Until yesterday, I really didn’t feel as though I was sacrificing much. The family meals were going well, my lunches were a treat, and breakfast is pretty much similar to how I always ate. Then last night, B wanted tortilla soup. And the tortilla soup recipe is fine….up to a certain point. I mean, it starts out with broth and chicken and red bell pepper, blah blah blah. Then at the end is the part that separated me from the rest of the family. When they were loading in Utz tortilla chips (my favorite), sour cream, shredded cheese and avocado. For the first time, I felt like I was imprisoned by this diet of mine. I have to remind myself though that I got myself here. Maybe my husband still feels like he can load down a healthy soup with a bunch of fat, but the thing is I have spent plenty of time loading myself down with food that I did not need. That is why I am in the situation that I am in. So now is when I serve my time. I am paying for years and years of no self control by having to exercise EXTREME self control in moments like that. But even knowing that, I still felt very sorry for myself.
Having that behind me, I am in a much better mood today. And tonight’s dinner is no problem. The only difference between what I will eat and what the family is eating is that I won’t eat the shells and white cheddar. I really don’t find it hard to pass on that.
Elliptical is going fine. The other stuff is not. I did a little arms workout with 5 lb weights. I had followed a workout of about five or six exercises in that book that I got last week. I was frustrated that I was not feeling it the next day, so I need to do more sets next time. I enjoy the ab section of my balance ball dvd, but I HATE the upper body section. It is very hard to do and a lot of the exercises tend to really put a strain on my neck. I am not ready for that part of the dvd yet, obviously. I think it may be time to increase my time on the elliptical. If I take time to warm up some, I don’t get nearly as fatigued but I should probably make up that time that I spent going slow by adding some minutes onto the end.
I am still keeping my calories at about 1,500 a day. I have been fixing steel cut oats for breakfast. I have some of the fleischmans margarine (trans-fat free and no saturated fat or per serving) and some brown sugar on it. Some may recommend skipping the brown sugar, but this is a worthy indulgence to me. I try not to go over 350 calories at lunch. That is going well. I find that I enjoy it most if that 350 comes from three different foods like a bowl of soup, some salad and some fat free cottage cheese. I had a lean cuisine pizza yesterday and while it is nice to occasionally have pizza, I definitely enjoy my other lunches more. For the pizza craving, I think that a flat-out bread with some part skim mozzarella and sliced fresh tomatoes is actually healthier and lower calorie.
About six weeks until my cholesterol test when I will officially see with my very own eyes what impact that these changes have on my body. I honestly think that the curiosity is a big part of my motivation right now. I really have not cheated. I had one day when I did 20 minutes of exercise instead of 30. And I am having a really hard time keeping the sodium under control. Even though I am not eating much frozen or canned food and I don’t salt food on my plate, the sodium count on fit day still hits 3,000 some days! However, I feel like for my blood pressure just getting the weight off is important. I will leave the salt battle for another day.
202/188/healthy
