30 Days to Better

July: 30 Days of Reflection

The year is half over, or perhaps I should say, we still have half of 2009 left!! 

I'm taking this month to reflect back on the year so far and consider how I want to spend the rest of it.  Personally, I have had ups and downs, backs and forwards.  It has definitely been a year of evolution and continues to be so.

So far this year I have focused this website on the more physical and eating-health related topics but I think it is time to look inward.  Since I am recently pregnant, I will no longer be looking to achieve new goals on the physical horizon, at least for the next year or so, unless you count measuring my growing waistline.  Therefore, I'm looking at the pieces you can't see on the outside, thoughts, beliefs, faith, and beginning with July, reflection on the past and how to move forward with only the best goals and intentions. 

Join me?

Eating Pregnant

With my recent pregnancy news you can only imagine that eating has become a minor challenge. 

What is that smell?

Oh ... yogurt, yum. Oh, nevermind.

Cantelope. Yes, that's what I want. Well, wait ....

All day long I think about food because, lets face it, I'm hungry but I'm also not so much.  It's confusing and tiring.   I have figured out that if I eat very frequently, as in, put an animal cracker in my mouth about every five minutes I usually feel okay.  Heh.  I feel even better when I alternate with Hershey Kisses.

In all seriousness I have discovered fresh, local, seasonal fruit and OHMYGOD it is delicious.  Vegetables don't sound too appetizing right now but fruit, oh my lordy-di-dee fruit is sent from the gods.  The past two days my lunch has been two white peaches, cantelope, blueberries and cucumber with vinegar on it. 

I'm going to try and maintain this site but there might be a few months that focus on womanly things and womanly health, you know, like pregnancy and all that crap because, well, I have good first hand knowlegde to dump on this here Internet.

Eating well while on-the-go with a toddler

Recently we've had some evening activities, me and the toddler boy and dinner just gets smashed into the time period between play and chores and bath and bedtime.  

It is really important to me to instill a healthy attitude about eating by creating nice mealtimes for the entire family.  This just isn't possible every day so at least a few times a week I try to make a nice dinner where we all sit down together, no television and just enjoy some nice food.

However, when that pipe-dream isn't plausible I reach for a bag of ready in ten-minutes-from-the-oven chicken nuggets, some applesauce, maybe a Yo-Baby yogurt, some cut up fruit for me and a bowl of steamed veggies on the side.  The boy gets the yogurt, applesauce and nuggets with ketchup of course and being what I am, I cannot see a chicken nugget, cut a chicken nugget and feed a chicken nugget without also enjoying some chicken nugget for myself.  So, to remain on a healthy caloric track I allow myself two or three nuggets on a plate full of steamed veggies and fruit. 

This is an easy meal that is ready in about ten or fifteen minutes for those nights when that is about all you can manage.  And, I'm not feeling all that guilty about it either! 

Eating well on the weekends

I swear it took me twice as long to lose my baby weight last year because my weekend diet was so vastly unhealthy and different from my weekday diet.   This isn'tmy fault either. Heh. I was forced to eat what I did.  Kidding.

See, we get together a lot with family on weekends because we live near each other and it's always casual gatherings and there is always food. 

Sometimes I can still do my morning breakfast of oatmeal with flax, brown sugar and berries.  But, occasionally my husband wakes up and declares that he needs a bagel to go on living and I end up eating half of a delicious just-baked Everything Bagel with cream cheese and maybe even a little butter too because, come on, a bagel isn't a bagel with jelly or crap like that.  It should be noted that this occasional bagel is consumed in addition to the oatmeal that I ate "to be healthy".   Lunch is usually snacks of chips (multigrain, pita, etc) with humus and spinach dip and olive tapenade.  Luckily we usually hang out outside so there is a chance to move around and burn a few calories.
Then comes dinner, cooked on the grill, sometimes hot dogs/burgers, BBQ chicken, steaks,  and some variety depending on the season of fresh corn, tomatoes, baked potatoes or stewed tomatoes.  Oh, yeah, there is usually a dessert too, descriptions of which I'm too ashamed to describe here.

Now that I have written that it is a wonder I managed to lose any baby weight at all.  I guess living on salads and lean protein during the week really did help.

I have trouble with the weekend social occasions.  How do you keep on track?  Is portion control my only option, and who can eat only one pita chip?

Eating Better, food diary, exercise, today's thoughts

Last night I made a rockin' dinner.  Fish, rubbed with olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic and grilled over a charcoal flame.  Steamed broccoli (in a Zip Lock Steam Bag) and baked potatoes.  I made two and the three of us split them.  It was super yummy and super healthy.  Also, it was like eighty-five-thousand degrees yesterday and all that cooking heat was made outside and my kitchen stayed cool. 

Today?

Breakfast: Oatmeal w/ flax, blueberries, strawberries and brown sugar, Coffee

Snack: Cheese Stick, (maybe 2)

Lunch:  Big salad of mixed greens, tomatoes, feta cheese, grilled chicken with low fat Ranch dressing

Dinner:  Bowl of Life cereal and popcorn (not so great, meh.)

I did some good exercise today too, I walked for 45 minutes with the dog and the stroller. Overall I'm feeling good and healthy.

I am really looking forward to getting some fresh local produce.  This time of year I love eating tons of fresh food grown in the dirt.  Farmers Markets? Here we come!

Food Diary

Breakfast:

Oatmeal with 2 tablespoons of ground flax, sprinkle of brown sugar, blueberries and strawberries
Coffee w/ sugar and coffeemate

Lunch:

Mixed green salad with tomatoes and feta cheese, Ken's Balsamic Spray Dressing, handful of BBQ Soy Chips

Snacks:

Cheese Stick, Yogurt, Wheat Crackers with Peanut Butter, half a Banana

Dinner:

Turkey burger with cheese (no bun), handful of mini carrots, handful of strawberries

30 Days to Better Eating in June

I'm trying to eat better these days.  This is nothing new as I've always tried to be healthy. I like fruits and vegetables, lean proteins and whole grains. 

I've always found it challenging to initiate or actually get going on a new diet when I still have a house full of pasta and saltine crackers.   My other challenges are that I am attempting to feed  a toddler a few times a day and if you have taken on that endeavor you know how frustrating it can be.  

Healthy eating to me means eating nutritious foods in smart quantities, including organics, variety and good taste.

This month will feature recipes, ideas, goals, challenges and food accountability.

Frustration; Shredheads

I don't think I look too good right now. 

This is, of course, all very, very relative. 

October of last year was the highlight of my self esteem high from months of sweating it out with Jillian and her blasted 30-Day Shred. 

I bitched and whined about it a lot, but the truth is, Noah stopped sleeping through the night sometime during that month and when the sleep deprivation reared its ugly head I caved under the pressure and gave up the one thing that could have kept me mentally on top of my MOM-game.  I stopped exercising.  It wasn't a conscious decision but rather I just got a bit derailed.  One week I only worked out twice and then only once and then I got sick and before I knew it I hadn't seen a pair of spandex anything in ten days and then it became two weeks and two weeks became a month and then we were sick again and a month became m-o-n-t-h-s.

I know this isn't news.

I know I'm not an anomaly. 

Many people take on exercise routines and things and life get in the way and they  get, you know, derailed. 

My stomach is flabby and it hangs over my waistband.   My arms are not as toned and don't feel as strong.  I have lost the hint of obliques that I was once so proud to see, albeit, shocked.   It is my fault.  Sometimes I blame Marc for "letting me get off track" and what I mean is that I wish he had noticed that I wasn't exercising and had come to me and said such and then pushed me toward the treadmill and reminded me to make no excuses.   But, he is my husband, not my trainer and not responsible for my choices. 

I want to blame.

I want to cry and yell that it isn't fair. 

I have to just ... get back on track.  

I am not starting from zero.  And I know how much I can do.   I know that I can walk on the treadmill on an incline for thirty minutes and then run for thirty more.  I know that I am capable of Level 3 on the 30-Day Shred, but I'll stick with Level 2 thankyouverymuchhere'smylung.  

I need to schedule better.  I need to stop making excuses and just do it. 

I'm asking you to hold me to it this time so I'm joining the Shredheads.

I will post my weight, shred-plan and goals soon ....

May's Rainy Days

We had a solid week of rainy weather so you'd be safe to conclude that I didn't get much outdoor exercise.  I did however do some indoor exercises.

I still can't seem to replicate the energy level and intensity that I felt a few months ago and I attribute that to a variety of factors.   I am "close enough" to my goals that I have lost focus and I wonder if I'm almost afraid to push ahead further.  There was a time last fall when I was in fabulous shape and I was climbing down the scale safely and regularly and I started to wonder what would happen if I outgrew, or rather, un-grew all of my clothes.  I'm not fat by any means but I remain in this place of needing to lose about 10-15 pounds to make clothes fit better and to be at a better BMI. 

What I really need to do is a flat thirty minutes of good cardio exercise I have also been playing around with my weights whenever I'm on the floor playing with Noah. I'll do some push-ups here and a few sit-ups there which I great for fooling myself into a state of fitness but not great for fitting into my jeans.

I'm still battling with myself to just... do it.

May days

I'm taking a break for the month of May from the 30 Days to something Better and reverting to the original intention of this website which was to chronicle my efforts on weight loss. 

I don't want to make yet another blog about weight loss and the ultimate fabulousity of the 30 Day Shred, but I make no promises to avoid mentioning it.  I am resolving to eat more protein and veggies and less animal crackers dipped in whipped cream.  I bought fat free chocolate yogurt today and some 100-calorie snack packs which are great, unless of course you eat four of them.  Which I did not do tonight.  Just last night.

I exercised tonight and it felt great. I have lost a small amount of strength and gained a few inches in my butt, thighs and waist.  I want to fit back into my smallest skinny jeans and see the obliques I had for such a brief time last fall.

The weather has gotten much warmer here and I had to dig deep into my drawers for some shorts and much to my chagrin, they didn't all fit so well.

I am giving myself  one month to feel better, look better, lose about five pounds and regain my confidence and my physical strength.