Blogs > Lighten Up With Margaret

Margaret Pizzi of Mentor is a contestant in The News-Herald's Lighten Up in 2013.

Monday, April 29, 2013

made the cutoff!

Well all my hard work and motivation paid off these last few weeks and I lost my 5% with a little over a pound to spare!

To avoid falling off my "straight and narrow" diet plan I decided to loosen up a little bit and prove to myself that I can make better choices in the long term eating "real" food, just for the weekend. Sometimes in the past, deprivation of favorite "not-so-healthy" foods has led me to binge eat. I gave myself a free pass to have anything I wanted then back to my diet today.

My grandson Devin has been taking Taekwondo lessons since just after he turned 5yo, and now 3 yrs later, earned his 1st Degree Black Belt Saturday afternoon.  Of course this was a major event so we all celebrated at one of his favorite restaurants. Since it was a "free pass" day and I haven't had a good burger and fries in a long time I ordered a burger and fries with the sauce on the side in case I wanted a tiny bit and no condiments. I only ate half my burger and had the rest for dinner. I bought Devin an awesome celebratory cake and had only a small slice. Later the kids were passing around chips and it took only a couple chips until I was satisfied.

Yesterday we went out for MY celebratory dinner and I ordered steak and ribs. Ya know, sometimes I just want to eat like everyone else is eating.  There was actually little fat on the meat and I discarded what little there was. Well I could only eat a portion of my meal and ate a light dinner later.  

I ended both days with calories in the 1900s. Add in the exercise I did and I should be OK. What could have been a binge weekend ended up being a maintenance weekend. It was nice to know I could "let loose" and not lose total control.  I think a key was that I drank a whole bunch of water so I wouldn't over indulge much and ate slowly so I was really getting a taste of what I was eating. It takes a lot more fries to cure a fry craving if you're just shoveling them down and not savoring the indulgence.  It's also interesting that I'm a self-proclaimed Cheetos addict and could previously almost polish off a whole bag. Since I gave myself permission to eat them this weekend I didn't even want them. I'm thinking that maybe every Sunday, as long as I'm "good" all week I can allow myself a small portion of a "forbidden" food. 

Today I had leftover ribs and half a potato for lunch and a roll. The rest of the steak may go on a salad for dinner tonight. I don't know, this food seems way too heavy for me now.  I'm looking forward to getting back to what may be my new definition of "real" food tomorrow. Bring on the KALE!!!!

Friday, April 12, 2013

finally consistent progress

Well I analyzed my nutrition and activity logs for the past 10 days and I'm doing pretty well.

Only a couple days I got lazy and unmotivated and walked about 2 miles. Three days I made it 4 miles and 2 days I got in a little over 5 miles!  So overall I'm averaging about 3 1/2 miles a day and I'll try to improve on those numbers for the next week.

Had really bad diet days Sat & Sun but I at least stayed under 2000 calories. At least Saturday I did enough walking to burn 1000 calories!  I'm averaging 1400 calories a day otherwise.

We went to Cabanas Island Restaurant this week and I tried FISH on the low calorie menu! Cabanas's calorie controlled menu is very seafood heavy but of course it's an "Island Restaurant" and seafood can be very calorie friendly!  I normally dislike seafood but the tilapia sounded very appealing to expand my healthy protein options. My tilapia was very tender and flavorful and I would recommend it for anyone who doesn't care much for fish. The veggies were perfect, not too crunchy nor too soft.  My hubby ate my potatoes since I'm not eating starchy carbs opting instead for whole grains. He said they were quite tasty too. He's a fan of their burgers and fries. I hear the teriyaki tuna is popular so maybe I'll also try that some time. Who knows maybe I'll end up a regular fish eater?

So the plan for next week....walk...walk...walk and maybe try the gym again since I'm getting more fit.  I need to take it slow with my bad back and neck but I do need to step it up to the next level to prepare for some exercise classes next month.  I'll also plan on having NO days where I go over 1400 calories, maybe dropping to 1200 a couple times a week so my body doesn't get too comfy with the calorie reduction.

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Thanks to a sunny day

My motivation to exercise has come back with the sunshine  these last couple days.  I managed 5.3 miles yesterday and 2.5 miles so far today! 



Wednesday, April 3, 2013

kicking it up a notch!

This has probably been my sickliest winter EVER.  Just getting over the flu and decided I really needed to kick it up a notch and not to use feeling sick or tired or having my back flareups as an excuse 'cause the way this winter has been I may not feel better anytime soon.

I went walking at lunch. It's sunny and I definitely need the sun after this winter!  It was soooo cold with a brisk wind. I wonder if you burn more calories if your body is trying to stay warm?? LOL. 

Anyway I managed 2.6 miles! I even did my "ramping" that I used to do.  My "ramping" is walking up the ramps in the parking garage at work.  I started the ramps after walking about a mile and a half. By the top of the first ramp I was ready to quit!  BUT I kept going. No excuses. So proud of myself.  Went just as far as the 6th floor this time because that's where I parked my car.  Maybe tomorrow I can make it all the way to the top. And NO I don't take the elevator back down!  Need to tone those muscles walking back down too!

My rule is now that if I want a diet Coke I have to go out to my car and get one!  So I managed to drink green tea all day because I didn't feel like walking out to my car til my lunch break.  Yesterday I drank green tea and ice water with lemon because I didn't feel like walking out to the car at all. This plan seems like it could be a good one if I stick to it to curb my diet Coke addiction.