Jenn's Losing It

Well. What can I say about week nine? I got in my own way and gave into all my vices. Yesterday was the worst. I got my mind together and reminded myself that I'm only hurting myself by eating that way. So the promise I've made to myself is that this week, I will do the very best I can and work on self control. There are always going to be temptations and it's learning to not avoid them, but to just have one donut or one slice of pizza. When you lose control, that's where you spiral. The donut screw up in the morning doesn't have to lead you to 3 slices of pizza and more donuts later.  This week will be amazing. 

Closing out week eight, I wish I had done a better job, but when I look at the snapshot of my week on food I can see why I didn't do better. I really need to do better on fruits and vegetables.  It's no secret that I don't like vegetables. So I need to find ways to sneak them into my daily diet (I know, like you would a child). I have to believe that if I made better food choices thru the week matched with the activity points I earned I would have easily lost more weight. It's time to get out of my own way and get serious.  I'll need all the support that your willing to give! Here's to a successful week. 

Week seven, no change. I guess it's better than falling into that lose/gain cycle I was in the last couple of weeks. I'm on vacation next week, so my intention is to get out and get moving all week!  James will be logging some miles with me. I picked up a used jogging stroller so I can do some hiking with James too. My biggest challenge for next week is going to the Big E, which in New England is a big to do. Most people including myself, eat their way thru the fair. The state buildings are my absolute favorite. Maine baked potatoes, Fresh Lobster Rolls, clam fritters, maple sugar candy and kettle korn. All of my favorites. I guess I could use my bonus points for the week and do a little extra walking to make up for the food.  What's your biggest challenge for the next week?

Week six, has come to a close.  I lost 1.8lbs this week. I'll happily take any loss that comes my way. I battled with emotions eating this week. Lots of personal things going on in my life with my family (small things-nothing serious), but enough for me to want to eat myself to no stress. I took walks and practiced meditation. Then, when all else failed I simply went to bed!  I am most definitely an emotional eater. I hate that about myself, but feel accomplished when I can conquer my demons and move past it. For this time at least.  I'm hoping for the best for week seven. Hoping for another loss is what I really mean!!

Well. Here I am in that nasty cycle of lose 3 gain 2 the next. Grrrr. It's so frustrating. But, I know I didn't drink enough water this week. I'm hoping that was some of my problem. I are more points this week and moved less. SO, I'll just keep working as hard as I can and not let this get me down. I'm going to try not to pity eat today. I'm very guilty of being a self saboteur.  Here's to a fresh start. Follow my daily food journal on Facebook or Instagram (#lilyboxing). 

Week four is over and I feel like I've got better control of what I'm eating and holding myself accountable by tracking every bite, lick and taste. When you are completely honest with yourself and track everything, it really makes you think twice about what you eat.  I'm excited for this weeks loss of 3lbs, making it a total of 5.6 for the month! That's a little more than a pound a week. That's a good start and this next month I think will get even better. Not swapping my activity points is a good plan for now. This keeps me from abusing that hard work I've put in. The bonus points should be enough for food splurges.  Here's to another great week!🍸

Here I am, beginning week four and I've gotten a little more honest with myself. I realized I was grazing every night and not tracking it. So this week I tracked...EVEYTHING. Thats how I came up with that pitiful number of "extra" points. That accounted for the whole bag of pop corners I decided to eat one night or the extra chocolate bananas. If I don't get real, I'm not going to lose the weight.  I'm already fighting what feels like a losing battle with Hosimotos Disease (which results in hypothyroidism).  They found my thyroid was under active when I was pregnant with James in 2013. They've been trying to get the dosage right ever since. The doctors hoped it was pregnancy induced, but my luck was that it was clinical levels and it wasn't going away. Within the last few weeks they diagnosed me with Hosimotos. Essentially, Hosimotos is an autoimmune disease that your immune system attacks your thyroid. Awesome right?  So where this week will take me i...

Week two is complete. Gained this week. Two pounds to be exact. I learned a few lessons. First is diet cheat day...not for people starting out. Having diet cheat day two days in a row. Giant mistake. I don't have much self control when it comes to not splurging. I'm working on that. Second is this week I'm not swapping activity points. I logged in and shut that off. Otherwise I'm adding more movement in for nothing. I'm eating what I'm burning and that defeats the point. Third is I need to plan a little better. I seem to leave myself stranded for dinner time points. Then I break into the bonus points, then the activity points.  Now for the positives. I earned 38 Activity Points for the week. I'm pretty impressed by that. I did an Actove a Link assessment to see where my current "activity level" is and when you're in the assessment, you kind of just do business as usual. Which I did. The end of my assessment was Tuesday, so on Wednesday I steppe...

Of course nights are great for going on dates, binge-watching Netflix, doing work, chatting on the phone—you name it. But you know what  else  they're great for? Setting yourself up for bigger and better weight-loss results. Just follow these tips to get yourself that much closer to your goal weight. Have a Low-Sodium Dinner "If you want to wake up feeling less bloated, definitely skip the Chinese dinner," says Keri Gans, R.D., author of  The Small Change Diet . What happens is the salt stays in your system overnight, so you wake up puffier than you normally would. The best option is to cook a healthy meal of steamed veggies and a lean protein—neither of which should be loaded with salt. Do a Nighttime Workout You know that sweating can help you drop pounds, but you may think that exercising too close to bedtime can keep you up at night. Luckily, that's not true; a 2013 survey from the National Sleep Foundation found that active people are 56 to 67 percent more likel...

There are a few things that inspire me ~ 1. My children are first on the list.  I base the decisions I make, actions I take and words that I speak based on the fact that I want my children to be proud that I am their mother. Even when it comes to diet and exercise I want to lead by example.  I try not to hang my hat on the "do what I say not what I do" theory of parenting (always harder to do than say!). I want my children to see me eating right and being active.   2. Other peoples success. No matter the size of the success, seeing someone else do something they didn't think they could or try something they never thought they would-it makes me feel good. Seeing my friends post their workouts on Facebook motivates me to go take a walk or even take the stairs in place of the elevator. It pushes me to do things out of my comfort level and to put a little extra effort in when I think I'm all out.  3. Sharing. That's why I began sharing my daily food diary and now my w...

Water. I know I don't drink enough of it. So I figured this would be the best monthly challenge to get back in the groove of things. For the next 31 days the challenge is simple. Drink water ~ eight ounces, eight glasses per day.  Comment or share this post if you're in on the challenge. It's summertime here in Connecticut and the weathers been hot, so drinking water should be no problem!

Well. Week one. Always the hardest when you're making a change. Especially when you're a foodie like myself and when I say foodie, I mean junk foodie. Guilty. I've been drinking more water, moving more and watching my portion sizes. Tough to do when you've been on a food free-for-all for the last month.  So after making just the one small change of being accountable for what I eat and sharing it with all of you, I lost 3.2lbs this week. I'm very excited and having such a great first week definitely gives me the motivation to keep going.  I started a WW Active Link Challenge this week as well. This way I can get a clear picture of what my current activity level is and how to add more activity in. I can't even wrap my head around fitting time in for exercise right now, BUT, if I want to be successful I will need to find time. Today also marks the beginning of a new month and I'll be starting a new challenge for the blog as well. I'm doing a 31 Day ...

SHUTTERSTOCK If you're used to working out before or after the daily grind, here's a suggestion: start incorporating fitness into  your workday. Some recent cool research shows that a sweat session can have a positive effect on your job performance. Here are the details: It Fuels Your Creative Juices Ever notice how desk jockeying all day can leave you feeling so uninspired? Then this is for you: A new study published in the  Journal of Experimental Psychology demonstrates that simply taking a walk during office hours can score you a creativity surge. Study authors conducted four separate experiments, asking subjects to take part in a series of creative exercises while doing some combination of sitting, walking, being rolled in a wheelchair, and/or walking on a treadmill. The results demonstrated that walking indoors and outdoors triggered a burst in creative thinking, with the average creative output rising 60 percent (!) when a person was walking.  MORE: ...

                               Today is my FRESH START FRIDAY.  I'm hitting the reset button and starting from the ground floor. No excuses. I'm making time for me and taking charge of my health and nutrition. Here's my 30 day short term goal: 1. Track my food. Everyday. No skipping, no lying on portion sizes. Write it down.  2. Move. Even if it means taking a walk around the block before going into work in the morning and before heading home. Those are times I'm kid free!! 10 minutes in the morning and 10 minutes are a good start.  3. Drink more water.  Sounds fairly reasonable, but it's time to make time for me.  I'll be posting my food diary on Instagram #lilyboxing, if you want to check in on me. I'll cross post the really good ones onto the Facebook page.  I want to get back to where I feel good enough to start running again and boxing. I love both of those things. I felt a...

Deb Lindsey for The Washington Post; tableware from Crate and Barrel SMOKE SIGNALS   SEP 25, 2013 Few foods conjure the fall season like acorn squash. It's a gourd, for one thing, and we associate gourds with autumn; and its orange-y flesh suggests the season's signature color. The sweet flavor of the squash is brought to the fore by the simplicity of the preparation. SERVINGS: 4 - 6 INGREDIENTS 2 small (48 ounces) acorn squash, seeded and cut into 1-to-2-inch wedges 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil Kosher salt DIRECTIONS Prepare the grill for indirect heat: If using charcoal, when the coals are ashen, dump them onto one side of the grill. If using a gas grill, preheat the grill with all burners on high. When it reaches a temperature of 500 degrees, adjust for indirect grilling. With a two-burner grill, turn off one of the burners; with three or more burners, turn off the center unit. You want medium heat. For charcoal, you should be able to hold your hand about five inches ...

iStock/Thinkstock You may have read in the past that eating mini meals throughout the day is a smart way to  lose weight . The thinking there is that by grazing every couple hours, you never get to that point where you're starving—meaning you're less likely to wolf down way too many calories in one sitting. But a new multi-university study, published in journal  Appetite  this month, claims that  all of the research thus far on eating small meals throughout the day is inconclusive —and as a result, mini meals should not be touted as a smart weight-loss strategy at this point. So how'd the researchers come to this conclusion? They analyzed all of the previous studies done about meal frequency and found that the majority of them used self-reported data—which, in the dieting world, is considered pretty unreliable. So we asked Keri Gans, R.D., author of The Small Change Diet , for her take on the results. "Most people don't understand what a small meal is—so the people...

Shutterstock What’s the cost of one workout? If you hire a personal trainer, it’s not just  sore muscles : The average trainer charges $26 an hour, according to an American Council on Exercise survey—which means just three  workouts  a week could set you back more than $4,000 a year!   Not in your budget? No worries: You can borrow some trainer-approved techniques. The IDEA Health & Fitness Association recently  surveyed  2,818 personal trainers and revealed the five types of exercise equipment the pros are most likely to use with their clients. Lucky for you, we have  workouts  to help you put these handy tools to use! 92% use resistance tubing or bands Try this:   The 15-Minute Exercise Bands Workout 91% use stability balls Try this:   The Stability Ball Workout for Flat Abs 89% use barbells or dumbbells Try this:   The Power Pairs Dumbbell Workout 84% use foam rollers and small balls Try this:   Roll Your Way to a Fit Bo...

I figured its a new season and I'm about to start down a new weight loss path, so why not change up how Lily Boxing looks! So I spent some time today freshening up the blog page style and the pages are still undergoing some updates, but it's well on its way. Tomorrow I'm going to meet with a nutritionist so she can get me started on a more nutritious meal plan than I'm on now. I've been following Weight Watchers since about three weeks postpartum with James. I've been steadily losing weight, but want to make a full lifestyle change at the same time as I lose weight. So my hopes are that she can teach me to make more nutritional choices than I am making now. I'll keep you posted on how it goes tomorrow and check out the updated page-tell me what you think. I plan on posting the new workouts and receipes I find during this new road to complete wellness I'm taking.  ~Wish me luck~ 

On February 19th I challenged myself to a 30 day fitness challenge. I wanted a way to see what progress I've made in just 30 short days.  On March 1st I upped the ante on my challenge and committed to working out every day in the month of March.  www.facebook.com/lilyboxing So here are February 19th stats and on March 21st I'll post my day 30 results. I won't lie, a little embarrassing to put the flab out there, BUT I'm hoping this will help keep me honest-so to speak. Yup, wow, I'm really putting myself out there with this one.  Weight -  198.4 Measurements : Waist -   41in Arms -   14in Thighs - 26.5in Hips -    44in

iStock/Thinkstock A new Gallup survey found that a full 51 percent of adults are hoping to drop pounds—yet only about half of them say they are truly doing something to downsize. We get it: Embarking on a weight-loss plan feels so daunting. But it doesn't have to be; all it takes to get started is a few tiny lifestyle tweaks that get you on your way to reaching your goal. Here, five beyond-simple weight-loss strategies to get you started: Start your day with oatmeal: Research shows  it can help keep hunger at bay better than other cereals   Ditch the guilt:  Recent research shows  beating yourself up about eating something indulgent can sabotage your weight-loss efforts . Instead, look at treating yourself as a celebratory—not shame-inducing—event.  Ignore the scale:  Numbers go up and down and stall in a plateau all the time, which can do a number on your motivation. A better idea: Focus on healthy habits rather than weigh-ins—it's likely to result in more...

Thinkstock How do you choose your foods? If you're a healthy eater, you probably flip over the box and peruse the nutrition panel. That's a good start—but you may need to scan smarter.  Women tend to ignore sugar content in protein- and fiber-rich foods , a new University of Iowa study shows. MORE :  "My Week Without Sugar" The researchers asked 263 women to rate the healthiness of 104 foods, such as baked tilapia, fried cheese sticks, gummy worms, and cinnamon rolls, on a scale of 1 to 100, with higher numbers indicating better-for-you foods. On average, the females placed most foods squarely in the middle of the scale. However, certain nutritional qualities seemed to strongly sway their view of the foods. For example, the women tended to rely heavily on sugar content as an indicator of healthfulness (smart ladies!)—but they made a few critical, and worrisome, exceptions to this rule. MORE:   Curb Your Sweet Tooth When foods were low in protein, the study participant...

THINKSTOCK.COM If you're hitting the slopes this winter, you might want to pick up skis instead of a snowboard.  Skiers report more pleasure and engagement than snowboarders, even if they're just casual participants , according to a new study in the journal  Applied Research in Quality of Life .  Researchers surveyed 279 visitors at three ski resorts in South Korea to look at their level of pleasure, flow (when you lose yourself in an activity), and sense of involvement after participating in either winter sport. The result: Ski bunnies came out on top. The skiers reported more pleasure and involvement in their sport than the snowboarders, which seemed to be mediated by their level of flow or engagement. And luckily, even one or very few outings had a positive effect on their mood—so there's no need to blow your bank account on a cabin for the whole season just to reap these benefits.   Women's Health Magazine PUBLISHED: DECEMBER 9, 2013  |  BY...

Want an extra challenge. . .and an even sleeker stomach? Add these calorie-torching "afterburner" ab moves to your workout. And then check out Brooke Siler's incredible book,  The Women's Health Big Book of Pilates , for even more toning and whittling Pilates  workouts.   MOVE  1 Kneeling Butterfly Beth Bischoff Kneel on the mat facing away from the anchor, knees hip-width apart. Raise your arms out to shoulder height and lean forward slightly, keeping your body in a straight line from head to knees  (a) . Inhale and twist your torso to the left, pulling the right handle overhead and the left just behind your hip, maintaining equal tension in the bands as you twist (b) . Exhale and slowly return to start. Repeat, twisting to the other side. That's one rep. Do four. Quick Tip:  Brace your core and squeeze your glutes before you start. MOVE  2 Side-Bend Arm Circles Beth Bischoff Holding both ends of the bands, walk your knees farther away from the anchor...

Viktor Neimanis/Hemera/Thinkstock.com Yesterday, we reported on a  study that found eating mini meals throughout the day may not be the best weight-loss strategy . And today we've got even more  evidence to support the finding that snacking may not help you keep off pounds. A new study from Drexel University, published in the journal Appetite , found that  people who skip snacks before a meal eat roughly the same amount at the meal as those who eat something beforehand . For the study, researchers divided participants into two groups: The first group had a protein shake, and the second group didn't eat anything. Then, researchers told both groups to eat a regular meal roughly four hours later. Guess what? Those who'd fasted didn't eat any more than those who'd had the shake. Now, to be clear, the study was self-reported, which isn't the most reliable survey method in the science world. That said, researchers believe the results still may check out—because hunger...

Isometric exercises, in which you hold a position perfectly still for a few seconds, trigger a ton of activity in your muscles—a real boon to boosting strength and endurance. (Just think how quickly you feel it in your biceps when carrying a bunch of grocery bags.) Do these exercises up to three times through as a circuit, medium dumbbells optional. Hold each one for at least 10 seconds, then rest for a moment before moving on to the next exercise. You can also use them in supersets to compliment their moving-exercise counterparts (i.e., do a set of 10 squats and then move #1, a wall seat; do a set of 10 close-arm pushups and then move #2, low plank, etc.). Or, just sneak one in here and there for a little tone-up throughout the day. (Skip ‘em entirely, though, if you’re pregnant or have high blood pressure—isometric action can elevate BP levels.) —Amy Roberts, NASM-CPT MOVE  1 Wall Seat JENNIFER WEAVER Get your thigh muscles firing (and burning). Place your feet about 18 inches fr...