I Love Pasta Too Much....and Pizza, Cake....

"I can't go on a diet.  I love pasta too much.  I can't give it up."

Yeah, I've said that a TON of times.  That was my diet excuse.  "I can exercise enough that I don't really need to cut out the good stuff."

Look how good this donut looks!  Just one won't hurt.

Donuts have contributed to my permanent fanny pack.  This donut has 280 calories, 35g carbs and 15g of fat.  15 grams of fat is half of what my diet allows me in one day.  An hour of kickboxing will burn 700 calories and that donut is almost half of my burnt calories.  So, if I expected to lose weight after eating this donut, I better not eat anything else that day.

You cannot cut every good thing out of your diet, right?  That would suck, and it does suck.  But if you are seriously trying to lose weight, like me, then of course, you have to.  When I first started dropping weight I was really excited, and then I wasn't losing as fast and could not figure out why.  I started jumping on the scale more to see how different foods affected my weight.  After a while I started to see a pattern, if I ate too much of one thing or it definitely wasn't the most healthy for me, I would put on a pound.  All the sweat and hard work I did, just to gain back a pound, UGHH, very frustrating and unnecessary.

Count calories, yes, but not just calories, what type of calories.  Just say for dinner you have this amazing pasta dish that is a little under 500 calories.  Is your body going to have enough time to work off all of the carbs in the pasta before you go to bed?  Probably not, and with what I've found, definitely not.  White flour is the devil!!!

BUT you also cannot diet alone.  You have to exercise.  Not just exercise, though, exercise till the sweat is rolling down your face.  Okay, I guess some exercise is better than none, but if you're aiming for results, kick it up a notch.

The great thing about kickboxing is it's fun, TONS of fun!  I've never had so much fun exercising before and seeing awesome results at the same time.  Every time Maryann says "lightning round", I'm telling you, I can't believe it went by that fast.  Where else do you get to go and hit a bag, take out all your day's frustrations, have fun and lose weight at the same time?

Lesson of the day....

You are what you eat.....

And if you want more results....

Step up your game, sweat!  If you don't like the sweat, I will get some 80's style sweat bands and rock them out in class with you!!

Off The Wagon

Stress, I HATE stress.  I'm sure everyone can agree that it sucks!  What do you do when you're stressed out?  Because I have been trying to be really good with my diet, yes, I said diet, so stress makes me shop.  I spend a little more money then I should.

Well, this week.... I fell off the wagon.  I have no idea what's wrong with me this week.  I've been doing nothing but craving AND eating junk food.  Usually in a week I lose about 1.5 to 2 pounds.  This week, I gained a pound.  I went to class four times this week, worked my tail off but still ended up gaining a pound.  I didn't step on the scale for TWO days because I knew I'd be mad at myself.

I think it all started when I took Ary out to eat.  We wanted to go to Red Lobster for dinner.  I looked up online the nutritional information so I knew what I wanted to order before we got there.  Hour wait.  That's not going to work, it's already 7 o'clock.  I really try not to eat after 8, so we wouldn't be seated at a table until 8.  We ran over to Chili's, an hour wait there, too.  We ended up at Jake's Wayback Burgers.  I've never been there before and it wasn't as busy as everywhere else but I felt pressured to buy something quick.  I ended up with the Philly burger and Ary got the chicken Caesar   OH MY WORD, the grease from the sandwich and the fries was crazy!  I haven't had fast food since December.  I was only able to eat half the sandwich because it was making me feel sick, very heavy in my stomach.  After we finished there, we ended up going to Kiwi Yogurt.  I just keep adding it on, right?!  I'm not going to lie, the sea salt caramel is AMAZING!  Yep, this is where it all went down hill.  All the sugar and the fat that I had out of my system for months, it's back and continued all week.  Chick-fil-A, pizza, Cheez-its (kept eating them while working), chocolate chip bars, Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal.

Now what?  I gained a pound, maybe two, even with going to class all week.  Should I put the scale away?  Should I get depressed and upset?  NO! 

Sometimes you fall off the wagon but you have to get back up.  There will always be set backs, which suck, but you cannot let that ruin the months that you have already worked so hard for.  Dig deep and get back on track.  As for me, I'm going to hit the trail today, try to clear the junk out of my system.  SO CLOSE TO 50 POUNDS!!

I'm knocked down now, but it's time to get back up and show that I can do this! 

Still...............Nothing

My last post was about me falling off the wagon with my diet.  Well, apparently the wagon ran me over and is now running circles around me!!  Two classes into the week and I've stayed the same weight.  I am usually down half a pound by now.  What's going on?

It dawned on me this morning.  I know I've been eating horribly, stupid Frito's and cookies.  I need to stop snacking on horrible stuff.  Why am I snacking on such crap when I have TONS of fruits and veges in the fridge?  I'll tell you why.... I have not taken the time to cut them up yet.  I am waiting TOO long between my meals to eat anything.  "Eat at least six times a day between snacks and meals."  Umm, no, don't think so.  I'm going to gain more weight, right?  Wrong.

There's a thing called the glycemic index (GI).  To make it easy, it's about good carbs - low GI and bad carbs - high GI.

Start with the bad, get it out of the way!  The bad carbs - high GI- are rapidly digested and absorbed, causing fluctuations in your blood sugar level.  You eat something, let's say those 100 calorie pack crackers. They are high GI, so your blood sugar is going to go up for a little bit, you'll feel fine and then it will drop drastically, making you tired and hungry again.  Then because your body cannot wait for more food, you're grabbing whatever you can that's quick to get rid of the hunger.

Good carbs - low GI- digest and are absorbed slow, resulting in a gradual increase in blood sugar level.  When your blood sugar is increased gradually or maintained at a certain level, you tend not to feel as hungry. How do you keep your blood sugar at a constant?  Eat more frequent low GI meals and snacks.  If you want, you can check out a food's glycemic index value online.  It is ranged from 0 to 100.  Low GI is 55 or less.  Moderate GI is 56 to 69.  High GI is 70 to 100.

So, let's break it down.  What would be good for me as a snack in between breakfast and lunch, one green pepper and maybe a handful of almonds.  Green peppers are low on the glycemic index - 40.  Almonds are even lower on the GI - 10.  You have to be careful with eating nuts, though.  They are high in fat content.  A handful, 1/4 cup is all that is needed.  I throw the almonds in for some protein.

It seems really complicated but once you get the hang of it, it's okay.  I just have to remind myself over and over, this is not just about dropping weight.  It's about a lifestyle change, becoming healthy.

So, note to self, stop snacking on junk and get back to the good stuff!