I am eating almost the same sort of diet as you listed on the blog some months ago. I am 63 and here’s a couple of ways I use your ideas with a change here and there.

I teach school so I need pumping up in the morning.

I eat the bigger meal at breakfast - a piece of pork chop or steak with toast and vegies is quite good at 6:30 in the morning… I often chop them up and make “Scrabble” by scrambling in an egg. This is where I add a slice of Oro-wheat Double Fiber toast and sprinkle Bran Buds over it all. These are extremely high in fiber and stay crunchy unless you stir them in.

For lunch at school, I eat tuna, chicken, sardines (I ONLY eat the Crown Prince tiny sardines in olive oil and I drain them - the King Oscar sardines are larger, saltier and fishy smelling. I know - some folks just hate them. But my calcium is TWO standard deviations ABOVE expected levels in the bones for 63 with a sedentary polio-limited lifestyle.) I almost always eat something small about 11:00 because our 9th graders don’t eat until 1:00.

I am a big Crystal Light fan and mix their 16 oz. drink packet in a 20 Oz widemouth Mt Dew bottle which makes it easy to drink between classes.

After school, I eat some fruit or cheese and celery….something, so I am not craving cheese and apricot danishes! When I ‘dream’ of food, it’s homemade chili, cornbread, danishes and buttery baked sweet potatoes - none of those chocolate cravings that could simply be satisfied with a fake candy for me, no sir! I crave ‘real’ food. So something is necessary about 4:00.

Before 8:00 I will eat a bowl of high bran mixed granola/cereal/sunflower seeds/FiberSure powder/bran buds/raisins/cranberries….and whatever else is looking good. If you eat cereal a couple of hours before bedtime, I have found that you will sleep more deeply since your system isn’t trying to digest and utilize a high protein meat dinner while your brain and body aren’t making any requests.

I became very ‘religious’ about a diet this spring after 20 years of near perfect health at 240 lbs. To date I have rounded down on the 200 mark and am feeling terrific.

I’ve also found it easy to eat OUT. If it’s fast food, it’s the Martha Vineyards salad at Arby’s…tons of fiber.
If it’s a restaurant, it’s salad and a soup (bean/vegie/chicken tortilla) or a Greek salad and broiled chicken breast.
If it’s Mexican, it’s a soft taco with carne asada which is roasted thinly sliced steak, not hamburger, and not oil fried like fajita meat.
If it’s Thai, it’s a Thai chicken/vegie soup and one spring roll (all vegie).

Sure I’d love triple cheese ravioli, creamed clam chowder and we don’t even think about baked potatoes and the fixings…..but they will be treats earned at the decades. 200, 190, 180, etc.

It’s all about what you put in your mouth, isn’t it? I cannot do many exercises, but I can walk and inside our NW Arkansas Mall is nearly 2 miles if you cover the perimeter completely.

So Good Luck losing all your weight THIS year! You will never forget the moment you see your target weight for the first time!

Kate Lacy

Every day gets easier! Sometimes the first 20 minutes or so can be a bit rough, but after that my legs seem to start to get warmed up and it gets a bit easier as the ride goes along. I’ve tried about everything as far as exercise and this is by far the best! You need to get your heart rate up and burn those calories.

I hope it is working for you and I urge you as well to keep up with it. I’ve started back at it and look forward to a long summer with more of the longer rides. Sometimes I can’t believe that I actually took to this like I did but I am really glad that I gave it a chance.

I have never tried a sports drink and my reasoning would be that I am not an endurance athlete. Unless you are going for some type of endurance training, I would pass on these drinks as they have tons of sugar and carbs and are very high in calories. If you are eating correctly and not restricting the good carbs and taking in plenty of water, then your body will work just fine for whatever exercise you are doing so why waste the calories on a sports drink? According to calories.com - there are 310 calories in a 12 oz. bottle of Gatorade 78.0 g. carbohydrates.

Drinking water is like any other good habit, once you start paying attention to the water you drink, you will find that it becomes a part of your daily routine. Also, drinking lots of water makes you feel better and more alert. If you ever have that draggy, tired feeling and your not sure why - it is probably due to not enough water.

I did learn that is important to drink water before you start your exercising, so I always make sure I drink a bottle of water before I even leave the house.

I am getting ready to start posting about my bike adventures and am very excited about the upcoming summer! I hope you share yours with me as well.

Lorelei

thanks,