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Diet and Exercise
I'm a total nerd about this stuff but I don't have a Fitbit. Almost bought one + I want the Aria scale. I decided not to because I can use that money to buy either more books or other stuff for my home gym.I haven't used it in 2014 but I am a member of Fitocracy. I love it! Tons of crazy and workout obsessed people...
I also track my workouts. Normally I drop the info into Fito as well (graphics and statics and badges, oh my!) but lately I have not.
Today's workout:
Romanian Deadlift: 62 lbs @8 reps x 3
62 lbs @10 reps
1 arm dumbbell row: 10 lbs @ 8 reps ea x 3
10 lbs @ 10 reps ea
Dumbbell Bench Press: 10 lbs @ 10 reps x 3
10 lbs @ 12 reps
Reverse Crunch: 50, 30, 35
Kettlebell 1 leg Romanian Deadlift: 20 lbs @ 10 reps ea x 3
Kettlebell 1 arm swing: 20 lbs @ 20 reps ea
It was a decent workout but I felt like a weakling. Before I hurt myself I was at much higher weights for...everything. :(
My current goals:1) Get down to 122 lbs
2) Get body fat percent down to 27% (will aim for lower over time)
3) Eat 30% or less of calories with dinner. Go for a 35% (breakfast / snack) 35% (lunch / snack) 30% (dinner / dessert) spread. So for 1200 calorie diet... 420 for breakfast / snack, 420 for lunch / snack, 360 for dinner.
4) Reduce carb intake to 45%, replace with protein (will maybe aim for lower over time). This will be easier with only having 360 calories for dinner. More veggies, less carbs, less calories.
5) Cross the mean of the activity curve and become more active than most women in my age and weight group!
6) Become un-sedentary?
Another goal: Take before photos in my bathing suit. I'm hoping to see some improvement in that area...
Dawn wrote: "My current goals:1) Get down to 122 lbs
2) Get body fat percent down to 27% (will aim for lower over time)
3) Eat 30% or less of calories with dinner. Go for a 35% (breakfast / snack) 35% (lunch ..."
Have you thought about how you are going to achieve your goals?
Dawn wrote: "Another goal: Take before photos in my bathing suit. I'm hoping to see some improvement in that area..."I have a decent amount of pics from before I got hurt but I almost never take pics of myself when I don't feel I look good.
Like now. :(
Different things work for different people but I find that smaller 'meals' throughout the day works best for me. I still pay attention to what I'm eating - and more important how much. And I don't eat more than I would sticking to a 3-meal day but I spread what I eat out throughout the day. If you find yourself either getting too hungry between meals (I hate being hungry) or if you find you eat more when you're hungry (this is my problem) this might work for you too.
Also - if you're eating a lot of salt that can be affecting your scale weight. If you're eating TV dinners, or especially soups.
My grandmother is a Type 2 diabetic and she not only has to watch her sugar but also her carbs. That's a toughie for me though. I love carbs. Bread is my favorite food group.
During the work week I eat raw veggies with hummus most of the day. Then if I'm still hungry I have a sandwich (turkey and cheese) or soup. Most of the time.
Today I'm having leftover fish.
For weight and body fat, diet and exercise will hopefully work. I'm doing Insanity for workouts for now, that may change if I don't like it after a week or so. But I plan on exercising 6 days a week, so that will bump my activity level. And as for carbs and meal balance.. Planning. I already plan what I eat every day (including snacks) a week in advance.. I just need to target new calorie amounts and avoid carbs for some meals. The biggest challenge will be finding 360 calorie dinner recipes that fill me up and that my fiance likes as well :-/
Dawn wrote: "Planning. I already plan what I eat every day (including snacks) a week in advance.. I just need to target new calorie amounts and avoid carbs for some meals. The biggest challenge will be finding 360 calorie dinner recipes that fill me up and that my fiance likes as well :-/ "I suck at planning. The best I can do is do the majority of my week's cooking the weekend prior.
Tops.
:(
Keeping to an eating schedule helps me. It can be boring but it does keep me from snacking too much.
I usually plan a weeks of dinners, and log all of that information into a calorie tracking program (currently both my fitbit and weight watchers, double tracking and conforming to both because I'm OCD). Then I go through and add breakfasts for the week (usually one of two options - oatmeal and a piece of fruit or cottage cheese and a piece of fruit). Then I buy 5 lean cuisines and pop those in for lunch. Or sometimes I do a meal replacement shake instead. Snacks are veggies and hummus, wheat thins, pretzels and laughing cow cheese, or a granola bar sometimes when I want something sugary for energy. I guess it's easy for me because I know my set options.. I just make them fit. But now.. I need to find NEW options for dinner. And it would be easy if I were single - I love spaghetti and acorn and butternut squash, are they are great substitutes for carbs for me; it's hard with a picky fiance. I've tried saying that I'll make whatever and if you don't like it, eat something else. But the waste from that.. I hate seeing so much go to waste.
I just need to find 10 good recipes he'll eat, and then just rotate permanently with those. It's just that usually I do 500 calories for dinner. 360 is going to be an adjustment.
What does he like to eat?
Do you have a rotisserie? I have one and I try to rotisserie a chicken about once a week. Hubby really likes my rotisserie chicken and that lasts about 2 days - longer if you don't eat it with him.
I don't, but I like to buy the already cooked ones... Mmmm.. LOL. I do cook whole chickens in the oven, just usually only on weekends. My weekdays are packed.As for what he likes to eat... *sigh* Meat, carbs, fried food, minimal vegetables. Things like chinese, spaghetti and meat sauce, steak, burgers, chicken parmesan, etc. Foods I just can't eat and maintain my weight. I mean I love chinese.. But alas... I gotta avoid the General's. It kills me.
I have a hard time because meat just doesn't satisfy me. I really am not a huge fan of it. So he loves me, I'm eh about it. I'd rather do mostly veggie and carb meals, he wants meat and carb hold the veggies. And When it comes to veggies.. He'll eat asparagus and broccoli (and corn, but I don't count that as a veggie). That's all. He won't eat any other vegetable.
Typical meals we eat:
Grilled boneless pork chops, rice, and asparagus
Spaghetti with ground turkey meat sauce, garlic bread
Blackened mahi mahi, broccoli, rice
Honestly.. I'm drawing a blank. Those three are every week things, and then on the other days I switch other things in.. It's just hard. I find tons of recipes I would love, but he hates them.. He's just a picky eater.
We also splurge and make general's or orange chicken and rice every month or so. That's another regular.. And I do more healthy chicken and veggie stir fry (with rice of course, carbsssssss) once every one or two weeks.
Hmmm, here are some offerings. Hubby is picky, too, just not that picky. Thank goodness. He's mostly getting resigned that I will sometimes cook what I want.Pasta with Sun Gold Tomatoes: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/foo...
He likes this. I LOVE it and I'm making more! Tonight.
I do the sungold tomatoes with cherry tomatoes and it's beautiful. And tasty.
Honey Spice Chicken Thighs: http://www.budgetbytes.com/2012/03/ho...
We both like this one.
Crispy Bourbon Glazed Salmon: http://www.howsweeteats.com/2011/03/c...
He likes this a lot more than I.
Rosemary Baked Chicken with Potatoes Recipe: http://www.mccormick.com/Recipes/Main...
It's ok, it's meat and potatoes. He likes it more than me.
asian sticky wings: http://www.budgetbytes.com/2010/08/as...
you can make this and only take a little
Parmesan Chicken Cutlets: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/foo...
I love this more than him. Very thin chicken breast, breaded with a light coating of panko with minimal cheese. You can add more cheese if you wish.
I LOVE it with pasta. Yum pasta.
Chipotle Chicken Fajita Rice Bowl: http://www.simplyscratch.com/2013/03/...
OMG. I LOVE THIS. It's Chipotle but at home. It takes forever (but I only use one pan...) but I love it and its delicious and I can decide how much veggies I want. LOVE.
A lot of those look yummy, some of them I couldn't do calorie wise though...Pasta with Sun Gold Tomatoes - 772 calories per serving
Honey spice chicken thighs - I've made this before (love budget bytes) and liked it
Salmon - ew, neither of us like salmon :P
Rosemary baked chicken - added it to my to-try list
Asian sticky wings - Look sooo good, but probably pretty high in calories for that they are
Parmesan chicken... Mmmmm.... But fried.. I have baked recipe I do that's pretty good, not nearly as good as something fried, but it does ok for itself
The rice bowl looks amazing.. I need to try that.. I'll have to calculate the calories out and I can just eat more veggies and he can have more meat.
Some recipes I found...Cornmeal Chicken Nuggets - looks super yummy, and I don't think I'd need a carb with this.
Quick Chicken Cordon Blue - might be able to get away with some bread on the side and a veggie.
Thai Chicken and Mango Stir Fry - looks good, but J probably wouldn't like it and seems a little complicated for a quick weeknight dinner.
Summer Vegetable Crepes - This looks sooo good to me, but J would HATE it.
Tandoori Tofu - same with this.
Apple Turkey Picadillo - this too.
I need easy, 30 minutes or less, under 400 calorie dinners. I just have to search more and try different things.
The under 400 is just while I (and he) diet though.. After that I'll do many 1400 - 1600 a day with exercise, so I can bump my meals up a notch.
Do you like beans? They're usually pretty low and healthy. You can make tacos or burittos and then add what you want or leave out what you don't. We eat black beans in my household - they tend to be healthier.* I think anyway... ;)
For fucks sake..the firewall blocks RECIPES??
I LOVE beans.He doesn't like them.
Seriously.. This is what I deal with, lol.
Dawn wrote: "A lot of those look yummy, some of them I couldn't do calorie wise though...Pasta with Sun Gold Tomatoes - 772 calories per serving
Honey spice chicken thighs - I've made this before (love budge..."
With the Parmesan chicken I use a lot less oil than they recommend - I usually just Misto the pan but you have to be careful so it doesn't burn. I also get regular chicken breasts and then slice them myself. I can get 3-4 cutlets per 1 whole chicken breast which reduces the calories/portions quite a bit.
What is your baked recipe? I could try that, too.
With the Sungold pasta, try it with less cheese (i used about 1/4 of the recommended amount) and then use your spaghetti squash and he can have noodles?
Dawn wrote: "Some recipes I found...Cornmeal Chicken Nuggets - looks super yummy, and I don't think I'd need a carb with this.
Quick Chicken Cordon Blue - might be able to get away with some bread on the sid..."
OH, I want to make those first two!
Nienna wrote: "Do you like beans? They're usually pretty low and healthy. You can make tacos or burittos and then add what you want or leave out what you don't. We eat black beans in my household - they tend to b..."I like black beans.
Hate black eyed peas...which happens to be a Southern Specialty. :(
Chris wrote: "For fucks sake..the firewall blocks RECIPES??"O_o
:(
So wow. I'm glad I got the heart rate monitor! If it's accurate, I've been way underestimating the amount of calories I burn in a work out.I just did a Zuzka workout (I wanted to do Insanity but got out of work late and was short on time). It took 40 minutes including warm up and cool down. I have a Polar watch and chest band monitor, which has good reviews. It knows my weight and height... It says I burned 334 calories! I'd normally log about 150 - 200 for that. My heart rate was pretty much always above 180 though, except during cool down.
I don't know.. Maybe because I'm basically a skinny fat person I burn more than the average fit person? Like it takes them more to get their heart rate up, but it's easy for me.
But dang. I love my new gadgets!
http://www.skinnytaste.com/2011/04/he...I use that recipe for nuggets, strips, or thin cut breasts. Sometimes I make it into chicken parm.
Dawn wrote: "So wow. I'm glad I got the heart rate monitor! If it's accurate, I've been way underestimating the amount of calories I burn in a work out.I just did a Zuzka workout (I wanted to do Insanity but ..."
Well, you are experiencing something that they call "newbie gains." It's when you first start to workout so it takes you some time to get to a plateau.
After a period of time your body will adjust as you loose weight/gain muscle. So then you'll have to up the resistance or increase the workout to get the same amount of burn.
I'm not sure how long it takes - it varies from person to person (along with other variables). It took me more than 6 months, IIRC.
But I do want a heartrate monitor something bad. How much was yours and which one did you get? If you don't mind me asking?
My favorite app/website...ever??Pepperplate.com
It was $65 on Amazon, a little pricey but I wanted a well reviewed one:http://www.amazon.com/Polar-Heart-Rat...
Oooooh!
MrsJoseph wrote: "My favorite app/website...ever??Pepperplate.com"
Pepperplate seems pretty cool.. But I already track on and organize on and use soooo many, I can't take another! Maybe once my Weight Watchers subscription runs out though...
So my favorite part about my fitbit so far? This display:
It makes it so easy to know that I'm maintaining a calorie deficit and and therefor burning fat. I aim for 500 calorie deficit so I can lose about 1.5 lbs a week. Right now running red, but I know that and can try to do more active work to get green. I'm just red because I had a bagel for breakfast (skipped the cream cheese).. Some jerk brought a whole bag of them in, and I love bagels... So oatmeal was skipped and I had that instead. But! I rearranged my meal plan for the day so that I'm not going over calorie intake limits. So it was ok :)
Changed my mind about Pepperplate.. Joined.. Holy crap, I love it! It's probably the best shopping list maker / meal planner I've seen.So new plan..
Put all of my recipes in there. Plan meals there. Add to WW and then Fitbit after that.
That's just tracking in 3 places.. That's not crazy... LOL.
*shakes fist*Now I'm addicted to pepperplate.. I want to add all of my recipes there! I'm going to have to go slowly, over time. And then eventually I can have just healthy choices in there, and I can let J go in and pick a bunch rather than me planning all of the time!
Love it...
Dawn wrote: "Changed my mind about Pepperplate.. Joined.. Holy crap, I love it! It's probably the best shopping list maker / meal planner I've seen.So new plan..
Put all of my recipes in there. Plan meals th..."
Told you. Pepperplate is amazing. I love love love it - and I go back and put in nutritional notes - you can pull recipes in it from all sorts of places. It's where I build my weekly meals and put all my grocery shopping lists.
LOVE.
I think I just (view spoiler) my diet.My co-worker had Indian food so I just HAAAAD to have Indian food.
Damn.
It was delicious. I am stuffed. And it was totally not diet approved.
There goes those 5 lbs...
MrsJoseph wrote: "I think I just [spoilers removed] my diet.My co-worker had Indian food so I just HAAAAD to have Indian food.
Damn.
It was delicious. I am stuffed. And it was totally not diet approved.
Ther..."
I love Indian too.. Luckily J doesn't like it so I haven't had it in over a year. Oh man.. that made me sad.
Chinese.. I used to HATE. Now though? J has got me eating and loving it. And I do the same thing as you.. Blow my whole diet stuffing my face with egg rolls and rice and general chicken or orange chicken. Soooo good.
Once I get to my target weight I want to go to a Chinese buffet and splurge. Work out a ton, burn and shit load of calories, and then eat all the Chinese I want. I can't wait!
MrsJoseph wrote: "I think I just [spoilers removed] my diet.My co-worker had Indian food so I just HAAAAD to have Indian food.
Damn.
It was delicious. I am stuffed. And it was totally not diet approved.
Ther..."
I love Indian too.. Luckily J doesn't like it so I haven't had it in over a year. Oh man.. that made me sad.
Chinese.. I used to HATE. Now though? J has got me eating and loving it. And I do the same thing as you.. Blow my whole diet stuffing my face with egg rolls and rice and general chicken or orange chicken. Soooo good.
Once I get to my target weight I want to go to a Chinese buffet and splurge. Work out a ton, burn and shit load of calories, and then eat all the Chinese I want. I can't wait!
Oooh! Chinese food.I haven't had Chinese food in forever (there's no good places around here. At all.)
I plan to do something like that, too.
My birthday is coming soon so hubby is taking me to dinner, a show and to brunch with friends.
O_o
Yeah. This weekend will be bloated.
I'm not on a specific diet plan, but I'm working of getting my fitness going with exercise. I use the exercise bike every other day for 45 minutes and am excited to add daily walks now that spring has (FINALLY) arrived in Manitoba. I may also start adding arm weights. You all are inspiring :)
I didn't work out yesterday. Cramps, and not from working out. I'll just say that in order to save disgust from any male lurkers :PI don't know how to handle working out and doing things like Insanity during that time (J likes me to call it "when I become a barbarian", lol, I think that makes it weird but it does make for entertaining conversations). I can't be jumping up and down and doing suicides and squats, my tummy hurts. I'm thinking I'll just have to stick to elliptical (30-40 minutes) and upper body weight training for those days. So that's my plan for today.
I realize I've started to use this thread as my personal get in shape and eat right blog.. Sorry about that :)
In good news, my fitbit tells me I get more sleep than 78% of normal or underweight woman in my age group. So... That's good. Still feel tired all of the time :P
I normally try to keep working out - but I don't get cramps as bad as I used to before they changed my BC meds.I do try to do something lower impact, if possible. Like switch up to something like the Bar Method or the elliptical. I hate the elliptical machine - I'd much rather run outside but my knees don't enjoy the impact.
I had to stop taking birth control recently, I guess long term use had affect my body in not so great ways, so I've been free from it for about 2 month. I never got cramps before.. Now though.. Ugh :P
So as I've said repeatedly and annoyingly, I have a wedding come up. I need to lose my winter weight. I also need to get more active period.. I've basically 1/3 fat and no muscle.. I'm small but squishy and I want that to change.
So... I bought things. First? A fitbit. My fiance made fun of me a little, and I even had a little buyers remorse.. But as it turns out? I love it. It gives me cool graphs like these:
So carbs dominate my diet more than I realized. Maybe I do need to cut back.
My meals are unbalanced.. I need to eat less at dinner and more earlier in the day.
I'm lazier than most :(
So I'm going to be more conscious of carbs, try to start shifting bigger meals earlier in the day, and I'm already working out more.
Last night I did Insanity day 2. It was... Ridiculous. It's 40 minutes and I "kept up" for 20, then fell behind but still tried for the last 20. But hell.. People in the video are screaming and crying and falling out left and right, of course I couldn't do the whole thing. I thought I'd be incredibly sore today, but I guess all of the working out I've done in the last month has gotten me to a point where I don't feel overly sore from just one workout, I feel just sore enough. I actually did half a protein shake after the work out (normally I avoid them because of evil CALORIES) and I think that helped. Calves are tight and I'm a little stiff, but I'm feeling good enough to do day 3 tonight.
I also bought a heart monitor so I can see how hard I'm actually working out. I can stop when I need to based on that, and not just when it feels a little uncomfortable.
I'm feeling positive right now.. I want to get in shape and I feel motivated to do so.
So yeah.. Just wanted to vent that all somewhere.