weight loss tip #5

Get Moving
We all know exercise is important. You should not just do cardio. You need to do weight/ resistance training. (Don't worry ladies it would have to take a lot of training to get over-sized muscles) Cardio helps you burn calories, but muscles helps you keep the calories burning because muscle burns more calories than fat. Remember to give your muscles at least a day in between trainings to rest so it has time to rebuild it self.
Not only should we exercise, but we just need to get active more. Start planning vacations with physical activities involved, start going outside with your kids more often. Get involved with 5K's (even if you just walk them like me), this will also help motivate you because you have something to work towards.
I do cardio 3-4 times a week and resistance training 2-3 times a week.

weight loss tip #4

Be Prepared
Plan, Plan, Plan, make sure you know what's for dinner. Make sure you have enough healthy choices for your snacks and lunches in the house. If you go out for the day make sure you bring a portable snack to help hold you off til you get home in case you get hungry.
If you plan your meals you will eat healthier not only by making healthy meals, but you will be less likely to turn to the unhealthy stuff in your house or even fast food. For those nights you just don't want to cook the solution is making yourself a food bank. The nights you do make dinner make twice as much, it doesn't add very much time because your already making it. Freeze the leftovers either in a disposable pan to reheat in oven later or into individual servings and you can toss into the microwave on those “I not feel like cooking days”.
If you clean and cut up veggies and fruit when you get home from the store they are more likely to be eaten and less likely to go rotten. I also assemble things like my veggies for my scrambled omelet in the mornings, and put them in Ziploc bags in the freezer. Makes it a lot less temping to turn to cold cereal.

Mystery dinner

So if you read my blog a few post back you know We were going to have a date night with my sister and her husband. We chose 5 food items for the other team. they had to make a main dish a side dish and a dessert in an hour, we had about 20 min to plan before cooking. well it was a success we liked all the food and came really close in the points. We lost, but that's okay.

We chose for them: tortilla chips, broccoli, yogurt(vanilla and pear), pears, bacon.

They made: cheesy broccoli soup, with diced pears in it, yogurt, bacon and then chips crumbled on top. a salad on the side with all the ingredients in it. I've had a similar salad before with raisins in replace of the pears. then they found a recipe on line for bacon cookies, they added the yogurt and pears to it. It was a very yummy dinner.

They chose for us: Lemons, cream cheese, cheerios, sausage, cucumber.

We made: some German dish we found online (favorite Tuna Dish- on cooks.com). It was like a meatloaf with tuna and sausage, It asked for all but the cream cheese. well we did replace the bread crumbs with cheerio crumbs. It had a cucumber sauce to put on top. I made my non-bake cheese cake. It uses lemon juice and cream cheese, I made the graham cracker crust out of cheerios, then I made a cucumber salad with a lemon dressing.

our points were set up as fallows
did you use all five items at least once: 5 point
how many items did you use in the main dish: up to five points
how many items did you use in your side dish: up to five points
how many items did you use in your dessert: up to five points
did you finish on time: 5 points
presentation: 5 points
taste: 5 points
total:35

We had a lot of fun and it was great to try new things and be creative. I would suggest this as an activity to anyone. If you need partners to join you we would love to do it again.

Weight loss tip #3

Keep Yourself Accountable
Track your calories, write down what you are eating everyday. Research has shown that just by writing down what you are eating you will eat less because your aware of what you are putting in your mouth. A lot of people are mindless eaters I guess.
Biggest loser books suggest to multiply your weight x 7 = the amount of calories you should eat to lose weight. You must eat to fuel your body. Eating to little calories not only could do some damage to your body, but it will have a reverse effect, because your body will think it is starving (which it is) and hold onto everything you eat.

What's on the menu?

Monday- chicken enchilada casserole
Tuesday- Waffles
Wednesday- Mystery dinner
Thursday- Hamburgers & tater tots
Friday- Balsamic Chicken, Chicken flavored rice, & asparagus
Saturday- Shepard's pie
Sunday- Dijon chicken fingers, carrot salad and french fries

for recipes check out cooleycoop.blogspot.com

Mystery Dinner
On Wednesday we are having a date night with my sister and her husband. We are having a challenge. we each pick 5 food items for the other team. one meat one fruit, one veggie and two random items. we then have a time limit to prepare a main dish, side dish, and dessert using those items. We are to try to use them in each dish if possible. We get a point for each time we use a mystery item in each dish. plus points for presentation and taste. I will let you know what items we have chosen and what they have chosen and what we come up with afterward. I think it will be fun.