Monday, January 31, 2011

Good grief!

OK, so the key to this whole swap-out thing is to actually be able to find said coconut milk coffee cream from two posts ago.  I have been to 4 stores now with no luck!

Has anyone ever seen "So Delicious" coconut milk creamer in the store?  I have tried two local Kroger stores, Wal-Mart (which I knew wouldn't have it, but I was there anyway), and Dorothy Lane Market.  Yes, DLM has let me down.

Let me know if you see it out there!

Saturday, January 29, 2011

A little ranting

OK, so I'm having a little bit of a "down" day.  Ugh!  I just want to be healthy and skinny.  But, macaroni and cheese and hot dogs are not going to get me there.  It's very difficult to eat healthy when there are so many outside influences around me.  I mean, I wasn't horrible today, but I wasn't great either. 

But, I have to own this.  Face the fact that I ate what I ate.  And move on!

More learning!

Wow, what a difference a little reading and lots of research makes!  I was trying to think of little things I could do to decrease my calorie and fat intake without really noticing a huge difference.  I was reading some information on coffee cream and was horrified at the things I found.  Did you know that a certain brand of flavored non-dairy liquid coffee creamer has 35 calories and 1.5 grams of fat in one tablespoon?  Not to mention the first three ingredients listed are water, sugar, and partially hydrogenated soybean oil?  YUCK! 

This information led me to do a little research on coffee creamer alternatives and I found coconut milk creamer.  To compare, it has 10 calories per TBSP and 0 grams of fat.  Its main ingredient is organic COCONUT MILK (organic COCONUT CREAM, WATER, GUAR GUM). 

In this process, I have learned that not all fat is the same.  A huge difference exists between saturated fat grams and monounsaturated fat grams. 

So to bring this to term and to compare it to my old habits, I can save approximately 50 calories and 3 grams of fat by simply switching coffee cream.  This is per day!  For the week, I will save myself 350 calories and 21 grams of fat!  And that's 21 grams of saturated fat!  And this is from one of the flavored non-dairy creamers with lower calorie and fat content.  There are other flavors that are even worse!

My goal in this whole lifestyle change is to change what goes into my body.  Not just by consuming lower calories in foods, but by choosing healthier alternatives.  I see this as a double bonus!

What swaps do you make in your daily routine that have made a difference to you?

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

In the words of the Great Patsy Cline...

I'm Crazy!  Yes, I am.  With this encouragement of one of my sisters, I am signing up for the Flying Pig 10k in Cincinnati, Ohio.  Now, I've done several of these races in the past, but I'm not really ready for a 10k at this point.  Guess I better get my behind in gear!  13 weeks to go!

Monday, January 24, 2011

A really motivating quote

I was looking around on the Internet today and saw a quote on another weight loss blog that I just absolutely love:

“Stop being a moron and start getting skinny! If you can’t take one more day of self-loathing, you are ready to hear the truth: You cannot keep shoveling the same crap into your mouth every day and expect to lose weight.”

Well, if you put it that way...

Sunday, January 23, 2011

A couple of new things I learned this weekend!

It has been a very interesting weekend of learning for me.  First, I learned my current weight.  I'm going to give or take a few pounds because every time I tried to calibrate my scale it would start at a different spot.  But at least I have a number to work with.  An my initial goal would be to lose 10 pounds.  Not too hard, right?

Second, I ordered the book Eat This, Not That, at the suggestion of someone on the blog who calls him or herself "anonymous".  Not his or her fault, but for whatever reason, Blogger doesn't let a person post a name without being a member of Google.  At any rate, the book is fascinating.  So much so that I ordered another edition, Eat This, Not That: Supermarket Survival GuideWell, here in Ohio we call it the grocery store, or better yet, Kroger"s".  Certainly made me stop and think about a few things I have eaten in the past.  And on that front...bad news for those of you who thought the Grilled Turkey Burger from the Cheesecake Factory was a good idea (and you know who you are because you made me split that junk with you once.)  It has 1,331 calories and a whopping 31 grams of fat!  Top that with 1,674 mg of sodium!  YOWZA!  Now I know a lot of that has to do with the mayo, but still!

Third, I went to our Sunday staple McDonalds today.  Well, I had to because the new Tonka Truck toys are now in the Happy Meals.  I mean, I would be a horrible mom if my kid didn't get another toy.  But anyway, I read in my new book that you could swap fries for a yogurt parfait and save 220 calories and 17 grams of fat.  So, that's what I did.  And it was SOOOO good!  Then I got the grilled chicken sandwich, sans mayo.  I would have normally ordered the classic #2 combo, which some of you may know is the Quarter Pounder and fries.  Good, but I always felt horrible afterwards.  So, valuable lesson learned for me.  You CAN eat at McDonalds and eat a decent meal.  And, yes, my son gets apple dippers and the 100% Minute Maid apple juice.  I'm not that awful of a parent.

I would love to hear any tips or tricks that you have concerning your swaps at fast food restaurants or when dining out!

Friday, January 21, 2011

Decision time!

Let me start by saying, I hate the decision that I'm about to face.  I mean, I ABSOLUTELY DESPISE IT!  But I have to do it, because otherwise, all this extra work is for naught.  So...drum roll please...I'm going to get on the scale.  Yep, I'm going to strip down, even the remainder of my pedicure from last September, and get on that scale.  At this point, "it is what it is", right?

I don't know why I'm making this such a big deal, really.  People do it all the time, right?  I mean, I have one sister who gets on the scale like three times a day (and you know who you are).  I just never wanted to be caught up by a number, but for me, I need something to kind of "size up" this new lifestyle change.

Anyway, I've been a very good girl since the last time I wrote.  On Tuesday and last night I did the 2 Mile intermediate walk through ExerciseTV on Demand.  I just love it.  It makes me sweat something horrible, but my rear-end certainly thanks Leslie Sansone.  I love it SO much more than the gym because it makes me move all over and use my own body as resistance.  But, I also know that I can't do that one single workout forever.

I haven't really played any of my new Kinect games.  I'm going to check those out again this weekend, especially the toning portion of the Your Shape game. 

Oh, and I seriously need to get to Trader Joes.  I just love that place an it screams goodness to me!  I mean goodness as in "wholly" goodness.  Oh, and some other FABULOUS news...I just found out that Centerville is getting an Earth Fare.  O...M...G...

Thanks again for all of you who are sending me your thoughts and words of encouragement.  I'm ready to kick this thing into high gear!

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

What am I looking for, really?

So sorry to end that question with a preposition, but I just don't know how else to say it.  I feel like I've thrown myself into this world of the unknown? 

But the bottom line is this...

Here is who I am now:


Me and my sisters, Christmas 2010, aren't they bee-utiful? (I am on the right).
 


















And here is who I want to be...again...
 
Eastern Carribean Cruise - 2005 (that's me in the middle)




















Yep, it was only five years ago, and I'm guessing around 30 or so pounds ago.  Not a huge change, but enough to make me realize that I am not where I want to be.  At all.  I was one fine woman, wasn't I?? :-)

At any rate, I don't know how I'm going to get there.  As I mentioned in my first post of the blog, I am full of plenty of excuses as to why I let myself get to where I am now.  Maybe I'll never look like that again?  Maybe having a child really does change you?  But I have seen too many success stories of women who take the weight off and keep it off to believe that this can't happen for me too!

So, I need to really sit and evaluate what I'm looking for and how I'm going to do it.  I need to set goals.  I need an Excel spreadsheet (no, not really)!  Do I want to join Weight Watchers?  Do I want to actually get on the scale and face this?  I mean, I have to have something to measure my success, right?  I can't just keep going like this without some kind of tangible (well, tangible to me) accomplishment.  OK, breathe...

I would like to reiterate that I'm not trying to create a "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" blog.  This is about me and accountability to myself.  Time to pick myself up and get moving, whatever that may be!

Wow!

Talk about being inspired.  I have a friend who sent me a link to some Weight Loss Bloggers and I AM HOOKED!
Check it out here: http://health.yahoo.net/articles/weight-loss/8-amazing-blogger-weight-loss-transformations

And my husband thought my coupon blogging habits were bad...

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Happy Tuesday!

After a really great weekend with family, I re-focused on Monday.  I had the day off of work, and my son's school was actually open, so off he went!  Hooray for mommy days!

I started off with an exercise routine on Exercise TV and it was awesome!  I have taken a liking to Leslie Sansone and her walking workouts.  I thought, well, I'm used to walking, so this is going to be a piece of cake.  WRONG!  I chose the "2 Mile" walk, and it wasn't just a regular walk.  Ms. Sansone has you all over the place.  At any rate, I made it through and didn't quit.  I really felt great afterwards.

Then I decided to do a major cleaning overhaul of my house.  Really, working moms have a very difficult time doing this much needed deep-cleaning, so I decided to take advantage since I didn't have a kiddo hanging off of my leg all day.  Who knew that your refrigerator could be so absolutely disgusting?  And for those of you who have dogs, you know exactly what I'm talking about!  So, about a pound of dog hair later, the fridge is now sparkling.  And so is every other machine or appliance in my house.  And although I feel great for doing all the cleaning, my body is really sore today.  But it's a good sore.  An accomplished sore.

So tonight, I have no idea what I want to do as far as exercise, but I'm going to pick something.  I feel bad that I haven't been using my Kinect, but this Exercise TV has me hooked!

Here's to a fabulous Tuesday!

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Lord forgive me, for I have sinned...

and I went to Chipotle today for lunch.  And...I'm actually upset about it.  Not so much that I ate at Chipotle, but that I shouldn't have eaten at Chipotle considering I haven't been able to work out the way I really want to.

BUT, tonight is going to be different.  My back feels good.  I took one extra day to make sure that I had recovered, so I am "pounding the carpet" tonight.  Kind of like pounding the pavement, but from the comfort of my own living room :-)

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

New week, new adventures

After taking the weekend off due to pulling a muscle in my back, I decided to go ahead and try one of the Exercise TV On Demand videos.  I settled on a basic cardio video that lasted about 25 minutes.  I was feeling great until the very end, when apparently I moved my arms the wrong way and then *WHAM*, there went my back.

What is a girl supposed to do when her body won't cooperate.  You all don't know how bad I really want this for myself and my family.  But it is SO frustrating.  I guess I just thought I was Jillian Michaels and went too far, too early.  I don't really think it had anything to do with the fact that I am currently out of shape.  It has everything to do with the types of exercise that I am doing and moving in ways I have never moved before.  Yes, an elliptical machine can be wonderful, and it helps you burn a ton of calories.  But that is the same mechanism that makes me quit every time.  It is SO boring!

So, here I sit, wondering what to do now?  Do I wait and let it completely heal?  Or do I continue to do other things that won't hurt me?

The fabulous news is that I can tell you that even after one week, I already find myself making better food choices!  I just love Greek yogurt!

Sunday, January 9, 2011

A Short Intro

I wanted to post something short about a friend of mine who will be providing input from time to time on my blog.  Her name is Lisa and we have known one another for about 5 years.  We have been able to support one another in other areas of our lives, and when I decided to blog about my own health experiences, Lisa jumped on board and encouraged me to go for it!  In addition, she has a ton of experience at this stuff because she has recently changed her life by going from a Size 14 to a Size 2!  You go girl!  Certainly I can learn a thing or two from her because clearly she had this down pat!  You can check out her blog here: http://gettinghotin2011.blogspot.com/

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Ugh!

So, last night was a great workout night using Kinect Your Shape and another favorite, Dance Central.  The only issue with each game is that I fell there are too many "breaks".  I want a consistent flow-through workout.  A lot of this is because I'm not familiar with the games and don't know how to navigate them yet.

The bad part about last night is that I re-aggravated the pulled muscle in my back and now I am sitting here with a heating pad on my back.  The good news is that I was actually watching tv last night and I saw a commercial for Exercise TV on Demand.  Who knew?  So as I sit here, I am flipping through the multitude of options.  This channel is amazing!  I plan to take it easy this morning and maybe I'll try a yoga routine or some sort of low impact cardio option later today.  I'm not trying to wuss out, but I don't want to cause myself damage.

Another thing I wanted to mention are all of the food options that seem to be popping up out there.  Who would have thought that Bob Evans would have a "Fit" menu?  Since it is really one of the only eat-out restaurants in my area, we opted to go there last night.  And we had a coupon for a free kids meal, so major bonus there.  I opted to have the potato crusted flounder, green beans, and a baked potato.  I didn't eat the potato plain, but I didn't load it up either.  It was so yummy and I scarfed down the whole plate!  So, my son had his mac-a-noni and I was able to eat healthy, the homestyle way!

I hope everyone has a good weekend!

Thursday, January 6, 2011

It's all about the food!

Last night I jumped back on the exercise train and did about 40 minutes of the Kinect Your Shape fitness game.  I chose the Personal Trainer portion of the program and stuck with the "beginner" section.  I made it through three rounds (doing the first two rounds twice).  Once again, my legs felt like rubber bands when I was finished.  Determined to get through Round 4, I strapped up and hit the Start button.  And that's where it stopped.  Clearly I need to work on my balancing skills, because the exercise just about put me on the ground!  I did wake up this morning with a nice kink in my back, but I do plan to exercise tonight, Lord willing and the creek don't rise (thanks to my Papa for that phrase). 

On another topic, we all know that a really important element of trying to live a healthier lifestyle involves proper food selection.  This is a HUGE issue for me, because I really can't think of any food that I don't like (except my mom's hamloaf, BARF!).  But more importantly, I find my blood sugar taking a serious dive around 10:00 a.m. and again around 3:00 p.m.  I am one of those people who gets the shakes when I don't eat enough.  I have tried to choose snacks that I know will provide me a protein boost and that also sustain my appetite until lunch or dinner.  Maybe I'm doing this part wrong?  Maybe my issue is that I don't eat enough? 

As I am a beginner in this process, I am open to any and all advice that you have concerning snacking tips!

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Small break

I took a small break last night to watch my Buckeyes bring it home!  Woo Hoo, GO BUCKS!

I'll be back at it again tonight!

Monday, January 3, 2011

HELLOOOO lactic acid!

Yikes!  My thighs hurt today! 


I was so excited about blogging that I decided to start my new fitness life last night.  As you may or may not know, I actually decided to cancel my gym membership.  Why?  Because I get really tired of the same repetition and wanted to challenge my body.  I would go to the gym 3 times a week, get on the cross-trainer, go for 35-40 minutes, sweat like a beast, and go home.  But after a few weeks of that, I started to feel no pain at all, which we all know isn't good.


So, onto my new challenge.  My family received the xBox 360 with Kinect for Christmas from Santa (aka my husband and I).  With that, we received a few games as gifts and I bought one for myself, the Kinect Your Shape Fitness Evolution. 


It really wasn't my intention to start exercising last night, I was merely going to set up my profile and all of that jazz.  But let me tell you, 10 minutes into the profile set-up, I was sweating!  I worked parts of my body that I didn’t know existed.  After that, I proceeded to partake in the Beginner’s Cardio Workout.  I made it through the first 1/3 of the program.  And today, I’m paying for it!


So, on to Zumba Fitness tonight! 


Oh, and I can’t forget to end with the following disclaimer in tribute to my IP pal at work.  I have not been compensated by Microsoft to evaluate its software (although I’m certainly open to that).  Any opinions expressed are my own.  Thanks, ST! (By the way, Bill, just have your people call my people.)

Sunday, January 2, 2011

And so it begins!

Hmmm, I don't even know where to start.  I have known for quite some time that I wanted to start some kind of blog.  Simply because it is "the thing" to do right now, and also for some additional motivation.  Motivation and accountability from friends and family during my journey to become healthy and lose weight. 


It all started when I became pregnant with my son (who is now 3).  I was really at the top of my game during my pregnancy and actually only gained 16 pounds.  (I know, don't hate me).  Even 6 weeks post-partum, I was already below my pre-pregnancy weight.  And that is where it ends. 


So, here we are, 3+ years later, and I am probably the most unhealthy I have ever been.  Now, I could sit here and give you all kinds of excuses, but none of them would be legit.  The truth is, I don't diet.  I really don't even exercise.  I have had many blocks of time over the past 3 years that I have started to get fit, and then stopped for various reasons.  Mostly because I'm lazy or "don't have enough time".  Another truth is that I couldn't even tell you how much I weigh.  The last time I looked at a scale, I wanted to faint, and then I never looked at it again.  That was probably a year ago!

Here is where it starts.  Right here and right now.  And time progresses, my goals may change, but ultimately I want to be a healthier wife, mommy, and me!  Join me on my journey!