This page is going to be my 'diet diary' that I am going to share with everyone and it will be BRUTAL. I will go into detail about my eating and exercise habits in the hopes that it will motivate me to do this, and perhaps give you some ideas of what works and what doesn't. My 'weakness' has now turned into my 'nightmare' and I want to get back into my favourite pair of jeans!!!!
OK, I'm going to take the plunge and be brave here and admit that I want to lose 10 lbs. Changing jobs recently has meant the loss of the company health club and because my new job is more of a 'sitting down all day' kind of job, I want to lose the weight and FAST!!!
The program I am going to use is called Heart Smart. It is a shareware program and can be found at Siesta Software. It has to be downloaded. This program has always worked for me before when I need to lose a few pounds, but it means being very diligent about what you eat and recording everything. But that has always worked for me --- seeing it in black and white reinforces it for me.
Each day, starting tomorrow, I will record here my food intake and exercise, and also describe what the Heart Smart program calculates everyday for me in terms of protein, fat, and carbohydrates (in grams and percentages).
You will see how the program works when I start my first day tomorrow, and if you are interested in this program, you can download it and try it out yourself.
OK, here I go. Today is the first day of my diet and I am going to use the Heart Smart program to show you how it works. I had a good start to my day as I got on the scale and it was 2 lbs. lighter, but of course, tomorrow, it can be 2 lbs heavier!! I wrote down everything I ate today so I could enter it into the program when I got home. The program calculates the results for me for the day, which I will detail later. But first of all, I will show you what I entered, and what the results are for each meal and then for the entire day.
WORD OF WARNING: This will be incredibly boring and not for people who don’t like regimented diets, so feel free to skip this page if you like. However, this diet has always worked for me -- I get to eat whatever I want as long as I make sure my day is balanced with a bit of everything. And people that are on restricted diets, like sodium reduced, or low cholesterol, can easily track the amounts they are taking in.
Breakfast:
1 Banana Pecan Muffin
1 Coffee with Skim Milk
Total
235 cals, 23.6g carb, 1.3g protein, 5.2g fat, 6.0mg sodium
Snacks
1 apple
1 banana
Total
186 cals, 47.8g carb, 1.5g protein, 1.1g fat, 2.0mg sodium
Lunch
Chicken Souvlaki
2% milk
Salad with lite dressing
Total
379 cals, 18.9g carb, 26.8g protein, 16.6g fat, 427.0mg sodium, 91 mg. cholesterol
Dinner
1 chicken leg
2 cobs of corn, buttered
2 glasses of wine
Total
821 cals, 62.0 carb, 35.6g protein, 26.4g fat, 218.0mg sodium, 120 mg. cholesterol
TOTAL FOR THE DAY
1621 cals, 152.3 carb, 65.2g protein, 49.3g fat, 653.0mg sodium, 211 mg. cholesterol
There is a little ‘pie’ chart which shows the breakdown by percentage, and for today, my breakdown is: 46% carbs, 20% protein, and 34% fat. RECOMMENDED DAILY ALLOWANCES are as follows: 60% carbs, 10% protein, and 30% for fat. So I can see that my carbs and protein are low, and I need to decrease my fats. My goal is to get my percentages as close as possible to the recommended daily allowances. I will see how I do tomorrow.
As for my exercise today, if I could only get myself organized, I would be able to walk to the train station, then to my office, and then the reverse when I go home. But today, I was not very organized. I left the house late, which meant I had to grab a later train so instead of being able to walk from the station, I had to take the subway to the office. Then again at the end of the day, I left the office late, and so on. Tomorrow, I will try to be more organized and leave the time to walk. I love walking and it is one of my favourite exercises!!
Well, I am going to relax right now outside in the backyard with my husband and our chiminea. Remember to have fun! Tomorrow is another day!!
DAY 2
Well, another day, another (how does that saying go?) pound gained? Oh well, back to one pound up, but since I was two pounds down, that really makes me one pound down. Am I going crazy yet? I get pretty obsessive when I am on a diet, ha-ha!!
I won’t get as technical as yesterday with all the details. I think you can get the idea of how the program works. This is what I ate today though. I was pretty good, I think. However, I am making up for tomorrow, and I will explain why shortly!!
Breakfast
1 Raisin Tea Biscuit
1 Coffee with Skim Milk
Snacks
1 apple
1 banana
Lunch
1 Turkey on Rye (I eat a LOT of poultry)
2% milk
Dinner
Turkey
Mashed Potatoes
Peas
1 glass of wine (well, it’s good for you)
Bored yet? OK, - Ta Da:
GRAND TOTAL FOR THE DAY
1370 cals, 53.7 carb, 87.2g protein, 32.2g fat, 1363.0 mg sodium (wow!!), 112 mg. cholesterol
Today my ‘pie’ chart breakdown by percentage is: 49% carbs, 28% protein, and 23% fat. RECOMMENDED DAILY ALLOWANCES are as follows: 60% carbs, 10% protein, and 30% for fat. So I can see that my carbs and fat are low, and I need to decrease my proteins. Oh well, not too bad.
However, tomorrow will be a write-off. You may not even hear from me at all, I will be so embarrassed. I am going to the Canadian National Exhibition and I intend to have fun!!!!! Well, you have to live too. I was good for two days so tomorrow I will be eating cotton candy, pizza, hot dogs, funnel cakes, candy apples ... Oh dear, I better stay away from those spinning rides!!! I will be walking around all day and that has to count for something!!!! Have a great long weekend and I will report back when I have finished my bottle of Pepto Bismol!!
DAY 3
I don’t believe I am still down one pound. After yesterday!! What a disaster! I went to the CNE, did walk lots (the whole day), but ate lots too!!! Chinese food, pogo stick, samosa, ice cream waffle, popcorn, cotton candy. Oh well, you only live once is my motto (or one of my mottos depending on what kind of day I have had!!!).
Well, here is today, much better:
Breakfast
1 Blueberry Muffin
2 slices bacon
2 Coffees and 1 Tea with 2% Milk
Lunch
Tomato Soup with crackers
Grapes
Dinner
Spaghetti with butter
3 Meatballs
Caesar salad
1 crescent roll
2 glass of wine (is there a pattern here?)
Bored yet, still, almost, all of the above? OK, GRAND TOTAL FOR THE DAY
1775 cals, 215.6 carb, 54g protein, 59.2g fat, 2685.0mg sodium (sheesh!!), 161 mg. cholesterol
Today my ‘pie’ chart breakdown by percentage is: 54% carbs, 13% protein, and 33% fat.
RECOMMENDED DAILY ALLOWANCES are as follows: 60% carbs, 10% protein, and 30% for fat. So I can see that my carbs are low, and I need to decrease my proteins and fat. When I have a bad eating day, it takes awhile for me to get back into my good eating habits. Gotta get more fruits and veggies in me. Another tip is to drink 6-8 glasses of water a day. It can be anything liquid as long as it is not alcoholic or caffeinated. If it is, you have to reduce a glass from your total. And remember to drink that water as feelings of hunger can actually be a symptom of thirst!!
DAY 4
Well, what can I say. I ate so much today that I'm not even going to report my breakdown. Yikes!! I did OK until I went out for dinner. And that was my downfall. Most of what I ate was fattening - chicken wings, fried mozzarella sticks, spinach salad, 2 glasses of wine, I even split pecan pie with my daughter. Needless to say, I'm sure the scale tomorrow will honestly reflect today. What a weekend! Oh well, it was a holiday weekend. Back to normal patterns tomorrow - kids back to school, back to work, normal eating habits (I hope!!!).
DAY 5
Well, I am not losing the weight the way I want to. It is time to bring out the heavy artillery!! One part of the Heart Smart program I forgot to mention is that you can get it to calculate your weight loss goals for you in terms of what you weigh now, what you want to weigh, how long it will take, how many calories you can eat per day. The beauty of it is it will calculate for you how long it will take for you to lose your pounds based on the number of calories you tell it you want to eat every day. If you think that it will take too long, adjust the calories and/or number of pounds you want to lose. Everything automatically calculates for you. You can even determine your calorie loss based on whether your activity is sedentary, moderate or heavy. I went into the weight calculator and found that at the number of calories I am eating, it will take 38 weeks to lose my 10 pounds!!! I don’t like that! But if I increase my activity to moderate level, it will only take 19 weeks!! So I am going to try to fit in more exercise every day. I always knew that exercise helps!! In fact, when you exercise, your metabolism goes up and stays up for several hours afterwards. That means you are still burning lots of calories even after you exercise.
So anyways, to get to my goal weight in 19 weeks (is this a long story or what???), I need to eat 1600 calories per day and exercise moderately. It even calculated the date I will achieve my goal weight –Jan. 22, 2001. We shall see!!!
Well, here goes for today (trying to keep under 1600 calories):
Breakfast
1 Breakfast Bar
1 Coffee and 1 Tea with 2% Milk
Snack
1 banana
1 apple
Lunch
Chef Salad with low-fat dressing
Low-fat yogurt
Dinner
Pasta with butter
Small piece of pork
Small serving of fried potatos
2 glass of wine (hmmm, maybe there is a place here to reduce my calories)
OK, GRAND TOTAL FOR THE DAY
1505 cals, 189.9 carb, 59.9g protein, 37.1g fat, 1108mg sodium, 219 mg. cholesterol
Today my ‘pie’ chart breakdown by percentage is: 57% carbs, 18% protein, and 25% fat.
RECOMMENDED DAILY ALLOWANCES are as follows: 60% carbs, 10% protein, and 30% for fat. So I can see that my carbs are pretty close, and I need to decrease my proteins and, well, I won’t say increase my fat. But I don’t think I had a bad day today! I feel pretty good too. Let’s see what the scale says tomorrow.
One important thing to remember, for all my diet talk, is don’t be a slave to the scale. More important than what the scale says is how you feel. If you feel good, don’t worry. If you feel like you need to start eating healthier meals, than that is what is important!! Go for it!!!
DAY 6
Well, not a bad day all around!! (Remember, I’m trying to keep under 1600 calories):
Breakfast
1 Raisin Bran Muffin
1 Coffee and 1 Tea with 2% Milk
Snack
1 banana
grapes
Lunch
1 Grilled Cheese Sandwich
1 very large orange juice
Dinner
Hamburger Helper (Ravioli)
Tossed salad with light dressing
(just) 1 glass of wine
OK, GRAND TOTAL FOR THE DAY
1393 cals (yeah!!!), 230.5 carb, 35.4g protein, 34.3g fat, 1367mg sodium, 48 mg. cholesterol
Today my ‘pie’ chart breakdown by percentage is: 67% carbs, 10% protein, and 22% fat.
RECOMMENDED DAILY ALLOWANCES are as follows: 60% carbs, 10% protein, and 30% for fat. So I can see that right now my big problem is too many carbs, but boy do I love those carbs!!! I am going to try to see if I can find out what the Recommended Daily Allowances for sodium and cholesterol are as well, as I would like to keep track of that too.
Remember to have fun while you are watching your weight. Look for fun recipes, allow yourself a treat once in awhile, and get active and do something you love!!!
DAY 7
I can't report anything today!! I am sick with a cold (cough, cough, sneeze, sputter!!!). Looks like I need to get some more Vitamin C in me, ha-ha. I have a very strong craving for a chocolate bar right now, but I won't give in to it (maybe it's due to the fact that I don't have any chocolate, it's pouring rain out, and my hubby won't go to the store to get me one!!!). Oh well, it's 7:00 p.m. and I'm going to bed. One thing I have to do when I get sick is sleep, sleep, sleep. I hope I feel better tomorrow!!!
DAY 8
I am feeling much better now. When you concentrate on eating well, you will still get the odd cold, but it usually won't seem as bad. So now I am not sniffling and sneezing anymore. This weekend, I went to Bracebridge in northern Ontario with the kids to spend some time with my sister. It was lots of fun, but I am not going to calculate my food intake because I cheated big-time!! Back to reality tomorrow and eating nutritiously. But to let you in on what I did eat, we went to the Fall Fair and I had french fries with gravy and a caramel apple. I guess that wasn't too bad considering I resisted the cotton candy, caramel corn and icecream. I am such a kid at heart!!! Tomorrow I will be good --- I promise!!!
TESTIMONIALS FOR THE HEART SMART PROGRAM:
(By Laurie)
I want to give a good reason for everyone to download Heart Smart. My 10 year old son is logging his food on the site and is being encouraged to make some VERY healthy choices. Tonight, for example, I made potatoes and asked him to choose what we should have with them. He said, "Pasta with nothing on it" (this is his #1 choice when asked what he wants for ANY meal). So I encouraged him to check Heart Smart and he saw that potatoes and pasta were extremely high in carbs. So he chose baked beans instead, and along with tomatoes grown in my garden, he was able to see that he had chosen a balanced meal.
I can't say enough about this program (gosh, you'll start thinking I've bought shares in it or something). I'm finding motivation to eat fairly well, with some exceptions. And I'm in a routine of drinking 6-8 glasses of water a day.
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