30 Day Shred: Day 3

I was still very sore today so I decided to do my level one workout this evening, hoping some of the soreness would go away. The soreness did not go away, but I still did my workout. Besides the lunges, this seems to br getting easier. Let's see how tomorrow goes. Are you guys getting your workouts in?

30 Day Shred: Day 2(after workout)

So, I did Level 1 again today. Honestly, it was harder today because I am soooooo sore! Yes, the lunges I did yesterday were so much harder because I was in so much pain doing them today! I'm hoping I will be less sore for tomorrows workout. The way I see it right now, I'll be doing level one for ten days, level two for ten and level three for ten days. I realized these postings may mean nothing if I am not telling you about any changes in my body that I notice. So, I took my measurements today and here they are in inches. Waist 30.5 Upper thigh 22.5 Hip 37 Let's see how this changes in 30 days!

30 Day Shred: Day 2(before workout)

Hello Everyone, I just wanted to do a quick post on the first day after the 30 Day Shred. So, I woke up this morning and every part/crevice in my body was sore. Now, this is good because I know in twenty minutes I got an all body workout! My abs and arms are especially sore. I'll post again after my workout today!

30 Day Shred: Day 1

Today was my first day of the 30 Day Shred by Jillian Michaels. I started off with level one. The only doubt that I had with this workout was wondering if I could get an effective workout in only 20 minutes. Half an hour after this workout my legs are still shaking. There are absolutely no breaks between each circuit and there is A LOT of strength training involved. I used five pounds weights for level one and I felt challenged throughout the whole workout. The workout consisted of two minutes of warm up three six minutes of circuits which consisted of strength, cardio and abs. All this is closed with a two minute cool down. For a 20 minute workout I did feel very challenged. I will probably stay on level one for a few more days and I'm sure I will be very sore tomorrow!

Morning breakfast....

This morning I started my day off with a bowl of Multigrain Cheerios, sliced banana, half a cup of almond milk and sprinkled cinnamon. When eating cereal it's really important to watch your portion intake. If not, you can be taking in a lot of calories and a lot of sugar! When buying cereal, look for at least 3 grams of fiber per serving and no more than 10 grams of sugar per serving. What did you have for breakfast?

What's Happening Here?!?!?

Hungry...this is what I've felt for the most part of the day. Why? There are many reasons. This my friends is me STARTING to fall off the wagon. I say STARTING because even as I type this I know what needs to be done to prevent this.

As I walked to my nearest Starbucks and bought a bagel and cream cheese, not toasted, as this would waste time and I just wanted to hurry up and eat it, I was thinking, should I really eat this? Am I really hungry? I let myself have a a big dinner last night, I should not do this, especially if I'm not that hungry. Is this the beginning of the end? Am I going to see my 10 pounds creep back on? First one pound, then two, sure I can lose those, but will I let it get out of hand? Why am I doing this when I know everything that needs to be done to keep the weight off?!?!? How am I going to end this viscous cycle?! How did this even happen? Sure, you may think, it's just one bagel and cream cheese, but last night it was just one heavy Indian meal, yesterday's lunch was just one big bowl of pasta etc. If it were just ONE thing, I would not be writing this post.

No, I am writing this post to let you guys know what starts the process of falling off the wagon. I've realized it all comes down to poor planning. I have not worked out since last week. Why? I've had an eye infection and don't like working out with my glasses on. This is the first of losing my good habits. What will I do to fix this? Suck it up for thirty minutes and get back on the stair master.

Why have I been hungry? Poor planning on my part again. I should have brought more healthy snacks at work to get through til my next meal. My fruit bowl is empty when it should be full. Instead, what's happened is, I get really hungry and will go for the first unhealthy snack I find at work, then I won't stop. The psycho in me comes out and I will just eat all I can. As I write all this, I've eaten half of the bagel and cream cheese.

That's it. That's all that needs to be done. Suck it up and get my thirty minutes of cardio in. Continue to bring my healthy snacks and lunches in. Remember that being healthy is more important than weight loss. Eating right and exercising automatically bring in the weight loss.

I "accidentally" dropped the other half of my bagel and cream cheese...and I feel just fine.

Am I falling off the wagon? No, it was a bit shaky, but I'm still on.

Liberte Goat Fresh Cheese

I decided to try a new yogurt today for my snack. As with most yogurts on the new Weight Watchers plan, this was 4 points. Today I tried Liberte Goat Fresh Cheese. Actually, no where on the container does it say 'yogurt,' but the consistency of this is that of yogurt, so I like to call it yogurt. Instead of being made from cow's milk, this yogurt is made from goat's milk, which leads every bite to taste a bit like goat cheese. To be more precise, this tastes like half goat cheese and half yogurt mixed together, a bit cheesy and a bit tart. This yogurt definitely did taste much different that your cow's milk yogurt, but I don't think I would buy this again, only because I am not use to the taste. The taste of half goat cheese and half plain yogurt made it taste plasticy to me...I know..ewww. So, in conclusion, for 150 calories and 4 points...I think I would rather stick to my favorite Greek Yogurts... image: thenibble.com

Jillian Michaels: 30 Day Shred

As the weather gets colder outside, I like to keep a few workout DVD's at home in case I'm too lazy to walk to the gym :-p I'm thinking about buying 30 Day Shred by Jillian Michaels. Has anyone tried it?

Ina Garten book signing....

I am so EXCITED to go to Ina Garten's book signing at Borders Columbus Circle at noon today!!! I LOVE the recipes in the Barefoot Contessa's new book: How Easy Is That? A few of my favorite healthy recipes are:

• Roasted Eggplant Caponata
• Herb-Roasted Turkey Breast
• French String Bean Salad
• Middle Eastern Vegetable Salad Buy a copy of this book!!!!

What's for breakfast?...

Good Morning Everyone,

I hope you all had a great weekend and ate healthy for the most part! Monday morning has arrived and I made myself a healthy yet hearty breakfast. This morning's breakfast was an Ezekiel's english muffin, toasted with a tablespoon of creamy peanut butter, cinnamon sprinkled on top with sliced bananas! Yum..definitely the breakfast of champions. This hearty breakfast ranks in at 330 calories and will keep me full until lunch time. What did you guys have for breakfast?

And It's Monday Again....

Good Morning All, How was your weekend? My weekend was pretty good. I was able to eat healthy with the exception of Friday night, but that's OK. I've learned to limit my bad eating days to one day of the week, for a meal. Friday it was Indian food night! Sure, there are healthy Indian foods to choose from, but I chose to indulge since it was just one night out of the whole week. This also did not put a dent in my weight loss efforts. Saturday I got right back on track and kept it lean, light and low cal since I was feeling a bit under the weather. Sunday I ate healthy all day. Had plenty of fruit! I've been eating a lot more fruit since Weight Watchers now has all fruits as 0 points. Sometimes I wonder if this is good. Fruits do contain lots of sugars! I think I should also increase my veggie consumption as well. I did get to the grocery store and bought lots of fruits and veggies. My top fruits for this week are golden delicious apples, anjou pears and kiwi. My veggies for the week are arugula, asparagus, broccoli, cucumbers and cauliflower. I also managed to make a couple of healthy dishes as my lunches and dinners for the week. I made a Tex-Mex Mac N Cheese dish. This was a recipe that I tweaked from Weight Watchers. I'll post this up later on. I also made a Cantonese Chicken dish, which turned out excellent! This morning I weighed myself and lost .2 pounds from last week. Not too much weight loss, but not weight gain either :-) One thing I did not do was get a work out in. I'll have to make sure I work out a little harder this week to make up. How was your weekend? I hope you ate healthy for the most part!

Recipe Alert: Coffee Oatmeal

Looking for a new way to get your caffeine fix? Instead of drinking your coffee, why not try eating it! This morning I brewed my french vanilla coffee and was delighted by the sweet smell. So I thought, why not add coffee to my oatmeal instead of water? I do add milk, so this could be quite tasty. I know this sounds a bit odd, but it's a totally different way to have your oatmeal and you just may like it! I LOVED it!! I know the picture does not look to appetizing, but trust me, this does taste good and you should try it.

The deets:

1/2 cup of dry oats

1 cup of brewed coffee of your choice (I used French Vanilla)

1/4cup of whole milk

Add the coffee to the oats and nuke for 30-45 seconds depending on your microwave. Once warm and bubbly, add the milk and stir. Nuke again for 10-15 seconds. Allow oatmeal to sit for a few minutes, so the oats absorb most of the liquid.

Enjoy!!

Calories: 170

Recipe Alert: Easy Whole Wheat Chili Mac

Hello All, Check out my recipe on The Ajnabee for an Easy Whole Wheat Chili Mac. Healthy and delicious! http://theajnabee.com/?p=6000

My Fruit Basket....

My fruit basket at work....yes, I know the banana's are lookin a little sorry, but guess what?!?!? Those are probably the most sweetest ripe banana's you would ever taste:-)

Avoiding Food Temptations At Work...

Everyone one at work has probably faced food temptations. It could be the food in the kitchen or that one office that you know has all the great snacks and chocolate. Sure, we all give in from time to time, but how do you really resist the temptation to go in everyday and not spoil your day of eating healthy? Here are a few tips to help avoid this common pitfall.

1. If there is an office with communal snacks, offer to bring something healthy such as pretzels, almonds or dried fruit.
2. Before eating that extra slice of cake or piece of chocolate, ask yourself if it's really worth it! Think about how far you've come along and you do not want to ruin your efforts by indulging too much.
3. If the kitchen is a weakness for you then avoid it totally.
4. Keep your healthy goals in mind.
5. Know when to stop. Go ahead and have a small piece of chocolate but the WALK AWAY!
6. Start your own communal fruit bowl.
7. If you are hungry, don't walk past the kitchen or any sweets in the office.
8. Keep healthy granola bars at your desk. When you crave something sweet, go for a Kashi bar instead of a Snickers bar.

Do you guys have any tips for staying healthy at work?