The Importance of Clean Eating

NO, I AM NOT PREGNANT!!



me and my food baby

As I mentioned in my last post, I started getting my nutrition back on track in January.  I was still drinking occasionally and would indulge in sweets here or there, but once I started Crossfit on March 1st, I cut that stuff out completely...

Until last night...

Last night I met a friend for dinner at a local Mexican food restaurant and indulged in some steak nachos.  I barely put a dent in them before I was stuffed.  Afterward we headed over to a gelato shop and I had the smallest serving of strawberry gelato.  Actually I had half of their smallest serving because I got half lemon and half strawberry and the lemon was so tart I couldn't even eat it.  By the time I got home an hour later, I was in a lot of pain.

The above picture is probably the most legit food baby I have ever had.  I think the dress contributes to it a little, but it stands up next to most of the baby bump pics I have seen others post.  It definitely reinforced my commitment to eating clean, and for that, I am thankful.

Some that have seen this picture told me to post it on Instagram or FB, but I am way too worried about the karma that comes along with something like that.  Hence the sentence before the picture.  What I do know is that the food I ate wasn't worth the consequences to my body.

Back on the wagon I go...

A Couple of Recipes

I have gotten way off track with my eating/drinking and fitness lately.  I can't really blame it on the change of seasons, because here in Nor Cal, the seasons haven't really changed yet.  All I know is that I have been extremely unmotivated to work out, but extremely motivated to drink wine and try out new recipes.

After stuffing myself silly for the Thanksgiving holiday, I finally hit the point where I am ready to get back on track.  Sunday I went to the grocery store and stocked up on fruits and veggies and decided to make a turkey soup to get the leftovers out of the fridge.

Slow Cooker Turkey Soup

Slow Cooker Turkey Soup
2 cups chopped cooked turkey
1 onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
3 potatoes, peeled and cubed (I used sweet potatoes instead)
1 cup carrots, chopped
1 cup corn kernels
2 tablespoons poultry seasoning (I didn't have this and didn't use anything in it's place)
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 (32 fluid ounce) container chicken stock
salt and ground black pepper to taste

Place the turkey, onion, celery, potatoes, carrots, corn, poultry seasoning, onion powder, and garlic powder into a slow cooker, and pour the chicken stock over the turkey and vegetables. Mix well and season to taste with salt and black pepper. Set the cooker on Low, cover, and cook until the vegetables are tender, about 6 hours.

I used the sweet potatoes that came with our turkey dinner from Raley's and didn't realize they were already cooked and had a citrus flavor to them.  It ended up turning the soup into more of a stew or as JB lovingly referred to it, "mush".  I also added about 2 cups of cooked brown rice.  I really liked it, although it would probably have been more of a soup and less sweet if I had put in uncooked, plain sweet potatoes.  And even though JB called it mush, he liked it too.

Next up...

Reduced-Carb Turkey Chili

I was going to make this on Sunday as well, but the meat didn't thaw out in time, so I made it on Monday night.  I have made this before using Jamie Eason's 3-bean recipe, but she also has this one listed for her lean-out phase which is lower carb.  During JB's paleo phase, we pretty much cut out all legumes and aside from peanut butter, we haven't really incorporated them back into our diet, so I decided to make the veggie option.

Reduced Carb Turkey Veggie Chili

2 lbs. extra lean ground turkey
½ cup chopped onions
1 tbsp. garlic powder
1 – 4 oz. cans of diced green chilies
3 cups chopped zucchini
3 cups roughly chopped mushrooms
3 – 14.5 oz. cans Organic Diced Tomatoes (do not drain)
1 tbsp. Xylitol Brown Sugar Blend (Ideal) or regular
1 tbsp. chili powder
2 tbsp. white vinegar
3 tbsp. regular yellow mustard
2 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. dried or fresh cilantro
2 tsp. adobo sauce (optional)

Directions: In a large pot add onions and meat, sprinkled with garlic powder and cook until no longer pink (drain using a plate, if desired). Next add the green chilies, zucchini, mushrooms, tomatoes, xylitol and spices (except cilantro) and stir until combined. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer for about 10 minutes. Finally, add cilantro. Serve hot. May sprinkle veggie shreds or a light cheese on top. Makes 12 servings.

I sliced up half an avocado and added a dollop of daisy sour cream to mine.  It was DELISH!  The veggies gave it a great texture and I didn't even miss the beans!  You can find the 3-bean version of the recipe here.

Both of these recipes make quite a bit of food for just the two of us, but you can portion out and freeze for lunches or dinners during the week.  I am looking for more slow cooker recipes to make during the week, so send 'em my way if you have any!

Inspire Me: Healthy v:3

Here we are in week 3 of the Inspire Me: Healthy link up.  In week one, I talked about my plans/workout a little bit and showed you some initial photos.  Last week I talked about some of our favorite recipes.  This week I wanted to talk a little bit about my philosophy on eating/weight loss.  I couldn't really figure out how to organize this post, so I just went with bold words.  I'm not saying I am an expert, but in the past 5 or 6 years, I have done a lot of reading and learning on my own (along with the guidance of my hubs who teaches an Advanced Health & Fitness Professionals program at a vocational school) about different things related to health and fitness, so I just thought I would address some of these things here as I have learned/experienced them.

Cardio vs Weights - I have previously posted on this topice here.  Let me put it this way, when you envision yourself at your goal, what do you see?  Most women say they want to be skinny, but in reality, they are picturing themselves with some muscle tone and some kind of tight ab situation.  Take a look at the picture below. 

If you were to do nothing but cardio, you would be on your way to looking like the girl on the right (granted, she probably hasn't eaten anything in the past 3 years, so...take that with a grain of salt). If you were to do weight training with some cardio mixed in, or more high-intensity interval training, you would be on your way to looking more like the girl on the left.  In order to build/keep muscle, you have to continue using it.  It has been discovered that long stints of moderate cardio actually start to deplete your muscle mass, which leads to the look of the girl on the right.  I don't know about you, but I prefer to look strong and toned, like the girl on the left. 

To date, the best results I ever got were from Jamie Eason's Live Fit Trainer on bodybuilding.com.  That program was a good blend of weight training and cardio.  Never once did I "look like a dude" while doing so much weight lifting.  A lot of women are hesitant to lift weights because they think they will start to look big and bulky like a man.  In actuality, women don't have high enough testosterone levels to get that big, so you have nothing to worry about.  Unfortunately it's hard for me and my schedule to devote that much time in the gym, so I switched to the bodyrock workouts, which I am loving so far.

Calorie Counting - This is typically the first thing women start doing in order to lose weight.  After all, the simple equation for weight loss is calories in < calories out.  The problem with this equation is that there isn't enough emphasis on how to calculate the necessary amount of calories in.  Different tools/apps like My Fitness Pal have made this easier in recent years, but overall people are still doing it wrong.  This has a lot to do with the amount of calories you need to maintain your current resting state plus taking into account how much exercising you are doing.  You need to fuel your body appropriately for the work you are making it do, otherwise your body will do things like go into starvation mode which causes it to retain fat because it doesn't know when it will get nutrients again.

Another problem with calorie counting/point systems is that you aren't really focusing on what type of calories you are putting into your body.  200 calories of sugar are going to leave you feeling sluggish and hungry soon after eating it, whereas 200 calories of protein/complex carbohydrates/good fats will keep you satisfied and feeling fuller longer.


via

Fat Doesn't Make You Fat - This is one of the things that frustrates me the most.  People are so focused on low-fat this and non-fat that and pay no attention to the list of ingredients they are taking in.  A rule of thumb that I use is basing my foods on their ingredient list.  If I can't pronounce it, I typically don't eat it.  When you buy fat free foods, unless they are natural foods like fruits and veggies, the processing just takes the place of the fat.  I strongly believe that processed food is responsible for weight gain as opposed to fat intake being the culprit.  If you based your consumption of a food on the amount of fat that was in it, you wouldn't eat avocados, olives, butter, nuts, fish.  Many of those foods are high in fats, but they are good fats (Omega-3).  If you are interested in learning more about good fats vs bad fats, you can look into Omega-3 (good) vs Omega-6 (not as good) fats.  It's mostly about striking a balance between the good vs not as good fats and eating fruits and vegetables.

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You may have heard before to shop the perimeter of the grocery store.  The perimeter of the grocery store is where you find the whole foods; fruits, veggies, meats, dairy.  The deeper in you go to the aisles, the more processed food gets.  Next time you are there, make a conscious effort to notice what is on each aisle.  If you don't walk by the cookies/crackers/ice cream, you aren't tempted to keep it in your house and then you can't eat it because it's no longer conveniently there.

Sleep - In order for your body to recover from the day (especially if you are working out) and repair itself, you need adequate, quality sleep.  I have read many places that 6 hours is the least amount of sleep you should get each night.  Optimal is 7-8 hours.  I usually get about 7 hours, but could probably use 9.  If you are getting good rest and fueling your body with the proper amount of nutrients, it's virtually impossible to get sick.  Your immune system is functioning at an optimal level which allows it to fight off all the bad guys you encounter.

Instant Results/Quick Fixes - There was a time in my life where I was stupid enough to use diet pills. It was back when they had the good stuff in them, too. I would have breakfast, take a pill, have lunch, take a pill, and then by dinner time I was coming down and I was a major bitch. I definitely saw some results, but I definitely didn't like how my body felt. I am not one of those people who could ever have anorexia. If I go more than 3 hours without eating I get shaky, cranky, headaches, and I just plain can't function. I can't imagine going days at a time on a few crackers here and there. Once I stopped taking those pills, I gained all the weight back and then some. Mostly because I wasn't doing any physical activity to keep it off and also because those things throw your metabolism out of whack and often times when it regulates again, it's slower than it was before. Finding out that little factoid scared me away from using them ever again. You definitely have to put in the work to get where you want to be.

Eating 6 well portioned meals a day keeps your metabolism active and your body in a place where it knows it is going to be fed again, so it works at an optimal level. Your energy level will go up and you won't feel the need to snack on bad foods or stuff yourself at the next meal since it has been 4 or 5 hours since you ate last. I can't remember the last time I needed an afternoon caffeine fix. The 3pm slump is nowhere to be found because my body has all the fuel it needs.

I know it's frustrating when you don't see the results you want at first, but if you keep pushing, you finally realize the results and the high you get from being so proud of yourself for doing it is better than any diet pill, I can assure you.  I saw this the other day and thought it was fitting:

and this one is my favorite:

Now GET TO WORK!  :)

 

Inspire Me: Healthy v:2

Last week we linked up with Kristen and this week we are linking up with my fave bish, Raven!  I absolutely love talking about health and fitness, so these link ups are going to be so much fun for me. 

Instead of posting pictures of the results I don't have yet, I decided to post about different meals that are staples in my house, along with my new workout gear.  Last week was mostly words, this week is mostly pics.



Weekdays: Breakfast Smoothie

 Recipe:
1/2 banana
3 Strawberries
3 Blackberries
4 Raspberries
Handful of blueberries
2 tb ground flaxseed
1 Scoop vanilla protein powder
1 Tb Peanut Butter (I use Smart Balance for the extra Omega 3s)
Handful of Kale
Handful of spinach
3/4 c Coconut Water
4 ice cubes

Weekends: Magical Eggs

JB doesn't like to take time to prepare anything, he just likes to eat as soon as possible.  When he makes breakfast on the weekends, it's eggs and cheese and that's it.  I made this for him once and now I am stuck with weekend breakfast duty.  He calls them Magical Eggs.  The time (which really isn't much) is definitely worth it.  For 8 eggs I use a couple of green onion stalks (chopped), 6-8 grape tomatoes (sliced), spinach (sliced), a little bit of sea salt and pepper and a little shredded cheddar cheese.  I put some grass-fed butter in the pan, sautee the spinach and onions for a couple of minutes and then add the rest and scramble.  Top with half an avocado and throw some berries on the side.  Yummy!



Dinner/Leftovers for Lunch: Turkey Burgers

 One of our favorite meals is turkey burgers topped with avocado and feta.  We usually eat these with the chipotle spiced sweet potato fries.  Hubs usually makes these so I don't know what all goes in them except garlic powder, parsley, and balsamic vinegar.  They are so delicious!!

Dinner: Rotisserie Chicken/Turkey Salad

If you follow me on Instagram (@brezpics) you have seen me post this salad a couple of times.  I just use red leaf lettuce and spinach for the bed and top it with grape tomatoes, cucmber, red bell pepper, strawberries, almonds, avocado, and feta.  We grab a rotisserie chicken or turkey breast at the store which usually provides a couple of days of meals.  I slice that up and throw it on top and use Newman's Own Organic Balsamic Vinaigrette.  Mmmmmmm...



Farm Fresh To You Produce Delivery

A month ago we were leaving the gym and these guys had a table there and were trying to sign up new customers.  Pretty genius idea if you ask me since people going to the gym are already trying to better their lifestyle and you know the grocery stores wouldn't be happy with you posting up outside.  I had talked to JB a couple of times about doing this eventually and we never pulled the trigger.  I'm so glad we finally did.

We get the Fast Fruits & Veg box delivered every two weeks.  On the left is the packing list so you can see what all we got in there.  We figure we spend at least $60 on produce in a month, and at least this way we know where it is coming from and that it's organic.  With your online account, you can set up your preferences so they will avoid giving you things you don't like.  This week's delivery had canteloupe and hubs isn't a fan, so they left that out of ours.  So far we love it!  It incorporates more fruits and veggies in our lives that I wouldn't normally pick up at the store.  I don't know about you, but if I don't know how to tell when something is ripe, I won't buy it.  They also have tons of different recipes online!



New Workout Gear!!

I told you last week and once before that I have been doing the bodyrock.tv workouts at home.  We have some different hand weights and I have used chairs and the coffee table and different things for some of the exercises when they have been using these items.  I finally got to order mine and am really excited to take my workouts to the next level.  The fact that they are pink just makes me so happy, I can't even stand it!  The item in the front is the Ultimate Sand Bag.  We actually got all three of them (power, strength, burly) because JB and I will use them for workouts other than bodyrocking.  The item above it is the Lebert Equalizer.  I included the pics that were on the box so you can see some of the different ways you can use it.  It's very versatile.  It's also lightweight so we can take it up to the park with us and our sandbags and do workouts there.  Yesterday I used my sandbag (currently holds 15lbs, but can hold up to 30 lbs) to do this workout:



The sandbag definitely makes a difference.  I can't wait to incorporate it more!  I will leave you will a great pic I saw on FB the other day:

Hope you are all having a great week.  Can't wait to see some of your updates if you are linking up with the ladies!!

Inspire Me: Healthy!

Today I am linking up with the infamous Raven and Kristen for Inspire Me: Healthy. 

For those of you that read my blog regularly, you know I am a bit of a fitness enthusiast.  With my sporadic and inconsistent Fitness Friday posts, how could you NOT know? 

For those of you stopping by from the link up, WELCOME!  I have been known to be a bit of a Groupon boot camp whore in the past, always looking for something to get/keep me motivated at a low cost.  I recently posted about my current fitness obsession, BodyRockTV.  It's fast AND free, and you can do it at home, so what's not to love?

I have been doing the workouts here and there, but I have a trip to LA and a trip to Vegas both scheduled in September, so it's time to kick it into high gear.  This link-up is just what I need to keep me honest and on my game.

Last year I started the Live Fit Trainer in late August.  I did the first two months and then got bogged down with work and didn't finish the third and final month.  I maintained the same weight throughout the program, but my body composition changed and I got much stronger.  As soon as I stopped working out, I dropped 10 lbs because all of the muscle I was no longer using decided to peace out.  I felt amazing though and I looked great!  Of course, that was in January when I wasn't even thinking about wearing a bathing suit yet.

Since I felt and looked great, I let my gym schedule fall by the wayside and started incorporated wine into more nights during the week, going to dinner with friends more, and eating more dessert.  Of course, I gained back that 10 lbs I lost right when bathing suit season was upon me.  Now I am doing everything in my power to get back to my happy place.

My husband is a fitness professional and with me also being pretty health conscious, we don't typically keep a lot of processed/junk foods in the house.  Our meals at home mostly consist of lean meat, whole grains, and fresh fruits and veggies.  This makes getting back on track easier, but getting motivated to work out is always difficult.
With the bodyrock workouts, I can get in a workout each day in under 20 minutes and then get on with my life.  It's great!  Not to mention, the workouts are all done at home with minimal or no equipment needed.  You can use stuff you have around the house if you don't have the equipment they are using.  They post new workouts a few times every week, do 30 day challenges pretty often and offer recipes and clean eating tips.  Their facebook page and website are so great, and they even have a smart phone app.  The bodyrock community is so amazing and supportive.  People post success stories all the time as well as their own tips and recipes.

I have gone back to being more strict about portion sizes and cut my alcohol intake back to once a week.  It's amazing how much less water I retain when I do that!  These tweaks coupled with the workouts will hopefully get me back to where I want to be in no time.  As for where I am now...

8/1/2012
5'6"
157 lbs

Good luck to all of you out there on this journey!  And thanks to Raven and Kristen for providing a forum for us to all support each other!

Fitness Friday?

Sure, why not?

We are nearing the end of week three for the LiveFit Trainer program.  You can find more details here.  The first month of the program is all weight-training and no cardio, so it has been interesting to say the least.  I am taking in between 1300 and 1700 calories daily, with a lot of that being protein.  I really need to work in more veggies, but am not really good at selecting, prepping, and bringing them to work with me (any suggestions are appreciated).  I really want to get the most nutritional bang for my veggie and I just don't know enough about them.  I am working on cutting starches out of dinner since we usually don't eat until 8pm.  I am also experimenting with smoothies for breakfast, but they are often higher in calories and have more sugar in them.

Although I am not a fan of the scale, I have been weighing myself at the gym weekly and am down 2 WHOLE pounds (sarcasm) since the 29th.  I am not really expecting to lose weight in the first month since I am building muscle, but if that's what the scale is gonna give me, I'll take it.  I was doing really well with logging my food/exercise/water in My Fitness Pal until this past Saturday.  Kinda fell off until yesterday (with logging, not with food).  But the important thing is that I am back on track with it and moving forward.

I am taking the suggested supplements with the program which are whey protein, multi-vitamin, fish oils, and branch chain amino acids (I only take the BCAA before a workout).  I typically have 8oz of water with a scoop of protein poweder within one hour of waking and then have breakfast a little later.  I have another one right after my workout.  The idea is to get the protein to the muscles ASAP so they can start to build and repair.

This week we moved to a 5 day split for workouts so I have two days off this week (too bad I already used them) and next.  Once we hit phase 2 we go to a 6 day split.  Should be interesting to try to have a life while doing this program, but I want to follow through with the whole 12 weeks and see how it goes.  I am feeling stronger and more confident in the gym.  I have had a few issues where I got caught not knowing what the hell I was doing, but I know the trainers there so they were kind enough to help me figure it out or find an alternative.

Overall I am really enjoying the program because it is so easy to follow.  The gym I go to is small and doesn't always have the equipment I need, but like I said, between my knowledge and the help of the staff, I am able to find an alternative that serves the same purpose.  The workouts are laid out so precisely, with videos, which makes it easy to know what you are in for before you even get to the gym.

This post ended up being waaaaaay longer than I expected, but I guess it's 3 weeks worth of an update, soooooo...

Happy Friday!!  Hope you all have a great weekend!

True Life: I'm a Healthy Living Blogger

Linking up again with Mrs. Monologues and Tara at Fabulous But Evil for their True Life series!  This week is True Life:  I'm a Healthy Living Blogger.

I don't know what the requirements are for this claim, exactly.  What I do know is that I have a few different labels such as "fitness", "wellness", and "nutrition" that I tag my posts with pretty often, so I'm going to run with it.  I think my first fitness-related post on the blog was about realizing I needed to so something about all the drinking and late night food I had consumed post-college.  You can read about that, here, about my first boot camp, here, and about my little secret here. 

Over the past two years I have tried several different groupons and living social deals for all kinds of fitness facilities and boot camps in my area.  It has made staying in shape fun and interesting and has helped me to find what I really enjoy.  Two weeks ago, I started a new program, which I am totally loving so far.  I have tried a few different styles of eating, such as Paleo, but since we eat pretty lean and healthy at home anyway, those experiments aren't a drastic change for me.

Over the past few years I have learned a lot about the different effects that certain foods can have on your body, and also how to tone up and lose body fat the right way.  It's really hard for me to see/hear about people doing fad diets or taking the easy way out to lose weight when I know how much hard work really goes into changing your lifestyle and how long it takes to see results.  I can only share my stories and experiences and hope that they take something away from that.  I hope one day everyone realizes just how damaging processed food is to our bodies and can switch to eating clean and realize how much better you feel!

Here's to Healthy Living!!

Are you a healthy living blogger?  Go link up with these beezies too!

Living Fit

My friend just scolded me on Facebook because I haven't written a blog in forever. There is lots to catch you up on, not to mention tons more honeymoon vids and pics, but all of my pics of everything are still on my camera, so today you get this:

Jamie Eason, one of bodybuilding.com's main fitness models, has put her practices into a plan that is so easy to follow it's ridiculous!  I met her at the UFC Fan Expo in Vegas last year, and let me tell you, she looks amazing!!!  Go here to check out the program!  There are sample meal plans, recipes, and day-by-day, week-by-week workouts for 12 weeks. 

Being married to a personal trainer, you would think it would be easy to stay in shape.  Not so, my friends.  Not so.  I have been begging JB for 3 years to write a program for me.  I know how to do most of the exercises, with proper form, but when I walk into the gym I need a game plan or I just do cardio or one of the classes.  Since I don't pay him with actual money, he does not work for me, so I am pretty much on my own.  That's why I was so excited about this program.  I'm not trying to get super buff, figure competition style, but I would definitely like to be more toned and maybe see an ab muscle or two.  I'd say three months of my life is worth that.

I also set up an account at http://www.myfitnesspal.com/.  I was skeptical at first because food logging is always a pain no matter how good they say their database is.  The thing I love about this one is the droid app (and I'm sure the iPhone app too) has a barcode scanner!  I have scanned multiple things with it to log and it's been accurate every time!!  Makes it so much easier to log food.  You can also log water intake and exercise and depending on your goal, current height and weight, tells you how many calories you should be taking in on a daily basis to get there.

A friend (and former dance teacher) of mine decided it would be great to start a group on FB to cheer each other on and hold each other accountable and share tips and meals and whatnot.  We are only on Day 3 but we have already helped each other out with food, supplements, and clarification of some of the stuff in the plan.

Neat huh?

So why wait for New Year's to start your journey, whether it be weight loss, toning, or buidling muscle, when you can start now?  If you have followed my blog for a while, you know how much of a cheerleader I am when I really think it's a great thing.  And I REALLY think both of these things are great!

Disclaimer:  I am not being paid by either of the companies mentioned above for raving about them like a lunatic :)

Slippery Slope

Back in late January I realized that the wedding was 5 months away and I would need all 5 of those months to get where I wanted to be by wedding day.  I signed up for fitness deal after fitness deal on Groupon.com and LivingSocial.com that was offered in my area.  Between that and the gym at my work, I was working out 3+ times a week.  We were eating clean at home; lean meats, lots of protein, fruits, veggies, less simple sugars, more complex carbs, blah, blah, blah.

At the beginning of June, after realizing I had somewhat plateaued, I decided to try living a Paleo lifestyle.  No dairy, no legumes, no grains, no processed sugars, just lots of lean meats and fruits and veggies.  It wasn't too big of a change to get used to seeing as how we ate already, but I did find myself wanting bad foods more often than I did before.  I was determined to stick it out for the month of June until the wedding.

Then Father's Day weekend happened...

We went to my dad's house on Saturday and had BBQ sausages and tri-tip, salad, and asparagus.  All Paleo approved.  But then there was bread.  Soft, still warm, fresh from the grocery store bakery french bread.  I had one piece.  And I was mad at myself for eating it because I only had one weekend left.  Oh yeah, there were also margaritas...

The next day we went over to my step-dad's sister's house for dinner.  This time there were appetizers.  Hot artichoke dip, cheese/meats/crackers, and the like.  I figured that I had already blown it, so whatever.  I indulged.  I had bread with dinner and then had dessert (angel food cake with strawberries), and then an oatmeal raisin cookie.  Game over.

Now I see why they call it a slippery slope.  The night of our wedding we went to the casino resort we were staying at for the night and next day.  At 1am we found ourselves in the food court eating Fatburgers and fries.  The next morning we were good at breakfast (unless you count the iced caramel latte I had) but later for lunch, we were stuffing our face with Panda Express.  I.Felt.Gross.

For the most part during the week, I stay in line with good eating.  We don't keep junk food, snacky stuff, or sweets in the house.  But these past few weekends have been filled with so much temptation and with the wedding being over and having already gone down this path, I am finding it hard to resist.  Yesterday I got in a great workout and then later we went to the movies and split a LARGE popcorn and a LARGE soda.  After that we were going to get some Subway sandwiches, which was in the same parking lot as Taco Bell.  somehow JB and I talked ourselves in circles long enough to end up in the Taco Bell drive-thru.  I haven't had Taco Bell since LAST 4th of July.  As I was eating it I was thinking, "this isn't as good as I remembered it being, and now I feel terrible."  I washed that down with a few beers and by the end of the night I was a bloated hot mess.

On the drive home I brought up the slippery slope and JB says, "It's just SO slippery."  While we are in Europe we aren't going to be holding back, but we will also be walking around all day so I am going to tell myself that it will cancel out for the most part.  Hopefully when I get back I can find a good balance of gym time and eating, but still enjoying life.  I feel like I have said this before...

4 Weeks To Go, Bootcamp Update, and Clean Eating Extravaganza!

Let's see if I can throw anything else into this post, shall we?

I can't even believe there are less than 4 weeks until our wedding! That is so crazy to me!! I can't wait to be surrounded by our friends and family and so much love! I am so excited to see how all of the details come together. More than anything, I am hoping to be able to surrender to the day and not let myself get worked up over any hiccups that may arise. Those that know me know this is a big challenge.

Also, since the end of January I have been working on my fitness in a big way. I have been purchasing different deals at several fitness facilities and working out anywhere from 3-5 times a week. The eating in our house is already pretty clean, aside from the occasional shared bottle of wine or carton of ice cream, but I have reached a plateau which means I need to clean it up a bit more.

A few months back, JB decided to try to follow the Paleo way of eating. Basically, you eat only what people in paleolithic times would have access to. No dairy, processed sugar, legumes, or grains. It focuses on fruits, veggies, lean meats, and nuts (PS, peanuts are a legume, not a nut. This makes me sad. See why here.). As it is, we only eat lean meats (fish, chicken, ground turkey), brown rice and wheat pasta, and fruits/veggies for the most part, so this isn't a huge change for us like it might be for others. Back when he decided to do it the first time, I wasn't completely on-board. I was still having my wheat toast in the morning and my greek yogurt for a snack. It really helped to jump start the change in my body with the workouts and I am hoping that it will help push me past this stupid plateau.

Monday I bought the book, Everyday Paleo, by Sarah Fragoso. It has quick and easy recipes with each having just a few different ingredients (I don't know about you, but if there are more than like 5 or 6 ingredients and zillion steps, I pass that recipe right up.), a 30 day meal plan including the shopping lists you will need for each week, and workouts for everyone from beginners to pros. It is very family friendly and helps you introduce your kids to a paleo lifestyle too. I have already tried a couple of the recipes and they are delicious!!

The most important component of eating like this is planning ahead.  We started a menu board so shopping for the week's dinners is easy and I put the page numbers of the recipes next to them so JB can start dinner before I get home if he wants to.  I also hard boiled a dozen eggs to grab for breakfast or snacks and pre-cut some veggies for snacks as well.  Of course I am going to have to derail for my bachelorette party this weekend, but I will be back on track Monday morning.

Bootcamp is currently in the 5th week, which means after this week, I only have one more to go! I was really hoping to get after it and work out 5 days a week and sometimes twice a day, but I hit a major slump during this bootcamp for some reason. I have not been feeling it. I think 6 weeks is too long for me now. I am so used to changing things up every 4 weeks that this is just taking forever.  It could also be that I am just feeling stressed and overwhelmed with everything to get done before the wedding, who knows?

The camp is held outside at a local park.  We started with a lot of women and it has dwindled week by week to a comfortable small group size.  Each workout is an hour long and we use sand bags and resistance bands and do a lot of body weight exercises for our workouts.  The workouts are mostly like circuit training, but somedays they throw in yoga.  We had to run a timed mile and I came in at 8:32.  I was the first one to finish!  I'm not a distance runner, so for me, I will take 8:32.  My 5K pace is usually around 10:00.  We were supposed to run it again to see if we could beat our previous time, but I think I missed the day they did it again because I came a different day that week.  I don't really think I could have beaten that time anyway.

How was that for a super jumbled, word-vomit post?  And PS, WTF is going on with Blogger lately?  I can't leave comments on people's blogs and the followers are missing.  Stupid.

Peanut Butter is the New Ranch

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a ranch dressing fiend fanatic.  I like to consider myself a ranch connoisseur (yeah, I had to spell check that, so what?).  I don't keep it in the house.  Bottled ranch is gross, for one.  If the bottled stuff was as good as say the stuff at Red Robin or Round Table, I would be in deep, deep trouble.  My friends joke that if I ever get pregnant, I will have an IV ranch drip and a rolling IV hanger with me at all times.  Shit, why wait for pregnancy, amiright?  Hook.Me.Up.

(A pic my bro drew of my prego SIL with a ranch IV)

But seriously, I eat certain foods solely because they are a vehicle for ranch dressing.  Okay, I'm not saying that pizza and french fries and fresh veggies aren't delicious all by themselves, but I wouldn't eat them nearly as much if they didn't make the perfect dipping items for ranch.  It's quite ridiculous to hear me order lunch at BJ's Brewery.

"Yeah, I'll have the turkey club with ranch instead of blue cheese, with fries and the house salad with ranch, and a side of ranch.  K thanks."

So, about 6 months ago we started frequenting the local Cold Stone ice cream shop.  For some reason the chocolate ice cream with a scoop of peanut butter and a brownie mixed in sounded so delicious.  Big mistake.  Huge.  It was soooooooooo NOM!  Hence the frequenting that ensued.  It got pretty bad.  But then I noticed that I was way more into peanut butter than ever before.  I really look forward to my breakfast each morning; slice of wheat toast with a bit of honey and peanut butter with sliced banana on it.  The people at work comment on my kindergarten breakfast.  Whatever.  It's delicious AND nutritious.  Bite me.

But then....

Peanut butter was working it's way into other meals of the day.  Snack time was celery with PB or apples with PB or bananas with PB, dessert (instead of the ice cream) was a dab of PB on a semi sweet chocolate chip...or ten.  If I get ice cream at all anymore it has to consist of chocolate and peanut butter.  And now I am turning into a peanut butter snob!  All I eat on the regular is this:

It makes me feel less terrible about eating so much peanut butter.  Because, you know, it's smart.  And better for you because it has Omega 3s and less sugar.  I just tell myself that since the fats are good fats, it's okay.  Sadly, there are no good fats in ranch.  But then the little single servings of ice cream were on sale at the store for $1 and they had reese's PB cup in vanilla with a PB ribbon.  Not good peanut butter.  Such a shame, but good because then I didn't want to eat a ton of it.

That's my random Tuesday rant.  I have been thinking about writing this blog for like, a week.  Because telling you all that peanut butter is the new ranch is so important and all...

Nice Marketing Plan

I received this little package from a staffing service earlier this week. Often times I receive things here or there from different companies trying to set themselves apart from all the other companies we won't be using either. Sometimes it works to my benefit. This time, notsomuch.

I posted a pic of this on my facebook and joked that these people obviously don't follow my blog, otherwise they would know that this type of "gift" would definitely turn me away from their services. Included in the box is ramen, parmesan cheese, breadsticks, shortbread cookies, italian dressing, and fruit snacks. The card should read "Enjoy your ( insert any number of countless diseases/health conditions here) on us!"

Don't get me wrong, I love me some ramen. This soup with some tapatio and a grilled processed cheese food sandwich used to be an any time of the year staple at my place. Not anymore. I took the liberty of adding up the nutrtional value (or lack there of) of this little lunch box for everyone's information (the parmesan cheese and breadsticks did not have info included on the package and I almost ate the fruit snacks yesterday but they were gross so I threw them out, so keep in mind that these numbers are probably higher):

Calories - 600
Fat - 28g
Sat Fat - 10.5g
Carbs - 72g
Protein - 10g
Sodium - 2180mg

Not to mention each item that had nutrition facts had a laundry list of ingredients, most of which I couldn't pronounce. No.Thank.You. For 600 calories, 28g of fat and 72 carbs, I will be eating something much more delicious than your new take on a ramen salad. Like all of Bucca de Beppo or Olive Garden. If I am going to sabotage myself, I'm gonna make it worth the guilt.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

The Book

After my rant about Biggest Loser I had a couple of people asking what book I was referring to that helped educate me on nutrition and get me started on my path to my fitness goal, so here it is:


It has great information about nutrition, recipes using the power foods, and workouts to get you started. I loved it. Hopefully it will help you too.

Biggest Loser is Back! (Rampant Ranting)

JB and I loooooooove Biggest Loser. With him being a fitness professional and me having a newfound interest in fitness and nutrition in recent years, this is like porn for us. Last night I noticed something different though. I used to have so much sympathy for these people, but last night while watching Tuesday nights premiere, I was getting angry.

The first thing I got angry about was the ages of most of these contestants. The fact that 22-27 year olds are that big makes me mad. It makes me mad at their parents for killing them (knowingly or not) from birth to age 18 and it makes me mad at them for not breaking the cycle once they are old enough to make their own choices. It makes me mad at the food industry for promoting foods that are toxic and poisonous. But nothing pissed me off more than the guy who takes 8 different pills for diabetes and shoots himself full of insulin before a meal and then eats a FUCKING PIZZA!!!! I don't know that I cuss on here often because I like to keep this open to all ages, but that's how mad I am about this.

I say to JB, "I know that we are not overweight, but we hear what poeple say and read the information for ourselves that this stuff is killing us. And yes, processed cheese foods, fried foods, and other high fat/high carb/high calorie foods are gawd damn delicious. But we make the choice, as hard as it may be, to avoid those foods most of the time. We haven't seen the effects (aside from a couple of lbs here and there) that these foods can actually have, we have only read about them, and we still make the choices to avoid them. These people choose to kill themselves on a daily basis. I just don't understand."

He reminded me that it's easier for us because we have seen the rewards that these choices can offer. We also believe in ourselves and know that if we set a goal, whether it be muscle gain or weight loss, we can most likely acheive it. We have people around us that believe in us; support systems.

I get that, and that's great for us, but I call bullshit.

YOU are the only one that can make a choice to do something or stop doing something. YOU make the choice to say "I've been good all day, I can stuff my face at dinner." or "Just one twinkie/hostess/ding dong/bag of doritos/plate of orange chicken won't kill me." What's one more? YOU are the only one that can ultimately stop the cycle. We justify our decisions to make ourselves feel better about making what are ultimately bad choices. And they aren't bad because I am judging you for them, they are bad because they are killing you! Whether anyone else thinks you are doing the wrong thing or not, YOU are the one that is going to pay for it.

I honestly don't understand how people can see something truly work for someone and say, "that will never work for me." Why not? How often have you heard someone say "Eat right and exercise. That's all you have to do." and then think , well, I tried that and look where it got me. It doesn't happen overnight. There are no pills, superfoods, special concoctions, magic potions or apparatuses that are going to make anything happen in a few days or weeks. It takes a few months to see major changes and this stupid society that is built on instant gratification never sticks around long enough to see the results. They just give up and go back to McDonald's for another cheeseburger, large fries and DIET coke.

People that are as big as the contestants on TBL think that they need this miracle because they could never do it on their own. But doing it the way they do it isn't all that healthy either. It's a good start, a good foundation. Learning about nutrition and exercise is a great start, but most of these people are so emotionally damaged that they also need psychological help to work through all that so they don't go home and eat their feelings (said in the nicest way possible). I like that they had past contestants help with the visits to the different cities, but not all of the past contestants have been able to maintain the weight they went home with, because they don't have the complete package. And ultimately when they get home and there isn't someone there stocking their pantry and fridge with the good foods and screaming at them in the gym for 8 hours every day, it's not as convenient anymore. My friend's blog touches on self-motivation a bit here.

Some of you might be thinking, this skinny bitch has no idea what she is talking about. Or maybe you think I have something against people that are overweight and think they are all lazy or stupid or something. I can tell you, that is not the case. Everything I have written about above, I have done (okay, I have never been morbidly obese). I used to come home from high school after not having eaten all day and eat 20 pizza rolls in one sitting. Or maybe a can of spaghetti o's and a bag of cheese puffs (NOM). Some Tostitos and queso, that's a meal, right? In the summer I would walk to the nearby McDonald's with my $3.22 and get a #2 (2 cheeseburgers, medium fry, coke) and stuff my face with it before I walked home. Breakfasts consisted of pop tarts and sugary cereals. Delicious, right?

My generation is the original processed generation. Less parenting, more food in cans and boxes, TV dinners. Once I stopped being an active kid/teenager, and had my own paycheck to buy my own insert name of major/minor fast food chain here I did for pretty much every meal. I gained the freshman 15, and dating someone at the time who couldn't gain weight if he tried made me eat worse and feel fatter than I probably looked. I can't say I have a healthy body image even to this day.

But one day, about three years ago, I saw a picture of myself that made me realize that I needed to be healthy. I thought I was doing the right things. I would go to the gym here or there, have a salad when I ate out, some of the things people who are trying to "change their lifestyle" instead of diet, do. I bought a training package, and a couple of books, and I got to work. Most of the books out there are still marketed towards those folks looking for instant gratification, but the one I found actually had great information in it. Not only about what I should be eating, but what those other foods I should be staying away from were actually doing to my body. Knowing these things made my choices easier. It took a while, but I started to notice a change in my body. I thought I had made a lot of progress, and maybe I had, but I still didn't like the way I looked in pictures. So I kept going.

I had to realize that eating out is not going to get me where I want to be. Even if you think you are making a good choice, you can make a better one at home and actually know what you are eating. Alcohol has to go. When you realize how many calories are in a beer or a glass of wine it makes it easier to say "why would I want to have 3 of those? That's an hour of cardio." It's not forever, it's just what you need to realize to attain the goals you have. I'm not saying it's easy to make these choices or that I enjoy going to the gym every day (some days, but not every day). But I also know that I used to be a person that didn't think I could do it. I failed PE in high school because I hated running, for crying out loud. Eventually (2 years later), I got there. And it's a struggle to stay there if you don't have a good foundation.

Educate yourself about the choices you make when you put things in your body. It definitely might change the way you eat without a ton of effort. You just might start to notice a difference. And that might motivate you even more. Change the cycle from a vicious one to a healthy one and out The Biggest Loser out of business.

Back On Track and Sparky

I swore I wouldn't let it happen this year, but it happened. Not as bad as it has in the past, but still, I managed to let myself go during the holidays. It's like, the consumption of thousands of calories is one thing on it's own. Not working out is not a big deal if you are eating well. And drinking is fine in moderation. But add it all together:

Multiple high calorie intake opportunities
+ Christmas cocktails and Thanksgiving wine
+ No time to hit the gym because of said opportunities
= packing on the lbs

Not to mention the stress of the move. I was barely in the gym once a week, compared to the 3 days I am used to. I was eating with emotion so anything bad sounded like a great idea. Add to that my "trainer" bf who is really a fat kid in disguise, and you can send my motivation and ability for clean eating right out the window.

I am glad to say that I am back on track. Even JB is with me this time! I found another helpful aspect of fitness and weight loss - no money. I am forced to eat at home and bring my lunch. it's super easy not to spend money when you don't have any, which makes saying no to eating out and happy hours a lot easier. And thanks to my pal, K-Put, I have found the most amazing fitness and nutrition tracker/weight loss and health forum/social network, Spark People!

Back when I first started this whole thing in full force a little over a year ago, I was using the body bugg system, thanks to JB. They have since modified the device, but the one I was using was big and bulky and grey and people looked at me like I was a weirdo with an iPod on my arm all the time. It is a great way to track calories burned and steps taken (it gives you goals to hit each day based on your total weight loss goals) but you also have to use their website to enter your calories consumed each day. This is the most tedious task for me and their database and interface made this take way longer than it really needs to. The process is helpful for people who are not used to portion sizes or tracking calorie consumption. You never realize just how much you are taking in until you log your food. But after I got the hang of it, I kind of fell away from entering my food everyday.

With Spark People, tracking your food is so easy. They have a giant database of foods and you can also import foods or meals that other people have already entered, so the chances of you not being able to find something is slim. It tracks the calories, fat, carbs, and protein in each item and for each meal and at the end of the day, gives you a report and tips if you are too high or too low in certain areas. One of the things I like the most is that it doesn't give you a solid take it or leave it number. It gives you a RANGE. This range is based on your current body-mass index (BMI) and your weight loss goals. Mine is currently 1500-1829 calories per day. As long as I am in that range, I am good to go. It also gives you a range for the other categories too and tells you why too much of these things or not enough of them is bad and what you can do to increase or decrease your intake.

The site offers sample daily menus, which are realistic and easy foods that you find in real stores, and there is even an option at the bottom to print a shopping list for this menu plan. If you use the menu plan, you just put a check mark next to whatever you ate off the menu and it calculates your intake. The water tracker has you input the glasses of water you drink per day and informs you that 8 is the standard amount. Another awesome feature is the iPhone app, so you can still track everything when you are away from your computer.

The fitness tracker is a place to obviously track your fitness activities. They offer sample workouts with demonstrations and most of these things are doable at home with a stability ball and small hand weights. There are many different exercises to choose from to build your own 30 minute routines, and since they have already entered the general calorie burn for these items, it can give you a somewhat accurate account of what you are burning by doing them.

There is also a social networking aspect to the site, where you can build your "spark page" and have "spark friends" and join "spark teams". You can post pics and have a ticker for weight loss progress and leave comments for your friends. There is a "status" line for you to let everyone know what you are up to, and even a blog to post about your progress if you'd like.

There is a point tracker that allots points for doing certain things on the site. If you log in, you get a point, log your food, more points. Read a blog or article, post on a message board, make a recipe from their catalog, points points points!!! Speaking of recipes, they also have a Spark recipes app for your iPhone as well and there is some really yummy stuff on there. I plan to use it quite a bit and may post some here.

So yeah, basically Spark People should hire me to do PR or marketing for them. Anyone who knows me knows when I get into something, I am behind it 100%. And if something works for me, it could work for all my friends, so I want the whole world to know about it. It's free to join, so if you end up with a profile, let them know that breannez sent you and add me as your "spark friend". I love having people to motivate me!

Happy Sparking!