Encouragement

What do you do for encouragement? What do you do for fun? What do you do to make yourself happy? I don't want any of these answers to involve eating. We do have to eat to live but as far as fun we have to take the emotional attacchment connected to food away from things. Eating when happy, eating, when sad, eating when mad, eating when it's a celebration, eating when it's a termination. Do you get where I am going with that? Like I said before in my profile I have no kind of degrees or anything in this but after years of living this thing and hearing my good friends who do have degrees in this stuff I have to listen. Please believe that I still go through my ups and downs and thank God I have some lean muscle mass otherwise my gains could be far more than average. A woman's weight can fluctuate about 3-5 pounds anyways so if the scale is staying still and I am working out hard I know something is changing. Once it is moving down hopefully it is only fat loss. Try not to weigh yourself around your menstrual cycle; you will weigh heavier! I mean maybe even up to 10 pounds heavier depending on the way your body retains water. Please exercise through your menstrual cycle. I have found out that over the years it makes mine go off sooner. It is also not as painful as it was when I was younger.

So my answers to the above questions:

What do I do for encouragement? I put all my trust in the LORD! Therefore I study the word (BIBLE) so that I may be built up in his promises and what his WORD says about me. I understand that I am fearfully and wonderfully made! I also try to surround myself with others who believe the same thing. I don't stay anywhere I am only tolerated so that I may keep my confidence high!

What do you do for fun? Well to make you laugh I actually feel that my workouts are fun so anything that involves working out, dancing or moving my body. I also like doing different hairstyles.

Lastly, what do I do to make myself happy? I love to shop! I think that's a biggie for alot of women. I like to also pamper myself with spa treatments and etc.

I'm MAD and I am an Emotional Eater

I am kind of mad today cause the scale hasn't moved! What in the HECK? I have been talking with my body building friends and personal trainers and they say I have to move over a certain plateau so keep at it. Keep working hard and document everything! Don't switch up the intense workout and don't give into my upset with a Brownie Sundae or a piece of Cheesecake from the Cheesecake factory! Yes I am too an EMOTIONAL EATER!
One of my girls I hadn't spoken to in a long time contacted me on Facebook and wanted to know my tips and eating plans so she could lose her baby weight. Shoot little did she know I still felt like I had more work to do. I appreciate the compliments though! One of her biggest concerns was trying to stick to an eating plan and feeling like she had just done it in if she deviated. That's what I want to dispell. Please just pick up where you left off if you eat a favorite food. You do not continue to eat bad for a week and then say you will start over on Monday. That will get you real BIG real quick. I saw a contestant on the Biggest Loser that testifiied to that specific instance. She said her and her mother would always start a plan by Wednesday be done with it and they would say they would start over on Monday.
My new comfort foods in which #1 I am sitting here eating now are:
 #1 Air popped Popcorn (I spray mine with olive oil PAM and sprinkle with a lil Sea Salt)
 #2 Apple with unsalted Natural Almond Butter or Peanut Butter
 #3 NON-fat Yogurt
 #4 A favorite Protein bar that doesn't have a ton of sugar in it
 # 5 Roasted Endame (Crunchy cravings)

I alot of times go looking around the Health food store to see what else I can find or what is new on the market.
Oh I almost forgot the altime craving, CHOCOLATE! Well it's like sex nothing will hit the spot but the real thing......so I eat 70% or greater dark chocolate. It was hard to start choking at first but I started with Lindt and it became very good to taste. I can't go darker that 80% in most and 85% in Lindt. The serving size is 1 ounce but its so dark and you are supposed to eat it after a meal so you won't want more.

Feeling the Burn

Hello, Good Morning or Afternoon,

Man I tell you I am so tired from Jillian Michael's 30 day Shred Level 2 this morning I need a break. I had a killer leg routine and elliptical workout yesterday. Why were 5 treadmill's in the gym broken and I couldn't run? They need a miracle over at the base. I dare not run on the track in the heat because the last time I tried to run outside it did not go well. Isn't it a dramatic difference? I have been caught up reading this guy named JC's articles on his blog today, he has been kicking real knowledge. I will put some of his information on here. I think I already put one of his articles up. I am going to step out on a limb an put up a bathroom pic (YES I have on clothes) I hope that in two weeks this pick will show a difference. Have a good one!

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Oh how we love Weekends!

Good Afternoon,

I wanted to write about weekend wars with food and how sometimes it's hard to get in enough calories because the day starts later or there is not enough preplanning and the reach for favorite foods becomes inevitable.
My Saturday included a long nap so I knew it was going to be hard to get the calories in. My family and I are also avid eaters in the street. I sometimes get so busy that there are no other choices and I definitely don't want to be so hungry that I make the wrong choices. I will admit that I do not eat enough veggies sometimes on the weekend because I just don't feel up to it. I am motivating myself to eat more veggies and reduce the starchy carb intake in the weeks going forward.

Saturday:
Nutrition:
4oz of unsweetened applesauce (preworkout)
Egg white omlette w/ veggies and 2 slices of Ezekiel toast (Breakfast)
2 mini chicken breast sliders (no bun) and 1/2 sweet potato (Snack)
Blueberry/Banana Walnut Protein Shake and 2 whole wheat pancakes drizzled with Agave Nectar (Late-Lunch)
KFC Grilled Chicken Breast and homeade Sweet potato fries(Clean, stir-fried in olive oil w/sea salt (Dinner)

Total Daily Calories: 1747

Exercise: Running and Biking (40 minutes)

Sunday:
Nutrition:
Egg white veggie omlet with 2 slices Ezekiel toast(Breakfast)
Pear w/ Emerald 100 cal pack Almonds (Snack) I took this to church with me to avoid bake sales and Fish frys LOL!
Zucchini Souffle, Special K crackers w/ Laughing Cow Cheese (Lunch)
Chicken Waldorf Salad (Made clean w/ Greek Yogurt instead of Mayo)(Snack)
Chicken Breast w/ veggies and clean coleslaw (made w/ Greek Yogurt instead of Mayo)(Dinner)

Exercise:
Rest Day (only day of rest for me, I exercise 6 days a week.)

Get Your Kids Away From The TV And Start Moving

How a Regular Person can Practice Clean Eating

First Post on Blog

Hello all,

I believe in my profile I initially said that this group was for women and I apologize. It is not. Whomever feels encouraged by my blog is welcome. Come one come all. I have been on a journey for quite a while and I am finally at a place in my life where I don't feel that I have to be on a specific diet for this or that (Yo-Yo diets). Since I found Tosca Reno's Clean Eating and I have been loving it. I might not have been a perfect Angel, which throughout my Blog you will see I have cheat days ,birthdays, and etc. But overall I feel good about knowing how to make good choices. When I read her book I understand that if I am just maintaining my weight and I want to lose weight a little faster for a photo or a reunion I can reduce mu whole grain/ carbohydrate intake down to the those on the Low Glycemic index so that I get the maximum results from my workouts. I do not have to starve myself.
Currently I am doing
Exercise:
Jillian Micheal's "No More Trouble Zones" DVD and running on alternating days with one day off for Rest.

Eating:

B: Oatmeal w/ blueberries (Try 4 egg whites) I had 1 scoop protein powder and that was nasty
S: 1 slice Ezekiel cinnamon raisin toast, Pear, 1 prepackaged 2% cottage cheese by Breakstones
L: 1 cup black beans 2 cups spinach (steamed)
    1/ 2 cup greek yogurt 1 tbsp agave nectar
S: Apple w/ 100 cal pack Emerald natural almonds
D: 5 oz chicken Breast w/ 1/2 cup mixed veggies and 1 cup green beans
S: Air-popped popcorn (I had a Jello Mousse pudding which is not clean eating food just in case you need to know)

 I hope I have a successful blog that helps, motivates, and encourages people. Let's do this thing together. I have tons of ideas for southern dishes to clean them up if I am contacted. I have just been able to wean myself off alot of them and I actually crave exekiel bread, almonds, and, plain sweet potatoes.