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All posts in category Daily Stats

WIAW: What Nursing Mom’s Eat

One of the major things I notice when I start nursing is that it seems like I am STARVING all. the. time. It doesn’t help that my little one is kind of a little piggie and I feel like she is taking most of my calories.

So like I said last week, I joined Weight Watchers Online and my daily allotted points are 55. It seems crazy high to me, but I will try it out for a few weeks and see what kind of results I get. My real strategy is to eat as many 0 point foods as possible throughout the day and hopefully that will make all the difference!

Thanks to Jenn over at Peas and Crayons for helping me to stay accountable for my eats every Tuesday. Dustin says that I need to document my weekend eats and that I always eat perfect on Tuesdays because I will have to blog about it. Maybe next week.

I am happy to say that I stuck very closely to my plan yesterday and I didn’t end up being hungry at all throughout the day. Small victories people.

Breakfast:

2 eggs, plus 2 egg whites
1/4 an Avocado
Great Harvest Honey Whole Wheat Bread
1 Tbs. Justin’s Almond Butter
Blackberries and Strawberries

Here is what my WW tracker looked like:

Lunch:

Low Carb Whole Wheat Tortilla
Grain Mustard
6 oz. Peppered Deli Turkey
1/2 Avocado
Brocco Sprouts
Baby Carrots
Cantaloupe

I really didn’t think that my lunch was going to last me all day and so I added in a Chobani Pineapple Greek yogurt for a little sustaining power, and it seemed to do the trick. Here is how lunch tracked:

Dinner:

The blurry pic is because it was STEAMING hot. This Red Curry soup has been a stand by in my kitchen the last few weeks. It is incredibly easy to make and you can always use different ingredients of whatever you have on hand.

Red Curry Paste
Chicken Broth
Coconut Milk
Carrots
Onions
Red Pepper
Red Potato
6 oz. Chicken
1 Cup Brown Rice

This meal was a little high in points, but I think it’s because I over estimated to make sure I wasn’t cheating myself. Here is how it turned out:

Even after over estimating I still have 7 points left at the end of the day. I think they will be spent on a Chobani with berries. That leaves me with 3 points left. Not bad.

Eaten anything memorable lately?

6 Comments

by Shrinking Carrie on May 1, 2013 • Permalink

Posted in Breast Feeding, Challenges, Daily Stats, Diet, Good Food, Link Love, Meal Planning, Nutrition, Weight Watchers, WIAW

Posted by Shrinking Carrie on May 1, 2013

http://shrinkingcarrie.com/2013/05/01/wiaw-what-nursing-moms-eat/

Dear Diary, Day 1

Sweat it Out:
Elliptical 60 minutes
Ab work
Stretching

Burned 615 Calories according to the trusty Bodybugg!

My day of food in photo’s:

Breakfast: Kashi Go Lean Crunch, 1 Cup of Vanilla Soy Milk, Fresh Strawberries, and half a Banana

Snack: Garlic Hummus, Baby Carrots, Rice Cake, and Justin's Chocolate Peanut Butter

Lunch: Orange Juice, Vanilla Pea Protein, Frozen strawberries, frozen banana, and 2 cups of Kale

The baby LOVES Green Smoothies!

Mac & Cheeze with Roasted Broccoli

I had an ok day with food. I stayed within my calories, but I could have eaten less pasta at dinner and felt satisfied. In fact, I’m trying to cut out unnecessary pseudo-grains, but I had planned on making Mac & Cheeze last week, and never did so I needed to use the stuff I had. Had no cravings! Finishing up my last 32 oz’s of water which will make today’s total 128 oz’s.

Good workout. Stretching is going awesome and I can feel myself getting more flexible and a huge difference even since last week!

Tracked everything on My Fitness Pal and here is where my day ended:

Not Bad!

Sleep tight ya’ll!

2 Comments

by Shrinking Carrie on April 30, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Daily Stats

Posted by Shrinking Carrie on April 30, 2012

http://shrinkingcarrie.com/2012/04/30/dear-diary-day-1/

Recharged and Back to Basics

After an entire week of overindulging I have to say enough is enough. I feel that my healthy battery has been re-charged and I have seen my evil ways. It’s time to get back to basics.

Get on the scale. I have a fear of the scale when I have been naughty. Does anybody else do this? I need to face the music and seeing the number on the scale will start this week out where it needs to start. Besides, most of the weight will be water weight anyway and I should be able to get rid of most of it by the end of the week.
Re-start NROLFW. I need to have some sort of plan when I go to the gym and I don’t want to lose all of the muscle I gained when I did New Rules of Lifting for Women first time around. I am not going to wait for my move to start the program again, and I can let this program help me with the struggle I have been having with the gym lately. I am going to add a few more moves that aren’t in the book to keep it interesting. I am also going to get to the gym earlier. The longer I wait to go to the gym in the morning, the easier it is to talk myself out of going.
Track, Measure, Weigh, Repeat. I will be doing daily stat’s post for this next week since it seems to help me stay accountable for what I am eating. I will weigh and measure my food as exact as I can for this is the only way that I have seen positive results on the scale.
Drink lots of water. Flush out all the chocolate. Also, I haven’t been sweating as much at the gym and I think it’s because my water consumption has been lower and my salt intake has been higher.
Meal Plan, and then stick to the meal plan. I have been meal planning since the beginning of the year. It has helped with my eating and my budget, but lately it seems that I have made a plan and then not stuck to it. Some of the dinners that I had planned on making just didn’t sound good when it came time to make them. The fact is, when you eat fat, sugar, and salt, you crave fat, sugar, and salt. It may be a rough couple of days getting back on track, but sticking to my meal plan is a sure-fire way to get there.
Positivity. So I lost a week, that’s ok. The important part is that I start again. I forgive myself for the foods that I have eaten, and I tell myself that I am a strong woman who can do hard things. I know I can get back on track, I just need to re-focus my energy in the right area’s.

I am only going to get more stressed out in the upcoming weeks with the move coming on and I can’t let it completely de-rail me. It is just another excuse hurdle that I need to jump over. Life will always get in the way of weight loss and conditions will never be perfect, so I have to keep pushing everyday.

This Week’s Meal Plan:

Monday: Tomato Basil “Cream” Pasta

Click picture to link to Oh She Glows (this is also Angela's Picture)

Tuesday: Meatless Fajita’s. This is a fast and easy recipe where I just removed the meat entirely from the meal. I sauté green peppers and a red onion with fajita seasoning and then put over black beans and brown rice. Top with mashed avocado and it is a yummy plant-based dinner.
Wednesday: Butternut Squash Soup:

Click picture to link with All Recipes.com (picture is also from allrecipes.com

Thursday: Breakfast for dinner. Does anybody else LOVE breakfast for dinner?

Click picture to link to Oh She Glows for recipe (picture credit is also Angela's)

Friday: Vegan Combo Pizza. I will be trying out non-dairy cheese and non-animal pepperoni for the first time. Dustin is thrilled (insert sarcasm font).
Saturday: Planned date night where we get to go out to eat.
Sunday: Meat meal for the week, Healthy Hamburger Helper. Dustin and I have been huge fans of Hamburger Helper since we have been married so when Janetha over at Meals and Movesfigured out a way to make it healthy I had to try it out (plus, Dustin deserves some meat at least once a week for being so obliging to my weird eating habits I’ve picked up).
Click picture to link to recipe (Photo credit goes to Janetha over at Meals and Moves)

So there is my plan for a successful week! How do you set yourself up for success?

5 Comments

by Shrinking Carrie on February 19, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Challenges, Change, Daily Stats, Diet, Distractions, Goals, Indulgence, Meal Planning, Plant Based Diet

Posted by Shrinking Carrie on February 19, 2012

http://shrinkingcarrie.com/2012/02/19/recharged-and-back-to-basics/

Syncing Up

Sweat it Out:
Weights 30 Minutes
Elliptical 45 Minutes

Yesterday was the first day since I bought my Bodybugg in October that I actually synced my calories burned with my calories consumed. I had a great day yesterday, and the scale is showing some results.

I can testify to food journaling and why it needs to be done. My track record in the past was that I stayed on track with calories most of the day until I hit dinner. Dinner is usually when I have meat products and eat the bulk of my food. For example, on Wednesday I made chicken fajitas and my total calories consumed during dinner were 827 calories. That is with using healthy alternatives!

Last night I made a Butternut Squash soup and steamed broccoli, and had strawberries and 2 cuties for dessert. The total calories consumed for last nights dinner were 483. Quite a difference, and I felt like I ate a LOT!

I ended up eating a total of 1547 calories yesterday, which is actually lower than I would have liked, but I felt like I was eating ALL DAY! It just shows how much you can eat when you are filling up on healthy foods. Here is how the day ended according to Bodybugg:

I ended with a deficit of 1757 calories! I am shooting for more like 1800 calories a day, because this morning when I woke up I felt fatigued like I didn’t eat enough yesterday, but I keep it to 1800 calories a day and continue burning like I have been, there should be some serious results in the future.

One more success is that I made a butternut squash soup that my hub’s liked so much, he finished of the ENTIRE pot! I was planning on having some left over for lunch today, but…..oh well.

Butternut Squash Soup
1 small onion chopped
2 celery stalks chopped
handful of baby carrots chopped
2 medium red potatoes cubed
medium butternut squash cubed
32 oz. water
6 Chicken Bouillon cubes

Combine butter, onion, celery, carrots, red potatoes, and butternut squash into pot and cook for about 10 minutes stirring occasionally. Add water and chicken bouillon cubes and simmer for 40 minutes.

Once vegetables are soft, transfer to blender and blend on high until smooth. Transfer back to pot and add salt and pepper to desired taste. I added a lot of pepper because I like it spicy! I also think that you could experiment with other things like adding curry or other spices, if you like that sort of thing.

My husband will eat anything once, so I have to ask him if he would eat it again, and he reluctantly admitted that he LOVED this soup. I think it is because it is healthy and low-calorie that it is hard for him to admit that he like it. I will be working this soup into the meal rotation.

And here are the nutritional stat’s:

Are you a picky eater?

Weights: I don’t know if I can really say that this workout was from NROLFW I modified it so much! I am having a hard time with this phase because some of the moves are awkward and I can’t feel them working anything. Normally I would just add more weight, but then my form is all off. This has been a frustrating phase for me. I only have two more workouts left for this phase and then I can move on. Phase 6 is a lot different from the rest of the phases and I am eager to move on!

Deadlift: 4 sets of 10, 60 pounds
Bent over Row: 4 sets of 4, 60 pounds
Lat Pull down: sets of 8, 80 pounds
Single leg squat: 4 sets of 8
Push-ups: 4 sets of 10
Seated row: 4 sets of 6, 80 pounds
Plank: 4 60 second holds

1 Comment

by Shrinking Carrie on December 30, 2011 • Permalink

Posted in Body Bugg, Daily Stats, Dustin, Recipes, The New Rules of Lifting for Women

Posted by Shrinking Carrie on December 30, 2011

http://shrinkingcarrie.com/2011/12/30/syncing-up/

Perfection Challenge Day……?

Sweat it Out:
Elliptical 1 hour
Clean house: Endless hours

Apparently I am losing track of the days because yesterday should have been day 7 (instead of 6, like I posted) and today is day 8. Let’s face it, I have started vacation mode. I’ve been eating good and going to the gym, but mentally my mind is ready to be with family, and have some much-needed time off with my hub’s.

Today I CLEANED the house. For Hours. Endlessly. I am one of those people who cleans the house like crazy right before I go out-of-town, so that it stays nice and neat for when I come home. This has gotten to be a bit of a challenge with a now toddler in my home. She has recently taken to opening up cupboards and scattering its contents on the kitchen floor. I dont’ know if I baby proofed because I’m afraid she’ll hurt herself, or if I’m just sick of cleaning up the mess’ she keeps making (j/k my child’s safety is always #1). Also, I watched my friends little boy today, which served as a nice distraction for my little munchkin.

When I checked my pedometer at 7:00 pm (right before I took my shower for the day, I know, so gross), I had over 17,000 steps in for the day, which is good considering I was handing out snacks all day to little ones, and the cleaning helped me from stuffing my own mouth with goldfish crackers.

I just have to have a little vent, because telling my hub’s this story didn’t get it completely out of my head:

Is it not an unwritten law that when you are doing cardio at the gym you should leave a “buffer” of one machine (if it is not a busy time of day), between two people? I was on the machine for about 2 minutes when a girl hopped on the machine next to me (when the one next to her was empty) and started to race me on the Elliptical. I now I have mentioned this in the past and I don’t want to sound paranoid about racers, but it was clear that she was starring at my machine to see what levels I was doing and how high my resistance was.

Here was the thing that really bothered me. While casually glancing at her machine to see what all the hububb was about, I noticed that she hadn’t even programmed the machine and she was on a level 1! the machine kept showing the “press quickstart to begin” rolling phrase and she was checking me out like she was kicking my @$$! I don’t mind a racer, but lets at least even it out by having the same levels (incline 9 resistance 10), and maybe programming the machine wouldn’t hurt you either.

Sorry for the rant, but I see this girl a couple of times a week, and although I think it is wonderful that she is at the gym trying to be healthy, I think she could use her time more wisely. But that is just my cheap jerk opinion!

Anyway, here is how the day ended:

I hope you guys are having a fab Monday!

Do you ever feel like people (strangers) get competitive in the gym? Do you think this racing thing is in my head?

9 Comments

by Shrinking Carrie on October 24, 2011 • Permalink

Posted in Challenges, Daily Stats

Posted by Shrinking Carrie on October 24, 2011

http://shrinkingcarrie.com/2011/10/24/perfection-challenge-day/

Lazy Sunday: Day 6

I need to have more days like today, but with the gym included. Sunday is my rest day, like I have mentioned in the past, I am a religious gal, and I stay home on Sunday’s to focus on church and family. Today was one of those days that I kind of wanted to break my no gym rule, but rest days are good, and necessary. They also make me excited to go to the gym Monday morning, which is a definite plus!

My eating was on point today. I ate just enough so that I didn’t ever get to be dying of hunger (figuratively of course). I only have 2 more days until weigh in, and I’m not sure that I’m going to make my 10% Weight Watchers goal before I go to Utah. The weird thing is that the numbers don’t seem to be going down quickly, but I am feeling a HUGE difference in the way my clothes are fitting! I put on a skirt today that I hadn’t worn in 2 months, and it fit perfectly! In fact, a few more pounds and I don’t think it would fit anymore.

This is the why I don’t live or die by the scale. I am feeling amazing with my workouts, and have lots of energy. My clothes are fitting better, and I am staying motivated with that.

Here is how today rounded out:

I Finally got smart and just figured my smoothie into a meal instead of listing every single ingredient.

Yes, I ate breakfast foods ALL. DAY. LONG. I was in heaven, breakfast is my favorite meal of the day!

Are we all ready to start this new week?

A big fat YES! I go to Utah this week to see family and I am SO EXCITED!

1 Comment

by Shrinking Carrie on October 23, 2011 • Permalink

Posted in Daily Stats, Motivation

Posted by Shrinking Carrie on October 23, 2011

http://shrinkingcarrie.com/2011/10/23/lazy-sunday-day-6/

Perfection Challenge: Day 6

Sweat it Out:
Elliptical 1 Hour

Pedometer: Over 10,000 steps, and then my baby got a hold of it and shook it around a bit.

Had some weird eats today, but I stayed within goal and that’s what matters. NROLFW Phase 3 re-cap tomorrow!

Happy Saturday!

1 Comment

by Shrinking Carrie on October 22, 2011 • Permalink

Posted in Daily Stats

Posted by Shrinking Carrie on October 22, 2011

http://shrinkingcarrie.com/2011/10/22/perfection-challenge-day-6/

Confession: I Can’t Cook Rice, Day 4

Sweat it Out:
1 Hour Elliptical

I’ve been on a fried egg and toast kick lately. I could eat eggs for every meal everyday,and I am not even slightly exaggerating the truth. The only problem is that I have been craving the sweet and savory every morning. I put jam on one piece of toast and then mashed fried eggs on the other. Totally yum, but holy cholesterol Batman, I don’t want to die at a young age! I need to get back to my protein shake in the morning. The difference between these 2 meals is that the eggs keep me full from hunger for HOURS, whereas the protein shake keeps me full for about an hour and a half?! What’s up with that?!

I made sweet and sour chicken tonight with roasted broccoli and brown rice. I SUCK at cooking rice! I pulled out my Pampered Chef Rice Cooker to use for the brown rice for the first time tonight. I’ve only had it for over a year, no biggie. I followed the directions thinking that I would make the perfect brown rice, since I always find a way to muck it up (it also makes a HUGE mess on the stove top EVERY TIME for some reason). I was thinking of the lovely review that I would give the rice cooker on the blog when it managed to make the “perfect” brown rice. This did not happen. I don’t know if it was me (I followed the directions to a T) or the rice cooker I used. After microwaving it for OVER 30 minutes and letting it sit for 15 minutes, it still had quite a bit of water on the bottom, and turned out chewy. What a disappointment.

To top it off my baby wouldn’t go to bed until 9 (regular bedtime is 7), so “me” time was practically non-existent today.

And I have been feeling off today. It could be because today is regularly a weigh in day, but since I am doing the 9 days of perfection challenge, I went to the gym instead of my Weight Watchers meeting. I haven’t left the house all day, and have had dull cramps for 2 days straight (even though it not that time?).

I did, however, make some pretty darn tasty Applesauce Muffins with sweet potato’s. I’ve been trying to broaden Hanna’s diet and introduce foods outside of the pureed baby food type food. The muffins must be pretty good, because she ate 3/4 of an entire muffin (they are pretty big and dense, so that is a LOT of muffin).

Enough complaining already! At least the day was good eating and exercise wise. Here is how today rounded out:

No dairy today? That’s weird.

Is there a food that you just can’t make correctly? Brown rice NEVER turns out for me. I am rice challenged.

7 Comments

by Shrinking Carrie on October 20, 2011 • Permalink

Posted in About Me, Baby Food, Challenges, Daily Stats

Posted by Shrinking Carrie on October 20, 2011

http://shrinkingcarrie.com/2011/10/20/confession-i-cant-cook-rice-day-4/

Perfection Challenge: Day 3 Stat’s

Sweat it Out:
45 Minutes Weights
30 Minutes Elliptical Intervals

“The New Rules of Lifting for Women” Day 7, Phase 3, Workout A

One Armed dumbell snatch: 3 sets of 6, 20 pounds
Dumbell Single-leg Romanian Deadlift: 3 Seta of 6, 35 pounds
Barbell Bent over row: 3 sets of 6, 50 Pounds
Dumbell Single arm overhead squat: 3 sets of 6, 5/15 pounds
Dumbell Incline Bench Press: 3 Sets of 6, 45 pounds
Plank: 3 sets of 60 second holds
Reverse Wood Chop: 3 sets of 6, 60 pounds

Intervals on the Elliptical were KILLER! Alternating 1 Minute on level 12, 1 minute on level 8. I was sweating up a storm!

Here is how today rounded out:

I hope you are all having a fun Wednesday night!

1 Comment

by Shrinking Carrie on October 19, 2011 • Permalink

Posted in Daily Stats

Posted by Shrinking Carrie on October 19, 2011

http://shrinkingcarrie.com/2011/10/19/perfection-challenge-day-3-stats-2/

Perfection Challenge: Day 2 Stat’s

Sweat it Out:
Elliptical 1 Hour

I have still been having foot pain these last few days so today I changed up my footwear and wore my Nike Free’s to the gym today. I like the feeling of how light they are on my feet, almost like they’re not there at all. And guess what? No pain. Hallelujah! I have a really high arch, and I think the minimal footwear really helped my achy foot out. One day I would love to try the Five FInger Vibrams. I am anxious to see the difference in my feet, but I won’t try them until I start doing more treadmill work, which will have to wait until I lose a little more weight.

Here is how the day rounded out:

I could have eaten a few more fruits and veggies, but I don’t eat anything after 8, so I will have to be more mindful of this tomorrow! I hope everyone is having a fabulous Tuesday!