Just Cause

I thought I would just brag about myself. What are blogs for right? I have lost almost 20 pounds. I am running faster than I have in a long time. Life is pretty good. What about everyone else? No one is posting. We are all pretty bad at this I guess.

MS Walk

On the 30th of April there is a MS walk at the gateway. There is no entry fee it is just a donation based walk. You can pay nothing or you can pay a ton its up to you. I thought it would be fun to do. There is a team I am joining already that you would all be welcome to join. Here is the link https://secure3.convio.net/nmss/site/TRR/Walk/UTUWalkEvents/89266684?pg=ptype&fr_id=16822

The team is called Maximum Strength if that link doesn't work right. Anyways... just thought it could be something fun to do.

Oh and by the way its a 5k.

Lana

p.s. I am on a roll 3 posts in one day.

Bike Question

Ok so the other day me and Carter played at a friends house who had a couple of little bikes that Carter rode for a long time. He has been talking about Bennetts bike (thats the little boy) ever since and he keeps asking me to ride a bike. My question is do any of you have suggestions on what kind of bike? We only have room in our house for 1 little bike so I want to pick one that will help him learn how to ride but also help him learn balance and stuff so I don't know if something like those little low tricycle things will work but I am open to any ideas right now... even as I am typing this Carter is asking me where Bennetts bike went and if he can go ride it.

Pumpkin Oat Bran Muffins

Ok so I am finally posting this recipe! I know these things take me forever to get around to.

I will post the version I brought to the party and the optional changes.

1 1/2 Cups Unprocessed Oat Bran
1/2 Cup firmly packed Brown Sugar
1/2 Cup Whole Wheat Flour
1 ts. Pumpkin Pie Spice
2 ts. Baking Powder
1/4 ts. Salt

Combine these 6 ingredients in a large bowl; stir well.

1 Cup Pumpkin
1/2 t. Sugar
1 Egg
1/2 Cup Skim Milk
2 T. Oil
1 t. Double Strength Vanilla (I just used regular cause I ran out of double strength)

Stir sugar into the pumpkin then add the rest of these wet ingredients in a separate bowl from the dry ingredients. Stir really well.

Make a well in the center of the dry stuff and mix in wet ingredients just until all is moistened.
Spoon into muffin pans coated with cooking spray, filling 3/4 full (This should make 12 muffins) Bake at 425 for around 20 minutes. If they are turning a little brown on the edges then they are done. Remove from pans immediately, serve warm.

Also, these freeze really well. just defrost in the microwave so they get a little warm.

Nutritional info...
1 Muffin contains
Calories 145
Total Fat 4.4g
Cholesterol 17.6g
Sodium 9.4g
Carbohydrates 26.2g
Dietary Fiber 4.2g
Soluble Fiber 1.5g
Sugars 9.9g
Protein 4.4g

That is based on the way I did them the other night and how I posted the recipe. Optional things to add are 1/2 cup of mini chocolate chips (which adds 45 Calories 1g of fat, and 5g of sugar to each muffin); take out some of the sugar if you add chocolate chips and don't do any white sugar in the pumpkin puree and it makes it a lot better and the right amount of sweetness otherwise they are a little too sweet even for me. Also another variation is to use pumpkin pie mix instead of plain pumpkin. That is actually what the original recipe calls for but it is a ton healthier and more of an actual breakfast with plain pumpkin. I originally tried it with plain pumpkin because I was trying to get rid of a ton of sugar from it because I loved these muffins so much but need to watch sugars for the whole pre-diabetes thing that goes along with PCOS. I honestly like it more with plain pumpkin instead of pumpkin pie filling but that is just another variation.

Alright enjoy!

Pot luck recipe-Top Ramen Stir Fry

Top Ramen Stir Fry

4 chicken breasts      2 pkg. ramen noodles   teriyaki sauce(not glaze or basting sauce)  frozen broccoli florets   2 cups water  1 lb. cut up baby carrots  frozen snap peas(optional)                              

Cut chicken breasts into strips and place in frying pan.  Season with pepper, onion powder, garlic powder.  Grill on one side then flip over and add veggies and sauce.  Cook until chicken is no longer pink.  Add ramen noodles and flavor packets on top.  Pour the water over and cover with a lid and let simmer for 3 min.  Can sprinkle with sesame seeds once it's plated. 
Eat and Enjoy!

Hello Exercise, It's so nice to see you again

I wanted to pat myself on the back that after 6 weeks of not being able to exercise, my ban was finally lifted and I have been enjoying exercising for the last 3 days, yee-haw!  You never know how much you need, miss, want, or yes, even enjoy, something until you can't do it.  I am starting out slow(dr.'s orders), but I have enjoyed exercising(riding my bike at interval levels)for the last 3 days.  I never made it a priority before, I usually would throw in some exercise here and there, but now I make it a PRIORITY.  I now just need to do it at the start of my day instead of the middle, but for now, it works.  Baby steps for me for now, and hopefully in a couple of months I'll be running again-or at least doing more than just my bike.

Never Mind

Ummmm....so I just tried on a swimsuit. (Sob.) Let's just say I will not be entering any swimsuit competitions this year. Goodbye, Baskin Robbins. You will be missed. And now I will remove the 1" of dust from the treadmill.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wn_iz8z2AGw

Wha?

Whoa. You guys are awesome. I was excited about this blog, but I never thought there would be so many comments and successes already! I was kind of hoping we'd all just blog about exercising and then secretly meet at Baskin Robbins or something. Shoot, you guys are for real. I guess I better get my bum into gear. Actually, I saw this cool clip on msn about what foods make you feel full. It is very interesting:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/41312709#41312709

And a question for everyone with their thinking caps on: No matter how bad or good I eat, my weight never really changes. What's up with that? This doesn't mean I have to exercise, does it? DOES IT?

Back in the game!

I'd been doing really well for a couple of months (apart from Christmas!), then over the last couple of weeks, kind of slacked off...stopped tracking my food, stopped working out as hard (I'd work out at home for 20 minutes, as opposed to at the gym for 45 - 60 minutes).  And all of the sudden, my clothes stopped fitting as well, I was getting winded from dumb stuff again, etc.  Drat!

So today, I'm back in the game!  I know you CAN work out well at home; I am just so much more motivated at the gym where I don't have to worry about interruptions, or worry about how loud I am to the apartment underneath us.  So I went to the gym again today for 50 minutes and I started tracking my food again.

I had an epiphany of sorts as I was tracking my heart rate and realizing it had crept up again.  I realized that if I want to improve my cardio health without taking medications, I need to treat exercise like a medication - and do it regularly!  I can't get the benefits by doing a little here, a little there.  Unfortunately.

Keep up the good work, everyone!

(by the way, this is Emmy, not Brad but I don't want to log him off his account)

Lana's Big Win This Week

I just thought I would share a little victory this week. I lost 4 pounds in 1 week! WOW I have really been focusing on my unnecessary snacking and honestly I have been eating whatever I feed Carter because he eats so much healthier than me. I always have joked that if I ate the ratio of vegetables and fruit to other foods as Carter I would be skinnier... well I might have been right.
Anyways I just feel like I needed to celebrate my loss this week because now I feel a little more accountable like I need to keep up my hard workouts and better eating habits.

Gotta keep the ball rolling...

I went all night without snacking. Now that I've done it once, the pressure's on. Gotta keep this ball rolling. The suspense is killing me.

My theory

I need more exercise and physical activity. However, I will never be able to exercise enough if I don't curb my side eating and cut my dinner portions. I'm pretty good with eating a light lunch and breakfast, and I don't snack that much if at all when I'm at work. It's when I get home at night that the problems begin. I eat too much dinner, then around 8:30 I start foraging. I'll get something salty, then sweet, then salty, then sweet, and so it goes. I may fit something healthy in there out of guilt, but that doesn't help.

So I've got two ideas. One, I'm gonna get up more and find things that I like and can do on a treadmill. You all know about my Lego Batman diet (I play Lego Batman while I walk on a treadmill), but I'm thinking I could also watch movies, especially now that we have Netflix on our Wii. I don't think I could read a book, like I've seen some people do at Marv Jenson's, but I've found a ton of podcasts I like and I've figured out how to work the SL County Library's NetLibrary to download MP3 and WMA audiobooks to my MP3 player.

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The other idea I have is I need to come up with the activities I like, but during which I don't eat, and differentiate those from activities during which I do eat. Partial lists:

Activities during which I DON'T eat: Playing board games (They're too expensive to allow food around); Painting Miniatures (mainly to spruce up my board games); Playing the Wii (There is no way to play the games I like with just one hand. Also, I tend to stand when I play); Reading (too much risk of getting food and/or greasy fingerprints on the pages); doing work around the house; walking on the treadmill.

Activities during which I DO eat: Watching movies, TV; Playing video games on anything but the Wii; playing card games.

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I'm still going to watch movies, and every once in a while there's a TV show I like, etc., but I'm thinking that now that I'm conscious of what activities drive me to snack, I can work on avoiding the urge. On top of that, if I can find more things I enjoy that can be done on a treadmill, I'll get more physical activity, even when it's butt cold or flamin' hot.

Hello

Hi guys! I have never used blogger so it might take me a while to figure things out. Yes sparkpeople.com is incredible! Love it. I love the emails I get with little tips regarding all things health. I get one every morning and I have found that reading them early in the morning (I have been getting up at 5 and to the gym by at least 5:45) gets me going and excited to go do something healthy. I feel like even that little 2 minute change in my morning routine has really been helping me.

SparkPeople - Emmy's favorite website

Emmy has found a great website for tracking your diet and exercise called sparkpeople.com. I think Lana is now using it, too. She can probably explain it better, but you enter in what you have eaten that day by simply searching for the foods. The website has info for a number of foods already, but if they don't have the food on there, you enter in what you know about the ingredients in terms of fat, calories, etc. This fat, calorie, etc. information is then shared across the website for others to use. 

For example, Emmy made borscht the other night and when she entered it in, there were roughly 20 different borscht recipes to pick from. She could have entered her own guess for how many fat, calories, etc. her borscht has, but all she had to do was simply select the one that was nearest her own. (And if they have borscht, they've gotta have lots of other stuff, too.)

It takes Emmy about 10 minutes each day to do this. I think most people can find that time if they really want to track their diet. Emmy has been tracking her diet like this for the last couple months and this, combined with exercise, has helped her lose weight at a healthy rate of 1-2 lbs per week.