Week six, Day five.

Has anyone ever gotten tired of eating?  Trying to lose weight is tedious and blogging about it is tedious.  I’m lucky I’m not a binge eater and I don’t really have food cravings because if I did, I may have given up by now.  My biggest challenge is sticking to my goal of having 30 g protein, 25 g carbs and 8 g fat five times a day.  I’m getting to the point where it would be so much easier to just not eat!  I know that starving doesn’t work, so I just keep plugging away.  

Today I sat my keychain trainer up to the hardest workout and walked to aerobics, worked extra hard in the water and walked home really fast.  I burned over 600 calories and I plan on doing that every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  I hope I’m in a better mood tomorrow.  I’d love to come up with something interesting and fun to blog about besides boring old food!

Week Six

I talked with my trainer Tim again yesterday.  I only lost one pound again last week and I'm at the half-way point.  I've lost 9 lbs and my goal was to lose 10 lbs in the first 5 weeks and 10 lbs in the last 5 weeks.  The fist 10 pounds are the easiest, so I've really got to do better!  He told me the best thing I can do is BLOG EVERY DAY. I was out of town again for most of the week last week but that’s no excuse for not being diligent.  Sitting down every day to write about my feelings, successes and disappointments will really help me, so again I am committing to writing a little bit every day.

Tim gave me some good advice about the foods I’ve been eating:

• Ground beef – rinse it in hot water before eating or mixing with other ingredients.  This will remove a lot of extra fat.
• Substitute ground turkey or chicken for ground beef.
• When eating cheese, avoid cheddar cheese and check labels for the cheese with the least fat and calories
• Instead of having cheese and crackers, have cheese with an apple.
• Avoid salt!
• Only eat Greek yogurt.
• Eat 3 or 4 egg whites a day.
• Boil some chicken breasts and have them available in plastic bags to grab on the go.
• Eat sliced unsalted almonds.
• Be sure to take 2 fish oil tablets with breakfast and dinner.

I’m also going to start harder and longer workouts.  Wish me luck!

Week five, day two

Insulin 101 

I’m a little frustrated!  I’m sticking to my exercise and diet program, but only losing about a pound a week.  I talked to my trainer, Tim, yesterday and he gave some good pointers.  The main thing I need to do is avoid simple sugars. I did some research and found that the reason why sugar has such a bad rap has to do with insulin. In the body, insulin is secreted in response to elevated blood sugar levels, such as those that occur after a meal, and it pushes that sugar into storage. First to be filled are the tissues of the muscles and the liver where the sugar (which is what your meal has become) is converted to glycogen. Glycogen is the body's fuel of choice for high intensity aerobic activity because it is readily available and because it is quickly converted to ATP for energy.

 Most people only have room to store about 500 calories of glycogen from any given meal. After these storage areas become full, insulin pushes the remaining sugar into the other storage area, FAT STORAGE.

Week four, day four

I love oatmeal with brown sugar and blueberries for breakfast.  It is packed with nutrients and extremely good for lowering cholesterol.  Brown sugar, even though it is better for you than white sugar, is still pretty darn bad for someone trying to lose weight.   Tim told me about a zero calorie sweetener called Stevia that is 10-15 times sweeter than sugar and healthier as well.  It is also better than other sugar substitutes. I did a little research and found that aspartame is the number one sugar substitute in the United States, but it has been linked to tumors, seizures, blindness and mood swings. (I don’t like the taste or after-taste of it either.) After hundreds of years of use in South America, decades of use and study in Japan, and many years of study in Europe and the United States, Stevia sweetener has not been linked to a single harmful side effect for humans.

I tried it on my oatmeal this morning and it was pretty good, thanks Tim!  I think the only place you can purchase it is in health food stores, but I’d highly recommend it.

I’m really doing well on my diet, so far this week.  I have been within 10% of my target numbers for calories, protein, carbs, and fats every day so far!

Week four, day two

It is good to be home!  I talked to my phone-in trainer, Tim, yesterday.  He was nice enough to give me a break from logging my food intake while I was out of town.  Now to get me back on track, I need to send him my daily food intake every day and I need to be within 10% of my target numbers for calories, fat, carbs and protein.  I was able to do that yesterday and I’m determined to do it again for the rest of the week.

I have another daughter who is expecting a baby. She's due next month and lives in Salt Lake City.   I’ll be going to stay a week with her too. (Go Granny Go!) Tim just happens to live in Salt Lake, and he said that if I can lose 10 lbs by the time I get there, he’ll work me out in his gym every day I’m there.  Great incentive!  I’ve never had a personal trainer before, let alone one of Tim’s caliber, so I’m totally stoked!

I can’t believe how into exercise I’m getting.  Yesterday , it was chilly for SoCal, (55 degrees) Normally when it’s that cold, the last thing I’d want to do is get in an outdoor  swimming pool.  But I was truly excited about going to water aerobics!  First, I walked for half an hour to the pool. then while we were in the water it started raining, but we just kept going.  I felt I was in Navy Seal training!  Then I walked back home in the rain.  Who is this woman?

Week three, day seven

Oh, the pleasures of flying stand-by!  I retired from the airline business last year, so I have the privilege of flying all over the world at a fraction of the cost of a regular ticket.  The catch is, I have to go stand-by.  It worked out perfectly when my daughter went into labor two weeks early.  I just went to the airport and got on the next flight to North Carolina and in seven short hours, I was there!  No such luck getting back home.

I tried to get home on Thursday, but didn’t make it.  I tried to fly out on Friday morning and didn’t make it.  I finally got out of that tiny little airport at 4:30 PM and got home about eight hours later.

Needless to say, it’s not possible to get much exercise when you’re sitting at the airport for two full days, and it’s also hard to eat right   I did the best I could.  I had my protein powder with me and that was a life saver.  Don’t leave home without it!

All in all, I was away from home for 9 days and still managed to lose one pound.  Not a big achievement, but at least I didn’t gain anything.  I talk with my coach Tim in the morning and I’ll get back in the healthy routine that I plan on sticking to!  

PS, I get to go back to Water Aerobics tomorrow, yay!

Week three, day three

OMG, it is going to be so hard to leave these two little sweethearts, but I’m going home tomorrow.  I sure hope I didn’t get too far behind on my 10-week program.  I haven’t weighed or measured myself, so I don’t know if I’ve made any progress this week.  I’ve tried really hard to stick to the program…but… I was totally weak today.  I had a piece of, da-da-da, the dreaded Birthday Cake :(   Aren’t you supposed to lose your taste for sugar if you go without it for a while?  You’d never know it by me. It was THE BEST cake I’ve ever tasted in my whole life!

I feel guilty and promise that I'm going to work twice as hard when I get home.

Our daily walks now include half the neighborhood. I'm the Pied-Piper Grandma of Newport, North Carolina.  Here's some cute pics.

Here's how they get around in this neighborhood.  I don't know who this guy was, but he sure was friendly!

Week three, day one

Whoops, I skipped a day or two sometime last week.  Time flies when you’re having fun!

                                     Here’s my little Easter Girls.

I'm still in North Carolina and today I had my phone-in meeting with my trainer Tim.  He was totally complimentary!  He was proud of me for sticking to the script, even though I’m away from home.  He said a lot of people in my situation would use this as an excuse to slack off on the diet and exercise.  He said I was doing so well that I didn't have to send him my phone log until I get back on Friday.  Yay Tim!

My darling friend Malissa wrote on her  Facebook about me.  (She’s a total fitness rock-star and as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside) and Tim commented.  I just have to post their comments:

Malissa Winters GET IN SHAPE, GRANDMA! For all of you that have struggled with a diet, routine etc. I invite you to please FOLLOW my friend Debbie on her "Fitness Journey" over the next 6 weeks (4 completed=10 Total) She is a beautiful inspiration, motivating people one week at a time with her awesome hard work and results. She is being held accountable for EVERYTHING she eats & her exercise etc. Debbie is pretty amazing and very determined to get happily get through this 10 week journey. For More Information on this 10 week Program, contact either Debbie via her blog  or Tim Misewicz here on Facebook or www.ten-weeks.com.


Good luck Debbie, you are Rocking It Girl! Keep up the amazing work, I can't wait to see you at the journey's FINISH LINE!! We are so proud of you! Congrats to you and your family on little Avreigh Joy!!!!
Many Blessings!

 

Linda Secretan likes this.

Tim Misewicz 

Even with a cross-country trip to see her brand new Grand baby, she's keeping her word! She is the perfect example for all those who let small bumps become brick walls...stopping them dead in their tracks. There's always an excuse to be found if you look hard enough, which is why this is so inspiring.

Yesterday at 10:21am

Malissa Winters 

You are absolutely correct Tim. If you want it bad enough there are NO EXCUSES, just RESULTS! I am so proud of her. I'm next!!

With that kind of friendship and support, I’d have to be a complete idiot to blow this awesome opportunity to succeed.  

Week two, day 5

It is so much fun here in North Carolina.  My son-in-law is such a kind and gentle man.  You’d never know that this summer he’ll be a Major in the Marines.  He really makes me feel welcome in his home.  He’s so cute with his wife and two daughters and I just love him.

I’m here to help, but my cute daughter is up and running around the house.  She’s feeling wonderful for a woman who just gave birth.  About all I do is cook, and I'm doing a pretty good job of keeping the family on my healthy diet. Other than that, I play with Teal and hold and squeeze little baby Avreigh.

Teal and I went on our walk again today. This time she took me on an adventure through the woods.  It was “a shortcut” to the Bogue Sound (close to the Atlantic Ocean). I had to carry her bike for about 2 blocks though the woods, but it was worth it.  It was awesomely beautiful!  I listened  to the “48 minute Kathy Smith walk” on my  keychain trainer twice and was working on he third time before we got home. We were both pooped, but I get to count this day as my other 500+ cal workout.

Week two, day 4

I’m in North Carolina at my daughter’s home.  She gave birth yesterday to a little 7 lb.19 ½” baby girl named Avreigh Joy.  The baby is healthy, beautiful, and happy and so is her Mommy (and sister and Daddy).  We brought them home from the hospital today exactly 24 hours after the birth.

Here's a picture of Teal, Avreigh, and Grandma getting in the car to go home from the hospital.

Dieting and exercise is really hard to keep up with in the middle of all this.  My 5 year old granddaughter Teal and I got our exercise in early this morning.  I walked and she rode her bike with training wheels.  We did a lot of stopping to  look at butterflies, bugs and pick wild flowers. I was walking in place, waiting while she was picking a flower, and she said, “Grandma, do you have to go potty?”

It was really fun.  My goal this week is to teach her to ride her two-wheeler without training wheels.  I hope she’s a quick learner, I’m not sure how long I can run up and down the street!

I’m sure glad I brought my protein powder with me.  It comes in handy when you’re hungry and all you have to choose from is fast food at the airport, fast food at the hospital, and fast food with the family.  Today on the way back from the hospital, we stopped for lunch.  I thought I was eating smart by ordering a charbroiled chicken wrap from Chick-fil-a.  It had a bunch of vegetables and some chicken wrapped up in a tortilla and sounded pretty healthy. It was, but when I got home and looked up the nutrients in that innocent little wrap I was shocked.  It had 410 calories (I’m only supposed to eat 300, 34g protein, (good, I should have 30g), 46g of carbs (I should only have 25) and 12g of fat (I should have 8g).

It wasn’t a catastrophe, I just went home and had a healthy home-made dinner and ended up pretty close to my daily number goal.

Week two, day 3

This isn't an April Fools joke!  My daughter Stacy in North Carolina is in labor with her second little daughter.  I'm on my way to the airport to be with Stacy, Jason, Teal and baby Avreigh (I think that's the way they're going to spell her name.)  I'll post pictures tomorrow!