Possible Meal Ideas

As soon as I started telling people that Personal Trainer Jimmy had me increasing my calories from my usual 1,200-1,400 to 2,400... I got attacked with questions! First of all being: Is it working?

I'll give the kid this, he knows his stuff. I was stuck at a plateau of doom and gloom between 193-195lbs. Breaking 190 seemed like a far off finishing line that I'd never cross. Well, in walks Personal Trainer Jimmy like he's freaking Malibu Lifeguard Ken and WHAM! I'm down to 185lbs. Ya. It's working. There is a method to his madness, people. Pay attention.

I am now eating 6 meals a day, aiming for 2,400 calories, soon to be 2,600-2,700 calories. Increasing my calories has been the HARDEST part for me. Make me run, tax my muscles, bring on the sweat... but asking me to increase my calories was like asking a duck to bark. Really strange and a horribly awkward analogy. But you get what I'm saying. It felt counterintuitive! More food?

Personal Trainer Jimmy said, "You eat more, to lose more." At that moment, I thought the kid was on crack. I'm sitting there in our first meeting thinking "rrriiigghhhttt... alright, you can teach me the weights, I'll stick to my diet, though. I know nutrition wack-a-doodle." Turns out, I'm the fool who needed to listen to the teacher!

Long story short to answer the first question : Yes, it's working. Popular second question I've been getting: HOW are you eating that much and WHAT does a meal look like? Excellent question!

I'm going to break down what a day looks like and what my actual meals are. There are more choices listed than I actually eat in a day (although if I ate this much, I think Personal Trainer Jimmy would be pretty OK with it... maybe?), but I wanted to give you options and a good idea of what meals look like....

This is a meal plan as instructed by Personal Trainer Jimmy, all credit goes to that guy...

Calorie Target: 2,400 calories

Meal 1: 1 whole egg, 2 egg whites, and measure out 1/2 C uncooked Oatmeal (then cook with water). Calories = 266

Pictured here I have my homemade breakfast burrito with 1 whole egg, and 2 egg whites, salsa and avocado in a whole wheat tortilla. Little more calories than Jimmy's recommendation for meal 1, but as long as I even out the rest of the calories for the remaining meals, not a problem.

Meal 2: 2 Tb organic peanut butter, 1 large apple. Calories = 315

Meal 3: 1 C greek yogurt, 4 Tb toasted wheat germ, 1 Tb organic strawberry jam, 1/4 C raw almonds. Calories = 530

My variation: I love Chobani Greek Yogurt, so I skip the addition of jams and go straight for their good stuff, I add in the wheat germ and pair with english muffin, or nuts added to the yogurt.

Meal 4: 4 turkey slices (5g protein/slice), 2 slices whole wheat bread (toasted), 1/2 large avocado. Calories= 450

My variation: I do 1/2 C cottage cheese with the diced avocado on the toasted whole wheat slices. Or 1/2 C cottage cheese with 2 C fresh grapes and toasted whole wheat slices or a Luna Bar.

Meal 5: Measure out 1/2 C of uncooked brown rice (cook with water and olive oil), 1 salmon patty. Calories= 470

My variation: This meal did have brown rice with it... I just failed to capture it in the picture. ANYWAY... I am picky with my seafood, so I usually do grilled chicken breast, unless I can get my hands on worthy seafood (blessing and curse of being raised near the coast with friends who catch fresh salmon, tuna, and halibut regularly!)

Meal 6: 2 servings of walnuts, 4oz chicken, w/ salad and broccoli. Calories = 250.

My variation : I make a grilled chicken salad with walnuts, and various veggies...

Total Calories with 6 meals = 2,271

With protein shake immediately following workout, calorie intake will be around 2,400!!

There you have it... here are some other common eats in my day...

Pre workout snack or a breakfast choice : whole wheat english muffin, 2Tb natural peanut butter and sliced banana. Calories = 385

Grilled Chicken Spinach Wrap : whole wheat tortilla, 2oz grilled chicken breast, spinach, 1Tb hummus, and 1/2 avocado sliced. Calories = 349.

A favorite snack : 2 C sliced peppers with 2 Tb hummus. Calories = 140.

And just to throw things off... once per week, I'm allowed 1 cheat meal. NOT a cheat DAY. 1 cheat MEAL. A couple weeks ago we hit up Roscoe's which is known for fried chicken and waffles. Strangest combination I have EVER heard of, but freaking amazing! Not gunna lie.

Steps to the Beat ...

I promised a friend of mine that I would post a list of some of the songs I am loving right now...

There are some oldies in there, like I'm A Slave 4U, but I love that song more than I can explain, so it shows up on every list! This is a great "get you moving" list and I am obsessed with every single one! I think my favorite is probably "Nothing Really Matters" and "What Doesn't Kill You (Stronger)."

ENJOY

Time to Play Catch Up

Ok... where to begin...

Personal Trainer Jimmy has turned me into a ravenous beast. It's not even funny. This last week he had me eat this GINORMOUS meal right before bed, the last few bites were so hard to consume. The next morning I was STARVING. He text me later asking "were you hungry when you woke up this morning?!?!?" He was way too excited about the fact that his methods of madness are working just as they should on me. But it's freaking me out that I'm [insert other word for ravenous here] RIGHT when I wake up and about every 2-3hrs on the dot. He's created a monster. A "cookie monster" as he once said, then quickly corrected himself. Smart man. No girl wants to be a "cookie monster." I much prefer gorgeous Goddess, thank you very much.

My breakfast of choice as of late has been whole wheat waffles with 1Tb all-natural peanut butter and sliced fruit of some sort on top. Very filling, and VERY tasty!

So speaking of hunger, last night after my training session (arms - OWIE!), I came home SUPER excited to see that I did remember to set out a chicken breast to thaw that morning. SCORE! 10 POINTS TO HEATHER! I made veggie chicken curry...

Basically, I smothered the chicken breast in cajun spice and curry powder, sliced a TON of veggies up, smothered them in spice and powder. Baked for 25 min and consumed 1/2. SUPER SPICY and AWESOME! I'm way too excited that I already have my Friday night dinner planned. Yay for loner status, y'all!

You will be mine tonight.... aallll mine!

I am currently reading 4 books at once. I'm totally geeking out these days! Runner's World Complete Book of Women's Running just arrived in the mail and I'm really excited to add it to my book list! I believe I shall enjoy the read this weekend while I'm laying out poolside today AND tomorrow afternoon. If it rains... so help me I will cut!

And two randoms:

1. My sister sent me this picture of my nephew and I died. DIED. I miss my baby squish SO much! I miss rubbing his little baby Buddha belly! AH!

2. WHAT color are my EYES?! The other day they were looking way more green than usual and they are freaking me out.... green hazel? What is THAT?!

Friday Night Date(s)

So.... how was your friday night? Mine was well.... pretty epic.

Ok, not really. I had an interview for the next round of internships over at the Disney College Program Office on Friday afternoon, and then I WAS going to meet Personal Trainer Jimmy, but that didn't take place, so instead I went for a run beach side. Ya, be jealous.

Then it was home to prepare for my dates...!

Walnut Stuffed Dates that is. HA word play. Anyway....

I pitted (is that correct? Pit? psh) the dates, and then stuffed them with a whole walnut each, then sealed them back up, and threw them in the freezer. This is one of my FAVORITE sweet treats after dinner, and I have to will myself not to eat the whole bag in one sitting.

Here are the steps...

1. Take date, separate date to expose pit, remove pit.

2. Place whole walnut inside date, in the cavity where the pit once was...

3. Seal date back up over walnut...

4. Place finished dates in bag and throw in freezer or fridge. I like them CHILLED!

5. ENJOY!

Really?

.... I live in beautiful, sunny, Southern California and yet... I don't SEE the sun as often as I'd like to. I love my job, love it, but being in an office 7-3:30 or what the hours are Monday thru Friday means I get to be outside on the weekends. Well, that's pretty freaking useless when it's keeps raining on weekends. Normally, I love the rain, worship the rain, adore the rain....

But I want SUNSHINE damn it! GIVE ME SUN! None of this overcast, cloudy Saturday, and rain on Sunday crap.

I am very much looking forward to running, hiking, and PLAYING in the SUN!!!! YAY!!!! Just give me a weekend I can do it on!

Great Breakfast & Bad Hair

This morning started off great with an amazing homemade breakfast burrito! I highly recommend this! Yummy, satisfying, and just freaking DELISH!

Breakfast Burrito

1 Whole Wheat Tortilla (130 calories)

1/3 C liquid egg whites (50) - scrambled

1/4 C Low Fat shredded colby cheese (40)

1/2 avocado - sliced (160)

1 generous spoonful SALSA (not worth estimating - all goodness)

Calorie total : 380

And it has some protein, some good fats, and a bit of carbs! Excellent round out! And of course, had to be devoured with 1/2 grapefruit!

Today, I straightened my hair. I rarely do this because y'all have seen my curls! Usually, my hair holds the straightening fine enough, but today, I left Huntington Beach with dry air, and wound up in a dense wet fog in Anaheim. CRAP! I'm hosting a familiarization experience for 30 teachers, principles and administrators today in the park, and my hair is waving out on me. BAD HAIR! BEHAVE!

Why do I even bother?!

How in the World?!

Lately, I've been getting a lot of questions on HOW I have been losing weight and what I've done to get to where I am right now. I am happy to share, I have no secrets! The people who have been asking remember me looking like this....

Fall 2010 - nice profile gut shot, right?

Or this....

or this....

Weighing in around my heaviest 235lbs - but freaking awesome birthday party!

In the summer of 2011, I decided that I was going to run The Disneyland 1/2 Marathon in September 2012. At that time, I had already been trying to lose weight and I had been toying with different methods, but nothing was really working for me. I would eat out a lot or snack too much between my healthy meals. And turns out, I am not well suited for pre-portioned meal plans like Nutrisystem, or diet plans from Special-K or Slim Fast.That's just me, we are all unique and what works for you may not work for me, and vice versa.

This was me at the beginning of summer 2011

No, I just needed to learn some good lessons. I studied, researched, and started implementing my findings. I taught myself about proper portions, how to read nutritional labels, what to look for on labels, how many calories I needed to consume in a day to stay healthy while losing weight, and I, literally, taught myself how to run.

I read Runner's World "Run Your Butt Off" and it really changed my outlook on running. I never ever would have considered myself a runner, nor imagined that one day I would be able to run for ANY amount of time!

I followed the plan in RYBO during the summer of 2011, and by the end of the summer, I was able to run 30min straight. For many of you, that probably seems like nothing, but to go from running at 1 min increments to 30 min... that's an accomplishment. At that point I worked on increasing my miles and improving my stamina and endurance.

I was eating between 1,200- 1,400 calories per day*. My typical meals in a day looked like this:

Breakfast:

1/2 Grapefruit w/ Stevia (39 calories)

2 Whole Wheat Waffles (170)

2 Egg Whites (32)

1 slice low fat Provolone Cheese (50)

Lunch:

1 Sweet Potato (130)

6oz Chobani Greek Yogurt (140)

Thomas Multi-Grain English Muffin (100)

Dinner:

4oz Turkey Burger Pattie (180)

1 Sandwich Thin (100)

1 slice LF Cheddar Cheese (70)

Snacks (spaced throughout the day):

Post Workout Protein Shake- Muscle Milk Light (100)

Chocolate Crunch Rice Cake (60)

Luna Bar White Chocolate Macadamia Nut (190)

Calorie Total: 1,361 calories

My days were usually some variation of that, but always between 1,200 - 1,400 calories. Never going higher than 1,400, or lower than 1,000!

I was running, spinning, swimming, or attending a yoga class for 45min-60min 5 days a week.

That's how I went from 235lbs down to 193lbs. When I got into 1-DERLAND (meaning I got below 200lbs and into the 100's) I was elated. I don't think I have weighed less than 200lbs since.... oh gosh, I really can't remember. Sometime in High School I think? Then... I got stuck at 193lbs. Quite obnoxious. I was stuck between 190lbs and 195lbs for too long, and that's when I hired a personal trainer because I realized I was NOT doing enough with strength training/weight lifting. My body was WAY too used to my 1,200 calorie intake, and knew how to maintain my body weight with my caloric output vs. caloric intake. I had to shake things up, and build some muscles. I firmly believe that I will lose the rest of the 30lbs now and I think that strength training will be nothing but an asset in my 1/2 Marathon training!

Here is how things somewhat progressed....

Spring 2011 - 225lbs End of Summer 2011 - 200lbs Fall 2011 - between 195-198lbs

Here I am most recently photographed at my best friend's wedding as a bridesmaid weighing in between 188lbs - 190lbs

Please forgive creepy eyes

And my most surprising photo for me personally...

Right now, I am working on increasing my caloric intake to between 1,800 - 2,000 calories per Personal Trainer Jimmy's request. We'll see how that works with weight lifting for a couple weeks and adjust from there. It's just finding the right balance right now with the new change!

On a side note... guess who ordered her personal training study manuals yesterday!? I'm just knocking out a ton of things on my Bucket List/Goal List this year! I hope to be certified as a personal trainer and group fitness instructor by the end of this summer before my 1/2 marathon so that I can dive into training others right after the 1/2 marathon ends and I start telling my story more!

*Please note that I am not, at this time a professional in this field, and what I am telling you is what worked for ME. If you are interested in changing your diet or increasing physical activity, please seek advice from a medical professional before entering into a weightloss plan.