Belly Dancing and Tracking Nutrition (Erin)

Only one quick story today, then I will nerd it up for you. 

Last night, I was talking to my roommate while she looked through old videos. Suddenly she began shrieking in excitement. “ERIN! This is from college! This video! OHHHH! This video!,” she said, waving around a case with two women in belly dancing attire. “It is so much fun!”

I’ve never been one to pass up an opportunity to make an utter fool of myself, so I asked her to put the video in. Thirty seconds later we were deep in an effort to “shimmy” and “drop and kick” and “roll.” It was priceless!

This is what I thought I looked like while we were dancing:

This is what I really looked like when I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror:

Still, it was a good time.

I keep saying it, and I’ll say it again: This is so much easier when you can find fun in activity. My friendships used to revolve around food. We had to go try a new restaurant. We had to get Starbucks. We had to blah blah blah. Now, people know I like to be active. So we end up doing more interesting things together, like belly dancing in the middle of the living room at 10 p.m. My challenge to you is to find an energetic way to catch up with someone this week. You’ll be surprised what fun you’ll have.

Now, the nerdy part. I've been trying to study nutrition-related topics. Here's one for those who think about this kind of thing, too.

CALORIE INTAKE

I always question how many calories I should be eating per day. I use My Fitness Pal (there's a phone app and a web site if you want to check it out) to track everything I eat on a daily basis, and that program calculates how many calories I need. Today I've been toying around with this site to double check the number of calories My Fitness Pal allows me: http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/

The site will lead you through a few calculations and give you a range of calories you should stick to daily. You start by calculating your basal metabolic rate (BMR) -- which I understand to be the calories you need per day to do nothing more than stay in bed -- then you plug your BMR into an equation based on your activity level. (Logically, the more active you are the more calories you need per day to fuel that activity.) At that point you know the calories you'd need on average to maintain your current weight. You reduce that number by 15-20 percent to lose weight. That's what I understood from the process anyway.

Ok, if you totally skipped that last paragraph (don't blame you), My Fitness Pal actually gave me the same number of calories. So you can just use My Fitness Pal to calculate calorie needs. Don't you hate me for giving you a science lesson to come back around to a simple point? Ah well. Learn something new every day. :)

POTASSIUM

My Fitness Pal tracks certain nutritional qualities for me. Besides the usual calories, fat, carbs, and protein, it tracks a few other things like potassium. When I check, my potassium is ALWAYS low. And by low I mean less than half of what it should be. I wondered what that meant so I did a little research.

What potassium does, according to a quick web search:
**Supports a regular heartbeat
**With a low-salt diet it can lower blood pressure and reduce chances of having a stroke
**Reduces anxiety and stress
**Increases muscle strength (They say feeling muscle weakness and/or cramping can be a sign of a potassium defficiency.)
**Decreases odds of low blood sugar
**Can be helpful in treating allergies

How much is recommended per day: 4,700 mg (My Fitness Pal recommends less for some reason. Weird.)

Foods that are a good source of potassium:
**bananas
**avocados
**nuts (almonds, peanuts)
**citrus fruits
**leafy, green vegetables
**milk
**potatoes
**longer list: http://www.med.umich.edu/1libr/aha/HighPotassiumFoodList.pdf

NOTE from WebMD: Potassium supplements may not be safe if you take drugs for diabetes or heart disease.

IRON

Another thing I’m consistently not getting enough of is iron. Besides red meat, these are good sources of iron:
**egg yolks
**leafy greens (That made the potassium list, too. Hmmmm…)
**dried fruit like prunes or raisins (also on a potassium list I read)
**iron-enriched cereals
**mollusks
**turkey or chicken giblets
**beans
**liver
**artichokes
**broccoli
**asparagus
**brussel sprouts
**pumpkin seeds
**canned sardines

Ok, now I see why I never get enough iron.

I read that eating these foods with foods rich in Vitamin C helps your body absorb the iron. Something to consider.

The main reason to watch iron intake it to avoid iron deficiency (signs are fatigue and shortness of breath) and to boost immunity.

FOOD

Moving on, for breakfast I pulled out the blender and made a protein-packed white chocolate mocha! It was good and carried under 300 calories with the benefit of 23g protein. To make it, I mixed 2 scoops of Curves Vanilla Protein Powder with a cup of skim milk, 1 T instant coffee, and 2 T white chocolate powdered jello. After adding a few ice cubes I threw it all in the blender to mix. I have to say, I was surprised that it was that good.

I'm trying to continue finding creative recipes and workouts. Variety is the spice of life, yes?

Hope everyone is having a wonderful week so far!

Being Bendy and Recent Culinary Adventures (Erin)

I don't talk a lot about  my workouts these days because they're pretty routine. Three strength training sessions and three running days a week. I try to add in a Zumba class and maybe a round of disc golf with friends. It's all about being more active on the whole, right?

Well, today I tried yoga. It was interesting. I was in a beginner's class that lasted about an hour and fifteen minutes. The first half was devoted to strength training. I learned a lot! Mainly, we focused on learning to breathe deeply and maintaining good posture. (It's amazing how lazy I am with my posture! I sit hunched over, with my spine totally out of alignment. That cannot be good.) Once you align your body to the pose you feel so strong! And I learned about distributing my weight. As a clumsy person, I don't think about this often enough. It was good to be more aware of myself, and to get a little stronger. (You don't realize how hard it is to hold up your own body weight!)

Anyway, it was a really good experience. I recommend trying a class if you're up for it. There were several overweight participants who held their own, so don't be too worried. Just be aware that you will have to hold your own weight up -- so you may want to see if holding the downward dog position is too much for you. If it isn't, you can probably hang. (Here's how to do the downward dog: http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/491)

On the food side of things, here's what I've been eating and drinking lately:

I found a low-fat chocolate milk at Wendy's! You know I shared that chocolate milk is supposed to be the ideal post-workout food. (Your body needs carbs and protein to repair itself after you've worked out.) This felt like such a treat!

Also...

I made chicken burgers, another recipe from Skinny Taste (http://www.skinnytaste.com/2011/05/chicken-parmigiana-burgers.html). The first picture shows how amazing the bread looked with 1/4 cup part-skim mozzarella melted on top. I couldn't help myself. The second shows the assembled burger, with marinara sauce. 

I couldn't find seasoned chicken patties, so I added half a cup of Italian bread crumbs and 1/4 cup marinara sauce to a pound of ground chicken. After that, my food scale helped me portion the meat into four patties. 

This was great! The only thing I would note is that I enjoyed it more when I stopped making it a sandwich. I put a chicken patty down with marinara sauce and parmesan cheese on top and refrigerated leftovers that way. (The flavors really had time to meld together.) Then I ate about 2 ounces worth of ciabatta bread on the side.  Highly recommend this one.

AND I made oven-baked fajitas. I found a simple recipe where you mix a pound of boneless, skinless chicken breasts (cut into chunks) with olive oil (2 tablespoons or less) and a packet of fajita seasoning mix. Then you add sliced bell pepper, onion, and tomato and mix before baking. I baked at 400 degrees until the chicken was done. My favorite way to have this is on a Mission Carb Balance tortilla, which really packs in the fiber. Top that with light sour cream and a little shredded cheese and I'm a happy girl. I had some local tomatoes to add to the meal. That really set it off for me, I love fresh tomatoes!

So that's what's going on with me. Thanking God that things are on track. Feeling stronger lately as I continue finding healthy recipes and increase my stamina with running.

One fun thing that I forgot to mention is that my gym is doing a biggest loser challenge. I decided to participate, mainly so I'm more accountable for my workouts and progress. They monitor workouts, water consumption, and weight loss. This was the first of six weeks I'll be competing to be the biggest loser. I'm excited to see how much stronger I'll be in five weeks!

Hope everyone is on track. If not, you can be as of right now. No worries.

My Best Friend (Erin)

I just read Ally's last post. My face might crack in two I'm smiling so big. 

It's funny how having an outstanding friend can really turn things around.
Ally and I have been friends since we were kids. Growing up together,
and even going to college together, we have been there for each other
through a lot of changes. And it has been an overwhelming blessing
to know her.

Since we started this journey of getting into shape, we have
continued to help each other grow. Some days it's her texts
and calls that keep me on track. 

I don't know if we've said this or not, but we live 2.5 hours away from
each other. (After college I moved to take a job.) That's part of the
reason we started blogging, to share pictures and stories with
each other in an organized way. 

Since I don't see her every day or even every week I really notice the
changes in her when we finally get to catch up. Last weekend, I went
home and invited her to run. When I showed up at the track, I saw
her car on the other end. I figured she must be there.
Then I saw this girl walking toward me. I honestly did not recognize
that it was Ally for a minute. If it hadn't been for that big familiar smile
I would've walked right by her.
That's how drastically different she looks now from the last time
I saw her. 

Don't get me wrong, Ally has always been one of the most beautiful
friends I have. If you know her, you know she is the life of the party.
And if her personality isn't enough, she has blue eyes and a mega
watt smile. It's pretty amazing to see her as she loses weight
because she's still the gorgeous friend I remember but she's also
carrying her head higher and bouncing around with even more
energy than normal. (Watch out!) 

I was so amazed by the transformation. I probably freaked her out
a little. I kept looking her over, with my jaw on the ground,
telling her how great she looked. (And making sure I had
the right girl.) But she really did look amazing!
I couldn't help my own awkwardness! :)

We were joking before we ran. I told her that I'm slower than
Christmas. Her reply was, "What's slower than Christmas? That's
what I am." So we joked that I was Christmas and she was the
after-Christmas sales. Turns out, she had a quicker pace than I
did! But we kept up with each other pretty well. As hard as it
is to jog, I realize now that we've come a long way in building
stamina. What we're doing now, I couldn't have dreamed of
even two months ago. It just takes time to get good at this.
We've got time. :)

Ally and I have been at our heaviest during earlier parts of our
friendship. We have been the kind of friends that make a pan full
of brownies and watch chick flicks all night. We have been the
friends that get caught up over curly fries. But now we're the kind
of friends that e-mail healthy recipes
and work in time to jog together. I am really thankful to see us here.
And I can tell that this new way of life is reshaping (literally)
Ally and me. I'm telling you, I really would've walked right past her
if that smile hadn't made me look twice.
She has done so well for herself, and it shows! 

I hope you have a friend like that. We all need at least one person who
can help us through the growing pains. I'm so thankful to be sharing
this experience with Ally.

I look forward to running a 5k with her and realizing how much
stronger we've gotten together in a year. (The 5k is just over
our 1 year mark in living healthy lifestyles.) I also (a little vainly)
look forward to the day we buy little black
dresses and go out to celebrate reaching our goals together.
Thank God for friends who make us better people,
and inspire us with their own progress.

My Best Friend (Ally)

It has been over a month since my last blog. :( I have not changed any of my habits, I just am not a very good blogger! I have a hard time thinking up ideas, and putting my thoughts into words. But I had to write this week. I find it easy to write when I get to brag on my best friend.

Erin came home this weekend and asked me to go to the track with her. I really didn't want to work out as much as I wanted to catch up with her. But I knew I had to exercise at some point, why not with Erin. First off, she looks amazing. Neither of us has reached our goal weight ( I have a looooong way to go), but even with the 40+ pounds she has lost, I can tell a huge difference. She looks amazing! I also noticed her confidence levels were higher than ever. Don't get me wrong, Erin and I have never had too many problems feeling good about ourselves, but she just carried herself differently. She just seemed excited about life and ready to take on and conquer this walk/jog.

Jogging with my best friend is something I never really thought I would do. I am impressed with her stamina. I am going to have to step up my game to hang with her during our 5K. She is making serious progress! If it were last year, we would have met at a coffee place and caught up over an iced white mocha or some other 600 calorie treat. Instead we burned calories and had a blast doing it.  I am quite sure we burned plenty of calories, because not only were we walk/jogging, but we were laughing and having a blast. Laughing burns calories right!?

I am writing this post to say how encouraged I am by Erin and her determination. I feel very blessed to have a friend that is changing her life and helping me change mine. She makes this entire adventure in weight loss easier.

As far as my progress goes, I am still on track. I am down 48 pounds and I have almost joined the 220 club. Dang scale said 230 even. I couldn't even get a 229.9. :) The hundred club is just around the corner!

I hope you all are feeling encouraged and motivated today to do something to better yourselves. Stay strong!

Grace (Erin)

Today we're having a potluck at work. I dread these days because every food I hate to love is paraded around with the added pressure that a favorite coworker brought it...don't you want to try a piece?!

Sometimes I take my cheat meal and go with it. But lately I'm trying to get my stress in check and be sure I don't go overboard. (Sometimes you know you're a little more at risk of that than others with social engagements and temptations. I just have to back off and stop doing it all at some point so I don't wreck myself.)

After mentally preparing myself for the day, I was pleasantly surprised to see this in the break room, next to two boxes of donuts:

What a nice mix of fruit! Thank God for that one coworker (or maybe those few coworkers) who brings something healthy that is still such a treat.

My plan for surviving is to hole up in a friend's office and eat my newest creation (chicken chili) from Skinny Taste: http://www.skinnytaste.com/2008/11/crock-pot-chicken-taco-chili-4-pts.html
I can catch up with everyone at a time when they're not stuffing their faces with friend chicken. Right? Right.

I had oven-roasted veggies over the weekend. They were wonderful!

I combined squash, broccoli, cauliflower, and mushrooms with olive oil, salt, and pepper before roasting. After roasting I sprinkled a little shredded parmesan cheese over the top. Oh. It. Was. Good.

I made spaghetti with ground chicken and tomato sauce, too. It was so good a guy friend who hates "health food" had about half the pot. I'm not going to lie, all I used was a pound of ground chicken and a jar of sauce over garden noodles. It was no work of art, but it certainly hit the spot.

Like I said, I'm going through one of those times when it'd be easy to mess up. I'm stressed. I have a lot going on socially (which always means added pressure to eat out or eat decadent food a friend made). My focus is on being creative in cooking healthy meals and working out so I can try to avoid the easy way out -- which for me is being lazy and getting takeout.

I'm learning that there's a lot of maintenance work in living a healthy lifestyle. You have to continually choose it or other things can slip in and throw off your progress. I'm learning to stick it out and be strong during the hard times.

The two biggest check-points for me have been monitoring the quality of my food and eating regularly throughout the day. Like I mentioned last week, I had been skimping on produce. That really doesn't work out for me. For one thing, fruits and veggies keep me full without a ton of calories. And, well, what's so healthy about just counting calories? I want to eat food that nourishes me, not just food that slims me. SO I've been paying more attention to what's fresh in the produce section and trying to fill in a lot of gaps in my daily eating plan with those foods. It really does help me avoid those hunger pangs.

Then there's eating regularly throughout the day. This is another part of controlling hunger pangs. I eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner plus two snacks. This takes a lot of planning ahead, because I want to make the food (so I know the nutrition facts) rather than buy things pre-made (read: expensive, do not know exact ingredients and therefore do not know the nutrition facts most of the time). My solution this week, for example, was to make a crockpot full of chicken chili and a pot of rice (which the chili will be poured over). I can package that in portions and have it ready to grab-and-go in the morning before work. I do the same thing with fruit that needs to be prepared, like pineapple. Whatever I can do to create grab-ready food I do. I'm not a morning person, so all I need to have to think about is making it out of the house with three containers from the fridge and a bag full of pre-packed water and snacks. Nothing more complicated, please. 

I hope everyone is encouraged. If you're having a hard time, hang in there until it gets better (as my grandmother says). It'll be worth sticking it out, and you'll grow into a stronger person for learning to do so. No one is ever successful at this without time and growth. It's for life, not the next six months. Anything you have to learn for the long haul is bound to take some adjustment. No big deal. Just hang in there.

Your friend,

Erin

Temptation and Scales (Erin)

Yesterday was one of -those- days. I haven't been sleeping well, which always makes me want to eat. I guess my body thinks I can compensate for being sleepy and sluggish with energy from food. Twisted huh? I ended up going overboard at dinner. My friends had a big meal together and it was on and poppin' as soon as the homemade mac and cheese made an appearance and wrecked my healthy combo of ham and salad. Then there was this piece of apple pie...ok, and maybe a piece of cornbread before that... I was not the poster child for self-control, let's just leave it at that.

I was trying to think of ways to get myself back on track. Obviously I'm going to catch up on sleep. This energy problem is not going to get better a second before that happens. After that, I'm getting back on track with my daily food goals. One thing I've been struggling with is getting all my fruits/veggies in. I try to have at least five servings a day, which has dwindled to three over the past few days. If I were doing better with getting those five plus servings in I'd be more satisfied throughout the day and actually have better nutritional quality. My plan is to go by the grocery store tonight and buy a load of produce with the goal of eating it before the weekend is over.

Ideas so far:
**roasted vegetables - http://www.skinnytaste.com/2009/09/oven-roasted-cauliflower.html - I'll probably mix cauliflower, broccoli, yellow squash, and mushrooms.
**strawberries
**beans, cooked with onion and a slice of ham for flavoring
**pineapple
**tomato (roasted with a little cheese)
**peaches

In fact, I may hit the farmer's market and see what I can find.

I'm also going to drink more tea over the weekend. It relaxes me. And they say three cups of green tea per day boosts metabolism. After last night I need all the help I can get! I like to have hot tea with a teaspoon of honey, so I'm going to try to increase how often I do so.

Like I always say, I don't think it's bad to have a splurge here and there when you're planning for it. I personally cheat one meal a week - I'm not going to sugar coat that. If I feel like certain foods are completely off limits I will mess up. (Maybe it's the whole 'forbiden fruit' allure.) My cheat meal keeps me from getting to that point. I know I can have what I want, I just wait for the appropriate time to indulge. My problem is that this week I seem to be struggling to keep it to one meal a week. And my goal is to consistently eat well. So I'm trying to get these here-and-there splurges in check.

Ok, now I want to talk about things that tick a girl off. My bathroom scale started showing signs it was on its death bed. Namely, my weight would fluctuate by four pounds in 30 seconds. (I always weigh three times in a row, to make sure it's giving me the same number.) So I broke down and bought a new one. When I got home, I tried the new scale and old scale out at the same time to see how far off the numbers were. Guess what? They're FOUR pounds different!

*sigh*

I hate the new scale. I'm with the Mom:

Anyway, here's to a new day. Creating new habits and learning to overcome problems is what it takes to make it. I'm thankful to know that my sleep cycle needs to be fixed so I can get back on track. Now, I'm going to do it. Let's try to remember we have to maintain this effort. Well, really we have to maintain our own minds. And part of that is seeing what's causing the problem, the rest of it is taking action to fix it. Here's to action.

Update (Erin)

I decided to make the jalapeno popper stuffed chicken! It's not as pretty as the Skinny Taste picture, but it was delicious.

I posted the recipe last blog if you're curious. One note: I didn't have plain toothpicks so I used the colored kind. The color bleeds onto your food. Did you know that? I sure as heck didn't so I'm providing a warning. :) Also, you should soak the toothpicks in water before using them to close the chicken and putting them in the oven. I pulled scorched toothpicks out of my chicken. No big deal, I guess, but it's good to be aware.

After a bad night's sleep, I skipped the gym Monday in favor of resting. Last night I doubled my workout to do strength training followed by a run. It was not fun, but it's over and I'm on track again.

Yesterday I went out with coworkers for lunch. It was a good way to break up the day since I was stuck in meetings all afternoon. The thing is...no one ever wants to go to Subway. You know? They wanted to go to a Cajun restaurant. Let's think about this, is there anything healthy on the menu at a Cajun restaurant? NO! Ok, let's be really honest: HELL no! So it's probably a good thing I had to get two workouts in, because I needed to burn a few extra calories after spending about 800 on lunch. (And that was the lowest cal thing I could find on the menu.)

Speaking of food and working out, I found this quick and dirty guide to nutrition before and after a workout (link below) to share with you. The best part? Chocolate Milk. If you read far enough down you'll see that 8 ounces of chocolate milk is the ideal blend of carbs and protein for building muscle and repairing the body after a workout. Who doesn't love to hear that? Of course we're encouraged to buy low-fat chocolate milk, but we already guessed that much, right? (NOTE: I went to buy chocolate milk. Have you ever looked at the nutrition label? There are 180 calories in 8 ounces of low-fat chocolate milk! Maybe I'll skip that after all and find something else on the list.)


I can't upload the graphic, but click this link to view it: http://greatist.com/health/the-complete-guide-to-workout-nutrition/

My workouts are still going strong. I've increased my distance - I now run 60 percent of my first mile and a quarter of the second. My goal is to be able to semi-comfortably run a mile by the end of June.

Ally is doing well, too. She's down 43 pounds last time we talked and running about 75 percent of a mile. The girl is inspiring. She's had to be my sanity lately. After I finished strength training yesterday, I had no desire to go for a run. But Ally got me into the right frame of mind, and I did get that run in.
This is a busy week so I'm trying to keep my head up and focus on my priorities. My goals are:

1) My usual 3 runs and 3 strength training workouts

2) One Zumba class

3) One yoga class

4) Stay on track with nutrition/calorie counting through Sunday

Food and Humor (Erin)

I've been a flying off the radar lately, but things are still going well. Since I don't have any major updates, I'm going to share some link and humor today. I don't know about you, but that's what inspires me on a Monday.

Tonight I'm planning on making some version of stuffed chicken. These appeal most:

**Cheesy Jalapeno Popper Stuffed Chicken (Skinny Taste)
http://www.skinnytaste.com/2012/04/cheesy-jalapeno-popper-baked-stuffed.html

**Chicken Rollatini with Spinach (Skinny Taste)
http://www.skinnytaste.com/2011/04/chicken-rollatini-with-spinach-alla.html

I'm starting to feel guilty over how often I eat KFC grilled chicken breasts. When they call you "grilled chicken breast girl" instead of your actual name, it's time to pause and reflect. Thought a nice, homemade chicken feast with plenty of leftovers for the next few days might make me feel a little better. :)

Recently I tried these mini cheesecakes (just under 100 calories each) and must share the recipe:
http://www.skinnytaste.com/2012/05/red-white-and-blueberry-cheesecake.html

Now, let's laugh.