This is What I'm Eating

Sometimes I wonder if I am doing this right, the Diet portion of my chosen lifestyle... So I posted the following in the Women's Forum of BodyBuilding.com. Hopefully I get some decent feedback. 

Cut and Paste from my Forum Post:

Hey so although I wish I had a trainer/nutritionist, i don't know how to find a good one, and i've been trying to eat healthy on my own. I think i'm doing okay... I have celiacs and I am kinda broke so I do the best I can. Here's my break down...

weight: 131lbs
height: 5'6"

supplements: l-glutamine, glucosamine, Now Foods b12 energy packets w/ creatine, biotin, and a Multivitamin. I occasionally use Jack3d when i'm having a tough time motivating myself, but never more than one scoop and barely 3 times a week. I also use trader joe's Fast dissolve Chocolate Whey powder (because it is only $10) and a Designer Whey french vanilla (also from trader joes, only $11, it's more expensive elsewhere but it's gluten free) I think they sell it at the vitamin shoppe also. i'm a newb so i can't link, but when i googled designer whey french vanilla it came right up.

generally for breakfast I have either an egg white omelet (non fat cooking spray, 3 egg whites, 1 full egg, 1/2 cup of chopped spinach, 1/8 cup of fat free cottage cheese, a little garlic for flavor, and topped with a sprinkling of low fat grated Parmesan

or 2/3rd cups of strawberry greek yogurt (0% fat) mixed with 1/8th cup of gluten free cinnamon raisin granola, a scoop of vanilla whey protein, and 6 raw almonds. 

about an hour later i have either 1 serving of the vanilla whey in 6oz of rice milk or 2 scoops (1 serving) of chocolate whey in black coffee. 

around lunch time i eat a tablespoon of low fat peanut butter, 12 almonds, a slice of cheese (small slice about the size of one of those precut cracker barrel snack sizes, usually fontina or low moisture skim mozzerella, helps with cravings) and salad (ice berg lettuce, regular dinner bowl, either salsa or low fat vinaigrette dressing)
or 3 oz of chicken, seasoned with either old bay or lemon pepper, cooked with fat free cooking spray, and always a salad or 2/3 cup of either peas or broccoli, and 5/8ths cup of steamed rice, and 12 almonds

around 3 or 4pm, usually after i work out, i either have a muscle milk or I make a protein shake (1 tablespoon low fat pb, 1 serving vanilla whey, 1/2 serving chocolate whey, 3oz rice milk, 5 oz water) and if i am not working out I have a small orange or banana and a half a glass of rice milk.

dinner is usually about 3 oz chicken or fish, a cup of either broccoli, green beans or peas (or a salad) and 2/3cup of either rice, gluten free pasta, or potato

if i'm still hungry later in the evening i have 3 tablespoons of cottage cheese or maybe some almonds or cashews... and i do occasionally cheat and have a little ice cream or popcorn or some chips (bad me!) but i try to keep it minimal. I'm noticing i am usually still hungry in the evenings, i've caught myself attacking my pb around 8 to 9pm... and i'm trying to figure out why?! 

i haven't been super diligent about working out, I try to keep active every day, and i do situps and lunges and use my weights at home to soreness probably about 4 days a week, and I try to keep my rest times low and my heart rate up to keep my endurance, but i barely go running anymore, maybe twice a week. i do stairs also when i run, and when I just work out at home I do a lot of squats and steps on my kitchen step stool haha so i mean i get a decent burn going now and then, but at home i average about 40min to an hour and a half of weights, resistance work, and when i run or bike I do about 20mins. I need to join a gym soon! 

Anyways... why am I still so hungry? ghaaa i feel like i'm always eating!

~End Post~

 I really need to find  a Nutritionist and a Trainer so I can really get some input. I just have no idea where to start, and no money just yet. :(

More From my Internet Reading

I've been following Ali Rosen for about 8wks now and I really enjoy reading her blog/twitter feed. She is one tough cookie, and Oh My God, that butt! I think if I could go into my first competition with her body, I would be so confident! She is a Bikini class, and she has such a gorgeous body! I really enjoyed this article of hers and I thought I should share!

 Plan of Attack! - Ali Rosen

Get it, girl!

I need to try this!

 Originally Posted by oregonchick76 

I make "pumpkin custard" with it. Blend 12oz cottage cheese, 

12 oz canned pumpkin, 3 eggs, scoop of protein powder,

 2 tsp cinnamon and 1 cup sweetener of choice.

 Blend it smooth in a blender - the chunkiness of the cottage cheese disappears

 - then back in custard dishes or ramekins at 350 for 45 min.

 They are around 18g of protein and 160 calories. The perfect dessert."

I found this on the web forum of bodybuilding.com and 1 REALLY want to try it.
I really don't want to go to the grocery store though. so maybe not today.

CURRENT STATS

Jess, age 25

Height: 5'6"
Weight: 131.6lbs
BMI: 21 ish

Measurements:
Chest: 33in
Waist: 26in
Hips: 38in
Biceps: 11.5in
Upper Thigh: 22in
Calves: 14in

I still have yet to find out my body fat percentage.

Goals are hard to set without a bf% but I know I have too much right now. I would like to lose about 5lbs without compromising muscle mass, and I definitely have at least 5lbs of extra fat flopping around on me. So I guess what I want to do is Lose at least 7lbs of fat and put on around 3lbs of muscle.


<---- this is the scale I use, it calculates body mass index

My New Favorite Dessert!

<--- This is my Blender! I just got it, and it works well!
Anyhow, it came in the mail today, so I decided to try it out, and this is what I made!

Peanut Butter Protein Shake

what you need:

1 1/2 Cup Rice Milk

2 Scoops Vanilla Whey Protein powder

1 scoop Chocolate Whey Protein powder

1 teaspoon low fat Peanut Butter (not chunky)

1/2 cup ice

AND THENNNNNN..........

if you can't figure out that you just dump it all into a blender, put the lid on, and push the button until it is all... blended.. uhm... Your Diet is probably not your only problem.

 I put a bendy-straw in mine and that made it even cooler.

Change is Inevitable

   Right now, I am at a "normal" weight. Some people say I am skinny, and I laugh because I don't relate to that word. I am not a thin girl. I am not tiny. Growing up, I was small, scrawny at times, but never one of those long-limbed gangley types. I was very active, always outside, always high energy. I played sports and I did taekwondo for most of my life. I was recently digging through a large box of photos my mother had given me. I was a cute kid. I was kind of awkward, a tomboy even, but always bright eyes and big attitude. It was interesting to go through these, to watch my progression from child to teen and so forth. Through these pictures, I could see my lifestyle changes, from being extremely athletic until age 15/16 and then my slow taper into angst and depression, and of course weight gain. There was a period in high-school where I sort of stopped caring about taekwondo and only went once a week. It may have been because my self esteem was low after breaking up with a guy on our competition team, or just being a grouchy teenager, or the fact that I fought with my parents constantly? I can't remember, but the important part is that I had quit the team and lost interest in going to class. I was unhappy, unhealthy, and eating my feelings. I guess I peaked around 170 some pounds? I don't know. I stopped using the scale at that point. At 5'6", I was a size 14, and I was depressed.

  I struggled to lose weight for ages, in all the wrong ways. I am not proud of things I did, but I am through it. I was bouncing around in the world of eating disorders, from anorexia to binging to purging to over exercising, abusing weight loss pills etc. I did HORRIBLE things to my body. There were periods where I was eating 500 calories a day, and then going to the gym for three hours, to the point where when I got home I would have tunnel vision and severe cramps. There were times when I would eat all day, constantly, and then force myself to purge and sleep and sleep and sleep. It was awful. I look back and I cannot believe how unhappy and unhealthy I was. I still suffer permanent damage from these decisions, and I will never be the same because of it.

   Looking back, and knowing what I know about Celiacs now, a lot of it makes sense. My intestines were damaged, causing nutrient deficiencies. I ate and ate and ate because somewhere in there my body was telling me I needed something more. I had terrible grades from ADHD which is argued to be a side effect of gluten allergies, which would have saved me a lot of trouble in my relationship with my parents if you catch my drift. My hormones were completely out of sync, which is yet another celiacs side effect, and when you compound that with the hormonal mess that are the adolescent years, you get an entirely different obstacle course. I had no idea that anything was wrong with my intestines. I had spent my whole life suffering and didn't know any better. I am happier now. I miss good pasta and real pizza, but I wouldn't trade those for the way it feels to wake up in the morning and not feel like I'm coming out of a coma. I wouldn't trade the fact that for the first time in my life, in spite of how many situps I could do in a minute as a teen, For the first time in my life I have a flat stomach. I lived the first 24yrs of my life BLOATED. When you add in the fact that I'm finally working out properly also, I am on the brink of being in the best health of my life.

So I'm going to show you some pictures today, just so you know what I mean.

 This photo is from my senior year of high school, I can't say if it was at my top weight or not, but you get the idea.

This is me today, I do not know my current weight or body fat percentage, nor have I been consistent in my workouts, but yea, you see? Big differences.

A free 3 day pass!

Well, there is a 24hr Fitness Super Sport club right around the corner from my apartment, so to celebrate another job interview, I decided to sign up for that free 3 day pass they offer. It is a very nice gym, lots of brand new everything. I really liked my old gym in Maryland, though. This gym out here doesn't have as much free space, which means less privacy when I do my stretching. No big deal of course, I can always do my stretches in the privacy of my home, but I liked having that Quiet Room at my old Golds. I liked having the ladies only room as well. Not because I'm shy about working out with guys, but because it was quieter and less grunting and slamming and high fiving. Now, their training packages are more expensive also, and so are the memberships. It's nice and all to have towel services and a lap pool, but that's not stuff I am super concerned about. I'm concerned about how crowded together the circuit training equipment is. I'm concerned about why they only have 3 ab machines, none of which do torso twists or back extensions, which are machines I need for my back therapy. I will bring that up with the membership guy... maybe I can complain them into buying some. Maybe I just don't cope well with change. I was a Gold's gym member for YEARS, and I only went to that one gym of their hundreds, but I loved it. It was perfect for me. Granted it got a little crowded now and then, but it was my gym, and I knew where everything was and exactly what machines to use etc etc etc. I checked out the Gold's out here, and it is little, and old... and in a sketchy building... and I don't think Tom would feel safe with me working out there alone. In the words of a very thoughtful bear, Ponder, ponder, Ponder.

Alas, I did workout, and I left feeling my biceps twitching. I did 12min on the stair machine on the Cardio Setting, a full circuit on the weight machines, and I did a 2000m row (just under 10min) on the rowing machine. I've really atrophied. My arms were struggling around the 40lb range, even on Lat Pull downs, which are usually one of my strengths. I could only do 20lbs on my triceps. I try to hit 3 sets of ten reps on each machine, at one point I was super-setting 3 sets of 30 reps at 40lbs each, I need to get back to that range. WEAK WEAK WEAK. My legs were okay, my core needs some work but I was still able to do my leg and knee lifts on the captain's chair. I attribute that to my running, resistance ball, and lunges at home. Like I've said before, I really have trouble getting a good arm workout from my little collection of dinky dumbbells. My rowing was probably the only thing I didn't feel entirely outmatched in. I was able to easily keep up with the very fit guy next to me, I had a shorter range of motion since he could have been around 6inches taller than me at least, but I was going stroke for stroke with him for a good 4min before he got off. Ah yes, did I mention I am VERY competitive? If you want to see me bust my ass, put me on a machine next to someone in better shape than me!


But I am home now, and wondering if I should do some twists while I'm still in my workout gear...

or if I should just let netflix win...?



Hmmm... yes, I think it's time for a random movie. Maybe, just maybe, I will do some more abs while I watch.

Another Recipe!

Gluten Free, Low Fat, High Protein Biscuits!

So, here's what you need:

1 cup rice flour

1/2 cup chocolate whey protein powder

2 Egg Whites

12 Almonds, crushed

1 Tbsp dried cranberries

1/8 cup rice milk

Essentially, you just dump everything into the mixing bowl and stir, stir stir. Only add the rice milk if the batter is too thick. It should look something like thick cake batter. I added the Cranberries and Almonds after everything else was mixed. I preheat the oven to 350F and sprayed a cookie sheet with fat free Pam. Once that was all set, in another mixing bowl I mixed 1/4 teaspoon of powdered sugar, a pinch of cocoa powder, and I guess two pinches of of cinnamon. I then dolloped the batter onto the cookie sheet, about a tablespoon and a half per biscuit, making 6... well... I wasn't very exact actually, hence the various sizes. I then sprinkled the Cocoa/sugar/cinnamon on top of the biscuits and baked them for about 15min, or until the edges were browned. 

I just ate one. It was pretty good, now granted, that's for a Low-fat-gluten free-high protein biscuit. I wouldn't serve them as cookies to 5yr olds or my persnickety butter loving boyfriend, but I'd definitely keep them around as a handy desert, tea biscuit, snack, or breakfast. I bet they'd be delightful with strawberries or greek yogurt!  Anyways, that was my project for today! I can't really tell you the calories or nutrition values, that all depends on what kind of whey you use, what brand of rice milk etc etc etc, but these are definitely better for you than an egg mcmuffin... OH! They'd probably be good with an egg tooo!

If I get fat trying all of this stuff, remember, it's in the name of fitness!


Oh Oh Oh! THEY PROBABLY WORK BETTER IN A CUPCAKE TIN... but I don't own one. 

A little tidbit of my internet reading... and other stuff

 "Proof that the FDA's assault on raw milk has nothing o do with consumer safety"

I'm in no way associated with this website, but it was an interesting one to stumble upon.

 I have been trying to get my body ready to go back to training. My little ticker on my Cardio Trainer App is up to 1000 calories burnt so far this week, YAY! lol so low... I've been running, doing my sit-ups and leg extensions and lifting my little arm weights. I was able to kind of tire myself out yesterday by combining my 1lb wrist weights with my 5lb dumbells to get all the way up to, OH MY Gosh... six whole pounds. hmmm... yea not quite the iron pumping burn I wanted. We'll get there though. I just keep clinging to my dream of going to a gym.

I really hope I get a call for this interview... 

So, What are you eating?

   Right now, my diet is not exactly strict. It really should be. I made gluten free pizza this week, it was supposed to be a 1 night treat, but turned out to be WAY more dough than intended. In fact, it was enough dough for two deep dish pizzas. Great. Well, I let Tom make his own pizza, and it took me two days to eat mine, but I have been really half assing this whole healthy eating thing. I should have only eaten about a third of what I did, and I should have cooked it with less fat and carbs. I try very hard to eat healthy during the day, well, until about 9:00pm, and then I wrap my little grubby hands around a spoon and find something I should not be getting into... usually ice cream or peanut butter or cheese... and these are the moments in my life that keep me from getting toned.


  The forums on Bodybuilding.com are full of useful information on watching your Macros and your carbs and your protein and spacing out your meals... I regularly read these and intend on setting out a diet plan for myself. A strict, no joke, follow the rules and do it right, diet plan. I have armed myself with whey protein, almonds, spinach, lettuce, bananas, bags upon bags of chicken, and yogurt. I have my gluten free oats, my stevia packets, my fat free cooking spray, and my fat free cottage cheese. I keep rice milk handy for cooking/drinking, I have potatoes, I have green beans and onions and peas. I have a container of egg whites. I have my food scale, my electric grill, my food processor, my measuring cups... and ZERO desire to sit down and measure everything, but I have to. 

  I took a big step last night, cooking up and measuring out chicken into baggies. Half of them I baked in the oven on a cookie sheet with a little garlic, a little salt and pepper, and a tiny bit of low fat parmesan sprinkled on top. The other half I cooked on the stove with some Oldbay spice, some ginger, and some pepper. The biggest change was switching from olive oil to fat free spray. Things don't stay as moist, they stick to the pan more, but they have less fat. ::ponders:: I guess that's okay though. I weighed out 3oz of chicken per baggy, threw them in the freezer, and started to wonder if I should do the same with my veggies. Instead I played with my ps3. Yup. I am easily distracted. 


  From what I'm reading/learning, I eat pretty well. My portions aren't what they should be, I do treat myself too often (apparently more than one Reese's cup in a month is a BIG NO NO), but overall, the foods I am eating are the right ones. A lot of protein, a lot of nutrients, not prepackaged, a lot of veggies, and nothing fried of course. I used to keep a food diary on my phone, I know it helps a lot. I need to start doing that again. Diet is 80% of your journey to fitness. Abs are made in the kitchen. It is time to really live by these truths.

Come on Jess, Get with it.

A fat free omelet... That tastes good too

Ah yes, this one is easy to make.
You need 5 egg whites, a half cup of chopped spinach, two Tbsp of fat free cottage cheese, fat free cooking spray, a pinch of garlic, a pinch of salt ( a small pinch, watch your sodium!) Black pepper, and a tiny tiny tiny pinch of fat free grated parmesan! Obviously, you will also need a pan and a flipper.

To make an omelette that doesn't break or stick to the pan, I always set the heat a little lower. Burning = sticking and breaking. Oh the wonderful education you get from working at ihop in high-school.
 
   Mix your egg whites and spinach in a bowl with the garlic. Spray your pan and heat it up. Pour your spinach/eggs into the pan and let it sit for about 5min. Seriously, don't mess with it, it will make your omelet a scramble. Once the eggs seem solid on the bottom and start to bubble the edges, spread your cottage cheese down one side, away from the edges. Add your salt and pepper. Let this sit for a minute or two. Next,  loosen up the edges of your eggs with your spatula/burger flipped/ whatever that cooking utensil with the flat end and the handle is called. Make sure your circle of eggs can slide around without breaking. If so, tilt your pan toward the spatula and fold that side of eggs over on top of the other. Yes, I just assumed you didn't know how to fold an omelet. Don't be offended.
   The guts of your omelet may spill as the cottage cheese heats up. Don't worry, just scrape the off the pan and pile it back on top the eggs. No big deal. Be sure to flip your omelet over one last time so that both sides are a little browned. Then, dump it on your plate, add your tiny bit of parmesan, and eat.
Tada!! Healthy, tastey breakfast!

Getting by without a gym membership requires commitment

In Maryland, I was a die-hard Gold's Gym fan. I was there every other day, I was working with a personal trainer, and I was busting my booty. I was so familiar with where everything was and what times were less crowded. I was a gym-person. Deep down inside, I still am. Deep down in my wallet, not so much.
See, working out without a gym membership requires commitment. You either need to have a commitment to signing up for a different "trial membership" and drive way out of your way every week, to visit every gym in the county, (which i've considered and can't afford the gas) OR you need to figure out some way to work out at home without getting distracted. I'm sure it's easy if you can afford to purchase your own equipment and have the space to set it all up, but that does not describe my current conditions.
   Our spacious 1br 1ba apartment isn't small, but there are two of us here, and we have a lot of stuff. If I could afford a Stairmaster, we'd probably have to nix the kitchen table. Erm, no. So how am I making this work? Not very well. This is a huge adjustment for me. I own a bike, 3lb weights, 5lb weights, 4 resistance bands of varying strengths, some 1lb wrist weights, a 3lb mini medicine ball, a big purple resistance ball, a yoga mat, and two sets of ankle weights (2.5 and 2lbs). As you can imagine, we aren't really looking at a heavy iron pumping routine here. Also, biking safely in LA is... difficult. The safest thing you can do is avoid the designated bike lanes at all cost, forget being able to maintain a consistent speed, and accept that if you want to do hills, you'll probably get hit by a BMW. Now I understand the popularity of shitty 1 speed hipster bikes.
  Don't get me wrong, I'm trying. I have been wrapping my resistance bands around the support beam of our kitchen cabinets and trying to do rows, and I was finally able to achieve minimal soreness/burn 2 days ago by doing sets of lunges around every square inch of free space in the apartment. I've been using my kitchen step stool for step ups, and I've been doing my ab work to the best of my ability in our tiny living room while Thomas giggles and makes comments.
I am in terrible shape right now. I was going to work out but I got distracted and decided to blog about how hard it is to work out at home instead. That, my friends, is the hardest part. This bites. I can't wait to get my first paycheck so I can join a gym.

oh my gross...

So these fitness people... they eat weird things, right? So do I. I recently was on a forum where everyone was discussing their favorite ways to make cottage cheese taste better. I love cottage cheese, and I think it tastes great with just a little black pepper swirled in, but I am always up for trying new things. I recently found some Gluten Free** whey protein at my local Trader Joe's, Vanilla flavored. I took a half scoop of this, a packet of stevia, a little rice milk to help dissolve, and some cottage cheese, and mixed it in a bowl. I also added some Gluten Free granola with raisins and smooshed it all together. It certainly looked interesting... like vomit, and smelled like... diabetes. It smelled so so SO so sweet and vanilla-ful. It was like... candy vomit, and it was GOOD FOR ME.
   Did I mention I have a weird relationship with sweets? I love Jello, Ice Cream, Chocolate, Sour Patch Kids, Red Bull, and anything Reese's. I hate Colas, I hate jellies, I hate candied fruit, I hate sweet potatoes, I LOATHE sweet potatoes... I don't like pop tarts, I don't like barbeque sauce, I hate that dish people make with the cinnamon sugar carrots. I don't like sweet chinese food like orange chicken. I guess what I'm trying to say is, if it isn't candy, I don't want it to taste like candy. I don't like my breakfast to be sweet unless it's a damn donut, and I can't even eat donuts. If it isn't a pastry, a dessert, or an energy drink, please don't expect me to eat it. I mean, even the chocolate I like is "salty-sweet" with caramel or peanut butter. I only eat straight chocolate on certain days of the month if-u-kno-wut-i-mean.

So here i am, staring down this vanilla flavored monstrosity...

with raisins...

 ...knowing that no matter what it tastes like, I HAVE TO EAT IT.

   Why? Because I am pretty much broke, and buying whey powder is a splurge, and there are starving kids somewhere that would love to have vanilla mush cottage cheese with oats and raisins, lightly chilled and chock full of good for you. So I ate it, and it tasted like something a normal person would have liked. It tasted like candy, and had crunchy bits and good texture...


and I hated it.

But you can try it out for yourself if you want! I mean, if that's your thing. I will go back to my lightly peppered cottage cheesed with roasted half the sodium almonds and olives. and I just might dump salt on top of all of it.

Welcome to my World

Blog # 1 !

HUZZAH!

But no, this would not be the first time I've blogged. I've blogged with poetry, I've blogged with art and costume design and all those silly things I think about all the time...


 See, what this actually is, what it really really deep down in it's little heart wants to be, is my first fitness blog. I've fed up my friends, my family, random people, (the internet in general) with my unprovoked fitness postings! Between my CardioTrainer App auto-posting to my accounts, and my own constant mumblings, and my random bouts of link sharing, I have flooded my friends, and they don't seem to be so "proud" anymore. Well, damn. I need somewhere to let it all out!

I guess that's all you will get out of me for now. Don't worry, I will tell you ALL about it later.