My Meal & Exercise Plans

People are asking all the time & I kept saying that I was going to blog about this & never got around to it, so I guess now is better than any other time, right :)
My meal plan:
I do not follow an official meal plan & I am not on a fad diet. I do not take any over the counter or prescription diet pills/supplements. I do take a daily multi-vitamin as well as Biotin.

Everything that I consume is FRESH. No frozen, boxed, canned or processed foods. All of my fruits/vegetables are purchased from local farmers using a service that I order from, not from the grocery store. If I do need to buy something, it is from Trader Joe's (Whole Foods/Sprouts). If I need pasta, something canned, dressing or something to that affect, I will either buy from Trader Joe's or from the same local farmer service that I buy my fruits/vegetables from because it is homemade/organic. Organic is the way to go folks!

If I am going to eat out, which is RARELY, I will eat a veggie bowl from Chipotle, select items from Panera Bread & then stick to salads at other dine-in restaurants. I do not go to any other fast food chain restaurants.

If I am going to cheat, I will eat pizza & Mexican food, which are my two weaknesses & then I pay for it within a few hours after eating it. I feel really sick. I keep this to a minimum because I would rather not deal with the consequences. Over the holidays I did do some baking & ate some of it, but sent the rest home with family!

I drink LOTS of water. In the summer, I drink a lot of infused waters when fruit is in season. I drink 1/2 cup of coffee in the mornings. Occasionally, I will drink cranberry juice from Trader Joe's.

My exercise plan:
I was running, but I was getting painful shin splints. Then I had sinus surgery & after recovery, when I attempted to run again, I would get terrible migraines on top of the shin splints, so the Dr suggested that I do something else for a while, then try to run again.

Currently, I do the elliptical & stair master for cardio 5-6 days a week. I also do weight training 4-5 days a week.

So far I have lost 52 pounds. I still have a ways to go to my goal weight, but I know I will get there eventually.

Low Carb Zucchini Lasagna with Spicy Turkey Meat Sauce

Ok guys...made this last night...YUM! Even my son liked it, which says A LOT! He thought the turkey was beef!

I got the recipe here
I forgot to take a pic so the photo credit goes to AmbitiousKitchen.com

Nutrition Information

• Serves: 8

• Serving size: 1/8th of recipe
• Calories: 308

• Fat: 12.6g
• Carbohydrates: 15.1g
• Sugar: 6.9g
• Fiber: 3.2g
• Protein: 37.3g

Weight Watchers Points = 8

My story - Long post...

I have always struggled with my weight. I remember as far back as age 10 when my mom put me on meal replacement shakes & supplements from Herbal Life. I have always had a complex. Ive been very self conscious & had low self esteem issues that stemmed from my weight. I'm also an emotional eater, so that doesn't help matters either!
There has only been a few times in my life where I actually felt 'comfortable' in my own skin. That was when I was physically active & eating healthy between my Jr & Sr year of high school, about 11yrs later & once again, working on it now 9yrs later.

In addition to being obese, I have accumulated a laundry list of diagnosed health problems, some weight related & some not:

• Migraines
• Cervical Spondylosis
• Chronic Low Back Pain
• Lumbar Spondylosis
• Chronic Neck Pain
• Myofascial Pain Syndrome
• Lumbar Radiculopathy
• Sacroiliitis 
• Plantar Fasciitis
• Clinical Depression
• Anxiety
• High blood pressure  
• Hearing loss in both ears (40% in one & 60% in the other)

In 2010, my son & I moved back from a place we had moved to in 2006 to my birthplace so that he could be closer to family. I did not want to do it; I loved where I was at & had planned staying there to infinity, but I did it for him regardless of my wants & feelings. I became very unhappy very quickly. I ended up being diagnosed with depression. A few years prior to that, I had been diagnosed with anxiety. Put the two together & you never go out of the house. When you never go out of the house & you are depressed & you are an emotional eater already, you eat & eat & eat! On top of all of this, I was addicted to pain killers, which had gotten completely out of control. I was miserable from being so overweight & from all of the physical pain I was in all the time. My weight gain increased.

In 2013, my family went through a crisis that lasted about two years. During this time is when I decided that it was time for change, so I began detoxing. I started ridding my body of all medications, including the daily preventative medications for the migraines. I wanted to be clean & clear of everything that was not natural or organic.

Here is a pic from April 8, 2014. When I look back on this photo, I see a very unhappy & sad person. I was also in a lot of pain with being off the pain meds at this point. Completely miserable in body, soul & mind. I had reached a point where I was desperate to lose weight, but I was not willing to put the effort into it. I still coveted my food. Food was my comfort for everything & I hate going outside of my comfort zone! Anyone that truly knows me, knows this about me! And exercise? huh! There was absolutely NO WAY that was going to happen with all of the pain I was in physically! So, I decided I was going to try an "all natural diet pill". Apparently there wasn't anything I had to do to lose weight on this pill other than drink lots of water & eat somewhat healthy. Ha! Lets just face it, NOTHING works unless you have a healthy diet & exercise plan, at least not in my experience anyway!

In May 2014, my Dr flat out told me that I MUST lose weight. My body could not continue going down this path because it was breaking down from all of the weight I had been carrying & continued to gain. The choice was mine & there is no cure to the medical problems I have, so there really is only one viable option for me.... LOSE WEIGHT DUMMY! The Dr decided that the best option was weight loss surgery. I thought to myself, "Oh hey, I can do that. No problem. How hard can it be?" So I began the process. All sorts of appointments & preparation including educational classes. I am SO glad they made these educational classes a requirement because I learned soooo much! One of these classes was a nutrition class where I learned about a required pre & post surgery diet plan & a list of foods that I could have & could not have. I also met with the surgeon that told me I had to lose 9 pounds before they would go through with the surgery. I was like "ummm dude, if I could lose weight, I would not be here right now". Well, the pre-surgery diet actually helped me to lose those 9 pounds, BUT I could not come to terms with the LONG list of foods I had to give up..and for life!! So, I decided that I could not go through with the surgery. I was a little disappointed because I was looking forward to losing weight!

Jan 2, 2015 after meeting with my Dr & nutritionist, we modified my diet plan to a more "realistic" list of foods I could actually live with & without & Ive been on this "plan" ever since. I don't really like to call this a "diet plan" though because in my book this really isn't a diet because it doesn't even feel like one. Its simply changing my eating habits, that's all. I will tell you more about my eating habits in another post :)

End of April/Beginning of May 2015 - I implemented exercise!!
As I mentioned earlier, in my experience, nothing is going to work unless you have healthy eating habits AND you're exercising! When I began exercising, THAT is when I started to see results. THIS is when the motivation came & gave me the determination to keep going.

June 2, 2015, I was looking through some old photos & came across this one from 8/27/2005. I was remembering that I was at my thinnest post baby & almost meeting my high school weight. During this timeframe, I had also become a runner & LOVED working out at the gym. I remembered how good I felt in my own skin. So, on this day, I vowed to myself that I was going to start running again, so I went for a run, a short one! Its all history from there to the present!

As of today, August 24, 2015 I have lost 39 pounds. The pounds aren't falling off as fast as they were but that is because I have started lifting weights, and that's OK. What matters is that I am getting healthy & stronger! I still have a LONG road to travel to where I want to be comfortable in this skin again, but the more and more I keep going, the more and more I see results, the more and more I am gradually feeling better about everything. 

Orange & Ginger Water

Orange & Ginger Water

Today's Water 8/2/15

Apple, Lemon, Strawberry, Cinnamon & Mint

• 1/2 Apple, sliced
• 1/2 Lemon, sliced
• 5 Strawberries, sliced
• A handful of torn mint leaves
• 1 Cinnamon stick

Cauliflower Crust Pizza

Cauliflower Crust Pizza

So tonight, I had absolutely nothing better to do than to try out a new recipe!!! YAY!! I actually combined a few different ones together & made my own due to some ingredients in others that I was just not too crazy about. I am pretty impressed with myself because I just do not "create" recipes on my own people! lol!

I had never had cauliflower crust before, so I didn't really know if this would taste good, what the texture would be like, if it would be soft, crispy or what. SO, if you have never had this, let me just say that you definitely cannot compare this to a "dough". It is on the softer side too. I ate it with my fork; which I tend to eat pizza with anyway. It really has a great flavor..not what I had expected with the texture though, but hat was because I was expecting more of an ordinary "pizza crust".

This recipe is for one 'personal size' pizza, so if you are planning to feed more than one mouth, plan accordingly.

Dough:

• 1 Cauliflower
• 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup Mozzarella cheese
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1lg clove garlic, crushed
• 1 egg
• pinch of sea salt & fresh ground pepper

 Toppings:

• Pizza Sauce (I used Trader Joe's)
• 1 cup Mozzarella cheese
• pinch of dried oregano
• any other toppings of your choice (I used zucchini, mushrooms, heirloom tomatoes, fresh basil & pesto)

Pre-heat oven to 430F and pop a pizza tray in there while its heating up.
Grate the cauliflower until it looks kind of like 'rice'. (about 3 cups).

 Put it in a bowl & place a plate over the top. Microwave for 4min. Dump out onto the center of a tea towel to cool down. While it cools, grate the cheese and put it into a mixing bowl. Once the cauliflower is cool enough to handle, pull up the edges of the towel and wring all the moisture out. REALLY SQUEEZE IT ALL OUT! Then throw it into the bowl with the cheeses.

Add the oregano, garlic & egg.

Stir it all together.

Lay a piece of parchment paper or wax paper onto a cutting board and rub a little bit of olive oil down.

Form your "dough' into a round pizza shape on the paper. Give it some nice round, pizza-ry edges.

Take the pizza pan from oven & carefully slide the paper and the base across onto the pan (CAREFULLY) and put it back into the oven for about 15-20min.

Pull it out when it looks nice & golden like this

Spread sauce, cheese, oregano & toppings. Place pizza back into the oven for another 5-8min or until it all melted & bubbly. 


Enjoy!

Orange, Peach & Mint Water

Orange, Peach & Mint Water

• 1/2 Orange, sliced
• 1/2 Peach, sliced
• A handful of mint leaves, torn (you can actually just throw a couple whole sprigs of mint in without tearing the leaves if you want a stronger mint flavor)

Celebrating 37 Pounds Lost Today!

 

They say not to weigh daily, but I do. If I don't, then I lose track of what is happening with myself. One thing I know about myself is that I am obsessive compulsive about certain things. When it comes to losing weight, I am definitely OCD! I don't think its a bad thing because I am on top of it! I am one of those people where I am either all in or all out.. no in between!

There are days where the scale does not move at all & it gets really frustrating & I get upset, but I don't give up; I just work harder at it. 

Here's to many many more pounds to go! Just one pound at a time though!

A better Kim, a better me, a life changing journey!

Today's Water - 7/30/15

 

Strawberry, Lemon & Basil Infused Water

 

• 6 Strawberries, sliced
• 1/2 Lemon, sliced
• A few sprigs of basil

 Enjoy!

PF Chang's Chicken Lettuce Wraps Anyone?

Thanks to my friend Jennifer for recommending this recipe. This was SO GOOD & super easy to make! The pic does not even do justice! I didn't make any modifications to the recipe, but what I did do is add more sriracha before I put the wraps in my mouth :) I am a sucker for spicy food!

Nutritional facts:

Calories: 292

Fat: 9.3

Saturated: 1.8

Polyunsaturated: .4

Monounsaturated: 2.5

Trans: 0

Cholesterol: 120

Sodium: 1449

Potassium: 484.6

Carbs: 17.7

Fiber 1.4

Sugars: 8.4

Protein: 31.6

Vitamin A: 39.5

Vitamin C: 9.9

Calcium: 6.4

Iron: 13.6

Weight Watchers Points - 7

Why I Drink Infused Water

In my adult life, I picked up the very bad habit of drinking lots of coffee & carbonated drinks instead of water. When I began to be more contentious of what I put into my body, I began to make more of an effort to drink more water. Plain ole water was just not cutting it for me & I certainly do not like the taste of Crystal Light & other types of artificial water flavoring.

One day I got the idea from a friend as well as my sister in law to put fruit in water, so I gave it a try. I began looking up recipes on Pinterest. There are a TON of them out there! I finally was able to figure out what combinations I liked & then it was all history from there. My son even likes it!

Water is your body’s source of life. Being hydrated not only improves your health and naturally flushes toxins out of your body, but water also keeps your skin plump and elastic. God knows I need all the elastic I can get pushing 40 & all!!

Infused water is especially beneficial because it makes the act of drinking water more enjoyable, both for the taste buds and the eyes. As an added bonus, infused water has the sweet fruit flavors of fruit juice but without the extra calories or sugar & it doesn't have a nasty after taste that those artificially flavored fruit waters have.

Today I made Strawberry, Orange & Peach water:

• 6 Strawberries, sliced
• 1/2 Orange, sliced
• 1/2 Peach, sliced  

 

I have a 2.9qt pitcher that I use for my water daily that I bought here. It came with a removable infusion rod that fits inside the pitcher, but what I found is that the water tastes MUCH BETTER without using that, so I don't use it.

Just throw the fruit into the pitcher & fill it up with ice. My refrigerator has filtered water, so the ice does not taste nasty woohoo!!

Next, fill er up with water & give it a quick stir

And there you have it! I just put it in the fridge from here & add more water as needed throughout the day. Whatever you do, DO NOT reuse the fruit tomorrow because the fruit will be 'wasted' by the end of the day & will not have anything left to give. This is something you want to do DAILY folks!

Lets do this!!

So many have asked me how I am loosing weight & what diet plan I'm on, what have I done so far, and if would I share my recipes with them. So, I decided that it was time to start sharing all aspects of my journey with everyone for anyone that would like to follow along. I guess you can call it therapy for me or maybe even accountability? With the struggles I've had with my weight all my life, I know that there are others out there that share the same frustrations. I am not a great writer, I am a terrible grammar student (for those teachers that may be reading this - I passed English only by the hair on my chinny chin chin haha; if that helps you understand any of my grammatical errors) & I am in no way a 'blogger'. I just want to be able to post info for those that want it. I am open to suggestions & feedback on anything as well. I will try to post daily, but realistically more like a few times a week due to my work schedule & with school & football season starting for my son. I am excited to start this though. Good night folks!