Work It Wednesday

OK. I know it's Thursday. It was a busy day/night. Don't judge me. Please.

Good afternoon, Kitschies!  I have to keep reminding myself that it's Wednesday.  Yesterday felt like it should be Thursday.  Today doesn't feel like Wednesday, but I don't know *what* day it feels like.  I guess I'm just kinda lost this week.  Today has been pretty hectic at the clinic.  My coworker put the school bug in my head so I've been trying to figure out what needs to be done to enroll in the Spring semester.  I'm helping cover some work in the billing department on top of my regular duties.  I need to come up with a plan for a new daycare situation for the boys, too.  Sheesh!  Once you put it all out there like that, there's no wonder I'm a bit lost this week!

Today is not the first installment of Workout Wednesday, but it's kinda like the Grand Re-Opening.  LOL  The last WW post I did was a long time ago...way back on September 1st!  What have I been doing since then?!  A lot and nothing all at the same time.  I've been doing a lot of cooking/baking/enjoying the holidays.  But that also means I haven't been doing a whole lot to manage my weight.  And I can tell.  Between Halloween and New Years, I put on about 15 pounds and now I'm working to take off those pounds (plus a little more, hopefully).  You can hide quite a bit behind a pair of scrubs which is a blessing and a curse.  So you know it's bad when you can't hide in your scrubs like you used to.

To help me get down to a happier weight, I've enlisted the help of Cornerstone Wellness.  The Cornerstone program is a medically supervised weight management program.  It's NOT a weight loss program.  It is a lifestyle change program.  Luckily, I *am* the medically supervised program, so all I need to do is practice what I preach, right?  It's not quite as easy as that, unfortunately.  Since I am one of the "wellness coaches", I have to make sure I'm super strict with the program.  If I'm not, how can I expect my patients to be?

What the Cornerstone program really does is makes you focus on your lifestyle.  Not only do you look at how much you eat, but *what* you eat.  To loose weight and keep it off, you really have to change your lifestyle.  This isn't some fad diet where you'll lose all your weight in a matter of weeks.  The saying "slow and steady wins the race" is true.  Think about it.  It took me x amount of time to put the weight on, it'll take me x amount of time to take it all off.  The Cornerstone program is tailored specifically to me; it's not based on some antiquated BMI table for others of my age, height and weight.  This is in no way a starvation diet.  It has been proven that starvation diets do not work.  Why?  Because your body goes in to a sort of starvation mode and will hold on to whatever nutrition it gets because it doesn't know when it'll get it's next meal.  Not the way you want to go.  By consuming a balanced diet (35% carbs, 35% protein, 30% fat) your body will use the nutrients the way they should be used.

What do I eat?  This program is flexible, so I can eat pretty much what I want as long as I stay within my goal.  I'm not used to eating 3 times a day because I tend to skip breakfast.  My target caloric intake is 1432.  Doesn't sound like a whole lot, does it?  Well, let's look at what that includes.   This is an example of a typical day:

• Breakfast:
• Cornerstone meal replacement powder mixed with 1 cup whole milk*
• Half a banana*
• coffee*

• Lunch:
• Cornerstone meal replacement powder mixed with 1 cup whole milk*
• Apple*
• Peanut butter*

• Dinner:
• Grilled pork loin chop*
• Asparagus*
• Mandarin orange (fresh, not canned)*

• Snacks:
• Dried cranberries*
• Almonds
• Apple
• Cheese stick

The items with the * next to them is what I actually had (or will have) today.  All that together totaled 1366 calories (95% of target).  But calories are not the only things that are measured.  We also have to look at carbs, protein, fat and fiber.  I won't get in to the specifics of each of those, but I can tell you that I do really well with meeting the target for carbs and protein but have a hard time hitting the fiber.  And I usually go over the fat target mostly because I use whole milk rather than 2%.  While whole milk is generally better for you (more available nutrition), it has 3.1 more grams of fat per serving than 2% milk and done twice a day, it adds up.  I won't get in to the whole good-fat-vs-bad-fat discussion right now - I'll save that for another day.

Since this post is already long, I'll cut to the chase.  I've been following the Cornerstone program pretty faithfully (at least 90% because who can resist homemade pancakes on Saturday morning?) since January 3rd.  I've lost 8 pounds.  It doesn't sound like a whole lot, but think about it this way.  If I lose 8 pounds in a month and 8 pounds for the following 3 months (4 months total), I'll have lost approximately 32 pounds!  It adds up!  But the evil

And so this post isn't *all* talk, here's a fun exercise/fitness related video.