Chopity chopity

Taking a break from this very busy day. It's been my practice, since we began this weight loss journey, to buy massive amounts of veggies each week, do as much prep work as possible all at once, and bask in the benefits of it all week. I though I would snap a picture of this weeks salad green assortment. I wash them, cut them up and mix them all together and store in zip locks. Then during the week it is grab a handful or two , put it in a bowl, top with whatever other veggies do not move, and enjoy.

This weeks greens are romaine, escarole, Boston head lettuce, dandelion greens, fresh dill and arugula. It looks so green and so pretty to me ! I think I am getting really antsy for spring to be here !

Husbands are funny

This makes me laugh. We have several computers here at home because...well our son has figured out how to bypass every parental control on the planet and lest we want to lose important data, safer to have three computers. All together in the living room, which explains why we have no furniture. But I digress.

Phoenix was updating his blog and journal that he has on another site, clicked the button for the other network to read his journal, and his computer got hijacked to a site showing nearly naked women , all young and toned and... saying they all ived in the area. Poor Bob is a very honest, trustworthy, upstanding soul who has never done a wrong thing in his life outside of enrolling a dog one day in high school. I know him inside and out through 26 years of marriage and 3 years before that of friendship. I know if he is even begining to remotely consider the possibility of anything, and i know for an absolutr fact he does not surf sights like this ( and if he did i would not fault him, but rather giggle at him deciding to stretch his horizons or something).

Anyway, he was upset and told me about it, and I was joking with him that he is meant to take this glitch as a message from the universe to keep up with his weight loss efforts. I told him let's face it- walk into a McDonalds or Portillos or Burger King, look around, and tell me if you see one single body type that would have posed for those pictures. He agreed, none would. So I told him that instead of thinking of it as a bad thing, think of it as encouragment. And then worry if the ad had 40 women pictured ( the 40 days of lent thing).

He just giggled and shook his head ( and probably felt relived that i was not going to be mad at him)

So did it work ?

So a week of the herbal tea for me and 3 days of more strength training and the results are in. It's weigh in time

Me - DOWN 3.8 lbs !!!!! (yes it works)
Hubby- DOWN2.2 lbs ( fasting works for him)
Son UP 2.8 lbs- fasting does not work for him and he has been under points range all week

Busy day ahead with shopping, chopping and errands galore to run !

Yesterdays log
exercise-
Ab work 25 min
Walk 10 min- slipped on the ice, twisted knee so that is all for today


Breakfast-
Oatmeal with cinnamon, brown sugar,flax,crasins,seed mix,goji berries,wheat bran,coconut
olive oil and peanut butter, Yo plus digestive yogert, blackberries
water, coffee

Lunch- A stir salad- just wanted something warm instead of salad
grilled garlic chicken on a bed of stir steamed romaine,
dandelion,boston lettuce, arugala and broccoli in olive oil and dill weed
Yo Plus Digestive yogert,apple,fiber one bar
water


Dinner- A meatless fast food classic
Pepper and egg sandwich on whole wheat roll( homemade, healtier)
sauteed mushrooms, salad
Diet Sierra Mist



Snacks Spa water through the day
Pre breakfast- Parsley,thyme tea
Morning-none- not hungry and too busy
afternoon- sugar free jello, sugar free pudding,green tea
evening- sugar free pudding, fiber plus bar,blood orange

water 16 (128 oz)
Fruits 4
veg 7
lean protein 2
dairy 2
healthy fats 2

Venial cause for pause

I think a day of fasting and abstinence is not such a good thing for my body anymore. I have fasted in the past and had minimal problem because of it. Yes I get hungry and tired, but all is well the next day when I eat. Wednesday I followed the fast/abstinence rules and felt oddly odd. Not sick, not in pain, but just odd. Yesterday I woke up feeling not so great andas the day went on I felt like I was on the verge of getting sick, headachy and bone deep exhausted, which began to change immediately after eating dinner (chicken). Then last night in the middle of the night I woke up with such intense hunger pains that I laid awake debating just how much damage a small snack may or may not do. I grabbed a bottle of water instead, and tried to fall back to sleep. No such luck. This morning for breakfast I was so ravenous I could have eaten the fridge itself ! Today is Friday and another day of abstaining from meat, but I am not going to adhere. I have an allergy to fish and seafood, beans raise my glucose levels badly, nuts do not stick with me , and eating eggs two meals in a row is something I just cannot tollerate. Only my dinners will be meatless. Good point is that even though I felt like crap, I got in my 30 minute exercise minimum, and I am convinced my homemade rowing invention is going to work out just fine.
Here is how the day broke down
exercise-
Wii fit strength training 10 min
rowing 10 min ( felt very energizing)
bike 10 min ( made me feel even more unwell, so I stopped)


Breakfast-
Egg beater omlettte( mushrooms, green onions, red pepper, asparagus)topped with salsa
Fiber One bar,Yo Plus digestive yogert,apple
coffee,water

Lunch-
Bocca burger on Thomases whole wheat english muffin with wedge of laughing cow cheese
tossed salad with crasins and nuts
apple, yo digestive yogert
Diet Sierra Mist


Dinner-
Pepper Lime Marinated chicken breast
Whole grain brown rice blend, green beans
tossed salad
Diet Sierra Mist


Snacks Spa water through the day
Pre breakfast- Parsley,thyme,nettle, dandelion tea
Morning-parsley tea, 2 carrots
afternoon- Parsley tea,sugar free jello,carrot
evening- Sugar free chocolate pudding, yo digestive yogert
Fiber plus bar

water 12 (96 oz)
Fruits 3
veg 11
lean protien 2
dairy 3
healthy fats 2

Row,row row your boat

Yesterday was a productive day. Hubby stayed home to serve as music minister for three services, homeschool was done, menu planning happened, and my mind was trying to figure out how I could get in more strength training type exercises using what I had on hand. I have a stability ball, pilates bands, some small hand weights and a stationary bike. We also live in less than 900 square feet of space, so big pieces of equipment are out of the question. As nice as the stationary bike seems to be, it is not giving me the results I want, and neither of the guys use it with any consistancy. What would be nice to replace it with would be a rowing machine. As a kid my family would do a lot of wilderness canoe trips, and being the oldest I was one of the regular rowing people. I was also pressed into service on portages, carrying the ancient 17 foot aluminum canoes and 75 pound Duluth packs of food from take out to put in point. It was a great work out, and to tis day the exercise I feel the most comfortable with is rowing. It works just about every muscle in the body at once.

However, rowing machines, if you can find them, are pretty expensive and take up a lot of room. Not such a positive factor at this time in this place. So my mind started wandering and getting creative. Suddenly it dawned on me that if I position the things I own in just the right fashion, I could create something that would give me the benefits of a rowing machine without buying anything. Here is what I did. We have office chairs with arms, and my pilates bands have handles on both ends. I hooked he handle of two bands onto the arm of the chair my son was sitting on( he still outweighs me) , and then positioned the stability ball far enough away from the chair to make the bands stretch, then sat on the ball, grabbed the bands and began to do a rowing motion, Begin close to the chair, pull back with with armsand use your extended legs to lock you in place, relax legs while coming back, and repeat. It is hard to explain, but if you have ever rowed a boat in real life, I think you would be able to figure out how to do this. It feels VERY effective. I stopped after 5 minutes of rowing because I want to build myself up slowly and safely to this exercise. Sweet !
Yesterday's log- Ash Wednesday, and a day of fasting and abstenance from meat.
exercise-
Wii fit strength training 20 min
resistance band work 10 min
hand weights 120 reps
homemade rowing machine 5 min

Breakfast-
5 grain cereal (oats,barley,rye,wheat,buckwheat)
topped with crasins,coconut,ground flax,goji berries,wheat bran,seed mix,peanut butter,olive oil
Yo plus digestive yogert
water,2 coffee


Lunch-
Thomas whole wheat muffins with 2 slices provolone cheese
asparagus ( I love asparagus, and it seemed like a good Ash Wednesday sort of food to me)
apple,yo digestive yogurt
water


Dinner-
Tossed salad with fat free cheese, seed&nut mix,crasins
whole wheat bread with olive oil for dipping
apple,water




Snacks Spa water through the day
Pre breakfast- dandelion,parsley,thyme,nettle tea
Morning-dandelion,parsley,thyme,nettle tea, fat free cheese stick
afternoon-dandelion,parsley,thyme,nettle tea,
all bran crackers,laughing cow,apple
evening- Nettle tea,Fiber plus bar,17 almonds

water 14 (112 oz)not counting tea or coffee
Fruits 4
veg 5
lean protien- taken over by extra dairy this day
dairy 5
healthy fats 2

Thoughts on my body

Yesterday I had one of those ,I think, AH HA kind of moments. While watching yet another re run of The Biggest Loser or Last 10 Pounds or one of those shows,I noticed that the contestants were doing an awful lot of what I would call strength exercises, and not quite so much cardio type. My own definition, which is not factually based, is that cardio is primarily designed to get your heart moving faster, which increases your respiration, blood flow and makes you sweat. It pro,marily burns calories . Strength exercises , to me, are things that are designed more to work a specific muscle group to he point of breaking down so it can be rebuilt stronger. When a muscle breaks down in this way it comes back stronger. Stronger muscles require more calories to exist or more energy if you will, and they speed up your metabolic rate. End result is you burn more calories just by being alive, and you lose weight. With cardio you sweat, and with me therin lies the problem. Because of an adrenal problem, I don't sweat. I can ride a stationary bike hard for 30 minutes and not even become damp. It makes me very jealous to watch people on these weight loss shows drenched and dripping in sweat. I would kill to be able to experience that. Something Bob said about Ron, the guy on the current Biggest Loser show with the bad knee suddenly hit me like a ton of bricks. "Let's hope strenght training will be good for Ron". Because of his knee he cannot work as hard as the rest, so rather than sweat it off of him, build up the muscles so they will just do it for him, so to speak. So I decided that maybe I should spend more of my time and effort in strength training than in cardio sorts of ativities. In short, more work with weights. If my adrenals will not let me sweat, then I am going to have to get my muscles to take over. So I am starting to invent some work with the Pilates bands that feels incredibly affecive, and gets my heart and breathing up a lot faster than any bike riding can. I think I may have found my solution. Time will tell.

Yesterday's Log. Fat Tuesday, so use up the last bit of steak in the freezer, lest I stupidly ,accidentally grab and toss it in the crockpot one Friday as a mistake.

exercise- 40 min
Wii fit 20 min( 20 min yoga)
Resistance bands 10 min
walk 10 min


Breakfast-
Egg beater veggie omlete( asparagus,mushrooms,green onions,red peppers)
topped with salsa and ground flax
Yo Plus digestive yogert,blood orange, Fiber One bar
Water ,coffee

Lunch-
Bocca burger on Thomases whole wheat lite english muffin with mustard
carrot and celery sticks,apple
Yo Plus Digestive yogert,water



Dinner-
Braciole ( beed steak in tomatoes and herbs), spinach,whole wheat pasta
salad,Diet Sierra mist



Snacks Spa water through the day
Pre breakfast- dandelion,nettle,parsley,thyme tea
morning- celery and carrot sticks,17 almonds
dandelion,nettle,parsley,thyme tea
afternoon dandelion,nettle,parsley,thyme tea
apple
Evening-sugar free pudding,apple,Fiber Plus bar


water 16 (128 oz)
Fruits 4
veg 10
lean protien 3
dairy 2
healthy fats 2

Oh Mergatriod

Hey there Mergartoid, my friendly Wii fit balance board. Seems you insist I should at least do a body test each time I use you, and by that you tell me what my weight and Wii fit age is ,I think it only fair to warn you that if you do not cooperate and tell me that my efforts of less caloric intake and more movement are being affective, I will be forced to show you just how young, sharp and creative my mind can be in response to your pronouncements.(after all, you say we age from the bottom up, and while my knees and feet appear to be ready for the inner circle of the AARP,my head is definately otherwise). It is one thing for you to say I gain weight ( which happily you have stopped saying), but a whole other thing to tell me I am getting older. It's a mathematically based nonsensical pronouncement I know, but still, a girl has her pride.

So if tomorrow morning when I get on you dare to tell me I have aged 20 years because I fell off the balance board during the single leg balance test, I will be forced to introduce you to a new form of exercise. Extreme Pilates, or Combat Resistance training. Not sure which one is more appropriate in terminology. Here is how it will work though. I will take one of my Bally Pilates bands with handles and fasten said handles to 2 peices of heavy furnature, stretching the band tight. Then I will take you, Mergatroid, my little friend, place you on that band, point to my plate glass living room window, pull firmly and release you into the great outdoors. The impact will do you great harm and the snow on the ground will most likely do a number on your circits. Not a pretty sight in all that. So do we have an agreement ?? If you stop calling me old and fat, I will let you live to see another day.

Thank you,
your unamused Mii named Mom.

Water, only better

One thing that is universally accepted as a factor in weight loss is increasing the water you drink to 8 glasses. Some authorities cite more than this, up to half your body weight in ounces of water. The reason for this is that body fat does not simply vaporize into nothingness, but rather pass out of your body in the forms of sweat and urine. Some also exits through the digestive tract in the form of liver secretions that get mixed with the bolus as it transits the intestinal tract and, well, out the door so to speak. This is one reason laxatives have been used by some desperate for a quick result in weight loss. It is not a healthy process in the least, and your body can become not only dehydrated, but dependent upon them to function at all. Dumb move, but the logic behind it is smart. Anything that you can do to make this built in flushing mechanism work more efficiently is a good move, be it weight loss or not. The majority of our immune system rely s upon the condition of our digestive tract, and good digestive health is a primary move in good overall health. So water consumption is a just plain good move healthwise.

But what if you hate water ? What if you find it boring, flat, uninteresting and easy to ignore in your weight loss ? There are options. A popular one is something like those little packages of powder that you pour in your bottle, shake and drink. Good point is they are convenient, portable and make water taste good. Bad point is they are a chemical nightmare that may prove counterproductive to your efforts in the long run, if you are losing weight for health. Herbal teas work much the same as weter in the body, but not always convenient or even palletable to some. Is there a better solution ?

You bet. Spa water ! Not only does it taste good, but it helps your body to do what it naturally does in a more efficient matter. make up a gallon of this and see if you don't find yourself guzzling the whole thing in a day.

Spa water
2 organic lemons, washed and sliced
1 cucumber, peeled and sliced thin
20 fresh mint leaves, coarsely chopped
5 slices of fresh ginger, coarsely chopped
1 gallon of water.

Place in a pitcher, cover and steep overnight.

I have been making a gallon pitcher of this every day and one day last week I introduced my husband to this. He has real problems getting in the 6 servings of water Weight Watchers recommends. so I thought this tasty sollution would hel. It definately has. Sadly, my son does not like it, but instead preffers just plain water most of the day. Unless he has discovered some diet soda with antioxidants or promises of giving him wings. Ugggh. One step at a time....

Here is how yesterday played out food and activity wise. It was a good day.
exercise- 45 min
Wii fit 40 min ( strength training)
resistance bands- 5 min


Breakfast-
Oatmeal with the usual toppings( seed mix,coconut,crasins,flax,goji berries,wheat bran,olive oil,peanut butter-I love this mix)
Yo digestive yogert,water
2 cups coffee


Lunch-
Grilled chicken salad ( 3 oz chicken, 1 T seed nut mix, romaine,arugala,dandelion,parsley Boston bib and Salad Spritzers dressing)
Fiber Plus bar
Yo plus digestive yogert
apple,water


Dinner-
marinated grilled chicken( lemon juice,blood orange juice,garlic,thyme)
Quinoa,Green beans, tossed salad
Diet Cherry 7up


Snacks Spa water through the day
AM parsley,nettle,dandelion,thyme tea
Parsley ,nettle,dandelion,thyme tea,celery
Afternoon-Parsley ,nettle,dandelion,thyme tea,
sugar free pudding,sugar free jello,carrot
Evening- apple,blood orange,lite string cheese,Fiber Plus bar

water 16 (128 oz) not counting the tea, coffee or sodas
Fruits 4
veg 7
lean protien 2
dairy 3
healthy fats 3

No pizzas were harmed

One word can best sum up yesterday-lazy ! Not a bad way to be, and as a matter of fact it is a very healthy practice for you psychological and physical health. No exercise, relax, take stock and do some things to fuel you for the week ahead. One of the things accomplished is getting a plan for the next 40 days ahead. Lent begins on Wednesday, and while i am not Catholic or even Christian, my husband and son are, and my husband follows the Catholic custom of meatless Fridays and two other days. We do not do three different dinners, I have an allergy to fish and seafood, we are losing weight, so it took a little thought to make it work. Hubby also set up his own blogger account because he wants to do a daily spiritual reflection/journal during lent. He is now on my toolbar as Phoenixminstrel . His is a spiritual perspective ,and he writes very well. Another thing accomplished was going out for lunch. This was a planned adventure, but suddenly yesterday morning the thought of a deep dish pizza chased me and tried to tickle me into submission. Did not happen, but some veggies and chicken at a buffet were severely inconvenienced. It was a nice way to spend a day.

Breakfast- Good for your colon and so much fun to mush together !
Crockpot grains ( steel cut oats,barley,wheat berries in the crockpot)
topped with wheat bran,crasins,seed nut mix,coconut,ground flaxseed,goji berries, peanut butter,olive oil)
Yo plus digestive yogert,blueberries
water,coffee

Lunch- out to Old Country buffet

spring mix greens with tomatoes, shredded carrots,beets and grilled pork steak
roast chicken breast,summer squash,cantaloupe,broccoli slaw
1 sugar free ranger cookie, water

Dinner-
1/2 c nonfat yogert,1 apple,17 almonds,1 tsp sugar

Snacks
pre breakfast- nettle tea
Am- parsley,nettle,thyme dandelion leaf tea, Fiber plus bar
Afternoon- parsley,nettle,thyme dandelion leaf tea, carrot and celery sticks,green tea
evening-2 wasa crisps,1 laughing cow lite,1 grapefruit,1 sugar free pudding

No exercise-day to rest
water 16(128 oz)
Fruits 5
veg 5
lean protien 2
dairy 3
healthy fats 2

Note to self

No matter how good it sounds
no matter how much melted cheese can come close to a religious experience
no matter how much fun it is to go to the restaurant with deer antlers on the wall
no matter how comforting that thick and chewy crust feels in my mouth

I will NOT go out for pizza !

I will NOT go out for pizza !

I will NOT go out for pizza !

I will NOT go out for pizza !

Re-arranging and green things

Woke up to a snowstorm, but nothing as bad as was predicted to hit. We got maybe 2 inches of the white stuff, but a lot of blowing and drifting which made conditions just snarky enough to merit staying home and laying low unless you absolutely had to travel out and about. We had anticipated a much worse outcome, prepared, and were able to just hang at home. Good and bad thing in that. Good in the time together and chance to catch up on projects. Bad in the time together and the chance to catch up on projects. It went something like this. We ate breakfast, then did our workouts, started getting involved in our own projects, assembled for lunch, decided to play a board game and because of a question on the game, wound up re-aranging the living room. One minute you are answering a trivia question about types of wrenches, and the next you are unplugging electrical appliances and moving furnature. Yep. And the move of furnature and electrical stuff revealed more places that got missed in the wall washing of last week, so add more wall washing to your week, and in the process find the love Shack for those mismatched socks and single shoes. As evidenced by the broken toy parts, stray orange rinds and what nots that have accumulated there. Good times !

In my own pursuits of the day I started reveiwing diuretic herbs. I have been faithful to my eating plan, geting plenty of exercise, but still gaining. We have been on a weight loss program for 14 months, and I started to plateau/stall back in June. It is not that I cannot lose weight ever, but things have gotten complecated at the moment. Menopause is the reason. Actually ,that is not a completely accurate term here. The year that you go without having any cycles before you can formally be pronounced as menopausal. During the process of change, your entire endocrine system steps up to take on the role that your ovaries once did, except that your endocrine system will not produce eggs. Your bodily fluid balance goes nuts, your heart rate goes goofy ( this is one reason you get hot flashes), and a whole host of other things. Sometimes your body requires a little help to overcome these changes, and there is nothing wromng with getting some aid. I have chosen NOT to take hormone replacement therapy if I can help it, but I am absolutely not adverse to getting aid from herbal supplements. I am going to be using some well known and safe diuretic herbs for the next week to see if this can help turn things around for me. This explains why you will see some unusual things in my food logs. I do not reccomend that people do this as a short cut or a quick fix, but there are indeed times when the body could use a little help.
So here is my log for Saturday
exercise-
Bike 30 min
wall washing 30 min


Breakfast- Colon Blow feast (and it indeed works well)
Oatmeal with wheat bran,seed mix,crasins,coconut, flax seed meal goji berries,peanut butter, olive oil
Yo Plus digestive yogert,blueberries
coffee,water


Lunch- busy at home and the guys wanted sandwiches- ave me from the sodium !
Corned beef and provalone on whole wheat roll
celery,1/2 grapefruit, yo plus digestive yogert
water



Dinner-
Indian grilled chicken (tumeric and cinnamon seasoned), broccoli
tossed salad,whole wheat bread dipped in olive oil
Diet Cherry 7 Up



Snacks
Pre breakfast- Parsley Tea
AM Dandelion oatstraw nettle tea
Afternoon Parsley tea , sugar free pudding, sugar free jello
evening- parsley tea, pumpkin angel food cake ( it was okay,but not again)

water 14 (112 oz)
Fruits 3
veg 5
lean protien 2
dairy 3
healthy fats 2

Saturday, weigh in and a theory

It's Saturday , and our weigh in day. I think I should look at getting a picture of a screaming monkey to put with my weigh ins of late.

Me- GAIN 3.4 pounds. Yep, let us celebratethe incomprehensible way my body is working lately !!!
Hubby -GAIN 1.4
Son LOST 2.6 pounds -WHOOP WHOOP boy !!!

I have watched points, calories, carbs and all that. I have certainly got enough exercise ! So it is time to look at other theories. One, I may actually be getting a period. My last one was in September when the geese were leaving, they are returning and I think my ovaries are attracted to their flight patterns or something. Yeah, that's the ticket ! Two, I may be pregnant. I don't feel pregnant, but I have not had a period in a few months and I am gaining weight. It would be the ultimate irony that after 8 years of infertility and then conceeving under nearly home lab type conditions involving charts, tempurature readings and feats of engineering that in my old age I simply become pregnant just by having sex. It makes me laugh at the absurdity of it, but I think I will buy a test tomorrow to rule out that possibility. And then there is possibility three- I have become a magnet for at least some of the pounds shed by Team Angie. Let's face it. We work hard to get them off our bodies, they get off in normal cases, but they have to go somewhere ! Nothing in the universe ever really goes away, but instead changes energy. All these pounds shed by all of you great people has to go somewhere. Perhaps it is on my frame. It's gotta be one of the above. Either that or it is affirmation that I am just not eating enough ice cream and drinking enough booze like I speculated yesterday.
exercise-
Bike 30 min

Breakfast- AKA Colon Blow
Oatmeal mess(topped with flax,bran, crasins,coconut,goji berries,seeds,olive oil,peanut butter)
nonfat yogert,splenda, fresh blackberries
water, coffee



Lunch-a warm salad
3 oz garlic and dill seasoned chicken
stir steamed asparagus,zuchinni,mushrooms and green onions on
assorted greens in olive oil, garlic and dill
Yo plus digestive yogert,apple
Diet Cherry 7up


Dinner- quick grab because of shopping
Corned beef and provalone sub on whole wheat with greens ( not the best choice ,but quick and could be worse)
Baby mozzerella balls ( it's an italian deli thing)
marinated mushrooms
Diet Cherry 7 up


Snacks ( focusing on things that help relive water retention)
celery sticks,green tea
parsley tea, 17 almonds
Sugar free pudding, sugar free jello
cucumber, celery sticks,fiber plus bar,parsley tea

water 15 (120 oz)
Fruits 3
veg 8
lean protien 2
dairy 3
healthy fats 2

I must be doing this all wrong

I am beginning to have a theory about how houses get dirty. In the middle of the night, all the mismatched socks in the universe get together, call up all those single shoes you find on the roadways to come over and party. When together they start smoking, drinking and whooping it up. That explains how a dark film gets on the walls and why you find splashes of something on your ceiling for no obvious reason. Yep, that's the ticket ! Day four of wall washing , and I think I need a break. After four hours of bending, twisting, scrubbing, moving furniture and assorted dejunking,I was ready to die. So obviously, that is a good time to dig into our homeschool math lesson. What was I thinking ???

Then hubby gets home and informs me that there is a major winter storm on the way for late Friday and early Saturday, so could I please give him half the grocery list now so he can deal with 2 of the 4 stores we visit. So I print off what he needs ( we will do the other two stores tonight) and then flip on some TV while I finish up sorting through some piles. I happened to catch this series on Fine Living Network called Last 10 pounds Bootcamp. This one is new to me, so I watch in fascination. This contestant weighed in at 160 pounds, and looking at her bad diet, I have decided I am going about this thing all wrong !

Here I am, for the last 14 months roughly, eating mountains of vegetables, lean protien, low fat, and I am gaining weight. And here is this woman with a diet of ice cream, fried foods, candy and large quantities of alcohol . She weighs 160 pounds. I have not weighed 160 pounds since i was a preschooler ! Obviously I am doing this all wrong. I think perhaps I should start having gallons of ice cream for breakfast, slabs of fudge for lunch and an entire deep dish pizzaa for dinner, washed down with a fifth or two of rum. Sounds good, dosn't it ? Of course on the show she changes her eating habits to resemble mine more closely, drops 12 pounds and 7 inches, and does this in 4 weeks. Then comes out to taunt me in her little black dress, a size smaller. Simulating, isn't it ? Then I think of that scene in Fried Green Tomatoes where Kathy Bates smashes into the car of those two annoying young women and says "I am older and have better insurance". Yes Miss Little Black Dress, I am older, have more insurance than you, have a son, have a happy marriage and have stray socks and mismatched road shoes partying in my living room at all hours of the night, which gives me opportunities to use my home as a gym. Then I realize that she may see that black dress as required equipment to get the very things I have, and I find myself wishing her well on her journey. May she find her heart's desire.

Yesterday's log- I have increased my fiber intake in an attempt to get more regular, so hence all the carb things
exercise-
Washing walls 4 hrs


Breakfast-
Egg beater veggie omlette ( asparagus, zuchini, green onions,mushrooms, red peppers) with salsa on top
Yo Plus digestive yogert,Fiber one bar
fresh strawberries
water,2 coffee


Lunch- The girl eats bread
Bocca Burger on Thomas Whole Grain lite english muffin with mustard
1/2 c cottage cheese with 1 t olive oil 1T ground flax
baby carrots and lots of celery( I was really craving this)
apple, Diet Squirt


Dinner-
Pork loin cubes in pineapple salsa ( all hail the mighty crockpot!)
brown rice and whole grain blend, broccoli/califlower/carrot blend
salad,Diet Squirt




Snacks
water
2 Herb tea ( dandelion,nettles,oatstraw,sage,chamomile,hibiscus)
sugar free pudding, sugar free jello,green tea
sugar free pudding,Fiber Plus Bar,apple,100 calorie popcorn

water 14 (112 oz) outside of the coffee,tea,and diet sodas
Fruits 3
veg 9
lean protien 3
dairy 2
healthy fats 2

Just to keep it interesting

Thank you guys for all your support and encouragement ! Menopause is such a wild card time of life. My head knows this , and I have learned about the numerous problems and potential treatments in my herbal medicine studies, but it becomes a whole different ball game when it is your very own body that goes through it. It kind of give new definition to the term "campaign of shock and wonder" before it is over. You are shocked at what your body can do and at the same time in wonder at the awesome functions of the human machine called the body.Then add the antics of the scale that come with a long weight loss journey, and it can make you crazy.

More wall washing yesterday, and this time the kitchen. I set a goal to do more exercise than just wall washing this week, so I began the day with a ride on my stationary bike, then breakfast, then dig into the business of cleaning. Kitchen walls can get so dirty with the combination of cooking fumes and grease, and turn into glue with the addition of dust.Gads, what a work out ! Somewhere ,someplace i read that the physical act of scrubbing by hand for a big person burns about 500 calories an hour. Work those muscles, burn those calories and get a spanking new feeling house in the process. It's a good thing !

After he room was done and I was aching from head to toe I remembered it was Wednesday and time to plan next weeks menu and grocery shopping list. Three people on a weight loss journey, three slightly different dietary needs, three different prefernces and one needing to brown bag two meals a day. Son and I seem to need a slightly higher level of protien, I have to balance carbs with protien and hubby is now confirmed sensitive to sodium. It is something I have tried to tell him, but he chooses not to listen to. He is the one who brown bags, and he also has dental problems. Because of bad experiences in the past, he refuses to go back to a dentist, so a lot of his food choices are determined by the affect on his teeth. And then there is the "yeah, right" factor. Raw carrots hurt his teeth but nuts do not. Salad is okay, but only if it is swimming in dressing. That one was remedied by the Wishbone Salad Spritzers. Well the last week he has had a very busy week and asked if I could create some breakfasts that could be eaten at his desk, needed no heating, and the veggies were hurting his teeth. So he has been eating low sodium V8 and cottage cheese ( I am not crazy about these options because of the sodium, but...). He is a definatee scale junky . So I was remebering all these factors plus my own need to increase the starch carb servings to battle the constipation, and after mental gymnastics figured out a plan. Oh yeah- keep it budget friendly . That done, and it is dinner time. At dinner hubby comments that he noticed that he has gained 4 pounds and the water ration on our scale says it went up almost 2 percent. BINGO ! It is the sodium intake ! So we get into a discussion about how his eating habits will have to change in order to beat the plateau and prevent health problems, so that meant me spending re-doing the menu and the shopping list to reflect this nessisary move.

Somewhere in this I have to also plan a lesson plan for next week. And three more rooms still need washing down. Good thing I really like this way of life !

exercise- 3 hrs 45 min
bike 15 min
washing walls 3.5 hrs


Breakfast-
The oatmeal mess ( oatmeal, crasins, goji beires, coconut, flax seed mix, peanut butter,olive oil)
Nonfat yogert with cocoa powder and splenda
water,2 cups coffee

Lunch-
Citrus Grilled chicken salad( 3 oz chicken breast. 2 cups assorted greens. 1 T seed mix, 1 blood orange, 20 grapes,fig infused balsamic vinegar)
1/2 c nonfat yogert ,1 T sugar free strawberry jam
Diet Squirt



Dinner-
Universal Marinade chicken breast, whole wheat couscous
green beans, tossed salad
Diet Squirt



Snacks
Very early AM- 17 almonds, Green Tea
afternoon- sugar free pudding, sugar free jello,1/2 c unsweetend apple sauce,2 green tea
evening-Kellogs fiber plus bar, 2 wasa light rye, 1 wedge laughing cow lite,sugar free chocolate pudding
apple ( going higher carb and fiber),
herbal tea (sage,dandelion,oatstraw, nettles,hibiscus,camomile-for menopausal reasons)

water 13 (104 oz)- I don't count tea or diet soda in my water count
Fruits 4
veg 5
lean protien 2
dairy 3
healthy fats 2

The Valley of Fear

I spent another day washing down walls, de-junking and deep cleaning yesterday, and my legs were so sore that I could not get up and down from a chair without pain. Considering this fact, I skipped other exercise and took some tylenol. My back muscles were also rather stiff so I laid on my stability ball to open up my back muscles gently. And as I lay there, rolling back and forth my mind wandered to a really bad place. I call it the Valley of Fear.

What if, no matter what I do , my body simply refuses to lose any more weight ? I am 50 and the normal process of aging makes the average person gain 10 pounds ( hormonal reasons). Biologically we do not require the same muscle mass that we do in our younger years and the bodies design adresses this. Then there is the entire female hormonal nutcase whirling dirvish dance to factor in.If that is not enough, then there is the fact that I lost 110 pounds to be able to conccive, did so and gained 75 pounds during that very risky and stressful pregnancy, lost 50 and then gained back friends. Yo-yo dieting ,if you will, and that messes up your metabolisim as well. I am am struggling so much with my weight right now that it is making me crazy. No matter what I do , the pounds either stay put or bring friends. It just makes no sense on any level, and things that do not make sense to be often turn into obsessions. Now to add to the mix of the non moving weight is constipation. Know all that they say about eating more fruits and vegetables , drinking water, healthy fats and moving to stop constipation ? My body seems to prove it contrary. While the low carb high protien approach worked in the past, it is not this time and creating more problems. So I get to be fat, discourages, frustrated AND uncomfortable. What a deal . So I think the answer here is to add more whole grains and see if this helps.

All I can do is just try, try again. As long as I try, I have not failed.

Breakfast-
Veggie scramble ( egg beaters with asparagus, zuchinni, red peppers,
green onions, mushrooms, seasoned with tumeric and garlic, topped with salsa)
1 c nonfat yogert with 20 grapes and 1 T splenda
water, coffee


Lunch-
Bocca burger, celery sticks and baby carrots
1/2 c cottage cheese, 2 T ground flax seed, 1 blood orange
Diet Squirt




Dinner-
Ginger Tumeric grilled pork chop, brown rice
Brocoli/califlower/carrot blend, tossed salad
Diet Squirt


Snacks
Morning- celery sticks and fat free cheese
afternoon -3 green teas, sugar free jello, sugar free pudding
evening- sugar free pudding, apple, tlc bar

exercise- 90 min
Wash walls 90 min

water 12 (96 oz)
Fruits 3
veg 9
lean protien 2
dairy 3
healthy fats 3

An apron should be part of your weight loss tools

I read an interesting article about the contestants on the show "The Biggest Loser" . For one thing they all have to cook for themselves and there is no list of scheduled meals . They are given a calorie allowance, a list of forbidden foods, and then left to their own devices. For many of them this is a revelation, as they have lived on a diet of fast food. The article goes on to say that one of the biggest factors in the obesity epidemic today is we spend too little time cooking our own meals at home.

I think the article fails to mention one other critical factor. Those that do cook at home all too often rely on things like prepared canned soups, foods in a box or frozen entrees like pizza, Lean Cuisines and more. Even most contemporary recipies call for things like a can of condensed soup, a cup of katsup and other such things. One reason is cost, another is all of our supremely erratic schedules filled with ten thousand must do/must attend things that leave the modern family scattered in sixty different directions at dinnertime. How can a dinner schedual survive when laid over the activity;/work scheduals of 4 or more people ? There is so much unnecessary pressure on parents to provide their children with the shining childhood of every opportunity under the sun that our very lives themselves become compromised in the exchange. We do not have a bumper crop of world class athletes, Mozart's, Picasso's, Chess Pros and such, but rather an epidemic of burned out children, financially and emotionally stressed parents and a nation of obese people.

One of the more critical tools in leading a healthy life is the ability to cook for yourself. Unless this fundamental skill is mastered, you are left at the mercy of fast food restaurants and people who will put garbage in a box with a pretty label that says it is good for you ( Look mom, it's vitamin shaped and sugar fortified !). In that same vein unless you know how to repair a garment, wash a garment and use an iron you will be in sad shape as well. Good old Home Ecc classes could be the thing that will become much more important in light of our growing wastelines and shrinking wallets.

Nuff said on that- on to yesterday's log
exercise- 3 hrs 20 min
wall washing 3 hrs ( or the Fearmaster)
walk 10 min
bike 10 min( I wanted to do more than just cleaning this week for one of my goals)



Breakfast-
1/2 cottage cheese, 1 tsp olive oil,2 T ground flax,20 grapes,17 almonds
water,coffee



Lunch-
Grilled chicken chef salad (3 oz grilled chicken, mixed greens,1T crasins
1 T seed mix, garlic balsamic vinegar)
1 c nonfat yogurt with 1 T dark cocoa powder and 1 T splenda,
apple, Diet cherry 7Up


Dinner-
4 oz Grilled Honey Dijon Chicken breast (2 T Dijon mustard, 2 T honey, 1 tsp garlic, 1/4 c lemon juice- marinate for at least 1 hr) , 3/4 c barley, 1 c spinach , tossed salad with fig infused balsamic vinegar, Diet Cherry 7Up with antioxidents
( my son is fasicinated by this- he just learned what antioxidants are and so he has a zeal to get as many as he can. We get more than enough water in this house so diet soda is allowed at meals only)

Snacks
morning- fat free cheese and 1 c celery sicks
afternoon- sugar free pudding and sugar free jello,100 cal almonds
evening- apple, fat free string cheese, TLC bar

water 14 (112 oz)
Fruits 3
veg 7
lean protien 2
dairy 4
healthy fats 2

New week

So begins another week on the journey. Yesterday was pretty laid back after hubby's morning singing commitments. We ate lunch, played some American Idol Karaoke and then decided to make a visit to the Goodwill. You can tell the real state of the economy by the level of crowds at the Goodwill it seems. It was packed with people sifting through the goods being offered. I came across two tops that I almost bought, but put back when I realized I would have to find a completely different bra to wear with them. I HATE shopping for shoes and bras because both present such a challenge in finding the right size. I finally found a bra that I loved and fits, and i think i would walk through a fire to avoid having to find one in a different cut. Strange, but true.

Today begins spring cleaning. Can you smell the clean all the way over there ? I got a brand new mom and a brand new bucket ( only way to wash walls and ceilings), rags enough to cover the Empire State Building and all kinds of interesting cleaning supplies, some natural and home made , some not. Let the scrubbing begin !

Goals for this week- get in exercise beyond the scrubbing
stay true to my program

Yesterday's log
exercise 35 min
Wii fit 20 min (10 min yoga,10 min run)
Bike 15 min


Breakfast-
Crock pot grains (Barley, steel cut oats,wheat berries,milk)
topped with coconut,goji berries,cottage cheese, ground flax,
crasins,seed nut mix, peanut butter,olive oil)
coffee, water



Lunch-
Corned beef and provalone and assorted greens on onion flat bread
apple, nonfat yogert with dark cocoa powder(really yummy !)
Diet Squirt



Dinner-
Grilled Butt Steak
sauted portabellos and onions, green beans , spaghetti squash
tossed salad( the greens mix this week include romaine, boston bibb, watercress, dandelion greens)
Diet Cherry 7up

Snacks
AM fat free cheese and veggies
Afternoon sugar free jello, sugar free pudding
Evening apple, sugar free pudding TLC bar

water 14 ( 112 oz)
Fruits 3
veg 7
lean protien 2
dairy 4
healthy fats 2

Loving yourself

Today's entry will be different. No food log and no food pictures, just for today. Yesterday was Valentines Day, where we show our love and admiration for those special people in our lives. I chose to include myself in that list by allowing myself a day to just be and not record points, activities and so forth. I did not go off program, with the exception of a tablespoon of chocolate lava cake ( used the caramel corn theory on that one) , and I got in almost 3 hours of walking. But rather than spend the day treating my body like a creature that must be managed, I chose to treat me with the honor and respect I so richly deserve. Sometimes in the journey of weight loss we can forget that. We can end up seeing ourselves as this bank that deals with calories in,calories out and little more. I spent the day reviewing some of the amazing things that my body has done, and continues to do.

I have received stitches 5 times in my life, healed the wounds and recovered from them.
I have broken 15 bones in my life and healed them completely.
I have come close to death from a septic infection, and recovered.
I have survived in the deep woods with minimal gear( matches, pocket knife and trash bag) for a week
I survived a bear attack, going over a waterfall in a canoe and crashing into a tree while skiing.
My body, like your body has battled trillions of germs in your lifetime, and kept you alive and well during encounters with these.

I have learned to walk, talk, read and write.
I have learned how to cook, sew,paint, sculpt
I have learned how to play piano, guitar, recorder and dulcimer
My body, like yours ,has learned numerous finer things that allow us to create a life more expressive and more beautiful to our senses than that of other animals.

I have conceived life 6 times, four being miscarried, one being stillborn and one being a live birth.
I have nourished these children without my conscious decision within my body for as long as they existed.
I have produced nourishing food for one after his birth and beginning of life as an autonomous being
My body, like yours if you are a female, has an amazing capability to build up nutrients, shed them off if not needed, and not only live to tell the tale but do many other things in the process of this process.

I have a face that is the most important and comforting to at least 3 people on earth.
I have a touch that comforts beyond all others to at least 2 people
I have the ability to restore, comfort and inspire with my presence alone
My body can and has given intense physical pleasure to a few people on earth , and so can yours.

No matter what the scale says, no matter what rack I buy my close off of, no matter how tight the theater seats feel, I am fearfully and wonderfully made.Just like you. We are amazing, beautiful feats of engineering and design. We are created with specific tolerances an settings, but continue to go above and beyond them in ways that amaze, until we realize that this is simply part of our design.For all our similarities, there are millions and millions of variations that make us each very unique. Nothing short of amazing when you think about it.

This is the reason I continue on with my own weight loss journey. I am an amazing human being, and I actually love eating clean healthy food. I love moving my body and discovering all of the feats that it is capable of.Yes, I do this to be a mentor to my son , as does my husband, and together we do this to support each others support. But there are reasons all on my on. I discovered them in my first journey, but forgot all about them in the early days of my son. Spending yesterday showering myself with love, along with my guys, helped me to remember.

Next week my exercise will be a bit different. The plan is to wash own ever wall and ceiling in this house, steam clean the carpets, dejunk the closets and drawers and wash the windows. Spring cleaning, and that has always been a very physical week for me.I actually love the process, and I adore the feeling of the house afterwords !

Weigh in

If it's Saturday, it's a weigh in. And if it is me breathing it seems, it will be a gain

Good news first- son lost 1.2 lb. Yay !!!! I changed the mix in his diet to be a little higher in protien this week.

Hubby maintained. Did no working out, ate chocolate cake at the office twice and stayed the same. I hate men.

Then I stepped on the scale and gained +4.0. Reasons for the gain ? Your guess is as good as mine.I am not going to get upset about it , sweat it or freak out over it. Clearly at this particular time my body, in it's infinite wisdom is trying hard to do other things and the energy required to flip things to weight loss at this time is a no go. I can respect that. I can also be patient and rest in the fact that I am doing all that I can for my body to make a healthy change, and it will do what it can when it can. My son is losing, which was the original intention of this lifestyle move. Hubby ...well he got to have cake and did not gain so it is not all bad. So being a creature of habit and commitment, I sucked up the gain, owned it, and reported it to Team Angie. Sorry guys. Complain to my hormones. I certainly have.

I did something different yesterday. I went to a sight that calculates your caloric needs according to age, height, sex and activity level and determines how many calories you must eat per day and how much you should be exercising per day. I wanted to see if perhaps I was just taking in too many calories. It says I am supposed to have 1580 calories per day and 5 workouts of 30 minutes. Even according to this kind of calculations I am doing all that I should. So , no use geting upset about it, just keep on keeping on.


Breakfast- 220 calories
Cottage cheese, 17 almonds,1 t olive oil
apple
water,coffee




Lunch- 400 calories
Turkey burger lettuce wrap
raw veggies,apple
1 c nonfat yogert with cocoa, sugar and ground flax
water



Dinner-450 calories
6 oz round steak, spaghetti squash,broccoli/cauliflower/carrot blend
salad,Diet Squirt

Snacks 280 calories
sugar free jello,sugar free pudding,100 calorie almonds 180
sugar free pudding, apple,Fiber Plus Bar 200

exercise- 30 min
Bike 10 min
walk 10 min
ab work 10 min

water 14 (112 oz)
Fruits 3
veg 8
lean protein 2
dairy 3
healthy fats 2

What the Heck ??????

It seems that NOTHING I do makes any positive impact, and I am so ready to throddle about 99 percent of the human race as a result. I got on my Wii fir to do a workout, and I have GAINED 5.5 pounds in 2 days. Now yes, body weight fluctuates every day by as much as 5 lbs, and there is this mythical theory that if you eat less and lose more your body will do something magical called losing weight. ( I am begining to think this phenomonon lives in the real mof unicorns, wingged horses and more). I am doing this, and yet I am gaining weight at a ferightening weight. Since last Saturday, with the ups and downs of the week, I have gained right around 5 pounds. WTF ????

Could it be TOM is comming ? ( I am 50 and in the change, and things are VERY Irregular)
Has something with my hormones gone totally haywire ?
Am I pregnant ?

I really wish I knew. All I know for certain is that entering a weight loss challenge was perhaps the stupidest thing I could have ever done because since I did I have done nothing but gain.

A snack strategy

Sometimes, I think the best way to help yourself learn to stay on track is to help your child do the same thing. We have switched around husband and son's eating plans to something that is higher protein and lower starch carbs in an attempt to help them get their weight loss kicked back into high gear again. My son kind of grumbled for about 30 seconds till he realized he would be snacking on things like nuts, fat free cheese and veggies. He has come to really love them, as well as realizing that high carby things, even if whole grain, tend to make him very hungry if he goes past a certain level. So, new eating plan with foods that you really like, and it's a happy day. His physical hunger is much more satiated, but due to his Autism he is very much a creature of habit. If it's 5 am you must get up, 6 am breakfast and so forth. He has finally gotten to the place where he can handle variations without slipping into a really dark place, but as a rule consistancy is a must. He has 3 snacks a day, and he really adores each one. We eat dinner early and he has his last snack at 6 pm- this gives his body enough time to digest before sleep and it does not convert to fat. Well, some nights through no fault of our own, dinner is late and so it winds up dinner and then snack right after because he can't break out of the habit so to speak. Last night was one of those, and i have to say normally he is very good about eating the snack and then being totally done for the day no matter how late he is up. Last night, however, was different. About 11 pm he came to me and said he was starving and really needed a snack. I give him tons of credit for coming to me instead of just rading the kitchen ! I had fallen asleep about 9, so my brain was not totally engaged. I had to flip on that mom brain and remeber how many points he had consumed that day ( he still had more), what allowances he had, what he could use, what will give him the most bang for the buck and all that good stuff. I giggled because it seems to be something that a lot of adult weight watchers struggle with on their own. I wound up giving him a fat free cheese stick, a sugar free jello and an orange- kind of high carb but satisfying.All was well. But then it dawned on me that if i had been in the same state, I don't know if I would have done so well. I think in future, when i come to a physical hunger need a snack place, I should try to treat myself like my daughter and lead her through to wise choices.



Breakfast-
Veg omlette with salsa
nonfat yogert with cocoa and sugar
apple
water, coffee





Lunch-
California grilled chicken salad (romaine, avocado, seed mix, grilled chic breast,balsamic vinegar)
apple, fat free cheese stick
Sierra Mist




Dinner-
Pork cubes in marinara over whole wheat couscous
salad
Diet Squirt




Snacks
17 almonds
green tea
sugar free pudding, sugr free jello
100 cal pack almonds
apple, sugar free pudding,TLC Bar

exercise- 90 min
Wii Fit 15 min ( strength 15 min)
abwork 15 min
walk 60 min

water 14 (196)

Fruits 3
veg 8
lean protien 2
dairy 2
healthy fats 1

The proof lies with Mergatroid

Oh happy day ! Mergatroid ( My Wii fit scale) shows that I am down 1.1 lb this morning. Yes, body weight can fluctuate by as much as 5 lbs in a day for any reason, but when you have seen the same beast either stay the same or creep up for so long, you get optomistic. You also get your fire stoked to keep on keeping on. It seems that the efforts of reducing coffee and switching to more stress reducing forms of exercise may be doing the trick for me.

I started the day with a Reiki self treatment, followed by a meditation session and then some Yogalates- it combines yoga with Pilates, and feels REALLY good on my back ! I am finding that any kind of exercise that stretches my back muscles feels fantastic. I think I am carrying a lot of tension around in there, and adressing this helps. A 20 minute session seemed to fly by too fast Then a break for breakfast

1/2 c cottage cheese, 2 T ground flax,17 almonds,apple
water,coffee ( there are mint leaves in the water)

We started the school day , and as usual came to several places where we started bumping heads over math and then Language arts. Over the years of homeschooling ( we have done this my son's entire life- some 12 years now counting preschool and kindergarten), I have found the most productive thing to do when we start bumping heads is to take a break. So we pulled on our sweaters and headed out for a 30 minute walk in the breezy damp. Made for some interesting and silly observations as we passed things that had been buried in the snow drifts. We started to get cold and came back in for lunch.


Bocca burger,1/2 c cottage cheese
2 c raw veggies.apple
1 c nonfat yogert with cocoao powder, sugar 1 t dark chocolate chips
water
( I have come to think that green bowl mug cup thing is one of my favorite things in my kitche right now. It is so handy, and I wish I had more of them !

Then back to school and on to my own work for the day.The rest of the afternoon was cheerful and marked with a lot of silly jokes about nothing. I really enjoy those kinds of afternoons. Then later hubbhy came home with an early Valentines day gift- a brand new scale. This one is so complicated I think you need a college degree to read all it is capable of doing. ( just kidding). It measures weight, body fat and percent of water. Good things in the whole picture. Badc for me personally because it shows that the Wii info was indeed being honest with me, I had gained 10 pounds since Saturday morning, and I could not get a reading on body fat and water. Hubby did fine with his readings, so the thing does work. I am not too concerned about it- I have a new acurate scale ! Better than flowers of chocolate.I love that man ! After he did some nessisary paperwork at home, on to dinner


Citrus ginger marinated grilled chicken
(juice of 1 grapefruit, 1 lemom,1 onange, 1 t ground ginger,1/4 t garlic powder,1 t thyme)
cousous, green beans, tossed salad
Diet Sierra Mist


We spent the evening catching up in different busy work and keeping a half eye on The Addams Family and Addams Family Values. We have them on DVD, and they are two of my favorite movies of all times. I think I was and am a little too Wednesday Addams at tikmes, and the dark humor just cracks me up.

So it was a good day , both program wise and sticking to my own needs with this journey. Here are the rest of the stats for the day

Snacks
fat free cheese stick,califlower
sugar free jello, sugar free pudding, seed mix
apple.TLC bar, sugar free pudding

Fruits 3
veg 8
lean protien 2
dairy 3
healthy fats 2

Exercise 50 min
water 14 (112 oz)