Showing posts with label eating right. Show all posts
Showing posts with label eating right. Show all posts

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Raisins, avocado, dates, corn

Day one of the WW program is zooming along. I've already discovered several changes — most of which help to explain my gigantic weight gain in the last two months.
It would seem that under the new WW program MOST fruits and veggies are zero points, meaning you can eat as many as you like and it doesn't count towards your restricted intake for the day. Great! Except that many, many of my favorites (raisins, avocado and dates) still have a points value. Of course they do! Which means that while I've always eaten lots of good stuff, I've always typically been eating the most energy dense, highest fat options in the veggie world. Dammit.

I did have a bit of an Aha! moment today. While doing a new yoga sequence (my DVD has four and I had only tried two), I discovered supine pigeon (I go to the second variation but not all the way to human pretzel level). It felt so very good and — for the first time — caused my stomach to start gurgling away out of sheer joy. (For those who don't do massage on a regular basis, stomach gurgling happens when muscles/myofasica/etc. release. It happens to me during a really good massage). After yoga, I stood up and my glute/hip felt so much better. Not better better but better. Make sense? Good.

Also, I ran to drop off Chou this morning (only 3:30 mintues away), then continued to the 10 min mark, walked, then got so caught up in the music that I checked my watch - 20 min! That's right, I managed a 10 and 1 (vs. 5 and 1s I have been doing) without even really noticing. There is hope. A small glimmer, but still hope.

Janathon totals: Yoga 6/6, Run 3/6, Shred 2/6

Thursday, December 30, 2010

So THAT'S what I'm doing wrong

I read this today.
The long and the short of it is this: there's actually a reasonable strategy to maintaining a healthy weight. As I read over the list, I was all "Duh! This is such common sense!" Which, of course, it is. But how is it then that I, Miss Super Duper Smart(ass?), managed to balloon back up to my pre-pregnancy weight? Sigh, yes, well. I suppose it IS time to pay attention to this fabulous little list. Here's a rundown of where I've gone wrong and what I'm going to do about it.
1. Eat breakfast
This one is no worries. I do this - 1/2 cup of rolled oats, boiled in water, with cinnamon and raisins. That's it. Every. Single. Morning. Because I'm mostly a pony. Yes, I am. I think what I need to do is add some fruit and maybe protein.
2. Banish bad foods from home.
I do OK on this, but can always do better. Duly noted, Common Sense List.
3. Be consistent.
I guess binge/stress eating consistently doesn't count? Dammit.
4. Plan activity.
Eating, I've discovered, does not count as "activity". I can do 60 mins of activity a day. I know I can. I just have to plan for it.
5. Tune out.
Well, I sit at a computer all day. Not much I can do about that. But I CAN keep it and the TV off past 7 pm and on weekends.
6. Weigh in.
My home scale has collected roughly .5 lb of dust, I'm sure. Next week, Wednesday, I'm re-joining WW. That's right. I said it. I shall weigh in there.
7. Record it.
See end of point 6.
8. Share it.
Hey! You're here! And based on TWO whole comments from last post, I think this means I have someone to share with. Hello, sharing buddies! Thanks for stopping by.

And so, here we go.
My goal is 15 lb by March 23. That's just a hair over 1 lb a week - a safe, healthy and attainable level of weight loss. It's not my goal weight, but the article also says to set specific, shorter-term goals vs. large, lofty ones. Ta da!

Now, your turn!

Friday, March 5, 2010

Oats

Casa Wumpus is a house of routine. Maybe too much routine, but that's another discussion. Every morning, Chou rolls out of bed (either at 5 am or at 6:30 am, but never in between the two), we snuggle on the couch while daddy makes coffee, watch "The Monkey Show" (Curious George, for those in the know) and then I make us all oats.

Plain old rolled oats, with cinnamon and raisins - no sugar - and maybe a splash of milk to cool them down. Sometimes we have eggs too. But every day, we have oats. We're like ponies that way.

Why is this important? Because starting our day with rolled oats is good for us. Sure, yes, we like them too, but starting with oats is just that - a start. It's taken years, but we've worked hard to clean up our diets, eat well, nourish our bodies and eliminate certain foods entirely. Like what? Oh, super uber refined stuff, processed junk and sugary gross stuff - you know - hot dogs, KD, ketchup, canned pasta and sauce, those things. All the pasta (little that there is) in our house is whole wheat, we eat things like quinoa, hummus and several types of squash on a regular basis. And we love it. We love it all. Chou loves it.

We have ketchup in the house, sure, but buy the smallest bottle and it lasts us a year. I've even got a box of KD in the cupboard, but it's left over from last June when I bought it specifically for guests. The only pop in our house is tonic water to go with gin (see? I'm not saying we're perfect. I'm just trying to give you a sense of what is and is not in our cupboards).

Why does all of this matter?

Because I found out last week that the following are regulars on Chou's daycare menu: alphaghetti, white flour-based, full sugar, full fat muffins, cheese slice grilled cheese and ketchup. In fact, two nights ago I put ketchup on Chou's plate for the first time in months and she exclaimed, "Cup cup!" I was a little shocked, and a lot saddened.

Saddened because this was an oversight on my part. Chou's daycare is so amazing in so many ways that I didn't think to scrutinize the menu. In fairness, snack time always features fresh fruit prominently, but my daycare provider's kids are in their teens now. Times have changed, the focus on food and nourishment is different now. Add to that that we're in Saskatchewan (where lasagna is considered ethnic food) and well, I guess it's not surprising that whole wheat and real food isn't the norm.

I feel terrible. I feel like I can't speak up for fear of making Chou's daycare provider feel like I'm judging her. As the husband puts it, it's two snacks and lunch - she still gets her oats and healthy dinners at home and the weekend.

But we've worked so hard to eat well, and now, now I feel like it's all for nothing because for the majority of her lunches in a week she's eating absolute trash.

And I don't know what to do.