Yikes.

[sailorzeo]

I just checked out the new food pyramid guidelines for my age and activity level.  I was generous and presumed it with my old activity level, when I was walking with Cyn and trying to get back into the weights and stretching.

Yikes.  Only 6 ounces of grains a day?  I just blew that by eating an entire bagel.  My old diet plan allowed me six servings of grains/starches a day!  And I don't think their idea of a serving was one ounce.  I made up a sample menu using their daily guidelines.

Breakfast:
1/2 bagel with 2 teaspoons cream cheese
1 cup milk

Lunch:
1 cup salad
1 cup yogurt
water

Snack:
1 apple

Dinner:
1 small chicken breast
1 cup salad
1/2 cup cooked vegetable
1 cup milk
1 apple

My old diet plan allowed me six servings of grains & starches, four of vegetables, four of protein, two fruits, three dairy, four fats, one sweet and one alcohol (sometimes I'd sub a second sweet for the alcohol).  I could have an egg and toast for breakfast, a salad with chicken for lunch, and have double meat with dinner.  I could have more than one serving of grains a day!  I could have rice with my chicken and a baked potato with my salad if I so wanted.

And I did lose some weight with that plan before I nerfed it.  Sigh, there is a lovely little air-conditioned fitness room in the complex.  Maybe I should go use it today.  It's gotten too hot and humid for my afternoon walks with Cyn, but she does go again in the evenings (the dog's gotta go sometime).  The only trouble with that is, she goes around seven or seven-thirty, which is when I need to start working on dinner three nights out of the week, and when I have meeting the other two nights.  Any earlier and it's still rip-roaring hot.  I should at least go and walk on the treadmill.  Turn the tv to Spike, watch Star Trek while walking to nowhere. 

Hearing about my aunt losing weight is motivating me.  She's camping this week with some friends of hers, and has promised me pictures.  I haven't seen her since just a month after her surgery, when she'd lost a bit of weight, but not enough to be really noticeable.  Last I'd heard, she'd lost 85 pounds, and on an unrelated note, has hit the one-year cancer-free mark, too!  She and my parents are supposed to be visiting in August. 

Decision is made.  Time to pull hair back, change into t-shirt, find socks and sneakers, and go walk on the treadmill for half an hour or so.  Let's see how long this diet and exercise kick lasts.  I'm going back to my old diet plan, too.  Maybe if I make progress on that one, can get on track and stay on track with it, maybe then I'll try the food pyramid one.  I doubt it, but you never know.