Rewards

So I've been thinking about rewards for the last week. What is a reward? Well we all know, but I thought I would google the definition.

Reward: A thing given in recognition of service, effort, or achievement.

A thing given in recognition of service, effort, or achievement. Hmmm, okay. So a thing. What about the rewards we automatically get on this journey to health: improved health, an increase in energy, a fit body, knocking down our mental barriers, etc. I think those are pretty great rewards! But, sometimes we need to have something that we can actually see to remind us of our great achievements.

Last summer I was watching Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition with Chris Powell. He calls himself a Transformation Specialist. He has a degree in Exercise Science with concentrations in physiology and biomechanics. WOW! This guy knows what he's doing! One thing that I especially liked was his system. Each participant was given a year. He then broke that year down into 4 phases. Each phase had a specific goal and a reward. Now these rewards were HUGE! I of course don't have the deep pockets of ABC, so my rewards will be on a much smaller scale. I loved the idea of the phases. I thought that this was definitely something that I could use.

So the other day I sat down and thought about what my phases could be with goals and rewards. It's tough for me to put in deadlines as I'm nursing, I'm not quite sure how that would work. So I've set out my goals and rewards.

Here they are:

PHASE 1
Goal: 10% - 228lbs (-25lbs)
Reward: 2 new outfits

PHASE 2
Goal: Onederland - 199lbs (-29lbs)
Reward: iPad

PHASE 3
Goal: 10% - 186lbs (-20lbs)
Reward: Lululemon workout clothes

PHASE 4
Goal: THE BIG ONE - 160lbs (-26lbs)
Reward: Trip to NYC

Mini Phases
Goal: 20lbs
Reward: Massage

I'm looking forward to and very excited to achieve each and every one of these goals. When you have something very specific to work towards, it kind of takes the guess work out of getting there. Put in the work, reap the rewards!

Have you put a plan into place like this with your specific goals and rewards?

We're having a Super Bowl party today and I decided to make lighter versions of popular Super Bowl party foods. Below are the links to the recipes I made:

1) Skinny Buffalo Chicken Dip recipe from Skinnytaste.com (1/2 cup - 3+pts) (I will be replacing the crumbled blue cheese with light cheddar - will update if points affected)
2) Skinny Baked Jalapeno Poppers recipe from Skinnytaste.com (2 poppers - 2+pts)
3) Tara's Guacamole (1/4 cup - 4+pts)
4) Mini Chocolate Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing (1 mini - 2+pts) (I am replacing the sugar with Splenda +1/2 cup skimmed milk powder and an extra 1/2 tsp baking soda. (I actually halved the icing ingredients and sprinkled each cupcake with shredded sweetened coconut (1/2 cup for recipe))

So that's 12 pts for a serving of each of the above. To cut down on the pts to go with the dip, I will be having celery/carrot sticks instead of crackers or chips. As for the guacamole...we'll see. Guests are bringing chili, wings, tortilla chips and hummus. I think I'll stick to my dishes. Oh, I may also have to make a punch! I will probably do that with club soda, crystal light and fruit.

I'm excited for the party! I think this is the first time ever where I've planned ahead to make sure I provided options which fit in with my new lifestyle, but are still delicious and who am I kidding - fun!

Weekly Mini-Goals

I was reading some blogs the other day and came across one post that was on weekly mini-goals. I had forgotten that before I got pregnant that's basically what I was doing! It really, really helped. So while little miss was having her nap the other day, I wrote out my mini-goals for the week:

Hydration: Drink 8-10 glasses of water (64-80oz)
Fitness: 18-20 AP (Weight Watchers Activity Points) - 90 min of which should be cardio
Nutrition: 5 fruit/veg per day and 3 dairy
Support: Blog 4 times (Either WW or Terra Fit)
Home: Don't sit down until everything is done that I need to get done (when little miss is napping)

Scale: 3.4lbs (the remainder of the 10lbs I challenged myself to lose before Cancun)

So I wanted to share this and next Tuesday (weigh-in day) I'll give a full report on how I did!

Have you thought about doing weekly mini-goals to help you get to your end-goal? If not, give it a go! I think you'll find it really helps :)

Scale-a-holic

Hello, my name is Tara and I'm a scale-a-holic.

Yes, it's true. Every morning I have a ritual. I won't go into specific details, but it always ends with me on the scale. My reasoning was that I'd like to see how much harder I'd have to work. Yes, I know they say you shouldn't really focus on that as there are so many factors that can come into play with a fluctuating daily weight. So why was I doing it? Habit. Pure habit (with a dash of self-torture).

So this week I decided to break this habit. Since I was "re-wiring" my brain, I may as well re-wire my brain on this too. Let me tell you, like any habit, it's been a tough go. Ohh how I've had the urges. I feel like I'm doing really well and I just want to hop on the scale to see how well. D has been helping out though and he reminds me of how to look at it. "Would you rather see where you're at right now or how about how far you can go by Tuesday. Wouldn't you rather that greater triumph?" Thanks hun! He goes on day shift tomorrow - 48 hours where he can't remind me of my goal. So, he's going to hide the scale! Out of sight, out mind.

I'm already half way there. I'm ready to go the distance and not hop on that scale until Tuesday morning.

Breakfast of Champions

So, I've decided to start my day with oatmeal. It's a great start to the day. It fills you up and really leaves you feeling satisfied. Since I am nursing little miss and working out more, I was concerned with drying up too soon. I read that oatmeal helps with lactation. So, daily oatmeal it's been! Now, just plain oatmeal every single morning can get so boring, so the foodie in me started to play around with the flavours. So far this week I have made four different variations. I thought I would share with you since they have been so delicious!

Peanut Butter Cup Oatmeal

1/3 cup quick oats

1/2 scoop chocolate protein powder

1 tsp splenda

3/4 water (I've also made with skim milk, just adjust the pts)

1 tbsp light peanut butter

Combine the first 3 ingredients and stir. Add the water and stir. Then stir in the peanut butter. Microwave for 2 minutes. Remove, stir, enjoy!

WW+pts: 7

Almond Joy Oatmeal

1/3 quick oats

1/2 scoop chocolate protein powder

1 tsp splenda

1/2 tbsp medium unsweetened desiccated coconut

1 tbsp slivered almonds

3/4 cup water

1/2 tsp coconut extract

Combine the first 3 ingredients and stir. Mix in the coconut and almonds. Add the water and stir. Then stir in the coconut extract. Microwave for 2 minutes. Remove, stir, enjoy!

WW+pts: 7

Cranberry Orange Oatmeal

1/3 cup quick oats

1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder

3/4 cup skim milk

2 tbsp orange juice

2 tbsp dried cranberries

pinch of cinnamon

Combine the first 2 ingredients and then stir in the milk and orange juice. Mix in the cranberries. Microwave for 2 minutes. Remove, stir, sprinkle with cinnamon and enjoy!

WW+pts: 7

Tropical Oatmeal

1/3 cup quick oats

1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder

1 tsp splenda

3/4 cup water

1/2 pineapple, diced

1/2 medium banana, diced

1 tbsp unsweetened, medium desiccated coconut

Combine the first 3 ingredients. Stir in the water then mix in the last 3 ingredients. Microwave for 2 minutes, stir, and enjoy!

WW+pts: 8

Are you an oatmeal eater? Do you like yours the good ol' fashioned way? Or do you like to spruce it up. If so, what's your favorite?

Green Monster Smoothie

So I came across this recipe on Pinterest last night and it's from a great blog, Skinnytaste. I've actually been seeing this "Green Monster" around in a few different places, so I thought I may as well give it a go. Am I ever glad I did! It is DELICIOUS! Seriously...aside from it's vibrant green colour, you would never know there's spinach in it! I had to adapt the recipe as I didn't have quite exactly the ingredients specified and I also added a bit of vanilla protein powder. Nontheless, DELISH! This one will definitely be added into my breakfast rotation...or any time of day rotation to be honest!

So here it is sitting in the blender awaiting a whirl.

And here it is all blended up into sweet, satisfying deliciousness ready to go in my belly!

Green Monster Smoothie (adapted from here)

1 medium banana, frozen

3/4 cup skim milk

1/2 cup plain greek yogurt (only had Oikos honey cups, so just scooped the plain yogurt off the top!)

1 tbsp light peanut butter

2 cups spinach

1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder

2 cups spinach

Place all in a blender. Blend! Pour into a glass and ENJOY!

Nutrition Info:

Calories 552.3

Fat 10.9g

Carbs 76.9

Fibre 5.1

Protein 42.4

WW+Pts: 13

Note: Next time I'm going to try and use some different ingredients to try and get those numbers down. Nonethess, this is a great choice to start off your day!

Re-wiring

I can't believe it's been so long since I've written. I've been putting it off and putting it off, so finally today I just decided to write. I find that I'm comparing myself to others quite often and was even doing that with my blog. I was thinking that I should have all of these topics, research them, have something really good to say about it and pose a question. I feel like mine should be like someone else's. Not my own. I guess what happens is that I feel like I should be like somebody else, something more...but I realized today there's no one out there like me - I'm me! So instead of contemplating what I should be writing about, how I should write it, how I should present it, I decided to just - WRITE!

This past week I've actually been doing a lot of thinking. I think probably since we went to visit my parents, I really got stuck in a rut. I was on a losing trend and gained a bit when we went to Vancouver. Tried to get it back when we got back, but then before I knew it, it was Christmas. The two weeks of Christmas holidays....I gained 9lbs! Nine freaking pounds! I had no inhibitions whatsoever. I stopped tracking my WW points, I ate everything I saw...Nanaimo bars being my worst enemy. Oh Nanaimo Bars why do you have to be SO delicious?! So then came the next couple weeks after Christmas. MAJOR struggle. I was trying to do everything and do it all at once. I was trying to figure out how to balance my weight loss efforts while nursing little miss. I was thinking that I always needed to see big numbers, otherwise it meant I wasn't succeeding. I was thinking about how I was so close to my pre-pregnancy weight (4lbs), then gained so much (I have a history of getting so close and then sabotaging myself). I was stressed out! What helped me overcome that struggle was a phone call with my mom. She was telling me of her struggles and what she had been experiencing. So I thought about what she was going through and how it related to my struggle!

The light bulb! Aha!

I don't have to do everything RIGHT NOW! With my weight loss...if I were to lose 1lb per week...in a year that's 52lbs! FIFTY TWO POUNDS! How much closer I would be to my goal doing that, then with the mentality I've had where it all has to come off now. Going gung ho at the beginning...petering out, losing momentum and not even close to my goal - most likely further away. The old tortoise and hare trick.
So! I'm not stressing out about it. I'm just making sure that I eat healthily, get in some exercise during the week - NOT going crazy about it.

This is going to take time. When I think about where I could be in a year's time, it makes me excited of where that is.

I will strive for greatness! Not for the greatness of someone else, but for the greatness in me.