Black Bean Soup!

Back in January I decided to start eating more vegetarian meals for dinner. I had gotten in a rut with dinners – meat or fish and a vegetable; healthy but not a lot of vegetables. It also had been a while since I truly cooked - lots of ingredients, following a recipe. Plus my friend Jessi went almost vegetarian and lost a ton of weight. Of course, she was also running a serious number of miles and lifting weights. So with the small change in the diet and more running, I’ve been able to reach one weight loss goal (less than 150 #) and maintain it, despite a very hectic fall semester of teaching. Hopefully when the fall semester winds down I’ll be able to step up the running again and maybe make my next weight loss goal of 145 #.

Here is a recipe for black bean soup that I developed myself, taking from various other recipes:

Ingredients. Didn't know how much I was going to use so I bought extras.

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 medium onion, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

1 jalapeno, diced (remove seeds or omit for less spiciness)

2 (15 oz) cans black beans, rinsed

1 can diced tomatoes, with juice

1 can chicken broth (or vegetable broth)

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp thyme

Olive oil

1. Sauté garlic for a few seconds in 1-2 tblsp olive oil

2. Add onion and sauté until softened

3. Add green pepper and jalapeno and sauté for several minutes

4. Add spices and heat for a minute or two

5. Add black beans and tomatoes

6. Add 1 can broth and 1 can water (I’m rethinking whether the extra water was needed.)

7. Stir and bring to a boil. Simmer for 30 min.

8. Puree 3-5 ladles of soup in a blender and add back to soup

9. I thought the soup looked too soupy and wanted it thicker so I boiled it for 5-6 min to reduce the liquid a bit.

Simmering.

 The soup was a success! The taste is really good, different flavor notes, and a definite kick to it! I'll be making this again!

The soup! Yummy and spicy! (ignore the corn bread fail in the background)

5% weight loss?

I've been watching The Biggest Loser pretty much since the first season. I find the effort of these very large people, many of whom have never worked out, pretty inspiring. A few of my friends don't understand why I watch the show as they don't think I need to lose any weight. However, at my current weight my BMI is 25.8, which puts me in the Overweight category. I'm pretty close to the Normal category - I just need to lose 5.6 pounds.

But back to The Biggest Loser. This past week, the contestants were sent home for 18 days and if they lost 5% of their weight while at home they would win immunity from elimination. So that is my goal - lose 5% in 18 days. That is 7.5 pounds by March 24. But it'll really have to be in 17 days as I'll be at the NJ Ultrafest running a 50 km race on the 24th.

This means I really have to be more focused with the diet and the exercise. Both have been pretty good and it has gotten me closer to my first goal. But some days are better than others.

Heading out for a 3 mile run. I really need to run longer but I have a lecture to finish prepping and an exam to write!

Importance of sleep for weight loss

From Everyday Health: Link between Sleep and Weight.

I think there is certainly some validity in what is stated in this article. I know that when I'm not sleeping as much as I need to, or not sleeping well (falling asleep on the couch first and then going to bed for as little as another hour of sleep), that I have no energy to work-out. And when I have a lot to do when I'm sleep deprived, I tend to eat more - like a cafe mocha and dessert from Starbuck's! The added calories always give me an energy boost to get through the day. And since I haven't worked out, all those extra calories are doing is going right to my fat stores - which I need to get rid of! It'll be interesting to see the results of the NIH study looking at whether getting a proper amount of sleep will help people lose weight.

This is why I have made one aspect of my weight loss program is to get enough and proper sleep. I know that I have not been as diligent as I need to about this. Which is weird since I always feel better when I do get to bed at a reasonable hour.

This week, my workouts won't be as consistent. I started not feeling well on Monday evening. Probably due to burning the candles at both ends. Saturday morning I ran a 25 km trail race on Staten Island in 3 hrs 32 min (and placed 3rd in my age group!) and then drove out to Parsippany to run with my group (ran a total of 19 miles on Saturday!!) and attend our holiday party. I didn't get home until after 1 AM that night! Then friends were over for pizza and beer on Sunday. But luckily I'm starting to feel better and hopefully will get a run in by Friday and perhaps go to the gym or do some yoga on Thursday. I'll probably need some sort of stress release. I have a ton of grading to do!

Here's another link that may be of interest to everyone. Exercise!!! is the single best thing you can do for your health: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUaInS6HIGo

The diet the previous Monday-Friday was also pretty good as well. Dinner of fish and veggies and no beer during the week. Going to keep doing that as it seems to help me make up for my horrible diet during the weekends.

Week 6 - Another blown weekend

I'm not going to post my weight this week. Let's just say that I didn't lose any weight. And the weekends are proving to be my nemesis. This past weekend I ended up having five events - beer tasting on Friday, trail race Saturday morning, dinner in New York City on Saturday, a baby shower Sunday afternoon, and more beer with a friend at a bar on Sunday evening. Of course the trail race - approximately 6 miles run in 1 hr 36 min - did allow me to expend a fair amount of calories but I didn't do so well on the post-race foods and drink. This is partly due to what choices are available but I really need to stick to one post-race beer and not the two that I did have. One good thing that I did do was not have beer when we went out for dinner after Friday's beer tasting. Next weekend plans include a trail race Saturday morning and a Christmas party Saturday evening so hopefully I'll be better!

The week was pretty good for the diet (except for the weekend of course!). I drank hot green tea after dinner Monday through Wednesday instead of the beer that I've been drinking. However, on Thursday I decided to go to Copper Mine Pub to try some Sierra Nevada beers that they tapped since I don't usually find a SN beer besides their typical Pale Ale. I had a pint of the Southern Hemisphere IPA and a pint of the Northern Hemisphere IPA. At 6.7% alcohol, I wonder if these beers also have more calories? My dinner consisted of tilapia and broccoli. I'll be having a similar dinner this week - salmon and asparagus. I only had a piece of fruit three days this past week so I'll have to be better next week.

The work-outs weren't as strenuous as I need them to be for weight loss. My legs were still pretty sore from the almost 20 miles of running in four days that I did the weekend before and so only did 25 min of yoga on Monday. I was up late on Monday night so by the time I was done teaching on Tuesday I was too tired to go to the gym and took a 3 hr nap instead. I ran a total of 9.3 miles on Friday and Saturday. Saturday's run was good. I took it a little easy on the first part of the course to warm up. And there were some serious hills which required walking. It took me about 57 min to get to the aid station. The second half of the race, I made sure to push the pace and if a hill was short and not too steep I made sure I ran all, if not most of it. It felt really good to push the pace. I felt strong, passed several women, and completed the second half of the course in about 39 min. It also helps to not care about getting muddy or wet. ;)

This next week will have to be better in the exercise realm. I don't plan on running as much during the week and certainly no speed work. I will be running a 25 km (15.5 miles) trail race on Staten Island Saturday morning and want to be able to run it well (I have no idea what to expect with regards to terrain - except for the 2300 ft of gain that is listed on the website). I also need to let my right ankle heal a bit. I turned it during Saturday's trail race. I'll have to make sure to lift weights on Tuesday and not Thursday. My legs were still a little sore Saturday morning. I've incorporated lunges into my weight routine since the Essex County College gym is not that great and figured it might be better for my running that doing leg presses. And when I do lunges, I use a lot of the smaller leg muscles for stabilization. At some point I may actually perform a lunge without almost falling over!

Week 5 – Survived Thanksgiving (sort of)

My weight at the start of the Thanksgiving week was 155.2# and I had an average weight of 155.5#. I’m starting week 6 at 156.6#, which means any of the weight that I may have lost in the previous weeks has been negated by four days of eating and drinking. I know that some of that extra weight is going to be water weight - beer can be pretty bloating – but I still ate more than I should have. Though I am happy to report that on Thanksgiving I ate much less desserts than in the past – a single slice of very delicious carrot cake. But I think the reason I ate less desserts is because it was served right after dinner. Typically at my family’s Thanksgiving, there is some time between dinner and dessert to clean off the table and get the dishes washed, allowing for digestion and more room for dessert! For the most part, I did pretty well on the portion control for all the different side dishes that were served. Where I got into trouble was the turkey and mashed potatoes – I had 3 helpings! And using the excuse of not eating either of these items during the year is no excuse! The other contributions to the weight gain, of course, was the beer drinking on Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday (can you see where I need to cut out the calories!??!).

So this week I really need to focus on the diet and keep exercising (again); I have 24 more miles of running to make it to my goal of 800 miles for the year, which I'll reach some time in the next 2 weeks. Today will have to be an easy day (yoga). During the Thanksgiving weekend, I ran 4 straight days for a total of 19.6 miles! Running is the only thing that has kept the weight from increasing more than it has. And I really need to start limiting the beer intake! So one of my goals this week is no beer Monday through Thursday. Even though I only would have one 12 oz beer on a weeknight it is still calories that my body does not need.

Week 4 - Discipline!

Control. Discipline. The ability to make sure you do the things that need to be done to reach your goals - even when you really don’t want to.

You need discipline to put in the training needed to complete long races, especially if you want to run them well. You also need control and discipline to make the changes in your life to effectively lose weight. And these are two goals that I have right now (race well & lose weight). However, control and discipline is what I sometimes lack and need to work on. This is especially true when it comes to desserts and alcohol. Hmmm – may have to rewrite that last sentence – it makes me look like I might be an alcoholic! But I think most of you know what I am talking about. You are out hanging with friends, having a good time, and the beer or wine (or whatever your drink of choice is) is flowing. And despite telling yourself you won’t have more than 2 beers you end up having 4, or sometimes more. And lately this has been happening on Saturday evening for the past three weekends! And now the holidays are just around the corner so I really need to focus on that control and discipline!

Despite the amount of drinking and dessert eating I did on Saturday, the rest of the week was better: 5 days of beer, 4 days of dessert, and 4 days of fruit. The previous week it was 6, 6, and 2. So this week I need to stop having a beer in the evening during the week and try to up the fruit intake more. The veggie portions weren’t great for week 4 either as dinner was Tuscan garlic chicken (http://www.food.com/recipe/tuscan-garlic-chicken-pasta-362590). I make sure to use whole wheat pasta but you can see that the only vegetable is the arugula. Next time I should have some steamed broccoli to go with this meal. I did work out 6 days this week, which included some speed work on Friday and a long run on Sunday; so the intensity of the workouts was a little higher than last week.

Start of week (Monday) weight: 153.8#

Average weight this week: 153.3# which is a 0.6# loss from last week’s average.

But I ran 8.1 miles on Sunday and was hoping to make-up for the extra stuff on Saturday but alas that didn’t work as the following Monday’s weight was 155.2#.  I wonder what I would have weighed if I hadn’t had as many beers or desserts on Saturday! And with it being Thanksgiving this week, I’ll have to more focused on the diet for the next couple of days.

Thanksgiving Day is always a struggle for many of us. I’ve been following a blog of a personal trainer and he posted some helpful hints for Thanksgiving: http://www.fit2fat2fit.com/2011/11/thanksgiving-day-rules/

Specifically:

            Rule #1:  This is Thanksgiving dinner, not Thanksgiving Week, Month, and Year .

Rule #2: You don’t get bonus points for only having one meal. Drew is advocating the

6 small meals a day type of diet. The key thing here is to eat sensibly the morning of Thanksgiving and the rest of the days of the week. If you have only one meal on Thursday and skimp too much the rest of the week, your body adapts by decreasing its metabolism because it thinks its not going to be getting enough calories and nutrients and you end up storing more than if you just ate normally.

Rule #3:  Stick to a realistic definition of a “portion”.

Rule #4: One dessert.  Wait let me be more specific.  One portion of one dessert! Yeah this will be a tough one for me. This year I won’t be spending Thanksgiving with my family so I don’t know what dessert will be available – and how many different kinds there will be. Typically my family has apple pie, pumpkin pie, cookies, and brownies. And I usually have at least one of each, except the pumpkin pie, and probably 2-3 cookies. And this year will be just as tempting as my friend Jessi is baking a chocolate cake and I heard there will be carrot cake – two of my favorites!

Rule #5: Enjoy yourself! This is NOT a fad diet. This is a lifestyle.

Hopefully I’ll be able to go for a run Thursday morning. I need to start the day right before all the food and wine that will be consumed later that day! But still keeping in mind portion control!

Week 3 - back to normal!

I finally have electricity and am back home and on a more regular schedule. While I was without power, I stayed at friends’ houses who had early morning schedules, which meant that I was going to bed at a reasonable hour and waking up at my normal time. I’ve been keeping to that routine so far and hope to keep it up. Now that I’m home, I’m also working out more! And felt it for the first 3 days of the week. So here’s an over view of the good and the bad this past week:

The Good:

- Worked out 5 of 7 days! I should have run long on Sunday but ran 4.9 miles on Friday and 6 miles on Saturday so it will do. And I was in no condition to run on Sunday but I think a walk would have done me some good.

- Ate fruit on 2 of 7 days. This is actual fruit. I drink oj every morning that I have breakfast at home. I definitely need to eat more fruit!

- Dinner was salmon (about 5 oz), asparagus, and skim milk (Mon – Thurs).

- Afternoon snacks, if I’m hungry, have been celery with humus.

- I was in bed before midnight most week nights. I felt good every day last week and better sleep certainly contributed to that. It will also allow me to workout more and more intensely.

The Bad:

Some sort of desert 6 out of 7 days AND a beer every night of the week except Sunday. And waaayyy too much beer on Saturday.

Weight

- Monday morning: 156.6#

- Avg weight Mon – Fri: 154.1#

- I didn’t measure my weight on Sunday morning as I nursed a hang over all day. And since I only had one meal on Sunday, Monday morning's weight was pretty good (153.8#).

So I’ve been getting a few more fruits & vegetables in the diet – yeah! And was consistent with the workouts. But still eating desserts and drinking beer – boo!

So some progress on the diet and exercise. I’ll want to step up the intensity of some of the workouts. This will be including longer runs for training for my next 50 km race in March and hopefully some speed work as I need to get my pace down so that I can run my longer races faster.

The pounds aren’t really dropping yet but I have noticed in pictures and the mirror that I seem to be getting a little bit leaner. Hopefully, the pounds will drop soon.

Week 2 - no electricity and not much exercise

Well I certainly didn’t meet my workout goals this week. Sunday morning a transformer blew and I’ve been without power ever since! This is now day 6. Luckily I have been able to stay with friends so I had a warm place to sleep and a hot shower. I’ve had to eat out a lot, and ate with friends so the diet would not have been typical. I’ve been able to see what others eat for dinner at home and now have a couple of ideas of what other foods I can eat - spaghetti squash! I should also look at other recipe resources as I’d like to eat much more vegetables than I usually do. The one good thing about sleeping at other people’s houses is that you end up following their sleep schedule. And my friends get up quite early to work out so they go to bed early! Hopefully I’ll continue with that trend when I am finally back in my own home and bed. It would allow me to workout consistently and more intensely. Also, I’ve read that lack of sleep contributes to weight gain and the inability to lose weight. Something about hormones. I should look into that so I have a better understanding. At least I’ve noticed that my weight has stayed the same. No gain is better than gaining if I’m not able to lose a few pounds this week.

This weekend I’ll be traveling to Albany NY with a friend to visit another friend. Marie is having a wine and appetizer party. Hopefully I’ll get a run in this week before I travel. So far this year I’ve been able to run at least once a week. I’d like to continue that trend. And since I have run just over 700 miles this year (a new PR!) I’d like to get to 800. I won’t be able to run as far as my sister – she’s run 1000 miles this year! But maybe I’ll try to make that a goal for next year. All those extra miles should help with my running goals!

exercise this week?

During my first week of trying to lose weight I haven't been very good about exercise. And I can only put part of the blame on recovering from a marathon. So far this week I've done 25 min of yoga on Monday and a 3 mile run on Friday. Had hoped to get a nice run in the woods on Saturday - in costume - but there was a freak storm that hit the East Coast. First it rained and then it snowed. A lot! Just getting to Great Swamp was quite an adventure. And getting home after dinner was even more adventurous! Lots of downed trees and power lines.

So what have been my excuses? Tired - a few nights of staying up late makes it difficult to work out. Wednesday was pure laziness. I should have gone to yoga at a local studio - I want this guy to succeed since his studio is close to me and his rates are really good! Thursday I had my gym gear to go to the gym and ride the stationary bike but by the time I left the office, I was tired and unmotivated. And frankly I am still recovering from the marathon. I wish I could have some of the energy and recovery capabilities of my friend Jessi. On Saturday she ran in the morning and in the afternoon. I won't bother posting her mileage - she runs ultra-marathons and does IronMen races - so the number of miles she ran less than a week after winning the marathon are insane. Plus she's 17 years younger than me so she can recover faster. But the one thing she does is she gets out there nearly every day and works out for 1 hour or more.

So here are my exercise goals for next week: (1) work out nearly every day; and (2) when I do work out, do so for 1 hour.

The beginning

I've known this for quite some time and have only made feeble attempts at it, but I really need to lose some weight.


The minimum would be 10 pounds but ideally I should lose 20 pounds (goal is 135#). So I'm going to journal what I eat and do (including sleeping habits) and make it public. I am actually going to post my weight at the start of each week. So here it goes!

I'll take suggestions as to what I should change. Dave suggests lots of small meals every 2 hrs - and nothing after 2 PM! I know the no eating after 2 PM will not work for me. I'll be much too hungry in the evening and so hungry in the morning that I'll feel sick! Jessi & Dave suggests lots of fruits (I know I have to work on this) and vegetables, some protein, and cut back on the carbs. And yeah - minimizing sweets and alcohol. Of course working out consistently is needed for this to work.

Not sure how often I'll post updates. Every day? Or at the end of each week?

Today starts the weight loss. Beginning weight: 154#; Height: 5' 4"; BMI: 26.4 (that puts me in the overweight category). Will post a picture soon from yesterday's marathon.

Start of Delaware-Lehigh Heritage Marathon in Northampton PA, with Dave, Jessi, and Ron. I'm wearing #37.

Finishing last in the marathon in 5 hrs 24.5 min.