Monday, March 18, 2013

Guest Post - My Partner's Reflections, 21 Days Later

Of course, I regularly drag my husband into my experiments as well, so here are his thoughts on our healthy days.

21 Days Later...

I’m always unsure how to begin writing something. If you are reading this, I’m sure you are following Tab’s blog posting, so you are obviously aware of our three week diet experiment. I followed a rule set virtually identical to hers, with the exception of having a higher calorie “budget”. On the whole this has been a very productive experience for me. I had roughly a 3% weight loss compared to Tab’s. Tab has mentioned time and again that it would behoove me to count my calories to become more aware of how much I am eating. This would be an especially useful habit to get into as my worst eating trait is bored eating. Having spent the past three weeks doing so daily, and getting an appreciation for how much I eat and how healthy this foods are, the calorie counting is something I plan to make a habit of going forward.

I was the one responsible for adding up all the calories that we were eating. I found caloriecount.com an incredibly useful resource. Most foods are on there, with the exception of restaurant fare. We tried to eat a lot of fruits and vegetables over the course of the three weeks, and all that nutritional info I obtained at caloriecount.

From a food preparation perspective this diet wasn’t a particularly large change of pace. We try to have most of our meals homemade, but the last three weeks had a lot more produce and a lot less pasta/dairy in it. It did kind of force us to try some more of our vegan recipes, as they tend to be by default healthier than even vegetarian recipes. The fact that we were on a calorie count kind of diet as opposed to a philosophy diet like Atkins or fruit cleanses or what have you allowed us to still have some indulgences. By aiming for healthier options and keeping an eye on portion control we had a delightful strawberry shortcake and coconut orange bread as deserts over the experiment.

As a mixed sort of experience on Monday of the 2nd week I hurt my back and was unable to workout. However, as a result of being on this diet I was still experiencing weight loss, which reinforced the notion that you can’t outrun your diet.

Lessons Learned:

As we were on a calorie count, I definitely got in the habit of thinking of “spending” calories on certain things. It really reinforced the “expense” of things like bread and dairy based meals. Bread and dairy tend to be my favorite foods, and while I knew in an abstract sense their calorie/nutrition ratio, this placed it in a easier to see kind of format.

As I mentioned above, the back injury also reinforced the general value of a good diet. I normally work out Mon-Fri, and even while only getting 1 day of exercise I was still able to stay on a weight loss track.

One of the biggest aids we had during this was a digital scale that I have. Alton Brown, the host of Good Eats, has always been one of my favorite TV personalities. A few years ago I got a cookbook of his as a gift, and he lists all of his food measurements by weight, as that is much more accurate. We picked up a small digital scale after getting the book, and while I do use it when baking, it became invaluable during this experiment. My idea of what constitutes an oz. of cheese vs what an oz of cheese actually is can differ wildly. Being able to actually measure portion sizes out by weight was incredibly valuable.

Reinforcement is probably the best way to describe the lessons I learned while doing this. I’ve always had an interest in health/diet/exercise, and doing something like this lent some weight to certain ideas. I definitely plan on semi-regular counting of calories, and using the scale to measure out food.


Back to My Normal Not-So-Healthy Program

So, surprise, surprise, I went to the Indian buffet on Saturday.  I admit, Indian food could never be accused of looking like the most appetizing food - it can look pretty disgusting - but it is deceptively tasty!  I had a couple of plates that looked similar to this one and then of course some Gulab Jamun and Rice Pudding for dessert.


There is just no way to accurately total the calories consumed at this buffet, so I just plugged 3,000 into my spreadsheet, knowing that I clearly went wayyyy over any reasonable calorie count for the day. 

Sunday wasn't much better. We decided to have a hodge-podge of food, just whatever sounded good. So, this consisted of a Salted Caramel Pretzel shake from Steak 'n' Shake, Mozzarella Sticks and a Lava Cake from Arby's, and a Mushroom and Feta calzone from Niko's Spicy Pickle. That shake alone had 860 calories, and the total meal was about 2,000. 

I don't think any of my 'cheat meals' were reasonable options in this experiment. If I were really on a diet, I would hope I would pick more reasonable splurges. I think I just ended up feeling deprived during the week, so I felt like I 'owed' it to myself to pig out on the weekends. Honestly, I wasn't even hungry enough to have eaten all of this food at the time it was consumed.

As suspected, all of that heavy eating hurt my final weigh-in figures, so that is why I summarized my results here. If I look at my ending weight for Sunday, my cumulative weight change is -2 pounds or 1.53% of my body weight. Based on my average weight so far for the year, this is about -1.5 pounds or 1.12%. 

As for the other rules, I was right on the money with my 1,200 calorie daily allotment. Over the three-week period, my average calorie intake for non-cheat days was 1,186.91. I ate a lot more fruits and vegetables than I normally do - nearly every day, I had 2 servings of fruit and 2.5 servings of vegetables, but I did fall short on a handful of days.  Good thing I take vitamins!  I hit my exercise goals every week - 2.5 hours of cardio and strength training twice weekly.  And I never had more than 2 weekly cheat meals. 

All in all, this experiment did highlight some of my weak points, so I consider it a success. 

Friday, March 15, 2013

(Almost) Final Results

And today begins the weekend.  2 and a half more days of eating healthy! Ha, yeah, right. More like one-half more days.  I have already figured that I'll get through today, but Saturday and Sunday will almost definitely include massive cheat meals. I have even been envisioning a certain buffet I've been craving...

And that's totally within my rules...I just have a feeling that massive 3,000+ calorie buffet bombs is not a recommended healthy cheat meal option. But that's okay; the rules didn't get THAT specific.  Yeah, this is definitely a weakness for me... ;-)

The good news is that as of my weigh-in last night, I have met my goal of losing 3 lbs in 3 weeks. Exceeded it, actually.  I weighed in every three days for the first two weeks and then every day for this last week. So, from my beginning weigh-in, I lost about 5 pounds or 4% of my body weight.

I also calculated my weight change based on my average weight so far for the year because I think I had a particularly fat weekend before starting this experiment. This change was along the same lines, 4.5 pounds lost, roughly 3.5%.  

I used my handy-dandy Google Docs spreadsheet to keep track of the changes:


Sadly, I will probably reverse any positive changes over the weekend, especially if I give in to that buffet that's calling my name. That is why I thought maybe I'll review the results now before I completely invalidate them! ;-) 

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Not On a Diet

I don't like diets. Both because they're not fun and because I don't much support the concept of them. I'm much more an advocate of a healthy lifestyle, and I support adapting your diet so that you maintain a reasonable, flexible diet that is not overly restrictive while still being rewarding. These healthy days have definitely felt more like I'm dieting, and I know that that's not sustainable in the long-term. 

Counting calories is something I just do occasionally on a normal basis. I think it's good to check in with my diet once in a while and make sure I am comfortable with what and how much I am putting in my body. I also aim to weigh in on a weekly basis - again, just so I'm staying in touch with my body. I know what is normal weight fluctuation for me, and if I start to accumulate extra poundage beyond that, I may need to pay more careful attention to my calorie intake.

That said, I love food. Going out to eat and trying out new recipes are some of my favorite things to do.  Of course, moderation, as in all areas of life, is key. I think after my healthy three weeks is over, I'm still going to have issues with over-indulging on weekends. But I'm not going to stress too much about it. 

I think it works for me to focus my healthy habits during the week. So, the plan is to try and do better at that. Because it was still not uncommon for me to order the Papa John's large carry-out Monday special...and then have leftovers on Tuesday...or grab a handful of cookies from the kitchen at work if someone leaves oh-so-tempting Girl Scouts boxes with notes saying 'Help Yourself!'...

So, I don't want to be "on a diet", I want to have a diet...that works for me and my lifestyle. I want to be healthy, but I want to have the flexibility to indulge...but not over-indulge (at least not TOO frequently). 

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Healthy(ish) Meals

I've gotten into a pretty good flow with this diet...this means that I don't go to bed hungry EVERY night.  I've been tracking my calories pretty carefully, so I know exactly how much dinner I can have.  Sometimes this means I have nothing but seitan and baby broccoli for dinner. 


I had this Roasted Vegetable Pizza for dinner last week. It only had 150 calories, and it was pretty darn tasty. It was a product I had picked up from Whole Foods when we were vegan for three weeks, so it had been sitting in the freezer for a while looking decidedly less appealing next to its cheesier brethren.


It had vegetables though, so it could at least help me hit my veggie quota for the day!  I was about to dig in and then I had a duh moment and reminded myself that I'm not vegan anymore! So, I added 100 calories worth of shredded Muenster cheese on top for a little extra flavor.  


Avoiding processed foods was an objective but not an official goal of these healthy days. I've incorporated a lot of whole fruits and vegetables into meals, but occasionally, I won't have leftovers from the night before to eat for lunch, so it's just more convenient to heat up a frozen meal at work. I've only had Amy's frozen meals though, and while they're probably still considered processed, their products are all vegetarian and usually include organic ingredients. Definitely could be worse. 


Occasionally, I finish dinner and even have a few spare calories for dessert...like this delicious homemade Coconut Orange Bread.




Monday, March 11, 2013

What a Cheat!

These cheat meals are something else! I have definitely been taking maximum advantage of them. While I have only been allowing myself two cheat meals a week, they have all been HUGE calorie bombs. 

My brother came to spend the night Friday, and we debated over a number of different places, but decided to just keep it easy and pick up some Pizza Hut from down the street.  So, we each had a couple of slices of pizza plus at least one Pizza Slider.




Saturday is where it gets really bad. To be fair, we started off with a healthy-ish breakfast of 'Spring Eggs Benedict'.


After breakfast, we headed out to Indianapolis. My brother had texted earlier in the week and asked, "if I do come down this weekend, how about Indy/Cheeseburger in Paradise?" My immediate response was "wow, way to wreck my diet!". So, we started a day with a little bit of shopping then it was on to what was almost certainly the most unhealthy meal of our healthy days. Complete with an appetizer, entree, and 1.5 drinks.     

Onion Strings: Shared 3 ways

Francisco and I split the (veggie) burger!

  
My drink next to Franciscos' - very cute and super tasty!

House Pina Colada
We each had our own pretty drink, and then shared the pina colada since it was on special that day. 

My brother got a lucky bonus - they were out of the beer he had ordered, so the waiter brought him a sample of 5 different beers to choose from.  




Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Homemade Burgers & Bacon

I think one of the problems with eating healthy is it can get BORING. So, we've tried to mix it up by trying new recipes.  This weekend we made homemade veggie burgers using a recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance. 

Here are all the ingredients:

Cooking:





Yummy veggie burger: 


We also made some homemade sweet potato fries:

 

I don't even like sweet potatoes usually, but these weren't half-bad. The burger was good when we made it Saturday, but we were going to have the leftovers for dinner on Monday, and it just wasn't tasting good to me.  Tasted fine to Francisco though. I opted for a TLT - similar to a BLT with Tempeh bacon subbed in. 

We had made homemade tempeh bacon to have for breakfast Sunday. I had it with a poached egg and some grapes. I think the flavor was a little overpowering when it's served by itself, but in a sandwich, the flavors mellow out and meld together. The jury's still out on whether I like tempeh or not; I guess it really just depends on how it's prepared. 


I also gave in and decided to have my second cheat meal on Sunday afternoon.  We ordered Indian and tried the Malai Kofta with Paneer Naan.  Both items I've never tried before, and both were very yummy!  Our order wasn't ready on time, so they threw in an order of Gulab Jamun. 


Monday, March 4, 2013

(Not) A Lovely Day for a Road Trip


Ah, what a lovely day for a road trip - not!  Our trip to Michigan took us across Indiana, briefly into Ohio, and then up to Ann Arbor in Michigan. I don't think we saw the sun once. It was an overcast, cold day. Of course, this wasn't supposed to be a fun trip anyway - we were headed up for the husband's on-site job interview.


The day started out healthily enough - I still got up early (I actually got to sleep in till 6:30, ha!) and worked out. I had some coffee, but I definitely should have brought more for the road. We did pack healthy snacks, so I munched on kiwi and grapes (and a carrot raisin muffin) until we pulled into Fort Wayne around 10:30.  



We had built in a stop here to get an early lunch at the Pembroke Bakery & Cafe, which specializes in vegan options.  I had the Creole Tofu sandwich, and Francisco had the Mediterranean Tofu.  







After the interview later in the day, we headed a little deeper into Michigan to check out a restaurant in Ann Arbor. Along the way, we passed what may be my favorite highway sign ever: Prison Area Do Not Pick Up Hitchhikers. This sign always amuses me! Although it was a little discomforting to know that Francisco might be working so close to a prison... 


My plan for dinner was that this would be my cheat meal and it would span multiple states because there was another restaurant in Fort Wayne I was hoping to stop at on the way home.

This plan started out really well with some amazing food at Seva. We shared a mushroom slider, which was a yummy start to the meal. 


Francisco had the Ravioli with Artichoke Sauce, and I had the Seva Club. My club came with tofurky, smoked coconut, avocado, lettuce, tomatoes, and vegan aioli on toasted avalon pullman bread. We left with half of our entrees in boxes so we would have room for the next stop.    


Sadly, the restaurant we had wanted to visit was just closing up for the night when we pulled up, so we did not get to eat there. There was a Dairy Queen a few stores over, so we ended the night with a Caramel Cheesequake Royal Shake...and a 2.5 hour drive still to go! 

So...not the best day for a road trip, but at least there was some decent food involved to help make up for it.  And...I mostly consider dessert to be part of dinner, so the DQ rolls into our dinner for a single cheat meal for Friday. ;-)


Thursday, February 28, 2013

Day 4 - Healthy Planning Keeps the Junk Food Away?

Breakfast has mostly consisted of fresh fruit this week, although today I had some Greek yogurt with caramelized almonds.

I think this yogurt is really yummy - the almonds are amazing. I really like how high in protein Greek yogurt is compared to regular yogurt.  I didn't really even like Greek yogurt when I first tried it, but now I couldn't even tell you the last time I ate regular yogurt.  That boost in protein is definitely appreciated; being vegetarian, I need to be more mindful about getting protein in my diet more regularly.

So far, so good on being healthy.

But here's the problem. Tomorrow I'm driving up to Michigan.  And it's going to be an 8-hour drive round-trip. What is my favorite thing to do during road trips? Well, besides sing along to the radio, I would have to say eat. And the bad kind of eat, like grabbing some cheese sticks at Arby's or a Frappucino at Starbucks. Plus, I already have a list of like three restaurants I want to stop at along the way. The plan is to bring a cooler so that leftovers won't be an issue and I won't feel pressured to eat more than I need to. I think I will definitely need to plan ahead to make sure I have healthy snacks on hand, but I'm thinking this trip is definitely going to have me tapping into my cheat meal (or meals!).  

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Day 1 - Missing the Weekend Already

Wow, one day in and I already feel like I'm starving!  I did have a really fat weekend though. Which consisted of this giant calzone from Three Wise Men Brewing Company while visiting a friend in Indy. 


This was seriously like a large pizza folded in half.

Dessert was another calorie bomb when we stopped at Parcha Sweets and I had a Blueberry Streusel cupcake and a Cuatro Leches dessert.  I love Tres Leches cake, so I was excited to try this.  It was soooo good!


OK, so that is a far cry from my meals on Monday. I had some papaya and Greek yogurt for breakfast.
We got a fresh papaya when we stopped at Whole Foods over the weekend. These things look um...less than appetizing...on the inside.  


I was supposed to be limiting processed foods...but that's not like an OFFICIAL rule...so I had this vegetable lasagna for lunch. 

I
I generally take a multi-vitamin along with a flaxseed oil supplement during lunch.


I know that I regularly take less than recommended - I usually just pop a pill or two - but I stopped to read the serving size to take the actual recommended amount. 2 flaxseed oil supplements...which isn't so bad, but SIX of these little guys. That's a lot to swallow!  Ugh, I might need to explore other brands when it's time to buy new vitamins - but it is so hard to find these supplements without gelatin!


Dinner consisted of way too many vegetables for my liking - potatoes, peppers, and green beans - and could have used a splash more flavor.

I had just enough calories for half a serving of homemade vegan strawberry shortcake.


Monday, February 25, 2013

Healthy Rules

I considered doing a cleanse, such as this Whole Living Action Plan that I read about in a magazine, but I decided to just build my own Get Healthy plan. This way I can customize it to my own needs (plus, I am worried I will feel like I'm STARVING if I do a cleanse. I think I might try it some other time though...).   

So, here are my rules for the Three Week Get Healthy Challenge

1. My daily calorie intake will average 1,200 calories. I consulted a few different websites, including this Healthy Weight Forum to get an idea of the number of calories I should consume. I decided I would set a goal of losing 3 lbs in 3 weeks, so this came out to just over 1,200 calories a day. 

2. I will eat 2 cups of fruit and 2.5 cups of vegetables per day.

3. I will participate in 2 hours and 30 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise each week, including muscle-strengthening activities on 2 or more days per week. 

4. I will allow for 1-2 splurge meals each week. That will be a maximum of six cheat meals over a three-week period (although I'm hoping to get by with less!).

5. I will keep an exercise and food log regularly.

Those are the general rules. I am also going to try to avoid processed foods as much as possible.

Happy Healthy Days

Last week, while paying careful attention to a Service Center Costing webinar, I started jotting down some of my thoughts about what being healthy means to me. From those basic thoughts, I wanted to seek some additional guidance to make sure I was making the right healthy decisions. I think that everyone has their own specific idea of what 'being healthy' means and not everyone would agree with my decisions, but that's okay! Here's how I'm going to try to be healthier.

I'm not sure how well you can make out my hand-written list, but I'll discuss the relevant points below.

The CDC says that I should eat about 2 cups of fruit and 2.5 cups of vegetables every day.  I'm probably lucky if I get one serving of each on a normal day. 

Exercise-related guidance was a little more confusing. The CDC offers several different options for getting the right amount of physical activity. I decided to keep it simple with their first suggestion for important health benefits, which indicates that adults need at least 2 hours and 30 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity every week and muscle-strengthening activities on 2 or more days a week that work all major muscle groups.  This is in line with what I usually do. I generally work out for a half-hour in the morning before work, and it's usually a mix of cardio and strength training.  

So, where do cookies and french fries fit in to this plan? I know foods such as these regularly factor into my weekends...I find that I can do okay eating fairly healthy during the week, but Friday often kicks off a weekend of poor eating. So, forget about a cheat day, we're talking like 2.5 'cheat' days every week on a normal basis for me.  A cheat meal seems to be more of an accepted practice, maybe allowing for one or two splurges in a given week

I've read some conflicting things about whether vitamins and supplements are necessary or if they can be more harmful than good for you.  Given that I'm a vegetarian, I think I'm going to continue to take them to make sure I'm not missing out on any essential nutrients. 

As for some of my other notes, processed food, stress, and alcohol are all obviously bad, so I will try to avoid those as much as possible.