I recently began living a Low GI Lifestyle and would like to take you on my journey. Maybe you're thinking of living a Low GI life as well. I hope this blog helps you see how easy it is and encourages you to give it a try.
What is Low GI? GI stands for "Glycemic Index" and it's all about controlling your blood sugar which will help you manage things like diabetes, heart disease, and PCOS. Within 4-6 weeks, you should find those annoying cravings for unhealthy foods greatly minimized. That's right. Those irritating cravings for chocolate, pizza, bread, and other non-healthy foods... no longer a part of each waking moment. The weight is slowly coming off, but at this point, any weight loss is simply a bonus. I feel so great living this lifestyle that I wouldn't quit it for anything. I no longer have migraines and I have tons of energy. I sleep better and feel happier. Why don't you join me? We'll take the Low Gi journey together.
Starting Weight (8/12/11)= 228 lbs
Goal Weight = 158 lbs
Pounds lost (as of 2/3/12) = 19.5
Amount left to lose = 50.5 lbs
Newww house! WOOT
I’ve wanted to move for about 6 months now but I wasn’t prepared to start looking. Today, on the classified ads at work, I stumbled upon this amazing rental property. Right now I’m in a 450 sq foot duplex. I can hear my neighbor blowing her nose in the morning. No lie. It’s crazy how poorly insulated my place is. It’s an adorable apartment, but I feel like I don’t have any privacy. I might as well be in an apartment complex.
This is a standalone house with… a Back. Yard! Check out the patio:
And the back yard:
And…check out all this counter space in the kitchen. It’s 3 times the counter space I have now! EEK! I sign the lease tomorrow and should be able to start moving in 3 weeks.
Eating out
Saying you’re not going to go out to eat for an entire month is like saying you’re never going to eat chocolate for the rest of your life… it’s all you think about. But I’m going to do it dangit. I made a meal plan yesterday and bought groceries so I have yummy food to eat.
I also made a workout plan. I think the reason I’ve been so lazy the last few weeks is because I got burned out. I went from almost never exercising to working out 6 days a week. It was too much and I got sick of it fast. I’ve now made a specific schedule. Mondays and Thursdays are my days off. I’ll run on Sunday, Tuesday, and Friday. Wednesdays and Saturdays I’ll lift weights and do pilates.
I feel good about this. I’m ready to get my life back on track.
Blah
For the last 3 weeks I’ve been incredibly lazy. I haven’t wanted to cook or exercise which means I’ve been spending too much money eating out and too much time sitting on my rear.
The migraines are back. I’m worried that I’ve got so much soy in my system it’ll require a week of detoxing before the migraines go away. I’m mad at myself and a little depressed. I’ve gained back 4 of the 20 pounds I’d lost.
The 12-hour days just got to me and I got burned out. I work from 8-5, would get home at 5:15, I’d work out for an hour, make dinner, clean up, get all my meals prepared for the next day, clean up those dishes, and by the time I sat down, it was 8:00 or 8:30. It was exhausting. But you know what? I was happier when I was living that lifestyle becuase I knew I was doing good things for myself.
It’s time to get back into healthy eating and exercising. It’s hard to motivate myself but it’s even harder to live with myself when I’m being so unhealthy. To help muster up some motivation, I’ve decided to challenge myself. I’ve set a goal to stop eating out for an entire month. Not one cup of coffee at my favorite coffee joint, not one breakfast burrito, not one last minute and quick lunch trip to Taco Bell. Nothing. Nada. Hopefully this will be drastic enough to force me to change my lifestyle again.
I’m not sure how much I’ll be able to work out though until the migraines go away. Dangit. I’m so mad at myself for letting it get to this point.
Yeah… I rock
I’m a sales rep and manage 222 accounts, most of which are in New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. I’m required to make 12-15 outbound sales calls every day. Since the first of the year, my co-workers and I have all been crazy unmotivated. I’m averaging the most calls per day and I’m only up to 8.
Today I made 29 outbound calls. This is in addition to answering e-mails and doing other internal paperwork. It’s more than I ever thought I could do in a day.
I’m determined to make the best out of my job by being a good great employee. I’ve found that the harder I work, the better attitude I have about my job.
It was a good day. WOOT.
CAN SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME HOW IN THE HECK YOU PUT PICTURES IN YOUR BLOG? I know how to upload a photo but sometimes people have photos in the middle of a post and I can’t figure it out! Grrrr!!!
Anywho…
I bought a new cookbook a few weeks ago. Anyone surprised? I’m a cookbook-aholic. In the past 3 months there have only been 3 different recipes that I’ve made more than once. I cook all the time because my hips and wallet can’t afford to eat out very often, but I’m constantly trying new recipes. It’s sort of my thing I guess. Why make something I’ve already made before? BORE-FEST!
This is a Spicy Chicken Burger with Tabbouleh & Spicy Sweet Potatoes. Except that the grocery store didn’t have any ground chicken so it’s actually a spicy turkey burger. Though it really wasn’t spicy at all. Huh. Oh well.
Here’s what you need for the burger (and don’t judge me for the grotesque amount of mustard on that bun. I. Like. Mustard.)
1 lb 2oz lean ground chicken
4 green onions (chopped)
4 Tbsp finely chopped cilantro (or half a cup if you’re a cilantro-lover like me)
2 crushed garlic cloves
1/4 Tsp Cayenne pepper (REALLY? This is NOT enough to make the burger spicy)
1 Egg white, lightly beaten
1 tbs Olive or Canola Oil
1 Lemon, halved
5 1/2 Ounces Tabbouleh
4 Whole grain bread rolls, halved.
DIRECTIONS
Mix the first 7 ingredients (that’s the chicken all the way down to the egg white). Season with salt and pepper. Shape the mixture into 4 patties (this makes HUGE patties. It’s supposed to serve 4 - more like 6 if you ask me). Refrigerate 20 min before cooking.
Heat oil in skillet, add patties, and cook on medium heat for 5 minutes on each side or until browned and cooked through.
Squeeze the lemon on the cooked patties and drain well on paper towels. Add the patties to the halved whole grain buns and fill with the tabbouleh.
TABBOULEH:
3/4 C bulghur wheat or quinoa
2 large bunches Italian flat-leaf parsley
1 handful mint leaves
4 green onions
4 roma tomatoes, seeded and finely chopped
2 crushed garlic cloves
3 Tbsp Olive Oil
DIRECTIONS
Cook the Quinoa or bulghur wheat as instructed. Chop everything else up and mix together in a bowl. Add cooled quinoa/bulghur. DONE.
On to my favorite…
SPICY SWEEEEEET POTATOES!!!!!
For one serving, you’ll need:
1 small sweet potato
1 Tsp reduced sugar pancake syrup
2 Tsp Cajun seasoning or Cayenne pepper
Salt and pepper to taste.
Peel and cut sweet potatoes. I use a crinkle cutter from pampered chef. Put all ingredients in a bowl and toss until well-coated. Place on baking stone and bake 10 minutes at 350 degrees. Remove, flip over all the fries, and bake another 10-12 until desired crispiness is reached. It’s my new favorite thing. Last week I ate 4 sweet potatoes cooked this way. Y-UM!
EVEN BETTER - THESE ARE ALL OUT OF MY LOW GI COOKBOOK. WOOT!
Needing a little motivation…
Friends, I need some help. For the last 7 days I’ve been incredibly unmotivated. I’ve only worked out once in a week. I feel tired and don’t seem to care if I work out or not. Maybe I’m a little depressed and don’t realize it. Maybe I’m coming down with something and that’s why I’m tired. Or maybe after working out super duper hard for 2 solid weeks, my body wanted a break.
Whatever the case may be, I want to know what you do to motivate yourself. Do you listen to your body when you think it’s telling you to take a break? How do you push through and get yourself motivated?
Last week the scales showed that I’d gained a few pounds. I’d been diligent about lifting weights and doing pilates in addition to running so I’m thinking the weight gain is a result of muscle definition rather than extra fat. Either way, seeing the scales go up makes me nervous.
I need tips from my fellow healthy friends.
Blogging
I haven’t blogged much lately because I’ve been thinking a lot about what I want this blog to be. It quickly turned into updates about my running training which I’m sure nobody wants to read about. I want to get back to my original reason for blogging - to help people get healthy and be happy through eating right and exercising.
I want people to know that getting healthy is fun and exciting. I used to think getting healthy meant boring workouts and starving yourself or at least denying yourself every craving you have.
Here’s the thing though… sugar causes cravings. If you’ll fight it for 2 weeks, you can virtually eliminate those cravings for unhealthy food by simply avoiding processed sugar. I’ve been trying all kinds of new recipes lately and I’m having a blast satiating my pallet with new flavor combinations.
It started with eating right but then I realized, I don’t want to be skinny. I want to be healthy. Five months after changing my diet, I started training to run. Fast forward six weeks after I started running and we’re at today. Today I started doing pilates. All you need is a matt and a computer. Pilates videos are all over YouTube. Now I run every other day and on the days I don’t run, I lift weights 30 minutes and starting today I also do pilates for 30 minutes.
And you know what? I don’t hate it. I don’t have to force myself to work out. It’s been 6 weeks and I don’t have to talk myself into exercising. Even on days that I don’t particularly want to exercise, it’s easy to convince myself that 30 minutes of exercise is a small sacrifice in order to feel strong and amazing.
Here’s what my journey has taught me… Being healthy means an entire lifestyle change and you don’t change your whole life overnight. Wanna get healthy? Start small. If food is your biggest weakness but you’re comfortable exercing, make a plan to incorporate exercise into your daily life. Go ahead and eat your pizza. Just make sure you work out 30 minutes a day and at least 5 times a week. I really believe that after a few months of this, you’ll decide that you’re ready to make other changes. When you’re ready for the next change, start trying to eat more fruits and veggies. Set a goal to eat 3 servings of veggies and 3 servings of fruit every day…
Small changes.
Small. Changes.
You can do it. I took the first step to changing my life 6 1/2 months ago. It has been a process and I’ve eaten my fair share of pizza along the way. Not every day is perfect, but I’m learning. I’ve lost 20 pounds and lots of inches. Some days I wish I could lose the weight faster, but I know I’m doing things the right way. I’m exercising, I’m eating right, and I’m getting plenty of sleep. the weight will eventually come off.
I truly want to see people get healthy. I want everyone to experience the joy I’ve experienced while eating right and exercising. I finally have control over my life. It’s time to get control of yours.
“There are 1440 mins in the day, can’t you spare 30 of them for exercise?”
NO EXCUSES. JUST RESULTS.
GET IT IN.
This is so great. I actually tell myself this everytime I don’t want to work out. I’ll say, “Sheri, you’ve been up for 10 hours. You can surely spare half an hour!” Don’t judge me for talking to myself. At least I don’t answer. :)
(Source: mybeginnersmind)
Oh how I love being an auntie! Adilyn Cate was born at 10:10 this morning, weighing in at 8lbs 8oz. My amazing sister was walking around within an hour after giving birth.
Get strong bones
I read yesterday that running actually strengthens your bones and it made me wonder… if my dad was a runner, would he be suffering with such painful arthritis right now?
It totally bums me out that doctors aren’t talking about this kind of stuff.
I’m running to get healthy. I’m running to challenge myself. But mainly, I’m running because I don’t want to suffer like my dad.
