Carbs Schmarbs Part 1

I don't know about you but I suck when it comes to nutrition, sure I look at the label and think okay this looks good, I think? I do the normal steps, how many calories, how much far, how many servings are actually in the box (I used to think that an entire box of cookies was only 390 calories,  but then then after actually smarting up I realized only 3 cookies were a serving so instead of 390 it was like 3.9 million calories.....yeah)  it's true that abs are made in the kitchen, eat the fries and you ONLY have to do 524 burpees to burn them off! (Not that I eat fries but we all have our vices) I see so many people on Instagram who make it look so easy to always eat healthy and meal prep and plan but I have to remember that is THEIR job, that's all they do, their job is to look good, eat right and exercise. I wish the gym was my office, the kitchen was my home and that meal prepping would be easy and sure I'm sure once you get the hang of it it is but I'm the type of girl who HATES leftovers unless it's one of 3 things, 1. Chinese food, 2. Pizza or 3. An Omlette from Shari's. I don't know what it is, I see tons of people who constantly eat leftovers and I always make extra so I can have leftovers or "partial meal prep" as I call it hahaha, but it never fails, I'm not in the mood, it doesn't sound good, or whatever random excuse I come up with. So imagine now basically eating leftovers for a week straight, that's how I view meal prepping. But.....that's a whole other issue, so back to the nutrition label problem I was talking about, and for those of you who haven't and aren't required to take a nutrition course consider this your crash course, this will be the 1st of 5 blogs dedicated to breaking down the complex art of nutrition and putting it in terms we can all understand including myself because let me tell you I took it twice and I still don't fully understand the difference between complex carbs, trans fat, fat fat and so on and so on. Now correct me if I'm wrong but I feel like this is where people get confused and just give up. I know firsthand how that feels, my workouts are on point I'm proud to say but I struggle hardcore with nutrition and you've heard me talk about it before so you know it's a real struggle if I continually talk about it. Anyways here we go!

First we are gonna talk about nutritionally dense food, think of it this way, the more dense the food the more you need to fill full, the less dense the less you need. I know what your thinking, if it's high density why wouldn't I feel fuller? Well it's basically like eating empty calories. 

Low density foods contain a lot of water which makes them weigh a lot nut contain only s few calories, like fruits and vegetables. These can help keep calorie intake under control because you feel fuller with less calories.

High density foods are those that are HIGH in calories but weight very little I.E. Nuts, cookies fried foods and snack foods. These are good if you are trying to maintain or gain weight.

And in case you were wondering, chocolate is under the high energy density scale....sorry 😑 

Now for those of you who don't have a nutrition book handy with lists of low-high density foods there are a number of databases to find out the amounts of nutrients and calories you are consuming from your favorite foods www.calorieking.com is a great example and also shows you how you can work off the calories in the foods. And FYI here is how you figure out on your own how dense of a food it is:

Very Low Energy Density: less than 0.6kcal/g (1 kcal is equal to 1000 calories but it's confusing)

Low Energy Density: 0.6-1.5kcal/g

Medium Energy Density: 1.5-4kcal/g

High Energy Density: greater than 4kcal/g

So for example lettuce is on the VLED list because it only has around 0.1g of fat, graham crackers on the other hand are on the HED list and they contain 4.1g of fat with 138 calories and each gram of fat is equal to 9 calories so JUST including the fat calories each graham cracker you put in your mouth is 17.25 calories ( just sayin) just like if something has 15g of carbs in a serving of 3 each one has 5g of carbs. (Makes you think about what you are putting in your mouth doesn't it. If you aren't sure how to figure it out for other things you simply divide calories by grams so a bagel has 245 calories and weighs 98g, 245/98 equals a density of 2.5 which puts it in the medium density category.  So if you can figure out how much something is in grams (labels) usually tell you too you can figure out if it's something that will make you full or make you hungry again in a short amount of time.... This certainly changes things doesn't it? Well that's all for tonight! Stay tuned! Next post we will discuss portion sizes!

      

Starbucks & Situps

                                     

Okay so it's been a week since my gallbladder surgery, The first few days were rough and I mean rough, I haven't taken that much pain medication in awhile, a long while. So you're probably wondering what i'm doing blogging in a starbucks, we all know I'm not the sit and drink my coffee blogger type, But today I just happen to have two appointments that are far apart, The last one is my surgeon appointment. I am hoping to find out why after so long I am still having pain at one of my incision sites. It's no Bueno, bending, sitting up, laying down, trying to tie my shoes, or god forbid having to sneeze? Yeah don't do it. One good thing is i'm still able to eat most things ( well most things I was eating before) without complications, those of you who have had your gallbladder out know exactly what complications i'm referring to. Now since I cannot go to the gym until who knows when, (can't I work out other body parts and just avoid my abs? They weren't that great to begin with so  I can skip them for a while longer) i'm stuck really hampering down on what I eat since i'm laying around like a vegetable for another 3 days before I return to work. I am bored out of my mind. thankfully since I've been keeping my diet in check I've managed to lose weight instead of gaining it or maintaining it. Then again sleeping a lot and not really eating due to nausea from my meds could also be a contributing factor. That being said what I do eat is stuck in my 21 day fix containers that I purchased a few weeks ago, It's a lot easier then I thought it would be. We all know i'm not the type to premeasure things out unless its meat into ziplock bags so I can pull them out later to eat for dinner. After careful consideration I won't be doing the workouts that came with it simply because A. I don't have the space B. I have a gym membership and C. I don no wan to LOL. My coach is probably gonna be like what the heck Kerisa! It's a package!!!! (Sorry Lisa) Lisa Mohager who is one of my favorite reality stars (no judgement) now turned Beachbody Legend. Is my coach BOOM awesomeness overflowing in your mind right??? I know I know but you need to calm yourself.  Well my friends its time for me to leave this starbucks and go see my Surgeon so I can find out when I can hit the gym again because lets face it my workout clothes need their oxygen and by oxygen I mean the gym. I cannot disappoint them. Toodles!

We all have a choice

The title says it all, we all have a choice. It doesn't matter whether it's your life, fitness, career, or any other type of decision the choice is yours whether you choose to be positive or negative about it. For years I made excuses about not making my decisions correctly, I don't have gas, I don't have a gym membership, I have nobody to work out with, all of the excuses under the sun you could think of I gave for not taking my fitness journey seriously. Not only that but I chose day after day to have a poor me attitude about my fitness journey and about life in general. We all have that type of friend who no matter how many times you tell them they don't look fat, they are pretty or whatever else they always have something to complain about, they're having a bad day, a bad week, or a bad life. 

I am lucky enough to have a mirror of a friend to show me the truth about how I was behaving. But for years I chose to be oblivious,nto how I was behaving, I chose to not look into the "mirror" and it wasn't until recently that I got a dose of my own medicine where it hit me that we have a choice to either live each day positively or negatively. you know the saying you're only one work out away from a good mood? I firmly believe this  is true, sure I still have days where I'm tired from work or I've had problems with patients or with family or anything else that seems to go wrong in a day, everyone has bad days, everyone has problems that that they are faced with every single day it's how you choose to react to these problems that really defines you. LOL it's like Reese Witherspoon says: exercise gives you endorphins, endorphins make you happy, happy people don't just shoot their husbands. 

Now in order to lead a more positive life by choice you have to choose to eliminate the negativity and drama from your life, it's not always easy. I recently had to make a choice to remove certain friends from not only my  Facebook but my life completely. It's something that I've struggled with but if you are serious about living a positive life and incorporating that into your fitness journey it's a sacrifice that needs to be made. One thing I'm trying to do is make sure I see the positive in every situation, It's not always easy but I found that it makes my life a lot better and genuinely makes me a happy person, and when you are happy you you attract positivity. You get back what you put out as I say. I'm sad it took me this long to really grasp the concept but now that I have it I don't intend to go back to negativity land. 

So back to the daily choice, not everyone has time for the gym, I have days where I don't get off in time and I know the gym is going to be packed, so instead of just saying screw it, I will just do my workout at home. Maybe I won't be able to do the exact workout but some workout is better than no workout at all. I mean think about it, they recommend 30 minutes a day of exercise, that still leaves you with 23 hours and 30 minutes to do whatever you want! Personally I love vegging out watching food nextwork and going through my Instagram feed for new makeup, hair, recipe or workout ideas. That's my ideal wind down after a long day. 

So what can you do if you feel the negativity bug creeping up on you after a day filled with problems and no solutions? It's simple really. Close your eyes and focus on a positive thought, it can be anything you want, a cheat meal, a memory, a person, whatever! While your focusing on that happy thought and letting the warmth wash over you take a deep breath in through your nose while counting to three (I know I know a non multitaskers nightmare 😉 but you can do it) and then blow it out through your mouth slowly. You will do this 3x. This action helps reset your system and essentially puts you into your higher brain function or third brain as my friend Ann teaches ( this technique is used in heart mapping, and is actually taught to high level people at Redken where she worked and she was kind enough to teach it to me during one of our sessions, I was hooked up to s heart monitor and everything and you could see on the screen my levels, it was pretty cool to see the changes after doing this exercise) I can't explain it but you can actually feel stress leaving your body and you instantly feel better, calmer and more focused.  So in closing if the only thing you get from this is the knowledge that you have a choice to be happy everyday then my mission is complete!! 

This is showing how your emotions effect your heart rate and brain function, the top is someone who is stressed and not thinking clearly, the. Bottom is someone who is currently functioning at a higher level and are currently using their 3rd brain

Showing how the signals of stress apply to our brains and our thought process

And finally showing the levels work and what they do.

Goals Goals Goals

I've been asked a lot recently how I stay motivated. The truth is there is no concrete method to keep your motivation in check, and I'm definitely not the strongest willed person, just the other day I had a huge elephant ear, (I did share it with 3 people so I didn't eat it all myself) there are days when I get off work and I've had a crappy day and the last thing I wanna do is go to a crowded gym and work out. But the truth is I know what works for me, it's about small steps, telling myself I'll go workout for 15 minutes if I still feel like I don't wanna work out after that time I will leave, 9 times out of 10 I end up staying for at least an hour and I feel better, and that 1 time I don't stay? I walk away knowing I gave it a shot. I also have a movationsl board to help me keep focus of my goals, I'm a visual person so having lists and boards and goals like that really help me. Pinterest and Instagram also keep me motivated by following fitness type boards and people because all I have to do is scroll through either of them when I feel a binge coming on and it gets me right back into check. Not to mention it's great for new exercises, recipes or just visual quotes and motivation. My biggest obstacle will always be food, I eat too much, I eat to little, I don't eat the right stuff, I eat the right stuff but them I am still hungry so I eat way more then I should, portions are wrong, too much sodium, too many carbs, the list goes on and on, I know all the excuses people give for not eating right because I've used them myself. I'm starting to get better but everyday is a challenge, not to just grab subway after a long day, skip lunch and breakfast because I'm in a hurry. I've realized just how important some or any form of meal prepping is, whether it's creating a drawer of go to healthy snacks or portioning out meat so when you need to make dinner you can just defrost it and cook it quickly, fitness really is a lifestyle not just s quick fix. One of my goals for my fitness group is to have a meal prep swap night where everyone brings on of their healthy meals they've already prepped and can swap them for others along with recipes and ideas. I'm also hoping to host a healthy recipe swap where every time I make a new healthy/tasty alternative for people to make at home, however I need to find a place to host these events because right now my house is definitely not a good meeting point. 2015 may have started off rough but that doesn't mean it will have to end the same way! What are some of you goals and motivational tools that help you? I love hearing everyone's ideas!

Gym Rat Lifestyle

You know its funny.......I used to wonder how on earth people could spend hours upon hours in the gym, I mean really? I used to think I hit maximum when I would be at the gym between an hour fourty five and two hours, and keep in mind I spent an hour on the elipitcal. So really I only spent 45 or so minutes doing actual weighted workouts. Most times I spent more time doing Cardio because I would end up taking a Kwando Class when I was a member at LA Fitness (formerly Ballys when I went there) I have only taken a couple classes at 24 but i'm debating on whether or not I should start taking more, truth be told I feel most of them are strictly cardio and call me crazy but I like going at my own pace on the treadmill and eliptical, of course nothing beats cardio outside but well it is Oregon and although the weather has been nice I've been doing weights/cardio and the gym has the weights so its in the gym I go. However as soon as the weather continues to stay nice I will be going hiking. Anyways back to what I was saying, I find myself staying longer and longer in the gym, today for example I was there for three and a half hours, (yes I said that correct) I'm sure you are probably wondering to yourself...what were you doing??? I would be bored out of my mind! Well here how it was broken down: 20 minutes in the sauna, 25 minutes on the treadmill, an hour and 30 minutes doing my legs, an hour and 10 minutes doing my abs and then I finished my workout with a 5 minute cardio cooldown. Tomorrow it starts all over again. However I have to work in the morning so I probably will not spend another 3.5 hours but i'll definitely be spending atleast 2 hours there tomorrow. I spend atleast 5 days a week at the gym, 6 if i'm feeling really lucky. It's been 3 weeks and I can tell a small difference, sure the scale has gone up but I also have to remember i'm lifting weights and it is true that muscle does weigh more than fat. You are probably asking how do I become a gym rat? I barely have time to function let alone commit to 2 hours or more at the gym. Well here is the thing, you can workout ANYWHERE and I do mean ANYWHERE. You don't even need weights, you can do body weight routines, and if you want weights check out craigslist. There are TONS and I mean TONS of different workout equipment options on there.

All the gym time in the world will not make a bit of difference unless you control your diet. I myself am a binge eater, both healthy and unhealthy foods. I haven't had soda in 11 days but I can tell you it hasn't been easy. I work in the food industry, I have unlimited access to soda everyday I work, as well as french fries, desserts etc. It's so easy to just walk up to the soda machine and pour some Dr. Pepper or Sprite (my favorites) and fill up my cup. But it was funny, one day I walked up the machine like I normally do and for a split second paused under the sprite fountain and then I moved my cup over and pushed the water button. And from then on it's been easy. I have 10 more days to go and then not drinking soda will be a habit, now does that mean I won't have soda ever again? Probably not. I love Soda, I love chinese food, I love pizza and pasta and candy and CHOCOLATE. However having recently found that I suffer from acid reflux...(the only symptoms I was having was I felt as if I was always and I mean always swallowing some type of phlegm.) It wasn't until I finally went to an ENT that he told me that is a symptom of acid reflux. But I don't have any other symptoms besides that. Anyways he then told me the bad news: No coffee, soda, fatty foods, acidic foods, alcohol and spicy foods....I took to instragram with a photo and jokingly asked how I would nourish myself????? Now I rarely, and I mean rarely drink alcohol, my last beverage was on my birthday in January and before that, it was in August. But acidic foods??? I love pineapple and tomatoes and lemonade, chocolate (yes chocolate not only has caffeine but it tends to cause reflux more than any other food). Fried foods I understand and I rarely eat anything fried anymore although I will say it again how much I love chinese food which of course is fried......But caffeine??????? I love my coffee, I look forward to PSL all year long and I cry when it's over (okay well maybe not really cry but still I am sad, what white girl doesn't love her pumpkin everything LOL)  The soda is definitely not a problem anymore but if I hadn't already stopped cold turkey I could tell you it would be a big problem.

So what else contributes to being a gym rat you ask, well supplements, supplements, supplements. I not only incorporate protein shakes (which I do not recommend as meal replacements unless you are working out because they will simply make you gain weight.) My favorite right now is Cellucor Whey Protein in Peanut Butter Marshmellow it tastes just like peanut butter crunch!!!!! I like to mix it up with banana's, honey, and a little bit of chocolate syrup. (Yes I drink chocolate milk after working out and I use a little bit in my protein shakes, I live right on the edge lol). Along with my protein shakes I also use C4 which is a workout boosting supplement with Niacin to give you energy and I am happy to report it works well and there are no side effects. My personal favorites are Blue Razz and Watermelon. I also occasionally drink some of Brian's recovery drink that he brings but it's sooooo nasty, its fruit punch. However if you like fruit punch it's fantastic! The only thing you have to make sure you do is drink more water if you take C4, It actually takes water and puts it into your muscles more so unless you drink more water it can wreck your kidneys. But that's only if you don't like drinking water when you work out and who doesn't do that.... It's funny, I remember working at SunsUp Tanning forever ago and our trainer at the time used to constantly take C4 and he was like on crack it was hilarious. He always offered to give us some and I was like noooo I don't take energy drinks (I thought it was like a redbull at the time. I can now say I was wrong) Although Brian was a little overamped when he first started taking it....But now he's calmed down. It was again hilarious to witness. Me? Well I just feel a tingly/burning sensation in my body for a couple minutes and then I go about my workout. Maybe I could say my metabolism is too high for it to have a big effect on me....hahahahah right.......Well thats all for this week, if you would like to see more updates follow me on instagram :) @kerisa21 or hashtag #kerisamode and show me how you work out!

The Struggle Is Real......

So as many of you guys know I am currently unemployed so going to the grocery store and loading my cart up with delicous goodies just doesn't happen anymore, and when I say delicious I mean healthy as well. You really can change your eating habits in 21 days, especially if you are broke, and no I haven't reduced myself to eating off the dollar menu. Just because you may not have $200 to spend on groceries doesn't mean you can't eat healthy food for less. It just means that you need to stick to the essentials. What are my essentials you ask? Well I will break that down for you:

Salad Mix 0.99 cents

Open Nature Drumsticks $2.96

Strawberries & Cream Oatmeal $1.62

Taco Seasoning .75 cents x2

Wheat Bread $1.09

Deli Lunch Meat $0.69 x2

Honey Nut Cheerios $2.50

Butter $3.29

Tillamook Ice Cream $3.99

Total Spent: $19.32

So for $20 I was able to purchase enough food for a week of meals, plus a splurge item (I have to buy tillamook icecream when it's on sale its so good and a scoop goes a long way) Now you may be asking where is the milk where are the eggs what about other protein besides chicken? Well we currently have a total of 17 chickens so eggs are never an issue for me, milk I am set on and thankfully I still have turkey in the freezer, btw speaking of turkey I love going to Safeway on $5 Friday and stocking up on the big packages of ground turkey, I can easily get 5-10 meals out of a package of ground turkey. I have found that buying in bulk and then freezing them in individual packages just makes meal time so much easier, no fussing with cooking too much or too little. It's funny I recently read an article on facebook about a mother who said she needs more funds from the government to afford to live healthy because she can only afford junk and that is why she is obese. But truth be told it's not difficult to eat healthy, I find that unhealthy things are most of the time more expensive because you end up eating more then the recommended size and therein lies the weight gain. Now not everyone chooses to shop weekly for food but I have found that it works best for me, many a time I have went the grocery store and dropped a pretty penny only to end up eating out or not wanting to eat what I purchased so then it just all goes to waste. The only thing that I do stock up on is meat, if there is a sale on turkey or fish or chicken then I will be happy to stock up on it but everything else I buy on weekly basis because lets face it, those grapes might sound good now but are you going to single handidly go through 2lbs of them before they get gross? Probable not considering we all know what happens when you eat too many of them! So the next step I would like to take is planning my meals out a week in advance, just planning not preparing and freezing just planning so that way when I go shopping I know exactly what I need and there is less of a chance of something not so good finding it's way into my cart. I have also started a food journal to help me, and it's not going to be a typical food journal, i'm not counting calories i'm just writing down exactly what i've eaten and at what times to see if there is a pattern. Or I have a craving i'll write down what I replaced it with and see if it makes the cravings subside. I have a problem with bad food and it's time to take control, i'm not going to completely eliminate sweets or entire food groups but I would like to start following the 80/20 rule, aka 80% of your meals must be healthy and 20% can be cheat meals so essentials if you eat 3x meals a day (snacks are not included) then 18 meals per week must be healthy and 3 can be cheat meals, you can still have your cake and eat it too. Just don't eat the whole cake....

Progress Progress Progress

So it's been almost six months since I re-started my weightloss journey in February, i've had my ups, ive had my ups and i've had my downs, I think everyone experiences these in any type of journey, i've come a long way but I still find myself struggling in certain areas, for example I was all cardio for the first couple months and now it seems i've given up cardio so to speak, i've been focusing more on weight training which of course has caused my weight to go up because we all know muscle weighs more then fat, I have been losing inches and i've created an excel spreadsheet to help me track my progress, i'm also exploring more options such as starting to try a protein supplement with my first shaker cup~! (I got an awesome offer from GNC through facebook that includes a free gold card and shaker cup just for showing my college ID! it's a $30 value so thank you facebook and GNC!) One great thing about weight training is that i'm starting to see more definition in my arms and legs which is great but I really wish I would see it in my stomach, it is getting harder and i've lost another 1/2" but I wish it would just melt faster! Which brings me back to cardio, I need to up my cardio game but (and yes this sounds like an excuse and thats fine if you take it that way) the weather has just been so bipolar! It's either scorching hot or raining and as much as I hate to use this excuse but the other huge factor is that I don't have a lot of places to run unless I drive somewhere first. I live right off the highway and there isn't always a lot of space to walk/run on the side of the road, i've almost been hit several times and that is scary enough, not to mention some crazy guy could stop his creeper-mobile and kidnap me (yes I know this is highly unlikely but we all know it's still in the back of my mind) anyways with that in mind the fact that I am jobless right now and not getting any unemployment makes it a little tough to drive to go running, and yes I try to coordinate doing cardio when I am in town but that is getting fewer and fewer, it's funny I used to only want to do cardio on the eliptical at the gym and never wanted to do it outside and now it's like reversed, sure I am getting back into my gym routine and feeling better and better about my workouts and Brian has been pushing me hard at the gym everytime we work out together but I want more. I'm not happy with how slow my progress has become and granted I probably lost weight too quickly in the beginning because I made poor choices but now that i'm comitted to doing it the right way it seems like it's harder then ever. I can't wait to be working again, I definitely made too many excuses about not working out after work because I was too tired and I only worked out before work once and now that I have all this time on my hands I want to work out but I don't have the gas to drive to the gym constantly, I know what you're thinking, why don't you join a gym thats closer to home? Well to answer that I did, and unfortunately the gym didn't have pretty much anything that I wanted out of a gym so that was a total bust, and since I am planning to be moved out by early next year I just need to tough out the commute until then. I can tell you it will be so nice when i'm like 5 minutes from work and the gym. If I get the job that I interviewed for then I could literally walk to work and to the gym from the apartments I want to stay at which would be a HUGE change.    I would be able to go to the gym anytime I want and not have to worry about the gas or the longish drive. I envy people who have a treadmill or elipitical in their house or live close to walking paths, I mean sure they probably envy me because I live in the country but it's not like I live on a back road I live on the main highway so there are log trucks and speeding cars coming down my road and they don't always pay attention to people walking on the side of the road let alone the speed limit (I know i'm guilty of the second one) Anyways so back to the topic at hand. My six month check in, I really need to start focusing on my eating habits because that is where I am failing. I don't think I want to go as far as meal replacement shakes but I really need to get down my calorie intake which is hard because my metabolism has spiked so i'm hungry more and not all of my choices are the healthiest, I am trying but not hard enough. I feel like I really need to start expirimenting more with my cooking because i'm getting like food boredom, sure i've cut out ground beef and replaced it with ground turkey and I have chicken but I need more options or I need a wizard to magically make it taste completely different because thus far the only things i've tried with ground turkey is meatloaf, meatballs, spaghetti and tacos. What other healthier options of meat are there? I won't do Tofu, I will occasionally have some edamame but not as much as I used to since reading the Perfect 10 diet book I told you guys about, i've had some salmon and lobster tails but lets face it thats a champagne taste on a beer budget. Thus far I have only ever had cedar plank salmon when i've had it at home. There has to be more options then that but I just don't have the funds to be having salmon every other night and i'm not sure what some of the other fish options could be that might be cheaper. I really need to start doing my research because I am in a food rut. Everything I want to eat or I am used to eating isn't healthy and although i've searched for healthy alternatives I haven't actually tried making them in the kitchen. LOL it's not even New Year's and I already have my resolutions all picked out.....