Tools for Success

We can't do it alone.

Everyone who has ever succeeded at anything has found and used the tools necessary to accomplish their goal.  These tools can come in many forms; mentors, education, training, supplies, etc.  This support system will help keep us focused when we struggle.

Here are some of my 'tools.'

1. My gym. My home-away-from-home. Granted, I can always work out at home, I just choose not to.  I like leaving my house at least once a day. =) And there is so much to do here! There's even a rock-climbing wall. That is definitely on my to-do list.

 



 

2. Small group training.  Perfect for people on a budget that still want a trainer.  3 workouts per week.  Hard workouts too. And friends! We work hard, we have fun, we keep each other motivated.  "Iron sharpens iron." (Sometimes I feel bad for our trainer, working with all these mouthy women heeheehee)

 

 

3.  Fitness Trackers.  I used to use MyFitnessPal, which is a free app and its great for tracking calorie intake and exercise.  I switched to Dotfit recently, which is our fitness tracker available through my gym.  Now my trainer can also see what I'm eating and how much I'm moving.  Talk about living in a glass house!!

 

 

4.  Supplements.  Not everyone can eat a balanced diet every single day.  And with the way food is grown today, it does not have the same nutrient content it did at one time.  I don't use supplements to replace healthy foods, just to fill in the small gaps of nutrients missing from my everyday diet.  I use Nutrilite's Women's Pack, which comes with 4 vitamins that I take everyday (a daily multivitamin, a calcium supplement, a fish oil, and a hair / skin supplement).  I also use Rhodiola before my intense workouts.  I cannot stress how much I love rhodiola.  It's an adaptogenic herb, so it helps with either physical or mental stress.  Love it!  I also recently added some Raspberry Twist Tubes; water additives with glucosamine in them to help with my joints.  Just add one to 16 ounces of water.  Tasty! (I've heard that you should only take glucosamine at night before bed because it could be converted to glucose and burned off as sugar if you day it during active times of the day.)

 

 5.  The Internet!  I love hearing other people's stories on their way to success.  It keeps me inspired. And I love good recipes

Mostly Beautiful

344 Pounds

The Business of Losing Weight

 

Pinterest - tons of great recipes, success quotes and workouts

 

 

 

 

Ask yourself; what are your tools?  What's in your support network?

 

~D~

 

 

 

Good Eats

I've been taking pictures of a lot of my meals.  I also usually send the dinner pics to my trainer.
I find this hysterical now, since it turns out my fellow warrior Wendy has also been photographing and even Tweeting her meals!  Great minds think alike I suppose.

Here's a quick glance at what's been on my plate a lot recently;

Breakfast; One egg w/ 2 whites, one slice of cheese, spinach & salsa (this salsa was home-made leftover from when I made crock-pot enchiladas), 1/2 of a turkey sausage patty and some kind of fruit.  I will say, most days I add a slice of whole wheat toast (with spray butter) and have been eliminating the sausage. 

 

Dinner used to be my failure.  But, since my hubby has been trying to get healthy with me it's been easier for me to cook healthier or introduce a new food / recipe without a lot of marital fallout!  This was baked flounder (olive oil, garlic salt, pepper and parsley) with some awesome and amazing spaghetti squash 'pasta' & veggie bake. So. Good.

Both of these foods were a stretch for my husband but he seemed pretty pleased.  He even took some leftover spaghetti squasj with him for lunch the next day.

 

Grilled Salmon and grilled pineapple, garlicky kale, green beans, corn and red quinoa.  Dinner success.  Best salmon ever!

 

And leftover salmon makes a great wrap for lunch the next day!  Add a little guac and goat cheese and I was in heaven.  This meal kept me full through most of my trip to my mom's that day.

 

Who says eating out can't be healthy? Macaroni Grill has a great Lite Menu.  This was the Sea Bass, with a glass of Moscato. Total was 720 calories (including the wine)

Red Lobster has a great light Lunch Menu too, just stay away from the bread.  The meal alone was only 600 calories.  Yes, definitely stay away from those cheddar biscuits.  That was my downfall here.

 

Overall result from taking pics of my food;  

1.  I need to take better pictures.  Nothing on here looks as yummy as what I see elsewhere online.

2.  This still does not keep me from eating or snacking in between meals.  Don't get me wrong, it's helped keep me in check with the meal itself (and I don't do second helpings) but it hasn't stopped me from eating dessert later, or snagging one or two of those dang cheddar biscuits.

3.  I do kind of like bragging to my trainer about how good my cooking has gotten.  But that kind of misses the point.

 

Will I continue photographing my food?  Probably not now since I feel that the lesson for me has run it's course.  I'll just stick to pictures for new recipes.

 

~D~

 

 

 

 

 

March Goals

I'm so excited! I weigh myself every Friday before my workout, and take my measurements every Thursday afternoon (when I'll probably be at my 'puffiest').  Not only have I lost10 pounds since the end of January but I've lost 2 1/2 inches (overall in various places) in just 2 weeks!

I feel like the 'warm-up' is over.
This means I've lost the weight I gained since August.  Now I can really get to work on the rest!

Short-term goals are good! I've been going over what I want my March goals to be.  Here's what I've got so far;

1.  Break my Baked Chips addiction.  They're just empty calories and I'm not getting any real nutrition out of them.  It's been almost a week since I've had any with my lunch or as a snack.

2.  Drink 8-10 glasses of water a day, minimum.  One of my favorite books on health says that a person should drink one ounce of water for every two pounds of body weight.  So the typical '6-8' glasses really isnt enough.  8-10 probably isnt enough for me yet either.  It's a starting point.

3.  Be one dress size smaller by 3/31.  I'm pretty close now, and this should keep me in line with my next "Check Point" weight of 199 by 4/27. 

4.  Curb my mindless eating.  I track all my food with an app on my phone  so I can see when I'm eating outside of mealtimes.

5.  Get more sleep! I am terrible about going to bed early or even on time and it's been definitley affecting my moods.

Let's make some progress.
~D~