Showing posts with label weight loss. Show all posts
Showing posts with label weight loss. Show all posts

Thursday, March 28, 2013

Achieve something great in April!

I've been trying a few different things to hit my target weight and ran across this fun idea. I'm hoping it'll give me that final push I need (with your help!!). 

Anyone interested? It starts April 1st. The more folks we have the bigger than pot. 


(click the link above to get more info and sign up!)

Also feel free to invite your friends. I'm really excited about this!
I'm also setting up a facebook group so let me know if you want in just to get motivated.

Sunday, March 10, 2013

Review & Giveaway: Stop Dieting and Start Losing Weight by Jen Brewer, RD

Title: Stop Dieting and Start Losing Weight: 25 Lifestyle Changes to Control Your Weight for Good
Author: Jen Brewer
Genre: Weight Loss, Self-Help
Release Date: Dec 2012
ISBN: 9781462110636
Publisher: Plain Sight Publishing
Pages: 159
Add it: Goodreads | Shelfari 

My review:
With Jen Brewers background as a registered dietitian she not only tells you what works but why it works. There is practical, common sense, easy-to-do tips. Like she says, start with a few of her tips, ones that you can handle. Mold them into your life and make permanent changes. My favorite part, one that my husband and I talk about all the time, any diet works if you consume less calories than you burn. It's all about making smart choices and lifestyle changes.

The book includes: 25 lifestyle changing tips, a sample food journal, nutrition checklists, a meal-planning worksheet, charts to determine your caloric need, delicious sample recipes and more.

About the book:
Only a permanent change will bring permanent results. The good news is you can do it! Using only four core principles along with a wealth of tools and recipes to get you started, this refreshing book is the perfect tool for anyone who wants to get off the diet rollercoaster and maintain a healthy, happy life.


Buy it: 



Giveaway:
I have one copy (sent to me from Plain Sight & Cedar Fort) that I'd like to give away to one of my readers.




Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Cranberryfries Homemade Chili

This is one of my most favorite go-to meals. I used to detest leftovers of any kind but now that I'm making smarter, healthier choices than I was before I find it way easier to stick to what I know is healthy for me. This usually means that breakfast, lunch, and snacks are pretty much the same thing every day (with mild variation). I do love doing different things for dinner though (so my family doesnt get bored).

If all goes as planned, Sunday is my meal plan day when I lay out my weeks worth of food plans and if I can, prep as much of it as needed. This week I made this chili and grilled cubed chicken (to use in tossed salads or other meals-though this week I'll be using it in my chili for more protein and for snacks).

Cranberryfries Chili

Ingredients:
  • 1 can (15 oz) red beans
  • 1 can pinto beans
  • 1 can black beans
  • 1 can garbanzo beans
  • 1 can kidney beans
  • 1 can great northern beans
  • 1 lrg can (29 oz) tomato sauce
  • *1 can tomatoes, petite diced with chipotle chiles
  • 1lb extra lean ground beef (or any meat of your choice) (cook, drain grease and add at any point)


Directions:
Simmer on stove for 30 minutes or cook in crockpot for a few hours.
If you add all the beans above this usually makes about 10 or so cups (w/ no meat). Sometimes if I don’t have them all on hand I’ll throw in what I do have, I’d suggest at least using 4 varieties. With the 1lb ground beef I got 12 cups.

It’s pretty easy. I add a little season all to my meat when I’m cooking it but otherwise the only extra flavoring I add is in the ingredient I swear that makes this whole recipe delicious. (see * above)

It does make quite a bit so I usually will freeze half (I think it freezes pretty well) and use the other half for a week worth of lunches for me. (My 7 y/o helps me eat it too, it's one of her favorites!)

Nutritional Information including all above ingredients (this is a very close estimate-I did enter all the info into a recipe builder):
Total ~12 cups                   1 serving is ½ cup
146 calories; 10 g protein, 22 g carbohydrates, 11 g iron; 2 g fat; 2 g fiber


(This was right after I added in all the beans,
but hadn't yet added in my lb of ground beef)
Assuming you get 10 cups out of this here is the nutritional information (without any meat) (this is a very close estimate):
Total ~10 cups.                 1 serving is ½ cup
142 calories; 8 g protein; 27 g carb; 11g iron; 0g fat; 7 g fiber

~Lots of additions! You can also add in corn, sour cream (or greek yogurt for more protein!), cheese and eat with tortilla chips.

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Fitness Check In

Here's a little of what I've been up to lately.

 In December I completed The Bertinators 31 day challenge
December 2012 Fitness Calendar


In January I started a 12 week program LeanMoms.com.
January 2013 Fitness Calendar


The end of January my family took a little trip to California for fun filled family reunion at Disneyland. Admittedly I had a difficult time when I got home recovering from the length, excitement, and fatigue of the trip. The first day home I slept for over 12 hours. It seemed every time I tried to work out I'd tire myself out so thoroughly I was sleeping at 7pm at night. Any who...

So far my February looks like this, so I'm hoping that I can get myself to stay on track!



What are your fitness goals this year and/or month? 
Do you have rewards for your goals?

I'm really looking forward to my reward at the end of the 12 weeks. I've promised myself a hair appointment to get some fun highlights when I complete the first 12 weeks of LeanMoms.com!!! 

Thursday, January 3, 2013

LeanMoms.com (Membership Giveaway!)

I keep thinking I need to blog about my continued effort in getting fit and being healthier. So chalk that up to a goal this year. You might remember my earlier posts about my weight loss, (part1, part2, part3). I finished off 2012 with a bang and really enjoyed the programs I did that kept me motivated to workout hard every day. 

I've been wanting to weight lift for SO long. What held me back though was not knowing enough about it. I knew a handful of moves and machines but I felt like, when I heard my friends talk 'today I did shoulders, today I did triceps and biceps' I didnt know enough moves specific to muscle groups that I felt I was being effective when I tried the machines.

I've seen LeanMoms around and when I did some research into the program I knew this was what I had been hoping to find! I needed to learn proper form, exercises and combinations. This is it! I want to get sculpted!

My initial review:
I started earlier this week and I AM HEAD OVER HEELS IN LOVE!!! I'm doing the at-home program and I've been so impressed with the set up. Lacy includes a detailed worksheet of the exercises for each day, PLUS a how-to video of each move. You're given access to the program upfront so you have all the information you need before you start so you can get comfortable and knowledgeable before trying it out.

I've poured over this information and there is variety and consistency so I think you'll love it as much as me! There is also a do-able meal plan. For me that is huge. I've always shied away from meal plans because I'm crazy picky but so far I've been really excited that I can handle this one! On top of that there is a great online support group that you can be involved in as much or as little as you want. Everyone is at different stages so it's nice to ask for clarification or suggestions but also throw in my two cents every now and then.

(Click the above image to go to the website 
to learn even more and sign up!)

More specific information:
Leanmoms.com is an online strength training and body sculpting program created specifically for busy women and mothers. Each level is a comprehensive 12-week program designed to help you learn proper strength training and nutrition for a female body to yield great results.
Instead of a fad diet that promises quick (but not lasting) results, LeanMoms gives women the necessary tools to make long-lasting healthy lifestyle changes to help them feel better about themselves, be stronger and more active for their children, and have a lean, sculpted body they can be proud of.

The LeanMoms program teaches you how to exercise with effective strength training schedules and instructional videos,  and how to eat right with full, detailed meal plans that tell you what to eat, when to eat it, and how much of it to eat. This type of program is ideal for the busy mother, because it’s much less expensive than hiring a trainer and can be done on your own schedule—either at the gym or at home.

Lacy, the CEO and founder of LeanMoms, and all the other LeanMoms clients will be cheering you on along the way in the private LeanMoms Facebook group, on group calls, and motivational emails. The private Facebook group is like tapping into a fountain of fitness and nutrition gold. The level of support you receive is like nothing you've experienced before. It's hard to fail when you have this kind of support.

LeanMoms.Com offers three different membership packages to accommodate women at every level.

The Molly 3-Month Membership ($67) includes:
Access to LeanMoms Member’s site
Full, detailed meal plan and shopping lists. 
Soft to Sculpted Level 1 Complete Workout 
Support and healthy advice via e-mail and social media posts from LeanMoms coaches.
Set of recorded downloadable calls to aid you in your success.

The Sophie 6-Month Membership ($147) includes:
Access to LeanMoms Member’s Site
Soft to Sculpted Level 1 Complete Workout Program
Meal plan and shopping lists
Access to private Facebook group
Free access to regular group calls
Weightloss Meditation Program

The Savannah One-Year VIP Membership ($197) includes:
Access to LeanMoms Member’s site
Soft to Sculpted Level 1 and Level 2 Complete Workout Programs
Level 1 and Level 2 Meal Plans
Access to Private Facebook group
Free access to group calls
NEW weekly workout options and recipes
Weightloss Meditation Program
Exclusive discounts and gyms, spas, and other businesses partnered with LeanMoms
10% discount on any LeanMoms merchandise
50% discount on any LeanMom live events

Giveaway:

LeanMoms.com is offering The Molly-a 3 month ($67) membership to one of you lucky Cranberryfries readers for FREE!!!

Yay! We can do it together!!



a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Part 3: Working It (er...Working Out)



I've always loved being active and playing sports. I've a had a gym membership for years and would actively go at least 3x a week most of the time. However, like I said in my last post, I didnt have the entire formula, the eating part down so I never really went anywhere with my weight loss. I'd go down a few pounds but would then go back up the next month when I'd eat out a little more or whatever. So while I was patting myself on the back for working out, really I was just sorta staying stable.

Now thats not to say that it's only eating well that caused me to lose weight. When I started this journey, back in September 2011 I got SERIOUS about the entire process. Here's a little more on the working out part of it.


My gym membership had expired several months before (I didnt want to renew the contract because we planned on moving soon) so I'd been working out at home on and off. So all of this below, was done on my own, at home, with no membership or trainer.

While I have always loved sports and being active I have exercise induced asthma and have used that excuse not to run. But when I started this back in Sept I wanted to at least give it a go. So the very first day I ran. And boy howdy it wasn't far AT ALL. Literally. I mapped it out. And I was SO stinkin proud of myself. I remember coming home totally out of breath and telling my husband, I totally did it. I ran the whole way. Then I logged it in to mapmyrun.com and found out just how incredibly awesome my run was. All .62 miles of it. Yep. I did a bit over half a mile and I was DARN PROUD folks.

So I made a goal. To do more than that the next time I went out. And I did. .82 miles! And another goal the next day. Do better. And I did. And so my intense love of goal making was born! A few thoughts on that.


In order to make new goals I had to know where I was at. So every time I did a run I'd log it in. I had a lot of variables I could work with for my goals. Time (overall, per mile, etc), distance, amount of days, weekly totals, monthly totals, etc. And I used them all. The first few days t it was just, 'do better than I did last time', then it was, 'go running 3x this week'. The next two weeks it was do a better total mileage than I did the week before. I dont remember them all specifically but I also did a month of 10 miles a week, a month of 50 miles total, a week of 5k's, hitting my first 100 miles and doing 100 push ups and sit ups that day.

Here's a look at my calendars. I was loading most of my workouts into mapmyrun.com (since I was primarily running) until January. I LOVED getting to see my accomplishments so even when it was too cold to run outside, and I was bored on my treadmill I started using some at home videos like Xbox360 Your Shape Fitness Evolution,  Slim in 6, and The Bertinator youtube videos. Anyway then I printed off some calendars and I write on those daily.


(you can click to enlarge)












My favorite things about a few workout forms I used:

Running: Most calories burned in least amount of time. (This is HUGE for me.)
Equipment needed: A good pair of shoes and some great tunes! And maybe pepper spray if you're running alone and early in the morning. I also found it helpful to use things like mapmyrun (you can map your route after you run it on a home computer or w/ a smart phone while you run) or a GPS app on your phone like endomondo.

Slim in 6: A great at home workout that really makes ya sweat. Time ranges from 42-60 minutes. It consists of three workouts increasing in difficulty.
Equipment needed: Slim in 6 DVD's, resistance bands and light hand weights.

Your Shape Fitness Evolved Xbox360: Lots of variety; kickboxing, yoga, mini games, etc.  On board calorie counter.
Equipment needed: Xbox 360, kinect, fitness evolved game, other items depends on option, most you need nothing but some involve light hand weights.

The Bertinator: She's a hoot. She does the workouts along with you. It's always a good time. These are online on youtube. They range from 5-30+ minutes.
Equipment needed: light hand weights.

Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred: Similar to Slim in 6. It's a video with 3 different episodes all 20 minutes each with warm up and cool down.
Equipment needed:30 Day Shred DVD and light hand weights.

I said it before and I'll say it again,
"I can jog for 30 minutes (which I had to work up to) and burn around 300 calories. Which is fantastic, dont get me wrong. But my point is, if you aren't conscience of what you're eating, you could mindlessly eat that many calories in a few minutes."

This is the reason I work out 6 days a week. To remind myself that EVERYTHING I put into my mouth counts. And a lot of times it helps to think, "Do I want to eat this ____ for ___calories if it means I just canceled out my run from this morning?" Like 22 gummy bears for 150 calories, man thats like 15 minutes of running! (Obviously it's not that every food needs to be bargained for like this, but if I'm using my 1200 calories for meal time I have to be pretty careful with my snacks.) If it's worth it, great. But I have to make the choice and be accountable.

Read Part 1 here.
Read Part 2 here.

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Part 2: Eating Right

You CANNOT out exercise a horrible diet!

While working out is important (and certainly included everyday in my weight loss regime) eating right is SO much the bigger battle (for me) and really where the biggest impact is going to occur. (I've heard it said it's an 80/20 ratio. 80% what you eat and 20% your workouts.)

I mean I can jog for 30 minutes (which I had to work up to) and burn around 300 calories. Which is fantastic, dont get me wrong. But my point is, if you aren't conscience of what you're eating, you could mindlessly eat that many calories in a few minutes.

(Nov 2009 & Jan 2012)

I knew I could do better with my eating but I didnt realize just what I was doing to myself until I started diligently keeping track.

I've tried this so many times before! Some have worked- Weight Watchers; twice, first time I lost 10lbs (then stopped and gained it back), second time I lost 15lbs (then stopped and gained it back). Some have not-*trying to keep track in my head, write my daily consumption on sticky notes on the fridge, or in a journal.

Then last year my husband found a few online tools. We tried one, I dont even remember the name, but I was sporadic about it. Then we found myfitnesspal. I think the key for me was that a) it was on my phone, which is in my pocket all the time and b) a few super handy features (scan items, huge database, graphs of progress).


So back in September when I started I wanted to lose 45lbs.
And this is what I saw four and half months later!

By being consistent. And diligent. 



A few things that helped with eating/food portion of my weight loss:


Is It Worth It?! I knew starting a healthier lifestyle would be difficult and I was going in big, starting right before Halloween. And Thanksgiving. And Christmas. But way back in the middle of September, before any of that happened I had a thought. Next year, in five years, in ten years am I going to remember that second helping of thanksgiving dinner I had? Am I going to remember that dozen pieces of candy I took from my kids Halloween bag? OR am I going to look smokin' and be proud of myself? I could still participate in the holidays and celebrations but I could do it smart and still be just fine.

Using smaller plates. Our  normal dishes are a good general dinner plate size. My kids' plates are smaller and we have some ikea plates that are even smaller! I literally haven't used the big plates in over six months. Every night at dinner we set the table with our disney plates and I still don't fill it all up with food. 



Measuring out portions. If I'm going to make the effort, I want to make sure I am accounting for everything. To me, the extra 10 seconds are worth it. I bought an inexpensive ($10ish) digital scale online and even an extra set of measuring cups because I use them so much.


Having recipes/meals I could rely on. Since usually I don't have to feed my entire family for lunch (school and work) my lunches turned in to something easy. (I didn't set out to do this, but it turns out it has helped a ton.) I found two meals that I enjoy a lot so I make one, put the leftovers in the fridge and have lunch for a week then switch.  My two are Tostadas (174 calories) (where I found out I loved them while on vacation in California and my mother-in-law made them for me) and Taco Soup (175 calories for a 1/2 C). For dinners I eat a lot of chicken. (I <3 chicken) I have found a handful of recipes that work for me but have still been able to keep alot of what I usually cook and just watch my portion size.


Knowing ahead of time what our weekly meals were. I made a super simple weekly layout. Every week I fill it out, write my grocery list on the back and take it with me to the store (in case I see something on sale I can easily make a substitute). Then I put it on my kitchen counter, right where I can see it and follow it.


Getting rid of temptation It took a little while, but I dont give in at the store and think I'll only have 1 (Dorito, cookie, Reeses Pieces)  and my family will eat the rest because while it might be true SOME of the time, it sucks having to see that stuff at my house. Why do that to myself. I have to be my own cheerleader and I have to believe I can do this too!

Having on hand, low cal snacks. While I try not to, sometimes I like to snack. I tend to visualize and compartmentalize all my foods in categories of 100 calories now. Air popped popcorn, apples, chicken (I'll grill up some and keep it in the fridge so I can pull out a few ounces at a time), Special K cracker chips (my favorite / have the strongest flavor: Ranch & Sour Cream and Onion), Werthers Original (sugar free), fat free yogurt w/ a 1/4 c granola, a cup of dry cereal,  pretzel sticks, and an obvious choice is vegetables (but I'm not a fan! so sorry). All of the things in the picture below are about 100 calories. (Scooby snacks aren't my normal regime but my son really wanted me to add them into the picture.)


Don't drink your calories! I drink water or crystal light (and sometimes rarely, like when I go out to eat, again rarely, Diet Coke). My husband loves to drink juice, and thats just never been a temptation for me. 120 calories in 8oz of apple juice! Bazinga. I would WAY rather have an extra one of those snacks from the above picture for that price.


Planning my entree ahead of time if I was going out to eat. I'd figure out what I was going to eat a day or two before then the day of try to work out as close to that many calories as was feasible. Using online searches I could find just about any nutritional information from the restaurants I went to with ease. My best bet was always chicken.


Choose. Choose. CHOOSE. I didnt want to cut things out absolutely and completely. This whole thing is totally a mind game for me. The eating, the working out, all the aspects of it is a big mind game. In the past I've always looked at diets and thought "I can't do that. I could never not have___". I do however choose to have them less often. BUT when I want it, I count it and move on and dont beat myself up for enjoying it.
Also something helpful for me is that I try to start with half a serving. Plate it, sit down, eat it. THEN if I want more go get it. Sometimes, it's just a taste I want and I dont have to spend the rest of the calories. :) (With this in mind though, the three common foods I have in my house that I've noticed I choose not to have near as often as I used to are bread, cheese and peanut butter. (Again, for me, I'd just rather spend my calories else where. It wasn't an upfront choice of not eating these things but when I'd try to decide what I was putting on my taco I'd measure out an ounce of cheese and after the first or second time decide it wasn't worth it the next.)


As I said in previous weight loss post, I have to be absolutely honest with myself. Because whether or not I put it into my calorie counter, it's put in to my body,  there's no tricking it.



So here's a little more detail about how I am counting calories. I use myfitnesspal. Which you can use on a desktop computer or a smartphone app. (I use them both.)

My daily allotted amount is 1200 calories.
I work out first thing in the morning (I'll have another post about my workouts and what motivates me).
While my calorie counter adds in the new amount I stay to my 1200 because, at least for the time being, (I still want to drop another few lbs) I want to maximize my efforts.

Below is a random day from last week, to give you an idea. A nice thing is the data base is so large you can typically search for anything and find the info. If you have a smart phone there is also a bar code scanner option you can scan your food in and it'll pull up it's nutritional information and you can add it to your day.


You can right click on the above picture. But basically it just shows I had taco soup & crackers for lunch. Chicken, baked potato, and salad for dinner. Yogurt, granola, popcorn, crackers and a multi vitamin throughout the day. Total 1118 calories. 

One of the features I love is that I can enter in my common recipes and figure out exactly how many servings/calories they're worth. Just an example, here's a Taco Soup recipe. 


You'll see this in my workout post probably but I really like visuals. I love seeing my nutrition, fitness and progress repots and get a kick out of the progress I'm making!


If you made it this far, thanks for sticking around. Sorry it was so long! 
Here is Part 1. I hope to have Part 3 up next week (with some answers to the questions that were left in the last comments).

Thank you for all of your kind words and support!

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Part 1: Losing Weight (The Tools)

On Monday I hit a pretty big milestone. After four and half months I hit my goal of losing 45 pounds. (Now on to the next goal!) :)


I've had a lot of friends ask me what I've been doing (and how I've lost it) so I thought I'd try to write it out. Turns out I like to talk. I'm dividing it up into a few parts.

Part 1: The Tools

Back in the middle of September I started two things.

  1. Keeping track of the calories I put into my body. Everything! Every single bit.
  2. Tracking my workouts. 

Only this time I didn't just start, I've been able to stick with it. 


Logging in my food:

I signed up for a free calorie counter called myfitnesspal. So did my husband (more out of support and encouragement for me). I also downloaded the app on my phone. (I LOVE this app.) And I use it diligently. Because sure if I decide not to log in my food it doesn't show up on the counter but it still shows up on my thighs.

Logging in my workouts:

Secondly I went searching for a website I could use to figure out how far I went jogging. (Which literally my first day I went a whopping .62 miles, and I was so proud of myself. We all gotta start somewhere.) I came across MapMyRUN which I fell in love with. I liked it because at the beginning I knew I'd be doing a lot of running but this site also let me log and keep track of other workouts too and to me it was a big motivator to see my workouts, done, on a calendar. 

I'll go into more depth about both of these in my other posts, if you're interested, but plain and simple I am losing weight because I am burning more calories than I'm consuming. Bottom line.

Read Part 2 here.
Read Part 3 here.