This is basically a  healthy living approach with a competitive edge.  You get points for doing healthy things like drinking enough water and eating numerous servings of veggies.  Last time I did this I had a team mate and we "played" against our husbands.  But this time I am going to simply play with myself (go ahead, laugh...its funny). 
Instead of waiting until the perfect start day I am starting.......NOW. Ready, set, Go....

Thursday, September 24, 2009

After my last post, a friend of mine sent me a link to this video....it is a must see!

FDA Approves Depressant Drug For The Annoyingly Cheerful

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

I'm Baaacccckk....did you miss me?

Ok, the truth is, I can be lazy.  So sue me.  But I missed you all! 

I love the TV show the Biggest Loser.  And, I am not afraid to admit it.  This morning during water aerobics I had an interesting conversation about this show:

her:  "oh my gosh! how can you watch that!  It is ridiculous.  I mean, they are teaching a bunch of really unhealthy people all the wrong things (note...this woman is skinny).  Seriously....no one can lose that much weight realistically in 12 weeks."

me:  "well, it isn't actually 12 weeks, I think it is more like 24 since they go home for quite a while before the finale"

her: "whatever!  Again, I think it is wrong to mislead people that clearly have a problem"

me:  "Well, I am one of those people that clearly has a problem and I no way expect to be able to replicate those results.  For me, I figure if that group of people can do that in 24 weeks, surely I can do it in a year"

her: (big eye roll) "its just stupid."

That show inspires me.  But, I have noticed a couple things that worry me.  Have you noticed that about mid-way through they start weighing in WITH their shirts ON??  I think I know why....do you?  I also would love to know more about what they eat.  Sure, there are a bunch of Biggest Loser books out there, but do they tell us what they really eat?  And, do they have access to "bad" stuff?  hmmm, inquiring minds want to know! 

Food:
Been doing pretty good, obviously I have not been journaling.  The weird thing about food is this.....when I eat food that is healthy I LOVE it.  I mean, what is not to love about marinated Salmon, or a great salad, or brown rice, or veggies and hummus???  If only I could remember my love for fresh, healthy food when a cheeseburger is calling my name!

Exercise:
I am fully back at it!  My thighs are screaming from my "misery in the morning" yesterday, and my abs are not very happy either.  But, its a good pain.

GMMR
I have thought long and hard before speaking what is on my mind lately.  And I realized, that if my issue was diabetes, or kidney failure, or even my always painful knee I wouldn't hesitate to talk about it.  But this is different, because it is my brain.  I suffer from significant bouts with depression.  Medication helps, but I have noticed that only with the addition of one of two other "treatments"  do I truly feel positive and happy----those two other treatments?  food in large quantities or exercize.  I have tested this theory out many times, and I am now convinced.  If I don't want to spend my life curled up in a ball in the corner of my room then I either have to carry a spare bag of chocolate covered donuts around, or I MUST exercise.  And a gentle walk around the block will not do.  Fairly intense, consistent exercise is my only hope.  The great thing about the exercise option is that it lasts allllll day.  When I do early morning intense work outs, the rest of my day is pretty sunny.  When I treat my depression with food, I need to "eat and repeat" numerous times a day.  Now, if only can remember these two things:
I love healthy food
and
I love the way exercise makes me feel

TTFN!
AnnieB

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Food Pushers

You know the deal, you are going about your business.  Staying focused, doing your "thing",when it happens.  It happened to me this morning.  I took Jordan to volleyball at the unGodly hour of 6:10 am and then I swung by Kwik Star to get a cup of coffee.  I meander up to the counter and, as if in slllllooooowwwww mmmmooooooottttioooon, the clerk says:  (all seductive like) would you like a breakfast sandwich with that?  Maybe a donut?  I blurt out NO.  My mind reeling as if the guy had just offered me crack or something.    I smiled a shaky smile, hoping that I didn't sound like I had just chewed through the restraints, slapped down my money and fled the store.  

I know it is their job.  I know that is how they are trained.  I know many of them are required to up-sell their customers.  But, I hate it.  I really do.  It is relentless----I find myself battling these food pushers all day every day.  NO, I do not want fries with that.  NO, I would not like to make it a megamonster size for only a dime more.  NO, I don't care if it IS buy one get one free, I only want one.  NO, I would not like to look at your dessert menu. 

I am pretty sure that this is one of the many reasons America is so fat.  We are number one in regard to the number of obese people while France is number 23.  I have never been to France, but I am pretty sure when you order your cappuccino, the very chic waiter does not say...."vould you like a buttery croissant wiz zat?" or, "vould you like to zuper zize that?"  I could be wrong.  But I doubt it.

Food
Ok, lets call it a "do over" for this weekend.  It wasn't horrible, but it was less than stellar.  And, with my wretched cough and sore throat, I lost count of the bomb pops----at least they are only 65 calories each.  My worst offense was yesterday evening....a Stouffers pot pie.  14 points.  Not the best choice, but at least I didn't zuper zize it and have two (which I would have in the old days).

Exercise
I am a little nervous about this.  I am not sure how to get back to it without overdoing it and prolonging my recovery....and ideas or suggestions?

GMMR
For those of you that don't really know me, I am a Disney World fanatic.  This may be an understatement.  At all times I am planning our next trip.  I don't think that the landing at Normandy had as detailed plans as I make for our trips to see the mouse.  And I do this to ensure that our trips are as effortless at possible.  Once we get to Orlando, we barely have to think, because the plans are made, the index cards are at the ready, and we just follow the plan.  I have even gone so far as to know everything I am going to order where, when, and how much it is going to cost.  On our first trip, I was only off our budget by about 40 bucks....and for those of you that have gone to WDW, you know this is pretty amazing.

This also works for me for everyday life and menu planning.  When I have a well thought out plan, I rarely overeat or eat what I shouldn't.  I simply follow the plan.  Obsessive?  maybe.  Does it work?  most definitely.  This is essential.  I know this.  Starting this week, instead of posting in my food diary what I have eaten, I will post my plan for the week by the end of the day Friday (Monday this week, since I didn't do it Friday).  Then, I will simply update it with any changes or additions as real life happens.  Now, when the kwik trip food pusher asks me if I want a chunka-lunka cookie with my coffee, I won't even have to think about it.

TTFN!
Annie

Friday, September 4, 2009

It's all a blur

What a week.  Jordan has H1N1 AND walking pneumonia, Taylor has a wicked cough, and I have some nasty upper respiratory something.  It has been miserable.  Jordan started having a cough last week and it just kept getting worse.  I have barely been able to function, let alone work out or post, but I did keep a pretty good food diary (yay for me!).  I thought that the laundry list of what I ate tended to clutter up the blog, so I have started a side blog of my daily food intake.  You can see it at http://anniesfooddiary.blogspot.com/  .  Not exactly the most titillating reading, but if you are curious what ONE item I ate yesterday had 18 points (742 calories, 36 grams of fat), check it out.

Food
Monday - 28
Tuesday - 26.5
Wed. - 24
Thursday - 52

Exercise/Training
The major exercise I have done this week involved coughing so hard that my ab muscles cramped up....does that count???

GMMR
My friend Karen made a comment on one of my posts that really caught my attention.  She used the term "binge".  I had never really thought before about the way I eat being a form of bingeing.  But really, what else could you call eating an entire bag of chocolate covered donuts, or half a package of oreos?  It is hard to admit that I binge eat.  (and the smart a$$ in me wonders why I never got to the purge part).  But it is true.  Even with so called healthy food I tend to binge.  I would like to adhere to Dr. Switzer's method as seen here:

And while that might work for some, I have decided to connect to the website Karen suggested, Shrink Yourself.  It is a self-guided program to help identify the issues surronding over eating and identifying ways to overcome them.  I LOVE anything with an internet interface, so this really flipped my switch.  You can try it free for a week.


The good news is that I have not truly binged on anything this week.  And with increased awareness I think I can keep it that way.

Monday, August 31, 2009

self control

I can barely type the words "self control", because I feel as if I don't have any.

This weekend I went camping for the first time with my family. I had camped before but not with the dear husband and kids. It was great! It was relaxing and stress free. My brother and his wife just bought a beautiful trailer and it was a pleasure to stay in. I even packed healthy snacks - carrots, cucumber, celery, 100 calorie packs, baked tostitos. Unfortnately, as you will see from my food journal, not nearly enough!

I would love to know what mechanism in my brain/body is broken....the mechansim that tells you to STOP. I would love to fix it. On one hand, I know the tips to maintain restraint such as always eat breakfast (I didn't), keep enough fruits and veggies around (I didn't), drink plenty of water (I didn't). So, I suppose with that the mechansim that may be broken is planning and journaling. I think if I had a written plan and had journaled as I ate, things may have went better. But maybe not. I have to find a new way.

What I need is for someone with a bull horn to follow me around. Then, once I reach a serving size on anything that person could blare the bull horn: STEP AWAY FROM THE SNACK MIX....REPEAT....STEP AWAY FROM THE SNACK MIX. Of course, that person might need a second strategy if I don't comply.

Maybe a tazer.


Food for Saturday the 29th and Sunday the 30th
Breakfast
Nothing (bad, very bad)

Snack
Veggies
Baked tostitos
Hummus

Lunch
Cheeseburger
Birthday cake

Snack
100 calorie pack
100 calorie pack
100 calorie pack
100 calorie pack
Hostess cupcake
(yes, that is not a typo....four 100 calorie packs)

Supper
½ brat
10 shrimp

2 smores
5 marshamallows (not nearly as bad as I thought they would be)

Breakfast
Eggs
Sausage
Toast
Fried potatoes

Late lunch
Cheese burger
Beans
Snack mix with white chocolate (this stuff was created by Satan...I am just sure of it!)

Snack
Granola bar

Whew!

Exercise/Training
Does the trek through the big box store to buy all the above crap count? Didn't think so.

GMMR
Wow. I ate a total of 113 points in two days. That is about twice as many as I was supposed to have. The truth of the matter is, if I had not been thinking of AnnieBFit, I would have eaten more. Too true. So, the good news of all this is, as I stick to the program and eat food that is good for me, move more, drink more h20, and keep on blogging I can't help but succeed! I am also proud of myself for "getting right back on the horse"....you know what I mean? This morning I got up, went to deep water aerobics, had a decent breakfast,snack and lunch. So far so good! I guess it is true what they say in A.A.: one day at a time.

TTFN!

Friday, August 28, 2009

Food Porn

I was introduced to the concept of food porn a number of years ago on a weight loss forum called "bootcamp buddies." The premise of bootcamp buddies is to follow the weight watchers program as perfectly as possible. That is to say, not only count points, but journal them, eat the appropriate amount of veggies and calcium, drink the suggested amount of water.....you get the picture.

One of the things I loved about bootcamp buddies was their no-nonsense approach to whining. It was not tolerated. Another thing that is not tolerated is food porn. Food porn is basically the indepth description of food that a good bootcamp buddy would never eat. This description was typically wrapped in a whiny forum post about how sad the offender was for eating the deep fat fried twinkie, or the three happy meals, or the vat of Cap'n Crunch. Addiction counselors might call this type of description as a "trigger"...something that can set of addictive behaviors.

Well, today I came across the mother of all food porn sites - www.thisiswhyyouarefat.com It is a pictoral homage to the age old question of "how did I let myself get this way." As I looked through it, I was repulsed and fascinated at the same time. Sure, I could pat myself on the back because I had never eaten a deep fried chicken patty on a bun that consisted of two jelly filled krispy kremes (I kid you not, it is there). But any of us that is more than a little overweight surely have our own version of food porn. I already divulged my sordid affair with the good Cap'n in a previous post.

During dinner tonight I ruminated a bit about how I got to the place I am on the scale. Sure, there was the three kids, the quitting smoking, the fact that my throid stopped working for a time....all true. But even more true is (was) my willingness to not only enjoy looking at food porn, but devouring it, and in massive quantities. I have seen the enemy, and it is not the deep fried oreos on a stick....it is I.

Food
Breakfast
WW Bagel
veggie cream cheese

Lunch
Hu Hot (gotta love a place that has sooooo many veggies!)

Supper
Mahi Mahi
rice pilaf
mixed veggies & asparagus
salad with light french and light ranch

Exercise
I took the day off

GMMR
Tommorow I am going camping with my family. It will be the first time we have done this. My brother and sister in law got a camper and a boat, so we are going to go hang with them. It is these situations where I freak out a little because my brain seems to believe that I am giving up all control. I don't know what percentage of fat the burgers will be, I don't know what they have planned for breakfast, I don't know what food porn might be strewn throughout the camp site. I don't know. And I am going to just have to be ok with that. I will let you know on Sunday how that goes.

TTFN