Weigh-In Mar 12

206.5 this morning. Not quite the 205 I was hoping for but still down 2 lbs from last week. Once I hit 205 that will be 20 lbs lost and I'll post another progress picture.

I missed my Friday post. We're buying a house right now and suddenly there's not enough time in the day.But I'm back now with days 8 & 9 of the weight lifting routine.

Day 8
Biceps - Seated 1 arm curls
Triceps - Bent Over Kickbacks
Chest- Seated Forward Press
Back - Standing, Bent-Over Rows
Shoulders - Upright rows
Abs- Crunches

Day 9
Legs - reverse lunges
Back Legs- Standing leg curls
Legs/Butt - towel squats
Calves - Heel raises
Abs - reverse leg lifts

Days 5 & 6

Sorry for posting this late. Here are days 5 and 6 of the weight lifting routine.

Day 5
Biceps - Supinated Curls - 3 sets of 12-15 reps
Triceps - 1 Arm Extensions - 3 sets of 12-15 reps
Chest - Chest flies - 3 sets of 12-15 reps
Back - Kneeling 1 arm rows - 3 sets of 12-15 reps
Shoulders - Reverse Flies - 3 sets of 12-15 reps
Abs - Traditional Crunches

Day 6
Abs - Reverse leg lifts
Obligues - Torso Twists
Legs/Butt - Towel Squats
Waist - Lateral Drops
Legs/Butt - Forward Lunges
Legs/Butt - Deadlifts
Inner Thigh - Plie Squats

Why Women Should Lift Weights

Step back Jazzercise and take a seat Zumba! Women everywhere are realizing the amazing benefits of weight lifting. The best part? No expensive gym membership required. All you need is a cheap pair of hand weights you can purchase at Wal-Mart. If you're new to lifting, or new to exercising, start with a set of 3 lb weights and a set of 5 lb weights. If you are already exercising you might want to go with 5's and 8's.

Here's some of the benefits of weight lifting.

1) Increase Your Metabolic Rate - Strength training increases your metabolic rate by increasing the calories you burn on a daily basis. The more calories you burn, the more chance you have to drop body fat. With more muscle you burn more calories even when you're doing nothing at all!

2) Increase your bone density, your lean muscle mass, your balance, and your ability to heal.

3) Reduce your risk for coronary disease and diabetes.

4) My favorite? You need to lose less weight! You will lose more inches and need to lose less weight to get into those skinny jeans!

Worried about bulking up?
DON'T!!! It is testosterone that helps men to bulk up and women simply do not have enough of this hormone to bulk up like they do. Trust me, I have PCOS (Poly-Cystic Ovarian Syndrome) and one of the symptoms is excess testosterone production. If I don't bulk up while lifting a woman with normal hormone levels won't come close. You'll just build nice lean muscle.

So whose ready for days 3 & 4 of the routine? I am feeling the burn for sure today!

Day 3
Biceps - Hammer Curls - 3 sets of 12-15 reps
Triceps - 2 arm overhead extensions - 3 sets of 12-15 reps
Chest - Chest flies - 3 sets of 12-15 reps
Back - Standing Bent Over Rows - 3 sets of 12-15 reps
Shoulders - Military Press - 3 sets of 12-15 reps
Abs - Torso Twists

Day 4
Legs/Butt - Squats - 1 set 20-30 reps
Back Legs - Standing Leg Curls - 3 sets 12-15 reps
Inner Thighs - Plie Squats - 3 sets 12-15 reps
Calves - Heel raises - 3 sets 20-25 reps
Abs - Pelvic Tilts

Google the individual moves but feel free to let me know if you can't find info on any of the moves. Just start! Every great change starts with one decision, one moment. This could be yours! So go buy some weights and drink some water. Then come back Friday for a new low-carb recipe.

Weigh-In Mar 5

All right amigos, we are back on track now! Scale was at 208.5 this morning. Three pounds down this week, so I've now lost all the weight I gained on my anniversary and even a little more! I'm getting really excited now because a huge milestone for me is starting to peak it's head up over the horizon. When I hit 205 that will be my first twenty pounds lost, and 203 will be 10% lost. Once I hit 205 I'll post another progress picture. And of course the big 199 isn't too, too far away, right?

For those of you who've been reading for awhile know that in January and February I was pretty consistent with going to the gym in the evenings. But now my husband is getting ready for a big plant shut-down and also studying for a professional engineering exam. Which in other words means that I'm basically a single mom for the duration. So I've been struggling with getting to the gym. So today I'm starting a weight lifting routine I can do at home, it only takes about 10-15 minutes, and all I need is hand weights. Maybe some of you would like to do it with me? This is a 6 day a week program (I'll be taking Sunday off).

Day 1
Biceps - Forward Curls - 3 sets of 12-15 reps
Triceps - Backward raises - 3 sets of 12-15 reps
Chest - Bench Press - 3 sets of 12-15 reps
Back - Kneeling 1 arm rows - 3 sets of 12-15 reps
Shoulders - Side raises - 3 sets of 12-15 reps
Abs - traditional crunches

Day 2
Legs, front - Forward lunges - 1 set of 20-30 reps
Legs, back - Deadlifts - 3 sets of 15-20 reps
Legs/Butt - Towels squats - 3 sets of 15-20 reps
Calves - Heel raises - 3 sets of 20-25 reps
Abs - Reverse Leg lifts

I do each exercise once (12-15 reps) and then move on to the next one, and do that three times. So you do each exercise for 12-15 reps, three times. You want to choose a weight that you can finish all the reps in good form but one that provides a challenge. Too heavy and you can strain your muscles and too light you won't get an effective exercise. We could be here forever if I tried to explain each weight lifting move so feel free to google the individual moves if you're unsure of how to do them. In weight lifting proper form is key, and you also want to keep control of the movement in both directions.

Feel free to post if you have a question about the routine. I'll be back Wednesday with days 3 & 4. Drink lost of water this week!

Dr Seuss and Roasted Vegetables

Happy Birthday to Dr. Seuss! My kids are at our table happily coloring their Dr Seuss activity books. Who doesn't love Dr. Seuss? The man was a genius! I'd rather read his books over and over to my kids then any others. As I was compiling my kids packets I came across this quote by Dr Seuss:

"Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You!"

What a beautiful sentiment! How much easier would our lives be if we focused more on being "you"? If we stopped trying to be like the mom next door (whose 14 month old is potty trained and always has her hair and makeup done), or the 18 year old at the gym (whose running for an hour at a 10 incline and never sweats a drop), or the lady at the grocery store (who has her coupons perfectly organized and paid $12 for her cart of groceries)? Today you are you, tomorrow you will be you, in 10 years you will be you. You are the only person you will be with every day of your entire life. How much easier would that life be if we love that person, huh? I propose that we all stop trying to be someone else and start trying to be the best "you" you can be! "There is no one alive who is Youer than you!"

Anyway, so on a low-carb diet you eat a lot of vegetables. I mean A LOT of vegetables! SO after a while you start looking for different ways to cook them (a little desperately). Right now my favorite method is roasting. Roasting vegetables gives them a deep, nutty flavor that is fantastic. Also, since I'm not a big fan of mushy anything, it gives them a slight crispiness.

What can you roast? Anything you want! Right now my favorites are broccoli, cauliflower and asparagus. Asparagus is especially tasty when roasted. Here's how you do it:

Roasted Asparagus

Wash your bunch of asparagus and then trim the stems. Here's how you know where to trim an asparagus. Grab the top of the asparagus with one hand and the bottom with the other. Gently bend the asparagus until it naturally breaks. Do 2 that way and then use a knife to cut the bunch at the same point. This ensure that you get only the tender part.

Spread on a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil or butter. Toss to make sure they are all coated. You can use a lot of oil or just a little, it's up to you. Sometimes I just spray them with an oil spray. Then season with salt and pepper, and pop into a 375 degree oven. Check them after 10 minutes (or when you can smell them cooking) I like to leave them in a little longer until they are brown and crunchy on the edges.

Use the same basic concept to roast any veggies. Last week I did a broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, and red onion mixture. It was divine! To jazz it up you could also sprinkle some grated parmesan onto the veggies before or after roasting.

Check back in Monday for weigh-in!

Weigh-In Feb 27

I'm down to 211.5 today, so down 3.5 lbs from last week. I think I would have been down more except that I fell off the wagon this week. We went out to dinner Friday night with David's company and I was prepared to follow my diet until I got there and we didn't get to order, it was a pre-ordered meal. So I thought I would just go with the flow, pop off the diet for one night and then get back on track. So I did (and by the way the creme brulee was amazing!) But then on Saturday I had crazy carb cravings and ended up eating pizza for dinner. Then on Sunday I ate a whole bag of my favorite Easter jelly beans.

:Hangs head in shame:

It's amazing now to see and feel my reaction to sugar. Not only physically, the blood sugar spikes and headaches. But also the cravings they trigger, for foods I haven't craved in weeks. I'm eager to get back on the plan this week. Though I desperately need to go shopping first. My fridge contains mostly condiments right now. One thing I've learned doing this is that I always need to keep food available that I can eat. One of the best parts of low-carb is that you can eat whenever you're hungry.

So onward we go. I'm hoping to lose the rest of my anniversary weight this week, and then hoping to hit my 20 lbs weight loss goal the next week. Now go drink some water and check back Wednesday.

Denial and Comfort

All right I'm back. I'm still in total denial that my anniversary vacation is over. You know how it feels when you look forward to something for so long, and enjoy it so much? It's so anti-climatic to come back down to earth. So in response I did pretty much nothing this week except work through 2 seasons of the X-Files on Hulu.

However I DID restart my low-carb diet and it's going great. It feels comfortable to me now, easy and second nature. It's so nice to be on a diet where I don't feel deprived and frustrated all the time. So while my productivity is at a low this week, my weight loss is full steam ahead.

So this week I want to share with you one of my new favorite low-carb snacks. This is what I make in the evenings if I feel hungry at all.

Deli Roll Ups

Thin slices of your favorite lunch meet
Dill pickles
Cream Cheese

Yup that's it! I like to layer a slice of turkey, ham, and salami then spread a little bit of cream cheese down the center. Take a pickle and quarter it lengthwise and lay one on top of the cheese. Then roll it all together. Use whatever meat you want to. You don't need much of the cream cheese (remember if you're counting carbs that while cream cheese is low in carbs it still has some). My kids think these are so much fun to eat. Last night I was feeling lazy so I made myself a salad and 3 of these to go on the side. Super yummy.

Tonight my husband's company is taking us out to eat. Luckily we're going to a steak house, one of the easiest restaurants to go low-carb at. Looking forward to a nice low-carb evening with my hubby.

Check back in Monday for weigh-in! I'm really hoping to have lost the weight I gained on my trip.