Wednesday, February 20, 2008

The Biggest Loser

Has anyone been watching this show?  I love it!  Every time I watch it I feel like I could run 5 miles, lol… but alas I never seem to Well tonight I had even more motivation to lose the weight.  I’m not sure what week we’re in, but I know its pretty far along in the season and I just figured something out!

Do you know the brothers Mark and Jay?  It wasn’t until tonights episode when they sent him home that I realized that I knew him!  I had always thought he looked familiar but I just figured he looked like every other guy from Mass that I used to know.  Turns out that we went to the same Catholic school.  He was in a grade ahead of me, and since our school was so small (25 people or so in each class total), we used to hang out together!  One Halloween party we were playing spin the bottle and I had to kiss Mark Kruger in a closet for like 7 minutes How funny is that!  He had gained so much weight that I totally didn’t recognize him (well, I did think he looked familiar) but when he started to lose the weight the nagging feeling that I really knew him got even more so.  I remember having gym with him, and seeing him walk down the hall in his catholic school uniform.  It’s funny, as soon as I saw his family, I was like “I KNOW HIM!” See, even in 8th grade, Mark looked pretty good!  He was sort of gawky, but still cute.  Gosh we went through 7 years of school together and I don’t remember him ever being overweight. 

I guess it just hit me tonight that if he can do it, I can too! I don’t know why, maybe because I remember him way back when, maybe because I’m totally jealous that he is doing it on the show that I want to be on, lol, but still.. I can do this! 

Last week if you remember I decided to start from scratch and begin again and do better.  Well, not so much this week! OMG - today I just went crazy.  I found a bag of chocolate left over from Halloween that I had stashed so I wouldn’t eat it.  A FULL bag.  Guess where that entire bag is now? Yepper, in my tummy :( It was a mix of Hershey’s chocolates - I ate probably close to 30 miniatures easily.  I was like a woman obsessed - I just couldn’t stop!  Now I feel huge and when added up my points total was about 30 - 1 for each point I ate.  WTF is that about? I don’t even LIKE chocolate!  But yet, I binged and I could not stop.  I then almost got into my car to go to the store to get some ice cream.  I think I have finally lost it.  I didn’t walk today as part of my couch to 5K - I just spent the day eating.  It’s not time for my period, I’m not depressed, I’m not sad, I’m not bored… I’m just eating. 

Tomorrow I will just have to get back on track.  I feel like I have been depriving myself for so long, but i haven’t been losing weight so I couldn’t have been depriving myself too much!  Ugh - I feel like the Biggest Loser now :(

Anyhow - this just goes to show you that everyone can have a bad day (or a bad few months) but it is what we do the next day that will really make the difference.  Wednesday I am going to take my before pictures, and I’m even going to show my tummy - even if I can’t win a prize I have to find some way to motivate myself into losing weight and getting back on track!!

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Abs, Prizes and a Contest. Oh My!

I don’t know about the rest of you, but my abs are easily the sore spot of my bod. No, they don’t hurt me. They are the part of me that I use to judge how fit I am. I look at my stomach and what do I see? Well, I need a tan. But that is not what I am writing about today. I have some stretch marks. Not much I can do about that at the moment. Damn kids. I see some saggy skin. I think that is what happens in the process of dropping almost 50 pounds....up until about 2 months ago, it was what I didn’t see that was frustrating me. I didn’t see muscle. NOTHING. I was one big blob of jiggly blubber.

I learned about 12 years ago, how to do a proper sit up. Today, I am passing that knowledge on to you because most people waste so much energy doing them wrong.  Did you know, that you do not, I repeat, do NOT go all the way to your knees? That is the wrong way to do them. You also, don’t rock or curl your head. You don’t lock your feet under the couch. You don’t curl your chin up to your chest and you DON’T hold your breath. I know it’s a lot to think about.

It’s not that difficult to make the necessary changes. To do ab work successfully, without wasting a bunch of energy, you just need to do a few simple things.

1. Lie down on a firm floor. Use a carpet or a mat if necessary.
2. Place your feet on a chair or low table so that they are at a 90 degree angle. If there is no table or chair available, place your feet flat on the floor as close to your tush as possible.
3. Concentrate on keeping your upper back and neck in a straight line. When I started doing ab work this way, I used to imagine a string on my chin that would pull my CHIN to the ceiling. This keeps your neck straight.
4. Place your hands behind your NECK (not your head) and simply use your hands to support your neck. Not to lift your head.
5. Bring your torso up to no more than a 30 degree angle, hold for 1 second and then take your bod back to a laying position. I count in my head for three counts. 1 - up, 1 - hold, 1 - down. Wash rinse and repeat.

Now, the big question is....how many of these lovely things do I do?  If you have doing them incorrectly, this way is finally going to use your actual ab muscles. I recommend that you start slow. I do abs, three days per week. I coincide the ab work out with my TKD classes. Start your first day with 10. Adding 5 each day that you work out until you are completing 50 in one set 3 times per week. Doing more than 50 will do nothing for you other than make you sore. If you are a super woman and feel that you need more, work up to doing abs every day instead of doing multiple sets.

I have been using this technique since I began in October. It is slow going. I haven’t killed myself and as of today, I can say that I have a 2 pack. Not a 6...not even a 4. But I can definitely see those ab muscles now when I stand in front of a mirror.

Which brings me to the next contest. You recall that beautiful gift certificate that we tried to give away a few weeks ago. Well, I still have it. And it’s taking up valuable space on my desk. So here is what I am going to do. Most of our readers here, have a blog of their own. MOST of you have your very own fitness blogs where you are keeping track of your work outs and your progress. I want you to take a photo of your abs. This will constitute your BEFORE shot for your brand spanking new ab work out that you just read about.  Post this photo on your blog and link it back here to this post, so people know what in the hell you are doing. And then let us know.

I know that some of you are rolling your eyes already. The thought of baring your midriff is daunting. Think of it as your belly send off though. You want to record this before belly so that you don’t get it back once it’s gone right? Post the darn photo. It will give you incentive and make you happy one those belly’s are gone. Once you post, your name will go into my OWW hat for a drawing to win that fabulous gift certificate for Ebay.  Deadline for entries is February 28 at midnight. I will draw the winning name on Friday February 29th.

NOW, I need to award the Skinny Bitch books. We had two people that expressed an interest in my offer. So those two lucky ladies will be receiving their very own copy of the book that changed my life. Congrats to Blus-Zoo and Happy!!! Now ladies, please email me with your shipping info so I can get your books off to you. Shelahd at gmail dot com.

Happy Tuesday everyone. Ciao.

Monday, February 18, 2008

The Truth About Chinese Food

Big Shocker - Chinese food is unhealthy for you!

A lot of you are now saying, “um, duh!” because you may have already known this.. But did you know HOW unhealthy it is for you? 

According to a study last year, Chinese restaurants have unacceptable levels of fat and sodium in their food.  And we’re not talking just a “little” unacceptable either!  There is no question that as Americans (or Canadians here in some cases) have taken a liking towards sweet, salty sauces and dishes that include many of their deep fried meats such as General Tso’s chicken and sweet and sour pork.  When served with fried rice you are basically ordering a heart attack right then and there.  Chinese food also is made with a ton of oil and thick soy sauce which although gives it a great flavor, just clogs up the arteries each and every time you put a forkful in your mouth. 

That doesn’t mean that you can stick to the stir-fry veggies as some people assume you can.  They are just as bad… they still contain more oil and fat then if you were to cook it at home.  Usually, if cooked at home you may use around 2 tablespoons of oil, but in a restaurant where they are trying to cook it faster and with more flavor, they can use as many as 15 tablespoons of oil! Sure, they pour “most” of the oil off, but not enough to stop it from containing at least 10 tablespoons of full fledged oil.  We’re not talking extra-virgin olive oil either.  We’re talking heart-attack producing vegetable oil. 

Even some of the dry foods that don’t look they contain any oil at all have been deep fried to speed up the process of cooking.  Well, that explains why when I order a boneless sparerib combination plate it is ready in just 5 minutes!  What is more interesting than the fact that Chinese food is unhealthy (which c’mon be honest… you sort of knew already) is that many Chinese restaurants have two types of foods - one that caters to Americans which is full of taste and fat and oil, and then one for Chinese Americans which is much lower fat, usually steamed rather than fried, and much healthier.  Chinese-Americans are already very conscious how how fatty and bad for you that food is, so they simple order food from “the Chinese menu” which most Americans never see! 

So, the next time you head to a Chinese restaurant, you need to ask them to make it with little to no oil, steam it instead of fry it, and basically ask for the low-fat version.  Most, if not all, will do it for you because they already cook it that way, you just have to ask for it!

Oh wait - don’t even get me started on the sodium content.  High blood pressure look out!  Most dishes come with at least 400mg of sodium if not more.

Just to give you an idea - here are some of the popular Chinese foods and their calorie and fat count, as well as some healthier options:

Fried Wontons (usually a bowl of 6 to 10 come in each appetizer) - 110 calories per wonton, 8g fat, 6.5 carbs
Fried Dim Sum - 177 per serving, 8.5 grams of fat (steamed dim sum has only 100 calories per serving!)
Egg roll - 200 calories, 2 g saturated fat (spring roll has only 100)
Stir-fried greens (sounds healthy right??) - A Whopping 900 calories!!!
General Tso’s - 1300 calories, 22g of fat
Orange Beef - 1500 calories - 28g of fat
Beef with broccoli (another seemingly healthy choice) - 900 calories, 18g of fat
Lo Mein - 1,100 calories
Chow Mein - 1300 calories
Fried Rich - 1500 calories, 25g of fat

As you can see - not quite what you expected!  If I were to get my General Tso’s chicken combo with fried rice and egg roll and at the entire thing (which totally can be done!), I would be eating 3000 calories and about 55 grams of fat - FOR ONE MEAL!

Um, yeah, I think I’ll be skipping Chinese dinners from now on, or making them at home which is a MUCH healthier option!