Sine Qua Non

Feeling Peckish?

When I started C2BF in January, a large part of my struggle with the C2BF program was eating snacks, not because I didn't want to eat, but because I ate the same thing every day- raosted turkey breast or a protein shake. I  had gotten in the habit of just forcing them down. Now that I'm weeks down the road, and I have played around with ideas, there are some things I actually look forward to snacking on. I need to ask Hollywood and Slim about their snacks too, cause from what I recall from the food logs, they snack "well". For the below- P= Protein, C= Carbs and G=Grams.

Here are some things I enjoy eating:

Baked Tofu: I get the stuff at Fred Meyer in the Natural refrigerator section (3 ounces= 17g P and 11 C). For a snack I usually have 1/2 portion- and then throw in some sliced chicken or turkey breast (that I bake myself) or a handful of nuts. I am going to try my hand at baking my own this week. Hollywood talked me through it, and I think I can marinate it in some soy (1P:1C per tbs) and flax oil and spices, then bake at 350. I'll try to remember to follow up with how it turns out!

Smoked Salmon: this is like the uber snack (2 ounces = 12 G P: 0 G Carbs). Not only is it amazingly good for you, but it can feel decadent. I put a thin (I mean THIN) layer of hummus (too little protein to count and like 1 carb) on a Fiber Wasa cracker (.4G P: 5G C), and then layer on 2 ounces of smoked salmon. 

Tuna on Wasa Cracker: I like my Tuna (1/2 can 13-15 G P: 0 C) with Nayonaise and Dijon, little chunks of celery and radish. I used to be diligent about putting my 1/2 can of tuna mix ON the cracker, but then I got lazy and now I just crumble up the cracker and toss it into the tuna and eat with a fork. It's actually really good! REMEMBER: get the tuna in water, and of course, dolphin safe.

Goat Gouda Cheese: Actually, if you can have dairy, you can add in "Any of the Low Fat Cheeses" here. I personally have been working back in 2 ounces of dairy a day to my "lactose intolerant" diet, and the only things that have been sitting well are LF (low fat) string cheese (1 stick 8 G P: 1G C). Goat cheese is naturally lower in fat than cow cheese, but exponentially more expensive.

LF Trader Joe's Greek Yogurt: (if you haven't had this yogurt, stop reading this, get in the car, and go get some). It's amazing with pretty much anything...on top of salmon, in your tuna, with fresh local strawberries...(1/2 C = 11 G P: 3 G C). I use it on "Marina's Magic Taco Salad" in place of a desire for sour creme. Actually, you can use it in place of sour creme on anything you can dream up. If you need a "dip" for your veggies, I would suggest using this as a base for "ranch".

Peanut Butter &...: Well, usually I do PB (NATURAL ONLY) on a Wasa Cracker or with celery all by it's lonesome. Now, I mean it- NATURAL PB ONLY. All that other crap has sugar or high fructose corn syrup in it. Ugh. Fred Meyer makes this easy, they have the machine in the natural foods aisle. They also do almond butter. I persoanlly love Revolution Food's Unsweetened Crunchy PB, (It's at Whole foods, 2 TBS= 10G P: 3 G C). You will never crave Jiff again, I swear it. I have a sweet tooth, so when it gets the best of me, I drizzle a scant amount of agave nectar (it supposedly doesn't affect your insulin levels) or local honey (ditto)...but when I say scant, I mean it. This snack isn't as balanced in P:C, but it tends to nip my sweet tooth in the butt. WARNING: if you are just starting this program, PB is a bit high in fat, so  you might want to shy away from it at first.

Veggie Sausage Patties: Morning Glory 2 Patties= 20 G P: 2 G C) patties. I usually top with salsa or have a touch of mustard on the side (did I mention mustard has no fat and is about 1 carb?). These are VERY low fat and sodium, more so than a lot others on the market, so if you buy another brand, read the box very carefully.

Edammame: shelled unsalted...I like the ones at New Seasons, they only last about a week or so (1/2 C= 9 G P: 2 G C). They are an excellent add on to salads as well.

Nuts: these are good fats and can be a good add on to any of the above snacks. Almonds and walnuts are best. Frosty taught me a great trick: take a roasting pan, put in a pound or two of pecans, spritz with olive oil, and add a bunch (I don't know how much, but it's a lot, you want the nuts coated, taste them halfway and add more if you can't taste it) of cinnamon. Toss it and bake on 350 for about 20-30 minutes, shaking the pan every so often. I add a TOUCH of salt, and once I added cayenne pepper too. Want a way to curb a sweet tooth? This should help immensely!

Protein Shake: FOOD IS ALWAYS THE FIRST CHOICE, but in a pinch, add in a protein shake. I use Almond Breeze Unsweetened Vanilla Almond milk (because it has like 2 carbs a serving in it, and it's good and not gross like unsweetened soy milk), add in my powder, shake and drink it on down. On a typical day I drink a shake with breakfast and before my workout.

PRE WORKOUT SNACK: this is important, as you need fuel for the workout! I do one of two things, but other people might have more ideas. This is where I take the opportunity to add in my fruit for the day, as with my body type (3), I don't get to eat much fruit.

     1. Protein shake with 4 ounces OJ (unsweetened), 1/2 banana, and some berries.

     2. A whole banana

I'm going to try to come up with a longer list, this list above will be over in the "pages" section so you don't have to search for it in the future. I will be asking some of the C2BF Alumni to add in their ideas as well!

If I wasn't Lactose intolerant I would have more variety with:

Cottage Cheese (LF or skim): a lot of the memebers of C2BF use cottage cheese and add in any number of items: cherry tomatoes, salsa, pineapple (will depend on your body type if you can eat that or not). Get creative! My favortie in college was cottage cheese with kidney beans, so if you can have more carbs with your snacks, there is a good way to get a nice amount of protein in!

Skim milk in my protein shakes instead of Almond Milk.

One last tidbit...I have seen it over and over that certian people who do the program fixate on the protein SO MUCH that they forget about their vegetables. Remember what Master Johnson says, load up on those A list veggies: they are chock full of nutrients and fiber that keep your body and mind fueled and working like a well oiled machine. Make a salad, throw them into your sauces, snack on them all day (with your protein!). Your goal is to stay balanced and healthy!!

I hope that this will give you some good ideas, but if you have questions, let me know. Also, if you have things you like to snack on, PLEASE pop on over to the "Page" list to the left hand side, and leave a comment. We should share our snack idea wealth!

XOXO

Ack, She's Back!

I must first off apologize for the lack of presence here...I have been busy pounding pavement and restructuring life. I will make one note: there will be no work endeavors/job hunt information posted here (unless it involves knitting or kickboxing, it could happen, just sayin').

Hello Hello my pumpkins! I see there are 4-5 of you still holding out that I might come back some day and resume the blog. I think that day has come. It's a process, writing, and I have more regular access to a computer thanks to the uber awesome K, and maybe will have a computer soon (we will see, right Aqua?). I have my eye on one, and I think it will make it's way to my home. It's sad, I can't even get on my art drawing board or have my iTunes library...one day. Cross your fingers for me!

So guess what? Give up? Okay.
Today is the first day on the next C2BF session. I have slid backwards a bit, and I'm ready to buckle down and re-commit to myself and the program. I have had such huge success that it's rough on my psyche to see any backsliding. So, a lot of the next few weeks will be writing about nutrition and working hard. I let a few of the new gals know about the blog, so I am making this promise: I will add at least a few more recipes, and maybe even shoot for one a week if I can manage it. Tomorrow I am making the "Family Balls" (turkey meatballs in sauce) and Chicken Piccatta- so I will "cost out" the nutrition and serving size so I can get them on the blog before Memorial Day weekend. I am hoping that we can use this as a forum to brainstorm too. More and more people are turning to online tools for assistance, I think it's important we put together some more tools we can use to succeed! If you have anything you want to contribute, let me know. Also, comments are open, so feel free to type away.

I am still holding steady at my size 12 and the weight below 170, so I am hoping in 6 weeks I have amazing news for everyone! I am shooting for a size 10 and possibly 6 more inches gone and a body fat loss of 4-6%. That would make it a loss of 22% since January, and I would be so excited for that.

Good luck to everyone who is following a new path! I am loving new paths right now, and the fact I have the opportunity to make them.

XOXO

Update C2BF

Hey, thanks guys for being so interested in my progress.

If you remember, back in January I was embarking on a 12 week fitness journey. It's the Commit To Be FIT (aka C2BF) at my kickboxing studio, Fierce Fitness. It has been really great. I cannot recommend this program enough if you are ready to- well- commit and change your life and lifestyle. It takes diligence, but it WORKS. Here are my stats:

Over all body fat loss: 14.3% (10% in the first 6 weeks, which is really high)
Overall inch loss: 12.5 inches
Weight dropped: 12 pounds (but imagine how much muscle I put on)
Size change: 2 pant sizes

So guess what? I get to do an additional 6 weeks. I love it. We started again on Monday- and I'm already in the thick of it. There are some new peeps in the class, I'm excited to see how they do. Some of my old peeps are still in class too! I can't believe how much progress they have made, it's pretty incredible. I would love to see a cumulative of class stats. I think that would be interesting.

There you have it! I'm so thrilled everyone wanted to know. I feel so much healthier, so strong and getting stronger every day. I can't even think about where I was 12 weeks ago.

Have a great Thursday! See you all soon!

XOXO

Turkey Meatloaf is Good Enough To Blog

So on Sunday JAE and I were chatting, and I let her know that I was going to make Turkey Meatloaf, and pare it down to meet the CTBF specs (75% Protein, 25% Carbs). She then proceeded to tell me about this Meatloaf she made with spinach, and well, I'm a sucker for spinach, and I knew I had to try it. She called this Meatloaf crack. I totally agree. My only issue is that I was too sick last night to remember to take any pictures, because if you could visually SEE the amount of spinach, and how the loaf comes together, before you make this dish- well, you might freak less then when you try the first time. My advice is to just do it- it is really that awesome. It's so great, it made my sick-with-a-cold-self feel a bazillion times better. I just had to bring your attention to it. I'm eating it for lunch again right now as I type this. I might also have it for Dinner tonight. You can't stop me. It's not chocolate cake. It's Turkey and Spinach, and I'm a big girl, I can eat it three times in one day. I sure can, yum-yumers.

So go over to my "Pages" section and get thee some crack, people!

*Note: Melly comes this weekend, and I do a dance every day when I say that to myself. YAY!

Early Birthday Present

I decided to get myself an Early Birthday present: and it's actually ON my Birthday weekend. To sweeten the deal, there is a group from Fierce going- they are doing the run, but also- JAE is going to go do the Stride with me, so for OUR Birthdays, we're going to be Fierce and Fit! I am thrilled. My first 5K. Okay, so I won't be running like white lightning, but I'll be participating. Likely not my last time, either.

If anyone else wants to join us, we're down!

Day 1, Week 6, Halfway there...

Today, however, we're marking the fitness in the title, and I will tell you that I'm on the path to do a 5K in March, or maybe the 3.25 mile "stride"- but this is a post about my new knitting technique I taught myself on Thursday and worked on over the weekend: it's called Knitting Socks on 2 Circulars (I can tell you, it's coming, 2 socks at once!! I am so excited...).

Toe, of course

Whole foot! And yay, you can see the cable design, which I am loving. The color is based on the "Lost Boys" from Peter Pan, and is called "Imagination". You can get it at Knitpicks. I love Knitpicks. Send me some more yarn, NOW!

With the ball of yarn. So neatly wrapped by my contraptions K got me for Xmas. K, if you're reading this, I LOVE my contraptions!! Now I just need to get the right memory card for my new camera and we're golden. Then you guys will get the real lovely pictures of my knitting. Heh heh.

Oh Monday, I'm not mad at you today, I'm having a pretty swell day.

XOXO

Fine Food Forms. AKA: Pizza, How I Miss You.

I don't think it was Bourdain's doing. I don't. All week, however, I've wanted some Pizza. Not that deep dish Chicago crap he went on and on about (although I'd eat like it was my job one of the Sicilian pizza numbers from childhood, that ain't deep dish! Ugh, or even a Calzone).  No, what I want is a Pizza Margahrita, hold the cheese, add some artichoke hearts. If you have goat cheese, well, then put that on the damn thing. Go ahead. It makes me less sick than cow cheese, but I'd still suffer. I'd. Suffer. For. Pizza.

I am abosolutely shocked I'm not more plaugued by chocolate cravings. Not a one really. I bought unsweetened chocolate Almond milk yesterday to make a banana shake with pre workout tomorrow- but I'm not really craving anything sweet-like; maybe because I'm throwing strawberries into my daily protein shakes (delicious Oregon Organic Frozen from New Seasons- they have like 1 carb per medium strawberry, who knew? I toss in THREE!).

Last night, all doped up (Wow-wee that was some strong Xanax, I barely remember the dentist), I was HUNGRY. Starving. I wanted Pizza more than ever. I went to the kichchen and chopped kale SLOWLY (see: Sober Jill=clumsy and Jill + high on dentist drugs = silly & clumsy). Then I tossed it in some hot olive oil, sauteed it, chopped some chicken Italian sausage, covered it all with water, and then promplty grabbed about 1 cup of peanuts and went back to the couch. Good thing I could smell the cooking about 40 minutes later (yes, I forgot I was cooking), and that it smelled delicious, cause that whole 40 minutes I didn't remember there was soup on- I was looking at pizza menus and debating. Voila: soup in my belly, me still confused, me on couch, me asleep (yes, K and Jo, I did turn the stove off).

I woke up this morning after 11 hours of sleep, still craving Pizza.

Sigh.

Did I mention that I'm also crazing polenta? Weird.

Second note: I finally got my package for knitting (lots of jumping for joy). And I did cast on a new sock. I have no clue if it looks okay or if I need to start over. None. It will be a surprise when I get home tonight, Non? I just know that I was busy at one point trying to do this kind of easy thing called knitting with two circulars, and thinking if it's this easy how come I didn't do it before? I don't want to offend anyone, but it seemed easy at the time. But who knows, I could have been so high that I just had an epiphany and worked it out in my subconscious. Yeah, that sounds right.

First Goal Reached, 4th week, 2nd Day

So here's the skinny.
*Pause* Yes, it's yet another pun...

So since starting Kickboxing, oh, what is it Aqua- 8 months ago? Did we start in June? I have had the goal silently screeching in my head: if I could ONLY do a full sit up. Just a few. I didn't even need to do 10 in a row or anything. Well, I've been working up to it. Pushing myself every time we do what I refer to as "Chest and Outs" (cause that's what Candice and Alan say repeatedly while we're doing them "Chest and out, everyone, Chest and Out"). It's been rather a challenge with my back- but I have been feeling stronger every week that passes.

Okay- so ready? I bet you already guessed.
I can do a full sit up. My first one since back surgery. And I'm not even sure if I could have done one before back surgery, but to do a full sit up for the first time in over 5 years? WOW.

Get this- it wasn't just one. It was 4 minutes (with some pauses) full of them. In two different ways.

And there's more: the first 2 minutes, I was passing a 10 POUND BALL back and forth with my ever wonderful and encouraging partner LS (I can't tell you how much she inspires me). You go lay down, put the ball on your chest, sit up and thrust the ball up and over to your partner, do another sit up with out the ball, and then repeat both steps. Pretty ab-er-riffic. Hence the name "Chest and Out".

Okay, let's go one further- the second we can call Twist and Punch- which is particularly scary for folks with back injuries, as the twisting can be brutal...if you don't pay attention. So your partner sits on the ball, holds focus mitts, and you repeatedly, with GOOD FORM over and over sit up, and twist and punch 4 times at the mitts- ouchie obliques. And- I've NEVER done them before!! AND, I CAN. I almost cried. And when I say almost, my eyes were FULL of tears, but happy ones.

So wow, my first goal reached, and I thought it was out of reach for at least another 3-4 weeks. Now, I'm really going to regret this, I know- but I think my next goal is to do a real pull-up. We do them on the bars with exercise balls for helping (still really really hard). Alan said I did 10 last night, but I think he's smoking something. And it's not 10 real ones- not up over the bar, just me pulling my whole body weight dead up TO the bar and then screaming in pain. Fun. I hate them.

Pretty excellent, overall. I'm pretty thrilled.
Now they're going to expect me to do those damn sit ups every night. Shit.

XOXO

Week Four ALREADY??

I can't believe it's week four already. We're over halfway through the first six week session. I don't know what I expected, but I think I can't see the changes in myself as much, since I look at myself every day. I forgot to ask them if we do a weigh in and measurements at 6 weeks, even if we're in the 12 week session. I think it would be motivating. I am wearing my favorite winter skirt today, but I might only have another week to wear it, as there are no belt loops, and it might get obscene too low on my hips (where I wear everything anyway). I moved into my smaller pants this week, the other ones were kind of getting embarrassing. I dug through some drawers and found that I had stashed 4 pairs of size 14's. It's hard to believe that six months ago the 16's were too small, and here I am in the 14's, and I can pull them down buttoned. Now if only my belly followed the rest of the body...come ON belly, you CAN DO IT! The next step is if I can fit into my coveted jeans that are 12/13's. Oooo baby. I love those jeans. I have some cords too that are 12's. It's nice to know that I won't have to buy anything to get me through all of this; it just seems silly to go spend money when I'm changing, and I actually KNOW I will continue to change. Speaking of spending money on clothes, there's a sweater I've been drooling over that I heard is at Banana on the Sale rack for $20. A few months back I actually RIPPED a page out of a magazine to keep the picture of said sweater, that's how much I love it. I am wondering if I should go get it. Even though there's that kibosh on spending... sigh. If it was more than $20 I'd blow it off. I had imagined I'd be able to one day knit a sweater like it- although that itself will cost a dear 150-ish dollars...you  know, what with the nice yarn I'd want to use for it and all... I can't even seem to finish a sweater these days! Oh poor February Lady sweater sitting in the UFO pile languishing...

I should go buy that damn sweater.

Okay, enough of the stream of consciousness today. I hope you all have a fabu Tuesday! Mine gets to include dinner with MAX, if she ever gets herself on the road....where are you Max?

XOXO

**Note: I finished sock ONE of the Jaywalkers. I'm sadly disappointed as they are so great...but so roomy. Ugh. Maybe Melly's feet are bigger than mine. I kinda doubt it. She's so tall and lean. Maybe K WILL steal them after all. Oh woe is me.

Another Note- I just bought the sweater. It took me 4 stores, and I finally found it at the one in Bellevue Washington, everyone else was plumb out. I suppose I should have tried Boise? Hm. They didn't have it in my color, it comes in taupe (UGH) but I got it anyway. Wanna know why? Cause I'm going to take this $20 sweater, that was originally $150, and dye it RED. That's what I'm a gonna do. Whoo hoo!

Committed to Eating Food, wishing it was mostly plants...

There has been a change to the blog- over to the left hand side under my "Quote for 2009" you see the "Pages" category. Here I will be checking in with recipes, food choices, and tools for my Commit to Be Fit peeps to come take a look at. Also, I think it's nice for posterity's sake. Feel free to go on over and poke around, there might be something there you would like to try in your own kitchen!! I am starting to morph recipes to fit my needs: 75% protein, 25% carbs every day- with good fats (flax oil, olives, nuts, avocados, olive oil, sesame oil). I think I am doing very well. We get graded on our food choices, and my grades have ranged from "good" to "excellent" for every day except my first day in the program. It's less of a struggle now that I have time and creativity to throw at it. It's like a foodnetwork challenge. I love it.

Now that I'm done with the *ahem* Twilight Series, I have turned my attention back to "In Defense of Food". I was about a centimeter away from becoming vegan in January when the realization hit that for my Commit to be fit class wouldn't allow for veganism. As you can see, there is too much protein I must eat, and very little carbs. I am thinking about putting the book down until April when I am done in the program...anyone have any good reading suggestions out there? I've zapped my pile down quite a bit. I just don't want to be longing after my vegan idea while I'm pounding the protein.

I'm not minding eating the meats as much as I thought. There is still no dairy in my diet (makes me ill), but I have incorporated Turkey, chicken sausage, and top sirloin into my diet. I eat more tuna, smoked salmon, smoked oysters than usual as well. I still have some tofu around, but it's not a perfect fit for me right now. Nor is the tempeh. I am hoping during the last 6 weeks of the class I can incorporate a teensey bit more of plants and vegetables into my diet. I'm lucky, I love leafy greens, and could eat them all day in different forms, so I am taking FULL advantage of that. This will reflect in the sidebar, I'm sure you will be able to tell!

I made some serious headway on my Jaywalkers last night. I put on my headset and got on the phone with my dear dear Freedom, and knitted away while chatting. It was almost like my own personal Stich and Bitch. It was awful fun! I will be taking photos tonight to show you. They're uber rockin'. I hope that K doesn't try to steal them. They're THAT cool.

Did I mention I was sore? Sore to the bones? Muscles of Jello? No?
A little tender, here. That's okay, I'm getting tough, tough enough to make it through the classes...and not groan too much...tough enough to take a step up to the red band and the 10 pound medicine ball...maybe not for everything, but baby steps. We have to coddle my back a bit. My hamstrings are killing me, and I don't know what to do about it. I think I will google some stretches. Leave a comment if you have some advice!

Hope you have a Swell Tuesday afternoon.

XOXO