The Shrinking Violets

Dammit!

2010-03-16T18:00:00.000-07:00

I put on quite a lot of weight while pregnant, but a few weeks after the mousling was born I was back down to being only seven pounds over my pre-pregnancy weight, and I was rather pleased - people kept telling me how I'd always be fat and wobbly, and I was worried about that. I've never had my body look the way I want it to (not really skinny or anything like that, though) and I hated the thought of getting big for other reasons which I won't go into.

The trouble is, my depression has come back big time, and I've been comfort-eating vast quantities of chocolate which has led to my putting on another ten pounds. I'm really cross with myself, and am resolving to think more about what I eat, spurred on by this book. The author discusses the ways we are tricked - or trick ourselves - when it comes to portion sizes, food choices and the difference between wanting to and needing to eat.

I'm also going to start regular exercise, more than just pushing the pram around, and I'll be logging my exercise sessions here to keep myself motivated.

Wish me luck!

Chicken with Spicy Fruit

2009-02-21T14:55:00.000-08:00

This is one I plan to make this week. The nice thing is that it serves 4, and that's how many of us are living at home now!

INGREDIENTS:
1 1/4 C. unsweetened crushed pineapple
1/4 C. golden raisins
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper
2 cloves garlic, chopped
4 (4 oz.) boned, skinned chicken breast halves
1/4 C. all fruit strawberry spread
1/4 tsp. cornstarch
green onion strips (optional)

PREPARATION:
1. Combine first 4 ingredients in skillet; bring to boil. Add chicken; cover, simmer for 10 minutes or until chicken is done. Remove from skillet and keep warm.

2. Bring chicken liquid to boil; cook 7 minutes or until reduced to 3/4 cup, stirring occasionally.

3. Combine strawberry spread and cornstarch; stir into cooking liquid and cook 1 minute. Serve sauce over chicken; garnish with green onion strips, if desired.

Serves 4.

NUTRITION INFORMATION:
Chol: 66mg Carbo: 27gm Fat: 2gm Calories: 229 Protein: 18gm Fiber: 1gm Sodium: 77mg

Arm exercises

2009-02-14T17:06:00.000-08:00

Ok, a co-worker was surprised at how muscular my arms are the other day, and I told her the exercises I do. These banish (horrible term alert) 'bingo wings' and generally firm up the upper arms.

Stand with your feet about hip width apart, knees slightly bent.
Raise your arms until they are horizontal from your shoulders, making sure your shoulders aren't hunched or tensed.

Rotate your arms from the shoulder until your palms are facing backwards.

Circle your arms up and back (small circles, not more than three or four inches) for a minute, making sure that your arms don't droop, and your shoulders don't tense up.

After, shake out your arms, then repeat, but with an up-and-down motion instead of the circles.

Two minutes a week really makes a difference. Four, even more so.

ETA: It's a lot more difficult than it sounds, I'm warning you.

Fresh Lemon Muffins

2009-02-07T15:24:00.000-08:00

Okay, I'm putting this in as written, but at the end I'll put in the equivalents for real sugar, as opposed to substitutes. If you use the fake stuff, you'll end up with the nutritional values that I'll also put at the bottom.

INGREDIENTS:
1/2 C. diet margarine
5 pkg. sugar substitute
2 egg whites
1 Tbsp. grated lemon rind
3 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 C. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. salt
2 pgk. sugar substitute
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

PREPARATION:
1. Cream margarine; gradually add sugar substitute (the 5 pkg.), beating until light and fluffy. Add egg whites, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in lemon rind and juice.

2. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt; add to creamed mixture, mixing well. Spoon batter into miniature muffin pans sprayed with non-stick cooking spray, filling two-thirds full.

3. Combine sugar substitute (remainder) and cinnamon; sprinkle over each muffin.

4. Bake at 350 degrees (F) for 20 minutes.

Yields 12
Serves 6

Nutrition:
Serving amount: 2 muffins
Chol: 0 Carbo: 8 gm Fat: 4 gm
Calories: 72 Protein: 2 gm Fiber: 0
Sodium: 143 mg

Sugar substitutions (these are all powders)
Equate, Sweet N Low, Sweet'ner, Sweet Magic, and Sweet One: 1 packet=2 tsp. sugar

Guess what I found?

2009-02-03T10:55:00.001-08:00

I found a cookbook chock full of tasty low-fat, low-cal, healthy recipes! It's for a Bible-study weight-loss and fitness program that I was in several years ago. The program was actually pretty helpful, and I was losing weight, but most of the ladies were older than me, and stopped being able to go.

Anyway, I haven't tried all of the recipes, but the ones that I have tried are very good. I will be cooking several of them a month, I think, and will post the ones I cook.

Not much of a post, I know, but I'd like to see us get back to updating here regularly.

Answers and lots of hard work ahead.

2008-12-15T14:29:00.000-08:00

I had my second psychologist appointment yesterday and after having completed a food diary for a fortnight and describing the way I eat and how I feel and how they interact, I have been diagnosed with Binge Eating Disorder (BED).

I always just thought I was a fat pig!

I had heard of BED before, the psych who did my initial evaluation suggested I keep a food diary for a few weeks before my sessions started because she thought I may have it but I guess up until I found out more about it I didn't really take it seriously. I mean are you really trying to tell me the way I stuff my face has a reason behind it???

So I'll be following a programme developed by the world's leading expert on eating disorders which will involve me following certain steps to understand what triggers a binge and how to overcome that. The first two steps are monitoring and getting into a regular eating pattern, which I kind of do now through Calorie King but this is really amped up. It's more about not only recording which foods I'm eating and when but the specific feelings and thoughts I'm having at the time. Also I have to eat at certain times of the day and if I have a binge at 5pm but I'm scheduled to have dinner at 6pm then I have to make sure I don't skip that meal as that will then lead to a further binge later on. My body is so out of whack from years of eating disorders (I'm pretty sure you all know I was anorexic in high school) that it needs to be retrained into knowing when to eat and when to know to eat.

Anyway we're in the very early days so far but I'll keep you all updated with how I'm going.

xxx

I'm back too

2008-11-13T16:49:00.000-08:00

Well, up until the end of September I was still doing my four exercise sessions a week, mixing Callanetics, the Cher hips/thighs/bum video and the step class video.
Then, what with everything, I didn't do any workouts for five weeks.

I've started back on my workout programme now, so we'll see how it goes.

Shame on us!

2008-11-13T16:20:00.000-08:00

Nothing since August?
I mean, I knew I was lame, but I was expecting more posts!
:-P

Ok, I haven't done any Callanetics since before we went away, bar the half-hearted 15 minute session I did at Nettie's. (Side note: I found that Nettie's Callanetics DVD is the one featuring my ex-teacher, Karen.)

Anyway, I really enjoyed the reinstatement of the weekly torture sessions this week. It wasn't fun, of course, but I felt so energised afterwards!

Sigh

2008-08-22T23:12:00.000-07:00

Crap! How did I manage to not exercise tonight?

I know. It's because I opted to fix my daughter's beloved duck, instead. She's had him since she was 8 months old, and his neck had finally gotten so worn that I was afraid she'd wake up one morning clutching his mutilated body, with his head rolling around on the floor somewhere.

So I got out some yellow fuzzy yarn that I'd bought a while ago for just this purpose, and made a...scarf, or something...a dickey, perhaps? Anyhow, made this fuzzy yellow piece to go around his neck (after re-stuffing it, of course). All was going well, until it came time for me to go pick up her older sister Kaila from work and she herself had to go to bed.

I told her that I would finish sewing on the new neck while I was gone. This was apparently not good enough. After all, how did I expect her to sleep without the duck?!? I insisted, though, and left with duck in tow. Got most of the new neck sewn on while waiting for Kaila, and finished when I got home. Then I took him up to his owner, who, even though nearly asleep, was very glad to see him. She kept petting his new fur and thanked me very prettily for fixing his neck.

I think I can be forgiven for not doing my workout tonight, yes? It was, after all, a very good cause! :)

Exercising

2008-08-21T12:14:00.000-07:00

Okay, I've located my Callanetics tape (no, I don't have it on DVD...*sigh*) and I have a 30-minute all-over workout DVD. So I'm planning to do the tape on Sundays and Wednesdays, and the DVD on Fridays. Of course, I actually meant to start this past Sunday, but things kind of got in the way. So, I'm going to start with the DVD tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Haven't heard from anyone else lately. How's everyone doing?

Woohoo!

2008-07-04T13:48:00.000-07:00

I haven't been wanting to weigh myself because I was convinced that I wouldn't have lost anything even though I've noticed that I've toned up a lot. I finally weighed myself this evening, and I've lost seven pounds (just over three kg) in the last four weeks.
I'm really bloody happy! :-D

Pasta Sauce

2008-06-29T16:32:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd add to the healthy recipe collection. Shop-bought pasta sauce seems to have a lot of sugar in it, so I sometimes make my own.
This makes enough for two people.

1 chopped onion
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
As much chopped garlic as you want*
A bit of chopped chilli
Optional extra - Any fresh tomatoes that have gone a
little squooshy but are still good, chopped up

We also usually add some low-fat bacon, either very lean pork bacon or turkey bacon.

Grill the bacon. Cook the onion, garlic and chilli in a little oil
or low-fat cooking spray, then cut up the grilled bacon and add to the pan along with the tin of tomatoes and the fresh tomatoes, if using. Simmer until it thickens.

*We use these. The ginger is very good for curries too.

The other good thing about ths recipe is that since we generally have dried pasta, garlic, chilli and onions already in the kitchen, the only necessary extra expense is a tin of tomatoes, which costs 21p. This is a good meal for the end of the month when there's nothing left in the bank!

Recipes to try!

2008-06-29T14:50:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I said I would be trying to find some yummy healthy recipes. I've got a couple here that are supposed to be helpful with flattening one's belly (and they look pretty tasty, too!) One is a salad (that could maybe be a main dish) and the other is a dessert. I plan on trying these out as soon as I've got grocery money, so probably this coming weekend. Meanwhile, if anyone else tries them, let us know what you think!

Without any further ado, here they are (with nutrition facts at the end of each):

Spinach and Nectarine Salad:

Total time: 13 minutes
Makes 2 main-dish servings

(Tip--if you're taking salad for lunch, toss the nectarines with dressing and pack separately from greens.)

2 Tbsp. orange marmalade
1 lg. shallot, thinly sliced
2 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
2 tsp. olive oil
Salt and pepper
1/4 c. slivered almonds
1 pkg. (7 oz.) baby spinach
2 ripe nectarines, pitted and cut into wedges

1. In microwave-safe small bowl or 1-cup liquid measuring cup, combine marmalade and shallot. Cover with vented plastic wrap and cook in microwave on High 1 minute. Stir in vinegar, oil, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper.

2. In small skillet, cook almonds on medium 5 minutes, stirring until toasted. Set aside to cool, about 2 minutes.

3. To serve, toss spinach, nectarines, and marmalade mixture until combined. Place on 2 dinner plates; scatter almonds on top.

Each serving: About 285 calories, 8g protein, 37g carbohydrate, 14g total fat (1g saturated), 14g fiber, 0mg cholesterol, 420mg sodium.

Peachy Frozen Yogurt
In food processor with knife blade attached, process 1 bag (10 to 12 oz) frozen sliced peaches until finely shaved. Add 2 containers (6 oz. each) low-fat peach yogurt and 1 Tbsp. sugar. Process just until smooth. Serve immediately. If not serving right away, pour into 9" by 9" metal baking pan; cover and freeze 1 hour for best texture. Makes about 2 1/2 c. or 4 servings.

Each Serving: About 130 calories, 4g protein, 28g carbohydrate, 1g total fat (1g saturated), 2g fiber, 6 mg cholesterol, 50mg sodium.

Lunches

2008-06-28T04:16:00.000-07:00

I know that I have a problem when it comes to lunches when at work. I tend to be lazy and grab a sandwich from the supermarket, and they are all scarily fatty.
So, I've been trying to be good this last while, and do better.

So!

Monday and Thursday I bought sushi packs from Boots. Low fat, and very yummy (although they don't include enough wasabi paste).

On Tuesday, I brought a salad from home - spinach, tomatoes, spring onions, sweet orange peppers, chicken breast, croutons and a spoonful of garlic salad dressing.

Wednesday was pasta day. I made a pasta with a red pesto sauce, with grilled peppers, tomatoes, lean bacon and mange tout.

Ok, I have to admit that, on Friday, I bought shop-made macaroni cheese. It was ludicrously fatty, but delicious.

Stomachs

2008-06-18T16:19:00.000-07:00

Does anyone else have a problem with a particular part of their body?
I can definitely see a difference in my thighs, hips, bum, etc., but my stomach seems to be sticking out even more. I've been doing crunches plus the Callanetics.
Has anyone got any ideas for an effective stomach-flattening exercise?

The arrival

2008-06-17T05:51:00.000-07:00

Yay, my Callanetics dvd arrived today!

I'd ordered it a while back from Amazon after Boo described in great detail the benefits she's noticed since doing it.

I've just watched all the intro material that covers basic techniques and forms and then I jumped into the one hour workout.

Some of the exercises I'm going to need a lot of work with as I'm just not coordinated enough to get with just one run through. I keep on moving in the wrong directions and the pulsing just isn't natural for me yet. Other exercises I don't think I can do properly as I'm just not flexible enough yet. There's one where you sit cross legged on the ground and walk your hands out in front of you, then out to the side and then you pulse to the side. My knees don't touch the ground when I sit crossed legged (never have, even as a kid) and so I'm finding it hard to actually walk my hands forward as I have trouble even touching the ground in front of me.

And I always forget to hold my pelvic floor muscles tight. It's a good thing the instructor lady keeps reminding you! lol

Now I've read all the articles with the supposed results you can get from doing Callanetics and even though Boo has assured me she has lost a remarkable amount of inches, I'm still not entirely convinced that this is the be all and end all of exercises. Some of the reviews have people stating that they'll never pay for a gym membership again as this is the only kind of exercise they'll ever need to do again.
Now, fair enough this tones and helps with muscle definition but it's not exactly an aerobic exercise. I still think you need to combine it with another form of exercise to actually lose body fat and so I'm hoping that in conjunction with gyming and walking and playing squash I'll see results soon.

I took some measurements last week and I'll perhaps measure myself after a month and then let you know the results. Fingers crossed.

And pulse.

xxx

G'Day

2008-06-11T16:24:00.000-07:00

Rightio then, well I'm Nettie and I'm 28 (we'll just keep the fact I'll be 29 in a month or two a secret shall we?) and like the others I'm here to keep motivated and get healthy.

I've always had fluctuations in my weight, I've been super skinny at times and extremely big. When I was a kid I spent most of my time in hospital with really bad asthma and my weight at those times would drop dramatically and so when I got out I would be fed like a horse to try and regain some weight before I was hospitalised again. Then as a teen I got big again only to stop eating in my final year of high school and my weight plummeted. Then I got big again (tipped the scales at 95kgs - ouch). About a year ago I started counting calories and got serious with my exercise and I lost 15kgs. I've recently had some really crappy months and now I'm trying to get back on track.

Did you know that the majority of Australians are overweight or obese? I guess you probably do since most of the Western world is overweight or obese.
Well, my main goal in all of this is I don't want to be a friggin statistic.
Obviously I want to be healthy, I want to have kids, and yes I do want to look great in tight fitting clothes, but above all else, I don't want to be that anonymous fat person chowing down a hamburger in Murray St Mall caught on camera by some stupid film crew doing a 'fat Australians' segment for Today Tonight.

So lets step on board and see where this journey takes us :)

Hiya!

2008-06-11T14:08:00.001-07:00

Hi, I'm Shawna, pleased to meetcha! Or, wait, I think I did that already...

Bear with me, please, it's my day off and I'm feeling a bit loopy! : )

By the way, I'm 34, and I'm also here because I want to lose some weight, tone up, and be somewhat skinnier. Not tons, but it would be nice to be able to buy smaller clothes.

So far, my exercise consists of walking Tex 2 or 3 times a day (each walk is generally 10 minutes or so) and walking a LOT around my work. I have cut way back on the amount of soda I drink, and generally cut down on food portions. I've got some yummy sounding healthy recipes that I'll be testing and sharing with y'all.

Introduction

2008-06-11T13:58:00.000-07:00

Hi there.

I'm Boo, I'm 27, and I live in Scotland.

I'm part of this blog because I want to tone up and lose some size. I don't weigh myself, though, as it takes me to a bad place - it tends to make me want to stop eating altogether.

Currently, I do a Callanetics class twice a week, walk quite a bit (although perhaps not as briskly as I might), and have a relatively physical office job.

I do try to eat healthily, but a lot of the time convenience wins over, and I end up eating something bad for me.

I am addicted to cheese, which doesn't help, but I don't have much of a sweet tooth.

Here Goes...

2008-06-11T13:48:00.001-07:00

Well, I suppose I'd better try to write an introductory post.

I'm Mouse, I'm 31, and I decided that I really need to lose some weight and tone up. Before I started I weighed 12 stone 2 and was a UK size 14-ish.

At the moment, I do callanetics on a Monday and my Cher exercise video 'hips, thighs and bums' workout on Wednesdays and Fridays. I bought a new bike last week and intend to go out cycling regularly once I buy a padded seat cover - my delicate little bottom really hurt after the first time I used it!

I've been trying to eat a lot more fruit and veg recently. My weekday diet is usually
(No breakfast)
Lunch - sandwich, tub of grapes/blueberries/mango etc.
Snack - A couple of oatcakes, a bit of cheese, an apple
Dinner - something like pasta/stirfry/veggie chilli/grilled fish and potato
Snack - Usually something sweet, often more than I should eat...
I usually have a cereal bar on my way home from work too, to give me enough energy to do my workout before dinner.

My main goals are to tone up my legs, hips and bum, and to flatten my stomach.