Health and Fitness Weekly Check-In: 10/4/11

lola808

1. How are you feeling this week?

2. What are your current nutrition and exercise goals?

3. Did you meet your nutrition and exercise goals for the week?

4. Share at least one recent health- or fitness-related SUCCESS!

5. Optional weigh-in or progress monitor:

6. In general, are the people around you (family, friends, coworkers, etc.) supportive, negative, or neutral about you trying to live healthily?

7. Tell us about your workout routine. Do you prefer to exercise alone (e.g., running or using machines at the gym) or in a group setting (e.g., spinning class)?

8. List your favorite healthy snacks and meals (lunches and/or dinners). Bonus points for recipes and nutritional info.

9. What other questions would you like to add to future check-ins?

 

lola808

1. How are you feeling this week?

Like I'm a getting a good groove on... 2 weeks now with my new routines.

2. What are your current nutrition and exercise goals?

Eating fresh and healthy every day and working out twice a week.

3. Did you meet your nutrition and exercise goals for the week?

Yes. We even did a couple family-treks around Diamond Head and our hilly neighborhood, so it was nice to incorporate exercise into family time.

4. Share at least one recent health- or fitness-related SUCCESS!

Filled up on healthy eats before high tea and a birthday party over the weekend, so as not to go crazy on the fatty foods. 

5. Optional weigh-in or progress monitor:

Not sure if there's much measurable progress yet, but I definitely feel less bloated and blah than I did before.

6. In general, are the people around you (family, friends, coworkers, etc.) supportive, negative, or neutral about you trying to live healthily?

Supportive. DH is pretty athletic, so he's happy to help me out (making time for me to work out, giving tips, etc.) and he eats anything, so I don't have to feel guilty going meatless or high-veg for our meals. My friends tend to share my health/fitness outlook, which helps when we plan activities or meals out.

7. Tell us about your workout routine. Do you prefer to exercise alone (e.g., running or using machines at the gym) or in a group setting (e.g., spinning class)?

I like both -- alone time for clearing my mind and going at my own pace, but group classes for the healthy competition and camaraderie. Alone, I'll do the treadmill or elliptical and some light weights at the gym, or just go walking with the stroller. I love spin class and yoga, and I'm going to try zumba for the first time this weekend.

8. List your favorite healthy snacks and meals (lunches and/or dinners). Bonus points for recipes and nutritional info.

Snacks: I'm not much of a snacker, but I like ThinkThin bars for on-the-go eats. https://tinyurl.com/63gqzx2 I also drink coffee between meals to help curb my appetite.

Lunch: I make sandwiches or wraps or just heat leftovers. Right now I'm liking Boca Spicy Chicken patties or baked tofu wraps with rice and veggies.

Dinner: I've made this Greek bean dish twice in the past month. Easy peasy in the crockpot, cheap, and delish over long grain rice, with pita or as a side. https://tinyurl.com/6cvw8nn

Recently, I've also done olive chicken (thighs sauteed with spinach, green olives and garlic from the olive bar) and split pea soup -- one bag of green split peas, a carton of chicken broth, a couple carrots, celery, onion and garlic in the crockpot for the afternoon. Since A also loves it too, I leave it thick so he can feed himself.

9. What other questions would you like to add to future check-ins?

MauiBride2008

1. How are you feeling this week?

Not so good   I haven't tracked calories at all since Friday and I feel like I haven't really made great choices.  I feel like I'm back where I started.  I need to make the time for exercise and it's been hard for me to do that.  I'm still trying to get into my groove of being a new SAHM and juggling a new baby.  AGH!

2. What are your current nutrition and exercise goals?

My current goal is to workout twice a week...TWICE...why is that so hard for me to do?!  My current calorie goal is between 1400 - 1600 calories/day.  

3. Did you meet your nutrition and exercise goals for the week?

No 

6. In general, are the people around you (family, friends, coworkers, etc.) supportive, negative, or neutral about you trying to live healthily?

MH is totally supportive of me wanting to lose weight since my overall attitude has changed since I don't feel good about myself at all.  

7. Tell us about your workout routine. Do you prefer to exercise alone (e.g., running or using machines at the gym) or in a group setting (e.g., spinning class)?

I prefer to workout alone unless I'm taking a class.  But right now I'm still so self-conscious that I prefer not to take any classes.  If I workout with a partner I don't feel I workout to my full potential because I'm socializing too much.

8. List your favorite healthy snacks and meals (lunches and/or dinners). Bonus points for recipes and nutritional info.

I like to snack on nuts, yogurt, string cheese, fruit.  I LOVE to make salmon dishes (just made this recipe from Giada and it's delish). 

 

Until next week....

lorem ipsum

1. How are you feeling this week? OK. I was feeling a little down after the check-in last week because even though my progress has been good, I still have so far to go. But I shook myself out of it.

2. What are your current nutrition and exercise goals? This week? Just to get back on track (see next question).

3. Did you meet your nutrition and exercise goals for the week? No. I didn't lose an ounce! BUT...I expected that. I ate a lot of junk for 4 of the last 7 days. It was a conscious decision, I won't deny that.

For example, one night we had dinner REALLY early because the boys were hungry and tired and needed to go to bed. 5 hours later, Ben and I were still up watching TV and decided to get pizza. So we had greasy pizza, an awesome bottle of wine, and laughed hysterically while watching bad TV really late at night. Good for my diet? No. But it was a ton of fun and something we rarely do, so I don't regret it.

4. Share at least one recent health- or fitness-related SUCCESS! I didn't lose any weight this week...but I didn't gain any either, so that counts, right?  And I'm not getting bummed out over it, just getting back on the diet/exercise horse, so I'm claiming bonus points for a positive mindset lol.

5. Optional weigh-in or progress monitor: 196lbs, same as last week.

6. In general, are the people around you (family, friends, coworkers, etc.) supportive, negative, or neutral about you trying to live healthily? DH is very supportive. He knows my weight is - pun unintended - a huge issue for me, and he encourages me to stay on track and celebrates my minor victories with me. He can see that I'm feeling better about myself as well, and he loves that. He's also taking baby steps into a healthier lifestyle himself, which really helps!

7. Tell us about your workout routine. Do you prefer to exercise alone (e.g., running or using machines at the gym) or in a group setting (e.g., spinning class)? I don't really have a routine, aside from daily walks with the boys in their stroller. I know I probably need something more structured and challenging, but I'm trying not to start so many new things at once that I burn out really quickly.

In the past, I preferred solo exercise except for yoga and pilates. 

8. List your favorite healthy snacks and meals (lunches and/or dinners). Bonus points for recipes and nutritional info. I don't have any particular recipes, and I still eat pretty much anything I want, since we already ate fairly healthy and balanced meals. HOWEVER - I'm a Nazi about portion control.

Americans - and Australians, for that matter - have really lost touch with what an appropriate sized serving is, and my family when growing up was particularly bad with this (we have a LOT of obesity), so this is a learning curve for me. And it's startling just how small a serving is sometimes!

Oh, and I like pre-portioned snacks. For example, I like raisin and nut mix as an afternoon snack. If I'm hungry, I automatically want to make my serving size larger, so to counteract that, I either buy the little kid-sized lunch box snacks, or if I buy a big bag of raisins, I'll sit there with my kitchen scale and divide out a week's worth of snacks into little Tupperware containers. I know this might seem crazy or extreme to some people, but I need the constant reminder that this is what a serving is.

I know this probably wasn't a helpful answer to whoever asked the question...it's just what I do.

9. What other questions would you like to add to future check-ins? I thought of something yesterday and can't remember it now...I'll come back and post later if I remember it!

MauiBride2008

lorem ipsum:

Oh, and I like pre-portioned snacks. For example, I like raisin and nut mix as an afternoon snack. If I'm hungry, I automatically want to make my serving size larger, so to counteract that, I either buy the little kid-sized lunch box snacks, or if I buy a big bag of raisins, I'll sit there with my kitchen scale and divide out a week's worth of snacks into little Tupperware containers. I know this might seem crazy or extreme to some people, but I need the constant reminder that this is what a serving is.

This is what I did when I was losing weight for the wedding.  It seems silly, but it works!  Portion control for me is a huge issue.  We don't eat bad, I don't buy bad foods at the store.  We have all healthy food in my house, it's just I eat too much of it.

lorem ipsum

MauiBride2008:

lorem ipsum:

Oh, and I like pre-portioned snacks. For example, I like raisin and nut mix as an afternoon snack. If I'm hungry, I automatically want to make my serving size larger, so to counteract that, I either buy the little kid-sized lunch box snacks, or if I buy a big bag of raisins, I'll sit there with my kitchen scale and divide out a week's worth of snacks into little Tupperware containers. I know this might seem crazy or extreme to some people, but I need the constant reminder that this is what a serving is.

This is what I did when I was losing weight for the wedding.  It seems silly, but it works!  Portion control for me is a huge issue.  We don't eat bad, I don't buy bad foods at the store.  We have all healthy food in my house, it's just I eat too much of it.

EXACTLY. 

We don't have potato chips and crap in our house, and I'm not fat because I eat french fries for lunch every day. It's all good, healthy, nutritious food. My portion control and concept of serving size is just out of whack. So if I have to sit there for 5-10 minutes one night per week to keep that under control, I'll do it.

Random side note that I forgot to mention in my first post: one of the reasons I like raisins and nuts as a snack is because they take a while to eat (well, as long as you're only eating a couple raisins in each mouthful and not fistfuls lol). If I eat, say, 3 crackers, it will take me like 20 seconds to finish my snack. Raisins are like 60-90 seconds, which doesn't seem like much, but eating slowly for longer helps me feel more satisfied.

lola808

lorem ipsum:

For example, one night we had dinner REALLY early because the boys were hungry and tired and needed to go to bed. 5 hours later, Ben and I were still up watching TV and decided to get pizza. So we had greasy pizza, an awesome bottle of wine, and laughed hysterically while watching bad TV really late at night. Good for my diet? No. But it was a ton of fun and something we rarely do, so I don't regret it.

I think this is really important! Life happens, and so does pizza. Every nutrition plan deserves some indulgences, especially if we're hoping for long-term results. It's sort of like how they say it can be better to use real butter as opposed to a butter-substitute -- more satisfying and it encourages you to be realistic with portion sizes, as opposed to subconsciously going overboard with the "diet-friendly" stuff.