I decided to cancel my birthday party at the cabin in PA... When I realized how much it was all going to cost I decided I should save that money for the Caribbean trip in October. A bit of a bummer, but the trip is really my present- and I would of course much rather go to the Caribbean than Pa.
It looks like we are going to go to the Dominican. The agent tells us its the best white beaches and that beautiful blue water. I cant wait- I am really excited about it. We are probably going the last week in October. Andrea and I are both turning 30 so its kind of a big bday celebration for both of us. We want to save money after this trip, though, and go to Negril Jamaica in a couple of years.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Fat loss and muscle gain
I have discovered a few new things that I want to post here, and if it is helpful to other people that is wonderful. Weight loss can be very confusing for alot of people, and they tend to give up because they think there is just some big secret that they will never learn about it. This is absolutely not true.
Weight loss is completely mathematical. Everyone knows that the food you eat is used by your body for energy. Also, you dont have to be a nutritionist to have an idea of what is good food and what is bad food. We know that when you eat at a restaurant, the food os not prepared in the same way that you would cook it at home- and therefore not as good for you. We all know that a burger and fries at a fast food place is not as good for you as a burger and fries can be at home.
I have discovered that it is all about calories into your body vs. calories you burn up with activity.
From my experience it does not matter what food the calories come from- but the amount of calories. Now, again- should you eat healthy food or snicker bars... We all know that answers to these questions. There is nothing wrong with having chocolate, ice cream, chips, etc.. but in strict and reasonable amounts. The key to all of this is being aware of how many calories are in the food you are eating and keeping very close track of it.
I still go out to eat occasionally, but I usually look at the restaurants food nutrition info before I even go and know what Im going to order before I even get there. For example- I know if I want to go to Subway that a 6 in turkey sub with light mayo and cheese, veg, has x amount of calories.
I also keep a small notebook in my kitchen with the date and I write down every single thing that goes in my mouth, and keep track of the calories Im consuming. It does not work to mentally keep tabs on things- this is absolutely not accurate.
Before I started losing weight, I "mentally" took tabs of the calories I thought I was eating. As it turns out I was eating alot more than I thought I was. This is most effective only if you write down everything you eat, as well as the calories. My weight loss took off when I started keeping track o fmy calories this way.
Now I have previously posted here about websites that are good to help you figure out how many calories you need to maintain or lose weight- and it is different for both men and women so be sure to keep that in mind in your search. This is the website I use to determine to calories needs. This is for women: http://www.caloriecontrol.org/healthy-weight-tool-kit/weight-maintenance-calculator-women
Again, I find it is not so much what you eat as how much you eat, and also how much you exercise. I use the elliptical trainer at the gym 4 days a week for 30 min. I burn 300 calories per session. I eat 1200-1340 calories per day, and I lose 1 lb. per week.
As of this weekend I have reached my goal weight of 135lbs. I have lost 7% body fat and now have a healthy body fat percentage for women in my age group.
Another thing is muscle burns more calories than fat, so the more muscle you have the more calories you will burn just by doing nothing every day. Thats a long story so look it up online for more, but my point is I discovered something new about that today. I was always told at the gym that you have to do cardio and strength training at the same time to get results. However, I am simply not able to at this point. I work at 5am and the amount of time I put in the gym already is quite alot for me to keep up with.
I have done some research on this and have found that you are not supposed to burn body fat (and cut calories in the process) and attempt to build muscle at the same time because it just simply will not work. You are confusing your body and it wont know what to do with itself. The advice I found was that you should focus on reducing body fat (women in my age group is 21-32% is healthy body fat percentage) and once you get to the point that you feel you have lost enough fat- then switch to strength training (muscle gain) and adjust your calorie needs to that.
Here is a an idea of healthy body fat percentages.
It is absolutely 100% in your best interest to have lean muscle mass but you should definitely wai until you have lost the proper amount of body fat to try to start achieving that.
Looking in the mirror I still see areas that I want to slim down, though generally I like what I see. My new goal is another 10-15 lbs, which is very much still in the healthy weight range for my height and frame size.
Another very helpful website, videos actually, is Body Performance Television on youtube. I really learned alot from this trainer, and I think he is the main reason I got on track with weight loss.
It takes time and patience but stick with it and you will see results. Some weeks you wont see the scales go down, and others it will drop more than you expect. Also, never weigh yourself after eating or drinking. Always weigh yourself first thing in the morning before you eat or drink, an after going to the bathroom. Sounds silly, I know, but this is the correct and most accurate way of doing it.
Some useful tricks when cutting calories is to find foods that are really low calore that you can eat for snacks. I eat a Yoplait Source yogurt and it only has 35 cal per serving. I eat dry Life cereal in between meals. It curbs any cravings for crunchy or sweet foods.
I have not cut anything out of my diet. I eat bread every day- 2-4 slices at times. A common day for me looks like this:
B: 1 toast 85 with butter 35, coffee 30
Sn: 1 apple (negative calorie food which means free)
L: 2 slices bread 170, turkey 50, mustard 0, lettuce (neg. cal. food=free) tomato (neg. cal. food=free), dry Life cereal 120
Sn: fruit (usually blackberries, or grapefruit, or strawberries) or Life 120
Su: I try to keep supper aroud 300-400 cal. Maybe soup, and a piece of bread w/butter
It is smart to not eat red meat- eat poultry and fish instead. Im not crazy about fish unless its breaded with a side of chips so that wont work! I eat chicken mainly. A good trick I have found is that our grocery store sells little roasted chickens and I buy one of those, clean all the meat off of it, and use that meat for lunch the rest of the week. I eat chicken burgers instead of hamburgers. I buy frozen seasoned chicken breasts that are 100 cal per breast.
Life is my go to snack anytime I feel munchy or downright hungry- which I never feel hungry or deprived. I find that dry cereal in general is a good snack because it fulfills cookie cravings or cracker cravings etc..
You do have to get used to the fact that you cant always have what you want. Crackers and cookies are just simply terrible for you, and are not worth the number of calories that are in them. That doesnt mean you can never eat them again, but you have to work it into your calorie amount per day and behave yourself. You have to find ways of replacing those things with something with less calories. And always mind the "serving" size and count your calories
accordingly.
All in all, it is very simple. Please feel free to ask any question, I am happy to help.
Weight loss is completely mathematical. Everyone knows that the food you eat is used by your body for energy. Also, you dont have to be a nutritionist to have an idea of what is good food and what is bad food. We know that when you eat at a restaurant, the food os not prepared in the same way that you would cook it at home- and therefore not as good for you. We all know that a burger and fries at a fast food place is not as good for you as a burger and fries can be at home.
I have discovered that it is all about calories into your body vs. calories you burn up with activity.
From my experience it does not matter what food the calories come from- but the amount of calories. Now, again- should you eat healthy food or snicker bars... We all know that answers to these questions. There is nothing wrong with having chocolate, ice cream, chips, etc.. but in strict and reasonable amounts. The key to all of this is being aware of how many calories are in the food you are eating and keeping very close track of it.
I still go out to eat occasionally, but I usually look at the restaurants food nutrition info before I even go and know what Im going to order before I even get there. For example- I know if I want to go to Subway that a 6 in turkey sub with light mayo and cheese, veg, has x amount of calories.
I also keep a small notebook in my kitchen with the date and I write down every single thing that goes in my mouth, and keep track of the calories Im consuming. It does not work to mentally keep tabs on things- this is absolutely not accurate.
Before I started losing weight, I "mentally" took tabs of the calories I thought I was eating. As it turns out I was eating alot more than I thought I was. This is most effective only if you write down everything you eat, as well as the calories. My weight loss took off when I started keeping track o fmy calories this way.
Now I have previously posted here about websites that are good to help you figure out how many calories you need to maintain or lose weight- and it is different for both men and women so be sure to keep that in mind in your search. This is the website I use to determine to calories needs. This is for women: http://www.caloriecontrol.org/healthy-weight-tool-kit/weight-maintenance-calculator-women
Again, I find it is not so much what you eat as how much you eat, and also how much you exercise. I use the elliptical trainer at the gym 4 days a week for 30 min. I burn 300 calories per session. I eat 1200-1340 calories per day, and I lose 1 lb. per week.
As of this weekend I have reached my goal weight of 135lbs. I have lost 7% body fat and now have a healthy body fat percentage for women in my age group.
Another thing is muscle burns more calories than fat, so the more muscle you have the more calories you will burn just by doing nothing every day. Thats a long story so look it up online for more, but my point is I discovered something new about that today. I was always told at the gym that you have to do cardio and strength training at the same time to get results. However, I am simply not able to at this point. I work at 5am and the amount of time I put in the gym already is quite alot for me to keep up with.
I have done some research on this and have found that you are not supposed to burn body fat (and cut calories in the process) and attempt to build muscle at the same time because it just simply will not work. You are confusing your body and it wont know what to do with itself. The advice I found was that you should focus on reducing body fat (women in my age group is 21-32% is healthy body fat percentage) and once you get to the point that you feel you have lost enough fat- then switch to strength training (muscle gain) and adjust your calorie needs to that.
Here is a an idea of healthy body fat percentages.
It is absolutely 100% in your best interest to have lean muscle mass but you should definitely wai until you have lost the proper amount of body fat to try to start achieving that.
Looking in the mirror I still see areas that I want to slim down, though generally I like what I see. My new goal is another 10-15 lbs, which is very much still in the healthy weight range for my height and frame size.
Another very helpful website, videos actually, is Body Performance Television on youtube. I really learned alot from this trainer, and I think he is the main reason I got on track with weight loss.
It takes time and patience but stick with it and you will see results. Some weeks you wont see the scales go down, and others it will drop more than you expect. Also, never weigh yourself after eating or drinking. Always weigh yourself first thing in the morning before you eat or drink, an after going to the bathroom. Sounds silly, I know, but this is the correct and most accurate way of doing it.
Some useful tricks when cutting calories is to find foods that are really low calore that you can eat for snacks. I eat a Yoplait Source yogurt and it only has 35 cal per serving. I eat dry Life cereal in between meals. It curbs any cravings for crunchy or sweet foods.
I have not cut anything out of my diet. I eat bread every day- 2-4 slices at times. A common day for me looks like this:
B: 1 toast 85 with butter 35, coffee 30
Sn: 1 apple (negative calorie food which means free)
L: 2 slices bread 170, turkey 50, mustard 0, lettuce (neg. cal. food=free) tomato (neg. cal. food=free), dry Life cereal 120
Sn: fruit (usually blackberries, or grapefruit, or strawberries) or Life 120
Su: I try to keep supper aroud 300-400 cal. Maybe soup, and a piece of bread w/butter
It is smart to not eat red meat- eat poultry and fish instead. Im not crazy about fish unless its breaded with a side of chips so that wont work! I eat chicken mainly. A good trick I have found is that our grocery store sells little roasted chickens and I buy one of those, clean all the meat off of it, and use that meat for lunch the rest of the week. I eat chicken burgers instead of hamburgers. I buy frozen seasoned chicken breasts that are 100 cal per breast.
Life is my go to snack anytime I feel munchy or downright hungry- which I never feel hungry or deprived. I find that dry cereal in general is a good snack because it fulfills cookie cravings or cracker cravings etc..
You do have to get used to the fact that you cant always have what you want. Crackers and cookies are just simply terrible for you, and are not worth the number of calories that are in them. That doesnt mean you can never eat them again, but you have to work it into your calorie amount per day and behave yourself. You have to find ways of replacing those things with something with less calories. And always mind the "serving" size and count your calories
accordingly.
All in all, it is very simple. Please feel free to ask any question, I am happy to help.
Friday, August 14, 2009
hot, hot, hot
Well, the summer heat is finally catching us up. We got away with a really cool summer, until now. This weekend is supposed to be very, very hot. Im going to try to go to the beach with Andrea at some point. Actually, thats a good example of how cool it has been- I havent even been to the beach yet. Normally Im there every weekend.
It is the plan at this point for me and Andrea to go to the Caribbean this Fall- probably October. Dan doesnt want to go. He's not a beach, or hot weather person. Im not sure where we will go yet, possibly the Dominican or Jamaica. We still have to go and see a travel agent about everything. It will be very exciting. I have never been to a tropical place before, and I have always wanted to see that blue water. Will write more when I have details.
It is the plan at this point for me and Andrea to go to the Caribbean this Fall- probably October. Dan doesnt want to go. He's not a beach, or hot weather person. Im not sure where we will go yet, possibly the Dominican or Jamaica. We still have to go and see a travel agent about everything. It will be very exciting. I have never been to a tropical place before, and I have always wanted to see that blue water. Will write more when I have details.
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Fergus Highland Games
I ended up getting my book signed by Diana Gabaldon before the tattoo last night at the Fergus Highland Games. We were going to go to the tattoo, and again on Sunday for the actual games and the book signing- but the weather forecast turned to rain.
Its a bummer, but at least we got to go last night. It was awesome, as always.
I love these books so much that I've decided to get them all in hardcover. I ordered Outlander a couple of weeks ago so that she could sign it this weekend.
I have three signed now.
Here is a picture of me getting my copy of Outlander signed. :-D
Its a bummer, but at least we got to go last night. It was awesome, as always.
I love these books so much that I've decided to get them all in hardcover. I ordered Outlander a couple of weeks ago so that she could sign it this weekend.
I have three signed now.
Here is a picture of me getting my copy of Outlander signed. :-D
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