Food Planning Philosophy

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

I am always impressed with people who can plan out specifically what they will eat for each meal, but I just never know what days I'll have time to make dinner, or eat a more elaborate breakfast, etc. so instead I try to get enough supplies to have some easy meal options and some more complicated recipes, etc. for when I want to cook. Here's an example for what I have this week:

Breakfast:

- As far as the simplest, quickest option, I get Nature Valley Trail Mix bars.
- Another pretty simple option is 100 calorie whole grain english muffins and light veggie cream cheese. I also ordered some Bagel Thins from Lender's for Andrew, they are a lot less calories than regular bagels.
- For when I want to make something, I got ingredients to make breakfast wraps of egg, light American cheese and fake bacon in a tortilla (Hungry Girl's breakfast burrito recipe); and also ingredients to make HG's cinnamon vanilla french toast.

Lunch:

- I decided this week to try ordering Weight Watchers' fresh meals instead of frozen, so even when I have to eat something on the go, these should be healthier with less salt, preservatives, etc. than frozen meals.
- I got ingredients to make sandwiches to bring to work - either a healthy egg salad (no mayo, light bread, etc.), HG's BLT recipe, or HG's caprese sandwich recipe.
- I also bought some Dole salad mixes - love those!

Dinner:
- Kashi frozen pizzas - probably one of the healthiest frozen pizza options out there, but still delicious - love them!
- Ingredients to make HG's 7-layer burrito blitz (recipe is on this blog) - so yummy!
- Ingredients to make HG's Mexi-tatos (recipe on the blog as well)
- Whole weat pasta and tomato basil sauce or pesto sauce

Snacks:
And of course, I got a variety of little 100 calorie or less options for snacks - Light n' Fit vanilla yogurt, apples, string cheese, some 100 calorie packs of veggie chips, etc.

Thank goodness for Peapod, I never have time to go to the store!

Snack Recommendation

My newest snack obsession is Food Should Taste Good's multigrain chips:

They are made with sunflower seeds, flax, etc. - they have lots of fiber and less fat than regular potato chips or tortilla chips. Yum!!

Product Review: Reebok Easy Tones

Sunday, February 21, 2010

I was totally sucked in by the Reebok Easy Tone commercials they kept airing in the fall, and so I put them on my Christmas list. My mom very kindly bought them for me (and she actually had a coupon & free shipping on http://www.shoes.com/ so she got them for $75, so they were about the price I'd pay for sneakers anyways), and since I've now had them for a couple months, I thought I'd give my thoughts (oh, and I got the Easy Tone Inspire, pictured below):

- They are very comfortable to wear/walk in. You feel a bit of a burn in your butt mainly, and some in your legs, if you do serious walking in them (like if you do a brisk walk for like 2 plus miles), but on a normal day of walking to work in them, you feel only a tiny burn. But the burn is good, cuz it means they're doing something, and like I said, on a normal day it's quite minor, you wouldn't get to work and be like exhausted or have sore legs. Even when I did a 3 mile brisk walk in them, my legs only felt a little sore for like 30 minutes after the walk.

- For awhile I was just walking in them, but this past week I tried them to run in on the treadmill and really liked them. I ran faster in them, and also felt afterwards like I had both ran and done a leg workout. I think I will be using them for this more in the future, though I can't attest to how they'd do running outside - it's been way too cold here for that!

- I have honestly noticed a difference in the tone of my legs. Previously, I had done leg workouts with a trainer, running, classes, the elliptical, etc. - and although my legs might have burned, or I might have lost weight, there had been NO difference in the tone of my legs, they still looked all jiggly. I don't wear the Easy Tones on a daily basis, but even from the amount I have used them, I have seen a difference, my butt and the upper part of my legs in general just looks smoother and more toned, I don't see all the cellulite bumps.

In short, I give these two thumbs up! Anyone else try these out?

Interval Running - Sample Workout

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

I have been doing a good bit of running lately to try to start training for another half-marathon. But I am not someone who can just get on the treadmill, set it to 7.0 and go for miles - not even close! I usually have to change the speed frequently so I can get a little rest, then do some bursts of faster running.

I found a good sample interval workout on the treadmill, and just wanted to share it:

1 - 5(minutes) brisk walk at 5.0
6-7- jog at 5.5
7-8 - run at 6.5-6.8
8-9 - jog at 5.5
9-10 - run at 6.5-7.0
10-11- brisk walk at 5.0
11-12 - run 6.5-7.0
12-13 - brisk walk at 5.0
13-14 - run at 6.5-7.0
14-15 - jog at 5.5

Also, this can of course be adjusted for however fast you can go - you can start out the walking at 3.0 or 4.0 and adjust the other speeds accordingly.

WW Classic Corn Bread

Monday, January 18, 2010

To go along with the chili, I also made Weight Watchers' Classic Corn Bread. I thought it was pretty good for diet corn bread, though much better fresh out of the oven than re-heated. Here's the recipe:

1 1/4 cups yellow cornmeal
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup + 2 tablespoons low-fat buttermilk
1 large egg

(1) Preheat the oven to 400F, spray an 8 inch square pan or a 12-cup muffin tin with a nonstick spray

(2) In a large bowl, combine the cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. In a small bowl, beat the buttermilk and egg. Pour over the flour mixture; stir just until blended (do not overmix).

(3) Transfer to the pan. Bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 20-25 minutes. Cool in the pan on a rack 10 minutes;serve warm.

Per Serving (1/12 of loaf or 1 muffin) - 100 Cal, 2 Points.

WW Hearty Meatless Chili

I have tried so many good recipes lately, but keep being too lazy to post them, so I am officially going to do that tonight. I will start with a really good vegetarian entree I tried, Weight Watchers' Hearty Meatless Chili:

This makes 6 Servings

1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
1 Large onion, finely chopped
1 Green bell pepper, seeded and diced
3 garlic cloves, minces
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minces
1 (28 oz) can crushed tomatoes
1 (12 oz) package frozen soy crumbles
1/2 cup water
1/2 medium eggplant, unpeeled and diced
2 teaspoons chipotle chili powder
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon ground cumin
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 (15 1/2 oz) can red kidney beans, rinsed and drained

(1) Heat the oil in a nonstick Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the onion, bell pepper, garlic and jalapeno pepper; cook, stirring, until softened. About 8 minutes.
(2) Add the tomatoes, soy crumbles, water, eggplant, chili powder, oregano, cumin and salt; bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmeer, partially covered, until the vegetables are well softened and the flavors are developed, about 20 minutes longer.

Per Serving: 197 Cal, 3 Points.

This chili was really hearty and also quite spicy. It sounds complicated to make, but really wasn't so bad to do once you chop everything. I'd recommend it!

Same Taste, Fewer Calories

Thursday, January 7, 2010

One of my favorite "bad for me" foods is Domino's Buffalo Chicken Pizza (well, except i don't eat meat, so for me, it's just buffalo pizza). It's SO yummy!

But of course, it's also so bad for you. So, I decided to come up with my own lower-calorie version. I took an english muffin (100-130 calories, depending on which kind you get), about 1/4 cup of low-moisture, part-skim mozzarella (80 calories) and 1/2 tsp of Frank's Red Hot sauce (35 calories). So, for around 200 calories, you get two little english muffin mini buffalo pizzas, and with a lot less fat too. I recommend it! (And if you do eat meat, I am sure these would be yummy with chicken too).

Push-Ups for Beginners

Thursday, December 10, 2009

When I first started doing personal training, I was really bad at push-ups, since I hadn't done them in years. Eventually, though, I was able to do about 30 real push ups in a session. Push-ups work your arms as well as your chest, abs, back, etc.

If you can't do a push up on the floor at all, you can always start with push ups on a wall, on a bar at the gym, on your stair railing, etc. - and you can keep practicing this way until you can go all the way down and get the technique down.

And of course, there are always knee push ups:

But my favorite thing Kerri taught me was doing push-ups using the Bosu ball (they have these at most gyms, probably near the free weights - you can also buy them yourself, but they're $100+). I can't find a picture of exactly what we did, but essentially all you need to do is place the bosu ball, dome side UP, right under your chest, and when you come down while doing your push up, lay your chest on the Bosu ball, and lift your arms up.

Then, place your arms back on the floor and push yourself up for the next push up. After doing the push-ups this way for awhile, you'll eventually be able to do them without the ball underneath you at all.

One Mile at a Time

Monday, December 7, 2009

I crazily agreed to run a half marathon with my mom a few days ago - crazy because the race is on Dec. 20th. So I have stepped up my casual 2 miles of running, 3 days a week, to doing a lot more. And while I am still in no way a runner, I have realized that if I just keep doing a bit more each day and do one mile at a time, it isn't so bad.

This past week, I got up to 4 miles, and today I will try for 5. Since I am doing a longer distance, I know I can't run the whole thing, so what I have been doing is running 2 minutes at about 5.2mph, then walking 1 minute at 4mph. It evens out to a good pace overall, but the slowing down to do a brisk walk for a minute really helps me to keep going. Usually, I don't like slowing down to walk, I like to just go for it, run the whole thing and be done. But that only works for about 2 miles, so if I am going to have any chance of doing 13, the walking is necessary.

So, wish me luck!

Delicious & Nutritious Pizza

Andrew and I decided to make homemade pizza last night, because we wanted something healthy, but we were getting a little sick of salad, whole weat pasta, etc. So we went to whole foods and got ingredients to make a healthy BBQ pizza.

We got refrigerated dough (1400 calories for the whole package), organic barbeque sauce (we used half the bottle, which only added up to 125 calories), low moisture part skim shredded mozzarella (we used a cup, which is about 320 calories), and then peppers and onions to go on top. We don't eat meat, but this would definitely be great with chicken on it too of course.

So all totalled it was about 230 calories for each slice of the pizza (we cut the pizza into 8 slices), and was so delicious, I would have ordered it at a restaurant. And it really didn't take too long to make - we baked it at 375 for about 25 minutes. I definitely recommend it!

I'm Intrigued

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Although I am sure this is mainly a gimic more than anything else, I am intrigued by these new shoes Reebok is making, the Reebok Easy Tone. They are supposed to help tone your legs & butt when you walk, run, etc. in them. I would be quite impressed if they did work since my legs never get very much tone no matter how much I run, do the elliptical, the bike, etc.



Has anyone actually tried these? I'm mainly considering them since I need new sneakers anyways, but they're about $100, so I'd need some reason that they are better than getting a new pair of Asics (I love Asics, I've had this same pair for years and they're still in great condition).

Finally!

For the longest time, Blogger was not letting me log into to this blog, so I couldn't update it - I don't know why, but it had a different log-in than my other blogs, so it wasn't working. But I finally got it figured out so I can blog here again, yay!

I am going to be signing up for a new personal trainer soon so hopefully I'll have soom good workouts to share!

Running for Beginners

Thursday, September 24, 2009

So I am the first to admit that I have never a "runner" nor will I really ever be - well at least in the sense that I'll never just get up and run 5 miles, no problem. 3 miles is still my maximum, and that wasn't at any great speed. Anyways, my mom has always been the same way, and in seeing in how we both "learned to run" I've realized that everyone definitely has their own method of doing it, and it's definitely very individualized.

The Walk/Run Method - so my mom is definitely a walk/runner; and she made it all the way from not being able to even go a half mile to doing a half marathon, all in about a year's time, which is impressive! She basically just started out with a method of like Walk 4 min/Run 1 min; and then slowly worked all the way to Walk 1min/Run 4 - every day she just ran a little bit longer than the day before. And this really works well if you just are the kind of person who could never run a mile all at once, but could do a good distance if you just were able to do some walking breaks in between.

The "Just Do It" Method - so, there's really not much to teach in terms of my method of how I learned how to run finally - for me, I think it was mainly mental. I did try doing some walk/running, but for me, every time I would slow down to like 3 mph, it was SO hard to go back up to running like 5mph. So, I just always do like a 1 minute warmup at around 3mph, then crank it up to 5-6mph, run at that speed until I can't take it anymore, then dial it down to like 4.5mph. And I basically just run as much as I can - and then if say I could only run a mile, I'll still do other cardio so that I didn't only have a 15 minute workout. And over time, if I really do it every day, I can run a little farther each time. And I realized that I really need to start out at like the highest speed I can handle and go down from there; because like I said, a lot of this is mental, 5mph doesn't seem as bad when you've just been doing 6, right?

These Actually Do Help

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

So despite my failure in posting them, I really have been trying to keep up with taking pictures of myself throughout the weight loss (or attempted weight loss lol) process. I think I realized when I did that perhaps I really do see myself a lot differently than I actually look - not to say I look at these pics and think, wow, I look perfect, but I definitely think I look better when I see myself in these as compared to when I look at myself in the mirror.



Anywho, this one is my latest, I think I should title it "the magic of dark jeans" - lol. Stacy & Clinton are right, they really do always make me feel slimmer :)

7 Layer Burrito Blitz Recipe

Monday, September 7, 2009

Sorry for the lack of posting of recipes, accountability photos, etc. - it's not that I've fallen off the wagon, it's that my computer has, lol.

But I have been making some yummy new recipes, mainly from Hungry Girl. Here's one of them, I'll definitely post more this week :)

7-Layer Burrito Blitz

(1 Burrito - 277 Calories, 3g Fat, 14.5g Fiber, 22g Protein) - these are so yummy and remind me of taco nights as a kid, a flavor I've missed for a LONG time! I may be biased in saying the fake meat HG has you use in this is actually really good, since I haven't had real ground beef in like 7 years, but I dunno, I'd say at least give it a try and if you hate it, you can probably substitute some other kind of lean meat or just stick to black beans

1 medium low fat flour tortilla (110 Cal, at least 6g Fiber)
1/3 cup canned black beans
1 ounce ground beef style soy crumbles (you'll find the Morningstar version in the frozen food section)
1/2 cup chopped iceberg lettuce
1/4 cup chopped tomatoes
2 tablespoons chopped onions
2 tablespoons fat-free sour cream
2 tablespoons shredded fat-free cheese

Prepare crumbles according to directions (this isn't in the HG recipes, but I season them with taco seasoning - I'd really recommend it, it makes them much better)

Microwave tortilla until slightly warm. Layer ingredients in a long strip down the middle of the tortilla, starting with black beans, then the crumbles, then sour cream, lettuce, onions, cheese & tomatoes.

Getting Your 8 Glasses A Day

Friday, August 21, 2009

I am the first to admit that I am a diet coke addict and am bad at drinking enough water. Although I know I'll never be able to give up diet coke, I am still at least trying to reduce it and get in my 64oz of recommended water a day. There's just one problem - I hate water. I really only drink it when I am really thirsty after a run.

So, I use drink mixes to make the water more appealing to me. My faves include:

OceanSpray On the Go Cran-Pomegranate Juice Mix - 5 calories, and it has 100% RDV of Vitamin C.

Crystal Light drink mixes - I especially love the lemonade mix.

Propel drink mix - this is also a good way to save $, so I don't have to spent $1.50 for a Propel from the machine at the gym, and can just buy cheap store bottled water.

Hope this helps others who are trying to get in their 8 glasses!

My First Paycheck Splurge Will Be...

A BodyBugg for sure! ( http://www.bodybugg.com/) If you haven't seen these, they are devices that you strap on to your arm and they can track (with around 90%+ accuracy) how many calories you are burning. Then, it goes along with a computer program where you can track your food. They use this on the Biggest Loser, and it looks very cool. It's somewhat expensive, but not prohibitively so, and since I don't have to pay for a gym membership (I have one in the building), I think I can justify it. And I like the idea behind BodyBugg, b/c, at the end of the day, despite all the diet tips & tricks you hear, it is ultimately a #'s game - burn more calories than you eat.


I was talking to a friend of mine who is getting a PhD in physiology and he was telling me that, yes, there are some differences between the calories burned from running vs. elliptical vs. strength training, etc. but at the end of the day, just look at everything as a numbers game, don't get too caught up in all sorts of crazy theories.

Salad Love

Sorry for the blogging delay - now that my computer is finally fixed, I'm back for good! So, I am the first to admit that, even though I don't eat meat, I still don't often order salads when I go out to eat - I worry they'll just be this plain garden salad that won't be filling, and then I'll binge on fries later or something. However, I think places are getting better now at making more interesting & filling salads, which is a definite plus :)



Anyways, I went to Qdoba tonight, and Andrew and I both got salads - I got their traditional taco salad (I got it "naked" - so it was just in a bowl, no tortilla shell - don't get me wrong, I love the tortilla shells, the scale doesn't, lol), and Andrew got their summer mango salad. Both were really good - I especially love their light ranch chipotle dressing that goes on the taco salad. And you can put beans on for protein, add some salsa (which is like basically no calories), and a little shredded cheese, and it's a super yummy meal.


So, just wanted to recommend it. This makes me think I need a whole post just on my favorite salads...perhaps that will be to come in the future :)

Accountability Photo #1

Friday, July 24, 2009

Let's be honest, I was far too lazy to put a swimsuit on. But, I did take a photo of myself using my camera's self-timer. I am trying to really push myself to finally lose this last 15 pounds and get into better shape, I feel like Phase 1 of my diet was just ridding myself of junk food, amping up the cardio to drop pounds, etc. and now it's time to get into toning & fitness much more.

(sorry it's so blurry, not on purpose, it's just my self-timer skills are quite sub-par). So hopefully as the weeks go by, these pics will get hotter & hotter :)

Gym-Free Workout, Strength Training Edition

In addition to running, I've been doing strength training in my living room. I have minimal supplies - hand weights & an exercise ball - but that's all you really need. I figure I'll go through what I've been doing, one body part at a time.

Abs -

I've been doing a rotation between three kinds of sit-ups - (1) bicycles, (2) sit ups with my legs straight up in the air (for these, I hold a 5 pound weight with both hands, and bring it up to my ankles, then bring it back behind my head, and keep repeating that), and (3) sit ups with my legs held up like in the 3rd pic (better than doing the same thing but with your feet on the ground). I do 10 of each, then repeat this. If you're doing them right, doing 60 will be plenty and your abs will really feel it.

Also, for a good ab stretch, you can do a "superman" - see the pic below (just without the exercise ball of course) - keep your legs & arms above the ground for 5-10 seconds after your ab set.

Happy ab-work-outing :)