Getting Back on Track

Well, it's been a while since I posted here but I want to start posting again on a regular basis. I have teamed up with my life-long friend Christina and we are on the way to GETTING SEXY BACK! We officially started on Monday, January 24, 2011, although we unofficially started last week by cutting back and monitoring our food intake. I believe that blogging our journey will help both of us and will hopefully be an inspiration to others who share our same struggles.

We are following the Weight Watchers plan (the old plan). I did this several years ago, when I wanted to lose 10 lbs. I was in good shape already, working out 5 days a week but wanted to shed those last pounds that I couldn't seem to get rid of. It worked! I met my goal in 4 months. There are two key components to this diet: PATIENCE (which we are both short on) and MOTIVATION (which we both have). Between the two of us, we are determined to keep the other motivated and meet our goal by summer, when we'll be strutting our stuff in cute little outfits, wearing shorts without feeling the least bit self conscious and being proud of our accomplishments.

So, here's where we are today:

Christina had 16 points yesterday TOTAL!! Impressive to say the least!!! She loves soda so that's her challenge.

I had 23 points yesterday TOTAL!! I'd say that's pretty good. My challenge is mostly sweets which I have been avoiding like the plague.

I have found that if you avoid sweets (or any kind of food or drink for that matter) for one-two weeks, you will find that you are fine without it. I very rarely drink soda (although I love it). I just keep it out of my house! Now I'm doing that with sweets too.

We are, of course, incorporating exercise in our health plans. I usually drag myself to the gym a couple of times a week but my real problem is the eating and staying on track with exercise. So I'm working on that and am proud to report that I went to the gym Monday and Tuesday of this week, had a great workout and will go again today.

Christina is also incorporating exercise in to her routine. She knows that this will give her more energy and boost her weight loss.

The name of the game is ACCOUNTABILITY!! We have it with each other, which makes it easier to stay on track. We won't hesitate to blast each other if one gets off track but of course it will be followed up by something positive and encouraging! ;-)

Here's my Day 3 menu:

Breakfast: Banana (2 points), coffee w/creamer (2 points)

Lunch: Lean Cuisine (7 points)

Dinner: Talapia (baked with 1 tsp. of olive oil and lemon pepper) (4 points), some type of vegetable (0 points), 1 cup of skim milk (2 points), 1 100-calorie granola bar (2 points)

Tip of the Day: It's very important to drink a cup of skim milk every day! It actually boosts weight loss! ;-))

Update at last

Well, just because I haven't been posting doesn't mean that I haven't been exercising! I am on my 4th week of hard core workouts. I have been averaging at least 5 days per week. At lunch, I've been doing cardio and weights. On weekends, Zachary and I have been cycling on the trails. We usually go 15-20 miles. Yesterday for some reason I was in an extrememly energetic mood. So not only did I work out like a maniac at the gym but I ran a mile last night on my treadmill. I have a vision in my mind of where I want to be and I'm working towards it. I can tell a big difference alreay, not only in the inches I am losing, but in my energy level. I have lots of energy and have been getting so much done. Last weekend I went on a cleaning/organizing spree in my house and everything is in tip-top shape. I'm determined to keep it that way! It's amazing how much better you feel when you keep everything in order.

As for eating habits, I have been cutting back and avoiding fried foods and sugar. I have been taking my lunch to work every day. I usually have a turkey sandwich, a 90 calorie granola bar and after I work out, I have some lowfat yogurt. I am also trying to eat lots of fruit every day and hold back on the carbs at night. So far so good.

Until next time.....

Happy Hump Day

I went to yoga class yesterday and at the close of class, our instructor read some words of wisdom to us. She said that you can cut 35% of the stress out of your life by avoiding these three words: "can't", "shouldn't" and "have to". I'm trying to be more aware of when I use these words. I'm all about cutting down on stress. ;-)

Since my upper body is pretty sore right now, I plan to work legs and do cardio at the gym today. Actually my legs are kind of sore too. I think I used some muscles in yoga yesterday that I hadn't used in a while. ;-))

Hope everyone has a wonderful day!

Tuesday

Today I got up and I could definitely feel some soreness in my chest and shoulders. This is a really good thing!!! That means that what I did yesterday worked. Oh and don't let me forget to mention that every time I laugh or cough, my abs hurt. ;-)

So my friend Celeste is on a health kick as well and she was telling me about a website where you can track everything you eat, day by day. You should check it out at: www.thedailyplate.com

I started using it yesterday and I love it!!! It has LOTS of restaurants to choose from, all kinds of nutritional information and it will even compute how many calories you burned while exercising! It's awesome! Thanks for sharing Celeste!!!

So according to this website, I'm allowed to have 1,617 calories a day based on my goal of losing 3 lbs per week. Since I exercised yesterday, I went to bed last night knowing that I could still have another 1,200 calories and I could still meet my goal. ;-)) That was a GREAT feeling!!!!

I'll be going to the gym this afternoon and probably working biceps and triceps today and of course, adding in some cardio.

Have a great and healthy day!

It's a new week and this is going to be a good one

Now that Zachary and I are both feeling better, I plan to really get back on track. I still have a cough so I can't overdo it but I do plan to go to the gym today and at least walk on the track and do some upper body exercises. I am determined to get this body back in shape. I ran across a cd of pictures yesterday from a cruise that I went on in 2005 with my friend from Germany. I was in GREAT shape!!! I am SO going to get back there again. Then I'll be able to wear all of those cute clothes that are hanging in my closets! Yes, you heard me right. I have more than one closet full of clothes!! I've got to do this...not only for my health but also because I want to be in shape for that cruise that we're going to take next year. ;-0)))

Ok, so I decided to start tracking points like you do when you're on Weight Watchers. I'm not going to go to the meetings but instead, I'm going to track it myself at home. I'm going to buy a digital scale tonight and weigh first thing tomorrow morning. Then every Tuesday morning from here on out, I'm going to weigh.

So I'm allowed to have 25-28 points a day. I'm going to try to stay close to the 25 pt. range.

So far today, I've had:

Breakfast: Cinnamon Raisin Bagel = 6.5 pts. w/plain, light cream cheese = 1.5

Lunch: Garden Salad with Tuna salad, banana peppers, cucumbers and lite Italian dressing = 7 pts. (I had to guess on this one and probably over guessed--that's better than underguessing though) ;-)

Dinner: Tomato Sandwich w/1 tsp. lite mayo = 3 pts.

So I went to the gym and walked a mile, worked chest and shoulders and then did some ab work. I burned over 500 calories! Whoo hooo!!! *patting self on back*

Keep up the good work and remember to load up on the H2O and stay cool!!!!!!!

The Weekend

Well, it's been a crazy week. My little boy has been sick this week and now I think I may be getting some of what he has. So I haven't exercised in a few days. I hope to get on the treadmill later today (depending on how I feel)or tomorrow.

Now having said that, I have still been trying to eat right. Yesterday I cheated a little. Well, Harris Teeter had Breyer's ice cream on sale, buy one get one free. So I got one half gallon of Strawberry ice cream. At least I did choose one that has the lowest fat grams. It has 5 fat grams 92.5 saturated) in 1/2 cup whereas the coffee ice cream I really wanted had about 16 fat grams in 1/2 cup. YIKES!!!

Ok, so here's my food journal for today:

Breakfast: Bowl of Special K cereal with 1% milk

Snack: English Muffin w/1 teaspoon of lowfat cream cheese

Lunch: Green salad (lettuce, banana peppers, feta cheese and greek salad dresing

Snack: 1 cup of strawberry ice cream

Dinner: TBD

Ok, so it's the weekend so I'm giving myself a little bit of a break with the ice cream. ;-))

Even though I haven't really "exercised" today, I have been cleaning like a maniac so that has to burn some calories. *smile*

Some Hints on How to be Healthy

Today has been a good day! Although I didn't get to exercise yesterday because Zachary was sick all day, I did manage to eat pretty healthy. Today I'm continuing. Here's what I've had so far today:

Breakfast: English Muffin w/ light cream cheese

Lunch: Garden salad w/tuna salad, banana peppers, brocolli, cucumbers and lite Italian dressing w/ a few pieces of melba toast.

Snack: Peanut Butter Granola Bar (Yummy!)

Today I must definitely exercise. I have some stress and anxiety inside and it needs to GO!! I have to leave early to take Zachary to the doctor for a follow up so more than likely I won't be able to hit the gym today. Looks like I may end up going for a bike ride tonight if I can find someone to keep the little guy for me for about an hour. ;-)


Below are some tips on how to be healthy and I wanted to share them:

Useful Healthy Habits
BRAIN DAMAGING HABITS


1. No Breakfast
People who do not take breakfast are going to have a lower blood sugar level. This leads to an insufficient supply of nutrients to the brain causing brain degeneration.

2. Overeating
It causes hardening of the brain arteries, leading to a decrease in mental power.

3. Smoking
It causes multiple brain shrinkage and may lead to Alzheimer disease.

4. High Sugar consumption
Too much sugar will interrupt the absorption of proteins and nutrients causing malnutrition and may interfere with brain development.

5. Air Pollution
The brain is the largest oxygen consumer in our body. Inhaling polluted air decreases the supply of oxygen to the brain, bringing about a decrease in brain efficiency.

6. Sleep Deprivation
Sleep allows our brain to rest.. Long term deprivation from sleep will accelerate the death of brain cells.

7. Head covered while sleeping
Sleeping with the head covered, increases the concentration of carbon dioxide and decrease concentration of oxygen that may lead to brain damaging effects.

8. Working your brain during illness
Working hard or studying with sickness may lead to a decrease in effectiveness of the brain as well as damage the brain.

9. Lacking in stimulating thoughts
Thinking is the best way to train our brain, lacking in brain stimulation thoughts may cause brain shrinkage.

10. Talking Rarely
Intellectual conversations will promote the efficiency of the brain.


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The main causes of liver damage are:

1. Sleeping too late and waking up too late are main cause.
2. Not urinating in the morning.
3. Too much eating.
4. Skipping breakfast.
5. Consuming too much medication.
6. Consuming too much preservatives, additives, food coloring , and artificial sweetener.
7. Consuming unhealthy cooking oil. As much as possible reduce cooking oil use when frying, which includes even the best cooking oils like olive oil. Do not consume fried foods when you are tired, except if the body is very fit.
8. Consuming raw (overly done)Foods also add to the burden of liver. Veggies should be eaten raw or cooked 3-5 parts. Fried veggies should be finished in one sitting, do not store.

We should prevent this without necessarily spending more. We just have to adopt a good daily lifestyle and eating habits. Maintaining good eating habits and time condition are very important for our bodies to absorb and get rid of unnecessary chemicals according to 'schedule.'

Because :

Evening at 9 - 11 PM :
is the time for eliminating unnecessary/toxic chemicals (detoxification) from the antibody system (lymph nodes).
This time duration should be spent by relaxing or listening to music. If during this time a housewife is still in an unrelaxed state such as washing the dishes or monitoring children doing their homework, this will have a negative impact on health.

Evening at 11pm - 1 am :
is the detoxification process in the liver, and ideally should be done in a deep sleep state.

Early morning 1 - 3 am :
detoxification process in the gall, also ideally done in a deep sleep state.

Early morning 3 - 5 am :
detoxification in the lungs. Therefore there will sometimes be a severe cough for cough sufferers during this time. Since the detoxification process had reached the respiratory tract, there is no need to take cough medicine so as not to interfere with toxin removal process.

Morning 5 - 7am :
detoxification in the colon, you should empty your bowel.

Morning 7 - 9 am :
absorption of nutrients in the small intestine, you should be having breakfast at this time.
Breakfast should be earlier, before 6:30 am , for those who are sick. Breakfast before 7:30 am is very beneficial to those wanting to stay fit. Those who always skip breakfast, they should change their habits, and it is still better to eat breakfast late until 9 - 10 am rather than no meal at all..

Sleeping so late and waking up too late will disrupt the process of removing unnecessary chemicals. Aside from that, midnight to 4:00 am is the time when the bone marrow produces blood. Therefore, have a good sleep and don't sleep late.


DO TAKE CARE ABOUT YOUR HEALTH...