Chicken Vegetable Soup

(makes 6 servings)

Ingredients:

• 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
  
  


• ½ cup chopped onion
  
  


• ½ tsp each crushed basil, oregano and marjoram
  
  


• 1 clove garlic
  
  


• ¼ tsp pepper
  
  


• 2 cups assorted vegetables, chopped or 1 (10 oz.) package frozen vegetables
  
  


• 2 cups cooked chicken breast, skinned and cut into small cube
  
  


• 1 (15 oz.) can tomatoes, chopped
  
  

Preparation:

• Mix chicken broth, onion, basil, oregano, marjoram, garlic and pepper in a large saucepan. Stir in vegetables.
  
  


• Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer until vegetables are crisp-tender (about 6-8 minutes). Stir in chicken and undrained tomatoes. Heat thoroughly. Enjoy delicious
  
  

Make 7 Servings:

Weight loss recipes Amount Per Serving(1/6 of recipe (340 g)): 149 Calories, 20 g Protein, 11 g carbohydrates, 3 g Dietary Fiber, 3 g fat, 1 g saturated fat, 39 mg cholesterol, 781 mg sodium

Day 68: The goal is still alive!

Hello!!  I've been one bad blogger!! It's not that I've forgotten to do it, I just haven't. Life is a little insane right now, and by the end of the day, I'm getting my workout in and reading/writing with the last few moments before I crash.

But I thought I would check in and let you all know I'm still working out everyday! I've been maintaining and it feels good to be working towards my goal of 365 days.  When things settle down, I would like to blog more about food choices and an eating plan.

I can tell my body is transitioning. My muscles are getting firm, even though the scale hasn't changed much in the last several weeks.  This tells me that my weight distribution is changing--greater muscle mass and less fat. Just need to press forward despite what the scale and my pants say. The goal is about daily workouts, nothing more.  Everything else is just a perk to the goal.

I hope to be blogging more frequently, but life is crazy.  Just when things slow down, they tend to speed up.
If you follow me on Twitter, I'm always popping up there.

Chicken and Corn Chowder

(makes 6 servings)

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp butter
  
  


• ¼ cup chopped onion
  
  


• ¼ cup chopped celery
  
  


• 1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and chopped
  
  


• 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
  
  


• 3 cups 1% low-fat milk
  
  


• 2 cups chopped skinless and boneless chicken
  
  


• 1½ cups fresh corn kernels or frozen corn kernels
  
  


• 1 tsp fresh thyme or ¼ tsp dried thyme
  
  


• ¼ tsp ground red pepper
  
  


• ⅛ tsp salt
  
  


• 1 (14¾ oz.) can of creamed corn
  
  

Preparation:

• Melt butter in a large Dutch oven over medium heat.
  
  


• Add onion, celery and jalapeño and cook until tender (about 3 minutes).
  
  


• Add flour and cook for about 1 minute, stirring constantly.
  
  


• Stir in milk and remaining ingredients.
  
  


• Bring to a boil then reduce heat to medium-heat and cook for about 5 minutes or until thick, stirring frequently.
  
  

Make 6 Servings:

Weight loss recipes Amount Per Serving(1/6 of recipe (320 g)): 251 Calories, 18 g Protein, 34 g carbohydrates, 2 g Dietary Fiber, 6 g fat, 3 g saturated fat, 42 mg cholesterol, 422 mg sodium

Flu Season is Here

I've noticed everyone around me getting sick lately (I seem to have become mostly immune to colds and the flu in the last couple of years), so I took a look at Google Flu Trends. Lo and behold, the United States is currently near peak flu incidence for the 2010-2011 season. Here's a graph from Flu Trends. This year's trend is in dark blue:


Flu Trends also has data for individual US states and a number of other countries.

It's time to tighten up your diet and lifestyle if you want to avoid the flu this year. Personally, I feel that eating well, managing stress effectively, and taking 2,000 IU of vitamin D3 per day in winter have helped me avoid colds and the flu.

Carrot and Butternut Squash Soup

(makes 4 servings)

Ingredients:

• Low-fat cooking spray
  
  


• 3 cups butternut squash, peeled and diced
  
  


• 2 cups carrots, peeled and sliced
  
  


• 1 large leek (white parts only), thinly sliced
  
  


• 2 (14½ oz.) cans low-sodium chicken broth
  
  


• ¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
  
  


• ¼ tsp nutmeg
  
  


• ¼ cup 1% low-fat milk
  
  


• Salt to taste
  
  


• Sprig of rosemary to garnish (optional.)
  
  

Preparation:

• Spray a large-size saucepan with low-fat cooking spray and heat to medium-high heat. Add squash, carrots, leeks and cook, uncovered for about 7-8 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  
  


• Add chicken broth, black pepper, and nutmeg then bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered until vegetables are tender (about 30 minutes).
  
  


• Place a third of the soup mixture in a blender, cover and blend until very smooth. Repeat with remaining soup and then return to saucepan. Bring to boiling, reduce heat then stir in milk. Add salt to taste.
  
  


• Serve soup garnished with a sprig of rosemary
  
  

Make 4 Servings:

Weight loss recipes Amount Per Serving(¼ of recipe (214 g)): 96 Calories, 3 g Protein, 23 g carbohydrates, 2 g Dietary Fiber, 0 g fat, 0 g saturated fat, 1 mg cholesterol, 41 mg sodium

Bad weekend

Hello my old fruits. That's what I need to stick to - fruit!

Oh dear, it was a bit of a chocolate frosted weekend. I dunno about you guys but having restriction is GREAT!

O my god did you like EVER think you would hear me say that after 4 years of whinging about how shit this band is?

This weekend I felt like murder. I was post menstrual - goodness only knows why - and in need of shite to eat. I ate two large bags of minstrels (Caroline - we share that passion!), a couple of bottles of wine, 10 packets of quavers, a few packets of crisps, a curry, a Chinese and to top it off - rice and sauce - the yummy fermented bean sauce I love that's like 1000 cals a teaspoon! I was proper bloated on Friday and Saturday and Sunday. Mmmmm Yummy.

So after this spectacular fall from grace I was a little wary of the scales... so I hopped on just for laughs this morning. 117.3kgs HEEE HEEE!!! Exactly the same thank goodness! I am taking that and running with it.

I delved into this conundrum a little more - you know the one:

Eat shit, stay the same weight/lose weight

This is a common thread which I can never seem to grasp. I plugged in all my calories into Livestrong.com and came up with an interesting fact. 

I ate less than 2500 calories each day!

Because of the band, although I wouldn't want to do it all the time, I ate a load of crap and was still under my calorie goal. Before the band before my band was fixed and I had the right restriction I was eating all my meals + CRAP.


I am not going to lie, my eating is pretty shitty sometimes, but I am glad that I now know that Albert is helping me with damage limitation. I went to bed full as a stuffed feather pillow. I could not possibly have eaten anything else. It just wasn't possible for me to over eat at the weekend!

So ladies... this is what it's like to have a lapband huh? I like it!

Anyway, after 3 days of bingeing on shit foods, this morning my mouth feels like Ghandi's flip flop and I am craving salad and water and fruit (some chance!) and water and veg and water. Water mainly! I am off to the gym later so have a great monday everyone!

Exercise and Weight Loss – Getting the Balance Right

When it comes to exercise, it’s often difficult to know where to start. There are many different approaches from ‘do it yourself’ gym memberships, group exercise, personal trainers. The Biggest Loser television program provides an extreme view of exercise and weight loss. Don’t forget contestants are recommended to consume only 1200 calories per day compared to their pre-program intake of 5,000 plus calories per day reminding us that calorie control is the first step in any weight loss journey. Calorie control comes from the quality and quantity of food we consume.

The Goal

There is no right or wrong answer but you need to find a routine that is going to complement your goals. Are you trying to lose weight, maintain a healthy weight or just improve your fitness? Also it needs to be practical for your lifestyle and still allows time for adequate rest. With weight loss, the primary goal of exercise is calorie expenditure from burning fat as the preferred fuel for our muscles. But if your exercise intensity is too high, then your body switches to burning stored sugars for fuel and tiredness and hunger can set in. Going too hard, too early can also lead to soreness and injury and a feeling of it’s not going to work. So working out with a personal trainer can be great for working up a sweat but not so great for weight loss.

Frequency and Consistency

With any form of exercise frequency and consistency are the key. Establishing some form of physical activity that is a regular part of your routine, 4-6 days per week, is ideal. Choosing the right exercise is simple, walking, gym classes, swimming, riding and even the Wii fit are all good options, as long as you are getting your heart rate up for an extended period, preferably 30 mins or more. Increasing your heart rate to the right intensity means you will burn fat as the preferred fuel source, the longer you do it the more you burn.

Enjoyment

When the alarm goes at 5:30am getting out of bed for something we enjoy makes it a lot easier. So think about an activity you will still enjoy on the days when you are lacking motivation or tired? We recommend walking as the best option because walking means putting on some decent shoes and heading out the door for half an hour. It also is the most efficient way to mainly burn fat during exercise. Other exercises like cycling or swimming are also great for elevating your heart rate and what is even better is varying your routine between all three to really add some spice to your routine. Activities you can do with other people give you that motivation not to miss a session.

Burning Fat = Losing Weight

During exercise fats and carbohydrates are metabolized for energy. As exercise intensity increases the fuel mix needed changes from predominantly fat to stored sugars. Our body stores sugars in the liver and muscles but only enough for several hours of intense exercise so when these stores are used they will need to be replenished through diet. That is what marathon runners do during a race. Burning fat stores is what we want to achieve when losing or maintaining weight is our goal. This occurs at lower exercise intensities. Each kg of fat stored has enough stored energy to power us for 25 hours of walking or150 kilometres at a brisk walking speed.

How Hard
Intensity (or heart rate achieved) of exercise is a critical aspect when it comes to weight loss and weight management. Intensity can be broken into ranges from light through to vigorous which is determined by the energy demands placed on the body. As exercise intensity increases so do the body’s responses, including higher respiratory rates, increased blood flow to the large muscle groups and the greater need for nutrients and fuel.

Heart Rate for Burning Fat as the Preferred Fuel Source
Heart rate and age are often used to estimate a target heart rate range for fat burning
Minimum target heart rate = (220 – age) x 65%

Maximum target heart rate = (220 – age) x 75%

For example, a 40 year old person’s minimum target heart rate is calculated as:

(220 – 40) x 0.65 = 180 x 0.65 = 117 beats per minute

Their maximum target heart rate is calculated as:

(220 – 40) x 0.75 = 180 x 0.75 = 135 beats per minute

So in this example keeping our heart rate between 117 and 135 beats per minute will keep us burning fat as our primary fuel source.

Tips

Heart Rate Monitors (HRMs) are an accurate way of recording your exercise intensity. Another rule of thumb is to make sure you can still hold a conversation while exercising. If your breathing rate is so high that you can’t talk, then you are probably burning sugars and not fat.

Routine
Completing your exercise sessions at the same time each day can be very helpful and enable you to stick to routine more effectively as well as eliminating any exercise-related motivational issues you may have. Initially, you may find that your exercise intensity is the component you find the most difficult to keep up, however this will ease over time as your body adapts to the routine and becomes fitter.