Crunchy Wrists and Chocolate Brownies

Hello Everyone:

Sorry my post is so late today... we had three house showings today and I am just getting back home now!

I have done several recipe Swap It's so I thought today I would show you an exercise option.

Drop It:

Swap It:

If you can do these then you're all set. But if you need a little help starting off you can try these instead:

 

And if these are still too difficult...

A wall press is a great option!

I have very weak wrists, always have, even when I was a gymnast I had to wear wrist guards. Now as I have aged my wrists crunch causing me severe pain. This makes it very hard for me to do push ups. As a matter of fact... I just cannot do them.

Swap It:

If you also find the dreaded push up a problem due to weak wrists or carpal tunnel syndrome the way to get your pecks in great shape is a good old chest press!

Keeping your knees bent helps to support you back and gravity helps your wrist situation! Doing the chest press as an alternative actually allows you to wear a wrist brace if you need to also.

However... a doctor once told me that if you need to wear a brace the weight is too heavy so lighten the weight and get rid of the brace. This is advice I have done my best to live by.

Just another little bit of information in relation to the Get Off Your Broom Challenge... 

I am still trying! I have not weighed myself for fear of disappointment and therefore fear of giving up! 

Instead I have avoided the scale and implemented a very relaxed schedule of sweating for 20 to 30 minutes for at least 4 times a week. I do every other day and I either dance or strength train using my own body weight. I usually just pick a TV show and while watching it instead of sitting on the couch I get up and move. I either run on the spot. do jumping jacks, squats, lunges, kicks and punches or I do a combination of that and sit-ups and plank holds for my abs and arms. I dance and twist and do whatever else I can think of to get me to the end of the show. The time goes by and I don't much notice it. I am breathing hard, my heart rate is up and I am sweating! I make sure to have on a good sports bra and have a large glass of water at hand at all times. Having a towel handy is a good idea too!

Tuesday nights I use the BIGGEST LOOSER show as my chosen inspirational show and I workout until I the show is over.

Lately my husband has been helping me out also. He gets his Ipod out while we are working on Saturday and he DJs fab rockin oldies and mixes it up with everything from the Beatles to wrap. I dance and do anything else to keep movin for the whole 25 to 30 minutes and he jumps in with crazy 80's dance moves to keep me laughin! What a guy huh? It's really fun and has become 30 minutes of my Saturday that I really look forward to.

Now as for my eating... not so great! I don't know why I am having such a hard time with this but I am thinking it is just the simple fact that my schedule is all thrown off with this trying to sell our house and packing to move thing. Plus I have two Christmas shows I am desperately trying to get ready for. I am still trying but my Mother In Law bringing in Brownies to work and frozen yogourt in our freezer etc is not helping. It's absolutely not anyone's fault except my own... I have a weakness for sweets. Who doesn't right?

But at least I am moving and the food will fall into place soon. It always does. You see, when you spend all that time and effort working so hard that you are sweatin it out... you begin to not want that sweet stuff. So I am just trying to keep it going and I am not giving up! I just wanted to let you all know because I did not make a post about my efforts last week!

Keep up your efforts also and I will be back next Sunday!

Have a great week everyone!

Give me my egg and keep your croissant! Drop it Swap it!

Drop it Swap it Sunday is here again:

Today I want to make this swap suggestion:

Drop It:

1 Croissant with a pat of butter = 270 calories

Swap It:

1 poached egg (make sure your egg is poached not fried), 1 slice of whole wheat toast with butter and 3 oz of ham = 270 calories!

Making better choices means not being hungry! And I have to say...the second choice in this situation looks like a very good swap in my opinion. I would rather have an egg and ham with toast any day over the croissant. I just might have this for breakfast myself today. And my calories will be a bit less as I don't like butter so...

If you are like me but need to add in your fat somewhere. If you don't like butter and prefer not to use artificial margarine either you have a few options. you can get a vegan margarine or my preference is to use Coconut butter instead. It is all natural and has no artificial anything in it! The flavor is mild and slightly sweet which is lovely on toast and your body breaks it down wonderfully!

About that poached egg... you could swap it for a boiled egg also. Or have scrambled with just cooking spray and it would work out to the same calories. 

I was given a fabulous gift by my husband last holiday and it gets used all the time. It is an egg cooker and it is so easy to use. It will do a boiled or several boiled eggs however you like them - from soft to hard or you can do poached and it is super easy. I highly recommend getting one of these little treasures for your kitchen!

This one is the one I have but there are many companies that make them...

My poached eggs come out with a nice diamond shape and they are perfectly done every time! Best gift ever!

Have a great week ladies and gents! Our house is still up for sale and there are showings almost daily. We also are moving into our new house in only a couple of weeks so the posts will get more frequent when we get settled with lots of great tips and recipes etc... just hang in there. I'll be back soon!

All Hallows Grim - Blog Party

Welcome to the All Hallows Grim blog party hosted by Pagan Culture
I had so much fun at Seraphim's Diner creating this blog post for you and I hope you all enjoy it as well... Happy Hallow's Grim everyone! mmmmmmwwaaaaaaa!

Drop it Swap it - coffee

Hi Everyone


Welcome to Drop it Swap it Sunday:

Today I want to talk a bit about coffee. A lot of us need that large morning coffee and we love to add our sugar and cream too don't we. There is a ton of calories that add up quickly in that cream and sugar... if you have three coffees a day you are looking at the equivalent to say...

FIVE BOWLS of All Bran Cereal to equal the total amount of fat in ONE large double double coffee or
THREE BOWLS to equal the total amount of sugar present in ONE large double double!

I know many of you think you cannot do BLACK coffee so here is a suggestion... By the way, I do not advocate the use of artificial sweeteners as most cause cancer! Stick with natural sugars like Agave or Turbinado, Demerara and others like them if you must use sugar in cooking etc.

But back to coffee. Try this instead of a regular black coffee, choose some French Vanilla beans or any other flavour that you enjoy. You will be amazed at the difference this makes to your morning brew and you won't need sugar or cream! The flavour really smooths out your coffee and you will be cutting your calorie intake by a ton!

Drop It

Double Double large coffee

Swap It

Flavoured gourmet bean black large

And if you absolutely must use something to sweeten your coffee use something natural as stated above and try the below coffee trick to help you along in your weight loss and healthier lifestyle!

The Coffee Trick

1st cup of coffee - no sugar at all. If you can do this and if not.. try what I said above and use this method until you can make it all day with just your flavoured black coffee

2nd cup of coffee - just half a teaspoon of sugar.

3rd cup of coffee - one full teaspoon of sugar.

Just cutting out that one sugar in 3 cups of coffee each day reduces the calorie intake by 336 calories each week with no real effort involved!


 Another little tip: Are you a candy bar a day person?

 Trust me... no one who eats a SNICKERS or any other chocolate bar a day ... unless they are 12 years old looks like this girl... but if you skip it and replace it... look out wicked witch of the west... Samantha is in town!


By skipping candy bar everyday and eating fresh fruits and nuts, you can save 1000 calories a week!

And if you absolutely cannot get off the bar cold turkey... Swap it for Weight Watchers bars or brownies. Far less calories and still a little treat! 

And if it must be chocolate: Swap you junky candy bar for organic chocolate and make it as dark as you can stand it. You will be amazed at how a very small piece of good quality chocolate fulfills your need for this treat! Instead of munchin down an entire chocolate bar that leaves you hangin and still wanting more... you can have one square of a good quality dark organic chocolate and be satiated!  Your body will also break it down in a completely different and better way than eating the bar filled with chemicals and fluff that you cannot even pronounce!

Now a days even your local Shoppers Drug Mart and many and maybe even most grocery stores have organic chocolate! Is it more expensive... YES.... it is supposed to be a treat! But also you don`t need to eat the entire chocolate bar so it lasts a VERY long time!

That`s another rule of mine... if you can not say it... you definitely should not eat it!
 
I`ll be back soon with more Drop it Swap it Sundays!

Great workout with a fab dinner

Hi Everyone

Just thought I would check in for a minute today... because I had a great dinner and a great workout!

I have done the Last Chance workout twice now and it has been wonderful:

 

I have a few of Jillian's DVD's and had not tried this one yet. It is a bit easier than one of my others and therefore a good place to start. As you know I am in the process of moving and so all my weights are packed. However I have a NO EXCUSES policy so when they are lifting weights in the workout I am either finding a left over book to use off our bookshelf or I am substituting another move to keep my body moving and my heart rate up! 

I also have extremely weak wrists and so I cannot do push ups so I substitute by doing a plank move and holding it until they are done their portion of the video that includes that move. Once again... just keep moving or pushing yourself. It does not have to be exactly what they are doing if you cannot do that move sub in something you can do... like dance! KEEP MOVING! Grab your broom (that you got off of to accept this challenge) and sweep your ceilings, floors, doors... just keep movin'!

I also had a fabulous dinner tonight. I had some points left over as my breakfast seemed to fill me up and keep me going for a long long time today so by the end of the day I still had enough points to enjoy a substantial meal.

BREAKFAST:

2 X sliced Whole grain WW bread

1/2 can of tuna in water

1 Tbsp of olive oil mayo

and pepper

Grape tomatos and cucumber cubes

My breakfast was absolutely refreshing and delicious and CLEAN! It totalled 5 points plus

DINNER:

I was able to have 1 cup of SMART pasta linguine style 

1 tsp olive oil

2 Tbsp lite feta cheese

3 oz broiled chicken sliced into thin slices

Franks hot sauce to taste

2 tsp raw garlic

5 brussle sprouts

onion to taste

Mix it all together in a bowl and wella! Delicious!ALMOST CLEAN (use whole wheat pasta and you're all the way CLEAN but if you just cannot do whole wheat yet... SMART pasta is the next best thing. AVOID regular pasta at all costs if you want to get CLEAN!) (aprox. 14 points)

The Chicken was left over from last night as were the veggies... adding whole wheat pasta or whole wheat couscous to left overs can make a new meal so you don't get bored with your food! And you don't waste anything.

See you soon! Keep it up ladies! You CAN do this!

Drop it - Swap it Sundays

Hello everyone: So I thought I would start a new regular post... Drop it ~ Swap it.

I will post Sundays about items that you might be tempted by and tell you a better alternative without necessarily giving it up completely!

Lets start our first Drop it ~ Swap it with  salad from a familiar restaurant: McDonalds
Sometimes we leave the house and don't have time to make a lunch or dinner to bring with us... and when we are left hungry we might have to go to the nearest restaurant. But while there we can make better choices.

I know that when I hear about these things I am shocked by some... the equivalents to section is what really amazes me!

I will use many resources for these Sunday posts but this one is from Rose Reisman.

Drop It

Mighty Ceasar Salad with Warm Crispy Chicken and Mighty Ceasar dressing

700 cals / 54 g fat / 10 g saturated fat / 1,620 mg sodium

* Equivalent to almost 1 2 litre container of chocolate ice cream in fat

Swap It

Spicy Thai Chicken Salad with Warm Grilled Chicken and Renee’s Ravin’ Raspberry vinaigrette

290 cals / 7 g fat / 0.7 g sat fat / 750 mg sodium

So there you have it....Please take note not only of the fat content but also the sodium!

Okay so that is a "if your're out" swap but what about an "if you are home" swap.

Drop It

Tuna packed in oil, 1 can

has the same amount of fat as 17 cans of tuna packed in water! SEVENTEEN!

Swap It

Photo day

Hi Everyone

Well as I promised I have taken my before photos ... you poor souls! But as I have done this before I know how important that day one photo really is in the end! I am wearing the tightest thing I could find so you can REALLY see the real me because my clothes really hide what I actually look like.. yes.. I know... I am brave! But this is for me so if I cannot be brave for me who will I ever be brave for?

Right so here I am ... all 142 pounds of me squished into a brand new bathing suit... I purchased this suit in black in one size smaller too cause I love it so much...for later on! Heehee

 

As you can see I have the support of my very skinny and handsome Italian Greyhound, Jonesy! He is my inspiration!

MY MEASUREMENTS:

HIPS: 39"

WAIST: 33"

CHEST: 39"

THIGHS: 18.5"

ARMS: 10"

MY GOALS:

So I danced today for 30 minutes and I sweat sweat sweat! I think MOVING is one of my goals. Weather it is dancing or power 90 or yoga or any of my DVD's that have been collecting dust lately as you can see by my fabulous and proud belly, I want to keep moving! At least 20 minutes each day of a good workout.

I am doing my best to follow my Weight Watchers plan without rejoining and attending meetings. This is only because we are in the middle of selling our house and moving into a new one and I don't think I can get to a meeting right now. I am also trying to eat natural and eat clean as much as I can!

As for number and scale goals... I hate setting these cause I hate being disappointing as I find that really discouraging but for the sake of being a good sport... I hope to loose 2 pounds a week. It is a big goal when you are not going to a gym regularly but it might be achievable. I will be happy if each week I loose something! 

In the long term... for Yule I would love to be at my goal weight of 120 pounds, 22 pounds lighter. This takes a lot of dedication I know but if you aim for the moon you might at least catch a star right... so if I get to 130... I'm not going to complain! But if I hit my goal... WhaaWhoooo! 

I will be posting recipes as well as fitness ideas as well as what I am eating personally by the day or just if I find a great recipe so come on over to Seraphim's Diner any time!

Okay, I think I met the mini challenge for this week so wish me luck!

DAY ONE - Get Off Your Broom Challenge - The Good The Bad and The Ugly

Hello Everyone:

I wanted to check in today to wish all that are participating in this challenge good luck! I have already posted my weight and weight goals here for you all... although no picture yet.

The Good: I planned to take the picture last night when we got an offer on our house and we had to rush off to the real estates office!

The Bad: The offer was so low it was almost insulting! This lead to a small binge on my part... so much for no excuses. It did was not a terrible binge... I had a small bowl of pasta with margarine and hot sauce. I do mean small too... 1/2 a cup!

The Ugly: But I also had a waffle and margarine and some syrup... that was the ugly part. But okay... I always like to end on a positive...

The Sexy: Today is actually day one of the challenge and I'm feeling better this morning. I woke up and the air was crisp... Fall is here! I actually love Fall! So I prepared my food to bring into work with me today. And I do have a safe guard Weight Watchers treat with me today just in case! It may be another stressful day as we counter offered so I expect a long back in forth with this couple. I also have my bears to work on today and this is my meditation plus we might be busy so ... time flies.

I have packed a nice soup for a cool day, 2 sliced WW whole grain bread, tomato, 3 slices of turkey bacon (of which I usually only have one and my hubby eats the other two) olive oil mayo, a salad with low fat and no fat dressing (on the side), Yoptimal yogourt, and I have some frozen WW dinners at work also.


Breakfast: 9:30am
Yoptimal

Snack:11:00am
WW whole grain bread sandwich with olive oil mayo, turkey bacon and tomato. I LOVE this sandwich!

Lunch: 12:30 - 1:00pm

Campbell's soup - tomato and rice (my fave!)
Salad with low fat or no fat dressing
piece of fruit - 1 banana

Snack: around 3:00pm
Frozen dinner


Weight Watchers points plus: 29 total pt plus for my day

3 Slices of Turkey Bacon is 3pt plus = 1pt for me as I am only having one piece
Lactose free yogourt 2pt plus
WW whole grain bread x2 slices 2pt plus
tomato is free
olive oil mayo, 1 tbls 1pt plus - .5 for me as I only have a tsp
Low fat dressing or no fat dressing 1pt plus
Frozen WW dinners are between 6 and 8pt plus
WW treat - brownie 3pt plus or Lemon cake 2pt plus (just in case)

So at most by the time I come home I will have 14.5 to 16.5 points plus left for my evening depending on my frozen dinner total.

Also, fruit is free so I might pick up some bananas and apples and maybe some oranges to have on hand for if I am snacky

Veggies are free also!

Be back tomorrow with our first Drop It Swap It... what's that? You'll have to come by to see for yourself! Swap it Sundays will be a regular post here so keep checkin in!

Good Luck everyone! Take each day one day at a time... next thing you know it will be December 31 and you will have lost your weight and reached your goals!