Workouts: Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred

Wednesday, December 31, 2008

I have read a lot on WeddingBee boards and other places that Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred (she's the trainer from the Biggest Loser) is a great workout video. And lucky for me, Nola bought it for for Christmas; and it was just in time because the Harvard gyms aren't open again for a couple days.



So, I tried Level 1 yesterday, and for a 20-minute workout, I thought it was pretty tough. She has you do squats, bicep curls, lunges, abs, push-ups, some cardio, etc. and if you really go all out for the 20 minutes, it seems like it'd be pretty helpful in getting you toned. I still think it'd be nice to do it every day along with some other cardio; but also, Levels 2 and 3 might be a lot harder, I'll let you know when I try them! (Btw, you can get the video on Amazon for only $7.50 - http://www.amazon.com/Jillian-Michaels-30-Day-Shred/dp/B00127RAJY/ref=wl_it_dp?ie=UTF8&coliid=I2AJBXRE4S66O7&colid=H6LNXWVP831G).

New WW Recipe: Hashbrown Casserole

Sorry for the long hiatus, this is like the longest I have gone without blogging, but I am sure everyone else had Christmas, etc. and so were also not having "checking blogs" as #1 priority, lol! So, while I can't say I didn't eat anything bad for me over Christmas, I was very proud that I made a WW recipe for Christmas breakfast - a healthy hash-brown casserole! It was so good - of course, not as good as the one from Cracker Barrel, but still super yummy. I actually made the recipe with low-fat sour cream instead of fat-free because fat-free sour cream, cream cheese, etc. is always really gross to me, lol. (Oh, and you can use reduced-fat cream of chicken soup in exchange for the condensed milk, they use cream of chicken soup in the original Cracker Barrel one). And it must have been a hit because my family ate a ton of it! Here's the recipe:

1 cup thinly sliced green onions
1 cup (4oz) shredded reduced-fat cheddar cheese
2 tablespoons stick margarine (melted)
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 (32 oz) pkg frozen Southern-style hash brown potatoes (thawed)
1 (16oz) cartoon fat free sour cream
1 (10 3/4 oz) can low-fat condensed milk

1) preheat oven to 350. 2) combine all ingredients in a large bowl, and stir well. Spoon mixture into a 13x9" coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350 for 1 hr bubbly. Yield: 9 servings (servings size: 1 cup). in weight watchers this is 3 points exchanges: 1 starch, 1 fat, 1/2 veg

Definitely try it, it's very easy to make and tastes good re-heated as well!

Food Recap - Dec. 21st and 22nd

Monday, December 22, 2008

Man, it is so hard to eat healthy at home & near the holidays, I am just trying to stay positive by thinking of all the stuff I would normally be eating but am not! Um, also, REALLY hard to stay healthy when your brother is in cooking school and making tons of yummy stuff for you!

Sunday:

Brunch: 8 points

Omelette w/Egg Beaters, Spinach, Red Peppers & Lowfat cheese - 5 points; Homemade "southwestern" hashbrowns (actually much healthier, just made by chopping potatoes into slices, then into tiny cubes, and cooking them in a pan with a little butter, no oil, and with pepper & chili powder, you can also add green & red pepper) - 3 points.

Dinner: Veggie Enchiladas - really have no idea for the points for these, my brother made them, they were so yummy, I was proud I only ate one! They were made w/a flour tortilla, spanish rice, onions, peppers, black beans, and topped with spicy cheese and red enchilada sauce.

Also, I would like to comment that I went to the movies today and ate NO popcorn - not even one bit of the popcorn my mom got, I am not sure I have ever done that in my life!

Monday:
Breakfast: Yogurt - 1 point

Lunch: Weight Watchers Fettucini Alfredo w/Broccoli frozen dinner - 6 points; Goldfish - 3 points

Snack: 1/2 Auntie Anne's pretzel (I tried to resist, but I was SO hungry at the mall!) - but 4 points for it isn't the worst

Dinner: Veggie Chicken Patty w/Cheese, Spicy Mustard on a bun - 7 points

So that's 21, plus I am sure I consumed enough extra goldfish somewhere throughout the day to account for the other 4, lol!

Food Recap - Dec. 20th

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Breakfast: 4 points

Sweet n' Salty Almond Crunch bar -these things are SO good, they are not chewy not a traditional granola bar, it's basically a bunch of nuts stuck together - I figure they always recommend nuts as a good diet thing - source of protein, etc. - so why not?

Lunch: ????

Today was Ape's bridal shower, so I can't claim to know how good/bad anything I ate was for me, but here it is:

Snow peas & ranch dressing (for someone like me who often just feels the need to eat something, anything, snow peas are great, you can buy packs at the grocery store and keep them around for snacks)

Hashbrown casserole
1 slice broccoli cheese quiche

I didn't eat a single dessert, I was proud!

Dinner - 11 points

Subway veggie sandwich - 8 points
Baked chips -3 points

Back to Blogging - Food Recap, Dec. 19th

Friday, December 19, 2008

Sorry for the couple day hiatus, I was in a mad rush to get done with my finals, and now I am, yay! So I can start again with posting my food every day, some recipes, workouts, etc.!

Here's what I had today (I think I am gonna try to start adding in more pictures and links for food, it makes it fun I think):

Breakfast: Terra Sweet Potato Chips - 3 points

I couldn't get any food before getting on my flight b/c I had to immediately get in the hour-and-a-half security line, so I ate what they had on the plan, which was Terra Sweet Potato chips - a very odd breakfast choice, but SO good, a great healthier alternative to the amazingly yummy sweet potato fries I love so much!

Lunch: Subway Veggie Sandwich - 8 points

I went to the only fast food place that truly is delicious AND nutritious - Subway, yum! I had a veggie sandwich with swiss cheese (I also add the chipotle sauce, which probably isn't super healthy (it adds 3 points), but the veggie is so low in points to start that I don't feel bad)

Dinner: Weight Watchers Nachos - 7 points

I finally have a recipe to share, yay! This one is really simple too and has very few ingredients - it's very simple and can be altered pretty easily if you don't like some of the WW toppings, or if you want to add some (like chiles or black olives) - this particular one is "Nachos Grande" but WW has other versions too.

Recipe (makes 4 servings, each serving has 7 points):

4 oz baked low-fat tortilla chips (I buy baked Tostitos scoops)

9 oz. fat free refried beans

1 cup shredded reduced fat Mexican-style cheese

1 cup salsa

1/2 cup guacamole (you can also do sour cream instead)

And basically all you do is get out a cookie sheet w/aluminum foil on it, spray it with cooking spray, then lay out the chips in a single layer & top with everything but the guacamole or sour cream. Heat at 350 degrees until the cheese melts, about 10 minutes, and top with the guacamole or sour cream. It's delicious!

Snacks

Pirate's Booty, 1 oz package - 3 points (you already know how much I love Smart Puffs, and these are from the same company, it's so good, and a lot of food for 130 calories). If you've never seen these, it's probably because they aren't in the regular chip aisle, they are in the organic foods section - http://www.robscape.com/files/prod-pirate-booty.php.

This is the Dream

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

This picture of me from 2004 are basically my weight loss dream - it's not me at my thinnest, I am not trying to be 140 pounds or anything; I think this picture is me at around 155-157. Really, 160 is my main goal (I am 5'11, so that'd be right around the "recommended weight" for my height) - I am now around 177, which doesn't seem that far away, but losing that 17 pounds will I know be really hard.



I have come down from an all time high of **I can't believe I am going to say this out loud, or that I ever let myself get to this!** 192 pounds in Summer 2007, so I am just going slow & steady towards my ultimate goal. So, I am hoping these pictures will inspire me :)

Dec. 15th & 16th - Food Recap

Sorry for the lack of a food recap for yesterday, I was crazy busy studying! So here's a recap for both days:


Monday:

Breakfast: I hate to admit it, but I forgot about breakfast again - I know, so terrible! For some odd reason, when I go to the gym to train with Kerry in the morning, I don't get hungry til lunch - but I know I should still eat something.


Lunch - Pizza Pretzel - 6 points - this sounds like it would be bad for you, but it is actually from the organic food section of the grocery store, and is fairly low in calories (280) and real high in protein (as a vegetarian, I have to try to get the protein any way I can)- it is made by Kim & Scott's - http://www.kimandscotts.com/ - if they have them in your grocery store, they will be in organic frozen foods.



Dinner - Vegetable Maki - I LOVE sushi but recently gave up fish, so I decided to try vegetarian sushi - it was really good; and according to WW online, the 2 whole rolls were only 8 points combined.



Snack - Smart Puffs - 4 points - http://www.robscape.com/files/prod-smart-puffs.php - if you're a big snacker & sometimes just feel like you need something salty (this is totally me, no matter how hard I try, I cannot completely give up chips), these are great because they are actually really good for you & made with real cheese, and an entire bag has an absurdly small amount of calories, like 450 or so.



Tuesday:


Breakfast: Cottage cheese (low-fat), 2 points


Lunch: Vegetable sandwich - 7 points (wheat bread, american cheese, lettuce, tomato, green pepper, onion & spicy mustard - I used to love mayo on these sandwiches, but have now substituted mustard, which is an easy way to save some calories).


Dinner: Went out to dinner tonight at Hard Rock Cafe; and there wasn't much to eat vegetarian, so I got these southwestern spring rolls, which were basically black beans in a spring roll wrapper. I have a feeling the toppings weren't so great for me, but since I had a light day otherwise, and I could have done way worse for a night out, I am proud :)

Weight Watchers Recipes

Monday, December 15, 2008

So I just had to say that I promise (left hand on my heart, lol) to be posting many more recipes after finals are over - as opposed to writing about how I ate Lean Cuisine for dinner - I am really trying to avoid all the processed food!



I have two new cookbooks, and I have an online membership, so I should be able to find plenty of recipes to try & share with you! I really find that, if I have the time, WW recipes are the best - they are always yummy & filling and give you so much more nutrition than frozen food.

Workouts: Squats!

In addition to cardio, the best thing for legs according to my trainer is squats and lunges - they aren't fun, but they work! (I had previously done some leg work on the machines at the gym, but there's really nothing like the old fashioned way, it's a better workout!)

Squats:

For a basic instruction on how to do squats well, here's a good video to show you: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRnGI3c5Jjs. The general concept behind a squat is simple, but at least for me, it took awhile to get the technique really right.

If you've never done squats before - or like me, have just have always been bad at them - a really good way to get the technique down is to use a stability ball. Place the stability ball between the wall and your back and squat down (weight on your heels, don't bend the knees in) as far as possible, then come back up. After a few times with the stability ball, try it without.

In a strength training workout, I'll try to do about 30 squats or so. After getting the general technique down, you can add weights - first just try holding the weights by your sides while doing the squats; later, you can actually do bicep curls along with the squats.

Dec. 14th - Food Recap

Sunday, December 14, 2008

So, today I fell victim to the weekend eating out routine - Andrew might have died if we didn't go to Danny's Dinner for brunch; and he was also super interesting in getting Punjabi Dhaba for dinner, so I did. I have no idea how healthy/unhealthy anything was since it's not like they are places you can get nutrition info for, but here's what I had:

Brunch:
Egg white omelette w/broccoli & cheese - probably pretty good for me, aside from the cheese, but they don't make grossly cheesy or big omelettes like IHOP and some places
Home fries - hmm, have no idea about these, they are much more like pieces of baked potato than hash browns, but ya never know, doesn't mean they're healthy.

Dinner:
Had a bunch of vegetables and some rice from the Indian place; had 1/2 piece of nan, which is probably 3 less pieces than usual, lol, so that's good.

So, yeah, I ate out today and shouldn't have, but I don't feel so terrible - I weighed myself and have lost 6 pounds this last month as of today, and have worked out 5-6 days a week for the last month too, so I am sure it'll be all good :)

Dec. 13th - Food Recap

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Brunch: Omelette & English Muffin - only 5 points! (this is way healthier than going out to brunch I am sure, Andrew was pushing for Danny's Diner but I resisted)
Egg Beaters - 2 points
Asiago Cheese - 2 points
Spinach - 0 points
Red Peppers - 0 points
Weight Watchers English Muffin (I love these things, how are they only 1 point?)- 1 point

Dinner: Veggie Sandwich - 6 points
Bread - 2 slices - 4 points
Tomato, Onion, Lettuce, Green Peppers - 0 points
Cheese - 2 points

Snacks (I did eat too many snacks today, I won't lie, what can I say, studying & boredom make me snack!): 9 points
Mini Fruit Roll Up - 1 point
Ritz Toasted Chips - 3 points
Goldfish - 3 points
Gatorade G2 Lemon Lime - 2 points (um, I LOVE this stuff, it's so good after working out - I went to the gym today and yesterday, and I did strength training at home today too!)

So that's 20 points, awesome! And today I, for once, ate all the things WW wants - fruits & veggies, milk products, multivitamin, many glasses of water, etc. - it's hard to do!

The Workouts

I have posted a lot about diet, so I thought I should post some on exercise - I definitely don't profess to be any kind of fitness expert, but hey, perhaps I will have some useful tips!

Cardio:

My cardio routine is nothing too exciting, I do the elliptical 3-4 times a week for an hour. One thing to focus on is to try to make sure that you have got a good resistance, your strides per minute (SPM) are high, etc. and monitor your heartrate.

See, the reason the elliptical seems so much easier than the treadmill is that it is easy if you keep it on a Resistance of 2, and put the ramp on 2, and do like 120 strides per minute - that's not to say that it isn't good to do this as a beginning workout, but it's more like walking than running. So, over time I have tried to keep my resistance at 7 (I have worked up from 5-7, I am going to try to go up to 8 at some point, but haven't done it yet), my SPM at at least 150 (before my trainer, I never really realized I was always doing only around 130, so I have bumped it up), and do the weight loss interval workout.

As for heartrate, I think my max heartrate is like 196; and getting your heartrate up is definitely the best monitor of how good of a workout you're getting. I usually get up to like 175 as a max, which I think is decently good.

Strength Training - Ab Workout

So, it's kind of hard to explain strength training on a blog, it's kind of a visual thing, but I'll try to throw out there all the exercises you can do at home with just three things - 5 lb weights, 10 lb weights, and an exercise ball (I got the ball with the weight at the bottom so the ball stays balanced on the floor). I do strength training 2-3 days a week.Today I'll go through some ab stuff you can do:

I have found that the ab workouts that really kill that Kerry has me do are:

(1) Laying down on the floor, a mat, lifting your legs like in the picture and just doing a regular crunch; and not pulling your neck too much. Do 10 of these.

(2) Lift your legs straight up (as straight as possible, that part is hard for me!) like in the pic; place a 5 lb weight behind your head - reach back with your arms to grab the weight (hold one end of the dumbell with each hand) and then lift the weight up to your ankles. Do this 10 times.

(3) Do bicycle crunches - lift your legs up like the first picture and just touch your right elbow to your left knee, then left elbow to right knee, etc. (and the other leg that is not touching your elbow should be completely straight - this is harder than it sounds!)

Repeat all 3 (another 10 times of each) - it doesn't sound that hard, but do it and your abs will really hurt, especially if this is in conjunction with other strength training!

Dec. 12th - Food Recap

Friday, December 12, 2008

So today was the dreaded dinner out, but I feel like it went pretty well!

Breakfast: 0
None (I know, I know, I should eat breakfast- I didn't not eat breakfast on purpose - I went to the gym, and the post office, and then did some work and then it was 11am, which is lunch time in my book)

Lunch: 10
Red Pepper & Cheese Quiche - 7
Baked Beans - 3

Snack: 4
Peanuts & Chocolate Chips - 4 points

Dinner:
Butternut Squash Tortelli - from what i can find online of very similar recipes with the brown sugar maple sauce, it seems to actually be pretty good for you, this site claims it's 1000 calories for 36 raviolis (http://www.recipezaar.com/Butternut-Squash-Tortellini-With-a-Brown-Butter-Sage-Sauce-and-A-209138), and I had like 6 - I doubt it was really 250 calories, that seems unusally low, but either way, I am proud that I didn't get something terribly bad for me.

1/2 Chocolate Tort - Again, have no idea for calories, but it was like a 2 inch little thing, and I only had half, so I don't think it was terrible.

So, it's 14 points plus dinner - that allows 11 points for my dinner - and even if it happened to be above that, I have my 36 flex points for the week I haven't used any of, and I am pretty sure the meal didn't exceed 47 points (cuz that would be 2350 calories!)

Calorie Counts for Olive Garden...If You Dare

Even when I go out to eat at a totally unhealthy place, I still think it's nice to know how many calories are in various options - because sometimes you can find something you really like for 400-500 calories, as opposed to 1200+ calories. But so many restaurants refuse to tell you their nutrition information, which I think is silly. But anyways, I stumbled upon the calories in Olive Garden food tonight:

http://www.thedailyplate.com/nutrition/search.php?q=Olive+Garden&x=37&y=16

They're not good, but they're not any worse than I would expect. In fact, I feel like their meals are not much more than like a burger & fries somewhere.

The Dreaded Scale

One thing that I have always been bad at is not weighing myself, and just focusing on how I feel, how I look, how my clothes fit, etc. I own four scales. Yes, four. It's a bit of an obsession, and one I am trying to break. I feel unsettled if I don't weigh myself every day - and it's because generally, when I don't weigh myself every day, I gain weight - I think I am doing fine and then a week later, I check and I have gained.

I feel like I need the accountability, but then I also agree with my trainer that weighing yourself and putting too much into the numbers will just drive you crazy. And at the end of the day, not weighing myself is not what made me gain weight all those times - it was my diet and exercise.

So (I feel like I am trying to quit smoking here), lol - I have switched from every day to about two times a week. I am trying to get down to doing what WW says, which is one time a week. One time a week is good just to get a sense of how things are going - but still, I am trying not to worry too much about the numbers. As someone who does own four scales, I can tell you that at any given moment, the lowest scale will say 5-6 pounds less than the highest - one of them is accurate I am sure, but I don't know which, and it doesn't really matter. I have put three of them away and just keep the one out - because whether it is 5 pounds too low or too high, I can at least track my progress.

All that being said, after proudly abstaining from weighing myself for the last 4 days, I lost 2 pounds since the last time I checked, so yay :) I am also very excited to see how my measurements have changed when Kerry takes them again this week!

My Downfall

Thursday, December 11, 2008

I would have to say that my biggest downfall is eating out/the weekends, which I guess is probably true for most people. When I am in my own bubble, and just stay in the apartment, the worst I do is eat too many baked chips. But when I eat out, I feel like I always end up wanting appetizers, desserts, etc. And then if there's alcohol involved, it goes even further downhill (that's when the fries ALWAYS come into play).

I literally dread the weekends. Like tomorrow, Andrew wants to take me out to dinner, and I think we are going to go to Olives (www.toddenglish.com) - which is awesome, I love it! But i am afraid - if I just get an entree, I will be fine. But I know Andrew will want to get all the other stuff too, and I have to resist.

And then he always wants to take me to brunch on the weekends, which again, is very nice of him, but still, it often doesn't go well. So I think for me the weekends are the key, because all the time I will lose 2 pounds during the week and then gain it back on the weekends, and it's all evened out.

Dec. 11th - Food Recap

I know no one else is interested in what I eat every day, so I apologize for how boring these posts are, but they're for my own accountability :) And for the record, I promise I am putting on here everything I am eating - there's no point in eating like 2 candy bars but then saying I didn't, ya know? So you'll know when I fall off the wagon and eat a ton of french fries, lol (My mom is guilty of this, she'll be like "Oh, it was just a few chips, I won't write it down").

Breakfast:
Yogurt - 1 point
Apple - 2 points

Lunch:
Red Pepper & Cheese Quiche - 7 points

Dinner:
Lean Cuisine Margherita Pizza w/Fake Pepperoni - 7 points
Baked Beans (I have no idea why I decided to make these, but I felt i needed some more protein, lol) - 3

Snacks:
None

So, so far, that's 20 points, leaving 5 points for some kind of snack later - pretty good :)

Oh, and for those of you who don't do the whole WW thing, a point is roughly equivalent to 50 calories, except if something is high in fat, it's more points, and if it's real high in fiber and low in fat, it's less points - and vegetables are always 0 points; and you're supposed to have 25 points a day, and technically you can eat more when you work out, but I try to stick to the 25.

Why "Fit" & "Healthy"?

I honestly thought a lot about the title of this blog - I originally was thinking of something like "Journey to Becoming a Thin Bride" - but then I realized, no, that's not what I want. I know how to become thin - not eat very much. I've done it time & time again, and ya know, it works, so it's very tempting. I mean, 1L year, I got down to like 168, and I wasn't even working out or eating healthy, it was because I pretty much ate 1 Boloco burrito every day - and that was it. I was not fit or healthy, but I was thin.

So, I am trying to really do things right, because I want something I can stick to long-term. It's depressing at times, because I don't know how it is that somehow I am 178 pounds now, when I am eating healthy and working out more than ever, but I am trying to convince myself it just takes time.

Mmm...Quiche

The other day, I made my first Weight Watchers recipe - a Spinach & Cheese quiche - http://www.mamashealth.com/recipe/spinquiche.asp - and it was really yummy! Since I have an excessive amount of eggs to try to use up, I made another one yesterday, but this time with red peppers instead of spinach, and I also added in romano cheese.

If you do the frozen spinach, you don't have to cook it in a pan before putting it in the quiche, just thaw it; but for peppers, broccoli, etc., cook them in a pan first and then mix them in directly with the egg mixture. It only takes about 10 minutes to make, and then you have it to eat for the next couple of days :)

Wednesday, Dec. 10th - Food Recap

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Breakfast:

Dannon Light n'Fit Yogurt, Vanilla - 1 point
Granny Smith apple - 2 points

Lunch:

Spinach & Romano Cheese Omelette

Spinach - O points
1 cup Egg Beaters - 2.5 points
1 oz. romano cheese - 3 points

Dinner:

PF Chang's Veggie Lettuce Wraps - 8
1 Veggie Spring Roll - 3

Snacks:

2 Mint Milano cookies - 3

So, I've had a total of 22.5 points today - and i feel full and had yummy food i liked, so it was a success I say!

Here We Go Again

I have been on many diets and many ups and downs with weight, and I have realized that my only chance to lose weight is to be very strict about calories, work out a lot, and really try to limit my carbs (I am a vegetarian, but more like a notorious carbtarian).

I have recently starting working out with a trainer, which I think is super helpful so that I can learn proper strength training techniques - and it's made me realize I really should get much better about food, because otherwise the $ spent on the trainer isn't all that useful, right?

So, I am trying to track weight watchers points, work out 5 days a week, and hope it gets me somewhere! I'll be posting recipes, workouts, anything that might be helpful to others! And I'll likely be posting my own food intake for the day just to keep myself accountable in public :)