Top Twelve After 4 Weeks Healthy Habits

Here are the top 12 in no particular order Kamari Jensen, Tempe Jenkins, Teara Hodges, Hillary Gale, Tracy Smith, Ashlee Gleave, Angela Aimes, Cindee Backus, Sam Taylor, Kesley Branham, Abbey Hayden, Liz Boucher

To everyone else, PLEASE KEEP TRYING. This race is so close. We are talking thousanths of a percent. Just because you are not in the top twelve does not mean that you cannot pull ahead in the next four weeks. Keep it healty, keep it honest. No extremes here. Remember this is a healthy diet and exercise program. If we suspect that you are going about things in an unhealthy or extreme way, you will be disqualified. Thanks, Linda

Caloriecount.about.com --- WOW!

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to share a free online tool with you all which I discovered today. It is called caloriecount.about.com and it is free! You can enter your daily foods and your activity and it will calculate daily caloric intake and nutrition information. It has a whole mess of other neat things too which I haven't had time to look into but I love that it is free and that all I have to do is search for the foods I ate in the database and it does the rest. It was also a really user friendly site - easy. I have been journaling my foods, exercise, weight, inches etc... in a notebook and probably still will but I think this tool will be easy for me to sit down at the end of the day and find out just how many calories I'm consuming and burning. I even thought if it turns out to be a pain later on to do it every day I could import from my notebook weekly and find out my averages. I am excited about this as I lost two pounds right off the bat and then have been stuck at the same weight for three weeks now. This just made it easier for me to really evaluate how much I'm putting in my mouth each day. Bless you all in your healthful efforts!

-Shawnee

Last Minute Idea

A previous post said that the Top Ten post is only going to be posted for a certain amount of time. I'm afraid that I am going to miss this post and miss the information that I'm so looking forward to reading. I don't get to look at this blog every day and I'm sure that I am not the only one who has a busy schedule.

So here is my thought. Perhaps the top ten could be posted as a comment to a post. That way the people who want the top ten info can read it when they want and those that don't want to know the top ten info can skip the comment.

Just a thought. Take it for what it is worth.

Thanks for all you guys do!

What did you eat for the Superbowl???

Sundee posting
Did you eat healthy or is it confession time???? It's confession time for me. My sister made a delicious chips and bean dip, little smokies, dipped strawberries, caramel brownies, little sandwiches, a vegetable tray and lime aid punch. We went and crashed her party. The food was yummy. Needless to say, I am dreading weigh in tomorrow morning. So what did you eat?

4TH WEEK WEIGHT IN

Tomorrow will be our 4th week weigh in and half way point. Just as soon as I get all of your numbers, I will post the top 10. Please weigh in first thing in the morning as this is usually your lightest weight. This is so fun. Everyone is trying hard and a few have slipped a little including me but lets get back up and KEEP TRYING. We still have four weeks to work hard. WE CAN DO THIS !!! I like the last two lines of the poem Invictus"I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul."

DAY IN THE LIFE...

K I am not big into blogging....so I hope I do this right! I have been having great success with some of the things I am doing, so I just wanted to share a few ideas.

FOOD

Instead of eating 3 large meals, I try to eat 5-6 small meals. Each meal consists of a protein and a carbohydrate. Then for at least two of the meals I usually add a veggie. I try to keep the meals around 300 calories or less. The idea of these small meals comes from the book "Body for Life." They have a bunch of helpful info on the diet online, just google "Body for Life."

Typical Day:

Meal 1- Protein shake with one banana and 1/4 cup blueberries

Meal 2- Sliced turkey meat, 1 slice whole wheat bread, bit of light mayo, carrots

Meal 3- Sweet Potato, chicken breast

Meal 4 - Ligth yogurt, light string cheese

Meal 5 - Chicken, brown rice, veggies

Meal 6 - Healthy pop popcorn, or Golden Spoon Fat Free Frozen Yogurt (This is my end of the day treat if I make it all day eating clean) :o)

EXERCISE

I try to exercise first thing in the morning, which is sometimes impossible with kids!!! I do a High Intensity Interval Training (also from Body for Life) for 20-25 minutes. I give it all I got. I was just doing this everyday, but now I am strength training 2-3 days and then interval training 2-3 days. Sometimes I try to do a longer run on Saturdays. But know that I am NOT perfect! There are those days when I just can't seem to fit it in. I don't lose hope I just try to set the goal for the next day.

I take it one day at a time and celebrate my "wins" for that day. If I mess up, the next day will come and I get a chance to start new.

REWARDS

For me I like to reward myself at the end of the day or the end of the week if I have stuck to my plan. If I need a treat at the end of the day, I look for something healthier but still yummy. My favorite is GOLDEN SPOON fat free frozen yogurt. Did you know there is only 100 calories in 4 ounces! That means you could eat a mini all to yourself and not feel guilty! If there is no Golden Spoon around, my other favorites are: Healthy pop kettle corn popcorn (you can eat the whole bag to yourself and it is only 245 calories), sugar free pudding (about 70 calories), a bowl of Kashi cereal with almond milk (200 calories). If I am going to reward myself at the end of the day, I always use it as one of my meals.

Another reward I have used is a "Free Day" which has been already talked about in a post. Or a "free meal." I can eat whatever I want and feel VERY full. Then the next day I get back to work and eat clean again for six days in a row.

I hope these ideas help! Especially the yummy GOLDEN SPOON idea. (Can you tell it is my favorite!?!) I think everyone is doing great! Keep up the good work! We CAN do this!

Angela Ames