2011 *New Year* Challenge

[Nokie173]

Today I almost ate a pizza. I think a cheat meal every week is alright, it certainly has worked for me in the past, but I got really upset when I was about to order it. Becoming so stressed about a stupid pizza made me realize how do-or-die I am about these things. Maybe by the weekend I will genuinely want cheat meal, but I don't want it in the first few days of resolution - that would be crazy! This was the second strong decision I made this week. The first one was to workout every day and not make excuses or let myself down like I sometimes do.

If you ever have craving for pizza, why not make it yourself? Low calories because you know what you can put in there.

Pita bread or wheat pita bread
Grilled chicken breast
Tomato sauce
Low fat cheese

Put it in the oven for 10-15mins and BAM home made mini low-cal pizza!

For me I add some spinach, fresh tomatoes, mushrooms, and use low-fat bbq sauce!
(Isn’t this idea GREAT for a cheat meal…. )

[Athene]

Nokie that's a great idea for a tasty meal. If I didn't use cheese I don't think I would even call it a cheat, it just looks great

The thing with me and pizza is it's more of a temptation because husband orders out. He is a fighter and has to eat a lot to maintain his weight and his energy level, so sometimes I get stuck eating like a 6' tall athletic man with no body fat, which I am definitely not! He was ordering out and we were going to watch a movie - he eats an entire large pizza to himself, so if I want to get in on it I have to order own. I wanted the fun - the activity of ordering out and watching a movie at home together, do you know what I mean? I have to learn to deal with it though because he eats really strictly 6 days per week and then 1 day per week he can do pretty much whatever he wants, and I have to accept that I can't go to town like he does without gaining weight.

As an immediate benefit though, I was rewarded for not eating a pizza last night when I weighed myself this morning: since January 1st I have lost 3.2 lbs! Eating is definitely the key for me. I'm still working towards upping the frequency and quality of meals, but I think by the end of the month I will have it worked out and have a significant loss - I was expecting 4 pounds for the month, not the first week!

Nutrition
Breakfast - 4 egg white omelet with 1.5 cups green pepper, Earl Grey with milk.
Snack - 1 piece sprouted grain bread, 2 tbsp crunchy peanut butter.
Lunch - 1/2 cup cottage cheese, 1/2 a raw apple.
Dinner - 2 cups steamed broccoli, 1 cup seasoned lean ground beef, Earl Grey with milk.

Workout
HIIT session - 24 rounds of 35 second intervals with a 10 second rest. Exercises in sequence: squats holding 20 lbs sand bag, sumo push ups, jump lunges, the plank.

[Boss Man]

Fake pizzas made at home are better for many reasons.

1. Cheaper than store bought.

2. You can start eating them quicker in most cases, becasue you;'re not having to wait for it then have it delivered or go there, wait and take it home.

You use a little bit of electricity and then water to clean up afterwards, which costs some money I'll grant you, but you don't have to throw Pizza boxes away, increasing the frequency of when you use and buy new bin liners and you increase therefore household waste.

3. Healthier than store bought. Store bought ones can be around 1,000-1,200 calories in some cases. Home made ones made with things like Wheatbread, Tomatos, Mushrooms and Low Fat Cheese, are about 1/3 the calories and have increased nutrition as well, because low fat Cheese has more EFA's and Wheatbread contains things like Beta-glucan that helps lower Cholesterol, which pizza dough almost certainly does not.

However buying store bought instead of having to slice bits of Bread, Mushroom and Tomato for around 5 minutes, must be too much for some, so that's their own lazy fault if it is .

[Athene]

Boss - I am totally going to take what you and Nokie suggest onboard and get the ingredients together for some homemade pita pizzas, or something similar. I'm definitely not too lazy to make quality food for myself, and I don't like the idea of store-bought pizzas either, because it's pretty much the same price here and less good quality compared to delivery. I will conquer pizza night!

Nutrition
I have a new motto when it comes to eating: "Never let yourself get hungry, and never eat until you're full." So far it's keeping me on track.

Breakfast - 1 cup oatmeal with 1/4 cup milk, 7 almonds, 15 raisins, and a dash of cinnamon. 250 ml coffee with milk.
Snack - 1 raw apple
Lunch - 1 bison burger, 1/2 cup mushrooms, 1 slice swiss cheese, 2.5 cups green salad, 500 ml black tea with 1 tsp honey.
Snack - 1/2 cup homemade granola, 1/4 cup skim milk.
Dinner - 2 cups steamed broccoli and carrots, 1 cup lean seasoned beef.

Workout
Great active rest day: went Nordic Walking with mom at a local nature reserve. It was - 29ºC and we power walked for 50 minutes through the snow with our big boots on. We rented the Nordic Walking poles and walked all of the trails, then had lunch at the cafe inside - the bison burger I had was farmed on site - tasty : )

[Athene]

I stepped on the scale this morning - 156.8! I lost 4.4 lbs this week. I know it's the first week and I probably won't keep losing at this rate, but it's great motivation to continue working hard. I added one of before photos to profile. One is from the day in the summer that I joined Shapefit when I had had broken ribs for 3 months and a lower leg and foot cast for 3 weeks; and the other was taken on Tuesday.

Will add workout and nutrition at the end of the day.

[fit-fanatic-2025]

Congrats on the weight loss Athene! Doing great!

[Boss Man]

I'd hope you wouldn't continue to lose at that rate, as for your weight you'd only need around 1.5-2lbs a week anyway if it was Fat. Any more and you'd be losing more water an muscle too.

[Athene]

Musculargirl - Thanks for your support!

Boss - Yes, good point. I think it's just because of the drastic change with eating that so much fell off this week. I will aim for the 1-2 lbs per week mark as you suggest. If I lose 2 lbs per week for the remainder of January, I could hit the 140s (well, at least 149) by the first week of February! That's an amazing prospect to me.

Nutrition
Two amazing things happened today. Firstly, I made 2 poached eggs and 1 piece of toast for a snack but ended up only eating half and spreading the food between two meals, which I have never done before but felt really good to do because I am opposed to feeling full now, I'm not interested in it! Secondly, I ate in a restaurant with Michael-Phelps-like husband and he had something very typical for him on a Saturday - a huge burger with sausage AND bacon, plus two types of cheese, plus poutine on the side and a piece of cheesecake for dessert! I'll admit to tasting the cheesecake, but that's all I did! I was so restrained that I even saved half quesadilla for him to have for lunch tomorrow ; )

Breakfast - 1 cup oatmeal, 6 almonds, 19 raisins, dash cinnamon, splash of skim milk. 250 ml black tea.
Snack - 1 poached egg, 1/2 slice sprouted grain bread, 1 tsp ketchup.
Lunch - 1 poached egg, 1/2 slice sprouted grain bread, 1 tsp ketchup.
Snack - 4 oz chicken, 2 tsp chile sauce.
Dinner - 1/2 a quesadilla (1 tortilla, 4 oz chicken with cajun spice, 1 cup chopped tomato, red onion, mushroom, avocado, and sprinkled cheddar cheese; and 2 cups green salad with 1 tbsp balsamic vinegarette; 4 cups herbal tea.

Workout
HIIT exercises: ab crunch, superman, Thai situps, plank. Did 6 rounds of 30 sec with a 10 sec rest for each exercise.

[Athene]

amatlack - Oh yes, I know skinny fat! And no, we are not so lucky. He is, like I said, Michael-Felps-like, in that he trains 2-3 hours per day, sometimes with extra cardio in the morning (his resting heart rate is 48! Mine is 70!) and has almost no body fat and cut up legs and shoulders. He eats very strictly and extremely well with the exception of one meal like that per week, usually. Have you heard bad things about cheat meals like that? He's had EKGs before fights, bloodwork, and full physicals on a consistent basis and he is the picture of health apparently, as things are now.

This is late entry for January 9th, I got home kind of late last night.

Nutrition
I was visiting different households of family yesterday out of town, and you know what it's like when someone bakes a pie because you're coming over, or offers you a cookie and hot chocolate when you come in the door...... well, I couldn't say no. It kind of derailed me and when I got home I had a little snack party, because I felt like the day was a bust anyway, and I guess because of the sugar and stuff I was having cravings I don't usually have. Bad - I know, but it could have been a lot worse.

Breakfast - 1/2 cup homemade granola, 1/4 cup milk
Snack - 250 ml coffee milk
Lunch - 1 cup homemade chicken soup with carrots and celery, 1 homemade biscuit, 1 aftereight chocolate mint, 1 cup black tea with milk.
Snack - (at someone's house!) 1/2 cup hot chocolate, 1 gingerbread cookie.
Dinner - 1 piece manicotti (filled with ricotta, cottage cheese, and spinach), 1 cup green salad, 1 cup green beans and carrots, 1 piece strawberry rhubarb pie, 1 scoop vanilla iced cream, 1 cup black tea with milk.
"Snack" - 1.5 cups seasoned pretzels, 2 oatmeal chocolate chip muffins, 2 werther's originals chocolates, 250 ml skim milk.

Looking at this in print, the whole day was fine, it wouldn't have ruined anything, but this added "snack" late at night was the really bad thing that happened. I will keep this in mind when it happens again in the future.

Workout
HIIT at the pool - 5 rounds of 4 lengths freestyle sprint and 2 length breast stroke recovery. Did 30 lengths in 0:13:59.

[Athene]

Nutrition
Spent the day at the university in classes and in a lot of queues. I know I should have eaten much more frequently, but I just kept drinking water and waiting to get home so I could eat properly.

Breakfast - 1/2 cup homemade granola, 1/4 cup skim milk.
Lunch - 1 raw apple, 1 large green tea.
Dinner - 1 cup stir-fried vegetables (broccoli, green pepper, celery, carrots, mushrooms) with 2 tbsp low calorie peanut satay sauce, 3/4 cup lean beef.
Snack - Karrie's 60 Calorie Cocoa ( personal creation: 2 tbsp cocoa powder, 1 tbsp splenda, splash skim milk, 1 cup boiled water)

Workout
Rest day! Lots of stretching.

[Nokie173]

Workout
Rest day! Lots of stretching.

Try not to stretch with cold muscles… you can tear it. This is just little recommendation. Try to do a little warm up so you can warm the muscles a bit then give it a nice deep stretch. I like to do a few jumping jacks, push ups, and high knees, etc…

[Athene]

Nokie - Good advice, thank you!

Nutrition
Breakfast - 1 cup oatmeal, 4 prunes, 6 almonds, 1/4 cup milk, dash cloves and cinnamon.
Snack - 1/2 cup homemade granola, 1/4 cup skim milk, 250 ml coffee with 1/4 cup skim milk.
Lunch - 1 cup stir fried broccoli and mushrooms, 3/4 cup lean seasoned beef.
Dinner - 1 egg, 1 slice sprouted grain toast, 2 tsp ketchup.
Snack - 1 oatmeal chocolate chip muffin, 250 ml skim milk.

Workout
HIIT session - 24 rounds, 35 second intervals with a 10 second rest. Exercises in sequence: squats holding 20 lbs sand bag, sumo push ups, stationary lunges, bicycle crunch.

[Athene]

Nutrition
I need to get last snack back in before dinner and cut the snack at night. goal is to remember to pick up a protein shake this weekend and make it snack twice a day. friend has a good one that has very little sugar and a nice cocoa taste, I'm going to ask her for the name of it. This snacking after dinner is no good, even if it's not calorie-dense.

Breakfast - 1/2 cup homemade granola, 1/4 cup milk.
Snack - 1 raw apple, 350 ml latte.
Lunch - 1 cup tuna salad (canned tuna, 1 celery stalk, 1 tsp light whipped dressing, fresh dill) 1 slice sprouted grain bread, 2 baby dill pickles, 250 ml green tea, 1 tsp honey.
Dinner - 2 cups potato vegetable soup
Snack - 3 cups microwaved popcorn

Workout
Cardio - 25 min jog in the woods with dog.
It was nice, only -21ºC with the windchill, and the extra humidity this year means that chest and throat weren't raw afterward.

[Athene]

amatlack - Thanks for the advice. I'm curious about this because it seems if I go to bed on an empty stomach (not having eaten for 3 hours or more) the numbers on the scale change, but if I go to bed satiated, weight stays the same. Is it bad for me to do that?

Nutrition
Breakfast - 1/2 cup homemade granola, 1/4 cup skim milk.
Snack - 1 slice sprouted grain bread, 2 tbsp peanut butter, 1 tsp honey.
Lunch - 2 cups noodles, 1/2 cup egg whites, 1/2 cup mushrooms, 250 ml green tea.
Snack - 9 "specialty crackers" (160 cals)
Dinner - Nokie's chicken pita pizza - I took a photo, will post tomorrow! I used 1 whole wheat pita, tomato sauce, grilled chicken, spinach, mushrooms, and cherry tomatoes with a sprinkle of extra old cheddar.

Workout
Cardio - 25 min outdoor jog and 30 min shovelling snow.

[Nokie173]

Sometimes, I drink a protein shake before bed just so tummy won't growl int he middle of the night.
I do find it helpful keeping it content instead of starving