How I Am Going To Reign In My Eating Habits

This week I am concentrating on changing my eating habits for the better. Lately, I find myself falling back into old habits. Primarily, eating after dinner and drinking Diet Coke regularly. In order to reign myself in I am going to do the following (or not do the following):

In regards to my diet...

• Drink more water.
• Eat less sodium.
• Eat less sugars (baked goods, candy, crackers etc.)
• Cook dinner everyday.
• Not eat after dinner.
• Eat more protein.
• Eat more vegetables in the form of Nutribullet Shakes.
• Eat more yogurt (I dropped yogurt out of my diet for some reason.)

In regards to exercise...

• An hour of cardio at least 4 times a week.
• Stretching before cardio.
• Body Pump twice a week.
• Stretching after Body Pump.

The biggest challenge that I am facing this week (and I actually started last week) is ditching the Diet Coke. I know that it is bad for me, but there is nothing like drinking a cold Diet Coke with dinner. 

Talking about dinner, this weeks meal plan looks like this:

Monday - Spinach Stuffed Chicken with Vegetables

Tuesday - Southwest Meatballs

Wednesday - Salmon Patties

Thursday - Whole Wheat Spaghetti with Lean Turkey Marinara Sauce

Friday - Stir-Fry with Brown Rice

Saturday - Leftovers

Sunday - Whole Wheat Veggie Lasagna

And the workouts look like this:

Monday - 3 Miles & Les Mills Hardcore Abs

Tuesday - Les Mills Pump & Burn

Wednesday - 3 Mile Run/Walk & Les Mills Flow (Stretching)

Thursday - Les Mills Pump Challenge & Hardcore Abs

Friday - Les Mills Flow (Stretching)

Saturday - Pump & Burn

Sunday - Rest

That is the plan for this week! I am sticking to it no matter what. I'm tired of not holding myself accountable and I'm tired of my bad habits...time to kick them to the curb!

So, how do you meal plan?

How do you meal plan for your family?

At our house, I am the only one that cooks. Therefore, I am the master of everything we eat. I am the lucky one that gets to dictate to everyone else in the house what we are having for dinner. For the longest time I really hated this responsibility. I envied the married girls that had a husband that would help in the kitchen. Sometimes, I would fantasize that one day I would get home from a long day at work and find that my husband had made a meal on the down low and was waiting to surprise me the minute I walked through the door.

Well, that never happened...hahaha!

Instead of finding the fantasy I would find my husband (and stepson) at the door like two pelicans with there beaks wide open asking me, "What's for dinner?"

Oh how I hated hate that question!

After 7 years of hearing that question it physically makes me purse my lips. I guess it is because I got burned out on cooking day-in and day-out the first year of marriage. I got really burned out on the grocery shopping. It's the process of going to the grocery store, circling the aisle for what you need, then loading and unloading of the car and the organizing of the groceries in the fridge and pantry that burned me out. I was doing this every single week alone. I hated it!

However, the cycle didn't last forever. It all changed once I had my son.

I no longer was able to cook every single night. I wasn't able to dedicate an hour or more to chopping, sauteing, assembling and baking. For the first two months I had a baby feeding off of me and was physically unable to cook. After that, I was so drained from being up with a baby that never slept. My son was (and is) very high maintenance.

I stopped cooking. I would still prepare meals here and there, but for the most part, my kitchen was closed. We started eating a lot of deli foods from the supermarket, skillet meals from the grocery store freezers and fast food. I felt very overwhelmed with the responsibility of feeding my family and I started to demand my husband's help.

To his credit, he really stepped it up and started to help with the grocery shopping and continues to offer his help now even though I'm back on my bearings and my son is more self-sufficient.

Then, as if life wasn't hard enough, I got a new job that was an hour away from home. So many nights I would get home so late that logistically I wasn't capable of making a meal. We relied heavily on skillet meals and oven baked pizzas.

In relation to food, this was the most unhealthiest time of my life. We ate the worst foods because they were convenient and in my heart I was completely frustrated because I felt guilty. Guilty that I couldn't take proper care of my husband. Guilty that I wasn't being a good wife and stepmom. Guilty because I knew that feeding my family junk wasn't what I believed in. This lasted for a little over a year and during this time I realized that in order for us to live the life that was important to me (i.e. a healthy life), I would have to find another job closer to home.

Yes, not being able to eat properly motivated me to change my job. Hey! Health is very important to me and so is caring for my family.

So I found a job closer to home but the damage was done. We gained a lot of weight and the bad habit of eating fast food had become the fungus of our lives. It took several months to break the habit. It then took me several more months to get back into preparing menus for the week and grocery shopping only once a week. Finally, this year, I made it my resolution that I would plan our menu for the week and grocery shop only on Sundays.

So far, it has been a success. So far, that ugly Surf Shack chalk board (pictured above) has been pretty handy at keeping my focus on what I want to cook for the week.

And as an added bonus, neither my husband nor my stepson have asked me once, "What's for dinner?" :)

Still at it...

This morning was awesome. I woke up, stepped on the scale and saw a number I haven't seen in over a year.

I can believe that I am losing weight because I am working REALLY hard. However, seeing the number on the scale move down is just so surreal. I think because nothing has really happened in the last 3 years and I've tried a lot of things to try to get that number to decrease. I'm really glad that I'm sticking to the BFL program. I am on Week 5, Day  4. Today is running and I can't wait.

That is the thing about losing weight, if you don't see it happening you get discouraged, but the minute you lose a little you get even more dedicated to the cause and work that much harder which in turn makes the scale go down even more. The thing is getting that stupid scale to start to move!

I've also noticed that my jeans are fitting me a lot looser in the legs and butt area. My waist however is still the same, which sucks because I want to really get rid of the mama belly that I still have from Liam. I know it will happen, but it will be slow and happen last.

You know it’s bad when you have to start with a disclaimer…

Disclaimer: I am not giving up. I plan to complete what I set out to do. This post is just a rant.

Yesterday was a really bad day for me. My mood was awful and I was just feeling completely frustrated. I made the mistake of taking pictures of myself in my bikini and comparing it to my old pictures. I felt really good about myself and accomplished yesterday since I completed a month straight of working out 6 times a week. I thought it would show in my body. NOTHING has changed. I’ve lost weight, but god knows where because I still look the same. I’ve lost 7lbs., from where? Is beyond me.  I shouldn’t have taken the pictures. I shouldn’t have expected anything to show in just 24 workouts. I just mentally felt like an athlete and what I saw was just the opposite. I felt defeated, dark and dim yesterday.

Thank God that yesterday was my day off from the diet and exercise and I took full advantage of it. I was so pissed I ate whatever I wanted. Trust me, if I could drink something alcoholic, I would have yesterday just to numb the pain. Its days like yesterday that make me wish I didn’t get raging hangovers and I could actually drink myself into feeling better. Huff!

HOWEVER…

Today is the first day of week 5 and I intend on killing it! I don’t care if it doesn’t show on my body. Inside, I still feel like an athlete and I feel like working out completes my life. Without it, I just have too much time on my hands and I become too self-destructive. So I’m chugging along solely because of this reason. Eventually, my retarded, defective body is going to have to respond….EVENTUALLY!

I can’t wait to get my body to match the athlete in my heart.

Nightly Recap...

Well for the last day of January and the first day back from being sick, I sure as hell brought my all! I know that I was supposed to stick to my workout rotation, but I just felt really good today and skipped ahead to the Body Fusion DVD. It's not like this is the first time in my life that I have done the DVD. I used to do this workout all the time when I was in really good shape and I knew exactly what it would demand from me.

The difference between the Body Fusion DVD and the Basic Step DVD that I've been doing for the past week and half is that the Body Fusion DVD is based on Circuit Training. The last time I got into really good shape, I did it by doing circuit training 3-5 times a week. I love the weight lifting aspect of circuit training and I love how it keeps your heart rate up the entire time. This is why I burned a ton of calories today.

Anyways, I just wanted to document my first day back from being sick.

January’s monthly goal completed. So what’s up for February?

At the beginning of the month, I set a goal on the right of my daily entries. The goal was to lose 4lbs. in January. I am so proud to announce that I have reached my goal and exceeded it by 1lb. I thought that I would reach it with ease and knew that it was attainable. My body is really stubborn when I begin a new fitness/eating regimen and it tends to hold on to the weight. I know that I will not see real visible results until maybe March. It can be discouraging, but because I know how this works, I know that eventually I will be rewarded for all the ground work that I’m setting down.

So what’s next for February?

Well, I’m setting another attainable goal of losing 5 more pounds. Combined with the first 5 that I’ve already lost, this should equal a total of 10lbs. down by the end of February. Again, not really visible results since I have so much to lose, but still attainable and still progress. To do this, I will continue to exercise at night as I have been. However, my eating will be a little different. I am lowering my calories to 1200 net calories for this month. This means that if I eat 1200 calories before exercising and then exercise and burn 300 calories, I will eat back those 300 calories[healthy stuff of course]. It sounds counter-intuitive, but I have this feeling that my body just needs to not feel freaked out over the restriction. I will tweak and adjust if need be by the second week in February.

Besides the weight goal, I’m also going to start setting a beauty goal. Last month, I didn’t really post what my beauty goal was going to be, but I had set out to get at least two pedicures. I got the first pedicure the first weekend of January, but then because the guy doing my toes went all Rambo on my toenails, I ended up getting a gnarly ingrown toenail. After 3 Epson salt baths and doing some bathroom surgery on my toe, I got the toenail to grow out and it went back to normal. Since I was a little apprehensive about going back to the pedicurist, I did the second pedicure at home.

Anyway, long story short, I will keep up with the pedicures but for this month my beauty goal is to whiten my teeth again. I’m going to go today to my local CVS and get some Crest White Strips. If you’ve never whitened your teeth before, let me tell you, it can be painful. This is why I never stick it out past 3 days! The pain is just too unbearable. I end up giving up. Well, not this time. I’m going to take a picture of my teeth before and after at the end of the month. Hope I stick to it!

Inspiration Board

I’m not sure my readers are aware of this, but I workout primarily in my garage. Back in August of 2011, I was running a lot on the treadmill in my garage. I think I booked about 25 miles in a month. That may not sound like a lot, but considering that before that I wasn’t running at all, it was a lot for me. During this time, I made an inspiration board and placed it above my treadmill so that when I would run, I would see what I wanted to accomplish and remain focused during my runs. I can tell you that this board helped me squeeze out an extra mile every so often because I would hype myself up in my own head just because I was staring at my inspiration board. Let’s fast forward to January 2012, when I stepped foot back into my garage and found my inspiration board yet again. I had totally forgotten about it and I was pretty stoked to find it in there.

Now that I’m not running as much, but rather doing aerobics and weight lifting, when I look over at my treadmill and see the board, I can usually pump out the last reps of a set and really concentrate on my form because I see on that board everything that I am working towards. When I am lifting, I imagine myself looking like Jennifer Nicole Lee one day. I imagine being on the cover of an Oxygen magazine. I imagine all my dreams coming true. All of these thoughts occur, just because I’m staring at this…

Tonight's workout

I just got finished with tonight's workout. I did Cathe's Basic Step again and added on the lower body segment to round out the workout.
I did really well with my eating today.

I still ate 1400 calories today. Tomorrow, since it's stretching and abs day, I'm going to aim to eat 1200 calories. I think it will be hard, like it was for me to eat 1400 calories initially. However, I think it's good to keep my body guessing, plus maybe it'll help shed an extra pound or two. On Wednesday, I will go back to 1400 calories. Basically, I'm going to match my intake for the week according to how streneous my workouts are. I think it's going to look like this:

M -1400 calories
T - 1200 calories
W - 1400 calories
Th - 1200 calories
F- 1400 calories
S- 1400 calories
Su-  1200 calories

We'll see how I do. If it's too hard and I feel starved, I'm just going to keep myself at 1400 calories instead of dipping down to the bare minimum of 1200 calories for women. I will have to see how I feel. I don't want to rebound and have a day where I eat 1700 calories because I was so starved the day before on the 1200 calorie restriction.

Anyways, as mentioned before, I didn't weigh in today. I know that one of my resolutions is to weigh myself more often, but the last time I weighed in was Saturday, so it hasn't been too long.

That's all for tonight. Have a nice night!

All that worry for nothing...

These past few days have been agonizing for me. I had been struggling with the inability to lose any more weight and even gaining a little. I was doing everything right. EVERYTHING RIGHT! I was doing things so right, that finally it paid off today with a 2lb. loss. Yay me!!!

I am doing great! 2lbs. per week right on schedule!

Where my mind is today …

I’m having a tough day. Last night I was on top of the world because I ate so well and I kept to my workout rotation. However, when I woke up this morning, I stepped on the scale and all that work didn’t translate into any kind of a loss, but rather a gain of 1lb. I know that I shouldn’t get discouraged by this, but I can’t help it. While losing weight that damn number means the difference between a good day and a bad day. I just hate that. I originally stopped weighing myself daily because of that, but the alternative was that I never weighed myself and I gained weight. The harsh reality of the scale in a way is a tool that keeps me in line and motivates me to keep on trying. However, with the successes comes days like today where I feel completely pissed off at the scale.

Basically, I think, “I could have had that 80 calorie Weight Watchers Ice Cream bar last night and it wouldn’t have made a difference on the scale this morning!” I know that in the long run it doesn’t make a difference and even in the short run it doesn’t really matter, but if I were to eat that bar, I would be 80 calories further from my goal. At one point my body is going to have to give in and lose the weight. It has to! I just have to persevere and insist that I continue on this path…but I do have bad days.

I guess this closely relates to yesterday’s post about Blind Faith. I just feel as the days pass by, I get blinder and blinder. Then again, really what do I expect?!?!?!? To lose a million pounds in 20 days? It just isn’t possible. As I’ve put on my sidebar of this blog, my goal for this month is a 4lb. loss. Guess what? If that really is my goal, I’ve already accomplished it. So really I am reaching my expectations…so why the crazy psychosis over the scale number if I’ve already reached my goal? Why?!?!?

It must have something to do with the fact that I’m a numbers girl. I find comfort in numbers. I find control in numbers. Okay, that last statement sounded sort of disorder, but my career involves a lot of numbers and keeping things in balance. I’m just naturally inclined to use numbers and it feels great when there is a balance.

The reality is that every time I look at people’s 1-month progress picture, usually, they look the same as they did the month prior and have only lost a handful of pounds, if not less. Basically, the first month can be very frustrating if you are putting your all into your efforts…and you’ve guessed it, I am putting my all into this effort. The only difference between this time, and every other time is that this time I REALLY want it and I have a blog to prove it. I am dedicated to this and I will accomplish this. I am so tired of talking about nutrition and health and not looking the part. I want to add that credibility back into the words that come out of my mouth. I want people to recognize that I practice what I preach. I want to feel legitimate. I want to do that for myself…and I want to fit back into my Bongo jeans J

The change will come, but guaranteed I will have more days like today.

Blind Faith

Since changing my eating and activity habits these last 3 weeks I’ve had minimal results. I have lost 5lbs. so far. I know that losing 1-2lbs. per week is the safe way to lose weight; however I can’t help but be human and feel impatient. I wish that the weight that I have to lose would come off in the blink of an eye. I wish I could snap my fingers and be in the best shape of my life again.

…BUT…

I know better.

These past couple of weeks I have been relying on what I like to call “Blind Faith.” I have faith that if I continue on this journey as planned I will find success… long, lasting success. I am looking to change my body FOREVER. I am not looking to lose some weight now and then 4 years down the line regain the weight. I am better than that. I have Blind Faith that what I am doing is the right way, and the only way, for me to be happy with my body for the rest of my life.

Without the struggle of losing this weight, I will never truly enjoy the success that is yet to come. I have never been this heavy in my adult life. I have never felt so out of my skin in my adult life. Before I got pregnant I thought I would never have to feel the way I did in Jr. High School again in my life. I never anticipated that life and laziness would get in the way of me being my true self.

When I think about myself, I think about this picture…

I do not think of the person I have become. I do not carry myself as an overweight-all-my-life individual. I carry myself as that same fit girl in the picture above…I just don’t have the body to match my personality anymore. However, I’m working towards that again and there is nothing written in the stars that it is something that is not attainable. It definitely is something I can and will achieve…I just need to continue to have Blind Faith and patience.

The Dreaded BBQ

One of the things that my friends and family love to do on a weekly weekend basis is to throw a BBQ at each others house. Today is no different than any other BBQ, however it is the first one that I go to with my new lifestyle change/diet.

I sincerely cannot remember if back in 2006 when I was seriously dieting if I ever encountered the anxiety that I am feeling today. I know, I know, it's just a BBQ I should let loose. However, I've put too much work into this lifestyle change already for the past two weeks to go and screw it up by eating whatever at this BBQ.

I don't blame my friends for throwing together bowls of chips & salsa, guacamole, refried beans, spanish rice and a huge veggie tray with full fat ranch dip. I really don't blame them...that's what a BBQ is all about...the fooooood!!! However, I just can't help but think that it would be best for me to take an apple in my purse with a small container with already measured out peanut butter. I know it sounds crazy, but I'm in it to win it. In my previous lifestyle I would eat whatever, whenever at these BBQs and although I thought I was having a good time. I really was miserable.

I can sincerely say that being overweight is the ONLY thing in my life that I am unhappy about. It is my biggest issue and the only one that can change that is me.

So on my blog today, I am vowing to stick to the veggie tray sans ranch dip, take my apple and PB, and to eat only 3-4 oz of the actual BBQed meat. This will keep me in line with my caloric budget as well as let me participate in the social gathering.

If anyone has any quesiton regarding my apple and PB container...well I shall refer them to my blog where they can read all about it! Shameless self-promotion....hahaha!

   

Drink Chug-A-Lug, Chug-A-Lug

I drink a lot of water every day.

Actually, on a daily basis I try to drink anywhere from 80-100 oz. I know it seems like a lot, but in reality it really isn’t a lot considering the benefits that water provides your body.

I wanted to write about water today. Specifically the weight loss benefits that come from water and why it is important to keep your body properly hydrated.

So why do I drink so much water??? Really, it’s because it helps me stay satiated throughout the day. This brings me to my first point.

Water helps suppress your appetite. Imagine your stomach as a balloon. If you fill it with water to almost the breaking point, guess what, there isn’t much room for much else. Water works the same way in your stomach. If you are filling yourself with water most likely if you have an ounce of will power you can make it between meals and snack without being tempted to have anything extra. I use water to help me stick to my meal plans and my caloric budget on a daily basis.

Water is also really good for digestion. It helps lubricate the food as it goes down your esophagus and once in your stomach and intestines it helps move the food along. Also, it helps your body absorb fiber properly. A couple of years back the biggest fad slogan for diet companies was, “high in fiber.” These companies were great at educating people that fiber is a healthy sugar/carb that our body needs to metabolize food properly. However, what they didn’t tell the public was that if you didn’t drink enough water all that fiber would turn into a brick in your stomach and most likely cause irregularities in digestion. Water goes hand-in-hand with fiber in any healthy diet. Otherwise, all you are doing is “pluggin’ up the pipin’”, so to speak.

Another great benefit of water is that it helps with muscle tone. Water helps muscles contract and keeps your joints lubricated. I use water specifically when I'm weight lifting because it helps with my muscle soreness. When you workout your muscles, there is a build up of lactic acid in the muscles which we notice as soreness. If you are constantly drinking water you are diluting that lactic acid and in turn helping with the soreness.

The best benefit, from drinking so much water, by far for me is that it doesn't allow me to retain water. Much like when your body goes into starvation mode, it also retains water for the same reasons. If you are not drinking enough water your body begins to think that you are dehydrated and to defend itself from that dehydration, it retains water. Drinking too little water and eating a diet high in sodium also causes the body to retain water because it beleives that every thing you are going to eat will be that high in sodium and so it stores enough water to metabolize the foods that are high in sodium.
These are the main reasons why I think water is just the best thing ever created. Plus, it has no calories and it's delicious if you have access to good quality water.

So yes, step to it and drink chug-a-lug, chug-a-lug!

It's Friday!

Thank goodness for the short week! It's nice that Friday rolled around so quickly.

Today was yet another hard day. Isn't it true that the hardest days after changing a habit are the third and fourth days? I think I heard that somewhere once, and today and yesterday, I surely lived it. I stopped at nothing and everything to get inspired today to keep at it. I read fitness blogs, I looked at old pictures of when I felt good about myself and I read success stories on My Fitness Pal. I also drew strength from knowing that soon enough this change will become a habit and every day that I work towards my goal is an extra drop in the bucket.

However, here is a list of things/thoughts that cross my mind and tried to deter me today:

• After work I went to CVS and passed by the candy isle. It's in the front by the registers and it has all kinds of candy. I saw a lot of chocolate and I caught myself thinking, "Oooh! I should get that!" However, I soldiered on and paid for my things and when I got back to my car, I ate the apple I hadn't had earlier like I should have.
• There was a cheese and cracker platter at work. I love cheese. I stayed away from the breakroom.
• I wanted to put parmesan on my meal tonight. This one is more out of habit. I know full well that the parmesan cheese doesn't do anything for my meal. I really can't taste it unless I eat it alone. This was just because I'm used to blanketing my entire meal in fluffy parmesan cheese.
• The Diet Cokes in the fridge. I was craving a cold one this afternoon on my lunch break. You might be wondering why I don't just have the diet coke because it has zero calories. Truth is, for me Diet Coke tastes better with cheese-its or goldfish. Another habit I developed...watching TV, drinking a diet coke and eating Goldfish.

Despite these thoughts...I kept on track!

And with that, today was another deficit of 510 calories. I did a shorter, less effortless workout than usual because my stepson came home today and we both used the Wii together.

I also made sure I drank plenty of water. I drank 96 ounces of water not including my morning coffee.

For the most part this is a mental thing. I'm having to break habits that I picked up over the last 3 years. Habits that tasted so good...hahaha!

I will persevere though. I want to look as good on the outside as I feel on the inside. I like me, and I want that to show on the outside as well. I want to feel proud of myself again.

And then reality hit...

This morning, I accomplished #10 from my 2012 Resolutions.

Let me tell you...the number on the scale was atrocious. I haven't been this fat since high school! However, the good thing about it is that I know exactly where I am at and where I am starting from. I made the resolution to weigh myself more because I notice that when I get into the regular habit of weighing myself I tend to lose weight because I'm keenly aware of exactly where I am at all the time. I need to be aware at all times. I've spiralled out of control and I really do need to reign myself in and for me, the numbers don't lie.

Talking about numbers, I'm counting calories again. I started today. Everything I eat will be measured and counted. I am going to use My Fitness Pal's mobile app to count my calories. I will be aiming to eat 1400 calories a day and burning 400-500 calories through exercise a day. This should net me out at a deficit of 555-655 calories a day. This would result in about a 1lb. loss a week. If this is true, then by the end of January I should have a 4lb. loss.

This is my goal for this month.

On January 31, four weeks from today, I will post to see if my first goal has been accomplished.

2012 Resolutions

#1 – Text Less, call more.

#2 – Drink more water at work and on the weekends.

#3 – Keep up on my laundry.

#4 – Do not eat after dinner.

#5 – Get the courage to go to the gym.

#6 – Make better food choices throughout the day.

#7 – Realize that not every career move I make is for money and/or power and accept that not everything I do in my career will be challenging.

#8 – Because of resolution #7, realize that I have more time to focus on other things that REALLY define me and REALLY are what make me (i.e. my love for everything physical.)

#9 – To wear tank tops come August 2012.

#10 – Weigh myself more often (once a day or once a week at least).