Week 5, Day 3 - January 31

Workout: BodyFlow

Diet:
Breakfast: banana bread
Lunch: Subway sandwich (club), banana
Snack: pita chips
Dinner: leftover chicken tikka/rice, steak, sweet potato fries, cherries
Snack: 2 wholesome junk food bites, milk

Veggies - lettuce on sandwich, sweet potatoes

I think I'm getting too many calories at night. I had small servings of everything at dinner, but I probably could have done without my nightime snack, or just had the milk. I think I need to work on that!

Week 5, Day 2 - January 30

Workout: Treadmill - 24 minutes walking, 6 minutes running, 2.0 miles

Diet:
Breakfast: banana bread, yogurt
Lunch: chicken sausage (spicy cilantro), terra chips, banana
Snack: 2 sugar free werthers, 1 sugar free jolly rancher
Dinner: Hilam (vegetable/lentil soup), chicken tikka, rice, riata (yogurt sauce), cheese naan
Snack: cherries

veggies - hilam soup, veggies with bangledash dish

Tonight was a tough workout for me. My knees hurt after running for just a little bit (I think it's from Spin class). I didn't want to push too hard and end up not being able to run later in the week, so I only ran 6 minutes. I still did 2 miles in 30 minutes, but it just didn't feel as good as normal. My plan is to do BodyFlow tomorrow night, take Thursday off and get back on the treadmill on Friday.

We had Bangledesi food for dinner tonight - a first! We saw a local restaurant (literally right across from our gym) on Food Network and decided to try it. It was SO good. It had great flavor. It was really different, but I'm so glad we tried it, we'll definitely be back!

Week 5, Day 1 - January 29

Workout: Rest day!

Diet:
Breakfast: balance bar, light yogurt
Lunch: chicken sausage (w/fontina/garlic), terra chips, banana
Snack: 2 wholesome junk food bites
Dinner: spinach salad (w/goat cheese, blueberries, almond slivers), sweet potato gnochhi, tomato sauce, grapefruit
Snack: popcorn

veggies - spinach, sweet potato, tomato sauce

Short/Long Term Rewards!

I've decided in order to stay motivated it will be helpful to have some shorter term rewards in addition to our long term reward of a cruise. Also, because our long term reward has changed slightly, we'll be planning and paying it for it in advance, so it's not necessarily tied to completing our goals (we're going regardless). However, it's still important that we meet our goals and I think the cruise will keep us motivated.

Here are my rewards for meeting interim goals:
165 - new workout clothes - DONE! (new yoga pants and long sleeve running shirt)
160 - Watch for running!
155 - Spa treatment!
150 - Designer jeans!
145 - Weekend away with husband!

Week 5 Mini-goals:

1) Workout: 1 run of at least 3 miles, 2 other runs.
2) Workout: Try new class (either BodyStep or BodyPump).
3) Diet: Get 2 servings of vegetables a day.
4) Diet: Pick out daily multi-vitamin and take it.
5) Other: Clean out closet (get rid of clothes I don't wear anymore and take inventory of what I hope to be able to wear in the next few months!).

I've decided that general working out and diet are no longer going to be mini-goals, they will just be a given. Each week I will strive to workout at least 5 times and eat healthy and drink lots of water each day. I am going to pick at least one specific mini-goals for each though, as well as one 'other' goal. I'll see how this goes for a week or two and then re-evaluate.

I'm so happy that I've stuck to this for 4 weeks and only missed one mini-goal (the first Spin class one). It definitely helps to look out over the week and think about what I can accomplish in 7 days instead of only focusing on my long-term goals.

Week 4 Recap:

Weigh-in: 164.0 (down from 165.2)
A good loss, I'm still not down to the 163 mark I saw several times 2 weeks ago, but I guess that was just a fluctuation. I've lost 7.6 pounds in 4 weeks, so I'm really excited about my progress. More importantly, I'm feeling really good and I feel like it's something I can maintain, I'm really not feeling deprived. My husband has went from 209.6 to 197.0 and I'm so proud of him! So, together we've lost 20 pounds in less than a month!

Mini-goals:
1) Workout 6 times - Done! - 3 runs (total 6.5 miles), 2 bodyflows, 1 spin.
2) Go to Spin class - Done! - I even made it through the whole class!
3) Maintain healthy diet (including water) - Done! - Overall good. I noticed in looking back that I was lacking in the vegetable area. We made a couple of meals that didn't really have vegetables in them, the side was rice, and I had those leftovers most of the week. I've been drinking hardly any soda (down to maybe 2 or 3 a week) and I don't really miss it.
4) Decide on ‘rewards’ for meeting interim weight goals - Done! - I'll put these in another post, but it will keep me looking forward to getting rid of the next 5 pounds!

Seriously the mini-goals are really important to keeping me on track. Thinking about them motivates me to keep moving and make it to my workouts!

Week 4, Day 7 - January 28

Workout: Spin class!

Diet:
Breakfast: 1 1/2 c. maple pecan cereal, 1/2 c. 1% milk
Lunch: 2 Tbsps natural peanut butter, apple
Snack: cherries
Dinner: spinach salad (spinach, goat cheese, almond slivers, dried blueberries, balsamic vinegar), kabobs (chicken, steak, peppers, onions), baked sweet potato fries
Snack: popcorn (individual bag), milk, snickerdoodle (1)

My diet was really odd today, I didn't eat much early in the day, but I definitely made up for it tonight. I know it's not the best way to eat.

On a good note, I made it to Spin class! It was fun, I'm glad I went, but I'm not sure if I'll go regularly. I'll definitely try it again though.

Week 4, Day 6 - January 27

Workout: BodyFlow

Diet:
Breakfast: chick-fil-a chicken breakfast burrito
Lunch: chicken fontina/garlic sausage, terra chips
Snack: grapefruit
Dinner: beef-rice taco bake, cherries
Snack: popcorn

I splurged a bit on breakfast this morning, going to Chick-Fil-A. It was really good and calorie wise, not too bad (410), but not a lot of nutrition. It was a nice treat though.

Week 4, Day 5 - January 26

Workout: Treadmill - 14 minutes walking, 16 minutes running, 2.20 miles

Diet:
Breakfast: balance bar, yogurt
Lunch: beef-rice taco bake, strawberries
Snack: 2 wholesome junk food bites
Dinner: gorgonzola ravioli (trader joe's) w/fire-roasted marinara sauce, fruit
Snack: popcorn

I have a weekend coming up with no plans! I love weekends like that, especially since we've been really busy since before the holidays.

We had a great dinner and it was surprisingly low in calories for cheese and pasta!

Week 4, Day 4 - January 25

Workout: Treadmill - 14 minutes walking, 16 minutes running, 2.18 miles

Diet:
Breakfast: Balance bar, light yogurt, coffee w/SF, FF vanilla creamer
Lunch: beef-rice taco bake, strawberries
Snack: banana, tea w/creamer
Dinner: chips w/salsa, Mexican chicken soup
Snack: 2 snickerdoodle cookies (organic, gluten free), milk

I had a great workout again. This was my first workout running more than walking! I am definitely improving.

Week 4, Day 3 - January 24

Workout: BodyFlow class

Diet:
Breakfast: banana bread (large slice)
Lunch: chicken fajita taco salad (no shell)
Snack: banana
Dinner: beef-rice taco bake (cooking light), cherries
Snack: popcorn

I LOVE BodyFlow! I really look forward to the classes. There's a great instructor at my gym and I feel so good afterwards. I am so happy that I'm back into working out.

Week 4, Day 2 - January 23

Workout: Treadmill - 15 minutes walking, 15 minutes running, 2.16 miles

Diet:
Breakfast: 2 small pancakes, syrup, pinaeapple, canteloupe
Snack: granola bar
Lunch: beef-rice taco bake (cooking light)
Snack: banana
Dinner: chicken szechwan (1 c. rice, 1 c. stirfry), grapefruit
Snack: SmartPop (individual bag)

I had a breakfast meeting at work and decided to eat there and just pick out what I thought were the best options. I had fruit and 2 small pancakes with just a little bit of syrup. I passed up the bacon, sausage, hash browns, pastery, etc., so I was proud of myself. There's almost always some healthy option, it's just making the right choice and of course watching the portion.

Week 4, Day 1 - January 22

Workout: Rest day!

Diet:
Breakfast: banana bread, coffee w/SF,FF vanilla creamer
Lunch: Chicken Szechuan (cooking light) - 1 c. rice, 1 c. stirfry
Snack: banana
Dinner: Beef-Rice Taco Bake (cooking light), cherries
Snack: SmartPop (individual bag)

Week 4 Mini-Goals

1) Workout 6 times (3 runs, 2 BodyFlow, 1 Spin).
2) Go to Spin class (missed this last week – no excuses this week!).
3) Maintain healthy diet (including water).
4) Decide on ‘rewards’ for meeting interim weight goals.

I really enjoy the mini-goals – they’re very motivating. It also gives me something to focus on instead of just the number on the scale. I’m increasing my number of workouts – I really want to keep 3 runs going and I enjoy BodyFlow so much, I’ve decided to do that twice a week. And, since I really want to try Spin, I’ve added that on too. I think its’ okay, because they’re all different types of workouts, so I don’t think it will be too much for me. At some points I want to add strength training in too, but I’m going to wait a few weeks for that.

I need to decide on some small rewards for meeting weight goals (probably in increments of 5 pounds). Our overall motivation is the cruise (and really just feeling and looking good), but I think rewards along the way will help keep me motivated. I’ve thought about it and haven’t come up with anything good, so that’s why I’ve added that to my mini-goals for this week. That’s a fun mini-goal to have!

Week 3 Recap:

Weigh-in: 165.2 (down from 165.6)
I’m a little disappointed in having such a slight decrease, but I think it’s just one of those days. Over the last week, I’ve weighed as little as 162.6 and had several days around 163. So, I think it’s just a natural fluctuation and I think I’ll have a bigger decline next week. It was a good diet and workout week and I’m feeling great, so I’m just going to focus on that!

Mini-Goals:
I ran 4 days (one day was only 1 mile though) for a total of 7.0 miles. I also got in 2 Bodyflow workouts. I had to double up BodyFlow and running to get all my workouts in, but it was good to workout for a longer amount of time and the workouts are so different I didn’t really have any problems with that. I missed spinning class due to scheduling changes, but I will add this to Week 4’s mini-goals and I will definitely meet this next week, no excuses! I ate well, definitely went over calories Saturday, but overall made good choices. I’ve been doing well with water, I only had 3 sodas last week! I also cleaned out the pantry yesterday. We didn’t really have a lot of junk food to get rid of, but it was good to get it cleaned out and now I know what’s in there!

Week 3, Day 7 - January 21

Workout: Bodyflow class, Treadmill - 15 minutes running, 11.5 walking, 2.0 miles

Diet:
Breakfast: Banana bread
Lunch: regular turkey sandwich (Jersey Mikes), orange
Dinner: Chicken Szechuan (cooking light) - 1 c. rice, 3/4 c. stirfry, cherries
Snack: 2 Wholesome Junk Food bites

I had the best treadmill workout so far this year! I had a class at 11:30 and I planned on doing 30 minutes/2 miles on the treadmill beforehand. I got to the gym a few minutes late, so I really pushed myself on the treadmill to get 2 miles done. It was great. I'm loving Bodyflow too! It's a mixture of Pilates, Yoga, and Tai Chi. I'm going to try to go twice a week.

Week 3, Day 6 - January 20

Workout: Bodyflow, Treadmill - 10 minutes walking, 5 running, 1.0 mile

Diet:
Breakfast: Banana bread, cherries
Snack: Pound cake batter
Lunch: half a turkey wrap from Whole Foods, chips, cheese samples at whole foods
Snack: 20 jelly beans
Dinner: Armenian food - monti, kufta, dolma, itch, yogurt
Snack: Armenian dessert - Kadafyi (shredded phyllo dough, butter, cheese, simple syrup), really thin piece of pound cake

We celebrated my father-in-laws birthday this weekend and made a meal with lots of Armenian dishes for him, it's been a tradition for several years. The food was all really good and relatively healthy. I had just a little bit of each dish and didn't go back for seconds, so I was happy with that. I did try the desserts we made, the Armenian one was a new recipe we tried and it was really good! I'm sure I was over my calories for the day, but not too bad.

Week 3, Day 5 - January 19

Workout: Rest day.

Diet:
Breakfast: Banana bread, yogurt, coffee w/vanilla creamer
Lunch: maple pork tenderloin, sweet potato wedges
Snack: 3 wholesome junk food bites
Dinner: Spaghetti Pomodoro
Snack: mini peppermint patty

I missed another workout this morning. My husband was sore from yesterday's run and didn't want to go, so I completely just slept in. I've got 3 workouts to get in this weekend (at least 1 running) and 2 others. I can't go tonight, because we have plans, but there are bodyflow classes at the gym tomorrow and Sunday, so I'm planning on those and then I'll run one day too. I think I'm going to miss out on my Spinning mini-goal this week. The only classes during the week that we can make are Mon-Wed and there is a class on the weekend, but the instructors are training this weekend, so most of the classes are cancelled. I'm disappointed to miss a goal, but this was a due to poor planning, not just because I didn't do it. Next week I'll make it for sure!

We went out to dinner with family tonight before going to see a show at the Fox. We went to a great Italian restaurant, Osteria 582 in the Highlands. They have a great pasta with Gorgonzola cream sauce, but I looked online before I went and picked what I thought was the best choice, Pomodoro sauce. It had fresh tomatoes, onions, basil. I think it was a good choice.

Week 3, Day 4 - January 18

Workout: Treadmill - 19 minutes walking, 11 minutes running, 2.0 miles (same mileage, slightly shorter time!)

Diet:
Breakfast: Balance bar, yogurt
Lunch: lemon shrimp, roasted squash, orange
Snack: 12 almonds
Dinner: maple pork tenderloin, sweet potato wedges with brown sugar glaze (both from cooking light), artichoke hearts, cherries
Snack: 2 'wholesome junk food bites'

We had to force ourselves to get up today, but finally got out of bed and got our workout in this morning. I'm seeing improvement in my running, but my husband is blowing me away. He's up to running 10 minutes at one time, 15 overall. I have to remind myself it's not a competition (because I'm super competitive and I hate to lose!). My plan is to be able to run two miles straight by the end of February and I'm on schedule for that. My only competition is myself.

I did well eating. I was really craving popcorn while I was watching TV, but I decided to wait (since I had already had a snack and wasn't really hungry) and then I forgot about it!

Week 3, Day 3 - January 17

Workout: Rest day.

Diet:
Breakfast: balance bar, yogurt
Lunch: chile rellanos casserole, 2 wholesome junk food bites
Snack: banana, granola bar
Dinner: tilapia (from Dinner A'Fare), roasted potatoes, grilled asparagus, Caesar salad
Snack: grapefruit

Today was an unintentional rest day. We were going to wake up and go work out, but didn't make it. Normally that would mean we would work out in the evening, but we had plans to babysit my niece and nephew, so that was out. I did however do a little bit of dancing around to Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (for some reason that seemed to amuse the kids). We had a great time, those kids just make my day every time I see them.

I did pretty well at dinner, my sister-in-law made dinner for us (the tilapia was from dinner a'fare) and it was overall really healthy. The caesar salad was premade though, so I had more dressing than I would have liked, but all in all a good day.

Week 3, Day 2 - January 16

Workout: Rest day!

Diet:
Breakfast: banana bread, yogurt
Lunch: chille rellanos casserole, orange
Snack: banana
Dinner: green beans, roasted squash, lemon shrimp, grapefruit
Snack: cherries, individual bag of popcorn, 1 "wholesome junk food" bite

So I went a little overboard with the snacking. I'm going to blame that on American Idol, since I sat in front of the tv for 2 hours watching the premiere and for some reason I tend to want to snack while I'm watching tv. I know that's an issue for me, so I need to work on breaking that habit. Otherwise, a good day.

Week 3, Day 1 - January 15

Workout: Treadmill - 20 min walking, 11 min running, 2 miles

Diet:
Breakfast: banana bread, yogurt
Lunch: chille rellanos casserole
Snack: banana
Dinner: green beans, roasted squash, lemon shrimp, grapefruit
Snack: cherries

Today was going to be a rest day, but my husband and I were both in the mood to go for a run, so we went to the gym! It's great to really have the desire to work out. Our plan was to train to run a 5K, but my husband's sister has suggested that we all train for the Disney half marathon next January. I never really thought I would want to run that far, but we're really considering it. It's a big commitment, but it's really exciting to think that I could do that! We're still working towards our 5K and then we'll start training for a 10K and then maybe the half!

We had a great dinner too, all from Whole Foods prepared selections. So great and fresh!

Week 3 Mini-goals

1) Workout 5 times.
2) Go to Spin class at gym (will be first time at Spin).
3) Maintain healthy diet (including water).
4) Clean out pantry.

Mini-goals have been really motivating to me the first 2 weeks. I definitely would not have done all my workouts last week if I didn't have it in writing and posted. I even had to double up yesterday to meet my goal, but I did it (did BodyFlow in the morning and ran in the afternoon). This week has 2 new goals - my husband and I are going to try a Spin class at our gym and clean out our pantry.

Week 2 Recap

Weigh-in: old scale: 164 (down 2 pounds!)
new scale: 165.6 (will use this weight going forward and will adjust start weight to 171.6)

Mini-goals: Ran 3 times, total of 6 miles! Completed Pilates DVD and Bodyflow class! Had total of 36 ounces of soda over the week and met water goal each day! Ate healthily overall (over calories Friday and maybe Saturday).

Week 2, Day 7 - January 14

Workout: Bodyflow class at gym, 31 minutes running/walking in neighborhood, 2 miles

Diet:
Breakfast: 1 c. steel cut oatmeal (no butter, just salt and pepper), 10 cherries
Lunch: 2 grape leaves with rice, 3 slices Hovan sandwich (rolled flatbread sandwich), 1/4 c. hummus with crackers (whole wheat)
Snack: 2 'wholesome' junk food bites (samples at Whole Foods!)
Dinner: chile rellano casserole (cooking light), grapefruit
Snack: 20 cherries

A great workout day - I felt so good and strong! And a great diet day. They had samples of the 'wholesome' junk food bites at Whole Foods today, the brownie and oatmeal-chocolate chip were my favorite!

We got a new scale last week, so I'll have to adjust my weigh in tomorrow. I had a great week and I'm optimistic that I'll have another loss!

Week 2, Day 6 - January 13

Workout: Rest day!

Diet:
Breakfast: Zuchinni Nut muffin (290 cals), 10 cherries, coffee w/ 1 Tbsp. cream
Lunch: 1 c. rice, 3/4 c. black beans, 1/4 c. cheese
Dinner: roasted chicken (with artichoke hearts, swiss cheese, sundried tomatoes), corn souffle, sweet potato fries

We went out to dinner with family and the restaurant where we were planning on going to was closed for renovation when we got there. I had a fairly healthy option picked out, but we went to a completely different restaurant and I had to change my plan. I think I did okay on the entree, but I definitely could have done better on the sides. After the sweet potato fries the night before, I was really craving a whole serving. I did pass up the bread though and I didn't eat my entire entree or most of the corn. Overall, a decent day (and no snacks!).

Week 2, Day 5 - January 12

Workout: Treadmill - 20 minutes walking, 10 minutes running, 2.0 miles

Diet:
Breakfast: banana bread, yoplait light peach yogurt, coffee w/1 Tbsp. vanilla creamer
Lunch: pork stirfry, 1 c. rice
Snack: clif granola bar
Dinner: shrimp boil (potatoes, shrimp, corn), sweet potato fries, pimento cheese dip, 3 glasses white wine

It was tough to wake up this morning, but I am so glad we did it and got to the gym! It was a great workout, I increased my speed a little on the running part and I felt great. The real motivation for me getting out of bed was that I didn't want to miss this week's mini-goal and if I didn't go this morning, it would have been tough to get all my workouts in. That was great motivation for me!

I'm driving to Greenville after work tonight to go out with some friends. I've already looked at the menu of the restaurant where we're going out and I have a healthy option picked out for dinner. I'm going to have a few glasses of wine probably, so I may go over my calories, but it is a special occasion, so I'm okay with that. I'll also try to make up for it by having really healthy days Saturday and Sunday.

I have not had any soda all week! This has been huge for me! I did replace my morning Diet Mtn. Dew with coffee and I've really enjoyed it. Otherwise, all I've been drinking is water and it's felt really good!

I had a fabulous time in Greenville, but I did go over on calories (I'm not sure how much, but I know I went over on dinner). I made a good choice for my meal, but ended up sharing an appetizer with others and trying some sweet potato fries. And I should have stuck to one glass of wine, but it was great to kick back and catch up with my friends. I guess I did get in an extra hour and a half of cardio though, when we went dancing after dinner!

Week 2, Day 4 - January 11

Workout: Rest day

Diet:
Breakfast: banana bread, Yoplait light strawberry yogurt
Lunch: Black beans and rice, turkey sausage, grapes
Snack: banana
Dinner: fried cauliflower, chicken shwarma/rice pilaf, beef stuffed grape leaves
Snack: cherries

We had dinner at a Lebanese tapas restaurant. It was great food and really small portions, so I think did well! I also inadvertantly had a rest day - I planned on going to work out this morning but didn't tell my husband, so the alarm didn't get set. So I switched my rest day from tomorrow and I'll go run tomorrow morning.

Week 2, Day 3 - January 10

Workout: Treadmill - 21 minutes walking, 10 minutes running, 2.0 miles

Diet:
Breakfast: banana bread, banana, coffee w/1 Tbsp vanilla creamer
Lunch: Pork stirfry, 1 c. rice, grapes
Dinner: Tomato-balsamic soup (cooking light), 1/2 piece honey oat bread, 2 Tbsp hummus, 2 mini whole wheat pitas
Snack: 20 cherries

I had a great workout and felt so energized for the rest of the day!

Week 2, Day 2 - January 9

Workout: None - off day

Diet:
Breakfast: Banana bread (from Cooking Light), banana
Lunch: Black beans and rice, turkey smoked sausage
Snack: grapes, sugar free hot chocolate
Dinner: Pork Stirfry (from Eating Well), 1 c. rice
Snack: 1 Wholesome junk food bite, 1 individual bag popcorn

We were going to get up today and workout, but completely slept through the alarm. And tonight we both had work to do, so we switched our rest day to today and still have our other workouts scheduled. We haven't ran since Friday and I really miss it. I'm glad we're going in the morning!

Mini-goals:

Week 1 Recap:
Completed all Week 1 mini goals! I ran 3 times and went 5.4 miles! I ate healthily (and in my calorie range) each day! I completed the Fitness magazine workout I wanted to try and went to a BodyFlow class at my gym! Great week!

Week 2 (January 8-January 14):
1) Walk/run 3 times for a total of 6 miles.
2) Complete 2 other workouts (BodyFlow, Pilates DVD, Fitness Magazine workout, etc.).
3) Maintain healthy diet each day.
4) Drink a minimum of 64 ounces water each day and a maximum of 12 ounces diet soda.

Week 2, Day 1 - January 8

Weigh-in (first official): 166 (down from 170!)

Workout: Zen Scuplt DVD (yoga/pilates with weights)

Diet:
Breakfast: 2 eggs, 1/8 c. tomatoes, 1/8 c. green peppers, 1/8 c. ham, 1/8 c. cheddar cheese, 1/2 large whole wheat tortilla, coffee w/1 Tbsp. vanilla creamer
Lunch: 1 1/2 c. Tomato-Balsamic Soup (from Cooking Light), 1 serving Honey Oat bread
Snack: banana
Dinner: black beans and rice, turkey smoked sausage, 10 cherries
Snack: 2 "wholesome junk food" bites

A great first weigh-in! I have to admit I've been on the scale pretty much everyday, but today it's official! I feel so good about the week I had and it's nice to see the results on the scale too. My husband lost 5 pounds too - combined we're 9 pounds lighter!

Week 1, Day 6 - January 7 (Sunday)

Workout: None - rest day!

Diet:
Breakfast: 2 eggs, 1/8 c. ham, 1/8 c. tomatoes, 1/8 c. green peppers, 1Tbsp. skim milk, coffee w/ 1 Tbsp vanilla creamer
Lunch: 1/4 c. hummus, 1 whole wheat pita, baby carrots, 1/4 c. smoothie from yesterday's breakfast, 1 serving pita chips
Dinner: 1/4 rotisserie chicken (white meat), pureed butternut squash, corn, cherries
Snack: 1/2 c. milk, 1 'wholesome' junk food bite-lette, 1/2 piece honey oat bread

Another great day! I am feeling so good about myself. I feel like I have more energy, I want to work out, and I feel so good that I'm eating healthy! And, I don't feel deprived at all. I really am not missing the desserts that I would usually eat - my sweet tooth is satisfied by fruit. I got "Laura's Wholesome Junk Food Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Bite-lettes" at Whole Foods today. They are so good, taste like a cookie and have healthy ingredients! What a great find! http://www.lauraswholesomejunkfood.com/

Week 1, Day 5 - January 6 (Saturday)

Workout:
BodyFlow

Diet:
Breakfast: Fruit smoothie - 1/2 c. strawberries, 1/2 c. mango, 1 c. skim milk
Lunch: 1/4 c. hummus, 1 small whole wheat pits, baby carrots, cherries
Dinner: 1/2 goat cheese ravioli appetizer, pork medallions w/polenta, 'mini' key lime dessert, glass of pinot grigio

I had such a great start to my weekend. I did the treadmill last night, had a healthy dinner, and watched several episodes of my Office Season 2 DVD. Today I worked up early to go to the 8 a.m. BodyFlow class at my gym. It's a mix of tai chi, pilates and yoga. It was my first time to do this class and I really liked it. It got me up and going and really started the day off right.

My husband and I are going to a new restaurant tonight (well one we haven't been to before). It's called Seasons52 and their menu is based on fresh, healthy food. All of their entrees are under 500 calories and they all look so great! I think it's such a great concept, rather than having to search for the few healthy items on a menu - we can have anything. I'm trying to keep my calories low the rest of the day so we can split an appetizer and even have dessert!

Week 1, Day 4 - January 5

Workout:
Treadmill - 21.5 minutes walking, 8.5 minutes running 1.9 miles

Diet:
Breakfast: balance bar, banana
Lunch: stuffed green pepper
Snack: pear
Dinner: 1/4 c. hummus, 1 small whole wheat pita, carrots, celery
1.5 Tbsp. natural peanut butter, 1 apple
Snack: cherries, individual bag of popcorn

Great day yesterday and today! I'm ready for the weekend!

Week 1, Day 3 - January 4

Workout:
Treadmill - 21 minutes walking, 6 minutes running, 1.7 miles

Diet:
Breakfast: 2 eggs with cheese and ham, banana
Lunch: stuffed green pepper
Snack: grapes
Dinner: 2 crab cakes (from Dinner A'Fare), roasted cauliflower, cherries
Snack: 1/2 c. blueberry sorbet

We got up a little late, but still made it to the gym! I love doing my workout in the morning, even though it's a struggle for me to get up. It gets me going and I feel good all day. It also makes me want to eat healthy during the day because I'm already invested my time in working out. The cauliflower was really good, roasted with a little bit of olive oil in the oven.

Week 1, Day 2 - January 3

Workout:
Fitness magazine workout

Diet:
Breakfast: Balance bar, banana
Lunch: 2.25 oz fresh pasta, 1/2 cup bolognese sauce
Snack: None!
Dinner: Stuffed Green Pepper (from Cooking Light), cherries
Snack: individual bag light popcorn

Dinner was SO good and we have left overs. We haven't cooked much lately and it was really fun. I didn't really realize how much I missed it. Tomorrow morning is a gym day - no excuses!

Week 1, Day 1 – January 2

Workout
21 minutes walking, 5 minutes running on treadmill – 1.7 miles

Diet
Breakfast: Balance bar, banana
Lunch: ¼ c. hummus, 2 small whole wheat pitas, 8 baby carrots, 2 celery stalks, pear
Snack: none!
Dinner: 2.25 ounces fresh pasta, 1/2 c. bolognese sauce
Snack: individual bag of light popcorn, cherries

What a great first day! We woke up early and went to the gym to use the treadmill. I had a great diet day too. I'm really trying to focus on the right portions rather than cutting out certain foods entirely. I ended up a little low on calories at the end of the day, so I added a bag of popcorn (100 calories). I'm really proud of my good start.

Week 1 Mini Goals (January 2-January 7)

1) Walk/Run 3 times at gym for a total of at least 5 miles.
2) Maintain healthy diet each day.
3) Complete Fitness magazine workout (cardio/strength) at least once.
4) Complete Pilates DVD workout (or BodyFlow class at gym) at least once.

New Year, New Start, New Goals

No time is better to kick off another round of healthy habits than the New Year. I’m very optimistic that I’m going to be successful for several reasons:
1) I have the best partner, my husband, who motivates me and is trying to meet goals along with me.
2) I have realistic, attainable goals.
3) I have two huge motivations – the first is a cruise that my husband and I will go on to reward ourselves if we attain and maintain our goals as of June 30th. The second and most important is that we are considering trying to start a family sometime next year (2008) and I want to be as healthy as possible at that time.

My goal is to maintain a healthy lifestyle throughout 2008. In order to do that I will:
1) Lose a total of 22-25 pounds. I’m currently at 170, so that will put me between 145-148. I’m 5’9”, so this is a healthy weight for me. I also think it’s something that I can maintain. I’d love to be 140 again (my lowest adult weight, which lasted for all of two months or so), but I’m not sure that would be realistic and maintainable. I’m giving myself a range because fluctuations happen and I don’t want to be obsessed about every pound.
2) Exercise 4 times a week. Our plan is to go to the gym 3 mornings a week and do some exercise (gym, hike, tennis, etc) on the weekend. If we miss a morning, we’ll have to go that night – no excuses! We’re starting at 30 minutes of cardio each workout, but I’d like to increase that to at least 45 minutes of cardio and add in weight training.
3) Train to run a 5K. Even when I was working out regularly, I could never run more than a mile and a half without stopping to walk. I’d like to be able to run a whole 5K without walking. I don’t have any ambitions of being a marathon runner, but this seems like a good goal and one I would enjoy accomplishing. To help us, my husband and I each got a Nike+ kit for our ipods. It keeps track of all kinds of statistics about our running (each individual session and total).
4) Keep track of my diet and exercise through this blog. I’d like to blog every day, but at a minimum I want to post daily results even if I don’t do it on daily basis. This means I will keep track of everything I eat and each workout I do. I’ll also add mini goals each week to keep me on track and motivated.

I’m excited about being healthy. I know I can do it and with the motivation and support I have, I have no doubt I will succeed!