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Showing posts from September, 2012

Start Today!

I know that I am 100% guilty of saying, " I will do it tomorrow ", and I say it a lot! For example I saw a Do It Yourself project on Pinterest where you put the outfit your baby came home from the hospital in a frame, with a card that has all their stats on it as well as a picture of them in the outfit. Well I bought the frame, laid out all of the things that go in it, sat it down, walked away and thought..I will do it tomorrow. Well here it is tomorrow and it is sitting right where I left it! A shameful thing I know, but one thing that we are all guilty of at one point or another. Where I am going with this is that when I comes to starting your journey into weight loss or a  new life style, doing it tomorrow will not cut it. Sure every now and then I have a rough day where I don't get to workout, or I may not eat as well as I want to but I count it, take credit for it, and then move on and start fresh. I always make sure to do it tomorrow, because if you don't then

Prepping Meals

For the past two Weeks I have been prepping 5 days worth of food on Sunday. I takes me about 2 hours at the most, including clean up, to prepare them. I read an article that if you prep your meals you are less likely to overeat because you have measured meals on hand. Not to mention it makes on the go so much simpler! At first I was terrified at the idea of having to cook so much food, and I had no idea where to start. I didn't know whether to cook for myself, or my whole family. Ask to Google I went. I found a great article that broke it all down into laments terms for us beginners. It has really  helped me and it is another one of those things I highly recommend. Since I began prepping my meals I find myself full longer, as well as having the convenience of opening the fridge, grabbing a meal, heating it up, without the headache of having to get something together and measure or weigh it, while also adding up the calories. If my meals are the same everyday for lunch and dinner

Mommy Time

Being a stay at home mom is a full time job and it especially frustrates me when people say it isn't! My work day begins at 7 in the morning and doesn't end until 11 or later at night. When I am not chasing a one year old around, cleaning house, washing laundry, mowing the yard, bathing the dog, cooking, running errands, or working out...I like to enjoy a little "Mommy Time". Even though I am just a stay at home mom I need 30 minutes to myself every now and then too. We moms really are not given the credit we are due for all the things we accomplish during the day. My significant other spends a few hours alone with our daughter and he is calling me ready to pull his hair out..yet I do it all day everyday. Then again I couldn't go work on semi trucks all day either. My point here is that no one should discredit what anyone does because they think it isn't hard work..every one has a different definition of what work is. So next time you want to call someone l

Rocky Road Quinoa

Just tried out a delicious recipe after getting bored with my old quinoa recipes. It is fabulous! For those of you that don't know what quinoa of..you need to introduce yourself. The biggest macro your body needs while losing weight is PROTEIN . You need to get at least 100 grams a day. Protein is a key component because out keeps you full longer, and staves off late night snacking. It is found in the Organic Isles! Ingredients: 1 cup quinoa (cooked in 2 cups of water) 2 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa power 1/2 cup of walnuts 2 cups of mini  marshmallows Directions: Bring the quinoa to a boil and reduce to a simmer for 10-15 minutes, our until the quinoa have emerged from the shell. Mix in cocoa and walnuts. Allow to cool then add in the marshmallows (unless you prefer them melted). Then enjoy. Serving size is 1/2 cup and yields approximately 252  calories.

Counting Calories Burned

When trying to lose weight you need to keep in mind that in order to lose one pounds week you must have a 3500 calorie deficit, in other words you need to burn or eat 3500 calories less than you do now to lose that pound. It's recommended that you lose only 1-2 pounds a well for health purposes as well a s preventing lose skin. There are different ways to reach this deficit, either cut you calories you are consuming by 500 a day, or burn 500 calories a day through exercise. Some people cut their intake by 250 calories and burn the other 250 through exercise. I went with cutting it out of my intake, all 500. The first thing you need to do is find out what your BMR is. BMR is basic metabolic rate or the amount of calories your body needs in order to survive. I have provided a link to a BMR calculator. You then need to find you TDEE  TDEE is your total daily energy expenditure or the amount of calories you burn with everyday activities. Eating below your TDEE but above your BMR wi

Yummy Eat-Out Dinner!

We went out to Applebee's for dinner tonight..and I rarely eat out simply because it is not in the budget plus I hate to waste my calories! However I figured it has been a while and it would be nice to treat myself. Before we left for the restaurant I got online and researched their menu..I love Google! They have what I call diet friendly foods..which are dinners that are only 550 calories a piece. HOORAY!!! There were only a few to choose from but they all sounded yummy. I was torn between salad, steak, chicken, shrimp..there are quite a few. I decided on the sirloin with garlic shrimp, garlic potatoes and broccoli. The steak was 7oz and a recommended serving size is 4oz (not to mention the 6 shrimp), so that was a bit much. However there was about a cup of broccoli and 1/2 cup of potatoes, which is pretty accurate. When trying to spot good portion sizes at a restaurant think like this: 1/2 plate veggie, 1/4 starch, 1/4 lean meat. That is basically what I was served. It was s

Number 1's and Number 2's (Reader Beware)

This is a sensitive subject, even more so for is ladies, the bathroom.. Dun-Dun-Dun! *cue scary music* But in all seriousness this really is something we never want to discuss. I know I never did..not until it all changed drastically. When I was eating whatever I wanted and however much I wanted I was never 'regular' and fought constipation regularly. When it came to urination there were smells, colors, things it shouldn't be. Ever had any of those problems? Of course you have! We are human its part of the package unfortunately. But one thing I have learned is all the ugliness of it is 100% diet related. If you put garbage in it..your body will put garbage out of it! As I said before the first thing I did was started downing water..practically drowning in it. Well I started peeing every 5 minutes, literally. It started out (TMI) yellow, then pale yellow, and finally clear. It went from having odd smells to no smell. Amazing in my opinion..no more stinky pee! Not to men

Great FREE tools!

One of the best words in the English dictionary us the word FREE! Do with that in mind please bare with me a second. One of the best things I started when I began this journey was logging my food and exercise. At first I would just write it all in notebook but eventually that got harder to do while on the go. So I decided to check in my Android market for a food tracking app. I found many! And most of them free! I currently use  2 simply because I do not know which I like best they are: Myfitnesspal Sparkpeople Both are great sites but each has their flaws and perks. MFP is great for logging food because it has a bigger data base and you can enter in your homemade meals more easily but the community in my opinion is not as friendly as SP. On SP the calories burned while tracking fitness is more accurate than MFP because it is greatly known that MFP over calculates. I tend to use SP more now because I like the Web page they have (both can be accessed from the computer if you do not

Whole Wheat Apple Muffins

One of the greatest fears that most people have about eating healthy is that famous saying: "If it tastes good it is bad for you, spit it out!" also "Eating healthy is expensive!" ...And that is the biggest pile of poo I have ever heard. Everything  I cook is delicious and well worth sharing. I also have a mere $200-250 grocery budget for 3..and we make due each month! So I will share some of my favorite recipes here and there, as well as my favorite markets to buy cheap and affordable food! This is my all time favorite (and Scarletts) dessert recipe! Enjoy! WHOLE WHEAT APPLE MUFFINS   1 1/2 c. all purpose flour, divided 1 1/2 c. peeled, chopped Golden Delicious apple 1/2 c. whole wheat flour 1/3 c. firmly packed brown sugar 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon 1/4 tsp. salt 1/2 c. skim milk 3 tbsp. vegetable oil 2 egg whites, lightly beaten Vegetable cooking spray Combine 1/2 cup all purpose flour and apple in a bowl, tossing gently to c

How to start: Portion Distortion

Once you begin a life style transformation, and started sucking down water, its time to find your motivation. Mine was seeing myself categorized as obese, and perhaps yours is the same. Other things fueled my fire like my daughter, my love, and my mortality! People die at such young ages now because there simply is no drive to be healthy. Everything is fast food, easy access, and microwavable. And when we think we need to lose a few quick pounds is easier to fad diet then change bad habits, or learn portion control. No need to lie, that is not why I am here, I tried SlimFast trying to kick start my weight loss. I figured the structure and simplicity of this 'miracle' meal replacement would help lose the first 20 pounds, and teach me how to control things. All it did was cost me money, lost a couple pounds, and a headache. Sure it was easy all I had to do was drink 2 shakes a day, eat 3 small snacks, and one well balanced 500 calorie dinner..and BAM lose weight! Well it didn&#

Where To Start:

As a stay at home mom I spend a lot of time talking to a one year old, and while she is funny and smart, she is not quite the conversationalist yet. Her gurgles and giggles consume my day from eight in the morning until eight at night, pretty much around the clock. Since she was born I have been on the go, with hardly anytime to myself, and I figured what better way to vent then through a blog, and with people that are going to understand. I also hope to help those looking to shed a few pounds! Scarlett was born in August of last year, and after I had her I began to think of all the things in my life that are good and bad, The biggest bad was my health. I was 50 pounds overweight and predisposed to diabetes, hypertension, obesity, heart problems, cancer (you name it and it is there). And I realized that if I did not change my ways I wasn't going to be around long enough to see her reach all of the milestones in her life. My Ah-ha! moment was when I went to the doctor and they t