Trying a New Nutritional Plan – 3.5.12

My mother started a new diet a few weeks back and was hounding me to read the book and try it along with her, but I’m so jaded about ‘diets’ that I just brushed it off and told her I wasn’t interested. Until she started throwing these random facts at me like broccoli has twice the protein, calorie for calorie, than steak. I didn’t believe her. Then she told me she’s lost 11 lbs after 2 weeks – that got my attention so I downloaded the book in my kindle since I had a gift card [and hence, it was ‘free’ to me in case it was a load of crap]. I found myself totally engrossed and I ended up reading the whole thing in 2 days and starting the plan myself last Monday. In the first week I’ve lost 5.6 lbs and I’m eating a TON of food.

The book is Dr. Joel Fuhrman’s, ‘Eat to Live‘. When I initially browsed through it at the bookstore before buying it, my first impression was that it was vegetarian propaganda. But after actually reading it I’ve realized it’s not – it just recommends eating less animal protein than the ‘standard American diet.’ [or SAD]. I didn’t think I could be satisfied eating just fruit for breakfast when I was used to having an egg with whole wheat toast, or greek yogurt with berries, but the premise of the book is that you get the most nutrients per calorie, which you’ll find in fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts and seeds – and some whole grains… and you eat higher volumes of these lower calorie foods, upping both your nutrient and fiber intake. It’s that combination of fiber and nutrients that help turn your appetite signals off via receptors in your stomach and colon, so when you fill up on the right foods, you’re not as hungry. 

Thoughts: 11.1.09

This is beginning of week 5 for me with the body bugg, and I’m down 11 lbs. It does what it says it does if you track your calories. I’m finally a believer. After dieting and FAILING miserably for so many years, I finally feel like I’m going to do this and make it to my goals. It’s very new, very awesome sensation. lol…

I would have figured I’d get bored with tracking calories, but I haven’t. I actually love knowing how many calories I’m consuming because I love hitting all my daily targets for calorie burning, steps, activity duration, etc. I’m a body bugg-a-holic if there is such a thing. lol

I’ve also discovered a great trick to making sure I burn up all my calories for the day. I love TV and I watch too much of it, but I bought myself a stability ball, and now I bounce on it while I watch TV – it works so well that I know I burn 350 calories while watching 45 minutes of news! If I know we have a lot of shows ot catch up on and will be in front of the TV for 2-3 hours [I know, it’s a lot…], at least now I know I can burn 1,000 calories or more doing it. It doesn’t replace my daily workouts but it does mean I can just do ONE workout a day and then burn off the rest of my calories while watching TV vs. doing 2 workouts a day like I was doing before, which felt like too much. Bouncing isn’t that hard on the body, but working out twice a day can be.

I’m going to try dropping my calories from 1,850 to 1,750 and burning 3,000 a day vs. 2,850 to see if I can increase my weekly weightloss from 2lbs to 2.5lbs. If it’s too much I’ll go back to what I was doing before [1,000 calorie deficit per day instead of 1,250]. By kicking my routine up a notch, the body bugg software claims I’ll reach my goal by April 9th. Which is great because it gives me time to settle into my new size [whatever that ends up being] and gives me time to do a little shopping – we have a few weddings to go to in May. If/when I reach my goal it’ll mean I’ve lost a total of 95lbs. How crazy is that? I’m almost halfway there – I’ve lost 39 lbs so far since I started this journey. I’m still not 100% sure my goal weight of 159 lbs is correct or not, but I weighed 160 at the end of highschool and again when I lost the weight I gained after my first year of college, so my ‘ideal’ weight is probably around that number. I can always reevaluate once I get there if I think I can lose a few more lbs… and if my body stops at 165 or 170 and I look and feel great, I’m fine with that, too.  =)

The best part of counting calories and living this way is, nothing is off limits. I eat mostly healthy, but now and then I can splurge if I plan for it. Last night my husband took me out for a delicious lobster dinner. I had a 1.5 lb lobster and I dunked every piece in butter – I also made sure to let most of it drip off, and in the end I probably ate about a tablespoon total of the butter, which is about 105 calories. Not a big deal in the grand scheme of things. When we got home I had enough calories left over to have some popcorn while we watched a movie and a few squares of chocolate. That whole thing about some people being able to eat whatever they want is true – as long as it doesn’t mean their taking in more calories than they burn.

I used to think maintaining a big weightloss would be tough, but if you exercise, it really doesn’t need to be. If I’m burning 1,250 calories more than I’m taking in now, to lose the weight, it means I either keep up the activity level and I get to eat a LOT more, or I can eat about the same amount of food and I don’t have to worry about being SO active every day [right now I do about 10,000 steps and get in about an hour and a half of activity per day, at a minimum]. It’ll mean I can take a couple of days off each week and really let my body recover fully before pushing it again.

This whole experience has been such an eye-opener. I know I won’t ever have the same issues with weight gain again. I know I’ll be ready to move on with the rest of my life when I reach my goals. This will be the toughest thing I’ve ever done. But once I figured out what works for me it stopped being an uphill battle, and turned into a happy journey.  =)  I’m enjoying it every step of the way.

In case you’re wondering about the stability ball, this is the one I have. It’s made to withstand 1,200 lbs – it’s made more rugged for weightlifting. I’ll be getting another as we finish off part of our basement as a gym so I can use it in place of a weight bench: Rhino Skin Stability Ball [image courtesy of amazon.com]

Body Bugg & Counting Calories…

Update: Just found out the sale [free digital readout with armband purchase] ends Wednesday [9/30/09]. Fyi…  =)

This has been a pretty fluid and interesting journey so far… things seem to be happening at a decent progression. I’m figuring things out, getting stronger and smarter about health and fitness with each passing month. I’m at the point fitness-wise where I feel confident trying new sports like kayaking [just have to make the time!], but I haven’t lost any weight in the past few months. I finally had to accept the fact that it was time to track calories burned vs. calories consumed. I watch Biggest Loser and have always found inspiration in the show, but they tend to be vague on the specifics of the program they have the contestants on – until this year. I know they use the Body Bugg to track calories burned, and I now know they put them on a 1.200 calorie a day diet. What I didn’t know until last week was that they expect the women to burn 6,000 calories a day, and the men, 8,000. That is CRAZY!!! I suppose if you didn’t have to work and had all day, it’s easily doable, but not for people with full time jobs, houses, families, responsibilities, etc. But it was good to know. There’s no magic behind their incredible weekly losses – they literally work their asses off!

So… I found a coupon and 24 hour fitness was running a special – buy the Body Bugg, get the digital display for free [here a link to the product page if you’re interested], so I went ahead and ordered it – with apprehension. I’ve never counted calories before and I was worried it would be $224 wasted. Not so at all! It’s incredibly easy to use and really informative. It told me  that in order to lose 2lbs per week to meet my weightloss goal by mid-May, I need to consume 1,850 calories a day and burn 2,850 calories a day. The first night I put the bugg on, it told me I burned 700 calories in my sleep alone! Pretty awesome. Weightlifting is paying off in that department. I absolutely LOVE the Body Bugg. Chalene Johnson, the creator of Turbo Jam and her ChaLEAN Extreme strength training program also fell in love with it and contacted 24hr fitness to be able to offer a coupon special for her followers: bbgcj24

Counting calories is time consuming when you make most of your food from scratch, but I think as long as I measure and write it all down with calculations made, it’ll be a lot easier to make the same dish the next time without taking so much time to figure out all the calories, etc. I made a great minestrone-style soup the other night that turned out to be only 165 calories for a 300g serving [a pretty decent sized bowlful] so I added in a tbsp of parmasan cheese for another 20 calories and it was amazingly delicious and satisfying. It’s definitely been a huge eye-opener the past few days, seeing what has how many calories. I was blown away by how many calories nuts have. I had made a trail mix and I was eating it in 1/2 cup servings – turns out it’s 355 calories, which can throw me off if I’m not careful. 

It’s too soon to report any real weightloss, but I will as I go along. I did lose 2lbs from yesterday, but it doesn’t mean anything. It’s that time of the month so I think it was just bloat going away… I’ll be interested to see where I’m at in a week, in a month and in a few months, to see if I can turn this program into steady, healthy fat loss. I decided that as a reward for making my goal by May [just in time for 2 weddings, which means SHOPPING for some sexy party dresses], I’m treating myself to a trip and some shopping in London. I’ve always wanted to go, since I was a kid, so it’s been a long time coming – and celebrating an achievement this momentous in London with my husband is the perfect ‘reward.’  =)

WHEN I reach my goal in May, it will have been about 2 1/2 years since I decided it was time to do something about my health. If you had told me at the time that it would take that long I would have been disappointed. One thing I’ve learned through this whole process is good things are worth working for. And I have no doubt I’ll get there. In the meantime, I can’t wait until I can do 10 full pushups – not having to go to my knees after 5. It’s the smaller goals inbetween the big ones that keep me motivated.  =)

This is my menu for today. I’m going to put it in this post as an example, but also for my own reference:

• Protein shake [made into 2 meals, before and after workout]: 375
• 2 eggs over easy, 1 tsp oil, 1 slice whole grain bread: 350
• 1/2 cup 2% Greek yogurt with agave, vanilla, lemon zest and 1 cup berries: 170
• Homemade minestrone soup with 1 Tbsp parmesan: 185
• Veggie sticks [carrot, celery, cuke & red pepper] with 1/4 C hommus: 160
• 4oz Roasted chicken breast, 1/4 C [dry – not sure what that’ll end up being cooked…?] Brown Rice
& 3 oz garlic sauteed asparagus [including oil]: 360
• 8oz black seedless grapes & 1 light mini baby bell cheese: 195
—————-
Total calories: 1,795

[Image courtesy of 24hourfitness.com]

Mini Meals… Follow Up.

I need to be more careful of typos when I post – my last post was chalk FULL of typos! I didn’t sleep much last night and I guess wasn’t paying as close attention as I normally do… 

Anyway – I wanted to follow up on my post about trying the 5-8 mini meals a day vs. 3 squares. I have to say, it’s almost a no-brainer. I feel so much better when I eat more frequently. I tend to eat just enough – I hardly ever overeat anymore, because I know I’m eating in another 2-3 hours. The only real problem I was having was transporting 4 mini-meals to work each day. My lunch bag wasn’t big enough, so I finally found one that I absolutely LOVE and is perfect when you use those square ziplock plastic storage containers:

Quiksilver Beach Trip Bag

$51 is more than I expected to pay, but it’s so well made that I know it’ll last me for years, and it makes my life a lot easier, so it’s definitely worth it. It has a nice, thick plastic inner liner that’s easily wipeable, and there’s no PVC in any part of the bag. It’s also tall and relatively thin for a large insulated bag, so it’s a lot easier to transport along with a purse and laptop bag to haul around – that was important, too. It has an inner zippered mess pocket under the lid for cuttlery, etc. and a padded, rubberized shoulder pad on the strap to prevent slipping. I highly recommend it. It can easily fit 4 of the 4-cup sized square ziplock containers or 8 of the 2-cup square containers AND still have room for a water bottle and fresh fruit on top of the containers without crushing them. It’s also great for trips to the beach, travel, picnics, etc. 

So back to mini-meals. Here’s a sampling of how I eat in a day:

1) Wakeup/pre-workout: pineapple-banana smoothie made with unsweetened vanilla almond milk
2) Post workout: Veggie & Egg scramble in 1/2 slice whole grain lavash wrap
3) Greek yogurt with lemon zest, vanilla & agave nectar and fresh berries
4) Chicken salad made with Greek Yogurt, fresh herbs & dijon mustard dressing, grapes, celery, onion & walnuts on a bed of spring greens
5) Apple with all-natural peanut butter
6) Veggie sticks with garlic bean dip
7) Pan seared salmon filet with broccoli and rosemary roasted baby potatoes 
8) Handful of nuts if I get hungry before bed [optional]

On my rest days, my appetite may not be as strong and I may just eat 5 or 6 meals in a day – I go with the flow… What’s funny is, on the days I work from home, I tend to eat less because I don’t pre-package my meals in the morning, and then I eat too much at main meals because I didn’t have enough throughout the day. The solution to that is packing up my meals in the morning like it’s a regular drive-75-miles-to-work day, which is something I’m going to do this week.

So, this way of eating works well for me and I’m sticking to it!  

Photo credit: Zappos.com

Thoughts: 2.27.09

Technically it’s the 28th now, but I haven’t gone to bed yet. So until I do, it’s still my birthday. lol… I turned 35 today. It feels strange. Last year, when I turned 34 I felt older than 34. I convinced myself it was because I was ‘wise beyond my years.’ Now I realize it was because I felt older physically. I was tired, stressed, and my diet was atrocious. I started working out around this time last year and I’m still keeping it up. I can’t imagine life without exercise. I’ve upped my workouts by adding heavier weight-lifting 2-3 days a week, and amped up my cardio workouts by doing drills and intervals, along with kickboxing. So, turning 35 this year is weird, because I realized that I feel more like 28…

I still have a lot of work to do. I’m working on my diet – an on-going struggle as I am a world-class ‘foodie.’ I LOVE cooking, and love EATING. lol… I don’t eat nearly as badly as I used to, but I still have my vices. I, like many, am a chocoholic. I’ve switched to dark chocolate, which has helped – it’s less sweet, so I don’t need as much. But I’m coming close to giving it up entirely… sugar is sugar and once I have some I just want MORE.

I’ve swapped out drinking cow’s milk for Almond Milk, and surprisingly, I don’t miss milk. I use almond milk to make chai-style teas [sugar free] and hot cocoa sweetened with a little agave nectar instead of sugar. I also use it in my morning protein smoothies, that are a variation of my ‘infamous mud’ – it actually looks like mud now… it’s usually a greenish-reddish-grey color. It looks disgusting. Luckily it tastes really good. I’ve figured out the perfect balance of liquid nutrients, fruit, almond milk, cranberry juice, flax meal and protein powder. It’s delicious, satisfying and it only takes a couple of minutes to whip up. I’m also snacking more on just plain fruit. Not fruit with cheese or nut butters.

Lately, I’ve realized that when I have a snack and I’m still not satisfied, tea usually does the trick – or chewing some minty gum. I’m finally realizing that when I stress eat, I’m not hungry and I don’t necessarily need food. I just need to chew on something… I do plan on stocking back up on seeds – I love pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds – both high in zinc and fibre, so very healthy. And I’m having fun coming up with different hommus-style bean dips using different kinds of beans and flavorings – always filling and delicious with some raw veggies. I’m also going to attempt to make crackers from scratch without using any wheat… I’ll try it with millet, my new favorite grain, and whole flax seeds, along with plenty of flavors from garlic and spices, sesame seeds, etc. 

I’m happy to say, that after trying to like greens over and over – and failing miserably, I’ve finally figured out how to prepare them so that I do like them – kale, collards, chard… Lemon and garlic, steamed in the micro for kale and chard, julienned and tossed into salads or soups for collards. I eat them almost every day now. Mission accomplished! lol…

Now I’m trying to figure out what to do with nori – how to turn it into some kind of crunchy snack… I use kombu in soup several times a week now, and I’m just starting to incorporate wakame into stirfrys. I have to say, I’ve gotten a lot of inspiration lately between Clean-Eating Magazine and You Are What You Eat – a British reality show on BBC America about Gillian McKeith – a holistic nutritionist who overhauls people’s diets putting them on a strict, natural detox plan full of fruits, veggies, fish, pulses, seeds, nuts, eggs, and ‘white meats’… she’s pretty creative with her menus – and she’s absolutely BRUTAL on the people in the show. She’s about ‘tough love’ and the guy that narrates it is hilarious. I don’t know if the show would fly as-is in America if they were to do a US version… it’s so NOT PC… but it’s refreshing to hear her tell people like it is. My husband hates the show for one reason – McKeith alway examines peoples “poo” to assess how their insides are doing. I have no problem with this – I used to scoop poop for a living [mucking stalls on a horse farm]… It’s just another layer of “shock treament’ for these people who are so overweight and unhealthy and need a drastic change before they end up in a box.

Anyway… today was a great day. I slept in… got an 80 minute massage [which hurt like hell, but I felt like a million bucks afterward], relaxed at home and then my hubby took me out to dinner at our favorite restaurant – a little French Bistro, where the food is so fresh and cooked to perfection. Plenty of fresh veggies with the main course. And I did get a dessert [it is, afterall, my birthday!], but only had a couple of bites before boxing it up. Such a great day… I dont’ want it to end, but I really should get to bed!

=D

Product Review: Nordic Naturals Arctic Cod Liver Oil

I decided to post about Nordic Naturals Arctic Cod Liver Oil because I’ve tried many different types of oils and pills to get more omega-3 into my diet and this is the first one that’s not only decent-tasting, but doesn’t upset my stomach. It comes in two sizes: 8 fl.oz and 16 fl.oz, and four flavors: Lemon, Orange, Peach & Strawberry.

I buy the 8 oz. size. It comes in a dark blue bottle, which I like – more harmful light-blocking. I also like the fact that I finish it faster. I think if I had a family and wanted all my kids to take it each morning in their O.J., I’d buy the 16 oz. size to save a bit of money, but the savings isn’t big enough to make me buy the larger size now, when it’s just me taking it… [$18.99 vs. $33.99 on average]. I use the orange-flavored one as part of my ‘mud’ in the morning and because I also add unsweetened cranberry juice and orange juice to the mix, I don’t taste the cod liver oil at all. I’ve taken it on it’s own, too, and was surprised at how well the fishy taste is masked by the orange and rosemary they add to it. It’s a far cry from the stuff my mother used to make us take when we were little! lol…

So far the quality has been consistent [I’ve tried taking gel caps before and it would be hit or miss on quality – some would be fine, other bottles would make me physically ill]. I store my cod liver oil in the fridge and it’s still liquid at that temperature, so it’s still easy to take and I feel better knowing it won’t spoil as quickly. I also take a full tbsp vs. the tsp they recommend and it lasts me about a month – so if you only take the tsp they recommend, it’ll probably last 2-3 months. I don’t think any of us get enough omega-3 from diet alone. I don’t know about you, but I can’t eat cold-water fish at every meal. That would get way too expensive. 

Now that I know there are more flavors out there, I’m going to try them. If any one of the other flavors happens to be repulsive for some reason, I’ll post again and let you know. 

Image credit: SMARTbomb.com

Product Review: Therajoint

When I started my current workout routine 6 months ago, the circuit training workouts really emphasize lower body strength, so there’s a lot of squats, etc. After a few days of it my whole body was sore… but after a few weeks, my muscles were fine, but my knees were still sore and not getting better – in fact, they started clicking and popping, sometimes painfully so. I was getting discouraged because I had to modify a lot of the exercises to accommodate my knees, which meant I could do the whole workout, but it wasn’t as much of a challenge for my muscles. And my knees weren’t getting any better… this went on for a couple of months until I couldn’t take it anymore.

I was on netrition.com looking around to see what they had for joint support supplements and found Therajoint. For the price and the fact that it has all-natural ingredients, I figured I’d try it and worst case scenario – it doesn’t work and I send it back [netrition.com has great customer service]. 

Well, I just took 2 capsules in the morning with breakfast and another 2 at night with dinner and I swear each day I felt my knees feeling a little better. After about a month, the clicking and popping stopped and the soreness was gone, and it didn’t take long before I had the strength in my knees to do all the exercises with full range of motion. My knees have never felt better. I’ve had issues with them since I was little, so needless to say, I love this product. 

It says that you should take 8 capsules a day from the start until your joint pain is gone, but I never took that many. I still take at least 2 in the morning, and if I feel I need it [if I had a particularly hard workout that day], I’ll take another 2 with dinner, but if they feel okay then I skip it in the evenings. 

If you suffer from achy joints that don’t seem to get any better no matter how much strengthening exercises you do for them, try Therajoint – hopefully you’ll have the same results I did… and for the record, I don’t make money off promoting other peoples’ products or websites – I just like passing on a good find if I feel it really works, and I love it. Enjoy!