** Scale **

I have to admit I just got my 1st scale for my Kitchen. Another purchase I'm not sure why it took me so long to make. They run in a very wide price range. I got mine at Costco and it is so little and thin that it doesn't look bad on my Kitchen counter. Scales help a lot to stay in the portion sizes you want to stay in. Fruits, veggies, nuts, meat, and anything else can all be put on the scales. Nuts and Granola are two things you really have to watch how much you eat. Although Granola is talked up as a health food it is usually high in Calories and Fat and a lot of them can have a lot more Sugar in them then you would think they do. So the most important thing is to read the labels and really make sure you stay in the portion size you want. A great way to start out the week is to pre-portion out things at the start of the week and put them in bags for you to just grab when its time for a snack or to throw in your purse so you have something if you are going to be gone for awhile. It also helps a lot when you or your kids are making lunch. Just throw the pre-portioned bags into your lunch bag and enjoy!!!!

{ EATING }

I would say without this step your weight loss just won't happen and that is the Eating part. Your meals and your work outs go hand in hand to lose weight and also to maintain it. The meals/eating comes in a few parts as well. The first is calories, you have to lower your calorie intake in order to lose weight, the next part is making sure those are healthy and nutritious calories you are getting in. If you are set to eat 1200 calories in a day then that doesn't mean 500 Calories of Sugar filled Ice Cream, 200 in Soda and the rest just snacking on whatever you found around the house like candy or fattening snacks that aren't good for you. The next step besides the calories you get and making sure they are good calories is how you eat them. It is very important to get 3 small meals and then 2 snacks between them. Grazing is one of the worst things you can do when losing and maintaining weight. If you are getting good work outs in and you can't figure out why you aren't losing you are most likely grazing or you didn't cut enough calories. You have to make sure you get enough calories though sometimes not enough calories can also mess up what you are trying to do. Everyone is different so a Husband and Wife def can't compare and eat the same. You can't even compare to one of your friends that you think is around the same size as you. My Husband and I are about 1000 calories different in our intake. So for 1200 calories you can cut up the calories into like 330 calories and then have 2 snacks that are around 100 each. Or if you know you are going to be having a lunch that has more calories then normal you can cut your snack calories down or even another meal but do not cut a meal out totally. You can put the calories however you like, some people like a bigger Lunch and smaller Breakfast and Dinner so they have a few more calories at Lunch then the other meals. It is also best to eat an hour or hour and a half before you work out. For me I can't have an actual meal before working out unless it is over an hour before hand. Also make sure you watch when you eat your last meal. You do not want to eat too close to when you fall asleep. You will hear lots of people say don't eat past 9 well if you go to bed at 9 or 9:30 that doesn't really make sense. Just make sure you are giving yourself time after eating before you go to sleep. I know if I have Dinner at 6 it is better that I go to bed at 9 than 11 because I will start getting hungry and end up eating something that I shouldn't. It is best to eat 3 hours before you go to bed.
If you need to go thru anything in your house and get rid of anything that you shouldn't be eating. I have gone thru everything we have and got rid of anything and everything that we shouldn't be eating. I didn't have much since I don't like to keep sugar in our house but I got rid of anything I could snack on and shouldn't. If you shouldn't eat it now then you shouldn't ever eat it. You can donate it to the food bank if it isn't open. No reason to just throw it away. The easiest way to keep healthy is to make sure your fridge is FILLED with fresh fruit and veggies! Kids love to shop for them as well. I take my Son with me when we go to the market and he picks things he wants to eat and then he is excited to eat them.

** HIKING **

In Arizona one of the best things to do is hiking! I have been hiking since I was very little, it is one of the things I looked forward to doing most growing up. It is so nice to get out into nature to get some fresh air and even better a little Cardio! The views you get when you hike are just breathtaking. It is just one of the most rewarding things to get to the top and look down over the City or the other Mountains. For the most part anywhere you live in Arizona has some place to go hiking or it isn't a far drive to a place. Start out slow and def don't start with a 10 mile Hike!! You can look online for places you are able to hike if you aren't sure where to go. It is also something you are able to do with your Family including Children! On our way to go hiking this morning my Son called my Mom to talk to her about us being on our way to go hiking. It reminded me what was important and that is the memories you make with your Children and Family. The majority of my memories of growing up are us doing something as a Family outside either hiking, riding bikes or playing at the park. This is what I want for my Son and my Family. I can't think of too many Daughters who can call their Mother on a Saturday morning to have her just be finishing a bike ride and the Daughter being on her way to go hiking. I have been blessed with an active family and I find that a true blessing. My Parents set a great example to me and I hope my Son will say the same thing when he is older and has his own Family.
These 3 pictures were taken on a couple hikes I have taken over the last couple years and without being out hiking I would've never been able to see such beauty!

Garmin/Week 2 & Injuries

Last night I had Spin class with a new Instructor and it was awesome! Never thought I'd say that about Spin while being one of the many people who have walked past Spin classes for years saying how crazy those people are that are in the class! It was my first class with my new Garmin and Heart Rate monitor! I don't know how I have worked out over all of these years without one. Before I even had my computer logged on the Garmin had uploaded onto my Computer. It showed as my average HR was 153 and my max during the work out was 185. I had about 15 minutes of just spinning my legs out where my heart rate stayed around 100 so that was used to factor in my Average HR so for the real work out the average was a little higher then that. It showed I burned 652 calories. Which I know it's not totally accurate (it is the most accurate on the market and def much better then what a machine at the gym would say) but this will help show me after more work outs which ones I'm getting the best work out in.

I have hurt knees and hip right now so that was better then I thought it would be for a work out. I am really hoping by Monday my knees and hip feel much better so I can start going 100% again! My Hubby hurt his knees as well this week so both of us haven't been able to go near as hard as we would like and we already knew we would be getting low numbers on the scale but they were even lower then expected because of us being hurt. My Hubby is down 1.5 pounds and I am down another 2.2 pounds which puts me at 10 pounds in the last 2 weeks and I am really hoping to keep it around 2 pounds for the rest of the weeks. That would put me at almost a 30 pound weight loss in 11 weeks and only about 10 pounds away from my main end goal weight.

I hope everyone else had a great week 2 and I really hope no one else has an injury. It sure does hold you off BUT you just have to make sure to heal yourself and not push yourself as much as you would when you feel 100%.

New Toy!!!!

Well I got a new toy today to help with my work outs! We got home tonight from meeting up with my Hubbies friends and a box was waiting for me at the front door with my new Garmin 405cx watch in it!!! I can't wait for it to be done charging so I can get it all set up and learn what all it can do! It comes with a wireless Heart Rate monitor which I am probably the most excited about. I tried my Moms out this weekend and I didn't even notice I had it on. It also syncs to the computer and downloads my activities to the software and shows the elevation that was ran and the minute to minute heart rate along with how many calories were burned. That part I love, it helps me actually know how many I've burned instead of trying to guess. The machines at the gym don't do a good job at calculating your calories being burned. So excited to see what the rest of my training and weight loss brings with my 1st Garmin!!!!

2 more articles

I received an email today from Real Simple and these two articles were included in it and I had to share! Remember though even with the Healthy food you need to make sure you limit the amount you eat. Still make sure it fits into your calorie count for that day.

~ 30 Healthiest Foods to make sure is in your diet ~

http://www.realsimple.com/health/nutrition-diet/healthy-eating/the-30-healthiest-foods-00000000051152/index.html?xid=weeklynews-01-26-2011

~ Secretly Unhealthy Foods ~

http://www.realsimple.com/health/nutrition-diet/healthy-eating/secretly-unhealthy-foods-00000000047642/index.html?xid=weeklynews-01-26-2011

Easy Dinner

So my go to Dinner right now that is nice and easy is Chicken! I haven't got any pictures but it is super easy. I do chicken cut into more tender sizes so that they cook quicker and so I don't eat an entire chicken breast. I spray a little Extra Virgin Olive Oil on the Chicken then sprinkle some Seasonings on it (I like the no salt garlic and herb seasoning). You can add a little sea salt and fresh cracked pepper if you'd like but I think it has great seasoning without it. Before I get the chicken going though I cut up my Red Potatoes and put them in a pan with some EVOO and sprinkle some Rosemary and Italian Seasoning on them, so good! It takes the potatoes longer then cook so it's good to get them going before the Chicken so it's all done together. Then I put the Chicken into the oven and prepare my Veggie. I've been using Asparagus lately, spray with some EVOO and put a little sea salt and fresh cracked pepper on it (you can do all of that right on the baking sheet) then put in the oven for the last about 10 minutes of the Chicken cooking and it all comes out together nice and hot!!! The potatoes can take about 30 - 45 minutes depending on how big you cut them.

So here is the great, yummy and quick go to Dinner!

-Chicken with Garlic and Herb seasoning

-Red Potatoes

-Asparagus (or even Green Beans)

I have also done the Chicken with a Fiesta Lime seasoning instead which was so good and then I made some Brown rice that I added some of the seasoning to and had some Black Beans with it.

WEEK 1

Well week 1 of our 11 week Biggest Loser competition is over and we are well into week 2. I lost 7.8 pounds and my Hubby lost 9.5 pounds. It was a great start for us and def helps us keep motivated for this next week. I am hoping if I can stay with a 1 or 2 pound weight loss for the rest of the competition than it will be a great start to my Journey. I was expecting a big number this first week since I had to cut out Gluten and Sugar at the same time and right at the start of it and with cutting that out I knew I'd lose weight and we have been working out like crazy. I starting taking a Spin class and I didn't think I'd like it at all but boy was I wrong. I LOVE IT, I think it is my new favorite thing to do for a cardio work out. Luckily the gym we go to has a ton of classes. This week I'm trying a few different classes along with the Spin so I can mix it up some. Since I've played sports my entire life I think I just do better in the class settings instead of working out on an elliptical. I get bored way too fast just standing still like that while on a machine by myself. I have found that I enjoy the stair stepper not the stair master but the stair stepper that moves.
Tonight is the Kick box Cardio class and I am really looking forward to it, I love to kick box and haven't done it in so long. It's an amazing work out and it's always fun to kick and punch things!!!! Tomorrow I'm going to be going thru my IPod to get some new music on it to help out my work outs! Music can do so much for your work outs. So if you haven't gone thru your playlist recently then you may want to. Switch it up or even make playlists for each kind of work out you do. I know people who have a cardio playlist, weight lifting, spinning, yoga, and even a running and walking playlist! Just have fun with it and search for what makes you move and keeps you entertained during your work outs!

{EXTREME}

Well I was looking for work out pictures and these came up. Extreme Body Building is well way to extreme, working out and over doing it are very different things. Years ago I dated a body builder, he wasn't close to an extreme body builder and I don't think I've ever seen men this big before, I just don't find this type of body building attractive at all. I had to share what happens when you take working out to an extreme. The first 2 are women and the last two are men. Just remember to give your body a break every few months, take a couple days off and relax and have fun. Too much of anything can be a bad thing! ENJOY!