Green Tea and other tricks I use

I hate the idea of dieting! I HATE it! I hate the idea that I can't eat things that I want to eat. I know this is something most people hate. However, I also know that there are plenty of foods I really enjoy that are also low fat or low in calories. So instead of focusing on what I can't eat, I am trying to focus on what I can eat.

I also know that for a while, I will not be able to eat anything I want. There are foods that are way too high in calories for it to be worth it. I need to be honest with myself. I am on a diet, not some crazy diet, but I am trying hard to lose weight, and not just break even. This means eating differently then I have been, since the way I have been eating has kept me at the same weight for three years.

Green tea has the reputation that it can help you lose weight. So I decided to look a peer reviewed journal article that deals with this kind of research. One that was conclusive in mice was found at International Journal of Obesity, titled "Acute effects of epigallocatechin gallate from green tea on oxidation and tissue incorporation of dietary lipids in mice fed a high-fat diet." This study concluded that the mice had more energy, and that in their intestines they did not absorb as many lipids, otherwise known as fats. So maybe it does help you lose weight! But I also found some medical advice that said you have to drink around four cups a day for this to work on a human. I am not going to do that! But I know for me, a cup of hot tea can help me make better food choices. If I want to eat a second helping, or I feel like snacking for emotional reasons, I can drink a cup of tea, feel a bit more satisfied and try to move on. Also, green tea has antioxidants and other benefits.

Other great ideas and foods that help!

• Sugar free hot cocoa
• Veggies! If there are vegetables that you like, stock up on them. This can get expensive, which is really frustrating, it is nice right now that a lot of summer veggies are in season, and less expensive. I like cucumbers, green beans, spinach, eggplant and others.
• Fat free refried beans. These have less calories than ground beef, and are better for you then red meat, but are really meaty feeling when you eat them.
• Low fat pudding cups, anything pre-portioned is great. Though I do have qualms about how much plastic we buy and bring into the house
• Spices!!!! I love spicy food. 

Graph, you say?

I mentioned that I have a graph I measure my weight loss on, I thought I would share it. It is a simple, visual tool. And anything on graph paper is sexier.

The pink dots are me, and the blue dots are my partner's dots

See, every Thursday we weigh ourselves. My goal weight is at the bottom, his goal weight is not that low

These are the two weeks so far, obviously I have lost a pound a week, my partner has lost a lot more. What are you gunna do? Guys lose weight easier then women do. Ugh!

Slow start? or How much weight should I be losing at once?

My partner and I bought a scale. We own a scale and it sits in our bathroom. Ugh! 

My sister inspired me to focus on my weight loss. She has lost over 100 pounds on Weight Watchers. She looks amazing. I know that one thing Weight Watchers focuses on is  losing  a consistent amount of weight over a long period of time. My sister actually got a "ticket" for going too fast, and losing too much weight too quickly. Now, she is a busy 25 year old woman, so her group leader told her that it didn't really matter. Occasionally losing weight fast is okay, especially for her. But in general "they" (the nutritionists and researchers in weight loss areas) have found that if you lose weight more slowly you will keep it off longer. 

I think this raises a question of causality. If you lose weight slowly, it usually means you have changed your lifestyle. Where if you lose weight quickly you may be doing a crash diet or diet pill, or some such thing. 

Obviously along these lines I would like to lose weight and keep it off. I would also like to lose some weight now so that it shows and I feel great! The women I know who did Weight Watchers lost 2-4 pounds a week for the first few weeks. Once I started writing this I realized that in the back of my mind that was my goal as well. Honestly, it is not happening. 

I have a graph in the bedroom that I am marking my and my partner's weight loss on. In the past two weeks I have lost one pound a week. 1 pound!? WTF?!

I told my partner "So it will only take 80 weeks to lose all the weight," I was being sarcastic, obviously, I thought. His response, "Great honey!"    Seriously!? 80 weeks is a year and a half! 

I really want to lose the weight in less than an year and half. Or at least get a good 20 pound head start. 

I think this goes to show how supportive my partner is. :0) 

It also raises the question of expectations and goals. My goals are to blog more, eat better, move more. They are all lifestyle things. I have a goal weight, but not a goal time period. That seemed like too much pressure. But the changes I have made are not getting me where I want to go fast enough. 

I don't have answers right now. I will try a few more weeks and see what happens. I have room for improvement in just what I have been attempting. I can work out more days of the week. I can eat better still, there are still days where my choices are a bit dubious. Then I can decide if maybe I need to put more pressure on myself for results in a certain time table. 

Sunny Days

It is beautiful in Seattle again today!

My partner and I are going to walk tonight. If I walk hard enough I get some exercise. Mostly it is just to get out of the house and do something fun.

I am struggling with not eating enough. I skipped breakfast today again. Being home all day actually makes it harder to eat smaller meals more often. I need to put more structure in my day, and this includes real meal times.

I know everyone has told you that breakfast is important, but a lot of people my age still skip it. Or they eat something that does not kick off their metabolism in a good way, like sugary cereal. Here is a good explanation of why breakfast is important from WebMD (not the best website, but it was actually hard to find something with a complete explanation, not just folk wisdom.)

http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/many-benefits-breakfast

Start weight and measurements

It's a beautiful sunny day in Seattle, but I am stuck inside. I have put off cleaning the house again, and it is a wreck! I cleaned really well last week, so it isn't really dirty. But it is a huge mess. I am a terrible stay at home partner (wife!) I hate being stuck in the house all day. I hate trying to tidy up by myself. When I was working my partner and I would do really fast clean ups together, and catch up on our days. Now I have to do it by myself and it so boring!

So then lets talk about the benefits of cleaning house. If I keep the fridge clean it feels a lot better to get food out of it. I also know what I have to cook with, and I know that none of my ingredients have gone bad. If I keep the kitchen and dishes clean then I am more motivated to cook and eat, not get take out or go out for dinner. If my clean clothes are folded and put away I can find cute outfits, that make me feel happier, and when I am happier and look nice I don't binge eat as often.

Also, I can burn calories! According to FitDay.com I would burn 192 calories if I clean my house for an hour. I browsed around the internet and found estimates from 75 calories an hour, to 240. So any way I look at it, it's good for me!

I wanted to find a picture of what I look like now, as I start trying harder to lose weight. But I could not find a recent picture of my whole body, just these head shots. Or I found a few but they have other people in them, who I am not sure want to be featured on my blog. So this is a funny picture of me at the beach with frizzy hair from the ferry ride.

Today I weigh 229 pounds. (Scary!)
Waist 40 inches
Hips 50 inches
Bust 45 inches

I did these measurements on myself, so they may not be super accurate. But as long as I keep doing them the same way, I can measure the change, which is what I really want to know.

So, off to burning calories cleaning!

People Read This?

I mentioned I blog here in passing the other day, and a friend or two of mine was very supportive and excited. This means I actually need to blog.

I have been working on my diet, and grocery shopping both to stick to a budget and get healthy food I like. So I am going to take a leap and start actually trying to lose weight, instead of hoping that my better habits will result in weight loss (they have, but only barely.) This means writing about it on my blog. This is actually a very scary prospect. If I say I am going to lose weight and then I am unsuccessful I will feel embarrassed and very disappointed. But if I don't commit to losing weight in a measurable way, I don't think I ever will.

So here goes! I will write again tomorrow.