Good morning all (yes Debi, I am lurking). I'm behind again, so no personals this morning. I wanted to share my 'peachy' adventures from the past two days. I'm going to cheat though and copy it from my blog. It all started because I developed a sore wrist on my rest day Tuesday...
"So when I realised that I wasn’t going to lift today I figured it was a good excuse to get some of the canning done. So, usually the cherries are available in 10lb, 20lb, and 30lb pails. They have a weird mix of pounds and kg at times. So in my head I’m thinking 20lbs of peaches sounds about right. I want to make peach conserve (for which I need 8 cups chopped) so I figure I’ll get somewhere around 12 quart jars out of what’s left. I have some cherry concentrate left from earlier in the year so the plan was to can them in the cherry juice.
We set off around 12:30. Round trip it’s less than 90 mins so no big deal. Lunch is usually around 2pm so I figure we’ll be back in time. Of course I didn’t count on torrential rain which pushed the trip time out to 50 mins one way. The plant was shut for lunch when we got there so it was a 20 min wait until we could get the peaches. I knew there was a Subway back at the highway so off we went, and had lunch there. I really was quite good. Since it’s been a while since I checked their calorie levels I just went with the 6″ roast beef, no cheese, with mustard. I was really ready for this since for some strange reason I had skipped my morning snack.
So, back to the farm for the peaches. There are no buckets for the peaches, it’s just $2/lb. So I’m thinking still about 20, maybe 25 pounds (so I can get 14 jars out of it - the sterilizer takes 7 at a time). Then they mention that a 40-lb box is $57.50. So let’s see… $50 for 25-lbs or $57.50 for 40-lbs. No contest. The insane woman agrees to the 40-lb box.
Wait, it gets better. I also purchased (frozen) a 1.5kg bucket of blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries. And before you ask, that’s each, not mixed. Oh, and when the woman went to go get them it turned out they didn’t have any of the small raspberry pails… so she gave me the next size up - no extra charge!
And then, on the way back to the highway. Yes, you guessed it. We stopped at a fruit stand and bought…. fresh peaches. Apricots as well. I know, the two of us should not be trusted.
The canning process wasn’t that time consuming. I started about 3pm, finished the jarring process by 5pm (and I had to bring up more jars than I had ready, and mix up more canning liquid). The last jars came out of the sterilizer by 8pm, and you really don’t need to be around much once you’re just sterilizing them. So I ended up with 24 quart jars of peaches. Half done in cherry juice and the rest done in a very light sugar syrup. Next year I will check the cherry concentrate before we go down for peaches."
(back live now) Yesterday I did make the peach conserve (11 8-oz jars) along with my cardio (yay, supergirl). I wanted to share something that came up when typing a response to one of our new members. I feel like I've run across a secret that not everybody has figured out yet. And I know that everything does not work for everybody, however, I truly believe what I'm about to say.
You do not need to starve yourself to lose weight.
I know one of the toughest things to do is pick an appropriate level of eating. I've struggled with it a lot. When I was over 400 pounds I didn't have a clue of where to start. I started too low. I wasn't that consistent with my logging (and for the first few months I didn't log at all), however, I started at about 1800 calories a day. And I lost weight, boy did I ever. I even binged out of control at times, and still lost weight. The first 80 or 90 pounds came off fairly easily with no regular exercise (although I walked a lot at work, on my feet most of the day). When the weight loss slowed I added exercise, but no calories. It eventually slowed to the point where it pretty much stopped. I exercised more, ate less, ignored warning signs, eventually making myself ill enough to land in the hospital. It was years before I got back into the weight loss mode again and this time I was convinced I would do it better.
Here's the funny part - I started at about 1800 calories a day again back in December. I realise now that I really hadn't learned much. Don't get me wrong, at 358 pounds this time I still lost weight. I still had a few out of control days, but overall I felt I was doing well. When I added in regular exercise in January I made a point to add a few calories. My weight loss was still fairly flaky. Some weeks I'd lose, other weeks I'd gain, occasionally I'd stay the same.
In the beginning of March I started a strength training program (the New Lifting Rules for Women). I wanted something more structured as I felt I had been simply playing with weights. I read the eating requirements and just about died. They were telling me I should be eating 2200 on no workout days, 2500 on exercise days, and 2900 on lifting days (strenuous days). I thought no way I could do that. Now, this program is not billed as a weight loss program but I decided to give it a try. I think the first few weeks I ate 2100 and 2600, although I did manage to get up to 2200 and 2800. I was still doing about 90 mins of cardio at least 3 days a week, as well as the lifting.
By the end of May I had settled into a routine that seems to work for me. I eat 2150 on my rest days (2), and 2400 on the days I lift (3) and also 2400 on the days I do only 60 mins of cardio (2). Here's the interesting thing I just realised today.
Every weigh-in since I increased my calories has been a loss. Well, one gain, but that was during a planned maintenance week where I ate 3000 calories minimum a day and did no exercise. I gained 1.2 pounds that week, yet followed it the next week with a 5.4 pounds loss, so who cares. Although the lifting days are hard work (~90 mins ea) I no longer kill myself with cardio (2 days of 60 mins).
I've found a way of eating I could do forever, and I realise I may actually have a pretty decent metabolism. I'm not going to destroy it with starving my body of the nutrients it needs. I'll settle, if it is settling, for a nice consistent loss... especially if I can eat an average of 2300 calories a day. That's what it works out to (2 rest days, 5 workout days). I still see lots of women around the 300+ mark talking about 1200-1500 calories a day and I wish I could make them understand that they don't have to do that to lose weight. And in fact, could be making their weight loss much harder than it needs to be.
(Oh, and if you're currently eating 1200 calories do not suddenly start eating 2000, you'll almost certainly gain weight. However, start slowly increasing it until you're eating a more reasonable amount.)
The only other thing I want to share is that food is key. I could probably lose almost the same amount of weight without the exercise (as long as I adjusted my calories). I track everything I eat, quite precisely. Yesterday when making jam I popped a couple of maraschino cherries into my mouth and later added the 20 cals to my daily intake. Yes, 20 cals for four cherries. Those little things can really add up.
Okay, preachy mode over. I really tried not to make it sound that way, but I know it probably came off that way. Sorry.
Now I'm off to do chores, lift weights, and lots of stuff. We have company coming on Sunday for dinner and both the house and garden need lots of work. And yes, I still have my math upgrade to finish (big procrastination here). Take care all, and I will be back (even if I'm just lurking).
It hasnt been hooked up since we moved in and I can't wait to be able to watch something in bed... esp the nights that hubby works all night!!
