Salt might taste good, but is it good for you?

Sodium seems to get in a lot of people's way, especially those who are trying to lose weight. I've come to the conclusion that I love salt, but have come to realize that I can trick myself to eating lower sodium foods and still get the same satisfaction.  When you go to the grocery store and you look at calories and fat, do you ever look at sodium?  If you don't you should start, it's amazing how high sodium is in a Lean Cuisine, but because it's lower in calories people think that it's healthy for them. 

I came across this article today about the 10 Most Tempting Salty Foods and wanted to share it with you because salt is everywhere.  You may not cook much with salt, but the foods you are buying probably contain a lot of sodium.  Every time you go out to eat you are eating more salt than you should in a day...fast food is the worst, but even a salad from Red Robin has over 1,000mg of sodium.

Please read this article by clicking the link below; as it's very helpful and provides great alternatives to those delicious salty foods. :)

10 Most Tempting Salty Foods Article: http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/features/most-tempting-salty-foods?ecd=wnl_wmh_042712

Healthy Cooking

Do you ever run out of ideas of what to cook?  Tired of looked through your cookbooks and just can't find anything that sounds good?  Well, I have a wonderful website that's  very helpful.  Try the website http://www.skinnytaste.com/ as this website has some amazing recipes and really good ideas. Recipes are anything from low carb, to healthy desserts, to healthy soups.....all of the recipes I've tried have been amazing. 

Getting Back on Schedule!!

After thinking long and hard I came up with a realization that if I don't do something fast I won't reach my goal.  I have also come to realize that if I don't create a schedule to follow I will probably never reach my goal...I already have a schedule at home on the fridge that includes our dinner menu (lunch and breakfast are basically always the same so I have that down).  So now it's time to create a schedule for fitness.  I created a calendar that includes my goal date so I have something motivating me.  I am going to print off my calendar and tape it on my wall next to the TV so I don't have an excuse that I didn't remember...it will be right in front of my face so no more excuses. Below is a sample of my schedule for May, as you can tell I left two days for break and left my options open on what video's out of the set I will do.  I want to keep my options open so that I don't feel tied down to HIIT 15, instead I will chose whatever Turbo Fire, Insanity, or yoga meltdown video that I feel like for the day.

May
Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
29	30	1	2	3	4	5
	Turbo Fire	Insanity		Turbo Fire	Treadmill & Turbo Fire Abs	Morning Yoga Meltdown
6	7	8	9	10	11	12
	Turbo Fire	Insanity		Turbo Fire	Treadmill & Turbo Fire Abs	Morning Yoga Meltdown
13	14	15	16	17	18	19
	Turbo Fire	Insanity		Turbo Fire	Treadmill & Turbo Fire Abs	Morning Yoga Meltdown
20	21	22	23	24	25	26
	Turbo Fire	Insanity		Turbo Fire	Treadmill & Turbo Fire Abs	Morning Yoga Meltdown
27	28	29	30	31
	Turbo Fire	Insanity		Turbo Fire

Success...

I had another successful day on the scale...yes I've been weighing myself daily to see if I am making any progress....it's an addiction I realize this.  This morning when I stood on the scale I was down 1 pound for the week.  I am overly excited with my progress because I have been stuck at the same weight for so long.  Let's hope the weight loss continues and I meet my goal!!

Crunch Time

We all have goals that we want to reach, but how many of us actually achieve those goals?  Honestly I am feeling like I may be one of those who never reaches my goal, but that helps motivate me to work harder.  I don't want to be one of those people who is always dieting because I can't reach my goal.  I have made myself a timeline and I want to reach it.  In order to reach my goal I have altered the way I eat and will continue to workout, but push myself harder than I have ever pushed before. 

Because I have PCOS I have found that it's a lot harder to lose weight compared to the people around me without PCOS.  But thankfully I have been able to do some research online and found people who have achieved weight loss and met their goal and didn't let PCOS stop that...that was a huge motivator for me.  They also described how they achieved it, so I'm trying it out.  I use the program myfitnesspal on my cell phone and on their website to track my food, and the system allows me to alter the way I eat to meet my needs.  The women who were successful with weight loss changed their eating to 40% carbohydrates, 30% protein, and 30% Fat...so I've changed the way I eat to those percentages.  I actually started on Monday and have already lost .5 pounds, so let's hope with this food adjustment I can reach my goal.  Wish me luck!!!

BMR...We Meet Again

Do you know what your BMR (basal metabolic rate) is?  Well if you don't and you are trying to workout you may end up eating less calories than you should which will eventually catch up to you and cause you to gain weight or plateau. There are lots of tools out there that can help you.  The website I use to keep track of my calories provides a calculator tool to calculate what my BMR is.  My current BMR is 1,395 calories per day. Your BMR is how many calories you'd burn if you stayed in bed all day — basically, how many calories you burn just to stay alive. So you should be eating your BMR calories and eating your exercise calories back in order to lose weight....it took me over a year to figure this out...I hit a plateau about 6 months ago and until I upped my calories and altered my carb, fat, and protein percentage nothing would work for me.  I was eating too many carbs and not enough calories, I wish I would have known this 6 months ago....

I hope my findings can help you achieve your goals, just know every body is different so you may need to alter your carb, fat, protein percentages to what works for you body. 

Yard Work

It was a beautiful weekend in the Pacific Northwest and I made sure to take advantage of it while it lasted.  My Saturday was full of pulling weeds, spraying weed killer, leveling dirt, and so much more.  My Saturday was full of yard work and it felt so good, I forgot about how much of a workout yard work was.  My arms were burning after only a few minutes of hoeing the dirt, it's hard work...By the time Sunday came I was exhausted, so I didn't do as much yard work but I did put together our new deck furniture with my fiancee and went on a short motorcycle ride....I forgot about what kind of a workout a motorcycle ride was, my hands and back were not happy with me.  Thanks to my productive weekend it has put me back on track for working out and eating healthy.  Today I brought I delicious chicken salad for lunch and ate oatmeal and an apple for breakfast.  I have two months until my dress fitting and 10 pounds to go...wish me luck...I will need it! :)

Dress Fitting Already?

I am finally feeling better after being sick and know it's time to get back on the health and fitness bandwagon.  My wedding dress fitting is in two months and I need to be at my goal weight otherwise I will have to have my dress altered again and I honestly don't want to waste my money on that.  So this weekend I am going to put together a Meal and Exercise Plan to help me with my goals and to help my fiancee with his.  I have a bunch of new healthy cookbooks that I am going to go through and find foods that we can eat for multiple days.  I am also added a lot more fresh vegetables to our meal plan and a few fruits.  The hard part will be keeping our carbs down and our calories up...carbs seem to be found in everything and for some reason I LOVE THEM!!! :)

Get Ready, Cause Here I Come....

That's right get ready to see me running around town and even around the baseball diamond.  I am feeling so much better than last week and although I still have a nasty cough I'm not going to let it stop me from reaching my goals.  I started a new goal that I think will work well for me.  My goal is to lose 8 pounds in the month of April and if I do I get to go on a shopping spree for some items I really want.  I've made a list of the items I want to purchase and have made a goal that once I lose those 8 pounds I get them.  I haven't made a rewards goal before so I am trying something new and hope that it works.  Once I get those 8 pounds off I will be 5 pounds from my goal....so exciting!!!!! Wish me luck!