I've Lost 9 lbs!

Just have to share, I'm down 9 lbs since getting back on track with eating and working out. Started 3 weeks ago and still going!  Feels Amazing!

Week 2 Update

Here is a recap of the past week.

1. Still doing the YAYOG Novice DVDs
2. Eating was mostly on point
3. Got my Fitbit up and running again
4. Still doing the 30 day Plank Challenge
5. Down 1.4 lbs for the week

YAYOG Update:

I'm still doing the YAYOG Novice DVDs, but it feels good to have 2 weeks completed.  The workouts felt a little easier than last week, so that is a plus.  However, the workouts are still a kick in the rear. I'm still going to "Keep Showing Up" and see where it leads me. So far, so good.

Eating Update:

I stayed on track my eating, except for Thursday night.  Was in a bit of a funk and decided I wanted a cheat meal.  We ended up eating Panda Express and I did not get the healthy options.  On Friday, I entered in what I ate into MFP to find out I was over my daily caloric goal by over 1,400 cals! I'm not going to stress about it though.  I got back on track the next morning and have done really good this weekend.

Fitbit Update:

My Fitbit zip was lost for several months.  When we were making room for the baby swing and pack-n-play, I found my Zip.  I got the battery replaced and started wearing it again.  I've been averaging about 4,000 steps during the day at work.  Then another 1,000-3,000 steps walking and rocking our baby girl.  She wants me to walk around when I hold her at the moment.  I just see it as a way to get some extra steps in.  If you use a Fitbit, you can Friend me!  Here is my profile: http://www.fitbit.com/user/245QJ4

30 Day Plank Challenge:

Okay, I'm up to doing 60 second planks!  They are starting to get tough.  I start shaking around 30 sec mark, so we'll see how much longer I can keep it up.  I'm hoping to stick with it, but we'll just have to see how it goes. Today is day 12, so we'll see if I can last 90 seconds!

Down 1.4 Pounds:

Even with cheating on Thursday night, I'm still down 1.4 lbs this week.  That might not sound like a lot, but my goal is to only loose 1-1.5 lbs each week.  I'm also already starting to see little changes with my body.  A couple times when I put my belt on, I've noticed I'm down a hole!  That is a really great feeling!  I've also seen some changes is my forearms and in my face. Nothing big, but just little things that are showing I'm progressing.  That makes me feel really awesome.

If you want to friend me on the fitness sites I use, here are the ones I'm on:

MyFitnessPal: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/ithink2020

Fitocracy: https://www.fitocracy.com/profile/ithink2020/?about

Fitbit:  http://www.fitbit.com/user/245QJ4

If you use any of those, friend me and help me keep me on track!

Hope you come back soon!

Matt

First Week Complete!

A few accomplishments this week!

1. Stuck with the YAYOG DVDs
2. Stayed in line with my eating
3. Hanging in on the 30 Day Plank Challenge
4. Lost 5.8 lbs!

YAYOG Update:

Well, I must say, the You Are Your Own Gym Novice DVD Workouts are harder than I thought!  When you watch the workout (without doing it) it doesn't seem that hard.  Maybe it is because 10 months ago I was in much better shape.  But once I started the DVDs, I was huffing and puffing and struggling on some parts of the workouts.  But this is not a bad thing.  This just confirms what I already knew...I need to get on and stay on track...for the long term!

Eating Healthy:

I did very good this week on the food front. For the most part, I stayed under my allowed calories each day. Although I did go over a little one day, I'm still under if I look at the weekly totals.  I've also set a goal to eat ~180 grams of Protein each day.  Since starting to track with MyFitnessPal, there has only been a couple days that I did not reach that goal.  I figured out (based on YAYOG) that my Macros should be split like this:  30% Carbs - 40% Protein - 30% Fat.  Looking at MyFitnessPal, my overall Macros for the week are 31% Carbs - 41% Protein - 28% Fat.  I'd say that is pretty good, considering that I'm really only focusing on my Calorie and Protein intake!  All in all, I'm very happy with my progress this week.

30 Day Plank Challenge Update:

I've haven't missed a day since I started...yesterday was Day 4.  But, I completed a 30 second plank. I'm doing the plank in the classic Push Up position. My goal is to keep this up over the next 30 days.  I know it is going to get hard, but I'm going to do my best to stick with it.

Weight:

Well, as of yesterday, I'm down 5.8 lbs since last Saturday!  I know a lot of that is the bloat that comes off in the first week, so I'm not expecting that much every week.  My goal is to lose around 1-1.5 pounds per week.  I'm going to take it nice and slow.  I don't want to work too hard and lose too much then get burnt out and fall off the wagon.  So I'm happy with this weeks weight loss, but know that going forward not to expect this amount again.

With all that said, I'm very happy with this past week. It only motivates me to stay on track and do good this week. My hope is to be in much better shape and to be down 30-45 lbs by August 1st.  In August we are planning on going to the east coast for vacation. So, that is my motivation...that and getting healthy so I can keep up with my kids!  

Matt

Easy Homemade Healthy Freezer Meals

A while ago I came across a way to make your own Frozen Dinners! This really appealed to me, because frozen dinners from the store have some drawbacks (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11992264/ns/health-fitness/):

1. Not Big Enough – Most “healthy” or “Diet” frozen meals are tiny and do not fill me up. But the “Regular” ones are filled with Fat.
2. Not Enough Veggies – Most frozen meals contain very small amounts of vegetables. When trying to eat the recommended 5-11 serving of vegetables and fruits a day, these meals do not contain enough.
3. High In Sodium - If you are trying to watch your sodium intake, having 700-1,800 mg of sodium from one of these meals is a good chunk of the recommended max of 2,300 mg per day.

By making your own Frozen meals, you can control the portion size to fit your own dietary needs. Also, you can really cut down the amount of sodium, while still have a convenient frozen meal.

So, what do you need?

First you need to get some Steamer Bags. Glad and Ziploc are a couple of the name brands, but I hear some stores are now carrying “Store Band” bags as well. These can be found near the sandwich bags at your local grocery store.  I prefer the Ziploc brand, but here are what the Ziploc and Glad boxes look like:

How to Make them:

To make one individual meal, take a portion of Protein (3-4 oz of Chicken, Pork, Lean Beef or Fish). Marinade and/or season with your desired seasonings. Place the portion of Protein into a Steamer Bag. Now add 2-3 cups of your favorite veggies to the bag. Optionally, you can add a bag of 60-90 Second Ready rice to the bag as well. Seal up the bag and toss it in the Freezer. You can spend 20 minutes over the weekend and make up enough for the whole week.

When it comes time to eat, take the bag out of the freezer and microwave your meal for 5-7 minutes, depending on your microwave and your portion size. I suggest starting out with 5 minutes then check the protein. If it isn’t cooked, you can seal the bag back up, and nuke for another 30 sec. Repeat until you everything is cooked to your liking. Then note this time for the next time you make this meal.

NOTE: If you use liquids (sauce, etc.) for flavoring in the bag, try to keep the bag up right until frozen, so that the liquids does not leak out of the vents in the steamer bags.

Have I tried this? 

Yes! I normally take these for lunch everyday. I take a frozen chicken breast and 2 cups of veggies (I like the Cali blend from Hy-Vee - broccoli, carrots and Cauliflower) put them in a steamer bag and add a dash of olive oil and some seasoning in it. To mix it up, I use different seasonings and spices. Some that I use are Cookie's, Lawry's, McCormick's "Kicken' Chicken", etc Basically what ever sounds good at the time. Since I use a whole chicken breast, it takes 7 minutes to cook in my microwave.   Here is what it looks like:

If you look closely, you can see how juicy the Chicken is!

What if I want to know the Nutritional Facts of the meal?

Knowing the nutritional facts of the food you eat is very important to any Healthy Lifestyle. To figure out the nutritional facts, will take a little work. First, you can read all the labels of the items you use, the add up all the numbers to come up with the Facts of the meal. However, this can take some time.

I personally prefer just entering in the individual items into MyFitnessPal.  By entering the ingredients for my Chicken and Veggies meal I make (this does not include the little bit of seasoning I use), MFP calculated that the nutritional facts for one serving (one bag):

463 Cals 

55 Grams of Protein 

10 Grams of Carbs 

20 Grams of Fat 

NOTE: 119 cals & 14 grams of fat come from the olive oil. You could leave that out and save the cals and fat if need be. However, I feel you need some healthy fat in your diet, so that is why I add it.

If you do not use MFP, you could use a Recipe Calculator, like the one found at http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-calculator.asp. 

I hope these tips were helpful! If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

Matt

High Protein Scrambled Egg Recipe

A few months ago I saw a co-worker do this. I've been doing it for one of my morning meals every day. It is easy and tasty!

You take eggs and mix in some cottage cheese, then microwave it for a couple minutes. That's it!

What you need:

3 eggs (use the whole egg)

1/2 cup Cottage Cheese

Here is what I do:

1. Crack 3 whole eggs in a bowl. 
2. Add 1/2 cup of cattage cheese 
3. Mix well 
4. Microwave for 45 sec. 
5. Stir 
6. Microwave for 45 sec. 
7. Stir 
8. Microwave for 30 Sec 
9. Stir and let sit for a couple minutes 
10. Enjoy! 

NOTE: Each microwave is different, so time might take some trial and error in cooking the eggs without them exploding...you'll know what I mean if and when it happens or if has happened to you before.

The cottage cheese melts leaving the eggs fluffy and yummy. You don't have the texture of the cottage cheese and you don't really taste the cottage cheese.

Meal Details:

313 Cals
31 Grams Protein
7 grams Carbs
18 Grams Fat

I personally try to get in ~30 grams of protein in per meal, so I use three eggs. However, you could only use two eggs and 1/4 cup cottage cheese. That's if you don't need as much protein and you need to hit lower cals.

Hope you enjoy!

Matt

30 Day Plank Challenge Accepted!

Okay, so I been seeing that planks are really good for you. Then I saw this on Twitter and decided I'm going to add this to my schedule over the next 30 days.

30 Day Plank Challenge

The site 30 Day Fitness Challenges also as other different challenges as well. A few others that I might try after this one are the following:

 

NOTE: Clicking on the images will take you to the 30 Day Fitness Challenges page for that Challenge.

They have Apps for Android ($2.99) and iPhone ($1.99). It does have all the fitness Challenges within the app and you do not need an internet connection for it to work. Personally, I don't think you need the app, but it does look nice. However, I think it is ridiculous that they charge a dollar more for the Android version... 

Who wants to do this with me?

Matt

Day One

Today is the official first day on my road to getting in my best shape ever. I started my morning off with a healthy Protein shake with Greens and Maca.

We plan on going and walking around the zoo today. Then tomorrow I start the YAYOG Novice DVDs.

Below are my beginning measurements.

Beginning Stats on 1/12/14

Weight: 219.8 lbs
Body Fat %:  33%
Waist: 45.5 in.
Chest: 46 in.
Neck: 13.25 in.
Bicep: 13.75 in.
Forearm: 12 in.
Hip: 43 in.
Thigh: 22.5 in.
Calf: 16.75 in.

Just wanted to make a quick post to mark the first day and share beginning stats. I took some before pics, but will post them later.

Thanks for checking in!

Matt