First Dinner Out

Happy Saturday everybody,
        It's beautifully sunny outside but cold. Yesterday was a good day. I had pizza for dinner. No! not the bad kind. We made fresh low fat pizza's at home for each of us. All the toppings were freshly cut and the pizza dough was low fat. This was not a difficult task at all. The hardest thing about the dinner was not being able to have everyone's individual pizzas ready at the same time. Our oven is just not big enough to hold more than 2 baking pans at a time. Anyway, the recipe is simple,

Individual Pizza"s
I can of Pillsbury Crescent Rolls (33% less fat)
Fresh veggies to taste
Low fat Mozzarella cheese
1 Can/Jar pizza sauce

Prep:
Cut Veggies, smaller pieces make it easier.
Open crescent roll dough and remove into 4 rectangular shape pieces.Normally you get eight pieces of dough in a triangle shape. Don't separate the triangles. You will end up with 4 little pizza this way. Place on a cookie sheet.
Spoon on pizza sauce, then toppings and cheese.
Place in oven at 375F for approx. 15 minutes.
When ready you will have a very light pizza. The dough is not heavy at all. In fact is is a light as a crescent roll. it does at a bit of a sweet taste to the pizza but good. Don't be fooled by the size either, most can only eat one.

     Today and tonight are my first real day's out since starting this lifestyle change. I am still a bit worried that I will do well. I know that most diets even the PeopleSpark one I am on say: Every now and then you can treat yourself. They also say to keep it in moderation. Like the change I am under going now, I have a tendency to go full steam with something. In the past, treating myself would mean that I would go full bore. Today's challenge is to treat myself while I'm out moderately. Not an easy task for someone like me. The fear is that you are going to enjoy this time and come to wonder why you are depriving yourself of many of the thins that you really enjoyed. You know the things that you cut out are no good for you but they taste so very very good. That's the kind of thinking that got you to this place after all. In the end I will be o.k. because I know better what it is I am trying to accomplish. I am the one in control of the process and the pace. It's not like if I cheated and then had to go back to the gym and tell the trainer,"oh no, I stuck my diet over the weekend". We have all done that in the past. That's why the process really didn't work before,because when we lied to others we wanted to believe those lies as well. They were never able to truly call us out on it, so it was easy to do again and again ending in failure. Now I have no one to lie too, no one to play games with at all. It's just me and I always know when I'm going t lie. So enjoy myself, keep it in moderation and stick to the plan. That's all I can do. I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow. In the mean time:

Have a good one, keep strong and don't let little set backs keep you from your goals.

Thanx,
Looper

TGIF

Hi All,
     O.K. who am I kidding? It doesn't matter to me if it Friday, Monday or any other day of the week. My day's are all filled in the same. Seven days a week I'm looking for work and working on my life style change. All this effort in itself feels like a job. I mean, I spend hours a day either taking sessions with a job coach and looking for work and every other waking hour of the day thinking about how to eat, exercise and stay strong. This is actually more work that a job. Too bad I can't get paid for all this effort.

     Alright, after yesterday no one deserves another rant for the week so I'll keep today's post short. Yesterday was a good day, all went well and according to plan. I stayed in my program plan and there were no real problems or issues that arose. It was a really good day.

     My real challenge will come this weekend. My wife and I have been invited to a friends house for dinner. This is certainly different than previous challenges. Either I'm at home or maybe a restaurant and under both conditions I'm in control of my choices and to some degree the environment. The real questions here come up because I'm really not in control. Not of anything, the meal, the drinks, etc. I know I can limit the quantities I eat and always drink water but one never wants to insult the hostess. I am sure that in the end I'll do fine, after I am already thinking abut it. Maybe I'm even putting to much though into it all.

    Here is an interesting fact about the whole dinner out experience for tomorrow. Our friend, the one who invited us for dinner does follow along with my blog. You know who you are! Yesterday, she and my wife were exchanging emails confirming dinner for Saturday night. Somewhere in the exchange she asked if there was anything she could consider when putting the meal together that might be good for me and my life style change. WoW!!! This was something I never expected. It's still a challenge day to day getting the family on board and this is from outside that immediate circle. Could it be that writing all this down is effecting others as well as myself. It certainly shows me that you can get support from anywhere. I don't know why this is such a surprise to me. To begin with she's been a great supportive friend for over 20+ years. Perhaps we should all look outside our immediate circle  (family) for that support. This course I have been taking to find work talks about Networking and how to do it. In the program we discuss that you look to everyone you know to help find a job because people want to help each but just don't know how. The solution is tell them how and if they can they will. Could it be that simple for the other things in our lives like a lifestyle change. Do we just tell everyone how they can help us and if they can they will. Do we expand our circle of influence to include them? After all the hardest thing to do is ask for help. Most people don't like asking for help. If we all just consider the end results and not our egos, we might all just reach our goals in everything we do.

   I guess I was wrong, It's not going to be a short post after all. I promise this is the end.

Have a good one, keep strong and don't let little set backs keep you from your goals.

Have a great weekend everyone,

Looper

Coaching Association of Canada | Share on LinkedIn

Here is a good article on protein and it's use. It relates quite well to some of the things I was speaking about earlier today in my blog. Hope it helps.

Looper.

Coaching Association of Canada | Share on LinkedIn

Back on Track

Happy Thursday Everyone,
       Today is the day I get back on track with my schedule. This way when I get that great new job I'm ready for it. The start of the day has gone well. I got up with a little help from my wife and mother in-law and began to set things in motion. I've had my breakfast, I'm planning lunch and dinner's already wrapped up. I guess that's it then. No, I still need to get off my ass and get more active. Running in and out to a job search group is o.k. but not enough. I have started doing the exercises off the SparkPeople site but I've not been consistent enough.
I have been doing little extras like parking farther away from the building when I go to the group and using the stairs more often. Not all the time though. The group is on the fourth floor and sometimes I don't feel i have the energy to do it. I do always take the stairs down and that's a start. These are all little changes and one at a time but I think that's what's making it so easy this time.

       In the past I would be guilty like others of wanting to do everything at once. Last time I saw a nutritionist, joined a gym, hired a personal trainer and went at it full steam ahead. At great expense mind. Six months in found myself cheating on the diet from the nutritionist and looking for answers at the gym with the trainer. Who then discussed my progress with another trainer an both decided i needed to be on protein shakes. So I bought into that also. In the end, six months had passed and I lost 5 pounds and $2800.00. That's $560.00 a pound, net result. I don't know if that's the worst result ever but I challenge anyone to show me one. Now I think you all know why this time I want to do it all "gratis". The information is all out there, you just need to be willing to sift through all of it and find what works for you. So far I'm happy with my choices. They do start out slow but you know what they say; "Slow and steady win the race". And that's what I feel is working for me this time, I'm setting the pace with how I introduce the different elements to the lifestyle change. Their not being dictated to me. Every Trainer, Dietitian, Nutritionist  knows what do day to loss weight but do they all know how to effect a proper life style change or do they just push you. The end result being you show progress while working with them but it's not really sustainable. The progress just keeps you working with them and shelling out more cash. When the weight is gone along with the money, so are they. That's when we lose control because we never really had it to begin with. We gave it to them. After all we do live in a society that's looking for results and results now. We really aren't trained enough to look at progress with long term results. Where is the school that teaches us all that philosophy. If trainers, dietitians and nutritionist had this as the core of their programs we would probably more successful and not be prone to relapse so often.

        I just stopped to review what I'm writing today and realized it sounds a bit like a rant. Who cares, maybe I'm wrong maybe I'm right. Who really knows. All I know is that I don't believe their is a cookie cutter answer for everyone. And we need to stop looking for answers in the same place all the time. Change it up, try something different until you find what works for you. Don't just give for a period of time and then start the same process over again. You know the definition of insanity, "Doing the same thing over and over again expect a different result!".

        Writing down my thoughts in a journal format like this really does help. It helps me express what I'm feeling, gives me an outlet and it keeps me honest with myself. It's a lot easier to fool or lie to yourself when their is no record of it. The writing process works like water flowing, It just moves when your doing it.I think that if I were to write this blob only once a week I would have to much time to forget or convince myself that every day I'm doing good. When probably I'm not. This way my thoughts and actions are in real time and I can work with that. I guess that's it for today.

Have a good one, keep strong and don't let little set backs keep you from your goals.

Thanx, 

Looper

Late Start

Hi all,
    Happy Wednesday! Sorry about the late start today. I know that I have mentioned that I am actively search for a new job and today is one of those day's were I take a seminar and work with a coach. I know this has nothing to do with my weight lose program. WRONG!!!, of course it does. It presents me with new challenges like today. So today I got up, got ready and headed out to the program. Doesn't seem that bad, except for the fact that I have been out of work for a year now and getting up earlier and preparing a proper meal for breakfast and lunch is not something I am accustomed. Usually I get up around 10:00 am. and have all day to plan my meals and execute them. Needless to say I got up at the last minute, got ready and ran out the door. This left me with no time to eat or prepare a lunch. What to do now, do I return to my bad habits and stop by McD's and get a breakfast muffin with sausage. Follow up by a Big Mac for lunch. No, I didn't do it. I stayed strong and stayed away from those kinds of places. Instead I did eat all. From the time I got up till 3:00 pm all I had was water and lots of it. This too is obviously not the answer. The answer is to get myself ready now before I start that new job I'm going to find so that when the day comes I'm prepared. So that's the plan over the next couple of weeks, get ready for when I return to the working masses and stick to the diet.

     Some good news today to share: Every day now I need to be business professional and that means pulling out the close I haven't worn in a year. Well much to my surprise I wore a pair of pants today that didn't fit me last year. They had been in the closet for probably 2 years because they didn't fit. Now they do!!!!!!!
What better motivator can there be? Weekly you get on a scale and weigh yourself and hope for progress but to actually see the progress in a practical way is amazing. I know this is probably a little shallow because the obvious benefits are truly to you Health and Well Being. I say any positive should be shouted from the roof tops. After all it's about keeping me true to the program and myself. That's it for today, remember

Have a good one, keep strong and don't let little set backs keep you from your goals.

Thanx, 

Looper

  

Day 13 - January 18th

Happy Tuesday everyone,
        I wasn't feeling very well yesterday and so only had one meal for the entire day. I spent the day taking it easy and drinking plenty of water. 8 glasses a day is the required amount according to my plan. most day's I get to about half of that or slightly better. Mind you I am drinking very large Guinness glasses of water. Each glass is 14 oz and that is a lot of water. As you can imagine I have been making more frequent trips to the rest room. Last night was incredible, couldn't stop going. I would just get back in bed and I'd have to go again. This went on until at least 2:00 am. Today I'm more tired that hungry. I have thought about trying those flavored waters but when you check the labels the contain calories and sugar. We all know now that sugar is the enemy.

        I would like to take the time today and introduce you to another website that I have found with plenty of good diet tips. The site is the Denise Austin's Diet and Exercise Plan. I didn't join the full site because it is a pay site after all and I'm doing this whole journey on the cheap (free). However, you can sign up for the daily newsletter. The information I have received has been helpful. Articles like the sample below have made for interesting reading during my research.

What does Organic Mean?

There is so much buzz these days about the origins of food — where it's from and how it was farmed. Because it's important to eat the healthiest, safest food possible, you're doing a great thing for yourself and your family by making careful choices! I recommend that you eat organic as much as possible — but the labels that proclaim foods to be organic vary.

If you've ever bought organic produce or meat, you've probably seen stickers on the packaging. Here's a quick guide to help you understand what's on these labels!

• USDA Organic or 100% USDA Organic: This is the gold standard in the United States for organic certification. Anything bearing the USDA Organic label was made with at least 95 percent organically produced ingredients, the 100 percent USDA Organic label is reserved for foods that are entirely organic — meaning they were produced without hormones, pesticides, or other dangerous chemicals. Now, that's responsible shopping!
• Certified Naturally Grown: This label is used by smaller farms that adhere to the USDA guidelines for organic food. Foods marked this way are usually only sold locally.
• All Natural: Take this food label with a grain of salt. In fact, you might want to take the whole shaker! The United States has yet to officially define the term "natural," so it can be used whatever way the food manufacturer wants!

      Interesting as this information is, it only applies to foods in the U.S.. I can not assume that imported items into Canada from the U.S. even meet these standards. As a matter of fact I have yet to find online what the standard is in Canada. If anyone knows of a link or the details to Canada's guidelines please share them. I would gladly post them here.  Please note that the article above is only a snippet from the Newsletter on January 5th, 2011 and protected under copyright. 

Have a good one, keep strong and don't let little set backs keep you from your goals.

Thanx,
Looper

Day 13 - January 17th

Hi All,
    First I would like to thank everyone here and on "FB" for all the positive words of encouragement yesterday. I think the first week getting used to a diet..no wait a life style change. After all, if all you ever ate was junk before and now you are learning to eat better, it's more a life style change. This can be one of the hardest thinks to do. I'm not a smoker and never was but I have been very critical in the past of smokers. I mean what does it really take to quite? I would tell people all the time just put it down, get rid of what you have and don't buy anymore. It should be as easy as that. The usual response is it's addictive, It's habitual, it's just not that easy to stop. I'm beginning to understand what they were going through. I know bad eating does not have the additive properties as smoking. How do we know that to be true? Over the past week I have certainly had to struggle with the habitual part of eating better. Always wanting those between meal snacks or the last one before bed. Let's face it those snacks aren't celery and carrot sticks I was craving either. There has be be something to the types of foods we carve. I feel I now have a slightly better understanding of what others go through when quitting something.

      You would think that after yesterday's high I would be feeling amazing today. That's not the case. It doesn't have anything to do with the diet. Last night I started that warm feeling and ache you get when you are starting to feel sick. I'm not full out sick yet but I don't feel right and had a terrible evening sleeping, so today I just feel off. My fear is I do have a tendency to get sick often since I have a compromised immune system. I know with everything else I have already you about be, what else could be wrong? When I was 12 I had an accident an was seriously injured. My spleen was ruptured and removed. This leaves you with a weaker immune system. I am supposed to take shots to protect me from illnesses like pneumonia. However, over the years I have met others with the same problem and they have had the shots. Both of those people died in their thirties from pneumonia. I would much rather get sick more often and just bear through it. When I don't feel well I have a tendency not to eat much of anything. How will this effect the life style change that I am on. I mean I will probably not be sticking to a structured meal plan. When I'm sick I can't eat. Will I continue to lose weight or when I start back feeling better will I gain. I know that's the usual process when I ate poorly.
I guess I'll just have to hang in one day at a time and see how it goes. The real benefit is that I know as soon as I feel better the first thing I reach for doesn't have to be a big juicy burger.

Have a good one, keep strong and don't let little set backs keep you from your goals.

Thanx,
Looper

Day 12 - January 16,11

Good Morning Sunday,
    So today is the day. The first weigh in. I am a little nervous, did I do well or not. First how about last night. Well, it went extremely good. As usual I needed to make a dinner substitution and the PeopleSpark.com website had some amazing recipes to chose from. I made an easy beef skillet over rice and it was good. It's funny to watch me cook these day's. It's like watching a cooking show. First I select the meal, then I pull out all of the ingredients and finally a full series of measuring cups and bowls. Then I measure out all the ingredients and place them in the small bowls on the counter. You know, like when you watch a cooking show and the chef has all the ingredients in little bowls, even the spices. Then I proceed to follow the directions step by step. First adding this then adding a little of that, mixing it up completely. I even take the time once in awhile to watch some of the online videos showing how to properly prepare the ingredients. It is funny to watch me but it's a whole bunch of fun. Anyway, tonight it's Pineapple glazed pork tenderloin. Yummy!

      O.K., so to the news was I successful or not on this first week. First I have to assume a slight difference in the scales used to start me off. The original one used to determine my starting weight was the scale in my Doctors office. Additionally he took my weight just before Christmas. He clocked me in at a whopping 297lbs if you recall from day 1 of my blog. I started last week with that number because I didn't have a scale yet and there was no way I lost weight over the holiday's. all that food is to tempting. Turkey and stuffing everywhere and the left overs en mass!. Now I have a scale at home, my wife found it in the garage. I was under the impression that is was tossed in the garbage. Anyway, it's an IKEA scale for the home and I'm certain it is not as accurate as the doctors.   I next see the doctor on February 25th for a follow up and will get a new base line to match with my scale. Having got that all out of the way, I know you are probably suspecting that I didn't lose much or any at all. Well just check out the picture below for the answer.

     Those are my feet and that does say 284 lbs. That's a loss of 13 lbs. I know I can't believe it either. I know the whole scale difference thing is still there and the holiday's but I can't take this as anything but positive.  Anyway you slice it I have lost some weight and I can't be happier. This is the kind of motivation that just keeps you moving forward. So next week I need to see improvement from the 284. Even if the two scales are slightly off each other, next week will confirm positive movement. That's it for me today and remember

Have a good one, Keep strong and don't let little set backs keep you from your goal!

Thanx, 

Looper