Ignorance is not bliss--it's just plain IGNORANT!

Girls! Guys!
Listen to me....
Take a few minutes and pull up the nutritional information of your favorite resturants and look at what you're eating when you go out for dinner!
I just did this for one of my favorite places, Zio's (Italian). Everytime I go there I order the same thing. It is one of my favorite foods EVER (not just at that place-but anywhere and my mouth waters just thinking about it.)
Until today...
Get this: In a plate of their Italian Nachos, there are 1580 calories, 93 grams of total fat, 30 grams of saturated fat, 3470 mg of sodium, 119 grams of carbs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

People, when I go there, I was eating this whole thing by myself along with a loaf of bread dipped in olive oil & spices!

GOOD GRIEF! No wonder I can't seem to lose these last pounds!!!!

And you may be thinking, "well duh Jen....that just sounds like it would be bad--nachos!" Well, let me show you something else:
The Salmon Caesar Salad isn't much better! It has 1270 calories, 49 grams of fat, 2960 mg sodium and 40 carbs!

I'm telling you this because I consider myself a smart eater. I would NEVER in a MILLION YEARS eat something like this at home! But for some reason when we go out to eat, it's like I throw caution to the wind and just "enjoy myself" for a change. And maybe if it were once a year, that'd be okay...but I go to this place about once every 2 weeks!!! And it's not just this place, I promise you, if you you'll pull up the nutritional info of some of your favorite places, you'll start thinking twice about ordering whatever sounds good. Believe me, all your hard work is NOT WORTH that one plate of food. It is JUST NOT!

Your 2nd and 4th meal...

As you know, in order to maintain a humming metabolism and keep our bodies fueled for the kind of workouts we do (and busy lives we live), it is important to eat 5 small meals a day (rather than the traditional 3 big meals).
The 2nd and 4th meal you eat every day is usually referred to as your "snack". But as we all know, even when our intentions are good, sometimes are snack choices are BAD.
So, I want to give you all a little list you can print out and stick on your fridge or pantry to remind you of some HEALTHY snack choices that will actually fuel your body rather than weigh it down. (This list comes from the Insanity Nutrition Guide.)

100 Calorie Snacks
1/2 c. cottage cheese with 1/4 c. berries
1/2 c. nonfat vanilla yogurt with 1 Tbsp. Grape Nuts or other high-fiber cereal
1/2 apple with 1/2 oz. reduced-fat cheese
1 hard-boiled egg with baby carrots
1 banana
12 raw almonds
1 c. skim, almond, rice or soy milk
2 oz. of sliced turkey on 1 slice of light-style whole wheat bread
1/2 whole-grain English muffin topped with 1 slice of tomato & thin slice of reduced-fat cheese
1/2 c. nonfat pudding

200 Calorie Snacks
1/2 c. oatmeal (measured dry and then cooked with water) topped with 1 Tbsp. of slivered almonds or chopped walnuts
1 banana with 1 Tbsp. peanut butter
1 slice of wheat toast topped with 1 oz. of turkey and 1 oz. of reduced-fat cheese
1 whole-grain rice cake topped with 1 Tbsp. all-natural peanut butter or almond butter and half of a sliced apple
1 c. nonfat vanilla yogurt with 2 Tbsp. Grape Nuts or other high-fiber cereal
1 c. whole-grain high-fiber breakfast cereal with 3/4 c. skim milk
1 large navel orange with 12 raw almonds
3 oz. of water-packed tuna mixed with 1 Tbsp. light mayo served on a whole-grain rice cake
1 Shakeology shake with 1/2 of a small banana
Egg Salad made with 2 whites and 1 yolk and 1 Tbsp. light mayo served on 1/2 of a whole-grain English muffin

GOOD FOR YOU Complex Carbohydrates (best to eat earlier in the day)
1 small baked potato with skin
1 small baked sweet potato
1 100-calorie whole-grain dinner roll
1/2 c. brown rice, measured after it's been cooked
1/2 c. barley, measured after it's been cooked
1 small banana or large orange
2/3 c. cooked oatmeal, cooked in water
1/2 c. canned beans, rinsed
2/3 c. whole-grain high-fiber breakfast cereal
1/2 c. whole wheat pasta, measured after it's been cooked
1/2 c. whole wheat couscous
1 slice of whole-grain bread or Ezekiel bread
1 whole-wheat English muffin
3/4 c. cooked corn

I'm here for you...

I just want you guys to know that I'm here for you. When you need a kick in the butt, a recipe or some encouragement, I'll be here!
It blesses me so much to be "that someone" for many of you. The person who will hold you accountable and keep you from missing out on the best life you could (and should) have because of being unhealthy or out-of-shape.
Together...we will keep things simple. We will remember that being fit and healthy is IMPORTANT but it is not our LIFE. We certainly won't forsake cheeseburgers and fries entirely--just about 90% of the time. :o)
We will remember that sensible eating and regular exercise are the only "MIRACLE SECRETS" you need to know. We won't analyze our carbs/calories/fiber/fat grams every meal and buy organic everything. But we will keep some general guidelines in mind when we shop/eat and we will do our best to make smart choices. When there is a healthier choice-we will choose it.
We will enjoy our favorite tv shows still....we'll just be watching from the elliptical or treadmill now instead of the couch.
We will not sacrfice quailty time with our spouse or our children so that we can "get our workout in." There are just some things that trump exercise and quality FAMILY time is one of them!
Together we will look for ways to make veggies yummy and exercise fun for everyone-including our children. When the opportunity arises to dance to a rockin' song on the radio, we will DO IT!
We will thank God for the parking spot at the back of the parking lot because we are strong and able to walk all the way from the back to the store without getting out of breath!
We will encourage each other as a team and remember that we are all in this race together. Competition among us exists only for the mere reason to push each other harder.
And at the end, we will all receive the same reward: A HEALTHY HAPPY LIFE!

If you don't know by now, my HEART is to see people 1) KNOW JESUS and 2) HAVE HEALTHY FAMILIES.
Being able to do both at the same time is a dream come true and I thank you for allowing me that priveledge! Keep reading~Keep commenting~Keep BRINGIN' IT!

P9OXOXO!!
~Jen~

2 Day Fast

Many of you know that I have decided to try one of Beachbody's most popular products, the 2 Day Fast Formula. Here is a picture of what you get and what they say it will do for you:
Two days is all it takes to cleanse and gain control of your body. If you're ready to rid your body of excess fat, this is a perfect place to start. Use 2-Day Fast Formula for two days to experience:
A greater sense of being slim and in control of your body*
Total body cleansing*
A dramatic reduction of unhealthy cravings*
An invigorating, natural boost of energy*
An increase in weight loss from your fitness routine*
Start shedding pounds and feeling better By allowing your body to stop breaking down food so your natural calorie consumption machine can get "caught up" with the food in the pipeline, you'll immediately start burning off stored fat.
All you need to do . . . Just take 2-Day Fast Formula instead of food for two days. Afterwards you'll feel thin, refreshed, and cleansed. Even if you use 2-Day Fast Formula for just one day or for a couple of meals, it can have a dramatic effect on breaking the cycle of unhealthy eating.
It Works—Or Your Money Back! It's true! Our test groups have shown that those who enhanced their workouts with 2-Day Fast Formula lost 3–7 pounds, and felt healthier, more energetic, and in control. Now's the perfect time to give 2-Day Fast Formula a try. If you're not satisfied, just return it within 30 days for a full refund of the purchase price, less shipping and handling.

So, you can see why I would be interested!!! Plus, it's only $19.95--and if I don't like it, I can get my money back!
If any of you want to order, just go to www.teambeachbody.com/onetoughgirl and click on "Eat Smart" and then "Supplements" and scroll down till you see the 2 Day Fast Formula.

So, I have decided to make this not only a physical fast, but also a spiritual fast, meaning that I am going to spend a LOT of time over the next 2 days praying and reading my Bible. I am going to study the book of Ephesians for these 2 days and I can't WAIT!

As I go, I will journal about how I'm feeling, what I'm doing, as well as what God is showing me in His Word. Rather than do a new post each time, I'll just keep "editing" and adding to this post so if you're following along, just scroll down and find the newest update. At the end, I will reveal what my total weight loss is!

DAY 1
Got up at 5:45 and had prayer/Bible study with Matt. Made his breakfast and lunch and made up my first shake. Wow! It tastes DELICIOUS! I mixed 1 scoop of the formula with 8 oz. of cold water and a few peices of crushed ice and mixed in my Magic Bullet to get it nice and smooth. YUM!

It's 7:46 right now and I'm about to take Brooklyn to school. I don't feel hungry at all and the headache I woke up with is gone. (Matt laid hands on me and prayed for my healing before he left for work). My hope is that I will get some work done for the dr. office, get a workout in (One on One with Tony-Cardio Confusion), and get some prayer/Bible time in before it's time for my next shake at noon.

It's 2:52 pm right now and I am still feeling great. I started getting REALLY hungry around 11 am, which is when I usually eat lunch, but I did my workout then instead. After I showered and got dressed, I made up my 2nd shake and man it was GooooD! I read a few more chapters in Ephesians and am just soaking in every word. I am surprised at how I am feeling physically. Normally when I miss a meal, I get grouchy and light-headed and actually have a hard time seeing straight (which I think has to do with my blood sugar levels). Anyway, although I am a bit weak, I feel very joyful and peaceful. I'm listening to Kari Jobe's sweet voice sing about the name of Jesus right now and I feel as though I can feel His presence here with me, strengthening me. I did weigh a little while ago and the scale is down 2 pounds at this point. yay!
So far, this is going well and I expect to be physically and spiritually recharged by the end of it (and 7 pounds lighter! :o)

It's 4:17 and I am eating a banana. Yep! I don't know if it was the hunger or the fact that the kids got home from school, but one way or another I developed a major headache. Seeing as how we have church tonight and then scooping ice cream in our church's ice cream shoppe after church, I need my energy and my head to be normal. The information pamphlet that comes with the fast says to eat a peice of fruit (apple or banana) if headache occurs. Hopefully this won't slow or change my weight loss. One thing is for sure, that was the best banana I've ever tasted!!! ha ha

DAY 2
I got up at 6 am this morning and crazily, wasn't even hungry. Did prayer/Bible study with Matt and then made his breakfast and lunch and BOOM! as soon as my eyes saw food-they informed my stomach that WE NEED SOME! ha ha I got really, really hungry and even though I wanted to wait a little later to have my first shake, I decided to go ahead and drink it then (at 7am).

It is now 8:49 am and I feel GREAT. Not weak or tired or hungry at all. I have found that it really helps me to chew on a peice of gum. Also, I'm trying to remember to drink at least 8 oz. of water in between shakes (like they suggest). Supposedly it helps with the digestion and cleansing. I know some of you have wondered and asked...but I have not been to the bathroom other than to pee yet at ALL! I honestly thought I would be going all day both days, but so far-nothing. ?????? I forgot to weigh this morning but I weighed before bed last night and it was still the same (2.5 lbs. lost). I will weigh here in a little bit before my lunch shake and see what it says then.

It's 2:43 pm and I'm just gonna say it: I should change my coach name to bigweaniegirl instead of onetoughgirl. I am having a major battle of the mind now about this whole fast thing. WHY am I doing this? WHAT is this going to prove? WHOever thought not eating any food was smart? etc. I'm fairly certain it is the hunger pains talking though. Thankfully I have a WONDERFUL group of friends who support me and check up on me and have sucessfully talked me out of quitting, even though I just finished making homemade sugar cookies and I'm about to take the kids out for pizza! Eeeek! I just keep telling myself to hang in there for the rest of today and then in the morning when I wake up this will all be over and I am going to celebrate by having Triple Berry Pancakes and turkey sausage! (sooo yummy--recipe is on my blog-just do a search). I'll update again later and let you know how the whole pizza thing went. I think I'm gonna try taking a book and my bottle of water and just pretending that I'm not there. Hopefully the kids will behave themselves while I go on a mental vacation! ha ha

DRUM ROLL PLEASE.........
The final results:
This morning when I weighed, the scale showed exactly 4 pounds lost-to the ounce. HOWEVER, crazily, it seems as though my body was waiting until today to "open the flood gates" as far as cleansing. The minute I drank a sip of my coffee this morning, it sounded like a thunderstorm brewing in my tummy. No cramping, just lots of rumbling. I'm fairly certain by the end of this morning, I will have lost another pound or two! (sorry..TMI, I know!)

Something else really note-worthy that I forgot to mention is that when you order this, you actually get enough of the shake powder for TWO FASTS. They send two cans of it and it only takes one to do a 2-Day Fast....so that is WAY COOL. Instead of $20 for it, you're really getting 2 for $10 each.

This is something that I would DEFINITELY suggest to someone trying to shrink in a hurry. Meaning, I've never felt so thin and sunken in before. It seems like my body looks more ripped and tight than I've ever seen it before! It is the PERFECT thing to do before something where you have to wear a swimsuit or fit into something a bit tight. Instead of feeling like my tummy is pooching out, I feel like it is caving in! WOW!

Overall, I would say that 75% of the time, it was easy and not a big deal. But there was that 25% of the time where I got EXTREMELY weak and hungry and nearly gave up. But I didn't. Because of all of you who kept checking in on me--literally about every 30 minutes I got a message from someone telling me to "Hang in there!" "You can do it!"--I just couldn't let myself quit. I will admit, I did take one big bite of pizza yesterday at Mazzios. It was DELICIOUS--but it was all I needed to know that I was NOT going to ruin this now. I took home a to-go box for me to eat today...but now that I can have it, I don't think I will afterall. Crazy! I just look at it and wanna gag. All that cheese and fat and grease and sugar and useless calories, when I just worked so hard. nahhh...no thanks!

So, that's it for now. I may think of a few more things to say as the day goes through...and if I end up dropping some more weight, I'll certainly post that, but overall, I definitely give it 2 thumbs up. It tastes AMAZING and "you can do anything for 2 days" (which my BFF Kandy reminded me of yesterday when I was about to shove food into my mouth!) I will definitely remember this the next time I need to fit into a tiny dress or a bikini and I'm short on time!

Glam Girl

Okay, maybe I'm vain...(ugh! I hope not!) Most of you are my friends on FB and have already seen this pic, but I really like it so I decided to put it on here. I'm usually wearing gym clothes and I never wear this much make up...so it's quite the different look for me. I think, if I had to, I could stand to get decked out and go to fancy events every now and then! :-) Too bad as an adult, the opportunity doesn't come along very often.

What I wouldn't give to go to prom again now! I sure as heck wouldn't be sitting in a chair in a corner scared out of my mind, feeling self-concious and wishing somebody ANYBODY would ask me to dance. That was me then...but now I'd be out there tearin up that dance floor! :-)

Eat this--Not that!

EAT THIS:

NOT THAT:

So, like I mentioned in the post I did last night, I am going to start eating from Phase 1 of the P90X Nutrition guide again. When I was eating like this, I was losing about 3 pounds a week for the first couple of weeks and then it slowed, but I was still losing. I feel as though it is my simple black-and-white solution to getting this last 15 pounds off.

I made my grocery list last night and then went shopping first thing this morning. When I got home from the store, I decided to snap a pic of my purchases and then began to purge my pantry and fridge of the JUNK. Do you have ANY idea how hard it is to throw away PERFECTLY GOOD fresh, fabulous, delicious Krispy Kreme doughnuts? O! M! G!

Nevertheless, other than saving one for each kid for an afterschool snack today, they went into the trash! (yes, I know...that is a HORRIBLE snack--but I (foolishly) paid good money for those!)

Do you see the oxymoron in this picture? Krispy Kreme's on the bar just above a countertop laden with fresh produce. It's the battle of my life!

As I was putting away my purchases, I couldn't help but notice that probably 75% of it came from the produce section, 15% from the meat isle and 10% from various other isles. It felt great to see so much FRESH food (not canned, not packaged, not boxed, not frozen). The only bad thing is--is that my veggie and fruit drawers are stuffed full and I hope don't forget what all is in there. Sometimes a week will go by before I discover my avacado at the bottom or my squash in the back. I wish I could somehow lay it all out for display in there so that I when I open the door--BOOM! There it all is. That would really lessen the temptation to grab something unhealthy too. Oh well...

Anyway, I haven't actually written up a "meal plan" for the week just yet, but I plan to sometime today and when I do, I'll post it on here for you guys to see!

Hope you're having a great Monday!

Oh, ha! I forgot I took this pic. This is of me after I did Insanity Max Cardio Conditioning for the first time the other day. It nearly took my life! ;-)

Looking Back

I have just spent the last hour reading this blog beginning with the very first post in April of 2008. I don't want to toot my own horn...but I'm completely impressed! I had forgotten how diligent and determined we were back then! Our eating was impecable and when I thought we did "bad"--that's still better than how we're eating NOW!
I was doing this so I could see what we were eating back then (when we were losing weight like crazy). I made up a grocery list of all the items we need and beginning tomorrow, I should be prepared to start cooking for Phase 1 of P90X again. I'm excited and yet a bit nervous because I know that "I-feel-like-i'm-starving" feeling is going to return. But I know its only for a very short period of time until our stomachs adjust to the smaller portions.
Sorry if this is confusing and scrambled up, I am way way way tired. I've fallen asleep several times over the past 15 minutes, so the fact that I'm trying to type and make sense is crazy and I can't think of any of the words I'm looking for.
Aaaaanyway, I know several of you who are about to start P90X and I just wanted to encourage you to go back into the archives and see what we did/how we felt/ what progress we made. It's very motivating (to me anyway) and it helps to take some of the thinking and guesswork out of it.
Okay...really, I should say goodnight for now! Hope you're ready for Monday! (Day 1-Carla!)

How true is this?

Need a Jump?

I don't know about you...but I've been subconciously thinking "oh I've got time" for the past 2 months now..when thinking of getting in shape for summer. Like...I knew it'd be good to start in January...but I also knew that even if I waited until March, I could still do it and look great by summer. Well...guess what? IT'S MARCH! AUGH!!!!!!
No more time to slack guys! Memorial Day is exactly 90 days away now! OMG!
So....to give myself a jump start in the right direction, I'm thinking of ordering this 2 day Fast/Cleanse thing from Beachbody. I've heard great things about it and know several people who've used it and had wonderful results. It promises a bunch of great things...but I can't lie--the one that POPS out to me more than the rest is "Lose up to 7 pounds in 2 days!" Um, yah, that would be fantastic. Even if I only lose 3 or 4...that would be a GREAT jumpstart to achieving my goal! Besides that, this cleans out your insides and gives you a chance to start your healthing eating plan free from all that blocked up crap inside and with nice, squeaky clean pipes! (sorry...I realize that is a big gross). It's only $19.99, which is pretty affordable--ESPECIALLY if it gives me the Umph! I need to continue the process and reach my goals by my specified date (which is Memorial Day). My current weight is 135 and my goal is to be at 120-125 by May 31st. Anyway, if any of you think this sounds like something you could use to get you off on the right foot too, just click this link to read all the info and/or order! www.teambeachbody.com/onetoughgirl Then pur your mouse on "eat smart" and when the menu pops up click on "supplements" and then scroll down till you see the "2 Day Fast Formula" and click on "shop now". Give me a holla if you're gonna do it! I want to see how it works out for all of us!
(Ps. I really appreciate you guys ordering through me (by using that link). If you go to Beachbody's regular site and order, you get the same thing, but I don't get credit as a coach--so it really helps me if you order it through my link! THANK YOU!)