Tough day

Yesterday was a tough day.   It sees every meeting or event I attended didn’t go well.

I got up early, to walk the dog and have my coffee.  Then I went over to a friend to help someone to set up a web site like this one.   I expected to be there fewer than 30 minutes.  When I got to my friend’s home she and her husband were having computer problems and assumed I was an expert at windows 7.   ( am a MAC user).  I spent time trying to help with those issues.

Then we set up her blog site..    She wanted a friend to come over to see the site and get a demo of things we can do with the sites.  Finally, I left after spending two hours helping her.

The water was too cool for water volley ball and I was quite cold after doing water exercises for an hour.

Then I attended a two hour club meeting that was stressful.

I was tired and stress and ended up eating around 500 extra calories.

I slept late today and feel better.  I am doing a better job of sticking to my calorie budget.

Volunteer opportunities

If you are looking for a way to share your free time to do some good, Casa Grande has many opportunities.  The medical medical center has many things available.  The police and fire depart may also have oportunities.

I am going to see if there are opportunities at the animal shelter.

Volunteering helps you to feel good about things.  Felling good helps you eat less.

I don’t want a career

I don’t want my weight loss efforts to become a career where I spend most of my free time trying to exercise or reduce calories.

I am hoping that in my next phase, I can do other important things AND keep my exerercise up and my calories down.

Not just will power

I am 62 years old and I have been heaver than I should be for most of my life.  I went to my cardiologist and he noted that I had gained too much weight.  I went from less than 300 pounds to beyond the 333 pounds that my scale would register.  The cardiologist was concerned about the affect of the weight on my heart and blood flow.   After some serious discussion, he prescribed  Phentermine.  The drug is similar to the phen-fen and redux from the 90′s. This med can have some serious side effects.  While I am taking it, I avoid driving my car.  It has taken my body awhile to adjust to the med.  I stayed on the med because it works for me.  It has helped me  to keep my daily calorie intake to 2000 or fewer for all but a few holiday type days.  It has given me a head-start on losing weight and it has helped me develop strong habits and new tastes.  I have made a habit of logging everthing I eat and also of keeping track of how many calories I burn.

I would not recommend this med unless you are seriously overweight AND your doctor agrees that you should take it.

I had a discussion/argument with my GP doctor about whether a prescription diet medicine or even surgery would help me. He doesn’t like the idea that I am taking Phentermine.

The doctor felt that I should go to a diet counselor and learn how to eat properly and count calories.

I see both doctors soon.   My hope is that I can stop the Phentermine and let my new habits keep me going.

Since I have always eventually regained weight that I have lost, I FEAR that over time, I may need to temporarily go back to phentermine or something to hep me get back on track.

Wish me luck everyone.

Typical breakfast

I find that I am satisfied with a breakfast that consists of:

2 mugs of coffee    50 cals with 2 oz skim milk per mug.

A bowl of:

yogurt 80 to 100 cals, a banana 100 cals amd 1 cup of kashi Go lean 150 cals.

Coincidence?? Green Tea

It might be a coincidence, but green tea may help me just like advertised and more.  BUT I have to brew it myself.

I have read much of the hype about green tea.  So I started drinking the bottled Iced green teas offered.   I didn’t notice any thing good happening.  I didn’t feel extra energy.  My appetite stayed about the same.

Last week, on a hunch, I started brewing green tea from green tea bags.  It didn’t taste good, but I noticed that I wasn’t tired and I wasn’t hungry.

I set out to try to make a decent tasting iced green tea.    I used a 12 cup drip coffee machine to brew 9 green tea bags.   I let the tea seep fro over an hour and then cool to room temperature.   I poured the tea into a 2 quart pitcher.  I added about the amount of  diet lemonade mix (like crystal lite) I would use to make 1 quart of lemonade (1/2 tub)  and added enough water to finish filling the pitcher.

Then I let the batch cool overnight.

The resulting iced green tea actually tasted good and had the desired result of more energy and reduced appetite.

We had company yesterday.

We had company yesterday.   We served lots of goodies.   I was difficult.   I still managed to consume fewer calories than I burned.

The diet felt stale.  I have to take a stronger dose of a med for neuralgia. This med makes me feel tired.  It was difficult to fight the good fight.

Fewer Calories

I thought I had eaten a lot by noon today.   When I added everything up, it was only around 920 calories.  I had two yogurts (160), 8 slices of fat free turkey (160) a Mc D’s sausage patty 170, cereal (150) a banana (120) and an apple (80) and a little skim milk in my coffee (40).

It is 3 o’clock in the afternoon.  I am not hungry and am not craving anything.

I am about to get on my exercise bike.

Yesterday was a bad day

I felt run down yesterday.   I managed to keep my calories down and my exercise up, but I felt blah.

I am feeling better today.

Perhaps my system was adjusting to the fact that I passed a plateau.

I also increased a med that I use for neuralgia.

I have zeroed in on Kashi Go Lean as my breakfast cereal of choice.   It is high in fiber and protein.    A typical breakfast consists of:

1 cup Kashi mixed with a small banana mixed with an 80 calorie Kroger carb-master yogurt.     I use a little skim milk in my coffee.

I play my electronic game while I eat and take longer to eat the meal

Passed a plateau and other good things

I had been at a plateau for awhile.   I passed it yesterday and lost another pound today.   It’s a nice feeling.

I also had the joy of switching to a smaller belt.

A pound of muscle takes up less space than a pound of fat.  Perhaps the smaller belt is the result of exercise replacing fat with muscle.

I have noticed that it is getting easier to cycle and walk.  That’s probably the result of being a bit lighter and having more muscle.   It hurts less to walk places.  Now I walk more.