Thursday, May 31, 2012
Gee, that's reassuring...not
Here's why I think there is some truth to that study not so much with strangers but more with people you've known for a long time. I have a friend who when she saw old pics of us after we lost our first 100 lbs said even though she saw us at our heaviest, she never saw us as that big so seeing the pictures was shocking to her. Several people have said that...almost like a reverse effect of "I knew you were big but not THAT big." Then to go along more with the study I have a friend who had weight loss surgery 9 years ago and it has literally taken me this long to not gasp at her gaunt face when I see her. I don't see her often face to face but see plenty of pics and still it would take me aback to see her from the waist up when she'd come over. So I know that picture of being or seeing someone overweight stays in the brain for a long time.
I have to say it got me thinking. There will (hopefully) come a time where we're no longer overweight and when meeting new people I often wonder how will they react if they're at our home and see pictures from our wedding on the wall or the picture I plan to put in a frame that says "never forget" of our before and maintenance. Would that change their opinions of us? There's this part of me that is afraid to see into the mind of the 'average' person because if they're completely uncensored because they don't know our history and say something about a heavy person, I'm not keeping quiet. I will not tolerate someone saying something about an obese person in jest because I never want to forget what it was to walk in those shoes and I don't want to be around people who would treat another person that way. This study along with the fat hate we experienced back in coach on the trip really makes me wonder if this transition is going to be harder than I anticipated. I know, I'm getting deep...like a well. I like things that make me think and/or prepare myself for other things I might not have thought of.
Do you agree with the study? Do you think women who have always been thin are usually more attractive than those the same weight but have lost a significant amount of weight?
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Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Comfortably exercising while obese
and the Mr wears compression shorts by Under Armour
. We have several pairs of both and wear them every time we exercise to keep the ol' guts wrangled.Not only do we wear them so we can comfortably exercise but to help prevent hernias. The pulling and tugging that goes on when you're doing jumping jacks or running can eventually make you prone to them and I have no desire to go through that. There was a time I thought I was getting one, I had a burning, searing pain in my lower stomach that would happen after exercise and when I mentioned it, several people said that was exactly how their hernias began. So after some research I saw that wearing compression underwear/shorts was the best way to help lessen the chance of that happening.
As far as any other tips, it's the same as it would be for anyone. Keep hydrated, don't subscribe to 'no pain, no gain' (Discomfort, sure. Pain? No.) and keep variety in your routine. If you need some recommendations to keep variety in the mix, check out our workouts that in are rotation. As the Mr pointed out in his comment, make sure as you lose weight that you go down in size on the compression garments as well so you get optimum compression and your schtuff is all neatly wrangled. ;-)
Do you wear compression products while you exercise?
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Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Spicy Egg Salad Sandwich
But we know that egg salad sandwiches can taste a little dull. Not mine baby. I gave mine a little kick and the Mr loved it. I hope you will too. Here's what I used for mine:
2 large eggs, soft boiled
1 tbsp Miracle Whip Light
1/2 serving Habanero cheese
Fresh herbs
Preferred salt free spices (I used white pepper)
2 slices Trader Joe's Sprouted Whole Wheat Bread
Soft boil 2 eggs (or hard boil if that's your preference. The Mr likes soft boiled) and put them in a bowl.
Break up the eggs into small chunks.
Choose some fresh herbs to use. I used fresh chives and oregano and chopped them up.
Add your herbs, habanero cheese and mayo.
Mix it all together.
Put it on your bread. I toasted his for some texture. Yum!
Obviously this isn't something you want to eat every day but to bust yourself out of a food rut, pair this with a fruit salad and enjoy a little taste of summer!
Nutritional information: Calories 432 Total Fat 16g Sat Fat 6g Poly Fat 2g Mono Fat 4g Cholesterol 387mg Sodium 677mg Potassium 228mg Total Carbs 48g Fiber 14g Sugar 6g Protein 24g Vitamin A 21% Vitamin C 7% Calcium 12% Iron 20%
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Monday, May 28, 2012
Memorial Day Weekend highlights
1) If you are there to socialize, get your butt off to the side so people who are looking for actual products can get what they need and get out. I do not have time nor patience to stand by while you whip out your phone to show people pics of your kids that they don't want to see.
2) If you're walking at a moderate pace, do not suddenly stop in the middle of the sidewalk thereby disrupting traffic flow. I understand that latte needs to be sipped but if you can't sip and walk at the same time, you need to stay home.
3) If you've just purchased something at a vendor, please do not just turn around and start walking assuming in a market with about 500 people none of them are around you. It makes me apologize for you walking into me because you're a careless asshat and there is something wrong with me apologizing to you for your asshattedness.
That about did it for the Mr and I could tell he just wanted to get the hell outta there. So off we went to our future neighborhood market up the street and it was a little better. We got some lettuce, strawberries (that sadly already look like crap), local organic chipotle cheese and that was about it. Hardly worth the gas to drive over there but the other place that had mad asparagus yo also had a bunch of clueless idiots making checkout unbearable arguing whether or not the bag he was buying was mustard or turnip greens and he was arguing with the vendor. After I pointed out the Mr that the lettuce mix he had looked a little wilty, he put it back and they lost the sale. We just didn't have the patience to be out in the heat with crowds. But we did stop at a wholesale place we'd passed a billion times in the past and finally decided to stop. We got a few things but weren't over the moon about the place. We might stop in from time to time. Then to the grocery for some pineapple so I could make some smoothies for later.
Lunch was going to be good old fashioned cookout food all measured out and portioned. I made 2 ounce sliders and topped them with spinach and onion. They were so tall I had to use those frilly toothpicks to hold the Hawaiian sweet rolls in place. Spicy BBQ chips and dip and a serving of baked beans.
Oh. Did I mention I stuffed the sliders with that chipotle cheese I bought at the farmers market?
After the mini meat fest, I made some papaya pineapple smoothies with half a banana and some cantaloupe in mine and some strawberries in his to help aid digestion and calm any inflammation from the sodium. This will be a new thing for us on the weekend. Somehow this Magic Boo-lay version doesn't quite resemble the last time I had a smoothie in a margarita glass poolside with papayas cut from the grounds by our houseboy. {sniff}
While we were out I wanted to go to Avenue. I had NO intention of buying anything because their prices are out of control! They are doubling their prices and are forcing me to basically only shop there when there is a clearance going on. Sad really because I hear people complaining about their prices every time I go there, you'd think someone somewhere would get the hint. Anyhoo. As soon as we walk in, I see $5.96 for sweaters. Um, yes please. So I bought 4 sweaters for me, a knit long sleeved shirt and a cardigan for my mom for Christmas all for a total of $40.04 with tax and if I'd paid what was on the tags, it would've been $200 with tax! So yeah, mama snagged a bitchin' deal. I also bought them all in a size smaller (14/16) and I plan to be in it by Fall. (Yes, I know there's a lot of black with a red one thrown in there but I hated the other color choices that were left)
For dinner, we had the same sides but a 50% less fat 3 cheese chicken brat. I also made lemon shake ups and I put the Mr's in his special Bubba Gump light up glass. This caught one of the 4 colors it flashes like a cop car light bar and it gets a little dizzying but I wanted him to feel like he was back on the water at Bubba's...before the screaming child showed up.
Sunday was just spent trying not to get heatstroke. The Mr pulled all of the weeds out back and put down ant and bug killer around the perimeter of the house since well, tis the season and we want to stop 'em before they start looking for a place to come in from the heat. I think I finally realized that there aren't ants crawling all over the kitchen like they do in Hawaii which is nice. When you get used to ants on your kitchen counters, gecko poop anywhere and B52 roaches dive bombing you, you know you're a local or an honorary one and you forget how nice it is not to worry about that stuff when you're back on the mainland. But honestly, I'd put up will all of that stuff to be back in Kona with some tradewinds going because this summer is gonna be GROSS!
Actually that's how I thought the weekend was going to go until the Mr got rather active after I posted this. We were going to stain the patio stones, noticed how uneven and gappy the stones were looking and the plastic edging that keeps the stones in place were all out of whack. The house has been shifting quite a bit and it's showing. Well, it didn't make sense to go to the trouble of staining if the rest of it was going to look like crap. The poor man exhausted himself and took 3 showers yesterday. He's back at it already this morning. I'm cutting him off at noon for a workout and no working again until 6pm when the heat has died down.
How did you spend your Memorial Day weekend? What is your cut off comfortable temperature in the summer?
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Saturday, May 26, 2012
Post Vacation Weigh In
I weighed in under the Mr's corruption on Monday afternoon (I wasn't going to weigh in until today but he did and was down 10 lbs so I had to see if I was on the same track) and saw I was already down 8 lbs in basically 2 1/2 days of good eating and one strength training session under my belt so I was encouraged.
That brings this week's weight loss to 3 pounds (same for the Mr) meaning that only 3 pounds of vacation weight stuck around for me!
That I can totally handle especially given how much we emotionally fed ourselves the first week after the let downs and then because our friend had this awesome restaurant literally 2 minutes from the house, we got used to what we called "second breakfasts." The roosters start crowing at 4:45am there. To the point I wanted chicken for lunch if you get my drift. We were always up by 6am. So we'd eating eating cereal and sweetbread toast with pineapple jam or toast with pineapple. By the time we'd get on the road at 8-9am for our day we would have that painful "pit hunger" and head down to Sam's for 'second breakfast.' I know, not the smartest habit to get into. But I thought that would really eff us up this trip and thank God no more stuck around than what usually does, so I'm pleased with my results. I'm also very happy I get to retain my 200 lbs lost title. Whew!
Today is a controlled splurge day but not "high cal." We're staying within our limits but still having cookout food so we don't feel deprived. Before we were on this adventure, this would be the weekend we'd blow the weight gain from vacation even further off the charts and have a 3 day oink fest. We haven't done that in 4 years and still get in all of our favorites. So it's lean sliders with BBQ chips and baked beans for lunch and chicken brat with the same side for dinner. The sodium is going to be a little out there but I need to chug my water that I've been doing so good at for the past week.
Now on to shed the next 3 lbs and get back to business!
What are you doing this holiday weekend?
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Friday, May 25, 2012
Food Journal Friday 5/20-25
Food Journal Fridays are back! It's been too long and trust me, you don't want to see the stuff I ate the previous two weeks on vacation. HA!
Let's eat!
Monday was a twist on our naan bbq pizza and they were done in whole wheat pockets instead. A couple ounces of chicken, bbq sauce, marble cheese and 2 tbsp of edamame hummus then toasted with steamed brussels sprouts. Calories: 541
Tuesday was mahi mahi fish tacos. Since I forgot to grab broccoli slaw at TJ's, I used some onion and spinach for roughage. Side dish was 2 tbsp of edamame hummus and a pita pocket cut and baked into chips. Calories: 531
Wednesday was sauteed then baked swordfish with roasted asparagus. Calories: 310
Thursday I needed an all veggie side break and we had crab stuffed flounder on a bed of spinach and carrot polenta. Calories: 610
Tonight was a bbq chicken breast quesadilla on a high fiber tortilla with onion, chipotle hummus and marble cheese and a side of roasted asparagus. Calories: 401
So I'd say the first week back from vacation was successful. Calories averaged 2195 for the week and I burned 4650 calories in formal exercise. My water has been on point at about a gallon a day which is way better than I was doing in the months before we left. I need to keep that up fo' sho'.
Oh yeah, the autographed cookbook winner was chosen! Click here to see if it was you. Thanks so much to everyone who entered and have a great holiday weekend if you're in the U.S.!
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Lest you think I'm a downer
Victory #1: No airplane extender necessary
I could buckle the seatbelt without using the extender for the first time in probably 8 or 9 years. Now I'm not ready to burn my extender by any means since as you can see, I'm using all of the belt but I was relieved to see they fit. (Even if one of them inbound and outbound were by the skin of my teeth. I mean it was like "suck it in 1/2" for the click!") I told myself if it was uncomfortable I would get out my extender but it wasn't, it was just tight. I was also able to narrowly use the tray table and that wee little drink tray that slides out from the console. I mean it touched the top of my thigh but still, I'll take it given I couldn't use it last year. I will especially take it given the bloat and weight gain and I was still able to click it all the way back home on each flight. I was sure that wasn't going to be possible so...yay!
Victory #2: Moderately strenuous hike
See the top of that mountain? That's where we hiked down from and of course had to hike back up. We kind of hiked this area before several years ago when we were starting to get out of control but we never went almost to the shoreline. The only time we ever considered not going was because we didn't think we could find the blowhole from where we were parked not because we didn't think we could do it. I love boulder hopping, always have. I'd do the hike again too.
Victory #3: Incorporating healthy foods to transition back to real life
There's this great Farmers Market in Kona on the corner of Ali'i and Hualalai that we've always loved going to. The produce has greatly improved over the years and the prices were amazing 3 mangoes for $2!? I mean I would LOVE to be able to pay that. I'm lucky to get one for $3 here. When we're on vacation, we eat what we want. I know some people don't agree with that and well, not to be a snot but good for you. HA! We eat what we want and we're active then hop right back to it the second we get home. I was inspired by the papayas our caretaker left cut straight from the trees on the grounds to get my market picks of pineapple, lychees, mango, orange and banana. I made some killer smoothies with them and I couldn't believe the difference in how it debloated me overnight. I would wake up with baggy eyes in the morning but the 3 days we had these smoothies, I didn't and I think it was a good way to prepare the body for healthy eating on the horizon. We're going to make a smoothie mix in the island from now on and have at least one a day since the prices are so good there to hopefully help with the bloat we encounter from the bombardment of salt that local food is famous for.
Victory #4: Overcoming social inadequacy
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| I've blurred faces because I didn't know I was going to use this for the blog and therefore didn't ask permission so I'm respecting our table mates privacy. |
When we were having breakfast with our chef friend, he invited us to a business dinner since we both have other businesses we're involved in that have to do with Hawaii. When he asked and we accepted, I immediately went into internal panic mode. I wasn't sure what to expect. He hangs with some high profile people and I didn't know would "big business" people that we had absolutely nothing in common with be there? How would we sound interesting at face value? I mean you don't want to necessarily introduce yourself as "nice to meet you. What's the most interesting thing about me? I've lost 200 lbs so far." I mean I can't lean on the weight loss crutch forever so it really kind of forces you into yourself to say "who am I? What do I have to offer? How can I go beyond small talk and not end up sounding stupid?" It's one thing when I'm in a casual setting but a networking type situation? Never been in it and I wasn't looking forward to it even if it meant spending some extra time with our friend.
Thursday, May 24, 2012
What was supposed to be here
I had to keep repeating that to myself when I booked the Mr's anniversary present in Hawaii, an outrigger canoe ride. I contacted an outdoor sports company, told them our story and asked what we could do at our weights. He said stand up paddle or outrigger canoe. Well the Mr has done SUP but I hadn't and my first time was NOT going to be on the ocean regardless of how "calm" it was. I almost drown in California as a teen and I need to work my way up to being more comfortable in the ocean. So I chose the outrigger canoe, something I've always wanted to do and I know the Mr did too. Then I saw a picture of it:
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| HawaiianPaddleSports.com |
That's what I had written before we left for our vacation.
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Sharing the Aloha + Giveaway {CLOSED-Winner Announced}
If you read Monday's post, you know that our vacay didn't get off to a swimming start. It was in fact our 13th trip to the islands and the typically unlucky number was rearing it's head a few times. But just to prove that we did have some highlights, I thought I'd share some pics from our time away.
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| Ululani's Shave Ice on Maui...lilikoi and cherry. THE best shave ice in all of Hawaii! |
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| 3 Bear Falls on the Hana Highway was insane with the recent rainfall. This is twice the amount that's usually going. |
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| This wonderful lady and her sister run a lei stand past Hana but before Oheo Gulch...STOP THERE! It was the highlight of our time on Maui and they truly represent the aloha spirit. |
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| Keomoku Church on Lana'i. They're restoring it to its former glory and doing a wonderful job. |
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| This activity took the place of one that fell through. The Mr did the sporting clays. Cross one off the bucket list for him. |
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| I love seeing all of the tropical flowers at the Ali'i Kula Lavender Gardens in upcountry Maui. |
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| The lavender gardens. They make lotions, potions, food, etc with it. |
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| The first sunset from our rental home on the Big Island. We stayed here when we met a new friend for the first time for our 10th anniversary. (Explanation is coming) |
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| The Mr and I's favorite breakfast...the Pineapple Papaya Mac Nut Upside Down pancakes at Sam Choy's Kai Lanai in Keauhou. |
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| The Place of Refuge (Pu`uhonua O Hōnaunau) |
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| Akaka Falls |
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| We love stopping by the Hawaii Tropical Botanical Gardens when we're on the Big Island. |
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| A nice young lady decided to sideswipe our car despite there being a witness and left. Thankfully there are still good people in this world and she called the police and gave a statement. Yes we got the Loss Damage Waiver. This isn't the first time this has happened to us. |
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| Then we drove to our 2 day rental where the person so nicely left the keys inside for us and locked the door on their way out! We had to stay elsewhere that night and fought with the owner for 2 days. 3rd stay there was our last. |
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| Halemaumau crater glowing at night. This is cool but when you've actually poked liquid lava a few times in your life, it's kind of a bummer. This lava junkie needs some molten goodness! |
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| The place where lava meets the road will never get old. Unfortunately it was stinkin' hot by 8:30am so we were only in the lava fields for about an hour. |
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| I made some tropical fruit smoothies with a buttload of fruit we got the at Kona Farmers Market. Yes, I said buttload. Pineapple, papaya, lychees, mangos, orange and banana. |
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| The Mr chillin' by our pool at the house. We'll definitely stay there again! |
Now for the highlight of our trip and giveaway. For our 10 year anniversary (six years ago-holy crap!), the Mr was able to do some sweet talking to an assistant of my favorite chef, Sam Choy and surprised me with having him cook dinner for us in the rental home we stayed at that year as well as this trip. We were about 50 lbs from our highest weights when we met him for the first time and he had lost over 100 lbs at that point. We talked about weight and all kinds of stuff and immediately hit it off. We stayed in touch with him and his lovely wife ever since. When our motivation would get low, we would get out the video of him cooking dinner and our conversation and remind ourselves of the lessons he taught us.
We got to see Sam three times this past visit and probably kept his new restaurant Sam Choy's Kai Lanai in the black this month for as many times as we ate there! We got some cookbooks and now we want to share the aloha with you by giving away an autographed copy of Sam Choy's Sampler: Hawaii's Favorite Recipes
. This cookbook is the perfect way to transport yourself back to the islands for those who have been there or to take a virtual trip to Hawaii through Sam's culinary gems. He provides sample menus, how to prepare for a luau and different recipes from side dishes to main dishes to drinks and even his famous dressings, which the Mr could bathe in.
Comment below and say "COOKBOOK ME!" if you want to be entered into the giveaway.
The giveaway is open until
The winner selected by Random.org is:
Congrats to ajchaney89!! Please contact me at mrs {at} successalongtheweigh {dot} com to claim your prize!
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