Monday, April 30, 2012

End of Week 13, and RFSC Week 6 Goals/Motivation

I got 2 new workout DVD's.  Jillian Michaels Extreme Shed and Shred, and JM's Killer Buns & Thighs.  I did Shed & Shred tonight and it was great!  Not as intense as Insanity, but more stick-with-it-able.  I had to modify some moves (and, admittedly, sit a couple out after a few seconds) when the push up variation moves became excessive towards the end.  So it's good to have something to work up to in the workout.  I DID manage to complete 4 jumping jack push ups though!  Whoo-hoo!!!


Your Daily Summary

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358
CALORIES REMAINING
GoalFoodExercise= Net
12101449- 597  852

It seems my TOM may be starting a little early.  I weigh in tomorrow, so it may not be a great indication of anything, really.  I'm ready for that and won't let it effect my emotions too much.  Unless, of course, I'm  back to 145, in which case I'm going to Snoopy dance!

RFSC Goals this past week:

Weight loss: 1.4 lbs on Tues' weigh in, in 2 days.  (146 lbs).  And below 145 by next Tues' weigh in.
SUCCESS!  Last Tuesday I'd lost exactly 1.4 lbs!  I want to be down another lb tomorrow morning, even if it's TOM.

Fitness:  keep the 14 push ups, and bring them lower to the ground.  
?????  Honestly, I can't tell if I'm going any lower, but I've kept the 14.
Add weighted butt crunches and lunges to 2 workouts this week.  
NOPE!  Only added to one workout this week.
Hike/climb and play tennis again this week.  
SUCCESS!  Tennis - yes!  Hike got cancelled, but I did do the stair climb on the mountain trail.
Nutrition:  figure out why I'm bloating and try to improve it.
NOPE!  But I certainly saw what a large tub of popcorn at the movies did to help the matter.  Egads!

NSV:  Try 2 new recipes
SUCCESS!  I tried FOUR!  All were wonderful!  One was a simple homemade pesto, which I'd never made from scratch before.  SOOO easy and so worth it!  The other 3:
Fruit Salsa - strawberries, apples, kiwis, raspberries and blueberries chopped up small, w/ baked cinnamon sugar whole wheat pita bits.
Sugar Snap Pea and Shrimp Curry 
FAB - U- LOUS!!!
My goals for Week 6 - 
Weight Loss:   .8 lbs
NSV:  PRE-PLAN MEALS!  Try a quinoa recipe, cut more bread from diet.  
Fitness:   Keep mixing it up -  strength and cardio, indoors and outdoors, lots of variety.  Play tennis and hike this week.

My favorite motivation pictures:

Hilary Swank looking amazingly fit and toned. 







Sunday, April 29, 2012

Diet vs. Exercise

Exercise-wise, I've had an amazing week!  Food-wise, I've had an indulgent weekend.  I have some work to do in that area.  I've been feeling so confident about my exercise giving me results on the scale that I keep thinking I can "get away with" junk food like yesterday's McDonald's Angus burger and most of a large movie theater popcorn, and today's Italian bread French toast and brownie.  I am not going to get to my goals or feel in control if I keep thinking of exercise as a way to compensate for bad diet choices  I gotta get with the program.  That's gonna have to be my mini goal this coming week - to shift my focus to my food choices more, not just calorie count.


Your Daily Summary

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- 22
CALORIES REMAINING
GoalFoodExercise= Net
12101529- 297  1232





Saturday, April 28, 2012

Lots of food, lots of exercise

Did my early morning freezing tennis, and I feel excellent for it!  The friend I play with is a relatively new friend and a cancer survivor and she loves living life to the fullest...and that seems to include playing tennis as early as necessary rather than say "not this week - gotta work."  Or "not this Saturday - temps are right around freezing."  Nope - we played.  We laughed.  We had a blast.  And we burned over 500 calories.  (And I'm slowly improving my backhand to the point where I don't end up going completely over the fence or accidentally throwing my racket as I hit the ball.)    The best part about tennis, other than this great friend?  We have no rules.  We know the rules, but we don't care all that much who is supposed to serve or if the ball bounced once or twice, etc.  Oh, it's fun!!

Other exercise today:  Walked the long stairway at the start of a mountain trail near my town with my guy.  Long dirt path uphill leading to the stairs, then 3 times up and down the stairs, 16 min total: 150 calories.  I doubled up on the stairs b/c doing so made me ache right where I most want to improve my muscle tone - my quads.  I want that definition down the side of my legs just about as much as I want a flat belly.  My fiance suggested I try it 3 steps at a time next time, even if that means I'm doing full form lunges to reach that far, and have to go considerably slower.  I think I'll try that!

I posted these pics last time I climbed these stairs, but here we go again:


This photo is from some other hiker's blog I found when I google searched images of this trail.  Doncha love that dude sticking his head out from under the staircase like a bridge troll?



Your Daily Summary

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-78
CALORIES REMAINING
GoalFoodExercise= Net
12102031- 743  1288

One more quick spurt of exercise: after a trip into the city tonight, I had to walk from the train to a friend's house to borrow her car to get home.  Mild hill, walked very fast since I had to go past a bar that kinda gives me the creeps with some grubby looking unfamiliars outside, and then down some very dark, empty sidewalks to get to the house.  So like a speedwalk.  It was only like 55 calories, but I tallied it up to counteract some of the crap I ate today:  McDonald's Angus burger (hold the mayo and 1 of the 2 slices of cheese, since y'know, I'm eating healthy here folks...Pass me a fry?), and about 3/4 of a LARGE popcorn at the movies (hold the extra butter b/c...yeah, y'know...)

I think I caught a very teeny tiny glimpse of a new mindset today that may or may not eventually develop into my full fledged mindset....that remains to be seen...But it was focused more on my fitness than on my weight loss.  Like a week may come soon when I don't care what the scale says, but I DO care how many times I can climb these stairs, or how many push ups I can do on my toes.  (Still maxing out at 14, and WOW that 14th is a killer!!  And that's not even consistent - sometimes it's 8.)

This past month I've lost 1 inch from my thighs, .25 inch from my calves, .75 inch from my hips, and not a damn thing from my waist.  (Oddly, my goal was to lose mainly from my waist/belly.  If I'm not gonna, I'd rather keep my big round butt and sizeable thighs intact to hopefully make my waist seem small in comparison.  I'd far prefer this:


to this:

Or this:



Friday, April 27, 2012

Seeing NSV Progress

Wow!  Advanced Tae Bo was always my hard workout.  I've had lots of other video/DVD workouts over the years, but Tae Bo was always challenging because I could always kick higher, contract my abs harder, punch with more force - whatever it took to rev it up and keep it challenging for my muscles and my heart.  And the moves are fun, so it never got boring.

A few weeks ago I bought a new Tae Bo DVD - "Get Ripped Extreme", or something like that.  It's heavy on the arm weights.  The whole 2nd half is upper body and as hard as I want it to be, depending on the weights.  Conversely, the old Tae Bo has a very challenging legwork section at the end.  The new workout burns more calories and I think it's harder overall, though that could just be because it's new to me and I've been doing the old one for 14 years.

I hadn't done the old one since I got the new one.  I've also done Insanity a few times since starting RFSC, and been pushing myself with other new workouts lately.  Tonight I popped in the old Tae Bo though, and am feeling AMAZING to realize that it's gotten significantly less challenging even when giving it my all.  AHHH!!!  How cool is that?!?!  Admittedly, the legwork at the end is still a bitch and a half, so I'll probably keep with it every now and then for that reason.

Your Daily Summary

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-14
CALORIES REMAINING
GoalFoodExercise= Net
12101666- 442  1224


I have a job tomorrow morning that interferes in my new tennis routine.  (Saturdays 9am).  So my friend and I decided to play early enough to get our usual 2 hours, have time to shower and then get to my job.  That means SIX A.M!!!  Not only am I a night owl, NOT a morning person, but we're also having a freeze warning overnight and expect temps at or below 40 degrees F at 6am.  I am so very very un-psyched about this, yet I haven't really considered cancelling.  I think that's a very good sign!

Speaking of getting up early, I think I better get to sleep now.

Motivation time:

NOT how I look playing tennis, but abolutely how I feel.


Thursday, April 26, 2012

Day 87.

Great day.  Fabulous dinner.  Tomorrow's entire menu is pre-planned and perfect.   My only issue is that I only had time to quickly browse other blogs without clicking on many of them to read the whole posts, and I can see there's a lot going on with everyone I'd like to hear about and comment on...Just not enough time.  I'll give it a shot tomorrow.

Exercise: 2.5 mile jog/run on treadmill

Your Daily Summary

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299
CALORIES REMAINING
GoalFoodExercise= Net
12101254- 343  911

Motivation:
From MotiveWeight blog 
Jessica Beil

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Nuthin' but a daily report here...move along folks...nothing to see...

Today's report.  Nothing else to add, except that I made the Paleo Blueberry Coconut Protein Bars that Annie posted on her blog last week, and they were so good I ate 3.  Brilliant, eh?  264 calories later and a very full feeling belly, and I'm feeling remorse instead of satisfaction w/ my new recipe and yummy dessert.


Your Daily Summary

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- 9
CALORIES REMAINING
GoalFoodExercise= Net
12101671-452  1219


Oh, and a tidbit of info to share:

COCONUT FLOUR is soooooo incredibly yummy that you don't even need other ingredients...just a spoon.

Flour Substitutes - Feedback, Advice, Warnings??

Dear fellow bloggers (particularly Annie) -

I'm trying to get a basic understanding of flour alternatives -what/why/how they do what they do in recipes.  I don't dislike wheat or want to avoid it completely, but from what I'm reading it seems there are better options for adding nutritional benefits to a recipe, and to adjust my carb/protein/fat ratios to where they should ideally be.  I LOVE breads.  I don't like puffiness.  I want to try out some new stuff and see how my body responds.  Anyone who has experience with any of these flour alternatives - tips, warnings, rave reviews, etc - would you please add your 2 cents?  I'd really appreciate it.

This is the list I've gotten online, which is rather overwhelming:  


Flour Definition and Uses:
Almond Flour 
Made from ground almonds; sometimes called almond meal.  Almond Meal is high in protein and a small amount can be included in gluten free flour 
mixes. They can also be used in place of dried milk powder in some recipes 
if you are also on a dairy-free diet. Almond flour has been used since 
medieval times as a thickener.  Use Almond flour as 25-33 % of total flour 
blend. 

Buckwheat 
Buckwheat flour is GF even though the name has wheat in it. The plant is 
related to rhubarb. The ground seed produces gray brown flour which is 
nutritious, being a source of easily digested protein. It is high in fiber and is 
also said to reduce cholesterol and lower blood pressure. It is used in 
pancakes, bread, normally mixes with other flours as it has a strong flavor. 
Best when blended with other flours as no more than 20% of the blend. 
(Replace 1 cup wheat flour with 7/8 cup Buckwheat Flour)  

Corn Flour- (Cornstarch) 
Excellent in corn bread, muffins, and waffles—especially when blended with 
cornmeal.  Corn flour is finely ground cornmeal.  Corn Flour is a light, white 
powder often used in GF mixes. It can be used by itself as an excellent 
thickener for sauces. Best when blended with other flours as no more than 
25% of the blend. (Replace 1 cup wheat flour with 1 cup Corn Flour or ¾ 
cup Corn Starch) 

Cornmeal 
Excellent in corn bread, muffins, and waffles—especially when blended with 
corn flour.  Stone ground cornmeal is used to make polenta.  Cornmeal is 
yellow flour, also known as Masa Harina (Masa) and is often used for 
making tortillas. (Replace 1 cup wheat flour with 3/4 cup Cornmeal) 

Millet 
Lends a light yellow tint to baked goods and produces a light, dry crumb 
with a smooth, thin crust.  Millet performs best when blended with other 
flours, comprising no more than 30% of the flour blend.  Millet is very high 
in protein and one of the easier grains to digest.  (Replace 1 cup wheat flour 
with 1 cup Millet Flour) 

Quinoa 
Excellent in all types of baking, including cakes, cookies, breads, and 
biscuits.  Quinoa is a cereal grain from Peru which used to be the staple diet 
of the Incas. It is high in fat and is used in a GF flour mix to add moisture 
to baked goods. It has a pleasant, nutty taste. Good source of vegetable 
protein. Best if blended with other flours no more than 25% of total flours 
and used in highly spiced or flavored foods.  (Replace 1 cup wheat flour 
with 1 cup Quinoa Flour) 

Rice (Brown or White) 
A bit gritty by itself, but works fine when combined with other flours.  The 
coarser the grind, the more liquid needed.  White rice flour is white; brown 
rice flour has a slight tan tint.  Best when blended with other flours as no 
more than 60% of the blend. (Replace 1 cup wheat flour with 7/8 cup Rice 
Flour) 

Sorghum Flour 
Sorghum is another nutritious grain and works very well in all kinds of 
baking, especially bread. It is mild and sweet and very finely ground. It is 
used to add body and moisture to baked goods.  Sorghum is best blended 
with other flours and can comprise up to 50% of the flour blend.  (Replace 1 
cup wheat flour with 1 cup Sorghum Flour) 

Sweet Potato Flour 
Produces baked goods with a great taste and texture.  Its faint sweetness 
will affect gravies and other savory sauces.  Ground from sweet potatoes 
and is hard to find.  Sweet Potato flour is one of the least allergenic foods 
on earth and a good choice for people with multiple sensitivities.   

Tapioca Starch Flour 
Excellent in baked products when it makes up 25-50% of total flour blend.  
Tapioca Starch Flour commonly found in commercial GF flour mixes. Made 
from the root of the Cassava plant, tapioca flour serves to lighten baked 
items and helps impart a good texture with a chewy texture. It has no 
pronounced flavor and quickly and produces crispy coating to breading.  
Best when blended with other flours as no more than 25% of the blend. 
(Replace 1 cup wheat flour with 1 cup Tapioca Flour)