Monday....how I Love thee

MONDAY is groundhog day for me.....DO OVER every....single....week!  I love it though because its a fresh start, I feel motivated, charged, ready to go and get it right this time.
My focus this week is FOOD.  Im going to make sure I track really good and watch what and how I eat, making sure to fuel before the gym and recover after my workouts, with some help from my protein shakes.  Today for the first time I made egg whites.  For some reason they just look so "snotty" without the yellow mixed in so I took a tip from my friend to mix 3 egg whites with 1 egg yolk.  They were good.  I added a little goat cheese and avocado with a side of yummy ripe calamari tomatoes and I'm full.

The NO EXCUSE MOMS challenge is going good.  It is not easy on top of my regular workouts but Ive been consistent with the challenge each day except for yesterday. I was sooooo tired, I couldn't bring myself to do it so today (9th & 10th) I've got 60 crunches, 245 jacks and 45 squats. My legs definitely feel tighter *and sore* I like how the jumping jacks make me feel, strong and tight.  Squats are the best exercise for the booty so I'll do what is required and hope to see a physical difference at the end of the month. 

Eating out *insert eeeeek face*

I've pretty much started taking pictures of everything I eat.....the obsession is real! 
Its one thing to eat healthy in my home, with food I buy and plan on eating....a whole other thing when I'm eating out!  I feel like I deserve to eat whatever I want BUT I don't feel good when I go all nutso and order almost everything on the menu. 
Smart eating is happy eating.....choose wisely my friends.

Met up with a friend of mine for breakfast, keeping in mind I was trying to make healthy choices, I ordered the white scrambled eggs with artichoke and spinach, Feta cheese crumbled on top which is quickly become my favorite kind.    WAS AHMAZING......I did have the potatoes but I swear they were baked (at least I think they were....lol).

Then This.....mmmhmmmm......buffet with the family!  STOP THE MADNESS.....

Beautiful, colorful salad....super yummy!  Good choice AND I even went for Italian dressing, which is probably a first for me.

They had roasted squash and eggplant (also new fav) beside a yummy penne pasta.  I left out the sausage and just had a small portion of the pasta.  Super tasty, super yummy and I'm feelin good....

And....on to desert....well....first I stopped at the Mexican section and grabbed a "SOPES?"  Never had one of these before.  It felt like a splurge BUT the bottom was corn and with beans, chicken and a wee bit o' cheese, I felt deserving of the splurge due to me "killing" my legs with weights 4 hours earlier! 
I do have to admit that I had a scoop of NO SUGAR ADDED Carmel Gelato (and omitted taking a picture) HA..... 
Overall.....for me.....success at the buffet.  It's normally super hard for me to control my portions let alone my appetite.  Note to self.....limit the number of times to come to a buffet per month!

"Go To" snack

This has become one of my favorite GO TO snacks while trying to eat clean.  I usually don't use this yogurt  - I like the Danon Light N Fit better but today this was all I had.  I dump yogurt into a bowl, toss in a handful of granola and a handful of dried cranberries.  Yum Yum Yum.....
I calculate approx. 200 calories for the whole thing

In the mood

Finally I feel somewhat motivated to blog again.  Life is just like that, don't ya think?  For me it is anyway, I get on these "up hills" of doing things and then plummet to the valley of nothing-ness.....
I found myself in the diet pill section of Sam's Club, desperate for a quick fix after three weeks of gorging myself in Florida (vacation - why?) and a road trip to Yellowstone that was filled with snacks, rich food, cakes, chips and soda, which I don't even normally drink.  All reason had gone out the door and I was spiraling into the valley of nothing-ness aforementioned.  Don't judge me......I am human and have a hard time finding balance when it comes to food.
In that oh so familiar moment, I yet again talked myself out of buying some "cheap shot" that doesn't work and talked myself into getting back on the wagon that I'd fallen of over summer vacation.  Whooohoooo...bottom is hit, motivation sets in, vegetables are bought, and a workout schedule for the upcoming week planned.
All of that went wonderfully until the weekend.  Weekends are the worst for me but I'm not going to whine and moan about that.  I am going to tell you what worked.
PREPARE
A serious key for me!  If I don't have good food & snacks to turn to, I will eat anything in sight, including nasty tasting candy or those cheap Walmart knock off snacks.  I find when I load my fridge up with vegetables (corn doesn't really count) and fruit (but take it easy on the fruit), I am actually more likely to eat them.  Another tip I learned during Weight Watchers is to wash, divide, measure...whatever you have to do to your fruits & veggies and put them in baggies.  Then they're ready to go.  My new favorite is slicing up green, red, yellow peppers and mixing them with snap peas.  I've also thrown tons of red cabbage into stir fry's and its super yummy!
SCHEDULE
If you didn't know already, I LOVE to workout.  It just makes me feel so good and I have energy (for a few hours anyway) after.  Teaching Zumba is a blast and I sweat buckets so that covers the cardio, but cardio alone will not cut it.  I find the best results when I partner cardio workouts with weight training of some sort.  Please refer to a previous post about Pump class.  You will not end up like a bodybuilder from pump class.....I promise.
I haven't taken a spin class for months and haven't been regularly cycling (indoors) since February.  From my experience, NOTHING makes you're legs look better.  Cycle class should be a good combination of cardio endurance and strength building.  My endorphins soar when I'm done with a cycle class.  It's exhilerating and wonderful.
BUT my new obsession is 8 Strikes, a cardio kickbox class at LVAC.  Kicks my tail - in a good way.  Sweaty doesn't even describe what I look like when I'm done, more like I just got out of the pool. It is a complete body workout, arms, legs, butt and core!  AMAZING.....try it. 
TRACK
One of the most vital keys in Weight Watchers is to track what you eat and the points value of every item you put in your mouth.  Whether you do weight watchers or not, you should track your food and your activity.  Just write it in a journal or ask me about a tracking app for your phone.  You will be amazed how many things you eat that you're not even aware of.....left overs from the kids, the samples at the store, tasting the frosting from your kids birthday cake just to make sure its yummy - guilty.  If we get in the habit of thinking before we eat, we will make better choices with what we eat.  THIS IS TRUE!!!  Tried and tested......  Tracking activity makes you feel good about the work you've done and allows you some more calories to eat if you want.
CONSISTANCE
This one is my least favorite and the least fun.  So the first two weeks of my brave new world went pretty good.  I try not to judge progress by the scale but its hard not to.  I didn't loose much weight, a pound or two of my 6 vacation lbs.  I definitely felt better and feel a difference in my body and strength and energy.  This week (week 3) not so hot!  New things are always exciting.......then they loose their sparkle.  Hmmm what to do?  Do what works......start over.....go buy veggies, make a workout plan, track, be positive.  That's what I'm going to do.

Weight Loss

1) Calculate how many calories you body needs to consume to maintain your existing weight. This is called you maintenance calories.(Search Google with "calorie needs" and you will find a few different calculators to help you with this)
2) Initially deduct 10%(to a maximum of 500 calories) off the total maintenance calories. Drastically reducing your calories will result in muscle and water loss - not fat loss.
3)Divide you calories over 5 or 6 meals rather then 2 or 3. You should aim to eat every 3-4 hours.
4)Cut out all simple carbohydrates (except straight after exercise, eat whole grain, high fiber foods.)
5) Exercise at least 3 times a week, doing 30 minutes of cardio to a reasonable level of intensity. This will help to create the calorie deficit and encourage your body to lose fat.
6)Make simple replacements in your diet, Sweetener in place of sugar, diet drinks in place of full sugar drinks, use leaner cuts of meat etc. At first these changes may be difficult but you will get used to them and make vital calorie savings every day.
7) Drink plenty of water - at least 8 glasses of water every day - if you are dehydrated your body will be less efficient and will make fat loss more difficult.
8) Try to eat low carb (complex only!), low fat and moderate protein.
9)Keep a food diary to monitor how many calories you are consuming - it is very easy to over eat.  This is one of the best things that keep me on track :)
10) Supplementing you diet can make fat loss easier. A diet high in protein can help preserve muscle (more muscle means an increase in metabolism).
Always consult a doctor before starting a new fitness or weight loss regimen.

Read the Label Please

You know that moment when you're just about to put something in your mouth but a little voice says, "don't do it, it's not worth it?"  I'm there quite often!  As many of you know, I have a problem with sweets, I LOVE them and over indulge almost every time we encounter each other.
The other day I picked up a cookie from Fresh N Easy, against my better judgement, because I had been doing good (in the sweets department) all week prior to this.  That nudge to put it back came and....I ignored it, bought the cookie and devoured it in my van in the parking lot.  Mind you, I justified this by tell myself it was OK because I had taught two classes that day....  I didn't check the label or calorie count or WW points prior to stuffing the monster, chocolate filled yummy down my throat.
Later on I thought I would be accountable and calculate the points for my decision.

12 points....WHAT?????  

ok people so whether or not you are familiar with Weight Watchers, 12 points is HALF of MY daily allowance....HALF!!!!  Whyyyyyyy???  480 calories worth of cookie!
The moral of the story....read your labels, calculate your points, ask if it's worth it (if you decide it is, then own it and enjoy), if you decide its not, put it back.  Listen to your inner compass and be strong my friends.

Little Tip

This summer my good friend Alicia taught me the coolest trick to cutting watermelon

Cut the watermelon into two halves, cutting across the lines

Cut each half into half again (from the bellybutton of the melon)

Take each one of those halves and cut across the lines 

make these as thick or thin as you like

Cut into thirds, creating a perfect triangle to eat! 

Viola! Simple & Yummy

The best way Ive found to serve watermelon