Christmas Fatty

Who does not want to be a christmas fatty? ME!

As I posted yesterday, the holidays are a nightmare in terms of food.

So, New Year's resolutions are a month early for me. Program started, new gym joined, down 4.5lbs in less then a week.

Motivation will start it, Habit will keep it.

To eat or not to eat....

The holidays are a big, freakin' food fest.

 

 

 

Just fight it.

 

 

 

 

 

The day after thanksgiving, I made a pledge to not be a holiday piggy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I joined a program and figured might as well do it prior to xmas. Why wait, lose no weight, and probably gain 5lbs becuz of all the junk?

 

Well, so far so good. Technically, my start date is 11/28/2012 (Wednesday) - I am down 4 1/2lbs.

 

I lost 3lbs Wednesday to Friday and 1 1/2lbs Friday to Sunday.

 

So it's on Holidays! 

 

 



Thanksgiving nuttiness

Going around town, picking up stuff for Thanksgiving.

 

 All these people are nuts!

 

 

Reese's Peanut Butter Cup - A piece of Heaven

Reese's Peanut Butter Cup - a little slice of Heaven.......

Unless you purchase the

ONE POUND

version!!!!

What the heck?!?!  That is all of Heaven and then some.

Who could eat this?!?!??!

REESE'S - ONE POUND VERSION FOR SALE!!!

You are a beast!

:)

Chest Exercises

Chest Excercises

 Incline Press 

Start- Begin by laying on an incline bench. Place your feet and knees so that you are most comfortable. Allow your head to lay back on the bench. This will support your spine and neck. Hold a dumbbell in each hand. Palms facing away from you.

Go For It- Lift the dumbbells up to the sky by extending your arms up. Don't lock your elbows. Pause here for one second and slowly lower the weight back to start.

Tips and Techniques-

- Exhale as you lift the weights to the sky. Inhale as you lower back to the start of this chest exercise.

- Use only your chest and arm muscles to lift the weight. No momentum.

- Try to keep your lower back pressed against the bench.

- This chest exercise can be done on a stability ball as well. Lay so that your upper back is on the top of the ball. Separate your knees until they are hip width apart. Place your feet directly under your knees. Now allow your hips to drop close to floor. You upper body should be in an incline position. Follow the instructions above the complete the incline press on the stability ball.

Incline Chest Fly

Start- Being by laying on an incline bench. Place your feet and knees so that you are most comfortable. Allow your head to lay back on the bench. This will support your spine and neck. Hold a dumbbell in each hand. Palms are facing each other.

Go For It- Lift the dumbbells up to the sky by extending your arms up. Don't lock your elbows. Pause here for one second and slowly lower the weight back to start.

Tips and Techniques-

- Exhale as you lift the weights to the sky. Inhale as you lower back to the start of this chest exercise.

- Use only your chest and arm muscles to lift the weight. No momentum.

- Try to keep your lower back pressed against the bench.

- This chest exercise can be done on a stability ball as well. Lay so that your upper back is on the top of the ball. Separate your knees until they are hip width apart. Place your feet directly under your knees. Know allow your hips to drop close to the floor. You upper body should be in an incline position. Follow the instructions above the complete the incline fly on the stability ball.

Pull Overs

Start- Lay down on a stability ball. Your upper body is supported by the ball. Knees are separated hip width apart and your feet are directly under your knees. Hold a dumbbell between your thumb and forefinger. Extend your arms straight above your face.

Go For It- Keeping your arms straight, allow the dumbbell to lower behind your head. Pause for one second and bring the free weight back above your face (starting position).

Tips and Techniques-

- Inhale as you lower the weight behind the head. Exhale as you lift it above your face.

- Keep your lower back relaxed and try to focus on using only your chest muscles.

Ball Chest Press

Start- Begin by sitting on a stability ball. Gently roll down until you can relax your head on the ball. Place your ankles directly under your knees, and lift your hips up to the sky. Hold a dumbbell in each hand.

Go For It- Lift the dumbbells up to the sky by extending your arms up. Don't lock your elbows. Pause here for one second and slowly lower the weight back to the start of this chest exercise.

Tips and Techniques-

- Exhale as you lift the weights up. Inhale as you lower back to start.

- Use only your chest and arm muscles to lift the weight. No momentum.

- Try to keep your hips lifted throughout the chest exercise.

Ball Chest Fly  

Start- Begin by sitting on a stability ball. Gently roll down until you can relax your head on the ball. Place your ankles directly under your knees, and lift your hips up to the sky. Hold a dumbbell in each hand, palms facing each other.

Go For It- Begin to lift the dumbbells up over the ribcage, palms facing each other. Pause for a second, lower back to start.

Tips and Techniques-

- Exhale as you lift the weights up. Inhale as you lower back to start.

- Use only your chest and arm muscles to lift the weight. No momentum.

- Try to keep your hips lifted throughout the chest exercise.

- Think of this as giving someone a big bear hug. As you lift from the start position, it's almost like a semi-circle motion.

Billy has 32 candy bars.....

Poor Billy!

Minimize the sugar in your life.

:)

Are you a Winner or a loser?

Are you a winner?

I think you are!

You are fabulous!

 

Cooking Substitutions / Nutrition Help

Do you have food allergies?

Do you just want to try to make a recipe more healthy?

Looking to improve your nutrition?

There are lots of great food substitutions out there.

Apple sauce for Oil, honey for refined sugar. 

Whole Foods                                           

offers a page on their sight to help you out for your holiday cooking 

Whole Foods Baking Substitutions

Another good sight is at the Mayo Clinic:

Mayo Clinic Healthy Substitutions

One more sight that is always HELPFUL is

 Trader Joes! They have lots of useful information! Need help with your nutrition definitions while substituting? They break down for you!

Trader Joes Nutrition Guide!

Let's make this Holiday Season know who it messed with!

We will NOT make bad food choices for the next two months!

Happy hunting for great food dishes this Holiday season!

Easy snacks

I was reading this book today and I came across a passage about 100 calorie snacks being all the rage.

It is true - when you are counting calories, trying to lose weight, or obsessing over every calorie you put in your mouth - 100 calorie snack packs seem like the easiest route to go.

But what happens instead is you overeat, eat garbage, processed food, and feel like crap.

The 100 calorie packs are all processed crap which keep you coming back for more. your blood sugar spikes and drops, spikes and drops. They are all junk food packs - cookies, chips, etc.

If you really want to make a change, you have to drop the processed food, the junk food, and garbage. You have to eat whole, nutritious food. Your staples have to change. You cannot keep eating crap and think anything is going to change.

You are lying to yourself and you are going to be disappointed.

Here are some combinations of things that will make a good, filling snack for about 100-150 calories.

You will stay full longer and inn the long run, be happier. I truly feel that all the chemicals and fake ingredients in our food today really beat up our chemical balance in our body. Whoever eats a ton of junk food and says "I feel so good right now!" Not only do you feel bad because of all the fat, sugar, and salt circulating through your body, your receptors in your brain are all messed up and you start feeling depressed. It is like withdrawals from drugs or something.

Snack combos:

Choose one:
medium apple
Baby Carrots
Whole Wheat Crackers (5 crackers)
Black Bean Chips (10 crackers)
Pear slices (1 medium pear)
1 oz pretzels
1 medium Whole wheat pita
Celery sticks

Choose one:
1 part skim string cheese
2oz Guac
Salsa
1 square dark chocolate
4 slices ham or turkey (no sugar added)
3/4 cup cottage cheese
1tbp peanut butter (all natural is better)
1/4 cup hummus
1/2 can of tuna, in water

Any two items (one from each list) will fill you up and keep you going!



Credit: Eat this, Not that - supermarket survival guide

Help is a dirty word

Help is a dirty word.

It rarely crosses my lips as an invitation.

I will extend it with no problems, but to accept it is basically unacceptable.

Let me give a bit of background with where I am going with this:

I pretty much try live by the following mantra:

Do not tell anyone your problems. 20% of people don't care and 80% are glad you have them.

I, also, do everything myself so I don't have to worry about it not getting done.

But, unfortunately, I finally hit rock bottom with my stress levels and the lovely recipient of my meltdown was my dear ol' trainer that barely knows me. How nice of me. :)

I joined the TEAM program at my gym at the beginning of January. We are in week 10 of training. 10! That's right - week ten. In my OCD mind, I should already weight 30lbs less. Not really, but at least 10. I feel that is reasonable. I work out 3-4 times a week and I eat pretty well, most of the time. Well, I have lost nothing. Pretty frustrating. When you are choosing to do one thing, it means something else would be suffereing. So, my time at the gym is time away from my kids, my husband, my house that is a mess, and my daughter's school work.

So fast farward to a lovely Tuesday night at the gym with my unsuspecting trainer. (Poor girl - didn't know what she agreed to when I said can we talk instead of working out)

I had motor mouth, talking as fast as my brain could react. I told her all kinds of stuff about me that she probably really didn't want to know. I will, also, point out that I do not tell people anything about me that may paint me in a poor light. (Please revisit above mantra) I told her everything. I figure if I truly want to change my life, my body, my mind set:

I NEED HELP!

Also, if I talked real fast, I wouldn't have time to realize what was happening, get up and bolt out of the building, to never return. (But then I would realize my kids were happily playing in the daycare - Damn! No quick exit!) J

So I stayed. I figure whatever I am doing is obviously not working. I need some outside person to tell me what to do. I need them to be honest with me. Tell me I am delusional. I don't work out as much as I think I do or I eat like poo.

Tell me I am a stressball and need to chill out and quit being a control freak.

So, in the end, I spent an hour venting about a variety of things, hoping to understand what elements my life consisted of that were holding me back. I, also, spent the next couple of days thinking about it. I didn't go back the gym for the rest of the week. I pouted and sulked in the privacy of my own home. 

What I figured out is this:

- Everything in your life cannot be done alone.

- You cannot hold everyone's else's hand and manage all their projects without your projects suffering

- It is OK for my kids to be independent and fail if they are not going to step up to the plate of their own life

- Stress management is a must

- I cannot worry about the past 3 months. They are not coming back, I can only move forward

- Failing to plan is planning to fail

-  My husband will not die if he has to feed himself

- I am worth the time it takes to change and I don't care what everyone else is doing. I am doing this for me.

(and I ♥ my trainer for having the patience to listen to me for 60 minutes babble.)

How many calories should I be eating?

How many calories should I be eating?

That is always the golden question.

To figure this out, you, first need to figure out your Basal Metabolic Rate. You use energy no matter what you're doing, even when sleeping. Your Basal Metabolic Rate is the number of calories you'd burn if you stayed in bed all day. Your Basal Metabolic Rate decreases as you age. Likewise, depriving yourself of food in hopes of losing weight also decreases your BMR. A regular routine of cardiovascular exercise can increase your BMR, improving your health and fitness when your body's ability to burn energy gradually slows down.

An easy formula is the following:

BMR = (LBM*10) + 370

Example: let's say you weigh 150lbs and you have 30% body fat. Your calculation would be the following:

150lbs, 30% body fat = (150*.70*10) + 370 = 1420 cals

After you retrieve your BMR number, you need to calculate the following:

10% add for digesting your food - 1420*1.10 = 1562

Life Style - 400-600 calories - what kind of job do you have? Do you move a lot or sit a lot? 1562+400 = 1962

Exercise: How many additional calories are you burning when exercising? ex. if you worked out 3x a week and burned 400 calories each time. Then divide that by 7 days to spread it across the week (400*3)/7 = 171

1962+171 = 2133

So, a 150lb person with a 30% body fat, exercising three times a week needs approximately 2100 calories to MAINTAIN their weight.

For every 500 calories you cut out per day, you should lose approximately 1lb a week. One pound a week is a recommended, safe amount to lose. It is not to drastic and it makes it easier to maintain. The above example should be eating approximately 1600 calories a day.

Now, what are you eating during the day? Figure out your calories - are you eating enough? Not eating will delay your weight loss, not help it!

Credits: Shelly - Trainer at Lifetime, Health Discovery Website

What's in your bread?

Do you know what is in your bread?

One of the challenges for this week was to detox from a variety of additives, ranging from aspartame and saccharin to potassium bromate and sodium nitrate.

We were, also, supposed to cut out White flour - bleached flour. Which brings us to the topic of what's in your bread?

One of the specific things requested by our trainers was to look at our bread. It should not have white flour, bleached flour or ingredients you could not picture as a food.

So, off I went to my kitchen to read the bread label. I like to think I have made a fair attempt at buying "better" bread. But, alas, I realize I am a marketing manager's dream consumer. I really like pretty labels. :)

Our bread was crap. There are appoximately 50 ingredients - half of which I cannot pronounce. The first ingredient being BLEACHED FLOUR. Grrr.....

See how they sucked me in with the no high fructose corn syrup and whole grain? Well, they forgot to mention the bleach, the cellulose (which is wood),and guar gum (The drought-resistant guar bean can be eaten as a green bean, fed to cattle, or used in green manure.) Sounds tasty.

So I went the grocery store and found a bread with only a handful of ingredients, made locally, and I can happily tell my trainers about:

Pretty simple. Pretty easy. Not having chemicals pumped in my body. It does not have nutrition values, but I can make a fair estimate. Also, these pieces of bread which are different sizes and smaller (not perfect uniformity like factory bread) is actually MORE FILLING!

So thank you, Superior Bread Co., my trainers will be proud and I like your bread. :)

Here is an article for you to read about bleaching flour.

Bleached Flour in Food


Good luck with better bread choices!!

Resolutions

Here we are - January 2012 - a new year. Everyone starts their resolutions in January. I am thinking, by now, January 20th - a lot of resolutioners already fell off the wagon. :)



Well, I made a new plan this year. I began planning for January at the end of October - 2011. That was when I wrote my last blog.

What has happened in that time, you ask?

1. I joined Lifetime Fitness  - I love this gym. It is great. It has so many things to offer and it just looks like pure wonderfulness. I have to give myself this pep talk everytime I pay my bill. :)

2. I joined TEAM weightloss at Lifetime. This is a group class with a trainer 3x a week. It is for one hour M,W, FR and we, also, do nutrition on Mondays. I am almost done with my second week and it has been fantastic.

3. I bought a Fitbook - This is a perfect tool for tracking all your food and workouts. It is set up for a 12 week program which is perfect because the TEAM weightloss is a 12 week program as well.

4. I joined the 90 Day Challenge at the gym. It is a competition for biggest percentage of weight loss through all the gyms. The good thing about it is that is starts four weeks AFTER TEAM weightloss, so I will have four more weeks with groups to keep pushing me.

5. I signed up for all of the Try It Tuesdays for the 90 day.

So, this is where I am at. I have been journalling all food, so matter what. Even if it is garbage. I am trying to stay accountable. I have been to all my classes and I have been trying to follow what the trainers say.

This is my time, finally.

I will let you know the things I am learning and discovering. Hopefully, it can help you too!

Where are you with your resolution and how are you sticking to it?