The lbs

{Weigh In}

I am not sure if I weighed in last week. If I did, I did not record it. But, I weighed in this morning {which I do on Monday mornings, first thing in the morning, after I use the restroom}. And today I weighed in at 175.4. That is a loss of 1.7 pounds since my weigh in a week and half ago!

Progress might be slow but I want to do this the healthy way. I want to educate myself as I go and learn from my mistakes. I lost about 4 lbs the first month. I was a little disappointed but my mom made a good point. She said, "Just imagine if you lose 4 lbs a month for 6 months. You are making progress." I just need to keep with this. I will have my good weeks and bad weeks. I am sure I will lose a lot one week and slow down another but what is most important is I am losing and I feel great!

Healthy Wishes,
Alex

cal-or-ies

Here is the best definition I could find for the word calories:


Okay, out of all seriousness, calories are little buggers. They restrict the foods I can eat, make my workouts longer & harder and well, determine if I am going to lose this weight! So, what exactly is a calorie?

cal·o·rie
(kl-r)
n.
1. Abbr. cal Any of several
approximately equal units of heat, each measured as the quantity of heat
required to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water by 1°C from a standard
initial temperature, especially from 3.98°C, 14.5°C, or 19.5°C, at 1 atmosphere
pressure. Also called gram calorie, small calorie.

Come again? The definition of a calorie can seem a bit, confusing? So, what is important to know about calories and how it will affect weight loss and in the future, weight maintenance.

I have found that there are two numbers that are imperative to understand while on the journey of weight loss. The first is my BMR. BMR stands for basal metabolic rate. This number is the number of calories that your body needs to function at the most basic level {it is what you would burn if you laid in bed all day}. It is easy to find a BMR calculator online, or for all you mathematicians out there, here is the formula:

Women: 655 + (4.35 x weight in lbs) + (4.7 X height in inches) - (4.7 X age in years)

Men: 66 + (6.23 x weight in lbs) + (12.7 x height in inches) - (6.8 x age in years)

{Yeah, just google BMR calculator}

My BMR is 1602 calories. This is what I could eat if I wanted to be lazy all day and maintain my weight.

So, what is my calorie intake goal if I want to lose weight?

Next, I went to myfitnesspal.com. It calculated my net calorie consumed number {this is how many calories I can eat - how many calories I burn}. Given my height, weight and age, it gave me a total of 1270 calories per day, burning 2,320 calories per week, 386 per day. If I add the 386 calories to my net total, it gives me a grand total of 1656 calories per day {pretty close to my BMR, right?}

Are you still with me? So, with all this mumble jumble and if I round numbers to make it easier, I can eat about 1600 calories per day, as long as I burn a minimum of 400 calories during exercise.

Why did I rant on and on about calories? Well, that is the ONLY way to lose weight! There are no magic pills or shots. Diets do not work. There is no magical drink or super power food. It is all about CALORIES! Jillian Michaels said,

"It's mostly true that a calorie is a calorie is a calorie. The difference between eating 1,500 calories of Oreo's and eating 1,500 calories of chicken is fairly minimal in terms of actual weight gain...."

Obviously there is a little more to it when you're looking to get into the best shape of your life and understanding metabolic rates and macronutrients. But after all this calorie talk, I think I need a brain break.

I have been trying to avoid doing a food journal but I don't think that is an option anymore.

Healthy Wishes,

Alex

fav.CRAVE.rave

Since I started this new health kick, I have started to fall in love with cooking again. I am figuring out how to organize my time wisely and cook one time for multiple meals. I have come up with easy, on-the-go snacks, but there is nothing like a good ol' home cooked meal. Here is my current fav:


Avocado Chicken Parmigiana

{Did I mention I LOVE Avocados and will eat them with anything?} Anyways, this meal is easy, quick, healthy & the the left overs taste good too! :)

Tonight, I made it with brown rice & asparagus. The brown rice takes 10 minutes and I just put Olive Oil and S&P on the asparagus and threw it on the same pan as the chicken when it went back into the oven for the last 10 minutes.

Here is the link to the recipe & step-by-step instructions (Doesn't get easier than that folks!):

http://ellenaguan.blogspot.com/2011/11/avocado-chicken-parmigiana.html

Healthy Wishes {and good eating!},

Alex

Ah-ha

About 5 1/2 weeks in and I am feeling better than I have in years! I am taking this journey one day and a time. I am truly trying to learn from my bad habits and past mistakes so I can make this a lifestyle change.

Today (Saturday) I went to the gym with my cousin Dani, who has a B.S. in Exercise Science, is a NASM Certified Personal Trainer and has been an athlete her entire life. We decided to do some circuit training, inspired by Jillian Michaels.

Today's Workout:
1 Mile Warm Up (8.57 minutes)
Scorpion Pushups, Dumbbell Flys on Body Ball with Crunches, Leg Extensions, Jump Squats, Decline Dumbbell Presses, V Cable Flys, Squat Thrusts, Side Lunges, Close Grip Push-ups, Plank-ups, Jump Squats, One-leg squats, Military Shoulder Press, Wood Choppers, Knee Tuck Jumps, Static Lunges with Lateral Shoulder Raise, Reverse Crunches, Hanging Abs with a twist.
Finishing with 30 second sprints (5 in 5 minutes)

Ouch. I love it and hate it at the same time. She let me borrow her book, 'Making the Cut,' by Jillian Michaels. I started reading it today and surprisingly, I found a few things in there not only about the physical body but also about the mind & soul.

...There are three steps involved. The first is imagining your goals...

...The second step is adopting a positive attitude and having faith in your ability to achieve those goals. Everything in the universe is energy and information., including your belief system. On a quantum mechanical level your body is no different from the body of the universe. By choosing to change the energy and information within your own body, you change the energy and information around you, thus causing things to happen...

... The third step is actualizing your goals...

That second step stuck out to me. By choosing to change the energy and information within your own body, you can change the energy and information around you... Now, this is something I have always believed in. It goes hand in hand with Karma. Karma dictates that our thoughts and actions affect our destiny. This things play a huge role in my spiritual self but I have never used these thoughts to reflect my physical goals. (Big ups Jillian Michaels)!

Change your thoughts & change your world... mind body & soul.

Healthy Wishes,

Alex

P.s. Weigh in on Monday. Wish me luck!

Month 1... Done!

Okay, lets be honest. Blogging about the good stuff is great! Blogging about the setbacks? Um, not so great. But I want this to be a real & honest journey. I so wish I could be writing that I am right on track & I am doing perfectly. But that is not reality. Losing weight is hard. With all these fad diets, pills, shots, 5 min abs, lose 10 lbs in 48 hours, ect, ect, ect, our society is creating false hope for people & thus, only contributing to the obesity and 'out-of-shape' epidemic.


I weighed in the other day on my 1 month mark.

The positives: I lost 3.6 lbs!

The negatives: My goal was 8 lbs.

Here are my thoughts:

This isn't the Easy Highway, Honey!: I really thought this would be easier. I started exercising 3-5 times per week, eating a little bit better, drinking more water. Now, these are all great but it just isn't enough. If I was wanting to maintain my weight, I think the steps I have taken would do just that. But I am trying to lose this weight.... forever (Unless I ever decide to get get preggers again. Not like I planned the first one but you catch my drift).

What do you mean when you say stricter diet?: I have made huge changes, massive! Okay, maybe not massive. I really thought that with all my exercising, I could allow myself a few unhealthy meals a week. Sorry Sista! Eating sweets and snacks late at night was easy and the weight just grew on my hips without a worry but it is going to take some work to get these lbs off my not so flat abs.

Let the positives push you & the negatives motivate you: I started January, running or biking for 30 minutes in the cinema room at Gold's Gym. Today, I ran 6 (that was not a typo), 6 miles in 55 minutes in the main cardio area and finished my workout with 15 minutes of abs! Can you say improvement! I am so proud of myself! I have NEVER, even in my best of days, ran 6 miles straight! Okay so maybe I have room to learn and I still have a lot of changes to make but I am going to pat myself on the back for that one.

What goes up, must come down... but can go back up?: At one point this month I weight 174. That was a 6.7lb loss! So how did I gain back those 3? Hmmm... maybe my scale is broken? Look, I had a few weeks that were better than others. Now I just need to learn how to keep the good ones going continually.

Time is on my side: 1 month down and 5 to go (till my 6 month mark). I still have plenty of time! I got this!

So, as I continue this journey to a healthier (and sexier) new me, I can say at 1 month, I am proud of myself for how far I have come and am ready to learn from what didn't work in month 1 and make some changes for month 2, so I can get those lbs down a little more.

I have been trying to lose this weight for over 4 years... this is it... I feel it.

Healthy Wishes,

Alex

Moderation Tip

It is all about portion control! One thing that has helped me a lot thus far is having measuring cups and spoons readily available to measure portion sizes.

When making things like oatmeal, cottage cheese & fruit, peanut butter or even eating a sporadic treat, being able to measure out a portion has and will help me to count calories and has taught me more about portion controlling. If you are going out, slip them into a plastic baggy so you can measure out dressings, sauces and other foods to help you so you don't over eat! A little bit really does go a long way! :)

I went and bought an extra set of cheap, but cute, plastic measuring cups & spoons at Target. No way was I going to pack around my William & Sonoma measuring cups!

Healthy Wishes,

Alex

Still Going!

It is February! I started this journey almost 1 month ago....eeeek! In 4 days, I will weigh in to get my monthly weight loss, and to be honest, I am a little nervous. My weight has gone up & done this month. I lost over 4lbs, gained a pound, lost a pound, gained two pounds, lost one pound... COME ON! Lets be honest, this is harder then I thought but I am NOT giving up!

Positives This Month

I have been working out 4-5 days per week!! I started working out in the Cinema Room at Gold's Gym. It is dark and no one pays much attention to other people so this was perfect, as I was just getting started. Tonight, I ran in the regular cardio section. :) I am getting in the groove of things. I feel confident and to be honest, I don't care what people think. I am doing this for me! I started this month running 2 miles and Saturday, I ran 5.5 miles in 54 minutes! I still got it! I have always been a runner and it is something I pick up easily but the extra weight is making it a little harder. I can't wait till I am a little lighter and a little faster.

I have also been getting more comfortable with weights, TRX bands and doing circuit training. It is like riding a bike: You can go years without riding a bike but you can jump back on, may be a little wobbly at first, but you can still ride.

Water Water Water! I have been drinking tons of water! I have had an occasional Diet Coke but I have made it a habit to always have a water bottle on me.

Things to Work On

My diet has improved immensely but I still have a lot of improving to do! I did think this was going to be easier so I gave myself one too many free meals. I have been exercising so much more so I kind of figured it would balance out. I need to pay more attention to calorie intake, which has been hard me.

I need to add variety to my diet! I have been eating healthier foods but I am getting bored with the options. I need to try new recipes and get creative with my snacks.

I need to blog more! Life has gotten the best of me and I have been super busy. But this is a priority and I need to keep it that way.

Losing weight & getting in shape is all about the basics: Eat a healthy, balanced diet and exercising. There is no magic pill or shot. A 'Quick Fix' will only lead to quick weight gain. I have made great progress this month and it only gets better from here! I am feeling motivated and ready for this new month!

This month is all about the 4 'D's: Dedication, Desire, Determination and Devotion.

Commit to be Fit 2012

Healthy Wishes,

Alex