I bought Powerfit by Stephanie Huckabee and inside there is a meal plan. There are some simple, but good, ideas on meals. Here are my latest fav's and what I think have helped me drop those 3 lbs. this week!
Healthy Pizzas - buying the thin crust from the store and doing healthy toppings. Yummy!
Chicken & Grape Salad: I *hate* chicken salad because I'm not a mayo fan. But, this used one can of the Tyson breast of chicken, organic seedless grapes and a teaspoon of mayo. I loved it with some reduced fat wheat things!
Protein Shakes - My new thing is Muscle Milk Chocolate Light! I use one scoop (75 calories) with skim milk and ice. Sometimes I add almonds and for something really decadent, I add a teaspoon of the Jello no-bake cheesecake mix.
Greek Yogurt - I buy it plain and add honey. I dip apples in it. It's thicker, more like sour cream. It has lower carbs and sugar with more protein. Do a google comparing regular yogurt to greek yogurt. It's interesting! ****************** Because I went nuts in Mommy's home gym, my lower back clamped up on me. I've been getting massages. Well, finally after a week, I'm able to exercise again. Last night I did a 1 mile Leslie Sansone from her new Burn Body Fat Package. It was fun! Then, I did Day 4 of Powerfit. These workouts loosened me up and I felt so much better. Why do I torture myself trying to jump around and workout two or three times a day? I'm not 21 anymore!
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Today we go to my sisters and fried fish and french fries are on the menu. I'm bringing some healthy oatmeal fruit muffins that I made because they always have coffee. I really don't want to eat the fried stuff. I want the cholesterol number to go down and I want a good number on weigh in day! So, pray there will be some other items to eat so I don't have to eat a protein bar while everyone eats fried fish. It's not hard for me to do but a little awkward and almost rude. Know what I mean? LOL
Today I am 228.5! It's not weigh-in day so I"m not logging it. But, this is a great start! WOO HOO! I've been logging my calories on my fridge every day and eating pretty healthy. Aw, man, I'm so flipping excited!
I can't believe I am watching CNN this morning. They have hyped this thing up so much...geez. Now I want to see how it plays out.
I had some Sonic this am. I did go the lowfat as possible right - mustard burger only, no cheese. i also pull of a lot of the bun. I was so craving some fries. I am going to look up the saturated fat so I can keep track. Otherwise, healthy eating on plan for today, as well as a FIRM workout.
I'm super excited! The scale moved down this week! WOO HOO! I attribute it to two things:
eating low cholesterol foods - less saturated fat and meats
exercising at home!
Although I have spent a little more money than I intended. I am excited to workout every day. Yesterday I did my first workout with The FIRM's TransFIRMER. Oh my gosh! It was awesome! Stepping on that high step, doing tricep dips, and the emphasis on weights reminded me of what I loved about going to the gym pre-baby. It's been a little over two weeks and I can feel my body starting to tone up again. That in itself feels better, no matter what the scale says.
I'm going to try and get some pictures of my bedroom. It's a mini home gym! I'm so excited! Yesterday at bought a kettlebell kit. WOW! It is SUCH a great workout!
I also purchased a Polar F6 Heart Rate Monitor. It's AMAZING! It tell me my heart rate at all times, calories burned, and when I'm in the "zone." It can beep when I need to work harder and beep when I've gone overboard. I enter my weight, height, gender, and age and it uses those guidelines to determine my best heart rate zone. BUt, there is also a way to go in and do it manually.
The biggest surprise after doing a Leslie Sansone DVD was the my heart rate never even ENTERED that zone, which for me was 128 BPM. I guess I'm in pretty good shape. I did enter the zone during the kettlebell workout, but only for two minutes. So, I am now aware that I need to be working a little harder.
I think the new WAVE I have coming will help with that. Hopefully the Powerfit will too!
I just finished my oat bran with honey, cinammon, and blueberries. Yummy and healthy!
Stepping it Up - Getting Heart Healthy and Working Out at Home!
The Dr. did some wellness blood work. Overall, the results were very good! I need to work on my cholesterol (208), LDL (127) triglycerides (159) and raising my good fat number as well. Her recommendations were all vegan diet, using the American Heart Association's site for suggested grocery lists, their cookbook, and of course, lose twenty pounds. In a way, it was nice to hear some feedback on my health because it has given me renewed vigor to take care of myself.
Since time is short as a new Mom I've been beefing up my home workout DVD's. Currently, I have the following in rotation: Denise Austin - Shrink Your Female Fat Zones Denise Austin - Power Zone Denise Austin - Body, Mind, and Soul
I seem to gravitate to the sculpting/stretchy videos since I workout at night after the baby goes to sleep. I also like short workouts! I try to get my cardio in during the day walking Ephram.
For variety and inspiration, I ordered the WAVE by the Firm and Power Fit by Stephanie Huckabee.
On the nutrition front, I've been eating oat bran in the morning with fresh berries. YUMMO! I add cinammin and a little brown sugar too. Turns out oat bran is a super hero in terms of dragging the cholesterol out. I've also been trying to new bean dishes:
Zatarain's red beans & rice and black beans and rice mixes
This Chili mix is FANTASTIC and only 180 calories in a cup!
Bear Creek Navy Bean Soup
Bush's Vegetarian Baked Beans (yummo)
hummus and I squeeze fresh lemon on mine. I love Sabra Hummus!
I bought this cookbook from the AHA and I have to say that I love it so far! I've made three recipies. Many of their desserts use fruit. It's nice to have a cookbook that's low cholesterol and saturated fat. I was so shocked that even some of those Lean Cuisine dinners had saturated fat! THe AHA site has a very cool page listed all the foods they have certified as heart healthy.
My Doctor also suggested a daily supplement of purified fish oil and flax oil for Omega 3. But, I still bought some cereal with flax. The Omega 3 supplements were also recommended in the AHA book.
Does anyone else here have a goal of lowering cholesterol?
OK, so one of the bloggers here is doing this 200 sit up challenge. The same site also made a 100 push ups challenge. Is this cool or what? This is definably something I can do. Last night I did the initial test and did almost 40 sit ups and 25 push ups. I've been doing push ups often because they really do help my upper body, don't take long, and I can do it while baby is playing.
I usually try to save all my errands for when baby is at Mothers Day Out from 9 -2 on Tuesdays and Thursdays. However, I end up with no "break" time. So, today I need to run an errand and I am bringing the baby! We are going after his first morning meal and poop (to much info?) He's at the stage now where he is enthralled with stores so it should be ok.
I was really proud of myself yesterday. My calories were definitely in the cool zone. I think having the time off teaching and having more time to blog here is really helping!
We have some videos up of little baby. He is a blast!
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I bought this book called The Winners Circle. It's all about maintaining your weight once you have lost it. Well, I still have more to lose, but I don't want to negate all the work I have done. I swear, I think these two guys were checking me out at church today! There are those little reminders that make me smile even though I have a 19 pound baby in tow.
I decided not to teach this summer and I am so glad I did. It is so hard to get anything done. My diet consists of Lean Cuisine, Healthy Choice, and Smart Ones dinners. It's just easier that way and I attribute those calorie and portion controlled dinners to my weight not sky-rocketing. I have so little time to cook and frankly, when I do have time, I want to sleep or watch TIVO.
It's funny how this is the only place (other than my therapists office) that I can talk about PPD. She keeps telling me not to be that way, Brooke Shields and G. Paltrow all came out about it. Yeah, well they probably got a book deal! HA! Thank all of you for the support!
I found this website, I forgot the name of it, that showed womens bodies after having a baby. Some were C-sections and some were not. Anyway, there were these skinny minis whose bodies were totally wacked out in the hips and thighs after their C-section. I finally didn't feel like the only one. If the skinny, bikini, minis have to deal with it maybe there is some justice. Oh I am being so bad today.
my lower back clamped up on me. I've been getting massages. Well, finally after a week, I'm able to exercise again. Last night I did a 1 mile Leslie Sansone from her new Burn Body Fat Package. It was fun! Then, I did Day 4 of Powerfit. These workouts loosened me up and I felt so much better. Why do I torture myself trying to jump around and workout two or three times a day? I'm not 21 anymore! 
I also purchased a 
