Working Out: If it were easy, everyone would be doing it...

This week's topic for the Slim by the Summer group... exercise...

Exercise. Working out. Breaking a sweat. No matter what you call it or how you do it, I've quickly learned it is a necessity to a healthy lifestyle. I can remember starting Weight Watchers back in October 2009 using their old points program; I was able to lose 20lbs just by following their points program without working out at all. Of course, as soon as I started to gravitate away from it when the points allowance seemed too low to curb my hunger (I was dipping into the weekly bank of points I could use), I started to slowly gain weight back. That's when I learned that I need to eat right AND workout, which is exactly what I did to prepare for my May 2011 wedding.

I must thank Jillian Michaels for kicking my @$$ into shape with her "Ripped in 30" DVD... I worked out with her DVD (and sometimes alternated with Jazzercise "Cardio, Strength, Stretch") 5 mornings a week. Getting out of bed at 5am every day was super tough but I was determined to look amazing on my wedding day and didn't want any back pudge when I had on my beautiful strapless wedding gown. That has always been a pet peeve of mine in wedding pictures: seeing a bride look absolutely stunning in her wedding grown and then you see a side profile with a little bit of back pudge hanging over the top of her dress. I was successful, no back pudge!!

However, my life has changed a great deal since May 2011. The biggest change that took a huge toll on my body: delivering an adorable baby girl in August 2012. I had lost nearly all the baby weight before ringing in 2013 (I was 5lbs shy) but still had a few post-wedding pounds beyond that to shed. For some reason, my tummy seemed to look fuller than I remember it looking before getting pregnant. I made it my resolution to get back down to my wedding weight/size so I can fit into all those fun summer clothes I wore in Aruba on the honeymoon. I felt like I wasn't seeing the success as quickly with Jillian's "Ripped in 30". So I decided to start to mix it up as I regain my strength before going back to Jillian's 3-2-1 workouts that I absolutely love.

I owe my success so far this year to the following routines (in addition to eating right)... without them, I can just about guarantee I'd still be spinning my wheels and not budging the scale:

• Jillian Michaels "FastFix" --- 20 minute kickboxing workouts (there are 3 on the DVD) --- she will make you sweat just like she does in every other workout DVD she's released. I prefer the arms and legs workouts (which are workouts 1 and 2). Workout 3 focuses on abs but the workouts put a lot of weight on the right leg which I feel makes me really "uneven" --- I wish it evened out the exercises on both legs)
• Jazzercise "Cardio, Strength, Stretch" --- 30 minute Jazzercise workouts. For those not familiar with Jazzercise, I first got my start in 2006 when I started taking classes when I was living in DC. I loved it because I use to dance and it's kind of like dancing for an hour to all sorts of fun music. Their DVDs can only be purchased on their website (they do have a few newer ones I'd like to add to my collection). This DVD has 3 workouts on it, so sometimes I will do 2 or all of them to get in a really good workout, especially on the weekends when I know I would like to have some wine or a cocktail with dinner. I wish I had time to take the classes in person, but I have a baby at home so it really isn't conducive to my schedule right now. When she goes into nursery school, I'd LOVE to become a Jazzercise instructor. Workout and make money at the same time? Sounds like fun to me!!!
• Zumba Core for Wii --- I've never taken a live Zumba class but it always looked like so much fun when I saw commercials/infomercials on TV. I finally broke down and bought one of the games for Wii and I absolutely love it! You have the option of taking a short class (20-30 minutes), mid-length class (45 minutes), or full class (60 minutes). The option of just doing single songs. The option of learning the dance steps. Plus as you improve, you can unlock videos to watch as bonus content. Love it! You hardly even realize you're working out. To be honest though: you need to have rhythm for this because if you lose the beat, you might have trouble catching back up. 
• "Bikini Body Mommy Challenge" --- I must thank Pinterest for stumbling across this challenge which led me to the website, Facebook page, and blog. Briana Christine shares life experiences about her 100lb weight loss after having 3 babies and encourages you to participate in her 90-day challenge. She posts the exercises on her Facebook page with pictures to show you how to complete the workouts. Essentially, you are encouraged to workout 6 days a week and rest on Sundays. Monday, Wednesday and Friday, you follow the exercises she gives you for the particular day of your challenge that you're on. It's basically circuit training, usually only 10-15 minutes of it (but you track how many of each exercise --- like squats --- you can complete in the time she allows --- and then at the end of the week, you can see how much stronger you've gotten in less than a week, which is so rewarding). It's a hard workout, as in you will sweat and possibly even collapse onto the floor after you're done in pure exhaustion (yep, it's happened!) Sometimes on these days, I still sneak in a 20-minute cardio workout to burn some extra calories as I work toward my goal. Then on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, it's cardio time. For the first half of the 90-day challenge, it's 45 minutes of cardio, but I believe it switches to 20 minutes of HIIT after day 45. I am just wrapping up my fourth week right now so I still have a bit of a way to go. 

In following the Bikini Body Mommy Challenge and mixing up the cardio with the 3 workouts above, I have already dropped 6.2lbs just since starting this workout routine AND staying within my daily calorie allowance in the past 28 days. I think after I finish the 90-day challenge, I'm going to get back into Jillian's "Ripped in 30". I also know Jillian has a new DVD coming out this spring called "Hard Body"... I can't wait to see the reviews on this to decide if I'm ready for her new @$$ kicking. Exercise isn't easy. Weight loss isn't easy. Think about it: if it were easy, everyone would be doing it and everyone would be fit.

In the meantime, I keep looking for ways to aid my weight loss now as I build a new lifestyle for myself and my family. Foods lower in calories (and hopefully sugar since I'm still consuming more than suggested daily) and higher in protein to curb my hunger. A couple post-workout snacks I discovered this week... Egg Beaters with Weight Watchers Mexican Cheese and Ortega Mild Salsa... my own little Mexican scrambled eggs. I was originally trying to get rid of the cheese I'd opened for my Skinny Chicken Enchiladas last week but I ended up loving it. I actually used Wegman's Egg Busters (1/2 = 2 eggs = 60 calories). Then 1/3 cup of the cheese is 80 calories, though I'd barely used 1/4 cup so that's another 60 calories, then there's 25 calories in 2 tablespoons of the salsa. 145 calories of a protein-filled post-workout snack! I had it for lunch a couple days too.

Though I'm not following Weight Watchers anymore, I do love the foods they sell in grocery stores. There's a wide variety of frozen meals you can buy called "Smart Ones" --- this may have been the first foods they started selling in stores. I remember seeing these for years now. They have an assortment of baked goods (cookies, brownies, cakes), breads, candies, chicken products (tenders, burgers, breasts), all kinds of cheeses (shredded like I used, string cheese, cream cheese, deli cheese... and more), and frozen treats like ice cream bars, just plain ice cream, fruit bars... so many possibilities. The frozen meals are great to take to work (though I'm home these days, I use to take these to work for lunch --- I do keep some on hand in the freezer to mix up my lunches at home). I'm not really a huge fan of their bread for sandwiches to be perfectly honest. I feel like it's not filling enough, but that's my own personal opinion as a bread lover. There are lots of other healthy options out there if you look hard enough that won't ruin your diet.

However, a new favorite obsession of mine... I love apples. And I love peanut butter. But even the natural or light versions of peanut butter has a lot of calories in it (160-200 on average). While browsing the peanut butter/almond butter/etc section of the grocery store, I found PB2. This is going to sound weird but stay with me. It's powdered peanut butter. I wouldn't be able to paraphrase this so here's an excerpt directly from the Bell Plantation website:

"Peanut butter has always been a staple for the health conscious and physically active. But even peanut butter can be improved. PB2 reduces fat through a chemical-free process. Like all Bell Plantation products, PB2 and Chocolate PB2 are all natural, preservative free, and contain no artificial sweeteners. And that makes them a sweet alternative for active lifestyles, dieters, and moms who want healthy snacks for their kids."

Their products contain 85% less fat calories than regular peanut butters as they press those calories out during the process of making the peanut butter. Only 45 calories per serving!! So how does it work? You mix 2 Tablespoons of the powder with 1 Tablespoon of water. I actually purchased the peanut butter powder with chocolate. As if peanut butter needed any help being yummier. I was skeptical buying this product, especially since it was over $5, but I was not disappointed. It is DELICIOUS! Since it's mixed with water, it's not as thick in consistency as regular peanut butter, and now that I think about it, this jar is going to last longer than a jar of peanut butter since it's powder that you mix with water, so it was more than worth the $5. My organic gala apple with 2 Tablespoons of PB2 (with chocolate) is only 115 calories. Another excellent post-workout snack! They have a ton of recipes that consumers have posted on their website too. Imagine this in a smoothie!! Yes, I want to try it ASAP!!

I also discovered the ShopWell app on my iPhone this past week. Another new obsession. I know, it sounds like I've been busy, right? :) It allows you to enter information about yourself as well as what foods you may be looking to increase/decrease in your diet, and you can either scan foods or search manually... it will then give a score (1-100) and color code the score (red = avoid; yellow = proceed with caution; green = excellent choice) to help you decide which foods you should and should not buy. Awesome tool! It may be hard to find some of the foods they suggest if you don't have a good organic store or organic section in your regular grocery store, but I'm looking forward to giving this a try in the grocery store. So far, I've only used it in my home to scan foods we have in the house. 

And thus, another week begins... make it a strong one!