Recently my friend Libby (co-host of KPVI More and fellow participant in 6 Figures) asked me how I am able to eat over 1600 calories per day since I am eating clean. Actually, my problem is trying not to eat over that each day. Just because a food is clean, it doesn't mean it is low in calories. Sure, you can eat mounds of spinach, kale, broccoli, asparagus, etc. for very few calories, but nuts, dried foods, oils and the like are very high in calories. That's probably why I have an addiction to Adam's natural peanut butter and prunes (not together). I decided to break down what I eat during the day, just to show how easy it is to eat clean and get the proper nutrition. These are my very favorite meals. I'm not a nutritionist and if one looked over my meals, they would probably see a lot of things that I am doing wrong. However, this is what seems to be working for me. I have been able to keep up a high level of fitness and energy.
Breakfast
4 squares of Jamie Eason's Carrot Cake Protein Bars covered in 1 cup almond milk and microwaved for about 1 minute. I top with 1 TBSP chopped walnuts
or
4 egg whites and Everyday Oatmeal
My "Everyday oatmeal"
1/3 cup oats
2/3 cup water
1 TBSP chia seeds
cinnamon to taste
1/2 cup fruit: apples or blueberries are my favorite add ins
I microwave everything for 2 minutes, then I add 1 packet of stevia and almond milk to desired consistency.
Post workout snack
4 eggs whites scrambled with kale or spinach and chopped peppers (pretty much whatever veggies I have)
or
Berry Smoothie: 1/2 banana, 1/2 cup berries (fresh or frozen), scoop of protein powder, water
Lunch
Jamie Eason's Turkey Meatloaf Meatballs, sauteed peppers, salsa, cholula
or
4 oz chicken, sweet potato, veggies (I usually used some kind of frozen mixed veggies)
or
last night's leftovers
Mid afternoon snack
1 oz nuts and apple
or
1 rice cake, 1/2 cup cottage cheese, 1 TBSP raisins, 1 TBSP pecans and cherry tomatoes or cucumbers
Dinner
Salmon and spinach- I line a baking dish with aluminum foil and then lay down a bed of spinach (a couple of handfuls) then I place the salmon on top and sprinkle on a little bit of sea salt and cracked pepper. I fold the foil around the salmon and bake at 350 for about 30 minutes. Salmon is such a nice, fatty fish that the oils seep into the spinach and make it oh, so yummy!!!
or
4 oz chicken and salad (whatever is chopped up, so I can just throw it all together) and Newman's Own Balsamic Vinaigrette dressing (Lite)
PM Snack
If I'm really hungry then I will make a protein smoothie with lots of ice, a little water and chocolate protein powder. If I'm really, really hungry and a little bit naughty (so almost every night) I'll add in a little all natural peanut butter. My goal is to only eat 1 serving of nuts a day, so often I will divide the 1 oz serving between breakfast and my mid afternoon snack.
The total for all of this, including the PM snack is around 1600 calories. I still need to work on increasing my intake of carbohydrates from veggies because this breaks down to about 40% protein, 30% carbs, and 30% fats. Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays are my high calorie burn days so I usually eat more on those days. Now that my mileage is up to 18 miles and increasing for my Saturday long runs, I'm letting myself have that be a freebie day. I usually use that as my day to go out to eat and get dessert too. Sundays are my most difficult day because they are notoriously days of gluttony in my home and extended family dinners. Now that the weather is warmer I am using this day to take my dog for a walk in an attempt to stay out of the kitchen. I'm also keeping my portions smaller, but still eating my 5-6 meals. It hasn't really helped that much, but I'm working on it. As for the other days, I have good days and bad days too. I still love and crave chocolate every single minute of each day. I haven't been buying dark chocolate and I make my kids hide all sweets from me. My daughter has become the sweets police with me and since she is a lot like me, I'm kind of scared of crossing her. I guess whatever works! I love popcorn and I will either make it clean or else eat Jolly Time Healthy Pop-kettle corn. It's probably not the cleanest choice, but it helps to curb my sweet tooth.
Saturday, March 30, 2013
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Finding what works for me
I'm a goal setter. I always have been. I think that's why I have been able to train for and run marathons and why I enjoy doing them. If I have a deadline and a plan, I'm unstoppable (well kind of). I thought that signing up for the 12 week challenge would be like training for a marathon. I have a deadline, I have a plan, so boom it should all just fall into place, especially my six-pack. Um... not exactly! I have found out that unlike training for 26.2 miles, fat loss/muscle gain is not quite as easy for me as I thought it would be. I hesitate to say easy because none of my marathons have been easy, but I put in the time and I got the result. The problem: I don't think that I have found what works for me yet.
In my last blog I wrote about counting calories. Well, that was pretty much ruining my life. I had become so obsessed with how many calories that I had burned and how much I had consumed that I was miserable. By the end of the day, if I had calories left, I would eat even if I wasn't hungry. I also made some poor choices because they fit into my calorie allotment for the day. Then if I went over on calories, I got discouraged. By the end of the week I was eating chocolate covered pretzels and old Halloween candy and hating myself. So, I decided that I am going to not "count calories" for 3 weeks and see how that goes. I put it in parenthesis because I have been counting calories on and off for so long that I pretty much know how many calories are in certain meals. I usually eat five 300 calories meals per day and then a protein shake in the evening if I'm hungry. I also eat when I'm hungry, not just because I need to meet a certain quota. This has worked really well for me in the past, so hopefully it will work again. I have found that when I look at food as fuel, that I eat so much better and feel better too.
I also need to set some more concrete goals. I have the goal to PR at the June marathon, but other than that I feel like I am floundering. I have a certain weight that I want to attain, but I need to get over it. I have tried to get rid of my scale or hide it, but I am honestly too attached to it. It's another obsession. All it does is discourage me. I have had so many people tell me how good I look, but I have a hard time believing it because the number on the scale won't budge. I guess my next goal should be to quit worrying about numbers and just continue on this journey of getting into the best shape of my life- pretty much just kicking my own butt every day! That was an aha moment right there!
Bodybugg update: The jury is still out! Last Monday, I wore it all day. I ran 8 miles and I averaged about 90 calories per mile, which is what I assumed. Then I went to pilates and I burnt 190 calories for the 45 minute class, again, what I assumed. The big surprise was the kettlebell class, where I only burnt 290 calories. On Tuesday I did upper body strength training for about 75 minutes, and I registered a little under 300 calories again, which isn't surprising. What I really want to assess, however, is the after burn. Since kettlebell is circuit training, I think that the after burn is going to be greater. This week I will compare my Monday and Wednesday workouts, which include the kettlebell circuit training classes and my running intervals to Tuesday and Thursday cross training, lower intensity days.
Marathon training update: On Saturday I did my 17 mile run by myself because Priscilla is having back problems. I wanted to start early, but I didn't want to pack my headlamp so I decided to split my run up between the treadmill and the road. I ran the first 6 miles on the treadmill and then I ran 10 miles outside and finished the last mile with 100 meter sprints on the treadmill. Evelyn had told me that when she runs long she takes in a 1/3 of a Gu every 2 miles. I had also told her that I get really bloated when I run more than 6-8 miles. She suggested drinking some protein. I took her advise and put some branch chain amino acids in my water. I took a short walk break every 2 miles and I took in 1/3 of my Gu pack and drank my BCAA infused water. I felt so good! I felt like I could have done more sprints even at the end. Considering that 5 miles were running up a gradual incline, my average pace of 9:21 was pretty decent. I'm excited about bettering my pace, but I'm more excited about how I felt. I had terrible stomach issues at my last marathon and I would love to avoid that happening again.
In my last blog I wrote about counting calories. Well, that was pretty much ruining my life. I had become so obsessed with how many calories that I had burned and how much I had consumed that I was miserable. By the end of the day, if I had calories left, I would eat even if I wasn't hungry. I also made some poor choices because they fit into my calorie allotment for the day. Then if I went over on calories, I got discouraged. By the end of the week I was eating chocolate covered pretzels and old Halloween candy and hating myself. So, I decided that I am going to not "count calories" for 3 weeks and see how that goes. I put it in parenthesis because I have been counting calories on and off for so long that I pretty much know how many calories are in certain meals. I usually eat five 300 calories meals per day and then a protein shake in the evening if I'm hungry. I also eat when I'm hungry, not just because I need to meet a certain quota. This has worked really well for me in the past, so hopefully it will work again. I have found that when I look at food as fuel, that I eat so much better and feel better too.
I also need to set some more concrete goals. I have the goal to PR at the June marathon, but other than that I feel like I am floundering. I have a certain weight that I want to attain, but I need to get over it. I have tried to get rid of my scale or hide it, but I am honestly too attached to it. It's another obsession. All it does is discourage me. I have had so many people tell me how good I look, but I have a hard time believing it because the number on the scale won't budge. I guess my next goal should be to quit worrying about numbers and just continue on this journey of getting into the best shape of my life- pretty much just kicking my own butt every day! That was an aha moment right there!
Bodybugg update: The jury is still out! Last Monday, I wore it all day. I ran 8 miles and I averaged about 90 calories per mile, which is what I assumed. Then I went to pilates and I burnt 190 calories for the 45 minute class, again, what I assumed. The big surprise was the kettlebell class, where I only burnt 290 calories. On Tuesday I did upper body strength training for about 75 minutes, and I registered a little under 300 calories again, which isn't surprising. What I really want to assess, however, is the after burn. Since kettlebell is circuit training, I think that the after burn is going to be greater. This week I will compare my Monday and Wednesday workouts, which include the kettlebell circuit training classes and my running intervals to Tuesday and Thursday cross training, lower intensity days.
Marathon training update: On Saturday I did my 17 mile run by myself because Priscilla is having back problems. I wanted to start early, but I didn't want to pack my headlamp so I decided to split my run up between the treadmill and the road. I ran the first 6 miles on the treadmill and then I ran 10 miles outside and finished the last mile with 100 meter sprints on the treadmill. Evelyn had told me that when she runs long she takes in a 1/3 of a Gu every 2 miles. I had also told her that I get really bloated when I run more than 6-8 miles. She suggested drinking some protein. I took her advise and put some branch chain amino acids in my water. I took a short walk break every 2 miles and I took in 1/3 of my Gu pack and drank my BCAA infused water. I felt so good! I felt like I could have done more sprints even at the end. Considering that 5 miles were running up a gradual incline, my average pace of 9:21 was pretty decent. I'm excited about bettering my pace, but I'm more excited about how I felt. I had terrible stomach issues at my last marathon and I would love to avoid that happening again.
Sunday, March 17, 2013
Calorie counting
I have to admit that over the last 15 years or so, I have been a yo-yo calorie counter. I really don't like to "diet," but whenever I started to get over a certain weight, I would start to be more conscience about what I was eating and either start counting calories or keep a food journal. I have used The Daily Plate app, but I didn't love it. However, after a few days or weeks of counting calories, I would get sick of it and quit. When I started eating clean I totally changed my whole relationship with food. I started to eat to live, not live to eat. I continually reminded myself that this is a lifestyle, not a diet. As a result, the weight just fell off. I lost over 10 pounds in about 6 weeks. Then I hit the inevitable weight loss wall that it seems everyone eventually runs into. My weight has stabilized these past few months and although I'm still seeing changes in my body, I have had to really be more conscientious of everything that I put into my mouth. Now, I don't want to be a liar. I still have days that I make poor choices. On Saturday, for instance, I was at my daughter's gymnastics competition for 13 hours. I packed veggies, homemade trail mix, fruit, cottage cheese, protein powder, Greek yogurt, and carrot protein bars. I made really good choices until about 5 pm, when I broke down and ate chocolate covered pretzels. Was it worth it? Nope, it never is. Although, I made this poor choice, I feel that I made some other excellent choices, such as packing my own food.
This is the dinner that I packed for myself. I have a bag that looks like a black purse but is actually a cooler. My daughter and I went shopping at the Gateway mall in Salt Lake City the night before the competition and we ate our dinner at the food court. Being prepared allows me to eat healthy no matter where I am.
I knew when I started this fitness challenge, 6 figures, that the main focus would be what I ate. I have been using the fitness pal app for a few months now. I like Fitness Pal so much better than TDP. It is so easy to use and since it's an app on my phone, I can track my calories anywhere. So far, the trainer working with me (Evelyn) hasn't been super specific about what to eat or what not to eat. This last week she gave me some guidance on my calorie intake. The other 5 participants have a set number of daily calories, but I do not. This is from a text that she sent me:
"If you get asked about your calories, you are unique in the sense that you don't have a set daily amount. Yours depends on the demands of your workout. Long days require more fuel for energy reserves, and more nutrition to catalyze recovery. HIIT days also require a little more nutrition and calories. Recovery and cross days should be around basal metabolic rate. That is why you have a weekly deficit goal, rather than a daily target, and also why a body bugg would be really useful. Anyhow, if you have to explain yourself thats why. Looking for around 3500 calorie deficit/week. The [bodybugg] display is nice to see your calories accruing throughout the day. Plus a good way to know how to plan your higher cal days. I.e. You burn 1000 calories. You can plan to eat 500 above basal by 200 post workout, 200 during workout, and 100 more onto your breakfast. Helps to plan your future workouts and meals."
Since I had to buy a new washer and dryer this month, I didn't feel like I wanted to fork out another $150 for the body bugg. However, I am the kind of person that once I get it into my head that I need something, I obsess about it. Which is why I recently bid on a body bugg on eBay at 2 am. At 2 am my decisions are never stellar. So now I am the owner of a body bugg v3. It isn't the newest model and not what I would have picked had a done some more research at a more reasonable hour. I'm going to start wearing it this week. I'm really excited to see what I'm burning each workout and day. Hopefully it will be useful and I won't regret my 2 am decision. I'll report back on it next week.
This is the dinner that I packed for myself. I have a bag that looks like a black purse but is actually a cooler. My daughter and I went shopping at the Gateway mall in Salt Lake City the night before the competition and we ate our dinner at the food court. Being prepared allows me to eat healthy no matter where I am.I knew when I started this fitness challenge, 6 figures, that the main focus would be what I ate. I have been using the fitness pal app for a few months now. I like Fitness Pal so much better than TDP. It is so easy to use and since it's an app on my phone, I can track my calories anywhere. So far, the trainer working with me (Evelyn) hasn't been super specific about what to eat or what not to eat. This last week she gave me some guidance on my calorie intake. The other 5 participants have a set number of daily calories, but I do not. This is from a text that she sent me:
"If you get asked about your calories, you are unique in the sense that you don't have a set daily amount. Yours depends on the demands of your workout. Long days require more fuel for energy reserves, and more nutrition to catalyze recovery. HIIT days also require a little more nutrition and calories. Recovery and cross days should be around basal metabolic rate. That is why you have a weekly deficit goal, rather than a daily target, and also why a body bugg would be really useful. Anyhow, if you have to explain yourself thats why. Looking for around 3500 calorie deficit/week. The [bodybugg] display is nice to see your calories accruing throughout the day. Plus a good way to know how to plan your higher cal days. I.e. You burn 1000 calories. You can plan to eat 500 above basal by 200 post workout, 200 during workout, and 100 more onto your breakfast. Helps to plan your future workouts and meals."
Since I had to buy a new washer and dryer this month, I didn't feel like I wanted to fork out another $150 for the body bugg. However, I am the kind of person that once I get it into my head that I need something, I obsess about it. Which is why I recently bid on a body bugg on eBay at 2 am. At 2 am my decisions are never stellar. So now I am the owner of a body bugg v3. It isn't the newest model and not what I would have picked had a done some more research at a more reasonable hour. I'm going to start wearing it this week. I'm really excited to see what I'm burning each workout and day. Hopefully it will be useful and I won't regret my 2 am decision. I'll report back on it next week.
Sunday, March 10, 2013
Check it out!
Hey everyone! You can check out the fitness challenge that my favorite girls and I are doing with KPVI More and Gold's Gym at http://www.kpvi.com/content/news/kpvi_more/6_figures/default.aspx We got together for Book Club last night and it was so much fun to talk about our first week. Each of our stories will debut this week on KPVI channel 6 at 4 pm. My story will be on Thursday. It's going to be awesome! I have always wanted to be on TV, bearing my soul and fat rolls to all of Southeast Idaho. Maybe after this I will be on my own reality show. Watch out Snookie!
I met with my trainer, Evelyn, on Monday and she ran me through some running drills on the treadmill, Rip:60, and then we did some jumps. I thought I was going to die. Before meeting with her, she had me go to Monica's Pilates class. I actually loved it since my 15 mile run on the Saturday before had left my muscles tight and fatigued. After the class, she had me do some upper body work and then we went right to the treadmill. Yep, it was official- with her prodding, I ran my first 7 minute mile and I didn't even fall off the treadmill. Then she put the treadmill at an 18% incline at 2.5 miles per hour and had me run backwards for about 5 minutes, turned me around and had me run 1 mile at a 1.5% incline at 6.7 mph. I tried to turn it down to 6.5 mph and she told me that if I had enough energy to talk, then I could run at that pace. That might sound mean, but she really isn't. She just knows that I need to get out of my head and push myself more. I honestly can't remember if she had me do it 1 or 2 more times, I just know that my thighs were on fire.
Tuesday was a moderate cross training day and I had to be to work early, so I just did the elliptical at home. Every 10 minutes I did a tabata to work my core (push ups with side planks, high plank to low plank, and stability ball pull-ins).
Wednesday she wanted me to do my 8 mile run at 10K pace and then finish it out with sprints for 20 seconds, and then jog for 40 seconds. I haven't ran a 10K for awhile so I decided that I would run it as hard as possible so that I could find out what my 10K pace would be. I headed out at 5 am since I had to be to work early. I ended up running it at an average pace of 8:58 min/mile, so I guess that will be my reference point.
Thursday was another cross training day. I rowed for 20 minutes and then I decided to give my body a break from any type of pounding and swim laps. I forgot how much I love to swim laps since I haven't done it for some time. It is one of those exercises that when I'm doing it I think that it isn't really doing much, but afterward I can feel that every muscle has been worked.
Friday I was supposed to do Monica's kettlebell class, but I had to work at the time of her class. She kindly emailed me a list of ladders for me to do instead. After work I went to the gym and did it. I added in the ropes and some of the jumps that Evelyn had told me to do. When I was done, I was dripping sweat and my upper body was spent. I texted Monica that I had finished it. It was at that point that she informed me that she had added in some extra exercises because she thought I could handle it. Sneaky, right?!?! I came home and did some pull ups (I'm up to 2 1/2-yea I'm counting the 1/2) and pushups and tricep dips.
Saturday I had to take my turn working. It was a fast day and I was done by noon. I went straight from work to do my long run. Evelyn wanted me to run it 30 seconds slower per mile than my 10K pace. It was a downhill run for the first 10 miles so I kept the pace below 9 min/mile until I reached the bottom of the hill. At that point I had a head wind so I ended up averaging 9:05 min/mile. The last mile she had me run 100m sprints with the same distance in rest. Since I had already ran 15 miles, I was tired and sore already so that last mile was a killer.
Today is a rest day, of course, but I am also using it to stretch out my sore muscles. I don't know what it is about downhill running, but it seems to really beat up my legs more than the flats. I am feeling it in my hips more than anything today.
Thursday, March 7, 2013
Tips
I recently lent my friend, Sarah, one of my Tosca Reno books. She has been reading it and she asked me for some tips and recipes. I decided that I would blog all of it since other people have asked me about what I eat and how I have time to eat clean. I have posted some recipes on my blog, but most of my recipes I find on The Gracious Pantry, Eat Clean Diet, Jamie Eason on bodybuilding.com, and Tosca Reno. I also adapt my recipes to make them as clean as possible. I have bought some books and magazines on clean eating but they tend to be more complicated than I like.
Life gets crazy and the only thing that saves me from feeding myself and my family from eating junk is food prep. Most of my days start at 5 am. The only time I watch TV during the day is to fold laundry. My kids seem to get easier but harder at the same time. They are self-sufficient to some extent, but they are also very busy. When I finally get to sit down at night, I'm exhausted. So I get it. I get that this all seems overwhelming, but there are little tricks that I am learning along the way.
I started writing this post earlier in the week, and added to it as I thought of things, so I hope that it makes sense. It was a crazier week than usual (my washer died so I have been going to a Laundromat or using my mother-in-laws washer until our new set gets delivered, everyone has had some type of appointment that has fill up my "extra" time on my days off, and I started my new training program). In the midst of all of the craziness I found little snippets of time to prepare food for the next few days. I promise you that if you just take an extra hour or two a few days a week to take care of yourself, it will pay off. Trust me! I'm running out of pants that will stay up, so I know it works;)
Food prep: I do my food preps whenever I have time. All of this might seem complicated and time consuming, but I have found that it is just like exercise. I have to set aside a block of time for my food prep and then I it done. There are certain foods that I try to have on hand at all times.
Lean proteins: baked chicken tenderloins (I cook it and then freeze), boiled eggs, almonds, Cottage cheese, Greek yogurt, protein powder, turkey meatloaf muffins (Jamie Eason's recipe), all natural almond/peanut butter and plenty of eggs/egg whites for recipes. I really like hard boil eggs whites. I will cook up about 16 at a time. They are best if stored in their shells with a damp paper towel. I usually eat at least 4 eggs a day, so they get eaten up pretty fast. I also keep ground turkey breast, salmon, shrimp, and chicken breast in my freezer for recipes. Tonight as I was making my family soup for dinner, I also boiled eggs, and made turkey meatloaf meatballs.
Fruits/veggies: apples and bananas are the perfect portable foods. Grabbing a handful of almonds and an apple is the easiest snack ever. I hate to waste food so whenever my bananas start to get a little soft, I peel them and freeze them. On the days that I go grocery shopping I chop up all my veggies to make it easier to make salads, such as celery, cucumbers, tomatoes, and peppers. I will also chop up a large bag of peppers, mushrooms, and/or onions and saute them in a small amount of olive oil. Then I divide the veggies into one cup containers and freeze them. When I need a quick meal, I am able to pull out a lean protein and veggies and throw them into my cooler for lunch the next day or warm them up in the microwave. I also keep lemons on hand to slice up and put in my water. I keep a lot of frozen veggies and fruit on hand too, such as steamables and stir fry, Costco's bag of mixed berries, and blueberries. It's so easy to throw some berries, banana, spinach, and protein powder together for a quick snack. I keep a large container of spinach available for salads, smoothies, soups, and anything else I can create.
Other carbs: I love rice cakes and I found some from Quaker that have 35 calories and 7 grams of carbs. They are a great snack with cottage cheese and cinnamon or almond/peanut butter with a dribble of honey. I also like sweet potatoes. Since sweet potatoes are large, I will bake or dice and saute one and then divide it up into smaller portions. I eat oats nearly every morning. I cook them in the microwave and then add chia seeds, cinnamon, and either blueberries, applesauce, or 1/2 banana for breakfast. Other than that I'm not a big potato fan and I can pass up pasta, bread, and rice pretty easily (unless it's pizza or popcorn).
Packing a cooler: when I clean up dinner on the night before I work, I pack up my cooler for the next day. It's pretty simple with all the food that I prepped. I include a morning snack- usually a smoothie, lunch, and an afternoon snack and an emergency snack - such as an apple and almonds. I also get my bottles of water with lemon ready.
Most important: If it's not in my house I can't eat it! I tried making clean treats and then I froze them so that I would only eat small portions at a time. This did not work. I have no self control. I can't even keep sugary items such as prunes on hand. I honestly will eat the entire bag. Even though something is clean, doesn't mean that you should eat 600 calories of it in one sitting. I drink quite a bit of herbal tea. When I am feeling a craving coming on, I will first drink a cup of tea. If that doesn't work, I will make a smoothie with chocolate Shakeology, ice and water. It really helps with my sugar cravings and munchies.
If you have any tips or recipes that you would like to share, please comment on the blog or on Facebook. I would love to hear from you. Happy prepping!
Life gets crazy and the only thing that saves me from feeding myself and my family from eating junk is food prep. Most of my days start at 5 am. The only time I watch TV during the day is to fold laundry. My kids seem to get easier but harder at the same time. They are self-sufficient to some extent, but they are also very busy. When I finally get to sit down at night, I'm exhausted. So I get it. I get that this all seems overwhelming, but there are little tricks that I am learning along the way.
I started writing this post earlier in the week, and added to it as I thought of things, so I hope that it makes sense. It was a crazier week than usual (my washer died so I have been going to a Laundromat or using my mother-in-laws washer until our new set gets delivered, everyone has had some type of appointment that has fill up my "extra" time on my days off, and I started my new training program). In the midst of all of the craziness I found little snippets of time to prepare food for the next few days. I promise you that if you just take an extra hour or two a few days a week to take care of yourself, it will pay off. Trust me! I'm running out of pants that will stay up, so I know it works;)
Food prep: I do my food preps whenever I have time. All of this might seem complicated and time consuming, but I have found that it is just like exercise. I have to set aside a block of time for my food prep and then I it done. There are certain foods that I try to have on hand at all times.
Lean proteins: baked chicken tenderloins (I cook it and then freeze), boiled eggs, almonds, Cottage cheese, Greek yogurt, protein powder, turkey meatloaf muffins (Jamie Eason's recipe), all natural almond/peanut butter and plenty of eggs/egg whites for recipes. I really like hard boil eggs whites. I will cook up about 16 at a time. They are best if stored in their shells with a damp paper towel. I usually eat at least 4 eggs a day, so they get eaten up pretty fast. I also keep ground turkey breast, salmon, shrimp, and chicken breast in my freezer for recipes. Tonight as I was making my family soup for dinner, I also boiled eggs, and made turkey meatloaf meatballs.
Fruits/veggies: apples and bananas are the perfect portable foods. Grabbing a handful of almonds and an apple is the easiest snack ever. I hate to waste food so whenever my bananas start to get a little soft, I peel them and freeze them. On the days that I go grocery shopping I chop up all my veggies to make it easier to make salads, such as celery, cucumbers, tomatoes, and peppers. I will also chop up a large bag of peppers, mushrooms, and/or onions and saute them in a small amount of olive oil. Then I divide the veggies into one cup containers and freeze them. When I need a quick meal, I am able to pull out a lean protein and veggies and throw them into my cooler for lunch the next day or warm them up in the microwave. I also keep lemons on hand to slice up and put in my water. I keep a lot of frozen veggies and fruit on hand too, such as steamables and stir fry, Costco's bag of mixed berries, and blueberries. It's so easy to throw some berries, banana, spinach, and protein powder together for a quick snack. I keep a large container of spinach available for salads, smoothies, soups, and anything else I can create.
Other carbs: I love rice cakes and I found some from Quaker that have 35 calories and 7 grams of carbs. They are a great snack with cottage cheese and cinnamon or almond/peanut butter with a dribble of honey. I also like sweet potatoes. Since sweet potatoes are large, I will bake or dice and saute one and then divide it up into smaller portions. I eat oats nearly every morning. I cook them in the microwave and then add chia seeds, cinnamon, and either blueberries, applesauce, or 1/2 banana for breakfast. Other than that I'm not a big potato fan and I can pass up pasta, bread, and rice pretty easily (unless it's pizza or popcorn).
Packing a cooler: when I clean up dinner on the night before I work, I pack up my cooler for the next day. It's pretty simple with all the food that I prepped. I include a morning snack- usually a smoothie, lunch, and an afternoon snack and an emergency snack - such as an apple and almonds. I also get my bottles of water with lemon ready.
Most important: If it's not in my house I can't eat it! I tried making clean treats and then I froze them so that I would only eat small portions at a time. This did not work. I have no self control. I can't even keep sugary items such as prunes on hand. I honestly will eat the entire bag. Even though something is clean, doesn't mean that you should eat 600 calories of it in one sitting. I drink quite a bit of herbal tea. When I am feeling a craving coming on, I will first drink a cup of tea. If that doesn't work, I will make a smoothie with chocolate Shakeology, ice and water. It really helps with my sugar cravings and munchies.
If you have any tips or recipes that you would like to share, please comment on the blog or on Facebook. I would love to hear from you. Happy prepping!
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Starting over
This past week was one of those weeks where I just wanted to crawl under a rock and not come out until spring. I try to really limit my "treats" to one, maybe two per week. This week, however, I was very indulgent. Not pre-clean eating indulgent, but I did overdo my treats. I believe that it was all stress eating. The stress: my husband's schedule changed to night shift, our dryer died, my cycle is out of whack, I was a little anxious about this project with KPVI and Gold's Gym, and I have been increasing my mileage and adding some classes at the gym. This week for exercise I did manage to get in Tabata and kettlebell classes on Monday, I ran 7 miles on Tuesday, kettle bell class again on Wednesday, 4 mile pace run and walking on at 30% incline plus core work on Thursday, upper body strength training on Friday, and I ran 15.27 miles on Saturday.
Today I met with my personal trainer, Evelyn, for our initial assessment for this segment on KPVI More. I was happy to learn that I had a body fat percentage of 19.2. Not that I'm proud of this number, but because it is actually less than I had thought that it was. My goal is to get it down to at least 16%. I just have to say that the fat jiggle and pinch test is very humiliating. There are just certain parts of my body that I do not like to have anyone look at let alone jiggle and pinch, such as my back and abdominal fat. It was encouraging though to have Evelyn comment on my bicep muscles and thigh muscles, these fat pinch numbers were my lowest. I'm not sure if Libby filmed this whole procedure, but I'm hoping that if she did, it will make not make it onto the show.
So what I am talking about? What is KPVI More? It is a local talk show that airs on KPVI channel 6, weekdays at 4 pm. My friend, Libby Wood, is the co-anchor and also the founder of my book club. As women often do, we discuss our weight at book club. There are 6 women in our book club: Libby, Melissa, Heidi, Sarah, Monica (who is a fitness instructor and the picture of fitness and health, which is why she is not included in this fitness challenge), and me. Libby came up with the idea of having the 5 of us participate in a fitness challenge because we all have such different shapes, fitness levels, and lifestyles. The sixth member of our group is Melissa's husband, Clayn, to add in a male perspective. Over the next four months, each of us will be working with a trainer at Gold's Gym. On Saturday we met with our trainers for our initial assessments and to set our goals. Next week we will be meeting with our trainers again to get our fitness plan.
My trainer is Evelyn. I have actually known Evelyn for quite awhile and I requested that I have her as my trainer because she also runs marathons. I learned a lot today about what I'm doing wrong and what changes I will need to make. As Evelyn and I talked, it became apparent that the biggest factor that is holding me back is my eating. I stress eat and I am eating too many starches. She discussed with me the importance of making choices and thinking in the terms of what is good, better, and best. She figured out what my daily net-maintenance calories were based on my weight and level of activity. What I will be doing each day is keeping track of the calories that I eat and the calories that I burn. My goal is to have a 500 calorie deficit per day or 3500 calorie deficit per week. She emphasized that I need to eat when I'm hungry. There will be some days that I may go over or be under the allotted number of calories, which is why I will be looking at the weekly average.
She will also be changing up my fitness routine. I really want to beat my personal record (PR) at the Utah Valley Marathon in June and she is going to gear my workouts around this goal. She also didn't think that I was allowing enough time in the week for recovery. I'm really interested to find out what changes she will be making for me. I can be stubborn and I like to do things my own way, but I have decided that I have committed to this project and I will do exactly what Evelyn tells me. That's why I feel like I am starting over.
Today I met with my personal trainer, Evelyn, for our initial assessment for this segment on KPVI More. I was happy to learn that I had a body fat percentage of 19.2. Not that I'm proud of this number, but because it is actually less than I had thought that it was. My goal is to get it down to at least 16%. I just have to say that the fat jiggle and pinch test is very humiliating. There are just certain parts of my body that I do not like to have anyone look at let alone jiggle and pinch, such as my back and abdominal fat. It was encouraging though to have Evelyn comment on my bicep muscles and thigh muscles, these fat pinch numbers were my lowest. I'm not sure if Libby filmed this whole procedure, but I'm hoping that if she did, it will make not make it onto the show.
So what I am talking about? What is KPVI More? It is a local talk show that airs on KPVI channel 6, weekdays at 4 pm. My friend, Libby Wood, is the co-anchor and also the founder of my book club. As women often do, we discuss our weight at book club. There are 6 women in our book club: Libby, Melissa, Heidi, Sarah, Monica (who is a fitness instructor and the picture of fitness and health, which is why she is not included in this fitness challenge), and me. Libby came up with the idea of having the 5 of us participate in a fitness challenge because we all have such different shapes, fitness levels, and lifestyles. The sixth member of our group is Melissa's husband, Clayn, to add in a male perspective. Over the next four months, each of us will be working with a trainer at Gold's Gym. On Saturday we met with our trainers for our initial assessments and to set our goals. Next week we will be meeting with our trainers again to get our fitness plan.
My trainer is Evelyn. I have actually known Evelyn for quite awhile and I requested that I have her as my trainer because she also runs marathons. I learned a lot today about what I'm doing wrong and what changes I will need to make. As Evelyn and I talked, it became apparent that the biggest factor that is holding me back is my eating. I stress eat and I am eating too many starches. She discussed with me the importance of making choices and thinking in the terms of what is good, better, and best. She figured out what my daily net-maintenance calories were based on my weight and level of activity. What I will be doing each day is keeping track of the calories that I eat and the calories that I burn. My goal is to have a 500 calorie deficit per day or 3500 calorie deficit per week. She emphasized that I need to eat when I'm hungry. There will be some days that I may go over or be under the allotted number of calories, which is why I will be looking at the weekly average.
She will also be changing up my fitness routine. I really want to beat my personal record (PR) at the Utah Valley Marathon in June and she is going to gear my workouts around this goal. She also didn't think that I was allowing enough time in the week for recovery. I'm really interested to find out what changes she will be making for me. I can be stubborn and I like to do things my own way, but I have decided that I have committed to this project and I will do exactly what Evelyn tells me. That's why I feel like I am starting over.
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