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Mac & Cheese Got a Clue
Posted by LJ in Ramblings
When I was little Kraft Macaroni & Cheese was a staple in our house. I mean, we ate this stuff all the time. The problem was (besides the fact that it’s all processed that is) that it required what I remember to be 6 tablespoons of butter. 6 tablespoons! That is a LOT of butter for 1 box of Mac & Cheese. As I got older and started to make it on my own I slowly started to lower the amount of butter I put in and I found a good amount was 3 tablespoons, or HALF the amount the box said to add. Granted it’s still 3 tablespoons of butter, but it’s less.
Well, I’m happy to say that Mac & Cheese finally got a clue. I think it’s probably been changed for a few years, I’m not totally sure because I hadn’t eaten it for so long, but my husband was craving it the other day and when looking at how much of which ingredients to put in I notice the number 6 was suspiciously, and happily missing from the box. Instead of requiring 6 tablespoons of butter it called for 3 tablespoons of butter.
Now I’m not saying this is the most healthy thing to eat, or that you should even eat Mac & Cheese at all, but I was extremely happy with the progress and effort some companies are making to at least make their products a bit healthier. I’m really glad they got a clue!
read comments (0)Stunna Shades! Flabulous Deal of the Week 3-24-08
Posted by KJ in Great Finds
Here comes the sun, FINALLY! These Black Rhinestone Temple Aviator Sunglasses from Torrid are so hot! Get glammed up with the silver and rhinestone accents on the sides. They’re 100% UV protected.
There are plenty more where these came from! All of their glasses on sale now for under $12! Check out the rest of the sunglasses at Torrid.com
Fitness Milestones
Posted by LJ in Ramblings
It’s hard to measure success of any health journey. Sure there’s the scales, but sometimes scales lie. They don’t take into account the actual weight of the food or water you have in your system at the time, they don’t take into account sodium bloating (not to mention *ahem* cycle bloating and they sure don’t account for muscle gain and as we all know muscle weighs more than fat.
So how do you gauge success? Well one way I’ve found it through fitness milestones. If you’ve noticed a difference in your fitness level, how far you can walk, you are starting to jog, you can do twice as many crunches or push ups, you walk up the stairs or tie your shoe with ease, if you’ve noticed a difference in any of these things you’ve probably hit a fitness milestone. It’s just another way to be proud of yourself without being tied to the scale.
Yesterday, my friends, KJ and I made what is, in my opinion, a definite fitness mile stone. For the past 2 months we’ve been getting together every single Saturday morning without fail, walking, training for a 5k event that’s coming up. On our very first time out we’d planned to go 1 mile. Neither of us had really worked out in a while, but when the 1 mile mark came around we were feeling good enough that we actually went 2.5 miles which was a surprise in itself. Since then we’ve been slowly upping the mileage to prepare for that 3.2 mile milestone.
Last week we walked almost 4 miles and couldn’t believe it. It’s only been 2 months, and we’re only meeting once a week (though doing our own workouts during the week) so it was a surprise that our abilities had increased so much. But today, OH today! Yesterday KJ and I walked 5 miles, half of which was with her little one uphill, and it felt GREAT. We couldn’t believe how far we’ve come and we have definitely hit a fitness milestone. In fact, we felt so great we’ve decided to go for a half marathon at the same event next year, something we’d never even want to dream about doing in the past! Talk about success.
My hat is off to KJ for pushing me, what would I do without her?
Oh, and the best part is that we celebrated afterwards by going shoe shopping . . . man are my calves starting to look good.
Munching or Lunching?
Posted by LJ in LJ's Journey
I don’t know about the rest of the world but it’s extremely hard for me to figure out what to eat for lunch everyday. Salads, chicken breast, Subway sandwiches, Lean Cuisine; it just gets really old after a while. Plus I’m always eating alone so I don’t have a pal to make suggestions or go to a restaurant with.
This kind of lonely uncertainty makes eating healthy kinda hard, in my opinion. So for the past little while I’ve been trying to run errands during lunch or do a light workout and then have a quick sandwich at my desk. But today, I’m tired. My calves hurt, I don’t have any errands to run and I’m extremely tired of Subways Tuna Special Friday (no offense Subway!).
So what happens on these days is I either munch or lunch. I could sit here for another hour tormenting myself about what substantial healthy meal to eat, or I could munch on things around the office, I have some veggies, cereal, granola bars, there are some Girl Scout Cookies and a candy bowl. And you know, this is kind of stupid because food shouldn’t really be this important that it’s plaguing my mind! Yet it is somehow.
What do I do? Munch or lunch? Sometimes trying to be good feels kind of annoyingly bad!
Emotional Eating
Posted by LJ in LJ's Journey
Do you ever have those days where everything just goes wrong? Well, so far, I’m having one of those weeks.
What’s bad about that, besides the endless frustration, is the emotional eating! I don’t know about you, but I’m an emotional eater. Sure I eat to celebrate stuff, but mostly, I overeat and/or eat bad things when I’m sad/frustrated. Basically, when I get down in the dumps I can’t be trusted around food.
Lately I’ve done better. I’ve been frustrated since Sunday and it took until Monday night for me to start piling in the junk. Sure I stayed within my calorie range for the day, but I ate terrible stuff so I was low on protein and high in fat and carbs . . . oh and probably sugar.
Emotional eating is one of those monsters that can be extremely difficult to tame because most of us have been using eating like a band-aid for so long that it’s become second nature, we just do it. So, I guess that’s the next goal on my hit list. Learn to STOP eating just because I’m sad about something. I’m sure I won’t be able to do it cold turkey, but I WILL kick this emotional eating habit . . . eventually!
To Be, or Not to Be
Posted by KJ in KJ's Journey
Hello! My name is KJ and I’m a foodaholic. I haven’t binged for going on about 4 weeks now. I started a weight loss program at the end of February and so far it’s going great! I’ve lost about 7 lbs. But I’ll get more into that later.
The biggest thing I’m trying to concentrate on right now is something I heard on one of Biggest Losers Jillian Michaels’ podcasts. “Live your life in the body you have now. Accept yourself the way you are now. Accepting yourself doesn’t mean you can’t try to improve, but beating yourself up or putting off your life until you get thinner isn’t going to help. All we have is the present.”
This single bit of advice has changed me more than all the yo-yo diets and diet pills in the world. I heard this and started thinking of all the things I’ve put off. Family pictures, vacations, my wedding, going out with friends from high school, meeting my husbands friends, parties, family functions, I’ve even been putting off going to the gym to get skinny until I’m skinny! The gym? YES! It’s sad but true!
I’m sick and tired of hiding. I guess what I’m trying to say is today, I’m choosing to BE! If I can do it so can you. So I’m challenging you, and you know who you are, make the choice. Just BE!
Flabulous Deal of the Week 3-17-08
Posted by KJ in Great Finds
Flabulous Deal of the Week 3-17-08
For a limited time save up to 64% and Get Free Shipping on Orders of $100 or More at Road Runner Sports.
Road Runner Sports specializes mainly in running gear. Running shoes, clothing and gear like bags, heart monitors, strollers and insoles. Road Runner Sports even has nutrition products made just for runners. It has everything a veterine OR beginning runner would ever need!
But hurry, this Road Runner Sports deal ends on March 31, 2008.
Hardest Thing About Getting Healthy
Posted by LJ in Reader Polls
No matter who you are, we’re all human (right?), so we all have our own hardest thing about getting healthy.
For me I think it’s just sicking with it. I start out really strong eating healthy and working out and eventually it just starts slipping and slipping until I just stop. THAT was my big problem when I tried dieting.
Now that I’m switching from diet to healthy lifestyle I know that even if my progress slows down, even if I slip up there’s always the next hour or the next meal to make up for it and start up again. Living a healthy lifestyle means there’s always another day, failure is not an option.
Just fill out the poll on the right to let us know, “What is the hardest thing for you when getting healthy?”
Dessert Desert
Posted by LJ in Ramblings
You know when you were in elementary school learning to spell and your word for the day was dessert? I don’t know about you but my teacher always said stuff like “The difference between dessert and desert is that dessert has two s’s because you always want two desserts.”
Boy was she right.
Having two desserts, not deserts, is one big reason I got big! But getting healthy doesn’t have to mean a dessert desert, though desserts with mirage calories would be nice!
My favorite dessert right now is ice cream . . . NOT the way I used to, you know, by the pint, but by the serving. Oh and ice cream is great with strawberries or raspberries. There’s nothing wrong with eating ice cream, but try a scoop. Trust me, I have to chant that a lot when I’m indulging.
LJ’s Plan
Posted by LJ in LJ's Journey
So what’s my plan to go from 233 (I’ve already lost 7 pounds, yay for me!) to a healthy, toned young lady? The Plan is this:
1. Quit the soda. I’ve been off soda successfully for 72 days. Can you believe it? Me, a soda addict off of soda for good? In the past I’d have 4+ sodas every single day but on January 1st 2008I quit cold turkey and haven’t looked back. They say a person can lose 15 pounds by quitting soda alone!
2. Water. My goal is to drink at least 8 glasses of water a day, and 9 if I workout that day as you need more water to keep you hydrated and energized. So far I’m getting about 7-9 but I hope to always get 8 going forward. Previously I’d have 0-2 glasses of water a day. I know it’s crazy, but when did you think I was drinking the soda?
3. Fruit and veggies. I’m aiming for a total of 5 fruits and veggies a day. Of course the food pyramid wants me to have more but I’m striving for 5 right now. As with water I used to have 0-2 fruits and veggies a day. That’s like unheard of. So starting with a fruity breakfast and ending with a serving of veggies a day peppering the day with produce snacks has helped me get more and more in everyday.
4. Workouts! Eating healthy is GREAT and will get you far, but the real kicker is adding workouts to your healthy lifestyle. For me, an avid couch potato, 3 days of cardio and 2 days strength training will do. The combination of cardio and weight training is really important. Of course the cardio helps shed the fat (especially midsection fat I’ve read) but strength training builds muscle which builds up your metabolism and helps burn more calories when you work out.
5. The 5k. KJ and I are currently training for a 5k we plan to run walk in April. Every single Saturday, without fail, rain or SNOW we’ve been out there walking 3.2 miles. It might take us an hour (well 58 minutes) but we finish and we have so much fun. I actually look forward to waking up early on Saturdays and working my butt off now and that is incredibly unlike me.
This is my plan and these are my goals and I’m stickin’ to them!