Cleanse Update & Bar Method (no that doesn't refer to a pub crawl :)

Thought I'd give an update since I was supposed to be cleansing... I'm not! A few friends had mentioned that they didn't think cleansing was healthy etc, etc, so I was going to write a blog on the benefits of a liver cleanse. So- I googled it to find out and what I learned scared me! Nothing too terrible- but things like if you didn't space the timing right or get all the gallstones out (and the pictures of some of the things coming out were scary!) it could actually be really bad for your health. So- if I do decide to do a cleanse I will probably do one more like the 7 day cleanse which my trainer recommended, that I blogged about a few days ago.

But I did try something new today- a Bar Method class which my sister raves about. What is it? According to their website: The Bar Method™workout creates a uniquely lean, firm, sculpted body by combining the muscle-shaping principles of isometrics, the body-elongating practice of dance conditioning, the science of physical therapy and the intense pace of interval training into a powerful exercise format that quickly and safely reshapes and elongates muscles.

I want a uniquely lean sculped body! My sister is a former dancer, so I was a little nervous to try the class with no dance background, but it was great! It was VERY different than my bootcamp- because there is no cardio- it's mostly strenght training and different poses. It was crazy hard, but in a good way. You do use a ballet "bar" which is where it gets its name. My body was SHAKING as the teacher led us through some of the exercises. Like literally uncontrollably shaking. But the nice part was that afterwords I felt great and energized, whereas after bootcamp I usually feel accomplished but exhausted. I think combined with a few days a week of running or some cardio this would be a GREAT way to get fit. I'm sure I'll be sore tomorrow. The teacher's arms were AMAZING. :)

Check it out: http://www.barmethod.com/

Now I am sitting on the couch watching the Chargers game (hopefully a WIN) drinking a glass of wine and pop chips (100 calories a good sized serving- best flavor is BBQ) and enjoying my Sunday!

XO

Chel

PS. Best dessert ever. My friend Jen came over Friday night and made this perfect holiday dessert which I just have to share! No Pudge Brownies (a box mix sold at Trader Joes, Vons, etc you just add yogurt instead of eggs/oil) with low fat Peppermint ice cream on top! I think we figured out each desert was about 250 calories which is great, & they taste AMAZING. Yum. Thanks Jen!

What Are You Doing Saturday Night?

I've got a date with my toilet. I can't believe I just wrote that. BUT- what is the point of this blog if it's not 100% honest? Although I suppose this post could probably fall into the category of oversharing... Oh well- that's your warning!
Chris ended up having to go out of town for work this weekend which cancelled our camping trip; honestly it's about 50 degrees outside and drizzling... I'm ok with it. Last night I realized I really had no commitments whatsoever for the weekend and decided it would be a perfect opportunity to do a cleanse! Not the week long one I blogged about a few days ago, but a Liver Cleanse that a co-worker had been "prescribed"by her acupuncturist. It's a day & a half long, & the only warning I was given was to stay by a toilet at all times. Bring on the cleansing!
Check it out:
2 days prior to the cleanse take (2) 800 mg tablets of malic acid in the morning and evening.
1. Mix 24oz of water (3 cups) with 4 tbs Epsom Salts until dissolved.
2. Saturday afternoon stop eating at 2pm. (they actually reccomend starting this on a Friday- but I'm having people over for dinner tonight- and I'd probably be kind of a downer drinking my salt water and running to the bathroom- so I start tomorrow)
3. At 6pm drink 3/4 cup epsom salt mixture
4. At 8pm drink 3/4 cup epsom salt mixture
5. At 10pm mix 3/4 cup freshly squeezed grapefruit juice and combine with 1/2 cup olive oil. (ewwww). Shake until solution is watery & then drink and lay down, on your back or on your right side with your head elevated for at least 20 min. Try to sleep. (It scares me that it says "try" to sleep)
6. Sunday at 6am drink 3/4 cup epsom salt mixture
7. 8am drink last 3/4 cup epsom salt mixture
8. 10am have a little grapefruit juice
9. 10:30am eat some fruit
10. 11:30- noon- eat a light meal, toast, sandwich
11. Begin eating as soon as you feel like it.
So- I'll be done cleansing by noon on Sunday and should probably be a normal person by the time Chris gets home on Monday. I can't wait to tell you all about it on Monday! Wish me luck!
Chel
PS. For all San Diegans- I have been dying to share the best thing ever- Roadrunner sports in Mira Mesa area is AMAZING. Chris and I went about a week ago to get new running shoes. I ended up getting a really good pair- about $125. They help you select the perfect shoe for you- they even video tape you while you run on a treadmill. They also have a great return policy where if you run in the shoes, even multiple times and don't like them you can bring them back. But even better than that- next to the regular store is their OUTLET (you know I love deals). After we both found shoes at the regular store we went over to the outlet just to check it out. And I found my EXACT shoes I had just bought in the twice worn section (a customer had returned them) and they were marked down to $30!! So needless to say I returned the first pair and purchased those. You can't return them when you buy them from the outlet- but what a great deal! Chris & I also got a TON of running and workout clothes for practically nothing! I got a pair of pants I had seen for $70- marked down to $27 then $20 additional off as part of some deal (we may have just had a very kind cashier). Anyway- favorite place ever- check it out! www.roadrunnersports.com

The Biggest Loser & Learning to Love Yourself :)

Did anyone watch the finale last night of The Biggest Loser? Check out the picture of the winner on the right! I don't watch the show on a regular basis, but was flipping channels and got hooked. Talk about inspiring. It's almost mind blowing the amount of weight these people loose- by the end they are literally half of their former selves. Because it was a finale they show a recap of each contestant's journey, and they were consistently loosing 8-15 pounds PER WEEK. I can't even imagine that. It's amazing to watch the contestants push themselves and makes me grateful I never had to start from such a challenging weight, one girl weighed in at 400+. I thought it was pretty fascinating although I almost wanted to laugh a little as I saw Jillian (the hard core trainer who I WISH lived at my house!) screaming at these people as they are visibly struggling and crying on a treadmill yelling "It doesn't matter that your mother never loved you. Do this for you!" She is serious! It was almost like intensive therapy. What I thought was interesting (and it could be part of the screening process to even be considered for the show) but how many of these seriously overweight people had experienced some sort of major trauma in their life, like the death of a loved one or family member that was the "trigger" for the weight gain. It seemed like in those cases- it was critical for the person to get past that in order to "love themselves" enough to put their health first and start loosing weight.

Although I don't have any major issues to get past- I was thinking about how an average person could apply the same philosophy to their own weight loss. And I was trying to think if there was anything that mentally "clicked" for me when I started this weight loss journey. I think a lot of people struggle with committing time and spending money on their health. But in order to lose weight, or get fit, you HAVE to put yourself first and make taking care of your body a top priority in your life.

If you are not quite there yet- feeling like you're ready to make a life change, but not quite sure how or not convinced that "this time" will be any different than any other- I'm going to make some recommendations. Please do not think I am getting preachy- obviously I'm still a work in progress, but these are a few things I feel like really worked for me.

-Make A Drastic Change. Mine was signing up for boot camp. The financial commitment was enough to make me not want to "waste" it. And the boot camp itself wasn't easy either- it was a DRASTIC lifestyle change for me to be doing hard core workouts 3 days a week.

-Make a Commitment to someone other than yourself. This is huge. For me- my accountability partners were Chris & Julia. Chris and I had a deal that he would pay for half of my bootcamp if I made it to 3 classes a week for the entire 12 weeks. And I did it! It was such a strong motivator for me to go even on the days I dreaded it and we celebrated when I met my goal! Julia was my weekly weigh-in buddy and we would (and still do) text each other our results after our weigh-ins. Speaking of- Jules lost 3 POUNDS this week!! Congrats!

-Give Yourself the Tools You Need to be successful. Here's where the spending $$ comes in to play. Invest in yourself. Whether it's a gym membership, personal trainer, healthy wholesome food, new running shoes- if getting fit is really your #1 priority- and these tools get you working out or eating better- it's so worth it.

-Get To Know Yourself. This one may sound weird- but I think it's key. Spend some time hanging out with yourself. For me- my favorite (and I don't do enough of this) is taking a walk with Ry somewhere beautiful. No blackberry and just my thoughts to keep me company is a really good way to figure yourself out a little. Sometimes I crack myself up. Sometimes I cry. (People may stare. Let them. :) Mostly I just learn to be comfortable with myself, which I think leads to being comfortable with my body- and accepting it as it is.

-Learn To Love Yourself. You knew it was coming :) But seriously. That guy in the picture up top had to get on a scale on Day 1 in front of a TV camera. It takes dedication, hard work, and COMMITMENT to keep going day after day. If he didn't love and value himself he would have given up and would never look the way he does today. And for the rest of us- we have so much less work to do! It's not only doable- we deserve it because we are WORTH it.

Wow- we are getting DEEP today :) and what's really funny is I originally started writing about Taco Bell (or Tbell as it is known to close friends) and somehow that turned into a Biggest Loser/Motivational love yourself thing! Can we talk about how impressed you all are that I can add pictures these days? I wanted to post a photo of my egg/spinach/bell pepper scramble this morning but my camera was dead. :) All in time. Have a great rest of the week- we're half way there!

XO

Chel

Motivation Returns...

In the form of a February bathing suit. Yes- on February 12th, right in the MIDDLE of winter Chris and I and two other couples are heading to Cabo for a long weekend! I'm really excited about the trip- it's a great group of people and I'm sure we'll have a blast. BUT the idea of wearing a bikini in public & in February is a huge incentive for me to step up my diet & working out. Every time I'd rather sit on the couch with a glass of wine I'm going to think about the trip and find the strength to get off my butt and get to bootcamp.
Last night I had a minor slip up- As I was driving home it was POURING rain and I really wanted hot chocolate (especially since I'd blogged about it earlier that day) so I stopped at Vons to grab some. I did find the hot chocolate and a few other needed items and then... as I was at the self checkout- something bad happened. I grabbed one of those giant Reeses peanut butter cups and put it in my cart! I don't really have any idea WHY I did that- luckily Chris came home shortly after I did and I confessed to him of having bought it in a moment of impulse. We decided throwing it away was probably the best decision :) I have lots of weaknesses when it comes to eating well but checkstand candy is not usually one of them!
Not that I'm saying that one Reeses cup is the downfall of a diet, BUT it was 200 calories of sugar & fat that I didn't need. Or even want that much- once I got it home. It just shows me even when I'm "being good" or feeling like I'm on track I still need to keep my guard up even if only to protect myself from my own impulses.
The rest of the night went pretty well, Chris & I had a great dinner last night of Mexican burritos, which were warm & filling. I took ground turkey & mixed it with chopped bell pepper & mexican seasonings (I would have added onion, but we were out). We heated up some fat free refried beans, grabbed some lettuce, salsa, shredded low fat cheese & greek yogurt (instead of sour cream). We combined all of that into great 100 calorie tortillas for a low fat, healthy dinner. Yum. I did have 2 cups of hot chocolate- but at 80 calories each they were well worth it. We also watched Food Inc- which I will blog about later this week, I'm still digesting it... Overall impression, not as bad as I had feared in terms of the gross-out factor, but definitely some disturbing stuff.
Back to bootcamp tonight!
Chel

Cold Weather Favorites & Great Party Swaps

I'm having a rough Monday. Maybe it's the crazy rain, or the fact that I gained 2 POUNDS since my weigh in last Thursday even though I felt like I did fairly well this weekend. Probably a combo of both. With the holiday season, every weekend is packed with fun events- I just want to fast forward through normal 5 day work weeks!
To deal with the fun weekend events, I found some good holiday "swaps" to help me make good decisions while still being able to enjoy seasonal favorites.
Warm Drink: Hot Chocolate (120 cal) instead of Egg Nogg (350 cal)
Appetizer: Shrimp Cocktail (165 cal ) instead of Crab Cakes (400 cal)
Cocktail: Champers! (love this one- 100 cal) instead of Gin and Tonic (220 cal)
Entree: Beef Tenderloin (165 cal) instead of Prime Rib (750 cal)
Dessert: Chocolate Fondue (340 cal) instead of Pecan Pie (810 cal)
I like the hot chocolate recommendation a lot- I know that the low cal ones can be full of "fake" sugars- but they are really a great way to satisfy a dessert or chocolate craving, especially in bad weather. And- with a dash of whip cream on top=perfection!
Soup is another great low-cal option. I used to think soup was kind of a "wimpy" meal but if you find a good soup it can be so satisfying! Pair it with a salad or a low fat corn bread.
Jessica sent out an recipe for a great FAT BURNING soup. (Don't ask me how that works- I'm not sure :) I'm going to test this out in the crock pot this week. I may add some chicken..
-6 Large Green Onions, diced
-2 Green Peppers Diced
-1 Bunch Celery, Chopped
-2 28oz cans whole tomatoes
-1 small head of cabbage, shredded
-1 Medium white onion, minced
- 32 oz vegetable stock
-2 cups water
-4 tsp onion powder, 1/4 tsp crushed celery seed, sea salt & fresh ground pepper to taste
-Curry powder or parsley to taste (optional)
Direction is to combine all ingredients and simmer until vegetables are tender.
This recipe makes 16 cups and only has 46 calories per cup! A great one to have in your fridge during a stormy week.
This weekend, despite the crazy weather, Chris & I are heading out camping to Agua Caliente Campgrounds, out East by Julian. It's going to be SO COLD. It might even snow! But I think it will be fun to have a mini vacation together and get to see a new place. I will definitely be sampling some Julian Apple Pie- it is world famous after all! Chris & I can share a piece. (That's a good way to cut your calories in half :)
I'm continuing to try and be extra conscious of what I'm eating during the week, which will help me stay on track even with weekend "exceptions". (I went to a Tater Tot themed party yesterday- not a joke). My personal favorite were the meatballs with tots inside! OMG. Can't believe I just admitted that. I think you've all figured out why I gained 2 pounds in 3 days :).
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!

Coming Clean (and staying that way!)

So much to catch up on! First let me start with complete honesty- which means confessing I haven't weighed myself in 2 weeks. I'm too scared. I personally respond better to positive incentives than negative ones. For example, if I get on the scale and lost a pound I'm more motivated to keep going than if I gained one (which makes me feel like giving up!) So I've been avoiding the scale because I know I've been eating poorly and was trying to prevent becoming discouraged. But the day of reckoning is quickly approaching. I have the six week "check in" for my Bootcamp on Thursday morning. I will be weighed, meaured and pinched for body fat. I'm really nervous and pretty sure I won't be meeting my goals this time (was supposed to be down 5lbs- i'm just hoping to not have gained weight!) but the focus is ON for this week. I started the week well yesterday with 1,215 calories & a trip to bootcamp :)
Today began with a breakfast of cheesy eggs with bacon and toast. Does that surprise you? What if I told you I had that breakfast, in a good sized portion for only 235 calories. Would you believe me?
Let's add it up. Egg Whites 6tbs (equivalent of 2 eggs) 50 calories. BACON 2 pieces. (New product from Trader Joes- it comes pre-cooked and nitrate free) 65 calories. Cheese (1/2 of a light string cheese- I was out of normal stuff :) 40 calories. And finally a piece of Ezekial Cinnamon Rasin toast (no butter) 80 calories. Total=235 calories full of protein & GOOD taste!
Once again- I think this helps prove that it's modification, not deprivation of our favorites that helps a "diet" become a lifestyle.
Quick recap of turkey day. Everything came out amazing! Turkey was perfectly done, blue cheese potatoes were my personal favorite and I probably ate a little more than I had planned, but nothing terrible. Over the holiday weekend I'd have to say my downfall was probably desserts! I am not a huge sweets person, which means I generally don't seek them out. But maybe that's because I've forgotten how good they are?? When they are in front of me, it's a different story! So- steering clear of sugar this week.
Hang in with me! Let's all make this a week of clean eating. Pretty much this week and next are the final two before Christmas fever hits, complete with holiday parties, cookie platters at work and much more! I'm going to start searching now for the BEST low-cal/sugar holiday recipes. I'll keep you posted!
Chel
Oh and PS. Best cold winter dinner EVER last night. Chris made a spaghetti squash by steaming a squash in the microwave & then scooping out the insides and covering it with a great Balsamic marinara sauce (he even added a few slices of that Trader Joes bacon to the sauce for flavor!) It was hot, delicious & filling. AND- 1 cup of squash has 42 calories!! And sauce comes in at about 60 calories a serving, so if you are craving a big portion- this one's ok to double up on!