Get fit in the Gym, Lose weight in the Kitchen.

That's the saying right?  It's a pretty easy concept to get...much harder to execute.  You can do all the exercise you want, but if you eat pancakes and bacon for breakfast, pizza and chips for dinner, it's just not going to do you any good.

I talk a lot about going to the gym, and working out. It's the high that keeps me going.  But the real work is done in rewiring my mindset, my tongue and my stomach.  I keep my trigger foods out of the house. When there are cookies, chocolate and other crap on the counter at work, I have to use my willpower to stay strong.  Trust me, that stuff still calls to me when I see it, but I control it so much better now.  I eat 6 mostly "clean/whole foods" meals a day, and I'm currently playing around with the calorie amount and balance, but one things I know - whole foods are key, veggies and fruits are absolute necessities.

So what happens when I come home from an awesome workout starving, and realize I don't really have much for food?  I get to work.  They say beauty is pain?  Well whatever. Those liars have never cut onions before.  These are not tears of joy people!

Needless to say, there was work to be done.    Within a matter of an hour, I had cooked some chicken, quinoa, chopped up 6 baggies of veggies for salad toppings and egg throw ins including purple and white onions, celery, mushrooms, and two bags of peppers. I chopped up three quarts of strawberries and mangos. And at the end I had a good sized bowl of chicken quinoa salad to fulfill my after workout cravings.  I have enough leftovers now to get me through my work weekend.  While I was cooking, I realized it was going to take too long so  I grabbed a greek yogurt and ate that.  You should always have something on hand for if you get a little desperate.

I generally have these items on hand at all time:
Greek Yogurt
Protein Powder
Cheese Sticks or mini babybell's
Lara Bars (or a good protein bar)
Fresh Fruit of some sort (In my house right now are mangos, grapes, cuties, strawberries)
Nuts - my favorites are the "wonderful" brand shelled pistachios  I buy by the giant bag full at costco.  Kids love them too.

All My Veggies

I was eventually able to whip up a batch of chicken quinoa salad, which will last me through my work weekend for lunches so that's great.  The point is BE PREPARED.  Think ahead about food. If you don't, and you find yourself in a hungry situation, try to think about your hunger and make the best of the situation, and always have backup items.  if everything else fails, and you just need some carbs and quinoa isn't going to cut it, pop some popcorn, because there's not a lot of point to working your arse off (literally) in Kickboxing class, just to come home and eat chips and ice cream.

3 Month Changiversary

A little "Dieting" history:

It's been three months since I made the decision to change my life.  Lots of people talk about starting diets, it's going to be on Monday, or after Christmas or New Year's, getting ready for summer or a Class Reunion.  I've been there before. I tried to lose weight for my wedding, for my brother's wedding, I've started after holiday's, I've started on Monday.  But often I quit on Monday night.  I give up after one bad week.  I lose whatever motivation I had to give my "diet" a half ass try.  I've referred to my diet as a lifestyle change before, and I'm no stranger to eating healthy and exercising.  I've done 6 meals a day, Body for Life, Weight Watchers, exercise, no exercise, curves, gyms.

I've been obese since I was in third grade.  My mom took me to Weight Watchers for the first time when I was 13 years old.  I know what you are thinking.  13 is way too young for WW, but I saw it work for her, and I begged.  I did really well, but gave that up eventually, and that started a lifetime of cycle dieting, yoyoing, motivation followed by excuses and giving up.


My breaking point:

Everyone who really makes a change like this has a breaking point.  There's not just one thing that was going bad in my life, everything was going bad.

In 6 months I had somehow rapidly gained about 30 lbs.  Partially I can blame it on a hormonal medication, but the other part was eating crapily and living a mostly sedentary lifestyle.  Work was painful for me, I tweaked my back a couple times. I had a hard time lifting clients.  Certain physical moves I had to perform would strain my lower back.

One big pre-breaking pt. low spot was Halloween for me.  I love dressing up. I like designing and sewing costumes, but I've lost my love for it the bigger I've gotten.  For halloween this year, I just figured I would do a simple fairy outfit.  Black dress, wings, and I would make a tutu and put on some crazy makeup.  I would say that someone of my size shouldn't wear a tutu, and that's probably true because I looked like the Giant Godzilla Fairy Monster.  And the worst part is that people said I looked so cute, because that was  as cute as I could possibly look at that size.  At this point I still wasn't ready to step on the scale.

I knew I needed to lose weight.  You don't not know.  When someone says they are fine being this obese, that's not true. Nobody is fine with this.  Some people live with it, some people don't have the motivation to change, but nobody is fine with it. Nobody is happy with this type of body.  But I still didn't have the drive I needed.

As the holiday months passed I continued to gain weight.  My size 24 jeans didn't fit anymore.  I had bought some "yoga" pants, because they would be good for work of course.  And I started wearing those all the time.  My husband would say "Just buy some jeans that fit" as he watched me do the pregnancy trick with my jeans (a hair binder through the loophole).  I didn't want to waste the money, because I was going to start eating right and working out soon.  But I didn't have a clear vision of this working out/eating right Erica, I just said it because I didn't want to face the music.  So I finally did it. I bought a size 26 pair of jeans. I brought them home, knowing they would fit, and guess what?  They were too tight.  I could NOT fit into size 26 jeans, which means I was a size 28.  I can't even say that.  In fact, if someone were to ask me what my biggest size was, I would probably say 26.

More low points: 

I couldn't play with my kids the way I want. I asked my husband to carry laundry and groceries up the stairs for me.  He took them outside to play.  Dancing winded me too much.   Seats in movie theatres were getting
too tight for me.  I was scared to go on an airplane ride.  Nothing fits me. Nothing. Bras don't fit right. Shirts don't fit right. Underwear doesn't fit right. Pants don't fit right.  Shoes don't even fit right, because my feet are too fat.  Carrying my baby up the stairs would wind me.  I was depressed. Unhappy. Lazy. Mean. Had an incredibly stressful relationship with my husband.  Ate crappy food, my joy was a bag of candy and a diet coke.  I was getting to the point where I had a hard time standing up from the couch.  I hated going to ECFE, because I hated having to sit on the floor, because it was so hard for me to get up off the floor, not to mention the ungraceful way I plopped my butt down.

The Change: 

26 is the size of the biggest pair of jeans I own, because that was it for me. I said FUCK THIS SHIT.  I'm better than this. I can do more than this.  Right then and there I signed up for Weight Watchers again knowing that it's a good place to start.   I started eating healthy that night. I went to my first meeting the next morning, where my first official weight from them was 289.2 lbs.  I had 125.2 lbs to lose to get to 164 lbs, which is the top healthy BMI* weight for my height.

My cousin and I out dancing. 

I bought Zumba on my Wii to get started. I couldn't do 15 minutes without feeling like dying, a month later after doing it every day (sometimes twice a day), I could do a 45 minute stint.  I joined the YMCA. I started going to Zumba and Body Pump classes. I got a Heart Rate Monitor to watch my burn. I decided to use My fitness pal for tracking instead of WW, because I really wanted to focus on core foods and exercise. I hired a Personal trainer.  I joined ANOTHER gym to keep my mojo going.

Size 22 Jeans (Taken 4/7/13)

I've lost 30 lbs in three months.  That's a great number for me. I've been committed every single day.  I make  thoughtful choices about what I eat, how I move, how I act every day and it shows. After 3 months my size 24 jeans are too lose, my yoga pants can't stay on my hips.  I carry my groceries up the stairs. I have dance parties while swinging my children around.  My marriage is in a healing process. I smile all the time. I laugh all the time. I'm happy almost all the time.  I went dancing with my cousin for the first time in forever last night, and the only problem is that I needed a belt.  I dyed my hair crazy colors, because I'm so happy that I had the confidence to let the real me shine through.  Even when I'm tired and exhausted, I can still keep going. I can go to work, and not be grumpy. I can make myself go to the gym. The endorphins are working their way into my life in an awesome way.

All I know is that I'm never going back.  I'm never going to not be able to fit into a size 26 jean unless it's entirely too big (which it is now!)  This is the new me.  The new me is wearing size 22 capri's in the picture I took today. I like me so much better, and I'm here to stay.  I've got a long ways to go, but life is good.  30 lbs in three months?  I can't wait to see what I accomplish in a year.

Seasoned Fish, It's what's for Dinner!

This meal uses two of my most needed ingredients to stay on track.  One of the biggest staples in my house to keep me full, and fill my protein needs is tilapia. The other ingredient I could not live without, that makes my tastebuds feel satisfied is 21 Seasoning Salute from Trader Joe's.  It's $1.99 a bottle, and I put it on EVERYTHING. Fish, Chicken, Veggies, Ice Cream...ok not ice cream.  But it really adds flavor to a lot of meals.

I buy a large package of fresh tilapia (about 3lbs) at costco every 1-2 weeks to cook up for meals for my family.  My favorite quick and easy meal for myself is below.  It takes about 10 minutes to put together.

Serves 3: (you can make it stretch to more or less as you wish).  I often put all the fish in a baggie to marinate, and then fry them up 1 filet at a time as I need them.  

Ingredients:

3 - 6 oz tilapia filets

3 garlic cloves - minced

1 Tbsp Honey

1 Tbsp Low Sodium Soy Sauce

2 Tbsp Lemon Juice

2 tsp Trader Joe's 21 Seasoning Salute (or less yummy alternate seasoning of your choice)

1 TBSP Olive Oil (1 tsp each filet for frying)

3 cups asparagus, or a large bunch

1 TBSP Olive Oil for asparagus (optional)

3 TBSP Wonderful Almond Accents

Directions:

1. Pour garlic, honey, soy sauce, lemon juice and 21 Seasoning Salute into a gallon sized ziplock bag.

2. Add fish filet, shake around to coat.  Let sit a few minutes to soak up the seasoning.

3. Heat 1 tsp of olive oil in frying pan over medium heat.

4. Add Fish, fry about 3 minutes on each side or until cooked throughout.

5. While fish is cooking, steam your asparagus   I plated mine tonight with a Tablespoon of these yummy Almond Accents, a teaspoon of olive oil and some 21 seasoning salute sprinkled on top.

6. Add Fish to plate, serve, and EAT!

Takes 10 minutes.  1 serving including the two tsp of olive oil (could be reduced on asparagus) yields: 316 calories, 14 g Carbs, 5 g Fiber, 15 g fat, 50 g Protein.