Hot Tip!

Need a yummy breakfast under 200 calories? Yeah, they say your breakfast should be the biggest meal of the day, but if yours isn't, here's a tasty idea.

Open one 6 oz. carton of Kroger Carbmaster Yogurt (60 calories), and put into a cereal bowl. Top with 1/2 cup of Fiber One Cereal (60 calories AND 57% of your DV of fiber!). Top that further with 3 medium/largish strawberries, cut into pieces (approx. 23 calories). Mix it all up and...

SKIDOOSH! Yumminess in a Cereal bowl. I'd have posted a picture but I ate it already...

**WAIT!--this is being inserted a few days later? I took a picture because I had this "breakfast" for lunch at work today. It doesn't look too spiffy but I assure you its delicious!

What's your motivation?

I was watching the makeover episode of "Biggest Loser" tonight. I don't know if you watch the show, but this year has been fairly fun--though not my favorite season ever. ANYWAY, when Olivia (purple team!) got to have her say she made a comment that really struck me. She said something along the lines of, "I'm doing this for us. I'm doing this for us, and our children, and our children's children." (Us = she and her hubby)

That, to me, seems like good motivation.

I know working out and focusing on weight loss for ourselves is key to getting going. You can't do it for somebody else. But I think when you are doing it for you AND somebody else...that makes it more important somehow.

Just a thought.

Switchin' it Up

There's a new class at my gym called "Mania." I'm starting to suspect its something the fitness director made up herself, but if so she really should patent the idea because its AMAZING.

Basically the class is set up in 7-minute intervals. Each interval consists of four different exercises that build on one another. For example, in Interval one you might start by doing four step-ups on the Bosu ball. You do this for a full minute, if not longer, before the instructor adds another exercise on top of it--side lunges, lets say. So for another minute you're doing step-ups and lunges. Then they add exercise #3 (maybe a "run on top of the Bosu!" for four beats) and you do all three exercise for another minute. And THEN they add exercise #4 (usually something pretty intense), like a quick "drop into a pushup then jump back up" and you'll do all four of the exercises for a minute. From there you go in reverse, taking out exercise #4, and then #3, and then #2 until you're back to just repeating the first movement over and over for the last minute.
**If the minutes don't add up to 7 then I'm guessing the instructor does some of the sets for less than a minute? Not really sure...

Anyway, it is AWESOME. In between each interval set you run a set of stairs and come back for the next set so the calorie burn is incredible. And with things changing up so rapidly, its hard to get bored. There's not time for such things! Its go go go for an hour. I love it.

And it makes 5:30 in the morning so much more fun than it usually is. Yay Wednesdays!

Great News...

Exercising success!!

2 weeks ago I went jogging twice (a feat for me with the whole baby not sleeping through the night, work, and you know...life).
Then last week we went twice (I bailed on #3...too stressed/busy).
Then today we went with plans to go 2 more times this week.

Having a jogging buddy helps. We're following the couch to 5k program and will be running a 5k in Murray on June 4th. It feels good to exercise, but I still just don't love running. Sigh. I wish I could catch the bug.

I'm hoping this helps me shed a few pounds. I'm going to start counting calories more aggressively too once my daughter is weaned.

Seeing as its March...

I guess it makes sense that 3 months into the year I really need to re-resolve on my New Year's Resolution to count calories. *sigh* Seriously its ridiculous that I can't keep up since I sit at a computer for 8 hours a day and Livestrong.com is ON the computer. I also carry my iPod touch around with me everywhere and that's a handheld computer so again--I'm ridiculous.

Anyway, my weekly weigh in is only going UP when I want it to be going DOWN. So its time to recommit...yet again. The goal is starting today to count calories every day until next Friday. I always have a hard time on weekends, but I'm still going to do it!

And since I finished that package of Double Stuff Oreos last night, at least they won't be tempting me...

"Begin with the end in mind"

The title of this post is one of my favorite phrases, Steven R. Covey. It's important to have a goal. A specific concrete goal.

My mental goal regarding weight is to look how I did when Joe and I met.

Not only does this mean I could fit into lots of cute clothes but it was the skinniest I'd been in years. And somewhat predictably after meeting Joe I yo-yo-ed back up to a higher weight. I'd love to get back there and stay there (it also happens to be about where I was in high school). It's a happy weight for me. It's not tiny--I can't tell you the last time I was a size 4 or 6...it must have been elementary school--but its a good size for me.

These pictures make me happy. It was a happy time in my life...maybe thats why I got lazy and ate lots of otter pops and M&Ms and got chubby again. Sigh.

May my baby sleep through the night so I may exercise.

Oops.

I haven't counted calories since Monday. This is our confessions blog so it feels appropriate to tell somebody and "shame" myself into starting again. My excuse is that I was on vacation. Its a good one, right? Still...gotta get back on the wagon! No calorie counting AND no working out from Wednesday to Friday is no bueno.

Tomorrow. We begin anew tomorrow!

Calorie Counting

Well, you inspired me to start counting my calories :)

I found an awesome app for my phone called "My Fitness Pal". I've counted calories before and this is easier than any website/app I've used. One big reason--if the food you are eating is packaged you can use your cell phone camera to take a picture of your barcode and it automatically adds it! Amazing! Also it learns from you so as you track your foods its easier to add those foods again---so were I to have grape tomatoes and feta cheese for a snack tomorrow it'd be a cinch to add.

It also can track exercise and water intake :)

Brilliant. So far I'm on track for keeping calories around what I burn for the day...but have gone beyond the target number I need to meet to lose a pound per week...I love how counting calories really helps you become aware of where you can blow it--so quickly. Ouch.

Those late night sweet fixes are killing me.

True Confessions

I'm going to have to count calories every day for the rest of the week to stick with my Resolution of 5 days out of 7. Because the last two have been atrocious. The Monday holiday found me breakfasting with friends, and then munching on leftovers, and then eating dinner with the fam before feasting on brownie sundaes at FHE. There are red flags all over the place in that "sentence!" So Monday wasn't good.

Then today I started out well with a nice workout and a healthy breakfast. But then we went to lunch for a meeting, and my lunch wasn't too awful but they served it with a piece of delicious carrot cake (to which I seem to never be able to turn down), and then we returned for more meetings with a side of Smart Cookies. I gave blood today and had to eat the cookies afterward--plus juice--and came home to see that my best bet for dinner was to finish the leftover entree from Friday night's Olive Garden foray. And you can guarantee THAT wasn't healthy. *sigh*

So...tomorrow we begin anew. I think that's actually the best way to approach a Resolution. Its okay if you fall off the metaphorical horse. Just make sure you get back up again ASAP! And I intend to do exactly that.

And please disregard the numerous grammatical misadventures in this post. I'm tired.

Finding time to work out is hard to do

My life right now is busy. Busy busy busy. I take care of a baby all day long, try to keep our house clean, laundry done, make homecooked meals (because it's cheaper, tastes good, and has less calories than eating out), save money by using coupons at the grocery store, prepare my RS lesson, craft because its what I like to do, and find a little time for me...Oh and I work 20 hours a week. Oh and I'm not sleeping at night because I stay up late usually working or getting a little me time and then in the next couple hours get up one or two times to feed a baby. Because my sleep is so fragmented I never feel really rested and end up trying to cat nap in the morning when my baby takes her best nap.

These are not excuses and they're not really complaints either. I'm just presenting the challenges to working out for me. I constantly have a million things to do--I don't even get to shower every day for heavens sake. But I want to work out, it makes me feel good.

Add to all this that I was sick last week and you can understand why I only worked out once. This week so far, none. :( But I know that tomorrow, Saturday, I will have time to work out (and Joe will be here to help with the baby to make those 20 minutes for the 30 Day Shred happen)

I am going to keep trying because the thing is that I've got one thing going for me this time--I want to work out. The desire is there. And that's a big thing actually. It's not a I should work out feeling, but a I want to. One count in my favor :)

So I'll keep battling and I know it'll be MUCH easier to work out once my 7 month old baby decides to sleep through the night. If she slept 7pm-7am and I went to bed at midnight then it would be 7 hours of sleep and I wouldn't feel like I need to nap during her morning nap--exercise done, before noon. But until that happens...I'll just keep trying to fit it in and pat myself on the back when I can.

So there you go. This is a fitness confessions blog after all. If all we did was post when we had crazy success it wouldn't be as much of an accountability measure.

P.S. way to be on the calorie counting. I agree that it definitely works.

Weighing In

So I've been counting calories like a madwoman since January 3rd. REALLY being strict with myself. I've also been aiming to drink my full 8 glasses of water a day, and doing a pretty good job with it. After all, our thirst is often disguised as hunger so when we keep ourselves hydrated, we don't eat as much. At least, that's what they tell me.

Anyway, when I stepped on the scale for the Week 1 weigh-in I was expecting great things. I mean, this was a week off the holiday binging, and strict calorie counting, and 6 days of workouts--it was bound to be good. But...it wasn't. I didn't GAIN any weight, but I didn't drop a thing. NOTHING. Not even a measly 0.1 lbs. This--as anyone can guess--was frustrating.

I pushed on, though. I kept up the strict calorie counting and the hardcore workouts. And I thought about it. I realized that my Week 1 weigh-in came toward the end of my Monthly Vistor, and that's a time when I generally retain water anyway. So--though it was a day or two early--I declared today another Weigh-In. And...it was better. More like what I was expecting. Yippee!! I've dropped a couple pounds, and I intend to keep that trend going.

Calorie Counting WORKS people. Do it!

It is Resolved...

One of the aerobics instructors at my gym gave a little soap box the other morning about New Years Resolutions. The key one being that you shouldn't have a Resolution that involves a particular weight. I agree with that. She suggested something like, "I resolve to go to the gym 3 times a week" or something. I don't really have a problem hitting the gym regularly (though it wasn't always that way...) so I'm intending to focus my health resolution on counting calories.

My Resolution is to count calories 5 days a week. I'll use the MyPlate application on Livestrong.com, and not only count but set the goal to keep the calories consumed under the allowable amount (for my profile).

Here's to a Calorie Conscious 2011!