Losing It With Leanne Challenge Day 35 - Having FUN!!

February 15, 2011

Hey everyone!

I am having so much fun Losing It With Leanne! Week 3 is fabulous! Seriously, the LWL fiber bars are half a step down from cake, so yummy and healthy for you! I know it's winter, but I figured out a way around the cold smoothie..... make it early! Food can sit out for up to 2 hours before you have to worry about bacteria growth, so I can just make my breakfast smoothie while I'm having my pre-breakfast Kashi and have the smoothie later! Also, when I'm having part of the smoothie as a snack, I've been pouring the smoothie into 3 small glasses, having one, and sticking two in the fridge with a bit of plastic wrap over the top. Then I have some ready for next time; it separates a bit, but I just stir it up and I'm good to go.

I made the Buffalo chicken and the Mexican chicken from last week's Menu-Mailer and I'm going to make a variation of the Pork Marsala (I have pork broth that I made, so I'm going to sub that for the wine and have 'Pork Valsala' lol!) and the French Pepper Steak this week.

DH took me out for Valentines tonight (he had to work last night) I got all dolled up and I wore my red dress that I've never worn before. I've had it for a few years, and it was such a good deal (I think it was a $50 dress for $15) but it's a little spandexy and it shows off the belly, so I couldn't wear it for a long time. At the time I bought it I thought I'd work to get into it, so I picked it up.... good thing I don't do that often. But it was SOOOO nice to be able to wear it and feel pretty in it. :D I had the Angus Beef Skewar stir-fry. It was veggies and meat and white rice. I asked for no rice and double veggies. And it was a very good choice. There was a sauce on the veggies, but not a ton, so I wasn't worried about what was in it, it was delicious and the meat was a good portion size this time. (Last time I went out I ordered the meatloaf and it was 3 meal's worth....) Again, I was able to eat out, not think too hard, and not feel deprived.

I've been using my pedometer. I still have a ways to go depending on what I'm doing that day I've been doing 4300-8000 steps. My goal is to get up to 10 000 steps a day. My next trick is going to be to turn standing tasks into walking on the spot tasks. I tried bopping around (to music) and sidestepping while washing dishes, that works pretty well.

I've been on the wii most days. On even days I've been doing the my routine and the wii routines focusing on my core muscles, but doing a little bit with all my muscles. On odd days I've been warming up with the wii legs and hips routine and then bursting 30 seconds hard running, 1 minutes jogging or walking back and forth on the 10 minute free run and then a cool down with various stuff. Once I get going, I might use the 20 minute free run and do the on-and-off bursting for about 15 minutes and include the cool down in the last 5 minutes. The nice thing about the free run game is that you can change the channel and watch something.

I think I'm almost done my Challenge. But I'm going to continue with what I have learned. My next post will be my final weigh in for the challenge. I'm doing great and loving it! Thank you, Leanne!

So anyway, thank you for joining me, and I hope I can help you! It really is fun to be a Homemaking Diva!!

Please comment or send your questions to me at homemakingdiva@hotmail.com

Have great day!

Valerie :D

Losing It With Leanne Challenge Day 21 - Weigh in, Good Progress

February 1, 2011

I'm really having fun doing the Losing It With Leanne program!  The food is great and varied, I'm not hungry, I'm getting good nutrients in, I'm moving, and I'm losing weight! But not just losing weight, I'm getting healthier and making good choices.

I've been getting busier and busier all the time, so I haven't posted much, and honestly, I have missed a few workouts, but! I'm not giving up and I'm doing well!

I got on the wii and I am making progress. My BMI is down to 26.43 (from original 27.18) and my weight is down 2.1kg total (4.62 pounds). I'm three weeks in and I'm approaching my goal of losing 3 kg (6.6 pounds) very well.

On the wii today, I set up the 'my routine' to use the yoga and strength training exercises that I do the most. I think there are 7 moves and it's about 11 minutes. This is going to be my warm up, and then I'll go on to other things. This week I'm going to try to do some of JJ Virgin's "bursting" a few times. We'll see how that goes :D

So anyway, thank you for joining me, and I hope I can help you! It really is fun to be a Homemaking Diva!!

Please comment or send your questions to me at homemakingdiva@hotmail.com

Have great day!

Valerie :D

Losing It With Leanne Challenge Day 9

January 20, 2011

Man, flipping your sleep schedule around not only messes with your sleep, but with your eating, too! I followed the plan, but I missed one snack. But that was because I went to bed too early ;) No worries. I'm doing well.

Made SouthWestern Crock Meatloaf. It was easy and delicious.

Went on the wii, still losing more, so that means it wasn't just a fluctuation. - When you don't go on around the same time of day, the wii fit tells you that your weight actually fluctuates up to 1kg (2.2 pounds) in a day due to various bodily processes... But! Anyway, two downs, means it wasn't just a random fluctuation, it's REAL :D

I tried some different routines to change it up a bit. Instead of playing my circuit of games, I did the posture, tummy, and figure routines that were already programmed in to target those muscles. Each was two yoga moves and a game as opposed to mostly all games like I had been doing. I still have my wii fit goal set at a 115 calorie flan per day. And I've been hitting it each time.

Going to be out all day tomorrow, I'll let you know how that turns out. :D

So anyway, thank you for joining me, and I hope I can help you! It really is fun to be a Homemaking Diva!!

Please comment or send your questions to me at homemakingdiva@hotmail.com

Have great day!

Valerie :D

Losing It With Leanne Challenge Day 1

Jan 12, 2011

Losing It With Leanne Challenge Day 1 :D
First of all, I'm sorry I haven't posted in a while... I got a job at Saving Dinner of all places (after I was fawning all over them here) and I got busy, and distracted... Typical SHE ;)

So I'm back, and Saving Dinner is doing a Losing It With Leanne challenge right now! In fact, the whole staff is doing the challenge right along with everyone else!

So anyways. I ordered my protein powder a week ago, and it's not here yet, but I'm done waiting! (I'm in Canada, and I ordered from the States to get the specific one that Leanne recommended, so it's nobody's fault it's not here yet.)

Today, I sat down with my grocery list, Losing It With Leanne volume 1 (well, I have the whole thing printed off in my binder, but I'm starting at the beginning), and my Saving Dinner recipes that I already had printed out. I flipped through the Body Clutter menus that I had and picked dishes based on what sounded good and what meat I either had or was on sale. (That's how I usually shop, except I'm not always in the BC recipes.) I picked 6 recipes that look SOOO yummy even though they're good for me ;) and noted what I needed to get to make them (mostly produce, you'd be amazed at how little time I needed to spend in the middle of the store).
Sirloin tip roasts were on sale this week for half price, so I bought 3! You'll love this trick: they were on for $2.00 a pound and I had 2 beef recipes, one called for 2 pounds and the other for 3/4 pounds... So I looked for a roast that was as close to $5.75 as I could find :D Actually, I ended up buying three roasts and froze 2!
After I did my mains, I went through the rest of the daily eating plan and picked my options. There are 7 breakfast options in the LWL plan and 6 lunches, and I didn't want to buy for ALL of them at once, so I picked - again, based on what I had and what's good. Now I have most of the stuff for the breakfasts and stuff for 4 lunch options plus the soup! And I added some stuff to the list for my DH, he's not officially going on the plan with me, but I'm not cooking separate dinners for us. I jut told him that the recipes look good in and of themselves and he's fine with that. But I did get him 'regular' cereal and Black Forest ham for sandwiches, because he likes that.
That's the great part about the Losing It With Leanne plan, it's not all that different from regular eating, we just really need to make the healthier choices (low fat, not full fat dairy products, lots of veggies, less carbs (not no carbs, less carbs), and watch our portion sizes. It's more regimented for the people on the plan, but it's not the type of plan that turns you into a short order cook because your family "won't" eat it.
When my grocery list was done it was almost 50% produce, with a LOT of stuff around the outside of the store, and I only had to go down 4 centre aisles and that was for: Picante sauce, Kashi (and regular cereal for DH), bay leafs, tuna, white beans, and diced tomatoes. In my opinion, that's a pretty good list! And the best part was, I got to the cereal aisle and Kashi was ON SALE!! I love it when I'm going to buy something anyways and it's on sale! :D I really didn't spend any more than usual, especially considering how much nutrition was in my cart, plus I was buying 3 roasts instead of just the one I needed. So it cost about the same as normal with a little extra for all the meat, but that is normal :D
OK, so that's groceries... Got home, put everything away, had my 'mid-afternoon snack' of Kashi and then did all my measurements, then went downstairs and got on the wii fit to weigh myself. Today my BMI is 27.18 the wii wants me to aim for 22. It's a little high, but it has been slowly but surely coming down with me making good choices and learning by osmosis while working at Saving Dinner. I set my goal to lose 3 kg (6.6 pounds) in the 4 weeks of the main plan. I think that's doable. I've been slowly losing weight already, but now I'm going to be putting an effort into it!
I even did my circuit on the wii and burned a glass of coke and then some! (I have a list of about 8 of the activities that I 'always' do.) And I even hit a new high score in boxing, guess I'm not that rusty after all. I'm gonna plan to stay active through the duration of the Challenge, no easy task in the winter when you work from the computer ;) But I ran through my circuit today in 28 minutes, and I repeated some activities, so I should be OK. Plus, I'm committing to all of you and putting this our in cyberspace so I will be held accountable!
Dinner tonight from a past Body Clutter Menu-Mailer was Autumn Apple Chicken with acorn squash. What an easy and yummy recipe! I asked DH and he's all for us having it again someday (although apparently he's not a squash fan).
Hope to see you here more often as well as on the Losing It With Leanne facebook page!