Lots to blog

This weekend went relatively well with turkey apple paninis and sweet potato fries for Friday nights dinner and waking up to warm apple cinnamon oatmeal in the crockpot.  HOWEVER Saturday's stop at Culver's in a moment of weakness for onion rings and a "flavor of the day" waffle cone was NOT something I was proud of and neither was the pizza and chocolate lava cake the kids and I ordered for dinner last night. 

HOWEVER, I DID counteract a very small sliver of that with a bright and early work out this morning at 4:45am.  NO, I did NOT plan that, but due to a couple napless kids we all napped until 7:30 PM!  I had a hard time sleeping and couldn't go back to sleep at 4:15am, so I figured I would be much too tired to get a workout in tonight, so I finally drug my butt out of bed and used a new iPhone app that was recommended to me over the weeekend by my cousin

http://www.facebook.com/rebecca.ausmus.7?ref=tn_tnmn#!/DailyAbWorkoutApp

It's pretty darn awesome.  I simply selected "full body" and "30 mins" and it walked me through each 90 second interval exercise, which is EXACTLY what I need!  I'm THRILLED with it!

So walking in to work feeling awesome and I got a chance to talk to one of my supervisors about getting the Biggest Loser Challenge going again.  I get to organize this time and intend to send out daily motivational quotes, healthy recipes I've tried, and tips and tricks of working out with a busy life at all different fitness levels.  It's going to be a lot of fun and hopefully I can win some cash out of the deal.

Next Thursday is our initial weigh in!  Am I going to slack off or binge just prior to sand bag the rest of the team?  HELL NO!  I have goals waiting for me, I don't have time to attempt an intentional sand bagging and I sure don't want the chance a REAL slip in judgement (I had enough of those on my own).  Today I'm back in the healthy eating saddle and KNOW why I slipped this weekend (lack of planning), so I'm putting it behind me and moving forward.

Have a great week all!

The Magic Belt

So this morning my daughter said something to me that stung a little bit, but after a little conversation, I was laughing about it.

As I was getting dressed Izabella looks at me and says “Mommy I think I’m going to get you a belt for Christmas”.  I said “Oh honey, that’s sweet!  What kind of belt”.  Her response….. “There’s this one I saw on Grandma’s TV that makes fat go away.”  I was stunned.  I said “But honey, that’s why I exercise and eat healthy food, so I can get rid of some of my extra fat and so I can be a healthier mommy for you and Zak.”  She said, “Yeah, but this belt is magic and you just put it on.  I promise it doesn’t hurt mom.  And it just zaps your fat”.  How could I not laugh….it was 6am and I’m talking to a 5 year old about zapping fat….I said “Well sweetie, how strong do you think Mommy is?” She said “Really strong!”  I replied, “Well those ‘magic belts’ are for the people that aren’t strong enough to get healthy on their own.  I think I’m strong enough to do it by myself, don’t you?” She of course said “yes” and we both agreed the magic belt would not be a good idea for her strong mom.

As much as I turned that conversation around and was proud of the outcome, it still stung a little.  My child recognizes that I have more fat on my body than some people and I’ve had to talk to family about not speaking about themselves negatively in front of the kids, especially in regards to weight.  The last thing I want is my 5 year old to look in the mirror and see a wrinkle in her skin or a little pooch or to puff out her belly and see herself as “fat”.  I really try to focus on not saying anything about “dieting” or “losing weight” or anything in those regards to, or in front of, my kids.  I talk about exercising to stay healthy so that I can take care of them and they seem to understand much better.  For example, I didn’t get my workout in right away when I got home from work yesterday.  Traffic was horrible, so I was running late and still had to pick up a couple things at Target, so we got home much later than usual and we were all starving.  When it came time for bed and I had to explain to them why I was going out in the living room and making noise while they were trying to sleep.  My explanation was this…. “I have to exercise to stay healthy and I have to stay healthy to be a good mommy”.  They both understood and just lay down and went to sleep. 

Speaking of workout… I felt like strapping on the industrial-strength-over-the-shoulder-boulder-holder may have been more of a workout, but it’s a start I guess.  It was lame, I felt like it was a waste of time, but it was moving, so I’m calling it progress.  It literally took me just a few minutes to do this “workout” and I didn’t expel a single drop of sweat.   Maybe I shouldn’t be starting on “Beginner’s Workout” because I’m really NOT a beginner, I’m a re-beginner, but my level of fitness is quite a bit higher than someone I would consider a “beginner”, so I’m going to take a look at higher intensity workouts for tonight and make a plan.  I HAVE to sweat to feel ANY type of accomplishment.

Either way, I feel GREAT this morning.  Maybe it was the movement right before bed, maybe it was the non-confrontational bed time we had, maybe it was the amazing mood both kids woke up in, maybe it was the 5 year old conversation with my daughter, who knows, but it’s wonderful!  I’m riding on a high that I am praying doesn’t fade until bed time.

Hope everyone has a HEALTHY Wednesday and don’t waste your money on a stupid fat zapping belt.  You are strong enough to do this on your own, just like my little girl’s mommy J

Bread Review and Proud of my Choices

Ok, so I'm not feeling great today.  Not sure why, just really REALLY BLAH!  Headache, fever, grumpy, I'm having a hard time focusing and a harder time not going home and taking the hit on my attendance.  Normally this type of mood would give me a bad case of the "F-it's",  HOWEVER while surrounded at work by warm carmel rolls, candy dishes overflowing with autumn colored deliciousness, and cute little witch hat shaped cookies that I KNOW I saw on Pinterest, I have managed to eat only the food I know is nutritious that I brought from home.  My soup and a full 32 ozs of water and post lunch, my tummy is satisfied.  My sweet tooth has been raging the last few days, but I brought an extra apple today to curb that if necessary.

So on to the bread review.  While shopping in my little hometown market I discovered New England Brown Bread.  The fiber content isn't SUPER high (2g) but the ingredients to me are more important and flour doesn't even appear until ingredients number 3!!!  How awesome is THAT outside of a health food store?!?!  The first ingredient in this yummy, nutty bread is "Crushed Whole Wheat" and the second is "Water".  The sugar is 3g I believe, so it's pretty much turned in to the only bread I buy.  AND Cub Foods carries it too, which is even better for chain store shoppers.  I would guess that most other large chains carry it as well, though I haven't looked for myself.  The price is a little steep, but worth it if you ask me at $3.49 a loaf!

Check it out and let me know what you think!

My workout plan of attack

So I’ve been DIEING to blog today.  Why?  Well, I guess I’m not exactly sure.  Maybe because I need to talk to someone about what all I’ve done on the healthy home front and don’t want to bore those around me with all the details. 

First things first, no matter how much I wanted to work out last night, it just didn’t happen.  The “plan” after chatting with the kids and getting their opinion was that I work out after they are asleep, so the night went off without a hitch UNTIL BEDTIME.  My son has been struggling with staying in bed and going to sleep the last couple nights, so I should’ve known better, but instead I worked with him at bedtime.  Spending time walking him back to his bed etc and completely missed out on my workout.  I was SO beyond tired and mentally exhausted when I finally got him in his bed to stay I just could NOT muster enough energy to do anything besides slither in to my own bed and pass out before my head hit the pillow.  So do did I counteract that?  I got up at 5am and did yoga!!  It was a short mild workout and I didn’t sweat too horribly much, but I moved so I call that a success.

What am I going to different to be successful?  I have rearranged my Pinterest Boards so all of the workouts are separated from the inspirational quotes, etc .  So tonight when I go home I can just pop on Pinterest, grab my “My Road to Healthy (Workouts)” Board and hop to it.  I plan to workout even before we have dinner as I think having a fully tummy makes working out less attractive.  I also discovered some “beginners” workouts I pinned a while back and they require very little time and equipment.  The workout itself is fairly simple and not super intense, but I’m almost feeling like I have to start out that way since I haven’t pushed myself in a VERY long time.  So for you all to see….here is the regimen I plan to follow in the coming days/weeks.  There is absolutely ZERO reason why anyone reading this can not take a couple minutes out of their day to do this as well.  Who’s with me?!?!?!

In other news, we are coming to the end of our challenge at work and I’m not super impressed with my results but as long as I’ve made progress is all that matters (thanks for the reminder this morning Babe!).  One of my favorite quotes is “My goal is not perfection, it’s progress.”

Menu today:

Breakfast: Yup you're reading right....PB sandwich & Strawberries

Snack: Carrots and garlic hummus

Lunch: Veggie Soup

Snack: Apple

Dinner: To Be Determined

Watch for a second blog post today about some yummy bread I found that appears to be pretty good for you!

TWO POSTS IN ONE DAY!!

I found these on Pinterest and really LOVE them, so I thought I'd share!

NO MORE EXCUSES!!

So I've been doing "ok" on my food choices lately and am proud of that, but I haven't done a good hard work out in a couple months and I'm starting to feel the effects of weakened muscles in my back and it's painful.  Now, granted, some of the pain could be an old bed, kids in bed with me, partially still my car accident, but I can almost guarantee it would be lessened or near nonexistent if I were working my muscles on a daily basis more than getting up for water and the bathroom from my office chair.  The truth is, an office job SUCKS for your body.  Not only does it cause you to be extremely sedentary but it atrophies muscles that wouldn't do so in other professions and people who choose desk careers over others actually statiscally die quite a few years younger.  So it's time to counteract all that junk that's against me.  I will NOT die earlier than I'm intended to and I will NOT continue to live a moderately sedentary life.  I may have to sit in one chair ALL DAY LONG at work, but that doesn't mean it needs to continue when I get home. 

So tonight starts my "Back to Active" life.  I've used having my kids without a sitter option an excuse to do nothing, but the truth is I can STILL do SOMETHING, I just have to do a little planning and quit making excuses.  Yes I'm a single mom, yes I work a full time job, yes I get home about 6:30pm every night and still need to make dinner, do baths, and pjs and all of that, but I HAVE to take care of myself, otherwise with an increased risk of injury and weight increasing my fatigue level, I'm not going to be ABLE to take care of my kids like I want to. 

Maybe we'll go for a walk after dinner, maybe we'll do yoga together, or maybe I'll wait until they're in bed and sacrifice an hour of sleep for a workout and a hot shower.  Whatever happens tonight, I REFUSE to let the couch or a movie or my kids hold me prisoner.  I WILL be active tonight and atleast for 30 minutes everyday going forward.  It doesn't always have to be high intensity, but I HAVE TO KEEP MOVING!

What are YOU doing today to make sure you are here as long as possible for the people that need and want you?

Today's Menu -

Breakfast - 1 slice of cinnamon french toast w/strawberries
Snack - Carrots and garlic hummus
Lunch - MORE veggie soup
Snack - Apple and Peanut Butter
Dinner - Honey Apple Pork Loin and steamed veggies

An iPhone blog

This is my first blog from my phone so we'll see how it goes....

The last couple days I've had the "skinny" feeling I've referred to before which is good. However, I think it has a lot to do with that veggie soup I've been eating all week AND I still have a huge bowl in the fridge, so that'll probably be next weeks lunches too. Good thing I don't bore with food too easily.

In my fridge currently is a massive pork loin I got on sale that I hope to get roasted this weekend. I'm currently researching different options for flavoring it. Yummy!!

Hope everyone's having a great week!!

Babble

Today I'm going to babble! LOL

My weekend was great!  Got a lot of time with my favorite guy and met LOTS of AWESOME people!!  However my choices were not 100% spot on.  I indulged in mashed potatoes AND cake, but prior to that had a healthy sized salad and chose chicken over lasagna.  Yesterday we missed the continental breakfast, so we chose to check out a little diner across the highway, R.J. Ritches that was DELICIOUS, but not really figure friendly.  I chose an omelet that included ham, lots of veggies, and hashbrowns all inside of it, but then.....CHEESE SAUCE all over the top....YOWZA!  I however was SO full and didn't eat again until later in the evening....not my best idea and even worse choices....Combos....the pizzeria pretzel kind.  Yup that was dinner.  Today I'm dehydrated and bloated and feel like a stuffed sausage, so CLEARLY THAT is not going to happen again any time soon.  I feel like serious poo!

My veggie soup is going to come to the rescue this week.  I enjoyed a delicious bowl of it for lunch today and plan to have another for dinner.  Barely any fat or calories but SO satisfying.  I may attempt to make all different kinds of soup this fall and winter and see what concoctions I can come up with.

In other news, I was scouting out places for fall pics of my kiddos yesterday and dropped my current, super outdated, pain in the bum phone in a waterfall, so I have a new iPhone 4.....FOR FREE! YAY ME!!!  How does this relate to my blog???  Well......I'm pretty sure I'll be able to blog from my phone now!!!  Just gotta figure out HOW lol.

Happy Monday all!

Here's a pic from the weekend.....just for fun!

mmm mmm good!

Ok, so Bob's rules are done.  But there are still two more whole sections to the book, which I'm opting NOT to blog.  One portion is recipes and the other is other is day by day, meal by meal menus.  If you really want to follow the rules to a T and get a jump start, you'll have to shell out the $20 like I did and buy the book :)

In other news....I decided last night I was going to give kale a shot.  You'll remember Bob referred to kale in one of his rules and if you are anywhere near the healthy eating world you've heard all the benefits of kale and how tasty it is.  When a facebook post of mine asked for suggestions on what to add to my veggie soup, kale was on the list (thanks sis!).  So last night I drug my too kiddos through Target to get some kale and other veggies for the soup.  So here's how THAT went!

"Betch-ta-bow" Soup Recipe

1 bunch of kale
3 large tomatoes
2 bags of mixed vegetables (lima beans, carrots, corn, green beans, peas)
1 bunch of celery
4 large carrots
3 - 32 oz boxes of chicken stock
3 cups of water
1 can of black beans (wish I would've had more); drained
Garlic to taste
1/2 bunch of green onions

All in a pot and let it bubble until all veggies are nicely tender.

Had it for lunch today....YUM!!!

Today's Menu:
Breakfast - 1 cup of plain greek yogurt with 1/2 cup of frozen berries
Snack - Apple and shrimp
Lunch - Veggie Soup
Snack - Carrots with garlic hummus and an apple
Dinner - Probably more veggie soup (and some for the kiddos too!)

Super excited for my weekend!  Have a great Thursday all!

Rule #20 The final rule

"The whole idea can be summed up in one word: plan.

Unlike episodic bingeing, splurge meals are an ingredient in your diet.  When you plan something, you are in control.  And when you are in control of your splurge, you don't later think that you've failed.  And that puts an end to the old binge-shame-diet-binge cycle.

Here are some splurge meal rules:

- You don't get to splurge meal until you've completed the first two weeks of the rules.
- It's one meal - breakfast, lunch, or dinner - a week.  Not a whole day of splurges!
- Write down the calorie count before you eat.
- You still don't get any liquid calories except red wine.  I want you to get used to eating without a sweet drink at hand.
- Decide whether you want to eat rich or eat big.  By that I mean, do you want truly forbidden foods (though no fart food joints!), bigger portions, or some mix?  Take note of your answer and write it down on your daily menu.  You'll find it tells you a lot about what you really want when you feel deprived.
- Breakfast and lunch are the best time for splurge meals.  If you must splurge for dinner, make sure it's before seven.
- Drink a alarge glass of water before the meal.  At a restaurant order only water and tell them to hold the bread.
- If you are going out to eat, take a look at the restaurant's menu online so you can, you guessed it, make some plans for your meal before you get there.
- You don't get to blow your splurge meal by going to a fast-food place.  Eat real food.  barbecue at home.  Experiment with a new recipe.  Remember you are changing your life, so start changing your lifestyle....
- Don't splurge by yourself."

I have mixed feelings about this rule and have yet to implement it.  I struggle mostly with limiting my splurge and when I feel strong enough to only have a bite or two or something or TO ACTUALLY splurge, the craving is not there.  I think the idea of this is great, I just am not 100% I can make it work yet.  I'm still very easily pulled back in to the world of crap food...someday I'll implement this one 100%.

It's hump day, only two more days to the weekend and my little black dress!  Very excited as I feel like I've done moderately well this week so far.

My biggest accomplishment of the week was this.....This week is "Customer Service Appreciation Week" and of course being I work in Customer Service management planned a bunch of treats, games, etc for us, which of course, is much appreciated by staff....not so much by their wastelines.  Monday they provided breakfast: breakfast burritos, orange juice, & monkey bread.  I'd already had my two mini omelets by the time they came around so I opted out of the burrito and DEFINITELY out of the monkey bread, but did have a glass of OJ.  Yesterday was a Rice Krispy Treat day....seriously about 10 different varieties of Rice Crispy Treats....fruity pebbles, Reeses Puffs, Rice Krispy treats with caramel in the middle....all sounding very delicious and tempting and I don't know WHY I even walked in to the cubicle where the sugar and fat buffet was spread but I did and the overabundant smell of sugar turned my stomach.  I did not have a single bite of one and was honestly glad when so many, who indulged too much, were complaining of stomach aches all afternoon.  I felt great!  Today...FINALLY was a food treat I could enjoy.  Build-Your-Own Fruit and yogurt parfaits.  There were blueberries, strawberries, and raspberries to top vanilla yogurt and of course granola.  I indulged in a couple of them actually and they were SO yummy!!! HOWEVER, I can tell I've definitely developed favortism for greek yogurt as the regular yogurt in the parfaits today seemed runny to me. 

Anyway, it's been a great week so far as far as choices go.  Tonight we head to the supermarket to pick up veggies for a vegetable soup I'm making.  It could be an interesting combination, but it'll be yummy and packed with all kinds of delicious nutrition.

A shout out to my boyfriend who has a perfect timing when it comes to motivation and support.  You're the best!  <3

Rule #19 and Chicken Soup Review

You don't have to go to any textbook to be told you should get 8 hours of sleep a night.  When you sleep, your body heals.  When you sleep, all that workw e do in the gym slowly turns into muscle.  Sleep gives your various overactive brain synapses a chance to reoxygenate and settle down.  That's why you feel so refreshed after a good sleep.

But I also like to think of sleep just the way you would anything else in this list of rules: as an ingredient in your weight-loss diet.  It's just as important as portein, fiber, whole grams, and fat.

Because it really doesn't matter whether you are overweight or not: sleep gets harder the older you get.  That's mainly because your body stops making the hormones critical for sound sleep.  Add to this the overstimulation of modern life, and you've got a recipe for an epidemic of sleeplessness.  Some experts estimate that 20% of Americans don't get nearly enough sleep.  And so far, the pharmaceutical indeustry has some work to do to make an effective drug to help.
The over weight and obese have other huge issues with sleep.  If you are obese, you will likely, at some point, become an apneac - your excess weight can cut off your air flow, causign heavy snoring and restricted breathing.  At best, this will leave you chronically fatigued during the day.  At worst, sleep alnea poses a severe risk of heart attack.

The more disturbed your sleep pattern, the more likely you are to lose control of your eating the next day.

The upshot: you'll snack on high-calorie foods.  And you'll get fat.

Men should pay particular attention to sleep.  Studies show that sleep deprivation makes them more vulnerable to snacking and weigh gain than women.  This is a phenomenon my writing partner's wife calls "the only social justive ever conferred upon dieting women."

HOW TO GET SOME SHUT EYE

Avoid alcohol after 8
Avod coffee, tea, and other stimulants after 3pm
Talk to your phyisician and the pros and cons of sleeping aids and sleeping medicare.
If you must eat: eat vegetables and high fiber fruits.  Also chomomile or valerian root tea
Make your own speel spa: Use some aromatic soaps in your bathwater.  Get a white noise machine.  Put a dab of lavender oil on each temple and below your nose.
Unplug your bedroom: your bedroom is for two things and two things only.  One of them is sleep.
Prepare your body for sleep: learn to meditate and/or do simple restful yoga poses.

I really don't have much to say about this topic, except that I agree 100%!  The only thing EVER plugged in in my bedroom is my cell phone to the charger and I've actually considered moving that to the kitchen to help my sleep as well.  Electronics are HORRIBLE for sleep in a bedroom and distracting when it comes to your love life.

As far as the chicken soup....I thought it turned out DELICIOUS and we ate it for two days, so here's what I did.

In a crockpot a whole chicken, 16 ozs of low sodium fat free chicken stock and a whole bundle of green onions diced, garlic garlic, onion onion, and a generous amt of rosemary on low for 4 hours.

Separate chicken and bones....shred chicken and place in a stock pot with 2 1/2 boxes of the low sodium fat free chicken stock, diced carrots and celery.  Boil until vegetables are tender.

YUMO!!!!!

Next Saturday I have a wedding to attend and want to look my best in my little black dress so this week is going to be VERY on track.  I plan to make a huge pot of vegetable soup and will enjoy that all week long.  Lots of berries and apples and water and I should be good to go!

Happy Monday!