Month: April 2011

Categories
General Weight Loss Tips

Sticker Challenge

I really love a good challenge, even if I’m the only contender. I’m determined for April to be the month where food tracking and exercise get married and live harmoniously. Yes indeed. They’re gonna be friends and I’m going to be better for it.

And because a challenge needs a system, rules and reward. I made a spread sheet. To get one sticker each day this month I will need to do three things: track my calories, post all food consumed on blog, and exercise daily. I will only get my reward if I’ve done all of these things everyday for eight weeks. I will get another sticker for each pound that I lose. It’s going to be awesome.

Yes, I’m slightly neurotic, yes I love stickers. And yes, I love a good challenge. I live for challenges. Need further proof? When I clean I have to set my oven timer for 35 minutes. I like to challenge myself to clean as much as possible during that time. I cannot do anything else, but clean for 35 minutes. And you know what? It works and I love it. No email, no kitty petting, no gazing out the window. Just focused time.

I also get a small reward for each week that I get all of my stickers. I really thought about these rewards and the one thing I got consistently excited about was a new book/magazine. I’m going to have to buy a new bookcase when it’s all said and done. I love going to the book store on weekends and I’ve decided that I want to earn those books and magazines that I love so dearly. When I buy a new book, I want to say “you know what? you worked hard for that.” Not just for the money to buy it, but for taking care of myself.

**********

This morning I woke up feeling hung over from food. I overindulged this weekend with my parents visiting, hosting a bridal shower, and date night with Josh. I just wanted something substantial, not too heavy, and delicious. I decided on 1/2 cup walnut, date, and raisin oatmeal (a package from Tina!) with 1 T homemade almond, peanut and cashew honey nut butter, 1 T all-fruit strawberry jam, and 1/2 C whole milk.


Nut butter! So easy to make and delicious.


Not sure who Uncle Matt is, but this orange juice tasted very fresh.

Lillies left over from the bridal shower decided to finally open up.

Total calories: 460

PS: I am not a nutritionist. I do not recommend that you eat like me to lose weight. I do know that fruit is a natural sugar. I do know that I could have eaten about 100 other things that would satisfy a number of other people, theories, studies or guidelines.

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Categories
Weight Loss Exercise

Healthy Meals for Quick Weight Loss

Healthy Meals for Quick Weight Loss

Healthy Meals for Quick Weight Loss

Quick weight loss has a lot to do with how much you eat verse how much you exercise. If you eat too much and exercise too little, you can quickly gain a lot of weight. However, the inverse is true as well. If you eat little but exercise a decent amount, not necessarily a lot, but a decent amount, you can lose a lot of weight.

Healthy Meals for Quick Weight Loss

The hard part is feeling full while trying to lose weight. Many times people mistake low calorie diets with starvation diets and next to nothing as being low calorie. There are some recipes that can help you lose weight and feel full at the same time.

Chicken Salad Sandwich

4 medium chicken breast halves
1 large apple cored and chopped
2 sticks celery, chopped
2 Tablespoons pecans
2 Tablespoons fat free sour cream
1 Tablespoon pickle relish
2 cups lettuce
2 medium tomatoes, sliced
8 slices whole wheat bread

Cook the chicken breast completely and allow it to cool to room temperature. Mix the chicken, apple, celery, pecans, sour cream and relish together. Spread on the bread, top with lettuce and tomato.

Easy Parmesan Garlic Chicken

1 cup parmesan cheese
1 package Italian salad-dressing mix
6 chicken breast halves

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix the parmesan cheese and salad dressing. Moisten the chicken with water and coat with the mixture. Place in a glass baking dish and bake for 20- 25 minutes.

Chicken Tenders

2 ounces baked tortilla chips
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 pound chicken tenders
1 cup corn
1 jar salsa
1/2 cup cilantro leaves

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. On a piece of wax paper, crush the tortilla chips with the chili powder. Moisten the chicken and cover with the tortilla chip and chili powder mixture. Bake the chicken for 10 minutes until it is no longer pink. Combine the corn, salsa and cilantro leaves.

Crispy Fish Sandwich and Pineapple Slaw

2 Tablespoons reduced fat mayonnaise
2 Tablespoons non-fat plain yogurt
2 teaspoons rice vinegar
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
8 ounce pineapple chunks, drained and chopped
2 cups coleslaw mix
2 pounds haddock
1/2 teaspoon Cajun spice
4 teaspoons canola oil, divided
8 pieces of whole wheat toast

Whisk together mayonnaise, yogurt, vinegar and red pepper. Add pineapple chunks and coleslaw mixture. Place the cornmeal in a shallow dish, and then sprinkle the fish with Cajun spice. Dredge the fish in the cornmeal. Heat the 2 ounces of oil over medium heat, and then cook half the fish until golden. Repeat with the other half of the fish and oil. Top the bread with the fish and the slaw to create a sandwich.

Enjoy these tasty sandwiches and meals. They will keep you feeling full and satisfied as you continue to lose weight and be healthy. These foods are full of healthy ingredients, they are low fat, low carbohydrate and high in protein, so enjoy, within moderation.

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Categories
General Weight Loss Tips

Dear April

My last entry accidentally got deleted. This has happened maybe twice since I started blogging four years ago and I think it happened when the server updated and it got lost. So I apologize for that, it wasn’t intentional, especially since it took me forever to write and now I have no interest in writing it again.

It’s April! I have so many plans and goals for this month that I’m very excited about. But first, I have some updates:

–No Sugar. It’s been three months without sugar. I loosely say no sugar. I eat sugar in other forms such as fruit, natural sugars (I’ve added honey back in), and I will add sugar to a Vietnamese or Thai dish if it calls for it. It has been hard…some days harder than others. Right now I have cake and cookies in my house. I plan to give them away. It’s nice to not have them haunt me. I have sugar in the house, and I still bake. My treats are in the form of my glucosamine “candies”, Izze drinks, all natural fruit jam on toast/oatmeal/yogurt, and fruit smoothies. I’ve been hesitant to tell people I’m not eating sugar, in fact, if you don’t read this blog you probably don’t know.

I don’t want to be watched and I don’t want “sugar-free” to be confused with carb-free or have people think “oh she says no to ice cream, but yes to pizza! bah!” indeed so. This sugar-free thing is for cakes, cookies, ice cream…obvious sugar. It’s not a dietary guideline, it’s just me trying to get rid of something I have a hard time not overeating. I like rules.

– No TV. I have to admit I’ve gone almost five weeks without my regular rotation of TV watching and will confess I’ve been watching Mad Men on DVD this past week (season four just came out). Not a ton, and not like before when I get obsessed and watch five in one sitting. But, considerably less. I’ve noticed that I don’t miss TV in the mindless sort of way of passing time or procrastinating- I can always find ways to fill my time with work. However- I’ve come to realize that watching an episode of a good show with Josh is a treat for a days worth of work. We both work from home and it’s a nice way to turn off from work and relax together.

– Strength Training. Can I just say that I love strength training? I’ve been doing it off and on for almost five years now and it’s very rewarding. We picked it back up in January and I’m lifting weights that are 10-30 pounds heavier than I was then. We make notes during each session- can we increase the weight or stay the same. On February 3rd I could only do 80lbs. on the pull down machine (for arms, back and shoulders) and said I couldn’t do more.

Today I was able to pull down 120 lbs. That’s a 40 lb. increase in strength, meaning that I’m gaining muscle. This is the same for almost all of the machines I do. Did you know that for every pound of muscle you gain, your body burns 50 extra resting calories? Gaining 10 lbs. of muscle is 500 extra calories burned a day! I love that and I can tell that it is one reason that I’ve not gained any weight since January.

–Insanity. This week marks the 12th week of Insanity! I’ve lost 12-15lbs (it’s goes up and down) so far. I just can’t believe we’ve stuck with it for so long. We are already in our second rotation. I will admit that the past couple of weeks have been harder, we’ve done at least three workouts a week instead of our usual six. So we are getting back on track with six workouts this week.

April plans and goals:

The next two months (and most of summer) are going to be pretty hectic. I really need to step up my organization and will need continued exercise and eating well if I’m going to stay on top of everything. Spring marks the beginning of  of jewelry shows and my freelance design business is growing so I can use all the energy I can get.

I’m stepping up my game this month. I’m dedicated to counting calories and keeping a food journal. My goal it to lose 10-12 pounds this month with continued exercise and food tracking. I have no interest (as usual) in doing this by eating “diet” food, my method is to eat less, control portions, eat from home as much as possible and enjoy the food I’m eating.

Continuing with 5 days of the Insanity Workout with one day of strength. We may add yoga and running back in if the spirits moves us. And speaking of us… Josh is wearing all of his jeans now. All of the jeans that just a month ago would too tight. I am still steadily wearing a size 24/22. I’d love to be in a 20/18 by mid to late summer.

What are your April goals?

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