D-Day 2

Day 2 of the diet here and I'm feeling pretty good!

My husband said in the 10 years he has known me this is the most committed he's ever seen me in regards to losing some weight and changing my eating habits.

(If you're wondering about this picture it is of a great big bounty of Mint that I pulled from my friends Kurt and Sarah's garden! Kurt is the very person who when I asked casually if they thought my losing a couple of pounds would help me to run faster, Kurt disappeared into his garage and reappeared several minutes later with two 8 lb. dumbells.

"Do you think if I told you to run your next 1/2 marathon carrying these that it would slow you down," he asked.

Oh boy. Point taken.

Thanks Kurt!)

Back to the diet. I won't lie and say it's been totally easy, but I do feel empowered in the choices I'm making and I've already learned a lot in the process.

Scott worked from 9 a.m. until 10 p.m. last night. The combination of a long day alone with the girls, a tiring morning trip to the zoo and cutting my caloric intake from close to 2,000 a day to just over 1,200,  made me pretty crabby (preparing spaghetti and meatballs for the girls last night while I ate plain fish, green beans and the tiniest portion of red potatoes I've EVER seen didn't help matters!)...I couldn't even talk to Scott when he walked in the door last night. He rubbed my feet which was about the sweetest thing he could do and I was sleeping by 10:30 (quite early for me lately).

So despite being hungry and feeling like I had fasted all day (!) what has been the upside?

CALORIES. I am learning a LOT about calories: how many I typically eat, how many I SHOULD have, and where the extras are coming from. Seriously, I can't believe I hat 1,300 calories yesterday, it really felt like 300. I've been living under the delusion that I probably was only eating like 1,800 calories a day before, but after yesterday I realized I was WAAAYYY off. I've probably been 2,000+ on a daily basis...

I also realized where it is all coming from...I had to stop myself numerous times yesterday as I was helping the girls with their meals and in preparing their meals...I was CONSTANTLY about to put stuff in my mouth-- parts of their sandwiches, leftover crackers, etc.

Also, in eating so plainly (no butter, sauces, salts, etc. these first few days) it dawned on me how much butter, salt, dressing and misc. extras I add to my food on a regular basis.

My brother (a manager and trainer at a local gym) told me this morning that to maintain a healthy weight someone of my size needs:

• Just under 1,400 calories a day if you are completely inactive (all the more reason for me to run!)
• Right around 2,000 a day if you are pretty active on a regular basis (exercise that is!)
• and to lose a lb. a week I would need to cut my caloric intake by about 500 calories a day (down to around the 1,500-1,600 mark). 

SODIUM. There are CRAZY amounts of sodium in a lot of the food we eat-- particularly lunch meat! 

My lunch today called for 4 oz. of turkey breast, a cup of steamed carrots and a string cheese. I went to the store to find low sodium turkey breast and found out some surprising things! 

The "Natural", nitrate free Hormel turkey that I often give the girls has 460 mg. of sodium per serving (20% of your daily allowance)...BUT that serving is about 2 oz....the diet was calling for 4 oz. of turkey, which would have meant that I would have gotten 40% of a days sodium and close to 1,000 m.g. at one sitting had I eaten that turkey!

Soooo, I tortured the lady at the deli counter this morning...I asked to see the labels on like 4 different types of turkey! I wanted low sodium and nitrate free if possible...we finally found one that had 330 mg. per 2 oz. serving...I'm still not thrilled, but it was the best I could find this morning...

lesson learned....no wonder we all walk around feeling bloated!!

Lastly, for the fun of it, I looked of the health benefits of the ingredients in the "Sassy Water" (see yesterdays post)...As my friend Sarah said, it does not sound appetizing, but it is really not bad! The flavor of the ginger root was the hardest part for me to get used to but after a couple of glasses I was fine with it...

So, here goes, health benefits of ginger, mint, lemon and cucumber! 

• Ginger: Aid diegestion, improves circulation (reducing blood sugar) and lowers bad cholesterol. 
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• Lemon: improves many stomach issues including IBS, heartburn and bloating, acts as a blood purifier, is good for the skin, is a cleansing agent for all of your insides and aids digestion by working as a liver tonic.
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• Mint: revitalizes the senses, improves central nervous system functioning, is an incredible antioxidant (people use it to help cure cancer!), relieves indigestion and bloating, can help clear skin, and relieves congestion. It can easily be thrown in soups, meat dishes, or chocolate sauces or added to tea! Plus, it is a perennial, which means if you stick it in your garden this year it will keep coming back! 
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• Cucumber: simply soothing for digestion and good for the skin as well. 

There you have it! 

I hope I haven't bored you all...I'm sure you prefer to read about my children ending up at church without shoes and (gasp!) underwear! No worries, I'm sure there is more of that to come!