Weekend Warrior

Every Monday morning I wake up feeling less than refreshed and a little more bloated than usual. I could blame it on some sort of phenomenon that plagues the water on the weekends, or I could just fess up and admit that I am somewhat of a “weekend warrior” (which can be defined as a person who likes to drink, smoke, and party all weekend, but for the purposes of this blog I will define weekend warrior as a person [me] who cheats a little more on his or her diet than normal during the weekend).

Weekend Warrioring is somewhat akin to eating an entire bag of Doritos and then going to the gym to walk it off on the treadmill. Pointless and, to be quite honest, pretty stupid on my part. Now, I don’t mean I’m cheating like I’m going to Jack in the Box late night to get a jumbo jack, tacos, and mini buffalo ranch chicken sandwiches (but, believe me, I’ve been tempted!). An example of cheating, in this instance, would be the apple I had (oh, and a handful of dates…) to curb the sweet tooth that was gnawing at me late last night. I guess it’s not so bad, looking at it from the perspective of a non-dieter. But, when I’m trying to get results and wanting them quickly any little misstep can take me right off track. I guess it’s true what they say: hindsight truly is 20/20.

Now that the day is coming to a close I feel reenergized. It’s amazing how differently I feel after just a day of eating clean, so light yet not empty.  For dinner I grilled up some chicken kabobs with some delicious fresh mushrooms, tomatoes, and bell peppers. I also made a cleaner version of Island Rice:

{cooked brown rice (I made 4 servings, but you can make how ever many servings you need)

1 cup chopped, grilled pineapple

1/4 cup chopped mango

1/8 cup chopped green onions

1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro

juice from 1/2 lime

dash cayenne pepper

mix it all together and serve with kabobs, or shrimp, or whatever lean protein your heart desires!}

This slightly spicy, sweet island rice was the perfect accompaniment to grilled chicken and vegetables!

Cheat Meals

Cheat meals… what a glorious idea. In theory. Dieting is hard enough without the constant, nagging reminder that a diet is a lifestyle change, not just a temporary fix (at least that’s how it should be, eh?). I mean, what’s one little meal in a sea of dozens of other meals throughout the week? It can’t hurt, right? Well, if you’re like me it probably- and most likely- will hurt, if not completely derail you from your ultimate goal. In the past cheat meals have been the end of my dieting days. I like food, and who doesn’t like a fatty confection now and again? The problem is when it goes beyond the idea of once in awhile to an all out binge fest.

So, I have been contemplating whether or not I will be including cheat meals in my plan and what they are going to be. On one hand, it feels like without a cheat meal once in awhile I may just end up giving up when I begin to feel deprived. On the other, I worry that if I let myself go for one meal what’s going to stop me from doing it over and over again?

Cheat meals for me have always consisted a combination of pizza, ice cream, french fries, greasy burgers, burritos… anything fat laden and full of empty calories (and, of course, carbs!).

UPDATE: For the sake of this challenge, and the fact that it is only 16 weeks long, I will probably stick to one cheat meal bi-weekly. At first I contemplated doing away with the idea altogether, but just the thought of that kind of deprivation makes me want to throw in the towel right now. It is going to take quite a bit of willpower to resist have a cheat more often, but I hope to see real results in the way I look and feel at the end of the 16 weeks! Wish me luck!

-Nicole-

Eating Clean

Here is my “diet”:

Usually my days consist of 6 small meals eaten every 2 to 3 hours. I have been following a “clean” diet, which consists of a ton of fresh fruits and vegetables, lean proteins, a healthy blend of proteins to complex carbs to good fats. Breakfast is usually 4 egg whites. Sometimes I scramble them, but I also like to keep a mixture of chopped veggies (think bell peppers, onions, jalapeno peppers, tomatoes) on hand to mix in with my egg whites to make a delicious omelette or scramble. I also like to have a bowl of oatmeal and a fresh fruit with my eggs. Meal #2 is more often than not a smoothie. Smoothies are incredible and there are so many different options that it’s hard to get bored. I love green smoothies (ice and fruit mixed with a little water and a big handful of spinach. Sounds and looks weird, but they really are worth a shot!), but my new very favorite is what I like to call my banana-almond smoothie*:

1/2 cup skim milk

4 or 5 ice cubes

1 scoop whey protein powder (I love vanilla!)

a small banana

1 tablespoon raw, unsalted almond butter

*(Sadly, I have decided that in order to lose fat I need to eat a lot less of it, including the deliciously tasty healthy fats that I may have been overindulging in. Therefore, my banana-almond smoothie has been changed to a simple banana smoothie)

Blend it all together and enjoy! I really look forward to a smoothie because it tastes like I am cheating when I’m not. I usually always include a banana (or 1/4 avocado if I’m doing a green smoothie) to make it nice and creamy. You can add any fruits or vegetables that you like. Frozen fruits work well too!

Lunch, or my third meal is usually a small (3 or 4 oz) lean protein, like chicken, steak, or tilapia and a fibrous carb like a small salad. If you are eating healthy meals every three hours you won’t be really hungry, so small meals are all it takes to eat clean. Sometimes I have problems getting in my 4th meal. I wake up around 8, so when I eat every 3 hours that puts a 4th meal at 5, which is about an hour before I serve dinner, so I tend to eat a little less than three hours after my lunch. I will have a small apple with a wedge of light laughing cow cheese or something equivalent.

Dinner is my favorite meal of the day, despite the fact that it should be the smallest. I love love love Clean Eating magazine (if you don’t read it, do! It may just change your life!). I find a majority of my dinner recipes right from the magazine and for the most part they have all been amazing. My family (even my kids!) likes the food and I feel good knowing that I am filling them up with good, wholesome foods. Usually at around 8:30 I head to the gym, after my kids have gone to bed. I get home around 10 and that’s when I have my sixth and final meal of the day. I almost always have cottage cheese or Greek yogurt with sliced berries or a banana. (I would also like to add that I am a chocolate lover… I really, really love the stuff! I treat myself to a small amount of extra dark, 72% caoco, chocolate a day)

So, that’s it in a nutshell! Eating clean has been an incredible change for me. For as long as I can remember I have been on this diet or that diet, always depriving myself of the things that I love. With clean eating, there is no deprivation, only eating things that truly fuel the body and make it run efficiently. After eating clean for about a month I have totally noticed a change in my energy, my mood, and my body. It’s not a fad diet, in fact I wouldn’t classify it as a diet at all. It’s a way of eating that totally makes sense and works wonders!

The first half of my diet will include complex and fibrous carbs at each meal. The second half of the diet (June 13th on) I will go low(er) carb, cutting out carbs for all meals except my first and second. Going low carb has proven in the past to be an excellent way for me to shed fat and hopefully with the addition of lifting and cardio I will see some real definition!

Until next time…

-Nicole-

16 weeks and counting

All my life I have been average. Average grades, average face, average house on an average street. Average weight. Until I had three kids and got fat. I used to think that there was no point in even trying to lose the baby weight. I thought I was destined to be overweight forever because women who have babies have stretch marks and cellulite and the ever-so-lovely BIF (AKA “butt in front”). In actuality, it is possible for an overweight woman (even a mother of 3!) to lose weight, feel better, and get a body that even some 21 year old coeds would envy… And that woman will be me.

I’m not so overweight anymore. After six months of eating less I have lost 40 pounds from my 6′ frame, going from a size 14 to a size 8. It wasn’t until I was several months into my weight loss that I discovered a phenomenon called skinny-fat, which Urban Dictionary defines as “someone who looks great in clothes, but is all flabby underneath.” Skinny-fat is what you become when you lose 40 pounds without exercise. I looked good enough in my clothes, but taking them off unveiled a not-so-pretty sight. So, I joined a gym and started working out two months ago. And now I’m hooked. I love working out and I want to see just how far I can make my body go. I want to become the cover of my new favorite magazine (Oxygen, anyone?).

So, here’s the plan:

In 16 weeks I will be making my way to Vegas for the fourth time… The first two trips I was a college freshman who had packed on a little more than the freshman 15 and the second I was pregnant. This trip will be different in many ways, one being that I will have the best body of my life. I am challenging myself to 16 weeks of the most intense training my body and schedule can handle. With three little ones and a household to run, I don’t expect that I will meet all of my fitness goals in such a short amount of time, but I know that by pushing my body to the limit I can and will have my best body ever!

I know that having a blog will keep me more on track than if I were going it alone. At least, the thought of people- strangers! gasp!- seeing pictures of my less than perfect physique is enough motivation to get me through the next four months. I will post before pictures tomorrow along with my “diet” plan.

Until next time…

Nicole