My 'Get Your Butt in Shape' Post

For the last couple of months, I have been tinkering around with getting into better shape.  I'll exercise, but then Adam and I will go out to eat.  I'll buy fresh fruit and veggies but they're not washed or cut up, so it sits in the fridge for a week and ends up going bad.  

But it all ends/starts today.  As there are 8 weeks left in the school year, I feel like that is the perfect amount of time to lose these pesky 5 pounds that have been driving me crazy lately.  These guys have been hanging around since the beginning of the year, and their welcome is worn out. 

Now, some of you may be saying, "it's only 5 pounds Lindsy, why make such a big deal of this?"  Well, because I really love food.  And...I'm a perfectionist, swimsuit season is coming up, I want my clothes to fit better, I'd like to be at my ideal weight when I do some more wedding dress shopping, and I just want to feel at my healthiest.  So there.  

Here is Lindsy's Countdown-To-Summer Diet Plan. 

1.  Use MyFitness Pal to track food intake and also exercise.

2.  Exercise 

• 6 days per week for 30 minutes each.  Fridays are exempt, unless there is a conflict with another day.
• Go to the gym directly from work.  Do not go home and sit on the couch and tell yourself you'll go after dinner.
• Do strength training at least 2 days (either at the gym using machine weights or my kick-butt go-to video Self: Bikini Ready Fast). 
• For the other 4 days, cardio!  Elliptical, bicycling or running (aaaaaargh I hate running).

3.  Diet

• Net 1350 calories per day.  By subtracting exercise, I should be able to intake about 1600 calories.
• Dinner is my most unpredictable meal.  Whether its eating out or cooking whatever is around the house, my overages are always a result of my dinner meal.  So by keeping my breakfast and lunches pretty standard, it will help keep my dinner meal from throwing me off count.
• Breakfast:  Nature Valley Crunchy Granola Bars - 190 calories - I freaking love these granola bars because they keep me full almost all the way until lunch.  I might get a craving for something around 11, but I can eat these on the way to work at 7:00am and then have lunch 5 hours later without feeling starving.  I eat on the drive to work so it's a little safer than cereal, oatmeal or yogurt!
• Mid-morning snack (if needed) - I try not to snack in the morning if I'm not hungry.  My principal makes popcorn on Tuesdays and Thursdays so I'll have a bowl for around 100 calories.  I try to bring grapes or carrots with me to work as well.  I also have stashes of 100 calorie packs in my desk, but they don't really satisfy me.
• Lunch - As much as I hate it, I eat most of my lunches out of a frozen box.  It's a lot easier to control the calories and I don't have to worry about rushing in the morning to prepare my lunch.  I try to bring a couple days worth of fruits, veggies or no-sugar added applesauce with me to eat with my meal.  My back-up plan for lunches is PB&J, but they can come out around 300 calories and I feel fuller with a frozen meal.  Some of my favorite brands are:

• Michelina's is probably the least tasty of the group, but they are always on sale for $1.  Lean Cuisine and Smart Ones can range from $1.50 - $3.00, however I refuse to spend more than $2.50 on lunch.  Most of these meals range from 250-350 calories.  I try to stay around 300 so that I can have some fruit,  veggies or applesauce too.
• After-school snack (if needed) - I usually go work-out right after I leave work.  If I'm feeling hungry, I'll have a 100-calorie pack of something.  Doesn't really help with my hunger, but I think it makes me feel better!
• Dinner - By dinner time, I should have between 600-800 calories remaining.  
• I try to buy a lot of frozen veggies because they keep so well.  We'll have green beans or squash.  Squash is much more filling but also carries a lot more calories.  I try to avoid corn even though I love it.  I also avoid salad because it doesn't really fill me and I want to put lots of dressing on it.  I try to fill my plate up half-full with vegetables and eat them first so they fill me up the most with the least calories. In the summer we eat a lot of grape/cherry tomatoes and cucumbers with Fat-Free Italian dressing
• Meat - I like to stick to chicken, but I get really sick of it after dieting for awhile.  Sometimes I'll just make a tuna sandwich to switch it up.
• Fruits - same as lunch - grapes, unsweetened applesauce, bananas, strawberries with Truvia, cantaloupe when it doesn't carry Listeria.
• Skillet Meals - These are my go-to meals when dieting.  I LOVE Stouffer's Easy Express meals.  They only cost about $4 and feed me and Adam very well.  We often have leftovers too.  They don't have preservatives (which makes me feel a little better) and the vegetables are flash frozen so they come out super tasty.  A serving is typically half of a bag and can range from 200-400 calories and has a decent portion of meat too.

• Eating out - I really try to avoid eating out during dieting, but I really love to eat out. It is a chance for Adam and I to chat without the distractions of the TV and it also means that I don't have to cook.  While dieting, I honestly would rather go to a fast-food restaurant than a "sit-down" restaurant as Adam and I call them.  At a fast-food place, I'll typically just get some chicken nuggets and avoid the french fries.  A 10-piece of McDonald's nuggets has like 470 calories and is really filling for me.  The hard part is watching Adam eat his tasty tasty french fries.

•  Since I go to bed between 9-10pm, I try to stop eating by at least 7.  This gives my body time to digest everything before my metabolism hibernates for the evening.  I typically don't have evening snacks.

4.  Other tidbits to remind myself of:

• Don't get discouraged by a bad day.  Start again tomorrow.  Even if I feel like I've ruined a whole week's worth of work (say that five times fast), don't continue to overindulge.
• Weigh myself weekly, not daily.  I carry tons of bloated weight during the majority of the week so I weigh myself on Saturday mornings.  
• Make Adam support my decisions by letting him know how important it is to me.  Ask him to remind me of my goals when I want to stray because I'm starving, exhausted or just plain lazy.  
• Enjoy the successes! Celebrate the pounds lost and increase the desire to lose more because you're doing it right.  Reward myself even (mini-Blizzard anyone?).
• Remember that the little stuff adds up - It's better to have a turkey sandwich for 300 calories than 3-100 calories packs.  You'll get lots more protein and feel much more full than some measly snacks.  If you're hungry, eat.  If you starve/deny yourself of your basic needs you will be more likely to binge and are setting your body up for starvation mode where it stores the food rather than burns it.

Well, I think that's it!  If anyone out there has any special tricks that they use, I would love to hear from you!  This post ended up being a LOT longer than I had intended, but it is serving as a guideline for me and I hope it helps someone else out there too!  I'll have to keep you updated on my progress and see just how much of my expertise I put into practice.