That's a wrap...

Dee & I crafted a nifty little lunch wrap for ourselves today... We had picked up these wheat wraps at the grocery store, so we decided to toss in a handful of fresh spinach, half a can of tuna, a handful of raw snow peas, a splash of fat-free Italian dressing, and a slice of fat free sharp cheddar. Roll up and toss on our double-sided grill panini-style for 3-4 minutes. Very nice! A bit higher in calories than our normal soup & salad, but Sunday is our "loose" day to experiment a little and break any monotony we may have fallen into. Also, today I'll be trying those two new soup/chili recipes to get us through the work week.

Rock!
--Jay :)

Weigh-In Week 16

We've reached the end of our first full week back on the healthy eating & exercise wagon! Here's how all that hard work paid off...

Weigh-In Week Sixteen:
Jay: 357.0 (-5.0 pounds [-14.5 overall])
Dee: 223.0 (-3.5 pounds [-8.5 overall])

Wow... we're both impressed with ourselves. :) We know the "first week" is usually the easiest because it seems that you're shocking your body back into submission, but we believe that we should be able to maintain about a 1-2 pound per week loss for Dee and a 3-4 pound per week loss for me. (The one sad thing for me is that yesterday morning, I weighed in half a pound LESS than this morning... chalk it up to normal fluctuations... I guess that's why we should only weigh in once per week and not try to get a sneak preview of how things will come out!)

Keep on keepin' on!
--Jay :)

Exercise Update: Week 16

Well, we're in for the evening after completing our afternoon walk, and enjoying Chicken Chili with a side of grilled yellow squash for dinner, and sugar-free pudding for dessert. Dee had two graham crackers with her pudding, and I opted for a fiber bar, as I was a little deficient in fiber for the day. :)

Here's a recap of how we did on the exercise front for Week 16:

Sunday 4/18 [took the day off, as Dee got a migraine!]
9:00 am - 1.5 mile walk (both of us, took about 30 minutes)

Monday 4/19 [work day]
Dee took a 1.75 mile walk by herself while I was stuck at work :)

Tuesday 4/20 [work day]
8:30 am - 1.5 mile walk (both of us, about 23 minutes)

Wednesday 4/21 [work day]
8:20 am - 1 mile walk (both of us, about 19 minutes)

Thursday 4/22 [work day]
8:30 am - 1 mile walk (both of us, about 19 minutes)

Friday 4/23 [day off]
8:30 am - 1 mile walk (both of us AND Jay's mom!, about 21 minutes)
5:00 pm - 1 mile walk (both of us, 17min 15sec)

Saturday 4/24 [day off]
8:53 am - 0.7 mile walk, rained out! (both of us, 11min 15sec)
10:17 am - Dee did 20 minutes at Level 2 on the Gazelle
5:00 pm - 1 mile walk, (both of us, 17min exactly)

Dee hit EVERY day this week, and I got in 6 out of 7 days! We're feeling good, seeing results, and loving every minute of it. We haven't gotten tired of my "healthy" recipes yet, as we both think they're delicious, and we'll hit the store tomorrow to get ingredients for the two new creations for the upcoming work week... a white bean chicken chili, and some sort of chicken veggie barley soup. I'll toss the recipes up here if they're worth a second look.

Weigh-in tomorrow morning! When we checked in this morning, the numbers were pretty amazing, compared to how we'd been doing all along... we're both stoked!!!

Woo!
--Jay :)

Singin' (and Walkin') in the Rain

Mother Nature had other plans for our morning walk... We knew we were due for rain from about 9-10am and from about 4pm-on today, but we tried starting our walk around 8:50am, only to have it start a light rain about 1/4 the way through. So, we cut it to about 7/10 of a mile (according to Google maps) in 11m 15s.

We'll see how the afternoon goes, but I don't think a walk is in the forecast, no pun intended. Time for some Gazelle, or Core Rhythms, or just jumping around like a loony!

--Jay :)

A Walk To Remember...

Well, I just walked a mile in 17:15. A pathetic personal best, ha ha... but not too bad for a fat dude. :-D

We've been remarkably consistent with the exercise regime, trying to get in at least a mile walk each day, some days as much as 2.5 miles over the course of our two daily walks. Woo!

I look forward to the days when I can look back and say, "It used to take me HOW long to do this?!" :)

--Jay

A Day In The Life...

Well, here's the new plan for those asking "how do you do it?"... We've found the ONLY way for us to make sure we stay on plan is about the oldest trick in "dieting"... be mindful of the calories you take in. Wow, really? Yeah, that's our big secret. :) Here's how we usually break down our caloric intake over the course of an ideal day:

8am Breakfast - 450 calories (Jay); 350 calories (Dee)
11am Snack - 150 calories (both)
2pm Lunch - 300 calories (Jay); 250 calories (Dee)
4pm Snack - 60-90 calories (both)
7pm Dinner & Dessert - 500 calories (Jay); 450 calories (Dee)

TOTAL CALORIES: around 1500 (Jay); around 1300 (Dee)

The big secrets? If you notice, the largest meal is breakfast (not counting the dessert combined in with dinner). We try not to eat past about 6-7pm, as we want to be nice and digested by bedtime around 11pm or midnight. Also, we're eating FIVE times a day! Every 2-3 hours! Who has time to be hungry?!? :)

We also try to throw in a 1 or 1.5 mile walk around 9am and 5pm!

Here's how a typical food day looks for us:

Breakfast - 2 packets of oatmeal (OR a bagel); 1 serving Egg Mates (OR half a serving of Egg Mates and half a serving of deli meat); 6 oz. nonfat yogurt; 1 serving fruit; nice big cup of coffee with Splenda and fat-free creamer

Morning Snack - "Trail Mix" made of: 1/2 serving raisins; 6 almonds; and 1/2 serving pretzels (OR a graham cracker substituted for the pretzels)

Lunch - 1 serving of my Chicken Noodle Soup (recipe in this blog) OR a chicken/spinach wrap; salad with lettuce, spinach, carrots, snow peas, cauliflower, etc. and fat-free Italian dressing

Afternoon Snack - 1 serving fruit, such as an apple or orange

Dinner & Dessert - 1 serving of my Chicken Chili (recipe in this blog) OR 1 serving lean protein with a large vegetable portion (edamame, spinach, California blend, etc.); 1 cup sugar-free chocolate/vanilla swirl pudding; 1 oats & chocolate fiber bar

That's a snapshot of Jay's daily meal plan... Dee's is pretty much the same, but lose the Egg Mates. We find ourselves taking in about 15-25 grams of total fat per day (trying to keep it low!), while maintaining at least 38 grams of fiber and 56 grams of protein for Jay (25 fiber and 46 protein for Dee). We found some clever calculators online for those numbers, and I'll have to find the link and get it on here sometime.

We're also discovering the joys of water. And that whole "eight 8-ounce glasses" doesn't work for everyone. We've read in several places that you should take your body weight, divide it in half, and drink that many ounces of water each day! Dee and I typically go well beyond those numbers, and we feel like it's definitely helping to keep us hydrated and healthy, as well as flushing out all the bad stuff. :)

There's plenty of wiggle room in there, and we used to rely a lot more on the frozen convenience meals, but since we're starting to think Dee's headaches are coming from nitrite and/or MSG, we're trying to cook a lot of things ourselves so we can control the ingredients. We've found we can pretty much substitute whatever we like in there, as long as we stay in our calorie range and keep the fat low and the fiber high.

Anyway, that's where we are for now! We're both doing exceptionally well, and know this is something that we can keep up easily. Once you start a new way of life, you do pretty much have to do it forever. Once we get closer to our "goal weights", we should be able to increase the calories a bit, and figure out that magic number that will allow us to maintain.

Rock it!
--Jay :)

Recipe: Chicken Chili

Here's a mild chili that I created using diced chicken breast instead of ground meat. Remember, you can click keyword "recipes" to see all the recipes together...

Chicken Chili
~Makes 10 servings, 1 cup each

Ingredients:
1.5 lbs boneless skinless chicken breast
1 packet chili seasoning (whatever heat you prefer, may want to use 2 packets!)
1 can (15 oz.) tomato sauce
2 cans (15.5 oz. each) dark red kidney beans
2 cans (15.5 oz. each) pinto beans

1) Put tomato sauce, all beans, and seasoning in pot and get cookin'!
2) Grill chicken until cooked.
3) Dice chicken and add to chili pot.
4) Simmer together 10-15 minutes.

Break out the bowls! :)

Nutrition Facts (per 1 cup serving):
Calories: 243
Fat: 0.5
Fiber: 8.5
Protein: 23

Cost per serving: $0.61 (we found chicken on sale for about $1.50 per pound!)

--Jay :)

Recipe: Chicken Noodle Soup

Here's a really simple, nitrate-free chicken noodle soup I threw together one day, and Dee and I rocked that stuff every day for lunch without getting tired of it! :) And remember, you can click on keyword "recipes" to see all our recipes!

Chicken Noodle Soup
~Makes 8 servings, 1 1/4 cups each



Ingredients:
1.5 lbs boneless skinless chicken breast
1 large can (49.5 oz) Swanson's 100% Natural Chicken Broth
3 cups water
4 medium carrots, diced
1 medium green bell pepper, diced
1.5 cups dry rotini pasta (we used "garden" rotini)
dried, minced onion (or substitute fresh onion)
dried parsley
salt (we use a lower sodium variety)

1) Place broth, water, carrots, and bell pepper in large pot and get boiling!
2) Grill chicken until cooked.
3) Dice chicken and add to soup pot.
4) Add pasta, minced onion, and parsley to soup pot. Add salt to taste.
5) Simmer for 10-15 minutes until pasta is cooked.

Enjoy!

Nutrition Facts (per 1.25 cup serving):
Calories: 156
Fat: 1 gram
Fiber: 2 grams
Protein: 19.5 grams

Cost per serving: $0.96 (we found chicken on sale for about $1.50 per pound!)

--Jay :)

Nitrites? Autolyzed? Monosodium-who?

Well, we've come to a crossroads in our dietary journey... Dee developed a bad migraine (the fourth in four days) after breakfast this morning, and we were suddenly struck by a conversation we'd had with a co-worker about her migraines and not being able to eat hot dogs because of nitrates.

At our office party on Thursday, Dee ate a hot dog. She got a headache. Friday morning, Dee had deli ham with breakfast. She got a headache. Saturday morning, more deli ham. More headache. Sunday morning, ditto. Ditto. Light bulb. We started thinking back, and were able to connect past headaches with other events involving processed meats, and especially trips to buffets, Chinese food, etc.

We had connected the buffet-headache trend before, especially after Chinese buffets, and thought the problem might be MSG, so I started reading up on it, and had never realized all the other names that MSG can go by! Autolyzed yeast, sodium caseinate, carrageenan, and a whole host of other things that may indicate the presence or creation of MSG in food!

So, we're pulling Dee (and myself) off anything that we think may have nitrates/nitrites (such as hot dogs, lunch meat, ham, pepperoni, sausage) or MSG. We're going to try to cook fresh, and be super-conscious of ingredients on nutrition labels. We would like to find some deli meat, be it ham or turkey, that doesn't contain any warning words, as we do like that with our breakfast.

We're choosing the road less traveled... which may be a slightly more expensive road than grabbing the latest frozen healthy meals on sale each week... but we know the benefit will be greater in the long run. I've heard over and over again to know exactly what you're putting into your body, and now it's all making sense. I'm tired of eating chemicals... :)

--Jay :)

Weigh-In Week 15

Yes, this is technically Week 15 on (or off) the diaita, and here's the weigh-in...

Our last recorded numbers were on 3/28 with Jay at 364.0 and Dee at 226.0.

Weigh-In Week Fifteen:
Jay: 362.0 (-2.0 pounds [-9.5 overall])
Dee: 226.5 (+0.5 pounds [-5.0 overall])

After breakfast, we'll hit up at least a mile of walking, and try to continue the good exercise plan through the work-week. Dee found a website through The Biggest Loser where you can pledge to lose weight and they donate money to your local food bank... she pledged 30 pounds and I pledged 50 pounds (the max you could do) though I intend to lose quite a bit more than that!

Rock!
--Jay :)

Let's Play Ketchup...

All right, let's catch up on what's been going on the last few weeks during our absence... :)

It seems we left off just before V-Day, so let's recap the weigh-ins:

Sun. 2/14 - Jay 359.5 (-0.5 pounds) - Dee 227.0 (no change)

Sun. 2/21 - Jay 359.0 (-0.5 pounds) - Dee 225.5 (-1.5 pounds)

Sun. 2/28 - Jay 361.0 (+2.0 pounds) - Dee 225.5 (no change)
[this was the opening weekend for a theatre production, and Dee & I stayed at the beach and I enjoyed the free hot breakfast a little TOO much...]

Sun. 3/7 - Jay 363.0 (+2.0 pounds) - Dee 223.0 (-1.5 pounds)
[and then, this was the closing weekend of the play, hotel breakfast killed me again - Dee caught the "cast bug" that was going around and felt miserable!!!]

Sun. 3/14 - Jay 360.5 (-2.5 pounds) - Dee 224.0 (+1 pound)
[how did I have such amazing progress, besides the play being over and tearing myself away from the hotel breakfast... my turn for the "cast bug" and no appetite!]

Sun. 3/21 - skipped weigh-in

Sun. 3/28 - Jay 364 (+3.5 pounds) - Dee 226.0 (+2 pounds)

Sun. 4/4 - skipped weigh-in

Sun. 4/11 - skipped weigh-in

And here we be! Through the stresses of helping put on a theatre production and a good little spell of illness and recovery, and then falling back into some of the old habits, we've gone a lot of nowhere fast! :-D Just this past Thursday, after having eaten not-so-well at our monthly office employee birthday party, we both vowed to start anew!

The good news is that we've got an exercise recap going on now...
Fri. 4/16 - 1 mile walk in the morning, 1 mile walk in the afternoon
Sat. 4/17 - 1.5 mile walk in the morning, 1 mile walk in the afternoon (plus Dee put in 30 minutes on the Gazelle in between!)

We don't expect too much in the way of results this week, as we've only been back on the plan for about two days, but we look forward to things to come!

--Jay :)

Life is Sweet... Potatoes... :)

Just wrapped our one-mile afternoon walk... that's a total of 2.5 miles walked today, up from the 2 miles of combined walking yesterday!

Dee's hit the shower, and I've got our world famous baked savory sweet potato "fries" in the oven. Adding some steamed edamame and one of those healthy pre-packaged TV-diet meals (gotta get rid of them somehow... might as well eat them!) and we're in business! We are loving us some edamame lately!!!



We shall see what tomorrow brings...
--Jay :)

"She told me to walk this way..." --Aerosmith (1975)

Well, Dee & I are some walkin' machines! I wimped out a bit on the late-afternoon walk yesterday and scaled it down to just one mile... Not bad... I don't remember the last time I walked two miles in a single day, for no good reason, ha! :)

We're still tracking all our dietary numbers, as that seems to be a good guilt trip I can give myself... if I can't COUNT it... I can't EAT it... so that helps me personally get rid of any stray snacks at work, homemade goodies brought in, etc. etc. etc. Plus, we're set it all up in a spreadsheet with "goal" numbers for each day, so we can see how close we are to going over and we know when we're had enough for the day.

We started today off with a mile AND A HALF walk post-breakfast. I had only eaten about half my intended breakfast and chugged the last half of my cup of coffee, so I was feeling pretty weird around the half-mile mark, but I soon settled in and pushed for a little extra.

Tomorrow morning is the big grand re-weigh-in, and I'm sure we're both up from where we left off on the blog, but we'll soon get that turned around again!

Rock it!
--Jay :)

Wagging Their Tails Behind Them...

Well, we fell off the wagon for a while. Actually, our wagon went over a ravine and broke apart on some rocky outcroppings... okay, so it wasn't THAT bad. It just wasn't that GOOD.

We've come back with a vengeance, partly due to the fact that we're both in a play and would like to look a little more aesthetically pleasing, and party due to the fact that we're both tired of being lazy. We're cleaning the house, getting rid of junk, donating stuff to charity, and working on the bodies as well!

Dee and I walked a mile this morning after breakfast, ate super healthy all day, keeping track of the calories, fat, fiber, protein, and sugar, and are planning a before-dinner late-afternoon walk of about 1.5 miles. Bring it!

We haven't weighed in lately, but will do a complete update this Sunday.

The challenge is back on! Eat our dust!!! :P

--Jay