It's Greek To Me

Kellen (the hubby) likes to laugh at me when I talk about my Greek heritage. Ok, so maybe I really only am 1/32 Greek, but gosh darn it, I'm proud of it!

Even though I am SO in touch with my Greek roots, I have yet to jump on the Greek yogurt bandwagon. I've tried it once or twice but I guess I am just not really a huge yogurt fan in general, so I didn't fall in love. 

At my class this week, the instructor talked about how you can substitute Greek yogurt for all kind of things. The great thing about it is it is lower in calories than some other options, but it is also FULL of protein (and we know how important that is!)

Two things one gal in the class mentioned is:

Using Greek yogurt in place of sour cream (I'm intrigued! I am a sour cream lover...)

Using Greek yogurt mixed with ranch seasoning in lieu of ranch dressing! (again... intrigued....ranch is my all time favorite dressing. In fact, I could probably eat it on almost anything!)

Have you found a cool way to use Greek yogurt? Please share!

Post Baby Weigh In Week 2: Muscle Weighs More!

The saying "muscle weighs more than fat" is ringing in my head. Let's just hope that's the explanation for my 1.2lb gain this week! :(

I won't deny I'm a little disappointed. But the facts are, I ran 5 times since that last weigh in, had a 3 day weekend with lots of eating out, and I lost 6lbs last week. The odds were not in my favor for a good loss this week. 

I am pressing forward! Now...to sleep!

Excited for Tonight

Tonight is my second official post baby weigh in. I am so excited. I've actually been looking forward to it all week. After my six pound loss last week, I'm not expecting a huge drop on the scale tonight. I honestly would be happy with even half a pound. 

It's weird how different scales are. Last week I was assuming I didn't lose any weight because my scale at home said I was still the same. Then when I get to the competition, that scale said I had lost 6 pounds. 

My scale at home is saying I haven't lost anything at all this week, yet again. So we will see! 

As far as eating goes, it's been an ok week. It's always hard when there is a three day weekend because that's one extra day where I don't really watch what I'm eating too much. It's too hard with kellen being home and having breakfast together in the mornings, lunch and dinner with friends/family to try and keep up with my same "food" routines that work for me to lose weight. I do still try to choose healthier options, but I definitely know I consume more calories on the weekend than during the week. 

Running has been going really well! I started week 3 of C25k today. I feel like I'm finally to the point where it doesn't hurt my lungs to run, which is such a great feeling. Once I get into my "pace" (slow as it  may be) I start feeling like I could do this for a while! It's so amazing to feel the way your body starts to change over just a couple of weeks of working out. 

Well, I'm off to see the results on the scale! Stay tuned!

Breastfeeding: My Journey

Today I wanted to cover a topic that I think actually has a lot to do with this whole weight loss world. Breastfeeding!

Now, when I was pregnant, I was obviously excited to have my baby and everything but breastfeeding became this amazing concept in my mind. I was going to be able to eat whatever I wanted after my baby and lose the pregnancy weight by having this tiny human being sucking it out of me! HA!

I kind of want to politely correct women who tell other pregnant mommas that they need not worry about the pregnancy weight because it will "come off as long as you nurse." For some women, this is totally true and I realize that. But for me, it just isn't enough.

Of course it's all about a calorie in, calorie out game. Breastfeeding is just another way in which your body burns calories. In that way, it's pretty stinkin cool, because there is not much physical effort involved. However, for a lot of mommas, (including myself) I think it tends to become an excuse in your mind to eat whatever you'd like because "nursing will burn it off anyway right?" and "the baby needs it!"

I remember when my sister in law was complaining about gaining so much during pregnancy and she said "but I know I need the fat stores for nursing." She is one of those natural skinny minis- so maybe she did need the extra fat stores. But maybe I should have remembered that she is she and I am I and my body had plenty of "love" to go around for this little one before he came about :)

Thus far, my baby is almost 6 months old and breastfeeding has not really cut it for me. I'm still up a significant amount of weight. I kind of shudder at the day that my baby boy weans and I am not just automatically burning those calories! Exactly why I'm starting now :)

Toxic

Have you ever had a moment where you looked back on a relationship in your past and realized how hurtful that person was to you? For some reason I believe we as humans have a hard time accepting and opening our eyes to see people in our life that don't have our best interest at heart. I myself have had plenty of unhealthy relationships where it took an outsider to say to me "Hey, they really aren't very loving to you, are they?"

I worked as a nanny before I was pregnant for a family who was like this. Yes, I was there employee and yes there are certain "boundaries" you must maintain as an employer. But these people (specifically the father) treated me like I was less of a human being than himself. It was hurtful at the time but not until after they "let me go" and I was able to reflect on that year of my life did I think to myself- why in the world did I allow someone to treat me like that? Luckily God lead me to a better family to work for out of the situation and I was reminded that there are good people to work for!

On my past get healthy journey I also ran into some so called "friends" who were not encouraging to me. Whether it be for their own insecure reasons (because I'm sure they were dealing with something to treat others this way), I still allowed those type of people a place in my life, my thoughts (which began to bring my down) but most importantly- my heart. 

One specific relationship I had to let go of a little over a year ago. I have to tell you, letting go of a friendship in any sense is difficult, no matter the situation. Luckily, I had some amazing women in my life that helped me to recognize the toxicity of this relationship and helped me walk through the process of grieving. And yes, I do believe when we move on from friendships we go through a process of grieving. My heart ached wanting that friendship that I wished I had, even though my perception of our friendship was so far off from the hurtful reality. 

The point is- I have a lot of love to give. And I'm learning to recognize that there are lots of other people in this world who need love and will return it to me in a kind, caring, and encouraging way. Friends that lift me up when I come away from time with them, instead of bringing me down. I don't deserve that- no one does.

How are you allowing others to treat you? Are there any toxic relationships in your life? You deserve so much more than that!

Couch to 5K: revisited.

I attempting the C25k once again. I completed my first sucessful session of C25k in February 2010. Up until I got pregnant that year in July, I continued to run and was able to maintain a good pace for up to about 4 miles at the most. I tried to start the "bridge to 10k" but started getting discouraged and questioned whether or not I was meant to run long distance or even whether I wanted to. 

When I got pregnant in July I had high hopes of becoming a super awesome preggo-bellied running momma. I started C25K "pregnancy edition" in August. It quickly fizzled out after two runs of feeling like my bladder would soon explode or I might find myself sleeping on a neighbors lawn out of sheer exhaustion.

Fast forward to 6 weeks post partum. The midwife officially gives me the ok to excercise again (gosh darn it, couldn't you have said I needed to wait a couple more...months?). I finally get my butt out the door a total of three times in one week (with brand new baby in tow of course). Feeling pretty stinkin proud of myself and BAM I'm hit with some kinda sickness. Motivation gone. 

So here I am, now 5.5 months post partum and I'm trying this thing again! Try, try again. right? This morning was wonderful but I was definitely reminded of how out of shape I am when I was sweating- POST shower. Eeek!

The Power of Protein!

Can I say how much i LOVELOVELOVE this weight loss competition? Not only is it a competition (which I plan to totally dominate) but it is also a Nutrition class as well. I even found out tonight that we all get a "body analysis" consultation with our Weight Loss Coach. I'm excited to find out what she has to say about my body type and hear her suggestions. 

The first class was on the ultimate tool to weight loss: protein. I definitely knew that protein was an important aspect to a healthy diet, but I don't think I realized HOW important!

Did you know that women need an average of 75-100grams of protein a day? That can be hard to do when you don't focus on including protein packed snacks into your diet!

When you don't get enough protein in your diet, your body pulls it from your muscles. It starts with your heart...yikes! It can be really dangerous not to get enough protein in your diet, especially if you are exercising.

Protein helps in building lean muscle mass. This is crucial in losing and maintaining a weight loss. Did you know that more muscle mass equals higher metabolism and higher calorie burn?

According to what I learned tonight, 50% of our protein intake should come from meat, and 50% from a plant based food. 

So far, I'm finding my favorite sources of protein are hard boiled eggs, almonds, turkey sandwiches, and tuna!

What's your favorite protein packed snack?