Cheese "Fries"

Recipe found in Cook Yourself Thin Faster

1 Large Butternut Squash, peeled and seeded
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 Teaspoon salt
1/4 Teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Cut squash into 1/4 inch fries. Toss with olive oil and spread onto foil lined pan. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake for 30 minutes until the fries are golden- toss and turn them about half way through. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and return to the oven for about 2 minutes. Enjoy!

A New Season

Photo Credit

Fall is here again.  I love this season not only because of the beautiful colors in nature at this time of year, but because it usually represents a time for re-commitment to my health and fitness goals. This is the time to think about what I want to accomplish before the end of the year and begin working on it. The heat and craziness of summer has gone and I can finally return to my kitchen to spend some quality time. I can also workout more comfortably at home.

My overall goal for weight loss is still the same. I have about 55 lbs that I would like to lose over the next few months. That being said, I would be happy with 45 or anywhere in that ballpark that my body decides to settle.

I am kicking off this new season with a 48 hr cleanse. I have eaten sooo much crap this year. It all originated in pregnancy cravings that just kept perpetuating themselves even after the pregnancy ended. Now I am at the point that I have consumed so much sugar, fast food and junk that I feel tired and crappy all the time and I am getting frequent headaches. Many of the healthy habits that I worked hard to develop have fallen by the wayside. I feel like I need a reset; a fresh start.

Today I went grocery shopping and picked up all the items I will need for the Dr. Oz 48 hr Weekend Cleanse. I have never done an official cleanse before but I am familiar with the concept from the "washouts" I got as a child. I am excited to see the results. From there I plan to get my eating back on track since hopefully I will have curbed some of my unhealthy cravings. I am also developing a rough plan for working out for the next few weeks. I have my eyes on a 5k on October 20th so I am going to try to get some runs in between now and then along with Yoga, Pilates and strength training. There might be another round of Turbofire coming up after that!

How do you plan to bring in this new season?

Starting Again

Hello friends! It's been a while but I am back and ready to get back on track with achieving my weight loss goal. The days of eating all kinds of crap and inactivity must come to an end. Regarding my last post... sigh. I will explain at a later time. So here I am six weeks post surgery, got the all clear from my doctor and I am ready to make it happen. I started with a 1.7 mile walk yesterday and a 3.4 mile walk this morning with our local Black Girls Run! group followed by some much needed stretching. My work hours will be much better for the next month so I should be able to fit in 4-5 workout days per week. On the food side, I have a raging sweet tooth as usual that I am trying to get under control. I am also working on eating healthier and watching my portion sizes. The main problem I have right now is that it is just too hot outside for me to want to turn my stove on, especially since I don't have AC. So tell me ladies, what are your workout plans for the summer and how do you continue to eat healthy during these warm summer days?

Our New Adventure

Hello Friends. This post has been a little while coming. I am sorry I abandoned the bloggie for a few months but I promise there is a good reason. I was not feeling well around Thanksgiving so there wasn't any working out going on over here. My diet was also pretty blah and it felt like survival mode all around. The holidays have come and gone and school has dominated my life for the last six weeks with 60+ hrs/ wk work weeks.  However, amidst all that came the wonderful news....

We're having a baby!!

Currently I am two weeks into the second trimester so things are moving along. In retrospect, I now know what was going on back in November :-). I will be writing all about first trimester changes and how that went as well as documenting as much as I can going forward. First on the agenda though is getting back on a workout schedule. I am a little scared since I haven't actually worked out in a few months. Hopefully it won't be too big of a readjustment. In addition, I won't be working out anywhere near the intensity that I did prior to pregnancy.

Thanks to everyone who stuck around during the hiatus and I hope you will join me on this new journey as well. I appreciate any advice as I figure out this new path in my life!

Hey Friends,

Hope your week is going well. Things are chugging along over here. Exercise went well last week; I did 5/7 days. I planned to do six but I ended up doing a strength/cardio interval workout one day so I did not feel too bad about the extra day off. I am doing three days of cardio, three days of strength training and an active rest day (Yoga). As I mentioned before, I am using Chalean Extreme for the strength training and the cardio is mostly TurboFire but I have allowed myself some flexibility there. I am on Week three of the Burn Circuit in Chalean Extreme. I also wrote down to the best of my memory what I ate every day for the week so I'm happy to be getting back on track with being accountable in those areas.

Weekly dose of randomness:

-I am seriously considering purchasing a Bikram Yoga package especially since they gave me a discount on my first one. The weather has cooled off so now is a good time to get back into it.

-I really should own shares in Kashi considering how many of their products I bought lately.

-It's time I set some non-scale goals (NSGs). First will be to do the crow pose. Second, a flat stomach (can't remember it really being flat… ever. I blame my sugar situation.)

-I think I am gonna re-read A Course in Weight Loss. Still don't plan on doing the rituals/altar and all that but I do respect the fact that weight loss and staying fit is as much a mental challenge as it is a physical one.

-I am currently rotating through Adolescent Psychiatry and it is fun but emotionally exhausting. Exercise has been a good coping mechanism. Yeah for endorphins!

-I tried Kale chips last week and I liked them (recipe to come). Will try it in a smoothie and salad soon.

-I discovered that I can bench press 75 lbs yesterday :-)

Something to talk about:

Have you all seen the personal trainer who went from Fit to Fat and will be going back to fit? He gained 75+ lbs in 6 months.  Any thoughts? I will be tuned in for the journey back to fit.

Also, November is here! Any goals for the month or strategies to survive the holidays? Almost time to revisit those resolutions from last year. 

Mini Website Round up

Source

Have you checked out the body rock movement as yet? Bodyrock.tv has great workouts that you can do at home. They are short, effective, and best of all FREE! They will also be adding more recipes on a regular basis in the near future.

I have also been spending some time on the YogaJournal YouTube channel lately. They have an array of free yoga videos. I tried the one on Arm Balances the other day and the instructions were pretty good. I am excited to learn these seemingly impossible poses.

Side notes:

I saw two things on FB this week that stayed with me long after I viewed them so I thought I would share. The first is a video in which Oprah describes the beauty of surrendering. Amazing insight on how to get what you what in life :-)

Finally, an associate of mine share this photo with the following quote on his page:

"Be yourself because everyone else is taken."

I was reading a blog recently and caught myself almost wanting to be like the writer because of their experiences and things they had accomplished. This quote came back to me and was a nice reality check.

Have a great and productive week :-)

Back at it/ Updates

A nice reminder :-)

Hey Friends :-). It's been a looong time but hopefully this post puts an end to yet another unintended hiatus. The past few months I've been focused on mostly on school (taking one major exam and a few not so major ones, and transitioning to a clinical learning environment i.e. working way too much at times.). I am somewhat settled in now but life is still busy as usual. On the weight loss front, I have not been consistent with eating healthy or working out all summer so my weight has fluctuated but it has mostly stayed within 6-8 lbs of my lowest weight. I haven't lost sight of my goal though so I have recommitted to getting it done. I plan on starting by being consistent with the basics:

-Eating right (more fruits and veges, three meals and one snack per day)
All I can say about this one is that I am a work in progress. At one point I had incorporated just about everything I worked on cutting out/reducing back into my diet on a regular basis. Sugar... just ridiculous how much I have been having. Weight loss is 85% diet for me though so I will keep working on this "lifestyle change" goal.

-Drinking water (eight or more glasses per day)
Unfortunately, drinking water makes you pee. I am usually too busy to pee multiple times or to sip water throughout the day so I try to drink more in the evenings at home rather than earlier in the day. On the days when I come home and pass out, I usually end up more on the dehydrated side. Not sure how to fix this though...

-Working out five to six days per week
I started Chalean Extreme again last week and I am doing a modified version of the hybrid with TurboFire. I am usually good about getting my workouts in on strength training day but I've been lazy on cardio days. Maybe because a part of me feels like I do a lot of walking at work and my feet hurt by the time I get home. I have been working on getting up earlier to work out in the mornings but when earlier means 4:30am...ummm, yeah... Next week when I have more normal hours hopefully I can get into the habit.

For those that are still out there, how have things been going and what are your fall/winter fitness plans?