If someone had told me a year ago that I would be able to run 3.1 miles (5K) without stopping, I probably would have laughed. I did not run track in high school and I did not play any sports that required an extended amount of time running (like soccer). I always thought that I would never be able to build up the lung capacity to run more than a quarter mile at a time. I have always loved to take walks outdoors and get fresh air but never attempted to train my body to run.
I have many friends that really enjoy running and last year I decided if all these people could do it without feeling like they were dying, then so could I. Some of my friends are marathon and half marathon runners so 3 miles is nowhere near impressive compared to those distances. But to me 3 miles seemed like an impossible goal.
Last May, my husband and I participated in our annual neighborhood yard sale. A couple we are good friends with (John & Kim) joined in and we had a joint yard sale. During that day, while we were sitting there between rushes of customers, we all decided that we were going to train and do the Black Cat Chase in October together. Jordan and I went that week and were fitted for running shoes and started working toward our goal.
We used the app on our phones called Couch-to-5K by The Active Network. I really enjoyed this app because it has a seamless transition between the music on your phone and the trainer's voice. This app follows the standard couch to 5K schedule that can be found online.
I was able to complete the entire schedule without stopping or going back to repeat runs and was ready for the 5K in October. I did run the entire race and my time was around 30 minutes. I was not concerned about how fast I was running but more concerned about running without walking breaks. I was very proud of myself, my husband, John, & Kim for completing the race and I hope to run more races with them in the future!!
Running helped accelerate my weight loss and fitness goals and I don't think I would have lost weight as quickly as I did without running. I encourage anyone who is even a little bit interested in running to give it a try!! If anyone has any questions I would be happy to help or try to direct you to the proper resource for getting an answer!
Sunday, March 9, 2014
Thursday, February 20, 2014
Snacks are so important!
Prior to changing my eating habits last year, I was not a person who snacked very often. I would eat larger meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and rarely ate snacks unless I was late eating a primary meal. This all changed when I started controlling my portions during my main meals. In the beginning, I felt like I was starving all the time. This lasted for approximately 2-3 months. I would bring snacks along with me to work but even then I still did not feel satisfied.
My number one problem that I realized was that I was choosing the wrong things as snacks. I was drawn to the low calorie packaged food because it was easy to log in my Lose It app and it had a long shelf life. I thought that eating 100 calorie packs during a snack time would be sufficient but I was very wrong. A lot of these products are just empty calories. Now I do not eat anything that is labeled 100 calories or any of the Weight Watchers or Special K (except the Red Berries cereal occasionally for breakfast) or South Beach diet products. If it has the word diet in it at all I stay away.
Finding snack foods that are healthy and high in fiber and/or protein is my main goal. My current snacks now consist of fruit (grapes, bananas, apples, strawberries), cheese, yogurt, peanut butter, applesauce, and other similar foods. I love vegetables but I do not care for raw vegetables unless they are in a salad but any raw vegetable would also be a good snack. I also try and buy organic or natural (no preservatives/dyes/artificial) snacks whenever possible. I try and stay away from high carb snacks during snack time since I am getting plenty of carbs during my main meals.
I started out taking 2 snacks with me to work but now I only take one. I would eat one snack in the morning and one in the afternoon. Now my body is used to the amount of calories I eat daily so I no longer feel like I'm starving all the time. Snacking definitely kept me on track during the hardest months last year.
My number one problem that I realized was that I was choosing the wrong things as snacks. I was drawn to the low calorie packaged food because it was easy to log in my Lose It app and it had a long shelf life. I thought that eating 100 calorie packs during a snack time would be sufficient but I was very wrong. A lot of these products are just empty calories. Now I do not eat anything that is labeled 100 calories or any of the Weight Watchers or Special K (except the Red Berries cereal occasionally for breakfast) or South Beach diet products. If it has the word diet in it at all I stay away.
Finding snack foods that are healthy and high in fiber and/or protein is my main goal. My current snacks now consist of fruit (grapes, bananas, apples, strawberries), cheese, yogurt, peanut butter, applesauce, and other similar foods. I love vegetables but I do not care for raw vegetables unless they are in a salad but any raw vegetable would also be a good snack. I also try and buy organic or natural (no preservatives/dyes/artificial) snacks whenever possible. I try and stay away from high carb snacks during snack time since I am getting plenty of carbs during my main meals.
I started out taking 2 snacks with me to work but now I only take one. I would eat one snack in the morning and one in the afternoon. Now my body is used to the amount of calories I eat daily so I no longer feel like I'm starving all the time. Snacking definitely kept me on track during the hardest months last year.
Saturday, February 8, 2014
Low Calorie Pizza Casserole Recipe
Here is one of our favorite low calorie recipes that I made many times last year. It is perfect for picky eaters (like my husband) and very filling.
Pizza Casserole
Ingredients:
1 lb 92% lean beef
15 oz spaghetti sauce
1 can of refrigerated pizza dough
1 1/2 cups part-skim mozzarella
Optional: Mushrooms
-Preheat oven to 425 degrees
-Grease a 9x13 casserole dish (I like glass)
-Cook beef in a skillet and drain excess fat
-Add spaghetti sauce to cooked beef
-Roll dough out into casserole dish pushing up the sides
-Pour meat mixture into dough
-Top with optional mushrooms
-Top with mozzarella cheese
-Bake in center of oven for 16 minutes
-Cut into 8ths
One eighth of the casserole is approximately 290 calories. If you decrease the leanness of the beef, you will increase your calories. This is a very hardy meal that is also kid friendly. I prefer the mushrooms while my husband does not so I only put them on half of the dish. This dish also reheats well for lunch the next day. I can make this meal for approximately $12-$14 depending on sale prices of beef.
I hope everyone has an awesome weekend!!
Pizza Casserole
Ingredients:
1 lb 92% lean beef
15 oz spaghetti sauce
1 can of refrigerated pizza dough
1 1/2 cups part-skim mozzarella
Optional: Mushrooms
-Preheat oven to 425 degrees
-Grease a 9x13 casserole dish (I like glass)
-Cook beef in a skillet and drain excess fat
-Add spaghetti sauce to cooked beef
-Roll dough out into casserole dish pushing up the sides
-Pour meat mixture into dough
-Top with optional mushrooms
-Top with mozzarella cheese
-Bake in center of oven for 16 minutes
-Cut into 8ths
One eighth of the casserole is approximately 290 calories. If you decrease the leanness of the beef, you will increase your calories. This is a very hardy meal that is also kid friendly. I prefer the mushrooms while my husband does not so I only put them on half of the dish. This dish also reheats well for lunch the next day. I can make this meal for approximately $12-$14 depending on sale prices of beef.
I hope everyone has an awesome weekend!!
Sunday, February 2, 2014
Lose it! app
The tool that has been most helpful in assisting in my weight loss is an app called Lose It! on my smart phone. With this app or on the www.loseit.com website, everything that I eat or drink is recorded. This is a very user friendly free app and is easy to set up on your phone. It is available on both android and iPhone.
When I created an account, I entered my height, age, current weight, and goal weight. Then told the app how quickly I wanted to lose weight. The options are 1/2 lb per week, 1 lb per week, 1 1/2 lbs per week, and 2 lbs per week. I chose 1 lb per week. Based on what I entered, the app calculated the number of calories I should consume in a day in order to lose one pound per week. As I lost weight, I entered my new weight into the app and the number of calories I should consume decreased gradually until I met my goal. The amount of calories that I began with was 1501 and when I met my goal it had reduced to 1396 per day. After I was finished losing weight, I went into maintain mode and my calories were increased to 1813 per day. I am still logging all calories that I consume until I am certain I can eat normally and not gain weight without the app. Here is what I have logged today so far.
Logging food into Lose It! is quite simple. If the food has a bar code on the package, just click scan bar code and the camera on your phone will activate and let you scan it and automatically add the food to your chosen meal. There is also a database where foods can be searched and selected from a list. In the food database most of the major restaurant chains are included and can be searched. I found that when we were eating out, it was beneficial look up the restaurant before going in to make sure that I knew the calories of the menu items. If the food you are eating is not in the database, then a custom food can be created and saved so that when you eat this food again, it is in the database.
The part of the app that was the most motivational for me was the community section. If you have friends who use the app, you can add them and follow their progress and they can follow yours. It keeps you accountable to multiple people every day. Others can see the amount of weight you have lost or gained (you can turn off your actual weight if you are not comfortable sharing and only the change will be visible) the last meal you ate, the number of calories you have consumed that day, and any exercise you have logged. Please feel free to friend me on Lose It! if you decide to join and I will try to assist in keeping you motivated! When Jordan and I joined we starting logging with another couple and it definitely made a difference in the food choices we made because we knew that they could see it.
Exercise can be logged to "earn" back calories for your day. Be careful not to over log your exercise or you will not see any weight loss. Before I enter any "earned" calories I should burn 2,149 calories in a day first. I track this with my Fitbit (which I will discuss in another post). The 2,149 calories are not only rigorous exercise, but calories burned during normal daily activities such as walking, sleeping, sitting, etc. The only days I usually log exercise are days in which I go out for a run.
If you decide to begin logging calories, don't forget your drinks! Sodas, milk, juice, and coffee additives all count too!
Disclaimer: I am not being paid by Lose It! to discuss this app.
When I created an account, I entered my height, age, current weight, and goal weight. Then told the app how quickly I wanted to lose weight. The options are 1/2 lb per week, 1 lb per week, 1 1/2 lbs per week, and 2 lbs per week. I chose 1 lb per week. Based on what I entered, the app calculated the number of calories I should consume in a day in order to lose one pound per week. As I lost weight, I entered my new weight into the app and the number of calories I should consume decreased gradually until I met my goal. The amount of calories that I began with was 1501 and when I met my goal it had reduced to 1396 per day. After I was finished losing weight, I went into maintain mode and my calories were increased to 1813 per day. I am still logging all calories that I consume until I am certain I can eat normally and not gain weight without the app. Here is what I have logged today so far.
Logging food into Lose It! is quite simple. If the food has a bar code on the package, just click scan bar code and the camera on your phone will activate and let you scan it and automatically add the food to your chosen meal. There is also a database where foods can be searched and selected from a list. In the food database most of the major restaurant chains are included and can be searched. I found that when we were eating out, it was beneficial look up the restaurant before going in to make sure that I knew the calories of the menu items. If the food you are eating is not in the database, then a custom food can be created and saved so that when you eat this food again, it is in the database.
The part of the app that was the most motivational for me was the community section. If you have friends who use the app, you can add them and follow their progress and they can follow yours. It keeps you accountable to multiple people every day. Others can see the amount of weight you have lost or gained (you can turn off your actual weight if you are not comfortable sharing and only the change will be visible) the last meal you ate, the number of calories you have consumed that day, and any exercise you have logged. Please feel free to friend me on Lose It! if you decide to join and I will try to assist in keeping you motivated! When Jordan and I joined we starting logging with another couple and it definitely made a difference in the food choices we made because we knew that they could see it.
Exercise can be logged to "earn" back calories for your day. Be careful not to over log your exercise or you will not see any weight loss. Before I enter any "earned" calories I should burn 2,149 calories in a day first. I track this with my Fitbit (which I will discuss in another post). The 2,149 calories are not only rigorous exercise, but calories burned during normal daily activities such as walking, sleeping, sitting, etc. The only days I usually log exercise are days in which I go out for a run.
If you decide to begin logging calories, don't forget your drinks! Sodas, milk, juice, and coffee additives all count too!
Disclaimer: I am not being paid by Lose It! to discuss this app.
Monday, January 27, 2014
The Beginning
Just about one year ago, my husband Jordan and I decided that we wanted to take control of our eating habits and exercise. Since that time, I have lost 34 lbs and Jordan has lost 85 lbs. This was most likely one of the most challenging things we have ever done. I have received many questions from friends and family on what we did to lose weight and keep it off. In this blog, it is my goal to share with you the all the tools we used, the exercise we did (and exercise we are currently doing), and some of the recipes and food changes we have made over the past year. I have put a lot of work and time into improving my quality of life. I do not like to use the word "diet" because this was not a fad. It was also not a "diet" because I will never go back to my old eating habits. I welcome any comments on Facebook or Google+. If you have specific questions, please feel free to message me or post in the comments section. If there are any comments that I deem rude or inappropriate, they will be deleted. The intention of this blog is to provide encouragement to others who may be struggling with the same issues that I have struggled with in the past.
Those of you who know me personally, know that I generally go by Christina. I decided on the name of this blog with Chris in the title. On my father's side of the family, everyone calls me Chris and have for most of my life. It is my family nickname. It is my hope to be able to open up and help others like a family member would. Please feel free to call me Chris!
Those of you who know me personally, know that I generally go by Christina. I decided on the name of this blog with Chris in the title. On my father's side of the family, everyone calls me Chris and have for most of my life. It is my family nickname. It is my hope to be able to open up and help others like a family member would. Please feel free to call me Chris!
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