Weigh-In: Week 7 & 8

Been a busy couple of weeks... We've been occupied with the impending opening of our current community theatre production, as well as auditions for the following show! :)

Anyway, we've still been plugging along on the reduced-carb & sugar front, but still haven't jumped back on the exercise bandwagon just yet. Here's how we rolled...

Weigh In Week Seven [2/14/2011-2/20-2011]
Jay: 334.5 (+0.5 pounds for the week; -27.5 for 2011)
Dee: 213.0 (-1.0 pounds for the week; -15.0 for 2011)

Weigh In Week Eight [2/21/2011-2/27-2011]
Jay: 329.5 (-5.0 pounds for the week; -32.5 for 2011)
Dee: 211.0 (-2.0 pounds for the week; -17.0 for 2011)

We've been playing around with all sorts of new snacking ideas too, just to keep things interesting. I've tried to add one piece of fruit back into my daily eating plan, but we've also stayed on some of the lower carb ideas, such as little pizzas made with the melba toast we got at Trader Joe's... nachos using our flaxseed chips from Trader Joe's... yay for Trader Joe's. :)

We plan to stay good for the next few weeks through the run of our current show, then relax a little on the caloric front on a brief family trip, and come back and kick back into gear.

--Jay :)

Weigh-In: Week 6

Eh, a bit of a stall on the blogging front, as well as the weight loss front this week. We've been plugging along, watching calories, carbs & sugar. One downside of the lower carb & sugar shift is that we seem to be bringing a little more fat back in, and we've eliminated fruit completely. We're still not going over the recommended 65g of fat per day by any means though. I'm thinking to adjust a little more over the next few weeks so that ALL my numbers are in a good balance. :)

Weigh In Week Six [2/7/2011-2/13/2011]
Jay: 334.0 (-2.0 pounds for the week; -28.0 for 2011)
Dee: 214.0 (+0.5 pounds for the week; -14.0 for 2011)

Not counting Friday the 11th when we had a decent, semi-health-conscious meal out at TGI Friday's, Dee's carbs ranged from 100.8-133.0 and sugars from 17.52-27.42 for the week. My carbs were 110.2-161.8 and sugars were 15.85-36.25, mostly because I'm trying to finish off some artificially sweetened nonfat yogurt that we still having hanging around the house.

Rock it!
--Jay :)

Weigh-In: Week 5

All we can say this week is, "Thank you, Jorge Cruise!" We're not following the Belly Fat Cure to the letter, but we've re-evaluated our sugar intake, making sure what we do take in is mostly of the natural variety. Dee had a remarkable showing this week, and I did better than I have the last couple of weeks. Let's peek at it...

Weigh In Week Five [1/31/2011-2/6/2011]
Jay: 336.0 (-3.5 pounds for the week; -26.0 for 2011)
Dee: 213.5 (-6.0 pounds for the week; -14.5 for 2011)

The funny thing is, we both weighed in Tuesday morning, and hadn't lost a thing for the week. Dee started reducing her sugar intake drastically on Wednesday, and I joined her on Thursday. So these results seem to come from only 3 or 4 days of this new eating plan!

Here's how our carb & sugar intake changed this week:

Mon. 1/31 - didn't count carbs & sugar

Tue. 2/1:
Jay - 247.2 g carbs; 104.6 g sugar
Dee - 236.7 g carbs; 96.5 g sugar

Wed. 2/2: (Dee went full-force onto the new plan)
Jay - 240.7 g carbs; 108.1 g sugar
Day - 132.1 g carbs; 33.2 g sugar

Thu. 2/3: (I made some small adjustments)
Jay - 176 g carbs; 62.1 g sugar
Dee - 106.3 g carbs; 21.8 g sugar

Fri. 2/4: (We went healthy shopping, so I joined full-on)
Jay - 145.5 g carbs; 33.3 g sugar
Dee - 108.3 g carbs; 21.1 g sugar

Sat. 2/5:
Jay - 135.2 g carbs; 27.0 g sugar
Dee - 112.9 g carbs; 22.8 g sugar

Dee had 4 strong days on this new way of thinking, and I had... call it 2 1/2 days. :)

Not bad... not bad a'tall...
--Jay :)

Weigh-In: Week 4

Well, we're both still headed in the right direction, though I still didn't end up quite where I thought I would. Perhaps the lack of exercise did a little something, ha... :) Let's do this thing:

Weigh In Week Four [1/24/2011-1/30-2011]
Jay: 339.5 (-2.5 pounds for the week; -22.5 pounds for 2011)
Dee: 219.5 (-1.5 pounds for the week; -8.5 pounds for 2011)

Keepin' on!
--Jay :)

Weigh-In: Week 3

Man, we woke up late this morning... well, later than we've become accustomed to lately. I think we slept until a whopping 9:45 or so! :)

We were hosting karaoke at a friend's birthday party last night, and didn't get home until about 12:30 am, so we needed that sleep! We were good though, not partaking of the foodstuffs at the party... Plus, we're hosting karaoke again tonight for the company I work for, at their annual "kick off the new year" party, and we intend to be just as good at avoiding the foodstuffs, or at least filtering them to find healthy options.

Anyway, it's the end of another week for us, and time for a weigh-in!

Weigh In Week Three [1/17/2011-1/23/2011]
Jay: 342.0 (-2.5 pounds for the week; -20.0 pounds for 2011)
Dee: 221.0 (+2.0 pounds for the week; -7.0 pounds for 2011)

The workouts seem to be having quite an effect on Dee, and it looks like she's in a muscle-building phase right now. Even I didn't lose quite as much as I thought I would, but we're both seeing little changes in our bodies already. They always say that the more muscle mass you have, the more fat you burn, so eventually I think we'll even out and start to see more significant losses.

Keep it up!
--Jay :)

"Soy" Long, Farewell!

Darn you, Internet! Darn you, for being chock full of information. :)

We stopped eating edamame, a.k.a. soybeans, several months ago after Dee was diagnosed with mild thyroid troubles. It was high up on the long list of unhealthy foods for thyroids. In doing more research since then, we're seeing all sorts of negative things about goiters and infertility, and all kinds of things links to soybeans, soy sauce, etc. Sure, they're high fiber. But at what cost? The former wonder-bean is taking a dive. So, we're off it. Tasty little killer beans they were.



That's me (several pounds ago) looking across a sea of vicious man-eating soybeans, wondering how I will ever free myself...

Now, we're digging deeper into foods that we still eat, which probably contain soy. Things like our standby dessert item: the fiber bar. In the not-too-distant future, I plan to experiment with some recipes and combinations to maybe brew up some homemade fiber-laden dessert bars. I've been reading up on things like bulgur, barley, oat germ, and other "fiber-licious" choices. I'll let you know how that goes. :)

We're also toying with the idea of weaning away from our standard faux-sweetener of choice, the chemically delicious Splenda. Sure, I read somewhere that Splenda contains trace amounts of some chemical that we can never digest, and remains in our bodies forEVER. And so what if it bills itself as a NO calorie sweetener that really has something like 45 calories per cup? Okay, I admit... Splenda may have pulled the wool over my eyes just a bit. We've read about honey and agave nectar and all sorts of natural things that we may also try, just for funzies.

Why does food have to be so complicated? Maybe, by going back to more natural things, it doesn't really have to be. I think people are learning to eat more like their ancestors ate. Of course, their ancestors probably only lived to be about 30-40 years old. But let's blame that on poor sanitation, bad hygeine, and lack of medical advances, shall we?

The only thing that stays the same, is change...

--Jay :)

Weigh-In: Week 2

We've reached the end of Week 2 back on the healthy eating plan, with a few substitutions here and there... Mostly, it seems that laziness set in again after we ran out of chicken barley soup for lunch, and I had no soup ingredients in the house! So on Friday & Saturday, I cooked up 1 cup of whole wheat pasta, took 1 can of tuna, and Dee & I split both. That, with some fat-free Italian and some salad veggies... worked out to be the same calories for lunch. Not too bad! :)

Weigh In Week Two [1/10/2011-1/16/2011]
Jay: 344.5 (-5.5 pounds for the week; -17.5 pounds for 2011)
~ [-101.5 overall since heaviest]
Dee: 219.0 (-2.5 pounds for the week; -9.0 pounds for 2011)
~ [-81.5 overall since heaviest]

Keep on' keepin' on!!!
--Jay :)

Weigh-In: Week 1

I guess we'll start the numbering all over again for 2011... yay! Being our kick-off week, the numbers are pretty nice. We know it won't keep up like this, but as long as we can settle into a nice, consistent downward slide, we shall be happy. Let's do it!

Weigh-In Week One [1/3/2011-1/9/2011]
Jay: 350.0 (-12.0 pounds for the week [-96 overall since heaviest])
Dee: 221.5 (-6.5 pounds for the week [-74.5 overall since heaviest])

Holy crow!
--Jay :)

The First Week is the Awesomest

Substitution...

Ah, the streak of laziness continues... This morning, we were down to one yogurt. I let Dee have it, and replaced my "dairy" serving with a sugar-free pudding! Hey... it's works! Dessert for breakfast! :)

For lunch, still no salad... back to spinach again! :)

Is Awesomest a Word?

We've also been too excited to wait until the end of the week, so we've been weighing in almost every day. The first week is always the most fun because your body is getting adjusted to new portion sizes, getting rid of all the bad stuff still in you, blah blah blah...

As of stepping on the scales this morning, I'm down about 10 pounds and Dee is down 6. It's always encouraging to get such a start, and we know that we can keep this up!!!

Official update in the morning...
--Jay :)

Beginning Anew for the New Year!

Welcome back to the blog!

I'm speaking, of course, to myself. Where have I been? Consumed by (or should I say, consuming) the jungle of evil delicious things that lurk in the shadowy alleys of life.

As you may recall, this blog was prompted by a friendly competition with my brother-in-law to see who could drop the most poundage from January to August of 2010. After the competition ended (and I stomped his rear into the ground!), I got soft. And so did my mid-section, before ever even standing a chance to be any other way.

So I enjoyed food again. I didn't enjoy what food was doing, but I turned a blind eye. My memory fails me, but according to my last few blog update on June 26, 2010, I had gone from 371.5 to 328.5, dropping 43 pounds in 25 weeks. Dee had gone from 231.5 to 209.5, for a loss of 22 pounds.

Now, here I sit... a new year, with a revived spirit, and ready to kick this sucker in the tail again! I'm currently lumped here at 362, which mean I let 33.5 pounds of food defeat me in something like 4 months. Dee rebounded a mere 18.5 pounds, where she now sits at 228.

Are we embarrassed? Are we ashamed? In a word... NO. If anything, I hope to show that there is no easy button. Sure, when we stick to our plan, it works. If we slack off, well... it doesn't. I still hope to inspire and motivate through all the ups and downs, because this is a constant battle. In the end, I shall win the war.

Let the battle begin...
--Jay :)

The Plan (The CliffsNotes Version)

I figured we finally needed one good post that would be a quick answer to my most commonly received question: "What are you guys DOING to lose weight?!" I already gave a good overview in my April 2010 post entitled "A Day In The Life", but figured I'd make this one plainer and simpler, reference it in the very top post on the blog at all times for easy find-ability, and keep it updated with any new tips and tricks we stumble upon.

Last Updated: 1/8/2011

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Here's a quick version of the science behind losing weight:
In order to lose an average 1 pound per week, you need to figure out how many calories your body burns naturally over the course of a day, then subtract 500 calories per day. You can do this by decreasing your caloric intake, or by increasing your daily activity to burn more calories. There's a handy calculator linked in the sidebar below to help figure out these numbers.

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Here's a snapshot of what we eat and do each day:

• 7:30am - Wake Up

• 8:00am - Breakfast
~ 1/2 cup "quick" oatmeal with Splenda & cinnamon
[140 calories, 2.5 grams fat total]
~ 0.75 oz. raisins, mixed into our oatmeal
[65 calories, no fat]
~ 1/2 cup egg substitute, fried or scrambled
[60 calories, no fat]
~ 6 oz. non-fat yogurt
[90 calories, no fat]
~ large cup of coffee with Splenda & powdered "light" creamer
[20 calories for the creamer, no fat]

• 11:00am - Snack
~ 10 mini pretzels
[55 calories, 0.5 grams fat]
~ 6 almonds
[41 calories, 3.5 grams fat]
~ 0.75 oz. raisins
[65 calories, no fat]

• 1:30pm - Lunch
~ 1 serving of any lunch recipe (see sidebar below)
[average 175 calories, 1.5 grams fat]
~ large salad with lettuce, cabbage, cucumber, etc.
[calories and fat are negligible]
~ 2 tbsp. fat-free Italian dressing
[20 calories, no fat]

• 3:00pm - Snack
~ 1 medium apple or orange
[65 calories, no fat]

• 6:00pm - Dinner
~ 1 serving of chicken chili (see sidebar below)
[250 calories, 0.5 grams fat]
~ large serving non-starchy vegetables (broccoli, spinach, cauliflower)
[average 90 calories, no fat]

• 6:30pm - Dessert
~ 1 oats & chocolate fiber bar
[140 calories, 4 grams fat]
~ 1 small cup sugar-free pudding
[80 calories, 1.5 grams fat]

• 11:00pm - Bedtime!

DAILY TOTALS:
1356 calories
14 grams fat

As you may notice, we typically never have time to feel hungry, since we're eating every 2 1/2 - 3 hours! :) We do try to stop eating by at least 7pm, as don't want to go to bed with a whole lot processing around in our bellies.

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Other tips and tricks that we live by:
• Drink lots of water! A good rule that we found is: take your body weight, divide in half, and try to drink that many ounces of water each day. I also count things like coffee, tea, and Crystal Light-type drink mixes into my water count. We try to avoid any drinks with calories, such as soda, alcohol, etc.
• Exercise! When we can, we do try to fit in at least a little exercise each day, usually 30 minutes or so. We have a low-impact Gazelle machine, and Dee also likes the Core Rhythms dance fitness DVD system.

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That's all I've got on the brain for now, but I'll be adding to and editing this post periodically to keep it up to date with the latest stuff we've found to help shed some extra pounds!

--Jay :)

Weigh-In Week 24 & 25

Well, we've been falling down on the blogging lately... Fortunately, we've been sticking to the eating plan well enough, with a few exceptions for family gatherings. The exercise plan... yeah, that one's still under construction... :) Here's how the last couple of weeks went:

Weigh-In Week Twenty-Four [6/13-6/19]
Jay: 331.0 (-1.5 pounds [40.5 overall])
Dee: 211 (-0.5 pounds [20.5 overall])

Weigh-In Week Twenty-Five [6/20-6/26]
Jay: 328.5 (-2.5 pounds [-43 overall])
Dee: 209.5 (-1.5 pounds [-22 overall])

Rock it!
--Jay :)

Weigh-In Week 23

Well, we've just come off a week with a couple of days celebrating anniversaries and things like that, which involved a few meals out, movies with popcorn and all sorts of fun things... :) We've learned that it's okay to splurge every now and then, as long as we come right back to the plan! Here's how we went (or didn't go, ha ha) for the week:

Weigh-In Week Twenty-Three
Jay: 332.5 (no change [-39.0 overall])
Dee: 211.5 (-0.5 pounds [-20.0 overall])

We shall kick it back into gear for next week...

--Jay :)

Weigh-In Week 22

We're still plowing along nicely, whipping some calories into submission... No exercise to speak of again this week. Hopefully, once we clear a couple of events that we've had coming up, we'll find time to hop back on the exercise bandwagon... :)

Weigh-In Week Twenty-Two:
Jay: 332.5 (-4.0 pounds [-39.0 overall])
Dee: 212.0 (-1.0 pounds [-19.5 overall])

We have a theatre picnic to attend today, but we're not planning to go too far outside the box. They usually provide veggie burgers and a nice array of veggie and fruit options.

Bring it!
--Jay :)

Weigh-In Week 21

I must apologize for all the silence on the blog lately... My poor laptop finally caught one of those malware bugs that just won't quit! I've had great success in taming them in the past, but alas... no more. So I've reordered the restore CDs from Dell and shall give 'er a wipe soon enough. It's behaving remarkably well this morning though, so I figure I'll get on here and roll out an update. :)

Weigh-In Week Twenty-One:
Jay: 336.5 (-3.5 pounds [-35.0 overall])
Dee: 213.0 (-3.0 pounds [-18.5 overall])

No real exercise to speak of again this week, but we're hoping to get back on that horse again soon. The next two weeks will be a little hectic, as I'm planning to cram five days worth of hours into four days worth of work, in order to take off the next two Sundays.

Roll on!
--Jay :)

Weigh-In Week 20

Looking back, it has been a bit of a quiet week here on the blog. If only in real life... :)

This past week was the closing of our theatre production, including tearing down the set after the last performance. There was no structured exercise to speak of for the week, other than a bit of lifting and carrying things up a flight of stairs to our group's warehouse. We did manage to eat well all week, including at the pizza party after the set strike, where we rocked the salad bar.

Here's how we rolled:

Weigh-In Week Twenty:
Jay: 340.0 (-2.0 pounds [-31.5 overall])
Dee: 216.0 (-2.0 pounds [-15.5 overall])

I think my results last week were partially due to not being as hydrated as normal, and I tried to compensate for that this week.

Rock it!
--Jay :)

Weigh-In Week 19

It's turned out to be an excellent week! Usually, "play" weekends turn horribly wrong, because Dee and I used to think we were forced to grab fast-food and eat at odd times of the day to accommodate a show schedule. This time, we packed all our healthy meals and things into a cooler... heck, I even packed some salad veggies with a knife and cutting board! I was quite the chef sitting there on my hotel bed, using an armchair for a stable surface! :)

Here's how it went down:

Weigh-In Week Nineteen:
Jay: 342.0 (-6.5 pounds [-29.5 overall])
Dee: 218.0 (-3.5 pounds [-13.5 overall])

Lovin' it!
--Jay :)

Exercise Update: Week 19

Not a whole lot to report this week... We opened our theatre production this past Friday, which always puts a bit of a damper on plans to do much of anything else. :)

Sunday 5/9 (day off - Mothers Day)
8:45 am - Dee did 1 mile on the Gazelle at Level 1 (13 minutes)
9:05 am - Jay did 0.5 mile on the Gazelle at Level 1 (10m 15s)
9:05 am - Dee did Core Rhythms "Quick Workout" (22 minutes)

Monday 5/10 (work day)
Dee walked/jogged about 1 mile with one of her "nanny" children

Tuesday 5/11 (work day)
8:15 am - Dee did 1 mile on the Gazelle at Level 1 (13 minutes)
8:35 am - Jay did 0.5 mile on the Gazelle at Level 1 (9 minutes)
8:35 am - Dee did Core Rhythms "Quick Workout" (22 minutes)

Wednesday 5/12 (work day)
7:50 am - Dee did Core Rhythms "Quick Workout" (22 minutes)

Thursday 5/13 (work day)
morning - Dee did Core Rhythms "Quick Workout" (22 minutes)

Friday 5/14 (day off)
no exercise due to theatre performance

Saturday 5/15 (day off)
no exercise due to theatre performance

I did splurge a bit on the Mothers Day dinner gathering, but made up for it by cutting small things like pudding for dessert throughout the week. :) We also did very well at remembering to pack our food while away from home for the weekend for the theatre stuff.

We won't be able to weigh in until tomorrow (Monday) morning for this week, so we shall see what we have in the morning!

Woo hoo!
--Jay :)

Weigh-In Week 18

Well, it's a bit of an up-and-down week. Dee is, without being too blunt, at that point in the month where it's difficult to show any weight loss, even though she worked her bum off all week! I'm sure it will all come around and show nicely next week... :)

Weigh-In Week Eighteen:
Jay: 348.5 (-4.5 pounds [-23.0 overall])
Dee: 221.5 (+0.5 pounds [-10.0 overall])

We're having a Mother's Day dinner with the fam this evening, and have already selected what we'll be eating... the menu involves bbq ribs & chicken, rice, and sauteed broccoli, among other things. We've each decided to opt for one breast piece without skin, 1/2 cup of rice, and a nice big serving of broccoli, passing on any extras and dessert options. :)

Good times!
--Jay :)

Exercise Update: Week 18

The end of another productive week of exercise, most of which was indoors due to the existence of those evil yellow flies (see previous post). Here's how we rolled:

Sunday 5/2 [took the day off from work]
9:00 am - J & D walked about 1/10 mile before "yellow fly" attack!
9:30 am - Dee did 12 minutes on the Gazelle at Level 2 (0.4 miles)
4:00 pm - Core Rhythms "Full Workout" - J did 15 min., D did the whole 38 min.

Monday 5/3 [work day]
8:20 am - Dee did 15 minutes on the Gazelle at Level 2 (0.5 miles)
8:45 am - Core Rhythms "Quick Workout" - J did 5 min., D did the whole 22 min.

Tuesday 5/4 [work day]
8:00 am - Dee did 15 minutes on the Gazelle at Level 2 (0.5 miles)
8:25 am - Core Rhythms "Quick Workout" - J did 8 min., D did the whole 22 min.

Wednesday 5/5 [work day]
morning - Dee did 15 minutes on the Gazelle at Level 2 (0.5 miles)
morning - Core Rhythms "Quick Workout" - Dee did the whole 22 minute workout

Thursday 5/6 [work day]
morning - Dee did 15 minutes on the Gazelle at Level 2 (0.5 miles)
morning - Jay did 12 minutes on the Gazelle at Level 1 (0.7 miles)
morning - Core Rhythms "Quick Workout" - Dee did the whole 22 minute workout

Friday 5/7 [day off]
10:30 am - Dee did 20m30s on the Gazelle at Level 1 (1.5 miles)
11:00 am - Jay did 10m20s on the Gazelle at Level 1 (0.7 miles)
11:00 am - Core Rhythms "Quick Workout" - Dee did the whole 22 minute workout

Saturday 5/8 [day off]
9:15 am - Dee did 20 minutes on the Gazelle at Level 1 (1.5 miles)
9:50 am - Jay did 16 minutes on the Gazelle at Level 1 (1.0 miles)
9:50 am - Core Rhythms "Quick Workout" - Dee did the whole 22 minute workout

We're headed to host the entertainment at a sort of cast-type party this evening, and won't get in much more exercise than hauling some audio equipment, but Dee hit up every day this week, and I got in on at least a little bit for 6 out of 7 days. Not too shabby!

--Jay :)