Day 2 and Feeling Good!

January 4, 2012

Day 2

So yesterday wasn’t as bad as I had envisioned it would be. I kept to my diet, did all of my tracking on SparkPeople.com and even prepared my first healthy meal of the year at home! I didn’t end up making it to the gym as I had planned, but want to start ASAP. I know I’m completely out of shape and will only be able to start off slowly, but some type of physical activity is better than nothing at this point. I work in an office where I’m basically glued to my desk, so I live a very sedentary life. One of the perks of my job is that I work for a healthcare facility, so we get a super cheap membership to the gym. I’m paying around $32 a month for a membership for both Ben and myself. Not a bad deal, right? It may be cheap, but I need to get my money’s worth and use it. I’ve had the membership for around 2 years and I’ve used it sparsely. Time to make it pay off!

So going back to food… my meals were relatively healthy yesterday. I had ½ cup of oatmeal for breakfast, a chicken salad with pomegranate vinaigrette for lunch, and whole wheat rotini with chicken and Brussels sprouts for dinner. My snacks consisted of lots of water, yogurt and 2 rice cakes.

Total for 1/3/12:

Calories: 1,259          

Carbs: 183g

Fat: 74g

Protein: 86g

According to SparkPeople.com I was well within my goals on everything except fat. I exceeded my daily fat intake by 17g. When thinking about how I did this, I realized it was probably my lunch that made the difference. My chicken salad was from Wendy’s. And even thought I chose the low calorie dressing and opted for grilled chicken, fast food always has a high amount of fat even though you think you’re eating “healthy”. In fact, the majority of my calories came from lunch. My dinner was larger in portion size, yet had half the calories of the salad. Now this is knowledge I can carry forth with me for next time.

I know I’ve only made it through one and a half days, but I’m already starting to feel better. For the first time in ages, my IBS isn’t bothering me since I’m not overloading myself with greasy food. I came into work with a little more energy and I haven’t yawned my morning away. Perhaps this is all just a psychosomatic response, but I like it nonetheless! Onward and upward!  ~*A*~

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Here is my recipe for last night's dinner: 

Grilled Chicken Breast w/Garlic Butter Rotini & Brussels Sprouts

4 medium boneless skinless chicken breast (4oz each), thawed

1 ½ C. dry whole wheat rotini

6 C. Water

1C. Smart Balance Buttery Burst! spray with Soy

1 Whole Garlic Clove

4 C. Green Giant Buttery Brussels Sprouts

½ tsp salt (can substitute Mrs. Dash if on a low sodium diet)

¼ tsp pepper

Butter flavored non-stick cooking spray

Spray a non-stick frying pan with a generous coat of non-stick cooking spray. Lightly sprinkle a pinch of salt and pepper over each chicken breast and cook over medium heat for 4-6 minutes. Flip chicken breasts over and cook for another 4-6 minutes. Cooking times may vary, but you want to be sure that there is no blood or pink in the chicken. This can be checked by making a small cut in the thickest part of the breast to see if blood has accumulated in the center. I prefer cooking my chicken until the outside is a nice golden brown.

Next, pour the 6 cups of water into a large pit and bring to a rolling boil. Add a pinch of salt to the water and a generous spray of the non-stick cooking spray. The salt will add flavor to the pasta and the cooking spray will stop it from sticking together. This works just as well as the traditional method of adding olive oil to the water but with fewer calories. Add the 1 ½ cups of pasta to the water and cook to your preference, usually about 10 minutes. The pasta will expand to about 3 cups when cooked which is about 4 servings. Once the pasta is done, let it sit in the water until ready to use, (but not too long since it gets sticky easily!)

If you’re good at multi-tasking, now would be the time to pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees. Once the oven is heated up, get a medium sized cookie tray and cover it with foil paper. Spray the foil paper lightly with non-stick cooking spray and pour the Brussels sprouts onto the tray. Spray the tops of the Brussels sprouts with a light coat of cooking spray and sprinkle with ¾ of the remaining salt. Bake the Brussels sprouts for about 10 minutes and then flip them over. Bake for an additional 10-15 minutes or until slightly toasted. Watch them carefully because it only takes an extra minute or 2 to go from “toasty” to full blown “charred”.

Get your whole clove of garlic and cut it in half length wise. Spray a small amount of cooking spray over the exposed halves and sprinkle with the remaining salt and the ¼ tsp pepper. This can be placed on the same cookie sheet as the Brussels sprouts and baked for about 20-30 minutes, or until toasted and aromatic.

The last ingredient is the garlic butter sauce. Pour 1C. Smart Balance Butter Spray into a small saucepan and cook on low for about 3 minutes or until bubbles appear along the sides. Grab the garlic cloves and gently squeeze each half into the butter. Baking the garlic will make it slip out of skin easily and it becomes sweet and less harsh tasting. Mash the garlic into the butter and continue cooking for another 3-5 minutes on low. This will allow the butter to become infused with the sweet garlic taste.

Now we put it all together! Drain the pasta and place it back in the pot. Pour the butter sauce over the pasta and mix until well coated. Serve a quarter of the pasta on a plate and top with a chicken breast and 1C. Brussels sprouts. Serve and enjoy!

Nutrition information per serving (recipe makes 4 servings)

Calories: 289

Calories from Fat: 44

Total Fat: 5g

Saturated Fat: 1g

Cholesterol: 70mg

Sodium: 695mg

Total Carbohydrates: 52g

Dietary Fiber: 8g

Sugars: 4g

Protein: 34g

Day One...More Than Just a Beginning

January 3, 2012


Day 1: 


Ok, so my fiancee and I started a diet/lifestyle change as of today. I figured it would help if I write down how I feel, etc to try and keep me on track. It’s not easy right now. Today is only day one and I’m doing so-so. When thinking about dinner, unconsciously I thought of picking up a pizza from Pizza Hut and realized that I’m programmed for fast food and convenience. Sure, it’s way easy to stop and get something easy to eat, but that’s also what’s put me at 345 lbs. 


 I’ve always been overweight. Have been since I was a little kid, but this is the most I’ve ever weighed. When I lost my job back in November 2009, I ended up taking a full time position at a previous employer that I was extremely unhappy at. That was the reason I had left in the first place. But it was either take the job or face dire consequences financially. I had no savings whatsoever and no other options so close to the holidays. And with the job market the way it is, that job is where I’m at today. In the 2 years and 2 months that I’ve been back, I have put on exactly 65 lbs. On average, that’s only about 2.5 lbs a month, but over time it sure makes a difference. 2.5 lbs a month has meant moving up 5 pant sizes in 26 months. Extra stretch marks. Loss of confidence. Avoidance to pictures. And everything else that goes along with a drastic body change. 


 As I said, I’ve always been chubby, but I was the kind of chubby that was well hidden. It was hidden in major curves that I was confident about. My lowest pant size was a 12 and I was thrilled with that. I loved my curves and felt confidence and sexy all the time. I spent extra time primping each day. I always had smoky make up, perfectly coiffed hair and wore stylish, unique clothes. I wouldn’t dream of leaving the house looking unkempt. How things have changed. These days I live in minimal make up and ponytails. I haven’t worn a pair of jeans since March 2011 since nothing fits me comfortably anymore. I stopped buying jeans when I hit a size 26 because I became so ashamed when they started fitting very tight. If you were to look in my room, I have a plethora of clothes in varying sizes. I could basically use my bedroom as a boutique with the amount of clothing I own. But very few of it gets worn. The only things I usually wear are sweats, baggy cropped pants and over sized t-shirts and muscle shirts. For work, I have a small stack of extra baggy dress shirts that I choose from and lose dress pants. I can’t stand seeing myself in anything else. 


And yes, I know I could have done something about this a lot sooner. Over the years I’ve felt my clothes becoming tighter and lots of things stopped fitting all together, but I ignored it. I would start crash diets and then drop them within days or weeks. So what has changed this time? Well, the main reason is that I’m getting married in 6 months. The other reason is for my health. In the past few months I’ve been diagnosed with fibromyalgia and polycystic ovarian syndrome. I also discovered that for the first time ever my cholesterol is high and my blood pressure is skyrocketing. My doctor has put on medication to try and help, but only weight loss will make the biggest impact. My fiancée and I have also started discussing having children. If I get pregnant while weighing so much, I know I’m putting myself at risk for severe complication including gestational diabetes. 


 So how do I feel today? I feel confident that I can do this and slightly headachy from the caloric change. As I’m typing I’m eating some yogurt and a rice cake to try and ease the sensation. This always happens to me for the first few days. Tonight I’m looking forward to making dinner together with my fiancée. We plan on making whole wheat pasta with chicken and broccoli. Cooking together will ensure that we keep each other in check and help us bond throughout our “lifestyle changing” experiences!


I'm out for now!  ~*A*~