Friends

Thursday, March 31, 2011

Again I go.

Well I started back to school. I haven't done a workout in a few days. Not super concerned about that. I am more concerned that I haven't been paying attention to my diet. That is the part where I ALWAYS mess up on. But I know this and will get back to it. I am trying to figure out the open gym and swim schedule for the school. It never is very good, but maybe they have changed a few things which would make it more appealing to workout there.

I want to start lifting weights. I LOVE weight lifting. It makes me feel great when I can feel my muscles. hehehe.

I am still doing good though and have a lot of days left on my goal. So no worries.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Exercise Hobby??

Well I am doing FABULOUS!! I feel like my wagon has been up-righted and I am on track to somewhere I haven't been in a long time. The weight is coming off decently, but that isn't a big concern. My body is changing before my eyes and I LOVE it! I finally finally finally found a balance that works for me. I know it might not work for everyone but it works for me. I have a vitamin D deficiency. It is a pretty common thing in the NW lack of sunlight will do that to a person. I didn't have the best diet and I never went outside in the winter which means....ding ding ding always tired. I have noticed it was getting progressively worse or more noticeable is a more appropriate word for it, but I would wake up and be tired, I would have no energy to do anything, grouchy, angry, depressed you name it that was me. I had gotten worried at one point and hit WebMD because I seriously was concerned. So a simple blood test and bingo bango. I am now taking a vitamin D supplement(not to much don't worry.) I have started to drink more milk again. Back when I started noticing all this was when I moved here to the NW and I stopped drinking milk and started eating badly. What a mix. But I feel great now..I actually have energy to do stuff.

Now to discuss my title...

Tonight as I was exercising I was thinking about things and thinking about how I use to be. Really athletic and into sports and all that. I would have basketball practice and still find time for bike rides(intense ones) and exercise. I loved it! This was back when I was just a teenager and didn't really think of exercise as something bad yet..not that I do now but ya know. So I was thinking about all that and talking to my husband while and I think exercise has always been a hobby of mine. Like I use to love the feeling I would get, the changes, all that. Getting to view a new workout dvd. Learning the latest exercise craze. I day dream about opening my own fitness facilities, I yearn after shiny new workout equipment. I have been this way forever. Some how my true self just got lost in the shuffle of life and growing up. But I am back, ready to dust myself off and show everyone who I really am.

Exercising - 60 minutes;
Healthy food - $200'
Getting Back to the Healthy You - Priceless.

It is a lame quote but it is mine and it describes my feelings.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Finally Me Time!!!

I am on spring break as soon as I finish up my Economics class. Which will hopefully be tomorrow. I am so excited to have some time to myself away from school work and distractions. This is the first time I have been in a good place with diet and exercise and I have the chance to just focus on that for the next 2 weeks. That is awesome to me, I really can't wait. I am going to exercise and eat right and just take care of myself. I am about 4 lbs down and 4 to go in the next 2ish weeks. I will have met my 8 lbs a month goal if that happens. Which would put me right on track.

I know that this month might be easier and show a larger weight loss then months to come but I am excited anyway. I have my end goal in mind and I plan on making it there. I can't explain it but my attitude on this whole thing has changed and is very different to me then the last few times.

Friday, March 11, 2011

Thank You Oregon...

For not raining today. I was able to get out and go walking. I decided to go to a place I have never been before but wanted to check out. It was pretty nice but almost to short for my kind of walking. It was down by the river and wow that river was really high and just running like crazy. But I managed to do about 2.5 miles, with a lot of back tracking and circling back. So it worked. I then went to another spot and finished off my workout at a total of 3.4 miles. Not bad! I am hoping to get back up to my 5-7 miles every few days kinda walking.

I am not sure that I mentioned and it is kind of embarrassing and shows off my nerdy side. But I got out all my exercise equipment and set it up in a corner of the house..which we now officially call Club Stephanie!! HAAHAHA I am such a nerd. I told my husband that he could come to my club but he would need a membership first lol.

So the eating has been going fantastic. I haven't craved fast food, or greasy gross food in about 3 weeks now. AMAZING!! Since that was what I always wanted. And this eating every three hours is keeping me from binging which was also another big problem. I find myself at times wanting to snack and roam the kitchen..but I sit back and say just wait you can eat in blank blank hours/minutes whatever it is. And you know what by the time that I CAN eat the stuff I don't want it and find something better for me.

I am going to lose 50 lbs by my Birthday..it won't be easy but I think it is completely do-able.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Quicky

I rode my stationary bike last night..my behind hurts :-S!! I made an effort to workout for 45 minutes, I am trying that 30 minute or more theory of weight loss. I also got into some of my songs and started "dancing" while riding..husband things I am nuts!! He might be right. :D

Tonight I am going to do some boxing. Probably will throw in some free weights also.

We are having Crock Pot Buffalo Chicken...I don't really know what it is, I put some chicken tenderloins in the crock pot, and made some buffalo sauce for it to cook in..These could be really hot yikes!

I watched 2 episodes of Heavy last night. I was able to watch them online as I don't have A&E. I like that show, unlike the Biggest Loser people don't get voted off when they need to be there. It was inspiring.

The eating every 3 hours thing is working out so far so good.

No More Yuck

First I would like to put up a picture that I love...What?? A picture I love..yeah that is hard for me to say because I hate the way I look in pictures, I hate it. In pictures I can't avoid the image, I don't see me I see a stranger. But despite all that I love this picture. Next to my wedding pictures it is one of my favorites.



This isn't the greatest picture of us, but I feel like it just shows off who we are. I think I was about 10lbs lighter in this photo. But we are at the beach having a wonderful time doing what we love to do. This is why I want to get healthy, so that we can do more of these things and just really enjoy life. When I leave this world I don't want people to remember me as someone who sat around and watched tv or played on the computer all day. I want to be remembered because I did fun adventurous things.

The rest of this entry I know will be met with a lot of skepticism. I know that and I have to tell you I am skeptical and also was skeptical. I am not delusional and think things like this work. But for whatever reason I am not craving certain foods.
I have seen many many of those hypnosis weight loss things advertised on TV. Curiosity got the better of me and I went searching...apparently there is an APP for that. So I found a weigh loss hypnosis app that makes you not crave foods that are bad and full of grease, it also it suppose to help you with stress eating. So just for the heck of it I decide to try it.

The first time goes something like this. I get all comfy on my bed laying down ready to see what happens. I must have been really tired. I set up the 30 minute long one, I lay there and he starts talking and relaxing me( at this point it reminded me of a really great meditation.) So I am listening and we get to the count backwards part I remember hearing 10, 9 and then the next thing I know I wake up and the session was over....I FEEL ASLEEP!!! I have no idea if in my sleep I heard any of the session as one of my earbuds fell out and the other one I don't know if it was working.

So I decide to try again the next day, I made sure I didn't fall asleep but it was so relaxing I almost did. This was 2 weeks ago, I haven't craved fast food since then, the thought of it is pretty gross and unappealing to me. I have not craved any greasy of fried food at all. Which is impressive for me considering I LOVE all that stuff. Lately it just seems nasty and bleck!! That kind of food doesn't taste the same anymore.

I have done the session a few times since then mostly because it was so relaxing.

Do I believe that it works...I don't know part of me wants to be skeptical and say heck no..but how do I know. Even if it made me subconsciously not want those foods I have battled with for years that is a good thing in my book. It might have just been the power of suggestion who really knows..but I don't want Burger King anymore so ++++.

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Crock pot Yogurt and Crock pot Chicken

I have been looking around on the internet for coupons and tips for saving money when shopping at the grocery store and I came across these two items. The first is Crock Pot Yogurt. It seems interesting I have not tried it yet but it seems like if you have the time and patients you could make yourself some yogurt for a fraction of the cost of other stuff. You do need to use a small amount of yogurt as your bacteria starter but I think you could probably spend a dollar on that and come out with much more yogurt. So here is the recipe.
Crock Pot Yogurt

Ingredients:

Servings:

16
Servings Size
* 3 quarts 1% low-fat milk
* 1 tablespoon plain gelatin
* 1/3 cup cold water
* 1 cup plain yogurt (with active cultures)


Directions:

Prep Time: 5 mins

Total Time: 1/2 day

1 Into your scrupulously clean slow cooker, place your milk. Heat on low until it reaches 185-195°F, 2 to 2 1/2 hours.
2 In a large measuring cup, sprinkle gelatin over cold water and let stand 15 minutes until bloomed. Add a few ladles of warm milk and whisk until gelatin is dissolved. Pour into the slow cooker and turn down to "keep warm" for 3 hours. (If your cooker does not have a "keep warm" setting, turn the cooker off and wrap it well in several layers of towels. Unwrap it and turn it back on low for the last 30-60 minutes of this time span.). It should be between 122-130°F before proceeding; if it's too warm, turn it off and let it cool.
3 In the same large measuring cup, place the yogurt. Add a few ladles of hot milk and whisk until smooth. Pour into crock pot and whisk to combine completely. Turn off pot and wrap in several layers of towels/blanket to trap the heat. (Do not use the keep warm setting at this point; it's too hot, and will kill the yogurt cultures.).
4 Divide into serving portions. You can flavor with fruit, jam or honey now, or when serving. A thicker Greek-style yogurt can be achieved by using whole milk, then scooping the finished yogurt into cheesecloth and allowing it to drain (in the refrigerator, suspended over a bowl) for 2-4 hours.

I would highly recommend going to the actual website and looking at the recipe as there are some good comments with more directions on making this.


Whole Crock Pot Chicken

I know I really love having a great whole chicken. But I never have time to actually cook it so I buy those tiny precooked ones from the store..Which have you ever read the ingredients?? SUGAR who puts sugar in a chicken?? ( We are extra aware of sugar in this house because hubby can't eat it..CSID<
So here is a recipe I came across for cooking a whole chicken in your crock pot. How easy can that be?

Whole Crock Pot Chicken
http://www.food.com/recipe/whole-chicken-crock-pot-recipe-33671

Ingredients:

* 4 teaspoons salt
* 2 teaspoons paprika
* 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
* 1 teaspoon onion powder
* 1 teaspoon thyme
* 1 teaspoon white pepper
* 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
* 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
* 1 large roasting chicken (with pop-up timer if possible)
* 1 cup chopped onion (optional)


Directions:

Prep Time: 1/2 day

Total Time: 1 day

1 In a small bowl, combine the spices.
2 Remove any giblets from chicken and clean chicken.
3 Rub spice mixture onto the chicken.
4 Place in resealable plastic bag and refrigerate overnight. (I usually skip this step because I'm always in a hurry).
5 When ready to cook, put chopped onion in bottom of crock pot.
6 Add chicken. No liquid is needed, the chicken will make it's own juices.
7 Cook on low 4-8 hours.
8 Note: I highly recommend a pop-up timer in the chicken because some crock pots cook faster/slower than others (my crock pot cooks this recipe in 4-5 hours).





Portion Distortion

This all started with an episode of some show that talks about the things that happen to our bodies when we get to be morbidly obese. It had a lot of good information in it and also got a great conversation going with my husband. We were discussing how much food I put on our plates when I cook. Which is an absurd amount, if people were here and saw how much I put on there I would be very embarrassed. It never really occurred to me how much I was eating in one sitting until I thought about it. We have really huge dinner plates and I feel the need to fill them up..don't ask me why. Last night I made pancakes..the size of a skillet. Why..I don't know. When I was a kid we didn't fill our plates full of food, we had appropriate sizes of food and types of food. It sadly blows my mind at the amount of food I eat on a plate. I don't even know when it started..I can't pin point it or think of a reason..maybe just because we have the huge dinner plates, much bigger then I have ever had before....So I will blame the plates lol. In all seriousness it is a real problem though. So from now on I am going to have to be very aware of portion sizes that I am eating.
Husband said it well last night, with the portions I(We) are eating I would have to exercise hours a day to make a difference.
It was a great discussion with him, and we talked about my weight loss and came up with a great plan and concrete path to follow. I have decided to set up my exercise equipment ( rowing machine, bike, manual treadmill) I can do a variety workout and get in a good workout for 1 hour a day. Which is what I need to do, in the past I noticed that when I workout less than an hour a day I don't see results. Last night on that show they were talking about how the first 30 minutes of exercise your not even burning off the fat being stored ( this is my summary it was much more complicated) and after that point you start burning the stored up fat. Who knows if that is true, but it makes sense to me.

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Not Getting Younger

Today I realized I will be celebrating my 29th birthday in September. I can't believe it..really seems like just yesterday I was a carefree kid loving life, riding my bike all over town, running, swimming and having a great time.

Now I am not happy at least in my body. I am happy about other aspects of my life, but I am very unhappy about my body. This isn't me..it just isn't. It seems that I have spent most of my 20's trying to achieve the elusive weight loss. I have not done that obviously.

I had a serious talk with my husband tonight. I told him I wanted to be fit and in shape by my 29th birthday. I want to end my 20's in the body I should be in. So we are going to change our eating habits and work really hard on that.

I am feeling really happy about this. I NEED to get in good shape, we have recently taken up hiking in the Gorge and let me tell you that is not something easy to do when you are over weight.

I am pretty excited!! I know I can do this!!