Happy Thanksgiving

Woo boy... Thanksgiving dinner is over and done. All in all, not a bad meal.  I had 1 plate and 1 helping of each thing, extra turkey though.  Didn't eat dessert until hours later and then it was a tiny slice of flourless chocolate cake.  Mmmmmmm.......  Reset the sugar counter.

I've been catching episodes on this season's  The Biggest Loser.  Last night was a woman who is my weight and who also lost 12 lbs in a week.  In a WEEK.
How?  If abs are made in the kitchen and 80% of weight loss happens in the kitchen, not the gym, what the heck was she doing to lose that much?
Cardio, for sure but her diet must have been super strict.   I want answers!  Also, I want to lose 12 lbs in a week.  If anyone knows how she did it, please let me know immediately.

Go for it

That's right, Nicole!

Cheat with a capital C

Oh boy.  Well,some friends from out of town were here this weekend and I gave myself permission to have a cheat meal.  And a cheat meal turned into 2 1/2 days of eating and drinking and no working out.
We had a blast though! :)
I highly recommend the Great Lakes Brewery on Market Street if you want to enjoy some really good food and beer!

Resetting the no sugar clock too.  Sigh.  Oh well.   I'm not going to get down about it this time.  Keep on moving forward, eat clean this week, workout hard and get back on track.

1 week

One full week with no sugar!
Once I feel in control of this, I'll start reducing sugar-free options like gum and pop and keep my fruit intake down to 2-3 a week.

Side effects- my stomach is flatter and I feel way better.  The better I feel, the less I'll want to eat it.
I also passed the waist circumference test in the biometrics screening needed to get a discount for health insurance.  Woot!  I didn't pass it last year so I'm very excited to have made it this time around.

Miss Universe 2013

Taking a break from life to enjoy my favorite guilty pleasure past time- beauty pageants!

Congratulations to Miss Venezuela, Gabriela Isler who won the title tonight in Russia.   South America dominated the top 5 as they often do.

Day 4- No Sugar. Ate a little too much during the pageant party but still no sugar.  Time to scale back the amount of fruit as it's a large source of sugar to once or twice a week.

Motivate, part 2

Don't Punk Out- Stay Disciplined

Day 3- No sugar.  However, I did concoct an oats/unsweetened coconut/cocoa/peanut butter no bake cookie sweetened with a little bit of Truvia.  Cheating? Maybe!  It was enough to get me over the hump and hopefully it will be smoother sailing now.   :)

Motivate

I love the bodybuilding.com website, especially the  transform section. The before and after stories and pix are so motivating.
I especially love that it caters to all levels of fitness and they don't ignore beginners.  Check out this nice little piece about motivation:

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/start-strong-9-beginner-motivation-tips.html

1.  Recognize your drive.   Write down the reasons for your motivation down and put them around the house, car, gym bag or where ever you are most likely to see them.

Here's what's fueling my fire.  I want to feel better AND look better.  I want to wear cute clothes. I want to be strong.  I want to have killer arms and shoulders.

LOVE this before and after pic:

Cute clothes:

 Strong + killer arms and shoulders:

Day 2 - No sugar