Fitspiration

I really do!  I hope that some of you read these posts and get inspired!  Inspired to work out, inspired to try an new recipe, inspired to change some habits, inspired to block my blog, whatever, just inspired!  :)

Sunday is bittersweet around here.  It is weigh in day... agh.  I have to say I am a little disappointed.  All the work I put in this week had me expecting a bigger loss than I got.  I am down 1.2 lbs from last Sunday, it's a loss, just less than I was expecting.  However, my muscle percentage went from 33% to 37% this week, so I am hoping that had something to do with the actual pounds lost.  I maybe have lost more than 1.2 pounds of fat, but I also gained muscle making my net loss less.  I am ok with that.  That is part of this journey though, some weeks are better than others... 21 lbs to go!

Recipe Time!

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/lisas-favorite-carne-asada-marinade/

Tonight for dinner I am grilling some carne asada, that is marinading in the above recipe.... only thing I changed was I didn't add orange juice.  I got some fresh corn on the cob, and pinto beans to go with it, yum!

I usually take Sundays off from working out, but I am trying to talk my dear husband into going for a run with me tonight... wish me luck!

Don't stop Believing

On Thursday afternoon, I went to the gym to do my run on the treadmill.... it was over 100 outside, and the air quality was awful from all the fires blazing up here this past week.  I try to avoid doing my runs on the treadmill, because it is easier than out on the street, so I don't want to train that way and then be shocked when I can't do the same outside.  But I do take advantage of the treadmill from time to time. So anyway, I had 5 minutes left of that 20 minute jog that got the best of me earlier this week.  I was ready to throw in the towel and walk... After doing stadiums that morning, and all the exercising through out the week, I was tired... and right at that moment what song comes on? That's right... Don't Stop Believing, by Journey.  Now, this song has comedic factor in it for me from past events, so more than anything it just puts me in a good mood, so it might not be some deep moving meaning about not giving up, but it still did the trick, and I finished those last 5 minutes, and conquered Week 5, Day 3, 20 minute Jog.  WIN.


Another Win..... the pizza stuffed chicken from the previous post.  Everyone loved it, even the husband.  It's a keeper.


Yesterday morning was another stadiums morning.  We took it up a notch by running from Carrie's house, to the high school.  It is just about 1.25 miles, so I got 2.5 miles between from going there and back, 2 laps at the track, and 30 minutes of stadiums.  It was a great work out.  I took the rest of the day off, since I had worked out twice a day for the 4 days before.

My fail for the post..... I had chips and Salsa last night.  We went out for a drink (vodka and soda water with lime and 1 splenda, I had 2, and stayed on track there), but, I messed up by not eating first, and was pretty hungry.  I didn't over do it at least, but I still had chips none the less.  Damn.

This morning was muscle conditioning.  Good class as always!  I have a feeling my hammies are going to be screaming at me later today from all the dead lifts, but that's not a bad thing!  After class I jumped on the treadmill and did another 20 minute jog with no breaks!  Yay!  Now I just need to make myself do it on the street..... yikes.

Regretfully, I do not have a recipe to share for tonight's dinner.... as I have no clue what tonight's dinner will be!  But I do have some yummy stuff lined up for next weeks dinners, so hopefully someone will get some new ideas from those.

Happy Weekend :)

Ouch.

Yes.... Ouch.

I took Muscle conditioning Tuesday night at the gym, awesome class as always, heavy on the arms.. FST 7's on biceps, shoulder press squats, triceps, like I said, awesome class, but I knew I'd feel it the next morning.

Somehow in my post workout fog, I agreed to get up before the sun and go run Stadiums at the high school. I was terrified... I still get winded running up the stairs in my house, I wasn't sure what I had gotten myself into... Thankfully I have some determined ladies in my circle, and I convinced them to go with me!

Bright and early (well, not even really bright yet, dim is a better word...) Wednesday morning we all met up at the high school football field, right away I found relief in the fact that the bleachers were not 675 stairs high, and steep as can be, like the image I had conjured up in my head. Phew.  After a warm up lap around the track, Up the first flight we went.... Not bad, not bad at all... I was feeling pretty confident, more relief.  Down was a little different story. I am clumsy as they come, so I keep envisioning myself tumbling down and faceplanting into the metal stairs, needless to say I tread lightly on the down flights.  We are almost done with our first side of the stadium... running between flights of stairs, no steps involved, completely flat, my foot catches one of the benches, and down I go (Fail!).  It's been a total of 7 minutes at most, and I have accomplished what I was most nervous about! Thankfully there was a fence on one side of me, and the culprit bench on the other, so I didn't actually fall, I guess I more stumbled and caught myself, but still.  Leave it to me!  The rest of the work out went smoothly, and I am SO glad that I didn't let my self doubt stop me from trying it!  

So, as if that wasn't enough, I then went to class at 8:30 am.  Wednesday is Intervals class, half cardio, half weights.  I was surprised that I wasn't feeling too sore from the night before, I could definitely feel the effects, but it wasn't bad, so I figured I would be fine at class.

I figured wrong.

The weight portion of the class was sets from Les Mills Body Pump, with a huge focus on Biceps, Shoulders, chest, and triceps.  I do not advocate working the same muscle groups two days in a row, at all, not only is it just not good on your body, but it HURTS!  I woke up this morning and could barely move my arms, my shoulders and biceps were on fire. It actually feels like there are little workers in there under my skin shredding my muscles right now as I type.  so that's my PSA on strength training, alternate body parts daily!

The plus side to my craziness was that by 9:30 am I had completed my two work outs for the day!  Which was nice because I had plans to take Andrew to Danielle's for lunch and a "play date" (they should have a better phrase for that for boys..).    We had a great time over there, the boys played in the pool until Andrew was so exhausted from laughing and jumping, and swimming, that he tapped out!  Danielle made an AWESOME lunch for us, BBQ chicken breast (with her "perfect poultry seasoning, sooooo good!), Asparagus, and fruit.  Delicious, and so thoughtful! 

http://www.budgetsavvydiva.com/2012/06/perfect-poultry-seasoning-recipe/

I wish I could be as proud of the dinner that followed it.  I was tired, soreness of the mornings activities was rapidly setting in, it was hot... I have 5 million excuses.  It was a "make your own dinner" night.  The kid's chose frozen pot pies (so not something I am proud of, but, I promised to be real!) and Ari and I had pop corn!  I begged, and pleaded, for him to go to the movie theatre and get me real pop corn.... but for some reason, he wasn't feeling it, so I settled for the microwave version, boo. I don't see what was so crazy about my request?

Back to the pain I woke up in this morning, I didn't mention that was at 5:00 am, yet again!  Back to the High school I went!  Thank you, Kayle, for asking me to go, sometimes making a commitment to meet someone is just the kick in the butt I need.  We even did 1 set more than we did yesterday, and I didn't fall. Win.

This afternoon I need to run, I skipped that yesterday, and I have that 20 minute jog looming over my head that I need to defeat before it gets the best of me.

Dinner tonight is a version of this recipe:

http://dashingdish.com/recipe/pizza-stuffed-chicken-breasts/

I think the only changes I will make is a pesto sauce instead of a tomato sauce (less sugar), and I am going to put some chopped pepperoni in the stuffing as well as the slices on top.  Paired with steamed broccoli and a green salad, and I think it'll be a hit!  I just need to get it in the oven before noon, because once it's 100 degree's outside I refuse to turn the oven on!

There's one last thing I wanted to mention, because it's a product I have found recently that I really like:

http://www.cornthins.com/prodMulti.aspx

They are fat free, gluten free, low cal, and natural.  They only have 6 ingredients (score!), and it's whole grain!  I love them with a table spoon of natural peanut butter, with a little cream cheese, even with cottage cheese.  I would definitely recommend giving them a try!

Make time for this today!

Trick your brain

That's exactly what I did this morning.... It's not quite 7:00 am and I have a 3 mile jog under my belt.  Woo hoo!

I did attempt the run that I was so scared of yesterday.  I made it 17 minutes in, and broke... I took a 2 minute walk, and then ran 5 more. It's a fail, and a win, really.  A fail because according to the "couch to 5k" program, I should be up to the level I need to be at to do the 20 minutes stretch, and I'm not.... but a win because 5 weeks ago I could barely run 3 minutes straight, forget 17! This morning my running buddy wasn't up for the challenge of the 20 minute run, so we did 2 10 minute runs, with a 4 minute walk in between.  2.96 miles in 31 minutes.... I'll take it for now. We have 2 5k runs coming up next month that we are doing all this training for, our goal has been to be able to run the entire 3.2 miles without stopping.... it's crunch time!

Tonight is Muscle Conditioning at the gym.  Great class, somewhat of an interval style, but all strength, and hardly any cardio.  I can always feel the effects of this class the next day, and I love it!  That'll put me at 3 cardio workouts, and one weight work out so far for the week. So that covers the exercise portion of the day, now on to the food... :)

My mom left me with some delicious looking organic home grown squash!  So I spent some time on Pinterest.com looking for a fun way to use them, and I decided to try Squash fritters.  The recipe calls for 4 tablespoons of flour, and makes 12 fritters, so that is about 1/3 tbs per fritter.... I'd prefer none, but this recipe did use the least flour of all the recipes I found, and I will sub whole wheat flour.  I will also add some chopped garlic, and finely chopped onion, just for a little more flavor.

http://aggieskitchen.com/2012/06/27/summer-squash-fritters/

I think I am going to pair these with a Pork tenderloin.  I have a great marinade that I got a hold of years ago (remember this one, Pam??).  I will give the original recipe, and also how I have altered it to fit my needs.

Original Recipe:

Marinade for BBQ Pork Tenderloin:

1/4 cup of soy sauce

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

1 tsp brown sugar

1 tsp minced garlic

1 tablespoon honey

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1 bunch of green onions

Altered Recipe:

1/4 cup of soy sauce
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 tsp minced garlic
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 bunch of green onions

I usually double this for a larger tenderloin, and I let it marinade through the day.

Happy Cooking!

OH!  I promised to blast my failures on here to keep things real, so I have to come clean that I didn't stick to my plan yesterday.... I did up until dinner (aside from adding 1/2 cup of cottage cheese as a snack before my run, because I wasn't eating dinner until after my run).  But then, after dinner, and while I was sitting here stalking the school registration web site hoping for an opening in the nutrition class I wanted... I fell victim to temptation by ice cream.   Ironic...?  eating ice cream while trying to get into a nutrition class... I think so.  But, I have to say, it was low fat, no sugar added Ice cream, and it was only 1/2 a cup... but it was a fail, none the less!

today's Menu

Breakfast:
1/2 cup of cottage cheese w/ salt and pepper
8 cherub tomatoes
Americano w/splenda, sugar free caramel and 1/8 cup of half and half

Lunch:
light salami
cheese
pickles

Dinner:
see above
salad

snacks:
pickles
string cheese
atkins bar

One of my challenges...

This has been a hard battle for me!  It's so ingrained in me, and most of society, to celebrate with food!  And normally, it's bad food!  Something to celebrate usually leads to "lets go to dinner!"  "lets go for drinks!" "let's get dessert!",  Birthdays, weddings, parties in general, holidays, they all tend to have an abundance of not so healthy foods and sweets!  So retraining myself to find other ways to "celebrate" special occasions or accomplishments has not been easy!

I have found some ways to cheat the system, by making "sweets" that fit into my eating plan, but that only works at home!  Take the fourth of July for instance... For dessert we had sugar free angelfood cake, with strawberries and blueberries, sweetened with splenda, and sugar free cool whip topping.  It was delicious, and guilt free.  But it's not that easy if you go to a party at someone else's home, or venue.  Sure, you can "just say no", but then you have to deal with the repercussions.... "it's just one piece of cake!"  "It's a special occasion, it's ok!" etc.  It's hard to be strong and not give in to all that.  I've often found it's easier to just accept the contraband, and then not eat it (the old, break it up, move it around, then get rid of it trick usually works)!

Here is another favorite of mine, that helps curb the sweet tooth, and tastes delicious!

http://www.budgetsavvydiva.com/2012/05/copy-cat-recipe-wendys-frosty/.  I use nonfat milk, and sugar free pudding so that it works for me.  


I'm making it a goal for myself to make sure that I offer other types of rewards and ways to celebrate for my family..... one of my favorite replacements is shopping ;)

Ah Monday.... it's always kind of a cleansing day for me... I tend to have a hard time reigning it in on Sundays, and usually cheat some on my eating.  It is also my day off from working out.  So Monday is always like the enforcer, coming around and saying "get back on track!"

Monday is an Intervals class day at the gym, up until lately I never missed it, but today was my first time going in two weeks.  Mondays are a cardio day in that class, I would say we did about 40 minutes of cardio today, good hard cardio, with a step, and 2 tabatas.  Very light strength training, and about 5 minutes of abs.

For breakfast I had 2 eggs, scrambled, with salsa, mushrooms and about 1/4 cup of shredded cheese, 3 shots of espresso with 2 splenda, sugar free caramel, and 1/8-1/4 cup of half and half.  I didn't eat that until I got home from the gym around 10:00, so lunch wasn't very needed.  I had an atkins meal bar around 1:30, and some cheese and light salami around 3:00.  Dinner is taco salad; ground beef  (seasoned with cayenne, garlic and onion, pre-made taco seasoning has carbs, sneaky!) romaine lettuce, tomatoes, olives, onions, cheese, and salsa.

Water intake so far: a little over one quart. My goal is over 2 quarts a day.

Tonight MIGHT be a run night.... Monday's usually are... I am currently on week 5 day 3 of the couch to 5k program.... and I am terrified.  Day 2 was 2 8 minute runs separated by a 5 minute walk.  I did that once, then did it the next day and did 10 minutes instead of 8, and only walked 3 minutes.... but this next one bumps it up to a 20 minute run, straight.  That seems like a big jump from 0 minutes, let alone 8 minutes... but I suppose I need to do it eventually!  Wish me luck!

What this is all about..

I have been on a journey for over 2 years now... a personal journey, fighting only against myself (and my cravings, laziness, excuses, etc). That journey started out merely as wanting to lose weight.  It has evolved over the course of the years, and my goals have changed more from just "losing weight" to "being fit", strong and healthy.  Hence the name of the blog... Fat, to fit.


I am swallowing my pride, and sharing information here, that I would never have considered sharing in the past.  But I want to be real, and honest, in hopes of helping or inspiring someone else.  So I will not candy coat (maybe not the best choice of words for a fitness blog, lol!) anything, and I will blast my failures and bumps in the road, because this is real, and nothing is perfect!


I started this Journey somewhere around the end of 2009.  I was 290 lbs, yes, almost 300 lbs.  It's ok, gasp, cringe, whatever you need to do, believe me, I still do all of those things when I think about it.  I am 5'8, medium build and this is how it looked....

In 2010 we started a Weight Watchers program at work.  It was reimbursable by the company, and helped us get a discount on our health insurance... so I thought I might as well give it a whirl.  This wasn't my first rodeo... I had done weight watchers, MANY times.  I remember following it with my mom as a child, doing it on my own as a young adult, unfortunately sticking to it was the problem.  But anyway, I was determined, so I gave it another shot!  I stuck with it for 12 weeks (I think, or something close to that), I had lost weight, but not that amount of weight I figured a person of almost 300 lbs would be losing, and I quickly became discouraged. 


I decided rather than giving up, like every other time before, and just going back to my old habits, and getting fatter by the day, that instead I would find something that would work for me, and that's how my mission began.  I did research, I talked to doctors, friends, etc.  I looked into Gastric bypass, 3 day diets, medifast, HCG, you name it, and I probably considered it!  I was very close to settling on surgery, I had spoken to my doctor, gotten the information about the orientation, and was completely considering it, when I decided that I needed to give myself one more chance, one last shot to do this on my own, and prove that it could be done!  


First things first, I joined the Gym.  My doctor told me specifically "You can NOT just go and walk for 20 minutes 3 times a week like other people, and expect to lose this weight.  You need to do 40 minutes or more of cardio, 4 days a week, at least".  And I did.  I did walk, but I walked fast, and I walked long, and I did it 4 days a week. I also started following the Atkins diet plan.  I struggle with insulin resistance, so I narrowed it down to needing to control my carb intake to see the results I wanted to see.


Unfortunately since it has been so long, I can't remember when I hit some of my first milestones, Like 20 lbs lost, 50 lbs lost, etc.  I also can't remember when I decided to change up my work outs... but when I did, I added a Step class at the gym, and the time on the elliptical.  I eventually branched farther and tried the Tai Box class, zumba, and intervals as well.  Tai box is no longer, and zumba wasn't for me, and I think that's ok!  You can't like everything, and if you don't like it, you won't want to do it! But I still frequent the Step class and the intervals classes.  I also started the "couch to 5k" running program.  So currently I work out 6 days a week, sometimes 2 times a day (2-3 times a week I'd say).  I have even written up some of my own interval work outs so I can do them on my own if I can't make it to the gym!


As far as my eating plan currently, it is still very low carb, but I have incorporated complex carbs, fruits, beans, whole grains, etc.  I will make note of things I eat along the way, and recipes I think are worth sharing.


So currently I have lost 113 lbs, and still have 22 to go before I reach my personal goal. Now, keep in mind, I have veered off my path MANY times, sometimes for a few days, sometimes for a few weeks!  Hopefully this blog will help keep me accountable and focused! Here is my "now", or close too, this was actually at 103 lbs lost, but close enough...

 

So I think that about covers it for the back story.... Feel free to ask questions, share tips, give advice, ask for motivation, support, whatever!  Thanks for reading :)  And if you are on this journey, too, Good Luck!