30 Day Healthy Meals Weight Loss Diet 2: Day 7
I just can not believe how fast the time is going by so far during my second 30 Day Healthy Meals Weight Loss Diet of the year.
There has been so much going on in our lives lately that I suppose I should not be that surprised about the time flying by. We just finished moving from Campbellton, New Brunswick back to Halifax, Nova Scotia.
I had been out of work for some time while living in Campbellton, yet I have only been back in Halifax for one week and am about to start working full-time again.
The time has probably been going by quickly because Lyann and I have had so many things to occupy our minds other than focusing solely on this 30 Day Weight Loss Diet. I am normally completely absorbed by a diet like this. You would have to see me running around with my calculator, pen and paper prior to supper time in order to believe how exact I am about recording my calorie count. I always want to make sure that I do not go over my allowable total of 1000 calories per day.
If you read my earlier posts in this series then you will be familiar with what a goose chase it was for us to be able to secure an apartment here in Halifax. Thank goodness we had been on our best behaviour when we lived here in the past. I do not know what would have happened if we did not have a good reference from a former landlord.
I am also thankful that I was able to begin negotiations for a full time job prior to actually moving to the Halifax area. I did not want to be saddled with the extra stress of looking for a job and getting no results. I was actually really confident that I would be employed soon after arriving here, but it never hurts to be prepared.
So Lyann and I had all of that stress going on in our lives while I was conducting this 30 Day Healthy Meals Weight Loss Diet and I also got way behind in my posting schedule. I only intended to be away from being able to post for one or two days at the most. However, due to the unforeseen circumstance of rejecting our original choice of an apartment and having to find something else in a hurry, I missed a little more time than intended.
I am pleased to report that after a marathon of writing today, I am back up to date with my posting schedule and able to breathe a little easier tonight. Most people have no real idea of how long it takes to put a 3000 word post together. It must first be written, reviewed and edited for grammatical errors and proper sentence structure. Then, all of the pictures you intend to include in your post must be taken, edited, sized and inserted into the post.
Add the task of inserting any relevant hyperlinks to useful information or related topics and you are up to a few hours of time devoted to just one blog entry. I have managed to cut down the effort I have to put forth in order to put up a post on my site just because I have done it so many times and have become faster at the mundane, repetitive tasks involved. However, it still takes a good three hours on average to make up a post.
Quality Takes Time
Please do not ever get the idea that I resent all the time I have to invest to keep this blog going and to be able to report on my 30 Day Weight Loss Diets. I love what I do here and would not give it up unless absolutely necessary for the survival of my family. It gives me great pleasure to be able to share my knowledge about weight loss and the variety of great meals I get to eat every day.
I love being able to share my insight into weight loss and how it is best achieved without the need for exercise. I hope to reach many thousands of people with the message that all you need to be successful is to decide once and for all to lose weight. You do not need anyone to help you, including me. You are the only one who will effectively cause yourself to lose weight. All anyone else can do is offer advice that you either apply or disregard.
It takes time to write an effective post for a blog. It takes time to find a way to communicate your thoughts to others by translating them from mere thoughts into written words on a page or monitor. Stephen King once pointed out that writers who say they can only put out one book a year are lazy. He showed that if you only wrote five pages per day, you could produce (5 × 365) = 1825 pages of writing in one year. That seems like enough material for a couple of novels.
It also takes time to lose weight. It takes time to go up the steep learning curve that you must climb if you wish to lose weight and keep it off successfully. Yet, anything goal worth accomplishing has a history behind it. Those who have accomplished great things in their lives will all tell you tales of the adversity they faced and overcame along the way.
Sure, there are lots of quick-fix methods out there for getting rid of fat or losing weight. You could take the easy way out and go to a specialist doctor for liposuction. You could do something drastic like getting your stomach stapled or getting lap-band surgery. You could try all of the most popular weight loss drugs and pills that are available today. Yet, none of these methods build character. They are not quality methods of losing weight.
The only weight loss method that builds character and therefore embodies quality is the slow and steady method of taking one day at a time and becoming personally responsible for what you put in your mouth each day. Winning the battle against your own mind and body each day is ultimately more rewarding than taking the easy way out of obesity.
Why do you think so many people who win millions of dollars in the lottery end up going broke or declaring bankruptcy within five years after their win? It is because they are not prepared to be responsible with so much money. Winning the lottery is taking the easy way out to get rich.
Those people who build a fortune from scratch, taking 30 years in the process are far better equipped to handle the large sums of money associated with lottery wins. They learn to handle the extra responsibility as their fortune grows. They learn lessons about financial management along the way to their wealth that most lottery winners never had the benefit of receiving.
It is a sure bet that most people who give in to the easy fat loss method of liposuction for the first time end up going back for a second treatment once they have gained weight again. I have no doubt that those people who wimp out and receive stomach stapling surgery or lap band surgery regret their decision to do so at some point. Would you not always wonder if you could have lost the weight on your own?
Quality takes time. If you want to achieve quality weight loss, do not take the easy way out. Start down your own personal development road today by learning to become personally responsible for what you put in your mouth each day. Adopt the SaveYourSweat.com way of eating. Check out all my 30 Day Healthy Meals Weight Loss Diet posts and put my advice to use. I offer it all for free because I want you to succeed.
Anyone who tells you that you need their help to be able to lose weight is selling something. All you need is advice. Are you the kind of person who takes advice? Only time will tell if you possess that quality.
Today’s Healthy Meal
Speaking of quality, I took my time in putting together the meal I ate today. I had been quite rushed over the past week or so while I worked feverishly to catch up to my regular posting schedule. I finally managed to get caught up this afternoon and so I had a lot more free time than usual to think about what I wanted for supper.
I like to make adjustments to my meals periodically so that I can enjoy an extra treat or two during the day. One of the things I really enjoy doing is eating some kind of special treat with my wife Lyann. I had been so strict with my 30 Day Weight Loss Diets for a while that I began to miss the times when we would curl up under a blanket and enjoy some special food together.
It was not the food I missed so much as the intimacy and togetherness that came from sitting close and being partners in crime while devouring some tasty food together. Lyann is my best friend and I like to do whatever I can that brings us closer together. I am an obsessive person and I sometimes lose sight of what is really important in life. I can get caught up in an activity and not realize that I am blocking everything else out.
I made a conscious effort to not be quite so single-minded about my diet today. I adjusted my calorie intake so as to be able to have one of those blanket and goodies nights with my wife and best friend. That being said, here is a picture of the meal I ate today:
I guess that the chicken drumsticks that I ate tonight were a weird choice considering that I went on for a while in my last post about how Lyann and I do not eat much meat anymore. However, these were not very big drumsticks and may have weighed six ounces in total. That is still not a very big serving of meat.
The reason why I enjoyed my chicken drumsticks so much tonight was that we prepared them our favourite way. We have tried having our chicken drumsticks plain in the past but that practice makes for a really bland serving of meat.
There are some little tricks you can try like sprinkling spices on them if you want to add flavour without calories, but our favourite flavouring method of all is to use Cajun Shake ‘n Bake coating. Here is a picture of the coating we used on our chicken drumsticks tonight, along with its associated nutritional information:
I love the way this meal looks in the picture above. I really like the effect of mixing the green and red seedless grapes together in the same bowl. When you suffer from oral allergy syndrome and can only eat a few different fruits, you have to do whatever you can to build variety and innovation into each meal. The ruby red grapefruit I had today is not only attractive, but delicious.
In the picture above, we have 2 cups of Homemade Vegetable Soup with Knorr OXO Beef Bouillon, 2 Quaker Original Rice Cakes, 1½ Tablespoons of Kraft Reduced Fat Smooth Peanut Butter, 2 Chicken Drumsticks, Tossed Salad, 30 grams of Kraft Tex Mex Cheese, 3 Tablespoons of Kraft Roasted Red Pepper with Parmesan Dressing, Cucumber, Green Pepper, Tomato, Mushrooms, Dill Pickles, Olives, Green Seedless Grapes, Red Seedless Grapes and Ruby Red Grapefruit.
The calorie content associated with the meal in the picture above is as follows:
- 2 cups of Homemade Vegetable Soup – zero calories. Our soup always contains only vegetables, water and bouillon. There is no need to count calories from this soup.
- 2 Quaker plain rice cakes – 70 calories
- 1½ Tablespoons of Kraft Reduced Fat Smooth Peanut Butter – 120 calories
- 2 Chicken Drumsticks with Shake ‘n Bake – 250 calories
- Tossed Salad – zero calories. If you ever count calories from vegetables, you deserve to be smacked.
- 30 grams of Kraft Tex Mex Cheese – 110 calories
- 3 Tablespoons of Kraft Roasted Red Pepper with Parmesan Dressing – 60 calories
- Cucumber, Green Pepper, Tomatoes, Mushrooms, Dill Pickles, Olives, Green Seedless Grapes, Red Seedless Grapes and Ruby Red Grapefruit – zero calories. These are negative-calorie foods. See all the good stuff you can eat without counting calories?
The total calorie count associated with the meal picture above is 610 calories. If you have been keeping up with the other posts in this 30 Day Healthy Meals Weight Loss Diet, then you will recognize that this calorie count is a little lower than normal for my main meal. Remember how I mentioned earlier that I was saving space for something I could share with my wife? Well ,that is the reason for the low calorie total of my main meal.
I was actually able to have two little treats tonight because I took personal responsibility for the calorie count of my main meal of the day. The first thing I got to have immediately after supper while sipping my coffee was an Original Wagon Wheel. This was the third variety of Wagon Wheel I had bought to have for desserts during this food trial. Here is a picture of the Wagon Wheel I had for dessert tonight along with its associated calorie count:
Although this Original Wagon Wheel was good and although I received the added benefit of it only having a calorie count of 150 calories, it still was not my favourite of the three varieties I have tried. My favourite Wagon Wheel by far is the Choco Cherry kind. The cherry filling has the greatest taste ever. If you are going to buy Wagon Wheels, then I recommend getting the Choco Cherry to avoid disappointment.
The 150 calories that I ingested by having this Original Wagon Wheel for my dessert tonight brought my total daily calorie intake up to 760 calories. I was still really far off from the 1000 calorie total I promised to maintain, but with good reason. I saved all that room within my 1000 calorie total so that I could enjoy some popcorn with Lyann while we watched a movie on our computer monitor later in the evening.
We do not own a television or watch television at all, but we do like to watch a good clean movie once in a while. We are very selective about what we will watch and we are known for turning off a movie immediately if it promotes behaviour that does not line up with scripture. We always like to enjoy some kind of treat while watching too. Tonight, we chose to share a bag of Compliments Natural Flavour Popcorn. Here is a picture of the popcorn we had tonight along with its nutritional information:
As you can see from the picture above, one-third of this bag of popcorn contains 160 calories. That means that a full bag contains 480 calories. Since Lyann and I split a bag of this popcorn between ourselves, I added another 240 calories to my total for the day. This brought my total calorie intake for the day up to 1000 calories exactly.
I had been hoping to have a day where I came in right on top of my 1000 calorie goal. This popcorn was a great way to finish off my day and get me to my allowable calorie limit. We do not like the varieties of popcorn that have butter flavour, extra butter or movie theater butter flavouring. All of those brands are really salty and they contain far too many calories for someone on a calorie-controlled diet to be able to enjoy.
There is just enough flavouring in this popcorn we chose that it is not too bland to eat. We sometimes like to have our popcorn with cheddar too. Lyann turned me on to this practice a few years ago and now it just seems strange to eat popcorn alone. However, I did not have any other choice because I had no room left in my calorie total for the day to add the cheddar in safely.
Weight and Body Fat
Today was the first day during this second 30 Day Healthy Meals Weight Loss Diet of the year that I did not see any change at all in my weight or body fat percentage. That is usually a good sign in that it usually precedes a drop in weight. I hope this is the case because I am beginning to get anxious about getting back down below the 150.0 lb mark.
My Salter body fat percentage scale showed me weighing in at 151.6 lbs today, with a body fat percentage reading of 20.6%, just like yesterday. I have always found that when your numbers are the same two days in a row, your weight unfailingly goes down the next day. That bit of empirical knowledge from past experience has me curious about what will actually happen when I step on the scale tomorrow morning.
My weight loss chart line for the month of April, 2009 looks a little stranger than usual with one odd spike in my weight a couple of days after my last free day, but the overall trend is in a downward direction. The unfortunate part of having no fat left to lose is that it seems to take a lot longer than it used to for your weight to change.
Weight loss can seem very rapid in the beginning because you have so much extra fat to lose. It is not uncommon for people who follow the SaveYourSweat.com diet rules to lose 40.0 lbs over a 12 week period. My own mom is following a hospital-supervised weight loss program that very closely resembles the diet I preach here on my blog (but their program costs $3000.00 while mine is free) and she has already lost 30 lbs in 12 weeks. So you all know, she chose to go with a hospital-supervised weight loss program because she has Addison’s Disease and has to be careful with all the steroids she is forced to take. I am very impressed by her willpower. I wish more people could realize that they also possess that kind of determination.
Summary
I think what really made today a great day for me was making room in my diet to have popcorn with Lyann. A lot of how she feels about herself depends on how I feel about myself. I am learning as I go along in marriage that a husband needs to learn how to relax sometimes and not take himself so seriously. Making room to share popcorn with my wife is one of the ways I try to relax a little.
It is hard to believe that a week of this diet has already gone by and that only 23 days remain until our next free day which is scheduled for May 5, 2009. Every time I start a new 30 day diet, whether it is a 30 Day Healthy Meals Weight Loss Diet or a 30 Day Substandard Weight Loss Diet, it feels like 30 days is a long time. Then, all of a sudden, a week has passed. It is not long before I am staring down the last few days of the diet.
Thirty days is in reality a very short time. I know that each and every person who reads these posts and even those who have never read my blog (so basically everybody) has within them the power to commit to eating healthy and controlling their calorie intake in a responsible manner for just thirty days.
You may not believe you are capable of controlling your diet for thirty days, but that does not mean that I am not speaking the truth. If I tell you the truth and you choose not to believe it, that does not make what I said a lie, it makes it the truth that you do not believe. I believe in you even if you do not believe in you. Everyone has the ability to slay the dragon of obesity. Why not get started today?
Technorati Tags: 30 Day Weight Loss Diet, Healthy Meals Weight Loss Diet, 1000 Calorie Limit, Healthy Meals, Weight Loss, Food, Personal Development
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