10 Pounds in 8 Weeks or Subtract 35,000 Calories: Week #2

One dinner from last week.  I love one-pan meals.  I'll blog this on dinner place.

I have my black coffee in front of me.
I just ate my egg white-veggie omelet with salsa. YES!
The only change from a "regular" morning is no cream in my coffee.  Pretty painless, huh?


I did stay on the program ..  with a couple of deviations:


I don't know if I lost any weight for sure as I just finally bought a scale and weighed myself this morning.  No, I'm not giving you that information.  I do feel a little smaller and my jeans are a bit more comfortable.  I did my exercise without complaint even, though a couple of days I probably cut out a few minutes earlier than I'd hoped to.  I am happy and hopeful and upfront.  So:

Exercise for the week...

I did the morning stretch routine every day, weight training 2x (so I missed one of those), and walk/dance 4x (I add a little more interest to this linked indoor 3 mile walk routine) while I watched Morning Joe or even Ina Garten late afternoon.  I found the late afternoon didn't work for me at all. I was stiff and unhappy.  Mornings are best for Alyce.   If you've never tried an indoor walking routine, try Leslie Sansone (she has a variety of workouts on youtube) and see what you think.  It's icy here; I'm better off indoors.  I do walk outdoors as weather permits, but really enjoy the variety of steps involved in an indoor routine.   The second link above (Leslie Sansone) is to a beginning walk.  You can work your way up to more difficult and more time-consuming programs or you can also cut back and use her 2-3 minute computer breaks, which I love.

Herb-Spinach Egg White Omelet

Food:

I kept a breakfast routine of egg white and vegetable omelets Monday-Friday, which is what I eat in the winter anyway.  Saturday, I made oatmeal with raisins, almonds, and milk.  Sunday I had a 1/2 cup plain yogurt and blueberries.    My lunches consisted of  fresh fruit or vegan vegetable soup (below)-- which I blogged--for four days only.  The other lunches I had what I liked within reason:  a veggie burger with half a bun and cole slaw  or scrambled eggs (with yolk!) and vegetables with salad and a glass of white wine for Sunday brunch.

30-Minute Vegetable Soup a la Provence

If I became peckish in the mid-afternoons, I had a few nuts.  I always drink a mixture of green and mint teas in the afternoon, which I continued.  I increased my water intake.  Dinners were as always--not a lot of change--but cutting back on servings and being careful about fat content.  They varied from salmon (above) to chicken chili to skinny-crust anchovy pizza with salad.  Friday I made barbeque ribs and potato salad with vinaigrette for a mid-winter summer treat.

This week I plan to vary my lunches by taking time to create a large salad I can eat off of for a couple of days.  I'll make another vegetable soup; we'll see what's in the frig!

I take a regular multi-vitamin and 1200 mg of calcium each day.

In case you missed last week, here's what I'm doing:

My current fitness goals include these objectives:

•  lose ten pounds in eight weeks by changing/cutting back on my food intake and to....
•  put in 30 minutes of aerobic exercise 4 days a week (outdoors when possible)
•  do a stretch routine daily
•  weight train 3 times a week
• blog my progress weekly

If you do the math, we're talking about (how do I get) 10 pounds off by Saint Patrick's Day (Sunday, March 17), which, if you're a long-time reader, you know is when I have a houseful of potato soup and soda bread:

I have a total of 35,000 calories to get rid of by any means that works.  I can do the math.  I know what foods have what calories (I'm a food blogger and have cooked all my life!) and I know what calories are burned by my typical exercise routines.  If I wanted to buy a beautiful $35,000 car for cash, I'd have to bank the money monthly--right--until I had enough to walk in to the dealer and lay down my check. (I'm doing that actually--for a trip, not for a car.)  To lose weight, I use the same concept, but in reverse.  I START OUT WITH the 35,000 in my "bank" and I take some out each week until there's nothing left.  If God is good (and I know that's the case), I'll have lost 10 pounds.
My way.  Still eating things I like within reason.  To make things rounded off and easy, I plan to take away, subtract, lose (whatever) 4,000 calories per week for a total of 32,000 calories.  The other 3,000 or 377  per week (53 per day) will come from less fat and dairy in my regular daily diet.

The weekly goal is to take away 4,000 calories per week for a total of 32,000 calories like this:

1. 30 minutes of low aerobic exercise (walk/light dance w/ 2 min run) a day 4 days a week (400 cal.)
2. No cream in my coffee 6x a week (Even God rested on Sunday.) (600 cal.)
3. No meat -2 nights a week/Cut back a bit other nights (1,000 calories)
4. Vegetables or fruit ONLY 4 lunches per week--the lion's share (2,000 cal.)

Sing a new song and thanks for your support,
Alyce