A month 'o challenges - August 2011

2

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  • Cateyes0831
    Cateyes0831 Posts: 160 Member
    I have todays and tomorrow's meals planned already and they come in just under the 2000mg of sodium. Does anyone have any good low sodium meal ideas for the rest of the week?

    All i have been doing is cutting out a lot of boxed and canned foods. I have been eating lots of fruits and I buy the frozen veggies! My sodium is usually under 1500.


    Yeah, I am starting to see that now Lol. I did okay today (by saving most of my sodium for dinner time) but noticed that I am coming in way under my calories allowed for the day. When i closed out for today it told me I need to eat more but it's already so late (11:00pm here). Tomorrow is looking a little better but I think I'm going to need to pick up some from fruit Lol.
  • j_zanzig
    j_zanzig Posts: 113 Member
    I want to do this also. What will everyone be doing to burn 4000 calories?

    Turbo Fire!
  • j_zanzig
    j_zanzig Posts: 113 Member
    First I wanted to say..I really like how this is a week by week thing. I do better with short term goals! I made my little ticker and I am ready to move! lol

    Today I burned 537 cals but I was over on my sodium by 537.(couldn't do that again if I tried!) .. I didn't see this post till after I ate the hotdogs. Yikes they were high!!
  • runningathena
    runningathena Posts: 218 Member
    I'm in.... the exercise is easy. Cutting sodium will be HARD for me!!!!
  • missbeccaanne
    missbeccaanne Posts: 125
    I am in, It will be super hard to cut the sodium, but I will try. And I needed an excuse to get off my but and burn more calories.
  • mosneakers
    mosneakers Posts: 343 Member
    Hi all - glad to see that you're all posting already.

    Welcome to day 2!!! How was day 1?!??! Had a pretty bad day emotionally and just didn't feel like eating (something VERY new for me). I've also noticed that the foods that are low in sodium are low in calories.

    For me, I'm trying to stay away from processed food - easier said than done. That frozen dinner is so much easier to make than grilling something or making a salad. I guess the time I save using the microwave will cost me in the gym in the long run. lol. I'm a big salad person, so I have that going for me. The problem is the dressing. I like the salad spritzers. I also only use 1tbsp of dressing when I have bottled stuff. I measure 1 tbsp and put some water in it to make there be a little more to put on my salad. Another great tip is to look up menus before you go out. OMG!!! Even Subway is loaded with sodium -I think veggie on wheat has 400+mg of sodium. That's huge. Also, if you hate veggies, try them with hummus. I use 1tbsp of hummus mixed with something else (like hellava dip) and it's pretty good.

    Exercise:
    4000 seems huge, doesn't it? Not when you do 570 calories a day each day. That's a few miles or about 1 hour on the eliptical. I like to mix up my exercises. Just finished the 30 Day Shred and am starting P90X. But, I also like to run and do the eliptical (it's so nice to hop on that machine and watch a TV show or the news).
  • mosneakers
    mosneakers Posts: 343 Member
    4000?
    is that including your daily what youd normally burn or is this purely additional exercise that you undertake?

    Hey lady - however you log your calories burned now. If you count everything (like cleaning, gardening, etc), that's ok. If you only log your exercise time, that's ok too. I only log my exercise, but that's just me!
  • dfeledichuk
    dfeledichuk Posts: 371 Member
    Well much better on sodium today, I was really watching it, 1669mg today only. Exercise I burned 514 calories so my two day total is 1161, so I am close to being on pace for exercise, might still go for another walk tonight.
  • megsaroo
    megsaroo Posts: 162 Member
    Had a good day! Burned 614 calories and was under the sodium goal. I just kept track of my sodium on my own, but is there any way to add it as a column in my food diary? I couldn't figure out how!

    Also, I realized I probably won't be able to get to 4000 calories this week because I am going out of town from Fri-Mon to see a friend. We will be doing a lot of walking, so that might help, but it will be tough to find exercise time. I am excited for next week's goal though! Thanks for setting this up Mo!
  • ebelliss
    ebelliss Posts: 126 Member
    Doing well with sodium the past two days! Increasing my workout time, ran/walked about 7 miles today which is a record for me. Going to a spinning class tomorrow night so hopefully I'll burn some major cals during that. This challenge is really keeping me motivated, thanks!
  • love_30034
    love_30034 Posts: 25
    Ok yesterday Monday I think I did a little over 1,000 mg of sodium and burned 503 and today Tuesday I was under a 1,000 mg of sodium and burned the same amount of calories..
  • missbeccaanne
    missbeccaanne Posts: 125
    did much better on sodium today just over 1800 so I managed to stay under 2000. did 428 cal today which brings me to 997 so far.
  • cml_b
    cml_b Posts: 8
    Can I still join?

    Burned 650 on monday, 860 on tuesday and 225 today. Tonight I'm going to earn another 506 for dancing, salsa, chachacha... (we have classes where you pay if you join. You just motivated me to look them up and to my surprise, there was something that sounded motivating.)

    Sodium is easy for me (cook everything from scratch), but 4k is hard, considering that I've been on <1k the weeks before. I'm doing C25k (modified)+cycling.
  • mosneakers
    mosneakers Posts: 343 Member
    So proud of all of you guys!!!! Welcome aboard, CML!!!

    My sodium is below 2000, but my exercise is slacking. Haven't been feeling good the past few days (I think my body is mad at me for my horrible eating this past weekend - hopefully that will end today).

    Meg - Go to your food tab, click on settings, then change nutrients tracked - you can add sodium there!
  • dfeledichuk
    dfeledichuk Posts: 371 Member
    Got in another 618 calories of exercise over lunch today so I am at 1779 calories burned in 3 days, 75 minutes of power walking, and my sodium is on target to be below 2000mg.
  • love_30034
    love_30034 Posts: 25
    Ok today Wednesday I went over my sodium cuz it was a busy day and I was home preparing my meals...but tomoro will be a much better day
  • AParker1974
    AParker1974 Posts: 89 Member
    Today was a very busy day and I wasn't able to meet my sodium goal or exercise :( but tomorrow is another day and I am determined to do my very best!!!
  • ebelliss
    ebelliss Posts: 126 Member
    keep it up guys!! another day with sodium below 2000 and i can already feel a difference in my stomach (not as bloated!), so this is definitely something i'm gonna try to stick to for good now! spin class kicked my booty tonight, keep burning those cals!
  • mosneakers
    mosneakers Posts: 343 Member
    Brenda posted something interesting this morning - she ate alomst the same calories for breakfast this morning then she did for all of yesterday.

    I'm kinda surprised at the amount of sodium in some foods that are supposed to be good for you. Anyone else notice that? Especially fat free dairy. 75mg in my 6oz Dannon Light and Fit? Seems high!! The biggest surprise though were carrots - 65mg for 3oz. Everything has sodium and thank goodness that I'm now more aware of how much of it is in what I eat!!!

    I agree with ebelliss!!! My stomach seems to be less bloated, it's a great feeling.

    Great job to all of you with your sodium and exercising. It's great to see that we are all beginning to recognize our challenges and triumphs in this process. Life happens and sometimes we have to go for the high cal/fat/sodium alternative to a homecooked meal - it's all a part of the new life we're leading! And.....a special woot woot to DF for 618 calories burned at lunch!!! How much do I burn for surfing MFP while I eat my lunch at my desk?!?!?
  • megsaroo
    megsaroo Posts: 162 Member
    Burned 533 today for a total of 1668 so far. Sodium has been much more of a challenge than I thought. Thanks Mo for alerting me to something I need to work on! Excited to see what new challenge you come up with for next week!
  • dfeledichuk
    dfeledichuk Posts: 371 Member
    Felt very blah today but still went for a 3mile walk - calories burned - 385, sodium - 1945
  • cml_b
    cml_b Posts: 8
    . Missed my dancing lesson and went running instead; without a day of rest. Was a bit too much (I feel sort of sluggish), but I'm proud of myself. Love this challenge.
  • mosneakers
    mosneakers Posts: 343 Member
    It's sooooo good to see that you guys are losing - I think I saw 3 weigh ins this morning - way to go all of you!!!! Me, not so much. The scale went up 0.6 lbs this morning and I could not have been more devistated. I "was doing so good" I told myeslf. What the hell happened? After a weekend of bad eating, it wasn't too hard to get back into a healthy diet. My problem was sleep. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I slept for about a total of 2 to 3 hours per night (and that wasn't even 2 to 3 hours at a time, it was spurts). My mind would be racing, I would be thinking about things and I just couldn't settle.

    My doctor said I needed to settle my body down. It was not used to working out at 6am AND 6pm (I did that all 3 days to try to speed up my weight loss). She suggested I not exercise every day like that - I should really work it in the morning or do the same amount of work at 6am and myabe 4pm to give my brain and body a chance to rest.

    I am SO NOT blaming my weight gain on no sleep. It's just something I have to change. It's nice that my doctor could spot that and can give me tips on how to make some adjustments. When I workout, it's like I have this high that goes on for hours. That's not a good thing when I want to be in bed by 9 and sleeping by 10.

    ANNNNNNNNYWAY - Thanks for letting me vent.

    Friday, Saturday and Sunday are likely to be our biggest challenges. What do you plan to do to keep your sodium down? How many glasses of water are you getting a day.

    NEXT WEEK - Get your pedometer ready!!
  • Cateyes0831
    Cateyes0831 Posts: 160 Member
    Surprisingly, I managed to do well on this weeks challenge so far. I have already surpassed the 4000 cals lost and I still have the weekend to get some more in :happy: (gotta love swimming). As for sodium I have been doing pretty good also. I am looking foreward to next week :tongue:
  • missbeccaanne
    missbeccaanne Posts: 125
    The Sodium has been tough I think I only made it under the goal three times so far, but I have been doing well on getting up and moving, I am at 2110 cal burned so far this week and that is really good for me. I am of the really lazy personality so this has really helped with the inspiration to move.
  • AParker1974
    AParker1974 Posts: 89 Member
    I feel like I have done pretty good on this week's challenge. I was only over on my sodium on Monday and Wednesday and I have burned a total of 3015 cals. I plan on doing my morning walk in the morning it won't get me to 4000 but that will still be ok, I have burned more cals this week than I have in a long time. Thanks for the challenge!! Can't wait to see what is in store for next week.
  • Cateyes0831
    Cateyes0831 Posts: 160 Member
    I am SOOOOO ready for the next challenge :tongue:

    I did pretty good on this weeks challenge and I lost 4 Ibs :happy: Can't complain about that now can you :laugh: Hope you guys see some good results as well!
  • AParker1974
    AParker1974 Posts: 89 Member
    I feel I did accomplish something this week during this challenge. I may not have met my goal of 4000 cals burned but I did get off my butt and work a little harder and almost got there. I really watched my sodium and believe is the reason I can tell in my workouts I am sweating more (YES) and the swelling in my hands when I walk has not happened in the last several walks I have done. There was only 2 days I went over my sodium and got just over 3700 cal burned. I feel great and can tell my body is getting stronger and taking shape I even lost a pound this week!!
  • MaddameKat
    MaddameKat Posts: 200 Member
    I'd like to join, what is the week 2 challenge?
  • mosneakers
    mosneakers Posts: 343 Member
    Well done to all of you!!!!
    I went over on sodium once (but came reeeeeally close to being over more than once) and burned 5557 calories.

    I like how we're all noticing different things about what's going on with our bodies.

    Please continue to post your results for week #1 - I'm about to start a new thread for week #2's challenge. Feel free to keep watching sodium and beat this week's calorie burn. Please note that this isn't a cumulative month o challenges - I think it's important that we focus on a few big things each week (and it also allows others to join us on our journey without feeling like they're left behind).

    I think I'm friends with all of you. If not, feel free to add me so that you can see week #2's challenge on your homepage.
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