July 2007 Archive

16Jul
2

Cardio Cleaning Monday!

One of my biggest excuses to get out of exercise is that, if I’m going to carve 45 minutes or so out of my day, I might as well clean something. Then today, right in the middle of my Monday “quick cleaning” session, it dawned on me that I was already huffing, puffing and dripping sweat, just like I do when I work out!

So, I’m introducing “Cardio Cleaning,” a 45-minute daily routine designed to get the house clean while getting some exercise in. If you’re interested in joining me, check out today’s cleaning routine at I Think Therefore I Blog.

Let me know you’re following along and I’ll add you to my soon-to-be posted Cardio Cleaning Team blogroll over there!

Posted by Chubby Mommy in Exercise
15Jul
3

My Little Personal Trainer

I mentioned to my 7 y/o son last night that I planned to exercise after breakfast this morning. He knows that means getting out my big exercise ball, hand weights and yoga mat. It also means I’ll be stretching, bending, kicking and punching for a good, sweaty half-hour.

He’s young enough to consider that fun.

So every 10 minutes since we woke up he’s asked, “Are you ready to exercise yet? How about now? NOW???”

Nothing like having a sweet little voice nagging at you throughout the morning to ensure that, yes, you ARE going to exercise, lady.

Which reminds me: I’ve got a workout appointment to keep.

Posted by Chubby Mommy in Exercise
14Jul
4

I’m Biting My Tongue

Yum! Dear Self,

You are not going to engage in stress-eating. You are not going to fatigue make you rummage through your son’s snack drawer in search of something with sugar. You are not going to eat that last donut left in the package of snack cakes he bought at the store yesterday.

You are going to bite your tongue if you have to. You are going to sit on your hands if you must. You ARE going to lose a pound this weekend, even if that means running up and down the stairs like a madwoman until you’re too tired to even think about eating.

Got it?

Best wishes,
Your Self

Posted by Chubby Mommy in Diet Motivation
13Jul
7

Start The Weekend Sanely

Weigh In Am I the only one who finds it hard to stay on track over the weekend? There’s something about a more relaxed schedule and being with my family all day that really throws my diet out of whack. It might be the all the cooking I do but, truth be told, the food doesn’t jump from the pan into my face. It’s my hand shoveling it in to my mouth and I know it.

Weekends are a time to stay strong.

I’ve decided to start my weekends by weighing in on Friday night, long before I even contemplate opening a bottle of wine or shaking up a martini. If I’ve been doing good all week, well, that gives me an incentive to stay the course. If my weight’s up, well, that gives me an incentive to stay the course, too. I figure if I don’t like my weight on Friday, then the weekend really represents an extra opportunity to get out and burn off some of those extra calories.

That’s why I keep my scale right in front of my refrigerator. Have I mentioned that yet? No? Well maybe that’s because it seems, at first glance, like such a crazy place to keep it. By the time I’m standing in front of the fridge I’m already clothed, right? Who wants to do the mental math to subtract the estimated weight of their clothes? Answer: me. Because I’ve noticed that if I’ve got to step on that scale to reach the refrigerator handle it doesn’t just slow me down: it also makes me think twice.

How about you? Are you up or down?

And, while we’re at it, where do you keep your scale?

Technorati Tags: diet
Posted by Chubby Mommy in Weight Loss Matters
13Jul
2

Nacho Libre!

Just when I thought I’d have to give up one of my favorite snacks while taking Alli, I found a way to have my nachos and eat them, too. It was “Beautiful Disaster‘s” comment here about baked tortilla chips from Whole Foods that gave me an idea.

Why not bake my own?

Armed with these three ingredients — flour tortillas, sliced jalapeno and cheddar-flavored soy cheese — I set out to make my standard Friday night nachos… minus most of the calories and fat.

Here’s how:

1. Preheat oven to 375. Spray a cookie sheet with Pam.

2. Cut a tortilla in eighths. Place on cookie sheet, spray lightly with Pam.

3. Bake tortilla chips 5 minutes. Turn and bake an additional 3.

4. Remove from oven, sprinle 1/4 c. soy cheese on chips. Top with jalapenos as desired.

5. Return to oven until cheese melts (about 4 more minutes).

I’d show you the picture of the final product, but I ate them. Quickly. No, they didn’t taste like the nachos I’d get at a restaurant but, after going without all week, they tasted darned near like heaven to me.

Total calories: 220
Total fat: 7.5 grams
Total satisfaction: 89%

Technorati Tags: low-fat nachos
Posted by Chubby Mommy in Low Calorie Recipes
13Jul
4

Healthy AND Helpful

I just tried my first-ever “Healthy Choice Cafe Steamer” — a fairly new product, I believe. (I can’t find anything about it on HC’s website, but a USA Today article from April introducing the product says there are twelve flavors out.)

I’ve always been partial to Healthy Choice meals, if I’m going to eat frozen, pre-packaged food, that is. Hey, they give me a dessert so what’s not to like?

This one’s a bit different from the HC meals I’ve tried before. It comes in a bowl which claims to “steam fresh in your microwave.” You simply pop the whole thing in and cook: no venting required. Let it sit when it’s done, then lift the inner bowl with the food in it and pour that into the bowl below it where the sauce is, stir and enjoy.

I bought the “Grilled Chicken Marainara” flavor which has a mere 250 calories and 4 grams of fat. (The sodium content is 550mg, around 23% of the RDA.) It’s surprisingly good: the penne pasta and sauce are delicious, the chicken is all white meat and, although there’s not much broccoli, what’s there is good. Despite being 30 cents more than, say, a Lean Cuisine, it tastes better, too. The pasta’s not mushy and the chicken actually looks like what it claims to be.

The thing is, I couldn’t help wonder what I’m supposed to do with the steamer basket. It basically looks like a small plastic colander, complete with vent holes. I tend to dislike products that are over-packaged, but I don’t see any way Healthy Choice could accomplish the steaming effect without using this bowl.

Still, I hate the thought of just throwing it away. Then I noticed that the steamer bowl’s right about the same size as the base of a 9-inch flower pot. Heck, I’ve got plenty of those, many without the little trays that go beneath them. Sure enough, I checked and it fits!

That’s one flowerpot which will no longer be marring my deck with loose dirt. Nine more to go.

Posted by Chubby Mommy in Food Log
13Jul
1

Gaga For Grom

After a few days of rather mild temps, it’s starting to heat up here in Kansas again. That means, of course, that I’m hankering for cool treats, and my jones has been made all the worse thanks to a friend from NYC who sent an email today raving about her latest find: a gelato from a new place called Grom that opened in Manhattan just over a month ago.

“You’ve never tasted anything like this,” she tells me. “Sweet, creamy. Every spoonful tastes like an Italian vacation.” It doesn’t help that my friend is one of those fortunate few who’s been blessed with a hummingbird’s metabolism and has never, despite having three kids, outgrown her size 2 jeans. The bitch.

So it’s some comfort to me, at least, that she’s having to stand in line for half an hour to place her order. Half an hour! Sorry, by that time I’d have had to go somewhere else to grab a bite to eat lest I faint from hunger. Not her, though.

An even greater comfort: that half-cup of Grom Gelato is 215 calories. She’s ordering two at a time every day, claiming that with her metabolism she can handle the extra callories.

Meanwhile, Grom’s owners are banking on their product’s addictive qualities. Says Mr. Grom:

“..we think our gelato is like a drug. Once they have their free taste, they’ll be hooked.”

Anyone remember that Seinfeld episode where Elaine, Neuman and others went gaga over the frozen low-fat yogurt that turned out to pack a caloric wallop? I am so praying that life imitates art.

Yeah, I guess I’m evil that way. But did I mention: three kids and size two jeans? The bitch.

Technorati Tags: Grom gelato
Posted by Chubby Mommy in Guilty Pleasures
13Jul
3

We Want Wii!

From the first time I glanced at Nintendo’s Wii system — with its games that involve swinging a wand to play virtual tennis, holding the wand and jogging in place for a virtual foot race, and grabbing the wand with two hands and swinging for baseball — I’ve thought of it as the perfect exercise system for both adults and kids. I’ve wanted one, and I’ve needled my husband with promises that I’d play the Wii daily for exercise if he’d just cave in and approve the $300+ expenditure. Thus far, unfortunately, I’ve had no success.

My case may just have grown stronger now that Nintendo is planning to release “Wii Fit”, a game that uses a balance board (included in the game package) to combine aerobics, yoga and a core workout while gamers simulate ski-jumping and playing soccer.

Sure, I’ve got a Dance, Dance Revolution game and dance pad that encourage just as much physical activity, at least in theory. But as any Chubby Mommy knows, fat girls can’t move their feet all that fast. Try as I might, I can’t get my left and right feet on the correct spots and more often than not wind up in a tangled, sweaty heap on the floor swearing that I’ll never — ever — play that dang game again. (My 7 year old son, meanwhile, gleefully boasts that he’s once again beat me. It’s demoralizing!)

Exercise fanatics claim that the best way to stay fit is to find a physical activity you love doing. Apparently aerobic eating does not count, nor do the footsteps between fridge and desk really do much to whittle the waistline. But virtual bowling — where I don’t have to worry about my pants splitting in public and my scores aren’t posted for a room full of strangers to laugh at? I can do that. Tennis in my family room where the A/C is set to a pleasant 72 degrees and I can play in my favorite ratty tank top and shorts? I can do that, too.

We want a Wii! We do, we do. And by “we” I mean me and my thighs. I figure with each of them as big around as a small toddler, they ought to each have a vote, right? So let’s see, that’s my son, myself, my left thigh and my right: four votes in favor of getting a Wii.

Why, I do believe my husband’s outnumbered!

Technorati Tags: Wii, Wii fit, Wii fitness
Posted by Chubby Mommy in Exercise
12Jul
2

Pardon My Slurping

I was a naughty girl last night. I had two glasses of wine and, even though I drank plenty of water afterwards, the scale reflects some bloating. Or maybe it reflects all the snot building up in my sinuses now that my allergies are in full swing?

Either way, I have been diligently sticking to my diet thus far today. Breakfast: 1 cup of oatmeal with non-fat milk and a slice of canteloupe. Nice and healthy, there. Lunch: Lean Cuisine Fettucine Alfredo, steamed broccoli and half an orange. Good for me, right?

Thing is, I’m continuing to track my food intake using an online calorie counter. Yes, even the wine I had last night. I like seeing when I’m about to go over my calorie limit — not that it stops me — and love knowing when I can eat a bit more without blowing my diet for the day.

I’m quickly learning, though, that I shouldn’t eat around my 7-year old son, whose table manners are already a sore subject. It just doesn’t do for Mommy to nag him to use his napkin and eat using utensils, then sit there licking the corners of her Lean Cuisine Fettucine Alfredo tray. But, hey, I figure if I’m going to be held accountable for those 280 calories and 8 fat grams, I’m going to get every single one of them into my face.

Posted by Chubby Mommy in Weight Loss Matters
11Jul
9

Two Weeks On Alli

Monday marked the end of my first two-weeks on Alli, the weight loss pill that’s causing such an uproar all over the blogosphere. (Mainly, I might add, by those who have not yet tried it.)

In that time, I’ve skipped taking my Alli on four separate occasions. I either forgot — since I’m not good at remembering such things — or consciously opted out because I knew I was about to eat a more fatty meal than I should. I am, after all, a big believer in “diet-free days” since they short-circuit that whole deprivation-binge-guilt cycle for me.

As far as “unwanted treatment effects” go, I’ve told you about those: having learned not to let my husband cook, I haven’t experienced any other problems at all. Not one.

I’ve been eating Egg Beaters and/or toast and fruit for breakfast, along with Lean Cuisines and a small salad for lunch. For the first two weeks I’d also been eating the same dinner I cook for my family: I’ve just made sure those have been low-fat as well. Now, however, I’m sticking with prepackaged, frozen diet meals and a double-dose of steamed veggies for dinner. They’re more convenient, and I don’t have to endure the temptation to nibble while cooking.

And, yes, I’ve cheated on my diet several times. Since Alli has a 2-hour half-life, it’s out of my system before bedtime… my most dangerous snacking time of all. Those tortilla chips topped with melted cheddar and jalapeños were the best tasting thing I had all week, but they also ensured that the following morning was the first day I didn’t see any weight loss at all.

Total pounds lost so far: seven. That’s right: seven relatively effortless pounds.

This week I’ll be drinking even more water with lemon in it (for the additional health benefits). I’ve also begun exercising again, not because I like it — I most assuredly do not, and it bores me — but because even with Alli it all boils down to calories in and calories out.

I’ve set a goal to lose 10 more pounds in the month while my husband’s away on business. As a reward, I’m planning on a little trip to Victoria’s Secret. By then, I figure, I might just be able to buy a lace bra that doesn’t look like something my grandma would wear.

Posted by Chubby Mommy in Alli, Diet Motivation, Weight Loss Matters
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