It's Not in The Box!

Wouldn't it be so easy if we could just take a pill, eat special food from a box, and get that great toned body from a 10 min guaranteed workout?  Of course it would but let's be honest, nutrition isn't found in a box or frozen Lean Cuisine and a fit lean body isn't obtained in 1 or 2 short workouts every week.  That's right you're actually going to have to work hard, say no thank you to that cupcake and get you butt off the couch to workout 5 days a week or more. 

Given that there are lot's of variables to weight loss let's just shoot down the food in a box thing right now.  In my opinion....the main reason to pass on boxed or frozen meals is the sodium and empty calories.  In all honesty you can do it better yourself.  Your version will taste better, be made with fresh veggies and whole grains (If your follow your Make it Stick plan), and be much lower in sodium. 

Here's the thing.  Our bodies do need sodium.  Athletes or those that workout on a regular basis sweating off fluids need sodium to maintain balance in their bodies.  However, 600mg of sodium for a 300 calories meal seems a bit excessive.  The total amount of sodium suggested per day (FDA) is about 2400mg.  When your trying to lose weight excess sodium adds water weight to your body and in some cases edema (pockets of fluid often in ankles).  Do yourself a favor...make it from scratch and you'll have that easy access meal in your fridge to take to work or eat for lunch.

Here's what I'm having tonight for dinner.  I'll make a bit extra so I can have it for lunch tomorrow.

Shrimp and veggie pasta: (could use chicken)
Saute shrimp in a pan with a little olive oil, garlic, and fresh squeezed lemon.  Set aside
Saute fresh veggies of your choice ( I use, zucchini, squash, asparagus, peppers, spinach) in olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, and add fresh basil.  Cook until veggies are still crunchy.  Add shrimp back into veggies mixture to heat.  Mix with whole wheat angle hair pasta (portion size of a cupped handful) add feta cheese and serve!

Drink your 80-90 oz of water every day and you'll notice that scale dip, another few inches off, and the added bonuses such as a clearer complexion etc. 

By the way for those of you paying attention...I'm down another pound since last week and 2 1/2 inches overall.  Certainly slow moving but I know that what comes off slow...stays off forever. 

have a great week!

Track your nutritional servings...lose weight? I think so!

One of my favorite nutrition reference guides and recipe books comes from the Eat Clean Diet series by Tosca Reno.  Her recipes are awesome, the food is fresh and easily prepared.  One thing I've noticed about my diet is that although fairly planned I did not have a method of keeping track of the number of servings I was getting from each food group.  Her 'cooler plans' do just that.  I highly recommend reading the book and really getting a better idea of what and why we should eat what we eat.  Below is the checklist I have on my fridge.  It's covered in a plastic slip cover so I can use a dry erase pen to mark off what I've eaten during the day....then I know where I'm falling short.  So far I'm down another 1.5 lbs in a week.  Because I'm getting my fruits and veggies in (ie. fiber) I'm not craving sugar and I'm not hungry.  I'm still sticking to eating every 2-3 hours getting in 6 meals a day. 

6 Portions/ day Complex Carbs
1 cupped handful or piece of fruit (berries, melon, apples, grapefruit)
2 cupped handfuls of veggies
(The X's help me count my portions for the day for easy mark off)
X           X           X        X           X          X

2-4 Portions Complex Cabs from Whole Grains
1 Handful of high protein sugar free cereal (muesli and granola)
1 handful of cooked cereal (oatmeal)
1 piece of whole grain bread or wrap
1 handful sized serving of (yams, sweet potatoes, carrots banana, squash)

5-6 Portions of Lean protein
1 cup dairy (soy, rice milk, cottage cheese, kefir, ff yogurt)
1 handful of unsalted nuts
2 Tbsp of nut butters
1 palm sized portion of animal meat
Protein powder

2-3 liters of water

My workouts are getting more frequent however we were out of town last week so this week is a fresh start:

Monday: strength and core
Tuesday:  Run
Wed:  Bike
Thurs: Strength and OFF
Friday: Swim
Saturday: Bike
Sunday: OFF

(ideally I need another swim day but I'll have to wait until May when our neighborhood pool opens for time sake)

Accountablity is EVERYTHING!

My son has a reading folder that we log his time spent reading in each night.  One night he asked me why we had to write down the time he spent reading.  Then he asked how his teacher would know if we just put a time down but didn't really read that long.  After the talk about honesty I mentioned the word accountable. 

 According to dictionary.com Accountable is an–adjective

To report, explain, or justify something; responsible; answerable.

or

capable of being explained; explicable; explainable.

  As humans our success rate increases when we have to report our actions to someone.  My advice to those starting any exercise program, training plan or nutrition plan is find someone to be accountable to.  Whether it's your neighbor, a co-worker, best friend, sister, mom or husband it must be someone who will not pass judgement but doesn't refrain from keeping you on track.  My effort to be accountable with my training has a place here as well.  On Sunday's I'll be posting my workout schedule for the week.  A few times during the week I'll update my meals and my workout progress for the week.  Congrats...Your my new BFF!

This week:

Monday:  Sculpt Class

Tuesday: Stroller Class and 20 min Run

Wed: Swim (15 mins swim...it's been a while) Mostly drills

Thurs: "OFF"  Teach 2 classes (Core and Strength workout)

Friday: Bike (35 mins) attempt to get back in the saddle at 7 weeks Postpartum

Saturday: OFF

Sunday: Swim

**Just feeling out my baseline this week.  If' your just starting out go easy on yourself.  You should also really have 1 full day off. 

Meals Today:

Breakfast: Oatmeal with soy protein (tbsp), peanut butter, and a little maple syrup

Snack:  Forgot my stinken snack today.

Lunch: Left over backed chicken breast, slice 2% swiss cheese, w/w tortilla, 1/2 grapefruit

Snack: Hummus and carrots

Dinner: Pasta with veggies and chicken sausage

Snack: ff Greek yogurt with strawberries.

The Training Begins Here!

Putting off any triathlon races for the past 2 years has been hard.  This is the year to kick it back into gear.  Although I'm not planning anything longer than a few sprints this year I'm mentally preparing for a much longer tougher race.  Taking my body from fair or moderate shape to excellent shape in 12 weeks could prove to be more of a challenge than I thought.  My baseline training should be complete by now (ie. 3 mile run, 30 mins on a bike, and 15 min pool time).  As you might guess my butt hasn't touched the saddle of a bike yet (could be a few more weeks), my legs are still struggling through a 30 min run with varied walk times and I have yet to meet the acquaintance of the pool. 

The plan:  Next week begins my first real training week so I'll start from where I am and take it slow realizing my first race may very likely not be my best time. 

My workout today: 
Got back into my Restore the Core DVD  (see if you can find them on ebay or online...great for getting your core on the right track) 

Followed by a 30 min run:  2 min run, 1 min walk (twice), 3 min run, 1 min walk (twice), 4 min run, 1 min walk (twice), run out the last 6 mins. 

My Meals today:
Breakfast: Smoothie (in a hurry...great option...see recipe below)
Snack:  Seriously...I can hardly remember to put my breast pads in before leaving the house, I'll remember tomorrow.
Lunch: Spoons (w/w flatbread salmon sandwich with greens and cup of butternut squash soup non dairy, vegetarian.
Snack:  Pretzel Crisps with cottage cheese
Dinner: Stuffed Red Peppers (black beans, corn, onion, brown rice and a little 2% cheese)
Snack: Green tea with soy milk, rice cake.

Smoothie Recipe:
scoop of f/f cottage cheese   
scoop of f/f greek yogurt (plain)
1 tbsp flaxseed (meal or seed)
1 tsp peanut butter
1 tbsp aguave syrup
frozen berries
(The bullet blender is awesome for smoothies!)