4 Mile Walk and Two Days of Pink Workouts in One Day!

First, let me apologize for not posting on Friday.  I was so busy, I totally forgot.  So here's what happened on Friday.  I didn't workout in the morning and wasn't hungry, so I only ate a banana.  Later, for lunch I had a sandwich (3 thin slices of low sodium/low fat ham, lettuce, tomato on 1 slice of sprouted grain bread) and a apple.  Sorry, I forgot to take a picture :(   Dinner picture is below.

Now, Saturday was a little different and today (Sunday) was even more off the beaten path.  Saturday I slept in and didn't exercise when I got up.  I had breakfast, which consisted of 1 scrambled egg with 2 slices of tomato on 1 slice of sprouted grain bread and 1 cup of cofee (liquid stevia & unsweetened coconut milk).  For lunch, I had an apple because I wasn't very hungry, again.  Since the weather was so nice I decided to go to my township community center and walk the trail 4 times around, which is 4 miles.  I came back home and had my Pink Drink #1 and later had dinner.

Today, I felt so guilty for not working out on Friday and not doing the videos (only the 4 miles) on Saturday that I did Friday and Saturday's workouts today!  Yes, I did Phase 1 Kardio, Phase 1 Pull, Phase 1 Push and Yoga!  Funny thing though, I felt great afterwards and my daughter said, you are doing so good mom, I'm proud of you :-) 

I saw a recipe on "The Chew" that is PINK friendly and had all the vegetables that I love to roast so I made that to go with dinner tonight - Vegetable Ratatouille.

Tomorrow, I start 4 day Reset before beginning Phase 2 and I will post my weight loss and measurements from Phase 1 then.

Until my next post...

Think P.I.N.K


                                                                           4/13/12

                                                 Dinner: Grilled Salmon
                                                                 Roasted Red/Yukon Potatoes
                                                                 Roasted Zucchini


                                                                "The Chew" recipe

                                                               Vegetable Ratatouille


                                                                           4/15/12

                                                 Dinner: Greek Grilled Chicken
                                                                 Roasted Acorn Squash
                                                                 Vegetable Ratatouille

At the Crossroads and Phase 1 Measurements

I must start with my happiest moment on PINK. The live chat revealed that we can have organic air popped popcorn. I rushed out to get it. It doesn't taste great, but it did help me feel like I could get a needed snack in. I love this retro style air popper from Bed, Bath & Beyond.

Ok, on to the bad news... unfortunately the time has come for this PINK in the pod to seperate. My birthday is this Wednesday and I am headed to Aruba tomorrow to celebrate. Once I return I'll be off to the Bahamas with friends the first week of May. I am so excited about both trips, which were planned in advance of starting PINK. It will be difficult to keep 100% PINK in these situations. The good thing is, PINK is a lifestyle change and my lifestyle involves a lot of travel. These experiences will allow me to learn how to tackle eating away from home. I am terrified of regaining the weight I lost though.

The reason why I am talking about seperation is that Michelle and I will no longer be in sync in terms of where we are in the program. I must re-evaluate after both trips to see where I will pick up the program. Maybe I will start from scratch. Maybe I will do a little longer reset and start Phase 2 next week. I am supposed to be on reset the whole trip which will not happen. One of the experts on the PINK message boards gave me support and some great guidelines to follow while away. I am going to do my best to apply those principles. Luckily, my husband eats the Paleo diet so we both will be watching what we eat together. And we will work out for at least an hour daily and be active most of the day. My trip mantra is "I am here to actively celebrate with my husband NOT to eat and drink all I can and become a beach bum." I'll post again in a week.

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In Phase 1 of PINK I was able to have breakfast some days when I didn't wake up to do my workout first thing in the morning. I enjoyed this cereal from the organic isle. I recently bought the blueberry version which has basically the same nutrition facts.

Ok on to the statistics and my experiences on Phase 1 now that it's done.

I started PINK monday march 12, 2012 my measurements were bust 48.5" wearing a bra and a sports bra, waist 49.5", hips 50", thighs 27" and my starting weight was 237 lbs.

Today, after Phase 1 my measurements are bust 46.5" (same bras), waist 47.5", hips 47", thighs 24" my weight now is 221 lbs.

I lost 16 lbs and 10" overall!! Not bad...

RESET is where I lost most of this weight. During Phase 1 of PINK I kept gaining and losing a couple pounds. But I know exactly why.... I had a really hard time sticking to the blueprint once it got closer to my trip. I wasn't always in control of my food when I travelled away from home. Several times I ate treats that were not PINK at all. I ate them for all the common reasons - old bad habits, while I was on my cycle, because I was bored, because I was emotional about something, because I had given up for a bit. But all in all, I am loving myself and forgiving myself for these mistakes. I still kept exercising and kept moving forward. But now I know, those cravings and tendencies are still alive and well and as the PINK book says, I have documented those pitfalls and have strategies to overcome them in the next phase of the program (whatever that is for me).

Everytime I cheated I felt an overwhelming sence of guilt and self-loathing which is not the positive place I have been coming from throughout the rest of this program. So once I return from vaca I am going to clean up my act and get back on track.

The one thing I can say is I have been doing the workouts in addition to Zumba and the elliptical. I first started using 4 lb weights in Kardio and have moved up to 8 lbs about a week ago. There are some moves I can only do with the 4 lbs but I am very much stronger. I even started doing the jumping jacks but have not gotten all the way through with it. I use that time to remind myself of the cheating I have done to push myself forward. I chant the names of what I ate repeatedly. I also can now do the yoga crouching spring forward move that I cried about day 1 of phase 1 because I couldn't do it. I am proud of most of what I have been able to accomplish on this program. I look forward to my progress in the future.

tuna that is PINK approved

favorite meal 1

favortie meal 2

La-Vie

Cruise Control

Hello Pinkies,

Today starts the last week of Phase 1 (Pink Primary).  I am now basically on cruise control.  What I mean by this is, eating healthy and exercising daily is a habit now.  I'm sure this is why Cynthia says in the beginning of the P.I.N.K Method book, commit to the program for atleast 3 weeks (21 days).  Research has shown that if you perform an action for 21 days it becomes a habit.  That Cynthia is so darn smart and sneaky :-)

I have been on the program now for a total of 28 days and the changes I have experienced are great!  I have alot more energy and I sleep much better.  I still fall asleep late, but my sleep is much deeper and I feel very rested when I awake in the mornings.

Today, I started using the five pound weights for the workouts.  Boy what a difference two pounds makes.  I had been using the two and three pound weights the first week and just the 3 pounds last week.  Those five pound weights felt so much heavier, but I pushed myself and did the entire workout using them, with the exception of those dreadful Jumping Jacks :-(  I hate those darn things!

So now for the reason I'm doing this program, weightloss; I lost another 1.5 pounds!  Woohoo!  I'm now 258.5.  1.5 pounds is actually within the normal healthy amount of weight you should lose in a week.  Even though, alot of people on the program lose more in a week, 1 to 2 lbs is healthy according to the Mayo Clinc and other sources.  You always want to lose weight in a healthy way and not too much too fast or your skin may not shrink with your body and then you have excess skin.  Not a good look.

As usual, today's meals are below.

Until my next post...

Think P.I.N.K 

                                              Lunch:  Grilled Catfish
                                                               Sauteed Collard Greens
                                                               Sliced Tomatoes

                                              Dinner: Grilled Chicken, Asparagus w/Marzano
                                                               Tomatoes & Brown Rice

No Exercise, Barbecue Ribs and a Blender?

Ok, I normally only post on Monday and Friday, but I thought I would post today because my day was a littlle different than usual.

I did not exercise today.  What! Yes, you heard me right. I did not exercise today. I had planned on sleeping in since I rarely get the opportunity to. However, I had every intention of working out. Unfortunately, I have a bad habit of falling asleep with the tv on. When I woke up, I looked at the time and said, "Oh it's still early, I'm going back to sleep." Well, as I lay there I'm listening to the tv and a very interesting documentary was on. Anyone who knows me, knows that I love documentaries! Needless to say, I got wrapped up in the documentary and did not go back to sleep  :-(    I then realized that an hour had passed, uh oh!.  I have read and also heard Dr. Oz say, "It is important to eat breakfast within an hour of waking," which I try to stick to. So, I then decided to eat breakfast and workout later. I'm sure you can imagine how that went, LOL. After the documentary, I got on the computer and time just slipped away (say what).  Anyway, I just decided to make today my rest day instead of tomorrow. Thank God for the "rest day" :-)

Now for the rest of my day. My daughter begged me to make her some Barbecue PORK RIBS!!!! Are you kidding me child? Your mama is trying to lose weight! Are you trying to sabatoge me? LOL. Since this is a lifestyle change and I will have to deal with this at some point, there is no time like the present.  I put the rub on the ribs and put them in the oven. If you know anything about cooking ribs, you know you have to cook them low and slow in order for the meat to fall off the bones. So, I had them in the oven for about four hours before I started basting them with my special barbecue sauce (yum). My daughter also wanted me to make homemade mac & cheese, but I put my foot down and refused! That's taking it a little too far missy :-/  The compromise, box mac & cheese (Cynthia would be cringing right about now, lol).

Since I wasn't going to be working out, I decided I was still going to drink my Pink Drink #1. So, for lunch I start preparing my smoothie. I get all the ingredients in the blender, hit blend and nothing. Ok, is this really happening? My blender has stopped working! Uugg! Now I have to go buy a blender. I run to Bed Bath & Beyond with my coupons (I'm an extreme couponer) and of course, they have all the really nice blenders that you see advertised on tv and in the circulars, but they cost like $200 - $400 or more. Ha, even with my coupons, I'm am not paying that much for a blender unless it can suck the fat out of my body LOL!!! Ok, back to reality, I find a really nice reasonably priced blender and with my coupon it only cost me $16! The great thing is that it has alot of the same settings that the expensive blenders have and my old one did not (see pics below).
Yay for me, score!!

Later, I finish up dinner for me and my daughter. The only food item we share on our plates are the roasted sweet potatoes/yams ;-)   However, I still enjoyed my dinner immensely. Who needs RIBS!

Below are my meals, except the Pink Drink #1 (see an earlier post for pic), for the day.  I have also posted a picture of mine and my daughter's dinner plates side my side.

Until my next post...

Think P.I.N.K

                Breakfast: Scrambled Egg on Sprouted Grain Bread w/Tomato
                                   1/2 cup Coffee w/liquid stevia and coconut milk


                 My New Blender!                                                 Blender Settings

 

                          Mine and My Daughter's Dinner side by side
                                     
                                               
                                                                 My Dinner

                              Grilled Skinless Boneless Center Cut Pork Chop
                               Roasted Asparagus
                               Roasted Sweet Potatoes

                                                   My Daughter's Dinner

                   Barbecue Pork Ribs, Mac & Cheese & Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Almost Over

Happy Friday Pinkies,

Whew!  The second week of Phase 1 (Pink Primary) is almost over.  These last few days have been a little difficult when it came to exercising.  For some reason, I just didn't want to do the cardio with Jenna.  I wanted to do some of my other cardio dvd's.  However, I know that everything in this program has been designed for a specific reason, so I stick with it and I am getting much stronger because I can do almost all the jumping jacks with 3 pound weights and ALL the push ups!  Plus, the P.I.N.K Method workouts are a great deal shorter in time than my other dvd's.  When I'm done with the workout though, I feel good and say I did it. 

So, DO the workouts even when you don't want to!  I believe I read somewhere that if a day comes that you really don't want to workout and you are making every excuse not to workout, that is the day you absolutely MUST workout.  If you don't workout on that day, you won't workout the next and so on, and so on..

My meal for the day is below.  I was running around alot today so I didn't get to take a picture of my lunch.  I literally had to run home and eat something in the middle of my running around.  So, for lunch I had Chicken Salad and raw carrots.  I forgot to eat my slow fruit, so I had it with dinner.  I've also added below a picture of my daughter's dinner.  Something I used to eat with brown rice and tofu, but can't eat on P.I.N.K because the Sweet Chili sauce is, well sweet (sugar) and I used to fry the tofu :-)

Until my next post...

Think P.I.N.K

                                        Dinner: Grilled Marlin Steak (fish)
                                                        Sauteed Collard Greens
                                                        Roasted Butternut Squash


                                                     My Daughter's Dinner

                                 Grilled Chicken Breast, White Rice, Steamed
                                  Broccoli with Sweet Chili Sauce


                                                             My daughter :-)

                               Can you believe she's only in 6th grade?!
                               Check out her blog: http://www.thepinkfluffypen.com

While Cravings will come....it's all about how you deal with them

If you're a fan of the back-in-the-day show "In Living Color" you'll know what I'm talking about...

"I had a craving... wrote a song about it... like to hear it?....here it go.... Momma had a craving for chicken fajitaaaaaaaa, and I was about to go off PINK, tear the the town apart to geeeeetttt it.... aaaaaahhhhhhhaaaaa!"

Cravings can be relentless! I thought about a burrito I used to get from Taco Express that is made with grilled churiso, steak and chicken 'round the corner (without the wrap) for 2 long days. I didn't tell anyone but I mulled it over so many different ways... well... if I get it.... I won't be going off PINK because.... ah nah I don't know how they're cooking the meat, there's a bunch of spanish rice, guac and sour cream, cheese, etc. It just ain't gonna work...

Then I remembered the WWW and said to myself, "maybe I could make the seasoning myself and curb this craving and stay PINK (for LIFE)?" Low and behold, a recipe jumped right up. Here it is: fajita seasoning recipe. Armed with the recipe, I felt empowered! I omitted the corn starch and sugar plus I found salt free chichken buillion powder since I knew that salt would mess me up.

After I bought the spices I needed, predue chicken strips that were free range etc. and a bag of frozen peppers and onions I went home to hook it up! I also ate a green salad. Let me tell y'all (smacking my lips and lickin my fangers) that meal was banging, more satisfying than "cheating" and an instant hit with my fam. I felt like a million bucks! For real. There were left overs for lunch the next day. Tasted even better. I tried to be fast and eat a little jar salsa with it at lunch but it tasted like pure salt. I know I am detoxed now for sure. I can taste everything I never used to.

Now when the cravings come, I've got this! Hooooooooo! Go me....get busy... go me... uh, uh.... (I'm doing an old skool dance in my craft room right now....)

How have y'all dealt with some killer craving?

La-Vie

4 Pounds & Plant Based Diet?

 

Happy Monday Pinkies,

Today was the first day, of my second week on Phase 1 (Pink Primary).  Things couldn't be better!  As I said in a previous post, I will now only weigh myself once a week as to not get discouraged when a pound isn't lost every day.  So, this morning I weighed myself and I've lost 4 pounds since my weigh-in last week!  Woohoo!!  I am now 260 (see scale pic below), which is a total weight loss of  12 pounds since starting the program.  The P.I.N.K Method works!

On another note, in the past week I watched a documentary entitled "Forks Over Knives."  You can watch it on Netflix if you are a member.  I have watched several documentaries on the negatives of eating meat and positives of vegetarianism, as it relates to killing animals, but this was a little different and now I know why Cynthia Pasquella, creator of P.I.N.K Method eats a plant based diet. 

After watching this documentary, I am really, really considering eating a plant based diet.  I know it will be very difficult and will be a slow process to switch to this way of eating because, a plant based diet means you cannot eat anything that comes from an animal or anything processed (not even vegan cheese - it's processed).  However, recognizing that cancer runs rampant in my family, I think this would be the best thing for my health and especially for my daughter. 

I am a single mom of a two, a 24 yr old son and a 12 yr old daughter.  Since I am pretty much the only stable adult in my daughter's life (wouldn't want my son to have to raise his sister if something happened to me), I need to do everything in my power to be around for her as long as possible.  This is what I think about when I don't want to do that darn yoga with Basheerah, grrrrr :-/

What do you use as a motivator to keep you going on the P.I.N.K Method?

Until my next post...

Think P.I.N.K

Oh I almost forgot, see today's meals below.

                                  This is a dish I created from imagination :-)

                                                Lunch: Scallops, San Marzano Tomatoes
                                                                Fresh Garlic & Fresh Spinach
                                                                Apple   

                                                 Dinner: Grilled Catfish
                                                                 Sauteed Napa Cabbage w/Garlic
                                                                 Roasted Butternut Squash