FOOD REVIEW - Terra Veggie Chips

Terra Veggie Chips - OMG!!!  The Mediteranian flavor is by far one of my absolute very favorite healthy foods!!  They are sooooooo yummy!!

It's a unique taste, but so much better than ANY potato chip I've EVER had!  YUM YUM YUM is all I have to say.

Today's Menu

I totally forgot to post my menu for the day, but I will tell you right now, this has been a great day as far as how I'm feeling...I am feeling the effects of eating better and working out.  It's an "I feel thinner" kind of a day.  Tonight - Weight Loss Team Training with Kathy and then home for dinner with my babies and then to bed early.  I need my beauty sleep.

Breakfast - Super Mom's Turkey Sausage, Egg White, and Cheese Muffin on the way in to work paired with a 12 oz bottle of Chocolate Milk, and a Rockstar Blueberry Pomegranite Acai Energy Drink in my morning meeting
Snack - 1 Crystal Farms string cheese stick, sugar snap peas w/Hidden Valley ranch,Land O Lakes Grip and Go 12oz chocolate milk
Lunch - Leftover Grilled Salmon, Quinoa, and steamed broccoli w/cheese sauce
Snack - Veggie Chips and an apple with PB
Dinner - Broccoli Chicken Pasta Salad

Goal Setting

I get a daily email from Jillian Michael's website and so far it's been great information and something I would suggest to anyone needing motivation or tips/pointers on getting in shape.  Today couldn't have been a better email....Goal Setting (click the link to be taken to the article Jillian referenced in her email).

So of course I have all kinds of goals, but I need to get them down on paper again, so that's my goal for today....making goals...that kind of sounds funny, but it's true.

Last night went great with dinner.  This morning I stopped to get gas at Super America and maybe the mistake of going inside to get something to drink.  I used to walk out of there (just a few weeks ago) with two chocolate milk, 2 breakfast sandwiches, and 2 Rockstar energy drinks almost every single morning.  Mostly because they were running "2 for" deals on them, but then I would end consuming both sandwiches and both chocolate milks within 10 minutes of leaving the station.  Today I grabbed the two chocolate milks (I'm an addict), and then honestly thought about a blueberry muffin, but for some reason the little tissues you grab them with I just could not get a hold of (a sign? I think so!), so I grabbed a egg white, turkey sausage muffin and headed to the register where I was confronted with another challenge.  Anyone who knows me knows I LOVE anything with chocolate and peanut butter and there they were....my favorite chocolate treat of the season....Reese's chocolate peanut butter eggs.  They were talking to me and low and behold they were on SALE!!!  Did I get one...nope!!  I won the battle of the Reese's egg and walked out of there feeling pretty proud of myself.

Nutrition information HERE for Supermom's Turkey Sausage, Egg White, and Cheese breakfast sandwich

FOOD REVIEW - MorningStar Farms Sausage Egg and Cheese Biscuit



MorningStar Sausage, Egg, and Cheese Biscuits

Nutrition Information here

YUMMY!!!!  Meatless, high protein, low cals, low fat and completely delicious!!  These little guys are eggs, cheese, and meatless sausage stuffed in a biscuit pocket essentially.  I tossed one in my lunch bag this morning for breakfast and 45 seconds in the micro at work and everyone was asking what smelled so good!  It tasted as good or BETTER than any other sausage egg and cheese biscuit I've had!  I paired it with a couple clementines for a yummy, healthy breakfast.

From the Archives

I was just looking through my index of past posts and see there are TWO good information posts that were saved as drafts, but never posted and since it IS such good information and a wonderful reminder for me....I'm going to post them now...

Negative Calorie Foods
Negative calorie foods are those that require more caloric energy from your body to burn than they actually contain.  ANY of these foods are PHENOMINALLY healthy for you!

For example:
An apple is 80 calories but to digest the apple your body burns 100 calories which puts you at -20 calories.

Some other negative calorie foods are:
Veggies - Artichokes, Asparagus, Broccoli, Carrots, Cauliflower, Endive, Lettuce, Peas, Spinach

Fruit - Apricots, Cantaloupe, Figs, Grapefruit, Huckleberries, Mangoes, Oranges, Pineapple

Meat - Abalone Clams, Crab, Flounder, Mussels, Shrimp





Explanation of Glycemix Index/Load from Bootcamp

Boot Camp Tip #4: Glycemic Index

The main culprits for high blood glucose levels, which can contribute to abdominal fat, disease, and low energy, are grains and sugars.

We do not want to necessarily cut out all grains of our diet, unless we need to do it for a time frame to reverse insulin resistance. But we do want to start choosing better grains, i.e. whole grains. For example, choose a Zone Bar or Pure Protein Bar, rather than a Quaker Granola Bar. Choose a brown or wild rice over a jasmine or white rice.

Sugars? Well, fruit is great and healthy. Beyond that, our bodies don't really need sugar - sorry :-(

Pointers for choosing lower glycemic carbs:

1.  Purchase a book like "Healthy for Life" which has a lot of key pointers to assist you, as well as food lists.

2.  Shop the outside aisles of the grocery store. Focus on whole foods, closer to nature. The more processed a food is, generally the higher it will be on the glycemic index scale.

3.  Read nutrition facts labels and choose grains that have more fiber grams than sugar grams. Again, generally, products with more fiber will be lower on the glycemic scale than a product with little fiber and loads of sugar.

4.  Eliminate whites and sugars from your diet. Basically anything white is going to be higher glycemic than its whole grain counterpart.

**These are general principles - meaning not always 100% accurate as far as glycemic index, but a fairly good indicator when making choices at the grocery store. Until the FDA believe and see the importance of the GI and print it on our labels, this is the best we can do.

Oh my aching gluteus maximus!!

So last night's workout was great!  Lots of cardio!  First Kathy split us up in to teams of 2 and each "team" had a set of exercises to do.  We warmed up on the treadmill and then started out list of 4 exercises and when we were finished came back to the treadmill and did a incline based routine....
1-2 minutes @ 2%
2-4 minutes @ 4%
4-6 minutes @ 6%
6-8 minutes @ 8%
8-10 minutes @ 10%
10-12 minutes @ 12%
12-14 minutes @ 14%
14-16 minutes @15%
and that completed the circuit.  We did this 2 times through...HOWEVER, Russ and I were lucky enough to get "Other Machines" as our list of 4 exercises.  So following our warm up on the treamill we did 3 minutes on each of the following:
StairMaster
Elliptical
Bike
Arc Trainer
and then back to the treadmill....by the second round on the stair master my left glute was KILLING m and everytime I took a step it felt like it was tearing, but was I smart and stopped?  Hell no!  I pushed through the pain and probably shouldn't have.  I completed my work out and with the exception of the aching glute, felt AMAZING!  The kids and I went to the store and picked up a bunch of healthy foods to restock the cupboard from my little tantrum.  We got:

Morning Star Farms Breakfast Sandwiches
Baby Carrots
Sugar Snap Peas
Almonds
Better Oats Oatmeal (THEY HAVE NEW FLAVORS - SUPER STOKED!)
Skippy Natural Peanut Butter
Veggie Chips
Corn and Black Bean Salsa
Hummus
Chobani Greek Yogurt
Cliff Protein Bars
and some other things I can't remember for the life of me.

We went home and had dinner which included Broccoli/Pasta Salad (LOTS of veggies, whole wheat pasta, and a light dressing sweetened with Agave and honey) and went to bed shortly after.  I woke up this morning feeling wonderful!  YAY!  Showered and headed in to work....

Menu for today:

Breakfast - Morning Star Farms Sausage, Egg and Cheese Whole Wheat Biscuit....OMG YUM!!!!! (review to come), 2 clementines, Lemongrass Green Tea
Snack - Almonds and blueberries
Lunch - Broccoli/Pasta Salad, Clementines
Snack - Carrots w/ranch and Peanuts
Dinner - Grilled Lemon Pepper Salmon, Steamed Broccoli w/cheese sauce, and Garlic and Herb Quinoa

Have a fabulous Thursday all!!  I know mine will be!

MORNING RAGE!

So I had a few extra moments this morning while getting ready for work I decided to sit down and vent and tell the world about the rage I went in to this morning.  I had a battle with junk food last night and it got the best of me and I'm FURIOUS and I came back and first thing this morning kicked it's sorry little ass!  Last night I completely forgot what time our tax guy was supposed to be coming....at first I thought 6 and then thought maybe 6:30, well my appointment wasn't until 7 AND he was running late....normally not a big deal, but when we came home I didn't want to be in the middle of making dinner when he arrived, so we had a "snack"  Well our snack turned in to a counter full of crap food....partially because I don't think I'm eating enough calories throughout the day so when I get home I have the urge to binge....popcorn, jelly beans, and dill pickle chips.  Then AFTER the tax guy left, we needed to have a "real" dinner...and the reason I have the word REAL in quotations is because the crap that I served myself and my kids for dinner was anything BUT real....a frozen Jack's pizza....C-R-A-P!  It didn't even taste good, but it filled us up....oh yeah and followed by MORE jelly beans grrrrrrrrrrr.  So not only did I NOT sleep good all night, DIDN'T want to wake up this morning, but I wake up beyond dehydrated and bloated so badly I can't get my ring off my finger....the same ring that was FALLING off last summer.  Straight to the kitchen I went in my pjs, hair a mess, no bra and threw away every BIT of junk food that I held ownership too....the chips, pretzels, marshmallows left from my sons birthday cake, licorice, ALL OF IT!!!!  GONE!!!!  I'm done!!!!  If I'm going to go to the gym and I'm going to bust my ass as hard as I do, I want to see results and if I keep eating the junk food, results is the LAST thing I'm going to see and I'm completely wasting my workouts.  I don't bust my ass at the gym so I can gorge on crap food and not gain weight....I bust my ass to be healthy, to feel great, and to get to a size and body I'm comfortable in...that is NOT what's happening, so I'm done!  I'm done with the junk!  I'm done with the crap!  I'm done...it's over...NO MORE!!!  From this very instant forward...I WILL eat healthy, I will NOT cheat myself out of the future and body I deserve!

Plans foiled

Well my weekly plan has already had to switch to "Plan B" lol.  I completely forgot I have an appointment to get my taxes done tonight, so I'll be missing out on Zumba....BUMMER!

Last night was a pretty good cardio workout with Kathy and the Team Weight Loss crew!  Thanks to my ankle Kathy wanted me to keep the incline lower than normal (max of 6.0 instead of 15.0), but I still got a great workout and I still ran (6.0 for 1 minute at a time) and my ankle isn't killing me this morning.  It's a little stiff, but nothing I can't fix with a little stretching and some Yoga after the tax guy leaves tonight.  So today I'm feeling pretty great!  The morning has been going fantastic so far....it's a wonderful Tuesday!  Hope all of you have the same kind of blessings as I've had lately.

Plan of attack

This week's plan of attack on the fat monster!!

Monday - Weight Loss TEAM training
Tuesday - Zumba
Wednesday - Weight Loss TEAM training
Thursday - Barbell Strength Class
Friday - Weight Loss TEAM training
Saturday - FIT OR Zumba
Sunday - Cardio Kickboxing or Zumba

All at Lifetime....one day I will be taking off (more than likely Thursday), but not entirely sure.  We'll see how the week plays out.

Today's Menu:

Breakfast - Oatmeal, Banana, Green Tea
Snack - Chobani Yogurt
Lunch - Quinoa Salad, clementines
Snack - Chobani Yogurt, clementines
Dinner - To be Determined (I GOTTA start planning more)

I took some time today to read through my blog and inspire and motivate MYSELF!  How great is THAT?!?!

I ALSO got an email from GNC and ended up placing a $260+ order (not including tax) for only $100!!!  Great deals on their website...ONE DAY ONLY!!  Check it out!  I've got vitamins and a cleanse in the mail for both Chad and myself! YAY!

Yet another 2 day update

03/23/12 - I LOVED my weight loss group tonight!!  We did a GREAT workout and I hurt like a SOB when I left, but it was good hurt.  We DID have to work around my ankle a little, because every time I ran....about 2 minutes in it was a stabbing pain, so from now on for awhile I'll be hitting the elliptical and NOT joining the run club.  We did all kinds of different exercises again....2 sets of 4 exercises followed by 3 minutes of sprinting/high impact cardio, followed by another 2 sets of 4 DIFFERENT exercises, 3 mins cardio, and 2 last sets of 4 different excersises, followed by 3 minutes of walking backward and sideways on the treadmill....definitely requires coordination which I don't have!  Each of the grouping of exercises was focused on a muscle group....3 group, 2 sets, 4 exercises....arms, legs, and core.  Was great!!  TOTALLY my kind of workout!!

03/24/12 - Got a whole different kind of workout in.  Probably not near as intense as the time at the gym, but definitely a workout nonetheless and judging by the pain I'm feeling this morning, it was definitely moves my body isn't used to.  We had our first softball scrimmage.  Our captain combined her Thursday team (us) and her Sunday team so we had enough people to play.  I chased balls (carefully because of my ankle) and caught a couple and had my turn at bat.  I also took a softball to the forehead courtesy of one of my supervisors....leaving a monster goose-egg (mostly hidden by my hair), bruise (also mostly in my hair) and a HUGE headache, which I'm still trying to recover from today.  Ibuprofen is my friend!

2 day update

03/20/12 - I went to the gym with the thought that I would work the weight machines and get a strength training day in....boy was I wrong.  The beefy meat heads were swarming the weights and looked at my like I had 8 legs when I walked that direction.  I tried not to pay attention to the fact I was the only female in that portion of the gym and proceeded to use the machines I wanted to use...changing the setting for 60 lbs to 30 and from 100 to 40....lol (I'm sure the meat heads were thrilled with THAT).  Anyway, I got through about 1 1/2 sets and the machines I needed were ALL full, so I said "screw it" and went upstairs thinking I could walk/jog on the treadmill for a while.  Plan B didn't pan out either.  My ankle was giving me hell and I just couldn't do the treadmill, so I opted for the eliptical....my ever loved "Plan C".  It worked out and I got my work out in either way, so I was content.

03/21/12 - First thing in the morning I could barely walk on my ankle so I sent Kathy a text asking her if it was possible to modify tonight instead of being on the treadmill and explained.  She had a plan all in place when I arrived 15 minutes late :(  We did 3 sets of each group of exercises....everything from squats with an overhead press to walking pushups to planks to bent flies....it was pretty intense and it was DEFINITELY the strength training I'd been craving.  The whole drive home and the rest of the evening I was moaning and groaning every time I moved.  My pecs, my arms, shoulder, abs, lats, core, EVERYTHING HURTS!  But it's a good hurt and I love it!!

Today is Thursday and will more than likely be my Yoga day at home.  Going out for dinner tonight with Chad and the kiddos.  My goal for today is healthy choices and Yoga :)

Breakfast - Oatmeal, Banana, Tea

Snack - String Cheese, Clementines

Lunch - Pasta salad (see previous entry for ingredients), apple

Snack - String Cheese, Clementines

Dinner - Chili's.....the best healthy choice I can find :)

It's a love-hate thing

So last night was my first full night of the TEAM Weight Loss class.  I got my ass HANDED to me, but I also worked hard and am very proud of my efforts.  So apparently the majority of TEAM Weight Loss is cardio (which I kind of knew), but man oh man!!  We were on the treadmill and lifting dumb bells at the same time.  I was doing 10 (wanted 15, but they didn't have them), lateral raises, shoulder presses, and bicep curls.  That itself took a little coordination (which I don't have much of)!  So then when we put the weights down we did lots of intervals.  We started at an incline of 4-6% and did a set of intervals (walk 3.0/run 5.5), after 3 intervals, we increased the incline to 6-8%, then 8-10%, then 10-12%, then 15 and at each incline we did the interval set.  It's been a long time since I've had sweat RUNNING off of me like that!!  It was INSANE!  It didn't help that I hadn't eaten since lunch (skipped snack - BAD idea) so I was a little light headed and didn't have as much energy and I knew I was also a little on the dehydrated side. 

After our workout we did weigh ins and while others were weighing in we were instructed to do 5 - 60 sec reps of each of the following core exercises....toe touches (on your back), ankle touches (side to side on your back), and bicycle abs.  OW!  After I did all of my core stuff I got back on the treadmill at 3.0 until it was my turn to weigh in.

This "scale" they have at Lifetime is AWESOME!  It not only measures your weight, but also your hydration level (intra cellular and outter cellular water), lean muscle mass, fat/muscle balance in each arm and leg compared to the other and in your trunk.  It gives you an ideal amount of weight you should lose taking in to consideration your muscle mass and it shows a lot of other numbers related to BMI etc...so I was pleased to see I'd lost 5 lbs since my HealthCheck last Tuesday (03/13/2012) and my trainer was pleasantly surprised at the amount of lean muscle mass I have.  So weighing in at 381, this machine tells me ideally I only have to lose 84 lbs, putting me just barely under 200!!  I don't know if I will be happy at that weight or not, but we'll see what my body looks like at that weight and decide from there.  Obviously the amount of lean muscle mass I have is going to increase over the coming months and my body fat is going to decrease, so the numbers are going to change all over the board, but it'll definitely be interesting to see and I'm all about seeing something besides the scale change.  If I learned one thing from Tina, it's that the number on the scale is basically irrelevent, so I'm not stressing about it and I will not obsessively weigh myself like last time.  This is going to be one hell of a wild ride and I can't wait!!

Today's Menu:

Breakfast - Oatmeal with Flax, Banana, Good Earth Sweet and Spicy Tea

Snack - String Cheese, Apple

Lunch - Pasta Salad (whole wheat pasta, craisins, almonds, chicken, italian dressing, carrots, celery, etc), cinnamon applesauce

Snack - String Cheese, 2 Clementines

Dinner - To be determined

Happy Monday!

Yes, you read that right!  I'm wishing all of you a happy Monday, because I surely plan to have one!  I woke up in plenty of time this morning because I actually went to bed at a decent time last night after spending the evening with my aunt and cousins who I don't see near enough.  I had a fabulous weekend overall (with a few ups and downs with my little guy), so I'm feeling great this morning.  Starting the day out with a bowl of oatmeal, a cup of green tea, and a banana.

Lunch is leftover cheese ravioli in homemade alfredo sauce!!  Yup, not in the LEAST bit healthy, but it's only a small portion and I have some sugar snap peas and clementines to have with it.

THEN THEN THEEEEEEEENNNNNN, after I'm done at work I get to pick up my babies and hit the gym and I'm going to hit it HARD!  My first full night of the T.E.A.M. Weight Loss group at Lifetime Fitness is tonight and I'm pumped!  It's going to feel like I'm back at boot camp but with a new trainer and new team mates.  I can't wait to get to know some of them so we can help each other out on this wonderful journey of ours.  Kathy reminds me a lot of Tina, so I have no doubt in my mind she will push me like Tina too.  She mentioned that it's going to be great that I'm starting at week 9 of 12 because my fitness level and knowledge is a little higher than a week one starter.  I'm taking this as a good thing....  Either way, I'm super excited and can't stop thinking about softball either!!

Speaking of softball (first game is April 26th at Bryn Mawr), I got to order my shirt on Friday...my number, OF COURSE, is 69 and the name....."Trouble" hehehe.  It's going to be a blast, but I've really gotta get my endurance up or when I whack that ball I'll never make it to first base.

C'mon Monday, gimme your best shot!

I really hope she's "The One"

So tonight I met with Kathy, the trainer that did my HealthCheck at Allina.  Originally I was pretty miffed because Joe (the general manager at LifeTime) told me he wanted to meet with me before I met with Kathy to make sure that all of my customer service issues were resolved and he would personally make sure they were taken care of.  I showed up, asked for him and guess what....he's not in today :-/  Ok, strike one for the second chance.  Next I dropped the kids off in the childcare center and I'm informed they close at 7:30pm and the gal cheerfully said "So you have about 50 minutes".  I said "Oh well that's not going to work real well, my appointment with my trainer is at 7:30" she chuckles and says "Oh that's probably why HE had an opening"....WTF?!?!  So I proceed to toss my purse and such in a locker and head upstairs where I'm supposed to meet Kathy so I can check out the T.E.A.M. Weight Loss group.  I get up there and she waves me over.  I told her "I have a big problem....childcare closes at 7:30pm" she told me to join the group and we would make sure I was done and ready to go by 7:30pm.  I, for whatever reason, trusted her when she said that and joined the group of folks that were apparently fairly new to working out.  Walking on a treadmill at 3.0, panting and sweating profusely and begging to be done after one - 1 minute plank....but then I thought....geez that was me a couple years ago!  Now I'm jogging on the treadmill at a 5.5 and holding a plank for nearly 45 seconds before I have to take a breath and re position myself.

After the workout was over I sat with Kathy for a while and we talked about where I'm at and what I need and what the ultimate plan is.  She wants me doing cardio for at least 30 minutes a day 7 days a week!!  So Mon, Wed, and Fri I've used my LT Bucks to purchase 14 sessions of the T.E.A.M. Weight Loss group. Tues, Thurs, Sat, Sun I need to figure out something to do on my own....I would LIKE to incorporate more weight training, because the T.E.A.M. class doesn't include too much of that, so there are a couple other free classes I plan to take on my "off" days.  I'm really excited to start a new little adventure and to start melting the weight off again!  I can't wait!!  It helps to have an AMAZING support system as well, so thank you to every single one of you that has supported me through the challenging points in my life and watched me gain my 60 lbs and not given me a single negative word about it.

I plan to do a slew of 5Ks this summer including Go Commando June 9th and The Dirty Girl Mud Run Aug 4th along with the Heart Walk and a few others that pop up here and there.  I can't wait to feel great about myself again!

Something incredible.....

Something incredible happened to me today.

Background: I've been stressing out a bit because I'd decided to cancel my membership with LifeTime given all of the issues I had with the Savage location.  The member engagement manager told me I had to send a certified letter or come in to the club to cancel (which I hadn't done yet).  I wasn't sure how or what to do on my own and you'd think by this time I would know what in the world I'm doing, but I felt so lost.  I was literally in the bathroom at work and prayed.  I asked God to give me a sign and show me the way I needed to go.  I'd rescheduled my HealthCheck appointment (through Allina/Healthpartners/LifeTime) so that I could just do it early one morning before I started work instead of having to go to the Savage club.

Fast Forward to last night: I was talking to Chad about how I didn't want to get all sweaty before work and I wasn't 100% sure what the HealthCheck entailed so I was going to reschedule it to a Friday or something so it was at least a casual day.

Fast Forward (again) to this morning: When I woke up (late) I didn't see any other option besides to get my ass my gear and get to my HealthCheck and I did.  I skipped my shower, got the kids dressed quickly, threw random things in my lunch bag for lunch and we were out the door 10 minutes earlier than normal.  I made it to work by 7:15am and my appointment was at 7:30am.  I walked in and this adorable dark curly haired gal motioned for me to come in and handed me a questionnaire.  My blood pressure was high from running around like a chicken with head cut off all morning, so she had me relax and just casually chat for a few minutes and she asked if I belonged to a gym.  I told her TECHNICALLY I was with LifeTime in Savage, but not at all happy with it and she said "I work at the Savage club!"  She listened to my concerns and told me a little about her training style and told me she organizes the run club at the club as well as BOOTCAMP and a Weight Loss group.  She said she didn't think she had a card, but would check anyway, well guess what....ONE card....she wrote her cell phone number on the card and told me if I changed my mind to give her a call and she would make sure I was taken care of.

I took this as my sign....
A. I hadn't cancelled my membership yet (I was supposed to do it a week ago)
B. I planned to reschedule my HealthCheck, but for some reason felt compelled to go this morning
C. I ended up with a trainer that reminded my of my Tina
D. She just HAPPENS to work at the club I had trouble with
E. I'd gained another 10 lbs....

These are all very clear signs to me that I need to hang on to LifeTime and give them another chance.  I think Kathy (my cute little curly haired trainer) walked in to my life at just the right moment.  We have an appointment scheduled for Friday evening at 7:30pm.  I can't wait!