Thursday, January 17, 2013

Day 14 - Been Awhile

Weight - 142.5 lbs

Still holding at the same weight.  So it's time to add something else to the list of my efforts.  I plan to start doing daily cardio.  I'm torn between buying an exercise bike and joining a cheap gym.  I'll keep you posted on what I decide to do.

Second, I really am feeling happy with this smoothie diet.  I"m not losing weight but I am really enjoying the healthy food.  I do feel that these smoothies are helping me eat better.  I'm just sort of getting creative at this point - mixing up whatever I have in the fridge.  And I'm eating lots of salads so that's good.  I am also trying to drink extra water.  Anyhow, I hope the added cardio will do the trick.  We shall see.

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Day 4, 5, 6 - Jan 9, 2013

Been too busy to post. I have stuck to my diet.  Here are some new things.

Weight:  142.5 lbs.

I cheated once two nights ago and had a small ice cream sundae.  :)  It didn't seem to throw me out of wack with the weight loss.

Last night I was very hungry after my 3 yoga classes and I ended up eating more than I probably would have - having what I'd say was the equivalent of 2 dinners.  I had salmon and salad and then I had penne pasta and a few meat balls with sauce.

A smoothie I tried that was very different than the others:

Yesterday I had a smoothie that was made of things I had in my kitchen AND it was a recipe in my smoothie book but I probably wouldn't have tried it if I hadn't been running out of bannana and apple.  Anyway, it was very mild in flavor, tasting almost savory and reminding me a bit of drinking a salad.

Vitamin C Smoothie


Fill 1/2 with kale
1/2 a red pepper
1 orange (peeled of course)
1 avocado
10 raw cashews
10 walnut halves
1/2 tsp of vanilla extract
water to fill line

One other thing I wanted to say to encourage the women to stick to their diets even if they have a few days they don't lose:

So right now I do think I'm still dieting and I'm not losing weight - not really.  I just noticed that in the past 4 days I'm really about the same despite working out hard and eating less.  But I also think I'm in that hormonal time of the month when I retain water.  So just remember that if that's the case for you when you are dieting you may well be losing fat but just also gaining water weight at the same time.  Give it a few days before you change something - stick with it, don't give up.  If I'm still not losing anything by next Monday I'm going to get a bit more strict with myself on the carbs I eat (having a little ice cream Monday and some pasta last night might not have been the best choice).  Another factor is perhaps the muscle mass issue.  I already have quite a bit of muscle mass, but I'm working out really hard right now.  I'm trying to get stronger in my arms and back and abs and... oh well I guess just stronger.  So maybe I'm gaining muscle - we all know it weighs more than fat. We shall see! 

Alright well that's all I have time for now.


Saturday, January 5, 2013

Day 3 - Jan 5

Well, today went well.  I'm proud that I've stuck to my diet for three days.  I know that sounds like a minor accomplishment but I still feel good about it.

Weight - 143 lbs - this morning before food

Smoothie 1

Beet Blast - detox smoothie
50% spinach
1 beet cut up
apple
1/2 a lemon
water
stevia

I added the stevia because it was just too sour for me. I will say this: Nothing seems to detox me like raw beet.  I'm so serious about this. It really makes me feel different and in a good way.  Lemon also seems to have a very good effect so overall this smoothie was a really big success and I intend to repeat it tomorrow morning as well.

Note:  try scrubbing (or even scraping with a potato peeler) the beet.  This is because there was a "lovely" froth of dirt in this smoothie that went away after the first few swallows but would be better avoided in future.  I know it came from the raw beet - I clearly should try harder tomorrow on that front - yuk.

Smoothie 2

(recall that I'm after one red and one green smoothie)
50% kale
1 avacado
cashews
banana
apple (what was left over from this morning)
almond milk
water

This was tasty and a lovely color.  :)
I also ate two hard boiled eggs - I was going to do just the egg whites but the yolks looked too delicious to pass up.  I just couldn't resist.  The smoothies are very filling and so far I've been lasting between meals with only a few hand fulls of nuts or some fruit and veggies.

Dinner
chicken thigh
1 tortilla heated in a pan
palak paneer
Jasmine rice
grapes

I forgot to mention that every day I drink 1 glass of emergenC - I do this because it truly helps me to stay healthy. I feel much less sinus inflamation (which I'm prone to) on a daily dose of EmergenC - I haven't had a sinus infection since I started using it over a year ago and I usually get them regularly so that's a big deal for me.  I buy it at costco so the price isn't so bad - although I really prefer the raspberry flavor and wish it came in packs of just that flavor at costco.

I drank 2 cups of delicious coffee today.  I love coffee.  I guess I probably drink too much caffeine.  I've read that 1 cup a day is more healthy for the brain but, as I say, I love my coffee.  I've been using lowfat creamer and stevia in my coffee.  I've had some green tea and it's so tasty it doesn't need sweetener.  It's the TAZO brand green tea.. yum.

A few other thoughts I had today.

For a diet to work, you have to feel hungry.  Not really horribly hungry.  Not sick or weak.  But at the end of your long day you have to feel like you wish you could have a big desert but you just decide not to.  That mild hunger is your body crying out for the callories you need to NOT eat.  Drink a big glass of water and ignore this.  Or maybe have a tiny little something to try to trick your tummy - carrot sticks, a date, grapes, a few walnuts or almonds.  Trust me, you won't starve if you are eating three sensible meals per day.

This diet makes me feel great.  I have more energy and I love the taste of it.  I also like that I know it's nutritious.  I don't think I'm eating so little that I will lose weight too fast but we'll have to see how it goes this first week. I know if I lose too fast it won't be sustainable.  So we shall see.

Sorry about my poor writing here.  I just don't have time to work on this much.  I'd add pictures and make my sentences actually real sentences if I wasn't so busy...  Maybe I'll improve things next week if things settle down some.  I have some really pressing work things going on.

Make sure to check out:  www.Libertyyoga.org - my business website.  :)  That's what keeps me from being a much more fascinating blogger on this site.

Also, today I took 1 yoga class - really great workout with Christine Polecaro and then I taught a class.  That was fun.  We had full rooms for both - 18 people in my 10 am class. Go us!





Friday, January 4, 2013

Day 2 - Jan 4

Wow, is it really January 4th - Liberty Yoga has been open for just 1 month!

Anyway, here goes:

Weight:  143.5 lbs

I didn't feel hungry yesterday with the smoothy diet.  I really felt just fine.  Honestly, eating less sweets makes me want it less anyhow - as long as I can stick to it.

What I ate today:

Smoothy 1

cherries on top

50% spinach
1 banana
1 cup pitted cherries
10 walnut halves
water to fill line

Smoothy 2

Made this one up:
1 avacado
50% kale
1 banana
10 walnut halves
4 slices of apple
almond milk

A few comments on the smoothies:

1.  They are a really ugly color and this seems to matter to me.  So... I made up a smoothy today that was a lovely light green.  I intentionally didn't put anything blue or red in it.  Mixing green with blue or red appears to make a disgusting mud color - obviously.  Tomorrow I plan to start making one blue/red smoothie and one green smoothie every day. 

2.  Why are there two ways to spell smoothie?  Sigh.

3.  I find the smoothies are too thick if I use frozen ingredients with almond milk - and even just almond milk.  Tomorrow I plan to add more water to them and if I use almond milk maybe just mix it with water.  I think I'd enjoy them more if they were slightly thinner - I'm sure this is a matter of taste but I don't want to have to spoon it into my mouth.

4.  Regarding taste, they do taste good and that cherry on top one was delicious.  Ugly, but delicious. 

Okay that's about it for now. 

Oh!  Exercise - so I have been doing a lot of that...

I taught 3 yoga classes yesterday but only one of them was strenuous.  I didn't take any.  I taught two today and neither were particularly strenuous - I'm glad, honestly, cause I'm a bit physically tired.  I plan to take one tomorrow morning with Christine at 8:30 am - that should be a good workout.  I'm also looking into a cheap gym membership so I can try to add cycling 30 minutes - 4 times per week.  It really helps my hips to feel great so I ought to stick with it.  It goes with the yoga really well!  I might be okay with just 2 times a week of that.  I'll have to experiment. 

So far I haven't cheated today.  I plan to cook pizza for dinner tonight and chicken nuggets for the kids.  I think I'll make a salad for myself and maybe eat 1 slice of pizza with that.  No desert.  I hope this works... 

Day 1 - Jan 3rd 2013

weight - 147 lbs (Just report the facts...  Just report the facts)

What I ate on Day 1:

2 smoothies using my nutribullet

1st smoothy -
50 % spinach
50 % combo of banana and blueberries
almond milk

2nd Smoothy -
50 % spinach
avacado
banana
strawberries
almond milk

Snack -
almonds and apple with peanut butter

Dinner -
Pork with rice and tomato, onion and mushrooms and steamed broccoli on top

Managed to avoid cheating with sweets - which is really good for me.  Also had a cup of coffee and a cup of green tea.

I know this is a boring entry but I'm moving on to day 2 since I'm a bit behind already.

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Dieting for 2013 - 2 Years Later

First, I can hardly believe it's been 2 years since I last wrote in this blog.  I found it helpful to do the 28 day detox but I gained back every bit of the 10 pounds I lost detoxing.  Sigh.  So now I'd like to try a more sustainable approach.  I'm writing here hoping that folks will read my posts and keep me on task.  I'd like to invite others to participate.  I think I'll start tomorrow. 

No more sweets for awhile is my first step.  The second one is that I plan to try these "nutribullet" smoothies I've been hearing about in infomercials.  I plan to do 2 smoothies a day plus a "sensible" dinner (whatever that means). 

If nothing else, reading here should give you some interesting recipe ideas and amuse you with the strange things that I eat.  Please post here and try to help me keep up my morale and resolve.  If you like my blog or are interested in yoga, you should also check out my website and yoga blog at www.libertyyoga.org and http://www.libertyyoga.org/erin-sweeney-modern-yogini-2/

So anyway, just to wrap up this blog post...  I'm going on a diet and I'm also going to do some other things as my new years resolution.  The other things include preparing for a 1 week yoga retreat in Mexico the first week of February.  Eek. It's a hand stand retreat so I have to be strong.  I'll post here what I'm doing as that unfolds.  Today I took an inversions yoga class with Christine.  She worked us hard.  I got into a few poses I've never succeeded on today with her help.  :) 

Also Today - January 2nd - I ate like "crap"
I had a bowl of crackle and oat bran and a cup of coffee for breakfast.
I then ate a few handfuls of walnuts and some medjool dates.
Noontime Yoga class
Lunch - After this I went to Wendy's where I got a chicken mozerella sandwich, a bag of fries, and a frosty - sized small.  I didn't finish the fries but the frosty didn't last long...
For dinner -  I ate a home made beef soft taco with peppers / onions / and cheese in it and I had some carrots and strawberries with a hot chocolate (told you I ate like crap).
When I got home from my second yoga class of the day I had a bowl of plain cheerios with blueberries in them.
Alright... well, at least you know the baseline. The only thing I did right was NOT eat the rest of my son's Christmas chocolate bar containing raspberry filling that he doesn't like anyway...  (my excuse for eating it). 

I hope to improve tomorrow... truly I don't even feel good when I eat this crappy.  I'm also afraid to weight myself but I will report on that in the morning.

Monday, January 31, 2011

Day 1 of detoxing the kids

Detoxing the kids went really well this first two days.  So I realized that I can't get them to go sugar free for even a day since it's honestly, honestly, almost the only thing they eat.  So... the first week will be fruit.  I figure fruit is easy to sell my kids on compared to veggies so I'll start easy and work them up - like getting a dolphin to jump through a hoop.  You start with the hoop below the water.  Then you slowly raise it until the animal (um, child) is leaping out of the water, flying through the air, and going through the hoop.

This week, I have said that they will eat one serving of fruit before they can have the rest of their dinner.  Yesterday it was grapes.  Today it was apple.  All week I will do the same with fruits until Sunday at which time I am going to do veggies for one week.  I will demand they finish the serving before they can have their carbohydrate rich favorite foods.  :)  Then on week three I will add both fruit and veggies to the requirements.  I discussed this with the kids in advance and so far they have been doing it and they agreed to the deal.  By week four I expect them to be eating a serving of fruit and veggies at dinner before they eat their carbs every night.  After I achieve that, I will see what I can do next.  :)  I'll keep you posted on their reactions and my progress.

Cheers for now!