My progress has been impressive, at least to me. There are a lot of small hurdles I've found that exist in life to try and knock you off course. I am most impressed by my internal compass that has really left me on track, even in situations of adversity that pop up. More in a bit. I'm surviving the jungle. So much more easily than I ever, ever, ever anticipated.
I left off with my first grocery store, post DFC, that got cut off from my last entry, so I will try and fill in the blanks as it still boggles my melon. A key element to my success, and much of what I was not doing prior to my program, was to get to the grocery store a.s.a.p upon my return to the jungle, so that I could restock, and begin to fend for myself once again. I really see this as a key to eating a healthier diet. There are a ton of tricks that float around, some are known, some I learned, and I'm stunted by friends who cough these up to me now, and I'm stunned that they know these things as the concepts are so new and fresh to me~ How do you know this stuff, and how and why did I miss this information in the first 45 years of my life? Any how, my fridge is now like a foreign planet. Seriously, a week later, and I still feel like I'm in somebody else's fridge... I own flaxseed? Wow. I own flaxseed meal? Who are you Blair? I think I have more fresh produce and fruit in my fridge than I have ever had combined for the last 10 years. Barring, of course, frozen veggies, which I always bought, kept in the freezer for a thousand years to make myself feel good about the potential I had in the freezer, tried to use them, discover that you can't freeze things forever and still use them, and then pitch them. I've done this for years. It's a little scary to look back now... The one thing I've noticed, and it is probably some far off marketing trick, is the color of my fridge, once I open the door, is so much more festive. I just always remember opening the door and seeing a palette of orange, reds, and yellows. (the colors of Arm & Hammer box, mustard and ketchup, cheese among others) Now, it resembles a rainbow of blues, greens, whites and reds...just something I've noticed.
Shopping was funny and fun and took me forever! I put an ap on my phone called "fooducate" (free, iphone and android). This is a little tool that you take a picture of the UPC bar code, and it gives the product in question a grade (A-F) based on dietitian analysis, and then suggests 3-4 other options that are better for you. Fun, but scanning will slow you down. Pretty much the Kashi cereal line is my new go to brand, just fyi. Reading the labels and actually understanding them more clearly than ever in my life has been eye opening, shocking in fact, and I'm so happy I took the time to do it. The other basic trick I utilized was to shop the perimeter of the store and not go down the aisles. 90% of what I need is there. It's all the junk on the shelves that is the dangerous stuff, and that is the word I use in my mind when I'm in the aisles. Obviously, I need canned stuff and frozen veggies, cereal, rice ect that are in the aisles, but for the most part, I've changed my angle and I found myself hurrying to get out of the aisles so I don't get 'trapped' by something. I'm so much more conscious, it is a little frightening to me.
I have to thank you all again. The email and message volume has really been uplifting and I'm still amazed that some of you still want this rambling crap to continue!
So, I have been to the gym six days this week. Yes, you read that correctly. As crazy as that my seem, this is my optimal goal. If I have similar weeks with work and social life, it appears that 5-6 days is actually doable. It is rough on the weekends. Thus far my schedule has me working weekends and the facility I've selected at Loyola University's Medical Center is not as convenient time wise....good bye early morning hours of sleep, but I got my workouts in that I needed. I've basically been working on my Cardio stuff, but I have to restart the strength stuff too. I've damaged my shoulder slightly, a strain they said, or at least discovered a problematic joint I never knew was an issue, but I've tried to rest it. Definitely not muscular, but sore none the less. I have, however, found my pool time too. They do have the synchronized water ballet classes, and they have volleyball once a week. Now, I have issues there a bit, and one class I went to was like a coffee clutch for a bunch of ladies and there was little strenuous challenge involved. I later asked the instructor if I had been in the wrong class and she said "no, nobody felt like pushing it tonight" Nice lady, appreciate the waste of my time, I did what I could with the class, got my buoys going, and tried to do what I was doing at the DFC, but I knew I wasn't getting the same results, so I stayed after and swam laps as best I could, as I knew this would pick up my heart rate. There is a deep water class on Monday, so I hope that will be a bit more strenuous. I've learned that I need to shake it up so that I don't get bored. (There are still bouncy people to watch, so boredom is relative...I'm easily entertained, but to keep my own monotonous motions in check, diversity will help.)
A bit on tracking I guess. I built myself a spread sheet that I can keep on my phone and lap top, I update it all throughout the day. So far, these are the things I'm tracking: Daily weight, BP, exercise activity, duration of said activity, if available, calories used for the exercise, Pedometer steps, and calories spent for that, Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner, and other calories consumed. I'm sure this will bore most of you. But, I learned that weight loss is just about the math. This made it easy for me. My RMR (resting metabolic rate), the number of calories my big ass self needs to live, to breath, pump blood, think ect is some astronomical 3800 calorie number. Much of this is due to my large size and this will go down as I reduce the Blair that we all know. But in the meantime, the dietitian has offered up a calorie goal of 2500 cals per day, which I still find generous, but it makes sense. Again, eventually, this will drop too. To the best of my ability, I'm ranging from 1580-2050 per day. Okay, this is 10 days of data, but I love 'buying' myself those unused calories. There was one day, I maxed it out to the full 2500 with a little night life in the big city, but those were vodka calories and not french fry calories!
There's more to talk about, but this is getting really long, so, next time I guess. Be well.
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