We're all familiar with the tightening of the waistbands post holiday season. We've all indulged in too many rum and eggnogs, sweet treats, and heavy meals. Come January, everyone is ready to make some changes.
It's not just about exercise, as you need to be fueling your body to enable your metabolism AND to give you the energy to tackle those resolutions.
My resolutions included doing something active every day - whether that be yoga (3 times a week) or one of two DVD's that I reserve for days when I just can't get outside (30 Day Shred or Get Ripped), or a brisk walk with a friend. So far so good. Not perfect, but on the right track. My eating habits could use a little help though.
I realized the other day that I had fallen back on carb loading. Carbs - delicious, delicious carbs. This was on the second day where I'd eaten a big bowl of steamed white (gasp! evil!) rice slathered in sesame sauce. My favorite comfort take out Japanese food. I've also been indulging in Udi's gluten free bagels which are MASSIVE and leave me hungry two hours later for something else. That's the thing - while temporarily satisfying, simple carbs don't have the longevity to keep you feeling satisfied. You eat more and get less out of it.
Boooooo.
I've recently decided to try and eliminate most carbs after 5 pm. That means for dinner we'll be having lean protein and A LOT of vegetables. I am not cutting carbs, completely, but I will be only enjoying complex carbs (brown rice, quinoa) during the day. This is when I NEED the energy, not only for my brain, but this is also when I exercise. Come night time, I generally sit around, so I need my metabolism to not be sluggish with carbohydrates and sugars. Oh yeah, white sugar is something I'll be trying to say adios to as well.
For breakfast today, I enjoyed two eggs, cooked easy style (in a bowl, in the microwave) on two small pieces of Udi's gluten free bread. For lunch, I am drinking a smoothie. This is going to fuel me through my yoga practice later this afternoon. A smoothie can virtually be a meal in drink. Observe:
~ 1 medium organic banana
~ 0.5 cups of frozen bloobs
~ 1 tbsp of Skippy Natural (soon to be in a Canadian grocery retailer near you)
~ 8oz of unsweetened vanilla almond milk
~ 2 scoops of Vega Whole Food Green Smoothie Infusion
This little concoction has about 320 calories and 12 (12!!) grams of fibre, not to mention protein. See? It's a whole meal deal. I'm making an effort to ingest smaller meals, several times a day, as my metabolism just can't handle what I currently do to it. Not snacking is bad (tsk tsk), but you have to chose your snacks wisely. If it's tempting and evil, just don't buy it.
As for dinner, tonight will be baked salmon and a mound of steamed veg. And then probably cake because I made that YESTERDAY, before I had this mind revelation about my eating habits. But you get the idea.
Here's to you and here's to our healthy asses!
i want a healthy ass! i've been doing my carmen electra DVDs every day (or trying to) and i have cleaned up my eating habits over the past 3 weeks but i still need to work on it.. I love good, whole breakfasts (some protein, fruit or veg & a little whole carb) and am pretty good at getting that. It's lunch that's the problem. I tend to eat lunches that can rival the most filling dinner. That's gotta stop.
ReplyDeleteBut really, what makes more sense?? Eating giant dinners when as you said, we tend to be less active or eating giant lunches when we still need to make it through another 10 hours of day?? I don't think anything needs to be giant and so I'm working on that. But you know what I mean.
Good plan sister!