I am so stuck at this plateau right now, it is driving me nuts. I am about ten pounds where I would ultimately like to be. Ten pounds isn’t much but at the same time, that last ten pounds is the hardest! I was planning to do p90x again but have decided to put that off for a bit. Instead, I’m back to my old standby: walking. You might know by now how I feel about walking- I love it. Especially when I can go for a walk outside, which I get to do three days a week. The other days, I’m walking on my treadmill while reading my Kindle which is almost as good. But still, I have been stuck at this plateau for a few weeks now and it is making me insane!
A lot of my trouble with it right now is just being too busy. School is quite literally taking up all of my time. I spend at least four hours a day between schoolwork and studying (quite often it’s more), and a total of six hours a week in my one in-person class (anatomy & physiology). I still have to fit in time with my family, cleaning, laundry, shopping… and cooking. Which is where I am falling short. And herein lies the issue.
So my typical day starts at 6:30. I’ve got to get the kids up, fed, and ready for school. I take them to school, then take my hour-long walk. After I’ve done that, gotten ready, maybe made a trip to the grocery store, cleaned a few things, put in a load of laundry, done some homework, sat in class for three hours (if it’s Monday or Wednesday), then picked up the kids and we roll into the driveway at 4:45… the last thing I want to do is cook a meal!
I really need to work on this. Less eating out would be excellent on the budget AND the waistline. I’ve just got to plan better. I know I can shed this last ten pounds, and with walking for an hour every day it really shouldn’t take long as long as I can stay away from that damn general’s chicken!
This morning, my husband mentioned that he and some co-workers were looking at the nutrition information on the boxes indicated that Froot Loops were better for you than Raisin Bran. Naturally, that didn’t make much sense to me, so I decided to look further into the matter. I even tweeted about it and an amazing amount of people agreed with him.
Real quick side note: there are way, way better options out there than either of these cereals. These are just the two that Tim and his friends were looking at when they made their observations, so these are the two I looked at.
As I did my research on this and read the feedback I was getting on it on twitter, I started realizing that this was more than just “being right” in the argument. This became more about the fact that a lot of people are not aware of exactly what they’re looking at in the nutrition facts panel on their food, that’s supposed to be so easy to understand.
I went out and bought a box of each. See?
Now.. wait a minute, let’s look closer at those sizes… the Froot Loops box is so much larger, but…
The Froot Loops only has 12.2 oz of cereal in that larger box, and the Raisin Bran is 20 oz of cereal in a smaller box.
Innnteresting.
Shall we look at the Nutrition Facts panel? Yes, yes we shall…
 Froot Loops nutritional information (click for larger picture)  Raisin Bran nutritional information (click for larger picture) So take a quick glance at that and which looks better?
The Froot Loops, right?
Well, let’s look a little closer. Check out those serving sizes. One cup, right? On both?
But… a cup of Froot Loops is 29g or 1 oz. A cup of Raisin Bran is 59g or 2.1 oz.
This means the listed nutritional information is for half the amount of Froot Loops than of Raisin Bran.
So, sure, the Nutrition Facts is listing a serving of Froot Loops as 110 cal, Raisin Bran at 190 cal.. Sugars at 12g in Froot Loops, and 17g in Raisin Bran, and so on. So if you really do just eat your one cup of Froot Loops, you’re better off- for the time being anyway. But you’re also getting 4 grams less dietary fiber and 4 grams less protein, two major factors that might make the difference in how soon you’re going to feel hungry again.
 This is 1 cup of each cereal  2 oz of cereal  1 oz of cereal They look so similar in amount, don’t they? But let’s throw them on the scale. I stupidly forgot to set the scale to zero with the bowls on to cancel out their weight, but they weigh 2 oz. So keep that in mind when you look at these two pictures.
So what’s in the bowl of Froot Loops? It’s half air! Mmmm, air!
One person on twitter said that they’ll just eat two servings of Froot Loops. Do that and you’re gonna need to double everything on the Froot Loops panel. So now you’re looking at 220 calories, 2 g of fat, 24 g sugar. And you’d still get 1 g less fiber and 3 g less protein than your one serving of Raisin Bran.
Here’s another way of looking at it: when you consider grams of sugar per serving as measured by weight, a bowl of Froot Loops is 42% sugar. Raisin Bran is 29% sugar (some of which, obviously, is coming from the raisins and not from added sugar).
As for the vitamin counts- well, you really shouldn’t put much stock in those anyway because the vitamins are all just synthetics sprayed onto the Froot Loops. The Raisin Bran just has a shorter ingredient list because it isn’t “fortified” with quite as many synthetic vitamins. Vitamins you get from REAL food like fruits, vegetables, beans, meat, eggs, dairy products, etc. are better for you. (For more on natural vs. synthetic vitamins, check out this link.) To word it more directly: if you’re eating cereal for the vitamin benefit, that’s silly. Stop it.
Now just to be sure I’m clear here: neither cereal is very good for you. Raisin Bran contains HFCS (hissss, boooo) and Froot Loops is full of artificial crap (UGH). You’d be better off choosing a different high-fiber, low-sugar cereal, preferably an organic one. But if you’re on a diet and these are your only choices and you think you’re doing yourself a favor by having a bowl of Froot Loops, you’re really not. You’re going to feel hungry sooner.
So this points two important facts out:
1. Nutrition Facts listed on food packages are really not going to do you a whole lot of good if you don’t know how to read the WHOLE thing.
2. We really should use weight measurements instead of cups for a lot of things.
A cup of food is a cup of food, sure- but the amount in that cup can differ between foods. Take, for instance, popcorn.
 1/3 cup unpopped popcorn...  ...when popped, turns into a whole stock pot full of popcorn.  My 1/3 c held over 100 unpopped kernels but only about 22 popped kernels. So, when you’re comparing nutrition facts between foods, make sure to look at how much you’re getting in a serving, weight-wise. Is your 1 cup serving full of air? You’re gonna be hungry much sooner!
P.S. I feel the need to add a disclaimer: Not telling you what to do here. Just be aware of what you’re eating. Obviously, I brought these cereals into my house, so they will be eaten as it is a waste to throw them away. And don’t comment justifying your food choices to me. Eat what you want. Feed your kids pure sugar. I don’t care. I just want you to know how to read your nutrition facts. (Also, if you feel the need to justify to me about your family’s eating habits… maybe it’s time to change them… just saying.)
Ok, I guess it’s a pretty big sign that I’ve been MIA from my blog for too long when it takes me like three full minutes to even FIND the link to my blog in my bookmarks. Uh… yeah. Sorry about that. I’ve had a run of uninspiredness (Firefox refuses to acknowledge the awesome word I just invented. Whatever, Firefox.) lately, but I’m happy to say that it has passed. I’m full of inspiration all of a sudden and I’m fairly sure it has to do with the fact that I’ve been out walking again. Something about fresh air and sunlight and outdoor, non-tv, non-screaming children sounds. And fitness. And sweating. I don’t know, whatever it is, I’m not gonna question it, I’m back!
So I know that in the past on my blog, I’ve extolled the virtues of walking but I thought I’d revisit that today, with a little story.
 I hate this picture so much. Me, fifty pounds overweight after having Hailey I was 22 years old, newly married, and living in Kansas, 1500 miles away from my mom and dad. Slowly, the pounds creeped on til I was 20 lbs overweight. And then I got pregnant, and I gained 60 more pounds. I was EIGHTY pounds overweight the day I had my daughter. We’d moved back to Nevada just a month before I had her, and after living with my parents for a short while, we’d found a crappy little upstairs apartment right by the freeway and down the street from the whorehouse (yay Nevada!) Immediately after having Hailey, I lost about thirty pounds- just baby and water weight, mostly- and then I got stuck and despite doing Weight Watchers, I couldn’t get any more weight off! So there I was, still fifty pounds overweight and struggling with what I now know was a case of postpartum depression that I should have seen a doctor for (ladies: if you fantasize about throwing your crying infant out of a second-story window, please see a doctor. This is fairly normal and very fixable!). I got very little sleep, I had very little energy, and I cried. All. The. Time.
We moved into a little dinky old rented single wide trailer when Hailey was about eight months old, and my friend Leila whose daughter is six months older than Hailey, suggested we start meeting up with the girls in their strollers and take walks. So, we did. We walked and we walked. I got hooked. Even on days Leila couldn’t go, I was still walking- anywhere from four to eight miles, six and sometimes seven days a week.
The difference was amazing. The pounds were slipping off, even without dieting, and my clothes were getting looser and looser. But the best part of all? The depression completely lifted. It was like coming out of a thick fog. I felt amazing, had tons of energy, and just felt alive. The walks cleared my head- Hailey always, always fell asleep soon after starting- so I could just think and daydream. I never felt like “Oh, I have to go on a walk”- it was always “Yay, I’m going for a walk!!”
 Eleven weeks pregnant with Keegan, but still only a few pounds above my ideal weight. I lost all eighty pounds and was back down to my ideal weight and then…
I got pregnant with Keegan. I did walk as morning sickness permitted, two to four times per week up through about the fourth or fifth month, until it got just too hot out to be pregnant and pushing a 40 lb kid in a 12 lb stroller outside. I gained sixty pounds with that pregnancy too.
There were a couple of huge differences this time around- one being that I breastfed Keegan. Along with the many, many, MANY other benefits of breastfeeding, it helps most women lose weight more quickly. And I did the Weight Watchers plan for breastfeeding mothers along with it- they allow enough points to keep your milk supply up but not so many that you hang onto the weight. Also, this time around, I knew that as soon as I could do so, walking would help me lose the weight and keep me from daydreaming about abandoning my newborn on someone’s front steps. And that’s just what I did- I got a double stroller and walked and walked. Within a fairly short amount of time, I’d lost all sixty pounds of baby weight. (And I was completely free from postpartum depression that time around, too!
 This one was taken Aug 12th, so this was just about one month post op. Still some to lose! Gonna walk it off. Now, I’m going to be perfectly honest here and say that I haven’t kept on top of my workouts as I should have been. You know how it is, life gets in the way sometimes.. well, it’s time for me to refocus. I have about 10 pounds I absolutely MUST lose to get back down to where I was, and another 10 on top of that would be awesome. So I’m walking again. I have the perfect opportunity- Hailey is in afternoon kindergarten, I drop her off at noon. I can come home, put Keegan in his stroller, and walk for at least an hour, get home, shower, and still be in time to pick her up. I’m considering adding bike rides into the mix, too- I just need new tires on my bike and a seat for the boy.
Do not underestimate the powers of walking. It’s the easiest exercise out there, takes very little in the way of special equipment, no special training, can be done any time and anywhere, and it WORKS. Even those of us with, er, new assets that tend to bounce so hard we fear black eyes are imminent, can walk.
Here are my walking tips:
- Invest in good shoes that fit well. If your feet are happy, the rest of you is happy.
- If your socks have a terry cloth type inner, and you’re getting blisters, turn your socks inside out.
- If your shoes are slipping in the heel but fit in length, lace the last two eyelets backward. (I am considering the ones nearest to your toe as the first and the ones nearest to your ankle as the last) Lace all the way up from the bottom but skip the second-to-last holes, go thru the last holes, and then thru the second-to-last holes. This will lock your foot in place.
- Audiobooks! They are amazing for walks. The time passes so fast. Sometimes, I even find myself taking longer routes because I want to hear more of my book.
- Water.. this one is obvious, right? Make sure you drink lots of water. It’s best to take some with you but if you can’t, at least have a good drink before you go and make up for it once you’re home.
- Keep safety in mind: reflective or light colored clothing if it’s dark out. Taking mace with you never hurts, in case of bad guys or bad dogs. And always, always take a cell phone with you.
- If you’re walking with a stroller, make sure you find a good quality lightweight one. The cheap umbrella ones from Wal-Mart won’t last you if you’re seriously putting the miles on them. Also, they’re built funny and will make you hunch, plus you will keep kicking/tripping over the wheels. Trust me, I know.
 Keegan and Julius the monkey, on our walk today
This post is entirely about workouts and weight loss stuff. It’s probably boring, but I do want to get it all down because that way, when something really works, I can look back and figure out what I was doing and why. So… you’re warned. This is boring, feel free to skip it. 
Ok, so I am more than halfway through my twelve weeks. I had Tim take my before pictures and then I had him take them again a few days ago and I can really see a difference. BUT the scale still isn’t changing much. I am certain I am gaining muscle definition, I can clearly see and feel that, but I still need the waistline to shrink a bit so I guess it’s time to add more cardio in. Before, six days a week, I was doing Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred, along with wii EA Active or Wii Fit. (I haven’t done my Biggest Loser game in quite a while, I just found things I like better and that I feel are a better workout). So I was doing roughly 50 minutes of workout a day, but most of it is strength training. 30 Day Shred is high intensity strength training, the heart rate goes up for sure, but it’s mostly with intense strength moves. Which, of course, is good, muscle tone is way important, but I think I just need longer, sustained high heart rate cardio. Like running/walking! Lucky for me, I now have a treadmill and can do this in the house, when the weather is too sucky to get outside and power walk.
Soooo I’m switching it up now. M, W, F are going to be cardio, 30 minutes to an hour, depending on my mood and what else is going on. Tu, Th, and Sa are going to be strength- so this means 30 Day Shred PLUS either my EA Active or Wii Fit. And we’ll see if the scale will start to drop a bit.
And of course, I will take “end” pictures when the 12 weeks is up, and I will post them. Probably. I’m working on learning to be proud of my body instead of ashamed of it. It’s hard.
I feel like I owe a bit of an explanation for slacking on my blog lately.
1. First of all, I have not been cooking much at all. We’ve had dinner out and with friends quite a bit recently so I have no recipes to share. I still owe you that one for the steak and blue cheese salad but the fact is, I just don’t feel like writing about it right now.
2. I feel like my personal life is getting a bit unbalanced again and I have been taking a sorta-break from being online. I’m still around on Facebook and I still have been chatting some on Yahoo IM with friends, because those are things I can do on the go, from my phone. I don’t like blogging from it, so I just don’t. And it feels good to be somewhat disconnected- as in my ass is disconnected from my computer chair- for a bit.
3. Also, I’m reading Peyton Place right now and it’s really good and hard to put down. In fact, right this very minute, my mind is sidetracked a bit because I want to pick my book back up.
4. I’m still doing my Pound-For-Pound challenge and working out with my Wii and the Biggest Loser game every single day. I’m eating healthy for the most part. I feel great! I’m on track with that.
5. I really don’t have much else to talk about anyway.
So I’m going to take a little hiatus and enjoy my kids and my book and my house and my workouts and I will be back when I’m back. (I’ll still update my weight loss ticker on Friday.)
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