Do What You "Know" Not What You "Think"

Last Thursday evening I had my fourth appointment with my nutritionist and trainer, Stacy.  When I arrived at her business, Be Fit, I was as anxious as can be.  On week one I dropped  an amazing 11 pounds and 3 inches, and that was with no exercise and continuing with my 1400 calories per day and adding protein to my food intake.  Week Two I did everything that I was supposed to do including exercise but the scale only reported one pound of weight loss.  But the measuring tape showed 4-3/4" for a total of 12 pounds lost and 7-3/4 inches removed from my body.

This week I had really stepped up my game.  I ate right every day, drank my two protein drinks per day.  The biggest difference was that I exercised not once but twice every day!  This was going to be my week, I just knew it!  When we sat down at the table to discuss my week I could hardly wait to get to the good stuff.  Stacy explained that she had taken my file with my weight loss and inches lost chart home and did not have it for our meeting.  Well that did not sound too good to me.  I should have known that this was a sign of things to come.

She took all of my measurements and wrote them down on a new chart and we walked over to the Ironman Scale.  She again entered my age and height and I stepped up on the scale.  On my journey to a new me I have learned that the scale can be my friend, but today was an exception to this rule.  As the display changed from one thing to the next, I concentrated on the weight loss and could not believe what I was seeing.  One Pound!  Please tell me there must be a mistake!  One Pound?  Really?  This is not the results that I had worked so hard to acheive.  It felt a little bit like Bill Murphy in the movie, Ground Hog Day!  In case you have never seen it the premise of the movie is that he keeps repeating Ground Hog Day, every day.  It is like a broken record or something.  This was a total unacceptable weight loss result.  To say that I was a little upset with myself would be a huge understatement.

Stacy had me go back over to the table so that she could talk to me and I just felt myself shutting down.  If what I had done last week was only good for one pound, then I wasn't sure what else that I could do.  She began to look at my food journal for the week and scanned all the data in the nutritional section for every day.  She went back three days and stopped and asked me "What is this?"  "Why did you eat so much sugar this day?"  I looked her in disbelief and told her that I wasn't eating any sugar, and I did not know what she was referring to?   I also told her that in all the previous meetings she had only given me guidelines for protein, carbohydrates, fat and sodium.  She never mentioned sugar!  Plus, I knew that sugar was something that I really had been staying clear of since beginning my journey to a new me over 18 months ago!  So I asked her to explain what it was that she was looking at?  (I mean it wasn't like I was pulling a "Bill Cosby" and eating chocolate cake for breakfast every day!  I was eating healthy and well-balanced meals and snacks!)

Here is the Breakfast that she was studying so closely.  See if you can figure out what the "Red Flag" was on this food entry.

Breakfast	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Sugar	Sodium
Champion Nutrition - Pure Whey Protein Stack-Chocolate, 1 scoop (32g)	130	4	2	23	2	160
Nature's Own - Double Fiber Wheat Bread With Omega-3, 2 slices	100	26	1	6	1	270
Strawberries - Raw, 1 cup, halves	49	12	0	1	7	2
Smuckers - Blackberry Jam Sugar Free Seedless , 1 Tbsp	15	5	0	0	0	0
Quick add calories Remember meal Copy from date Copy to today Copy to date Copy from which date? Thursday, August 23 Wednesday, August 22 Tuesday, August 21 Monday, August 20 Sunday, August 19 Saturday, August 18 Friday, August 17 Copy to which date? Friday, September 7 Thursday, September 6 Tomorrow Today Yesterday Sunday, September 2 Saturday, September 1 Totals For Breakfast	294	47	3	30	10	432

The first thing that I noticed was that my entire meal was under 300 calories.  Not to mention that by including a protein shake I had acheived a 30 for total protein at this meal.  She began to explain that the carbs were shown as 47 and when you add the sugar of 10 the total could be looked at as 57!  Oh no, when you look at it this way I am WAY over my goal for my breakfast.  Who said counting calories and allocating them into the correct catergories would be easy?   Certainly not me.  No wonder I only lost One Pound this week again.

The best way to look at the nutrition in food is to look at it the way your body breaks it down.  All carbohydrates and sugars are broken down into the body as sugar.  So even though I am not drinking sweet tea, or regular Coca Cola, the other healthy items that I am eating have sugar of some sort even if it is natural, and natural sugar counts too! 

So instead of beating myself up over the one pound weight loss, I looked at the whole picture.  When I added this pound to my previous 12 pounds I had reached a 13 pound weight loss in just three weeks, not to mention I am now down a total of 10 inches!  This week I dropped another pound of fat.  On this new path on my journey to a new me,  I am building lean musle that will be able to burn more fat.  I have learned that muscle always weighs more than fluffy fat.  Think about it like this, one pound of lean muscle could be equivalent to a very small, tight cylinder vs. a one pound bag of fluffy marshmellows.  Which one looks better on me?  The lean muscle of course!  So this week I have decided to continue on the course that my nutritionist has set me on and I am really paying close attention to the carbohydrates and sugar counts at each meal. Stacy had explained to me earlier that I need to stay at 40  carbs or lower per meal for a 120 carb count and then 10 carbs per snack, which will give me 140 total carbohydrates per day.  I have also changed my next meeting from Thursday evening at 7:00 pm to Friday morning at 6:45 am.  Who knows this may just be the week that I drop some serious weight.  But I am also learning that those inches are just as important as the numbers on the scale.  Stacy made a simple statement to me that has stuck, "Kathy, you look for a result on the scale, but others can see the results on the measuring tape.  You are really trimming down and that is the number that I am most concerned with."

Three Easy Breakfast Options On The Cheap!

When we were younger we all heard the same thing from our parents, "The most important meal of the day is breakfast."  I don't know why so many people opt to skip breakfast, but to be honest I was one of them.  But this is what I have learned while on my journey to a new me, if you eat within the first hour of your day there is a greater chance that you will stay on your path to become healthy.  Try  one of these easy options to get your metabolism going in the morning.  And for fun I have included the approximate cost of each.

Breakfast Staple #1 - Peanut Butter (17 cents per serving)

Peanut butter is a cheap way to add well-rounded nutrients to your breakfast, because just 1 tablespoon has 4 grams of protein, 8 grams of fat, a few grams of fiber, and 4 grams of carbs.   Its polyunsaturated fatty acids helps decrease cholesterol while keeping you feeling full longer.  Have an all time favorite "PBJ" (peanut butter and jelly sandwich) and you may discover you won't get those mid-morning munchies.

Breakfast Staple #2 - Old-Fashioned Rolled Oats (21 cents a serving)

Processed cereals can be a sneaky source of sugar, so opt for no-sugar added whole grains in the a.m.   Oats are a great choice, because they’ve also been shown to lower bad cholesterol.

Make it a meal:

Mix a cup each rolled oats and skim milk with ¼ cup each almonds and dried fruit. Microwave for 4  minutes, then let sit another minute so oats soak up the liquid.  To sweeten add a little brown sugar "Splenda" for added punch.

Breakfast Staple #3 - Greek Yogurt ($1 per 5.3 oz serving)  

Though Greek yogurt may cost slightly more than the regular kind, you get more nutrition for your money: The Greek option has 15 g of protein, compared to about 6 g in the regular stuff. Buy it plain to cut down on sugar and cost. Be sure to check the label for gut-protecting bacteria L. acidophilus and B. bifidum, and the “Live and Active Cultures” seal.  I only like the Greek Yogurt with Splenda or Stevia and mix in a 1/4 to 1/2 cup of strawberries or blueberries to make it  an extra special treat.   

 
 I know that we live in a world of drive-thru and fast food chains and that breakfast in a bag is easy and convenient, but try one of the above options and your waist-line will be happy you did!

Waffle House Revisited

I have a confession to make.  I still love to eat at Waffle House!  The second blog post that I ever wrote was about my Waffle House meal choice.  (see blog post from Jan. 23, 2011)  And I gave the run down of just how many calories a basic breakfast of scrambled eggs, hashbrowns, and buttered toast totals 770 calories!

Way back then I chose to make a few "modifications" and was able to cut my calories to 462calories.  It was on a recent visit to Waffle House for dinner that I made a few more adjustments to have a healthy meal that included some protein.

This is how I ordered my delicious Waffle House dinner:
Two eggs scrambled, hold the yolk on one, add one slice of cheese and use spray instead of oil
Sliced tomatoes instead of hashbrowns, One 6 ounce grilled chicken breast and two slices of dry  raisin toast.  They brought out the apple butter and strawberry jelly but I declined to use either one.

Here's how the calories added up on the above meal.  The large egg was 70 calories, the egg white was 17.  I purposely ordered one piece of cheese because at the WH if you say "Two eggs scrambled with cheese you get two slices of cheese".  So the cheese added another 70 calories.  The 6 ounces of grilled chicken added 165 calories.  Sliced tomatoes for 35 calories and the big splurge was two slices of dry raisin toast for 142 calories.  I ate my fill and left completely satisfied.  And for those of you wondering what the grand total was....  499 calories!  I was completely amazed that I could add a nice piece of chicken to my meal and still come under 500 calories. 

I am a believer that you don't have to starve yourself to get healthy and to lose weight.  There are good choices out there even at the restaurants that normally get a bad rap.  Now don't get me wrong, if I was a person who had no weight issues, I certainly would not have a problem ordering up a "All Star breakfast" complete with eggs, bacon, waffles and all the fixin's but with it would come all the calories!  945 to be exact!  So for now, I will continue to stay on my journey to a new me and order the right foods for me when I slide into the booth at my local Waffle House!

Some Things You Never Forget

Where does 'memory like an elephant' come from?  Does an elephant  actually have a great memory or is it just a random saying?  How would you know if they had a great memory or not?  I did a quick google search and was able to gain some insight into the background regarding this statement. 

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker

AN ELEPHANT NEVER FORGETS - "First attested in the United States in 'Blue Ridge' (1937) by W. Martyn. The proverb is probably of Greek origin. The Greeks sometimes say, 'The camel never forgets an injury,' according to Burton Stevenson. 'To have a memory like an elephant' is used as a figure of speech." From "Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings" (1996) by Gregory Y. Titelman (Random House, New York, 1996).

A second reference adds to this and has an earlier citation date: "Said of someone with a prodigious memory, usually for slights and wrongs. It was not the memory of the elephant but that of the camel that was renowned amongst the Greeks long ago. A Greek proverb ran 'Camels never forget an injury.' Proverbial reference to the elephant's memory is relatively recent.

The origin of the phrase seems to go back to observations that elephants follow the same paths and even hand down genetic memories of directions and places grounds across generations. Each elephant clan has a certain burial place, like many human communities, and always help the dying ones get back there if they are not killed traumatically first.

The most famous example of the tenacity of memory of elephants is illustrated in the story "Elephant Walk," which was made into a movie in the 40s, or perhaps early 50s. This is the true story of a British colonial villa which was built across a traditional elephant walk in India. The elephants were confused and enraged to find their way blocked, and every year at the same time, the villa staff would have to defend the villa and deflect the herds around it so they could get from one side of the offending villa in their traditional migration.

Finally the elephants could not be dissuaded, and one year in rage they finally stormed on through the villa, destroying it and killing many of the people, restoring the traditional road.

In addition to their travel and burial patterns, it has been demonstrated in the 20th century that elephants also have a high friendship skill with humans, as well as develping lasting relationships with other elephants, and in fact do remember individuals of the human and their own species even when separated for decades.

So now that we all know about elephants and their great memories, you are probably wondering what this has to do with my journey to a new me?  Well it goes back to my early childhood.  I was just remembering things from my early years, things that were hurtful and things that I wish that I would have never overheard others say about me.  In one of the references above it stated:   "Said of someone with a prodigious memory, usually for slights and wrongs."  I think in some cases this applies to me.  Now that I am moving in the right direction with my weight and more importantly, my health, I believe it is important to disect my thoughts and emotions regarding my weight and why I grew to be so obese to begin with.


One of my earliest hurtful memories was when I was a young teenager and I was spending the night at a friends house.  I remember after dinner that night we were playing in my friends family room and my friends mother called her into their kitchen.  Like most children after she was gone for a few minutes I got up to go see what she was doing and from around the corner, just beyond where they could see me,  I saw her mother giving her a piece of cake and when my friend said: "Mommy can I take a piece of cake to me friend?"   Her mother quietly replied, "No honey, your friend does not need a piece of cake.  You just finish your piece of cake in here and then go back in there and play.  She  does not need to know that you had dessert."  I remember the hurt that I felt at that moment, not just at what her mother had said but that my friend did not stand up for me and insist on either having her mother give me a piece of cake or share her piece of cake with me.   I remember going back into their family room and waiting on her to come back.  When she came back she could have won an Oscar for her performance.  I casually asked her what did her mother want and she replied, "Oh nothing.  She just wanted me to help her with the dishes."  I then knew that my friend was not really my friend and I told her that I needed to leave and I walked home and never went over to her house again.


That is a painful memory, and one that I had all but forgotten.  I wonder what caused me to pull this memory from my past?  Why now after more than 35 years would this memory come to my remembrance?  I believe that deep at the root of my obesity are reasons beyond my understanding as to why and how I became the morbidly obese woman that I was.  I believe that if people knew how powerful their words were  they would be a little more careful of the words that they spoke.  I remember my friend wanting to come over to my house, or get off the bus at my house after school and I always made an excuse to her as to why I did not want to get together with her.  When in fact it was because of a deep hurt that I had suffered by her and her mother that fateful day.

When I think about it, the example above is not the only time in my childhood that something similar happened.  As the bad memories flood back I take a moment to reflect on each and every one of them.  And the reality is this, "What can I do about it now?"    Nothing.  The old saying: You can't cry over split milk is true.  But what I can do is choose to forgive. Because with forgiveness comes healing.  Today, I forgive them for the hurt that they caused me.  I forgive myself for having a pity-party every time something like this happened to me and I used it as an excuse to over eat.  Today is a new day.  Today I can choose to forgive and forget the painful words of the past, and reflect on the positive words of encouragement that I have received over the past year on my journey to a new me. 

I want to personally thank all of your who have offered positive words, kind words, and words of affirmation and encouragement to me.  All of the positive words are helping me to release the hurt from the past, and move toward my next goal of 50 pounds in '2012.