Counting Calories, Day 3

My husband had the day off so we decided to go to Ikea. I was looking forward to finding some house decorating items and I was surprised that Jay was so willing to go. After we arrived at the store I realized why he was so willing to traipse along. I found him in the remodeling area working on work stuff—on his day off. After he had his fun working, it took us quite a long time to make it through the maze of a store. By this time both kids and parents were tired and hungry.

We decided to make use of the in-store food court. I chose what I thought to be the most sensible item on the menu—a buffalo chicken wrap. It consisted of white chicken breast meat, wrapped in a tortilla with lettuce and shredded cheese. Try as I did later, I could not find nutritional information to tell me how many calories I ate. So I tried piecing it together.

As far as I could tell the wrap had no sauces or mayonnaise in it. It was also a bit dry. I ended up dipping it in barbeque sauce.

Chicken breast meat: 129 calories
Flour tortilla 10 inches long: 234 calories
Cheese: 90 calories
BBQ sauce: 30 calories
Green lettuce: 5 calories
Total: 488 calories

It was a bit more difficult calculating the one meatball and three fries I ate, or the four licks of ice cream I had because my daughter was letting it melt too fast. Even the calculations I did make were guesses to a certain extent.

Later on my husband, ever the internet research guru, found the calories listed for the buffalo chicken wrap off of a website from someone who claims to know. 275 calories. I guess I overestimated by a long shot. Maybe I’ll go have another one.

Counting Calories, Day 2

Sometimes in a valiant effort to be healthy we sabotage out healthiness. Here’s an example.

Let’s say you eat oatmeal drizzled with real maple syrup and pecans for breakfast. For a midmorning snack you have a banana and peanuts. Then for lunch it’s a green salad with organic dressing. Midafternoon you go with a high-oxidant Odwalla bar. Dinner consists of rice and chicken and stir-fry vegetables.

The day may have been nutritious, but you may also fail to lose weight. Why? Because nutritious doesn’t always mean lean. Take the organic salad dressing. A serving of Newman’s Own Creamy Italian Dressing contains 140 calories and 14 grams of fat for 2 tablespoons. Health bars like the Odwalla brand carry a surprisingly high number of calories along with the nutrients. The Super Protein bar has 230 calories. Sounds more like a small meal. Real maple syrup may be natural, but it is extremely high in sugar. ¼ a cup equals 210 calories. Rather high for a flavoring.

The best way to avoid having too much of a good thing is to write the good things down. Just because it’s nutritious doesn’t give us a right to binge. Too much health food is simply not healthy.

Counting Calories Week, Day 1

When I was a music major in college, I remember one day during a voice lesson when I felt utterly overwhelmed. Lessons are times when a teacher gives as many pointers as possible so that we can go home and practice what we learned, but on this day I was trying to conquer each pointer at once and failing miserably.

My teacher found a reasonable solution: only concentrate on one pointer at a time until it’s easy enough that I can add another pointer to focus on. The overwhelming task of trying to learn that difficult song suddenly become much easier.

The same concept can be used when we feel overwhelmed with anything, like healthy eating and exercise. Last week was exercise week and I focused on that alone. Now that I jump-started my workout routine, perhaps I can add a new focus. How about calorie counting? When I am really serious about losing weight, I count every calorie. When I slack off on losing weight, I usually have slacked off on counting calories.

This week let’s add a new layer to our health focus. Each day let’s track what we eat and mark the calories. It is the best, most successful way of eating healthy. And of course let’s not forget to keep exercising!

Exercise Week, Day 4

Two more obstacles, but still successful!

Obstacle one. It’s hot! Triple digits. Need I say more?

Obstacle two. I’m sick! I woke up this morning to find that my daughter had crawled into bed with me and was singing one of her Sunday school songs. About the time she yelled, “Yessir!” I asked her to please go back to sleep. I felt croaky and muddled, from the inside out. Getting sick is no fun, especially during my Exercise Week.

Solutions. For the heat, I try to workout as early as possible. For my evening exercise the other night it was way to hot to even think about going on a bike ride, so I stayed home and jumped around my living room for forty minutes. My kids loved it.

While being sick, I make sure I drink plenty of water first. I’m not afraid to take cold medicine either. There are definitely times when the best thing to do is go to bed, but I’m not about to slack off during my Exercise Week. It means too much to me.

Day 4 is my daughter’s third birthday. I’m having a small party for her with dinner and dessert. I suppose TIME is my ultimate obstacle, when there is so much to do! But if I can overcome heat, sickness, and the demands of small children, then (note the slight sarcasm and the smile) I can manage something easy like making exercise fit into my busy day.

Exercise Week, Day 3

Exercise creates time. Impossible, you say? Well it must create time because whenever I make an effort to exercise in the mornings, I manage to get much more done during my day. So it must mean that I have magically created time while exercising.

The second day of my Exercise Week challenge I was not as energetic. Normally I would have passed on the morning workout when feeling like this, let alone getting two workouts into the day. But I told myself I can’t give up (I have to tell myself that now and then) and proceeded out the door with my two kids an hour later than I’d planned.

The bad news, you could say, is that during the whole day I remained tired. Sometimes when we up the effort bar, our bodies react against it. So it’s normal that on Day 2 I am a little tired.

The good news is that I got so much done between the workouts that my spirits were bolstered. Watch out Day 3. I have a feeling you’re going to be full of energy and results.

Exercise Week, Day 2

I am in the middle of a self-provoked challenge: workout at least two or more times a day this week. My first day was an invigorating success. I took a morning walk before the temperatures climbed too high. Then after dinner my family took a bike ride.

Exercise with small children is definitely challenging, but not impossible. The morning walk was really more of a morning push. The double stroller I have isn’t the best quality. In fact, the front wheel doesn’t swivel, so I have to push down on the handle bar to turn a corner. And the way it glides to the right adds more push-and-adjustments. It takes muscle and burns extra calories. The stroller is absolutely perfect for a good workout.

My evening bike ride is more of a bike haul, with my two little ones riding along in the trailer behind me. While my husband is showing off with his pop-a-wheelies and curb jumps, I’m trudging along like a work-horse. It’s the perfect workout.

At the end of an active day I feel pumped. I have had a good dose of sunshine, fun, and family time. And don’t forget the calorie-burning, metabolism-revving aerobic workout. Oh how I love being active!

Exercise Week

It is time to shake things up a bit. Get the blood pumping. Rev the metabolism. Sweat out the toxins. Wake up the workout junkie. It is Exercise Week!

Life is busy. It always will be.

There are valid reasons not to exercise. There always will be.

Exercise Week is about isolating one of our biggest obstacles—procrastination—and conquering it. If you have been meaning to start exercising, or if you have been meaning to step up the frequency and intensity of exercise, but haven’t gotten around to it, this is the week to do it.

We only have to take this on for one week and just see where it takes us. My goal is to exercise two to three times every day this week. What I hope to see by next week is this: a spike in my energy, a decrease in stress, and some weightloss. Also, I expect a higher standard in what is “normal exercise” for me.

Are you with me? What is your exercise goal this week? Let’s get started!