New Fitness Gadget: The FitBit

The FitBit

My friend Lauren (over at Dimples Does It) has had this little contraption for a while now so she is much more experienced with it.  I just got it on Sunday and used it for the first time yesterday but I will tell you what I know so far!

Basically, its a little clip on tricked-out pedometer that you can wear anywhere on your body (I wear it on my bra, TMI?  LoL).  I have the FitBit Ultra which tracks steps, calories, distance, and stairs climbed (not on regular one).  It syncs wirelessly with your computer to upload data to the FitBit website where you can see all your data (OMG graphs!!!) and log your food and other activities throughout the day.  You can make goals and have friends on the website also.  It costs $99 and I believe is available at Best Buy.

Food Log

When you start your day, it gives you a baseline calorie target for the day based on if you were to lay in bed and not move the entire day.  My target intake for the day is shown at the top here.  It shows how much I have eaten so far (178) and how much I have left (1386).

Then as you begin moving around and logging activities, it will increase your calorie intake for the day as shown in the second box.  So far today, I have moved around enough to increase my calories by 52.

Additionally, I have mine set to have a weight loss goal of 0.5lbs per week until I reach 140lbs.  "Easier" is the 0.5lbs per week.  It shows the date I should reach my goal all the way on the right.




Sleep

One really cool thing about the FitBit is that it will monitor your sleep. It really just watches how much you move around but it is still pretty cool.  Apparently I don't move at all when I'm sleeping!

I think this feature will really come in handy!  Only issue is, when do I charge it then???  Well, this morning, I put it on the charger while I was in the shower and then just tracked "Standing - preparing for bed" for 10 minutes.  LoL!

Activities & Steps

This one is pretty self explanatory.  You just track what you were doing during a certain time.  You can track everything throughout your day including things like sitting at your desk, cleaning the house, etc.  If you click on the picture to the right, you can see where I tracked standing this morning.  I will probably only track major workouts in this.  I guess it just helps to give a more accurate picture of the calories you burned throughout the day.  It works with the readings from your FitBit for better accuracy.  Below, you can see my Calories Burned chart for today so far.  You can also view steps, floors and your "active score".

Ok, now you guys can all see why I love this thing already!  Lauren has been just raving about it for months.  I wanted it but didn't want to spend the money and find out I didn't like it.  Of course I love it!  Look at all those charts and graphs!!!  But seriously, this is really going to help me get back on the band wagon.  I have been struggling a lot lately.  Here comes confession time.

I've gained 2% Body Fat and 6lbs  (7 yesterday but I lost 1 since yesterday)

This summer was emotionally rough.  Then the moving, then school started.  I just haven't been able to get into a groove.  I'm finally feeling more like myself now though and armed with my new gadget, I am totally ready to tackle this weight loss thing again!  I took my measurements immediately when I set up my FitBit yesterday morning:

My tactic is going to be the same one I used to lose the weight the first time.  I'm going to think about my calorie differential (difference between how many calories you burn during the day and the calories you ate, i.e. calories in, calories out).  And the FitBit basically does all that for you with the way it increases your calories intake the move active you are.  I'm going to concentrate a lot on building muscle so I'm going to make sure I eat at least 1500 calories per day (under 1400 and you break down muscle) and take my measurements every few weeks, not just weight.

Also, I'm just going to use the FitBit website to track everything and not Spark People.  I know!!!  I love Spark People but now its just going to be to check in with friends and maybe do some team stuff (been too busy for that lately).  I will always love Spark People but I've got to pick one place.  I am really excited though!  How many people do you know get excited about fitness and weight loss??  Here we go!

She's Alive!

I know, I skip one day of blogging and I feel like its been a month.  LoL!  I just get so excited every day to write that I feel like I'm lost without it!  Anyway!!!

What is there to say really?  I feel squishy.  Yep, you read that right.  Squishy.  I haven't worked out in FOREVER!  This cold is still lingering.  I think it has a lot to do with that fact that I am dehydrated.  Of course, today at school, they are out of water for the water cooler (and remember my Water Snob post?).  I guess I'll have to hunt down a vending machine later!

But the point is, I'm working on my water.  Right now, I just have this annoying sniffle that won't go away and a little cough.  The good news is that I am in decent shape to do my half marathon weekend!  At least when it comes to the cold.

My legs might disagree.  I am really worried about how far I can make it in this race.  It will have been 4 weeks since my last long run.  That is a LONG time!  The last one, my legs killed the last 2 miles but then again, I started off hard since I was trying to keep up with someone else.  This time, I will be on my own completely so I can set my own pace at the start.  I am thinking that I will do an easy jog to each water station and then walk through the water station.  That way I have regular walking breaks.  I can totally complete the miles, even if its all walking!  And I am excited to take part for the 3rd consecutive year!

Anyway, on to other news, I picked my Marathon Training plan!  Sort of...  You all knew I would end up doing my own thing, right?  Cause I'm predictable like that!  Anyway, I did lay out Hal Higdon's Marathon 3 plan on my google calendar as a guideline.  I will follow the rules I laid out in my other blog (First Marathon, Help!).   Here is the basic outline again:

• Monday:  Strength/Cross Train
• Tuesday:  Medium Length Run
• Wednesday:  Strength/Cross Train (or rest)
• Thursday:  Speedwork
• Friday:  Rest day
• Saturday:  Long Run
• Sunday:  2-3 miles (or rest)

I got some other really great advice from my wonderful friends that I will keep in mind throughout the training too!  Next up is to figure out how I'm going to fuel my body through all of this.  I know how to eat properly but I also want to make sure I'm eating enough/not too much.  I don't want to gain that 5lbs that every marathoner seems to gain.  Just because I run doesn't mean I get to eat whatever I want!  Anyway, I really want a plan too because my eating has been way off where it should be.  I don't know yet if I'm going to worry about macronutrients (how many carbs? how much protein??  what about fat?!)  because it gets overwhelming!  But having a plan keeps me in line!

So there are my random thoughts for today.  I must go because its still midterms week!  I have one more take home midterm due tomorrow and then I'm done (and then the homework starts again anyway!)  Let's hope this weekend is light on homework because I am REALLY busy again.  Surprised?  Me neither!  LoL!  Have a good Tuesday!!!

Bad Food Confessions

I've been good yet I've been bad.  Normally, I shoot for about 80% good and 20% bad.  That is, I try to eat healthy, clean, whole foods 80% of the time and do 4/5 of my weekly workouts.  The other 20% of the time, I can splurge a bit and go a little crazy.

Well, you know I've been busy so that 4/5 of workouts has been more like 1/5 (and 0 since I got this horrible cold).

And as for my eating, its been good and its been bad.  I have been hovering around 2000 calories which is my normal... When I'm working out!  I just realized over the weekend that if I don't workout and eat 2000 calories, I will gain!  EEK!  I weighed myself today but I'm going to wait until I'm "all better" from my cold before an official weight/body fat/measurements.  Anyway, so my eating has been more like 50/50.  Which is not so great. 

So until this cold is gone, its important to concentrate on getting healthy, delicious foods!  Oh, and the cold is immensely better than last week and over the weekend.  Let's hope it will be gone by my half marathon on the 16th! 

To end, some pictures of my splurges from the weekend:

 Dinner out with Rob.  Red Lobster.  I wasn't impressed at all by my food but I did highly enjoy this cheesecake!  I know, I don't know what I was thinking.  Normally, I'm not a dessert person but I enjoyed this a lot!  Date night is a good excuse right?  (it's not by the way)

Way too much Starbucks as usual!

Homemade chicken noodle soup (made by myself and Rob together).  Even fresh chicken broth.  Yum!  This one is a healthy one except too much fat (doesn't agree with me).  Otherwise, delicious.

This was a huge splurge meal but OH so delicious.  Homemade ground beef garlic burgers (Rob ground angus beef with london broil) with nitrate free uncured bacon and mozzarella on whole wheat rolls and sweet potato fries.  Oh, so its like a healthy-inspired splurge meal.  Haha :)

I was just too excited about the Pumpkin Spice label so I took a picture.  LoL, but I do need to drink less coffee and more water!

Being Accountable

I didn't take pictures of everything but here are some of the not-so-clean foods I've eaten today.

I started off with an omelet and Oats in a Jar (oatmeal in an almost-empty peanut butter jar).  It wasn't "clean" because I added chocolate chips!  Typically I don't like anything too sweet for breakfast but the idea just sounded sooo good.  And?  It was ok, I wish I had used just cocoa powder instead!  But still good :)  Also had a banana in there.

This past weekend I made banana bread.  Om nom nom!  I would like a cleaner recipe for banana bread but I did use whole wheat flour!

I tried having some coffee in my travel mug French press but I just wasn't feeling the coffee.  I only drank a little bit of it.

In our house, leftovers must be used.  We had gotten pizza on Sunday because both of us were too tired to cook (and I had to do homework so if Rob wasn't cooking...)  I decided to make it a bit healthier by adding some mushrooms before putting the slices in the toaster oven.  Came out great!  Also, this pizza place isn't greasy at all!  Yum!

I didn't have coffee this morning for 2 reasons.

• I think I'm coming down with a cold.
• I thought it was causing my afternoon tiredness.

Today, I didn't have coffee.  I just wasn't feeling it and I still had a major afternoon crash around 1:00.  So I guess I just naturally get tired in the afternoon.  Of course, it was while I was trying to drive to school so I had to figure something out to wake me up.  I figured I would pop in at Dunkin Donuts and get something hot to make my throat feel better and give me something to sip on while I drive (eating keeps me awake).

Of course, all their pumpkin items are out for the season!  But I forgot a few things:

1. To get decaf so I'll be wired til late tonight.  If I am, I'm just going to CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN til I get tired!
2. All of DD's flavorings are unsweetened EXCEPT the pumpkin (and mocha)!  Ugh! 

I typically get the toasted almond and no sweetener but I forgot their pumpkin is a syrup.  So this small latte was super sweet.  At least it woke me up to get out of the car and have something to sip on.  Definitely worth it!  Next time, toasted almond decaf nonfat latte (that is a lot to remember!).

I'm waiting for class now.  Time to get some studying done!

Accountability

Accountability is exactly the reason why I'm going to start tracking again.  I know, I know, just last week I said I didn't need to because I know how to eat right.  But right now I'm in denial.  I'm not tracking and I know when I'm eating crappy but I just pretend like its ok, like I don't know that I'm way over on calories, like if no one knows then who cares.  But enough is enough!  I'm going to track my food today to try to get me back in line.  This way, there is a possibility that a friend might check up on me (on Spark People, you can share your nutrition tracker which I do).  Even if no one does, there is still that chance that someone will see "2 cups Peanut Butter Ice Cream 8 billion calories".  LoL

Seriously though, beer and ice cream have made it back into our house on too regular of a basis.  Once in a while is ok but lately its been too often.  And its starting to remind me of way before I ever joined Spark People!  Not good...

And you guys all know how my workouts are going, they aren't!  Last night, I thought all the world was against me with my workout.  First, I got a chip in my windshield!  UGH!  I got an appointment to get it fixed that afternoon after classes which meant I would be getting home an hour later than usual.  Then I got home and had at least 2 sets of visitors!  Not that I minded because one was my brother who I don't get to see often so I was happy to chat but I almost didn't have time to work out.  By the time everyone was gone, dinner was ready but Rob just kept it warm while I did a quick workout with my UFC Trainer on XBox Kinect.  So I got something in!  Not the run I wanted but it was something and my upper body is feeling it today!

On another note, I stopped by a different farm stand on the way home yesterday and it was awesome!  It is always packed and I can see why.

I wanted local honey (for allergies).  They only had one jar of the kind I wanted so I have to go back (oh gee darn) or go right to the honey farm which I also pass on my way home.  Also, I kept my purchases to a minimum because I only had $15.  Well, they take credit cards!  HA!  On Wednesday, I am going to stop in to get my produce for the week.  Love it!  I also got some Apple Butter sweetened with honey yesterday.  Can't wait to try it!

On a negative, I am starting to feel sick.  I have been fighting something for a while now.  Just a tickle in the nose or throat.  Then Rob got really sick last week.  This morning,  I woke up with a sore throat and kept sneezing.  Here it comes!  Let's hope it goes away quickly or is a mild cold or something.  I don't want to spend my first weekend free laying on the couch with the sniffles!  I have running I need to do!  And homework!  And cleaning!  Speaking of which, its time to start my day!

Have you tried eating local honey to help with allergies?

Long Days Ahead

Good morning everyone!  I was entirely too busy yesterday to be writing a blog.  Did you miss me??  Haha.  I just had school and homework all day!  I actually would have had time at school since both my classes were canceled again!  But I didn't bring my laptop (lesson learned?).  And I can't say I got any work done really at school either.  I had to hang around all day to make sure the afternoon class was canceled.  Then I headed home to Rob, ate dinner, and got cracking.  Got a lot done and good thing since its due today!

Anyway!  What to say today...  How about I tell you about my scale again?  I know, lots of people say you shouldn't use it but I don't think that.  I think it is a good measure *sometimes*.  Like today.  I ate crappy all weekend and yesterday and was feeling frumpy this morning.  Let's just say I did NOT like the number it showed me.  Just goes to show that I can't eat whatever I want just because I ran this weekend (it does qualify me for 1 big splurge meal though!  But just 1 meal, not 1 week!). 

Yesterday I ran into some issues with nutrition.  I was tired.  I mean really, really tired driving home.  I made it a half hour from campus and decided I needed to get out of the car immediately.  I pulled into a Dunkin Donuts and got a pumpkin coffee AND a glazed donut.  Let me tell you though, that sugar carried me home.  Not the best choice health wise but it was brilliant when you need instant energy.  I was totally awake after like 20 minutes, singing along to the radio.  LoL.  On the bright side, I discovered this cute market with all locally grown fruits and veggies along with lots of spices, jarred items, etc.  They are only open until the last week of November.  I will have to stop again!  I got some "Pumpkin Butter" and can't wait to try it!  I wonder if I could use it in place of the "J" on my PB&J.  Hm...

So after that horrible nutritional moment, it got worse!  It's fall and one of the things I forgot on my Fall Love blog was Boo Berry Cereal.  My sister said she got some on her Facebook and I knew I was doomed from that moment.  I had actually forgotten about it when I was grocery shopping but then there was a huge end cap display at the store!  I grabbed a box and it was all down hill from there.  I'm not upset with myself though.  I have it once a year.  Usually, I don't even finish eating the whole box.  So I'm content :)  But it really needs to be controlled so next time, I'm measuring 1 serving and that is all I'm having!  All about moderation :)

Exercise?  Well, i've accepted the fact that it won't be happening on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  I get up for work at 5:30 AM and get home from school at 8:30 PM.  Yep, not happening, so I need to make adjustments in my training schedule.  It is just hard to work around my long runs on the weekends!  I think Mondays and Wednesdays will be strength training days.  The only problem there is that I use those nights to get homework done.  Ugh, I need more hours in the day!  Or one of these:

I'm coordinated enough to take pictures while I run.  Do you think I can do Quantum Mechanics while I run???

That's it for today.  Lots to do!  Still not done that homework!!  Have a great day!

When Plans Aren't Working

Things aren't working right in the weight loss department lately.  Yes, weight loss and not "health".  I feel frumpy and blah, like I'ved gained weight.  My scale even played a mean trick on me this morning.  In my frumpy-ness, I decided to weigh myself just to make sure and it displayed a 147.6!  ACK!  That would have meant a gain of almost 4 lbs!  I got off and got back on again (because sometimes it need to calibrate) and it said 144.2 the next 2 weigh-ins.

Anyway, this was maybe just the little shock I needed.  Thinking I was up 4lbs.  For the last few months, I've been hovering around 143 which has been fine with all the craziness that has been going in my life but now I feel like I've had enough.  Mostly because the last week or so has been nothing but junk eating and minimal exercise.  It's time to do something about that and that means going back to Spark.

Tracking my food, tracking my workouts.  I  haven't used it nearly enough lately.  But I also have another issue.  I'm tired of training and yet I have 2 half marathons and a full marathon that I need to train for!  I have my calendar all filled out but it makes me moan just looking at it.

I have a half this weekend and nothing I will do this week will help me get any better for it (I could get worse by going too hard) so this week is going to be all about doing whatever I feel like.  Nothing but cardio though, I don't want super sore legs for the race on Sunday.  But Monday through Friday is all fair game (tapering in intensity toward the end of the week).

After that, I am going to sort of train for my races.  I mean, I will definitely be doing a lot to prepare but I'm not going to stress over getting it exactly right.  I plan on having 2 days a week of strength training and 3-4 days a week of cardio, one of which will be a long run day.  I think I will mostly due speed work like sprints, intervals, hills, and tempo runs.

As for nutrition and diet, the plan is to eat as clean as possible and try to keep it under 2000 calories.  That might not help me to lose anything (inches or weight) but it will keep me from gaining too!

Hopefully as my training increases, I will see some more definition and feel a little less frumpy.  I am a little worried about fitting this all in with all the school and work I have but its gotta happen so that I can run that marathon.  I don't want to be disappointed for my first one (like my first half and this half).

And most of all, I miss being a good example of health and fitness.  That might be a little vain but its true.  I like being a good example to follow.  No one wants to be the bad example, right?  So I feel like I'm failing other people when I'm not doing well.  Remember my blog about being a Healthy Living Blogger?  I need to remember all that I said in that again!

I feel like lately, I just keep making plans and plans and more plans on how to get back on track.  But all those plans were very open with lots of loop holes.  This plan still isn't exactly rigid but its more strict than I've been so I'm going to do it.

Track Food.

Track Fitness.

Long Runs once a week.

Strength Train twice a week.

Cardio 2-3 times per week.

Eat under 2000 calories.

That's the new plan.  Be a healthy living blogger and role model!  Here we go!

Saying Hello to the Old Me

I feel like I've been hanging out with an old friend lately.  My old self.  You know, the self from about 2 and a half years ago who had no clue what nutrition really meant or that exercising had to be done on a consistent basis in order to get anywhere.  Yeah, that old self.  The one I never wanted to see again. 

Its really not so nice seeing her again.  You would think it would be easy to fall back into old times like a familiar blanket but it's the total opposite.  I think we've grown apart; we really have nothing in common anymore. 

She really doesn't have any motivation to do anything active.  She is always tired and a little slow to go.  It’s like she has no energy.  If only she knew that getting out there would actually give her more energy.  If she would just throw on those dusty running sneakers, she might feel better.

As for meals together, they are very difficult.  It is nothing but quick packages meals and take out.  She is rather busy right now but I'm hoping that when her schedule opens up she starts to cook more.  She really needs to add more vegetables to her diet though and drink more water.  She tries to get 8 glasses but it always seems a struggle.

I've been spending a lot of time with her the past week or so out of necessity.  With the time constraints on the move, I ended up seeing her a lot.  She kept ordering pizza and stopping for fast food since we didn't have time to cook a real meal anyway.  She also keeps saying we don't have time to work out.  I kept whining about this one but she won out anyway.  At least I got her to carry some heavy moving boxes and walk over 10,000 steps moving all the stuff out. 

I'm really not happy seeing her this much all at once.  I hope that our times together are few and far between from here on out.  This week and a half spent together has been too long.  This afternoon, I am going to leave her behind and head out for a relaxing, easy run.  She might pop in now and then for the next few days but I hope she’s pretty much done her stay at our place.  I’m sure I’ll see her again when I need someone to share a mega ice cream sundae with but just not on a daily basis again.  Her way of life is nothing like mine anymore.  We’ve just drifted apart, going our own ways.  It was a nice reminder of the past though and how far I’ve come, but it’s time to move on and be the healthy, fit person I am now.

August: Eating Healthy and Running

Every few months or so, I make goals for the month when I need to work on something.  I skip a month here or there but I'm usually pretty consisten about making them.  Last month's goals?  Out the window.  With some rough times at the beginning of the month, I wasn't really in them mindset to be worrying about being so detail orientented.  I didn't completely give up on myself though.  That is the point of the goals in the first place!  To try to do better!

So here are my goals for this month!

Goal 1:  Stay within my calorie ranges 15 days this month

All of my goals are multi-purposed.  This one particularly will make me track my food and it will make me conscious of what I am eating.  If I want to stay in my ranges, I can't go pigging out on burgers and ice cream all day! 

Goal 2:  Work out 4 times per week.

I think that is a pretty reasonable workout schedule.  I can do 4 days a week without feeling overwhelmed and while making time for random things that pop up.  I can do this one!

Goal 3:  Run 40 Miles

If I'm working out 4 times per week, I should be running at least twice per week, one of which is my long run.  With an 11 miler and a 10 miler this month, This should be cake.

Goal 4:  Have 15 spend free days

This always helps the budget.  My pie chart was insane last month:

Look at that eating out!  Of course, that had something to do with the beginning of the month when I had a lot of time off.  No excuse but still.  Its been hard to getting around to cooking lately.  I must get back into the kitchen.  Oh, and notice that coffee has a pretty big slice there?  By having "spend free" days, I won't want to waste it by buying a $1 cup of coffee.  Of course, paying for things like groceries and fuel don't count.  No spending on unneccesary items!

Additionally, can you see how these goals will work together?  Since I want to have spend free days, I won't be eating out as much meaning I will probably have an easier time stay in my calorie ranges.  Also, if I'm not spending money, that means I'm not going out, being "busy" and not hitting the gym.  Originally, my first goal was a calorie differential goal which again worked with the working out but I didn't want too much thinking on my goals this month so it changed to calories.  Anyway, this month is about eating healthy foods (stay in range, cook more often) and getting back on the running track!

PS.  I said I did terrible on July's goals which I sort of did but I stuck to one goal 100%.  I track every penny I spent this month (and got that cool chart above).  I downloaded an app to my phone that is exactly like how I track on a spreadsheet on my computer.  I am able to export the data too.  It is called Money Wise and I would not have been able to do this goal without it!  Love having it!

FS: Chocolate Pudding

Source

Snack Pack Chocolate Pudding
Ingredients: Water, Nonfat Milk, Sugar, Modified Corn Starch, Vegetable Oil (Contains One or More of the Following: Palm Oil, Partially Hydrogenated Palm Oil, Sunflower Oil, Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil), Cocoa (Processed with Alkali), Less than 2% of: Salt, Calcium Carbonate, Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate, Artificial Flavors, Color Added.
Snack Pack Reduced Calorie Sugar-Free Chocolate Pudding Ingredients: Water, Maltitol, Modified Corn Starch, Nonfat Milk (Adds an Insignificant Amount of Sugar), Cocoa (Processed with Alkali), Vegetable Oil (Contains One or More of the Following: Palm Oil, Partially Hydrogenated Palm Oil, Sunflower Oil, Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil), Erythritol, Less than 2% of: Calcium Carbonate, Salt, Milk Protein Isolate, Carrageenan, Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate, Artificial Flavors, Sucralose, Acesulfame Potassium.
Snack Pack Fat Free Chocolate Pudding Ingredients: Water, Nonfat Milk, Sugar, Modified Corn Starch, Cocoa (Processed with Alkali), Less than 2% of: Salt, Calcium Carbonate, Carrageenan, Artificial Flavors, Color Added.

Source

Let's talk about the ingredients for a minute. Typically, the fat-free products tend to have more ingredients to make them more like the original, but in this case its the opposite! The original pudding has more junk in it that I'd be concerned about. Partially Hydrogenated oils are bad for you altogether so thats a no right there. On the bright side, according to the MSDS sheet for Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate, it has a "low level of toxicity" and presents "very little hazard if swallowed". At least its somewhat edible. It is a food emulsifier (makes things thicker) so I guess its not too bad but I don't trust anything that you refer to by its chemical make up. But I'll let this one slide. The oil is still getting to me though.

I expected the "reduced calorie" one to be bad because it was sugar free. Sucralose is common although I avoid it like the plague. I have heard/read horrible things about Acesulfame Potassium. I avoid that the most out of all artifical sweetenerss so there's a no for me right there! The rest of the ingredients are similar to the original.

The Fat Free (although fat isn't bad for you), seems to be the best! Its got the least amount of crazy ingredients. I've discussed Carrageenan before which is made from seaweed and is considered to be super safe by most people. I've never seen a question about it being bad for you so I will go with safe. Also, I looked up Modified Corn Starch and that also had nothing bad about it anywhere. Calcium Carbonate is simply a calcium supplement. Eating it excessively is bad but isn't everything? I think this is generally safe.

Let's look at the nutrition!

The serving size is according to the little snack pack cups. I don't know if they are the same size or not but who is going to eat .75 of one? Not me! LoL. So oviously, the original has the most calories and the fat free and sugar free are pretty close so unless you are diabetic, I don't see a reason to get the sguar free yet. Also notice that the fat free has the most protein! Wow! I know a lot of people complain about getting enough protein so there ya go. Get it from your pudding. Haha! Also, according to my reference, there are 9 grams of "sugar alcohol" in the sugar-free one. According to wikipedia, they are used in place of sugar along with artifical sweeteners. I don't know what kind of affect this would have on a diabetic. It seems they don't cause extreme sugar spikes. There is also a warning that people who have had gastric bypass should eat it becaue it causes "dumping" when basically the food isn't digested in the stomach. Hm. Anyway!



Source



I definitely think that the Snack Pack Fat-Free Chocolate Pudding is the clear winner here. For once, that fat free product is actually better than the regular! Woah! Ok, now I want me some pudding...



10 Reasons Why I Don't Follow a Meal Plan

I've been wanting to start doing "Top 10" blogs and this will kick it off!  Let's hope I remember to keep it up.  Ideas are welcome;)

Source

In this instance, I'm referring to following someone else's meal plan, not a plan I made myself.  Perhaps you can think of it as following a "diet" although I hate that word because meal plans such as Clean Eating are not really diets to me (as in crash-diet quick-fix).  So here we go!

(1)  Feeding multiple people

Often times, most of us are cooking for more than 1 person be it kids, husbands, friends, whoever.  It is really hard to please multiple people on a strict meal plan, even if you just eat 1 meal a day (like dinner) together.  I find that my husband can't stand the sound of half of the healthy meal plans I find.

(2)  Food you don't like

That leads me to #2.  No matter how good a meal plan seems at first glance, there is probably going to be something on there that you don't like or just isn't your style.  That is the point of the meal plan, to be pleasing to a wide range of people.  But you are one person with specific tastes.  You are going to run into something you don't like and if you aren't a very good cook, will you know how to adjust or modify it for yourself?

(3)  Complicated Recipes

I've found that since a lot of people think that eating healthy is boring, they try to make the meals interesting and fancy.  This often leads to complicated recipes that take entirely too long and too much thinking to prepare.  When you are already trying to eat healthy, you don't want to complicate it any more than it needs to be.

(4)  Expensive and Uncommon Ingredients

With the nutrition field buzzing with new studies left and right, there are always new fad foods, often not available at your local grocer.  Goji berries?  Chia seeds?  I'm sure they are great for me but they are expensive and hard to find.  A lot of new meal plans try to make things interesting by adding these "super foods" and that just ends up annoying me at the cost or the difficulty to purchase!

(5)  Artifical Ingredients

A lot of low calorie diets and meal plans will include things that I just won't eat (with exceptions to Clean Eating meal plans).  Laughing Cow ice cream might be low in calories but don't look at the ingredients list.  I'd rather have a small portion of the realy stuff, thanks.

Source

(6)  Grocery Shopping Difficulties

Let's assume the meal plan is for 2 weeks at a time.  Who buys 1 apple?  And one recipe out of the 2 weeks calls for 2 tablespoons chopped onion.  What do you do with the rest of the onion??  I'm not a fan of wasting food.  Also, I buy veggies and fruits in bulk at a produce outlet to save money.  Buying 1 peach isn't going to cut it in my shopping budget.

(7)  The Leftovers Black Hole

What do you do with the leftovers?  I've seen a specific popular meal plan that actually had you make a recipe with 6 servings.  They had it once on the 2 week meal plan.  What happened to the other 5 servings?!  Again, not about wasting food and scaling down the recipe was next to impossible.  Not a fan.

(8)  I want what I want

Often times, emotions and cravings dictate eating.  Its not always a good thing.  Then again, there are times when I want a burger.  I'll eat my normally scheduled dinner but still want a burger.  And you know what happens?  I eat everything in my pantry until I finally just cave and eat the burger.  I should have just had a healthy burger in the first place and saved all those calories.

(9)  Lifestyle Differences

I'm a runner.  But I'm also a weigh lifter.  I need a nice balance of protein and carbs.  Until I find a running book that promotes heaving weight lifting 2-3 times per week, I probably won't find a meal plan that works for me.  Also, if you work out extra hard one day, then an extra little snack to refuel might be ok  but some meals plans warn about "going off plan".  Sometimes its ok to listen to your body.

(10)  Ice Cream

And of course, the most important thing.  Find me a weight loss/low calorie meal plan that regularly schedules a custard stand visit.



Source


Disclaimer:  These are reasons why I don't follow any meal plans created by someone else.  Some people find high success by having it laid out for them by a professional and I think that's great and I may be just a little jealous I could do it too.  Also, I'm not against planning your own meals.  I often find that extremely helpful to keep me on my healthy eating.  In fact, I would encourage it for anyone trying to eat healthy and lighter!

Finding time to relax!

Yesterday...
I drank all my water, despite having like 3 lattes (eek)
I ate a little too much at dinner but didn't do nearly as bad as I thought. (2044)
I didn't have time to work out.

I don't know what was up with the coffee yesterday! But at least I drank my water. Usually I'm too distracted drinking other beverages that I don't get my water. I ended up eating too much because we went out to dinner. We just didn't feel like cooking. After that, we headed to the bike shop to get a new tube for Rob's tires. We also got some spares for the bike race this weekend (I can't believe its here already!!!) My work got us Jerseys to wear even though only 3 of us are riding (I think leftover from a previous race they sponsered)


We putzed around shopping for a while and headed home. We spent some time chatting with my mom and cutting up a fresh watermelon she got from the farmer's market. It is delicious! Anyway, so by the end of all that, it was 8:30 and time for bed. I PROMISE to work out tonight!!! If I do anything tomorrow, it will be an easy 3 miles since I don't want to be sore for Sunday!

I don't know why but I felt so frazzled yesterday. I think I had too much caffeine first thing in the morning. Usually I only have a coffee but I had stopped and gotten a medium latte at Starbucks (that's 2 shots of espresso!). Not good for me. I have Starbucks today too... and its decaf. LoL. I also have a lot going on in life right now.  So anyway, that brings me to my question of the day!

What did you do that was relaxing yesterday?
Since I was feeling so off, I just wanted to get away. Luckily I am working this week at our main office instead of at the lab. This means a nice desk to sit at and a beautiful building (with a coffee shop, but that is a whole other issue cause they've got yummy lattes and cookies!) Anyway, so I was feeling burnt so I went outside and called my hubby for a few minutes. Love the patio!

Happy Friday everyone!

Successful Day!

Good morning! Yesterday was a great day!!!

I got my 8 glasses of water in easily!

I tracked all my food and stayed in my calorie range! (1566)

I had a treat when I was craving one but kept it reasonable.

I pushed through an hour long bike ride!

Seriously, it was so easy to get my water in. Just because instead of trying to sip all day, I just chugged 2 glasses at a time. I wonder if there is a difference in hydration levels if you do that. Hm, something to blog about! Also, I was just content with my food for the day. I ate lunch early and then was craving something sweet. I headed down to the lunch place here and grabbed a small latte and an oatmeal cookie. Their cookies are just to die for. But I ate my one cookie and was content. I didn't have any other snacks yesterday other than that cookie!

Rob decided he wanted to ride bikes last night. We headed out right after work after some tedious repairs and things (air in tires, put water bottle holder on Rob's bike, forgot pump so had to go get it, etc.). Finally, we headed to Starbucks, about 6 miles away. The one road was a little hairy because of minimal shoulder and lots of overgrowth from trees. I harrassed Rob about tree trimming (hehe, its his job, he works for the township!). He said he would see what he could do (cause it was making him annoyed too! LoL). Anyway, on our way back, Rob got a serious flat. 2 inch screw in the tire. We pulled out the patch kit and got started. The patch held for... 1/4 mile. Another flat. We were close to Rob's friends house so we pumped it up again and headed there. He hitched a ride home in the truck but we were only like 4 miles from the house so I decided to ride home alone! I could have easily gotten a ride but I decided I really wanted to finish my bike ride for the day! Woohoo!

I think that is all the news for today. I have a dentist appointment tonight and then will need to eat dinner so I'm not sure if I will fit a workout in (I go to bed at 9). I peeked outside this morning for a run but it is seriously dark that early. I am afraid to run at like 8PM because I don't know if I'll be able to sleep then. Also, its really humid today which never helps a run! Anyway, have a great healthy fun day everyone!

What healthy thing did you succeed in yesterday?