Wednesday, September 30, 2009

September Walking Update

Updated!

monthtotal stepsaverage steps per daynumber of steps ahead of pace for the year
January45420014,652144,200
February35340012,621217,600
March38250012,339290,100
April31390010,463304,000
May33910010,939333,100
June33680011,227369,900
July33260010,729392,500
August37490012,094457,400
September33790011,263495,300

Slowly plugging ahead to hitting my goal way early this year - might even make it by the end of the month, with some serious walking in there. I'm at 3,225,300 steps for the year. OK, it would take a *massive* amount of walking to get it done in October, but definitely by mid-November at the latest. ;)

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Popchips - Sea Salt & Vinegar Potato and Salt & Pepper Potato

The kind folks over at Popchips sent me a box with six single serve bags - and here's my review of two of them. Thanks again, Popchips!

Today we dove into the two salt varieties - sea salt & vinegar and salt & pepper.  The vinegar definitely has that kick, which I enjoy.  And the portion is just right, because too many more of them would burn my tongue right off.  I enjoyed that flavor a lot. 

The salt & pepper is just as advertised - lots of big flecks of pepper in there.  I liked it, but I was just eating these plain - this flavor would've kicked butt if I was eating it with a hamburger.  Definitely needed something meaty to cut it.  

I think the sour cream and onion is still my favorite at this point, but I wouldn't throw out any of these. ;)

Nutrition Facts (for one ounce, about 20 chips) - sea salt & vinegar / salt & pepper
Calories 120 / 120
Total Fat 4g / 4g
Saturated Fat 0g / 0g
Trans Fat 0g / 0g
Cholesterol 0mg / 0mg
Sodium 260mg / 290mg
Total Carbohydrates 20g / 20g
Dietary Fiber 1g / 1g
Sugars 1g / 1g
Protein 1g / 1g

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Popchips - Original Potato and Sour Cream & Onion Potato

While sitting at home this afternoon, feeling bummed that I couldn't score a ticket to Blogher Food in SF, I got a knock on my door.  The kind folks over at Popchips sent me a box with six single serve bags - awesome! My first ever item from a manufacturer to review on my blog. ;)  Thanks, Popchips!

I've liked Popchips for awhile - they've just been a bit hard to find.  I remember trying some cool flavors in the past - a corn chip in particular, but it looks like now they're only selling these potato chips.  These single serve bags are perfect to toss into my bag to take to work (though I must admit, we dove into two of them within minutes of opening the box today!) :D

So my first two flavors - original potato and sour cream & onion potato.  Without sounding like a commercial, the cool thing about Popchips is that they're all natural and low fat.  And of course, not fried. ;)  They're not greasy either.  Dig it.

The original potato chips are a bit boring - but c'mon, any plain potato chip is boring to me.  I need a dip. ;)  I should've grabbed a wedge of Laughing Cow to go along with it.  These original chips would be great for a party situation if there are multiple dips going on. ;)

The sour cream and onion potato chips had more flavor.  I *love* sour cream and onion.  I am addicted to that flavor of Pringles - and I can't buy 'em because I'll eat the whole can. ;)  The nice bonus with the Popchips version is that it's all natural and of course, much less bad for you. ;)  I would've liked a little more of the seasoning on the chips for a few more calories though. ;)

I look forward to trying out the other flavors later this week! :)

Nutrition Facts (for one ounce, about 22/20 chips) - original / sour cream & onion
Calories 120 / 120
Total Fat 4g / 4g
Saturated Fat 0g / 0.5g
Trans Fat 0g / 0g
Cholesterol 0mg / 0mg
Sodium 280mg / 290mg
Total Carbohydrates 20g / 20g
Dietary Fiber 1g / 1g
Sugars 0g / 2g
Protein 1g / 2g

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Fiber One Nonfat Yogurt, Strawberry

I'm a big yogurt fan. I've been eating yogurt every weekday now for a couple months, and have taken lately to throwing a cup of it in the freezer after lunch so it's nice and frozen (but not frozen solid!) in time for my afternoon snack.

I also like fiber, as you may have noticed from my previous posts. ;) So I thought I'd give this Fiber One Nonfat Yogurt a try.

It's small - 4 ounce cups, available in a four pack. I tried the strawberry flavor. For your four ounce cup, you get only 50 calories, no fat and five grams of fiber - a "miracle" 0-point food for those Weight Watchers in the crowd. And Fiber One/Yoplait got Hungry Girl to endorse it, so it's got everything going for it. But... it's way too small. Seriously, four ounces is nothing. (My usual yogurt is 6 ounces, and I sometimes go for the 8 ounce cups instead.) It's got a few pieces of strawberry in each cup to add to the flavor and texture.

Speaking of texture, you know the old joke about how eating fiber is like eating cardboard? Well... I got a bite of something that was very cardboard-esque. I spit it out and it's a brown fiber of some sort - could be cardboard for all I know. It was gross (it's about a centimeter long by half a centimeter wide, and flat). Totally lost my appetite - except I didn't, because this silly four ounce cup did nothing to satisfy me.

Overall, pass on this - it's too small, too expensive, and too cardboardy. ;)

Nutrition facts
Calories: 50
Total Fat: 0 g
Saturated Fat: 0 g
Trans Fat: 0 g
Cholesterol: 5 mg
Sodium:55 mg
Total Carbohydrates:13 g
Dietary Fiber: 5 g
Sugars: 4 g
Protein: 3 g

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Kashi Lemon Rosemary Chicken

I wanted to try something more healthy for lunch than my usual SmartOnes or Lean Cuisine, so I picked up this Kashi item a few months ago - and forgot about it until this morning. ;)

It's... ok. There were only three pieces of snow peas, and the chicken was finely minced (not in strips like in the photo). A good amount of mushrooms. However, I got none of the lemon or rosemary flavor. A lot of garlic, yes, but sadly no lemon (and lemon with chicken is one of my most favorite combinations in the world!). It was also really watery, which of course is not appetizing. ;) The whole thing was kinda soggy and didn't look good at all. The taste was okay, but I definitely wasn't full after eating this for my lunch (along with some baby carrots). Fooey.

I wouldn't buy this again as it was pretty unappetizing, not at all lemony, and more expensive than my usual lunch.

Nutrition Facts
Calories: 330
Total Fat: 9 g
Saturated Fat: 1.5 g
Trans Fat: 0 g
Cholesterol: 15 mg
Sodium: 640 mg
Total Carbohydrates: 45 g
Dietary Fiber: 5 g
Sugars: 1 g
Protein: 17 g

Friday, September 11, 2009

Omron Pedometer HJ-303

I recently switched pedometers, from my trusty Accusplit pedometer to a new Omron "GOsmart™ Pocket Pedometer with Superior 3D Smart Sensor Technology HJ-303". It's miles more advanced than the Accusplit, but I'm not 100% sold on it, to be honest with you.

Advantages:
- you can throw it in your pocket and it works. Supposedly you can put it in your purse or even wear it around your neck, but I haven't tried those. It's nice to not have to put it on your belt, though it does come with a little case so you can do that if you'd like.
- it saves 7 days of steps for you, resetting at midnight each night
- it also has a "trip counter", which I've used to keep track of steps each month
- enter your weight and it calculates calories burned, and also keeps track of "moderate" steps when you're walking at a certain speed
- it has a clock, and it displays the time and total steps for the day by default

Disadvantages:
- it's a bit big :/
- today it got screwy on me - I noticed around noon that it said "9:49pm" and had about 7k extra steps.  Grrrr.  So I call Omron, and the customer service girl tells me I need to replace the battery.  I've had this for less than two months - and the low battery icon isn't displayed.  WTF?  I ended up manually resetting the device, which lost my steps for the day and the "trip" counter and all that, and we'll see if it stays accurate for now.
- battery is expected to last six months, but they ship it with a "trial" battery?  Very, very lame.
- it's silent.  For me, I was so used to the quiet clicking of my Accusplit, it's taken me a long time to get used to not hearing any confirmation that the pedometer is actually working. ;)

The Omron is $45, more than $20 higher than the Accusplit.  Accusplit customer support was much more friendly - and it has their insane warranty policy printed on the device itself so if there is a problem, there is no problem. ;)

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Oroweat Sandwich Thins

More bread! These are adorable. Cute little sandwich buns - they're the perfect size for my salmon or turkey burgers. And yes, they're quite thin, but I enjoy them. They are not as thick as my burgers actually, now that I think about it, but hey, they give me the bread taste and texture and they don't add a ton of calories or fat or whatever. I've tried both flavors but tend to stick with the multi-grain now for no particular reason (it's what was in stock when I went shopping this weekend).

Nutrition Facts
Calories 100
Total Fat 1g
Saturated Fat 0g
Trans Fat 0g
Cholesterol 0mg 0%
Sodium 230mg
Total Carbohydrates 22g
Dietary Fiber 5g
Sugars 2g
Protein 5g

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Food regret

I was tired and lazy on Sunday, and next to the grocery store is a take-out Chinese food place. So we stopped in and got a plate of food to go (and shared it) - brown rice, sesame chicken for him and black pepper chicken for me. The black pepper chicken looked sauteed, which is why I chose it. Well, we get home and it's fried. UGH! Big white meat pieces, but fried. I didn't add any soy or anything, but the cup of brown rice and cup of fried chicken caused a lovely 1.6 pound gain overnight. UGH again. And of course, it will take me awhile to lose that back. Glargh.

I should've been stronger and just made something to eat when we got home. Or not eaten it once I saw that it was fried. But I just am not that strong. And it didn't taste good either. I hate that food regret - it's not worth the calories or fat or sodium or whatever when it just doesn't taste good. UGH.

Tomorrow night is a food thing, and then the weekend at a friend's house for a long birthday party celebration. Food dangers lurking everywhere. What do you do to help prepare for such a no-win situation? I'm thinking I'll bring some of my trust English muffins, but I need protein that doesn't need to be refrigerated. Suggestions?

Oroweat Double Fiber English Muffins

Yes, more English Muffins! These are my second favorite English Muffins. ;) However, unlike the Thomas' English Muffins, these taste okay when not toasted. I don't have access to a toaster at work, but I've been enjoying a Oroweat Double Fiber English Muffin as a late afternoon snack. They're a bit sweeter than the Thomas' muffins, and of course, there are no nooks nor crannies. ;) Good nutrition stats here too (and no high-fructose corn syrup) - more sugar, less protein, 10 more calories.

Nutrition Facts
Calories 110
Total Fat 1g
Saturated Fat 0g
Trans Fat 0g
Cholesterol 0mg 0%
Sodium 280mg
Total Carbohydrates 27g
Dietary Fiber 8g
Sugars 5g
Protein 4g

Monday, September 7, 2009

Thomas' Light Multi Grain English Muffin

I love these.  The nutrition stats are amazing - 100 calories, 8 grams of fiber, 6 grams of protein.  No trans fat of course.  Only 1.5 grams fat.  No high-fructose corn syrup.  TASTY.

These are awesome when toasted - gotta love those nooks and crannies.  They last a long time past their date on the bag - I buy 'em on sale and throw them in the fridge.  I have frozen some in the past, but they are icky once they get frost-bitten.  

I really enjoy these with a bit of no sugar fruit preserves, or a spray or two of I Can't Believe It's Not Butter and then a sprinkle of cinnamon sugar.  A great way to start off my morning.  I am definitely addicted. :D

Nutrition Facts
Calories 100
Total Fat 1.5g
Saturated Fat 0g
Trans Fat 0g
Cholesterol less than 5mg 0%
Sodium 170mg
Total Carbohydrates 24g
Dietary Fiber 8g
Sugars less than 1g
Protein 6g

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Jillian Michaels weight loss pills

I respect Jillian for the accomplishments she's helped folks achieve on the Biggest Loser - and I hear that her workout DVDs are killer good. I bought her Wii game the day it came out and absolutely hated it. Hated. It. Ugh.

And then I see an ad in one of my fitness magazines - she's now shilling for GNC with a weight loss pill. Uhm, hello, don't you scream at people on your show about there being no quick fix and that you need to work to lose weight? I looked online at the pill details (who wouldn't want a miracle pill?) - the "Jillian Michaels EXTREME Maximum Strength Calorie Control™" pill is a metric ton of caffeine. WTF, lady? I personally ended up in a hospital in college due to a weight loss pill, and found out the hard way that it was a ton of caffeine and my body did not react well.

I'm disappointed that Jillian is now pushing a miracle pill - and yes, the irony is not lost on me that I wish that there really was a miracle pill I could take to lose the rest of the weight. ;)

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Back on track!

Awesome, I'm back on pace for that lovely 0.183 pounds a day! Yay! Now, I just need to keep on that pace. ;) I'm such a spreadsheet dork, so I know that I spent the past 10 days behind pace, so hopefully that won't happen again. I don't have any big food problem days coming up until next weekend, and I'm sure I'll get all worked up about that soon enough. ;)

I've finally started feeling better too, so I got back into the swing of things with an EA Sports Active workout this morning. Also pondering going and walking around our parking garage at work because it's shaded and should be a good source of steps. (The floor I work on is pretty small - a loop around the office is about 150 steps at most!) I was able to go for a walk last night and sadly I don't see time to do one tonight but hopefully tomorrow.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

August weight loss - 3.0 pounds

Let's look at the numbers. I had hoped to lose 0.183 pounds a day - this will get my to my goal weight on my birthday in February. I started off well - was even ahead of pace by two pounds a couple of times. But then real life happened. ;) Went for a really strenuous hike but then had pizza and gained two pounds overnight, which took me a week to lose. Walked 10 miles in a day but went to an ice cream social fundraiser, and put those two pounds right back on. Finally took them off again, but didn't walk on Saturday and nibbled my way through Sunday and gained a pound - so my weight for August 31 kinda sucked, but what can you do?

Overall for August, looking at straight numbers, I lost 3.0 pounds. Looking at physicsdiet.com's "average weight", I lost 1.54 pounds - and myweightracker.com's "true weight" I lost 2.5 pounds. Both of those sites are based on "the Hacker's Diet" but they each use different calculations to come up with trends instead of focusing on the individual day's weight. Through August, I was up 2.6 pounds from my start and ended 3 pounds down from the start, so overall I'll take that as a successful month.

As far as my weight loss goal pace of 0.183 pounds, I am 1.33 pounds behind right now. But I am not going to throw in the towel just yet. I'm not re-calculating any goals or anything right now. I can do this. I really want to finally, FINALLY lose this weight.

I'm making sacrifices, which of course sucks, but needs to be done. Bailed on a BBQ on Saturday, drove by countless restaurants where I could've grabbed something quick and delicious when I was really hungry that afternoon, but instead waited until I got home to eat something healthier. I'm really trying to be smart about this. In retrospect, that pizza dinner after hiking was a total let-down (heck, there's no retrospect there - I knew while eating it that the pizza was meh, but I kept on eating because I was hungry and I had bought it already), and that ice cream social was absolutely not worth it. I dragged some friends out hiking one day the day after that ice cream social and it turned out to be a really short hike, but then we all ended up at a pricey restaurant afterward (I thought we were going to go grab coffee somewhere but that didn't happen). I was hungry (and cheap as always), but didn't jump in on the food there. There wasn't really anything healthy to choose from, and I just plain didn't want to eat empty calories. Sure, the chips & dip and mac & cheese and burger and salmon and all that looked great, but I just couldn't do it - I didn't want to see yet another weight gain the next day. I felt like a total party-pooper, but I need to be strict when it's just not worth it. Because there are so many other times when I really do want to take part and I know it's tasty. ;)

Yesterday was a weird day for me. My body is definitely unsettled right now. I had been walking a lot during August, but on Saturday, it was too hot to move, let alone try to walk in that miserable heat. Sunday, I spent the whole day in the kitchen making jam. My typical weekend step counts had been over 30,000 - and instead those two days, I hit 7,000 total. Doh. When I woke up yesterday morning, my body just didn't feel right. Stomach issues I guess, but I wasn't hungry and didn't have the energy to work out in the morning. I did drag myself out for a walk last night, but my stomach got its revenge around 2am. Glargh. This morning, I slept in an hour instead of working out, and I'm still pretty darned tired. I do need to go for a walk when I get home today, but I vow to be in bed early tonight. :)