Weekly Challenge: Grocery Overhaul!

Alright, here's the very first challenge! Each week I'll post new challenges to keep us all on the right track! I'll be posting these on Friday because of the grocery challenges.  I know most people do Grocery shopping on the weekend, so it just made sense :)

Challenge 1: Clear out the Crap

This one is perhaps the most important, and possibly hardest, part of any weight loss journey.  Get rid of everything in your pantry that is unhealthy.  No candy, ice cream, snack cakes, chips, fatty dips.  Nothing that will cause you to stumble!  Instead fill your pantry with fruits and Vegetables, low fat dips (I like to dip my veggies in low fat Ranch dressing), plain yogurt (to go on the fruit, nuts, etc.  There are healthier versions of nearly everything out on the market.  Instead of full fat chips, get baked chips, or better yet, organic, whole wheat pretzels! Switch out the fattening pre-made bean dip, for delicious hummus! 

Challenge 2: Make a Menu

This one is as important as clearing out the crap.  It will help your budget too!  Choosing a meal plan that works for you may seem like a daunting task, but it's key to loosing weight.  No matter if you choose low carb, low fat, counting your bites, or standing on your head for 3 hours a day to lose weight, not planning properly will sabotage your diet.  It doesn't have to be too in depth, either.  My menu plan looks like this (click to enlarge):

Challenge 3: Don't Buy White

Make all of your grains whole grains.  Exchange white rice for brown.  Get whole wheat bread and buy whole wheat pasta.  You'd be amazed at how much they have switched now days! At first, I was scared things would taste HORRIBLE if they were whole grain.  I was amazed that the whole wheat pastas didn't taste very differently, at all. I even think they are better! I absolutely LOVE brown rice, but hate white.  Some flavors and textures do take a little getting used to, but it's well worth the effort!

Challenge 4: Read the label

Read the labels on just about anything you buy.  Educate yourself about healthy amounts of things to consume.  (you can start here).  There are several things you need to try to avoid altogether.  Trans Fats, I'm not an expert so can't tell you why, but stay away! (I'm sure a simple google search will get you the answer ;)) High fructose corn syrup, this stuff is in everything you wouldn't think it would be in! It's just added, often completely unnecessary sugar.  It's processed and tends to indicate a lower quality product. Partially-hydrogenated oils, your recommended daily intake of these is 0.  So just stay away, far, far away.  

Challenge 5: Lean Protein

Choosing lean proteins will help you tremendously.  Consider replacing ground beef for ground venison, turkey or buffalo (yes, you can still buy buffalo).  Eat lots of fish.  Take the skin off of your chicken breast.  Go out on a limb and try some tofu.  Heck, eat beans and rice one day for dinner or for lunch.  Swap Greek yogurt for regular, it has 16g of protein! Nuts are also a great source of protein and they have heart-healthy fat!  I'm quite in love with blue diamond sea salt almonds :)

I know this is a lot for one week.  You can break it down into smaller tasks, but it really is best if you just do it all at once.  NOW is the time to get healthy.  Breaking it down will just prolong it, and in my experience, will make it harder for you to stay on the right track.  It will be harder if you have others in the house. They won't like the change, but it's great for EVERYONE.  We are going for a lifestyle change, not a diet.  Nothing makes me feel prouder than when L asks for a plate of veggies for lunch, or fruit salad for a snack. 

Just Do It

No this is not an endorsement for Nike! Just a little encouragement for you! It's something I've been telling myself over and over.  Like every overweight person, over the years I've given excuse after excuse to not workout or eat right.  Well, the excuses stop here! Now! I mean it! I'm not going to allow myself to give another excuse, and you shouldn't either!

No more excuse of no more time.  You can make time throughout the day to get a little in here or there.  You can fold clothes and do squats. You can do sit ups when watching TV.  Got a crying baby? No longer an excuse! Pick him up and run in place, or do jumping jacks with him on your hip (just switch sides half way through :))

Today time totally got away from me.  L has a cold and like any mommy I kept waking up to check on her.  Long story short, we didn't even get out of bed until 11:30 this morning.  Then I got caught up working on a new, much, much better design for the blog.  Next thing I knew, it was time to get up and get dressed to go out for moms night and I hadn't worked out, yet.  No longer making any excuses, when I got home I quickly got dressed and worked out.  I didn't care that it was 10:45 pm that I did it.  What counts is that I did it.  I got my workout in.  Now I don't have to feel guilty, and even better I burned off some of the extra calories I got from eating out!

Ugh, my knee, WORKOUT

I was feeling so hopeful yesterday that my knee is finally better and even had plans to go running on it today. I woke up in the middle of the night with a lot of knee pain. You know how your legs feel after you've been on them all day? That's how my knee feels. I think I just need a few more days of recovery.

It's such a bummer cause I can't do the workouts I want. I can do abs and arms, but not much with my legs.

So here's what I'm doing to work out:

Cardio: hitting the punching bag. I've got to make sure I'm constantly moving and punching with a lot of force to get my heart rate up

Muscle building: Abs

Side plank (2x 15 seconds)

Plank (2x 15 seconds) 

LOVE the workouts in the below video.  I'm not quite strong enough to do them the way Sarah does, so I modify them.  When doing to leg bridges from the first exercise, I do them with both legs down, but still do the same number of reps.  For example, when I should be doing one on each leg, I do two with both legs down.  When doing the side exercises, I cut the reps in half, I just can't get through that many, yet.

Muscle Building: Arms

Biceps Curls with five pound weights (2 sets of 12)

Triceps Curls (2 sets of 12)

Reverse flys (2 sets of 12)

Dumbbell Bench Press OR Push ups (you guessed it 2 sets of 12)

Lateral Raises (2 sets of 12)

Cardio: Punching Bag

You don't need a punching bag to do this.  Just punch the air.  The reason I'm using this as my cardio is because of the knee.  The key to making this a good cardio workout is keeping your feet moving.  If you're unsure how to do this, then watch a video of a boxer on YouTube.  Punch with vigor.  I like getting mad at someone and envisioning their face on the bag :)  Keep your punches sharp and crisp.  Do a combination of uppercuts, jabs, and hooks to get a pretty good ab workout too :)  I do this for however long it takes for me to get to where I can only talk in short sentences.  

I don't do this workout in any particular order.  I've read it's best to workout in intervals, so I'd do a little cardio at the beginning, middle and end.  Do NOT repeat each set back to back.  If you want to do everything in the order it's listed here, then go down the list once, go back to the top and repeat 3 more times.  

**I'm not a fitness expert! This may not be the BEST way to do the workout, but It's what I'm doing until my knee is well enough to do the workouts on the EA Sports Active 2.  It will work the areas.  As with all workouts, be sure to consult a doctor to be sure you're healthy enough for exercise.**