Rebooting my System

Photo taken 8/12/2013

Weight as of 8/12/2013: 172

BMI as of 8/12/2013: 32.5

Inches as of 7/31/13

Upper Arm: 12

Upper Chest: 35

Lower Chest: 31.75

Waist: 35.25

Stomach: 37.25

Hips: 40.75

Upper Thigh: 24

Lower Thigh: 17

Calf: 14

Ankle: 8

I will redoing all of this for about 10 days, for now. We'll see if I lose anything. 

I've been doing bad lately. Like bad bad. Krispie Kreme, Spangles, delicious Mexican food (which isn't bad, but when you get unlimited chips (fried) and salsa and enchilada's smothered with cheese it is)

So I'm rebooting my system. 

I'm eating clean for 10 days (to start off with) and working out every single day. Weights every day, cardio every day, running 3 times a week.

This is going to be my routine:

Sunday: Leg day, yoga and run 3.1 miles

Monday: Arms Day, high intensity Zumba with Adrianna

Tuesday: Abs, oblique and back day, Zumba with Stephanie, run 3.5 miles

Wednesday: Leg Day, high intensity Zumba with Adrianna

Thursday: Arms day, Zumba with Stephanie

Friday: Abs, oblique and back day, Run 4 miles

Saturday: Rest (walk 2 miles)

I'm hoping to increase my mileage every week until I get to a 10 k. 

Asian Salad with Potstickers

What you need:

2 cups Romaine Lettuce

1/4 cup Red Cabbage

1/4 cup Shredded Carrots

3-5 Mandarin Slices

3 oz Chicken Breast

2 tbsp Wonton chips

 2 tbsp Kraft Lite Toasted Sesame Dressing

For the Chicken:

I use Tyson Grill and Ready chicken breast for salads. I sauteed them with 1 tsp rice vinegar with 1 tsp Saracha Sauce.

For the potstickers:

I use frozen ones. Use directions on box.

Just assemble!

To make ahead:

Add lettuce, cabbage, carrots, mandarin and chicken breast into a container. Add potstickers so they thaw and when ready heat potstickers, add dressing and wonton chips. 

Enjoy!

Santa Fe Salad

What you need:

2 cups Romaine Lettuce

1/4 cup Shredded Carrots

1/4 cup Avocado or Guacamole 

1/4 cup canned Corn

1/4 cup Black Beans, drained

3 oz Chicken breast

1/4 cup Shredded Cheese (I like cheddar)

2 tbsp tortilla strips

2 tbsp Hidden Valley Lite Ranch

For the chicken:
I use Tysons Grill an Ready chicken breasts for salads. For this salad I sprinkled a little bit of taco seasoning on it while it was heating with a little bit of water, as well.

Just assemble!

To make ahead:

Add lettuce, carrots, guac, corn, beans, cheese and chicken breast into a container until ready to eat. I like to sprinkle a little bit of lime on top as well. When ready, add dressing and tortilla strips. 

(Try mixing the avocado or guac into the dressing first, it's realllly good!)

Buffalo Chicken Salad

What you need:

Buffalo Chicken Balls (Recipe HERE)

2 cups Romaine Lettuce

1/4 cup Shredded Carrots

1/4 cup Cole Slaw mix

1/4 cup Red Cabbage

1 tbsp Blue Cheese

12 Croutons

2 tbsp Hidden Valley Lite Ranch

Just assemble!

To Make ahead:

Add Lettuce, cabbage, Cole slaw mix, carrots, blue cheese and chicken into a container.

When ready to eat add croutons and dressing.

Enjoy!

Buffalo Chicken Balls

Every once in a while I CRAVE Buffalo Wings. But they're so unhealthy! 

I came across Key Ingredient and found this gem that is husband approved.

Warning - I have altered this recipe from the original.

What You Need:

2 Chicken Breasts

1 Egg

½ cup Panko Breadcrumbs

1 Carrot

1  Stalk Celery

2 Green Onions

½ tso Garlic Powder

¼ tsp Salt

1 oz Crumbled Blue Cheese

½  cup Frank's Hot Sauce, divided

What to do:

-Preheat the oven to 350F.

-Place parchment paper on a cookie sheet (Easy, clean and less grease)

- Filet chicken breasts, cut the celery, carrot and green onion into large chunks and throw into a food processor. Pulse to chop into small bits.

- (I quickly sauteed the mixture to ensure my chicken would get cooked all the way, optional however)

-In a large bowl, combine the vegetable and chicken mixture, egg, breadcrumbs, garlic powder, salt, 1/2 the hot sauce and the blue cheese.

-Gently fold together to combine, but don't overmix.

-Form the mixture into small meatballs - you should get about 28 small meatballs.

-Place the meatballs on the cookie sheet. Bake for 20 minutes.

 -Remove the meatballs from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes. 

-Drizzle remaining hot sauce and serve.

-From here I allowed chicken balls to cool completely and placed them in the freezer. 

-To reheat, place them in the microwave for about 2-3 minutes or bake them for about 10-15 minutes or (what I do) place them on the sides in a non stick pan, and add a little bit of water in the middle to allow them to steam. 

Working Out While Aunt Flow is Around

Why is talking about our period taboo?

It shouldn't be. Half of the world's population are/will go through it!

I just got a burst of motivation and thennn I started my period last night. Ughhh.

I told my husband "But this was going to be my week! I was going to eat so clean and work out so hard!" My husband said "Why are you saying this WAS going to be your week? You can still do it." 

Oh, silly, silly husband of mine. You can't possibly understand that one week out of the month is the equivalent of a werewolf coming out on the full moon (In my case it's usually the week before). We turn into crazy, hot and/or cold, chocolate-craving monsters whose insides are hurting and can find one spot to lay down on the bed that makes my cramps go away and if you move me, all hell will break loose. 

But it dawned on me. Why can't I work out? Normally, I workout to the max, burning about 700-1200 calories a day, not including my BMR. Instead of sitting around, feeling terribly about myself for a few days and feeling even worse that I didn't work out OR eat healthy, why can't I do SOMETHING?! 

And then the research started.

According to Women's Health "When you have your period (and the week after), your body is more like a man's. During this part of your cycle, your levels of the female hormones estrogen and progesterone are at their lowest, making you a little more dudelike—at least metabolically, says Stacy Sims, Ph.D., an exercise physiologist at Stanford University and a leading researcher on the impact of menstruation on athletic performance.

"It's a subtle hormonal shift, but it's enough that it could make you feel more powerful during exercise," says Sims, who began her investigation out of personal curiosity (she suspected her hormones affected her performance in a triathlon).

Her research shows that during this low-hormone phase, women also recover faster and have a higher pain tolerance. Why? "A probable theory is that your body isn't preoccupied with preparing for a possible pregnancy," she says. "Your baseline is reset into a more relaxed mode, so these other systems operate optimally." 

Exercise can relieve the discomfort of cramps and an aching lower back, says Trina Rowe, a doctor of physical therapy at Bauerfeind Performance Center in Los Angeles. It will also burn calories, a boon if you're a hormonal Count Chocula."

hmmm... interesting. I never really tested this out. 

So here's our first tip for working out whilst on your beloved period: GO TO THE GYM.

Try your hardest at your normal routine. Plus, there's a bonus of cramp relief! 

If you feel you can't do it, then go for a jog instead of an intense run, heck, just go for a walk. Do some relaxing yoga. Go for a relaxing bike ride with a friend!

Kotex (Link HERE) even has some advise and even poses we can do to help us out and even suggests swimming as a way to exercise when your Aunt Flow is around. 

Some women always seems to get confused when swimming is suggested. This is what I, personally, do.

I swear by tampons. I do use pads on the first day (Found out when I was 18 that I have big blood clots, apparently. Nurse told me to use pads for the first couple of days instead of tampons.) but then after I'm clear, I use tampons. When you swim, like RIGHT BEFORE, change your tampon. MAKE SURE IT IS.... UP THERE... Once I didn't insert all the way and the tampon soaked up nearly the whole pool. It was very painful, very embarrassing and very heavy. (I will say this, Tampax Pearl can hold a lot!) and swim like normal!

She Knows Health and Wellness suggests 7 exercises while on your period. 

1. Walking

2. Running

3. Yoga

4. Aerobics

5. Dancing

6. Planking

7. Working out from home

All of the above sound great! Especially yoga. I feel like yoga helps the flow and relieves cramps just doing a simple Sun Salutation flow. If you don't know how to do Sun Salutation, it's simple!

Start from the left (regular standing position) and continue the cycle as many times as you like!

And last tip, from me:

Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate.

'They' say to drink 64 oz daily. Yes, this is true for some people. But you should drink half of your body weight in oz. So I'm 170 lbs I have to drink 85 oz of water. And most days I actually do it! Plus, I feel so light and energetic!

People ask me "Don't you have to pee a lot?"

At first I did. But then my body got so used to drinking so much, uhh I don't know the science behind it, but after a few days I only had to pee like every other hour or so.

So, ladies. Put down that chunky monkey and go out there and show the other half of the population that a simple week can't bring us down. It actually empowers us more!

Any questions or comments?

Leave them below!

I lost 30 pounds???

YES! I did!

Since I see myself everyday, I rely on other people's word that I've lost weight and that darned scale. Well, the scale doesn't measure muscle vs fat. When I started my journey I started doing weights and I started gaining weight from muscle, so I stopped using the scale and started measuring how many inches I've lost. 

This is when I started gaining a lot a lot of weight. At the time I was in college living in a little apartment struggling to pay rent and drinking coke and eating ramen noodles every night. 

 

This was around my worst. Christmas 2010.

The military just moved us to Holloman AFB, NM and it was rough. I gained about 40 more pounds here. I was about 200 lbs. I never posted these photo's because I was so ashamed of how I looked. 

I was still about 188 here but this was May 2013 and I started taking my health seriously. This is Joe and I after the Color Me Rad 5k Run.  

This was me yesterday, August 3rd 2013. I still have a lot to go, but I'm half way there!

200 lbs vs 170 lbs

FAQ:

How did you do it?

Simple. I ate right and I worked out hard.

I cut out sodas, most sugars (although I still cheat), and unhealthy carbs (still cheat sometimes).

I try not to cheat a lot.

People always want an easy way out to lose weight. Guess what? THIS WAS EASY! At first, it's the hardest thing to do. But when you get the ball rolling, your day doesn't feel right if you don't work out. I still eat my cravings, just not nearly as much and cut down my portions, or I found a substitute. 

Another thing is that people think, well if I just exercise, but still eat whatever I want, I'll lose weight. You probably will. At first. Then nothing else will happen. You probably won't gain weight, but you will definitely not lose any weight. Trust me I tried that method for about a year.

What type of exercises do you do?

The answer would be shorter for what exercises don't I do. I try to do everything and keep it rotating. I don't want my body to get used to anything and if I do do an exercise again I increase the weights or intensity. 

What type of foods do you eat?

Again, simple. Meats, fruits, veggies, nuts, cheese, eggs, anything healthy!

I try to stay away from unhealthy carbs. If i do have tortillas they're Tumaro's or flat out's (these have flax seed and they're only 100 calories and they're really good!) I don't eat bread, I eat Dreamfield's low carb pasta and not a lot of it. Every meal I have a fruit or vegetable. And water. I drink half of my body weight in water. 

If you have any questions, please let me know and I'll answer them right away!