Saturday, February 6, 2010

Gettin’ Shredded: The Part That Requires Me to Not Gorge Myself on Chalupas and Ice Cream Like a Hippo

(And yes, I’m fairly confident that hippos don’t actually enjoy the tasty goodness of a pint of Ben and Jerry’s but for the sake of the ill attempted joke let’s just roll with it, k?)

So I already told you about my new fitness regimen for burning fat but as every doctor will (and every diet pill infomercial will not) tell you is that any successful, effective weight loss program must be a combination of both exercise and a healthy diet.

Now for me this is a hard one. I’m Italian. My man’s a kick ass chef. I love food.

(See the conundrum here?)

To say this part has been a battle of wills is the understatement of the century. But somehow I’ve managed to find a few little changes I can make that lead to bigger results in my pants. (That’s what she said.)

Here’s a few of my recent swaps and sacrifices:

  • No alcohol on weekdays. (This one’s a doozy for me. I’m the kinda gal that loves to come home from a long day at work, change into my PJs, wash off my makeup, and slink down on the couch with the remote in one hand and a big ol glass of wine in the other. But alas, apparently the highly caloric content in alcohol is counterintuitive to all the sweating and lettuce eating you did earlier in the day so it may not be such a good idea. WAAAAAA!! P.S. That’s my Snooki impersonation.)
  • Always eat breakfast. (I’ve always been a breakfast eater…meaning I like to eat it. DUH! But it just didn’t always work out that way what with sleeping in, being lazy, and whatnot. However, now I make sure to eat a healthy and filling breakfast every morning. It gives me energy for my workouts and makes me feel more alert earlier on. God, now I feel like a talking piece of Shredded Wheat.)
  • Write down what you eat. (Every. Single. Thing. Breakfast. Lunch. Dinner. That swig of OJ from the jug . Those 7 M&M’s you stole from your man’s stash on top of the fridge in the hand painted serving platter – don’t judge me. Yea. Write it all down. You’ll be surprised what you’re eating and be better equipped to control your portions in the future.)
  • Chug lots of water. (Like it’s your job.)
  • Time your meals/snacks. (Watch the clock and make a mental note of the time every time you eat something. If it’s been less than 4 hours since your last meal you’re most likely just bored, stressed, or some other crazy hormones just going ape shit in your brain and making you think you need to eat. Try drinking some water. Chew some gum. And if you still feel hungry eat something like an apple, baby carrots and hummus, or raw almonds.)
  • Stop thinking you can eat what your skinny friends at work eat and not pay the horrific price for it. (Example: One of my co-workers is a Moe’s FIEND and when we first became friends she got me hooked on the Billy Barou nachos. After inhaling them on about 3 separate occasions I decided to check out the nutrition facts – way to be proactive, dumbass – and lo and behold, 1495 calories, 90 grams of fat, 118 carbs, and 2998mg of sodium later I can feel the onset of cardiac arrest and the marbleizing of my internal organs with fat. Moral of the story? Telling yourself that just because your skinny friend can inhale the mile high stacked plate of congestive heart failure does not mean you should partake with such vigor…or at all for that matter.)


Now this is only the tip of the iceberg and trust me, I know it doesn’t seem like much (and really it’s not. It’s common effing sense for the most part.) but if you stick with it I can guarantee you’ll see results. (Insert cheesy grin and thumbs up here.)

Any of you have some good nutrition tips you’d like to share? Anything work for you that I haven’t already been mentioned? Let’s hear it!

8 comments:

LWLH said...

Great tips...I need to start this so I look sexy in my wedding dress too! :)

alexa @clevelandsaplum said...

these are a lot of the same things that i've been doing - it works!

jenn said...

yep - you're right. no magic trick, just exercise & healthy eating.

one thing i do is split my snacks into ziplock bags right when i get a bag of them. So if I buy a big bag of Sun Chips - I'll split them into the bags right away in the appropriate serving sizes so that I don't end up eating half the bag in front of the TV and they're easy to grab whenever you need a snack!

I also make sure to eat 5 times a day. That way, my metabolism is always kick-starting. I eat the biggest meal of the day at breakfast, then a small snack, a medium sized lunch, another small snack, and then a light dinner. I used to eat the biggest meal at dinner, but that's opposite of what you should do because you sleep so shortly after you eat and your body slows down.

Ok I just rambled. Hope that helps :)

mrs.stark said...

Great tips! You know what I love to eat for breakfast? I absolutely love Smart One's Breakfast Quesadillas. They are yummy and healthy. You should really try them out. I eat them every single morning after my workout.

Mary Elizabeth said...

I really need to follow your advice. You are a motivation!

JD said...

Thank you, Em. THANK YOU. These are all great. The food journaling especially. "I already eat healthy" is usually debunked pretty quickly when you write it down. You're right, it really helps. After a couple weeks, you start to learn your body better and know what you really should be eating. It's a big help.

Let's talk SODIUM. Sodium is evil and needs to be stopped! Just kidding, it just needs to be tracked. The best way to cut sodium is to cook food yourself. You control what's going in your food. I couldn't believe how much sodium I was eating when I thought I was eating healthy. Many things that are low-cal or "healthy" aren't. (Case in point: 400mg of sodium in a frozen veggie side item isn't healthy, Weight Watchers. Damn you. Lol). Soups and lunch meat (I'm talking to you, turkey) are generally riddled with the stuff and are not as healthy as you think they are. You'll see a difference when you cut this out. It goes with that "water as your job" tidbit.

Okay, done with rambling :)

Emily said...

These are all awesome tips guys! Thanks so much for sharing!

@Jenn - that's a great idea to split the portions up when you first buy it. I always portion out my reduced fat cheez-its, raw almonds, carrot sticks, celery, etc. but I usually do it as I'm packing my lunch for work. I bet if I did it right when I brought them home from the grocery store it'd save a lot of time and calories (for when I'm too lazy to count out the exact number). Thanks!

@Socially Conscious Darling - I've tried those Smart Ones quesadillas and they are great! You should also try the stuffed breakfast sandwich from Smart Ones. That's my fav!

@JD - Tell me about it!! You'd be shocked if you checked out the sodium on some of the weight watchers, healthy choice style frozen dinners. I've found that I need to stay under 700mg of sodium for dinner and Lean Cuisine seems to have the best options for that. (Their Tortilla Crusted Fish, Linguine Carbonara, and Sesame Stir Fry with Chicken are some of my faves. Oh yeah and the Bacon Spinach Alfredo pizza is the bomb!!)

Also, sugar is another biggie. I don't eat anything with over 7 grams of sugar because that shit turns straight to fat and takes the longest to burn off. You'd be shocked if you saw how many grams of sugar are in some of the low cal/low fat yogurts! Lite and fit 4oz packages of yogurt are the best though. Only 60 calories and 5 grams of sugar in each. They're great combined with about 1/4 cup of raw Blue Diamond almonds for a snack.

Ok, commence my rambling...for now! LOL

Courtney said...

Good tips! I'm trying to slim down for the big day too (10.10.10). And yes, it's tough. Especially if you are not tracking every little thing and really being mindful. It can all easily sneak up on you when you think you're eating healthy.

Will definitely have to try those Jillian DVDs. Thanks! I look forward to more posts like this!


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