Kitchen Gadget Bingo



It's time for another installment of Thrifty Thursday.  The day of the week when I take all of the advice I've gleaned during the week , reduce it to only the finest, and share it with all of you.


Better For You Fruits (womenshealthmag.com)
One of my favorite things about coming back to Weight Watchers and joining the new program is the fact that fruits are free.  But which fruits are the better choice?  So here's a short list of juicy fruits that give a lot of satisfaction and not a lot of calories.  And the ideas for squeezing more in are wonderful!  Think frozen berries in your iced tea or grapefruit sections in stir fry. 

Bust Out of Your Workout Rut (womenshealthmag.com)
When I was running, jumping, bouncing and sweating in a room full of 20 or 30 people, I never got bored.  The energy was intense, the music was pumping and the motivation was constant.  Now that I'm recovering and taking it easy, all of that has been gone.  This slideshow gave me some advice, ideas and even some short phrases that may become mantras as I hit the cardio equipment solo.  First up:  Setting mini goals at the gym. 

Snap Decisions tat Save You Big Pounds (fitbie.msn.com)
At first, the name of this article seems a little off.  Most of the tips involve me planning ahead of time, like knowing my coffee order before I get to the counter at 8 am!  Then I realized that all of this planning results in being able to make better decisions in an instant.  Sure, deciding how many glasses of wine I can have before I meet my girlfriends may sound like a chore, but who wants to interrupt a good night out to count calories/points/carbs?

WHAT I FOUND:  

I love office supplies.  I like iPhone accessories.  In short, I like gadgets.  This little article, about

Kitchen Tools That Keep You Thin (health.com) was created for me.

WHAT I'M USING IT FOR: 

I've printed all the slides on one page and I'm now playing a sort of Bingo game involving which gadgets I have (steamer, apple divider, kitchen scissors, small glasses and a muffin tin).  I only need a few more to win! 

What did I do now?

I've been a little off about posting this week, and for good reason!  Or at least I'm going to tell myself that.  You see, on Tuesday I put my car in a ditch.  It didn't seem to be that big of a deal, almost no damage to the car and I thought there was no damage to me.  I felt fine until I went to the gym on Tuesday night.  I first noticed that my knee didn't feel quite normal when I tried to stretch before class and couldn't lift my foot behind me to stretch my quad.  I knew it was my bad knee anyway.

Wait.  Back the truck up, we need some back story here.  In 2003 I had a pretty bad accident that involved me running an ATV into a fence post and hurling my body toward the ground at 30 mph or so.  The impact caused the bones in my leg to slam together, which in turn crushed my tibial plateau.  After weeks of waiting for the swelling to go down, the doctors put me back together with a cocktail of my bone stuff, some donor bone stuff, a metal plate and eight screws.  With about six months of physical therapy, I’ve been back to doing just about any activity I desired, including high intensity aerobics classes. 

Now, back to 2011.  Tuesday night I was stretching and noticed that something didn’t feel right.  I chose to ignore it and go through with class,  even when I felt a little discomfort while warming up.  Even when I thought I might be noticing a little more pain the usual I pushed through it.  By the time class was over my knee was swollen and I was having trouble walking.  But still on Wednesday I decided to wrap it myself and go to work.  By the end of the day the swelling had grown and was now noticeable in my leg and foot.  So Thursday morning, (after going to the dentist to get two fillings) I went to my doctor, who promptly sent me to ortho. 

Thankfully, the x-ray showed that there was nothing broken, and no problems with the 2003 fix.  Then we, they, the PA decided not to do any further tests that day.  After I left (with my Celebrex and Vicodin) I wished I had been a little pushier, since I’d really like to know what actually happened.  Instead I’m left to speculate with the help of my general doc.  Best guess is that when I hit the bank in the ditch my leg either crashed into the dash or door, or bent in a way that sprained a ligament.  Nice and specific, isn’t it?  Hopefully when I go back in three weeks I can be better about getting the information I need like; when can I go back to the gym? and what activities should I avoid? 

In the meantime my menu plan has gone out the window.  I am still hoping to make enchiladas, but it may get moved to next week.  I also just found a great sounding recipe for a way to use up the last of the leftover turkey, which obviously needs to be done soon so Sunday’s dinner may get bumped as well.  Maybe I’ll take advantage of this time of convalescence to catch up on some blog reading, blog planning and even writing!  Of course if my posts don’t make sense, I’m going to blame the pain-killers! 

What'cha Doin With All Those Eggs? ::Thrifty Thursday::

Do you, like probably half the households in America, have a truck load of pastel or brightly colored eggs at your house?  Read on, Easter survivors, read on.  It's time for another round of Thrifty Thursday.  The day of the week when I take all of the advice I've gleaned during the week and filter the best of it to you. 

WHAT I FOUND:  If you eye those hard boiled eggs every morning thinking they'd make a nice breakfast, this article from All Headline News can tell you why it's a great idea.  WHAT I GET OUT OF IT:  Other than a way to use up some of those leftover eggs, a new motivation to make time in my morning routine for a breakfast that includes eggs.  In fact, I think I'd like ot try having at least one egg or egg product in my breakfast everyday for a week to see how it effects my hunger and weight loss. 

WHAT I FOUND:  Support for snacking!  (And while the article doesn't center on eggs as much as the previous find, they play a supporting role.) WHAT I GET OUT OF IT:  Just some excellent snack ideas.  I am definitely a "type of food" snacker.  I crave salty (soup), sweet (half grapefruit sprinkled with brown sugar and broiled) or creamy (Jello-O Mousse Temptations) so the list of ideas they provide is categorized nicely.  As a plus, they provide one more way to get rid of those eggs - hard boiled egg for an 80 calorie snack!

WHAT I FOUND:  A dieter's guide to dessert.  Because let's face it, snacks are not really the course I have trouble with, it's what comes after the dinner that my or may not include eggs.  WHAT I GET OUT OF IT:  All of the tips are helpful, though possibly difficult to implement in my life. The one that hit my the hardest though was tip #4: Know dessert when you see it. 

Alright, looks like I've focused too much on food here, how about some fitness?

WHAT I FOUND:  For Better Muscle Tone: Go Lighter?  Or Load Up?  WHAT I GET OUT OF IT:  Turns out I need to be dialing up the weight on my Body Pump barbell. 

No "Find of the Week" this time because now that I've mentioned one Les Mills class, I feel the need to talk about another.  Tonight will be my first Body Attack class with the latest release.  Okay, maybe this is proof that I'm getting addicted to this exercise thing since I'm so excited for new tracks - but there are worse vices a girl could have, right?  Here's a breakdown of what I can expect to be put through tonight:

We’ll kick off with the huge hit Evacuate The Dancefloor and then Don’t Upset The Rhythm as you’ll Pony your way through Track 2.
Are You Gonna Go My Way? Track 4 brings an inspiring Rock feel that will push you to your first cardio peak, blocking high balls on the volleyball court. Do you like Track 5? I know I Like It! This song will motivate you through all those Push Ups and the Superman stability training.
Game on in Track 7! Get ready for some true American football training with the Dodge Hops and the Heisman, to fend off your opponents. The sports-inspired training is all about improving your speed, agility and fitness. Are you in?
Next, feel the Freedom in the Interval Track. Keep your posture strong and give it all you’ve got in the Knee & Kick Combo. The options are there if you need them.
You are the champion in Track 9. Keep on fighting till the end! We’ve got some intense work targeting your legs, butt and core before we Cooldown to Hold My Hand.**

Doesn't that sound like fun?  (Now if it does, and you actually live closeby, come with me!  It's free this week) 

**From Totally Les Mills (http://www.totallylesmills.com/site/BODYATTACK)

A Frenzied Friday! (And a Follow me one, Too!)

Hello friends.

I'm not normally the girl to toot her own horn about my fitness or nutrition accomplishments, but today I have to:  I made it to a 5:30 am class.  Yay me!  Not to mention I had to get up at 4:30 to do it.  Why so early?  Because we are taking a little one night trip out of town tonight and I had to pack and get ready!  In addition, I need to be leaving now to get on the road.  So just a quick update.  Going to weigh in today before leaving town since I"ll be gone in the morning.  (Can you say commitment?)

Oh and hey - it's a Follow Me Friday at the Trendy Treehouse

Come Play!

Eat better and exercise smarter.

On Wednesday I mentioned a new fitness class I was attending. I’ve considered classes before, especially when I was shopping for a gym to join, but I’ve never been sure about joining a class because I was afraid I would fall behind the rest of the class. I feared my current size, shape and weight would keep me from “fitting in.” Frankly I was afraid I couldn’t do it. In the end, I decided to join a gym with a less expensive monthly fee that only offered cardio machines & weights.

Then a friend of mine at work came up to me and showed me a catalogue from a local community college. The college was offering eight week fitness classes through various gyms in our area for a price considerably less than a two month membership. After looking through our options, we decided to go for it and joined a Tuesday/Thursday class of Body Attack™ that began this past Tuesday. I have to say I was right about some things, but wrong about a lot. I was right to expect to find a lot of thin, athletic bodies in the class. I was wrong to think I couldn’t keep up. And sure, I felt a little out of place, but I found that you hardly have time to look around and notice the other people in the class because you’re working so hard. The first night, the challenge was learning the moves. When I got done (and more importantly when I woke up the next day) I didn’t feel that tired or sore. I realized I hadn’t pushed myself as hard as I might have, using the excuse that I was overweight and couldn’t handle it. But last night, I didn’t stop until I couldn’t push anymore. Even then I made sure to carry out all of the low impact/low intensity moves with conviction. I wanted to keep my heart rate up, I wanted to reap the benefits this class was promising! I know each time I go back it’s just going to get better.

So… imagine my defeat when I stumbled across this article this morning: Exercise is NOT the Key to Weight Loss by Jon Herring.  After reading this I went in search of more supporting evidence I traveled over to WebMD and found Exercise and Weight Loss: 5 Truths by Miranda Hitti.

Seems to me it still comes down to calories in vs. calories out. As explained by MayoClinic.com,

Because 3,500 calories equals about 1 pound (0.45 kilogram) of fat, you need to burn 3,500 calories more than you take in to lose 1 pound. So if you cut 500 calories from your diet each day, you'd lose about 1 pound a week (500 calories x 7 days = 3,500 calories). Exercise along with cutting calories helps boost your weight loss. Exercise is also important for maintaining your weight and not regaining weight. (click here for article) 

Personally, I use the POINTS™ system from Weight Watchers to track the amount of points I earn through physical activity and the amount of points I’ve consumed. It helps me see what I’ve worked for and then make a conscientious decision about whether or not I should eat those points or leave them. At least now I know why I crave Dill Pickle Potato Chips after Body Attack class!