The Idiots Guide To Cooking For Dummies
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Staying healthy and losing weight
Feb. 26, 2008 at 11:19 AM
by
goddessmonica
posted to The Idiots Guide To Cooking For Dummies
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This week I have embarked on losing weight again. I have followed a lifestyle, really, of eating certain foods and exercising and have found that when I stick to it I don't gain weight and I feel fantastic! I'm going to share how I do it.
First, and most important, I read labels on everything! Seriously, I can tell you by name brand which yogurts are really good for you and which ones are loaded with crap. Yeah. Yogurt. I was stunned to find how many are packed with corn syrup. (Stay away from Yoplait)
I do not eat the following:
white sugar
white, enriched flour
corn syrup!!!!!!!! Never. Seriously. It shouldn't even be classified as food.
partially hydrogenated oil, better known as shortening
margarine
These are the things I make sure to eat often:
broccoli
spinach
blueberries
grapefruit
steel cut oatmeal
eggs
oily fish, like salmon
lean meat and chicken without skin
tomatoes
whole grain anything! Not whole wheat. They are completely different.
green tea
black coffee
red wine
The black coffee and red wine are loaded with antioxidants. They help boost your immune system and keep you from aging quickly. Yep. The stuff is great for your eyes and skin!
On a typical day this is what my diet looks like:
Breakfast
Steel cut oatmeal with fresh berries, a grapefruit and black coffee
Morning snack
non-fat yogurt
Lunch
Baked tilapia and grilled veggies with Italian dressing (I used fat free Italian dressing when cooking vegetables a lot.) brown rice
Afternoon snack
Slim fast ultima bar (They're as close to candy as you can get, and really filling)
Dinner
Grilled chicken breast over super salad with a whole grain roll
Evening snack
fat-free frozen yogurt, and if I'm really feeling spunky I make No Pudge brownies to go with it.
I swear I'm never hungry. It works. The more often you eat, the quicker your metabolism works. Plain and simple, if you're not eating your body is storing fat.
On to exercise! Whoohoo!
Let me start by saying I f-ing hate working out. I'm not a runner. I think step aerobics is stupid and elliptical machines were put here by the Devil himself. In fact, if I believed in hell, I think it would be a crowded fitness club with lots of mirrors and ellipticals and muscle-heads. Ugh.
I have learned, from many personal trainers, that the biggest mistake that women make when trying to lose weight is over-doing the cardio and ignoring weight and resistance training.
For example, last year I noticed that my weight loss had leveled. I could not, for the life of me figure out why? I was doing 45 minutes on the treadmill 6 days a week. I talked to a trainer at the gym and she told me that, for a lack of a better analogy, your body "gets bored" and doesn't respond to the same old exercise after awhile. She introduced me to weight and resistance training.
At first I was skeptical because I didn't want to bulk up. See, for years I thought that's what would happen. I didn't want huge biceps or calves. I wanted to be leaner.
This part is very important, so I'll bold it. Weight training burns more calories than cardio! It speeds your metabolism! So, pick up those eight-pound weights and get moving!
I balance out my exercise regiment with yoga. The poses strengthen the core. It helps with flexibility and concentration. Plus.... it burns a ton of fat! Oh, and as a bonus you're really clear-headed afterward.
OK, I'll get off my soapbox for now. It's time for my yogurt anyway. I'll post some of my tried and true "wellness" (cause we're not going to call it "diet") recipes soon.
First, and most important, I read labels on everything! Seriously, I can tell you by name brand which yogurts are really good for you and which ones are loaded with crap. Yeah. Yogurt. I was stunned to find how many are packed with corn syrup. (Stay away from Yoplait)
I do not eat the following:
white sugar
white, enriched flour
corn syrup!!!!!!!! Never. Seriously. It shouldn't even be classified as food.
partially hydrogenated oil, better known as shortening
margarine
These are the things I make sure to eat often:
broccoli
spinach
blueberries
grapefruit
steel cut oatmeal
eggs
oily fish, like salmon
lean meat and chicken without skin
tomatoes
whole grain anything! Not whole wheat. They are completely different.
green tea
black coffee
red wine
The black coffee and red wine are loaded with antioxidants. They help boost your immune system and keep you from aging quickly. Yep. The stuff is great for your eyes and skin!
On a typical day this is what my diet looks like:
Breakfast
Steel cut oatmeal with fresh berries, a grapefruit and black coffee
Morning snack
non-fat yogurt
Lunch
Baked tilapia and grilled veggies with Italian dressing (I used fat free Italian dressing when cooking vegetables a lot.) brown rice
Afternoon snack
Slim fast ultima bar (They're as close to candy as you can get, and really filling)
Dinner
Grilled chicken breast over super salad with a whole grain roll
Evening snack
fat-free frozen yogurt, and if I'm really feeling spunky I make No Pudge brownies to go with it.
I swear I'm never hungry. It works. The more often you eat, the quicker your metabolism works. Plain and simple, if you're not eating your body is storing fat.
On to exercise! Whoohoo!
Let me start by saying I f-ing hate working out. I'm not a runner. I think step aerobics is stupid and elliptical machines were put here by the Devil himself. In fact, if I believed in hell, I think it would be a crowded fitness club with lots of mirrors and ellipticals and muscle-heads. Ugh.
I have learned, from many personal trainers, that the biggest mistake that women make when trying to lose weight is over-doing the cardio and ignoring weight and resistance training.
For example, last year I noticed that my weight loss had leveled. I could not, for the life of me figure out why? I was doing 45 minutes on the treadmill 6 days a week. I talked to a trainer at the gym and she told me that, for a lack of a better analogy, your body "gets bored" and doesn't respond to the same old exercise after awhile. She introduced me to weight and resistance training.
At first I was skeptical because I didn't want to bulk up. See, for years I thought that's what would happen. I didn't want huge biceps or calves. I wanted to be leaner.
This part is very important, so I'll bold it. Weight training burns more calories than cardio! It speeds your metabolism! So, pick up those eight-pound weights and get moving!
I balance out my exercise regiment with yoga. The poses strengthen the core. It helps with flexibility and concentration. Plus.... it burns a ton of fat! Oh, and as a bonus you're really clear-headed afterward.
OK, I'll get off my soapbox for now. It's time for my yogurt anyway. I'll post some of my tried and true "wellness" (cause we're not going to call it "diet") recipes soon.
Written by goddessmonica on Feb. 26, 2008 at 11:19 AM
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Replies:
1-4 of 4 replies
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by Fistandantalus on Feb. 26, 2008 at 11:39 AM
I'm here backing Monica up. She's absolutely right about everything. And that weight training...ahhhh...it's fantastic. I use Joyce Verdral's modified pyramid system. Feel like a brand-new gal afterward!
Unlike Monica, I actually love the elliptical trainer--I just wish ours had the arm thingies too! |
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by goddessmonica on Feb. 26, 2008 at 12:40 PM
Eric loves the elliptical, too. I've witnessed him go non-stop on a 10 incline for 40 minutes straight. He's so freakin' fit!
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by JaynaMarie on Mar. 11, 2008 at 12:13 AM
I've never lost inches faster than when I began doing P90X fitness program-which alternates between cardio and strength training. You posted that strength training burns more calories, which it does kick butt, but it also builds muscle which burns more calories even when your not working out. I LOVE IT!!!!
Now, if I could just get my healthy eating back in order I would be in heaven. I used to eat so healthy and be in great shape and great weight...and then I traveled for 2 months where I had others cooking for me and just didn't have much control (don't get me wrong-I take full responsibility for everything that went in my mouth but harder when I'm not doing the cooking). |
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by jlknudsen5478 on Mar. 11, 2008 at 12:41 AM
I think I'm too scatterbrained to keep up with all those details, Monica. I did lose 40lbs last year by cutting all refined sugar out of my diet (no cokes, no chocolate, no ice cream, etc) Now I've maintained this weight for a year and I need to find something else to cut back or change to lose the last 20. Any ideas?
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