A couple weeks ago I blogged to let you all know I was beginning a nutritional eating program called Eats4Life.
In the first two weeks I lost 7 pounds, 5 of which Joanne informed me were FAT (ew!). I eat 6 times a day, rarely feel hungry, and exercise when I can. When I do feel hungry before a meal, usually before dinner as I am getting the meal ready, I eat a small piece of 75% reduced fat cheese. I used to detest cheese like this because I thought it had no flavor but my opinion has since changed and now full-fat cheese is kind of gross to me. I have noticed my clothes are starting to fit better.
It has now been 4 weeks since I started the program and I have lost 11 pounds! I am starting to feel like a new person! My jeans are getting to be too big on me. Every day I weigh myself and on the weekends I chart my weight just to especially make sure I am staying on track. On the weekends my husband measures me and I chart the inches I have lost. Most notably I have lost two inches in my chest and waist! So exciting.
Losing the weight is keeping me motivated to continue. I work out when I can; I am trying to do yoga every morning and cardio kickboxing at night but I don't end up doing it every day, it's more like a few times a week. Still it seems to be working! :)
January 31, 2011
Eating for Life continues
Yesterday was my first day on Eats4Life. I felt ok in the morning when I ate my kashi and fruit for breakfast (and didn't drink the milk). I was full; almost too full. But not 2 hours later I was shaky and feeling the urge to eat something with sugar to bring my blood sugar back up. I ate my snack, which was blueberries. I felt better and made sure to drink water all morning.
Lunch was not too different from what everyone in my office was eating (Panera was delivered by a drug rep). I had made a tuna sandwich with lite mayo and veggies. I did not get hungry again for hours. When I finally did I ate my snack: an orange and a babybel cheese.
My downfall came when I opened my desk drawer to look for something and there, staring me in the face, was a Ghiradelli dark chocolate square. I was pretty sure I had emptied all of the emergency chocolate out of my drawer before starting the program, yet there it was, and my body craved it. So I ate it.
I felt terribly guilty, but when I got home at 5:30 am and started thinking about cooking dinner (ground turkey breast with sauce and a huge salad) I was dreading eating the turkey (hate ground turkey) and was starting to get hungry so I ate a huge peanut butter cup. Then I felt REALLY guilty. Then I lifted light weights for 20 minutes.
Suprisingly when I cooked the ground turkey with garlic and added the sauce to it I found I really like ground turkey! I did not even add any seasonings, but in general it is very tasty! I was excited about this because any ground turkey I have eaten in the past was not appetizing to me.
I had a huge salad, but after dinner was still craving some carbs and ate a handful of pretzels. I also ate a chicken thigh that I had cooked for my husband! I might have to lock all of my cabinets in between my scheduled meals...
However, I do realize I am only cheating myself and won't see the results I want if I keep eating this way. This morning, though, I feel great! My breakfast was 2 egg whites and one egg with two pieces of bread and low sugar strawberry jelly. I had two cups of coffee and my snack this morning, which I forced myself to eat because I wasn't shaky or hungry, was a pear. Now I am waiting for lunch to come around when I will eat my salad with reduced fat feta and fat free dressing. I have a much more positive outlook today and do not feel I need to resist the temptation of cheating. Drinking all this water has me feeling thinner anyway and I already feel my clothes are starting to fit a little better (even after yesterday; I added up all the calories and it wasn't horrible). I feel ready to take this nutrition thing head on! :)
Lunch was not too different from what everyone in my office was eating (Panera was delivered by a drug rep). I had made a tuna sandwich with lite mayo and veggies. I did not get hungry again for hours. When I finally did I ate my snack: an orange and a babybel cheese.
My downfall came when I opened my desk drawer to look for something and there, staring me in the face, was a Ghiradelli dark chocolate square. I was pretty sure I had emptied all of the emergency chocolate out of my drawer before starting the program, yet there it was, and my body craved it. So I ate it.
I felt terribly guilty, but when I got home at 5:30 am and started thinking about cooking dinner (ground turkey breast with sauce and a huge salad) I was dreading eating the turkey (hate ground turkey) and was starting to get hungry so I ate a huge peanut butter cup. Then I felt REALLY guilty. Then I lifted light weights for 20 minutes.
Suprisingly when I cooked the ground turkey with garlic and added the sauce to it I found I really like ground turkey! I did not even add any seasonings, but in general it is very tasty! I was excited about this because any ground turkey I have eaten in the past was not appetizing to me.
I had a huge salad, but after dinner was still craving some carbs and ate a handful of pretzels. I also ate a chicken thigh that I had cooked for my husband! I might have to lock all of my cabinets in between my scheduled meals...
However, I do realize I am only cheating myself and won't see the results I want if I keep eating this way. This morning, though, I feel great! My breakfast was 2 egg whites and one egg with two pieces of bread and low sugar strawberry jelly. I had two cups of coffee and my snack this morning, which I forced myself to eat because I wasn't shaky or hungry, was a pear. Now I am waiting for lunch to come around when I will eat my salad with reduced fat feta and fat free dressing. I have a much more positive outlook today and do not feel I need to resist the temptation of cheating. Drinking all this water has me feeling thinner anyway and I already feel my clothes are starting to fit a little better (even after yesterday; I added up all the calories and it wasn't horrible). I feel ready to take this nutrition thing head on! :)
January 5, 2011
Eating for Life
Eats4Life is a nutritional program designed to help people burn fat while providing their body with the nutrition it needs to boost metabolism, stabilize blood sugar, and maintain energy levels.
When my doctor recently told me it would be recommended for me to lose weight, I felt sort of hopeless and did not know where to start. I always try to make healthy eating choices; I can't remember the last time I ate white pasta or white bread. I try to eat almonds because they are good for your health. I incorporate fruits and veggies into my meals every day. Yet I have still gained a lot of weight over the past few years and haven't managed to take any of it off. It's time for me to seek help from someone who can tell me exactly what, and how, to eat.
Joanne Dunn Hoffman is that person. She is a consultant at Eats4Life and her motto is that "You are what you eat". It's so true. I remember a time around the holidays when I knew I was not eating healthy (cookies, candy...) and I felt like crap the rest of the day. This is in opposition to how good I feel when I eat healthy for one day: I feel energized, not bloated, and thinner.
As many of you have come to know, my husband and I have found our passion in cooking. We cook things that taste good but may not be entirely healthy or healthy at all! For a long time I have been eating what I want, when I want, so as not to deprive myself and create cravings. This is obviously not the way one should be eating and I know my health is suffering.
Today, I start my program with Joanne. She has created a week-long menu for me, including breakfast, lunch, dinner, and three snacks throughout the day. My menu is based on the requirements of my body composition. She also provided me with a shopping list to do my grocery shopping for the week. The inital groceries I had to buy to start off cost me $170, however many of the ingredients I needed do not spoil quickly or I can freeze them so next week should be a lot cheaper. I am looking forward to learning how to eat for life; in the first three months I can expect to drop one-to-two pants sizes! Talk about motivation :)
You can check out Joanne's website at http://eats4life.com/about.html or by clicking on my blog title.
When my doctor recently told me it would be recommended for me to lose weight, I felt sort of hopeless and did not know where to start. I always try to make healthy eating choices; I can't remember the last time I ate white pasta or white bread. I try to eat almonds because they are good for your health. I incorporate fruits and veggies into my meals every day. Yet I have still gained a lot of weight over the past few years and haven't managed to take any of it off. It's time for me to seek help from someone who can tell me exactly what, and how, to eat.
Joanne Dunn Hoffman is that person. She is a consultant at Eats4Life and her motto is that "You are what you eat". It's so true. I remember a time around the holidays when I knew I was not eating healthy (cookies, candy...) and I felt like crap the rest of the day. This is in opposition to how good I feel when I eat healthy for one day: I feel energized, not bloated, and thinner.
As many of you have come to know, my husband and I have found our passion in cooking. We cook things that taste good but may not be entirely healthy or healthy at all! For a long time I have been eating what I want, when I want, so as not to deprive myself and create cravings. This is obviously not the way one should be eating and I know my health is suffering.
Today, I start my program with Joanne. She has created a week-long menu for me, including breakfast, lunch, dinner, and three snacks throughout the day. My menu is based on the requirements of my body composition. She also provided me with a shopping list to do my grocery shopping for the week. The inital groceries I had to buy to start off cost me $170, however many of the ingredients I needed do not spoil quickly or I can freeze them so next week should be a lot cheaper. I am looking forward to learning how to eat for life; in the first three months I can expect to drop one-to-two pants sizes! Talk about motivation :)
You can check out Joanne's website at http://eats4life.com/about.html or by clicking on my blog title.
December 13, 2010
NYC at Christmas Time
My husband and I decided to take a much-needed day off from work to go to New York City for the day because the city is always so beautiful at Christmas time. We decided to drive in, which took almost 2 hours, parked our car in a random side-street garage in Chinatown, and began trekking through the city. Our plan was breakfast in Little Italy, lunch in Chinatown, and dinner at Les Halles, the restaurant Anthony Bourdain (our fave) used to be head chef at. We also wanted to get to Central Park and then see where else the day took us.
Of course, when you plan things nothing goes the way you want so we ended up having to go with the flow, and it turned out great! We got there close to 12 pm so we ate at Sambuca's Cafe for lunch.
http://www.sambucascafe.com/
We ordered a small pizza with fresh tomatoes, mozzarella, cheese, basil, and Greek olives. The pizza could have been good...if it was cooked! It was raw dough in the middle and drenched in olive oil. MAJOR FAIL. However, they had relatively good coffee (they seemed to specialize in alcoholic coffee beverages although we just stuck with regualr coffees), and they claimed to have the best Tiramisu in Little Italy. We had to give that a try. The tiramisu was good, it was drenched in coffee liquer but it was definitely not the best I have ever had. It was pretty though :)
From here we headed to McSorley's, a super-old pub that used to be for men only back in the day.
http://www.mcsorleysnewyork.com/
There are sawdust shavings covering the floor, they serve two types of beer (light or dark) and they have a small menu. When you order a beer they pour you two because it's very foamy and the glasses are small. It's a cute place with lots of old history on the walls.
From here we went to Rockafeller Center to see the tree, of course. It is big and fluffy with the usual tacky colored lights, but it's the tree you gotta see :)
After Rockafeller we headed over to the Channel 4 Restaurant for a snack (buffalo chicken spring rolls--excellent!) and a beverage. It was cozy in there but our bartender was horrendous, unfortunately. She was not even busy and she gave us really crappy service, but the food and the time spent together was wonderful
http://leshalles.net/brasserie/
My husband ordered goose liver pate for an appetizer, which he loved. I took one bite and at first all you taste is garlic and seasonings and the texture is tolerable...then the liver flavor kicks in and I almost gagged. I am not a liver fan of any sort but my husband really enjoyed it. For his meal, he ordered the roasted Amish chicken. I'm sorry we did not get great pictures but I felt kind of crazy taking foodie pics in Anthony Bourdain's restaurant! Couldn't bring myself to use anything but my iPhone out of embarrassment. The Amish chicken was 1/2 a bird, breast served boneless and separate from the leg/thigh portion. It came with a side of au jus gravy and fries. I ordered the skirt steak with bleu cheese, medium rare, which also came with fries. Before our meals came, I told my husband I did not really want to eat the fries but guess what...when I tasted them they were just about the best I ever had! (Fried in peanut oil, according to the website) So eat them I did. My steak was amazing, perfectly cooked and the bleu cheese was served on the side. In all, I think our meal came to $68 and that included a glass of wine and a beer. Not bad for NYC!
Subscribe to:
Posts SUBSCRIBE TO MY BLOG!