Last week on Friday I started a Peel Off The Pounds Challenge it is 8 weeks long and we have almost completed the first week. The place I do Zumba is hosting the challenge and there are other local businesses who sponsor it. We have 4 people on our team (which is names Mission Slim-Possible) and your goal as a team is to basically lose the most weight out of all the other teams. You win money and they also donate to a charity of your choice if you win.
I wasn't super excited about joining the challenge at first but thought why not? I have been "stuck" at the same weight since i had Kendall and seemed no matter what i did i couldn't not lose the weight. I decided to do a complete lifestyle change during the challenge and hopefully it will carry over after the challenge.
As of last week on Friday i have completely changed my diet. Here is a sample of what my daily food intake looks like:
Breakfast @ 6:30 am:
coffee with sugar free creamer
Smoothie
4oz orange juice
4oz milk
1 orange yogurt
Mix it all together in a blender bottler and it makes a very filling smoothie that requires very little work
Morning Snack 10:00 am:
I have one of these options
hard boiled egg
1/2 wheat english muffin with fat free cream cheese, no butter :(
1/2 avocado
Lunch 12:00 pm:
1 Cup Brown rice
1/4 Cup spinach
1/2 tomato, diced
1/2 Cup lean meat (Ground turkey, grilled chicken or grilled deer/elk steak)
1 T balsamic vinaigrette
I heat it all up together and its really good and very filling
Afternoon snack 3:30 pm:
Celery
Hummus
V8 (small can)
Dinner 7:00 pm:
Dinner Salad with balsamic vinaigrette dressing
Cucumber
Lean Meat (turkey burger, grilled chicken or grilled deer/elk steak)
I use My Fitness Pall (follow me MichelleDM1987) to track how many calories i am eating a day. It gives you a suggestion of how many you should eat based on how much you weigh and how much you want to weigh. It says no matter what you should eat a minimum of 1200 calories a day. You can track your exercise and put in how many calories you burn. I have found even though it looks like i eat a lot of food during the day, because i almost eliminated all carbs i don't reach the 1200 calorie mark. If that happens i will add in a serving of cottage cheese with my dinner or eat a healthy snack so i reach 1200.
I have completely cut out bread other then the whole wheat muffins, potatoes are a big fat no (i did try to make sweet potato chips but i failed), absolutely no white rice and because cheese doesn't really agree with me i have completely cut that out other then cottage cheese and fat free cream cheese they don't even count as "real" cheese anyways. I try to not eat any beef either which is actually really easy since we have a freezer full of wild game.
Instead of working out only 3 days a week i now do 5 days a week. Monday, Wednesday and Saturday are Zumba classes. Tuesday is Zumba toning and Thursday is a strength training class. When it decides to be spring i will add walking/jogging into the mix.
The best news of all of this is since i changed me eating habits i have lost 5 POUNDS since i weighed in Friday evening. I was noticing last night how good i feel. I don't feel weighted down from all the "heavy" food. Although i don't notice a huge difference in my body yet, my stomach doesn't have the "pooch" it normally does from eating carbs.
Water is also a big help. I drink over 100 ounces of water a day. I take vitamins in the morning with my smoothie (its important to eat when you take vitamins it helps break them down so your body can absorb them) so i am not depleting my body of all the important stuff it needs.
To make the eating easier, I made a meal plan and grocery shopped for the whole week and made all my food over the weekend so all i have to do is grab a container from the fridge and heat it up.
I am dreading when i hit a slump because i know it will happen when i reach a certain point. I will have to work hard to get over that obstacle and not get discouraged when i don't see the results i want.
Set a goal for yourself, it will make you work harder to reach it and once you reach it you will feel very accomplished.
I hope this helps more then just me :)
Lastly, who cant resist a sloppy kiss from this sweet girl, i sure cant.
