I second that.

The last two days I have done pretty good with eating healthy. Sometimes it is hard to manage healthier meals with four kids due to time, but I am really making an effort. I am focusing on this as a healthy way to eat and not a "diet". I have no desire to make a short term change, I want this to be something that I can live with. Here is the run down for Monday and Tuesday.

Monday
Breakfast: grapenuts and milk 210, coffee
Snack:Cashews 140
Lunch: turkey and swiss in flat bread 300
Snack: cheese stick 100
Supper:spaghetti with sausage and a salad. I know pasta is on the cautious list, but I was careful on serving size and had only one half sausage . Total cal about 500.
Snack cashews and kiwi 240
Total 1490

I did lower body weight training in am and ran 4 miles at 7pm. I also drank a ton of water.

Tuesday:

Breakfast: Grapenuts 210
snack: missed ( on road to mall in syracuse 3 hours away)
lunch: salad with grilled chicken breast 300
snack: missed (in build a bear workshop lol)
supper: salad, 5 oz steak, mashed cauliflower) 500
snack: cashews 140, kiwi 100
one glass of wine 150
Total: 1260
I ran 4 miles at about 8:30pm due to heat. I also drank a ton of water!

Overall, I am feeling more energy and seeing more tone. I am very pleased with my progress at this point.

It all sounds so good. Glad you have more energy.

Yesterday went well, although I think I could have used more calories at lunch as I was starved at 4pm. I also had a little trouble with muscle cramps in my calves. I did lower body two days ago, so maybe that was it. I may take today off from running just to be on the safe side.

On another note, I just looked at my calender and I have three weeks to make this a habit before I am back to work. I think it takes 21 days to establish a new habit? For some reason when I am back at work and the kids are in school, I get off track. My first class day is Labor day, but we have several meetings in the week prior to that. I also need to revamp my course before then ;-)

Here is what I ate

breakfast: two eggs, banana 200
snack: cashews 140
lunch: tuna 250
snack: cashews 140
snack: piece of cold pizza (was starving at this point) 200
supper: small morrocan chicken breast, one ear corn, and 1/4 cup brown rice 500
snack: ran too late and wasn't hungry
total: 1430

Since you had tuna for lunch yesterday, make some tuna salad and have that for lunch. You can either eat it plain or put it on a pita bread. You can also make chicken salad. When I make my tuna/chicken salad, I cut up sweet pickles and leave them in chunks, instead of relish and put pecans in it.

If you are running out of ideas for lunch, like I do at times, go to this receipe website. I can't tell you how much I love it.

I Got To Ask - It's Killing Me - Fitness After Four What?

A Four Year Old?

Well here it is Monday again. I did well last week, diet fairly consistant. I am starting to enjoy eating breakfast, I have alot more energy as a result. I weighed myself on Sunday, same scales as last week, and am down a pound. I feel better overall and seem more toned. Today I did lower body and will run this evening. I am up to 4 miles and am really anjoying getting out and having time to myself.

Livefrom NY: the "4" refers to my kids. I have a 9 year old, 7 year old twins, and a 4 year old. Trying to fit in exercise time between work and 4 kids is not as easy as I thought it would be. I am the heaviest I have ever been at 140lbs and was really feeling worn out. I am here to change that.

Okay, so here is my mental conditioning. I am telling myself the scale doesn't matter and that as long as I eat right and exercise I will be healthy and at a good weight. Right now I am consuming about 1500 calories which seems to work well as I am down a pound. I run daily and lift weights 3 times a week.

I also took the time to measure:

bicep: 11 inches
chest: 36 inches
waist: 29 inches
hips: 37 inches
thigh: 22 inches
calf: 13.5 inches

weight 140 lbs

Thanks for the recipe ideas She they are great!

Very very true. The scales can lie. Don't always trust them. Don't get upset what it says. The best way to tell is by your clothes.

Your welcome.

Yesterday went well. Here is a rundown of what I ate:

Breakfast: Oatmeal 130 cal, coffee
Snack: cheese 100 cal
lunch: peasoup 140 cal
snack cheese 100 cal
supper: low carb spaghetti with two meatballs and homeade sauce: 500 cal
salad 45 cal
snack: cashews 140 cal
Total 1155 cal, alittle lower than normal, but I wasn't hungry either. I was a little low on my protein which I think accounts for the lower cals. I will work on that today.

I did lower body weight training in the am and ran 4 miles in the evening. Overall, I am doing well and sticking to my plan. I am definately seeing more tone after only two weeks and that in itself is great progress. I am a little tired today as I was up half the night with a sick little girl. Maybe I can catch a nap before I run this evening lol.

A suggestion which might help or might not... try making your breakfast bigger and your dinner smaller... The extra calories in the morning will help you start your metabolism and the lower calories in the evening will be better suited to your needs then.

I have to remember that one. Mine is always the other way around.

Thanks Stingo, that is a tough one. I know it is better to eat less in the evening but years of big dinners is hard to change lol. I guess change is what it's all about though. Going shopping today and planning on buying alot of fish, my kids will eat it and it seems to be a better evening choice. What do you think about a bigger lunch. I am not a huge breakfast fan, although eating breakfast the last two weeks has made me hungry in the morning again. Thanks again for your advise......I will keep trying ;-)

Intersting revelation, I used the calorie needs calculater and came up with 2080, subtracted 500 calories and used that as my goal for the day. According to theory I cut 3500 calories in one week and I should have lost a pound of fat. Amazingly enough I did.....have to see if this theory is accurate next week. I actually think I am eating much less calorie wise due to the types of foods, even though I am eating much more often and don't feel hungry. It is amazing to see that it works.

Well, it just seems people limit their calories all through the day, then have a big meal, or worse yet, a binge session at night. My gut feeling is that this sets up a mini starvation mode where the body knows how many calories it should've had by that point in the day, and it gets determined to make up for that loss by storing more fat than it normally would.

As per Men's Health: Eat like a king at breakfast, a queen at lunch and a peasant at dinner.