Losing Weight Ain't For Sissies!

I know...-ain't- ain't a word, and I would never use it. ;o) I cheat ALL the time on the weigh-ins, Laura... I always make these vows to weigh only once a week, etc...and I give in after a couple of days! I feel like for me, it's an accountability, because whether I'm doing good or bad, that scale can't lie. I mean, I have to remind myself that I can't literally gain 5 lbs of fat within a matter of days, it's physically impossible and it's usually bloat from overindulgences, sodium, and the like. But, I'm still on the clean eating wagon. And......Drum roll please.........I broke into the teens...yes it's true. It's something I haven't seen in forever! I'm so happy. Some of my jeans are starting to kind of almost fit! I think I'll probably lower my goal, since this is going so well and I'm feeling so great eating like this. But, for now: 119, 4 lbs to go!

CLEAN EATING IS KING!

At least for me, this has been true. I think at different points in my life (teen years, and before kids) I could probably lose a few without eating that well. But, now it's ALL about the food! I mean, I know it's just logical, mathematics...calories in and calories out... Why is it so easy to forget how food makes me feel when it comes to fitting in my clothes, sluggishness, headaches...? It's so not worth it. (Keep telling yourself that, Jerrica!! As I resist a marble cake with milk chocolate icing sitting on my kitchen counter)

Honestly, my cravings have diminished. My complexion has improved. My energy has also improved. Every morning, it is so much easier to wake up and stay awake. I'm feeling great! I think I already told you, but my eating is consisting of alot of lean protiens (All kinds of fish, turkey, chicken, eggs) and lots of veggies, and 1 serving of fruit per meal. I'm cutting out snacks (just for this weight loss phase) for the most part, unless I feel hungry which I really haven't. And I've stuck with my usual whey protein smoothie for breakfast, since I put my Nanogreens and my protein powder also has a lot of my daily vitamins in it, along with fiber (ground flaxseed, usually.) If I'm really hungry I have a bigger portion, if I'm not very hungry a smaller one. Simple as that. No counting calories or points or measuring. (I am controlling my portions, but I know enough about it to know the difference.) I take that back, I do measure my salad dressing.

So, here are a few of my favorite things these days:

Love, love, love my nanos! Can't say how much better these make me feel. Sounds crazy, I know...there are a dime a dozen "vegetable powders" that are gross. One person described the taste of these as a little bit "banana like" I didn't taste that, but mixed with a little ice, frozen fruit, or a banana, and protein powder they taste great! Did I mention I love 'em?

I know that truly "Clean eating" diets don't even use salad dressing. But, since I'm doing my own thing, I get to use current fave: Newman's Light Italian! I like this so much, I eat it every day, sometimes twice. And you can understand all of the ingredients, no yucky chemicals and a fraction of the number of ingredients compared to most salad dressings. I like it a lot.

I bought a serving of this Quinoa Salad at a local healthfood store called MaMa Jean's. I'm going to be honest, it didn't look like much. Sort of tabouli like, but I'm trying to "behave" so I sampled it and got it...the more I ate the faster I kept eating....it was sooo yum! I cannot quit thinking about this salad! I bought a box of Quinoa at the grocery store, now I NEED this recipe! Anyone have one?

O.K. I Cheated w/ A Mid Week Weigh In!!

I had too it was killing me! I'm glad I did because I am down 2 1/2 pounds!! Woot Woot! 147 as of right now. I plan on keeping it off too. 12 more pounds to go till I'm at my goal.

Laura

Laura Update

UGH I49.5 today! But I ate like crap last week. Seriously I need a shot in the arm of will power. I keep telling myself I can eat clean, I can eat clean. It's Monday and I'm geared up to go for an awesome week. I had kickboxing (which I'm in LOVE with) today and I ran 4 miles. Here's to Mondays! Keep it up ladies!

Don't be discouraged Eujean, running outside is not for all people. Guess what, I CANNOT do yoga, my body just does not bend in those type of ways. Believe me I have tried.

Big Hugs

Laura

Letting go - and blast to the past

So how is my running outside you ask? Hmmm - not so good. After attempting to run outside last week - my asthma flared up so bad - with continuous pain in my lungs - so I have come to the very sad conclusion that running outside is just something I cannot do. I physically just can't do it - at least not in the cold. So - I'm letting go of this goal. Letting go...with lots of sadness...but nevertheless just letting go.

Instead - I decided to go back to my roots from 7 years ago. Yup - a blast to the past. Yes - I decided to start up HOT yoga again. I went this past Saturday I said the following: "Oh. My. Goodness. THIS is why I haven't done it in 6 years....because I want to DIE!" LOL. It was an awesome work out - I have never seen my knees sweat before hot yoga - but it happened again - and it was 90 minutes of heeeat! But I did it. And I am doing it again this Wednesday - and then again on Friday and Saturday. Wish me luck. I have bought an unlimited monthly pass - so I have no choice but to go. On the days I don't do hot yoga -I will be hitting my elliptical.

So quick update on my weight. Laura - I'm about to make you feel MUCH better. I am up to 149 lbs. Yes. It's true. I have gained 11 lbs back from last year. It's official. NOTHING IN MY CLOSET FITS. LADIES. I AM NOT EXAGGERATING. Everything I bought this past May - yeah. Doesn't fit. Nothing. So I am 5'3 with 149 lbs on me and back up to a size 8 - border lining small/medium - and yeah. Feeling a little - ummm - not so good about myself. Lol. Actually - I wish I felt worse - then I wouldn't have eaten that puff pastry I baked yesterday. Nevertheless - I lose weight in the winter and gain weight in the summer - so I am looking forward to hibernating at hot yoga and on my elliptical this winter and hopefully melting this weight off.

I have been loving CUCUMBERS lately ladies - it's so delicious with some sweet chili sauce. Yum.

Hope you're all doing great. 

(((HUGS)))

E.

Photoshop Effect

Hey Ladies!

I just thought I'd share this video with you on this beautiful day! Maybe you've already seen it? I'm a member of this website, and although I don't use it like I have spark in the past, I still receive emails from them and I'll watch the videos sometimes. Today I was watching a few recipe videos. I LOVE the videos these girls post! So, I wanted to let you know I'm down a couple more pounds...it is ALL about the healthy eating. I've been doing good on "clean eating" and it is starting to really show, I think...! So, I hope you're all having a great workout week and I'll TTYS!

Jerrica

Update

So I am fluctuating between 149 and 150 now. I'll be honest and have not been strict with my diet like I wanted to be. I am going to try really hard and stick to my diet in the next coming weeks.

Hugs

Laura

Day 2

So the recommendation was that I don't run everyday - but start off by running every other day. So today I was suppose to walk for 30 minutes. I definitely did that the grocery store. lol. But instead I "walked" (really walked and ran) on my elliptical today for 30 minutes. Tomorrow - I am at the hospital for an appointment so I won't be running outside - but I will be running on my elliptical :)

Day 2. Done. Tomorrow - Day 3. Wish me luck :) Hopefully on Day 5 I will be running outside again.

Cheers,
E

Day 1

I actually went running outside today. Okay - so don't laugh. I have jogged outside several before - but not on a consistent basis. The last time I ran was probably over a year ago. And before that? Many years ago. So - today was Day 1 of my running journey. I did some research online and they suggested that beginner runners start by walking for 2 minutes then running for 1 minute and then repeating that 10x. I ran with my daughter in her stroller - so I only did it 6x. We were at the park for 25 minutes and then we went running for another 20 minutes. I came back exhausted. My legs were even shaky! And my daughter is NOT a little person - so it was quite the pushing while running.

Overall?

I loved it. I am excited to go and do it again tomorrow. I know it's not a long time - and it's really only 10 minutes of running - but I am just going to keep persevering. It was a lot of work for me today. I am looking forward to actually running on my own starting next week while my princess is in school.

On the downside - I could not stop eating the chocolate my husband brought back from London. Hmmm. It's a good thing I ate pretty much all of it so it can't happen again tomorrow. LOL.

Hope you're all doing well.

Cheers,
E

Mid-Week

I wish I could say I have been 100% - unfortunately I would be lying if I said that. I didn't get to work out yesterday because I was putting my baby's bed set together for about 5 hours. My dad and mom came to help for about 2 hours. I had a little set back by myself though - my drill stopped working at one point - and then I also made an error when putting some pieces together - so I had to screw every tiny little hole by hand - so after another 3 hours - I decided I was exhausted - and working out was the furthest thing from my mind.

In terms of eating - I haven't been following the menu 100% (because I didn't have most of the ingredients yesterday actually) but I have been eating pretty healthily. Today I ate super healthy (except for a few french fries I had tonight) and have been LOVING the smoothies I've been having all throughout the day. For lunch I had a deconstructed rice wrap - so mostly just veggies with the chili sauce. It was delish!

Today I went grocery shopping so I should be able to follow my recipe plan 100% from hereon out. I am super excited. I know I won't lose any weight this week because my "time of the month" is this weekend - so I am already bloating and was super heavy on the scale this morning. I have gained so much weight - none of my clothes fit! AH! Anyways - I am excited for fall. I am even thinking of starting to run outside once my pookie bear is in school in another week and a half! :)

Cheers,
E

Menu For Week 1

You can following along or make your own! Here it is if you want to follow along.

MENU FOR WEEK 1

Monday

Breakfast:
Whole Wheat English Muffin with Eggs, Cheese and Chicken Bacon

Snack:
Smoothie (Blueberry)
Baby Carrots

Lunch:
Cobb Salad (Lettuce, Tomato, Egg Whites, Corn, Bell Peppers)

Snack:
Banana
Cucumbers
Sunflower Seeds

Dinner:
Egg White Omlette (Bell Peppers, Onions, Zucchini)

Tuesday

Breakfast:
Kashi Go Lean Cereal

Snack:
Cucumbers & Dip
Baby Carrots

Lunch:
Rice Wraps (Chicken, Cucumbers, Carrots, Bell Peppers) with Sweet Chili Sauce

Snack: 

Smoothie (Blueberry)
Soy Nuts

Dinner:
Pan-Seared Chicken with a Balsamic glaze
Steamed Broccoli (or Carrots or a Salad)

Wednesday

Breakfast:
Oatmeal

Snack:
Smoothie
Banana

Lunch:
Chicken Caesar Salad

Snack:
Fat Free Cheese Slice
Boiled Egg Whites

Dinner:
Chicken Rotisserie

Thursday

Breakfast:
Same as Monday

Snack:
Cucumbers
Baby Carrots
Cheese Slice

Lunch:
Tilapia (Broiled)
½ cup Basmati Rice
Salad

Snack
Smoothie (Blueberry and Banana)

Dinner:
Fajitas

Friday

Breakfast:
Oatmeal

Snack:
Smoothie

Lunch:
Chicken Fajita Leftovers

Snack:
Cucumbers
Fat Free Cheese Slice
Baby Carrots

Dinner:
Baked Salmon with Black Bean Salsa and Quick Corn Saute (clean eating mag volume 3)

Saturday

Breakfast:
Same as Monday

Snack:
Smoothie (Blueberry Banana)
Soy Nuts

Lunch:
Lean meat sandwich

Snack:
Fruit
Baby Carrots

Dinner:
Turkey Burger or Chicken Burger
Salad

Sunday

Breakfast:
Oatmeal or Kashi Go Lean Cereal

Snack:
Baby Carrots
Goldfish Crackers
Soy Nuts/Sunflower Seeds

Lunch:
Whole Wheat English Muffin with Egg, Cheese OR Homemade Pizza

Snack:
Smoothie

Dinner:
Roast or Chicken or Fish Dish or Korean Dish
Salad

Hello World.

Well - here I am world. Yup. Back rolls and all. I was pulling my shirt towards my stomach so that you could see the whole deal. I am hiding nothing. :)

Well - as you can see I have a lot to work on. I found out last week that I am actually SHORTER then I thought (nobody ever wants to know that) so my BMI is even higher then I thought. It was a sad day. Anyways - I am 5'3 (not almost 5'4 like I thought) and I am about 146 lbs or so. This is honestly the heaviest I've been in about 1.5 years. It stinks.

To be honest - I didn't work out this past week. My hubby had the week off so we were pretty busy catching up on a lot of things to do - like getting our car fixed - buying our princess a new bed set - we went away this past weekend ETC so life has been busy. But we can always try to find ways to be healthy even when life gets really crazy. SO this week I have TWO challenges.

FIRST - I challenge you all to make some kind of Menu. I have made a 2 week Menu Plan which I will TRY to post up. I am not exactly sure how it'll work - but I'm going to try so you can see what I am eating.

SECOND - It takes 3 weeks of doing something everyday to turn it into a habit. I am going to to work out 6 times this week - Monday to Saturday. So I challenge you to do the same. Even if it might be some light exercising - at least you are doing something. And a lot of little somethings add up to a lot :)

Cheers,
E