Fast Food Calorie Quick Reference

Have you ever noticed that no matter how hard you try, something consistently tries to derail your progress?  For me, it's fast food.  It's so quick and easy and most importantly - I don't have to cook it!!  But as we all know, fast food isn't the best choice when it comes to eating healthy or trying to lose weight.

So, here's what I came up with a while ago to help me at least make better choices when it comes to eating on the run.  I mean, let's face it - it's going to happen, so why not be prepared?  The original list has cute little logos next to each restaurant's name, but due to the limited formatting here, I had to take those out.  Anyway, I realize there are healthier choices at some of these places, but these are the foods I'm happy to eat - not foods that I have to "force" myself to consume.

Also, none of these include beverages - if I eat out, the least I can do is drink water, right?  Finally, the REALITY CHECK at the bottom of the chart is just to remind me how many calories are in the foods I usually choose...

Arby's   

Classic Roast Beef Sandwich, 350 calories

Arby's Sauce, 20 calories

Apple Slices w/ strawberry yogurt dip, 80 calories

Jr Roast Beef Sandwich (x2), 440 calories

Chic-fil-A

Chargrilled Chicken Sandwich, 290

Fruit Cup, 70

Chargrilled Chicken Sandwich, 290

Side Salad, 70

Berry Vinaigrette Dressing, 70                                                                                  

Culver's

ButterBurger "The Original" Single, 346

Flame Roasted Chicken Sandwich, 309

Side Salad, 60

Raspberry Vinaigrette, 45                                                                              

Del Taco                              

Classic Soft Taco (x2), 440

Taco al Carbon - Chicken (x2), 300

McDonald's

Hamburger, 250

Vanilla Ice Cream Cone, 150

Premium Grilled Chicken Ranch BLT, 380

Side Salad, 20

LF Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing, 35

Sonic

Jr Burger (No cheese), 340

Apple Slices w/ FF Caramel Dipping Sauce, 110

Corn Dog (x2), 420                                                                                        

6" Chili Cheese Coney, 410

Taco Bell

Chicken Soft Taco (x2), 360

Beef Soft Taco (x2), 400

Chicken Burrito Supreme, 400

Wendy's

Chili, small, 210

Saltine Crackers, 30

Shredded Cheese, 70

Side Salad, 25

Pomegranate Vinaigrette Dressing, 60

1/4lb Single Burger (No cheese/no mayo), 450

Ultimate Chicken Grill Sandwich, 390

               

*************************************************                                 

REALITY CHECK:                                                                        

Arby's   

Mid Roast Beef Sandwich, 460

Curly Fries, 540

Chic-fil-A                             

Chicken Sandwich – plain, 440

Waffle Fries, 390

Culver's

The Culver's Deluxe Burger – Single, 514

Crinkle Cut Fries, Regular, 385

McDonald's

Qtr Pounder w/cheese, 510

Reg Fries, 380

Oh btw, I did get the new workout in today.  My goal for Thursday's workout is to write down the weight I'm using so I can track it.  Also, I find that I can't max out on leg press - my BowFlex doesn't have enough resistance, so I may have to come up with a new exercise for quads in addition to leg extensions.  Almost forgot this bit too - I took today off work so I could take my pup to the vet and FORGOT to put on the FuelBand until NOON!!! Can you believe it?  UGggh!!   I think I would have made it though because I'm at almost 1900 now.  Ah well, live and learn...

Using Foods from CoOp

I was finally able to participate in a CoOp this past weekend.  Basically, I contributed around $15 with a bunch of other participants and asked for a basic basket.  The basic basket comes with an approx 50-50 mix of fruits and veggies.  This week, here's what I received:

Lettuce
Broccoli
Purple onions
Eggplant
Grapes
Mangos
Bananas
Pineapple
Plums
Peaches
Sm watermelon (about the size of a cantaloupe)

So, now I need to figure out how to incorporate these fruits and veggies into my meal plan.  It shouldn't be too difficult.  The lettuce will be used for salads and the broccoli as a side.  The grapes, peaches and plums will be snacks throughout the week.  I'm the only one in the house who enjoys watermelon, but I'm thinking it'll be a nice snack on a warm evening.  I love fresh pineapple, but this one isn't quite ripe, and neither are the bananas.  The mangos are iffy, but I was thinking of making a mango/pineapple salsa if they ripen around the same time.  If not, maybe just a mango salsa and eat the pineapple separately as a yummy side.  Finally, the eggplant.  I ate eggplant as a child, but my mom fried it.  Since this is a healthy journey, I'm thinking "fried" is out.  So, I'm looking for an eggplant recipe that also won't cause my picky eater to complain.  Suggestions?  Recipes?  help?...

11 pounds GONE!!!

Alrighty then, let's back up to the weigh-in on Saturday.  If you remember, on Friday, I was worried because I had weighed in mid-week and had a bit of gain.  Well, I'm happy to say that it was gone by Saturday morning and I scored a loss of 2 pounds!!! YAY!!!

That puts me on track in the WeightLossWars competition as well!  Although in that comp, I actually had to lose 4 pounds.  Ok, sounds weird right?  What happened was, I didn't sign up for the competition until Sunday, so I had to weigh-in on Monday morning.  I forgot to weigh in until after breakfast AND the clothes I wore weren't my usual weigh-in clothes. When I got on the scale, I was 2 pounds heavier than my Saturday weight.  Sooooo, I took that into consideration when coming up with my first week's goal and figured 4 pounds should be good.  BUT!! When I weighed myself on Thursday morning (in weigh-in clothes) I was up 1 pound from the MONDAY weigh-in - WHAT?!?  So I had to lose 5 - not 2, not 4, but FIVE pounds by Saturday morning!!!  See my worry?  Anyway, it worked out so Saturday, I was right on track.  WHEW!!  Never, NEVER look at the scale mid-week - never again.

Today is usually a day for geocaching along with bike riding or walking.  But unfortunately, I'm doing yard work instead.  I usually have a guy come over every couple weeks and take care of it, but he's been a tad unreliable to say the least.  So, this week I get to do it.  I would much rather be geocaching, but the grass (weeds) are getting way too tall.  It will probably take around 3 hours to mow and weed eat the front and back yards.  I hate this because it usually makes me feel like I'm about to have a heart attack doing it, but what can you do when the person who is supposed to do it is unreliable?  You do it yourself.  <OK, rant complete> If there are any single moms reading this, then you know what I mean.  Plus, it's a chore that I just don't like.  Please wish me luck, I'll need it...

First Day of the New Workout!

Since I took yesterday (Thursday) off from, uh well, basically the planet, I did Thursday's workout today.  I found that more weight is needed in a few areas because I couldn't get to muscle failure - not even close.  I probably should've just added weight right then, but it was getting late and so I didn't.  Next week will be much better now that I have been through it already.

Lots of soreness/stiffness tonight - probably won't be any better tomorrow.  I'll really need to walk a lot during the day so the pain doesn't set in.  Have to let you know how that works out...

Tomorrow is weigh-in day.  Ugghh!  I made the mistake of weighing in mid-week just to see where I was and I had gained - a lot (ok, not a lot, but enough to concern me).  It doesn't make sense either, so hopefully it was a fluke.  We'll see about that one too.  I keep telling myself it was the clothes I was wearing or that I'm gaining muscle and muscle is heavier than fat.  But it just seems to mean so stinkin' much to me for that stupid scale to go down!!

I just have to keep picturing that new healthy me in that new healthy lifestyle.  Eye on the prize, right?

Holiday off today

Today I met none of my goals, but that's ok - it's a holiday.  I'm taking a holiday pass for today.  I'll probably regret it on weigh-in day, but that's the way it goes sometimes.  It was a fun, relaxing day off work in celebration of the birth of a new country!  Happy 4th of July everyone!!

Beginner Resistance Training Plan

First, I met my 2500 FP goal both yesterday and today.  Woot!

Eating was a bit off, but not too bad.  We had Tuesday's meal tonight as planned, but I felt really snacky, ya know?  Ended up only eating a 100 calorie pack of cookies, so whew!  Saved by the those little chocolate striped Keebler things.

Water intake was down a bit, but fluids in general were ok.

I was very tired all day today - even had a nap after work.  I still got in the 30 minutes on the treadmill @ 3.0 mph though.  That's an increase from my usual 2.5 - 2.8mph.  I even sweated a bit.

At my age, I know I probably won't have this body, but I can sure try

Now, on to the Training Plan...

I realized yesterday as I was working out that I would only work each muscle group once every 7 days.   I feel that's just too long and that there should be a shorter interval between working those muscles.  So, I did some research and I found that it's okay to work all muscle groups with a rest day in between.   Therefore, I have a new plan:

(Adapted from Body Builder website's Beginner Weight/Strength Training Workout)

Cardio warm-up for 5-10 minutes

Weight Training:
Two sets of 8-12 reps with enough weight heavy enough to barely make the entire set (muscle fatigue)
Work muscle groups in order from largest to smallest

Quads:  Seated press / Leg extensions
Hamstrings:  Front Leg Raise / Ball Leg Curl
Calves:  Calf raises
Back:  Lat pulldowns
Chest:  Bench Press / Chest Fly
Triceps:  Tricep Pushdown
Biceps:  Bicep Curls
Shoulders: Seated Press
Abs:  Ball crunch / Reverse crunch

I will be doing these exercise on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  I may decide later to break these groups out into several days per week, but I cross that bridge when I can RUN over it instead of crawl =D

HRM found and WeightLossWars!!

Over the weekend, I went on a search through my house to find my old heart rate monitor.  I found the watch in one room and the strap in the basement lol!  I think I bought it in 2006, so it's old, but not that old.  It doesn't automatically link to my computer though - well, it would if I had a PC instead of a Mac.  I may have to set up my old PC just to get the data to transfer.

Anyway, I will be able to get accurate HR readings as I'm exercising - and that's the important part.

Next up... have you ever heard of "Weight Loss Wars"?  Well, it's a weight loss competition website.  You can compete in private or public challenges.  This is how I lost around 20 lbs last year - the accountability of a challenge.  You can chose to lose or even maintain weight.  Of course, after the competition was over, I gained all the weight back and then some, but it was certainly challenging.  They encourage a healthy weekly weight loss in these challenges and will kick you off if they think you're cheating, but most folks are in it for the right reasons.

I've been invited several times over the last few weeks and now I finally (after over a year hiatus) joined a new challenge.  But here's my dilemma... when I was there before, I actually won one of the competitions I was in.  And now, here I am, going back - having gained more weight than I lost.  I know I'm not the only one this has ever happened to, but it still really bites none the less.  That's ok though - I can do this!

I like WeightLossWars because it's an online community of people who are trying to get healthy.  As an added bonus, if you are successful - you could win some cash!!  How cool is that?  Lose weight - win money!!  That's a win-win for sure.  But in case you're wondering, it's also discreet.  For the most part, if you don't want your pics displayed for all the world to see, you can typically send them via email to the competition author and they hold on to them instead of posting.  The fees are relatively low - usually around $20 per competition.  The website also sometimes charges for participation - usually $10 if I remember correctly; often times there are prepaid seats - which means no website fee.

I also like how WLW doesn't focus on a "biggest loser" in every competition.  Like the one I joined - it's a "set your own goal" type thing where you say I plan to lose/maintain "x" amount of weight each week and you win $ for doing so.  Pretty cool, huh?

So, on to my stats for this week:

GOALS MET:  
Water intake? Yes!  Over 100 ounces at least.
2500 FP? Yes!  It's around 9:30pm and I have over 3000!
Resistance training started? YES!!!  WooHoooo!!

As a side note, I think I need to rework the plan on this one.  If I stay on the current training plan, I only work each muscle group every 7 days.  That's like starting over each week, so at the end of my upper body routine, I threw in part of the lower body plan as well.  I'll do some research and see what I a "normal" plan looks like.  In the past, I've used the "Body for Life" program, but it takes up time switching out the weights.  If you've ever tried it you know what I mean - it's effective but really time consuming.

GOALS NEEDING SOME WORK:
Food - I forgot what I was cooking tonight was a slow cooker meal, so we're having that tomorrow.  And instead of switching today's dinner for tomorrow's (my teen complained when she heard what it was - and I didn't feel like arguing - plus it was an excuse to... yeah, you guessed it... eat out.  =(
Not too bad, but bad enough - I had steak tips, some kind of rice that tasted really good (so that must mean fattening, right?) and a salad.  Oh and two dinner rolls... with cinnamon butter.  I did, however, forego dessert, so there's that...

A loss and the LR Gym

Saturday weigh-in... down 1.3 pounds.  It would have been nice to see more for the effort from last week, but a loss is a loss and the scale is headed in the right direction.  Here's my progress chart:

I know I should be happy with the loss and I am - just not overjoyed, ya know?  I want this whole thing to go faster, healthy fast, not too fast, just faster.  In my past experience, the only way to make it go faster is to increase muscle through some type of resistance training - more muscle=bigger calorie burn.  So, while I'm not under 200 yet (my original muscle training milestone), I think I should begin to incorporate it into my routines.

Resistance training is fun to me.  It makes me feel strong.  I absolutely love it!  That's not even positive self-talk there, I really do!  I guess it's because I can feel the muscles working whereas when I do cardio-based exercise, I just feel like I'm gonna die.  With cardio (at least at this weight), when I push myself, everything hurts.  There's flab bouncing around, my feet, ankles and knees feel like they are made of broken glass and within seconds of elevating my heart rate, I'm breathing so hard it really does feel like death is imminent!!  So hopefully, with the addition of muscle over the next few weeks, I can eliminate or at least reduce some of that awfulness of cardio.

On to the plan!!  Have I mentioned that I turned my living room into a gym?  Well, I did.  Here is a list of my gym equipment:

Treadmill
Bowflex Sport
additional weight bench
Bowflex adjustable dumbells (adjustable from 2.5 to 20 lbs each)
Neoprene light weight dumbbell set (2, 3 & 5 lb pairs)
exercise ball
punching bag

And here's a picture of my LR:

It's weird, I know.  But if I am constantly surrounded by motivation to workout, I will.  I've gathered all this stuff over the years - not all at once.  My only new purchase is the treadmill about six weeks ago.

I have posted a new training plan on the "Current Training" so, feel free to check it out...  

Today was hiking/geocache day.  My friend/new cache buddy Donna and I walked 3.58 miles and found 6 caches in just under 2 hours.  Oh and there was an elevation gain of 1066.3 ft - I knew I was breathing heavy for a reason!! The weather was great with the temp around 65F,  though we got a light rain shower at the end.  Still LOTS of fun!!  If you haven't tried geocaching and want to have a "purpose" to your walks, I totally recommend it.