Friday, January 23, 2009

Green smootie calorie restriction style

I made my first Green Smoothie today. I was inspired by all the youTubers and their great looking smoothies. I never had one before.
I used Red Chard, Spinach, Cottage Cheese, small Banana, frozen Pineapple, frozen Blueberries, Stevia, and a bit of water.
It filled me up so much I am not snacking on fruit tonight. I made it after I got back from grocery shopping around 2:30. I say this because I am still not hungry, I did have my Halibut and Broccoli for dinner. By now I would have had about 4 cups of frozen berries.
I am hoping this is exactly what I need to get me through the nights without hunger.
The cottage cheese was perfect in it. Made it like Ice Cream. It also made me think of Cheesecake. I am now wondering if I can make my green smoothie taste like cheesecake. Bet I could. I would leave out the banana and add vanilla, it would need raspberries too. I have plenty of them.
I am now dreaming of my Calorie Restriction Green Cheesecake smoothie. Can't wait for tomorrow to experiment.
We are going to be in San Francisco most of the day tomorrow. Guess I better be taking my cameras. Hope it is a nice day. It has been foggy and rainy here. Winters in the city can be really nice. Better than summers.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

A Calorie Restriction and weight loss

Since I started Calorie Restriction 17 months ago I have lost 86 pounds. I am a complete convert to calorie counting and knowing what nutrients are in the food I eat. I know I could do better with the dark leafy greens so tomorrow I am going to try making a green shake for breakfast.
My idea is to add some cottage cheese with the fruit along with kale and spinach. The reason for the cottage cheese is for protein. I do like it with fruit so why not put try it in a smoothy. I might make it more milk shake like. I will try it tomorrow afternoon.
I ran it through the cronOmeter, it came up pretty good on nutrition.

  • 1/2 cup non fat cottage cheese
  • kale
  • spinach
  • 1/2 cup blueberries
  • small banana (for the potassium)
  • Stevia to sweeten it up

161 Calories
  • 11 g. protein
  • 29g carbs
  • 16% of my daily requirement of Omega-3
  • Through the roof with Vitamin A, K and C


I would like to find something to put in it to up the B vitamins. I will be looking into that.

Calorie Restriction Day
I had an excellent Calorie Restriction day today. I have decided to try and eat a bit less calories in fruit. I have been eating too late at night snacking on berries around midnight. A huge bowl of mixed berries can add 250 calories to my day. I hope to stop this night time snacking. Right now I feel confident that I can do it, but it is early.
Tomorrow is my exercise day then grocery shopping. I have decided to stop buying our fish from Trader Joe's. The salmon has not be very good lately and the pieces seem odd shapes, like seconds. I bought Sockeye at a different store last week and it was fantastic. Trader Joe's will be getting less and less of my grocery monies. I stopped buying their chicken and produce ages ago. The only things I buy there for sure right now is the frozen berries, coffee, coffee filters, tortillas and a few frozen veggies, cottage cheese and eggs.
Weight Loss
I have been 141 for a week now. I am hoping to see a change in a few days. Guess eating all that fruit late at night is the cause. I am going to make it without eating tonight, its 12pm already. Seems I made it one night. Strange thing, I measured my waist again today, I am not obsessed with this, I thought it looked smaller so I grabbed the measuring tape. Hey, I was right. I have a 28 inch waist now. Wonder what it will be in a few months.
I have lost 17 inches in the waist alone. Wow, super WOW. There are before and current pictures of me on You Tube.

Monday, January 19, 2009

Learning Calorie Restriction

It did take me a few months to get used to counting calories and nutrients. I found help online by reading blogs written by fellow Cr people. Reading what foods they were eating and how much really gave me a good start.
Two of the best blogs is Mary's cron diaries and April's cr blog.
I still had to find foods that I liked and knew what I could eat and not feel deprived. I can honestly say I have found a comfortable place. I enjoy the foods I eat and I look forward to the meals and cooking them.

Cravings
I was very hungry at first and still had food cravings for loads of carbs. All that finally passed. I don't eat any wheat products, rice, potatoes, milk products except non-fat cottage cheese and a bit of goat cheese.
I eat lots of green veggies, fresh and frozen and usually organic. I buy hormone free beef, chicken, pork and wild caught fish. I have fish twice a week. My protein serving is always 4 to 5 oz. and always weighed.

My fruit, right now, is berries, blackberries, raspberries, and blue berries. About 3 cups of this mixture a day. I find apples today, while crisp and juicy, are over sweet, way too big and flat tasting. Tasteless except for the sweet. I won't have commercial apples ever again. I am seriously thinking about planting my own apple tree if I can find an heirloom variety.

How I got started
I checked my calorie needs very carefully and know how many I need to maintain my thin self. I then reduced this by 20%. The weight is coming off fairly slow by other dieters stats, but for me it is perfect. I am happy with a 4 to 5 pound loss a month.
After I lose the weight, 19 more pounds, I will adjust my calories again. I will eat what my body needs - 10%. To find out how much you should weigh for optimal health.
For 5 ft give yourself 100 pounds
add 5 pounds for every inch above 5 ft.
I am 5ft 6in so my weight should be 130, for optimal health - 13 pounds. So I would like to be 117 pounds or very close to it.

Eliminate refined carbohydrates
Modifying the diet to eliminate refined carbohydrates and focusing on high quality protein and good fats will gradually train the body to burn more fat and less sugar. This has worked for me and continues to work. I am amazed how good it is working for me. I am 141 pounds and so much thinner than I ever was when eating milk and grains along with loads of cheese. I am convinced they are what made me feel puffy all the time. I wonder if I have an allergy to them.

Overeating
I now stop eating when the food I had weighed is gone. I am never stuffed and always satisfied. What a fantastic feeling. I remember getting that overstuffed feeling almost everyday. So full it actually hurt. I love having this new feeling of being in control of what I eat and when. Now if I binge it is always with fruit and I do it fairly often. I still manage to keep it within my calorie range. Amazing how enhanced my life is with Calorie Restriction in it.

I am currently 141 pounds, wear a size 7 and joined a gym this week. I picked a gym that suits my style. I am not exercising to lose weight but to gain muscle. I wanted to lose most of my weight by controlling my food intake not by exercising. It was food that made me fat and I knew I wanted to learn how to eat. I am now comfortable enough to exercise and enjoy it. Did I say how much I love Calorie Restriction, did I need to?

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Calorie counting, calorie burning

We are supposed to be on a very strict budget around here. I have no job and don't see me getting one any time soon. I owned by own business for several years, I would have a hard time working for somebody. Anyway, we are trying to live off less.
One of the things I did was turn the heater down to 71 and leave it on that setting all the time. It does get sorta cold in here but we have blankets to cuddle in and this computer room is always warm.
What I have noticed is that we actually got used to the cool house and we are feeling better. I hate to be hot anyway.
Did you know you actually burn calories keeping yourself warm? I love to sleep in a cold room and feel the cool sheets when I stretch out. I love laying in the warm bed in the AM instead of getting up. So, while we aren't doing so good with the budget we are spending less on the propane to keep us warm.
I am finally down another pound, I am now 143. I have adjusted my final weight, I didn't start this weight loss with one in mind, I just knew I had to lose 100 pounds, so that is why it was 127.
Now, I want to be what the CR folk recommend. Here it is:
100 pounds for 5 ft.
add 5 pounds for each inch after the 5 ft.
Subtract 10% from this figure.
My math:
5 ft. 6 in. = 130 pounds
minus 13 for the 10%
So there it is 117. My new and improved goal for this year is 117 to 125. Anywhere in that range is good for me.
I have never been that thin. Even when I graduated from Hi school I was a chunky 122. I was 3 inches shorter and flabby. My diet was horrible then too and continued to be. I did gain some inches in height around 19 years old. 3 in fact. I am almost 5ft 7 now and weighed 135 for several years. Then wham, bang, did I ever get fat and stayed that way for years.
For me, being 143 is a dream and I am living it.
I love feeling my new body, it is amazing that I can actually feel bones now. I can still feel the fat in my arms and in strange places that is accumulates. That is certainly not my ass. It is a bony as can be. Hurts cause it so dang fat free.
The bottoms of my feet have less fat too. Both of them have a small sore if I walk to much. I need to get some gels. I am getting some thick skin growing on the two tiny spots. Weird. But, so much better than fat for a cushion.
My skin is super soft, and of course ugly. That was one of my concerns about losing 100 pounds. What an idiot I was. My skin will always be covered up, I could never cover up 100 pounds. No hiding that mass.
I am so freaking happy.