"One"derland

I'm in "One"derland!!!

If you have never watched The Biggest Loser, you may not know what that is. "One"derland means that you have finally made it to being under 200 lbs. 

I weighed myself this past Thursday morning and the scale read 197 lbs, which means I am FINALLY under 200 lbs and have reached my first big goal!!! I am not at my ultimate goal, but achieving this goal is HUGE for me! I cannot remember the last time I was under 200 lbs and never actually thought that I would ever be there again. It's a little hard to believe I actually am there now.

I have been pushing myself a little bit harder in my workouts and cleaning up my eating a bit more. I cut back on doing as much snacking in between meals and I really try to not eat after 7 or 8 PM. I slipped up once this week but got back on track the next morning! Learning how to shake off a bad day and keep moving forward has made a huge difference. I use to have a bad day and just give up, but I have really been pushing myself to stop giving up. I still have my struggles but I don't let it keep me down.

I am aiming at getting down to 150 lbs because I think that is a healthy weight for me. I have 47 more lbs to lose to reach that goal. While I am working on losing those 47 lbs, I want to focus on building up my strength and toning my body. Currently, I don't go to a gym. I mainly do all my workouts at home and alone. Also, I have been trying to cook more and plan my meals out. I would love to go full organic but I simply cannot afford it. I have tried researching different tips and strategies on fitting an organic lifestyle in with a small budget. It's stressful and challenging, but I am trying. I don't think I'm going to get any higher income anytime soon so I'm still going to be working with the same small budget, but hopefully I can work out a strategy to fit a more organic lifestyle within my budget.

Weekly Workout 

This past week I tried out Jillian Michaels Yoga Meltdown. I wasn't great at it but I did try my best. The rest of my workouts were kind of on my own. 

Weekly Recipes

1. Egg Scramble with spinach, kale, garlic, onion, jalapeno, Italian seasoning, cayenne pepper, paprika and olive oil. Bowl of frozen blueberries and coconut milk.

2. Tropical Salad with papaya, pineapple, mango, 1 kiwi, 1 sliced up banana, and coconut milk.

3. Baked Fiesta Chicken with Kiwi Jalapeno Salsa
*For the chicken I just used Olive Oil and Fiesta Lime Blend from Mrs. Dash on it and baked it.
*Salsa recipe here http://www.theblackpeppercorn.com/2013/03/kiwi-jalapeno-salsa/
*I saw another recipe where they added mango to the salsa too.

4. Egg Scramble 2
Same as 1 but with tomatoes added and no blueberries on the side

5. Sweet Potato "Fries" with Avocado Dip
*recipe here http://www.shutterbean.com/2013/spicy-sweet-potato-fries-w-avocado-dip/ 
*For the "fries" I added cumin. Also, I didn't use Hot Sauce in the dip. I added Fiesta Lime Blend and Cilantro to the dip.

6. Egg "Pancake" with Veggie Toppings (pretty much like making an omelette but I left it flat like a pancake and added the veggies on top - you can choose to add whatever veggies you want)

Others (not pictured)
- Tropical Smoothie (papaya, mango, pineapple, kiwi, banana, spinach, coconut milk, chia seeds)
- Turkey Spinach Salad with an apple (turkey, Spinach, olive oil, cayenne pepper, Italian seasoning) 

- Blue-Flax Coconut Smoothie (blueberries, banana, coconut milk, flaxseed, chia seed, coconut oil)

- Avacado Banana Smoothie (avacado, banana, coconut milk, almonds)

*Some of these don't have measurements b/c I didn't follow a recipe. I kind of just eyeballed and guesstimated. 

WHOLE 30

If you've never heard of the Whole 30 or don't know much about it, you can check out more information here: http://whole9life.com/2012/08/the-whole30-program/

I first heard of the Whole 30 Program a while ago through a friend and it sparked my interest, so I did some research on the program. After reading through what the program entailed, I was still interested. However, with my small budget, I felt that I would not be able to follow this program. I still wanted to try it out though. Then I went grocery shopping ....

I hate grocery shopping! It stresses me out so badly because I am trying so hard to be healthy and stay on track within my small budget. It was already a challenge even before trying to buy foods from the Whole 30 approved grocery list. I changed my mind about trying the program after that shopping trip.

Even though I didn't make choices based on the Whole 30 list, I still purchased healthy items. I continued to eat healthy, exercise and lose weight. I had let the idea of doing the Whole 30 go until the same friend who "introduced" me to the program decided to give it another go. Once again, it grabbed my attention so I thought I would give it another shot also!

While my budget hasn't changed and I still get stressed out when shopping, I guess I still wanted to see what I could do this time around. I went shopping yesterday and my budget was cut even shorter because my deposit hadn't gone through yet. That did NOT help my stress levels at all! Thankfully, my dad loaned me some money to go and buy food. However, even with the set back, I somehow ended up making Whole 30 approved choices without much stress at all this time around.

Let me clarify that all my choices are not 100% organic, grass-fed or wild-caught. However, I do make those choices where I can. While I may not be able to follow the program 100%, it's still a great guideline to use. For the majority of my shopping I am sticking to the Whole 30 approved list which you can find here http://whole9life.com/book/ISWF-Shopping-List.pdf

Below is a list of my menu and workouts for today! I will try to post more of my daily menus/workouts throughout the week!

TODAY'S MENU

BREAKFAST

1 Egg scrambled with Spinach, Kale, chopped Jalapeno Peppers/Onions/Garlic, and sprinkle of cayenne pepper and Italian Seasoning
Blueberries on the side

 

SNACK

A few walnuts and almonds

 

LUNCH

Salad with 1/4 or more cup each of the following: Spinach, Papaya, Pineapple, Mango, Kiwi, (I want to add sliced bananas next time) and drizzle canned unsweetened Coconut Milk on top
**there's another recipe that adds lime juice, brown sugar and some other items to the dressing but I only used the coconut milk**

 

SNACK

1 banana

 

DINNER

Grilled Chicken with Avocado Mango Salsa
(recipe found here http://cookeatpaleo.com/grilled-chicken-with-avocado-mango-salsa/)

 

TODAY'S WORKOUTS