Temptations...

(You may have noticed a bit of a change with the background and set up of the blog. Don't worry, we are just trying some new things...)

For the month of February, it seemed that I was constantly surrounded by chocolate or oreo truffles or cupcakes or cookies...some sort of sweet.

So, because so many people around me were giving up things for Lent, I decided to join them and give up something I truly love. I tried giving up all sweets (no, I am not Catholic, but it seems like a good time to do something drastic). Le Fiance decided to give up chips.

I lasted about a week-ish. 

I know. Pathetic.

So maybe I can't handle such drastic measures. 

However, I did lost 2.7 lbs last week. It was torture, but that just proves how addicted I am to chocolate.

 

Le Fiance is still going strong, although he is trying to find alternatives to chips. He asked me if he could eat popcorn (he doesn't even like popcorn).

Instead, I am back to the whole moderation thing, which time and time again proves the way to go. I can enjoy my sweets, but still be in control. 

How do you guys keep in control when temptation is all around? 

Any tips?

I've got 22 lbs to go to reach my goal weight for the wedding. 

Trucking along...

  

Stats

On my other blog, I have this Thirty before 30 list...things I want to accomplish before I turn 30 (which is happening in November. Yes, I am fine, no, I am not talking about it). 

One of the items on the list is to reach my goal weight before I turn 30. As mentioned in a previous post, I managed to do really well during the summer, but in September started dancing around with the same 5 lbs, doing really well one week, only to crash the next. 

With some encouragement from my mom, last week I joined Weight Watchers again, only this time I am doing the online program, because sometimes going to meetings is just not possible. 

Here are my stats-

Weight loss for last week: 5.8 lbs

Total weight loss (including summer loss): 32.8 lbs

Pounds to go: 29

But I would like to alter my goal so that I lose those 29 pounds by the summer. Summer officially begins June 20th, but I would like to be at my goal by June 1st.  That gives me 115 days days, or 16 weeks to achieve this. 

Care to join me on my journey?

 

This is it.

Summer of Hot Bod is on!

New Program

For all of you who follow Weight Watchers....

The changes are here.

For those of you who do not follow Weight Watchers, let me tell you about the changes that have been made to the program.

1. The points still exist, but food is valued differently. There is a push to have more fruits and veggies in everyday eating, so they are now zero points. This is in effort to have people snack on more healthy and sustaining foods than 100 calorie packs

2. Points values are found using more than just fat, calories, fiber. Instead, calculations are now based on protein, fiber, fat and carbohydrates.

3. The "Flex Points" still exist, but have now been bumped up to 49 points (because food now has higher point value, you need more points).

There are still a lot of new things, but these are the biggies. Weight Watchers says that due to ongoing research, they found they needed to revamp their program.

For those of you on Weight Watchers, what do you think of the changes??

Losing the baby fat

Have you ever heard that with each child you have the weight is harder to lose? I have and I never understood it. Well I'm here to tell you it's true. But it's not because your body can't lose weight. It's because you don't feel like doing anything about it. My day is split between making a toddler and newborn happy and any time left over is devoted to Real Housewives or some other junk TV that allows my brain to turn off.

I need to make some changes.

With my first baby, I gained A LOT of weight. Around 70 pounds. That's outrageous, I know. It wasn't all french fries and Coke, I had to stop taking some meds and that contributed to the gain. I lost all but 25 pounds of that weight. And then I got pregnant again and gained about 35 pounds. What did all that get me? Two healthy babies and this:

(Talk about putting it all out there... I can't believe I'm actually putting before pictures on the internet.)

I have 50 pounds to lose, 60 if I want to be back in my wedding dress. That's a lot. And I'm ready to do something about it. In the past I've lost weight following Weight Watchers and that's what I'll be doing this go round. I signed up today and weighed in. I'm interested to see how the weight loss goes this time because I'm nursing and Weight Watchers gives a million points to nursing moms. For exercise, I'm going to do my best to take the girls on a long walk every day. This may take a lot of bribery to get my toddler in the stroller, but I'm going to do my best.

This is going to be hard. My husband doesn't get home until October 29th, so I'm by myself. It's so easy to order pizza or hit the drive-thru and it's pretty difficult to go grocery shopping. That is one hefty double-edged sword. But on the flip side, when we do go grocery shopping I am definitely going to be counting that as activity points! =)

That brings me to this question... What are some of your healthy and quick dinner ideas that feed 1.5 people? I'm hoping that finding some new recipes will keep me excited and keep dinners interesting.

This is the start of quite the journey and I'm excited to share it with you! Wish me luck!

Chi...chi...chili!

People. I have an announcement.

Fall is here (in case you weren't aware).

I don't know about the weather where you live, but the weather in DC has been miserable lately. Rainy and cold. Not a good combination.

I was working late one night and noticed how the rain had picked up. No good, I thought to myself. And then I realized I had absolutely nothing to eat at home. I wanted something that would make the chill in the air go away and warm my toes...
And then I thought of my chili...

And then I thought that I would share the recipe with you.

Simple Turkey Chili

Brown the turkey and add onions and green pepper...Add some garlic, water, crushed tomatoes and the beans (mashed)
The seasoning!

Let it simmer about 30 minutes
Eat!

Oh my goodness. The chili totally hit the spot! My roommate and I both ate very well that night and I was able to take some for lunch the next day (and I put some in the freezer for another night...or two).

Here is the full recipe:

Ingredients

1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil

1 pound ground turkey

1 onion, chopped
1 green pepper

2 cups water

1 (28 ounce) can canned crushed tomatoes

1 (15.5 ounce) can canned kidney beans, drained, rinsed, and mashed
1 (15.5 ounce) can canned black beans, drained, rinsed, and mashed

1 tablespoon garlic, minced

2 tablespoons chili powder

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

Directions:

	1. Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Place turkey in the pot, and cook until evenly brown. Stir in onion and pepper, and cook until tender.
	2. Pour water into the pot. Mix in tomatoes, beans, and garlic. Season chili powder, paprika, oregano, cayenne pepper, cumin, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer 30 minutes. See, told you it was easy!!

A Little Help...

When I checked my email this morning, I had a message from Weight Watchers: Come back and you can get a month free on the Monthly Pass.

For those of you who don't know, the Monthly Pass is a pass that allows you to attend unlimited meetings and have access to the Weight Watchers website (eTools). Weight Watchers has several different payment methods, but I like the Monthly Pass because you pay once a month ($40) and works out cheaper than pay-as-go.

It was like Weight Watchers was reading my mind. With the summer ending and school starting, my eating and exercise habits have been horrible!! I could blame stress...heck, I could blame a lot of things, but the truth is, I can only blame myself. And my laziness.
I know that different people follow different weight loss/maintenance plans. I subscribe to the Weight Watchers mentality because it fits my lifestyle. I like the flexibility of the points system and feeling like I am not on a diet (remember that this is a lifestyle change,...).

What works for you? How do you manage to "stay on plan" through the stress? I'm not asking rhetorically, I really want to know. Fill me in on what keeps you going...

Meanwhile, I will go back to my Weight Watchers meetings (I actually really enjoy them, I have a really funny leader) and work on my goals (one of which is to reach my goal weight by March, just before Spring Break. Wish me luck!)

*Weight Watchers has not asked me to advertise for them. I just like their program.

Sometimes All Relationships Are Rocky...

There is one relationship in my life that has outlasted many others. We have been close for over a decade – longer than most of my close friendships have lasted. We have fought, gone months without interacting, and I always go back…seeking fulfillment. This relationship…is with my scale.




Unfortunately, the scale and I rarely see eye to eye. We have an inverse relationship, when I’m working hard, he rarely moves. When I’m not doing what I need to be doing, he seems to move up on cue.

I know a lot of women share this struggle, which is why I think it’s important to find other ways to measure progress in fitness and look away from that piece of plastic and metal on the floor.

After working out consistently for nearly a year, I have seen more progress from body fat measurements, progress pictures, and body measurements than I have ever seen from the scale. Even when my bicep or thigh measurements move up a bit (dude! I thought numbers should go down. what is going on?), I am happy…because I know they are moving up with muscle and my body fat is decreasing. When my body fat decreases, I see myself living longer, living healthier, and living happier. That’s something the scale was never able to tell me…no matter what number showed up in those little red digits.

I think these three progress tracking methods are integral to a fitness-training program, at least for me. I like to see progress and often times a scale can't show me that.

I have my body fat measured every three months or so. I take my measurements whenever I remember…generally every 8-12 weeks. The measurements and pictures are something you can do yourself with a camera and measuring tape (some day I might be bold enough to post some of my fitness progress pictures…but not today ☺ ). You can get your body fat measured at many different places. I get mine measured at the Personal Training and Assessment Center at the local university, but you can also have yours tested at many gyms, doctors offices, etc, for a small fee (many gyms even do it for free!).

I capture my measurements on Spark People, so that I know exactly the day they were put in. It will also show you a graph of your progress during a specific date range, which is nice. But keeping the data in a notebook works just as well!

Now I guess I will get courageous and show off some numbers, so you can see some of my progress (not saying it's impressive or anything. but when the scale refuses to budge, it's all of I've got). To emphasize how these numbers can show you things the scale can’t, remember that between my March 2010 body fat reading & the one I had earlier this week, I am only about 3lbs lighter (yeah, I didn’t say I don’t use the scale, I just said I can’t judge progress by it….nobody is perfect ☺)

Body Fat Readings:

12/18/2009: 30.00%
03/19/2010: 25%
06/28/2010: 22.89%

I know that it is not as much fun to look at where you are starting, but it is VERY fun to look back and see where you have been. Before starting a fitness regimen, I encourage you to take some measurements and photos...and try to look away from the number on the scale. Will you?


Links to Health:

What's The Best Time to Exercise?

5 Shockingly Unhealthy Salads

Is Your Job Harming Your Health?

Stay on Track While Heading Out of Town for the 4th