A slimmer me...

In our recent pictures, you may or may not have noticed that I am looking a little bit smaller lately. Since January 5th, I have lost 23 pounds and two pant sizes. I haven't been this size since high school! After sharing my progress with my sister over the phone a few weeks ago she asked when I might post some pictures of my new self, so here's one from this past weekend and one (slightly windblown) from before our anniversary dinner last night. Our friends were nice enough to watch Drew while Bill and I went out for dinner and a movie (Movie Review: State of Play, Bill didn't care for it, I liked it and was very surprised Bill didn't--guess he can still surprise after 6 years).

Of course, when people notice my weight loss the first thing they ask is "how did you do it?" or "what are you doing?" It's no big secret...healthy diet and exercise, but the first few times people asked me what I was doing, I kind of thought I hadn't really made all that many changes. In writing them down for a friend on Facebook though, I realized I had really changed my eating and fitness lifestyle in quite a few ways, so if you're interested...here they are.

1) I'm on http://www.sparkpeople.com/. It's a totally free website that has a nutrition tracker, exercise/fitness tracker, tons of articles on healthy weight loss, healthy recipes, fitness tips, motivation and wellness, even short exercise videos. I find it to be a very user-friendly site. You can use their meal plans and their strength training plans if you don't know where to start. It's a little time consuming keeping track of everything, but a great tool of accountabilty. It was after I kept track of what I ate for a day or two that I realized how many calories (many of them non-nutrient rich) I must have been consuming before I started all this.

Sparkpeople also sponsors sparkrecipes.com. You can search other people's recipes. I've found some very good ones. You can also use the recipe calculator to determine the nutritional value of your own recipes.

I use the nutrition tracker to write down everything I eat or drink. It automatically monitors calories, fat, carbs, protein, and you can add other vitamins or nutrients you think you might not be getting enough of.

I use the fitness tracker to keep track of my cardio (calories burned) and strength training.

2) I drink only water for the most part. I have an occasional glass of skim milk, and a very occasional diet soda or unsweetened ice tea. I didn't realize how many calories I was drinking until I considered my love for sweetened ice tea. I have a 32 oz nalgene bottle that I fill at least twice a day to make sure I get enough water throughout. Sometimes I mix in crystal light because it's only 10 or 20 calories, but most of the time I find very cold water to be the perfect beverage.

3) I eat at least 5 times a day, and always eat breakfast because it's best for your metabolism to eat smaller portions and more often. When you first start sparkpeople it asks your current and goal weights and gives you a recommended timeframe (you can move it up or back) for reaching that goal along with the caloric intake and exercise that will get you there. My calorie range is about 1200-1600, so I eat 200-400 calories 5 times a day. I usually make my snacks a little smaller to compensate for more calorie-laden meals.


4) I eat at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables a day (I aim for 7) and try to eat whole grains instead of white products (english muffins, bread, dinner rolls, rice, etc.).


5) My go to snacks are:

• Dannon light & fit yogurt (60 calories)
  
• Baby carrots with hummus or laughing cow cheese (60-80 calories)
  
• Orville Redenbacher 94% fat free butter popcorn (1 cup=15 calories and I am usually satisfied by 3 or 4 cups )
  
• Jello sugar free pudding for my chocolate fix (60 calories--I often mix it with strawberries and little whipped cream and it's still less than 100 calories)
  
• Quaker fiber & omega 3 granola bars (they're really yummy, especially peanut butter chocolate and only 150 calories plus a third of daily recommended fiber.
  

I do not make any particular food off limits because I'll just want it more (I'm a chocoholic). I just try to find healthier ways to eat it. This weekend I had thin crust pizza with tomatoes and green peppers instead of regular crust with pepperoni and bacon, and it was delicious!

6) Exercise: I do cardio at least 3 times a week. Walking (I aim for 16 min miles or less), water aerobics, stationary bike, or Nintendo Wii. I do strength training 3-4 times a week. I use a lot of the sparkpeople generated strength training plans because you can add or substitute from those and it gives you a good starting point. I aim for 30-45 minutes each session, although sometimes I split it into 2 sessions of 15 if I have a very busy day. I don't put pressure on myself to always work out first thing in the morning. Sometimes I feel like it as soon as I get up, other times I'm up for it as soon as I drop Drew off, and sometimes I don't do it (especially my strength training days) until I'm watching TV in the evening. I always rest at least one day a week.

If you have a Nintendo Wii, I recommend the "my fitness coach" personal trainer game. It's not the same as wii fit. It's more like an interactive workout dvd and it's only 20-30 bucks. You can do cardio, upper body, lower body, core, yoga, and flexibility workouts and the trainer character adjusts your workouts based on how you keep up. The only thing that's sometimes annoying is that when you do any non-cardio workout, you start with at least a brief cardio intro. So, if I do a 30 minute core workout the first 10 minutes is warm up and cardio to get my heart rate up, which I guess is good, but sometimes I'd just prefer to get right to the strength training. It tells you at the end of each workout how many calories you burned.


I do all this either outside or in my house. I'm not much of a gym or class person. I have an aerobic step, resistance bands, hand weights (4 or 5 pounds), an exercise ball, and I just recently bought a folding recumbent bike too (found one for about $200 that I'm pretty happy with).


7) When we go out to eat I try to focus on portion control the most. If Bill wants an appetizer that sounds good to me then I have one (mozzarella stick, fried wonton, etc.). I also try to look up the restaurant's nutritional information before we go if I can. I don't eat french fries out (because I know I can't eat just one) and I try to always have salad or steamed veggies. I always order dressing (even low cal) on the side.


My weight loss has started to slow down a little over the last few weeks, but now that I'm back within the normal BMI range I'm not as concerned with the number on the scale now as I am with toning and making my body stronger. Doing all this has really changed the way I feel, the way I think about food and fitness, and the way we live as a family, and that was my biggest motivation for doing this in the first place.

Two quick Drew stories. Apparently Daddy is going to have to work with Drew on keeping secrets because upon the boys' return from the store on Sunday Drew marched into Mommy's office and declared "Mama, we got you a card!" Then, wWhen Bill get home early from work last night (miracles do happen) for us to go out for our anniversary dinner, I was in the bathroom getting ready. Drew ran running to greet Daddy (he had been playing with one of his trucks while watching me get ready). A few seconds later I hear Drew yelling in the other room "Daddy, you have flowers! Why did you buy flowers Daddy?" Bill then walked in with a dozen roses for me. Drew's going to have to work on his ninja skills.