Two New Items

I recently purchased two things that are helping in the continuing weight loss journey. 

The Polar FT4 Heart Rate Monitor

Absolutely LOVE this!  It has motivated me to increase my workout efforts, as I now have an accurate, in-your-face number of what I am burning and how hard I am working, staring me in the face during my workouts.  This HRM is a combination of the wrist watch and chest strap.  The chest strap is comfortable and you forget it’s even there once you start working out.  Once you enter all your personal information in the watch (height, weight, age, etc.), you get an accurate accounting, via your heart rate, how many calories you are burning during a workout.  I usually have the watch set to calories burned while I’m working out and have a number in my head before I start of how many calories I hope to burn.  I either keep going, or step up the intensity to make sure I get there.  At the moment, I only allow myself to eat back anything I burn OVER 200 calories.  So if I burn 250, I only get to eat 50 of those.  Therefore, my goals for most workouts are closer to the 350-400 range.

I got mine online for $65.00.  There are tons to choose from.  This one doesn’t have as many bells and whistles as others out there, but it does exactly what I want it to do: give me an accurate count of how many calories I’m burning, rather than estimating, thus pushing me to workout harder than I was doing before.

A ridiculously over-sized water bottle

Okay, this one was much cheaper.  $7.00.  It’s a half gallon water bottle, with the built in straw and the optional frozen mechanism in the middle.  Buying this has most definitely increased my water intake, which hasn’t been too great.  I’m addicted to iced-tea and drink about a gallon of that a day.  I’ve been telling myself it’s AS-IF I’m drinking water, since of course iced-tea is made with water.  Ahem.  Yeah, not the same thing at all.  Calorie-wise, the iced-tea doesn’t “hurt” me at all, since I don’t add sugar, but because caffeine is a diuretic, it is not the same thing as drinking water.  On run days, my goal is to drink two of these, one before noon, and the other before dinner.   Otherwise, I shoot for one and a half.  I’m not giving up my tea yet, but I have definitely noticed I’m not as “snacky” in the afternoon when I’m sipping on this all day.

I’m down another pound, but also down another jean size!  I kept one pair of jeans from back in November when this all started.  I just can’t believe how much more of me there used to be!!!

Another Milestone

After no weight loss last week, I was thrilled to get on the scale this morning and see a 2 pound loss.  This put me at minus 50.  50!  That just sounds so…well…50! 

I received a message from another large family mom asking me about how I handle eating so differently from the rest of the family.  It seems so “normal” now the question took me by surprise. But in the beginning, it was a little weird that I was eating often completely different meals from what the rest of the family was eating, even though we were all sitting down at the dinner table at the same time.  Because I have changed the way I cook, relying more on seasonings than sauces, I can often eat the main dish and salad or vegetable that everyone else eats, and just skip the side dish.  But there are still plenty of nights I throw together a tilapia filet or a chicken breast instead of whatever they eat.  The secret to getting the kids' food together, especially at lunch, is gum.  Often I have to chew gum while making their lunch or I find myself picking at whatever I’m making them. =O

I’ve really simplified my lunches of late, since after making their lunch, I don’t feel like making a whole separate elaborate lunch for me.  Often I have what I’ve nicknamed my BOWIN lunch:  Bowl Of What I Need.  When I plan my food journal for the day, I always start with breakfast and dinner.  Then, after I know how many carbs, fats, and proteins I have left over, I throw together a lunch that fits the need.  Often it’s a chicken breast, turkey sausage, lean ground beef or fish, with black beans, a heated-until-crispy corn tortilla, brown rice, wheat pasta or yam cubes, with an avocado or nuts, mixed with a sugar-free BBQ sauce or Balsamic vinegar, tossed in a bowl.  It’s quick (especially if some of it is already made ahead of time, see post http://busymomofnine.blogspot.com/2012/03/day-in-life.html ), it’s easy and it’s what I need.  Here is a picture of a typical BOWIN lunch.

My new absolutely favorite breakfast is Peanut Butter Protein Steel Cut Oats.  The biggest differences between steel cut oats and rolled oats are in the cooking time and texture.  Steel cut oats are more hearty and chewy, which makes it seem more filling (to me).  I add a scoop of my chocolate protein powder, along with 1 tble. Kirkland Organic Peanut Butter, and it makes a great tasting, well balanced breakfast.

And my latest find for a late afternoon, heavy protein snack is shrimp.  Shrimp is straight protein, no carbs, no fat.  It’s also very low in calorie.  I get a back of the Kirkland Cooked, Tail-Off Shrimp just to have on hand for snacks.  You get 11 pieces for 70 calories, so I usually have 22 pieces for a typical snack.  It gets my protein where it needs to be (which is generally hard for me to hit) and fits well with my calories. 

35 pounds left, which seems so doable.  I’m shooting for the second week in November, which would make the whole journey one year.  I bought my first pair of shorts in over 18 years last week.  I’ve stuck with capris and sundresses in the summer for the past 18 years.  I haven’t actually worn them yet, but the fact that I own a pair of shorts is a pretty big deal.  Amazing what a difference seven months can bring!