Fighting for Fit

Every Wednesday I do our weekly grocery shopping. It might sound like a weird day to do it, but that is the day my husband gets paid, so that is when I go.

I started preparing for this trip Sunday night by scanning the sales adds of our three local grocery stores for fruits, vegetables and meats that are on sale.

Then, on Monday, I sat down and wrote a rough draft grocery list including those items that are on sale and other items that I know I can get at an affordable price. Then, I made a list of fruits, vegetables and proteins. I used this list to write out 7 breakfasts, 7 dinners, 7 lunches and a whopping 21 snacks. I wrote these out on index cards. One snack or meal per card. After all of that I used the cards to put together three meals and three snacks for each day of the week. Seem like a lot of food? It would be if the snacks and meals were composed of chips, twinkies and burgers, but they aren’t.

Breakfast consists of a protein, usually scrambled eggs or turkey bacon, a fruit, and a veggie. Yes, we have veggies with our breakfast.

Lunch and dinner both consist of a protein, fruit and 2 veggies, unless it includes a grain, in which case we skip the fruit so we don’t overdose on carbs and cause a bloodsugar spike.

Snacks consist of a fruit and either a protein or veggie UNLESS our protein is yogurt, then it is yogurt and a veggie because of the sugar in yogurt (again with the blood sugar). 

This way of eating is based on the way I was taught to eat when I had gestational diabetes. They told us this would keep our bloodsugar levels steady, our metabolism going and keep us from binging on unhealthy food by keeping us full.

Now, obviously I don’t need to eat as much as I did when I was pregnant, but I do need to eat as often and be mindful of carbs. (Mindful does not mean eliminate!)

This is the first week the family is going to adhere to this eating plan. I am hoping that this will be the boost my metabolism needs. I started losing weight when I was pregnant once I started eating this way because my metabolism was no longer in starvation mode because I wasn’t skipping meals and my blood sugar did stay very level even though I was suffering from diabetes.

Hopefully this will help curb the ice cream and chocolate cravings I have been having…

How do you prepare for your week food-wise?

I have something to confess. I’m not a calorie counter. Never really have been. I’ve tried from time to time to track my calories, or at least my carbs, but in the end I always determine it to be too big a hassle and give up trying instead to just eat mainly fruits, veggies and lean protein with only the occasional grain or dairy product.

I think I need to change this to truly get the results I want, at least long enough for me to start understanding what a reasonable amount of calories looks like each day.

So, I am going to commit to tracking what I eat and the calories, protein, carbs and fiber in those foods for a solid month. I want to make sure I am eating a balanced diet and I think these four counts will be the best indicator.

So, starting Wednesday (grocery shopping day) I am going to track everything in a little pocket-size notebook that I can easily carry around with me. I am hoping that after a month I will see that tracking these things greatly increases not only my weight loss success but also my energy reserves.

I ran 2 miles this morning. A very rough 2 miles with a short walking break between them, but 2 more miles than I ran yesterday or the day before that. Then, I walked the last mile home not feeling defeated, but rather reminding myself to keep perspective. To remember that just getting up out of bed and stepping out the front door was an accomplishment. Then, continuing on my 3 miles route even after feeling miserable for the first 1/2 mile was an accomplishment. Starting to run again after that short walk break was an accomplishment.

It would be so easy for me to get down because I set out to run 3 miles and only was able to complete 2 and I had to take a walking break just to get those done, but I’m not going to let myself go there. Going there will only give me excuses to give up entirely.

I can’t do it. It’s too hard. I can’t even run three miles nonstop when I was running 6 before the holidays. This goal is too lofty, I’ll just alter it to let myself off the hook a little.

But all of these excuses won’t do anything for me in the long term, they will only give me short (very short) term satisfaction.

So, even if you stumble, if you can’t do as much as you thought you could. DO NOT GIVE UP! KEEP GOING! It will eventually get better (easier), and you will be glad you didn’t give up.

Tomorrow is a rest day for me, so I think I am going to do some stretching and hopefully take the girls on a hike. Then, I have three days in a row of 2-3 mile runs, depending on how I feel. I don’t want to be too hard on my body right out of the gate, but I also don’t want to use that as an excuse to not push myself. I’ll continue setting out on the 3 mile route, and hopefully walk less and less of it each day.

How are you doing with your goals? How is your attitude doing?