An off week (or two)

I don't know what's wrong with me, but I am doing terribly on my diet! I have been snacking like crazy. I think my monthly cycle is messed up. (See, there I go making excuses!) I am, however always successful at delivering pretty healthy meals. Here's what I made last night: Couscous Jambalaya. I've had couscous in my pantry forever, and since Chad is not a big fan of couscous, but a huge fan of Cajun jambalaya I gave this recipe a try. We loved it! We don't have shrimp very often, so it was a treat to add it in. I don't know what "andouille sausage" is, so I used our favorite Jennie-O Kielbasa. And I replaced the celery with a whole zucchini to up the veggie content. I think I'll try adding a whole red bell pepper next time I make it. It was a great treat, very easy, and such a new flavor for us. Um...and for dessert I made Strawberry Satin Pie, the recipe for which does NOT belong on this particular blog.

Today's healthy meal

I'd like to share one of our family favorites that is super easy and way healthy. We call it Sausage Skillet:
Ingredients:
One Jennie-O lean turkey Kielbasa sausage
Two zucchinis
1 red/orange/yellow bell pepper
mushrooms (optional)
1/2 onion, diced
2 cups instant brown rice
Directions:
1) Slice turkey and veggies into bite-size pieces, and put them in a large saute pan over medium-high heat with a little water. Cook until meat is hot and veggies are tender (feel free to add seasonings or soy sauce to taste).
2) Meanwhile, cook rice according to directions (I put chicken bullion in the water to flavor it).
3) Serve sausage mixture over rice.

Statistics Update

The last week I have been sick, and therefore did not exercise at all, or watch my diet. As a result, my scale was mean to me this morning. I have, however, made some small improvements, and I thought I'd better give you an update to keep me honest (note: my first post on this blog showed stats that were from the cruise ship body test; these results are from our home scale/body fat analyzer, so they're different):

Start date: Jan. 20th
Weight: 147 lbs
Body fat: 29% (43 lbs)

Today's date: Feb. 17th
Weight: 147 lbs
Body fat: 26.5% (39 lbs)

What? I didn't lose any weight?! Well, actually, I did get down as low as 142.5 before I got sick, but gained it back. BUT the important thing is that my body fat went down 2.5%--that's a loss of 4 pounds of fat! So, since my total weight stayed the same, I know that I've gained muscle mass, which is awesome. And I'm back on the bandwagon, determined to lose it!

Boost your metabolism

How can you get your body to burn more calories on a daily basis? Well, of course more muscle mass helps (each pound of muscle burns 6 calories a day at rest), and high-intensity aerobic exercise will rev your metabolism in the hours after a workout. But here are some things I didn't know:
*Studies show that adults who drink at least 64 ounces of water a day burn more calories than those who drink just 32.
*Drink your beverages ice-cold and you can burn an extra 10 calories a day (not much, but it adds up to a pound a year weight-loss).
*Large meals with many hours in between signals your metabolism to slow down, so eat small meals every 3 hours.
*Adding spice to your food can boost your metabolic rate by as much as 23% for half and hour.
*Eat more protein--your body uses twice the calories to break down protein than it does for carbs or fat.
*Don't follow a diet that restricts you to less than 1,000 calories a day, or you risk losing muscle mass.
I got this info off WebMD, which is one of my favorite sites. Check out their metabolism calculator to see how many calories you burn each day!

My Healthy Me Wish List

I'm not sure what my missing link is...laziness, lack of self-discipline, I guess. It's definitely not because I'm perfectly comfortable with my body and my choices in fuel to keep it running. But if I had a diet and exercise regime, I guess it would be as follows:

1. Drink at least half my body weight of water in ounces - 70 ounces of water every day.
2. Eat oatmeal with 2 servings of fresh fruit for breakfast every morning.
3. Eat my "big meal" for lunch.
4. Eat a leafy salad with some chicken and light dressing for dinner.
5. Snack only on whole grains and fresh veggies.
6. Exercise at least 3 days a week for 30 minutes - something that tones my scrawny muscles and gets my heart pumping, maybe breaking a sweat...maybe.
7. I'd like to learn more about baking and cooking with whole grains, not just wheat and oats, but quinoa, millet, spelt, etc.
8. Wheat Grass...yah, I want to grow some of that and juice it.
9. Colon Cleanse?!?... I wouldn't even know where to start, but I'm thinking necessary for a fresh start to a healthy me.
10. Kegels, Kegels, and more Kegels. (Britt would be horrified that I wrote that on a blog that other people read.)
11. Strengthen my "core," essential to enduring another pregnancy.

Just listing it like this, sparks a little fire and desire for improvement. One step at a time, I think I'll start with drinking more water.