Friday, September 17, 2010

weigh in --- week 6

Oh, I've been absent!!! Lots and lots of homework with these classes I've been taking and a lot of overtime at work too, leaves me not-so-much-time to blog. I've still been working out and eating well though, so still smiley about my results. Which are.....

Last weight: 176
Today's weight: 172.5
Last BMI: 35.55
Today's BMI: 34.84

My only problem with today's weight is that I gained a pound back this week. I think it is just TOM weight, but it still makes me grr. I sure hope it is gone next week!!

Friday, September 3, 2010

Weigh In -- Week 4

Sheesh, it sure seems like I have been doing this longer than 4 weeks! Anyways, here's the stats for today.....

Weight: 176 (down 2 pounds)
BMI: 35.55 (down from 35.95)

And I did my measurements again.....

Chest -- 43 1/2 (down from 45)
Neck -- 14 3/4 (down from 15.5.....I didn't post it last time but I remember it was the same as my calf)
Upper Arm -- 12.5 (no change) :o(
Forearm -- 9.5 (no change) :o(
Waist -- 39 (down from 40)
Hips -- 46 1/2 (down from 48)
Thigh -- 23 1/4 (24 1/2)
Calf -- 15 1/4 (down from 15 1/2)


So, overall I feel good about where I am. My clothes fit a little better and I just feel better....healthier and about myself. I am excited too because the bodybugg forums are just now starting a month-long contest. There are groups on the forum and I joined the shorties one (apparently shorter people burn calories at a lesser rate than taller people, so this group is kinda nice to get advice from, etc). anyways, all the groups are competing on which group loses the most % of weight and who has the most activity for the week. This will definitely spur me on on those days that I feel like getting a little lazier. Hope all is well with everybody else!!!

Friday, August 27, 2010

Weigh In -- Week 3

Well, I'm a day late in posting my weight, but I did actually weigh in yesterday, just didn't have time to post it. I started some online classes and it's only week 1 and I already felt like I was gonna get behind! So I focused on getting the homework done during the day, then had company that evening, then realized I hadn't finished ALL of the homework so did that til I went to bed. Now that I have some things figured out I think I'll be better at this homework business. :o)

So, anyways....

Weight: 178
BMI: 35.95

Friday, August 20, 2010

Chicken & Pimiento Cheese Recipe

Oops, I meant to post this last week after I made it, but forgot. I found this recipe on www.eatingwell.com and it was delicious! Now, normally, I would put a whole lot more cheese, but since I am trying to watch what I eat I went by the recipe and it was a decent amount. I steamed some vegetables with it so all together my dinner was less than 300 calories! And, it was pretty easy to make too. Ok, here ya go. Let me know if you like it and if you have any ideas for changing it up a bit. :o)

Chicken Breasts Stuffed with Pimiento Cheese

Ingredients

1/2 cup shredded Gouda cheese, preferably smoked
2 tablespoons chopped scallion
1 tablespoon sliced pimientos, chopped
1 teaspoon paprika, divided
4 small boneless, skinless chicken breasts (1 1/4 - 1 1/2 pounds total), trimmed and tenders removed (see note at the bottom)
1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper, divided
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 400F.
2. Combine Gouda, scallion, pimientos and 1/2 teaspoon paprika in a small bowl.
3. Cut a horizontal slit along the thin, long edge of each chicken breast, nearly through to the opposite side, and open like a book. Sprinkle the breasts with 1/4 teaspon each salt and pepper. Divide the cheese filling among the breasts, placing it in the center of each. Close the breast over the filling, pressing the edges firmly together to seal. Sprinkle the breasts with the remaining 1/2 teaspoon paprika, 1/4 teasppon salt and pepper.
4. Heat oil in a large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook until browned on one side, about 2 minutes. Turn the chicken over and transfer the skillet to the oven. Bake until the chicken is no longer pink in the center and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part registers 165F, about 15 minutes. ***I didn't do this last part exactly like that, since I don't have the oven-proof skillet. Or a thermometer. I browned it like it said, then flipped the chicken over as I put it in a regular baking dish that had been sprayed with Pam. Worked just fine with the same time and temperature, etc.***

Nutrition Info

Per Serving:
Calories: 200
Fat: 10g
Sat: 3g
Mono: 5g
Cholesterol: 76mg
Carbs: 1g
Protein: 26g
Fiber: 0g
Sodium: 445mg
Potassium: 232mg


**Note** Chicken tenders are the lean strips of meat typically found attached to the underside of the chicken breasts. They can also be purchased separately. I think I'm going to start removing them from now on though....I got enough to make a pot of chicken soup for my dogs, saved me some moneys!!

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Weigh In -- Week 2

Well, this week I had a couple setbacks. I had a small Blizzard and a restaurant salad one day and a piece of candy the next. But, I am still happy to report I had a 1.5 pound loss this week. Yea!

Weight: 180.5
BMI: 36.46

I’m not beating myself up about the Blizzard, etc, but still wish I would have been strong and resisted. Last night I went to Hometown Buffet with my family and did very well. For one thing, I HATE buffets. The idea of other people fondling my food just grosses me out. So normally I avoid them, but this was for my nephew’s birthday, so wasn’t gonna miss it. I looked up their nutritional info online before I went though and was ready with a list of things I could eat (other than salad and fruit). Unfortunately they had none of the real food I could eat! So, I ended up with salad, fruit and soup. But was still able to have apple crisp for dessert. So not complaining at all, good food, good company and tried not to think about everybody touching my food. :o)

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Weigh In --- Week 1

Ok, here are my stats for the week...

Age: still 37
Height: still 4'11"
Weight: 182 now (a loss of 3 pounds this week, yea!)
BMI: 36.76

I have been eating well, although probably not enough sometimes. And working out hard. I decided instead of having a schedule (like working out on my days off, or just workdays, or whatever), that I would just workout every day. This seems to be working for me. For one thing, I'm not feeling forced to work out. Other times if I make the schedule to work out on my days off, sometimes I just don't feel like going out, ya know. So then I would feel like I'm forcing myself to go and not as into it. But this way, I have the goal to work out every day and if I don't feel like it one day, I don't feel bad because I have been doing good so many other days. Ok, so tonight I am trying a new recipe that I found. And hopefully it will be as good as it sounds and I will post it along with some other recipes I have tried in the past that I like. TTYL!!

Sunday, August 8, 2010

One of my pitfalls

So, I'm still on track with eating better and exercising, but I almost fell into one of my usual bad habits. I'm sitting here at work, eyes all droopy because I'm so tired (I have to get up at 3:15am to be at work by 6am since my commute is a little over an hour), and I thought "maybe I'll have a snack to keep me awake". This is something I do ALL the time. Luckily this time I took a second to think whether or not I was actually hungry. I ate breakfast before leaving my house and have been drinking water since I got here, so I'm not even close to being hungry. My usual excuse is that a little snack will give me some energy and wake me up a bit. Plus, just the act of eating will keep me busy for a minute or two, so that would work also. But if I'm not hungry and not actually in need of additional energy, then that is all it is, an excuse to eat. One of my plans for this weight loss thing is to really pay attention to WHY I eat the things I do so that I can break those habits and keep the weight off. I know that I drink soda when I am upset about something --- whether that be sad or angry. And I am sure that I have boredom eating habits too, but I want to see all of my reasons. I don't think I was really conscious of eating because I was tired before. Oh, and on the soda note, today is day 2 with no sodas. I had cut down to only one Diet Dr. Pepper a day, but decided when I ran out of what I had I wouldn't buy anymore. So they are gone as of Friday and I haven't been tempted to get anything out of the soda machine. Yea me!

Friday, August 6, 2010

Feelin' A Little Buggie

Looking back on previous weight-loss adventures, I have learned that I do best when I am held accountable --- like logging food and exercise. There are some great websites out there that have logs (like www.fitday.com it's free and the people on the forums have been very supportive), but I decided to go the Body Bugg route again too. I already own the old Bugg (it's a little bulkier than the new one, but still works the same as far as I can tell), so I just had to reactivate my membership so that I could get to the logs. So, the bad part is that it costs money. Once you get past the initial cost for the Bugg itself (depending on if you get the one with just the armband or the one with the armband and the watch, it is usually about $200 --- which, honestly, I think is too much.....but I have also seen them on ebay for lower) it isn't so bad. They have it so you can sign up for a year, 6 months or do month-to-month. Month-to-month is only $10, so I did that for the time being. So, yesterday was day 1 of the Body Bugg and I am getting back into the swing of logging my food and downloading the armband information. Luckily I am a creature of habit when it comes to food and all the meals (like Lean Cuisine meals) that I had manually logged in are still there. Yea! If I remember correctly, I used to download the armband (it's just a matter of logging into the site and then pushing the button on my armband) once in the morning and once at night, so that is what I am going for now. Yesterday ended up being a very good day. I had some errands to do, so I was too busy to feel like I wanted a snack. And I spent an hour on the treadmill at the gym too. My calorie deficit was way too high since I didn't eat much, but at least it wasn't a surplus! One thing I like about the Body Bugg is that they don't encourage starving, no magic concoctions to eat or drink, and their main idea is that your calorie intake just needs to be lower than your energy output. The larger the deficit the more weight you will lose, but as long as you don't have a surplus of calories, then you are still on track and should not expect to gain weight. I'm not a big fan of the fads so this idea works well for me. Now, the one bad thing that happened when I logged in yesterday and updated my weight and measurements was that I had to face just how much my body has changed recently. I have had the Bugg for a couple years now (not always using it, that's just when I bought it to begin with) and I stumbled upon my measurements for the whole time I have used the program. I think I started about where I am now and at one point I was down to 163 pounds. I remember that, so that wasn't a surprise. What was a surprise was that my chest and waist at that time were a good 4 inches smaller. Seriously! Four inches off my waist would be amazing right now!! And maybe if I lost 4 inches off my chest, when I strip down to my bra for, err, my friend, I wouldn't have so much back fat to share with him also! I'm sure he would appreciate that. So, these were not figures I really wanted to see, but at the same time I have to appreciate that I have now. Not only does it remind me that I need to stay on track, but also that I have done this before and there is no reason I can't do it again. Well, off I go......I just realized there is a message board on the Body Bugg website also, lets see what good stuff I can learn from there! :o)

Thursday, August 5, 2010

The Starting Point --- Weigh In

Ok, so here goes. The first Weigh In Day. Once I figure out how to do it, I will put a running log over there on the side so we can track my progress. So, here’s all my stats:

Age: 37
Height: 4'11" (a little on the short side)
Weight: 185 (yikes!)
BMI: 37.37 (yikes again!)

Measurements:
Chest: 45 (and believe me, that’s not boob related) :o(
Waist: 40
Hips: 48 (not sure if I measured the right spot, but I included my gunt since that is a spot I really want to see less of)
Upper Arm: 12.5
Forearm: 9.5
Thigh: 24.5
Calf: 15.5

And now for some pictures...




Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Welcome to From Flabulous to Fitastic!! This is just day 1, so not much to see, but my plan is to put myself out there and invite everybody to watch me go from my not-so-greatness to amazing. I’m not needing super-skinny or anything like that, I just want to get healthy and stay healthy. If a hot body comes along with that, then all the better. :o) I promise to be completely honest. I will be posting my beginning weight, my losses/maintenance/gains (hope not!!) at my weekly weigh-ins, which by the way, I am aiming for Thursdays for those. I also plan on posting recipes I find that I like, other fitness blogs that I enjoy, exercises that I try, etc etc etc. My hope in this is slightly self-serving....I want to get fit and if I have an audience I think that will help me. Ultimately I believe it is up to me to take care of me but encouragement never hurts either. But my main goal is to join the fitness community through the blogging world and hopefully to make a contribution myself too. I have been reading what other people have to say and it is all very inspirational. Not just to lose weight and get healthy, but to finally admit to how I got here and how I really feel about it. If I finally face all of that I believe I will stay on track this time and not only keep my weight down but remain healthy. I’ve been very fortunate that all these extra pounds I have packed on have not created other more serious health problems — like diabetes or heart problems — but I realize it is only a matter of time too. I sure aint gettin’ any younger! I don’t want to wake up one day with regret, knowing I should have made changes when I had the chance. So instead, I will wake up each day and remind myself that it is up to me to make a better me. I hope you enjoy reading what I have to say and I would love to see your comments, questions and suggestions!