I Broke 30!

From a 10k in March- but you get the idea

Yesterday Chris and I ran America's Finest City 5k.  This is our third year running it and I finally accomplished my goal of coming in under 30 minutes! Last year- I came VERY close- with a time of 30:01 (not a joke) but this year I finished the course in 29:44.  Yay! We celebrated by having a DECADENT breakfast at Hash House a Go Go. This place is no joke, when we arrived post race at the early early time of 8am, there was already a 20 minute wait.  Why? Becuase it's that good. They consider their cusine Twisted Farm Food with Indiana roots, and they do it well! Chris's breakfast was by far the winner- he had a Farm Benedict featuring sage fried chicken w/ fresh spinach, hardwood smoked bacon, market tomato, griddled mozzarella, chipotle cream and scrambled eggs. Um yum. 

Chris's Benedict

My favorite menu item was called O'Hare of the Dog and consisted of a 24 oz Budwiser (served in a brown paper bag) with a side of bacon. Classy :) I went with an egg white scramble that was big enough for about 4 people.  
Overall- it was a great weekend! AND I have an exciting week to look forward to, I'm heading up North for a long weekend at Lake Naciamento with my family and two best friends (Brooke is coming in from NY!) to celebrate my birthday! There will likely be nothing healthy about the trip... but lots of fun and great company.  Next week I plan to get back on track with good eating (food journaling) and Bar Method. Till then, be good without me! :)
XO
Chel

Post Holiday Weigh-In & New Years Resolutions

Today is Monday so I woke up knowing I should get on the scale.  When I was being super strict/good with boot camp, I weighed in EVERY Monday morning.  However- the last few weeks have been so crazy with holidays etc I've managed to excuse myself from weighing in the past 2 weeks. I hadn't been on a scale since December 14th. So I woke up this morning dreading the scale & mentally preparing myself for a 3-4 or even 5 pound gain. After Chris left for work I began my weigh-in ritual. Shower, completely blowdry hair, use bathroom, no eating or drinking and finally the removal of ALL clothing (including earrings). I stepped nervously onto the scale- forcing myself to look down at the digital numbers. And amazingly- I managed to lose 2 pounds since my last weigh in! I actually was so excited I called Chris at work and texted Julia the "big news" :)

People have such mixed opinions on scales- how often to weigh in, if you should weigh yourself at all, etc. but in my personal opinion- it's a really helpful tool for accountability. Even if you have a depressing weigh in (believe me, I've had my share) it's still good to face reality & then figure out a plan from there. Regular weigh-ins help prevent negative suprises at your yearly doctor's visit.
Speaking of weight & progress- did everyone set a resolution? Today- as promised, I'm sharing my 5 resolutions for the New Year.  There's a few and they're not all health related so... bear with me.
1. I will run a 10k race. (6.4 miles) 
2. I will keep a food journal and write in it at least 6 days a week. (No more blank weekends!)
3. I will get to my goal weight. (As of this morning- 12.2 pounds to go)
4. I will take horseback riding lessons.
5. I will visit the Grand Canyon.
Thoughts? I really tried to keep all of my goals reasonable & achievable. Some I've already started on. Chris & I are signed up for a 10k run on March 13th & Amy and I are also doing the 10k mud run at Camp Pendleton in June.  10 week training plan starts this week.
I ordered a new food journal last night (I use the one from Bootcamp- check it out Here). Goal weight- obviously still a challenge, but 12 pounds at a healthy pace should be EASY if I have a year to do it!
Horseback riding lessons are something I've wanted to do for a long time- I had a horse growing up and LOVED riding more than anything. This is me doing something for myself and I'm excited about it. The Grand Canyon is a fun one- neither Chris & I have been there and have been talking about going- doing either an RV trip or hike to the bottom. By putting it on my resolution list it gives me motivation to make it happen! I feel like I have a good mix of healthy & fun resolutions that I can be proud of accomplishing in 2010.
“Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a better (wo)man” -Benjamin Franklin
Sounds like a good plan to me...
XO
Chel

Resolution Time...

Happy New Years Eve!! Today is the day where people make resolutions that last until around the 3rd of January. And I'm guilty of this as well- I can't remember any resolution I've set that has even lasted a month. But I'm willing to try again. I decided to seek some guidance on the best way to set a successful resolution. Guidance=Google obviously: "How to set a New Years resolution I can stick to".  Google provided me multiple opinions regarding setting New Years resolutions. After a little research I came up with the 5 steps below which I believe will help us set achievable goals that we can be proud of accomplishing a year from today.

1. Be realistic by setting achievable goals. Very important in preventing early give-up syndrome. For example becoming a Victoria's Secret model is probably not an achieveable goal unless you currently look like Gisele. What is achievable? Losing weight, fitting into your skinny jeans, cutting out sugar, etc.
2. Describe your resolutions in specific terms. For example- instead of saying "To lose 20 pounds" incorporate the ACTION that it will take to reach that end goal. For example- "I will lose 20 pounds by working out 3x a week and eliminating fried foods from my diet".
3. Break down larger goals into smaller ones. Big life changes don't happen overnight. To prevent yourself from getting frustrated- try breaking things down. Say your end goal is to run a marathon this year- start with weekly running goals that are part of a plan to get you to your end goal eventually. Celebrate each week, month or even DAY that you are on track to achieving your resolution.
4. Find alternatives to the behavior you want to change and include that as part of your resolution. Important. If your resolution is to stop binge eating- but right now that's a stress reliever for you- what are you going to do to replace it? For example "Every time I feel stressed and want to eat- I will __________(go for a walk, read a book, call a friend etc). Having a plan will help prevent reverting to old behaviors out of habit.
5. Aim for things that are truly important to you, not what you think you ought to do or what others expect of you. This is my favorite and I think the most critical guideline. If I know anything about losing weight or being healthy- it's that it's not going to happen because someone else wants it- it has to be 100% about you.
When I went to write my own resolutions I realized they were all weight or fitness based. While that's not a bad thing- I think we all need to remember that being a healthy person isn't all about weight, pants size, or your mile time- true health incorporates all aspects of your life: relationships, career, self esteem, general pleasure out of life. Still stuck? See if one of these topics/questions can inspire a resolution for you.
Learn Something New-what don't you know that you wish you did?
Enjoy Life More- what makes you the happiest & how can you do it more often?
Simplify Your Life- what things/people/or tasks do you need to let go of?
Be Healthy- what steps do you need to take to get healthy?
Help Others- what can you do to make a difference in another person's life?

Find what you need to work on to make you happy & go for it! It's a New Year (and decade!) and anything is possible.
XO
Chel

And the Results Are In...

So- I had my big weigh in this morning! I'm pleased to say that the damage was not as bad as I had imagined. I have gained 2 pounds since my last weigh in 7 weeks ago at the end of my first bootcamp. The BAD part is- I was supposed to have dropped 7 pounds in that time period, so technically I'm 9 pounds from where I should be. Make sense? Relief that I hadn't gained 20 pounds was probably my biggest emotion but I also felt a sense of disapointment that I'm not where I had hoped to be.
BUT I'm going to use this check in as a "reality check". Now I know where I'm at weight wise and I know what I need to do to reach my goals. I feel like I have all the knowledge & tools to loose weight- I just need to put them to work.
My trainer Jessica and I discussed some of my struggles- and I think the number one thing for me is going back to food journaling. I had gotten really lax about this, I would usually journal Monday thru Wednesday and then once Thursday hit, I knew I was being bad with eating and drinking so I'd stop writing it down. Or I'd write down my food till lunch and then leave my journal at work & never finish the day. So- I'm going back to being really good about the journal, including EVERYTHING I eat (even just a bite), keeping it with me all the time, setting daily calorie goals and overall just being accountable for all the food I'm putting in my body.
I also talked to Jessica about doing a cleanse to jumpstart my body back to healthy eating. She warned me away from anything intense like the Master Cleanse (for any of you who remember when I did that a few years ago- I lasted 5 days & was an EMOTIONAL wreck- people need food!). But she did reccomend the following week long cleanse:
Day 1: Cut out all Sugar, Dairy & Caffeine. A little bit of whole grains is good but eat mostly veggies, fruit and some lean protein (either wild salmon or organic free range chicken). Eat NOTHING processed or fake. Drink lots of water & herbal or green tea.
Day 2: Today cut the meat. Eat veggies, fruit & whole grain. Continue with water & tea.
Day 3. JUICE DAY! Eat, or rather drink, all of your calories today. If you have a juicer, make your own juice from veggies including beets, carrots, collard greens, kale & apples. You can also purchase freshly squeezed veggie juices from a juice shop, just make sure they don't have anything added to them. Farmers Market in San Diego has a guy that sells a "Greens" juice which would be perfect for this.
Day 4: Continue with the juice & add in fruit. NO other food groups.
Day 5: Continue with the juice & fruit & add in veggies. Steam them or eat raw- you don't want to put oils or fats into your system.
Day 6: Bring back whole grains. Have a piece or two of a sprouted grain bread (like Ezekial brand) or some sweet potatoes.
Day 7: Add back small portions of meat or protein.
That completes the cleanse- and of course after that you should continue to eat well to maintain your results & good health.
I really want to try it, just trying to find a spot on the calendar when I have a week free of "eating commitments". Jessica recommended scheduling the juice day on a "rest" day from working out- otherwise you can feel free to continue exercise.
And the one bright spot in my appointment this morning is that I have lost more body fat- I'm down from 21.9% to 20% which makes me happy- I think I'm almost to the ATHLETE range. Wow, never thought I'd say that. It was funny actually, last night a girl came up to me at bootcamp and said "Have you always been a runner? You're really good." I wished my high school P.E. Teacher Ms Reynolds could have been there- I was always the one at the back of the pack WALKING the last lap of the mile :) Believe me, if I can be a "runner" I'm pretty sure anyone can!
XO
Chel
PS. Happy almost Friday. Looking forward to Julia's annual Christmas festivites tonight!

Tis The Season to gain 1.5 pounds!

Thanksgiving is 1 week from Today. And anyone who's read this blog even once is aware of my year round struggle with "Exception" Eating. (Defined as eating crappy food because it's a "special occasion" which can ranges from a birthday to a Tuesday night happy hour). Considering I have not gotten a handle on this- I'm a little terrified of the next six weeks.
Thanksgiving is the official kickoff of Holiday Eating Season 2009- which extends until January 1st (Resolution Day) I'm trying to figure out a way to get through this season of while still fitting in my current clothing. (I bought the CUTEST pair of Hudson jeans yesterday- on sale & 2 sizes smaller than I was 4 months ago!!) Is that too much to ask for??
In hope of finding a solution I have been on a mission to learn as much as possible about this fat trap they call the Holidays. Today I came across "Holiday Weight Gain Myths" which helped me face a little reality on food & fun vs. the scale...
Myth #1: "Everyone Gains 5 Pounds During the Holidays So I might as well accept it."
Shocker- apparently that's NOT true! The average American gains only 1 to 2 pounds during the Holidays- but the bad part is that it NEVER comes off the rest of the year. So according to this theory- if I do "average" during this holiday season and the next few, buy 2019 I will have put on 15-20 pounds in Holiday eating alone. (Chris- don't read this- of course that would never happen :)
So what am I going to do about that? I think I'm going to "Just Say No" to gaining weight. I was already kind of rationalizing that it wouldn't be the end of the world if I gained "a pound or two" this year during the holidays- BUT not if they are going to stay with me forever! So- no mentally preparing myself for ANY weight gain. In fact- according to my boot camp & food plan I should actually be loosing 1lb per week. I know mental outlook is a HUGE part of weight loss- so if I go into each week of the season just as I do the rest of the year- expecting myself to be sticking on the plan rather than giving myself a permission slip to fail- my pants should continue to fit. :) Sound good? I also came across a few ways to lighten up a Turkey Day meal.
-Stick to White Meat. I know the dark stuff is good- but it adds 60 calories & 8 grams of fat per serving. Not worth it.
-Choose cranberry sauce (especially the fresh stuff) instead of gravy. **Honesty alert: I will not be doing that- I'm totally a gravy person BUT I promise to cut my serving of it in half. But if you can do it, good for you!
-Choose the Veggie Sides. Try and fill 3/4 of your plate with green stuff- salad, green beans, etc. Then you won't even have room for that 3rd piece of bread!
-Try weird substitutions. Girls in my boot camp were talking about blending steamed cauliflower with fat free sour cream (or even plain greek yogurt) with salt & pepper in place of mashed potatoes. There are lots of healthy recipes out there- try one fun one!
Maybe tomorrow I'll tackle myth #2: "I can take a "vacation" from my diet, because come January, I'll go right back on it."
Wait- that's not true??... I was really banking on that as my backup plan :)
XO
Chel

Fall Festivites & Week 12 Update

The "Fall" crock pot dinner was a success last night! We had a delicious beef Brisket with a tomatillo sauce. After roasting 12 hours in the crock pot, the meat was pratically falling apart. We served it on top of either a toasted onion roll or cornbred (wheat free for my sister) with a great spicy sauce to pour over top. So good.
Keeping with the fall theme I served a pre-dinner "festive fall cocktail" a cranberry mojito! (warning this is not low calorie- but it's kind of amazing)
1 Bunch mint leaves
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 cup lime juice (buy this don't try to squeeze that many limes!)
3/4 cup cranberry juice concentrate thawed
1/1/4 cup light rum
20 oz sparkling water
Basically you muddle (mash with a wooden spoon in bottom of pitcher) the sugar & mint together and then pour in the rest of the ingredients. It's tart & refreshingly delicious.
For dessert I had two options, but everyone ended up trying a small portion of each.
One was a berry lemon bar- that was actually low fat & calorie. Recipe at www.recipegirl.com which is a new website I stumbled across & where the cranberry mojito came from too. It's not exclusively healthy foods- but some simple & good recipes. Check out their weight watchers section, she has a TON of dinner ideas.
The other dessert was a scoop of Dryer's slow churned Pumpkin Ice Cream with Lite whipped cream on top. It is heavenly! Tastes like pumkin pie without all the calories & fat of the crust.
And I almost forgot the most important part! Other than celebrating fall (everyone wore sweaters & we listened to Frank Sinatra) we were also celebrating mine & Julia's completion of our 12 week bootcamp! I had my final weigh in yesterday and am SO excited to say that I've lost 15.8 pounds, 13.5 inches & 7.6% body fat! Julia has lost 20 pounds & looks AMAZING. It feels so good to see our hard work paying off! Almost even more exciting than that, I tried on my "skinny skinny" jeans this morning (not to be confused with my "skinny" jeans which I fit into about a month ago) and I could zip them! Still too tight to wear in public but I didn't used to be able to pull them past my thighs. So much fun! Happy Thursday... it's almost the weekend!
Chel

You Will Have to Forgive Me...

I'm being a blogging slacker right now. I promise to get back to it soon. Work is CRAZY and I have 3 days of all day meetings this week including dinners each night- so my blogging time is taking a hit :) Until I can support myself on my blogging empire (thank you- my 3 followers!) I must continue to work.
Good news is- so far I'm being healthy & have plans to avoid eating junk food while dining out... I'll fill you all in soon & let you know if it works!
Have a great week!
Chel
Oh and PS- for last week, I did kind of meet the goals I set for myself. I did go to 4 DAYS of bootcamp (crazy!!) and I kept my eating under 1400 calories every day except Saturday & Sunday. Those days continue to be a struggle for me... But it paid off! I had a good weigh in Monday morning :)

SMART Goals & Mid Morning Snack Ideas

I have some exciting news to share!! I had my 6 Week Bootcamp Evaluation this morning and I met ALL of my goals! I have lost 8.8 pounds, 6.5 inches & my body fat has decreased from 29.5% to 25.9%! I walked out of the appointment feeling GREAT and motivated to do even better in these last 6 weeks. I think for me the major take away is the importance of setting goals for yourself. And not just in your head- write them down.
SMART goals are something I use at work & they transition into fitness very well. What is a SMART goal? Well it's Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic & Timely.
Here's an example of a bad (but common goal). "I want to be thin". Ok... so what that leaves out is- what is thin to you? Do you want to loose inches, pounds? And when do you want to be thin? And is this reasonable goal with the actions you plan to take?
A better goal is: "I will loose 5 pounds by staying in my calorie range by November 1st". Is that still a simple goal? Yes. But now you have a way to measure yourself that takes into account what your goal is (loose 5 lbs) how you are going to reach it (counting calories) and when you will reach it by (Nov 1st). Check out this article about Fitness SMART Goals- it made a lot of sense to me and can help you develop your own. www.fitnessmantra.info and in the search type SMART Goals. The article is the second one that comes up.
And now for some mid morning snacks- to keep you from overeating at lunch. I like these to come in somewhere around 100 calories. You'll notice that all of these things take little or NO preparation. This way you can toss them in your bag and head to work- or about your day.
A few personal favorites:
-Trader Joes Light String Cheese (60)
-1/2 toasted whole wheat english muffin with 1/2 Laughing Cow Light Cheese spread (100)
-Trader Joe's Mini Bran Cakes blueberry or apple cranberry (80)
-Medium bananna (110)
-Flavored Non Fat Greek Yogurt (my favorite is the honey flavor) (130)
-1/2 cup dry Kashi Go Lean Crunch Cereal (95)
-Mary's Gone Crackers brand wheat & gluten free crackers. Good by themselves or with a little cheese. (100-150)
-Almonds. I purchase these raw and non salted. Raw because uncooked food has more nutrients & unsalted so I am able to stop eating them (dry roasted salted nuts are a weakness of mine).(100)
-Whole Wheat Waffle. I like to buy these frozen and then toast them at work. Kashi makes a blueberry one that is really healthy- I like the Trader Joes Brand Blueberry one the best. (95)
Enjoy!
Chel

No More Excuses

Ok- now is FOCUS time. I am halfway through bootcamp, starting Week 7 and I know that I need to really step up and finish out camp strong if I want to meet my goals.
My birthday (week) is officially over now and I'm ready to work out really hard this week & clean up my eating and drinking. Because the thing I've realized- it is depressing to be off the wagon. Yes it's fun to enjoy a few days of not writing down everything I'm putting in my mouth & enjoying some great food, but it's really an even better feeling to step on the scale and see the number go down or to have your clothes feel loose.
So- my goal for the week is to stay under 1400 calories every single day (no excuses) and go to bootcamp 4x (instead of the usual 3). And now that it's in writing- I am accountable and I will let you all know next Monday if I meet my goal.
My trainer at Boot Camp talks a lot about "bad habits" and how important it is for you to break out of those patterns- for example if you always snack while you're making dinner becuase you're starving, or skipping breakfast, or eating in the car... I think my "bad habit" is making excuses for fun events in my life. It's almost like I think I can't enjoy an event (wedding, party, dinner out) without being able to eat & drink whatever I want. That's the mindset I need to break out of. Rather than aviod fun events I need to plan ahead and have a strategy to help me remind myself WHY events or occasions are fun (hint.. it's about the people & the activity, not the refreshments).
Tonight Chris is BBQing chicken- so we should be able to make some great salads & dinners this week. I'm also headed to Trader Joes after work so I should have some fun food & snack ideas to share tomorrow. Have a great one!
Chel