First off, the first day of summer is June 20th, BUT
Memorial day is may 28th! Why are these days important? May 28th is important for most people because that's when they will be donning bathing suits around their friends! 70 days til memorial day (which is a monday) and 67 days til the friday of, which is usually when the fun kicks off! that's a little over 2 months, therefore it's time to crunch, literally, and get in shape or at least loose a few pounds while you can!
on a different note...
What makes eating healthy easy is watching the pounds come off! It is definitely fuel for your cause. What happens when the weight loss comes to a halt or even a gain (even though you did everything right the day before)? We start to cheat or cheat more. Don't let your one little cheat turn into several. If you can handle it, then incorporate it into your lifestyle, otherwise find a paleo substitute and don't miss a beat!
I have to admit, nearly 2 weeks ago, I treated myself to some amazing local pizza and a shamrock shake at mcdonalds. Then I had the mentality "well, I cheated once, what's one more cheat gonna do?". I didn't cheat every day for 2 weeks straight, but lets say I slipped up more than I wanted. The result, some weight gain. I wasn't even on vacation or in a new surrounding, I just let my taste buds get the best of me in the moments I was strapped for time.
I have also come to realize that yes, dairy may not be so great for me, but if it comes down to have a piece of cheese or cheating and having ice cream (may not be a good comparison), i feel the cheese is the lesser of the 2 evils by far. Sometimes, it's impossible to eat perfectly, but before throwing the towel in because you can't find a 100 % paleo choice, go for the lesser evil and you will be glad you did.
Monday, March 19, 2012
Friday, February 24, 2012
My story
Im a 23 year old wife and mother of 2 and here is my weight loss (and gain) journey:
I wasn't born fat, I didn't really start packing on the chub til I was about 7. Around that time, my dad met my stepmom who came from an Italian family, so we went to her parents house very often. I'd eat big portions and it wasn't discouraged from taking seconds. Dessert was common after both lunch and dinner. Needless to say I ate well, too well. My stepmom couldn't cook, so we ended up eating a lot of ramen noodles, hamburger helper, boxed meals, frozen meals, you get the jist. By the time I reached my sophmore year in highschool, I was 280lbs! Due to being overweight, I was shy and self conscious, I'd rather watch tv or read a book than play outside in those days. During that school year, I became friends with a foreign exchange student at my school. She had gained 10lbs from eating all of the boxed cookie and brownie mixes that they don't have in Japan. She expressed she wanted to lose weight and I suggested we weigh ourselves at the nurses office. Neither of us liked the numbers we saw on the scale and we decided to support eachother in our weight loss efforts. I started eating less at meals and exercising. I went for a lengthy walk every night and incorporated a tad of running and some Tae Bo. Within a year, I lost 100lbs. I went from 279-179. Size 20/22 to a 14. I was even able to join the track and field team my 11th and 12th grade year! The story doesn't stop there though. In order to join the military, I had to get to 190. I was 191 at the recruiters office (wasn't as active as I was prior, I worked and was going to college). I got down to my weight and just to be sure, I ate less than 1,000 calories a day for a week and the day before I shipped out, I worked out like crazy at the hotel and tool some laxatives. It paid off, 186 the next day. When we graduated basic, our instructor didn't weigh us, so I paid a quarter and weighed myself at the food court - 200lbs, there's no way that was all muscle! Well, that was April 08, in Dec 08, I had been at my base for a bit and I became pregnant. I was 214lbs, I was sad to see that number, but thought, "to hell with it, I'm pregnant, I can eat what I want now", and I did. After giving birth, I was 270lbs, almost back to where I was in high school. Got down to 220 by doing weight watchers (I was always hungry!) and then I got pregnant again! After baby #2, I was only 250. I did low calorie diets, weight watchers, shakes, etc, to get down to 213, but the scale wouldn't budge. One night I was home alone and the kids in bed while my husband pulled a swing shift. I was flipping thru Netflix and saw a movie called "fat head". It changed my mindset on nutrition. Within a day, I started the atkins diet (low carb) on march 13th and by Jan 2012, I was down to 175 (surpassed my smallest in high school). I knew I was eating too many artificial sweeteners, low carb pasta, Atkins bars and shakes with weird ingredients and knew that stuff wasnt that great for me. I wasn't paying attention to ingredients, just carbs. On Jan 3, I switched to Paleo and I'm glad I did! I lost 11lbs in a month, I was shocked! I'm now a size 8/10 and down to 165. If I lose more, well then cool, if I don't, that's cool too. Looking back, in high school I pretty much became anorexic to lose weight, even though I didn't realize it at the time. I bought into the "calories in = calories out" as well as believing low fat was the way to go. I ate, but I worked out soo much, that I prob burned most of the calories I consumed and I was hungry often and always went to bed hungry. I wish I would have found paleo sooner. When I started Atkins, I read about paleo, and I was actually choosing between those 2 and the power protein diet as well. Atkins seemed easiest, which I why I chose that route. Easiest isn't always best! When I lost my weight in high school., I wanted to become a personal trainer and nutritionist, but decided to become a teacher to play it safe (but ended up joining the military). My passion for fitness and nutrition is back stronger than ever. I want to become a certified personal trainer and after I get my associates in criminal justice, I'd like to look into sports nutrition for my bachelors. I'm all about spreading the word on Paleo and keeping in shape! I like to refer to myself as the weight loss queen, even though i don't hold a degree, I feel like my weight rollercoaster has given me a lot of knowledge first hand. Most of all, I'm glad that I'm at a healthy size for my 5'11 frame and consume nourishing real foods now. I can also be a good role model for my sons : )
I wasn't born fat, I didn't really start packing on the chub til I was about 7. Around that time, my dad met my stepmom who came from an Italian family, so we went to her parents house very often. I'd eat big portions and it wasn't discouraged from taking seconds. Dessert was common after both lunch and dinner. Needless to say I ate well, too well. My stepmom couldn't cook, so we ended up eating a lot of ramen noodles, hamburger helper, boxed meals, frozen meals, you get the jist. By the time I reached my sophmore year in highschool, I was 280lbs! Due to being overweight, I was shy and self conscious, I'd rather watch tv or read a book than play outside in those days. During that school year, I became friends with a foreign exchange student at my school. She had gained 10lbs from eating all of the boxed cookie and brownie mixes that they don't have in Japan. She expressed she wanted to lose weight and I suggested we weigh ourselves at the nurses office. Neither of us liked the numbers we saw on the scale and we decided to support eachother in our weight loss efforts. I started eating less at meals and exercising. I went for a lengthy walk every night and incorporated a tad of running and some Tae Bo. Within a year, I lost 100lbs. I went from 279-179. Size 20/22 to a 14. I was even able to join the track and field team my 11th and 12th grade year! The story doesn't stop there though. In order to join the military, I had to get to 190. I was 191 at the recruiters office (wasn't as active as I was prior, I worked and was going to college). I got down to my weight and just to be sure, I ate less than 1,000 calories a day for a week and the day before I shipped out, I worked out like crazy at the hotel and tool some laxatives. It paid off, 186 the next day. When we graduated basic, our instructor didn't weigh us, so I paid a quarter and weighed myself at the food court - 200lbs, there's no way that was all muscle! Well, that was April 08, in Dec 08, I had been at my base for a bit and I became pregnant. I was 214lbs, I was sad to see that number, but thought, "to hell with it, I'm pregnant, I can eat what I want now", and I did. After giving birth, I was 270lbs, almost back to where I was in high school. Got down to 220 by doing weight watchers (I was always hungry!) and then I got pregnant again! After baby #2, I was only 250. I did low calorie diets, weight watchers, shakes, etc, to get down to 213, but the scale wouldn't budge. One night I was home alone and the kids in bed while my husband pulled a swing shift. I was flipping thru Netflix and saw a movie called "fat head". It changed my mindset on nutrition. Within a day, I started the atkins diet (low carb) on march 13th and by Jan 2012, I was down to 175 (surpassed my smallest in high school). I knew I was eating too many artificial sweeteners, low carb pasta, Atkins bars and shakes with weird ingredients and knew that stuff wasnt that great for me. I wasn't paying attention to ingredients, just carbs. On Jan 3, I switched to Paleo and I'm glad I did! I lost 11lbs in a month, I was shocked! I'm now a size 8/10 and down to 165. If I lose more, well then cool, if I don't, that's cool too. Looking back, in high school I pretty much became anorexic to lose weight, even though I didn't realize it at the time. I bought into the "calories in = calories out" as well as believing low fat was the way to go. I ate, but I worked out soo much, that I prob burned most of the calories I consumed and I was hungry often and always went to bed hungry. I wish I would have found paleo sooner. When I started Atkins, I read about paleo, and I was actually choosing between those 2 and the power protein diet as well. Atkins seemed easiest, which I why I chose that route. Easiest isn't always best! When I lost my weight in high school., I wanted to become a personal trainer and nutritionist, but decided to become a teacher to play it safe (but ended up joining the military). My passion for fitness and nutrition is back stronger than ever. I want to become a certified personal trainer and after I get my associates in criminal justice, I'd like to look into sports nutrition for my bachelors. I'm all about spreading the word on Paleo and keeping in shape! I like to refer to myself as the weight loss queen, even though i don't hold a degree, I feel like my weight rollercoaster has given me a lot of knowledge first hand. Most of all, I'm glad that I'm at a healthy size for my 5'11 frame and consume nourishing real foods now. I can also be a good role model for my sons : )
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Lent and green smoothies
Day 5: wow, getting closer to a week of doing the Whole30 (check it out in google if you have no clue what I'm talking about)! I stumbled across this website this morning, it has recipes for smoothies that don't require sweeteners. I dunno bout y'all, but sometimes a shake/smoothie type of meal is more coveinient: http://greenmonstermovement.com/?page_id=39
Also, Some of y'all who read my blog/posts, while interested in this way of eating, I know r still on the fence about trying paleo. In honor of lent, why not start today or tomorrow a paleo challenge for yourself. Right now is the time cuz there are lots of people 'giving up' items for this period, so you wouldn't be alone.
If you are ready, here's the backlink for my "what's paleo?" post: http://eatrealeatpaleo.blogspot.com/2012/02/whats-paleo.html
(if it doesn't hyperlink, then just copy n paste )
Also, Some of y'all who read my blog/posts, while interested in this way of eating, I know r still on the fence about trying paleo. In honor of lent, why not start today or tomorrow a paleo challenge for yourself. Right now is the time cuz there are lots of people 'giving up' items for this period, so you wouldn't be alone.
If you are ready, here's the backlink for my "what's paleo?" post: http://eatrealeatpaleo.blogspot.com/2012/02/whats-paleo.html
(if it doesn't hyperlink, then just copy n paste )
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Day 4, junk food galore
Today is Day 4 of my Whole30 and hopefully it's your day 4 too :) Things have been going good so far, i've been able to resist whatever has come my way, but it seems like it's been junk food galore. On day 1, chop chip muffins with a coffee glaze were brought to us and I resisted. On day 3, TWO boxes of Krispy Kremes, a box of donut holes, a package of double stuffed oreos and a package of mint, along with chocolate milk was brought to work yesterday. (I am a police officer in the air force and right now I pull gate duty, so people that we check the IDs of like to give us goodies to show their appreciation). Everyone was saying "Come on McNeil, one donut won't hurt you!" - they were taunting me! Even before the whole30, I was still doing low carb, but I possibly would have had a donut, I think it's harder when you know you are doing this 30 day dealio and you don't want to screw it up! Here I am, still going strong.
Here's my food from yesterday:
Breakfast: banana w/ almond butter
Lunch: leftover spaghetti squash with homemade meat sauce
Dinner: Stir-fry that consisted of: pork chunks, asparagus spears, onions, a jalepano, diced mushrooms and spinach. To season it: Lots of Franks Redhot, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and chili powder.
Snacks: strawberries n raspberries, cucumber and guacamole, coconut chips w/ cinnamon, olives and cashews. Prob too many snacks, but I wake up at around 2:30 normally and I don't go to bed til around 8, so theres a lotta time in-between.
I'm experiencing a lot of people asking how I eat, simply because they find some of my snacks weird, therefore causes questions. I'm finding many will listen and seem really into and and say "yeah, i need to do something to get healthy", but then as the day dies down, they lose steam and make up an excuse like "well, my wife is really skinny and she eats whatever she wants, so it will be hard". I try telling him that now is the time to take care of your body so that you don't encounter problems down the road that are linked to a bad diet. I think i've helped 'convert' (sounds weird), 2 people, but even they are starting to stray and their 'cheats' are becoming more common than their paleo meals. Paleo/primal/whatever you call it, is a narrow path I guess, but I'm in it for the long haul!
Here's my food from yesterday:
Breakfast: banana w/ almond butter
Lunch: leftover spaghetti squash with homemade meat sauce
Dinner: Stir-fry that consisted of: pork chunks, asparagus spears, onions, a jalepano, diced mushrooms and spinach. To season it: Lots of Franks Redhot, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and chili powder.
Snacks: strawberries n raspberries, cucumber and guacamole, coconut chips w/ cinnamon, olives and cashews. Prob too many snacks, but I wake up at around 2:30 normally and I don't go to bed til around 8, so theres a lotta time in-between.
I'm experiencing a lot of people asking how I eat, simply because they find some of my snacks weird, therefore causes questions. I'm finding many will listen and seem really into and and say "yeah, i need to do something to get healthy", but then as the day dies down, they lose steam and make up an excuse like "well, my wife is really skinny and she eats whatever she wants, so it will be hard". I try telling him that now is the time to take care of your body so that you don't encounter problems down the road that are linked to a bad diet. I think i've helped 'convert' (sounds weird), 2 people, but even they are starting to stray and their 'cheats' are becoming more common than their paleo meals. Paleo/primal/whatever you call it, is a narrow path I guess, but I'm in it for the long haul!
Monday, February 20, 2012
the good and the bad - bread
THE BAD: whole grain bread and white bread, what's the difference, nothing, really:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mobileweb/dr-mark-hyman/wheat-gluten_b_1274872.html
THE GOOD!: here are 2 recipes in this link, one for banana bread and one for sandwich bread! http://crossfitfw.com/school-cool/ If you aren't doing the whole 30, then make these and let me know how they are, lol! So far for day 2, i had fried tomato slices topped with over easy eggs. for a lunch/snack I had a banana with almond butter and for an afternoon snack I had about 10 jumbo garlic and jalepano stuffed olives. Still gotta figure out what to make for dinner.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mobileweb/dr-mark-hyman/wheat-gluten_b_1274872.html
THE GOOD!: here are 2 recipes in this link, one for banana bread and one for sandwich bread! http://crossfitfw.com/school-cool/ If you aren't doing the whole 30, then make these and let me know how they are, lol! So far for day 2, i had fried tomato slices topped with over easy eggs. for a lunch/snack I had a banana with almond butter and for an afternoon snack I had about 10 jumbo garlic and jalepano stuffed olives. Still gotta figure out what to make for dinner.
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Day 1 of 30
Day one of the 30 day challenge! This morning I has 1/3lb ground beef scrambled into my eggs. Normally I'd eat bacon, but I'm trying to cut back on it since there is some added sugar. Some planned snacks I have are: 10 raw almonds, 4 large garlic stuffed olives, green peppers with guacamole to dip, also, some chicken for lunch depending how late I'm at work. If you wanted to join, but weren't prepared today, start tomorrow!
Saturday, February 18, 2012
get ready for THE WHOLE 30!
Starting tomorrow, Feb 19th, I will be starting the whole 30, if you are interested, like my page and/or group, as well as my blog, to keep connected:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/159797924080420/ - my group
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Eat-Real-Eat-Paleo/310648155638379 - my page
"The more you eliminate these “less healthy” foods from your everyday diet, the healthier you will be.However, you don’t have to eat perfect 100% of the time to have and maintain excellent health.Helping you find the right balance - and maintain that balance long-term – happens to be our specialty.Finding your own individual balance starts with our Whole30 program. Sugar, alcohol, grains, legumes and dairy are all food groups that havesignificant down sides, and do not contribute positively to your health."Meat, seafood and eggs; vegetables and fruit; and healthy fat sources like coconut, avocado and olive oil are all foods that make you healthier." taken from the whole 30 start page, to read more, go here: http://whole9life.com/start/
Sounds hard, right? This won't be easy for me, I enjoy my paleo friendly chocolate, using honey to sweeten things, and cooking with butter. If you've never quit eating grains before, then this challenge may be a little harder, but I was in your shoes last march.
Feb 19 - March 19th. IF you make a slip-up, you aren't automatically out (not condoning cheats, but sometimes people don't think things thru before they put food in their mouth). Let yourself be able to say "i did it" and see how you feel :)
https://www.facebook.com/groups/159797924080420/ - my group
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Eat-Real-Eat-Paleo/310648155638379 - my page
"The more you eliminate these “less healthy” foods from your everyday diet, the healthier you will be.However, you don’t have to eat perfect 100% of the time to have and maintain excellent health.Helping you find the right balance - and maintain that balance long-term – happens to be our specialty.Finding your own individual balance starts with our Whole30 program. Sugar, alcohol, grains, legumes and dairy are all food groups that havesignificant down sides, and do not contribute positively to your health."Meat, seafood and eggs; vegetables and fruit; and healthy fat sources like coconut, avocado and olive oil are all foods that make you healthier." taken from the whole 30 start page, to read more, go here: http://whole9life.com/start/
Sounds hard, right? This won't be easy for me, I enjoy my paleo friendly chocolate, using honey to sweeten things, and cooking with butter. If you've never quit eating grains before, then this challenge may be a little harder, but I was in your shoes last march.
Feb 19 - March 19th. IF you make a slip-up, you aren't automatically out (not condoning cheats, but sometimes people don't think things thru before they put food in their mouth). Let yourself be able to say "i did it" and see how you feel :)
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