Weekly Weigh In 12/27/2010

Starting Weight @ December 1st : 168.6lbs

Last week's weight in: 164.2lbs

Today's morning weight was: 163.6lbs

Lost last week: .8lb (every pound matters!)

Total lost so far: 5 even lbs!

Goal weight: 135lbs

Deadline: April 25th, 2011

My Thoughts:

I didn't track my eating all but one day this last week and I certainly wasn't very careful! I didn't do any structured exercise per say, but I tried to fit in some exercise moments (like we watched the biggest loser on hulu and during each 1 minute commercial break, we all did a fitness challenge, such as jumping jacks, sit ups, push ups, etc.) I plan on coming back with a vengeance this week, workout and monitoring my eating. I plan to avoid grains entirely for the next few days, maybe up to two weeks, we'll see how long I last. My gut needs a break from all the flours and sugars from this past week.

If you've lost weight please let me know so I can celebrate with you! Leave a comment below :D

12/20/2010

I'm not tracking things too closely this week (since yes it's THE week for eating) but I'm still trying to practice restraint until maybe Friday evening and Saturday :D. So here is a basic rundown of what I ate/drank today.

I didn't drink enough water.... maybe 8 cups

I drank my coffee with 5tbsp of half and half with 1 tbsp sugar

Breakfast was oatmeal

Snack was 2 cups of homemade beef stew

Lunch, 2 homemade english muffins will melted cheese, 3oz of carrots

Snack, 7 brownie bites made by my sister lol (not too proud of this one)

Dinner, Wegman's 7 inch sub smothered in veggies, turkey, salami, ham, mayo, mustard, etc

Snack, 1 med banana, 2tbsp almond butter, 1 cup of milk

Approximate calorie intake 2700

The brownie bites did me in... (about 600 calories) and I could have done without the 150 calories in the milk I drank. That would have put me back in a more reasonable range.

I worked out this afternoon (20 minutes of pilates)

That's it for tonight folks lol, goodnight!

Christina

Weekly Weight In 12/20/2010

Starting Weight @ December 1st : 168.6lbs

Last week's weight in: 165.5lbs

Today's morning weight was: 164.2lbs

Lost last week: 1.2lb (every pound matters!)

Total lost so far: 4.4lbs!

Goal weight: 135lbs

Deadline: April 25th, 2011

Weekly weight loss to meet my goal: 1.55lbs a week

My Thoughts:

This was a week of discovering what was too little calories, when and how I needed to eat to maintain proper blood sugar levels and discovering how much of a perfectionist I was being! A few things I've decided... Monday - Thursday I'll post my food journal for sure. Friday-Sunday are a little more iffy because of really focusing on family time, but I am still carefully watching each bite that goes into my mouth. Saturday is my "Free Day" and I will splurge on that day. Well that's today's update, take care!

If you've lost weight please let me know so I can celebrate with you! Leave a comment below :D

12/16/2010

Beverages:

14 cups of water

18 oz coffee with a total of 6tbsp half and half and 1.5 tbsp turbinado sugar

Breakfast:

1 banana

1/4 apple

1 cup organic whole milk

Lunch:

3 cups mexican casserole

Snack:

3/4 cup leftovers (a mix of homemade mac & cheese and ham and potatoes)

Dinner:

Baked Spaghetti Squash, ground beef and veggies (topped with cheese, yum!)

Dessert:

nadda

Approximate Nutritional Breakdown:

1879 Calories

116 g Protein

88 g fat

161 g carbs

Approximate calorie burn:

1650 resting metabolic rate

400 avg. from breastfeeding

200 from light/moderate daily activity

no working out, I'll explain later...

Approximate calorie deficit:

2250 - 1879 = 371

My Thoughts:

I had a wake up call this morning. I had a suspicion that I wasn't eating enough calories, but this morning I *knew* that I hadn't been. My blood sugar was so low by the time that I woke up this morning, that I was sick to my stomach, shaking, dizzy and disoriented. It would seem that for me, 1600-1700 calories is just a little too low. I'm gonna bump up to 1800 -1900 calories a day and see how that works out for me. I definitely do not want a repeat of this morning. It effected me for most of the day. I continued to feel sick to my stomach for most of the day. I'll keep you posted on how the change in calories consumption effects me in the morning. Tata!

Regards,

Christina

12/15/2010

Beverages:

10 cups of water

1o oz coffee with 4tbsp half and half and 1 tbsp turbinado sugar

Breakfast:

1 cup of oatmeal, 2.5 teas sugar, 2 teas butter

Lunch:

4 cups organic spring mix, 3 oz organic carrots, 3 oz avocaodos, 4oz turkey, 2/3 cup shredded cheddar, 1 Tbsp bragg raw apple cider vinegar, 1 tbsp organic olive oil

Snack:

nadda

Dinner:

about 1 bell pepper, 3.5 eggs, with a little cheese on top, cooked in a little lard with 3/4 of and orange on the side

Dessert:

1tbsp sun butter

Approximate Nutritional Breakdown:

1686 Calories

95 g Protein

105 g fat

100 g carbs

Approximate calorie burn:

1650 resting metabolic rate

400 avg. from breastfeeding

150 from moderate daily activity

150 from 20 minute core workout

Approximate calorie deficit:

2350 - 1686 = 664

My Thoughts:

I didn't wanna workout today.... I really didn't wanna work out today LOL. So I picked something short and intense that would work on a "problem area" - aka my abdominal wall. Overall a good day. Toodles!

Regards,

Christina

12/14/2010

Beverages:

12 cups of water

1o oz coffee with 4tbsp half and half and 1 tbsp turbinado sugar

Breakfast:

2 whole eggs + 4 egg whites, cooked in 1 tbsp coconut oil with 1/3 cup cheddar cheese

Lunch:

1 homemade english muffin with 1tbsp cream cheese (wasn't feeling hungry and was super busy)

Snack:

Coffee

2 cups of homemade black bean soup

Dinner:

Leftovers, which consisted of Mexican Casserole, a chicken wing, ham, potatoes & peas (a little bit of everything)

Dessert:

Nuffin'

Approximate Nutritional Breakdown:

1861 Calories

117 g Protein

87 g fat

166 g carbs

Approximate calorie burn:

1650 resting metabolic rate

400 avg. from breastfeeding

150 from moderate daily activity

no work out *hides under a chair*

Approximate calorie deficit:

2200 - 1861 = 339

My Thoughts:

A few too many carbs & no exercise = low calorie deficit, but it was a deficit none the less, so I'll take it. I have to admit I was just feeling so unmotivated today. It's really cold and really windy and our 45 year old town house is drafty and it just made for a cranky & cold me. On to tomorrow!

Regards,

Christina

12/13/2010

Beverages:

13 cups of water

1 10 oz cup of coffee with 1tbsp sugar & 4tbsp half and half

Breakfast:

1 cup oatmeal

2 tea sugar

2 teas butter

2 whole eggs + 2 egg whites, cooked in 1 tbsp coconut oil

Lunch:

4 slices of turkey lunch meat

3 of those slices had 1tbsp cream cheese

3 oz of organic baby carrots

1 medium naval orange

Snack:

Coffee :P (listed above)

Dinner:

Easy Mexican Casserole (sooo good!) I went lighter on the cheese than the recipe called for and lighter on the olives as well

Dessert:

Ladies Christmas Dessert for church - 3 peanutbutter kiss cookies (did you know those have 15o calories each?!?) ugh.... so not worth the third cookie.

Approximate Nutritional Breakdown:

1900 Calories

89 g Protein

87 g fat

175 g carbs

Approximate calorie burn:

1650 resting metabolic rate

400 avg. from breastfeeding

150 from moderate daily activity

350 10 minutes HIIT workout in the morning, 25 minutes walk away the pounds in the afternoon

Approximate calorie deficit:

2550 - 1900 = 650 (darn that third cookie!)

My Thoughts:

I really didn't want t exercise today, but I went to my online support group ( I love you guys! ) and asked for a kick in the pants, which I received (thank you again Wendy). I would have loved to have that calorie count say 800 instead of 650 (arg!) but I guess I'll have to settle for that. On to another day!

Warmest Regards,

Christina

You Can Journal Too!

You've been thinking that you want to start your own food journal but have no idea HOW to calculate all these calories and nutrition... well here is how I do it *snickers* I use my free account at DailyBurn.com. Yep, it's that easy. They have a huge database of foods and you can add foods as well. After a while you start to get a good handle on how many calories are in any given food, which is helpful when you're on the go, but when I'm home I just input everything I eat, as I eat it. Often, I will put in what I plan on eating later that day, to see exactly how many calories I'll be taking in ahead of time, so I can squeeze in extra exercise or rejoice that I'm right on target for the day. I hope you'll consider utilizing DailyBurn to help you on your journey to health and well being, it's such a useful tool!

Weekly Weight In 12/13/2010

Starting Weight @ December 1st : 168.6lbs

Last week's weight in: 166.5lbs

Today's morning weight was: 165.5lbs

Lost last week: 1lb (every pound matters!)

Goal weight: 135lbs

Deadline: April 25th, 2011

Weekly weight loss to meet my goal: 1.55lbs a week

My Thoughts:

I wasn't as careful with my calories as I *could* have been, but I know that I ate for exactly a 1lb weight loss. I didn't workout for two days in a row during the week due to illness and then 2 days in a row over the weekend so I know I could have worked harder there and increased my calorie burn. I'm shooting for a 750 calorie deficit daily (minus the free day) and lowering my carb intake to about 125g a day instead of 150g. On to this week!

If you've lost weight please let me know so I can celebrate with you! Leave a comment below :D

12/12/2010

I didnt' do a great job of tracking my nutrition yesterday, although I'm fairly confident my calorie intake was around 2000, but I did not work out *hides* back to "work" tomorrow!

12/11/2010

Today is my day off :P I ate well, didn't exercise and plan on being back tomorrow ;).

Warm Regards,

Christina

12/10/10

Beverages:

1.5 cups organic whole milk

15 cups of water

1 cup mother's milk nursing tea

Breakfast:

1 cup oatmeal

2 tea sugar

2 teas butter

Lunch:

A ginormeous salad with the following ingredients:

4 cups spring mix

5.5oz of an avocado (ok I over did it, but I really wanted the whole thing LOL next time, I only need an ounce or two)

3 ounces of turkey

1 ounce cheddar

3oz carrots chopped

1tbsp balsamic vinegar

1tbsp organic olive oil

Snack:

p90x recovery drink with one scoop protein powder

Dinner:

Baked Ham

Roasted Potatoes

.5 cup cup green beans

Dessert: EPIC FAIL

6oz of COFFEE (WAAAAAAAA) with a teaspoon of cream and a teaspoon of sugar (ugh, more on this below)

Approximate Nutritional Breakdown:

2289 Calories

159 g Protein

111 g fat

163 g carbs

Approximate calorie burn:

1660 resting metabolic rate

400 avg. from breastfeeding

200 from moderate daily activity

400 from turbofire tone 45ez workout (nothing easy about it!)

Approximate calorie deficit:

2660 - 2289 = 371 - kind of pathetic, but much better than nothing and a whole lot better than a gain!

My Thoughts:

Less avocado next time lol and no coffee! If I had eaten only 2 oz of avocado, it would have been 150 calories less and take out the coffee, it would have been 25 calories less, bringing my deficit rate up to 546 - a much more respectable number. But alas, I ate all that avocado and a lot of ham at dinner lol.

I "caved" and justified having coffee this evening and 6oz in, I decided to quit. It's just not worth it! The calories for one and I caved on my commitment, NOT OKAY! It was hard for me to come on here and admit it, but I had to because I can't lie to you.

Another realization I had today... I hate working out more than 30 - 40 minutes TOPS and I just don't have enough TIME to workout more than that at this stage in my life. So next time, I'll just skip a little portion in the middle of my longer workouts, and vary which parts I skip each time so I don't miss too much overall. A lot of the workouts are about 30-40 minutes so I won't have to do it often.

Warmest Regards,

Christina

My Calorie Needs in a Nutshell

Just a general guide to show how I calculate my calorie needs each day:

You start with your "Resting Metabolic Rate" RMR for short. You calculate this by taking your weight and multiplying by 10. Everyone is individual and will need to keep that in mind, some people burn more, some less, but this is a great place to start in trying to figure out your own caloric needs. Also, even though your weight starts going down, you may still be burning more because of building muscle, but generally it's good to stick with this calculation unless you're starting to feel fatigued in general, then you *might* be suffering from a genuine need for more of the right kind of calories. Listen to your body, *you* will know when something is wrong.

My RMR is 1650 this week. As I lose weight I will need to adjust my calculations.

The next thing you'll need to calculate is calorie burn from regular daily activity. This is called DAB for short (daily activity burn). You calculate by multiplying your RMR by either 10% for sedentary activity, 20% for moderate activity, or 30% for high activity.

Some days I am 10%, others 20%, so calculate daily as necessary and will also adjust as my RMR goes down with my weight :D

Next I get to calculate a circumstantial calorie burn (which is awesome!) for breastfeeding my 7 month old son :D. Breastfeeding on average burns 300-500 calories per day, so I average it out to 400.

Breastfeeding a 7 month old, full time = 400 calories on average

1660+200+400=2260 for my total calorie burn. This does NOT include exercise calorie burn, but we'll get to that later.

QUALITY of calories count as well!

I am mostly concerned about HEALTHY FATS (and my definition of healthy fats is far from average, please visit HERE for some more info) and protein intake. I'd like to keep my carbohydrate intake below 125g daily.

I need to start creating a calorie deficit, either through eating less or through exercise. I hope to start with exercise :P cause I like eating a little too much.

3500 calories = 1lb

each 3500 calorie deficit = 1lb lost!

Hey, ho, let's go!

Why has Christina (the coffee girl!) given up coffee???

If you've known me for any length of time, you know my great love for coffee. I love the smell, I love the look, I love the mugs (oh HOW I love the MUGS!), I love the memories it brings to mind each and every time I drink it *sigh*. I have finally decided that on a day to day basis, coffee will not be a part of my daily routine any longer. Here are my reasons, as succinctly as I could put them.

1). Calories & nutrition were definitely a factor. I like my coffee heavy on the cream and sugar. Too much sugar is not good for our body in general and causes us to hang on to and gain fat more so than other macro-nutrients in general. Also, I could be using my calorie allotment for the day on much more beneficial things.

2.) Caffeine (not just coffee per say) is hard on the digestive system and coffee's acidic nature can also be stressful on the digestive system as well. A healthy digestive system or "gut" for short, is vital for overall health and well being. The gut is one of the first lines of defense in our immune system and if our gut isn't healthy, we can't fight off disease well and we can't properly digest and absorb all the good things in the good foods we eat!

3.) Lastly, and it's so hard to admit this part... coffee is mood altering and addictive and when I don't get it at regular intervals, I don't like the cranky, unmotivated, tired person I become. I want my choices and the power of God's Holy Spirit living within me to control my behavior, not some outside substance that I am choosing to consume, knowing that it's my little "cheerleader in a cup" as the comedian Anita Renfroe so eloquently puts it.

I hope that explains it well enough and I admit I will use coffee when in dire need, but as far as it becoming a regular part of my daily routines again, it's so long and farewell, my good coffee friend.

Warmest Regards,

Christina

12/09/2010

Beverages:

3.5 cups organic whole milk

12 cups of water

1 cup ginger ale

Breakfast:

1 cup oatmeal

1 tbsp sugar

2 teas butter

Lunch:

A delicious concoction that I made from leftovers, it involved mushrooms, cheese, tuna salad, leftover pasta & white balsamic vinegar

Snack:

p90x recovery drink

Dinner:

Baked Ham

Roasted Potatoes

3/4 cup green beans

Approximate Nutritional Breakdown:

1711 Calories

90 g Protein

70 g fat

180g carbs

Approximate calorie burn:

1660 resting metabolic rate

400 avg. from breastfeeding

250 from moderate daily activity

400 from turbofire tone 30 workout

Approximate calorie deficit:

2710 - 1711 = 999 (waaaaaaaa!)

My Thoughts:

I'm on my first day of officially not drinking coffee anymore... it's been rough. Technically I started not drinking coffee when I started getting sick 2 1/2 days ago approximately, but today is my first concerted effort towards not drinking it anymore. I've said many times how I wanted to stop drinking it, and even tried for a day.... lol or less. But this time, I'd like to make it stick. I'm not swearing off it entirely, just on a day to day basis. I'll post more about my reasons why in another post.

I felt good today. I got a headache and started feeling sleep right before dinner time, but I usually feel that way, coffee or no, so I just took some Ibuprofen for the head ache and pressed on. I didn't really *try* very hard as far as what kinds of foods I took in today and that's probably why I didn't do a great job on my protein intake and my carb count was a little higher than I would like it to be. I did manage to get in a good strength building workout this afternoon and it KICKED MY BUTT. Gotta love TurboFire :D

12/08/2010

All still recovering, much like the day before - I'll be back in action tomorrow!

Regards,

Christina

12/07/2010

The kids and I were sick sick sick with a fast moving stomach bug :P nothing in the way of exercise and little in the way of eating happened today.

I'll be back tomorrow!

Blessings,

Christina

Turbofire

If you haven't heard of Turbofire, you need to know! :D

It's not your average workout plan and it comes with so much more than just the work outs themselves. They give you guidance on how to get started, no matter what fitness level you are at (mine being low, lol). They give you guidance on how and what to eat. You can also find motivation and advice from experienced folks at Team Beach Body (my coach is Bob, go say hi to Bob!)

I will be following what Turbofire calls the "prep schedule" which involves less high intensity work outs until my body is conditioned to handle the more intense stuff (it's about 9 weeks long). I some how managed to completely MISS that this schedule existed first time around, which explains why I dealt with Achilles tendon issues from doing too much too fast when we tried Turbofire the first time; we being me and my awesome husband (also on facebook).

I am on day two of my schedule and I'll be doing the "Stretch 40" workout - what are you gonna do today?

Warmest Regards,

Christina

12/06/2010

Beverages:

3 1/4 cups whole milk

30 oz coffee with 6 1/2tbsp half and half, 2tbsp sugar (total)

12oz mother's milk herbal nursing tea

9 cups of water

Breakfast:

1.5 cups soaked oatmeal

2 tea sugar

2 tea butter

Lunch:

1 medium bell pepper - sauteed

2 eggs

2 sliced turkey

Snack:

1 med. banana

2tbsp sun butter

Dinner:

3 cups spring mix

7oz tuna salad from scratch

Dessert:

nothing!

Approximate nutritional breakdown:

2273 calories

144g protein

122g fat

143g carb

Approximate calorie burn:

1660 resting metabolic rate

400 avg. from breastfeeding

250 from moderate daily activity

500 from turbofire 30 workout

Approximate calorie deficit:

2810 burned - 2273 eaten = 537 (not toooo shabby)

5425 calories to burn this week - 537 = 4888

814 calories a day left to burn daily, to meet my weekly goal of 1.5lbs lost... means I need to burn more or eat less! According to Kellymom.com I shouldn't consume any less that 1800 or it might put my milk supply at risk.

My Thoughts:

I was pretty close to my calorie intake goals today and I feel good about that, although I wish it would have been a smidge lower. I worked out with Turbofire for the first time since July and I was pleasantly surprised that it didn't kill me as badly as I thought it would, but it certainly was hard and I can feel lots of room for improvement. I'm not doing much of the jumping (I'm following the lower impact gal) this time around because of Achilles tendon issues last time, but that may change with time! I'm also experimenting with working out barefoot after reading a lot about the benefits of going barefoot during fitness activities. It requires an extra bit of thought to keep my feet positioned correctly, but I've been relatively pain free for once (experienced quite a bit of foot pain when working out to Turbofire before).

I experienced some low blood sugar symptoms (shaky, lightheaded, a little disoriented) about an hour after working out, only 30 minutes after my afternoon snack, so I plan on closely monitoring that issue. Check in ya'll tomorrow!

Warmest Regards,

Christina

Weekly Weigh In 12/06/2010

Last week's morning weight: 168.6lbs

Today's morning weight was: 166.5lbs

Lost last week: 2.1lbs

Goal weight: 135lbs

Deadline: April 25th, 2011

Weekly weight loss to meet my goal: 1.55lbs a week

12/05/2010

Daily Beverages:

3, 12oz cups of coffee with 4tb half and half + 1tbsp turbinado sugar in each cup

3 cups whole organic milk

6 cups of water

Breakfast:

1 cup of soaked oatmeal, mixed with 3/4tbsp butter, and 1 tbsp turbinado sugar

Lunch:

1 medium apple

1/2 cup cottage cheese

1/3 cup soaked and dry roasted pecans

Snack:

6 tiny scottish bannocks (oatcakes) with sun butter on top (equal to about 2tbsp)

Dinner:

about 6 scrambled eggs with cheddar cheese, cooked in lard

1 bell pepper, sauteed

Dessert:

1/2 cup turkey hill tin roof ice cream

Approximate Nutrition Breakdown:

2700 calories

139g protein

152g fat

180 carbs

Approximate Calorie Burn:

300-500 from breastfeeding

sedentary daily activity today

My Thoughts:

Today, nutritionally this was an "ok" kind of day. I'm doing what I usually do and maintaining my current weight... I certainly didn't do anything towards weight loss per say except make a plan to fit exercise in to my daily routine. I'd like to cut back on my calorie intake, but for now, I'm going to focus on quality of my calories and making exercise a DAILY habit.

In the past I've gotten so focus on "looking better" for being the reason I would work out... this time I'm trying to remember all the other gazillion reasons I want to work out (like long term health and well being!) I'll keep you posted.

Warmly,

Christina