Friday, March 30, 2012
Update
Grr....I knew I would hit a plateau, just didn't think it would happen so soon! I have been stuck at a 15lb weight loss now for two weeks! Frustrating! I admit, that it has been hard to be consistent in my workouts and also my eating habits, but in all honestly, I have not "blown it". I have really not sabotaged my efforts, so it is a little discouraging. I just bought the "insanity" workout dvds, so we'll see what they do for me. I also bought the "Ninja Pulse Kitchen System" with plans to start trying green smoothies. Maybe some of these changes will result in some more weight loss changes! Wish me luck!
Sunday, March 18, 2012
What's Your Plan?
Check this out! http://www.vertex42.com/ExcelTemplates/meal-planner.html
The person that created this template is a genius! I have now used it for a month and love it! Easy to set up, easy to manipulate, printable,
Here's a few tips I've put together after my very long journey of meal planning.
1) Write down a list of meals you are familiar with, like to fix, and your family likes to eat. I would aim for about 40! I know, it sounds like a lot, but for my family, it equated to eating meals Sunday through Thursday (Friday and Saturday is leftovers, eating out, parties, etc), with repeating every other month. There are a few meals we repeat more often, like grilled cheese with soup, because they are the kids' favorites, but I typically try to have variety.
2) Look at your calendar and decide when you are going to be fixing meals. For us, we have karate nights for the boys, so those nights are reserved for super easy meals (the grilled cheese mentioned above!). Decide if you are going to cook on weekends. Look at your week, are you fixing meals that will provide a lot of leftovers? Label nights to eat those! Be sure to cross off the days that you have conflicts with work, sports, etc.
3) Look in your freezers, your pantry, your refrigerator and pick meals to accommodate what you have. This will save you a lot of disappointment when you have to throw out food because it has expired!
4. Don't be afraid to make changes as you go- plans are made to be changed! Be flexible-you can move meals around according to what's going on that day, what you're craving, etc.
Hopefully you won't have to spend the hours I did finding something that works. I'd love to hear about what planners you use or your methods of menu planning. Feel free to leave a comment!
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Progress Update
Wondering if that BodyBugg is still working for me? It is! I hit my 15lb loss this morning! Other tidbits for the journey.....I've been able to check my calorie burn for the Zumba classes I've been going to. Amazing! In one hour of Zumba, my calorie burns has been 694 (wow!), 560, and 625! At that rate, I want to go more than once a week! If only my schedule(and $$$) would allow it!
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Not your grandma's pressure cooker!
Since I am working full time, I always try to find the easiest way to prepare meals. I can not find time to do the "once a month" cooking; but I still need to find fast fixes for dinner. Allow me to introduce to you my new favorite kitchen appliance......the Cuisinart 6 qt. electric pressure cooker! This is not your grandma's pressure cooker, with rattling lids that taunt you with potential explosions, or having to monitor the pressure every so often. This does all the work for you! Just plug it in, pick your setting, time, and....walk away! Looove it! I can not tell you what a help it has been for me and my family!
It solves the problem of forgetting to turn on your crockpot in the morning, or forgetting to pull meat out of the freezer to thaw. In our house, dinner is usually around 5:30, so I generally start thinking about what to have around 4pm. This doesn't allow time for defrosting, with the exception of the microwave; and even when I do that, I hate how sometimes the edges of chicken and roasts actually get cooked while the centers are still frozen! You know exactly what I'm talking about!.
With the pressure cooker, I can literally throw in my frozen chicken with a few other ingredients and have dinner ready in about 30 minutes! Some of the things I've attempted have been various chicken recipes, a to-die-for pot roast, stuffed pork chops (didn't turn out too great, but were still edible), dry beans for my refried bean recipes, spaghetti sauce and baked potatoes. I have invested in a few pressure cooker recipe books that I will post about as I find successful and easy recipes.
Let me caution you that using a pressure cooker takes practice! You have to learn to adjust cooking times, get the right amount of liquids in the cooker, and find recipes that actually make it a time saver. That last comment refers to the fact that I've found A LOT of recipes that have so much prep time involved, with so many ingredients I would have rather eaten a microwave dinner!
This pressure cooker is NOT for canning. If you are interested in that, you will have to purchase a bigger, stove top one. This one is perfect for cooking for our family of four. I got mine at a kitchen specialty store, but I have seen it in several big chain stores. If you are forgetful when it comes to prepping your food for dinner, this appliance would be great for you! Check out cookingwithlornasass.wordpress.com or missvickie.com for blogs about pressure cooking. There are also recipes on pinterest. Have fun in the kitchen!
It solves the problem of forgetting to turn on your crockpot in the morning, or forgetting to pull meat out of the freezer to thaw. In our house, dinner is usually around 5:30, so I generally start thinking about what to have around 4pm. This doesn't allow time for defrosting, with the exception of the microwave; and even when I do that, I hate how sometimes the edges of chicken and roasts actually get cooked while the centers are still frozen! You know exactly what I'm talking about!.
With the pressure cooker, I can literally throw in my frozen chicken with a few other ingredients and have dinner ready in about 30 minutes! Some of the things I've attempted have been various chicken recipes, a to-die-for pot roast, stuffed pork chops (didn't turn out too great, but were still edible), dry beans for my refried bean recipes, spaghetti sauce and baked potatoes. I have invested in a few pressure cooker recipe books that I will post about as I find successful and easy recipes.
Let me caution you that using a pressure cooker takes practice! You have to learn to adjust cooking times, get the right amount of liquids in the cooker, and find recipes that actually make it a time saver. That last comment refers to the fact that I've found A LOT of recipes that have so much prep time involved, with so many ingredients I would have rather eaten a microwave dinner!
This pressure cooker is NOT for canning. If you are interested in that, you will have to purchase a bigger, stove top one. This one is perfect for cooking for our family of four. I got mine at a kitchen specialty store, but I have seen it in several big chain stores. If you are forgetful when it comes to prepping your food for dinner, this appliance would be great for you! Check out cookingwithlornasass.wordpress.com or missvickie.com for blogs about pressure cooking. There are also recipes on pinterest. Have fun in the kitchen!
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Finally.....the answer I've been waiting for!
Like a lot of you, I too, struggle with my weight. I was always active when I was younger and in college, dancing, working out, walking around campus and town(yes, I didn't have a car and I hated riding a bike!). The benefit to all of it was that I stayed relatively slim. Alas, I acquired a car and started teaching, then entered marriage and add to that 2 children, my active life became somewhat sedentary and the pounds packed on.
I have tried numerous approaches to weight loss, Atkins, South Beach, Weight Watchers, and several different mobile apps to count calories, all which either didn't work or only provided temporary weight loss; BUT.....I think I have finally found the thing that is going to work for me! Have you heard of the......BODYBUGG????
Sorry the pictures aren't great, but it shows you the basics. The Bodybugg is an electronic calorie counting device designed as an armband. You simply wear it on your upper left arm and go about your daily routine. As part of the program, you are subscribed to the bodybugg website, which is where you log in and enter your daily food log. At your convenience, whether it be once or several times a day, you connect a USB cord from your arm band to your computer and VOILA! it tells you how many calories you have burned!
Your personal graph shows you how many calories you've consumed and how many you've burned. In addition, it has set a deficiency goal for you, which is the amount of calories you need to burn to reach your weight loss goal.
It is awesome! I have been doing this now for about 2 months and lost 12 lbs. It is slow and steady progress and I am in complete control of it. As I monitor my calorie intake, I am learning to eat more nutritiously. I especially notice the lack of movement in my life Trying to reach my deficiency goal makes me get off the couch and MOVE!!! It has truly been, for lack of a better phrase, a blessing in my life. It is like having a small coach with you all the time, motivating you to do it. With every ounce that's lost, it makes me want to keep going. Hey, I just realized that I'm already a quarter of the way to my goal Yippee!
I should say that there are similar products out there that are basically the same, jut not named "Bodybugg" and I hear that they work just as well. Of course, whatever your choose to do, YOU have to be ready, no more excuses. For me, I am finally ready because I am fast approaching forty and realized that if I didn't commit to it now, nothing would probably ever change. Stick with it, good luck!
I have tried numerous approaches to weight loss, Atkins, South Beach, Weight Watchers, and several different mobile apps to count calories, all which either didn't work or only provided temporary weight loss; BUT.....I think I have finally found the thing that is going to work for me! Have you heard of the......BODYBUGG????
Sorry the pictures aren't great, but it shows you the basics. The Bodybugg is an electronic calorie counting device designed as an armband. You simply wear it on your upper left arm and go about your daily routine. As part of the program, you are subscribed to the bodybugg website, which is where you log in and enter your daily food log. At your convenience, whether it be once or several times a day, you connect a USB cord from your arm band to your computer and VOILA! it tells you how many calories you have burned!
Your personal graph shows you how many calories you've consumed and how many you've burned. In addition, it has set a deficiency goal for you, which is the amount of calories you need to burn to reach your weight loss goal.
It is awesome! I have been doing this now for about 2 months and lost 12 lbs. It is slow and steady progress and I am in complete control of it. As I monitor my calorie intake, I am learning to eat more nutritiously. I especially notice the lack of movement in my life Trying to reach my deficiency goal makes me get off the couch and MOVE!!! It has truly been, for lack of a better phrase, a blessing in my life. It is like having a small coach with you all the time, motivating you to do it. With every ounce that's lost, it makes me want to keep going. Hey, I just realized that I'm already a quarter of the way to my goal Yippee!
I should say that there are similar products out there that are basically the same, jut not named "Bodybugg" and I hear that they work just as well. Of course, whatever your choose to do, YOU have to be ready, no more excuses. For me, I am finally ready because I am fast approaching forty and realized that if I didn't commit to it now, nothing would probably ever change. Stick with it, good luck!
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