Week 7 - Back to Reality

Hey all.

I'm home from my birthday extravaganza in Sin City and what a time it was.

A total binge of food, booze and a massive lack of sleep. I need a vacation to recover from my vacation.

Sadly, my exercise was way more lacking than I had anticipated, as the weather as not favourable for all the swimming I had hoped to do and the chronic hangover did nothing to motivate me to crunch and lunge the beers away.

But that's fine. I had made peace with my week away from home and being off the routine before I even hit the airport, so when I stepped on the scale this morning I was very pleasantly surprised:

Weight: 131 lbs
Bust: 35
Waist: 29
Hips: 39

Week 7 Overall Weight & Inches Loss:

Weight: - 7 lbs
Bust: - 3
Waist: -4
Hips: - 3
Total Inches: -10

Still holding strong on the inches and a single pound gain over the week is more than acceptable to me. I can't lie and say I didn't earn that pound. Just ask all the bartenders and waitresses.

But that's behind me now. Tomorrow its back to the gym and back to cranking it out to reach my goal.

I've got 7 weeks - Its GO time!

Week 6: Viva Las Vegas

Hello Party People! I write this as I sit at the lovely Vancouver International Airport waiting for my boarding call, as this is the week I am off to Sin City to revel in the changing of the decade. That’s right, it’s my Dirrty Thirrty and what better place to celebrate than Vegas?

Now, even though I will be away, enjoying the fun & the sun and will more than likely not be adhering to my scheduled workouts, I do have a plan. A few of my travel mates and I have decided that we will be doing some circuit training while on vacay and our logic is that this: working out = Eat, drink and enjoy our selves without out the guilt. A perfect plan, if I do say so myself.

And having access to a pool is very exciting. I am more than stoked to incorporate some swimming into my usual routine. I love the water and as mental as it may sound, the idea of getting in a few laps each day is really quite exciting.

So here’s to a week of fun and fitness to keep the lbs at bay.

And on that note, here are my Week 6 numbers:

Weight: 130 lbs
Bust: 35
Waist: 29
Hips: 39

Week 6 Overall Weight & Inches Loss:

Weight: - 8 lbs
Bust: - 3
Waist: -4
Hips: - 3
Total Inches: -10

I am so stoked with these numbers, regardless of the odd overall weight. How did I regain those 2 lbs?

I have added free weights to my workout and have noticed a bit more overall strength so maybe it’s a bit of muscle gain? Whatever it is, it’s not gonna get me down. It’s the other numbers that get my blood pumping. I am beyond excited and motivated by the overall loss of inches. My jeans are fitting better than they have in ages with almost NO muffin top! And for me that is a great success.

Until next week … CHEERS!

DO NOT Eat After 8

I'll admit it, I used to think this concept was total garbage.

I always rationalized my late night binging with my schedule and that it was totally fine for me to chow down at 11:00 pm since I had only been up since ... well, let's be honest here, 7:00 am (usually) and had more than likely over the course of the regular day ingested WELL over my daily caloric intake.

And even as the jeans got tighter and the muffin top larger, I never saw any reason to stop this habit. I figured I could just amend my daily caloric intake and that would be fine. I would then further rationalize that I had left over room for the midnight munching by cutting down on what I ate for lunch or dinner. That makes sense right?

NOT!

It's not that I hadn't been told and warned and read all the articles on the subject, I just seemed to think that it didn't apply to me.

Well, I was wrong.

As of January 1, 2009 I have stopped eating after 8:00 pm and as you know, I have happily and without hunger lost 10 lbs!

It was hard at first, don't get my wrong. It felt as if I had lost something. It was a feeling very similar to what I had experienced when I quit smoking. Something was missing, I was bored. Watching TV in the evenings just didn't seem as fun without a bag or bowl of something at my finger tips.

But slowly, it started to get easier. I started drinking loads of water with a few drops of lemon juice to "spice it up" so to speak.

It was the start of the total eating overhaul I needed to make to see the results I wanted to see.

In addition to breaking up my meals throught the day (3 meals) and adding in healthy snacks (3 snacks), I also started to eat my dinners later, but still at a reasonable time (between 6:30 - 7:00 pm) and make the effort to eat them slowly, savouring each bite and taking my time to let my gut tell my brain I was getting full.

And what can I tell you, its working!

More Reads:

If you often consume 35 percent or more of your calories after dinner, you might.

Don't eat late at night, says nutritionist Fiona Hunter

Fat DOES NOT Make You Fat

Its time to bust the myth. Its not fat that is making your jeans snug and giving you that oh so lovely muffin top, its sugar . Just ask Jackie Warner (my new hero), an elite trainer and owner of Sky Sport and Spa in Beverly Hills, California.

Most of us have had this concept backwards for a long, long time and have spent all our energy avoiding fats like the plague, yet never really looking at our sugar consumption.

And I hate to break it to you, but its everywhere. It's sneaky and hides in all sorts of places and if you don't start to read packaging and labels carefully, it will sneak into your diet at every turn.

Take salsa for example. It would be normal to think that this is a relatively healthy condiment. However, hiding near the top of most salsa ingredient lists is the dastardly sugar.

Of course, naturally occurring sugars in fruits and veggies are acceptable forms of this normally evil granule, just be sure that you're not over doing it, and keep away from watermelon, cantaloupe and honeydew's (as yummy as they may be) as they are LOADED with sugars and will counteract all your hard diet efforts. If you must have them, sneak them back into your diet in limited quantities only when you are on to maintenance mode.

Here is some great further reading:

Fat Does Not Make You Fat

Quiz Time: Where is the Sugar?

Some of the things you think you know that just aint so

Refined carbohydrates are to blame for skyrocketing chronic disease, not just obesity

Fructose Will Make You Fat

Pizza Pizza

I love Za.

I love its gooey cheesey-ness, its pasta saucy-ness & its endless possibilities of toppings.

What I don't love is its usually fatty and high carby-ness.

So I came up with my own version of the comfort food:

1 whole wheat tortilla
1/3 cup pasta sauce
1 cup shredded soy mozzarella
1 slice back bacon, chopped
1/2 small tomatoe, chopped and seeded (removing the seeds reduces moisture to keep the tortilla from getting mushy)
2 stalks asparagus, chopped
1/4 red pepper, chopped
1/4 cup broccoli florets, chopped
3-5 hot banana peppers

Preheat oven to 450° C

Place tortilla on a baking sheet and spread pasta sauce over evenly
Sprinkle soy cheese over pasta sauce evenly

Arrange toppings

Bake on middle rack for 8 - 10 minutes or until cheese is bubbling

Remove pizza from baking sheet and place back in the oven for 2-5 minute or until edges are crisp

Let rest 2 minutes

Slice and enjoy!