Getting in the Mindset...Meal Planning and Preparing Your Workouts

I want to welcome in the new year with a bang! Oh I'm not denying that I will indulge on New Years Eve....but it's about taking appropriate measures before hand so that it does not sabotage you. I tend to scale back my calorie content about 100 calories a day the week of a big event...allowing me an extra 500-700 calories to eat/drink without gaining anything. I could of course run 7 miles instead to make up for that...but, this just seems easier!

And of course, if you know you are going to be in a situation with horrible food, take measures ahead of time to address it/bring something yourself so you can eat. The whole "oh I brought this new dish I wanted to try out!" (code for -- I am really afraid to eat any of your buttery food and am trying to exercise self control).

Anyways, I decided to start my program a few days early. The reason for this is I go back to work next week and it's about to get CRAZY! I need to be back in the habit of meal planning, and especially, working out.

Yesterday I topped out at 1400 calories. Lower than I normally do, but I'm preparing for NYE remember. I won't go any lower though because my body needs about 1300 calories to even run itself (BMR). It was not a conventional day of eating by any means. And that will happen. But I started my morning strong with a lentil soup from Amy's (the canned kind--320 calories for the whole thing, 14 gram protein), and made a lean meal in my crockpot (porkloin stew-- with eggplant, asparagus, zucchini, carrots, potatoes, cabbage, seasonings and chicken broth) that could serve as lunch and dinner. Add in some Chex cereal w/ almond milk and a bag of popcorn and tada!! See....Indulging in an entire bag of popcorn doesn't have to be an end all be all.

Pork Loin Stew

Yesterday's/This morning's workout was as follows. I did a double dose of arms, and I definitely could feel how much weaker I was today. I don't typically recommend that, but I was sure to have protein shake when I was done (instagram= healthyteachergirl for the recipe and to follow me!):

Peanut Butter Banana Protein Shake

Yesterday: Chest/Core
15 Tuck Jumps
15 Seconds of Burpees
20 Pushups (10 one legged)
20 Russian Twists
5 Full Crunch/Extensions
60 Reverse Crunches
50 Crunches

This morning: Abs/Shoulders/Chest
15 Tuck Jumps
15 seconds of Burpees
20 Tricep Dips
10 pushups
18 Pike Pushups
10 One legged Pike Pushups
10 One legged pushups
3 Side plank pushups

Later today I plan on getting my run in. I signed up for the ColorRun on January 23 and need to show up looking like I can manage to run a mere 5k. And I'm really ready to have a nice ass again.


And to meal planning:
My CSA box this work serves as my inspiration:
*Komatsuna
*Oranges
*Yellow Tomatoes
*Cabbage
*Acorn Squash
*Bok Choy
*Micro Greens



I found some chicken breast and pork loin on sale last week so they will serve as the bulk of my protein for the week. I also will get some seafood (shrimp and salmon) to get some Omega's in.

I am a simple creature when it comes to eating so I do one of two things for ease:
Make a double portion of dinner so I can eat the rest for breakfast or lunch the next day,
or I cheat and buy the healthy choice dinners that I can pop in the microwave really quick. Those are the only two ways where I can really know what I'm eating, since it's either already labeled, or I have done the calcs already from dinner the night before.

So far, I have planned the following dinners:

Garlic pork loin w/ mashed acorn squash
Pulled Pork (BBQ) and stuffed yams (Monday night...I need something I can crockpot)
Pulled pork tacos
Asian Salmon w/ Bok Choy (tonight's dinner)
Thai Pumpkin Curry with Bok Choy
Chicken sandwich with lettuce, sprouts and tomatoes 

You'll notice that I don't have a lot of starches in there like pasta and rice. There are two reasons for that: 1. My blood sugar stays a lot more stable when I avoid those foods, and they are high glycemic and therefore cause a blood sugar rollercoaster (increasing hunger), and 2. they are more calorie dense, and I like eating a lot of food!

Snacks for my prep hour at work include:
Lentil Chips,
Sliced Veggies + Hummus
Hard Boiled Eggs


I have a good week's worth of meals here, so now I shall head back over to Pinterest to find some breakfast ideas in case I don't want leftovers :) After I find my meal there, I will usually reconstruct it if I feel it will be too calorie dense, and then add the items to my grocery list.

Fit Tip: Definitely make sure you incorporate protein at every meal/snack (20-30 grams). This will help decrease hunger and stabilize blood sugar. It also helps rebuild your muscles if you are exercising! 

Going to finish my shopping list, and then off I go to the store!
Fit Tip: Do NOT go back to the store during the week, so make a good shopping list and meal plan now! Eat a bit before hand (with protein!) so you're not hungry at the store. This helps curb any spur of the moment junk food encounters. And do not buy any junk food!

3 Free Fitness Apps You've Gotta Try!

The majority of us can say they have some type of fitness app on our phones now days. But can you say, that this is a quality app, that isn't giving you some bogus information/wasting your time? How do you even know that? This week, I am going to let you know what I think some fantastic fitness apps are. They are all free, with paid premium subscriptions, but I think for the first time ever, you might just cave and buy the paid one for one of them!


FitStar - Personal Trainer / FitStar Yoga
http://fitstar.com/

This app starts off free but has a premium service that costs about $40 a year (I have seen two different monthly prices advertised--one for $4.99/month, one for $7.99). 

But, it still offers a great service that is FREE -- two, specific workouts per week. 

You first take a fitness assessment (similar to that of insanity, but much shorter). After you do each exercise, which is timed, you input how many reps of the exercise you did, or how long you were able to keep up. You then input your exerted effort. The app uses this information to design your next workout. So far, the workouts range from 11-22 minutes. Short and sweet (or miserable, depending on how you look at it).

Input your level of exertion, and how well you did on each exercise.

Despite the fact that it only provides 2 exercises/week for the free service, you can still supplement it with some of their pre-designed workouts. I am using the app for those days that I am not up to go to the gym or do a run, but still need to be doing something active. If you don't have a gym membership, I would recommend paying for the premium version. 

Provides you with a single exercise, and a timer to keep you paced. You can go faster if you wish.

 










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Argus - 
http://www.azumio.com/s/argus/index.html

Assuming you don't already have some sort of fitness tracking device like a fitbit (or even a new iPhone), but own a smart phone, this is the app for you. Argus uses location monitoring to track your footsteps throughout the day. The only problem is if, like me, you put your phone down during the work day so it doesn't truly track what you've done. It can monitor other user inputted things, such as water, coffee, and exercise, but I use it strictly for the footsteps as I have other apps for everything else.



MyFitnessPal -
myfitnesspal.com

 MyFitnessPal is your best friend if you're trying to lose weight and just can't seem to understand why it's not working! It's also awesome for maintenance, and those days where you *think* you're doing alright but for some reason you're feeling a bit bloated (aka my life). It's simple. To lose weight, you must eat less calories than your body burns in a day. No, don't worry about what you're eating just yet, that comes later. Only worry about how many calories you eat (unless you're battling some health issue, everyone obviously has specific needs). This app is great because it has virtually every single food in there. You measure out what you eat, enter it in, and waalaa! You need to be honest with yourself. Don't guess how much you ate. Get a food scale, measure things out, and enter it in. You may be shocked by how much you're actually consuming.

So before you go into shake land, or some fitness program that makes you "lose 7 pounds per week!"....use FitnessPal. And be real with yourself. Being at a healthy weight isn't always easy. No, I don't have a faster metabolism (that's a complete myth), I just work hard to stay thin and in good shape.





Those are my 3 go to fitness apps!  I think they are a great combination, being able to monitor your nutrition, activity, and exercise levels. Stay tuned for my January Fitness Resolution Challenge!!  Hope you join!

Note-images are not mine, and I do not claim them to be. Please see image location for sourcing information. 

The Elimination Diet - Determine Your Food Intolerances

If only I had stuck to my water...

Right before I sat down to type this entry, I was sticking my fingers into a cake my students had given me last week. So I'm a little uncivilized, but as I was cleaning out my fridge and kitchen to start my next journey, the craving hit...I couldn't let good cake go to waste! And in I dove, white frosting, moist gooey cake. All over. Yum.

(The cake....now cleaned up):

Not smart, Jennifer.
And then the nausea and weakness hit.

My body doesn't appear to like me much. I am sick often, to the extent where friends and family members find it hard to believe. I don't have a visible injury--you can't tell that I'm feeling weak and nauseated. But it's a legitimate thing, that plagues my life. So apart from my poor self control, it's clear that it's time for something new. Something, with my decreased work schedule over the summer, that actually might be able to manage....The elimination diet.

For those of you that know me personally, you know I have struggled with some health issues over the years, mainly this recurring nausea and weakness I was just mentioning that seems to haunt me at random moments. While hypoglycemia (my diagnosis) probably plays into this, I continue to think something else has got to be off. I'm exhausted, I have lingering anxiety that doesn't go away, I'm shaky, weak, have stomach cramps. But my blood tests always come back normal. So what gives.

Upon searching for my summer reading in Barnes and Noble the other day, I stumbled across the food and diet section. I was hoping for a sign--something to help me with these mystery conditions. Nothing popped out at me. It wasn't until my good friend amazon.com had some recommended titles for me that I caught wind of my must-read for the summer (apparently they know I'm a basket case). One of those being, "The Elimination Diet."

The principal of this diet is based off removing any possible triggers from your diet to determine what may be causing unwanted symptoms-- fatigue, nausea, cramping, headaches, etc. It has used scientific studies to determine the foods that most commonly cause people to have allergic reactions or intolerances, and then takes those away.  This is not a diet in which you strive to lose weight and watch calories. This is a diet where you watch your food consumption and are consciously aware of what your body is doing and how it feels.

It is a process to identify the triggers for the unwanted symptoms and feelings that have gone undiagnosed for years.

I invite you to follow along in my journey, and even participate in your own journey as well. I bought the book on my kindle app for iPad for $12.99, or you could get it shipped to you. I don't typically like digital versions of books, but I felt like this was an urgent matter that I couldn't spend any more time waiting to begin. I would love to hear your own situations as well...does anyone else have nagging symptoms they can't seem to figure out?

Tomorrow, I begin step 1 - The detox.

Essentially, they want me to starve and whither away first. Okay, that might not be entirely true, but that is probably how I will feel by the end of day 2. It is based off of soups and smoothies. No solid food. Hmm. I'm not typically a "fasting" or juice cleanse endorser-- explicitly opposed actually. But, for the sake of my case study, I'm going to give it a go. Veggies all ready in the fridge!

(Unfortunately I don't get to drink the wine during this journey....)

Until tomorrow....