Resolution Update: Week 6

***Length Warning!!! About a week ago, a friend asked me what I was doing to have this success with weight loss and being healthier. I wrote her this response and wanted to share with all of you so you could see what I'm up to. I wanted to make sure I covered everything so that you could see that I'm not doing anything expensive/crazy/extreme. There's no magic here! It's just a little bit of determination, support from my husband, family & friends, and a lot of prayer!***


Weight: 162.5! I was really hoping for an "official" 10 pound weight loss but I am SO CLOSE so I feel confident that next week I'll be celebrating that milestone! And I promised my MIL a new pic when I do finally reach it so stay tuned!


Now for the long part:


I feel like there are 2 parts to weight loss and they are both super important. There's the logistics side which is pretty easy and then there's the "heart" side of it which isn't always so easy.

Logistics first:

Excercise: I used to be one of those people who felt that if I didn't get in 60 solid minutes of excercise every day then it just didn't matter. Well, that's completely FALSE. Anything is better than nothing at all. Right now, with a young baby, I don't have time for a very long workout and our gym doesn't take children as young as Oli. At another friend's suggestion, I purchased the Jillian Michaels' 30-Day Shred DVD. It's $8 at Costco or on amazon.com and it is worth every penny. The workout is 18 minutes long with about 5 minutes of warm ups and cool downs. I can work out in 25 minutes and that 25 minutes has done more for me than hours at the gym. Seriously. That's all it takes to start seeing results and start making some changes. The moral here is to not be so hard on yourself if you don't have a ton of time. Just try to workout most days of the week. I work out no fewer than 5 days a week. That seems daunting at first but it's ONLY 25 MINUTES. I think the reason that the DVD is working is because it combines strength, cardio, and abs and it's non-stop for the full 25 minutes.  If you are working out at a gym, make sure you are doing strength and cardio. As you build lean muscle, that's what will help with better calorie burn over all during the day.

Diet: I first started by figuring out what I was already eating and I was shocked. It's a pain in the butt, but keep a food journal for a solid week and count every calorie and fat gram that goes into your body. I think most people will be surprised to find that they are eating a lot more than they think. After I did that, I had to cut quite a bit of my food and re-assess what I was eating.

The best thing I learned from having gestational diabetes was balance. Remember, the food pyramid exists for a reason so cutting out any food groups isn't healthy. Your body needs a balance of things to perform. So, it's okay to eat carbs, it's just not okay to eat a ton of them. The best thing to do is to balance your carbs & protein. So, if you eat a serving or 2 of carbs (15-30 grams), make sure you are eating about 7 grams of protein to go with it. I'm not sure about the science of it, but they balance each other.

Also, try to eat more often throughout the day but make your meals smaller. So, I eat snack (because I work out in the morning), breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner.

My daily menu looks about like this:

Snack: banana, then my workout

Breakfast (about 30-45 grams of carbs): 2 scrambled eggs, 2 tablespoons of salsa, 3 turkey sausages (I get the Jimmy Dean brand and they are yummy! You just microwave them for 40 seconds!), 1 small/medium apple, 1 fruit Chobani yogurt (this is Greek yogurt, has about double the protein of normal yogurt and is delish!).

Snack (15-30 grams of carbs): low sugar oatmeal packet (I get the spice variety pack and make it with water), and I mix in a serving of raw almonds (1/4 cup).

Lunch (45-60 grams of carbs): tuna sandwich (I make my tuna with 1 tablespoon of mayo, a little bit of relish, and an egg. I use half of the mixture per sandwich.) on whole wheat bread, yogurt (usually Yoplait or Target brand flavored yogurt), and 1 cup of tomato or roasted red pepper/tomato soup.

Snack (15-30 grams of carbs): 1 stalk of celery with 1 wedge Laughing Cow lite cheese

Dinner (45-75 grams of carbs): Grilled chicken breast. Mike has grilling down to a science. It takes him 15 minutes start to finish. We just use a little seasoning salt and a little bar-b-que sauce or marinade. Be careful with the sauces since they are usually high in sugar and calories. Just make sure you watch your serving size. You can also do the chicken breast on a George Foreman grill and it would be good that way too.

Some kind of little pasta packet. We usually get those Pasta Roni things or something like that and split it between the 2 of us. I love this because it feels so indulgent but it's only about 45 grams of carbs per serving and there are 2 servings in each packet and 45 grams for dinner is a good amount of carbs. Also, I use soy milk usually for this instead of regular milk so I save on some of the carbs. You can skip the butter if you want, just watch it so it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan.

And we have some kind of vegetable. I'm loving the Green Giant steam-in-the-bag veggies right now because there's enough for 2 people and they are yummy and super easy. But, you could also just do your own. For instance, sometimes, I'll buy broccoli and cut it up and steam it for like 5 minutes. Then, I use about a tablespoon of olive oil and sauté the broccoli with sliced garlic, red pepper flakes, and I squeeze the juice of one lemon on at the end. It's a nice spin on broccoli. You can also sauté the broccoli in chicken broth to save on more fat & calories. You can do this same trick for fresh green beans or asparagus. I just wouldn't use the lemon or red pepper flakes on those. For squash, I just slice it and sauté it with an onion.

I eat the same thing almost every single day. BUT, you can spice it up a little by doing grilled pork chops sometimes or throw in a spaghetti dinner once a week. Eating spaghetti once a week isn’t going to make you fat! Just use really lean ground beef or ground turkey breast.

And if tuna sandwiches don’t do it for you, then find something that does. If you like turkey sandwiches, get lean turkey breast. If you like chicken noodle soup, find a brand you like and eat that. It is surprisingly low in carbs. I personally would advise staying FAR AWAY from those frozen low-calorie meals. They aren’t very filling and they are full of all kinds of preservatives and sodium. And I think they taste awful!

CHEAT DAY: Personally, I think this is the most important day of the week!! Nobody can eat 100% healthy 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Give yourself a day to indulge. The trick is to not indulge the entire day. Pick a meal on a Saturday, for instance, and eat whatever you want. Like last Saturday, I ate my normal breakfast and my normal dinner. But for lunch, I ate a big greasy burger, fried okra, and ice cream. And I just enjoyed it and let it go!

Tips & Tricks:


1. Watch your serving size. Just because something is only 100 calories doesn’t mean it’s 100 calories for the entire box/can/whatever.


2. Watch the pre-packaged food. I don’t eat any of those 100 calorie packs because I can get a lot more food if I just make something myself. For instance, I can have a whole bowl of soup for the same fat & calories as 3 microscopic cupcakes in a 100 calorie pack. Or I can have a cup of broccoli with a serving of melted cheese for just a few more calories. That’s a lot more food and it’s a lot less processed.


3. Plan for success: I make a menu each Saturday then go to the grocery store and get all of my groceries for the week. That way, I’m not tempted to swing into a drive-through. Planning my meals has been a huge part of my lifestyle lately and it’s working.


4. Try to think of food as fuel for your body. Sure, those 100 calorie packs may only have 100 calories but that doesn’t mean they are GOOD for you. I always try to think “What’s going to make me feel full? What’s going to make me more efficient and feel good?”


5. Check the nutrition panel on the food you are buying. It’ll surprise you! Just because it’s “whole grain” or “organic” doesn’t necesarily make it any healthier. Check the calories, fat, and carb content.


6. If you are eating out, check out the menu online ahead of time so that you can plan what you are going to order. If you go in blind, chances are you’ll get frustrated and order the first thing that looks good. If you already have a plan, it’s much easier. Most restaurants publish their nutrition info online. Another great source if you aren’t sure how many calories/fat/carbs are in a  food is www.calorieking.com. You can find a ton of info on this site! As a last resort just Google whatever you want to know. Like “nutrition info for Chili’s.” You are very likely to find it.

Okay, so here’s the more emotional side of eating healthy:

I had to start thinking about WHY I eat. I’m a social eater and a stress eater. I had to come to terms with the fact that I can go to dinner with friends but not eat my way through the entire menu. It’s okay to order the grilled chicken breast or just ask them to hold the cheese/sour cream/dressing/whatever. If I’m eating Italian, I just tell them to not bring out the bread. If I’m eating Mexican, I just don’t have them put the chips & salsa on the table. When I’m stressed, I have to find something else to do. Like clean out my junk drawer or go work out or whatever it takes to keep me out of the pantry.

I had to have Mike’s support. My husband is 6’5” and is built like a bean pole. He’s tall and lean and competes in triathlons. Staying in shape and slim is easy for him and he eats like crap on a regular basis. So, we had to have a talk about keeping only healthy snacks in the house and compromising on things like our former weekly pizza night. And I asked him to help me with Oli so that I could work out and not feel guilty. And I asked him to encourage me to work out when I didn’t feel like it. If he wasn’t on board, I don’t know that I could keep doing this. It would be hard to stay focused if he was constantly eating chocolate cake in front of me.

I had to start being realistic with myself. I am not ever going to look like a super model or even my 18 year old self. My body has changed drastically and that’s okay. The point is to be healthy and in shape. I have to also be patient with myself. Losing 10 pounds in 1 week is not realistic at all. A few pounds a week is okay and it’s going to take TIME to get to where I want to be.  This is not a sprint, this is a marathon.

I had to change the way I think about “dieting” in general. When I call this a “diet” it seems so temporary. Like when I get to my ideal weight, I’ll just go back to eating pizza and ice cream whenever I want. That can’t happen if I want to stay healthy. So, I look at this as a lifestyle. It’s something I’ll do for the rest of my life AND it’s something we’ll teach Olivia.

My apologies again on the length of this!! I just wanted to make sure I covered everything. This new lifestyle isn’t always easy but I seriously feel GREAT lately!!! And there is no magic trick to it. You can see that I’m not on any special diet and I’m not paying for some weight loss club. I’m just trying to take an overall, healthy approach to living and taking care of myself. There is no magic pill and no way to fast forward through the process. It takes discipline and planning but it is so worth it to feel great!!!! I promise!!! Before I started doing this, I NEVER thought I’d be able to make real changes. But, here I am, putting my weight on the internet and telling the world about my new approach! Who knew!?!?

And if you aren't burned out on this post, stay tuned next week for a new, 10-pound less, pic of me!