Ups and Downs

Wow, I'm a lazy blogger.

My stab at weight loss is up and down. I'm a bit discouraged, but still fighting to keep at it. I seriously feel like I work really hard and get no where. I started something a bit different as the "diet" wasn't as practical as I had hoped. The foods are still great and I'm incorporating it into my daily life, but just not as strict as I started with. Some of my family members shared this http://www.myfitnesspal.com/ with me and I really like it. It has EVERY food you can imagine, including restaurants, fast food, and store brands. It's all free, you just have to start an account - enter your goal weight with current weight, height, dob, etc and it will tell you your calorie allotment for one day. You log your food daily and it counts the calories for you. I used to think I was good at counting calories on my own, but apparently that skill wore off since the scale hasn't budged. I'm trying this to keep me more accountable. I like it so far (I'm on day 2!). My ONLY issue is that everyone says to eat no less that 1200 calories a day. I know that's a fair number, but I seriously will only lose .8lbs  a week at a time (read that again...there is a decimal in front of that 8)! I am so impatient. I guess that means I have to ramp up my exercise. WHINE WHINE WHINE. I love to be active, but I hate exercise...lol. That sounds ridiculous, but it makes sense to me. Does it make sense to you? Hope so.

Here are a few things that I'm constantly reminding myself of , maybe they'll help you too:

1) Sweets...if you have to eat them (like I do, esp chocolate) then take time to do it. Get a cup of tea or coffee (or milk) and SIT DOWN, relax and enjoy the treat. Savor every bite and sip your drink in between. This helps me to avoid binging on gobs of junk.

2) What do I want to look like? Is the amount on my plate (or the amount that I want to eat) worth it?

3) Pray. Have I asked God to help me?

4) Just go outside. Walk around, take a leisurely bike ride, or go swimming at the lake with friends (or family). Make it something enjoyable (here is the difference between being active and exercising).

5) This is the HARDEST one for me. Don't eat after 7pm. UGH. I hate this one. Matt sits down at 8:00 with chips and salsa, or a bowl of cereal and I want to crumble. Why am I so addicted to food? It's so stupid!! Mind over matter on this one.

Good luck friends!
Please leave me your tips and insights too! We're all in it together!
PS. I broke down and bought a mom suit. Maybe next summer.

Yummy In The Shrinking Tummy

Tomorrow marks the first week of my "diet". I hate calling it that because diets fail. I guess I could word it "healthy living". So far I've really enjoyed the process. I think having some guidelines has helped me stay on track. When I've lost weight before I did my own thing and didn't eat much. It was a constant battle to not put food in my mouth because I was eating so little. This has been enjoyable and well worth the effort.

The Food

Today for lunch I had the following:
Panzanella White Bean Salad

• Toast 2 slices of whole grain bread and cut into 1 inch cubes.
• 1/2 cup canned white beans, rinsed and drained
• 1/2 cup sliced grape tomatoes
• 1/2 cup chopped cucumber
• 2 Tbsp chopped basil
• 2 Tbsp diced red onion
• 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

Mix all together and enjoy!

My changes:
Used croutons, fresh basil (I don't recommend for this, it was too overpowering), great northern beans

It was quite yummy and I will have it again! Tonight I am going to make burgers on the grill with grilled parmesan zucchini (sprinkle parmesan cheese on wedges and melt).

The Workout

Saturday I did my resistance band workout but it was way too hot for me to get outside to run. Sorry! Not gonna do it in the heat and humidity! Which leads me to my next news - we are talking about getting a swimming pool! It's not going to be anything fancy or big, but it would be another way to exercise in the heat. No laps though, just circles! lol. We found a great deal on Craigslist so hopefully it will work out. I think it will be a blast for Presley as well as the other new moms who live nearby. Another reason to get my booty in shape!
Today I'm supposed to do my bands and cardio again. I wish it wasn't so hot! I need to at least try to go for a walk. Maybe when Matt does P90X tonight it will give me some motivation.

Now for the fun news...drum roll please....
I've lost 2 pounds already! WOOT WOOT!

Let's just end on that positive note!

Have a wonderful week friends!

To The Point

Here We Go

Enough complaining and wishing. The time has come for me to kick it in high gear!  We were camping this past weekend and I was sitting around the fire stuffing my face with hotdogs, s'mores, and cheese puffs reading a FITNESS magazine. Pathetic? No, RIDICULOUS! I normally could give two hoots about someone's suggested diet or workout (I always try my own healthy eating and/or exercise routine), but the one in the mag caught my attention. It seemed practical, and the article was called Beach Body Bootcamp. Folks - I have NEVER had a beach body and I've always dreamed of it. I thought...I'm the only one keeping myself from accomplishing this dream (as shallow as it might seem).  So here is my starting point. If you want to join me, check out http://www.fitnessmagazine.com/ and sign up for the Beach Body Bootcamp. It's kind of fun because you can log your workouts and meals. The handy dandy chart will tell you if you're hitting your goals or not. The only downside is within the diet portion. The only foods to chose from to calculate your calories is from their menu. I usually just pick an item that comes close to the calories of whatever I ate that isn't listed. I do like the fact that you can also select how many servings you ate. So, say I had a 70 calorie snack of my own choice and their snacks are 150 calories, I just chose 1/2 a serving and the calories are close enough.
Ok...so what did I do this week?

The Workout

This portion is half resistance bands and half cardio. I do the resistance bands exactly how they recommend it and I do them all. The cardio is all for the treadmill, spin bike, or elliptical and while I have the treadmill and elliptical WHO wants to be inside this time of year?? NOT ME! So, I just take the recommended times and do it to running and walking (and for this week and probably most of the time I cut it back to 20-30 minutes). I want it to be realistic, so if one day I decide a bike ride sounds good, I'm not going to force myself to run.  For Pete's sake, doing something is better than what I was doing (aka nothing)!!

The Diet

I have an advantage here. I love to eat healthy foods! I picked 2-3 ideas from bfast, lunch, dinner and bought the ingredients I would need. My favorite so far is quite simple:

Spinach Salad with Chicken, Strawberries, Walnuts and Goat Cheese
KEEP READING...I'll tell you what I did differently incase you're already thinking negative things!

• Combine 3 cups baby spinach, 2 ounces chopped grilled chicken, 1/2 cup sliced strawberries, 1/2 ounce crumbled goat cheese, 2 tablespoons chopped walnuts, 2 teaspoons olive oil, and 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar.
• Toss all ingredients; add salt and black pepper to taste.

I didn't take the time to cook chicken for one serving at lunch time. I used lunch meat. Secondly, I used feta cheese (you might think it's $$ but a LITTLE goes a long way). Last, I always try to like balsamic vinegar, but can't seem to get the taste for it. However, I tried a bite of salad (separate from the entire dish) with it on just to see and the combination of ingredients makes the balsamic a PERFECT fit and I LOVED it! This is something that I will continue eating and sharing with my family! YUMO!

So, take what you want from what I'm doing. The point I'm making to myself and hopefully to others who are wanting to see change is just do SOMETHING, no matter how small it may seem, it will make a difference.

Yours Truly,
Beach Body Hopeful