In/Out for Wednesday, August 13

IN:

Breakfast: Coffee with splash of half & half with sugar free sweetener. No food, because I am a bad person who forgot to buy breakfastable foods yesterday.

Lunch: Went to Whole Foods for the hot bar! Two triangles of fried sweet & sour tofu, a serving of garlic basil zucchini & squash, about 3 forkfuls of curry shredded chicken, and half a cob of roasted corn. Plus a natural cherry soda (140 calories).

Snack: A bottle of Coke Zero.

Dinner: About half of the portion you see below of JUNGLE FUCKING CURRY. We went to a Thai restaurant and I found a curry made with no dairy or coconut milk, which is much healthier. It was very spicy red curry with chicken, zucchini, bamboo shoots, bell peppers, green beans, etc, and avocado which I made them add to it (avocado is somewhat caloriffic, but has good-for-you vegetable fats, tons of fiber and some protein, not to mention tasting amazing). I only used about 1/3 of the rice. I’m bringing the other portion for lunch tomorrow!

Dessert: 150 calories worth of jelly beans. I counted.

OUT:

I walked 7/8 of a mile (0.86 miles) meeting a friend for lunch, burning about 85 calories; and swam 18 laps/36 lengths/ half a mile in the pool after work, mostly breaststroke, some freestyle and backstroke, burning about 490 calories.

Man, think about how much more I burned swimming for 40 minutes than I would have if I walked for 40 minutes, which is twice what I did today!

Also, I want to point out that I did excellently on veggies today.

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.