Thursday, April 25, 2013

Renewing

So....
I didn't weigh in at the start of this month since I was so depressed. I will weigh in in a few days though, but im honestly scared I have gained weight.

I installed a blogging app on my phone so hopefully I can blog more. Not sure what I can say that will interest people. I'm honestly thinking of just deleting this blog since I think I have a whole 2 readers......maybe. Not even my fiance reads it....and if I can't make him want to read then I think that means I officially suck at being interesting. But hey....thats about how real life goes too so I'm not all that surprised.

So what to talk about? Not much I guess.

I did get the new FitBit Zip and I love it! I had the old FitBit that tracked sleep and stairs, but it hardly evet synched and constantly died since I am not near my desktop often enough and I would constantly forget to plug in the charger. The FitBit Zip synchs with my phone (Samsung Galaxy S3) and even gives me little motivation messages when I am near ir over my step goal. It does not have the sleep or stair tracking and I kinda miss the little display messages but its not that big of a loss and it clings to my bra much easier....I love that that clip isn't part of the unit and the little emoticon faces are a hoot. Plus its a little cheaper and comes in lots of great colors. So overall I like it much more than my old FitBit.

Ummm other stuff? I found a couple of really tasty foods that fit within my food plan.

Please note, although I'm sure many will want to suggest pills or special diets....I made the choice at the start of my journey and despite the stuggle am determined to keep to is that I will not do any "diets". I live off a graduate student stipend, so money is very limited and I want to eat in a way I can maintain for the rest of my life. I've tried tons of diets that involve drastic changes (like atkins) and it just leads me to binge. My food plan is this:

1800 calories a day, broken up into roughly 400 cals for breakfast, 500 cals for lunch, 700 cals for dinner and 200 cals for snacks. If I know I am going to have a heavy meal I will adjust other meals to compensate for it. As my weight goes down I re-adjust the number....I started at 2200 cals a day a year and a half ago and once I am under 300 lbs I will adjust it again.

I also work out at the gym usually daily until I burn 1000 calories...usually on the elliptical. Lately I have sucked at this....since 3 days this month it was snowing too hard to go to the gym and 5 days this month I have been really sick.

So onto the tasty things I found...(all found at walmart since its the only chain grocer in the area I live at)

1.) Greek Whipped Cream Cheese

45 cals for 2 tbsps
I do not care for greek yogurt but I LOVE this. I use it tons of ways, my faves being on a bagel for breakfast, using it on a flatbread rolled up with some deli meat and cut into bite size pieces to make what my fiance has dubbed "American Housewife Sushi" and mixing a little bit of Hidden Valley Ranch powder into it and spreading on celery sticks or carrots.

2.) Dole Fruit Crisps (found near where snack size fruit packs and applesauce are)

150-160 cal for 1 depending on flavor
I love sweets. These are pretty perfect as a snack or dessert.  They are basically fruit cups that you can warm up for like 30 secs in the microwave and then put this little oatmeal crumbly stuff on and it tastes just like the wonderful baked good but a lot less calories. So far I have seen them in Apple, Apple Pear, and Peach and all have been delicious! (Sorry the pic is blurry my hands were shaking trying to balance the packaging)

3.) Dole Banana Dippers (found by frozen fruit in the freezer section)

100 cals per pack of 4 w/o nuts, 120 w/almonds
Basically this is 4 slices of banana, dipped in a nice thick dark chocolate and for the almond variety, has almond pieces sprinkled on top. The serving size is a little small to the eye, but its a very satisfying treat and a great sweet tooth satiater. With summer coming (allegedly...I still have over 4 feet of snow in my yard) this seems like the perfect ice cream like treat that should satisfy a chocolate craving without going overboard. And if you binge and eat two packs, thats still only 200 or 240 cals.....still better than a lot of ice cream cones or bars!