Friday, April 25, 2008

Friday Weigh-In

Happy Friday everyone! 

Wave your hands if you are excited about weighing in today!!

*crickets chirping*

Hmmm… I see no one is waving… why is that?  Lately the people who are weighing in are getting fewer and fewer but our readership is getting larger.  Why is that?  Are you not weighing in because you are “off track?” That is even more of a reason to weigh in!  We can’t help you if you don’t let us

For me personally, I am NOT excited about weighing in today.  I went to a girls night in last night, and OMG, I filled up on nothing more than beer and those damn chocolate chip cookies my friend Karyn so nicely laid out for us.  Well, I did dip into the fruit salad, but not nearly as much as the Queso dip!  But that’s okay, I’m going to let myself be hugely bloated for a day and then weigh-in tomorrow.  I can’t possibly get the right reading after I had 8 beers - 8!  I couldn’t believe it myself.  That is what happens when you don’t drive - you tend to “enjoy” yourself a bit too much, and today I am totally feeling it.  I’m bloated and I feel like I weigh 600 pounds - which I hope I don’t - but damn I feel like it!

You must come around tomorrow - we have some news that should cheer you all up - and a BIG contest, for something really BIG, like a BIG prize - did I mention that it was BIG???  Well it is!  So, tell all your friends - because again, it is BIG! 

Today I want you all to do this -

Go down to your local farmer’s market, corner fruit stand, or even the local grocery store and get yourself 2 HUGE cantaloupes, a watermelon, strawberries, grapes, and anything else you like and make a HUGE fruit salad.  I’m telling you, there is nothing that will make you feel better than walking to your refrigerator when you are hungry and snacking on a big bowl of fruit.  Pure happiness - and it helps the weight loss too

Now - get on those scales and tell us how you did! 

Have a great day

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

The Truth About Beverages

As we have talked about before, people are insistent that they not only eat their calories but drink them as well.  I have preached water since I gave up sodas about 2 years ago now (maybe 3?), but I am a failure at giving up one of my favorite beverages - BEER! 

You may think I’m joking, but I’m not.  No, I’m not an alcoholic, but I go out and buy a 6-pack once a week to enjoy on the weekend, and I also go out with my friends or to a bar and down about 5 to 7 nice cold beers about every other week.  So basically I’m drinking sometimes 10 to 14 beers every other weekend and about 6 every other other weekend.  Does that make sense?  Wow, when I type it out it sounds like a lot more than it really is, lol.  But you have to remember, I weigh over 200 pounds - I can hold my beer and then some!  Anyhow, I did a quick search for about how many calories I was drinking in my beer.  Sure I could walk downstairs and look at a beer in my fridge, but those companies knew what they are doing when they stopped posting the calories! Now they just post the carbs - which is cool, but not as much info as I need.  I do drink only light beers like Bud Light, Coors Light, and my personal favorite - Michelob Ultra Light which does help my overall calorie count. 

Anyhoo - I found this great list that discusses calories per beverage in great length and I think we all should commit it to memory.  Think about it the next time you go out or even just go to your fridge how many calories you are ACTUALLY drinking, compared to how many you THINK you drink - I guarantee you will be very surprised! 

Ale - 12 ounces - 156

Apple Juice-Unsweetened - 1 cup - 117

Beer-Light - 12 ounces - 103

Beer-Regular - 12 ounces - 153

Brandy - 1 Jigger - 100

Carrot Juice - 1 cup - 94

Club Soda - 1 cup - 0

Champagne - 1 cup - 200

Cocoa-Homemade w/ skim milk - 1 cup - 135

Coffee - 1 cup - Between 5 and 50 depending on the milk/cream content

Cola - 8oz - 135

Cranberry Juice Cocktail - 1 cup - 137

Cream Soda - 12 oz - 189

Diet Soda - 8oz - 0

Eggnog - 1 cup - 343

Ginger Ale - 12 oz - 124

Gin - 100 proof - 1 jigger - 82

Grape Soda - 12 oz - 160

Grape Juice - 1 cup - 154

Grapefruit Juice, White - 1 cup - 115

Kahlua - 1 jigger - 159

Lemonade-Sweetened - 6 oz - 395

Lemon-lime Soda - SPRITE - 12 oz - 148

Malted Milk - 1 cup - 228

Orange Juice - 1 cup - 105

Orange Soda - 12 oz - 179

Papaya Nectar - 1 cup - 142

Passion Fruit Juice - 1 cup - 126

Peach Nectar - 1 cup - 134

Pineapple Juice - 1 cup - 132

Prune Juice - 1 cup - 182

Root Beer - 12 oz - 152

Rum - 100 proof - 1 jigger - 82

Tonic Water - 12 oz - 124

Tea - 1 cup - 2

Tea-Herbal - 1 cup - 2

Tomato Juice - 1 cup - 41

Scotch - 1 jigger - 107

Sports Drink - Gatorade - 1 cup - 63

Vegetable Juice - 1 cup - 46

Vodka - 100 proof - 1 jigger - 82

Water - 1 cup - 0

Whiskey - 100 proof - 1 jigger - 82

Wine-Red Table Wine - 5 oz - 125

Now as you can see from the list there are some very healthy drinks on here - as long as you stick to one serving.  There are many times that we tend to get a bigger cup to drink them out of rather than a tiny 8 ounce cup - which let’s face it - isn’t that big.  So the next time you drink any of these drinks, alcoholic or non-alcoholic look at the label to see how many calories you are actually consuming and then add them into your daily calories.  You don’t want to stick to 1500 or 1800 calories in food thinking you have done good for yourself and then screw it all up by drinking 3 margarita’s! 

Wednesday, April 09, 2008

At What Point Did You Give Up on Yourself?

As I watched the Biggest Loser last night, the question asked by Ali really stuck with me… You have to ask yourself this one thing -

At what point did you give up on yourself?

At some point we all gave up on ourself otherwise we wouldn’t be in this position of being overweight, unhappy, and looking for a way to change our lives.  For me, I can’t remember a particular day or even year, but yet, it slowly happened over time.  Just year after year I gained a little more at a time for numerous reasons.  I was a little heavy in high school.  Probably about a size 11 in high school which by the way I would kill for today - but at the time I thought I was huge.  I knew I was pretty though and had boyfriends and so forth so I felt okay about myself.  It was when I moved out on my own at 16 that I started eating out a lot and drinking a lot which led me to eat bad things.  Of course I just figured it was because I didn’t want to cook, but it was most likely sadness that filled my life that should not have been there.  I won’t go into details but suffice it to say I had a hard teenage life.  When I went to college I gained even more because I honestly didn’t care about how I looked.  I used to just say I was “sporty” and give excuses like not wanting to wear skirts and high heels but really it was because I knew I didn’t look good in them.  I never worried about what I ate - I didn’t know I was supposed to.  I ate what I want when I wanted it.  Maybe it was laziness, maybe it was ignorance, but it was there… complete and utter denial.  When I got pregnant in college it just gave me an excuse to eat more.  I remember one night I went to McDonald’s and Burger King at the same time and sat in my car eating it so no one would see me.  I figured I was eating for 2 but mainly it just made me happy. 

I continued to gain not caring about what I looked like until I overheard my best friend at the time talking to his friends saying how fat I was.  Wow - was I shocked… Over time I eventually lost the weight, but it came back on again because I never learned to appreciate me or why I should be healthy.  Again, I gave up on myself and allowed myself to be fat.  I didn’t care, nor did I have any good reason to be thin.  I always thought I had to have a reason… but the reason is to be happy with myself.  The best thing about the Biggest Loser is that they learn to love themselves again, and I think that is the only way we won’t give up on ourselves and our bodies.  Right now I don’t love myself, I have given up on myself all over again… but I don’t want it to be this way any longer.  And it shouldn’t be this way for you. 

There is no reason that each and every one of us shouldn’t want to lose weight to make ourselves happier and healthier.  If you are having setbacks that’s okay - just don’t give up on yourself like I did a couple of months ago.  Again, I gave up and figured I was just destined to be fat my whole life.  But that isn’t true - I’m allowing myself to be fat.... Well not anymore.  If any of you saw last night’s Biggest Loser I’m sure like me, you are getting back to what you need to do to lose weight. 

As of right now - I am giving up my subscription to Weight Watchers.  I don’t need it, and I’m not following it.  I love WW, believe me I really do - but I don’t need it.  I think for some and for me it is a great plan, but it allows me too much freedom in what I eat.  I am constantly basing my points around what kind of junk food I am eating.  I’m constantly going over my points and not caring.  I am a big believer in Weight Watchers and again, I think it is an amazing plan… but I need to do this on my own.  I need to lose weight by LEARNING how to eat right and exercise more.  I need to motivate myself, because at the end of it, once I reach my goal if I don’t learn that for myself I will forever be giving up on myself.  I’m going to take a page from Shelah’s book and I’m going to print out some healthy meal plans for myself that I like, look up yummy low-fat recipes, and take it from there.  My walls will be a shrine to my weight loss, and I for one am NOT going to give up on myself again. 

I ask you all - Why did you give up on yourself?  And what is going to stop that from happening again?  I want you all to think about it and decide that when you read this you will never give up on yourself again.  Say it out loud, and make it a point to believe it.  Say it everyday if you have to.  But in order to lose the weight we want, we must be willing to believe in ourselves. 

I’m going to get on the treadmill right now in fact!  Have a great day everyone!