100 miles down, 30 hours to go!

I did it. Happy birthday to me- I went 100 miles in April.

That is like walking from London to Calais France. (Europe makes 100 miles seem a lot further than Canada)

And I feel great about it. The point of this challenge was to motivate me and make me keep going just a little bit more. The result was that I have maintained the 33 pounds that I have lost so far, and I am in way better shape to try to drop a few more!

I have a new challenge for May. 30 active hours. What I mean by "active hours" is hours in which you are doing intentional physical activity, like hiking. not hours where you are moving but not really, like shopping at the mall. The intention of this is to work less hard, but for longer. Instead of pushing myself to finish my miles, I will back off the speed and keep going. I chose 30, because that works out to an hour every day, but I have no intention of doing an actual hour every day.

Some days I will do a 30 minute walk and that will be it. Some days We will go on 2 hour hikes. As long as I get my but off the couch and move, I think I can make this 30 hour goal. I just need some fun way to measure it.

Happy May everyone! 

Pinspiration- Dinner style

I know I posted a while ago about how great of a motivator pinterest can be, since you can pin gadgets you want, or sayings that help remind you that you don't really want to eat that cake.

It can also be home of drool worthy cupcake photos, so when using pinterest one must tread lightly.

However what I want to focus on today are all the healthy ideas you can find on pinterest!

One of our major downfalls is pizza. It is quick, and cheap and convenient, and delicious. Even if it isn't quick or convenient, it is so delicious that- well who cares! It is also LOADED with calories, which is why this onetime staple of weekends has been forced to be an occasional treat.

But here are some ways to help keep pizza in our rotation, without busting the calorie budget (and since they are recipes that you make at home they are easy on the dollars budget too)

I have not tried this one yet, but I am thinking it just might need to pop up on the menu for the week:
Cauliflower Crust Pizza: 
There is a whole blog post, that is totally worth reading, but here is the gist:
CRUST:
1/2 LARGE head cauliflower (or 2+ cups shredded cauliflower)
1 large egg
1 cup finely shredded mozzarella cheese (or try another kind!)
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried minced garlic (or fresh garlic)
1/2 teaspoon onion salt


(click the link for the step by step how to) 

I just love this idea! 

In a time pinch, I also love the crust alternative of zucchini! 

No recipe needed, since you just use zucchini in place of a pizza crust! It would be super easy to cut the zucchini in to circles and make pizza bites out of this too, perfect for a sports party in a calorie conscious way! 

So don't get too distracted by all the cupcake pins, there are healthy ideas too! 

Just Keep Swimming

It isn't always easy to keep going at the gym. There are a lot of days when I am tired, or want to be lazy but David makes me go. 

So what motivation is there for me to keep going? 

It's Dory, from finding Nemo. There is just something highly motivating, about the "just keep swimming" song.

I am hoping that motto- can keep me going on the path that I am on, because I actually had to go to the mall and buy a few new things. My favorite skirt was literally falling off of me the other day. 

Seeing the change is good, and that motivates me too.  

So tonight when I am at they gym, I just hope people won't laugh if they notice me humming my little motivation song, cause boy is it working! 

"free" food- how to discount your calories!

One of the techniques that has helped me lose 30 pounds since November, is trying to eat as much that is "free" as possible. Not monetarily free, but caloricly.

By my definition, caloricly free (or um on sale) is a food that takes work to get, so you burn all the calories (or at least some) in the process of getting it.

My favorite way to do this is to walk to subway on my lunch hour.

A 6 inch veggie sub, with no cheese and only mustard as a condiment (Since mayo= yuck anyway) is 230 calories.

I have to walk about 13 minutes to get to Subway, so I round down to 25 minutes for calories. 168

That burns 168 calories, so my lunch only "costs" 62 calories. 

That isn't bad! Throw in a diet coke, and some sunshine and it is a pretty good lunch! 

Another great way to get a calorie "discount" is to go on a picnic over the weekend. For me, the weekend is a dangerous time, because I have less of a schedule, and boredom eating is a huge pitfall. So packing a picnic lunch and hiking it to a nice spot to eat is a great way to lower that calorie count. 

Especially if you have a craving you just HAVE to satiate, walk or run or bike to wherever you have to go to  satisfy that craving! 

Veggie Flush- Results

I think the veggie flush went really well! I saw the scale move for the first time in a while, so hopefully it got things going. Because I missed carbs.

But hey 1.5 pounds in 2 days isn't bad!

Managing the plateau

The most frustrating part of trying to lose weight, is doing everything right and seeing zero results.

We hit the gym minimum 5 days per week, and do a hard 40 minute workout every time. I go on walks on my lunch hour, and I have restricted my calorie intake to pretty darn low- enough to keep my energy up and to keep myself out of starvation mode, but low enough that I should be seeing a change after 2 months of this. But this week, I weigh a pound more than I did last weekend, and the frustration is totally kicking in. In order to keep my motivation going, I need to push past this plateau.

So my plan is a 48 hour fruit and veggie flush- as in only fruits, veggies (and probably a bit of oil and vinegar dressing) and some tiny fancy potatoes, that i consider on the borderline of starch and veggie, because they are purple.

Davis is kind of doing this with me, he is cutting out dairy and starches, but eating meat still, because if we are using the broiler we might as well throw a steak under there.

This is the spoils of our trip to the grocery store:

Wish me luck!

48 hour veggie flush

This post is going to be short but sweet-

I am down 23 pounds since November, which is very nice.

BUT I am burning a lot of calories and working hard to do so, so I would like to do something to kick start the weight loss.

So On Monday and Tuesday I am doing a 48 hour fruit and veggies only flush.

I would love for people to join me, the plan is to eat all the calories I am supposed to, but only eat fruit and veggies. I think all the nutrients will boost my energy and get the weight loss going.

Little victory- Little Post

Since my new city, Calgary is a LOT more conservative with clothing than my old one Eugene* I did a bit of shopping this summer so I could fit in with the people who don't have "dress Birkenstocks"**. One of the things I bought is a hounds-tooth pencil skirt. This morning when I went to put it on, it was too big, and I had to hold it up with a belt. It isn't the white dress, but I am on my way!

* similar to saying the ocean is larger than a puddle. Seriously.

** If you think I am kidding you should see their "fancy tie dye"

15 down

I am 15 pounds lighter than I was a month ago, when we decided to start working out.

I have never seen progress like this before. The last time I pushed hard and tried to lose weight was before my wedding. I had 2 goals;
1) look good in the most expensive piece of clothing I would ever wear, and
2) Have the endurance to dance all night and enjoy the amazing party that was my wedding.

I definitely got into better shape. I went for a run one day on my lunch break and realized it was a nice break from work. For at least 6 months before the wedding I ran at least 30 minutes 3 days per week.

I think the reason I didn't lose the weight was the eating. I made an effort to eat healthy foods and make healthy choices, but so often "healthy foods" are full of unhealthy calories. For example- Salad- Healthy- 4 tablespoons of full fat blue cheese? Not so much.

So I met part of my goal. I got into better shape. The morning of my wedding I went for a run and it actually felt good. And I danced all night. It felt great. But that morning of the wedding was the last time I ran. Somehow I just never got back into shape to get back out there, and without the motivation of the wedding there was nothing stopping me from putting it off until tomorrow.

So What is different now?

Calories.

Counting calories lets me do things like eat a spoon of Nutella if I am craving it. And still wake up in the morning and look down at a smaller number on the scale.

In order to be full and not stabby due to crankiness I need to eat a lot of nutrient rich low calorie foods, like veggies. (Veggies sans dressing) which I really like.

I like working out a little less, but I always feel so proud of myself after the fact.

And 15 pounds down feels good.

The white dress.

No it isn't that white dress. The white dress that I walked down the aisle in is done. It was beautiful but I will never wear it again. The white dress that I am going to tell you about is both brand new and almost 7 years old.

The spring break of my junior year of college, I went to Disneyland to visit a friend. While I was there I tried on and loved a white strapless eyelet lace sundress, from BCBG. It fit perfectly, but it cost almost $200, which is just about 5 times what I felt comfortable spending on a dress.

Kind of like this one.

Like I said it fit perfectly and I loved it, so when I got home from the trip, I went online and ordered it. I spent about a months worth of grocery money on that dress, but it would be worth it, I told myself. It was so cute, I could wear it forever.

By the time it was delivered, it was just a little too snug. I could get it zipped, but it just looked tight, so I hung it in the closet, and told myself I just needed to drop those few pounds, maybe 5 and it would fit like it did in the store.

That was the last time I was that small.

Since then my weight has climbed and climbed and climbed, and I am almost double the size I was then. Four times the size I was in high school. Almost double the weight.

I still have that dress. It is hanging in my closet, and someday I am going to wear it, out on a date with my husband. I am going to lose enough weight to look great in a strapless size 10 (BCBG so normal size 8 ish) eyelett cotton dress.

That day will be my victory day.