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.

Moving means losing weight right?...

Moving

     So we moved out of the place we were staying and moved into a place of our own.  Very nice house, and lots of stuff that had to be moved.  I was excited for more than one reason.  First reason, finally get to have my family living in a house of our own again after 15 long months (thanks to those who put up with us haha).  Second reason was, moving all this stuff and all the exercise I was about to partake in, I was bound to lose some weight.

     Well, what I didn't take into account was the fact that eating was going to be a little difficult.  Dominoes here, Jack in the Box there, and my full time work diet that I talked about last night, really did a number.  I haven't really gained, but all of that extra work I did with moving seems to be the only thing that has kept me where I am.  That and those almost daily walks.  

     We are all human and bound to make mistakes.  I need to learn to control myself again and get on a routine so that I can better monitor what I eat.  Not only do I need to go back to monitoring what I eat, but I really need to start my strength workouts again.  I have my gym, it's time to cut my crap and start hitting it hard! 

Mono a whata a what...?

The 6 Benefits of Monounsaturated Fats (MUFAs)

by BodyEcology.com (2011)

 

Why consume processed foods full of trans fats when you could have delicious meals made with heart healthy olive oil? Besides tasting great, olive oil is rich in monounsaturated fat, a good fat that has amazing health benefits!

Good fats, bad fats, what’s the difference?
With all the nutritional information out there it can be tough to keep everything straight. In fact, just a few years ago, low fat diets were all the rage.
But cutting edge research supports what people living in Mediterranean climates have known for generations: a diet with monounsaturated fats is a recipe for a healthy heart and a slim body.

Monounsaturated Fats: That Means Good, Right?
Monounsaturated fats (MUFAs) are good fats. Liquid at room temperature, they turn solid when they are chilled. Common sources of MUFAs are olive oil, avocadoes and nuts.
Monounsaturated fats are a healthy alternative to the trans fats and refined polyunsaturated fats you find in most processed foods.
Research shows that diets with healthy amounts of monounsaturated fats have a host of amazing health benefits, including:1

• Decreased risk for breast cancer. A study of women in Sweden found that those with diets higher in monounsaturated fats (as opposed to polyunsaturated fats) resulted in less frequent incidence of breast cancer.
• Reduced cholesterol levels. The American Heart Association recommends the consumption of MUFAs to improve your blood lipid profile.
• Lower risk for heart disease and stroke. Diets with monounsaturated fats correlate with healthy hearts and fewer strokes.
• Weight loss. Studies have found that switching to monounsaturated fat from diets with trans fats and polyunsaturated fats results in weight loss.
• Less severe pain and stiffness for sufferers of rheumatoid arthritis. Diet plays a role in improving the pain and stiffness of those who already have rheumatoid arthritis.
• Reduced belly fat. A study published by the American Diabetes Association found that diets with monounsaturated fat could improve the loss of belly fat better than high carbohydrate diets.

Besides protecting your heart, decreasing your risk for certain cancer AND helping you maintain a healthy weight, sources of monounsaturated fat taste great!
You can do something good for yourself with every delicious mouthful of foods rich in monounsaturated fat.
Make the Most of MUFAs With These Foods
Great sources of monounsaturated fats are:

• Olive oil
• Avocadoes
• Tea Seed Oil (more on this new oil below)
• Almonds, cashew nuts and pecans
• Macadamia nuts

The Body Ecology system for health and healing recommends using a delicious variety of healthy fats…including plenty of the monounsaturated fats mentioned above. Use them instead of the hydrogenated fats found in margarine and processed fats found in refined vegetables oils. If you haven’t changed your oils yet and still eat bad fats...changing to the wonderful fats and oils recommended on the Body Ecology Diet is one of the most important first steps you can take.
If cooking with monounsaturated fats is new to you, here are some Body Ecology-friendly tips to help you get started!

1. Use a bit of olive oil when you low-temperature sauté your vegetables to keep them from sticking to the pan.
   
2. Roll avocadoes, blanched and sliced vegetables and cultured vegetables in sheets of nori for a vegetarian, heart- healthy sushi roll.
   
3. Macadamia Nut Oil adds a delicious buttery flavor to any Green Smoothie recipe.
   
4. Imperial Republic’s culinary Tea Seed oil from the Camilla sinensis (tea plant) is an extra virgin oil from China. It has a high flash point of up to 485 degrees so can be used for low-temperature sautéing. It’s also delicious on top of vegetables, quinoa and in salad dressings.
   
5. Dip celery and carrot sticks into raw almond butter for a delicious treat.

Switching your fat intake from bad fats to good fats could be one of the best (and best tasting) decisions you ever make!

The Body Ecology Diet. (2011). The 6 Benefits of Monounsaturated Fats. Retrieved from                         http://bodyecology.com/articles/6_benefits_monosaturated_fats.php

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.

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.