Week 2

I started out this week intent on a new diet trend I had read about: Apple Cidar Vinegar.  Following the internet (and everything you read there is factual, right?) I mixed 30 ml of ACV with 8oz of cold water and drank it on Monday morning.  Apparently you are supposed to do this before meals three times a day and I had high hopes.  I did get that first glass down but that was the only glass I could manage.  If I mixed it with 24oz of water I might could do it but no.  There are lots of recipes for making it palatable but after some thought I abandoned this effort and continued on my calorie counting journey.

Today I went to the gym before visiting my physical therapist.  I had experienced a lot of swelling and a little pain in my foot (not my ankle) and she suggested I try the recumbent bicycle instead of the treadmill.  The first week I had tried the elypitcal as suggested by my boyfriend and found that 10 minutes was all I could tolerate. So I had been using the treadmill with the settings that varied the hills.  I had gotten up to 30 minutes with a pretty brisk pace. The therapist tried me on the recumbent so I will try it at the gym tomorrow.

I also overheard a conversation another therapist was having with a patient about sugar in our diet.  He is one of these somewhat fanatics who bicycles 150 miles/week and doesn't consume any sweets.  Now, I can't give up sweets altogether but I realized the logic of just counting the calories and how cutting down on the sugar would give me an extra boost.  I had already cut out bread but I was consuming tortillas and eating the Lean Cuisine cheese pizzas on occasion.  As well as treating myself with various low calorie snacks.  Even my favorite 140 calorie breakfast bar contains 8g of sugar.  What really got me though, was my longtime favorite Del Monte mixed fruit in cherry gel cup that I ordered by the case and ate with every frozen entree I consume as a kind of dessert fruit.  I was shocked to find that with it's 80 calorie it contained 18g of sugar. Oh my!

So I ate a cheese wedge for an afternoon snack (that Activa yogurt was also loaded with sugar) and started looking closer at labels.  I knew I could not do an absolute low carb diet because I didn't like to consume a lot of meat and I was not vegetable eater but I am going to watch the sugar and try not to sabotage my efforts.

Tonight, Mom & I went to a concert and ate out at a sports grill. We both had a side salad and then split the quesadillas.  While not ideal it was better than a burger and I had exercised quite a bit that day.  Overall I was feeling pretty good.