I wish I could say that was I - spicy and sweet.  What I have known for a long time now is that when I eat spciy foods, and I LOVE spicy foods, I want something sweet afterward.  Considering I had Buffalo chicken tenders last night and leftover ones for lunch and then REALLY spicy taco meat for a taco salad this evening, I was definitely wanting sweets.  And yes, I gave in.  Spicy foods are supposed to help our metabolisms, but I don't think it does much good when you have a sweet afterward.  No, sugarfree gum does not cut it.  A small sweet would work, like a mini Reese's peanut butter cup, but they don't sell those at the local convenience store and I don't keep those at the house because I can't have just one - or just five - if they are around.

 

Justin likes a glass of milk with his spicy food.  I wish I could get him to try going to 1% fat milk, but so far, 2% is the best concession I can get.  At least it's not ice cream or chocolate like me.

 

If you are like me and are beating that temptation, please let me know what works for you.

 

Have a great day tomorrow, everyone.

 

Tammy

We had a terrific weekend just being together and watching movies.  We did not get to walk or do some of the things we had hoped to do because Justin's knee was hurting him so.  By Sunday, it was swollen to 1 1/2 - 2 times as large as his other knee.  I had him stay off of it.  I'll admit that I was disappointed because it was a gorgeous weekend to be outside together and we won't have a weekend together for 5 more weeks.  I am really concerned about his knee.  Aleve seems to help the pain and even the swelling some.  He kept it wrapped at work yesterday and it looked better.  We'll just have to keep an eye on it for now and using the RICE method to get the swelling down.

Justin's weight this morning was 217.8 lbs - Yea!!  My weight is 207.4 lbs.  I did not get to eat like I should have this week, and yes, the weight came off, but the body fat percentage went up - we have a scale that calculates body fat as well as weight for all of our family members except the youngest.  I am writing this blog now because our weights may go up after this weekend, but it is okay.  Some friends of ours are taking all three children for the weekend so we can have a honeymoon we never got to have.  .  We are planning to go to the movies, out to eat, maybe to the museum or dancing or a pops symphony this weekend.  I don't want to blow it this weekend, but food is part of the fun we plan, and so is exercise.  We will be making relatively good choices, but I do know of a few treats I personally want to enjoy.  Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend a great weigh-in days!

It's time to plan the bi-weekly grocery list.  We do enjoy breakfast, but it will be interesting as we try to find high-protein, low sodium foods to enjoy for breakfast.  With Justin's high blood pressure, we really must be more vigilant about the food choices we make for all meals.  Oatmeal is okay, but none of us are crazy about it for every day.  He enjoys grits, but since the corn is soaked in lye to make the hominy, they are really high in sodium.  Also, carbohydrate rich breakfasts leave me craving carbs all day.

As I am allergic to milk eggs and turkey, cereal, eggs, and turkey bacon are not options for me personally.  Since we get up at 5:00 am with Justin, I'm not real eager to make multiple breakfasts at that time.  I am not opposed to making breakfast burritos for Justin and our teenager who enjoys them, just trying to find the right foods to incorporate.

I'll let you know how what we try works for us.  If you have any suggestions that are working for you for breakfast, please leave a comment on this blog entry.  I could really use some creative suggestions.

Justin lost 2.2 lbs and I lost 1.6 lbs the first week.  Not great, but still a loss.  We'd  both rather take it slow and develop good habits than lose weight drastically and then gain it back and then some - that's how I got to this point in the first place. 

 

Unfortunately, we've been battling tummy bugs in our family.  This threw things off track regarding exercise starting Saturday.  Our daughters got it first, then me.  I've lost 2.6 more pounds since Monday - the hard way.  I just hope I can keep this off since it came off while I wasn't feeling well.

 

I have started keeping a personal journal.  I discovered that due to a number of factors that began when I was a teenager (ulcer-induced anorexia, parents owning a fast food restaurant so we did not eat together unless it was 10:00 or 11:00 at night - and then not healthy foods).  These factors were were exacerbated due to working so many hours in my 20's and early 30's and just trying to keep my energy up when I might not get to eat, that I don't have the self-discipline to eat when I should.  I am working on this.  I discussed this with Justin and the impact it has had on our family.  He has agreed to help me with this so I can develop good habits and a healthy discipline to benefit our family. 

 

Fortunately, our children are perfectly healthy.  We want them to develop healthy habits for their own lives.  It is somewhat hard to plan meals (but all the more critical) because our older daughter and I are highly allergic to certain foods - none of them are the same.  She's allergic to 6 key foods - wheat, corn, potatoes, fish, beef, and peanuts.  Fortunately, most of those are not particularly good for us (except the fish).  On the other hand, I am allergic to a huge number of healthy foods - olives, melons, green beans, pinto beans, soy beans, milk, eggs, turkey, shrimp, venison, and my favorite flavor-enhancer, onions.  My husband and son have vowed not to find out to what they may be allergic - they just don't want to know.  I have to get really creative with food choices.  I try to limit the foods I eat at a meal to only one food that I am allergic to at a time since it is just too hard to avoid everything.  This has seemed to work pretty well.  It also means I need to pay particular attention to vitamin and mineral supplements, particularly calcium, which I have not been taking regularly.  Boy, am I a work in progress!

 

We took the time to generate a list of meals that we enjoy on a regular basis, particularly the healthy ones.  The less-healthy ones have as a treat once in awhile (such as hamburgers or chili dogs).  This will allow me to begin preparing menus that can repeat on a biweekly basis, provide healthy leftovers for lunches, and try to develop more structure and discipline in our lives.  We'll see how this goes as we begin to implement this.  This can help me with time management and both Justin and me with food management.

 

I hope everyone's having great success in addressing their weight challenge and making changes in their lives day-by-day.

I ate WAY more calories than I intended to yesterday - I had 2696 calories and only wanted to eat between 1800-2000 calories, but after exercising in the morning and afternoon for about 15 minutes each, I still lost 2 lbs today.  I discovered how much bread I was really eatng by journaling what I ate - at 70 calories per slice, that is a lot.

 

My husband, Justin, walked with me after work last night.  He did not lose any as of this morning.  He also did not eat as frequently as I did.  I have got to get more planned meals for Justin to help him lose weight more effectively.  I received a new crock pot for Christmas.  It is high time I start using it.

 

In the past, I have generally worked out extremely hard and not fed my body sufficiently which is most likely a huge part of my lack of success.  I would eat 800-1100 calories per day, work out for 2-3 hours, and may not lose weight.  I found that sometimes, if I splurged on that burger, the plateau I had hit would suddenly move.  Yeah, because my body figured that I wasn't starving anymore and wasn't holding all that in reserve.

 

I have "discovered" Ziplock Zip n' Steam bags. They are awesome!  I can fix fresh vegetables and they don't come out soggy and my family will actually eat them without their having to be fried - which is great for when we have our garden this coming spring.  That also helps make our portions work out better and increases our ability to get our vegies in each day.

 

I had a tough day today with a tummy bug for me and the baby and horrendous allegies and high wind.  (Today was our monthly family outing all-day-day.)  I worked out this morning on my abs for 20 minutes, but did not get my walk in.  I'm hopeful that the wind will not be such an issue tomorrow so I can go walking.

 

I would like to jump in to walking 3 miles, but I have learned to take it slowly over the past few years in my attempts to lose weight.  I would start out gung-ho and either get very ill (like pneumonia) or hurt my back.  Even last night, I could feel my lower back pulling in just 3/4 of a mile.  How lame is that?!  So I added a cool-down lap and left it at that (just 1 mile).  I'm glad I did or I would not have been able to walk this morning.  I'll just keep stretching and adding a little more to each walk until I am up to 3-4 miles 3-5 times per week.  I would like to add yoga in the evenings, but I want to add a little at a time for now so that I don't feel too overwhelmed and give up.

Justin and I are entering the Biggest Loser's Million Pound Match-up because we want to team up to lose weight for ourselves and our family.  I enjoy being fit and healthy, but haven't been at a weight that I liked for 15 years now.  Justin was within 5 - 10 lbs of his goal weight until I began gaining weight with our first child and then he gained "sympathy weight" with me.  We've continued to gain since then.  As of 1/7/2008, I need to lose 95 lbs and Justin needs to lose 58 lbs for a combined weight loss of 153 lbs.  For starters, we need to eat more frequently and exercise together - and lose the sodas (that will be the biggest challenge).  I have lost weight before successfully and kept it off for several years.  I know I can do this with Justin's support.  I know he can with my support and healthy meals prepared for him and our family.