Eating out every night? Here are some tips to take a healthier bite!

Ever feel like you have SO much on your plate and no time to do anything?!? So you do a drive-thru run, order some burgers and fries with a soda, and head home to do more work while eating a grease filled burger. We all know that is not the best decision you have made for your body, inside and out. Here are a few tips and tricks I have learned a long my diet way:

                Snacking a weakness for you and only unhealthy items readily available? Take one of your days off and change that. Go to the grocery store and only buy healthy items that sound good to you such as carrot chips, apples, grapes, or celery.  Even get something that is high in fiber which is a huge bonus some examples are avocados, corn, or wheat crackers. Make sure you grab tons of zip lock baggies and enough food to snack on for a week.

                Now when you get home make sure you clean all your veggies and fruits really well. Then decide on what sounds good together as snacks and start pairing them up. Make sure you cut everything up so it’s that much easier through the week. Put them in the zip lock baggies and pop them in the fridge.

 Now every day when you’re about to head to work, school, your kids have a play date or whatever you day holds, grab a snack or two. That way when you start to feel that hunger pang you got yourself covered with some healthy and I bet your body would say a big thank you.

Don’t have time to cook a dinner every night so going out its easier for you? Well stop it may be easier but I bet your body is hating it.

 Make your meals one day a week and freeze them till you’re ready to eat them. Buy a few things of chicken breast, some turkey meat and whip up some great food that will taste just as good when you defrost and heat it up later this week.

I personally love soup so I make a big batch of soup with chicken and all sorts of veggies, and then freeze it in portion sizes so that way I just have to unthaw what I’ll eat that night. The soup could be 2 suppers and a lunch for my husband and I throughout the week. This makes your whole week a pinch and you are going to feel so much better.

If you absolutely have to go thru a drive thru and have no way around it look for the healthy items. There are plenty of apps for your phone that you can put in a restaurant and what item you are looking at getting, that will show you all the nutritional facts. Look at the calories and carbohydrates before you order any food, also look at the salt. A lot of places use tons of salt making their food and then add some more when it’s done. That is never good for anyone no matter what age you are and what your health status is.

If at all possible avoid buffets like the plaque! You go in saying you’re just going to get the healthy food and only go up once. Like that ever happens for anyone! You have to have amazingly strong will power and then some.  Most people, like me, end up getting more than they thought on their plate and you know that it is way above the calorie limit you wanted on that plate. Then after you eat all of that you look over at the buffet and see something you didn’t get. Next thing you know you have another plate full of food on your way back to your seat and knowing that you’re probably going to eat half of that plate. A buffet is just a place for disaster if you’re on a diet, trying to be healthy, or gain some muscles.

Basically plan out your means, prep them ahead of time, and watch what you eat. Your body, partner, kids/ future kids, and pets will thank you for the thought you put into the food you make and eat. 

 

What are your favorite healthy snacks? Foods?

Thanks for reading!

Counting calories or Counting Carbohydrates: the age old question

Which method leads to faster weight loss, counting carbohydrates or counting calories? I have personally tried both methods and both work. They have their pros and cons just like any other diet method. People swear by both so I decided to do some research and add my personal experience. For some of my facts I just googled both carbohydrates and calories.

Carbohydrates are basically a large group of compounds such as sugar and starch. Some examples of these are grains, pasta, and breads. Some fruit has carbohydrates as well.  I know that things like bread and pasta take longer for out body to break down.  Most diets that you do that are based on carbohydrate counting tell you to limit your carbs. Your body does use a certain amount of carbs as fat burning fuel. I counted carbs for a while and it worked pretty well. One of my main problems was find the correct carbohydrate count.

Plus I am a girl who loves to have bread or pasta either one will do. I am currently doing better with this and hope it stays that way in the future.  A downfall is that fried chicken is low on the carbohydrate scale but HUGE on the calorie scale. You just have to be careful with what carbs you decide to feast on. Don’t think that counting carbohydrates means you can eat so many donuts or pizza’s a day and still lose weight. That is just not how it works. You have to eat healthy carbs such as fruits, wheat grain, beans, or vegetables.

<i>Fun Fact: There is 875 grams of Carbohydrates in 1 pound.</i>

Calorie is a unit of energy. All foods have calories; some of them are so low in calorie count that it takes more calories to digest the food. Most of these foods are vegetables and fruits such as apples, oranges, broccoli, and celery. These are eaten raw to get the “Negative” calorie effect. I, personally, have had more results with calorie counting.

Since 1990 all foods sold in the United States must have a calorie count on the package which helps out with us calorie counters. Also when you go to a restaurant you can go to their website and find out the calories. Some restaurants have the calorie count on the menus. The average American needs to eat 2000 calories to maintain their weight.

<i>Fun Fact: 3500 calories is equal to 1 pound.</i>

 I use an application called Fitness pal to log all the food. I also have a hand written journal that I use as a backup. The application tells me the calories in the portions and you can find most food. If I can’t find the calories on the application I end up just Googling the food. Counting calories is easier for me since the application I use tells me the calories I have burned in any exercise that I do. That helps me stay in the calorie zone that I am aiming for. I counted calories last year and ate about 1200 calories a day plus I worked out. I lost around 12 pounds the first month and I felt fantastic. Then I lost motivation because of personal problems. I am back on this wagon and I WILL hit my goal.

All in all both are great ways to go about dieting in a healthy way, it just depends on your preference. Which do you prefer? What kind of results have you had with either of these in the past? If you haven’t tried these what diet do you use? What results have you gotten?

Thanks for reading and I can’t wait for your responses!

Nightly Exercise/Apps I use

Usually in the evenings around 730pm I get ready to go for a walk/jog. I say walk/jog because I am NOT a runner just yet. I wish I could go run for 10 miles and barely break a sweat but that’s just not me. I walk for a few minutes then do a minute of jogging. I am working my way up to two minutes of jogging.

I’ve never really been a runner. I can walk all day. I am the go to girl for amusement parks and scenery walks. You walk slow and take in everything around you. With jogging or running I have always thought that it was all focusing on your speed and endurance. That you didn’t focus on anything around you. Boy was I wrong.

Since I have started I have learned that I do much better when I am focusing on everything around me. Sometimes I get so caught up in how open the space is and the beauty in it all. Or I just get caught up in watching my dogs splash through all the water they can find and run off just to run back at lightning speed like they have something on their tail. Funniest thing ever I swear.

I have learned that applications on my IPhone are some life savers. I tend to get distracted sometimes and forget what I was doing. I know I call those blonde moments. I use my applications for everything. I wouldn’t know how far I walked or jogged, how many calories I lost, I wouldn’t have motivation on those lazy days, or be able to pick up the pace. I also have some of these applications hooked in with my Facebook. I love seeing the improvements I have made on my newsfeed because I know everyone else is seeing this also. You know it feels good when someone compliments you and it makes you want to keep it up.

I have an application called Zombie Run and it is awesome. I am one of the people who love zombie things period so this app was right up my alley. It did cost $3.99 but totally worth it. Basically you have missions that you select from. The first one is of you flying in to the base and you hear everyone talking around you. Then you crash and you have to run to a hospital then to the base. You can hear the Zombies behind you. I booked it down the road leaving my husband in the dust. He had no idea what was going on. On the days where I really don’t have motivation to do more than a slow pace I use this application.

I also have another application called map my walk. It uses GPS to map your route and your distance. It does help because I don’t go the gym or walking trails that have the miles mapped out for you. I also use this application in wal mart. I know that when I am there I do a lot of walking. You know how it is, needing some groceries but also needing something for the garden. They are always on opposite sides of the building. I think they do it on purpose but it works out in the end. I do AT LEAST half a mile every time I am in there. This application also tells you the calories you have lost. I try to do 3-4 miles an evening. I want to get up to five but when I hit that 4 mile mark I am pooped.

The last application I have recently found is called charity mile. For every mile you walk they have sponsors who give the charity you picked money. Each time you walk you can pick a different charity. I have been wanting to give back to the community somehow and what better way than to get your exercise in while doing a good deed.

I have also learned I do so much better with upbeat songs. I just use Pandora radio station but a lot of people have their music lists. I have sat down several times to make a list of songs I think I would like to run to and that will keep me motivated. I totally blank and can’t think of one song. So I just use Pandora and pick from my MANY radio stations that I have accrued over time.

Tonight I did 4 miles, burned 535 calories, and averaged 13 minutes a mile. I ran from several zombies and came out alive. I went old school with some prince and Janet Jackson, and then switched it up to my old school which is nsync and the early songs of Brittney Spears. I came home feeling amazing and I love that I can say that I sweated my butt off tonight. Anyone else get in the exercise they wanted today? If so what did you do and how effective is it? How did you feel afterwards? I would love to hear from you.

Have a great night!