So lately I have been having a hard time seeing my results. I know that clothes fit differently and the scale has changed some but I haven't been able to SEE a difference very easily. I decided to start taking progress pictures again(it's been a year since they last one i took) so I could see if there were any changes.
When I first compared my new pic with last years, I was a little discouraged because I couldn't really see much of a change. Yes, I am a little narrower around the natural waist and my face has thinned out but overall, I couldn't see much change. Then I compared all of my profile shots and I found it. I figured out where I have lost most of my weight, my ass. I could not believe the difference between the first picture and the last. It's smaller, lifted and actually has a nice shape to it now. I was shocked, and a little confused. I'm surprised that that is where I am seeing my results first but whatever works.
Anyway, it is nice to actually be able to see some results instead of just wondering where things are changing. I am going to try to take a pic at least once a month from now on.
It turns out my husband wasn't crazy when he said my butt was starting to look good. Who knew.
Friday, June 15, 2012
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Good Day
Today I had a pretty good day. It wasn't great because I did snack on some stuff that I shouldn't have but it is gone now and I will do my best not to buy anymore, at least for a while. Other than that, I ate cereal, drank water with Mio Lemonade(so good) and had a Weight Watchers chicken breast grilled with lemon pepper for dinner. Now I am having a nice salty snack of pickles. I have done a pretty good job of making good choices today. I'm really a big fan of the new weight watchers from chicken products. You can buy chicken tenders, breasts or burgers. All are frozen and uncooked. They can go straight on the grill or in the pan while frozen so you don't have to fight with thawing them out and they are trimmed and measured to be the same points value per piece. The tenders are 1 pt each, breasts are 3 and burgers are 3. It has made cooking for one very simple this week. The other night I just grabbed a chicken burger, tossed it on my george foreman and I was eating in no time. Tonight I did the same with the chicken breast and it was super easy and quick. I love that I can just put it on the grill and walk away. I am falling in love with my GF grill again after not using it for over a year. We have one of the larger ones so you really can cook a good bit of food on it at once. Hopefully pulling it out of the cabinet will help me cook more and have healthy quick meals.
Tonight I played around with a new workout element. I did some sprints on the treadmill. It was the first time I have done them and I was a little scared but it went well. I didn't do too many repetitions but I am planning on working my way up to more. After that I did some ab and leg work thanks to some exercises I found online. I like the exercises and I plan to talk more about them later. I want to see how closely they come to living up to there claims before I go too in depth about them. I am a firm believer in the "Try it before you sell it" approach so I want to finish my round with them before telling you to try them. Anyway, by doing them immediately after getting off the treadmill, my body was still warm and so as I did the workout I could tell that I was still burning some significant calories. I was sweating like crazy even though the entire workout, sprints and all took less than 30 minutes.We'll see how I feel tomorrow.
I am hoping to find the time and motivation to sit down soon and write out all of the posts that have been floating in my head for a while. Most of them are about things that I have learned or dealt with. A lot of it is about the personal internal side of this journey but I still want to share it all. I may not share them all as soon as I write them but if I can get them all written, or at least started, then it will be easier for me to post them during times when I may not have much to talk about or to add to them as my thoughts on each subject develop more. One that I really hope to post soon though is a post that I planned to write way back in October about fear and taking the steps to overcome it. It all relates directly to an experience I had not long before my husband left and some very powerful(to me) pictures that were taken on our trip during his block leave. I was looking at the pics the other day and realizing how much of a broader meaning it all had and what a huge impact fear has had on my journey. Hopefully I will get that story written and posted before the end of the week.
One day at a time, one foot in front of the other...
Tonight I played around with a new workout element. I did some sprints on the treadmill. It was the first time I have done them and I was a little scared but it went well. I didn't do too many repetitions but I am planning on working my way up to more. After that I did some ab and leg work thanks to some exercises I found online. I like the exercises and I plan to talk more about them later. I want to see how closely they come to living up to there claims before I go too in depth about them. I am a firm believer in the "Try it before you sell it" approach so I want to finish my round with them before telling you to try them. Anyway, by doing them immediately after getting off the treadmill, my body was still warm and so as I did the workout I could tell that I was still burning some significant calories. I was sweating like crazy even though the entire workout, sprints and all took less than 30 minutes.We'll see how I feel tomorrow.
I am hoping to find the time and motivation to sit down soon and write out all of the posts that have been floating in my head for a while. Most of them are about things that I have learned or dealt with. A lot of it is about the personal internal side of this journey but I still want to share it all. I may not share them all as soon as I write them but if I can get them all written, or at least started, then it will be easier for me to post them during times when I may not have much to talk about or to add to them as my thoughts on each subject develop more. One that I really hope to post soon though is a post that I planned to write way back in October about fear and taking the steps to overcome it. It all relates directly to an experience I had not long before my husband left and some very powerful(to me) pictures that were taken on our trip during his block leave. I was looking at the pics the other day and realizing how much of a broader meaning it all had and what a huge impact fear has had on my journey. Hopefully I will get that story written and posted before the end of the week.
One day at a time, one foot in front of the other...
Saturday, June 9, 2012
Here we go again.
My husband left today so now I have to go back to reality. It's time for me to really get into the swing of training again. I want to work on my short runs so that once the Wine and Dine half training starts in July I will be ready. I am in the process of mapping out how I want to tackle it all.
I have also set a very tough short term goal for myself. I am trying to really focus and hit everything hard the next couple of weeks so I can slim down some before some friends' wedding in a couple weeks. I have two dress options and how well I do will decide which one I will wear. One fits now but is a little snug so if I lose a little it will fit better. The other is a size smaller and the one I REALLY want to wear so if I do really well, I can rock it. We'll see which one I end up wearing.
For now I am just trying to figure out the next step. I know what I have to do it is just figuring out how to do it. Doing this all right now is really going to be a huge test because Mac leaving has totally knocked me off of my feet. I took today to just deal with it and feel what I feel, tomorrow I will try to pick myself up and start moving forward again. I want the last half of this deployment to be very different than the first, so I feel like this goal may help with that. I don't have time to slack off, I have to start now.
Once I figure out what my new routine is, I will tell you more about it. for now I am just trying a few different things to see what feels right. It is really all just trial and error but I am determined to find the right way for me.
I have also set a very tough short term goal for myself. I am trying to really focus and hit everything hard the next couple of weeks so I can slim down some before some friends' wedding in a couple weeks. I have two dress options and how well I do will decide which one I will wear. One fits now but is a little snug so if I lose a little it will fit better. The other is a size smaller and the one I REALLY want to wear so if I do really well, I can rock it. We'll see which one I end up wearing.
For now I am just trying to figure out the next step. I know what I have to do it is just figuring out how to do it. Doing this all right now is really going to be a huge test because Mac leaving has totally knocked me off of my feet. I took today to just deal with it and feel what I feel, tomorrow I will try to pick myself up and start moving forward again. I want the last half of this deployment to be very different than the first, so I feel like this goal may help with that. I don't have time to slack off, I have to start now.
Once I figure out what my new routine is, I will tell you more about it. for now I am just trying a few different things to see what feels right. It is really all just trial and error but I am determined to find the right way for me.
Saturday, June 2, 2012
Food Trials - McCormick Grill Mates review
Last year I reviewed some athletic wear from old Navy as part of my membership with Crowdtap. I am a big fan of that community and the opportunities it has given me. Recently I had a chance to sample some new items from McCormick thanks to Crowdtap. In order to get the items, I simply had to host a party, use their samples to cook some yummy food and have people taste it and let me know what they thought. This was perfect because I have been wanting to get into grilling more but was at a loss for how to make yummy food but have it be simple. The kit came with:
The kit came with a booklet that had a recipe for turkey burgers in it that I really wanted to try. We didn't make the sauce that they suggested but the burgers were very good. You added the Molasses Bacon seasoning to the meat along with crushed pineapple to keep the burgers nice and juicy and give it a Hawaiian flare. They were very tasty but I think I will add more seasoning next time because there just didn't seem to be quite enough.
We used the center cut pork to test out the Spiced Brandy & Herb Marinade, the Slow and Low Memphis Pit BBQ Rub and the Brown Sugar Bourbon BBQ Sauce. We followed the instructions on each packet to prepare them. I really liked the flavor of the brown sugar bourbon sauce but I wish I had started basting the pork sooner to give it a better kick of flavor(I got distracted and almost forgot it) The spiced brandy was good but not really my favorite. You could really taste the kick of brandy at the end which some people loved but I could live without. The Memphis rub was good but powerful. It definitely had a kick and made it a little hard for some people to taste some of the other flavors after eating it. I think in the future I will use less rub( I really laid it on there) and baste it with the brown sugar sauce just before it is done. I think the sauce will help balance out the flavor and add something really nice to it.
Finally, we used the Montreal Steak Seasoning on the filets. I decided to use the recipe on the bottle that suggested you use it as a marinade since I have used it before as a straight seasoning and wasn't impressed. The recipe called for the seasoning, oil(I used olive oil) and soy sauce but I used a splash of Worcestershire sauce instead and we popped them in the fridge to marinate for about an hour. The filets ended up being the over-all, hands down, absolute favorite of the night. They were AMAZING. It added so much flavor and they were so tender and juicy. I was shocked because I had used the seasoning on filets before but using it as a marinade really put them over the top. I am so glad that I tried it as a marinade and I know I will be doing it again. I am going to try it on chicken sometime to see if it is just as magical on it.
I think all and all it was a huge success. All of the recipes were very simple and I found some really awesome new dishes that I can use this summer to help me eat better but not lose out on flavor. I'm really excited to keep experimenting with these products to find new recipes to add to our kitchen.
If you would like to be a part of Crowdtap, just click here and sign up. It really is a great way to give your input to companies and get the opportunity to sample some great items.
- Grill Mates® Spiced Brandy & Herb Marinade
- Grill Mates® Slow and Low Memphis Pit BBQ Rub
- Grill Mates® Montreal Steak Seasoning Blend
- Grill Mates® Molasses Bacon Seasoning Blend
- Grill Mates® Brown Sugar Bourbon BBQ Sauce
The kit came with a booklet that had a recipe for turkey burgers in it that I really wanted to try. We didn't make the sauce that they suggested but the burgers were very good. You added the Molasses Bacon seasoning to the meat along with crushed pineapple to keep the burgers nice and juicy and give it a Hawaiian flare. They were very tasty but I think I will add more seasoning next time because there just didn't seem to be quite enough.
We used the center cut pork to test out the Spiced Brandy & Herb Marinade, the Slow and Low Memphis Pit BBQ Rub and the Brown Sugar Bourbon BBQ Sauce. We followed the instructions on each packet to prepare them. I really liked the flavor of the brown sugar bourbon sauce but I wish I had started basting the pork sooner to give it a better kick of flavor(I got distracted and almost forgot it) The spiced brandy was good but not really my favorite. You could really taste the kick of brandy at the end which some people loved but I could live without. The Memphis rub was good but powerful. It definitely had a kick and made it a little hard for some people to taste some of the other flavors after eating it. I think in the future I will use less rub( I really laid it on there) and baste it with the brown sugar sauce just before it is done. I think the sauce will help balance out the flavor and add something really nice to it.
Finally, we used the Montreal Steak Seasoning on the filets. I decided to use the recipe on the bottle that suggested you use it as a marinade since I have used it before as a straight seasoning and wasn't impressed. The recipe called for the seasoning, oil(I used olive oil) and soy sauce but I used a splash of Worcestershire sauce instead and we popped them in the fridge to marinate for about an hour. The filets ended up being the over-all, hands down, absolute favorite of the night. They were AMAZING. It added so much flavor and they were so tender and juicy. I was shocked because I had used the seasoning on filets before but using it as a marinade really put them over the top. I am so glad that I tried it as a marinade and I know I will be doing it again. I am going to try it on chicken sometime to see if it is just as magical on it.
I think all and all it was a huge success. All of the recipes were very simple and I found some really awesome new dishes that I can use this summer to help me eat better but not lose out on flavor. I'm really excited to keep experimenting with these products to find new recipes to add to our kitchen.
Here's a look at all of our tasty foods and the products used with them.
If you would like to be a part of Crowdtap, just click here and sign up. It really is a great way to give your input to companies and get the opportunity to sample some great items.
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