In/Out for Sunday, August 10

Everyone always says to that weight loss is as simple as calories IN vs. calories OUT. Well, I wish it were that simple, but things like psychology, schedules and inherent body tendencies tend to muck it up. However, I think it’s a valid point, and I think I should track what I’m eating and my exercise on a daily basis. I’m not going to get really obsessive and count calories for everything on here, though. When I can easily figure out the calories for what I am eating and do it, I will post it. But I am not aiming to start an untenable diet that I can’t keep up. The point is for to be able to eat enough healthy food to satisfy my hunger that isn’t overeating. I’m a big girl and I know what foods are healthy and what aren’t; it’s a matter of not giving in.

Okay so, today, August 10:

IN:

Brunch: Fruit salad (melon, peach, grape), 2 hash brown patties with a bit of ketchup, 5 or 6 spoonfuls of vanilla low-fat yogurt, and a cup of orange juice.

Snack: 4 Finn Crisp thin rye crisps with chevre crumbles (about 150 calories), an organic root beer (150 calories), a white chocolate fudgsicle (60 calories). Finn Crisp thin rye crisps are a great snack because they are high in protein and fiber, while also being super tasty. They’re a perfect partner for chevre or cream cheese and peanut butter.

Dinner: Half a Trader Joe’s Pesto pizza (465 calories) and a cup and a half of cucumber-green pepper-tomato salad dressed with lemon juice, olive oil and dill. Diet Hansen’s Black Cherry soda, which has no calories, caffeine, or sodium.

OUT:

Swimming: 16 laps (800 yards or about 0.45 miles); online exercise calorie calculators are giving me answers varying between  275 – 450 calories burned.

Exercise Update

So, I started exercising again last week, after being sedentary for about a year and a half. I have this history of getting gym memberships, getting all excited about exercise, counting calories really closely, and then dropping it after a couple months. It’s the same story most people who try to lose weight have: I have trouble permanently incorporating exercise into my habits, routine and life. My membership to Rain Fitness in Seattle has been sitting unused for over 6 months now.

So the other week, when I was in Florida for a work conference and making use of the giant pool to float around and relax at night, I thought: “Hey I should try swimming laps, that would be fun!” And 30 seconds later, I realized that that’s the first time in a long time I thought about exercise and the word fun came to mind, rather than boring, awful, or any other of a handful of other negatively connoted concepts. So I decided to jump on it and try lap swimming for exercise.

So, starting last week I decided to exercise more again. The results so far:

Sunday, August 2: swam 15 laps (750 yards or about 0.40 miles), mostly breaststroke, some freestyle and backstroke

Saturday, August 8: Biked 5 miles on the Burke-Gilman bike path and played catch for half an hour.

Sunday, August 9: Swam 16 laps (800 yards or about 0.45 miles), mostly breastroke, some freestyle and backstroke. I also alternated some breaststroke laps with a paddle board, so I worked my legs more on those laps.

Status Check #1: August 9, 2008

This is where I’m starting from.

Size 20/22 on the bottom, 18/20 on the top, 38DD-40DD bra size.

Weight: 261 pounds | BMI: 39.5

Photos below are of my front, side and back as on August 9, 2008. Bra from Target, pantaloons from Lane Bryant.

Front:

Side:

Back: