Eating: Low Carb

I know, I know, it's the middle of the holiday season and I'm not being perfect right now with my low carb eating; but I've been getting a few emails asking about my eating habits. So, I thought I'd write a big long post about it. Just kidding- it's going to be pretty boring as I eat a lot of the same things over and over.

I'm not a nutritionist so don't think I know anything but I do know my body and what has worked for it. For me it's low carb as much as I hate to admit it because who wants to admit that living a life with less carbs in it works? Not me but it's true. I feel better, I lose weight, I have energy (after the dreaded first 3 weeks), and surprisingly I eat less calories naturally because carbohydrates usually have more calories in them than protein. I also get fuller quicker and I stay fuller longer - those yahoo articles are right about protein being more filling than carbs. Who knew?! Anyways, I've been eating like this for six months now with one cheat day each month. Okay, so it's more like the dinner the night before cheat day and cheat day it's like Christmas Eve and Christmas. You have to open one present the night before because you're so excited right?! Exactly, moving on here are some examples of my typical breakfast, lunch, snacks, and dinners. #dontjudgeme

BREAKFAST

Eggs... so many eggs. They fill you up and are great for you. I don't care if you think the yolk is bad I eat at least 2 of them a few times a week.

Bacon... I go in waves of eggs and bacon for breakfast but I've been eating less bacon lately and more egg. Any kind of meat is good for breakfast so I sometimes switch it up with sausage, steak, and veggies. But most of the time it's just plain ole bacon and scrambled eggs for breakfast.


Protein shake... I've been drinking these a lot lately instead of eating a meal for breakfast. I make them at work with hot green tea, a scoop of PEScience, and a few cubes of ice. Shake it all together and I swear it tastes like a warm chai latte.

My favorite protein powder: SELECT Protein Chocolate 
Why: LESS THAN 1 CARB a scoop! Rich and creamy tasting! 110 Calories! 24 grams of Protein! It's the best I've tried yet. Oh and you can always get 50% off any purchase if you use code Melina50 (She's one of their Athletes)

Low Carb Pancakes...I'll post my personal recipe soon but you can google them as well. Basically just eggs and mashed bananas or cream cheese with disgusting "sugar free" syrup. I hate that syrup but it's decent enough to manipulate myself into thinking I'm eating real pancakes with syrup. I do like the after feeling with these pancakes vs real ones - I'm never bloated-gross full with them. The way I feel now after I eat a lot of bread is horrible compared to how I good I feel after eating a bunch of meat and veggies.

That's pretty much all I eat for breakfast but other options you might like are veggies in your eggs, cheese, meats, smoothies, etc. (Told you I'm boring) 







LUNCH 

Salad... I eat a few different salads but I'm sure someone not as picky as me would have even MORE options but this is what I do: taco chicken, taco beef, pepperoni, tuna, and steak loaded with cheese, and any other veggie I want usually on top of spinach. I don't like salad dressing so I always eat my salads dry. (Yes, I know I'm a freak but I think you're a freak for eating a slime like texture all over your food.) 

Breakfast... see above for example. If I end up drinking a protein shake for breakfast sometimes I will eat eggs and bacon for lunch. It's quick to make and yummy. Oh and I guess I should mention that I'm really lucky and work like five seconds away from my apartment so I come home every day for lunch. If I couldn't do this it would limit a bunch of my cooking options.

Meat/Cheese/Protein shake... I really like summer sausage and cheddar cheese. Both are low carb options and feel like I'm cheating my butt off but I'm not! Finish up that with a cold chocolate protein shake in my Vitamix and it makes me think I just had a full fat milkshake. It's my favorite guilty but innocent lunch.

Leftovers... Anything I cook for dinner fair game the next day.


DINNER

Beef Pasta (without the pasta)... So I used to really love Hamburger Helper and one day I tried making it from scratch instead of a box. Turns out it's super easy and all you need is a packet of Brown Gravy Mix / 1lb beef / pasta and some water and milk. Then when I started doing Low-Carb I thought - HEY, what if I replace the pasta with green beans. Cue life changing moment and my new favorite comfort food.

Lasagna... with pepperoni layers instead of noodles! It's so greasy and cheesy and good I might have squealed while typing this.

Pork Rhine Crusted Chicken Tenders... It's so good I don't even know where to start. Crush up some cracklings and put some Tony's in there - bread those chicken tenders and bake or fry them up. Top with cheese and bacon if you really feel like getting sassy.

Salads... Just like the lunch ones.

Spinach Crust Pizza... my Gluten Free friend turned me onto this one. Who knew they actually do have some tasty food and no Gluten sometimes means no Carb! In this case it you use spinach, eggs, and cheese in place of dough so it is Carb free!

Protein and Veggies... you name any combo and I have probably eaten it. Chicken/Steak/Fish every green vegetable under the sun any of those low carb options make GREAT dinners.














SNACKS

Questbars... Low Carb and dangerously delicious. I should probably cut back on these guys but they are just so yummy.

Fruit/Veggies/Meat/Cheese/Peanut Butter... I eat any of these for snack. It's all good.

Protein Shakes... see above. I love PEScience.


And that just about does it - pretty boring and very repetitive but I like it. I average 1700 or less calories a day / 35 or less Net Carbs /120+ of protein. This is what has been working for me - I think you just have to figure out what will work for you and until you do just keep trying everything. I always say give each new thing a month then move along if you aren't happy. Remember to love yourself along the way and know that no matter what it is in life just keep trying until you get it. Never give up and you won't ever fail.

I'm currently driving across the country with my husband and dog but trying to low-carb it the entire way. It's my birthday in a few days and those are automatic "cheat days"so no guilt here! I hope you got everything you wanted for Christmas!

XOXO

Bad days.

Everyone has them. They are unavoidable and even though we know what they are the minute they happen it doesn't stop the feeling of unhappiness. However, it never fails that the bad feelings turn back to good again... with time.

I absolutely have those bad days. I had one last Wednesday right after I got home from work. It was a long day and I started to feel bloated and gross that afternoon. When I got home I stupidly stepped on the scale because I was looking for motivation to go and do a double workout but that backfired on me immediately. I was 5lbs heavier than I was two days before which I knew was absolute shit because I did a double on Monday and my eating has been on point. I KNEW that it was water weight as my boobs felt like they were going to pop and my stomach would have looked cute in a Santa suit but that didn't stop my mind from exploding. I instantly wanted to cry and I got so frustrated. I get in this mindset sometimes where I get frustrated at the fact that I have to work so hard to lose weight. I do doubles now - two hours of working out multiple times a week usually and I don't eat carbs - I think I should be losing weight faster! I get so angry and jealous when I see people losing 30lbs in 2 months, hell even people that can lose 10lbs a month. WHY can't I do that? My body is changing and I'm losing weight which I am thankful for but 6lbs a month is slow as hell in my world. Yes, I know I'm doing it the "right way" and I'm going to "keep it off by doing this" etc. etc. I know you're right but I've still got such a long way to go and sometimes you just get worn out. I wouldn't have gone to my workout at all that night but my kickboxing family had planned a dinner after class for my going away party and I wasn't going to cancel on them. So, instead of crying in my room alone, felling sorry for myself I went to class to work it out with my friends.

Once I got to the gym I was talking to Shelia and letting her know that I felt like a walking water bed filled with self pity and she told me to shut the hell up and go earn my dinner. When she tells you to do something you do it or she just starts yelling it louder so, off I went to class. Then I walked in to see this for the WOD:

I saw 100 Jumping Jacks and I seriously panicked. We have to do the warm up three times in a row and then you move onto the workout. 300 JUMPING JACKS?!!? I have NEVER in my life done 300 jumping jacks at one time. Chad and I started doing jumping jacks a year ago when we went to LA Fitness and I would have to stop every 25 jumps. Once I made it to a 100 I was dying. Now, I do jumping jacks in kickboxing all the time but like 25 at a time not 300! I told myself I'll just do as many as I can and if I'm slowing the entire class up I'll just lie and not do 100 and say that I did. Well, turns out I didn't need to be worried at all. I did a 100 jumping jacks in less than two minutes! I wasn't even winded! I didn't even have to stop! I blew my own mind because I REMEMBER that feeling the last time I did them and it wasn't like that anymore. I was so happy the rest of the workout and it was amazing. I went from beyond depressed and upset to blown away with happiness.

I want to say "who cares" about the number on the scale but the truth is I still do but I also care about those non-scale victories that in the long run probably mean more. As I laid on the ground surrounded by people that all share a common drive to push themselves to be their best and watching steam come off our heads as we laid there doing an ab burnout, I just felt happy. That's the feeling that I always want. I hate being sad, depressed, and unhappy. I shouldn't let my stupid hormones cloud my common sense and manipulate my emotions but sometimes you can't escape it and it happens. I'm so happy I had that dinner to go to. I'm so happy I have people in my life that push me and help me grow and I'm so happy that I'm stronger than I was a year ago. It's only going to get better because no matter how hard I have to work I won't give up. This is my journey and the bad days will end and the good days will happen. I live for those good days... I wish nothing but good days to everyone struggling. The whole world needs more good days.

Aaaaand then we went to Red Robin and ate all the fries!

JUST KIDDING I had the Royal Burger protein style (no bun) and broccoli with THREE sweet potato fries and they were FANTASTIC. It was such a fun time and I'm going to miss those people so much. They might not even know it but you turned my bad day into a great night!


Here's to the bad days for making us appreciate the good ones.

XOXO

Low Carb Life

Lets talk about FOOD.

I filled you guys in on what I have been doing workout wise last week on the blog so this week I wanted to talk about my personal journey with eating. I don't like calling it a "diet" as I don't plan on ever stopping. I don't believe in diets... for me they have just NEVER worked. It is only when I fully change how I eat that I've had any success. I've had a life long battle with eating which I'll share one day but today I just want to focus on what has been working for me the last six months.

While we were on the cruise ship in May coming home from Alaska I was stuffing my face with french fries while thinking, "I've got to make a drastic change in my diet." Those fries were good but I just kept thinking I need to cut down on carbs and sugar. So, I decided that when we got back I was going to do a Low Carb diet in order to shock my body into something it wasn't used too. I started reading a bit about it online -- what exactly is considered "low carb"-- what isn't etc. etc. It was a lot of different information coming from tons of different sources and instead of picking a plan like Adkins I decided I was going to do this myself with my own rules. Low carb is generally considered 100 grams of Carbs or less a day. However, that seemed like too many for me and I REALLY wanted to remove most carbs from my diet - so I chose to try and stay under 30 grams a day. The only time I got any carbs was from fruits and veggies. Some people choose to remove those completely and not eat any carbs but I just didn't feel that was doable OR healthy for me. Just because fruit has sugar in it carbs are there but those aren't the same kind of carbs that come in white bread. It's different and I was okay with eating those kinds of carbs in moderation.

Another part of my plan was to have one cheat day a month until I lost all the weight that I wanted to and then if I liked this style of eating I would gradually transition to a cheat meal once every two weeks or maybe even once a week instead of full days. Cheat days seemed so exciting and guilt free and a nice reward to giving up french fries for an entire month. You work hard for 30 Days and then you get to celebrate what you've done - sounds good to me.  So, that's what I started doing on June 1st 2014 and I'm still doing it now, six months later. I realized it had been six months the other day when I was talking to Chad and I almost started crying because I have never been able to stick to something like this before for this amount of time. I am so proud of myself. I feel amazing and it all started with me aiming to make it just one month.

Now, the good stuff. Let me just tell you about how CRAZY the first month was! I am 100% convinced now that SUGAR is a drug. I'd put the addiction level up there with heroin and I'm not joking. The only way I made it through the first three weeks was pure determination. I literally had dreams about food during the first three weeks almost nightly. I had mood swings, I was exhausted, and I had no energy in my workouts. It was so hard but I just knew that it HAD to get better. I was googling articles - searching for other people going through the same thing and I found what I was looking for. All of those symptoms I had were normal. That was my body detoxing from sugar and also switching from getting my energy from carbs (which I no longer ate) to using fat as energy. There's just a REALLY crappy 3-4 week time frame where this happens and everything sucks. I tell everyone that is thinking about doing low-carb this because it's important and it's not easy BUT the good news is that after 3 weeks I started to feel amazing. The dreams about my mom feeding me froyo with oreos and cookie dough stopped. I didn't wake up in a cold sweat because I was just dreaming about eating Cheetos and licking that orangey cheesy goodness off my fingers anymore; nor, did I dream about eating fluffy, buttery, soft, country biscuits again. I started to have energy in my workouts and the cravings WENT AWAY for the most part. Then I got on the scale. I didn't weigh for the first 2 1/2 weeks and I was DYING to see if this new way of life was going to work. I got on the scale and I had lost almost 10lbs. I was hooked - and NOT on sugar anymore!

Then it was time for Cheat day. I was so excited yet so nervous about this day because a big part of me worried I would just continue the cheat day and fall back into old habits. I didn't want to do that and I just made up my mind I wouldn't let myself. That hasn't always worked in the past but for some reason I'm at a point in my life where I have the dedication and motivation to stick to a plan. I think for me, if I acknowledge what could go wrong and then make a plan to AVOID that outcome happening I can then be successful. That pretty much goes for anything in life not just weight loss. Anyways, when cheat day came around I wanted a doughnut like crazy so Chad made plans to go get us some for breakfast. I was so excited to eat that doughnut but when I took my first bite I almost had a heart attack. Not really but WHOA sugar overload! I dare anyone to give up sugar completely for one month and then eat something entirely made up of sugar - it will be too much to handle. It tasted okay but after about three bites I was done. I didn't want it - it was too sweet and the sugar just wasn't something I was wanting anymore. I did however, want pizza, fries and chips so obviously my issue just lays with bread. Bread is still my favorite but after months of not eating it anytime I have a cheat day I really can't eat a lot of it because it makes me so full. It's so interesting the longer that I do this the more I can tell what works good in this body and what doesn't. Low-carb isn't for everyone and I strongly believe that you have to find what will work for YOUR body. Everyone is different but for me low-carb has changed my life and it is working. I faced my fear about not getting back on track but it was surprisingly easier than I thought it would be. It was still hard to resist carbs but I had so much determination that I got right back on track and so far I've had 5 Cheat days now with no issues. Just make sure you pack up any leftovers and send them to work with your husband or that you dump soap into the jar of frosting so you won't be tempted to dig it out of the trash and eat just a little bit more of it.

So, after six months of low-carbing it and kickboxing I am officially down 37 pounds. I weighed this weekend and I saw a number on the scale that I've never seen in my adult life. I'm smaller than I was when I met Chad and even smaller than I was when I walked down the aisle to marry him. I have never felt better in my entire life but I still have so much more work to do. The next goal for me is to lose 3 more pounds before we move. I want to be able to say I've lost 40+ pounds so badly... then the next goal will be 50 lost and so on and so forth. Baby steps... baby goals... with the knowledge that this is a LONG process and this isn't a diet - it's a change of life. I honestly have no desire to eat carbs regularly ever again. I do look forward to the days of a cheat meal once a week but I'm not there yet and that's okay. If you're looking for a way to jump start your weight loss or an entire lifestyle change I would strongly suggest going low-carb but then again it might not work for you. You just have to keep trying different things until you find something that works. Don't give up... I've tried so many things, given up so many times, and then tried some more. Give whatever you're doing a month of full commitment - focus in on what you want and let nothing get in your way. There was one point where I thought, "I guess I'm just always going to be fat" but I no longer accept that. I know that I can do whatever the hell I put my mind to and while it might take years - if you never stop trying you will never fail and you WILL eventually get to your goal. Make sure to love yourself along the way too. I was the meanest person to myself for so many years... not anymore. I LOVE myself.. I am proud of myself... and that love has fed my soul throughout this journey on those days when I wanted to call myself a failure.

There you have it - an overview of my low carb journey. While I could talk more and more I think I will wrap it up now and save the rest for later. I plan on blogging about my weight loss/workouts weekly on here and if you have any questions let me know!

See the contact tab above for my email or comment below.

#crazythoughsgetsfit

I Love Kickboxing

Website

Lets play catch up on my workouts-

I've tried a lot of different workout classes over the last few years but the one that has actually changed my life is Kickboxing. Let me back up and explain how I got to this point for anyone who feels like they don't know where to start when it comes to working out. I say this a lot but if I can get out there and do it anyone can. I had a lot of small accomplishments in order to get to this point because I'm going to be pretty blunt and own up to the fact that I'm REALLY focused right now. Pretty much my entire life is about getting healthy and in shape and the rest of my life will probably have to be this way in order for me to stay in shape once I get there. That used to upset me but then I put my big girl panties on and realized, this is my struggle. My "thing" in life that I have to deal with and I'm okay with that because I think everyone should be concerned about their body. It took awhile but I finally get that WE ONLY GET ONE in this life. I'm now obsessed with taking better care of it and I guess now that means I'm the girl at the party that tells you how sore I am. Whoops.

Okay, so back to the small accomplishments... I've been trying to get back in shape for the last two years. The first thing I did was learn how to eat salads. Yes, I know that sounds stupid but I didn't like to eat them. Now, I eat them and surprisingly, I like them. That was over a year and half ago. Then I gave up drinking soda - like all soda, diet included after reading a few horrifying articles about what they do to your body. (dare you to Google it)  It's been over a year now and I don't miss it at all. Next, I started trying out different gym classes; I found yoga and body works at my local LA Fitness and I went regularly for almost 2 months until teachers changed and I lost interest. However, that helped me realized that I could keep to a schedule. I could be committed, which was a pretty new thing to me at the time. I've always started to try and get in shape then I would stop. I recently realized I can't ever stop -- If you never stop, then you'll never fail or so some bumper sticker I read once said.

(Apparently Albert Einstein said it!)

After that realization I got a few workout apps for my phone and started doing 30 Day challenges at the beginning of this year. I completed several months of these and it just kept building my confidence. Even though I STILL wasn't losing much weight I was doing a lot of work and prepping myself for the next phase. In May, my friend Terra told me about a kickboxing class she tried. She said it was miserable and seemed like something I would love. I was immediately interested (I GET TO HIT THINGS!) and talked to Chad about it to see if he would do it with me for 10 classes that I was going to get with a Groupon. He was as always fully supportive and off we went to our first classes before our cruise to Alaska. (May 2014) We were immediately hooked. The first class had me questioning my sanity and I had never felt that sore in my life but at the same time it was incredibly fun. I learned how to properly hit someone in the face and we quickly blew through our 10 classes within a month. I decided I had to join. Chads schedule didn't work well with the class times so sadly I joined alone but now 6 months later I am happily 36lbs lighter and a whole lot stronger.

Fat face be gone! 

Keep in mind I also started doing a low carb diet in June which is a HUGE part of the pounds I have lost. I will post about my diet soon but always remember it is 80% diet & 20% exercise. I used to get so angry with myself for working out as much as I did but never being able to lose weight. It's because my diet was crap... I mean I can work out for an hour and still eat 4,000 calories a day RIGHT?!!? No.  

Lets get back to kickboxing... Classes are CRAZY! The first 15 mins are running around doing push ups, crunches, planks, squats, lunges, burpees, you name it in bursts of time. Then you get a water break, then you get to stretch, and THEN they let you hit things! I love the bag rounds. It's 6 different rounds of punches and kicks with the 6th round being a SPEED round where they threaten you with burpees if you stop doing what your doing at any moment during the final 60 seconds. Oh, and they punish the whole class if one person takes a break so it happens on occasion. Damn newbs. Just kidding - everyone is super supportive in and out of class and I have to admit moving away from this gym is really hard. So many of these people inspire me and it's so nice to have a group of people that are just as motivated about being in shape as you are. A part of me wonders if I can push myself on my own the rest of the way but then I know... I can and I will.

The Thanksgiving morning class was packed. 

What I like/will miss most about this gym is the people. The trainers and members are fantastic. I feel like I have this second family who is just as interested in kickboxing/fitness as I am. These new friends who you do all these intense things with and who you see a few times a week. I know it sounds crazy but these people have become a part of my every day life for the last 6 months and I've learned so much from each of them. Kickboxing has made me really happy and I think that's important for anyone looking for motivation - you have to find somewhere that makes you happy and that makes you want to work harder. Each time I go to class I know that they are going to push me... they know when I'm not hitting as hard as I can because I'm being lazy and they will yell at me "HARDER" in a heartbeat. It's become a tradition to laugh and say, "Oh that was too easy" at the end of class when in reality I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to steer my car when I drive home.

We all stalk each other on Facebook too. At first, I thought I was the only creeper but then the meanest of all the teachers started stalking me and I love it. Shelia, who just won 2nd place Best Fitness Instructor in Western Washington is the toughest instructor I've ever had. She is fantastic at scaring the crap out of people in all the right ways. (Not actual crap on the floor... although... it's possible) She's also the most down to Earth person I have met in a really long time. She is in amazing shape but she constantly works to be better while encouraging everyone around her to do the same. By encouraging I mean giving her signature "f*cking do it" face. She has competed in two fitness competitions since I have known her and watching her journey has been inspiring and hilarious. I didn't know the bitch cheated! She told me that one day and I was like, "Whattttttttt I thought you were perfect?!" I love the realness. Hopefully, she doesn't mind me blogging about her and if she does I probably have a bunch of burpees in my future.

(source)

Seriously though, she is awesome and has inspired me so much! I refuse to get sappy and type all the disgustingly mushy things on here but, thank you. When I joined up you said, "Girl, do you know what I can do to you in six months!?" and I was so excited to find out. Thank you for pushing me get to where I am today and giving me to the tools to know how to get the rest of the way on my own. I'm not sure what got you into fitness but you have helped me realize how strong I am and I am forever grateful for that.

Kickboxing has been amazing and I plan to get a bag and continue even after the move. It won't be the same but I've got enough commitment and know how to keep pushing. I've also got about ten friends on Facebook now that will harass my ass if I don't!

What workouts inspire you?