Tag: Proof

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General Weight Loss Tips

Kale Pesto Recipe

I’ve had a huge bag of kale sitting in the refrigerator for two weeks. Maybe longer. I’m not sure how it even survived this long, but I purchased it with hopes that I would roast it or turn it into a delicious sausage and potato soup. Neither happened. Why do I always have high hopes for vegetables and then let them sit?

But today I decided to make a kale pesto. Have you guys heard of kale pesto? Its just as it sounds, pesto made with kale instead of basil. The birth of a new recipe!

I’m on an undeclared mission to eat more fruits and vegetables. A mission that I’m determined can be beautiful, delicious and healthful. Vegetables can be exciting! Especially with exclamation points.

This recipe was simple, I just threw everything into the food processor until it tasted right to me. Completely fail proof.

You start with a big bag of rinsed kale, about eight or nine cups. Stuff the kale into your food processor and close the lid. Let it whirl until your kale turns into a paste. With your machine still running, add 2-3 T olive oil, 1/4 cup nuts (I used roasted/salted cashews), 1/2 t salt, 2-3 cloves of garlic and about a half cup of parmigiana cheese. That’s it!

Kale pesto is tangy and a little spicy. I plan on mixing it together with a huge bowl of roasted vegetables and pasta for dinner tonight.

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Weight Loss Exercise

Get Proof of Your Progress



Sometimes you may feel that you’re not making any progress at all with your fitness program ? like a gerbil spinning on its wheel ? going nowhere. But there are ways to track your weight loss and fitness targets that will provide the incentive you need to keep on keeping on until you reach your goals.

During your fitness quest, you’ll want to weigh yourself once a month rather than daily or weekly. This strategy gives your body a chance to react to the weeks of effort you’ve given. It also keeps you from becoming discouraged if your happen to see a minuscule weight loss on the scale.

Another way to track your weight loss progress is to take your measurements. Sometimes the scale doesn’t reflect the inches you’re losing and taking measurements will reassure you that you’re making some progress.

When you measure yourself, do so without clothing or clothing that fits tight to your skin (such as leotards). There are numerous measurement charts online that provide instructions on how to accurately take your measurements and that will track your progress in inches to your desired goal. You should measure yourself once a week or once a month.

You can also track your fitness progress by measuring your body fat percentage. This method can provide help you realize how much fat you need to lose to reach the desired fitness goal. Body fat should measure from 25 to 31% for women and 18 to 25% for men.

There are a number of ways to measure body fat, including hydrostatic weighing, calipers, DEXA and bioelectrical impedance scales. But a simpler way to measure body fat is to access an online calculator that uses skin fold or tape measurements. If you belong to a health or fitness club, be sure to ask if they offer any of these methods to measure body fat percentages.

A great motivational tool to be your skinniest best is to actually see yourself thinner via a digitally enhanced photo (before and after). This method will cost you, but if you have trouble picturing yourself thin, it could be a powerful incentive to keep up with your diet and exercise program.

There are several online sites where you can obtain a digitally-adjusted photo of yourself. You simply send them a full body photo, they slim you down digitally and send the enhanced photo back to you by email.

Print them out and post them on your refrigerator door and mirrors to give you a mental reality of what you can be at the end of your quest ? a new and thinner you.

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Categories
General Weight Loss Tips

What I Couldn’t Do Two Weeks Ago

There is something to be said about trying something you know you can’t do.  Every time I go to the gym I stare down the hanging leg raise. Have you seen it?

Basically you have to hold your body up while pulling your legs up to your chest. For those that can do it, they make it look easy. For the rest of us, well, it’s kind of sad (and kind of funny) to watch. I decided I was okay with making a fool of myself January 20th and get on.

I couldn’t even hold myself up to hang. It was truly painful, so I got off and decided that this would be a progress point for me.

Two weeks later, back at the gym I decided to get on again. I knew in my mind that holding my weight up with my arms would be hard, but I wanted to try again. This time, not only could I support my weight, I was able to lift my knees up to my chest not once, not twice, not three times…but four times.

I was so shocked that I stopped. Am I really doing this? I couldn’t even hold myself up two weeks ago! And sure enough I think I could have done a couple more had I not been so freakin’ excited.

So that is real progress that I can see. It’s not a lower number on the scale, or looser fitting jeans- it was proof that I’m getting in better shape.

Today begins week four of the Insanity workout training and I have to say that working out every day has gotten easier mentally. I know what to expect and I’ve accepted that 45 minutes of my day will be spent exercising. I’ve never worked out this hard in my life on a consistent basis. Not even during couch to 5k training. It’s hard for me to believe that I’ve exercised all but three (I take sundays off) days in the past three weeks.

We’ve got more plans. As the weather gets warmer and our stamina increases, we’re going to add running back to our schedule three days a week.

Right now the exercise schedule looks like this:

Monday-Wednesday : Insanity workout

Thursday: yoga and strength training

Friday- Saturday: Insanity workout

Sunday: Off

In about a month it will look like this:

Monday, Wednesday, Friday: Insanity workout + running

Tuesday, Saturday: Insanity workout

Thursday: yoga and strength

Sunday: Off day

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