Going For The Greens

Well, here I am again, after a three month hiatus from blogging, and a long period of ups and downs as far as my diet and exercise routine goes...definitely more ups when it comes to portion size, pant size and the numbers on my scale. In yet another attempt to get back on track I've signed on for the one month Skinny Plate Challenge to get my food intake back under control and at the same time add more greens to my diet. If you would like to join the Skinny Plate Challenge you can check it out here.

My first "skinny plate" meal,

1/2 salmon steak, quinoa,and some greens

...a spinach salad,

...adding a couple of handfuls of spinach to

 green up my breakfast smoothie,

...and waiting patiently for

 my garden to grow!

...two weeks in

...it won't be long.

Lets Get It On

Pineapple Salad

A bed of fresh salad greens and dill from my garden 

topped with mushrooms, peppers and pineapple

and sprinkled with sage flowers. 

~great with Mango dressing~

So many people bemoan the idea of  going on a diet or switching to a healthier life style with the mistaken belief that they will be required to give up their favorite foods and commit themselves to a lifetime of nothing but  rabbit food to eat. Nothing can be further from the truth. There is a wide range of foods to to enjoy. The secret is limiting the junk food, paying attention to portion size and tracking calories. I've found that using this free, easy to use online diet site, "Loose It.com" helpful in keeping track of how many calories I take in and how many I burn each day through exercise. Setting a daily calorie limit and seeing what I've eaten listed on my computer screen  in front of me helps me to choose foods with a lower calorie count allowing me to eat more ...thus I am not fighting pangs of hunger. But that doesn't mean you can't treat yourself to your favorite cheesecake once in a while, you will just have to cut back for the rest of the day or  increase the amount of exercise you do to make up for your indulgence.

Speaking of exercise, with Loose It.com you can even calculate the amount of calories burned doing "the nasty",  although I should point out that, according to Loose It, moderate sexual activity burns only 9 calories for 30 min. of activity and by stepping it up a notch, you can burn 15 calories for 30 min. of  vigorous sexual activity. Ho hum...just 15 calories ... me thinks the next time hubby gets randy and suggest we burn a few calories, I'm gonna pass him  Nordic walking poles and tell him to go take a hike ...and I'll go too....and burn 173 calories for 30 min. of Nordic walking...

"I'm ready babe...lets get some action on."

Happy Walking
Marisa

Walking My Ass Off

I love singing the line in Bob Dylan's song, My Back Pages... 

"Ah, but I was so much older then,
I’m younger than that now,"

...for the most part, 

that's exactly how
I feel.

Weight has always been an on again/off again issue for me
...I love to eat
...and I love to relax in front of the TV
... exercise
...not so much,
a bad combination resulting in a roller coaster of 

gaining/dieting/gaining/dieting
over the years.

40 and fat!

48 and fatter!

The hubby looks like he's about to be crushed.

Although it was easy to justify eating with abandon and my lackadaisical attitude to exercise with "I'd rather be fat and happy than thin and miserable"...I was not happy.  But it was not until the pending wedding of my daughter five years ago that I finally took the bull by the horns made some life style adjustments. Having already bought my dress, a size 16 ... I woke up one morning and made up my mind that there was no way I was going to wear that dress. So, starting with an elliptical machine and weighs and watching what I ate, I managed to loose 30 pounds in time for the wedding... and kept it off except for a little extra  padding I tend to put accumulate every winter and have to work off as soon as the weather is nicer and it's easier to "get the move on."

Since my initial weigh loss I have added a treadmill, a reclining ab bench, a rolling machine and a weigh bench to my little home gym in the basement, but aside for little "workout fits," they generally just sit there gathering dust. My preferred exercise of choice for the past year consist of mostly walking. In March I started using Nordic walking poles and have grown to love them so that walking now without them feels unnatural. Lately, I have been walking my ass off...at least 5K every day...the ass is slowly disappearing, along with my arms and legs...too bad the belly and boobs are so slow to follow suit!

I have given away all

my biggie clothes,

  haven't

worn a

baggy "T" in years,

and now when I sing along

with Bob, 

it's...

"Ah, but I was so much bigger then,
I’m smaller than that now,"

Happy walking,

Marisa

For more Sunday Citars visit Tabitia at Fresh Mommy Blog.