Life Gets Busy

Summer is in full swing and it may seem like I haven't been keeping as close track of my weight since I haven't updated my blog lately. That couldn't be further from the truth, I am still weighing myself every thursday (and Sunday) and continuing my healthy lifestyle. I have just been so busy with yard work, projects, and taxi-ing my son to his sports that I haven't had time to sit down and post whats been going on. So today will be a big catch-up day on my progress.

So last time we chatted I told you about the protein goals that the Dr. told me I needed to be following. In order to make sure I meet those goals I decided to download an intake tracker on my phone, My Fitness Pal. I love the program and since downloading I make sure I get in my 60-70g of protein per day. One of my favorite things about the program is the reminder notifications, if you haven't logged your breakfast by a certain time it sends a reminder notification to your phone to remind you to log it in. I love that and it has helped me to log diligently. The other thing it allows you to see is your daily intake percentages of carbs, protein, and fat. I like to keep my carbs the lowest percentage, but its more typical that they all are about equal percentages. This program will also let you track your exercise, and while I am exercising, I choose to not track it.

Using the food tracker helped me see that I needed to increase my protein and decrease my carbs, so I went to Pinterest to find some gluten free high protein, low carb snack options. I found a couple that I decided to try. A Blueberry Muffin protein ball, and a Pumpkin protein ball. I bought all the ingredients and whipped up a batch of each of these snacks. OH Mhhhy GURRR, they were DISGUSTING! And it's not because I made them wrong, they were just plan grotesque. Needless to say they were immediately thrown out and as I type this I am gagging a little just thinking about them. After that failure, I went on the hunt for a high protein, low sugar, low carb, gluten free protein bar. I found a couple I really like, the brand is Quest and I really like the flavors coconut cashew and cookies and cream, both really good. I usually have half a bar between breakfast and lunch and the other half between lunch and dinner. A full bar contains 20g of protein so that has really helped to boost my protein numbers. Another snack I have found that is low in carbs but high in protein is greek yogurt, I get the low calorie kind and depending on the flavor they have about 10-12 grams of protein. Another gluten free snack I have found in gluten free cinnamon Chex. I love that stuff, but honestly it's not that healthy and really increases my carbs so when this box is gone I wont be buying it again. I divided the box into single servings in ziploc bags so my portion sizes are already measured and I don't overeat, but like I said, I wont be buying them again because they are not helping me reach my goals

Before WLS I was never a burger eater, I just had a thing about any pattied meat, something about the texture grossed me out. Something has changed, my husband was grilling out the other day and the smell of the burgers he was cooking was DIVINE. So I decided to try one, it was so juicy and delicious in my mouth. So I have officially been converted to a burger eating fool. Every time we have grilled out since I have ate a burger and loved every minute it was in my mouth. I eat my burger with a slice of cheddar and it is amazing, all these years I have been missing out on burgers!

So my family has slacked on the family fitness challenge. I was probably the first to jump ship. I hate running, I especially hate the treadmill. I am one of those people that really needs to actually go the distance, otherwise it's too easy to just jump off the treadmill when I get uncomfortable. If I walk 3 miles one way I still gotta get home somehow, so that means I gotta go the 3 miles home. I haven't been walking or running, but I have been riding my bike about every other day. I am averaging around 8 miles in distance and each time I go out I try to push myself a little further each time. I have only found 1 hill I haven't been able to completely climb up, but I will conquer that by the time I post again. It's really amazing the difference of how my body feels riding a bike, I feel like I have better balance and my rear doesn't hurt nearly as bad on the seat. I've been doing it so often it doesn't hurt at all, but I am only on the bike for like 45 minutes. Also, since the last time I posted I went and worked out with a childhood friend. It was great to catch up with her, but the workout felt like a circut workout without the weights. You know where you move station to station doing a specific workout for a set amount of time, and I am just not into that. I'm a little artsy fartsy, if I workout I want it to be fun, like dancing, pole dancing, or arial silk fitness. As of today I am 20 pounds from my goal weight range, and I can't wait to see what my body looks like when I get there.