Serving size

Oh, CRAP. Another "get healthy" post. Let me give you the Cliff's notes in case you are short on time today.
1)Giselle has failed in her last pathetic attempt to live past 40 again. Something is surely to blame other than her own lazy ass
2)Giselle is starting a new pathetic attempt to live past 40...it has worked for about a week now and she is convinced that THIS will be the thing that works
3) Giselle will list reasons why it WON'T actually work...
4) Stay tuned for next week's episode...it is sure to be a rerun.



So my exercise thing totally went down the drain. First and foremost it is MY fault...secondly I blame Stephen King (finished the book last night!)...and finally I blame my husband. Jeff decided that for this 6 week stint he would join me on the exercise challenge. He started marking his exercise on MY calendar. Except he gets to go to fencing 2 nights a week and count that. AND he is like a machine when it comes to doing the Jillian exercise tape. He has no hesitation...just gets dressed and does the work-out. Marking all over MY calendar with his success. Which mocks me and my piddly little "Shadow walks". So I did what I do in any competition...I quit. Very noble.

Why don't I just use his hard work as a challenge to myself, you ask? Why don't I let it spar me to keep pace with him? Because that's just not how I roll. I know I can't win. He farts and loses 5 pounds. He has a higher tolerance for pain and he is just a harder worker than I. I do the Jillian tapes and 5 seconds into it I feel a little knee pain...I worry that I'm breaking down the cartilage and I ease up a bit. Jeff would just crunch through the pain and worry about the knee later. Like I said...he's a machine. Also...the fencing thing.

Whatever. It's mostly MY fault for not wanting to do it enough. Also...? I am hungry. Because I decided that the reason I exercised for 5 weeks and lost no weight must be because I was eating poorly (shocker). So I started...gulp...writing down how many calories I was eating.

I've kept a food diary before. It usually lasted about a week and a half before I lost interest and once again began the mid-day raid of the kids' fruit snacks. But this time I decided to pay more attention to the serving sizes and calculate the actual calories.

Holy Mother of Unfairness. Serving sizes SUCK.

I started the day making my morning coffee. Let's remember that I like a little bit of coffee with my creamer. And I read that a serving of creamer is 1 Tbsp. So I get out my measuring spoon and add a serving to my coffee. And then I quickly realized that I have been drinking my coffee with about 5-6 servings of creamer. And I would have 2 cups a morning. So at 45 calories a serving, that is 225 calories...just in my morning coffee. Oops. I got out my American Heart Association cookbook and read how to calculate my total caloric needs. 1700 a day. Oh, Lordy.

The first few days (this was last week) were filled with a longing hunger. I really think it was mental, though...because it only took until the middle of the week for me to adjust. I cut my coffee back to one cup in the morning, and I allow myself 2 servings of creamer (I just can't do one serving...just can't) in it. And the rest of the day has followed suit.

So now that I've started changing the amount that I eat, it's time to increase the old physical activity meter. I don't know what to do about doing this side by side with Jeff, though. I want him to be healthy and strong, and I'm proud of him for being so good at this. But it is DEFLATING for me, because he is already in great shape, he has a hobby that motivates him and that he has fun doing, and I'm just so...fat and tired and weak. I need to NOT compare myself to him, because it isn't the important thing...I just need to get out and DO something. Or figure out how many calories I burned carrying two toddlers in the pool for 45 minutes. Because that WORE ME OUT yesterday. ;)