Frustration...Grrr.

Okay, clearly I'm gaining weight here without any real reason for it. I can't claim it's muscle, either, since my body fat percentages are staying pretty flat. It could be stress, depression, or some kind of winter body weight loss resistance. Hopefully the pounds will start coming off soon, because I'm getting irate.

Tasty Healthy on the Speedy

Just a quick mention here on taste. I've munched on a wide variety of 'diet' meals in my day, and when it comes to convenience meals (and we all need them now and then), Lean Cuisine beats everyone else, hands down. This stuff is better than any other frozen dinners I've had, diet or regular, and at about 30% less in price than South Beach. It's seriously tasty and focuses on fresh ingredients with fat and portion control. On the thumbs down, I need to say that Nutrisystem tastes like it has been stored in cardboard so long it has -become- cardboard, and Healthy Choice, well, that would only taste good if you added salt and butter. If you're looking for something to shove in your work or school lunch that tastes great and satisfies, go for the Lean Cuisine.

Yup, it's a Resolution Blog

And of course I pick an old fave, losing weight and taking better care of myself. So here we go, logging everything I eat, how much I weigh, my BF%, exercise, feelings and observations, and anything else I feel might relate. Maybe even recipes and tips. Yesterday I am not counting because it was still officially in the holiday eating spree, so I reserve the right to not beat myself up over that.

My diet and health philosophy is that I don't deny myself anything. I simply think about the effects of what I'm eating and decide if I want it or not. I started this food lifestyle last May when I was 240 lbs and didn't care what I ate or how much, and my size and physical conditions made it very difficult to exercise at all, even if I wasn't a lazy ass bum. I started with tossing out foods that were over 30% calories from fat and anything with high fructose corn syrup. Not denying myself, just realized those things were NOT WORTH IT and were the biggest source of my physical unhappiness. I started concentrating on whole grains, less meat, and more veggies and fruits, fresh and whole as possible. It took about three weeks to retrain my palate, but honestly, when I do indulge in the occasional high fat or processed splurge now, I don't like the taste and flavor as much as I like healthy alternatives. I also started paying attention to portions. Once a week I measure to keep myself on track and I aim for 1200 to 1500 net calories a day total. So far I've dropped 50 lbs and my injury and pain downtimes have gotten fewer and shorter. My target is to get down to around 135 with a BMI of about 20-25.

Exercise-wise I'm using a recumbent stationary cycle, an airwalker, biometrics (Greer Childers' 7-minute workout), light weights, tai chi, qigong, budokon (a combination of yoga and martial arts), and walking. Coming off a chronic hip issue (inflammation of the SI joint) and bilateral knee arthritis, I'm working slowly back into the exercise routine I had going last summer, starting with the 7-minute workout daily and alternating cycling and walking over 6 days, resting on Sundays.

My starting weight as of Jan 2, 2008, is 190.4 lbs with a BF of 41.4% and a BMI of 31. Let's get that down a bit, shall we?