Healthy Eating on a budget.

On a typical week where I eat all my meals on plan with no cheat meals I take in 42 meals!!!  Six meals a day.  Now I bet your thinking how can I afford that.  It really is rather easy.  I do the BULK of my shopping from Peapod online.   I buy more of my everyday items when they are on sale (i.e. chicken breast, ground turkey, frozen veggies.)

• 42 oz of grilled chicken breast.  (currently on sale for 23 cents an oz.)   $9.66 for the week
• 42 liquid egg whites  ( currently whole eggs are on sale for .14 cents each, so I can hard boil them and only have the egg white. )  $5.88 for the week
• 224 almonds (I purchase in bulk from Costco 1 container lasts about a month for me and is roughly $12.00      $3.00 for the week 
• 42 oz cooked tilapia (currently on sale for 50 cents per oz)   $21.00 for the week
• 42 oz cooked flank steak (currently on sale for 50 cents per oz)  $21.00 for the week
• 21 c spinach leaves (Frozen currently on sale for 10 cents per oz) $14.01 for the week
• 7 cups green beans (frozen currently on sale for $1.00 a bag )  $2.50 for the week 
• 7 c cooked brown rice ( 16 oz bag currently on sale for $1.09) $2.18 for the week
• 3.5 c dry oats   ( container lasts approximately an entire month @ $3.49) $1.25 for the week
• 3.5 grapefruit ( A five pound bag will usually last me a week and a half @$4.49) $2.50

• 7 rice cake ($3.39 for a bag of 13)   $1.70 

The above are my essentials and the largest part of my monthly shopping bill.  $84.68 gets me my essentials to get me through 42 meals.    Thats $2.02 a meal!!!!!  Tell me a meal plan cheaper then that.

The below are items that I also use on a daily basis.   I buy my flax oil once every couple of months for less then $10.00 a bottle.   Olive oil I buy from Coscto and lasts me FOREVER.  My protein powder I buy from GNC or Bodybuilding.com and is a monthly/bi-monthly purchase.   Almond butter, I can buy once a month for less then $10.00.  Green/Red Peppers are bought only when they are on sale for CHEAP and are frozen.  If I don't have them I add spinach or green beans as a substitute.  Mushrooms are also only bought if on sale, if they are not cheap I do not include them in my plan. 

7 tbs flax oil

1 tbs olive oil
10.5 scoop protein

7 tbs almond butter

2 1/3 c red / green pepper
2 1/3 c mushroom
1.75 avocado

1 gallon Water jug (Bought for $1.00 twice a month, refill daily at home)

Adding in my extras I suppose you can say I average about $100.00 a week in food purchase. 

So even at that number   $100.00 for 6 meals a day, 7 days a week is $2.38 a meal.   Insanely cheap and insanely healthy.   

This is proof that you can not use "too expensive" as a reason to not eat healthy.  If you sit down and write it out, prep once or twice a week you can accomplish it. 

2013 Goals

Here we sit 10 days into 2013 and I find myself ready to map out my fitness goals for 2013.

• Have a professional photo shoot done for my 31st birthday
• Be bikini ready for my 4th of July vacation
• Clean eat seven days a week
• Allow one cheat meal
• Drastically reduce beer consumption (yes ideally I should completely eliminate it, but I'm not ready to force myself to that.)
• Compete in the stair climb February 2nd
• Compete in a second stair climb by conclusion of 2013
• Pass personal training certification
• Get CPR certified
• Begin a nutrition certification course
• By conclusion of 2013 be to the point that I am within 3 months of being stage ready for my 1st bikini competition

11 goals that are all achievable if I commit myself and get moving.

Have you set your goals for 2013 yet?

Today I put myself first

Anyone that knows me on a personal level knows that I am always putting others first.   Whether it was an unhealthy relationship that I let dominate my life, or the political arena that dominated for the last ten plus years.  I faced a tough decision tonight.   I didn't sleep well last night, as a result missing my morning cardio.   Time was tough to find tonight, I know that I can't do cardio much after seven or it messes with my sleep but I had a visitation at the funeral home to be to shortly after work.  That would mean my workout would be after 6:30.    This basically struck out a cardio workout that I know I need tonight, but left me with the opportunity to do another workout instead or completely abandon my workout and attend the 7 PM political meeting that was very important.

I made the tough choice, I switched my workout into posture, foam rolling and 20 minutes of squats and completely abandoned my political meeting.   This was a HUGE emotional step for me to conquer, I put ME first.   Yes there will be some people disappointed in me that I didn't attend the meeting this evening, but if I want to succeed in my journey I need to put myself first and ensure that my workouts come first.   

One day at a time........

Featured Fitness Tools..... Fit Bit One

Every person that begins the fitness journey ends up relying on some very important tools to help them through the process.   Over the next couple of weeks I will be featuring some of those very tools that have helped me through my journey.


Today's featured fitness tool is the Fit Bit One.

I have been using a fit bit for about six months now, but when the pre-order became available for the new fit bit one a few months ago on AMAZON I jumped at the chance.   I am a little bit of a technology junkie!   There were some new features on the fit bit one but what sold me was the ability to sync my data with my iphone.   That means that even if I'm not by my computer I still know what my burn is for the day without having to pull my unit off of wherever I have it attached to me and check the display.

The new fit bit one also has a silent alarm feature.   I used it for the first time this morning, and I am a BIG FAN of this new feature, I set it to wake me up to workout and the silent buzzing of the fit bit did exactly what ti was supposed to.

Using my fit bit I am able to track my step count, my total distance, my calories burned, my stair count, and my sleep cycle.  I have found it very beneficial to track my sleep cycle, I find that I have a happy number of hours and if I get too little or too much I simply don't function at 100%.    In your online dashboard you can view all your stats as well as long your food so you can see your total intake versus your burn.  Fit bit sync's with Myfitnesspal so I do all my food logging on that web-site/app instead.

With a 30 day money back guarantee, free shipping, and a 365 day warranty the fit bit one is well worth the $99.95 price tag.

Continue to follow my blog and stay updated on my successes using this fitness tool. 

Click on the picture below to learn 

A Healthy Black Friday Shopping Experience

http://www.teambeachbody.com/shop/holidayoffer?referringRepId=181994

Sitting at home on Black Friday. Take advantage of these great specials! The fun begins this Friday, November 23rd, around 9:00 AM PST/12:00 PM EST and ends on Monday, November 26th around 9:00 PM PST/12:00 AM EST. Remember, all offers have a limited quantity available and will no longer be available once those quantities have been sold. Be sure to use the attacked link.

Why not invest in your health this holiday season.  Give your children the gift of a healthy you! 

A healthy addiction for those hunger pains.

Anyone that has ever tried to follow a "competition" diet knows that almost always a HUGE requirement is eating chicken.... lots and lots of chicken.   Boiled, grilled, baked, blah blah blah.   After a few weeks it really starts to feel like you are gonna have feathers popping out of your skin because of all the chicken your eating.   While I have been very fortunate that my current "competition" diet allows some variety with my protein (egg, chicken, turkey, ground beef, buffalo, etc).  I have found that I have to choke down physical chicken breasts if I try to eat them.  The chicken has usually been my downfall the last few times I have tried variety's of this current diet.    Luckily some of my "team mates" found an great alternative for me.  Jamie Easons Turkey Meatloaf Muffins.    These muffins are heaven sent for me right now.   When I'm getting burnt out with egg whites in the morning, I break it up by throwing in half a serving of a muffin and giving my egg whites some flavor.    I personally make these muffins with either ground turkey or ground chicken.   I change up the spices every time to keep my variety going.

I highly recommend these to anyone that is trying to clean up their eating but can't "stomach" plain chicken breast.



~Jenny

Almost a year of lost focus and starting over

Here I sit on November 1, 2012 three weeks shy of a year of where I lost my focus.     So much has happened in that year that led to my focus going down hill, but the majority can just be marked up to being BIG EXCUSES!

I have regained my focus and am working on regaining my drive.     I'm all about the numbers and I think the numbers in this case speak for themselves.     I weighed in this morning, and have just now compared that number to 1 year ago today........ surprisingly I only weigh in 3.2 pounds heavier then last year.    Considering a lot of factors that isn't horrible, but imagine if I had kept to my goal.  That number would probably be between the range of 30-60 pounds lighter.   That is a sad idea to consider.   Why did I let myself fall so far off track,   why didn't I seek medical help sooner when I knew something wasn't right.   Being injured puts you in a very unhealthy state of mind.   I found myself wanting to not ever get out of bed, or if I would get up all I wanted to do was find a reason to get back to bed.   I wasn't getting restful sleep, I was seeing a chiropractor on a weekly basis, and while he seemed to have "cured" my allergies he actually caused something much worse in the long run.  

  In August of 2012 I had finally had enough, I couldn't keep on living like this.   I went to my normal doctor, presented him with my latest xrays from my chiropractor and told him something was wrong.   I was almost daily in pain, my neck was making me so sick I didn't want to leave the house (sometimes I physically couldn't leave the house).   I wasn't sleeping through the night, heck I think I was lucky to sleep a total of four hours a night.   I was just always feeling miserable.  

Unfortunately for me the doctor didn't see any big obvious reason for my pain.   He decided to send me for an MRI, he isn't one to recommend such drastic testing but since I was dealing with this for over a year he knew I needed something.    Panic quickly overcame me, I guess I'm one that always jumps to worst case scenario.   I immediately thought it had to be a tumor on my spine, I must have cancer, blah blah blah.   Why I couldn't just have a positive outlook, who knows.     Results from the MRI came back as I have mild arthritis and two bulging disks.   YIKES!!!  I'm only 29 how can I have arthritis in my spine.     With my doctors prescription I was headed to physical therapy to see if I could find some relief. 

Physical therapy is no joke!   It was brutal, we discovered I had lost a lot of strength in my upper body, my range of motion was practically nonexistent.    How could a year have done this to me?   Over the course of physical therapy we discovered that my shoulder/back muscles had started to over compensate for my lack of strength in holding my neck up.    I had major muscle tension that took us close to three months to even to relieve to the point where I only have a few knots in my back muscles versus my whole back being a big knot!   As part of the physical therapy at every session (3 times a week) I was put in neck traction for ten minutes.   At a session about 3/4 through my journey we put a little more traction on then normal and I felt a pop/movement in my neck.   The therapist had never really had anyone describe it like that, but that is how it felt to me.   From that day on I have had NO pain, I've been sleeping better, my range of motion has highly improved, my strength is coming back and I'm honestly feeling like a light bolb went off in my head and turned my body back on.    I feel like me again, I feel happy, I feel healthy. 

Today marks two weeks post physical therapy.   I am finally ready to truly return to the gym and get my butt in gear.   I have stayed a member of an online training group, Bikini Ready Now.   I have an amazing support system of 29 girls from all across the country.   We are all at different stages of the journey, some have already competed, some never will, others have had amazing photo shoots.   I will be another success story for my coach Tracy Nelson.    She has had faith in me and never gave up on me this entire journey.   I owe it to MYSELF to reach my goal.

This pretty much brings you all up to speed on where I've been, my future posts will now focus on the daily successes and weakness as I strive for this goal.   I look forward to finishing this journey with you by my side.


~Jenny

Day 6.... 106 days to my 1st goal.

I have to admit I was beyond shocked when I stepped on the scale this morning.   I was expecting a increase in my weight, not a decrease.   I caved to the soreness and did not do my workout last night.   I ended up eating out, I had HALF of a veggie burrito, but I did not eat the tortilla I just pulled all the veggies out of it.  I had no sour cream, very minimal cheese, just lots of tomatoes, lettuce, onions, and peppers.     It felt good to be able to make that choice and to avoid adding a lot of cheese and sour cream on top.    I made the decision prior to leaving the house to leave my body bugg on.  So even if I would be out and cheating, I would be tracking the calories I was burning.   And I'm very glad I did that.  I ended up dancing for a couple hours with some of my girl friends, so it was definitely a calorie burning atmosphere. 

Today was Thanksgiving.   I did not eat on plan, and in fact had one snack meal and then my main course.   That was my  biggest downfall, I slept until an hour before needing to leave for my aunts.    I do not think I will like the scale in the morning.  But that is ok!   I enjoyed my day with my family, and will return to my plan first thing tomorrow morning.   Six planned meals, and a great workout. 

Day 5.... 107 days to my 1st goal date

 

Above is my "vision/motivation" board of the day.  I have one made for every day of this journey and look at it everyday to keep myself focused.    Focused on what you might be asking.   Focused on my journey towards a bikini body.   Not just any bikini body, a competitive bikini body.   I don't want to go into "bodybuilding" competitions I want to go into the bikini division of those competitions.  Its a much softer, and healthier look.

Why bikini?   I follow quite a few women on facebook that have competeted in bikini in the past year.  Two in particular Barbie Decker who is a Beachbody Coach, and Nicole Moneer Guerrero who is now my "trainer".   I had signed up for an online "training course" with the same trainer that Barbie had used to get on the stage but didn't feel like the program was right for me.  The program seemed to be designed for girls that were a lot closer to their stage weight, and I'm just not there yet.   I had been follow Nicole's posts and seeing here amazing stage pictures and I just finally decided to bite the bullet two weeks ago and e-mail her to sign up for her plan.   She offers a few different plans, I went with the combination plan of all three.  She designed for me a workout plan that I can do from the comfort of my own home gym (weights and cardio), a meal plan, and a supplement plan.    I am now on Day 3 of following this plan to a T.  No cheating, no skipping(so far).  I completed my first weights workout on Monday which was legs and core, yesterday was my first "boring" cardio and YES it was boring.  Todays workout is upper weights.  I am SOOOOO sore on my lower half, it hurts to get up from chairs, it hurts to sit down on chairs.  

I have my first major temptation tonight..... it's Black Wednesday and one of my friend's band is playing at my local hangout.   I could do what Ive been debating all afternoon and just make today my rest day and head out to see friends.  But that is not the best choice for me in the long run.   What I need to do is go home, get in my workout, eat my next meal and then head up later to my hangout to see my friends.    I feel that if I will still complete my workouts and my meals then I will be far less tempted when I head out because I will know that I don't want to throw away what I worked so hard for all day.

What will I end up doing?  Can I resist the temptation?  Only time will tell.

Journal for Day 1 of 90 Day Challenge Monday August 8, 2011

Food Journal 8/8/11

Breakfast: Vi-Shake with butterscotch non-fat pudding flavoring
Snack: hardboiled egg and hummus
Lunch: Vi-shake with strawberry packet
Snack: Nutra Cookie peanut butter cookie and weight watchers string cheese
Dinner: Flounder with green beans
Lots of water

Workout:

58 mins of boxing on wii active.

I have also been taking pictures of all my meals as extra accountability and uploading them to my facebook page.  If you need the link to my facebook page, please let me know.

Finding what works for you

Less then a month ago I was introduced to an amazing product.  I kept seeing a friend post pictures on Facebook of these shakes she was taking and how they tasted like cake.    I took the risk and ordered the product without even tasting it.   Turns out to be one of the best decisions I've ever made.  The shakes are amazing.  The flavor is just like a cake, there is such a variety of flavors you can achieve with ingredients you already have in your home.




I have great faith in this product after seeing others success with it.  I've been drinking the shake almost daily the last month and saw weight loss even while traveling. 

Tomorrow I start my 90 day challenge with the shake.  I commit to drinking 1 shake a day for the next 90 days.   I will be taking my starting weight and measurements in the morning.  

Keep checking back to see my success, and if you are interested in finding out more about the shake, please let me know.

Setting a new and huge goal to achieve

Sorry everyone, I know its been quite some time since I've last Blogged.  Blah, bad me.   So I've had some slip ups, I went on a fairly long vacation and joined some significant weight while I was on it.  Thats ok though, its life and you will have slip ups.   Whats important is that I've been home for two weeks now and in the week that I have been watching everything that goes in my mouth I have lost over four pounds.   Four pounds is huge!

I've also set myself up with some hefty goals, and was going to hold off for a bit in making these goals public but I think I'm ready to make the announcement.   I have made the decision that I want to train for a bikini competition.   Not a bar bikini competition, a true bikini competition.    I don't necessarily think that I will be to the level that I can enter a competition this summer, but potentially by fall if I keep up with my hard workouts and clean eating.  I have set a short term goal of a swimsuit photo shoot this summer, hopefully 4th of July when I'm down in Florida. 

So here comes the point where I need to ask for the support of my friends and family.  This is going to be a very difficult journey for me, not only the prep for the competition but the actual competition. (Hair, nails, tan, makeup, jewlery, etc)  For those of you that know me well, you know that I'm not the girly girl.  So I will be be asking for your encouragement along the way.   The kind words that you can see the difference, or that you appreciate my dedication.  I will greatly appreciate it. 

Please stay tuned to my blog as I continue to post about my journey in this process to become a bikini competitor. 

Life and its constant curve balls or road blocks

Anyone that has followed my blog from the beginning is aware that I've had some health challenges in my life that seem to always derail me.   Earlier this year it was my food allergies that stopped my weight loss dead.  Now its an inner ear inflammation.   As you know I recently had started a round of P90X.  Unfortunately I have had to stop already.  I was experiencing some severe dizzyness last week.  So severe I ended up in Urgent Care.  I am on some medicine to help control the dizzyness but am still having some spells.  I will get in for a follow up with my normal doctor tomorrow and hopefully have some more answers.  But its pretty much impossible to workout when you are dizzy.   As a result of the lack of workouts last week, and a lot of couch and bed time with very little control over my portions I GAINED 5 pounds last week.   So not only am I feeling disgusting from the dizzy spells I'm feeling disgusting for gaining the weight.

I have decided while I can get no formal workout in till the doctor tells me otherwise I am going to still track my calories and wear my BodyMedia device and try to get at least a 500 calorie defecit every day. 

I can't wait till I can be healthy and get back into a normal routine again. 

Day 1 Round 1 P90x

 

A very important step I feel in any workout program is accountability.   Hopefully by posting to this blog and doing my video updates I will be able to create not only my own accountability but also motivation for others that arn't sure if they can get started.

1 week down 4.6 pounds gone

I was pleasantly surprised to step on the scale this morning and see 4.6 pounds gone since last Tuesday.   Shows that my diligence to everything i put in my mouth is really paying off.  I think I owe alot of the credit to Shakeology though.  I have substituted my breakfast with a shake and I feel quite a difference.  I feel alot more energy in the morning and it really curbs my hunger. 

I'm getting a lot of questions about what I'm eating and when am I eatting it so I will give you a bit of a log on that.  Yesterday's breakfast was about 7:45, I had my morning snack at 10:00 Am.  Lunch hit right about Noon, followed by afternoon snack at 2:00 and then dinner at 4 pm.  When I got home from work at 6:30, I was a little hungry when I got home home from work and was a little low on my calories so I had a hard boiled egg and a banana.  I need to remember to keep adding a banana in on occasion to help with the charlie horses.

The following is yesterdays food log.
Mon Oct 25, 2010 SERVING SIZE CALORIES
FAT CARB. PROTEIN
(IN GRAMS)
Breakfast Water, Tap 12 Fl Oz 0 0 0 0
Tropicana Trop50 8 fl oz serving 0.5 Serving 25 0 7 0
Juice, Orange 4 Fl Oz 56 0 13 1
Totals for this meal: 8 1 0 2 0 1

AM Snack Mayonnaise, Low Calorie 1 Tsp 12 1 1 0
Chicken, Breast, Meat and Skin, Roasted 3 Tbsp 52 2 0 8
Water, Tap 60 Fl Oz 0 0 0 0
Totals for this meal: 6 4 3 1 8

Lunch Water, Tap 20 Fl Oz 0 0 0 0
KRAFT BREAKSTONE'S FREE Sour Cream, Fat Free 2 Tbsp 29 0 5 2
Hillshire Farm Roast Beef Ultra Firm serving size 2 ... 1.5 Serving 105 5 2 16
LaTortilla Smart and Delicious Tortilla High Fiber ... 1 Item 50 2 10 5
Tomato, Red 0.25 Item 6 0 1 0
Totals for this meal: 190 7 1 8 2 3

PM Snack Eggs, Hard Boiled 1 Item 78 5 1 6

Dinner Beef, Ground, Extra Lean, Pan Fried, Medium 3 Ounce 217 14 0 21
Soup, Chicken Broth, Low Sodium, Canned 2 Tbsp 5 0 0 1
Centrella Best Since eggs 2 Tbsp 15 0 1 3
Oil, Olive 1 Tbsp 119 14 0 0
Pepper, Bell or Sweet, Green 1 Cup 30 0 7 1
Rice, Wild, Cooked 0.666 Cup 110 0 23 4
Onions, Chopped 0.25 Cup 16 0 4 0
Celery 0.5 Cup 8 0 2 0

Late Snack Banana 1 Item 105 0g 27g 1g
Eggs, Hard Boiled 1 Item 78 5 1 6
Totals for this meal: 183 5 2 8 7
Total 1116 calories  4 8 fat  105 carb  7 5 protein

Weekend wrap up

I'm quite proud of myself, I saw a big shift in the scale when I weighed myself Sunday morning.  Goes to show that watching your calories and using Shakeology as a meal supplement truly does help.    Instead of full workouts this weekend, I decided to take my dog for a walk on both Saturday and Sunday.  Sunday's walk turned into a little over an hour which really helped me achieve my step goal for the day.  It also helped me feel a little less guilty for the size of the bun that I ate at Sunday's fundraiser.   Looking back on Sunday's lunch meal now I realize that I should of not taken the bun for the beef roast, but I did and thats in the past so now I just need to be aware of it and move on.     I need to keep working on being able to eyeball a portion size when I'm out to eat, but considering I did keep my other portions under control it isn't an all out loss.

My lovely 60 oz water bottle was my drink of choice yesterday at the fundraiser.   This was by far my biggest accomplishment of the weekend.  I normally will drink adult beverages when I'm at this bar, but I was able to completely avoid that and stick to my water.   I found that I didn't even have the temptation since I had my water bottle with me.  Granted most establishments might frown on me bringing my own water container, but its just so much easier for me to keep track of my water and to avoid the temptations. 

I hope that I'm continuing to set a positive example for those around me,  while I might not doing everything perfect all the time I'm striving to be 90% perfect 90% of the time.

My statistics from the last two days.  Don't wanna make the posts too long, but if you would like to see the actual full breakdown just let me know and I will post it all.

Saturday:
1302 Calories Consumed
65 Fat Grams
102 carb grams
90 protein grams
2283 Calories burned
7712 Steps Taken


Sunday:
1617 Calories Consumed
61 Fat Grams
152 Carb Grams
116 Protein Grams
2490 Calories burned
9997 Steps Taken

Jenny

Another on target day

Calories Burned - 2268 | Calories Consumed - 1297 | Total Activity - 0:09 | Moderate Activity - 0:09 | Vigorous Activity - 0:00 | Steps Taken - 4520 | Sleep Duration - 5:51 | Lying Down - 8:11 | Sleep Efficiency - 71%

Fri Oct 22, 2010 SERVING SIZE CALORIES
FAT CARB. PROTEIN
(IN GRAMS)
Breakfast Water, Tap 8 Fl Oz 0 0g 0g 0g
Juice, Orange 4 Fl Oz 56 0 13 1
Shakeology Greenberry 1 Serving 140 1 19 15
Totals for this meal: 196 1 3 2 1 6
AM Snack Water, Tap 20 Fl Oz 0 0 0 0
Mayonnaise, Low Calorie 1 Tsp 12 1 1 0
Chicken, Breast, Meat and Skin, Roasted 2.5 Tbsp 43 2 0 7
Totals for this meal: 5 5 3 1 7
Lunch HEALTHY CHOICE Deli Meat, Hearty Sliced, Roast B... 6 Slice 180 6 6 30
Juice, Orange 4 Fl Oz 56 0 13 1
Sour Cream, Reduced Fat 2 Tbsp 54 4 2 2
Mission 96% fat free Whole wheat medium tortillas 1 Serving 130 2 25 4
Tomato, Red 0.25 Item 6 0 1 0
Lettuce, Romaine or Cos 1 Item 2 0 0 0
Totals for this meal: 428 1 2 4 7 3 7
PM Snack Eggs, Hard Boiled 1 Item 78 5 1 6
Water, Tap 20 Fl Oz 0 0 0 0
Totals for this meal: 7 8 5 1 6
Dinner OSCAR MAYER Salami, Hard 3 Slice 99 8 0 7
Pickle, Dill, Slices 3 Ounce 15 0 4 1
Bread, Garlic, Toasted 2.5 Slice 236 9 33 6
Pasta, Spaghetti, Al Dente, Cooked 1 Cup 190 1 39 7
Totals for this meal: 540 1 8 7 6 2 1
Total 1297 Calories  3 9 fat grams 157carb grams 8 7 protein grams

1.4 pounds gone...... more to go, but its a start

I know I should know better and I know that these 1.4 pounds gone might not be true pounds at this point, but heck at this point I will take whatever the scale cares to give me. 

I'm very bummed that my peapod delivery arrived so late last night.  I had hoped to get my dinners made for a few days but since they hadn't delivered the food that made that impossible.   I got all my eggs hard boiled for the week.  And packaged up a few days of snacks.  Definately need to spend the time on Saturday or Sunday to get all of next weeks foods done or at least sorted.  That way it will make the week so much easier. 

I am delighted that I was able to have Shakeology just with OJ this morning and had no reaction.  That means I must be allergic to one of the fruits that I mixed in my shake a few days ago.  Now I just need to do trial and error and figure out which one I'm allergic to. 

If there is ever meals that I post that you would like more details or recipes for please let me know!

Need to get some work done, but I am hoping to post a video blog tonight after I finish plyometrics. 

Below you will find yesterdays food log and Bodymedia log.


Thu Oct 21, 2010 SERVING SIZE CALORIES
FAT CARB. PROTEIN
(IN GRAMS)
Breakfast Water, Tap 20 Fl Oz 0 0 0 0
YOPLAIT Light Yogurt, Fruit Flavors 6 Ounce 100 0 19 5
Totals for this meal: 100 0 1 9 5
AM Snack Laughing Cow Light Creamy Swiss wedge 1 Item 35 2 1 2
Water, Tap 20 Fl Oz 0 0 0 0
Totals for this meal: 3 5 2 1 2
Lunch Green Giant Baby brussel sprouts and butter sauc... 2.5 Cup 300 5 45 15
Pickle, Dill 2 Item 7 0 2 0
Stouffer's Stuffed Pepper 1 Package 210 9 23 10
Water, Tap 20 Fl Oz 0 0 0 0
Totals for this meal: 517 1 4 7 0 2 5
PM Snack Frigo Light String Cheese 1 Ounce 60 2 1 8
Water, Tap 20 Fl Oz 0 0 0 0
Totals for this meal: 6 0 2 1 8
Dinner Water, Tap 10 Fl Oz 0 0 0 0
HEALTHY CHOICE Soup, Old Fashioned Chicken N... 1 Cup 110 2 17 8
Totals for this meal: 110 2 1 7 8
Late Snack ALPINE LACE Cheese, American, White, Reduced Fat 1 Slice 90 6 1 6
OSCAR MAYER Salami, Hard 1 Slice 33 3 0 2
Cheese, Provolone 2 Ounce 199 15 1 15
Totals for this meal: 322 2 4 2 2 3
Total 1144 CALORIES  4 4  FAT GRAMS 110 CARB GRAMS  7 1 PROTEIN GRAMS

Keep pushing play,

Jenny

Another day down

 Yesterday is in the books.  As you will be able to tell from the data posted below it wasn't too bad of a day.  Got all my meals in, kept my calories under control.  While I didn't squeeze a workout in I did burn more calories then I consumed.  Need to work in some walks to add to my step count, but all in all not that bad.

I'm eagerly awaiting Peapod's food delivery tonight so that I can get my food packaged up for the next week.  Might have to make a few tweaks to it as I had a minor reaction to my Shakeology shake last night, not sure if I reacted to the Shake itself or the fruit I added to it.  I'm thinking the fruit.  Gonna try the shake with just OJ once the food arrives.

I had the best of intentions to workout at 5:30 this morning, but it just didn't happen.  While I did wake up I just felt very groggy and wasn't sure if I could trust myself with using weights while I was feeling like that.  I'm going to try and get the workout in tonight after work and before the food gets delivered.  I'm also gonna try and not take the pills I have been taking to help with my sleep tonight and see if I feel any less groggy.    I'll have to try and fit my starting measurements in at some  time tonight also.

Scheduling is definitely where I need to improve myself on.  I am currently working two jobs which means I work job one from 7:30 AM till 5:00 PM.  I then go to job two, I usually get out of job 2 anywhere between 6:30 PM and 8:30 PM.   That leaves little to no time to eat dinner, or get a workout in since I try to be to bed anywhere between nine or ten pm.  When it gets really difficult is the nights I have meetings for my elected official job or for the Lions club.  On those nights I don't get home till ten or eleven.  Definitely no time to workout then.    This is why the 5:30 AM workouts are what I need to do.  That will allow me enough time to workout, shower, and get to work.  I'll pack my next days meal the night before and I should be golden.

So if your asking yourself how do you have time to workout and eat healthy?  Just look at my schedule, it is possible you just need to plan ahead for it.

Well thats enough for today, my stomach is telling me its time for my morning snack.  See you all tomorrow.  Don't forget to check out yesterdays stats down below.

Jenny

BodyMedia FIT data for October 20, 2010

Calories Burned - 2242 | Calories Consumed - 1130 | Total Activity - 0:10 | Moderate Activity - 0:10 | Vigorous Activity - 0:00 | Steps Taken - 3531 | Sleep Duration - 4:13 | Lying Down - 6:09 | Sleep Efficiency - 69%

Wed Oct 20, 2010 SERVING SIZE CALORIES FAT CARB. PROTEIN (IN GRAMS)
Breakfast Water, Tap 20 Fl Oz 0 0 0 0
QUAKER Weight Control Maple & Brown Sugar Oat... 1 Item 160 3 29 7
Totals for this meal: 160 3 2 9 7
AM Snack Frigo Light String Cheese 1 Ounce 60 2 1 8
Water, Tap 20 Fl Oz 0 0 0 0
Totals for this meal: 6 0 2 1 8
Lunch Tyson Grilled and Ready Fajita Chicken Breast Stri... 1 Package 200 4 4 38

Lunch LaTortilla Smart & Delicious Wrap. Gluten and Wh... 1 Item 180 5g 30g 2g
Weight Watcher Medium Cheddar Cheese 2 slices 0.5 Serving 40 3 1 4
Water, Tap 20 Fl Oz 0 0 0 0
Totals for this meal: 220 8 3 1 6
PM Snack Butterball Turkey Breast Oven roasted 1 slice 1 Item 30 1 2 4
Weight Watchers Cream Cheese Reduced Fat Sprea... 1 Serving 60 45 4 2
Totals for this meal: 9 0 4 6 6 6
Late Snack Shakeology Greenberry 1 Serving 140 1 19 15
Biggest Loser Protein Powder 1 scoop 1 Tbsp 40 0 7 6
Yoplait Smoothie Strawberry Mango Pineapple. 2 ... 2 Serving 220 2 28 2
Totals for this meal: 400 3 5 4 2 3
Total 1130 calories 66 fat 125 carb 88 protein

Why an unplanned night of friends can tip the scale in the wrong direction

I feel I had planned yesterday out quite well.  Got all my meals in, was at the proper calorie amount but then I threw it all off balance by a night out with some friends after a meeting.   Instead of just being social and only drinking water I had some adult beverages, those calories sure creep up on you when your not looking. 

Last night is truly a case of I know better and I need to be better about watching what liquids I chose to drink.  I could just as easy have water with lemon in it all night and have it look like I'm still drink and save myself all those calories.
 Yesterdays stats:

BodyMedia FIT data for October 19, 2010

Calories Burned - 2198 | Calories Consumed - 3910 | Total Activity - 0:11 | Moderate Activity - 0:11 | Vigorous Activity - 0:00 | Steps Taken - 3904 | Sleep Duration - 7:46 | Lying Down - 9:43 | Sleep Efficiency - 80%

3910 calories  109 grams of fat  270 grams of carb  8 0 grams of protein

Tue Oct 19, 2010
SERVING SIZE CALORIES FAT CARB. PROTEIN (IN GRAMS)
Breakfast QUAKER Weight Control Maple & Brown Sugar Oat... 1 Item 160 3 29 7
Water, Tap 20 Fl Oz 0 0 0 0
Totals for this meal: 160 3 2 9 7
AM Snack Water, Tap, Drinking 20 Fl Oz 0 0 0 0
Butterball Turkey Breast Oven roasted 1 slice 2 Item 60 1 4 8
Weight Watchers Cream Cheese Reduced Fat Sprea... 1 Serving 60 45 4 2
Totals for this meal: 120 4 6 8 1 0
Lunch Healthy Choice Chicken Tortilla 14 oz container 2 ... 2 Cup 280 3 46 18
Water, Tap 20 Fl Oz 0 0 0 0
Totals for this meal: 280 3 4 6 1 8
PM Snack Apple 1 Item 95 0 25 0
Popcorn, Microwave, Low Fat and Sodium 2 Ounce 243 5 42 7
Totals for this meal: 338 5 6 7 7
Dinner Water, Tap 20 Fl Oz 0 0 0 0
Cedarlane Beans, rice, cheese style burrito made w... 6 Ounce 260 1 48 13
GREEN GIANT Green Bean Casserole, Frozen 2.5 Cup 410 30 34 7
Totals for this meal: 670 3 1 8 2 2 0
Late Snack Pizza, Sausage, Ground Beef and Pepperoni, Thin ... 2 Slice 416 21 38 18
Alcoholic Beverage, Distilled, 80 Proof (Gin, Rum, ... 30 Fl Oz 1926 0 0 0
Totals for this meal: 2342 2 1 3 8 1 8
Total 3910 109 270 8 0

Day 2 of my fresh start

I stepped on the scale Monday to see a very evil number.  I knew I had been slacking as I could no longer fit in the size six or eight jeans I had been wearing lately, but I didn't think I had gotten this out of control.  Unfortunately I had, my scale now read a dangerously high number that was about as high as where I was two years ago. YUCK!!!!   All that hard work, all those two a day workouts, gone!!!!  

And yes I want to blame it heavily on my food allergies, and in reality those allergies are a huge part of it.  But the simple fact is I'm the only person to blame for that number creeping so high.  I'm the one that stopped working out because I was feeling so yucky, I'm the one that didn't take the time to plan out my meals and find foods that I can eat now instead resulting in only one or two meals a day and those being very high fat and high calorie meals.   

I now realize that the next few weeks are going to be brutal as I re train my mind how to eat and as I suffer through some allergic reactions as I figure out exactly what I can eat.   Its actually pretty simple, I need to learn what foods I won't react to, weed out the unhealthy choices in those foods, and what I'm left with is what I will be eating for the rest of my life.    Its really not that hard, train my mind into knowing that I'm not eatting these healthy foods to loose weight, I'm eating these healthy foods because thats all I can eat and not react to.

Getting my butt back to exercising is gonna be the harder part.  I have no motivation to exercise when I have a headache, and for the last six months I've been struggling with a headache almost daily.  But instead of jumping in hard core, maybe I need to just ease my way back into it and before I know it I will feel better when I exercise and that will give me more incentive to keep going.

Now the last factor I need to plan for.  TIME!   I currently work a 9-5 job, work part time at a deli for an additional ten to fifteen hours a week, I work four hours on Saturday, I'm an elected official, and the president of the Lions club.    Free time is something that is hard to come by for me lately.    But if I start to schedule my workouts ahead of time, and set them as an appointment in my phone, I will know that I need to get my workouts accomplished every day no matter what.   Some days maybe they will be longer more intense workouts, somedays maybe they will just be twenty minutes on the treadmill, but every little bit counts.  

If losing weight were easy, we wouldn't be a nation that is in the midst of an obesity epidemic.  But if I can do this with all the health problems, and time constraints...... anyone can do this!

Life's Constant Curve Balls.

Just when you think things are going good with your health and fitness it always seems like life throws you a curve ball.  In my case, the curve ball was being diagnosed with some food allergies.   No I don't break out in hives, instead I get severe migraines as my reaction.  What I knew as my healthy diet just a few months ago has now become the very thing that sends me into a migraine that has me begging to go back to bed and close my eyes.     As a result of this allergy my diet, and workouts have been put completely on the back burner.  Its very difficult to workout or count your calories when your in a constant headache. 


I have a doctors appointment coming up this week that I hope will guide me in the right direction of where to start back on my journey but until then I stand here at the fork in the road.

To regain focus or to give up, that is the question?

Well the answer is quite simple.  Regain focus.  I don't if its my fear of starting P90X or if its just simply that I've let life and work get in the way but over the last month I've hit a major road block.  As soon as I started slacking in my exercising I got lazy in my eating to.  I went from three meals with two or three snacks a day down to maybe one meal and one snack if I was lucky or I would just graze all day on junk at work.  Not healthy and definitely not what I want to be doing.

What am I doing to get past this road block?  I've begun to wear my arm band again tracking my daily activities, I've started writing down everything I eat, no matter how big or how small.  And what am I noticing, when I track what I eat I eat healthy and I am very aware of my lack of exercise.  Now all I need to do is start to re incorporate my exercise into my routine.  The change won't be over night but I will return to my two a day workouts.

I hope that by me being so honest on my blog you all will see that the journey to a heathier happier you isn't always easy, you have ups and downs.  You feel like you wanna quit, but when you feel like giving up, do what I did.  I remembered how happy I was when I was working out and watching what I ate.  And I'm determined to get back to that happy place.

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