diet – Stronger With Caitlin

Return to Weight Watchers

July 10, 2018July 9, 2018 by givememycrownalready, posted in Food, weight loss

After a week of indulgent eating, I knew it was time to get serious about getting back on track, so I signed up for Weight Watchers. It’s what worked for me a few years ago and thankfully, I don’t quite have as much weight to lose, but I still am not feeling my best.

I like the idea of the new plan- many 0 point healthy food options- while carefully selecting the items that do have points. I do best when I’m not eating many processed foods and know when to stop. Sometimes the mind can go a bit blind when it comes to instant gratification, but following a plan definitely helps me to combat that urge!

Since I workout fairly hard 6-days a week, almost every week, eating is my big road-block preventing me from hitting my ultimate goal. Now that I’m back on Weight Watchers, I took some before pictures, something I regretted not doing specifically when I started my 100-pound weight loss journey! It’s not easy showing these pictures.

It’s summer, so I’m still going to have an ice cream cone or a beer, but I am going to learn to enjoy the splurge once in awhile, rather than every, or every few days even.

Even though there needs to be some changes made, I’m excited to get back to holding myself accountable and listening more to my body.

One fun thing about being back on the plan is trying and including new and different healthy options for breakfast, lunch, and dinner on the blog.

Sunday was the first official day, so I enjoyed a veggie-filled (0) two-egg (0) scramble stuffed with red bell peppers, baby spinach, and grape tomatoes. I sprinkled on two tablespoons of low-fat cheddar (0!) and enjoyed a slice of whole wheat bread (1) with a teaspoon worth of butter (2) for a total meal of 3 points. I think one of the hardest changes I need to make is cutting back on butter.

For lunch, I made an english muffin (4) pizza with a tablespoon of sauce on each side (1), two tablespoons of reduced fat mozzarella (1), and 5 slices of turkey pepperoni (0), for 6 points.

Dinner came from the grill: scallops (0), steak (4), asparagus (0), and bell pepper (0) and a little olive oil (1), with a small serving of risotto (5). All of that goodness for 10 points! Managing sauces and all those extras will also be a big change.

Summer is a great time to get back on track eating-wise because of the option to grill food and not feel compelled to stuff yourself because of the cold and comfort. I hope you all enjoy joining me on this journey!

Weekly Weigh-In

March 16, 2016March 16, 2016 by givememycrownalready, posted in Uncategorized

It’s been a little over a week since I decided to actively lose weight again and I’m happy to report my weigh-in news. I weigh in on Monday mornings, but it didn’t fit in with Monday’s post and yesterday was my lo-ong work day and I didn’t have time to write a post! After one week, I’m down 3.6 pounds.

This loss is drastic, but normal for the first few weeks of weight loss because your body adjusts quickly to the new changes. I expect it to fall under the .5-1 pound loss as the weeks progress, but any progress is good!

It might be cheating that I’m dressed in all black.

I also hope you appreciate the too-short pants. I only point it out as something to brag about because pants are never too short on me. I suppose one might get away with wearing them as capris, but I couldn’t because they’re not quite short enough and therefore we’re back to the same problem again!

Anyways…

As for my goal, I don’t have a number in mind as I like to base my body off how I feel and not the number. However, I haven’t felt like my best as of late and was ready to put in more effort and I’m already feeling so much better! Right now, I’m focusing on a range that I think would lead me to my best results.

With my body, I try not to see anything as being on a diet or temporary. At this point, the changes I’m making to my eating and exercise habits are nowhere near as drastic they were when I first started to lose weight five years ago. For one, I exercise six days a week hardcore because I love it and it makes me feel strong. The only changes I’ve tried to incorporate are to keep me from plateauing by either upping the amount of weight I’m lifting or changing the amount of sets and reps and exercises I do, as well as throwing some intervals into my cardio sessions.

For food, my meals are fairly healthy as I eat a ton of fruits and veggies. Lately, I’ve been watching portion size more and really paying attention to my body’s signals. The other thing is eating between meals, especially sweets. I’ve found that allowing myself one small-moderate indulgence a day works well and makes me more mindful of what and when I’m eating it. Overall, I’ve found it not to be so difficult as it seamlessly falls back into place. The difficult part is paying attention, which I’ve been using the My Fitness Pal app to track what I’m eating, not so much to count calories, but to keep me aware throughout the day and less likely to give into urges.

Yesterday, I had to be hyperaware because I work 10 hours and need to make sure I’m fueling myself throughout the day, especially when training. To prepare, I dedicated some quality time on Monday to food prepping. Thankfully, Tuesdays are my new rest day so I can just focus on work, so I started the morning off with a typical breakfast of eggs, toast, and fruit. The meal was sustainable enough to carry me through until lunch where I packed food that was portable and quick: kefir with grapes and cinnamon, a peanut butter rollup, a hard-boiled egg, and hummus with carrots, pepper, and celery. My mid-afternoon snack was a handful of almonds and raisins for a quick trail mix. I also had a sugar cookie someone brought in for my sweet and all of that seemed to do the trick!

To get through the day, energy is important, which means you need to eat food! Don’t be afraid to eat and to include your favorites in there! I still eat pizza, burgers, and ice cream every so often and it’s all part of a healthy diet. I just make sure I’m listening to my body and providing it the other nutrients it craves at an appropriate amount! It’s also important to dedicate a half hour-hour 3-5 days a week to exercise! It doesn’t have to be perfect, you don’t have to like it (every time), but you’ve got to move! The time you put into exercise, whatever it may be, belongs to you because it’s something wonderful you’re doing for yourself. Physically you will reap the benefits, but not enough can be said about the mental and emotional wellness exercise provides.

It’s all good, every little step you take, even if it’s backwards because you can get right back into it. Like I tell my clients, my three steps to successful weight loss 1. Drink more water 2. Lift weights 3. Stay positive!

To sum everything I’ve just written, I’ll leave you with this: be kind to your body.

Jump Right Back Into It

August 7, 2015 by givememycrownalready, posted in Uncategorized

In the mornings/afternoons, I will be posting about my big California trip, but I also want to stay updated with daily occurrences. As you’ll see in the updates, I did a fair share of walking, hiking, and swimming during my trip, but I did not have any organized exercise time. There was a tiny gym in the hotel, but it wasn’t open during hours that we would have gone and we weren’t going to forgo any of our valuable time to it. As I’ve also mentioned, there was quite a bit of indulgence during the trip, which means it’s now time to detox that I’m home.

I don’t do the whole juice cleanse or any kind of cleanse really because I don’t think it would be worth the misery, both mine and all of those around me. All you need to do is get back into the normal routine of healthy, whole, real foods and things will return to normal.

I woke up way later than usual this morning, but we can crack that up to me being used to three hours behind. It was a bit of a shock to have left at 2:30 yesterday afternoon and to arrive home close to midnight, but at least that happened at the end of the trip and we gained three hours at the beginning!

For breakfast this morning, I stirred up some peanut butter oats. I added blueberries and strawberries to the mix for some sweetness and chowed down. I savored my oats with a cup of coffee, followed by some green tea, which is a great natural detoxant (detox-er?)!

Another important thing to get right back into are your workouts! I got myself to the gym for a strength workout, starting with slightly less weight than usual and building up to more as I felt stronger. I was definitely feeling the soreness, which I view as an extra good thing because now I can bust through a plateau that had been building. Sometimes a little rest is much needed!

After handling the weights, I made my way through a body strength workout that focused a lot on my core. I was surprised that my legs were tired more so than my arms because I definitely was active during vacation, but I think sitting in a cramped airplane will do that to you. I finished my workout with a moderate twenty minute ride on the bike.

Because I woke up so late, I had more of a breakfast/lunch situation going on and worked out when it could have been considered lunch time, so I stuck with two meals. Now it’s time to scour the kitchen for something to eat for dinner!