Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Food Diary - August 20th

Real Quick -

PBB Smoothie for breakfast

A Bud Light Lime while on porch and doing laundry.
After laundry, too tired to eat. I went to bed at about 8 pm and got up just before 8 am.

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Food Diary - August 19th

Breakfast - PBB Smoothie - back to Vanilla Almond Milk

Lunch - Greek Yogurt w/pineapple and a thin-sliced turkey sammich w/ 1 tblsp mayo

Dinner
2 Pork Tenderloin tips (1 med., 1 sm.), 1 1/2 cup mashed potatoes, 1/2 cup Tomato, Okra, Squash veggie from a can.

Monday, August 19, 2013

Food Diary Aug 16th, 17th and 18th

Wifi sucks.

August 16th -
Same old same old for breakfast and lunch

Slow Cooker bbq chicken for dinner and small round canned potatoes.
Drink was Choco Almond Milk.

Aug. 17th
Same old same old for breakfast and lunch
(store here STILL doesn't have Hummus...okay wifi and store suck)

left over bbq chicken with mustard Potato Salad. Drink was Choco Almond Milk.


Aug 18th
Same old for breakfast
same old for lunch except added a slice of bread w/ peanut butter folded over.

Hamburger w/ chips and chili Beans and a Bud Light Lime.

Friday, August 16, 2013

Food Diary for August 15th

Yesterday, August 14th -
Breakfast was a Breakfast Smoothie with Chocolate Almond Milk. 
Lunch was Greek Yogurt with Pears
Dinner - 2 small cheeseburgers w/ about 3/4 cup Chili Beans and a 1/2 cup of Chocolate Almond Milk

I fell asleep at around 9:30 pm or so and woke up 3 times before getting up at about 5:30 am.

I had taken a nap yesterday for about 2 hours (5-7 pm).....or was that the day before? 

Thursday, August 15, 2013

Food Diary August 14th

PBB Smoothie 
I had to use the rest of the Pure Almond Milk (about 8 oz.) and start with the Chocolate Almond Milk. This area has a crazy local grocery store and it seems they never stalk the same thing twice in one month. They still don't have any hummus and I'm now out of it. The only Almond Milk they had was the chocolate - 30 calories more than the Pure or Vanilla Almond Milk.

I had a late lunch of
Greek Yogurt w/pineapple and the last of the hummus on crackers (about 10 or 11 crackers).

I had a 2 hour nap from about 6-8 pm as Keith was on the marina porch with his sewing machine doing a job for a fellow cruiser.

For dinner:
1/2 glass Choco Almond Milk
Probably about 2 servings of leftover Corned beef drizzled with Spicy Brown Mustard
Green Beans w/ CC Whipped Spread and Mrs. Dash
Mustard Potato Salad - about 1 cup.
A slice of Italian Bread with CC Whipped Spread.

Yes, I know - heavy dinner. I guess I was a little hungry.Keith claims the store doesn't carry any Potato Bread and he won't buy any kind of whole wheat as he doesn't like it. And I don't like Rye.
I asked him to get a side dish for the leftover Corned Beef and he came back with the Potato Salad.  
I made an attempt to minimize, but I was hungry. That was probably a good 1000-1200 calorie dinner. 

I fell asleep just a little after 10 pm and woke up at 4:30 am this morning.

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Food Diary Aug 12 and 13

Same stuff.....different day. 

Aug 12
Breakfast Smoothi
Greek Yogurt w/ pear
2 Pork ribs, a taco, about 1/4 cup of Spanish rice with water.

I actually got off the boat for a while and sat on the porch of the Marina computing. The fresh air must have done me good because I fell asleep at about 10:30 pm and woke up right before 6 am.

Aug 13
PBB Smoothie
Greak Yogurt w/pineapple
Corned Beef (I overdid it here a bit. I was hungry and probably had about 6 oz. of CB), about 1/3 cup of corn, and 3 small round canned potatoes, water.

Fell asleep about 9-9:30 pm and woke up at 4:21 am.

Monday, August 12, 2013

Food Diary - August 10th

Well, our slip neighbors left and now I am back on the porch of the marina for a wifi signal. Our slip neighbors had an excellent signal boost and I could be inside our boat, work on the computer, take care of the animals as needed and watch dinner in the slow cooker.....and enjoy the boat a/c.
So, what it means for this blog is I will be updating during the late morning the FOLLOWING day.
This is only while we are here - until we cast the lines for South Florida - beginning of September or later on in October.

So, my food intake for the 11th -

Breakfast - PBB Smoothie

Lunch - just Greek Yogurt w/ pearhes. 

Dinner - two bbq pork ribs and water.

Yesterday was not a good day. I fell asleep in the morning after putting the ribs in the slow cooker and, again, about 5:30 pm. Keith was NOT happy with me falling asleep right before the ribs were done. He finally got me up at 8 pm after several tries waking me up. We ate about 8:45 pm.

I fell asleep again at 11 pm and woke up at 2:33 am this morning. I've been awake since then.

Sunday, August 11, 2013

Aug 10th Food Diary

Okay, so I fell asleep last night at 9:30 pm and woke up at 2:30 am. I couldn't get a signal for the internet, so I spent the time arranging photo's on the computer until a signal popped up.
The night before last, I had fallen asleep at 11 pm and woke up at 5:30 am. I think that was the longest I've slept for about 2 1/2 months.
My food intake for the 10th was:

Breakfast - a Breakfast Smoothie
Lunch - Greek Yougurt w/ peaces, and about 7 crackers w/ hummus spread
Dinner - 4 small corn tortilla taco's (gr. beef was about 2-3 Tblsp on each taco, a sprinkle of Mexican shredded cheese and Pace Chunky Salsa -about 1 1/2 Tsp) and about 1/2 cup of Spanish Rice. I also started on bottle water but fell asleep and didn't finish it.

If I don't fall asleep early tonight, I'll blog my food diary for the day. So far, a PBB Smoothie for breakfast.

Friday, August 9, 2013

August 9 food diary

Started the day with a PBB Smoothie, which was flavorful and satisfying, as have all of them. Lunch was only a Chiboni Greek Yogurt w/pears.
By 4pm I became tired and fell asleep, waking up at 8:30 pm. I had put a whole chicken in the slow cooker seasoned only with Mrs. Dash and Minced Onion. I had the chicken for dinner along with a can of Tomato, Okra and Corn. I also had a can of New Potatoes that I nuked w/ light butter and Dried Green Onion for garnish. My plate had chicken, about 3 spoonfuls (dinner spoon) of vegie, and about 3 potatoes (these were small and round - about golf ball size) and bread w/ butter. To drink, I had a cup of Vanilla Almond Milk.
Last night I fell asleep about 11 pm and woke up at 3 am. It was hot and humid, as usual. I did not go back to sleep.
I am now thinking it is just the weather that has my sleep hours messed up. I recall in Port Isabel, the same thing happened when we were without a/c for a while. With keith turning up or turning off the a/c at night, I could be experiencing the same thing as I did in PI.
I will just have to wait for the Fall weather to see if my hours turn back around, I guess. Keith doesn't listen to me and continues to regulate the temp for his comfort - not ours (as in a compromise). For now, he is not happy with me because I'm sleeping when I should be getting dinner for him. So, the stress between us has been kind of high the past few days.
He's not completely supportive in my goal of healthier living. He gets what I ask for at the IGA, but he shows disinterest in any conversation of changing my food habits. As always in anything that is of interest to me, he expresses more negative than positive. So, I guess I must do this on my own and try to deal with the stress it causes between us as best I can. 
Keith's way has always been - if it's of no interest to him, he does not care to talk about it or anything else. 

Thursday, August 8, 2013

Food Diary for the 8th of August.

Okay, I'll say it straight out - I blew it at dinner. I'll explain in a minute, but I know I blew it. I am so full I can barely move......and my stomach aches a little.
This morning I started with a new smoothie.....chunks of a whole apple, cut-up banana, greek yougurt, vanilla almond milk and cinnamon. It's called a breakfast smoothie and I really liked it, so I will be alternating smoothies each morning for variety. 
At lunch I had Greek Yogurt with pear. That was all. I am thinking about replacing some lunches with a smoothie as they tend to keep my energy up and alert for at least 3-4 hours. 
Dinner was the problem. Keith wanted to go to Fathom's for Karaoke, so we had dinner there. I had the grilled grouper with new potatoes (cut in chunks), green beans and toast. I ate the whole thing, plus had 3-4 bud lite lime beers (bottle). 
What I should have done was east one grouper filet (they had 3 on the plate - palm size), no tartar sauce (2 small plastic cups of about 1-2 tblsp of which I had most of it from both cups) and just drizzled the one fillet with lemon, eaten only half the potatoes (I'd say the serving was about a cup) and all the green beans would've been okay. But I should have eaten only 1/2 slice of the toast which was a whole slice cut in half. I also should've have nursed just one beer the whole time we were there (which was about 2 hours).
That's what I should have done - but I didn't. So, now I am suffering for it in the short-term and it will definitely have an effect on the long term.
Needless to say, I won't be snacking tonight and will only drink water. 
I can't wait to get back to normal tomorrow.

Food Diary for the 6th of August

Okay, I have a bit of a correction to make. Yesterday's blog post was actually for the 5th of August. I had written it on the 5th but I hit the save button instead of the Publish button and it saved as a draft instead of a post. 
My food intake for the 6th was the same as the 5th, except the pork was shredded with bbq sauce added on a hamburger bun and a small (maybe a 1/4 cup) of the pork bbq on the plate. 
Last night I was so tired, I was literally falling asleep at the computer. I didn't do any blogging on any of my blogs and went to bed at about 10:45 pm. I really didn't fall asleep until about 11 pm though. I woke up at 4:27 am.
I know why, too. Keith turns the thermostat up on the a/c at night when he thinks it's too cold. The a/c goes off less, stays on less time and stays off longer. It gets hot and humid in the cabin. I cannot sleep in those conditions whereas he sleeps like a baby in them. I end up waking up sweating to death. Once awake, I can't go back to sleep in those conditions. If I do fall asleep before he wakes up (and this is after I've been awake all night long with no sleep at all), he will wake up in the morning and, oftentimes, just turn the a/c off.  Than I end up waking up after only 2-3 hours sleep.  I have talked to him about leaving the a/c alone and just cover up with a blanket, but, so far, he totally ignores what I ask - which is normal, actually.
A/C marine units are difficult to regulate an even temp in the cabin. If certain hours of the day or night are hotter than other times of the day or night, the a/c setting will seem higher than before. Keith thinks he can regulate the temps by constantly turning the thermostat up or down. It just doesn't work that way. It gets hot and humid and I don't get any sleep and we end up with rotten food (like whatever it is that I'm smelling now that's rotted in the humidity - hope its not my banana's. Unfortunately, I can't do anything about it until Keith wakes up first. If he wakes up because I'm making noise, he gets in a bad mood for the rest of the day and his work is filled with "mistakes" because he's tired and grumpy which puts him in a worse mood. That's normal for any one, I think. I just don't like being on the receiving end of the grumpy.

So, my food diary for the 7th of August was:

Breakfast - a Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie
Lunch - Greek Yougurt w/ pineapple
Dinner - leftover Pork Tenderloin with cream of celery soup gravy and canned squash, a slice of bread and water. I did have a double portion of the pork, though. I was a bit hungry.

Later tonight, I will post again my food diary for today.

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Pretty much ate same as yesterday

Today's menu was about the same as yesterday. I had a Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie for breakfast, Greek Yogurt w/ pineapple and 7 crackers with hummus, watermelon chunks for a snack and some more with dinner, which was Sweet Baby Ray's bbq sauce mixed in with shredded pork. The first helping was on a hamburger bun and I put about 1/2 cup on my plate for a second serving. Spinach was the veggie, but I don't like spinach, so I didn't have any for dinner.
I did take a nap from 5 pm to 8 pm, mainly because I am still only getting about 4 hours sleep a night. I did wake up at 6:30 this morning, but I had gone to bed at 2:30. Not sure about why the short length of sleep yet, but I usually wake up because Keith has turned off the a/c during the night and I wake up s

Monday, August 5, 2013

First Smoothie and Food Diary

I had my first smoothie this morning and loved it. It was a peanut butter banana smoothie and it was so good and refreshing that I drank it down a bit too fast and ended up with a slight, short-lived tummy ache. Oh, I put the drink down in=between sips (I used a straw), but no sooner did I put it down when I would pick it up again 2 seconds later.

So, for breakfast I had the smoothie - abt. 303 cal.
Tomorrow I may add another Tblsp. (I only used one today) of Peanut Butter. Even though I blended it weel, a glob of it clung to the side of the blender cup.

For lunch I had:
6 oz. Chobani Greek Yougurt w/ pineapple 160 cal.
and 4 saltines w/ hummus - same cal. as yesterday.

For dinner:
abt. 3 oz of pork tenderloin in cream of celery gravy. abt. 314 cal.
The Cream of Celery gravy consisted only of cream of celery condensed soup mixed w/ a can
of water. It was flavored lightly with garlic powder and minced onion. The tenderloin was seasoned w/ salt and perpper. I did a lighter salt than previous times.
Boil in a bag white rice - 1/4 cup. w/ a couple tblsp. of the gravy on it. No butter.
If I can get Keith to get the correct items at the store, this would've been 1/4 cup wild or brown rice. 
About 2 cups of corn for a vegie., lightly buttered (and I mean lightly) with Country Crock Spread.
A slice of white bread w/ a little less than a tblsp. of Country Crock Whipped Spread.
Keith said the store was out of Potato bread, so he brought home white - again.

For a snack between lunch and dinner, I had a bowl of watermelon chunks. Very refreshing and tasty. I love watermelon!

So, for day two, I think I have improved my diet. I could improve no white bread or white rice, but it was all we had for now.  I can also cut down on the butter spread. 
But I know I'm seeing some result on energy. I did not feel fatigued today, even though my sleep hours are still off and I went to sleep at 1:30 and woke up at 5 am.  However, I did not feel the need for a nap until about 5 pm. So, I still working on getting my sleep hours back to normal.

I am actually looking forward to my smoothie in the morning.

Sunday, August 4, 2013

I like Hummus

It will be slow going before I fully incorporate a healthier diet. We live on a boat and are in the middle of a cruise down the Gulf Coast of Florida. Currently, we are just west of the Big Bend area of the coast and will probably be here for a couple more months. But, not having a car, trips to the grocery store are by bicycle only....which only Keith rides at the moment, and he can only carry so much.
Yesterday, I had him pick up some Hummus. Today, he had to pick up items for dinner tonight and for tomorrow. When I use the slow cooker, all the ingredients needs to be purchased the day before I make it. So, today's trip to the store was only for the next two nights of dinner.
However, he will go to the store in the morning and pick up my ingredients for smoothies and tuna mix. This will cover breakfast and lunch for the next couple of days, starting tomorrow. They are currently selling watermelons on the porch here at the marina, so he will get a watermelon, also. It's one of my favorite snacking fruits. Watermelon, to me, is like Dorito's - you can't eat just one chunk. 
So, today, I had hummus for the first time - Sabra's Classic. I actually liked it. I can't wait to try the different flavors to find my favorite.

So, today's food intake consisted of:

2 plastic cups of whole milk - abt. 146 cal.
Keith hasn't bought the Vanilla Almond Milk yet, so I resorted to the milk we had on hand.
4 Saltine crackers with Hummus spread on them - about 144 cal.
I will be looking for an alternative for the saltines.
3 taco's consisting of ground round (85% Lean/15% fat) with taco seasoning, small Mission corn tortilla's, Kraft Shredded Mexican Style 4 cheese with 2% milk, and Pace Chunky Picante Sauce and about 1/2 cup of Rosarita Fat-Free Refried Beans. I figured the measurements were apprx.
- 609 cal.
I probably will be cutting the taco intake down to 2 taco's the next time, depending on what I've eaten earlier in the day.
Essentially, I've only taken in about 899 calories today. 
This will change as the days go on. As far as calories are concerned, I'd like to stay in the 1500-2000 calorie range per day. This will create a slower weight loss, but it will also result in keeping the weight off compared to a quick weight loss in a shorter period of time.

In the meantime, today wasn't a good day from support on this endeavor from Keith. Changing eating habits result in changes in the food bill, and with us saving money for our sail kitty to continue the cruise, it will result in more money to the food bill and less for the sail kitty. I think that's where keith's mindset was when I woke up from falling asleep, again, this afternoon. 
I had woke up and gave him my grocery list consisting of items for my smoothies, dinner for tonight and tomorrow, and my tuna mix. He looked it over and told me that he "didn't think this "thing" I was doing was going to work". 
I hadn't even really started it yet, and he's already giving me negatives on it. Needless to say, this caused hurt (support in the "household" is really important for an endeavor such as this), which caused anger and giving short, curt answers and replies to everything he said for a few hours. 
It only lasted a few hours because, after thinking about it, I knew I had the support of my daughter and he's just going to have to get use to it because we can't continue this sailing journey until my health improves. So, suck it up Keith. It is what it is.
Tomorrow, he will go to the store and get the rest of the stuff on the list, so I should be having my first healthy smoothie for breakfast.

Saturday, August 3, 2013

My situation, my goals

First, I have always been overweight, even as a baby. Yes, I am big-boned.....and it is surrounded by big weight. The weight, though, is only part of it. My health has been declining at a slow pace over the years.
I've never been what you would call active. I spent a good majority of my young years reading and watching TV or just sitting at a desk doing miscellaneous things like writing. 
That doesn't mean I wasn't active. I did a lot of walking when I was younger.....and quite a bit all the way into my 30s, too. I could walk more than 5 miles as a teenager. I lived on the edge of El Cajon and La Mesa in California and could walk great distances in both cities. In my 30s, I lived in the Sierra Nevada mountains and could walk the mountain roads all over the area of Grizzly Flats. But, when I turned about 40 years old or so, the walking became almost non-existent. I am now 53 years old and can't walk beyond 50 feet without a cane. My lower back is in horrible shape and does not support my body frame while walking. This, I believe, is the result of my weight. 
I know some of this road to poor health was lifestyle. Not just food, but living. 
When I began to drive long haul, I lived a majority of the time in the sleeper of the truck. Also, most of the time, walking consisted of getting out of the truck only for fueling, showers and pick-ups and deliveries. When I did go home, I had more things to do than exercising. 
As a long haul driver, eating healthy is really non-existent, too. Every truck stop had a fast food restaurant, very few had actual restaurants. When a driver did find one, the menu consisted of items like fried chicken steak and gravy, large burgers and fries and meatloaf with potatoes/gravy. Not exactly a healthy bill of fare.
Than, I went from living in a truck to living on a small boat. Still not a place to live for exercise; and if one ever cooked on a marine stove, the stoves really haven't been perfected for healthy cooking. Currently, our propane oven doesn't work, but when it did it took 3 times longer to cook or bake anything. Most of the time, the food never came out right. 

My current situation for cooking on the boat consists of a microwave, a slow cooker and an electric roaster oven. I also have a blender, a bread maker and a deep fryer. Only one burner works on our stove in the galley. So, one goal is to find healthy food recipes that can be used with any of these appliances.
Another goal is to find healthy snacks. I did have one doctor a few years back tell me that it would probably be best, for me, to eat 5 small meals a day rather than 3 big meals. But, I would like to find low-cal, healthy snacks to munch on while working on the computer or watching a movie. I think if I do this, it will help cut down on my smoking, too. 
Beverages are a bit problematic, too. Previously, milk and juice would cause an upset stomach, and soda pop would cause me to sleep for several hours. So, I am beverage challenged. For now, I am drinking bottled water, but it tends to give me heartburn, so I am looking for another alternative.
I need to watch my salt intake, too. Too much causes swelling in my feet and ankles.

My goals are simple to write, but more difficult to achieve. I need to lose weight. I'm not sure how much I weigh, but I know I need to lose at least 100 lbs. I need more physical energy. I am highly fatigued and probably sleep 3/4 of a 24-hr. period. It hits suddenly - this tiredness - and I must lay down immediately and fall asleep. 
I need to improve my circulatory system. I believe with increased energy, I can walk more and improve the circulation in my feet and legs.
Smoking will be the biggest challenge. I will keep it in mind, but I really can't address that issue until I address the others. It definitely would be in the forefront if I thought it was the cause of the other issues, but it's not the complete reason for the other issues. However, it is a contributing factor, so it will be addressed, also. 
My first and foremost issue is to address the fatigue that keeps me from going out and walking for exercise.
So I will begin with my food intake.

Beginning a journey back to health

I am not healthy. Geez, I sound like someone in a 12-step program. But it is true, I am not healthy. 
I consistently, every day fight fatigue, weight, circulatory problems. I am a heavy smoker....and exercise is non-existent.
So, with the help and support of my daughter, I begin the road to better health. 
That is what this blog is about......a journey.....to better health.