I have posted a lot of advice and about my success with weight loss, but I haven't really touched on my many failures and slip-ups throughout my journey. I'm all about keeping it real. I am far from perfect and have made many mistakes. It's called a journey for a reason. I've hit potholes, slowdowns and have completely gone off course. Fortunately, there is a lot to be learned from your failures.
One of my biggest mistakes is late night snacking. Nothing will slow down weight loss faster than eating sweets at night and I am an offender. I know I should eat low carb if I eat at night, but I can't help myself. In the past I have made a plan of action for those times when I MUST have sweets. Sugar free pudding, fruit with fat free cool whip, apples and peanut butter are all things that satisfy my sweet tooth but don't totally blow my progress. So why do I sometimes still go for the blizzard or cookies? Because I'm human!! I am trying to limit my late night slip-ups to just 1 or 2 nights per week.
Another mistake I made is letting myself go during the holidays. I gained weight last December and it was very discouraging. Sure it was only a few pounds, but I quit working out and lost a lot of my muscle tone. Why? I asked myself that in January and didn't really have an answer. I guess it's because I was super busy and there were so many family get-togethers with amazing food and cookies.....oh the cookies. I am going to come up with a plan of action this holiday season. I'm not sure what it will be yet and I'll be sure to share it all with you when the time comes.
My biggest epic failure throughout my journey is those days when I tried to guess how many calories I was eating because I didn't feel like tracking everything. Boy, am I a horrible estimator. Breakfast and lunch aren't too bad because I eat pretty much the same things for those 2 meals. Dinner is trickier and so are snacks. Bottom line is I was eating about 25% more calories than I thought I was. Oops! There are still occasional days that I don't get on myfitnesspal and track like I should, but I'm doing much better now.
I've made many more mistakes that I won't get into right now. I don't hate myself for them and I don't consider myself a failure. I learn from every mistake I make. If I'm heading off course I do a u-turn and get myself back where I need to be. If I have a super high calorie day, I don't just throw in the towel and forget the whole thing. I forgive myself and get back at it the next day. Stay true to yourself and always remember why you started your journey in the first place. Just because you mess up and aren't always perfect doesn't mean you aren't worth it. You are!
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
My New Endeavor
I'm only going to post about this once because I don't want to be annoying about it, but I'm so excited about it that I feel like I would be doing a disservice to not share it with you.
Back in May I went to a Freezer Meal Workshop for Wildtree, a company that sells all natural and organic spices, rubs, oils, bread mixes, etc. Basically you pay for the spices and oils (the "bundle") and then you bring the proteins and veggies already prepped in freezer bags and then assemble everything at the workshop. The total cost is around $120-$140 depending on what proteins you buy and it comes to about $2/service, which is cheaper than fast food and WAY healthier and much tastier. You leave with 10-20 meals that you freeze and then pull out on a busy night. I'm talking really good meals like Lemon Rosemary Pork Tenderloin, Italian Meatloaf, Chipotle Lime Fajitas, Honey Balsamic Chicken and much, much more. The first night I made something we were just blown away. Every single thing we had from that workshop was amazing. Like, way better than the way I had been cooking before. The great thing is that it was all super healthy and I felt good about feeding it to my family. I forgot to mention that you leave with at least half of the spices and oils to cook with for future meals. You can go to the Wildtree website and click on recipes and type in the product you want to use and find many recipes. Very cool! The oil are grapeseed oil, which has half the saturated fat of olive oil and it can be cooked at a high temperature and it doesn't burn off like other oils. It comes in many flavors, like basil pesto, zesty lemon and hickory bacon. (Yes, bacon! And it's healthy!)
I loved it so much that I decided to become a representative. These products are helping me stay on track with my healthy eating and I want to share it with the world. This stuff is awesome! I have my first workshop on August 6th and I am so excited!
If you would be interested in hosting a workshop or would like to come to one of the monthly workshops I'm going to be hosting, you can reach me at kacibeatty@hotmail.com or you can message me on my Peace, Love and Healthiness Facebook page here. If you just want to look at my website to see what it's all about or you would like to order something, you can check that out here. I should mention that if you host your own workshop, there are very good hostess rewards. I'm talking free stuff, people! :)
Back in May I went to a Freezer Meal Workshop for Wildtree, a company that sells all natural and organic spices, rubs, oils, bread mixes, etc. Basically you pay for the spices and oils (the "bundle") and then you bring the proteins and veggies already prepped in freezer bags and then assemble everything at the workshop. The total cost is around $120-$140 depending on what proteins you buy and it comes to about $2/service, which is cheaper than fast food and WAY healthier and much tastier. You leave with 10-20 meals that you freeze and then pull out on a busy night. I'm talking really good meals like Lemon Rosemary Pork Tenderloin, Italian Meatloaf, Chipotle Lime Fajitas, Honey Balsamic Chicken and much, much more. The first night I made something we were just blown away. Every single thing we had from that workshop was amazing. Like, way better than the way I had been cooking before. The great thing is that it was all super healthy and I felt good about feeding it to my family. I forgot to mention that you leave with at least half of the spices and oils to cook with for future meals. You can go to the Wildtree website and click on recipes and type in the product you want to use and find many recipes. Very cool! The oil are grapeseed oil, which has half the saturated fat of olive oil and it can be cooked at a high temperature and it doesn't burn off like other oils. It comes in many flavors, like basil pesto, zesty lemon and hickory bacon. (Yes, bacon! And it's healthy!)
I loved it so much that I decided to become a representative. These products are helping me stay on track with my healthy eating and I want to share it with the world. This stuff is awesome! I have my first workshop on August 6th and I am so excited!
If you would be interested in hosting a workshop or would like to come to one of the monthly workshops I'm going to be hosting, you can reach me at kacibeatty@hotmail.com or you can message me on my Peace, Love and Healthiness Facebook page here. If you just want to look at my website to see what it's all about or you would like to order something, you can check that out here. I should mention that if you host your own workshop, there are very good hostess rewards. I'm talking free stuff, people! :)
Saturday, July 20, 2013
A Typical Day of Eating For Me
I've been asked on several occasions to write a blog about what I eat. I've shared with you some of the products I love from Aldi, but I haven't done a post that lists out what I eat on a daily basis.
BREAKFAST:
Typically I will have a whole wheat English Muffin with a little bit of natural peanut butter and some Simply Fruit natural blackberry spread. I will add some kind of fruit, usually an apple. It comes to just under 300 calories. If I am just coming home the gym and I want to add more protein, I will make 2 eggs, whole wheat toast with Smart Balance butter and an apple. I used to not be much of a breakfast person. I'd have something quick like a protein bar or something, but I found that I overeat more later in the day if I don't have a good breakfast.
LUNCH:
Lunch for me involves lots of veggies. I will usually make a wrap (I LOVE the Ole Extreme Wellness tortillas that are high fiber and low carb) with a little turkey, spinach, bell peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes and mustard. I'll have hummus and carrots with it or hummus and pita chips. If I don't have something along those lines, it's usually just leftovers from last night's dinner.
DINNER:
We have a lot of variety with our dinners because I don't want any of us to get bored. I do follow the same formula though when it comes to dinner: lean protein + grain + vegetable. Lean proteins for me are chicken breast, tilapia, salmon, pork chops or lean beef. Grains are brown rice, quinoa or whole wheat pasta. Vegetables are whatever you want and like. My kids like greens like broccoli and green beans so we have that a lot. Some of this may sound boring to you, but if you use the right seasonings it can be amazing. I sell Wildtree, which are all natural seasonings and oils so we cook mostly with that. If you're interested in hearing more about that, check out my website here.
SNACKS:
This is what gets a lot of people in trouble, myself included. You could eat 3 super healthy meals and then totally blow it with the wrong snack choices. I try to have healthy versions of things I crave, like chocolate. On those days that I NEED chocolate, I will have a sugar-free fudgesicle (30 calories) or a little handful of dark chocolate chips. Usually a little bit is all I need to feel satisfied. If I'm super hungry, then my go-to snack is string cheese or a 100-calorie pack of nuts (I love the Blue Diamond 100-calorie packs). Low carb snacks keep you feeling full longer.
That's my eating in a nutshell. I'm not saying I'm totally perfect and never stray from this. On the rare occasion we go out to eat, I splurge a little. Everyone has days that aren't perfect and we all make poor food choices from time to time. It's good to have a blueprint to follow at least 80% of the time.
Some really good advice that I read (YOU: On a Diet by Dr. Oz), suggests to eat the same things every day when you are first starting on your journey. It's just easier to plan and stick with it. So if you have a breakfast you love, don't feel bad for eating it every day.
Stay tuned for my next post: Foods I avoid at all costs
BREAKFAST:
Typically I will have a whole wheat English Muffin with a little bit of natural peanut butter and some Simply Fruit natural blackberry spread. I will add some kind of fruit, usually an apple. It comes to just under 300 calories. If I am just coming home the gym and I want to add more protein, I will make 2 eggs, whole wheat toast with Smart Balance butter and an apple. I used to not be much of a breakfast person. I'd have something quick like a protein bar or something, but I found that I overeat more later in the day if I don't have a good breakfast.
LUNCH:
Lunch for me involves lots of veggies. I will usually make a wrap (I LOVE the Ole Extreme Wellness tortillas that are high fiber and low carb) with a little turkey, spinach, bell peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes and mustard. I'll have hummus and carrots with it or hummus and pita chips. If I don't have something along those lines, it's usually just leftovers from last night's dinner.
DINNER:
We have a lot of variety with our dinners because I don't want any of us to get bored. I do follow the same formula though when it comes to dinner: lean protein + grain + vegetable. Lean proteins for me are chicken breast, tilapia, salmon, pork chops or lean beef. Grains are brown rice, quinoa or whole wheat pasta. Vegetables are whatever you want and like. My kids like greens like broccoli and green beans so we have that a lot. Some of this may sound boring to you, but if you use the right seasonings it can be amazing. I sell Wildtree, which are all natural seasonings and oils so we cook mostly with that. If you're interested in hearing more about that, check out my website here.
SNACKS:
This is what gets a lot of people in trouble, myself included. You could eat 3 super healthy meals and then totally blow it with the wrong snack choices. I try to have healthy versions of things I crave, like chocolate. On those days that I NEED chocolate, I will have a sugar-free fudgesicle (30 calories) or a little handful of dark chocolate chips. Usually a little bit is all I need to feel satisfied. If I'm super hungry, then my go-to snack is string cheese or a 100-calorie pack of nuts (I love the Blue Diamond 100-calorie packs). Low carb snacks keep you feeling full longer.
That's my eating in a nutshell. I'm not saying I'm totally perfect and never stray from this. On the rare occasion we go out to eat, I splurge a little. Everyone has days that aren't perfect and we all make poor food choices from time to time. It's good to have a blueprint to follow at least 80% of the time.
Some really good advice that I read (YOU: On a Diet by Dr. Oz), suggests to eat the same things every day when you are first starting on your journey. It's just easier to plan and stick with it. So if you have a breakfast you love, don't feel bad for eating it every day.
Stay tuned for my next post: Foods I avoid at all costs
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