2 Weeks and Going Strong!

2 weeks on a 1250 calorie diet, with the addition of our Slenderiiz homeopathic drops. We are really starting to see some great results and also starting to get into a groove for being organized with meal planning and grocery shopping. This journey is off to a great start and has us sooooooo motivated to meet all our goals!

Week 2 Progress Update

Karl is down 16 lbs in 14 days! His exact words when seeing this side by side was "Good bye man boobs and double chin, hello motivation to get ripped!" If this is what 2 weeks brings I can't wait to see where he is at our 60 day mark.

6.5 lbs in 2 weeks and nearly 5 inches off my waist! The biggest difference for me is being able to see the definition between bust and belly. I feel like by the end of 60 days I will be closer to having abs!



Remember our friend Jeff? Jeff is down 16 lbs as of this morning as well!
Collectively the 3 of us have lost 38.5 lbs in 14 days. I think that's pretty darn amazing.

Over coming challenges

Initially I was concerned about being able to keep up with all of the fresh food. We didn't eat fast food very often but we ate out for Thai and Mexican food quite a bit. The downside of eating out is that you don't know what's going in to your food or how to accurately account for calories.

So to curb these temptations of easy and accessible meals I have been prepping food ahead of time on Sundays and Wednesdays. Right now our fridge is full of bags of broccoli, corn, "California Vegetables" (mixed veggies in a bag", bell peppers, apples, oranges, avocados, shredded chicken, mixed tuna, and baked cod. Every meal is accounted for for the next 3 days.

A couple nights ago I baked my fish recipe with cod

Then I put all the cod and drippings away in the fridge sealed tightly and through out the last couple days we've nibble on it, or packed it for Karl's lunch as he goes to work. In between we had several other proteins for dinner, and our Purenourish shakes for breakfast.

This evening, was one of those nights where I wanted Thai food. I didn't want to cook, all 4 of us were sick. I opened the fridge and there was the cod and a bag of mixed veggies that I had pulled from the freezer and put in the fridge for easy cooking.

In a saute pan I threw the veggies and some corn in with salt, pepper and garlic and once it was heated up I added two pieces of fish and some of the drippings to flavor the veggies.

From the time I dragged my bottom off the couch to putting the veggies and fish in a bowl, it took 9 minutes and only 300 calories per serving.


It's only one of many examples how being prepared saved us from wavering from our program which could set us back in our goals by 3 or 4 days.

What are ways you keep from straying from your diet program?

Bison versus Beef

A couple days ago I posted about eating Lean meats to stay full and full of energy, since we've covered fish let's explore another great option full of iron and zinc. BISON!

Comparing 4.5 ounces of cooked Beef vs Buffalo/Bison

Just because you make a change for a healthier life style doesn't mean you have to sacrifice your favorite meals! We LOVE steak and potatoes and I'm sure several of you out there love them too ;) Fire up your grill and get ready for some deliciousness.

4.5 oz of Bison Steak, Red potato, broccoli florets total meal only 393 calories! I wasn't lying when I said flavor is better than fat ;)

The steak is easy, if you're using a grill get one side super hot, and the other side medium high.

season the steak with garlic powder, onion powder, sea salt, pepper, paprika, and if you like a I love to add just a sprinkle of finely ground coffee.

Sear both sides of the steak on the high side, then finish on the medium high side for 7-13 minutes depending on how well you like your steak cooked. Always, let your meat rest for at least 3-5 minutes before slicing into it. You can turn your grill off, close the lid and let it rest in there.

Yummy potatoes!

Skip the sour cream, and butter, and cheese and bacon bits.. you can still have a delicious baked potato full of flavor and satisfying. While you prep your steak seasoning pull out some aluminum foil large enough to wrap up your washed red potatoes. On the foil lightly spray some olive oil, add ground pepper, sea salt, onion powder, garlic powder and rosemary (dried or fresh). Roll your potato in the mix and wrap up tightly. Throw on the top wrack of your hot side of the BBQ. Small/medium red potatoes will be done around the same time as your steaks.

Remember your vegetable side? SKIP the butter, when you microwave or cook on the stove top just add a small dash of chicken stock instead of water. When it's done toss in some pepper and salt. Flavor is way better than fat.

Enjoy! It really is that simple.

If you're counting calories, on Weight watchers, or using the Slenderize Program this meal will fit right in .  

Celebrating a week of progress!

Hello dear friends and followers!

Sunday marked our first 7 days of lifestyle change eating and exercise combined with our "liquid discipline" ;) Homeopathic drops. We have some great results! and will continue to combine the Slenderize program with our dietary and work out changes.

Remember Jeff from our earlier post? You can read about him joining our journey HERE.

Just a reminder of where we started:

Karl on 2/27/13 285 lbs , Waist measuring 49 inches, Chest measuring 48 inches.

Danielle on 2/27/13 176 lbs, Waist measuring 44 inches, Chest measuring 37 inches

Jeff on 3/3/13 270 lbs, Waist measuring 48 inches

UPDATE!

Karl on 3/10/13 274 lbs (down 11 lbs!!)

Danielle 3/10/13 172 lbs (down 4 lbs) but I have lost a total of almost 2 inches off my WAIST! yes! down to 42.1 inches =)

Jeff on 3/10/13 258 lbs (down 12 lbs!)

Collectively the 3 of us lost 27 lbs in one week =) pretty exciting stuff!!!!

Lean Proteins to Keep you Full and Full of Energy!

We are learning quickly that the key to sustaining energy, feeling full with out feeling stuffed, and keeping caloric intake under control is portions. We love fresh fruit and veggies but tend to stray on proteins so here's a versatile recipe for cooking lean fish full of flavor but skipping the full fat ;)

Baked Fish

1 clove garlic, minced

6 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon rosemary

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

juice of 2 fresh lemons

1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

2 (6 ounce) fillets halibut/cod or Salmon

(if you roll the lemons first before squeezing  them, you will get way more juice out with less effort) Mix all your seasonings to prepare the marinade. Place your fish in marinade and cover/refrigerate for at least 15 minutes.

After you squeeze the lemons in to the mix, slice them thinly and place over the fish, this will help penetrate the flavor but also retain moisture. Bake at 375 deg. F (for white fish)  at 7-13 minutes, and 400 deg. F (for salmon) for 18-22 minutes until the flesh is opaque pink.

6 oz of salmon with this recipe is 246 calories, 6 oz of cod with this recipe is 281 calories. (according to Fitness Pal)

This is 4 oz of cod, 4 oz of salmon, 1/4 cup broccoli, 1/3 bellpepper 466 calories

Stay tuned for an awesome progress report from Karl, Jeff and I. This Sunday is our first full week completed on the journey as a team of 3 =)

Healthy Food on the Go!

Mandy posted this request on our Facebook wall this morning and I was more than happy to dive in to a blog response ;)

Believe it or not, your planning for a healthy lunch tomorrow starts with tonight's meal! If you can strive to have a lean protein each night make sure you have enough for left overs the next day.
I turn just about every dinner into a salad some how. I looked online for recipes to give you but I feel like building blocks to every day lunches or quick food is the key here.

Salad Base
I keep spring leaf salad in the fridge at all times
Tomatoes
Cucumbers
Sprouts
Peas
Black olives
Hard boiled eggs
2 Lemons (wedge and save to use in place of salad dressing if you desire)

Salads don't have to be lack luster and can be hearty!
Sunday night set aside an hour to prepare for your week's lunches.
Cut up your tomatoes (I recommend de-seeding them so you cut down on moisture), Cucumbers, rinse your sprouts, and defrost a bag of frozen peas. I keep mine all separate so they maintain their individual flavors all week and don't get slimy.

Now envision that you have all of your salad base ready for you every night to pack your lunch, you had chicken tonight so you toss some chicken in there, you had ground beef, pork chops, even fish it can be added to your salad!

If you have a meal that integrates your protein in to your food like a casserole, lasagna and enchiladas then you wont really have anything to throw on your salad but here's the back up plan.

Have some quality lunch meat ready for back up, or one of my favorites it s tuna salad.
Here's my tuna mix.

One pouch of White albacore tuna
1tbs Wish Bone Robusto Italian Dressing
1 tbs of olive oil mayonaise
dash of ground pepper

This makes two servings and yields 126 calories for a 1/2 cup

                                 
  I use these Glad containers that are built for salads.










For snacks on the run I use raw almonds, baby carrots and PureNourish meal shakes (I use Vanilla coconut milk to mix, since its not naturally very sweet). I'm also a big fan of Safeway's (Von's) "Open Nature" branded nut bars.

Progress Update

We have several friends who are on this healthier lifestyle change journey which is very exciting! Hopefully as the month progresses we will get some of their testimonies posted here. One of our close friends Jeff has agreed to actively participate in logging his journey as well.

Saturday 3/2/2013 we took some before pictures... oh boy just to warn you they are NOT flattering.

From Left to right: Jeff, Karl and Danielle

These make me cringe...seriously.

So here's an update on where we are:

Karl on 2/27/13 285 lbs , Waist measuring 49 inches, Chest measuring 48 inches.

On 3/4/13 he's at 279 lbs, waist measuring 48 inches, Chest measuring 47 inches.

Danielle on 2/27/13 176 lbs, Waist measuring 44 inches, Chest measuring 37 inches

Danielle on 3/4/13 174 lbs, Waist measuring 42.5 inches, Chest measuring 36.75 inches

We are starting to see some progress which is very promising! On Sunday the three of us started a homeopathic system that's supposed to support weight loss and natural energy. Hopefully this will help jump start our goals. 

As soon as I get an update on Jeff I will let you know his progress too!

Push!

Today I had an epiphany!

Let me start from the beginning...

As one of the life style changes I've made this week, instead of driving my daughter to school I've been walking her to the bus stop (it's a 0.9 miles there and 0.9 miles back) I figured an nearly 2 mile walk twice a day 5 days a week is a guarantee of [1.8 miles*5=9 miles a week] 9 miles of walking per week and 45 min of cardio per day. Today I realized that after walking 9 miles in 5 days I wasn't sore, not even the slightest. So this was ok exercise for me but it wasn't GREAT exercise! 9 miles at 4 miles per hour (brisk walk) is only 941 calories (two meals worth of calories). 

calculation based off Fitness Pal

Here's what I realized, I want extraordinary results. Walking 1.8 miles a day is improvement from no activity [haha] but I wasn't pushing myself. So, after I dropped Nadine off at the bus stop and watched her ride away Noah and I went on a stroll. We walked 4 miles, came home had lunch and then I did my Weight Watcher's exercise "Punch it out" video [30 minutes]. All in all I burned my 900 calories in one day instead of 5! And it only took me an extra hour and a half from my day. 

Active kids means I'm going to be an active mom!

I heard from a friend once that "we lose weight to look good in our clothes, but we work out to look good naked." 

Not every day has to be a vigorous work out, and you shouldn't work out so hard to where you don't want to work out again for days. But you can accomplish this by PUSHING yourself 3-5 days a week to walk the extra steps.

Simple ways to increase your steps:

• Park the farthest spot away from the store.
• Take the stairs instead of the elevator.
• Take the kids or your pet out for a walk.
• Pace around while you talk on the phone.
• Walk around the block when you go to get the mail.

What are tips and tricks you have for getting in EXTRAordinary exercise?