Thursday, February 4, 2010

Food Glorious Food!

Well, I'm slowly getting my motivation back thanks to Annie over at The Amazing Shrinking Girl (http://annie-shrinkinggirl.blogspot.com/) and others. I stumbled across her blog a couple weeks ago and finished reading her archives yesterday. We have very similar backgrounds, minus the fact that she lives in Hawaii and I live in the good ol' Midwest! We have a similar body type (both short and round...well, I'm still round, she's not!) and we were both athletes and are trying to get back into that lifestyle. Well, I'm trying, she already has! Anyway, as I was reading, I realized a few things...

#1 I can change my lifestyle and I will change my lifestyle.

#2 It won't happen overnight, as much as I want it to.

#3 I need to be more strict about my diet.

#4 I need to push myself during my workouts in order to get the results I want.

#5 I need to make myself go to the gym even when I don't want to and make myself not eat junk food.

#6 Nobody can do this for me, it's my responsibility. Nobody forced me to be lazy and drink beer in college. Nobody will force me to eat healthy and go to the gym either.

The last one I think is the most important. In all the weight loss blogs I've read, a lot of people have said the same thing and it seems like the hardest thing to do. It's easy to not workout and to eat pizza when that's what you're used to doing. It's hard to eat egg whites and veggie sausage instead of fluffy pancakes and bacon for breakfast and it's hard to run on the treadmill when you're out of shape.

BUT...the people who succeed in losing weight realize that it's not about "giving up" your favorite foods or putting yourself through "torture" at the gym. They change their entire mindset. Healthy food is no longer bland and boring, it's fuel your body needs to survive and stay well. Exercise is like a jolt to your body. It wakes you up, gets your blood pumping and makes you feel alive. Sitting on the couch just doesn't have the same effect. So, the hardest part for me right now is getting in that frame of mind. I'm about 50% there. There are days where I want to do nothing and that's fine if I've just been to the gym for the past 5-6 days. Then, it's time for a break.

There are also days, like today, when I just want to eat pizza and french fries (thank you, TOM). It seems like around the TOM, my cravings are super hard to ignore. Any other time, I can usually just brush it off but those damn hormones are relentless. I also feel exhaused for no reason and my head throbs for about a day or two. This doesn't make me want to workout.

Anyway, in order to stay more on track with my diet, I'll start posting my food for the day. I know that if I have to type out that I ate pizza for lunch that I'll be embarassed and won't eat it. Also, all the food I eat is all-natural (no chemicals, preservatives, colors or flavors) unless I either eat out or someone else's food. I do not eat a lot of meat and I try to stay away from cookies and ice cream. I do not count calories either but I do eyeball my portions. However, just from keeping a food journal for a few days, I realize I need more protein and more fiber. So, I'm increasing the amount of protein powder I consume on a daily basis and also trying to eat more fish.

I'm also hopeful that people (shout-out to my 4 followers! lol) will throw in their two cents and give me suggestions/criticisms based on my food for the day.

Also coming soon will be body measurements, weigh-in updates and if I'm brave enough, pictures!

So, here's what I ate yesterday and I will post tonight about what I will eat today:

Breakfast: 1/2 cup steel-cut oats + 1 cup water + 1 tbsp maple syrup + dash of cinnamon, green tea + 1 tsp sugar.

Mid-morning Snack: carrots + 2 tbsp peanut butter + 1/4 dry roasted edamame (any suggestions on how to make this stuff taste better? It's a great snack but kinda tastes like eating crispy cardboard)

Lunch: tuna salad - I make this at the beginning of the week using 11 oz. package of Starkist tuna in water + 2 tbsp vegenaise + 1 tbsp Jack Daniel's Horseradish mustard + carrots + celery + pepper. 1 slice whole grain bread, Stonyfield organic low fat blueberry yogurt, pink lady apple.

Mid-Afternoon/Pre-workout Snack: 1 hard-boiled egg + 1/4 cup dry roasted edamame.

Post-Workout Smoothie (1 cup soymilk, 1/2 cup blueberries, 2 scoops vanilla protein powder)

Dinner (I ate at my aunt's house for my grandma's birthday and she cooks with lots of butter and salt so I didn't eat much and this is not my usual dinner!): 1/4 cup peas, 1/4 cup corn, 2 oz. ham, 1/2 cup homemade mac 'n cheese and a small piece of cake. I was hungry after I got home so I made a Taste of Thai instant noodle soup (yes these are bad and it was the last one we had and I'm not buying anymore!).

So, I'll post again tonight with what I've eaten today and it will be pretty similar for the most part, except dinner.

4 comments:

  1. Great post...summarizes a ton of good, realistic, and inspirational info from blogs you follow. My big suggestion is to log your food first in one of the databases that gives you feedback on calories and then you can likely copy/paste (screenshot) that info back into your blog if you like.

    There are many that eat only healthy foods, but still eat too many calories. I imagine that 11oz of tuna is actually more calories than you think, though it is awesome protein.

    Sounds like you've got some new energy to implement your plan!

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  2. Thanks Kyle!

    Just to clarify though - I use an 11oz pack of tuna to make a big bowl of tuna salad and I just take small portions out of that every day for lunch. So, it takes me 4-5 days to get through the whole thing.

    Also, I have an account on FatSecret and I've been logging there, too. I'll try the screenshot thing too.

    And yes, of course, a common misconception that people have is healthy food = low calories. This isn't true!

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  3. Do you like wasabi? The first edamame I tried was actually wasabi flavored, which I found to be really tasty. Then I tried just the dry roasted. Cardboard, indeed.

    There's also a mix of dry roasted edamame with goji berries that isn't too bad.

    (I love those Thai noodle soups!)

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  4. Thanks for the shout out!

    And edemame... my FAVE! Are you buying the pre-roasted kind or the kind in the shell (frozen or fresh)? the dry-roasted ones are kinda hard to flavor up already, but the shelled ones and super easy and can be done up in so many ways. I've grown up eating them boiled in the shells, but as a I grew up I started adding things to the water that I use to boil them in.

    You might want to try some minced garlic, a little sea salt, some ginger, minced hot peppers... the list goes on!

    Let us know if you try any!

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