Easing in to the Low Carb Diet

If you scroll down you will see that I've failed in the past many times. I am a self proclaimed Yo-Yo dieter. I am really hoping to put that to an end NOW. For the past few weeks I've been eating relatively low carb. I say relatively because it's relative to how many carbs I usually intake. According to My Fitness Pal if I'm left to only tracking my calories I will 9/10 over eat and be a failure. I used to make that up by working out and then I'd still lose weight. For the past few weeks I've simply been taking in about half the amount of carbs that I usually do and make sure those carbs come from healthy sources. Pretty much the easiest diet I've ever done and I'm already losing weight. Anyways, I want to get into what this post is really about and I can delve deeper into the rest when I can actually consider myself a success story. I mean I am only a few weeks into this haha.

Ok, so my usual carb intake before I started tracking was embarrassingly 200-270 a day! Now I am hitting about 90-130 a day.

Here's a typical day for me ( this was actually yesterday!):

Breakfast:
Pure Protein Birthday Cake Bar (18g)
Carmel Macchiato Creamer, 2 TBSP (10g)
Coffee (0g)

Lunch:
Roasted Slightly Salted Deluxe Mixed Nuts, 1 oz. (6g)
Teriyaki Beef Jerky, 1oz. (6g)
Avocado, half (6g)

Snack:
Colby and Monterrey Jack Cheese Stick (0g)

Dinner:
Steamfresh Super Sweet Corn, 0.7 cups (15g)
Rotisserie Chicken, 6 oz. (2g)
BBQ Sauce, 2 TBSP (15g)
Bagged Salad, 2 cups (3g)
Ranch Dressing, 2 TBSP (3g)

Dessert:
Hershey's Nugget with Toffee and Almonds (6.3g)

The whole day I took in 90g of carbs and 1,372 calories yet I was completely satisfied. If I was trying to go Keto or true low carb then I would have not allowed myself the creamer, protein bar, corn or bbq sauce. However, then I would have felt like I was sacrificing too much and I know I would not stick to it. If I do eat something that is very high carb I try to make it be a very small amount and really let myself enjoy each bite.

Like I said, I have already been doing this a few weeks. I started on about April 20th from what I can tell from my app and I've lost 4 pounds. I need to get a better scale though because I'm using an analog scale and I need to get a digital with readings to the tenth of the pound. Anyways, I hope to be able to update soon. In the meantime here's a link to some protein bars that I actually like.

How to Catch Yourself From Falling Off Your Weightloss Plan

Lately I have been really screwing up. I had my first day that I went over my maintenance calories since June just a few days ago. I have gone over my goal calories a few times, but never over my maintenance calories. That is really bad. On top of going over, I was majorly slacking on working out. I was starting to hear myself tell myself the same excuses I used to say when I wasn't serious about losing weight. 
I did the worst thing I could've possibly done, I stepped on the scale. Rather than giving me the push I thought it would to get in the right direction, I immediately felt defeated and like all my hard work the past few weeks had gone down the drain. I even thought about going to eat something! How terrible is that? Luckily, there was still a little voice of wisdom in my head that said simply "Don't Stop!" . I told myself, you know what, just because the scale says I gained 2 pounds it doesn't really mean I gained two pounds. Let me elaborate... my body all together weighed two pounds more, but that doesn't mean I gained two pounds. That would be impossible since I only barely went over my maintenance calories one day and just slacked a little on working out. I probably have a bunch of junk stuck in my digestive system because I was stuffing myself with carbs.
So what am I going to do to reverse this? Yesterday, I got in a good one hour workout that burned a whopping 770 calories. I used that extra food I had eaten the day before as fuel to get in a good workout.  I have to admit that eating more does give me more energy the next day. I still ended up eating over my goal calories yesterday, but not by much. Now, today I am going to eat lightly and very healthy. I will make sure that I get at least 100 oz of water in as well. My next official weigh in is on Saturday and I want to make sure that my day or two of weakness doesn't result in a gain for my weigh in. My goal is to lose a pound a week.
It's always good to have goals, but I think sometimes we take them too literal. For instance, " I MUST lose 2 pounds this week or I'm going to cry!". What if you lost 1.5 pounds that week? Is that not worthy of a pat on the back? I think it is. Sometimes we need to look at things in a bigger pictures. I am not talking months or years, I am talking life. We have one life. Think about how much weight you can lose before your 40th birthday or if you are 40, think how much better you will look at your 50th! I have mini goals, but if  I don't meet them, I just move on to the next and I always think about the big picture which is life. I still have the rest of my life ahead of me and that is the real time-frame I have to reach any goal.

The best advice I can give is to always find a way to turn a negative into a positive. For me, I think it's engrained in my DNA since I have been doing this my entire life. I slip up sometimes, but I generally tend to find a silver lining in everything.

Now catch yourself from falling off your plan and stick too it! You're the only one that can keep yourself on your plan.

10 pounds in 10 weeks

First off, I want to point out that you will most likely NEVER see a book with that as the title. I mean really, who wants to wait a whole 10 weeks to lose a measly 10 pounds? It's not a very alluring title and definitely doesn’t satisfy the need for instant results. However, that’s how long it took me to lose 10 pounds. I started changing the way I thought about food and incorporated exercise into my plan to change my lifestyle on June 8^th, 2013. It’s now August 20^th, 2013 and I have finally lost the first 10 pounds.

Being a chronic yo-yo dieter, losing this first 10 pounds is not a new feeling to me. Many times in the past I would take losing 10 pounds as a “well that’s good enough” stopping point. There are a few problems with that fuzzy logic. First, when I started “dieting” I had a goal to lose 40-50 pounds not 10 pounds. That means I didn’t actually meet any kind of goal, yet I was using this small triumph as an excuse that I achieved something. Second, you can’t simply stop when you get to a goal. There is no stopping. This is your new life and your new relationship with food an exercise. If you want to stop, then you will actually rewind and go back to the body you had before (or even worse!). Third, if you  think that you deserve some kind of body breakthrough because you lost 10 pounds, you are in for a rude awakening. Losing your first 10 pounds won’t suddenly get rid of your thigh cellulite, you won’t be able to feel amazingly confident in a bikini, and you won’t have a 6 pack. The first ten pounds is going to be different for everyone depending on how much they have to lose. For me, my first 5 pounds made a significant impact on my back (Click here to see the picture) . I honestly had no idea that is where my fat would mostly be lost from. It was a nice surprise that I welcomed and embraced. I can assume that with continuing to work out I will eventually have substantially less cellulite in my legs. I know that when I am around 145 pounds I feel relatively confident in a bikini, but I may feel confident at a higher weight. Confidence is a feeling which means I can’t directly relate it with any specific weight. There are some women who are tiny and are still too self-conscious to wear a bikini and there are also larger women who radiate tons of confidence in their swimsuits. Be realistic in what you can expect to gain from the 10 pounds that you have lost. I haven’t even lost a jean size yet. I remember someone once told me that the difference between jean sizes is 10 pounds. I now consider that a myth. We are all made up differently and we should embrace what we can’t change. There’s no reason to walk around hating yourself. It will only bring you down and everyone around you.

So, why did it take me 10 weeks to lose 10 pounds? Well, the short and sweet of it is that I wanted to make sure I was making a lifestyle change. It is going to take me a longer time to lose weight but I am much more confident that it will stay off this time. I have deprived myself of very little. There have been many times that I have passed on cake, pizza, and other fatty foods. Sometimes it was easy to pass and other times I had to really hone in on my self-control.  There have also been some times in these past ten weeks that I have allowed myself those very same foods. I wouldn’t binge or constitute it as a “cheat meal” or “cheat day”. I simply allowed myself to have a smaller portion than I would normally. I would also consciously think about whether using my calories for the day towards this particular item would mean I would feel hungry later. I would consider the nutrition that I would be missing out on by using my calories towards a sugar filled cupcake. I would think of another, healthier, food item with the same calories and determine if I should just tell myself now that I could have that later in exchange for not eating this particular item now. The key is to be completely conscious of what you are eating. Think of the implications it will have on not only your ability to lose the weight but also on your overall health.

Exercise is something I have always had mixed feelings for. Sometimes I love it and sometimes I think it is so pointless. I finally thought long and hard and made the decision that I was going to have to include exercise in my life. I thought of it this way, I drive to work to a desk job, drive home and sit on the couch to watch T.V. The only time I was even moving was to go from one place I was sitting to another place I was sitting! I don’t completely blame myself. This is what society has done. My thought process led me to thinking about the fat people in scooters in the movie Wall-E. It’s sad, but parts of that movie aren’t as far-fetched as I once thought. Just look around. I knew that I wouldn’t be able to work out every day or I would give up on it. Rather than saying to myself “I must workout 3-4 times with week or I’m a failure!” I said “I’m just going to work out whenever I can and quit making excuses of why I can’t workout”. Basically, I make an attempt to work out after work every day except if I worked out the day before. Some weeks I only work out twice and other weeks I work out as much as four times. My workouts are normally 45-60 minutes long and I put in a very good effort. If you are going to work out less, then you really need to make the best of it . My workouts vary depending on my mood. I do a mixture of  High Intensity Interval Training, Zumba, Biking, and house cleaning. Yes, I said house cleaning. I was so sedentary that vigorous house cleaning can burn quite a few calories. For the most part I don’t count house cleaning as an actual exercise but if I know I will be cleaning for a good two hours, I will put on my heart rate monitor and make an additional effort to clean at a quicker rate or throw a few hundred jumping jacks in or even sprint between tasks. Since I have been working out for 10 weeks now, I make my goals based off of what I know I am capable of. My goal this month is to work out 13 times and to burn more calories than I did last month. I have a free app on my phone called Cardio Trainer that helps me keep track. I’ve worked out 9 times so far this month so I still need to get 4 workouts in before the end of the month. I am going to make every effort I can to make one of those workouts be tonight. If I can’t do it for some reason my world isn’t over. I will still have 10 more days left in the month to get it in. The main point is to quit making excuses and make a real effort to get your work out in. When you do get the chance to workout make sure you are giving it all you’ve got! 

I believe to be successful you must first have the knowledge required and believe in what you are doing. You may want to check out some of the books I have been reading which are shown on the right of my page. Eat to Live, The China Study and Salt, Sugar, Fat have all made a huge impact on how I think about food.  If anything I have said here has helped you, please don’t be shy! Leave me a comment!

Calories Shouldn't Count on Your Birthday!

So, I'm sure you can guess my birthday was recent due to the title of this post. Yes, I turned 26 years OLD yesterday. Ok, I'm not that old but I am definitely feeling grown up. I let myself off the wagon a little and I know my next weigh in is going to pay the price for it. This past Saturday I went to Dave & Busters with my friends and had a million shots and some mixed drinks. Yesterday, I let myself have chocolate and candy for lunch. Then we had mexican food for dinner . I also got a mixed drink at dinner. I left the restaurant feeling more full than I have since I started my new lifestyle. It felt disgusting. I felt like I weighed 50 pounds more than when I entered the place. I felt like I was getting more stretch marks. I only ate half my food, but my goodness,  those plates are huge! I had yogurt for breakfast today and ate the other half of my dinner from last night for lunch and feel extremely full again. Tonight isn't going to be much better calorie wise because my Fiance is making me cupcakes and ice cream for my birthday! At least I know that I can control the portion size of dessert and I'll probably have salad for dinner so I don't do too much damage today. It sucks knowing that these few days will most likely end up in a gain this week. It's super disappointing because I have been doing so well. I'm not going to beat myself up about it too much though because I did get some exercise in. On Saturday night before I went out, I squeezed in a workout that burned 546 calories. Then on Monday I burned 667 calories. I know that will help a little and I am still better off than I used to be without exercising.

Looking back, I wouldn't take those calories back if  I could because I had a really good time and I can make up for it next week. Just gotta keep going. No stopping this time. No giving up and falling back into bad habits. Just suck it up, cut your losses, and move on!

Phases of Fitness

One of the biggest challenges of starting to workout again after being a sedentary couch potato with a desk job for many years is that your heart can't do what your body and mind can. I would actually call this phase two of getting back into shape. Let me explain: 

Phase 1) When I originally bought Zumba for my Wii I weighed about 10-15 pounds more than I do now (between 196-201 lbs) and even though my mind somewhat wanted to get into shape, my body and heart really struggled. I would do the easiest 20 minute Zumba and my feet would be killing me and my calves would ache so bad the next day. At first I figured it was just because I had new shoes and I needed to break them in. After having this happen multiple times I got frustrated and I didn't want my feet to hurt anymore so I tried doing it barefoot. What do you know? That hurt my feet too. Not only did my feet hurt, but my heart was pounding out of my chest, and I felt like it was just way too hard for someone like me. This was a few years ago and since my mind was only partially committed, I gave up and stopped doing Zumba. I figured I would need to lose a little weight before I could workout.

So as far as my personal journey goes, there was a long period of time between Phase one and Phase Two. Phase one could be broken down as my Mind was only partially committed, my Body "couldn't" do what I needed it to and it ached too much afterwards, my Heart held me back from being able to keep up.

Phase 2) This time when I decided that I need to workout in order to meet my weight loss goals my Mind was in it 100%. I calculated how many calories I would need to burn exercising every week in order to not have to sacrifice by in-taking too few calories that I would feel restricted and give up on my new diet. I had a game plan that made complete sense to me and I had to workout in order to eat the amount that  I wanted to. I started Zumba Fitness Coreand I enjoyed it. My feet only hurt a little because I had already lost a little bit of weight. I was sore the next day and I still couldn't keep up with the zumba lady on the screen, but I did my best. Since I needed an accurate way to track how many calories I was burning, I bought a Polar FT4 Heart Rate Monitor
. After using it the first time, I realized that I was pushing myself way too hard and going over my max heart rate trying to keep up with the zumba wii lady. I told myself " that's alright, that computer graphic is fit and you need to modify it to work for you". The heart rate monitor has become a very valuable tool for me. It lets me know when to slow down a little and when I need to try harder. It gives me valuable information that keeps me going. I also pick individual songs that I like on Zumba now and take short water breaks between each song. Picking individual songs helps me workout longer because I have no idea how long I've been working out and I don't look at my watch. I wait until I feel like it's been a long time and then I check my calories burned and determine if it's a good time to stop or not. Oh, and by the way, my feet don't hurt at all anymore, even after 2 hours of Zumba with the same shoes!

I would say Phase 2 would be broken down as my Mind was completely committed, my Body was being pushed to the limit and could now do things I used to say it could not, my Heart is getting stronger every time I work out. 

Even though I feel like my heart is holding me back sometimes, it's not my heart's fault. I let it just sit there and flutter lightly for a few years and now I am putting it in overdrive. I've started taking Omega -3's and I know it will get stronger with more cardio. I have to say that I think it's very interesting how your mind can be one of the biggest determining factors of whether your weight loss journey will be successful or not. Nothing has really changed between Phase 1 and Phase 2 except for my Mind set and commitment to getting it done this time.

Weightloss Progress Update. Slowly but Surely!

Since it's been a little while since my last progress update, I though I would check in. Normally if there is a lapse between posts it meant that I fell off my diet. That's not the case this time. I am just really busy with life! I am still very active on Instagram and I feel like it's helping me a ton this time. The best part is that it's free :-) . Here are the results from my last weigh in on Saturday the 27th :

As you can see, there's not much of a difference, but I am still happy. I had a few less than healthy items last week, but overall I stayed close to my calorie goals for the day. I majorly slacked on exercising though. I am happy with the decrease and tomorrow I am going to do my official end of the month weigh in. Maybe I'll be at 186?! By the way, the percentage you see on the scale is my body fat. Pretty scary, huh?

I appreciate my slow and steady weight loss. I know that it means I have a pretty good chance that I will stick with the changes I've made. Everything so far has been manageable and I don't feel like I've sacrificed very much. Below is one of my new mottos:

To see my progress on a daily basis and for motivation, follow me on Instagram. My username is @lazygirldiet .

On a side note, I found the next book I want to read! I haven't finished The China Study yet, so I am going to have to wait, but here is a link to the new one I found. #1 New York Times Best Seller, Salt Sugar Fat:

It also got voted by Amazon as one of the best books of 2013 so far! The reviews on it are great too. Check it out!

Dealing with Problem Areas with Muscle Targeting

Muffin Top. Saddle Bags. Love Handles. Flat Butt. Bye Bye Arms. Back Rolls. Thunder Thighs. We all have one or more problem areas that we wish would go away. Losing weight in general will just make us a smaller version of ourselves. So, unless we specifically target these muscles in our problem areas, they will always be there. There is no way other than muscle targeting that you can target a specific problem area. Spot reducing fat in one specific area is impossible. That is why we must lose fat in general by having a calorie deficit and then target specific problem areas by building the muscles. I particullary want to shape and tone my Triceps (goodbye, bye bye arms!), Obliques (not lovin' those love handles), Latissimus Dorsi (Rolls belong at the bakery, not my back!) and Adductors (wouldn't mind a "thigh gap"). I have provided a muscle chart below so you can relate to the muscles I just mentioned . Plus, you can pinpoint which muscles you need to work for your problem areas.

Image from www.fitness4her.com

How do we know what exercises will help these muscles? It's called Muscle Targeting. I could already tell that some of the at home dumbbell training moves I am doing were targeting these problem areas. I can feel the muscles sore the next day and over the past few weeks I have seen the difference in those areas. There's a better way to know what exercises to do to target an area rather than gauging your soreness and guessing which exercise helped. BodyBuilding.com has an awesome muscle targeting chart to tell you exactly which exercises you need to do. Click here to get to the chart. While this is a great chart, it definitely does not include all of the exercises possible to target that specific area. Some exercises may also require a gym machine which I personally don't have access to. In that case, just try googling things like " adductor exercises" or "adductor swiss ball exercises" . I have a swiss ball at home so I found an exercise using that rather than the adductor machine.

Below, I will show you the exercises that  I am currently doing at home to target my problem areas:

Adductors:

Exercise:  Adductor Squeeze

HOLD THIS POSITION	HELPFUL TIPS
	Squeeze ball with legs inwards. Hold this position for 10-30 seconds. Note:  This exercise is intended for the inner thighs. Source : http://www.fitmoves.com/Video/Exercise%20Dictionary/Adductor%20Squeeze.htm

Latissimus Dorsi: 

Exercise: Bent Over Dumbbell Row

Start by standing with your back straight, your core braced and your shoulders pulled back.
Lean forward from the hips, not the waist. Ensure that your feet are shoulder width apart with your knees slightly bent holding the dumbbells just outside your knees.
Pull the weights up to your sternum allowing your wrists to turn naturally during the movement squeezing your sholder blades together at the top of the move.
Lower the dumbbells slowly back down.
- See more at: http://www.supplementwarehouse.co.uk/blog/exercises/whole-body-beginners-dumbbell-workout/#sthash.MQh90j4r.dpuf

Start by standing with your back straight, your core braced and your shoulders pulled back.

Lean forward from the hips, not the waist. Ensure that your feet are shoulder width apart with your knees slightly bent holding the dumbbells just outside your knees.

Pull the weights up to your sternum allowing your wrists to turn naturally during the movement squeezing your sholder blades together at the top of the move.

Lower the dumbbells slowly back down.

Source : Click here 

Obliques:

Exercise: Dumbbell Side Bends

Source : Click here

Exercise : Russian Dumbbell Twist

I do this exercise with my 10 pound dumbells. It is tough! I do multiple sets of 20 and my heart rate gets up really fast. I love doing these because I can really feel it. 

Source : http://munfitnessblog.com/abs-workout-4-russian-twist/ 

Triceps:

Exercise: Dumbbell Tricep Extensions

To perform a basic dumbbell triceps extension, hold a dumbbell in your hand, extend your arm straight above your head, then bend your elbow so the dumbbell is close to your ear (your elbow pointed to the ceiling). Extend your arm, raising the dumbbell up toward the ceiling. Repeat lowering and raising.

I use 10 pound dumbbells. It should be hard to do!  I normally do 2 sets of 25. I may be moving up in weight soon.

Source: http://www.healthylifetoolkit.com/dumbbell-exercises.html

These are some good muscle targeting exercises. However, I do many other exercises than these that also help these muslces and the surrounding muscles. I do squats for my quadraceps and my gluteus maximus. I do dumbell curls, dumbell flys and other exercises as well. I just wanted to show you a few that you could do if you are targeting the same areas as I am. I hope this helped!

Start by standing with your back straight, your core braced and your shoulders pulled back.
Lean forward from the hips, not the waist. Ensure that your feet are shoulder width apart with your knees slightly bent holding the dumbbells just outside your knees.
Pull the weights up to your sternum allowing your wrists to turn naturally during the movement squeezing your sholder blades together at the top of the move.
Lower the dumbbells slowly back down.
- See more at: http://www.supplementwarehouse.co.uk/blog/exercises/whole-body-beginners-dumbbell-workout/#sthash.MQh90j4r.dpuf

Bent Over Row

Start by standing with your back straight, your core braced and your shoulders pulled back.
Lean forward from the hips, not the waist. Ensure that your feet are shoulder width apart with your knees slightly bent holding the dumbbells just outside your knees.
Pull the weights up to your sternum allowing your wrists to turn naturally during the movement squeezing your sholder blades together at the top of the move.
Lower the dumbbells slowly back down.
- See more at: http://www.supplementwarehouse.co.uk/blog/exercises/whole-body-beginners-dumbbell-workout/#sthash.zvqEb2gW.dpuf

Bent Over Row

Start by standing with your back straight, your core braced and your shoulders pulled back.
Lean forward from the hips, not the waist. Ensure that your feet are shoulder width apart with your knees slightly bent holding the dumbbells just outside your knees.
Pull the weights up to your sternum allowing your wrists to turn naturally during the movement squeezing your sholder blades together at the top of the move.
Lower the dumbbells slowly back down.
- See more at: http://www.supplementwarehouse.co.uk/blog/exercises/whole-body-beginners-dumbbell-workout/#sthash.zvqEb2gW.dpuf