Food and Exercise 4

-fruit and cheese (and 3 water cracker) plate from starbucks (about 350 cals...the whole thing was 380, but I gave my Mom some)

-tall soy latte (130 cals)

-water (over 100 oz) (0 cals)

-medium iced tea (0 cals)

-same "chicken" sandwich as I always mention (400 cals)

-4 oz plain greek yogurt (60 cals) with 4 strawberries (10ish calories) and cinnamon (0 calories)

-salad with various greens and veggies with 1 tbsp olive oil & lime/lemon juice (about 175 cals?)

-whole wheat penne (200 cals) with ground turkey breast (100ish cals) and organic marinara (50 cals)

-cinnamon sugar free rice pudding (with xylitol tho, which I'm mostly ok with-more on that later) and I added extra cinnamon and nutmeg (70 cals)

-yogi chai redbush tea (0 cals)

total: 1545

I think I've decided I want to stay around 1400 calories/day for now, so I went a little over but not tooo bad. Stupid fruit and cheese plate! Nah, actually even tho I don't really like cheese, it was fairly filling and better than stopping for fast food or something (I didn't have time to eat before class and was running errands all afternoon). Plus, I was only about half a mile (if that) away from my favorite bubble tea place that I almost never go to and was SO TEMPTED, but resisted. REALLY proud of myself for that one. I typically only order unsweetened iced green tea with pearls anyway, but I learned the pearls are approx 7-15 calories each. Omg! I knew they were a lot, but that's crazy. I don't even want to know how many calories the two I had in Nashville were, since they were more milk-shakey and sugary. Yikes. 

My calves are still slightly sore (especially the bottom right one), but not bad enough to prevent exercise. Still, I didn't want to end up out of commission for 3 more days, so all I did was the Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred again. This time even tho I hadn't gone for a run first it was WAY harder. The first time I didn't think it was that bad, but this time I couldn't even finish some sets. I kept hearing her voice tell me that when I stopped is when the real work would have been done to my muscles and growth lol, but hey at the beginning of the video she also said she doesn't want injuries--so there! :-P I'm trying! 

So basically right now I want to:

-avoid yeast (except a small amt. of beer & wine on occasion b/c I love it) 

-eat less meat

-eat about 1400 calories a day

-avoid sugar

-avoid artificial sweeteners 

-eat more fruits & veggies overall (mmm)

-exercise consistently (at least 20 min day, preferably 45+ min, at least 5 days/week, preferably 6)

-make sure I'm getting adequate fiber

-eliminate as many additives/chemicals as possible

-always go for whole wheat/grains over white when possible

& I'm sure the list will continue to grow :). I'm also curious about my typical ratio of carbs/protein/fats, but I can worry about that later. 

Tomorrow I'm going to the Britney Spears concert (yay) and I'll be in class all day, which is tough. It's hard to figure out food to keep me full, on plan/nutritionally balanced, that's also easy to eat in class (no silverware, no mess, doesn't need to be heated, etc). Not to mention that I'll probably have to grab dinner at the venue, so all of my meals will be on the go. Gonna be trying, but hopefully I'll pull through! 

XO,

Amanda

Food and (no) Exercise 3

-veggie egg white omelette (green peppers, onions, tomato, broccoli, a litttle avocado on top) (I'm guessing 275 calories?)

- extra crispy pan fried breakfast potatoes and a little ketchup (I estimate 250 calories?)

-3 slices rye toast (about 240 calories + I assume they put at least a little butter on, so maybe another 100 calories)

-black coffee x 2 (0 calories)

-water (over 100 oz) (0 calories)

-small granny smith apple (80 calories)

-biggish bowl of soup (300? calories)

-mug of celestial seasonings bengal spice tea (0 calories)

total: 1245 calories

I wish I had eaten less (if any) toast and made sure there was no butter, but what can ya do? Better than my old standby Sunday breakfast of 2 eggs over medium, ham, and whatever else (pancakes, 1/2 bagel and cream cheese, english muffin with jam, etc). My Dad and I always go out for breakfast together on Sunday's and I'm more than happy with the egg white omelettes (I'm weird: I hate the yolks in scrambled eggs or omelettes anyway--only like them in fried eggs or eggs benedict). Hashbrowns or most breakfast potatoes I can take or leave, but our new fave breakfast places makes AMAZING potatoes, so I won't let myself feel too guilty about ordering them once a week. I'm also craving sugar a LOT less, so that's v. helpful. 

Grocery shopping tomorrow. I want to make a Youtube video about what I buy, hopefully I'll remember to do that this time!

Again, altho I'm less sore today than yesterday, my muscles (mostly calves) are still repairing themselves. This sucks! I did run errands and clean today, so hopefully that movement counts for something :-P. Oh well, it's not like I ate much today anyway. I'm already finding myself less hungry and craving really healthy foods. Love that.

I'm gonna go take a hot bath with epsom salts to hopefully help my muscles out enough to be able to do some exercise tomorrow!

XO,

Amanda

Pics

Before Pics (aka today):

This is the most I've ever weighed by about 15lbs and I can't stand it (AKA even at 15 lbs less I was NOT happy about it. At all). 

This is what I looked like on my 21st birthday. Although I'd like to ultimately weigh about 15 lbs less than this even, this is approx. what I'd be happier with (OK this + skinnier arms).

&

Or this (when I was 20)

Of course I still wanted to lose weight when I was at both of those weights, so I know I won't be satisfied there, but it's a good start for me. I have to remind myself that I have to start somewhere and that results don't happen overnite. 

I think my biggest annoyance right now (besides my fat arms which I've ALWAYS had) is my hips/love handles. I've never had them before and don't know what to do with them! Hopefully I won't have to figure it out *sigh* Getting rid of backfat (lol) would always be nice too :-P. I know I don't look that bad, but I just feel so...wide?

Plus, after seeing all of my vacation pics I am HORRIFIED. I know I don't have a double chin normally, but in almost every vaca pic I do and it disturbs me GREATLY. I also think a lot of the baggier clothes made me look bigger than I am, but I don't feel like my body is "ready" for more fitted clothes. It's a double edged sword. I don't think I look *as* bad in the before pics I posted above, but some of the trip pics make me just feel...sick. Yet they were only taken a couple days apart. It's gotta mostly be the clothes, but...geez I am so embarrassed by myself. 

For example:

(click to see full size)

(click to see full size)

Of course, then I also have a few pics in the same outfits where I look alright, so blah it sucks how diff pics can be, but how they can really dictate how you feel about yourself.

I'm still not amazed by myself in these, but at least I don't look as HUGE (tho still big by my standards of myself):

(click to see full size)

I also think my face looks really big/fat in EVERY pic (yet not when I look in the mirror for some reason), but I'm really nitpicking now, I know. I guess instead of complaining I should be happy that I'm working hard to eat better and move more to actually DO something proactive about it. I also believe part of the problem (and what is making me look so big in pics) is that I have a 34DD chest (it doesn't really look that big in person tho, I'd say I'm proportionate all over) and also fairly wide shoulders (thanks a lot grandma, lol), but stillll. 

OK I'm off to eat something healthy and quit putting myself down!

XO,

Amanda

Food and (no) Exercise 2

-big bowl soup (300 cals)

-whole wheat crackers (80 cals) with 1 tbsp peanut butter (90 cals) 

-1/2 a banana (50 cals)

-12 oz serving Recharge sports drink (100 cals)

-water

-same fake chicken parm-type sandwich as yesterday b/c it's so freaking good (400 cals)

-small bowl soup (150 cals)

-jr ice cream with reeses (160 cals)

-1 mug yogi chai redbush tea (0 cals)

total: 1330

Unfortunately, I couldn't work out at all today :(. I woke up with a delayed reaction to the Jillian Michaels DVD and can barely move my arms! My calves are also uber sore from all the running. I feel pathetic and walk like a robot in pain LOL. Hopefully by tomorrow I can at least do *something*..even some type of stretching/yoga? I think the problem with my arms was that I used 5lb hand weights when I should have started out with 2 or 3. Although, I kept doing the arm movements, but I never could do the entire sets w/o dropping the weights, so ugh I thought I was helping prevent this! Weird the pain took 2 days to show up, but..surprise.

But I do have some good news. I have 2 sigg bottles to carry water around in, but I lost the top to the one I use the most. I figured it'd show up and it finally did. When I was toasting the bread for my dinner I saw it was right next to the toaster. Random, but yay. Now I can go back to drinking copious amounts of water without even thinking about it. 

I also turned down the opportunity to go out for dinner tonite and opted to make my own at home.

Although of course I'd love to lose as much as possible, I think I've decided my current goal is to lose 25lbs by June 1. I heard that goal from someone else (forget who) and decided that sounded good for me too. Especially because I'm going on vacation June 2. Wish me luck.

XO,

Amanda

Delicious Soup

About a month ago my Dad gave me a recipe from Woman's World magazine (lol) that he wanted me to make for us. It's basically a chicken and vegetable soup. I modified the recipe a little bit (added more vegetables and tweaked amounts of what they suggested and the like) and it's SO. GOOD. The first time I made it almost exactly like the recipe and it was still good, but a little bland. Last nite was my second attempt and....YUM. 

Here's all what's in it:

-tiny bit of olive oil

-thin slices of lightly browned white onion 

-cubes of chicken breast (or you can use turkey)

-chopped pieces of carrot

-chopped pieces of celery

-chopped garlic

-fresh or dried thyme or oregano (I used dried oregano b/c it's all I had)

-1 jalapeno (with seeds)

-chopped tomato

-cayenne pepper/red pepper flakes

-black pepper

-pinch of sea salt

-chicken broth

-lemon juice

-splash of white wine

-tons of spinach (and I added a little kale this time too)

-little bit of garlic powder

-little bit of onion powder

I think that's everything? Delicious. The recipe also suggests you sprinkle some grated parmesan cheese on top, which is kinda nice. I also like to add hot sauce to my bowls, but my Dad prefers without. The only downside to this soup is it takes me a little over an hour to make (mostly b/c of the time it takes to chop everything and wait for the onions to brown, chicken to cook through, etc.). It's worth it, though. The recipe I use makes 8 servings, so it's not like it has to be made daily.

Also, when I was adding the kale, I noticed the bag the kale came in had a recipe for another soup on the back that sounds AMAZING. It's a chicken and kale coconut curry soup. Mmm. I'll be buying ingredients for that on my next grocery trip for sure!

Of course we start getting into soup as soon as it's about to get warm out, but oh well! That's what a/c is for :). 

XO,

Amanda

Food and Exercise 1

What I ate/drank today:

-medium iced skim latte with blueberry flavoring from dunkin d's--about 100 calories

-1/3 box (entire box is 2.5 servings) Annies organic mac n cheese w/ a little added 2% cheese (because I accidentally thinned out the original with too much milk)--about 300 calories

-half a scoop of whey protein powder w/ half a teaspoon creatin powder and 4 oz organic skim milk--about 100 calories

-leftover chicken with sour cream sauce, mushrooms, and peppers, and a side of black bean dip (about 1/2 a serving total of everything?)--no idea, but I'd guess ballpark of 400 calories

-2 sugar free chocolates (i know, i know...) --50 cals each/100 calories total

-fake/soy "chicken" patty on 2 tiny pieces of womens health bread (yeast-free), 1 slice cheese, pizza sauce--about 400 calories

-half a serving of Recharge sports drink--about 25 calories

-1 mug green tea with pomegranate flavoring--0 calories

-lots of water (didn't keep track the amount)--0 calories

total: 1425

Not a v. good day nutritionally, but could be worse & the calories are pretty good. 

I decided today that I think when I go to restaurants I'm going to try to eat more vegetarian meals or seafood. I really don't trust nonorganic meat/meat with antibiotics, hormones, not grain-fed, etc. Although I eat that at home and that's fine, I go out to eat A LOT, so this may help me not only eat healthier calorie-wise, but also with the kinds of things I put through my body. We'll see *shrug*. I've already been mostly adding soy (instead of skim) milk to my lattes (except at Dunkin Donuts, b/c I doubt they even have it?) since I realllly don't want to drink nonorganic milk. Every little bit helps. Also, I'm usually torn between Americanos or lattes, and I found the perfect blend... & it's healthier and cheaper, too! I just ask for an Americano and have them add a little soy to that. I feel so dumb that I didn't think of that before. DUH! I usually drink Americanos black, but this works great too. Yummm. 

As far as exercise goes, today I alternated between walking and running for 35 minutes and then I took my dogs on a walk for an additional 15 or so. I wanted to do a yoga DVD before bed, but I think I'm too sleepy. There's always tomorrow...

I think once I get serious about a plan I put my ALL into it when my body isn't quite ready, so I'm trying verrrry hard not to overexert myself. I'm already pretty sore as is from yesterday and today. Also, you know Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred? Well, obviously given the name you're expected to do it for 30 Days in a row, but I've been thinking.....I've always learned that you shouldn't train the same muscle groups every day, because they need time to repair and recover. My abs are still sore from yesterday even. I think I'm gonna try and do it every other day and see how that goes. I guess it's safe to do every day, it just seems to go against everything I've learned in the past. *shrug*

Anyway, goodnite for now. 

XO,

Amanda

p.s. reminder to self: tomorrow talk about the AWESOME soup I made

New Beginnings

I've decided to start this blog to have a separate place to talk about what I eat & what I do for exercise. I've really been neglecting my (former) healthy lifestyle lately and I want to actually GET on track, not just talk and think about getting on track. I'm now on Day 2 of working out again and although I am sore, I feel GREAT already. How ironic is it that the more out of breath you make yourself when exerting energy, the better you breathe overall? I have asthma (fairly mild, I don't get attacks or anything really, I just feel short of breath sometimes when I shouldn't). I've always been fairly obsessive about working out and knowing anything and everything about health food (and junk for that matter), but it's time to get back in the habit of practicing what I preach! I don't believe in dieting, but I am attempting to loosely follow the Anti-Candida eating plan for health reasons (which I'll get into another time). Overall, though, I identify with the "everything in moderation" lifestyle (well, for the most part) and just being your best self. I am also trying to eat predominantly whole foods (i.e. very little processing, no dyes, chemicals, artificial sweeteners, etc.), but I know this is not always realistic in the world (and country...) I live in today. But again, I'm doing my best and that's all I can really ask for of myself! 

In a little bit I'll post some "before" pics & at the end of the day I'll list everything I ate and all the exercise I did.

Talk to you soon!

XO,

Amanda