Interesting, benefits of water!

No Excuse

You can always make time for a workout!

Muscle Weighs More Than Fat: The Flawed BMI system

The BMI system (is in my opinion), one of the worst ways to research if you are a healthy weight. I mean come on, it’s the 21st century, we have all this technology etc. and we cannot switch to a less flawed system? Why don’t they measure your body fat percentage and such at a physical. Also, it doesn’t account for boobs (if you are a girl–sounds funny but hey I like to think that each of my boobs are def a couple of lbs). All I’m saying is that it is very likely, if you are in great shape that there is someone of equal height and weight as you in terrible shape and looks unhealthy and vice versa.

There is one saying that you will always keep hearing “muscle weights more than fat”. This is so true. I’m writing this because I used to be very uncomfortable about how much I weighed–even when I was perfectly normal. I was always big boned/athletic and weighed more than I thought I should (compared to my friends).

I find there are many people like this and you should not focus on the scale if you are healthy, fit, eat right, etc. The thing is you’ve heard muscle weighs more than fat–a pound of muscle in your body takes up significantly less space than fat does, so it will always weigh more. I don’t focus on the scale anymore as much and I refuse to tell my friends my weight but I know what weight is healthy for me because I lift weights and am more muscular–(so I definitely know when I packed on those extra pounds also).

 

(via http//:health.howstuffworks.com)

I would say focus less on the scale number–last week at my gyno she told me she didnt believe i weighed as much as I actually did (not as an insult she was just like wow I would think you were about 15 lbs lighter), i’m not noticably ripped but i’m a strong person naturally and I work out.

The beauty of being a girl is that it is rude to ask a girl their weight. No one needs to know what your number is, you just need to feel comfortable in your body, and if your healthy I would even recommend stop weighing yourself and start taking measurements with a tape measurer of parts of your body–be more accurate to compare those to others. Also, this will help you know your healthy ‘number’.

This is five lbs of fat compared to five lbs of muscle. Really puts things into perspective.

 

Quinoa Qinoa and Please More Quinoa!!!

I LOVE QUINOA. It is all the talk lately and there are just so many reasons why this is the best food and why it is AWESOME for trying to lose weight.

I wanted to share my love for quinoa because I feel it is a necessity for weight loss (well for me atleast). 

The many benefits of Qunioa:

-Quinoa satisfies my LOVE for carbs and it is so versatile.

-It contains antioxidents, it is a great source of fiber and a good source of iron!

-quinoa is one of the few non-animal protein foods that contain all 8 essential amino-acids!! This is great for vegans/vegetarians etc. (basically, it’s a complete protein).

Those are just a few reasons why it is so good and healthy for you! For me I find it to be extremely satisfying and you can really do so much with it. I have used quinoa in salad, have made a quinoa salad, have made a quinoa stir fry, a quinoa casserole, quinoa muffins, quinoa bites–yummyy! Theres just so much you can do! It also only takes about 15 minutes to cook-which is always a plus (brown rice takes about 45 minutes).

 

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Some inspiration! Happy monday!

DIET FAVORITE:

 

 

 

 

SHAKE= 370 CALORIES!

This is one of my favorite shakes when i’m trying to lose weight for many reasons:

-It’s cheap to make 

-Healthy and satisfying

-and perfect for lunch/breakfast POST WORKOUT (just an awesome post workout shake), many nutrients.

 

TO MAKE:

-sometimes I freeze my bananas when they’re ripe so I can make this whenever I want. I usually use around 1 banana, usually 1 tbs (I prefer skippy because it’s my favorite peanut butter), I dabble with how much chocolate syrup but about 1.5 tbs and I have used skim milk and you can use any milk but I love the unsweetened almond milk from trader joe’s and it’s a lot healthier! Add ice to your liking, blend it up and delicious!

Calorie Breakdown:

-Banana  ——-> ~110 cals (depending on size, this accouts for a medium/large banana)

-Peanut Butter-   ~90 cals

-Chocolate Syrup ~150 cals (you can use less to make it less cals–it just satisfies me more so worth it for me LOVE MY CHOCOLATE!)

-Almond Milk      ~20 (1 cup=40 so you may prefer more I’m just not a milk lover and will add       water sometimes with milk)

TOTAL CALS: 370 calories (which can be reduced by 50 or so by using less syrup)

(note* if you use skim milk 1/2 a cup is ~ 50 cals so total recipe would be about 400 calories)

 

Stay motivated.

Love this quote and thought i’d share. So many people do not want to start working out because they are intimidated by the gym and all the in shape people, say they are bad runners etc. You have to start somewhere and wether it’s a mile of walking or 10 miles of running it is still exercise!!
–plus anyone can walk 1 mile a day and 1 mile=100 calories!!! (think about it–and get started)

DAY 1

I feel great!

TOTAL CALS: about 1500 calories (minus exercise which I did not estimate)

Breakfast: Yoplait light yogurt

Snack: Homemade guacamole

Lunch: Tuna Salad with whole wheat ritz crackers

Dinner: chicken/muschroom/brownrice wrapped in a crescent roll (delicious and healthy–wrapping it in a crescent role adds satisfaction)

I Feel: I feel super full from today and satisfied. I plugged in what I ate and my protein and everything was on par–however the fat was a little too high due to the avacado..but good fat!!!

New Year, Less Beer

This blog is my mission to be healthier and mainly lose weight. I am mainly pretty healthy, but trust me, the italian in me knows how to eat, A LOT. I love nutrition and love tracking calories (unless its the months of december and january and I decide to eat everything my hands can touch)–talk about an extended “holiday diet” aka the eat anything I want it’s the holidays game plan–this is all great until stepping on a scale…YIKES. Yes, I know it’s weird to like tracking calories, but that is what works for me and how I lose weight.

Unfortunately, I barely managed such a miracle this holiday.

So, cutting down the alcohol is a must!! Beer especially–I always wish I could be one of those girls that could go to the bar and order a vodka soda and be content. I mean that’s okay for a drink or two–but c’mon nothing beats hanging out at a bar/party/etc. and sipping on beers while having a good time. It even sounds more fun to drink beer–however my waistline disagrees.

So i’m not going to say that this a new years cliche resolution of losing weight because first of all it’s past new years and second of all, my theory is that once you label something as a new years resolution the actuality of you doing it decreases–I feel like people take new years resolutions as a wish, say they’re going to do it and 90 % of them don’t and think it’s magically going to happen on its own- also I completely made up that percent and maybe i’m being a negative nancy but anyways this is my ‘body back in shape’ phase. I have been couch ridden (can you call it that? sounds better than saying ‘over break i’ve been eating while laying on the couch watching tv while I was perfectly capable of working out’). Anyway, poor couch ridden me has had an end to my bum around couple of months thing and am going to get things going.

So:

From this day, January 13th, I vow to:

-Cut out all beer for the whole first month (not all alcohol -c’mon i’m a college gal)

-Eat 1300 net calories per day (daily intake of calories subtracted by the approximate number of calories that I worked off during a work out (I usally make this number lower than I think the approximate is))

-Log what I eat (and provide any fun healthy recipes on here–can’t wait for the countless quinoa ones (cannot get enough of quinoa NOMS) —(I log through my iphone :my fitness pal) — I much rather spark people on the computer (the app you have to pay for–so I didn’t get it (again i’m a college girl)) but the only reason I prefer sparkpeople.com is because you can see how much you are eating of everything-protein, fat, carbs etc. where as my fitness pal only does calories. If you are eating less calories but it’s pure fat–not so good. However, if you are eating healthy and have a good general knowledge about food and nutrient density than just counting calories works fine anyway.

-NO PASTA (usually, no breads but I really don’t have a problem with carbs except pasta (AND THERE GOES THE FAT ITALIAN IN ME AGAIN)), but really, I can singlehandedly kill a few lbs of pasta a week (ok exaggeration but who doesn’t LOVE pasta?!?)–however I have never found i’ve been depriving myself of pasta as one would with candy etc. so maybe it’s good that pasta is my weakness rather than sweets. Generally, as a basis of a healthy diet regime basically no white breads–I stick to brown rice and I use quinoa as a carb satisfier.

-Lets see if I can burn 10 lbs by february 13th. One month—I think I should do it mostly if not any reason other than the next day is valentines day and then I can eat my self-bought chocolates while crying watching the notebook alone-HA already talking about killing my healthy eating–but side note kidding. I’m shooting for a 25 lb loss with no deadline, The last 10 lbs always take the longest.

SO HERE IS WHAT WE NEED PEOPLE. MOTIVATION. TRUTH.

EACH AND EVERY PERSON EARNS THE BODY THE HAVE (except for the lucky ones with the fast metabolism that eat everything–gotta hate those people-KIDDING) but really. Just like anything else in life you get what you give. Give it you’re all and you will get what you want.