A Picture is worth a thousand words...

After I had posted my last food journal I decided that it was a little boring and didn't really have much content, so this time I decided to take pictures of most of the food I ate.  This was very helpful for me too because I was traveling at the end of last week so my diet wasn't what it normally was.  It was much harder to control what I ate.

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Breakfast: Veggie Omelet, 2 soft boiled eggs & honeydew melon

Snack: Banana

Lunch: Started w/ a salad and then shared a veggie pizza w/ my mom.  It was really good. :)

Snack: Extend Bar (protein/energy)

Dinner: 2 Chicken Tacos w/ black beans, tomatoes, guacamole and some cheese.  There were also chips w/ salsa and guacamole on the side.  I only ate half of the chips!  That is a huge step for me.  I normally will eat everything that is in front of me.  So I will pat myself on the back for that one. :)

Friday, August 5, 2011

Breakfast: Veggie Omelet, scrambled eggs & a banana

Snack: Extend Bar (protein/energy)

Lunch: BBQ Chicken & Pork, cole slaw and hushpuppies.

(Not my ideal lunch or meal for that matter)

  

So we were looking for a good place for lunch that we could walk to and all we found was a BBQ place.  This was by far the worst meal I had because there were absolutely no veggies.  The best part though, I again did not eat it all.  In this case I actually took a before and after picture.



This was half way through eating.

Lucky for me there were veggies and dip at cocktail hour at the hotel so I loaded up on veggies.  Along with a few cocktails...

 Saturday, August 6, 2011

Breakfast: Veggie Omelet, scrambled eggs & Honeydew Melon

Lunch: Chicken Caesar Salad (Dressing on the side) and I opted to not eat the croutons.

Dinner:  Turkey Sub at Subway

We were on the bus on the way, so I also had a couple of beers.  I was snacking on the bus, but can't remember if it was Saturday or Sunday so I am just going to put it all as Sunday.

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Breakfast/Snacks:  Bear Naked Cereal, Banana, Trail Mix

Lunch: Old Chicago Italian Nachos, 1 Buffalo Wing,Chicken-Bacon-Apple Salad (Delicious, forgot my camera.), 2 beers

Dinner: 1/2 of chicken sandwich(no bun) w/ avocado (Jarrod's leftovers from lunch)

Overall, I did well I think, considering I was traveling.  And the most important thing is that I didn't feel like I was on a restrictive diet or feel deprived of anything.  I enjoyed myself and the food I ate.

Thank you for listening to me talk.  It really makes it easier to reflect on how my week went. 

How do you eat when you travel? 

Do you let yourself go when you are on vacation because its vacation?



My first food journal...

I told you that I was going to blog my food journal.  I am hoping I can do it a couple of times a week.  I am doing this more for me than for you guys...my hope is that you will learn something from seeing what I do.  So here it goes... :)

08/01/11
8am 2 Egg Veggie Omelet w/ strawberries
9am Mochatonix
11:30am Banana, Granola, Green Tea
12:45pm Salad, Tuna Salad, Apple
3:30pm Extend Protein Bar
5:15pm Subway Turkey Sub, unsweetened iced tea
8:30pm 1 Beer
9pm Fresh String Beans w/ hummus

08/02/11
8am 2 Egg Veggie Omelet w/cheese & strawberries
9am Mochatonix
11:30am Banana, Granola, Green Tea
12:45pm Salad, Turkey, Apple
3:30pm Granola
6:15pm Grilled Chicken & steamed cauliflower & broccoli

I left for a bus trip to Greensboro at 8pm on the 2nd so my eating schedule will be strange for a few days.  We will see how I will eat.

08/03/11
5am Celery, Carrots & dip
10:30am Chicken Salad Sandwich
12pm Chicken BLT Salad
5pm Trail Mix
6pm Mushroom Swiss Burger w/ sweat potato fries
7pm 3 beers

I feel like I did good...what do you think?  How have you eaten the last few days?

Leading By Example!

This actually goes along well with my previous post, so if you have not read that one yet, I would.

We are in the last 4 weeks of my weight management class and in an effort to keep the women on track I have asked everybody to write a goal statement.  I decided I would share it with all of you.

It is August 16, 2011 and I am celebrating my weight management success with my Transitions class.  I have decreased my body fat by 1% and lost 4 inches overall since May 24, 2011.  This was possible because of my commitment to overall health.  I did this by blogging my food journal to stay accountable.  I also did my dumbbell circuit 3 days a week and took 10,000 steps 4 days a week.  On top of how great I look, I also have more energy and feel AMAZING!



As you can see, you will be getting more posts from me because I am going to be telling you basically everything I am doing; good or bad.  I really like the idea of increasing the amount of steps I take to 10,000 steps because it is an easier way for me and for most people to gradually increase daily activity.  That is one of the most important things.  Gradually increasing your daily activity so you almost don't even realize you are doing it, which makes "making a change" that much simpler.

You Cannot Lead where you will not Go...

“You cannot teach what you do not know.  You cannot lead where you will not go.”

This is one of my favorite quotes that I remember hearing at a business training this past year and it really resonated with me.  I bring this up because it seems like more and more we are hearing about the rise of obesity in our country and the worst part is that it is not just us adults.  It is our children too.  I realize that this is not necessarily a positive, fun topic, but I believe it is something that if each of us takes the time to enrich ourselves with the right knowledge, we can make a difference starting with ourselves and move that to our families and from there to our communities.  As parents, coaches and mentors it is our duty to teach our youth about proper nutrition and exercise.  This is where my quote from earlier comes in.  I just read this article about children and obesity and there were some tips in there.  I realized that a lot of the reason kids have these habits is because we are allowing them to do it or we are doing it ourselves.  Therefore, why would your child do something you are not willing to do?  I have read quite a few articles recently and am going to start posting them and commenting on them.  I am going to improve my knowledge and pass that along to you for you to pass it along to your family.  It is important to remember that when reading anything you need to take it at face value.  One of the things I like to do is to take 1 or 2 things from the article and incorporate it into my life.  Be open minded, but don’t take everything too serious.

What do you think of this article?  Do you have any bad habits that you see your kids picking up on?

Late Night Munching...Sleepless Night

Have any of you had a restless night before?  Do you struggle to get a good night’s sleep?  There might a simple “cure” or answer to why. 

A few weeks ago I had a weak moment.  I got home from practice one night and Jarrod wasn’t home yet so I turned on the TV.  After sitting there for a few minutes I decided I wanted something to snack on.  Unfortunately, we had chips in the house, so that is of course what I grabbed.  There were not very many left so I just took the whole bag and sat on the couch with it.  Before long, I was there with an empty bag of chips (This is one reason why I try to keep junk food out of the house: no temptation).  Then after that salty snack I decided that I needed something sweet.  So what did I do…I grabbed 2 pieces of chocolate and ate them.  At the time I was definitely disappointed in myself, but I have been trying not to be too hard on myself because that usually makes things worse.  So later that night, Jarrod got home, we brushed our teeth and went to bed.

I woke up the next morning feeling very tired and groggy and had not gotten a good night’s sleep.  I didn’t really think too much of it.  I am usually a good sleeper so I was a little perturbed.  Later that day at work I was journaling my food from the previous night and it all of a sudden clicked…I probably slept like crap because I ate like crap before I had gone to bed.  It all started to make a lot of sense. 

Now, I have no science to back this up, I did not do some study, all I know is that I did not eat well before bed and that directly affected me not sleeping well.  Isn’t it crazy that eating healthy and living a healthy lifestyle really does affect all aspects of your life, not just your weight?

Do you have trouble sleeping at night?  What have you tried to get a better night sleep?

I recommend writing down what you are eating, especially at dinner time and thereafter and see if you find a correlation between to two.  I would love to hear your results and compare notes!

Ding! Lightbulb just turned on!

For those of you in Wisconsin, you know that it was up in the 90’s for a few days this last week. Since it was so hot, I decided to not make my green tea.  I am not a fan of drinking something hot when it is hot outside or drinking something cold when it is cold outside.  So I sort of unconsciously decided that I didn't need to drink my green tea.  I like my tea, but honestly kinda felt like it wasn’t that big of a deal if I was still going to be eating the food I was eating.  For a couple days I was noticing that I was getting hungry between breakfast & lunch and that my banana (morning snack) was not holding me over for as long as it normally had.  I was trying to figure out why I was getting hungry more now than I was before. 

This is where journaling comes in great and why I emphasize this in my class.  I went to my journal and looked at what I had been eating and drinking each day.  I realized that I wasn’t drinking the green tea that I had been drinking with my banana (morning snack).  And even after I found this out, I was still thinking to myself, "could one 8oz mug of green tea really help keep me that much fuller for that much longer...?" 



 

The answer... YES!  I started drinking my green tea again the next day with my banana.  It helped that it was about 60 degrees outside again.  That morning before lunch I felt so much better and was not nearly as hungry as I had been in the days earlier.  Green tea can help curb hunger but there are many other benefits to drinking green tea.

So what did I learn from this experience...?

It is amazing what the simple addition of something that seems so small can do for you and how you eat.

Journaling is VERY important, especially in the beginning because that is when you are forming new habits.  Not only does journaling make you realize what you are putting in your body, it also can tell you why you are feeling a certain way when you look back at it.  I am sticking with my green tea!

What have you learned lately?  What do you think about Journaling?  I would love to hear what you are doing.

No More Excuses...Get Your Mass Moving!

"I don't have enough time to workout."    "Gym memberships cost too much."

"Workout equipment is too expensive and too big."



Have you heard heard or more importantly, used these excuses before?  Be honest with yourself.  These are lame excuses for not being active and working out.  I am not speaking to you from an ivory tower...I have said these very same things before too.  You are not alone.  So let's get rid of the excuses together.

"Excuses are well planned out lies." - Dani Johnson

So let's quit lying to ourselves and make a change.  I use very little equipment (tennis shoes, 5lb dumbbells & a stability ball) and have a 900 sq ft condo that I workout in.  If I have room, than I am sure you have room too.

The key to starting something different is to start small and work your way up gradually.  I say this from my own experience.  I used to be a collegiate athlete, so for most of my adult life I was used to 3-6 hours of strenuous workouts 5 days week.  So when I wanted to get going again after I graduated I pushed myself hard for a full week and then the next week I would be lucky if I worked out once.  I did this back and forth, over and over again.  I finally realized that this was not working and that I was not a collegiate athlete anymore.  I came to the conclusion that I needed to start slowly and work my way up.

So when I started again I simply began by walking for 20-30 minutes or doing a 10-20 minute dumbbell workout.  I planned to do this 2-3 times per week.  I get bored easily, so that is why I gave myself two different options.  The other great thing is that I love being outdoors and my walking takes place outside and my circuit is inside.  This takes away the excuse of "the weather is crappy."

As with my last post, having a plan is the best way to set yourself up for success with your workouts.  The better you plan the better your outcome will be.  Schedule workouts in your day timer, that way you know when you will do it and you don't have to think about it.

I am now going for a walk/run and doing my circuit 3-4 times per week.  This workout plan still takes me less than 45 minutes to do and I am feeling healthy and strong.  The key is to stay consistent.

Whay are your excuses?  What are you going to do to get rid of the excuses? What is your favorite exercise? 

Healthy Holiday Eating - Memorial Day

There are so many things I wanted to talk about this week.  I chose this topic because A LOT of people struggle with staying healthy when distracted by a holiday and seeing friends and family.  The best way to have the most success is to have a PLAN for the weekend.  Once you know what your plans are, you can make decisions ahead of time instead of at that very moment.  Here are some tips and tricks that I use:

• If you are going to a potluck, bring a healthy dish to pass.  I always like doing veggies with hummus instead of dip.  The hummus has more nutritional value and less sugar than vegetable dip.  Some other more exciting options are salsa and guacamole.

• Be mindful of what you add to your food.  A lot of condiments have added sugars that are not good for us.  Probably to most used for this weekend is Ketchup.  Mustard is actually better than Ketchup so try Mustard instead of Ketchup.  Now, I am going to Brat Fest Saturday and yes I will be eating Brats and yes I will be putting condiments on those brats.  This is leading me to my next tip.

• Eat some veggies before you go out.  I will be doing this on Saturday with probably some celery or cucumbers or carrots or maybe all of them.  This way I will get fuller faster and this will also help to prevent my blood sugar from spiking like it normally would if I had an empty stomach (more on this topic to come).

• Drink A LOT of water!  It is pretty easy to get caught up in the festivities and drink soda, sugary drinks and even beer.  One easy way to drink more water is to always bring water with you.  Now, if you get sick of water easily here is a fun way to jazz it up....Add slices of pineapple(or any fruit) to it!  This will not only make it sweeter and tastier, it will also add nutrients to it.  I will definitely be trying that this summer.

• The last tip I have is to keep your mass moving.  Make sure not to get lazy this weekend.  Go for a walk or bike ride, do some lawn work; whatever it is just don't be sitting around all weekend.  The more you move your mass the better metabolism you will have.  The best time for a short walk is right after eating because this will aid in your food digesting better.

An important thing to remember for this whole weekend is that you are living a lifestyle; you're not on a diet.  So don't over-think or stress yourself out about what you are eating this weekend.  You need to enjoy it!  Try this: Eat 2 healthy meals per day and you can eat 1 less healthy meal.  If you do this you are sure to stay on track.  Lastly, remember our troops this weekend!

Which tip do you like the best?  What do you do to stay healthy during the weekend? 

Set Yourself Up For Success!

This is the most difficult, but also the most important part of the process.  Once you get through it, it will be worth it.  This is detox week.  Now, you are probably saying to yourself, "What is a detox week and why is it important?"  Detox week is meant to rid your body of the toxins that you have been putting in there for so long.  Most of the toxins come from highly processed foods that we have come accustomed to eating because we are "too busy" to make a fresh meal.  Most common is microwave dinners, boxed meals, candy...almost anything with a bar code on it.


How are we doing our detox?  We are doing a fruit and vegetable cleanse.  For a minimum of 5 days, up to 7, we are eating strictly vegetables and fruits.  This is going to jump start our weight loss and more importantly our fat loss journey.  This process will cleanse your palate, so you will start craving fresher foods more instead of processed foods, and also cleanse your body.


This is actually my second time doing a cleanse and it was surprisingly easier than the first time.  The most difficult part for me was not having caffeine, which meant no Mochatonix for me.  I felt pretty sluggish the first two days, but after that it wasn't too bad.  It is common to feel sleepy, get headaches and even feel nauseated.  This is because your body is going through withdrawals.  The nice thing, is that it should only last 2-3 days.  Now that it is Friday I am feeling pretty normal and my energy is back without any caffeine.

Have you ever done a detox before?  What did you struggle with?

Let the Journey Begin

This is the beginning of two journeys; the first is blogging and the second is my 12 week weight management program.  My goal for this blog is to help you in many aspects of your life by sharing my experiences and what I have learned.  I plan to have a new post 1 or 2 times per week.


So for the first 12 weeks I will be blogging about changing the way I eat; not by dieting, but by changing my lifestyle.  I have actually done this program once before and had great results.  The reason I am doing it again is because I want to share my knowledge with my family and friends and have started a class.


This program is based on low glycemic eating based on the Glycemic Index (GI).  I don't want to bore you with too much information all at once, so I will be telling you my story and along the way give the information to help you along a similar journey.


Please join me in this journey so not only will you learn from me, but I can learn from you.


Are you sick of diets?  Are you tired of counting calories, cutting out whole food groups and being exhausted while doing it?  What are you looking to change about yourself?