Calories Per Hour

I just found this great site called "Calories Per Hour." It has a weight loss tutorial that is VERY thorough. I encourage ANYONE trying to lose weight to go through it. I will cover and spotlight some of the main points here from time to time. One thing I read today that I think is very interesting is about the number of calories we use every day, doing every day things. They also have an activity calculator you can use to determine how many calories you burn doing activities you love or even just walking or biking with your family or working out at the gym. The daily activity breakdown looks like this:

Sleeping

588 calories in 8 hr

Office Work - general

980 calories in 8 hr

Driving - light vehicle (e.g., car, pick-up)

163 calories in 1 hr

Food - preparing, at home

204 calories in 1 hr

Eating - sitting

122 calories in 1 hr

Taking a Shower

82 calories in 30 min

Cleaning - house or cabin, general

122 calories in 30 min

Shopping - groceries, with cart

94 calories in 30 min

Walking - with dog

122 calories in 30 min

Running - 6 mph

408 calories in 30 min

Dressing and Undressing

82 calories in 30 min

Watching - TV or movie

163 calories in 2 hr

So even things like watching television or working at the computer burn calories -- just because you are awake and doing things. However, some simple exchanges for the amount of time you spend doing these things might help you see why the weight goes on to begin with and what minor changes, implemented consistently over time, will help you lose and, more importantly, NOT gain back the excess weight.

Ironically, the more overweight you are, the less likely you are to do some of the more active and interactive things. It's a catch-22, huh? But as you lose weight, you gain the physical ability and increased desire to be more active, thus improving your overall health, well-being, and ultimately your entire life! ;-D

Fiber Facts

First of all, what is fiber? Well, it's basically a type of carbohydrate that your body can't digest, which is a good thing. Like we said before, fiber is either soluble or insoluble. Both types of fiber offer health benefits that we really can't afford to do without; so both types are good sources of fiber for our bodies. Some sources of insoluble fiber include vegetables, fruit skins, whole-wheat products, and nuts. Some sources of soluble fiber inclue oats, dried beans, flax seed, nuts, oranges and apples, and vegetables like carrots. You can see that some foods give us both fibers in one, making the nutritional benefits double.

Some of the specific benefits of fiber include relieving constipation, lowering cholesterol, protecting against diabetes, assisting with weight loss, protecting against some types of cancer (colon, for example), preventing the formation of gallstones and kidney stones, and preventing heart disease. Pretty cool, eh? I am sure that we all know people, perhaps even in our own families, that struggle with at least one of these things.

So, how much fiber do you need? Well, women should get aroun 20-25 grams of fiber a day; men should get 30-35. On average, men and women get between 10 and 15 grams a day. So we get about half. Pretty frightening when you consider all of the health benefits we aren't receiving and, consequently, some of the things we are struggling with.

The good news is that if we are eating the recommended amounts of food that we see in the Food Guide Pyramid -- namely five servings of fruits and vegetables and six servings of whole grains a day -- we will easily get the amount of fiber we need -- both types of fiber -- and enjoy the health benefits.

So where do we go wrong? Well, fruit and vegetables can be really expensive, especially if you are feeding a large family. So the tendency is to skimp on these foods because they don't fit into our budgets. It's good to stay in your budget; however, maybe we should consider cutting out more of the processed foods on our shopping lists and fill in with more fresh foods. Or maybe you can get frozen or canned vegetables and fill in with less expensive fruits like bananas and apples. You can also look for sales -- grapes for $.98 a pound or watermelon for $.20 to $.28 a pound. If you measure out serving sizes and give you children bags that are theirs to eat for the day (not to mention yourself and your spouse), they'll likely eat the entire thing and be tickled that they got their OWN bag. Also, avoid processed fruits, including dried and fruit juice. You loose the sources of fiber (the skins with most fruit) and also your body absorbs and uses these things differently, so you lose the benefits of eating "fruit."

Another place people go wrong. If you notice, most foods are marked with words like "whole grains" or "whole wheat." But have you ever looked at the nutrition information on those foods? For example, I saw a loaf of 100% Whole Wheat Bread the other day that only had 1 g of fiber per slice. The number two ingredient in that bread was high fructose corn syrup. So be careful when you are looking at and buying bread, cereal, and other foods to look at the nutrition information and see what you are actually getting behind the words on the labels. Whenever possible, make things yourself so you know what is in the food and avoid anything processed.

With beans -- buy a bag of dried beans and make it up yourself, or else you can also buy cans of beans and use those instead of refried beans or other substitutes and cut out some of the fat and calories while still getting the fiber. Not to mention it will most likely be helpful on your budget.

Again -- add color, add color, add color. And cook for yourself and as a family. The benefits of that alone are more than any nutrition label could ever explain.

Whole Wheat Bread

2 3/4 cups hot water
1/2 cup oil (I use olive)
1/2 cup honey (molasses or sugar work as well)
1 T salt
5 cups whole wheat flour, freshly ground (or combine wheat and white -- one wheat to two white)
1 1/2 T yeast

Put hot water, oil, honey, and salt into mixer. Add about 2-3 cups of the flour and mix to bring down water temperature to keep from killing the yeast (I still mix the yeast with about a cup of lukewarm water; I guess that's my mom in me). Add the yeast. Mix. Add more flour until the dough begins to clean the sides of the bowl. Knead in the machine 8-10 minutes on speed 1. Oil hands and counter (putting flour on the counter adds more flour than necessary and dries out the bread). Turn out of the bowl and form into loaves or rolls.

Preheat oven to 150 degrees for five minutes. Turn oven off and let bread rise in warm oven 25-30 minutes. Bake at 325 for 30-40 minutes. Remove bread from pans, brush tops with butter (optional), cool on baking racks, ENJOY!!!!

Yield: 2 Loaves (large ones)

Progressing

I wanted to follow up here on my progress, mostly because I think we all do this: When someone starts to lose (or has just lost) weight -- be it from pregnancy or whatever else -- the thought runs through your mind (or leaves your mouth), "How did you DO it?" Obviously if you have ever struggled with weight loss, you just assume that it isn't possible for you and want to know how everyone else does it. You don't just want to hear "diet and exercise" -- you want SPECIFICS. DETAILS. You're expecting to hear, "I stopped eating sugar altogether" or "I work out at the gym for two hours a day" or "I stopped eating carbs and focus on lean proteins at every meal." And your ever-ready reaction is, "Well, I can't do THAT -- I guess I'll just have to be fat, cuz I'd rather not lose weight than give up sweets -- and I don't have two hours a day to go to the gym -- and I LOVE my carbs and don't even think that cutting them out is healthy." We've all been there -- myself included.

So - since I have full confidence that THIS time, I AM GOING TO SUCCEED (whatever that success might look like by my babies' first birthday or the end of the year) -- I am going to tell you step-by-step what I am "doing" to have success. I hope that this will give you encouragement and teach you that YOU CAN DO IT as well.

So I am just finishing week three of my quest. I'm a little behind because it has been a little discouraging at times and I found myself wondering if I really WAS going to succeed.

Week 1: Weight Loss -- Zero pounds, Zero ounces.
That's right, folks. You can imagine how heart-broken I was. I mean, the first few weeks are supposed to be the easiest and when you lose the most weight. Not me! I guess I already had some healthy practices in place or something because my body didn't change one bit.
What I did:
1) I cut back to the number of calories I found using the Basal Metabolic Rate calculations I posted in an earlier post. I noted EVERY bite I put in my mouth on my little calorie tracking calendar that I wrote about before. If I didn't know the nutrition information, I didn't eat it. PERIOD.
2) I made a rule that I would NOT eat out. The only exception to this is special occasions -- and besides my babies' first birthday, I only have my birthday, July 4, and my sister-in-laws wedding coming up between now and then. So -- special occasions will happen just three times. And I can plan on them and be ready. Other than that, NO eating out. I actually carry a high energy protein bar with me for just those times when I might be out on the run and didn't have time to pack a meal/healthy snacks or might be with my family and didn't have time to pack a meal. Then they can eat out, and I can stick to my goals.
3) I gave myself a free day -- SUNDAY. This is great because not only are my Sunday's really crazy with church and meetings and things but Sunday is a day that I hold sacred. I don't shop on Sunday. So I still have to plan -- to a certain extent -- my splurges. This is PERFECT for me. On the special occasions noted above, I'll just make those days my free day and calorie count on Sunday. This is also really great because it helps me have something to look forward to -- the day that I can eat a large slice of cheese or pizza or lasagna or a large spoonful or two of cookie dough -- WITHOUT the guilt I have felt before when I have set resolutions and FAILED. What happens on Sunday STAYS in Sunday. No guilt trips if I go WAY over the edge.
4) I drank at least 16 ounces of water before I ate ANYTHING. That helped me feel full even when I was struggling those first days of calorie cutting.

Week #2: Total Wight Loss -- 2.6 lbs.
What I did:
1) REJOICED that the scale had MOVED DOWN!!!!
2) After my lack of success the first week, I was filled with so many thoughts about what went wrong, worrying that my body was still so messed up from my pregnancy and dealing with hormone shifts and things that I would NEVER recover, wondering if I was still retaining a lot of water, etc. SO I TURNED MY THOUGHTS AROUND. I reminded myself that weight loss is simple: Calories in has to be less than calories out. I CUT 50 CALORIES A DAY from what I had eaten the previous week.
3) I got 8 hours of sleep TWO DAYS this week -- a new beginning for me in the sleep arena.
4) I exercised THREE DAYS this week. I took my niece on a "jog" around the city park and raced her on one side of the block for the four laps we did around it. I also tried a workout video my sister has and went on a bike ride with my kids behind me in a stroller.

Week #3: Total Weight Loss - 1.4 pounds, 4 pounds since I began
1) I rejoiced again! This weight loss changed the second digit in my weight, which is a number I haven't seen for a while. SO I WAS PRETTY EXCITED!!!!
2) I had sick babies and only got to exercise one day this week. So I need to do better in that arena.
3) I got 8 hours of sleep four days this week. That's pretty good.
4) I ate more veggies -- adding color to everything (tomatoes, green beans, frozen peas, spinach, carrots, whatever). I try to have at least TWO colors in every meal or snack besides breakfast. This also counts with fruit. And I splurged and bought some fresh fruit that I knew I would love, cutting it up and storing it in serving-size ziploc bags in the fridge to encourage me to STAY ON TRACK.

And that brings me to today. So I am going to enjoy this Sunday and making heart-shaped chocolate chip cookies with my niece. I enjoyed the piece of cheesy bread I ate with my daughter earlier (with extra cheese). I am going to enjoy whatever it is we decide to make for dinner WITHOUT worrying about eating JUST ONE PORTION. And I'm going to be more successful next week than I was this week.

The amazing thing is that, even though I write about making cookies and eating cheesey bread and eating a larger portion at dinner, I actually found myself NOT craving sweets, fatty foods, processed foods, etc. this week. I REALLY NOTICED A DIFFERENCE. That's not to say I WON'T eat the chocolate chip cookie dough before we make those heart-shaped cookies for our neighbors. But I am not craving it. And I'd really be okay if we didn't do it. That's a FIRST for me EVER. Not even kidding. And I'm actually STARTING to crave vegetables like you wouldn't believe.

My two-fold focus for week 4: 8 hours of sleep and exercise. Wish me luck!