It's Not Easy Getting Lean! (sing to the tune of Kermit's #1 hit)...But It's Worth It! :)

Hi everyone who has read before and welcome to all the first time readers!!  I'm going to take a moment today to get some frustrations, irrelevant as they may be, off my mind.  Since starting this new healthy living lifestyle, I have found it helpful to write things down in order to get them out.  I'm hoping that by instead of just writing them down in a personal journal that is for my eyes only, that by putting down the struggles I am having out there for anyone to see, may help another person maybe feel not so alone.  So....here goes:

1.  Changing is HARD.  Yes, I said it.  Those out there who think this is an easy thing to do are not correct.  Those people that have been fit their whole lives and look at those who are considered overweight and think nasty thoughts will never understand...unless they want to learn.  I admit...I got this way because of the food I ate and the fact that I got lazy and made excuses.  Dolvet from The Biggest Loser last night said something that I loved. "The only excuse you have is the one you make."  I'm tired of making excuses.  That is why I volunteered for this experiment.  But I'm not going to pretend it's all sunshine and roses.  I struggle everyday with thoughts of self sabotage.  I can have just a few cookies.  One McDonald's meal won't hurt me.  But the feeling I get when I push through those urges is almost like a high.  Try it and you will see.  

2.  Your fitness and health program may be great for you, but it may NOT be great for me!  I have some very well meaning friends that love to give advice.  I can't count the number of times I have been discussing the ways to get back in shape and healthy with someone and when I mention something I found their response is, "Oh no, that's not the way to do it.  Let me tell you about X".  Ok..."X" may be a great program.  It may have worked wonders for you.  I will be happy to look into it to see if it works well for me.  But don't poo poo all the information I found just because your fitness plans tells you that the only way to go is, say, Paleo.  I admitted when I started this experiment that I didn't know squat about proper nutrition and ways to workout.  Especially since I have no extra money to invest in a "fitness program".  I appreciate your help and advice, but having been doing this research for a few weeks now, what I'm finding is is that there are a LOT of different theories out there.  I'm experimenting with them all and tailoring them to my specific goals and needs.  The end result is health, well being, and longevity (plus it won't hurt to look like a goddess...lol).  Please don't take this like I am saying the free advice isn't wanted...I will take it and run (or walk really, really fast) with it.  Just please don't look so disappointed and insulted if I choose not to drink a front lawn smoothie because you told me it will burn fat faster.  

3.  I do NOT want to buy your supplement!  Sorry to all my multi-level marketing friends.  The purpose of this experiment is to show that reaching a goal of health and fitness can be achieved even when you are on a very tight and limited budget.  Even those of you who may not be trying this out with me probably get inboxed a BUNCH from "friends" telling you about this great new supplement you just have to try.  I CAN'T AFFORD THEM and even if I could, I'm not interested in the newest fad.  I want to do this right!

Ok...so, sorry for the venting, but if any of you can relate, know that this chick hears ya loud and clear! :)

Now....I have a feeling that this little experiment is about to get a tad bit harder.  I have started the research on my newest homework assignment and plan on going full force starting tomorrow.  No pain, no gain though, right?

Ok...so what's the tip of the day?  I found a few small things online to share:

Here are tips from Dawn Jackson Blatner, RD,:

• Eat vegetables to help you feel full.
• Drink plenty of water.
• Get tempting foods out of your home.
• Stay busy -- you don't want to eat just because you're bored.
• Eat only from a plate, while seated at a table. No grazing in front of the 'fridge.
• Don't skip meals.

Keeping a food journal -- writing down everything you eat -- can also help you stay on track.

"Even if you write it down on a napkin and end up throwing it away, the act of writing it down is about being accountable to yourself and is a very effective tool for weight loss," says Bonnie Taub Dix, MA, RD, author of Read It Before You Eat It.

And that is it for today!  I hope you all enjoy your day and have a fabulous weekend!!  Stay healthy! xo

Update!!! Insert Virtual Pat on the Back Here!

Good Morning All!! 

So, this morning I got to speak to the wonderful cast of The Bert Show and my mentor Daniel to bring them up to date on my healthy living challenge.  YAY!!!  I can now announce that I have lost, so far, a little over 13 pounds JUST by changing my diet!

Today, I will tell you about my last homework assignment in detail.  First thing I was to have researched was “RMR”.  This is your resting metabolic rate.  Basically, this number is the amount of calories, based on your sex, age, height, and weight that you burn on a day of rest…the calories you burn just by living.  To figure this out there is an equation:

The Mufflin equation for RMR:

• For men: (10 x w) + (6.25 x h) - (5 x a) + 5
• For women: (10 x w) + (6.25 x h) - (5 x a) - 161

Where:

w = weight in kg

h = height in cm

a = age

However, if most of you are like me where the maths aren’t your favorite activity, you can Google RMR calculator and find a free online site that will calculate it for you.  All you have to do is plug in your numbers (be honest!!) and the site will give you the result.  There are many sites out there for free, but the one I used is http://www.caloriesperhour.com/index_burn.php. 

A pound of body fat is approximately 3500 calories.  So, for example, if you decrease your caloric intake by 500 calories a day, you would lose approximately 1 pound per week.  This does not mean stop eating and you will lose the weight.  Please refer to my previous entries that explain why it is sooooo NOT good to stop eating.  You need to eat healthy!
My next assignment was to research diet macros.  Simply put, it is the ratio (percentage) of how you balance your intake of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins.  There are many theories out there as to which are the best percentages of each, but the most common, it seems, for those trying to lose weight is 40% carbs, 30% fats, and 30% proteins.  Again, there is a really complicated formula you can use to figure it out yourself but there are plenty of free sites you can go to that will do the calculations for you.  The one I use is http://iifym.com/iifym-calculator/ .  This site will break down the total grams of carbs, fat, and protein you should eat in a day based on what your fitness goals are.  Remember…choose wisely my friends…make sure those grams that you are eating are the right kinds of fats, proteins, and carbs! 
So there you have it for the last homework assignment.  It appears that it is now time to get real when it comes to exercising!  My new assignment is to research cardio, resistance training, and weights.  Yikes!  I have been doing small (teeny tiny small) amounts of exercise during the previous research, but I have a feeling I will be ramping it up very soon.  I’m not going to push myself to injury, but I will push myself past comfortable if you know what I mean. 
Last, but certainly not least, I want to encourage all of you to give this a try.  I was once a skeptic.  There was no way to lose a significant amount of weight without being able to have a gym membership, a trainer, and a nutritionist.  When it comes down to it, it is VERY possible.  The tools are out there.  And I am happy to provide what I find to make YOUR days of healthy living just a little bit easier.  Stick to it even on the hardest of days…when you can hear your food anti-Christ calling you from miles down the road.  And if you hit a bump, don’t turn it into a 5 car pileup.  Get back on track immediately and don’t let it bring you down.  I know…it’s hard.  I feel your pain.  So know that you are not alone…I am struggling with you.  But we CAN and we WILL do this!
Have a happy, and HEALTHY, day!

xo

VENT DAY!!!!

As promised, I am back again today! And yes, I will be putting a recipe for a delicious smoothie that I am having for breakfast at the end.  However, I need to do a food vent today too!

I swear that Satan himself forges some of these food products from the 7th level of Hell in order to tempt us to the dark side.  Let's start with Oreos....possibly the best morsel of chocolaty goodness with a frosting center to ever find its way onto the shelves.  I think I can actually hear them calling my name from the produce section of every store I've been in.  And, of course, they seem to ALWAYS be on sale.  My problem with Oreos is that, unlike potato chips (which I actually don't like), I can never eat just one.  The devil on one shoulder continuously kicks the living shizz out the the angel on the other shoulder whenever I cross paths with an Oreo.  If I knew anything about chemistry, I would work til my dying day to invent a fat free, calorie free, piece of celery that tasted EXACTLY like an Oreo.  Alas, my love/hate relationship with the Oreo has come to an end.  Instead of my dating anti-Christ, it is my food anti-Christ, and since I know the path to Hades is paved with Oreos, I am NOT going to succumb to the temptation (although Christian from Q100 is MORE than welcome to do a food porn bit based on this terrible, awful, evil, DELICIOUS cookie).

The next item I love....I mean HATE is Starbucks' Double Chocolaty Chip Frappuccino with Whipped Cream.  They trick you into thinking it's merely a coffee drink that will give you a little pick me up when you're feeling extra tired, but NOOOOOOO.  This simple coffee drink has 510 calories, 19 grams of fat, 11 of which are saturated, 59 grams of sugar and 300 mg of sodium!!! WHAT????  Coffee????  GRRRRRRRRRRRR.  Right from Beelzebub's kitchen counter coffee pot.

The last food item I'm going to bag on is McDonald's French Fries.  UGH!!!!  These thin strips of salty goodness are sooooooo delicious!!!  They are cheap, salty, and so very tasty.  This is all a disguise.  I liken it to being Catfished online.  They're potatoes....a vegetable, right?  They're small in size...so slim they can't possibly have too many calories.  They're golden yellow, like the afternoon Spring sun.  People like me, on very strict budget, can get a whole large cardboard thingy of them for just the change we find at the  bottom of our purses!  And like the aforementioned Oreo, I can't eat just one.....serving.  These things are about as vegetable-like as a piece of German Chocolate cake.  F these fries,  I just can't anymore.  It's exhausting to even think about them.

I'm going to stop there...I apologize to all the people that I will have insulted by calling their favorite "food" products from Lucifer.  I could definitely go on....don't get me started on the fact that I have to drive by a Krispy Kreme with their "Hot Now" sign lit every single morning on my way to work.  But I really needed to get that off my chest.  I would have preferred to yell at the top of my lungs a profanity laden tirade but figured upper management may not like that in the middle of the office and while $12 an hour isn't much, it is something! :)

Now for the recipe I promised:

This is the smoothie I have been making for my breakfast.  I find it very filling and satisfying.  You can substitute the fruit you use with whatever kind you like, but here is my morning smoothie:

Ingredients:

-2 cups of fresh spinach
-1/2 cup of plain, fat free Greek Yogurt
-4-6 medium strawberries
-1/2 cup blueberries
-ice

Instructions:

Blend it in your blender (I know...kinda obvious.)

Drink

Calories:  222
Protein:   12.46 grams
Dietary Fiber:  10.4 grams
Carbs: (good ones)  32 grams


That is it for today!  Hope you all have a happy, healthy day! xoxo

Helpful (I think anyway) Hint For The Day

Hi all!  Today has been a very hectic day! (You may or may not care and that's OK too.  LOL)  Here is helpful hint that I have found.  I am going to try starting tomorrow to add a recipe/menu for you all to try that is tasty as well as good for you!:


DO NOT SKIP MEALS:

It may seem that you will lose weight by skipping meals when in fact, the opposite is true.  In order to lose one pound, you must eliminate 3,500 calories. This can be done a many ways, the most common would obviously be diet and exercise. If you want to lose one pound a week, you must cut 500 calories from your diet every day. This done NOT mean eliminating a meal!  By skipping meals, you are so hungry by the time that dinner rolls around that you will want to eat everything you can get their hands on! This does not not only prevent weight loss, but can cause weight gain! (Definitely NOT something I want!!!). 

This also affects your body long term. Your metabolism is the process that is responsible for burning fuel, and keeping the body in proper working order. When your body gets food, it usually digests it rapidly which is great because the body is using fat stores to burn the food that has been digested. YAY!!  However, after the food has been digested, the metabolism slows down. This means that the body is not burning as many calories. The longer you wait between meals, the more time your body will be in this sleep mode, and the fewer calories you will burn. Eventually, if you continue to skip meals, your metabolism will get used to being inactive, and it will slow to a crawl, possibly resulting in significant weight gain.  DEFINITELY NO BUENO!

Got to get back to my job now folks!  Enjoy the rest of your day!  Be happy and healthy!! xoxo

Long Time No Talk!

Hi all!  Sorry, I have been away for a little bit, but I wanted to bring everyone up to date on what is going on with my challenge!  I have researched what I was given in the last episode I was on The Bert Show and let me tell you....fascinating!  I will go into further detail when I go on air again, but I am amazed at the wealth of information that can be found for free online.  Now, don't get me wrong....it is inevitable that you will think you find a helpful free website that end up asking for your credit card info for the rock bottom price of $xx.xx, however, as we all know, there are those of us that don't have $.xx to spend on weight loss and fitness tutorials.

One thing I've learned is that you must brush up on your math skills while figuring this out.  Remember how we all (well most of us) said while we were in school, "Why do I need to learn this math?  I'm never gonna use it in daily life...except for may addition and subtraction."  Well, this is just not true especially when figuring out percentages of fat, carbs, and protein.  Not to mention caloric intake and burning.  Math has become my friend...albeit an annoying friend sometimes, but a friend that is helping me get into shape and lose weight.

Even though I have not been told by The Bert Show or Daniel, my mentor, I have begun to incorporate exercise into my daily routine.  My fellow single parents know how difficult it is to squeeze any lengthy workout into our day, but I read this statement and it resonated.  Even 7 minutes of something is better than 7 minutes of nothing when it comes to exercise.  How true!  Although I really haven't concentrated too much...YET...on the types of exercise are best for me because of being focused on the nutrition part of this journey, I'm going with the whole something is better than nothing mantra.

Another thing....WATER is VERY IMPORTANT.  I'm sure we've all heard this but did you know:

Initial weight loss is largely due to loss of water, and you need to drink an adequate amount of water in order to avoid dehydration.

The process of burning calories requires an adequate supply of water in order to function efficiently; dehydration slows down the fat-burning process.

Burning calories creates toxins (think of the exhaust coming out of your car), and water plays a vital role in flushing them out of your body

Dehydration causes a reduction in blood volume; a reduction in blood volume causes a reduction in the supply of oxygen to your muscles; and a reduction in the supply of oxygen to your muscles can make you feel tired.

Water helps maintain muscle tone by assisting muscles in their ability to contract, and it lubricates your joints. Proper hydration can help reduce muscle and joint soreness when exercising.

A healthy (weight loss) diet includes a good amount of fiber. But while fiber is normally helpful to your digestive system, without adequate fluids it can cause constipation instead of helping to eliminate it.

Drinking water with a meal may make you feel full sooner and therefore satisfied eating less. Note, however, that drinking water alone may not have this effect. In order to feel satiated (not hungry), our bodies need bulk, calories and nutrients.

(Source http://www.caloriesperhour.com/tutorial_water.php)

Ok, well that is it for right now.  I'm going to save giving away how much I've lost so far and more importantly how many inches I've lost until I can bring it to The Bert Show...the people who have supported me with pep talks and guidance (although minimal as that IS the experiment of course).

I promise to update and give the tips I find more often though as well as put into words the struggles I face everyday when trying to stay steadfast in my journey.  (I have a co-worker who brings in Oreos and frankly, I've never met an Oreo I didn't like! :) )

Have a wonderful day and happy, healthy eating!!!!