Spring into Summer Challenge

by Kcurly on April 20, 2010

Ok, I almost thought we wouldn’t have enough people, but I’ve gotten a few last minute entries. I am extending the deadline two more days, so get those entries in by Thursday April 22!

Thanks to those of you who’ve sent in some already!

{ 0 comments }

Spring into Summer Challenge

by Kcurly on April 11, 2010

*Deadline for entry into this challenge is April 18th, 2010.

Time for another challenge! This one will start April 21st and end July 21st! That’s just enough time to get fit for those summer clothes!

Email me the following:

  • Your screenname
  • You must send before (a) picture/s now as well as after (a) picture/s in March. Before and After need to be from the same profile or of the same body parts…however you prefer. It just doesn’t need to be from a totally different angle or side of your body.
  • Your plan for weight loss. You must have specific plans such as “Cut out red meat and white breads, while eating a green leafy salad everyday” or “Eat 1400 calories per day”. Not acceptable: “I plan to eat better”.
  • Include at least 1 of the following stats:
  1. Current weight or how much weight you want to lose. You don’t have to share your weight, but there needs to be some kind of number.
  2. Current body fat percentage and your goal percentage
  3. Measurements from at least 4 places on your body. The most ideal places are probably thighs, hips, abdomen, and bust.
  • Your expectations at the end of this challenge. It can be to weigh X amount of lbs, or to wear size X clothing. Whatever you are aiming for.
Here is an example entry:
My screen name is runningmom3.
My plan for weight loss includes:
1. Eating 4 servings of fruit a day.
2. Eating 1800 calories a day
3. Avoiding soda and alcohol
4. Workout 4 times a week
My stats are:
Weight: 180  lbs
Clothing size: 12
At the end of this challenge, I hope to:
Fit into a size 10
Weigh 170 lbs
This is just a simple entry. You can be as lengthy as you want with your goals, but just try to keep to the above format.
There will be a Fitness Friday post, that everyone needs to contribute to. There will also be other challenge posts roughly every week.
Just as with the last challenge, I will post updated progress pictures/info in a public poll to choose the winner. The winner will receive 50 bucks via paypal and the runner up with receive a prize yet to be determined :) .
Send all entries, including pictures, to runninginafatsuit@gmail.com by April 18th!

{ 3 comments }

Six Weeks!

by Kcurly on April 11, 2010

I’ve hit 6 weeks of pregnancy, just 34 more to go!

Here’s what’s going on with the baby right now according to StorkNet:

The first heartbeats have begun! The baby is now an embryo and is about 1/17 of an inch long. Growth is very rapid this week. The umbilical cord develops. The eyes and ears begin to form as well as an opening for the mouth. The heart has begun to pump blood and most of the other organs are well under construction. Buds form on the body that will become the arms and legs.

Exciting week!

Maternal Changes:

This week tends to bring on the nausea. Morning sickness is a constant companion any time of the day. You may be craving certain foods while the very thought of other foods will send you to the porcelain goddess.

Because this is a critical time in your baby’s organ development, avoid alcohol, substances, drugs, and treatments (perms, hair coloring, manicures, etc.) that you don’t really need. If you haven’t yet, make your first prenatal appointment with your care provider.

I have not yet really been to the porcelain goddess as of yet. I have been feeling “yucky” just as I did with my last pregnancy, especially in the car. The only cravings I’ve felt have been for orange juice and tomatoes. I’ve also wanted a lot of salty stuff.

Yesterday was a bad day for eating. I was supposed to go out of town this weekend, so I took off work. The trip was unexpectedly canceled, so the fam and I went out to eat and do other fun stuff. I did get up early, however, and ran 2.5 miles with a 1 mile walk. But, with the exception of yesterday, my eating has been on point!

The only other issue I’ve been having is constipation. This was a huge problem for me last pregnancy. Something that I’ve found that helps the problem is a salad a day.

And I’m being literal! Everyday, I have at least one salad. My salads consist of:

  • 2 cups romaine lettuce
  • a few leaves of spinach
  • 10 grape tomatoes
  • 1 tablespoon flax seed meal
  • cucumber, either 1 or 1/2 of one
  • 1/4 cup sunflower seeds
  • 1/2  Tablespoon thousand island dressing
  • red wine vinegar
Calories:479
Fat: 25.3
Cholesterol: 2.5
Sodium: 190
Carbs: 33.6
Sugar: 12.2
Fiber: 11
Protein: 17.1

This is typically lunch for me. It has quite a bit of fat, but it’s mostly good fat. I’m trying to get rid of the dressing period, but considering how I used to just pour the the stuff all over my salad, I think I’m doing pretty well.

Salads, for me, help keep things “regular”. Anyway, that’s it for now. Nothing really going on! I’m going to go biking this afternoon and I’ll try to take some pictures to share with you ladies!

{ 1 comment }

Post image for Is fat fare at fast foods going too far?

Is fat fare at fast foods going too far?

by Kcurly on April 7, 2010

From cnn.com, further proof that we are all just killing ourselves with food. Good gracious!

(CNN) — In the midst of first lady Michelle Obama’s campaign against child obesity and chef Jamie Oliver’s prime-time TV initiative for cleaner cooking, a chicken chain is crowing about some aggressively fat-laden fare.

KFC’s long-rumored Double Down waddles into stores on April 12, boasting an ingredient list that prompted a copywriters’ caveat on the product’s Web page that it is “Real! No fooling.”

The bun-free (“so meaty, there’s no room”) sandwich features two pieces of bacon, two slices of melted cheese and “Colonel’s Sauce” – which KFC officials said is a “zesty mayonnaise” — slathered between two chicken filets, either original recipe (540 calories and 32 fat grams per KFC.com) or the slightly slimmer grilled version (460 calories and 23 fat grams).

Response from around the Internet ranges from Consumerist.com’s “mysteriously tempting (and potentially lethal)” and the Huffington Post’s “going too far” to the Lincoln Journal Star’s “fast-food-related crimes against humanity,” but KFC’s gamble on the Double Down’s outré appeal to calorie scoffers seems downright chicken in light of a new baseball concession pitched by the Toledo Mud Hens.

At a March 24 press conference, V/Gladieux Enterprises, the catering company that services Fifth Third Field announced a sundae, “Which is fifteen scoops of Toft’s ice cream served in a full size souvenir helmet for $25. It will serve 1 to 8 fans, you can enjoy by yourselves if you love ice cream or share with family and friends.”

A solo at-bat with the Fifth Third Fanatic Freeze would average 2,325 calories, based on a ½-cup scoop size — before a grand slam addition of whipped cream, hot fudge, rainbow sprinkles, peanuts, and cherries.

Dessert not on the roster? That same full-sized batting helmet can switch-hit as a bowl for cheese-drenched Fifth Third Nachos — a perfect snack after you’ve finished running the bases the approximately 341 times it would take a 150-pound person to burn off the aforementioned ice cream.

The Mud Hens and KFC’s Colonel are hardly the first food vendors to flip a big ol’ bird at the calorie cops. Here are a few that have flown outrageously afoul over the past few years.

Burger King: Meat’normous Omelet Sandwich

The King didn’t just come slinging a brand new portmanteau of “meat” and “enormous” with this limited-time item. Starting in 2005, the now-discontinued breakfast bomb came loaded with two eggs, one sausage patty, two slices of ham, three slices of bacon and two slices of American cheese on a long, toasted bun. That’s 770 calories, 47 fat grams and a near guarantee of waking up in a cold sweat from a food coma nightmare starring that creepy, plastic-masked King.

Taco Bell Chicken Ranch Taco Salad

A salad sounds pretty sensible, right? Depends on what you mean by “salad.” A cheeky 2009 commercial for the chain’s crispy tortilla-swaddled heaps of rice, beans, cheese, meat and additional tortilla strips defined the dish as “technically a salad” due to the presence of some lettuce shreds buried under the other ingredients.

The Bell’s 54 fat-grammed Chicken Ranch Taco Salad is the second most caloric item on the menu, weighing in at 910, but comes served, improbably, with reduced fat sour cream.

GCS Ballpark: Luther Burger

Baseball’s Best Burger In 2006, Sauget IL’s Frontier League baseball team, the Gateway Grizzlies paired up with Krispy Kreme Donuts to pay homage to the Luther Burger, popularized at Atlanta’s Mulligan’s restaurant.

The multi-meal mash-up consists of a thick, bacon-and-cheese-topped burger patty, stuffed inside a sliced, glazed donut. It’s estimated to weigh in around 1,000 calories with 45 grams of fat. It was declared by professional face-stuffer Adam Richman of Travel Channel’s Man v. Food to be “deliciously psychotic.”

Hardee’s: Monster Thickburger

Hardee’s CEO Andrew Pudzer told CNBC upon the Thickburger’s 2004 debut that the 1,320-calorie, 95-fat-gram sandwich was “not a burger for tree huggers.” After downing two 1/3-pound beef patties, four strips of bacon and three slices of American cheese stacked on a mayonnaise-slathered bun, it seems unlikely that many eaters would be able to summon the strength to walk outside to a wooded area — let along sling their arms around it.

The chain also offers a bun-free, lettuce-wrapped 1/3-pound Low Carb Thickburger, should one of those wacky health nuts insist upon coming along for lunch.

{ 1 comment }

Shoe Wallets

by Kcurly on April 7, 2010

Running with a jogging stroller is pretty much like running with a nice,mobile storage container. Need to bring along some water? No problem! I’ve got a cup holder right here. No where to put my keys? I have a handy dandy hidden compartment right next to the cup holder. Jacket getting too warm? I just toss it in with my son’s diaper bag in the basket under his seat. Whatever bad things I have to say about running with a stroller, the fact that I can take a lot of stuff along would make up for it (eh, maybe not ;) ) .

So when I was finally able to get in some runs without the darn thing, I was left holding a lot of stuff. I hate running with anything in my hands. It’s hard enough running period, but to have my hands tightly clenched around my car keys is annoying.

I was so happy to find this:

This nifty little invention velcros onto the shoe laces and can hold a credit card, a few keys, or a  bit of cash. I usually have to drive to the places I run (crazy, huh?) , so I always need somewhere to hold my keys. I generally put my car clicker in the shoe wallet and just leave my keys in my car.

I’ve had this one for about a year. It stays on very well. I think it cost me about 5 bucks on eBay.

{ 1 comment }

Announcement and Question

by Kcurly on April 6, 2010

If you read my hair blog, then you may have already seen this. But don’t stop reading because there’s more!

Yes, I am pregnant. I’m excited, but I have a goal: To stay active, eat right (in both portion size and quality), and to not gain over 15 pounds. For those of you who think this might be unhealthy, it’s actually recommended that overweight individuals not gain the full 25-35 pounds that a average size woman would gain.

How much did I gain with my last pregnancy you might ask? Around 40 lbs! And I was overweight then as well. During that pregnancy, I never worked out, ate what I wanted in large amounts, and didn’t get enough sleep. It was an uneventful pregnancy until my blood pressure started to go up, especially when I was on my feet at work. I also developed an abscess in one my teeth, which caused me the worst pain I’ve ever felt in my life (literally). All of this made my last few weeks miserable.

Working with the neonatal population has already made me vividly aware of the problems being overweight or obese during pregnancy can cause. High blood pressure, Type II and Gestational Diabetes are just not good for the mom or baby.

I plan to keep up my workout routine, as my doctor allows. I’ve always read that it’s ok to keep up a current workout routine when pregnant, just not to start a whole new routine. So, unfortunately, that cuts out my June triathlon.

I’m a little disappointed, but I can still do the very short May one, after I get my doctor’s approval. And then of course, I have years to do them!

So that brings me to my question: All of the ladies who expressed interest in another challenge…would you still be interested if it were lead by a preggo lady? :)

I still need accountability myself. I need to workout, and eat healthy, for even more reason than before. So please let me know if anyone is up for this. It will be much like the one before, but I would like to get more participation this time. It will also be for about 3 months and include a prize of some sort. Of course, any other preggos are welcome, though the contest is for those trying to lose weight and inches.

{ 6 comments }

Substitute Alley: Mashed Cauliflower

by Kcurly on April 1, 2010

Mashed cauliflower from my very own plate!

So many of us associate mashed potatoes with comfort and childhood. I personally have fond memories of dunking my chicken nuggets into them. But enough of that! Begone evil thoughts!

Potatoes can still be a good source of nutrients, especially if you leave the peel on and leave out the butter and other delicious stuff. However, if you’re looking to cut out starchy foods, mashed cauliflower can be the way to go if you still have a craving for mashed potatoes.

To make them, I just boil the cauliflower, puree or mash it, and then add garlic, cheese, or a little butter. My son loves it and calls it mashed potatoes. Now it doesn’t taste exactly like it, but to me it’s the next best thing.

Health Benefits of Cauliflower:

  • Contains allicin, which can improve heart health and reduce risk of stroke
  • Help maintain a healthy cholesterol level
  • Low in fat, high in fiber, Vitamin C, and folate

{ 2 comments }

Challenge Winners!

by Kcurly on March 27, 2010

NaturalNubien13 is the winner! Congrats! Send me your paypal address and I’ll get your cash prize out to you!

OC_Swimmer and Motherlovin3 will both receive a DVD from the Firm series! Since we had such a low turnout of progress pictures I’m rewarding all of those who sent in after pics! Choose from one of the following and email me your choice!

The Firm Bootcamp Maximum Calorie Burn

The Firm 500 Calorie Workout

The Firm Get Chisel’d

Send all info to runninginafatsuit@gmail.com. Thanks again so much for participating ladies! You all look wonderful!

{ 3 comments }

Try Something New: Almond Butter

by Kcurly on March 23, 2010

My DS and I have been riding the peanut butter train for awhile now. We usually eat Smucker’s Natural Peanut Butter (creamy version…sometimes organic, sometimes not).

Before I move on to the almond butter, I’d like to point out the differences between regular peanut butter and “natural” peanut butter. I grew up on brands like Jiffy, with the pasty butter that was usually very smooth. So when I tried this natural butter, I found that the oil rises to the top and has to be remixed on occasion. The reason that Jiffy and Peter Pan peanut butters don’t have to be mixed is because the companies add emulsifiers such as partially hydrogenated vegetable oils to keep the peanut oils from separating. This process is said to add trans fat to the peanut butter (though supposedly not a lot). They also add sugar (Source: The Peanut Butter Diet By Holly McCord).

Naturally made peanut butter is also a bit grainier than regular peanut butter (not too noticeable). To me, it just taste better. I couldn’t go back to the old butter if I tried.
So, fast forward to me in the health food store and they have freshly ground almond butter for sale. How could I pass it up? It also has a bit of oil separation, though not as much as the peanut butter (in my experience). Though almond butter is higher in calories than other nut butters, it also is rich in protein, fiber, magnesium, and essential fatty acids.

Almond Butter

How’s the taste? Not as sweet as peanut butter, but tastes richer to me. I typically drizzle a little honey over the top and, occasionally, some mashed banana.
Try an almond butter and honey sandwich or spread a little over your whole wheat pancakes! My little man and I enjoy both!

{ 7 comments }

Challenge Results-Vote for the Winna!

by Kcurly on March 22, 2010

Thanks to the ladies who sent in your info! See the original thread here. Please vote for the lady you feel is deserving of the 50 dollar prize! The person with the second highest votes will receive a DVD from the Firm series. If you’re voting, please keep in mind not only the pictures, but the goals accomplished along the way! All voting will end Friday March 26th at midnight!


Natural Nubian13

Start of Challenge

End of Challenge

Start of Challenge

After Challenge

  • Measurements
Weight: 205.5lbs (-14.5lbs)
Waist (smallest): 34 in (- 1 ¼ in )
Bellybutton (waist): 37 3/8 in (-1 in)
Hips: 48 in (-1 ½ in) I have a hard time measuring my hips so this might be wrong
Arms : 13 ¼ in   (-1 3/8 in)
  • Goals
  1. Exercise
  • ·         Couch to 5k Training
o   Currently I am up to running 2.75 miles.  A little bit behind due to sickness, work and motivation, but I am still on track for my 5K which will be April 3.  I am very impressed with myself, seeing as before the challenge I couldn’t even run a mile.
Exercise 5-6 times a week (run 3x)
o   For most weeks I was able to run at least 5 days a week. Also was able to run 3x most weeks for 5k training.
Food
·         I haven’t had red meat or soda since the beginning of the year.  I’m not sure if this is contributing to my weight loss, but I think I’m going to continue this for a while.  However I have picked up a horrible coffee habit L
·         Followed the WW point system (very) loosely.  Overall, I just tried to make sure that most of my meals had less than 7 grams of fat and 500 calories.  Also tried portion control, which is always an issue.
·         Veggies….I tried to eat some every night for dinner but that did not last long.  I know I need to eat  them, but most days its just not convenient .  I will continue to add this to my long term goals
Overall  Assessment/ Future Goals
Weight Loss – Overall I am very proud of myself.  It’s crazy how fast the weight can come off if you keep exercising and eating healthy.  However, after looking at the before and after pictures I expected to see more a difference.  The results don’t seem as drastic as I wanted them to be
Future Goals
  • Short Term
·         Be under 200 by the time of my 5k April 3 (I don’t know if this is possible, but I’m going to try)
·         Loss another 15 lbs in 2 months
  • Long Term
·         Be under 170 by October2010
·         Food—I need to focus more on eating more veggies, less carbs, and more portion control.  Luckily my schedule keeps me really busy so I don’t have that much time to eat.  However I am very proud of myself, because even when I had bad days (or a bad meal) ….it was just that.  I didn’t give up or turn it into a reason why it was ok for to go back to whatever I wanted to eat.
·         Exercise—I am very proud of myself.  A year ago I never thought that I would be running a 5k.  I could never even see myself running over a mile to be honest.  Now only a quarter of a mile away from being where I need to be.  Group exercise has also saved me.  I have come to truly LOVE  Zumba.  I do it 3x a week if possible.  The people there keep me motivated, and it makes exercising fun.
o   Future Goals:  Continue with exercise regime.  Stay consistent with running.  Learn be less of a procrastinator at work, because it ultimately effects my work out schedule.
OC_Swimmer
Start of Challenge

Start of Challenge

Start of Challenge

End of Challenge

·         Goal #1: Swim 3 times a week (1650 yards minimum)

Result = 3+ times a week (currently swimming 2500 yards every practice)

·         Goal #2: Get outside to exercise and train for a mini triathlon (add Walk/Jog 2 times a week , Biking once a week)

Result = When the weather was not too cold –got out once a week

·         Goal #3: Drink 64oz of water a day

Result=Pretty consistent with 32oz of water a day

·         Goal #4: Stick to single servings (portion control)

Result=This was really directed towards my dinner habits.  I really tried to cut down on the carbs and the slab of meat on my plate.  Upped my intake of vegetables.

·         Goal #5: 10% reduction of weight and body fat

Result = Weight 3.6% reduction, body fat 2.7% reduction

Weight (January 2010) = 222 lb

Weight (March 2010) = 214 lbs

What I have learned….

This challenge was a lot of fun.  I enjoyed sharing and being accountable.   Now that spring weather is finally here I really want to continue this challenge and continue reducing my body fat (I can live with lbs, but not the body fat).  Swimming alone is not helping me reach my goals…I have to add weight barring exercise into my routine.  My first mini-tri is the end of May.  Wish me luck.

p.s. do not plan a BC in the middle of winter.

Motherlovin 3

Start of Challenge

End of Challenge

Start of Challenge

End of Challenge

Here are my pics.  I am down to a size 12.  My weight is currently 178 so I did not any pounds.  I do Zumba twice a week.  Last night was my first night on kickboxing.  Although I have not lost weight but feel better.  The most important thing that I have gained is a little more self confifence.  The excercise also has helped my mood.

{ 3 comments }