I use to eat that #2

Its still crazy to really look at the things I use to eat compared to how I eat now a days.  I'm going to visit one of my favorite meals that I was able to eat all in one setting.  My favorite restaurant called Old Number 3 up in Ronald, Washington.  On the menu was a meal that was great tasting and came with a lot of food called "The Motherload."  This was one huge burger (2 patties) that came with 2 pounds of french fries and onion rings.  So let's break this old fav of mine down.  I know this isn't going to be 100% accurate because I can't find a menu online, however it is going to be pretty close.

Calories..........................2361
Carbs.............................271
Fat.................................110
Cholesterol.....................170

And that was just one meal for the day, oh man.

This is why I share...

Motivation

     "HI Adam! I started to read your cut the crap blog and found the calorie counter that you mentioned on there and started using it. Thanks so much for posting that site up. It has been a help for me in my weight loss goals. I've lost 5 pounds since i started using it. It is a great aid in helping to track what you are eating and making sure you are getting the right things in your body. You are AWESOME Adam! Thanks."

     When I began to blog, it was with the intention of letting everyone know that this is doable.  It takes hard work and dedication but for everyone out there, there is hope.  Growing up I was always overweight and let excuse after excuse after excuse stop me from being the healthy person I longed for deep down.

     This journey has been a long one, and I still struggle day in and day out to maintain what I have done.  If you are not struggling then likely you're not trying.  Daily I have to look in the mirror and remind myself the importance of being healthy.  Yesterday I did something I never thought I'd ever be able to do.  I played a game of half court basketball, I may not have been at full speed, and it may had been with my 8 year old scouts, but I was out there, shooting, passing, and just having a good time.  Every dream has to have a start, when are you going to start your dream?  

      

Break The Walls Down

Breaking down a wall...

     Breaking down a wall can be very tough when it comes to your weight loss adventure. When starting, I set up many goals on the way to my main objective.  The biggest one was the passing of the 200 mark.  This wall, once miles away, is now at my doorstep.


     For years I have been over 200 pounds.  Honestly, I can't tell you how long it has been. I would have to say that the last time I was under the 200 mark would be sometime right before going into high school.  For years I just didn't care about my weight or what I was eating.  Looking back I wish I could take back what I was doing and change my behavior.  Of course this applies to many different situations in my life.  


     The main reason I didn't care about my weight was because I couldn't be an athlete.  So why not just eat the way I wanted to?  Food was good and I didn't want to miss out.  I didn't even think about the fact that the medium pizza I just ate was 2600 calories.  It was good and that was all that mattered.  It may be a little late in life, but I have realized that there is more to eating than, "It tastes good."


     Back to the point, 200 is huge to get under.  I didn't think it was even possible.  I figured I may just have to stay at 220 and call it good.  I have now proven that wrong.  For a week or two I have been close to going under 200.  The see-saw battle I was in finally unveiled a victor.  This morning I stepped onto the scale and on the screen popped 199.  Excited I called Katie into the room just to show her.  This has been one of my goals from the beginning.  Once unachievable, it is now life altering and a new motivation to keep going. My sledgehammer hungers for more walls to break down, and I'm ready for them!

Eating Right

The first step to success

     Now that I have given you a little bit of a background on me, I'm now going to tell you what it was that I did to lose the weight I have and continue to drop the pounds.  I have tried many different diets, none of them worked long term.  Many of them would work for a week or two, but it would fail, or I would lose weight for two weeks but quickly gain them back.  I gave up on trying to find the next "big" diet.  I instead decided to do it the right way, learning how to eat right, exercising, and watching my numbers.

     The first thing I did was join Sparkpeople.  This would allow me to not only join a community that helps encourage you, but also allow you to track your numbers from the amount of calories you ate, to fat, to carbs, to just about anything else you can think of.  How is it the most successful people in business make it?  They don't just go into something without a plan.  They set an objective and they take that objective and create goals.  What is your objective?

     My objective has been to become 180 pounds.  After that I will re-evaluate what I have done and see what is left to be done.  But at 287 pounds, that 180 just seemed like a number that was unreachable.  It is hard to have such a far fetched objective when you don't have the goals (milestones) to reach that objective.  It would be like saying I want to be a millionaire.  Okay, great, you want to be a millionaire, now what?  To reach that objective of becoming a millionaire you need to set goals to get there.  Your own personal road map, get education, find a job, save, invest, ect...  

     My first goal was to start tracking my food.  Track what I ate and set the goals I needed to be able to lose weight.  I set up my account with sparkpeople, and then I did some research to find out what it was I needed to do to start losing weight.  I found caloriecount's calculator to be the best to not only set my goal weight, but set when I wanted to reach that weight.

     Now I knew how many calories I should be eating.  I took that number and subtracted 300 calories from it to create a daily calorie range.  For example; at 287 lbs, I needed to eat 2382 to lose 1.5 pounds a week.  So I would take that number and on sparkpeople create a calorie allowance between 2082-2382.  Now I knew what I should be eating each day.  I also had to realize the importance of consuming enough calories and healthy calories. 

     It is a difficult process.  I needed to stop letting excuses get in my way.  Instead of allowing the crap to beat me, I decided it was time for me to win.   I started to exercise.  I started to count the nutritional value of the food I was eating.  It can be hard, but if you want to lose weight (without using a fad diet, pills, or the magical drink), this is where it starts.  It is up to you to sit down and pick out your objective.  From there I set my goals.  First one was to track the food I ate, then exercise.  One step at a time, one goal completion at a time, that is all it takes.  I am so happy and feel so good now that I started this journey.  

Count the calories

Keep track of what you are eating

Set Objectives and goals, without a map, you'll be lost.

What the Greeks knew, and we are just learning...

     Over the past few years Greek yogurt has been gaining in popularity and what was once very hard to find, is becoming more and more common on your store shelves.  What is it that is making Greek yogurt so popular?  

Benefits of Greek Yogurt

by Wendy Polisi

     Benefits of Greek yogurt come from the traditional value of yogurt, elevated by a unique preparation process which makes it more potent. For millennia, the human species in many parts of the world has consumed fermented milk products mainly as food. Various accounts have also been given of how yogurt has been used for its health promoting purposes. Abraham is said to have eaten a yogurt rich diet to keep young and virile. King David is reputed to have fed his soldiers on yogurt to keep them healthy and strong. Queen Cleopatra of ancient Egypt is believed to have regularly bathed in milk to maintain her good looks and healthy skin. It is likely that the milk could have been yogurt. But whether these claims are true or not is not important. What is important is that science has since given yogurt a place among important foods.

     Greek yogurt was traditionally made using sheep’s or cows’ milk, but most of it is today made from cows’ milk. This is mainly because sheep’s milk has a strong taste which may not appeal to many people. The preparation process involves heating the milk followed by culturing it within cheese or muslin cloth. As the culturing process continues, the liquid part, whey, filters out leaving behind a thick creamy mass. Other filtering systems may also be used to achieve the same results.

 

     Depending on the desired final product, whole milk, whole milk and cream or skimmed milk can be used. The resultant thick, creamy product contains about double the amount of protein in ordinary yogurt, making it a rich source of protein. It is a healthy alternative used in various kinds of sweet and sour recipes in place of sour cream, whip cream, whole milk, mayo and others. It also fits very well as a snack or dessert.

     Health benefits of Greek yogurt include substitution of milk for people suffering from lactose intolerance. The process of culturing in which fermentation takes place to produce yogurt also produces the lactase enzyme which is otherwise lacking in lactose intolerant people.

     Greek yogurt benefits also include the absorption of calcium and B complex vitamins and itself contains vitamins B2, B12, potassium, calcium and magnesium. B complex vitamins play an important role in energy metabolism and strengthening of the immune system while calcium is an important component in bone and teeth formation and maintenance.

    Other Greek yogurt health benefits include: – prevention of diarrhea resulting from antibiotics use by providing and promoting the growth of good bacteria within the digestive system while destroying pathogenic ones.

     Candida and thrush infections of the vagina and mouth can be cleared by using yogurt internally and topically. The infection causing yeast is destroyed by the good bacteria in yogurt. Sweetened varieties, sugary foods and complex carbohydrates should be avoided to starve the sugar loving yeasts.

     Colon cancer risk reduction as the lacto bacteria in yogurt cleans and destroys dangerous carcinogenic wastes within the colon.

     Good for diabetics because of its low sugar, carbohydrates and salt content.  These are only some of the known benefits of Greek yogurt, a gift bequeathed to the world by the hands of the Greek.

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Recipe - TurkeyLoaf

Turkey Salsa Cheese Loaf...

      Tonight, being Kate's birthday, she requested for me to make my turkey salsa cheese loaf.  Sure it might not sound all that exciting, but I have had a few people tell me it tastes great.  I am going to give you the recipe and also show you just how much healthier this is than your normal meat loaf, and has more flavor too!  

Ingredients...

2 pounds of Jennie O Turkey (93/7)

1/2 cup of Mexican style 4 cheese blend

1 cup Kirkland organic salsa

4 large eggs

1 medium onion

.5 cups of bread crumbs

.25 cups of Kirkland organic salsa for the top.

We mix together all of the ingredients in a bowl except for that last 1/4 cup of salsa.  Once the meat and the ingredients are mixed well, we then transfer the ingredients from the bowl into a 9x13 casserole pan.  Put it into the oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 45 minutes.  I made this into 10 servings.  Below is the nutritional information of the turkey loaf compared to if you made the same recipe, but with 80/20 ground beef.

 

Nutritional Information	Turkey Loaf	80/20 Ground meatloaf
Calories	184.4	331.6
Total Fat	4.9g	19.7g
Saturated Fat	1.9g	7.9g
Cholesterol	137mg	181mg
Sodium	456.4mg	459.6mg
Potassium	46.1mg	46.1mg
Total Carbohydrate	7.6g	7.6g
Dietary Fiber	1.4g	1.4g
Sugars	2.3g	2.3g
Protein	25.9g	27.5g

     As you can see by looking at both the calories and fat, just by changing one ingredient you can change a lot about the meal you are eating.  Not only are you eating healthier now, but you're cutting unneeded fat from your diet and lowering your calorie intake.  Another great thing is that we have been able to find the Jennie-O ground turkey on sale buy one get one free so we stock up.  It isn't often we find ground beef on sale that good of a deal.