Sneakrets

So, I had to borrow some of Jen's old jeans back when I was a fatty. But the other day, I noticed the smallest pair I had borrowed from her, which fit me pretty snugly at first, were quite roomy. SO I tried on some of my size 3 jeans. :) Yes, thats right. They FIT. *sigh* its such a beauteous thing to feel cute again. :) Of course, I still want to lose a bit more, so they don't fit me quite as snug on the thighs, but hey hey its still a victory!!
My exercising has been mostly all the walking I do to all of my classes. It seriously is a workout. Especially the stairs up to Old Main. I don't know how many there are, but I know there are a lot. SO, if you guys don't get to the gym, try parking your car as far away from the store as you can and fast walk into the store. Take the stairs more often. As for eating, it helps me to have healthy snacks around that I actually like. For me, thats cucumbers, grapes, baby spinach for yummy salads, baby carrots, etc... So anytime I get the munchies, I just eat those! :)
OH, and a really good ab workout: Lay on your back, and put a rolled up towel like right under your hips, underneath you, and bend your knees. then, lift up your feet, and alternate touching your toes to the ground, kinda fast. Just barely touch your toe to the ground, and then lift it back up to the bent position as you bring your other big toe down to the ground. Do it fast, keeping your core muscles tight and using your lower abs to do the work. Good stuff!! If this explanation doesn't make sense, call me and I will explain it better. :)

Flax seed

Jen: I shared this with Mom and Jana already...but I though maybe the rest of you would like it too! I love flax seed...milled flax seed. It's really easy to use- I sprinkle it or mix it into at least one meal a day. Just 2 teaspoons has as much fiber (4g) as 2 1/2 cups of oatmeal. And it is one of the best forms of Omega 3 fatty acids, (walnuts have about 10% Omega acids, whereas flax contains 50%) it's very powerful antioxidant and is fabulous for cholesterol. You can also use flax seed oil bet it looses a lot of nutritional value. Plus the milled is really so easy to use. I sprinkle it on the kids cereal and they never know! Or mix it into dinner. I got it at a local grocery store and it was under $10.00.

p.s. if you click on the flax seed (here or above) that is a great website!!!

Strategy

OK, so everybody did so awesome this week that I want to hear everybody's strategies. I'll start.

Jana: I'm on the South Beach Diet, and the first 2 weeks are very strict, meant to reverse insulin resistance (reteach your body to process sugars properly) and get rid of your sugar and carb cravings. And guess what, it's working! Last night I made spaghetti for Jeff and Emma, and I had chicken and veggies, and I wasn't jealous of their pasta at all.

Typical day:

Breakfast: Vegetable omelet (when I say veggies, keep in mind I don't eat potatoes or carrots b/c they are not acceptable as far as blood sugar goes..and sugar makes you fat.)

Snack: nuts
Lunch: Tuna salad and sugar-free jell-o
Snack: celery stuffed with laughing cow light cheese
Dinner: Balsamic chicken and cooked veggies (red peppers, onions, garlic, zucchini, mushrooms cooked w/olive oil, salt, and pepper)
Dessert: Ricotta creme (part-skim ricotta cheese w/cocoa, vanilla, and sugar substitute. Yummyish, kind of strange texture)
I have been doing 1/2 hour aerobic exercise every morning as well.
So that's me--I haven't had any sugar since New Years day--the most I've had is in light yogurt, which I realized I can't actually have until after my strict 2-week phase. Then I'll be able to have one or two fruits and one serving of whole-grain carbs a day. I do miss the fruit, and cereal. But I don't miss pasta, bread, rice, and potatoes like I thought I would, since that's what I lived on before. On Sunday I made cookies because I love to bake on Sundays, and it was hard to resist the cookie dough, but not so much the cookies themselves. We gave most of them away, and I'm not all that tempted by the ones left here.

What is everybody else doing?

Christine: My eating strategy is totally up in the air right now, because my weight loss has leveled out and I need to step it up again! So I'll be checking out everyone else's strategies to decide what to do, so everybody do this post!

For exercise I've been doing an hour on the treadmill, but now I'll be adding my new turbo jam videos! Did the first one last night, it's pretty sweet.

UPDATE!! I've decided to do south beach! I started on the 10th and I like it! Also I highly recommend turbo jam, it's tons of fun, lots of hard work but not too hard to follow. Plus there are lots of different work-outs so you don't get bored.

Net here - Ooh, I've seen commercials for the turbo jam videos, they seem pretty dang awesome. We no longer have snackies in the house. We can snack on fruit or yogurt, but mostly I just don't snack anymore, unless it's a little handfull of dark chocolate. I knew I couldn't give up chocolate, so only dark for me, and only a little bit. We're eating more veggies and less red meat and fat and smaller portions. We use our Wii to do dance dance revolution, put it on workout mode and set it for the number of calories we want to burn. We did 160 last time, but will probably do 200 next time. We bought body balls and sit and those if we watch tv at night. That's the gist of what I'm doin.

Mer here...

I have no strategy. I'm eating less, but still eating stuff that I probably shouldn't be (like freakin' Girl Scout cookies....they couldn't have come at a worse time!) But I expected to continue to gain until this baby is born. I mean, it's kind of inevitable. But I am shooting for just a half a pound a week gain, which is just enough.

Eric, I have noticed, is mainly eating less. I don't see him snacking nearly as much, and he has cut way back on the soda. Rugby will be starting soon, and that is when he really plans on kicking some butt.

We did get some pilates videos, but haven't had a chance to do them yet.

My Turn! It's MoM. I am using the Body For Life book. When I am being a good girl, I choose a protien and a carb and veggies from the chart in the book of acceptable foods and eat them in the right doses. I mean serving sizes. (and Lean Cuisine lunches at school) . And I try to eat what they call 6 meals a day but actually it just being sure to snack properly so you don't get really hungry. The excercises are Weight Training so right now I am just using 10 lb dumbells to get started and doing the excercises in the book. It's nice because there are pictures and descriptions of the lifts to do. I am learning so I have a ways to go to figure out how to do it right. I do that every other day and the other days I will go to curves or I might start at a real gym I will be touring tomorrow.

DaD is eating what I fix and eating salads at Buster's Restaraunt at many lunch times. Of course he is still running 3 - 4 times a week and will be starting the weights too this week.

AWESOME!!

This is Jen, I would just like to say...you guys look so awesome on your profiles!! I love them! Jana I know it is so hard to know what's actually good for you. Everyone says different things. You could just stick to what you know, that's probably enough. Like you said no sugar etc. But remember you actually NEED carbs...just not the white flour carbs. Last year we switched from white pasta to whole wheat pasta, and I love it! Same with rice and bread. You guys are so fabulously cool!!

Food Pyramid

Just as a guideline, here is the food pyramid (in case you haven't seen it in a while). You'll notice that "they" (whoever they are) changed it from the old one. So check it out! And also, FYI, this is also what diabetics go by. And the best diet is a diabetic one.