Peel Off The Pounds

 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.