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Friday, May 20, 2011

Check this out!

Ok. I am going to share this with my blogger friends and feel free to pass this on to other friends! I found the most helpful tool to keeping track of what I have been eating etc. It's called www.myfitnesspal.com. You can track your foods online AND with your phone if you download the FREE app! There is no joining fee at all, you just sign-up with an email and then you can keep everything logged! With the app on your phone (those of you who have a smartphone) can actually scan the bar-code of what you are eating and it automatically enters Calories, fat, sodium, etc. right to your log!

You simply type in the food that you ate and then search for the food in the drop down list and then select the amount you consumed. Most of the times the food has already been put in the system, so you don't have to input the info! If you cannot find the food, like I said you can scan the bar-code or manually input the info!

Along with exercises, it keeps track of EVERYTHING FOR YOU!! It shows you progress reports. The more you keep up with the info, the easier and faster it is to keep track! It's definitely my new favorite app on my phone!

I'm telling you, it is so fun and SO EASY!! I suggest getting your own account and start tracking! You can also find friends and keep up-to-date on how they are doing!

So, check out www.myfitnesspal.com and have FUN!

Monday, May 16, 2011

Life's Got Flipped, Turned UpSide Down!

Hello Hello Everyone!!!

I apologize for not blogging for the past couple of weeks, but if I can quote the infamous Fresh Prince - "My life's got flipped, turned upside down"! There has been a lot going on, but I am continuing to keep my head up and really know who I am!!

I am not sure if you had read on my previous blogs, but have recently completed the AdvoCare 24-Day Challenge! WOO WOO!

I am currently on the "MNS Max C Phase" to control appetite. I am doing well! I think one of the biggest issues I do have is portion control. I am not very aware of the amount of food that I do put into my body...

I attended the Spring Breakthrough on Saturday, May 14 to learn about AdvoCare. I was really enlightened about everything I learned.

One of the things I learned from Dr. Judith Smith, MD was the fact that a person still needs to be aware of the calories that they are putting into their body, even if it is healthy foods. I have a hard time with "thinking" that I am hungry or "thinking" I am not full and there are times where I tend to over-eat.

I am now trying to track the actual amount of calories in the fruits and vegetables that I do eat! I signed up for a free app on my phone called "My Fitness Pal, Calorie Counter & Diet Tracker". It is SO COOL! I am actually learning so many more things about the food that I am eating. This "tracker" is helping me be even more conscious with what I am eating. Seriously, I have a "favorite wrap" that I have at Kwik Trip. It's the Turkey & Cheddar Flatbread Wrap.... Oh my goodness... did I have a freaking wake-up call today. I have been choosing this option for lunches, quite frequently because I saw on the packaging.... "Gundersen Lutheran 500 Calorie Option", I was thinking, AWESOME!! I looked at the nutrients:

Calories: 330
Sat. Fat: 4g
Total Carbs: 32g
Fiber: 3g

Looks pretty healthy, doesn't it! Of course it does. That's what they have printed smack-dab on the top of the packaging. WELL.... The app has a cool feature to input information on your "Frequent" foods. So, they had input areas for Calories, Fiber, carbs, etc............ AND I HAD TO "PEEL BACK FOR NUTRITION & INGREDIENTS" UNDER THE LABEL................Want to know the Sodium?!?!?!?!

SODIUM: 1340mg (56%DV).......... MORE THAN HALF OF MY DAILY INTAKE OF SODIUM!!!!

Honestly, that made me sick, just thinking of all that Sodium in one, small wrap... So, I input everything in my app to track what I had been consuming throughout the day so far....

As of right now I am -126 for the amount of Sodium I should have in my diet....

I guess I'll be thinking twice before I consuming foods I don't read the labels.... They tend to get a lil sneaky....

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Melisa's 24-Day Challenge Recap!!!!

I'm guessing this is what you've all been waiting for.........DRUM ROLL, PLEASE!!!!




That's right.... the official measurements: 11.5 inches lost and a total of 8.4lbs lost!!

WHAT.THE.HECK!! I still cannot believe that AdvoCare has worked! I mean, it's only been 24 Days.

I am going to continue on the products and continue to work out and keep this blog of my achievements. I don't have a set goal for my weight-loss. The major thing is that I feel and look healthy. I'm doing my best to keep eating well and NOT have candy and sweets control my life!

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

DAY 24 - May 4th!!!

HELLO HELLO! Welcome to DAY 24! YAY!

8:20 a.m.
(✓) 1st Yellow Packet
(✓) 3 Catalyst
(✓) Water
9:00 a.m.
(✓) 1st White Packet
(✓) Chocolate Meal Replacement Shake
(✓) Water
11:00 a.m.
(✓) 2nd Yellow Packet
(✓) Water
11:35 a.m.
(✓) 2nd White Packet
(✓) 2 Servings of Baby Carrots
(✓) 3 Servings of purple grapes
12:30 p.m.
(✓) Fruit Punch Spark
1:30 p.m.
(✓) 2 Hard Boiled Eggs

So, the afternoon didn't pan out as well as I wanted it to, but Cole and I went to Tres Compadres for dinner. We had chips and salsa along with "Compadre Nachos" which consisted of chips, lettuce, tomatoes, chicken pieces, cheese, cheese sauce and guacamole. I had mostly chips and salsa. They tasted ok to me... When our nachos arrived, they looked yummy because of the lettuce and goodies covering the mound of chips. I had my fair share of the nachos, and they tasted good! But I did not feel like I had to keep eating until I was completely miserable.

When I got home I cleaned and did some misc. crunches while I was cleaning and talking on the phone. My night actually got away on me!! I forgot to get my butt over to Becky's class at Shake 'N Shed. My washer went kaplooey last night and I tried to be my own maintenance lady and fix it myself. Being that my washer is a combination unit (i.e. dryer on top of my washer) and the dryer still worked, I put my skills to work to try and get the dang thing to work. It took some trial and error, but after about an hour of moving and circuit breaker switching, I finally got the dang thing to work! Yes!

Anyways, I was hungry for a snack and I had a couple of grapes and 2 hard boiled eggs along with 2 OmegaPlex :)

Day 24 was great!! I bet you're wondering what my results were......... HAHA! Next blog please!

Day 23 - May 3rd

2nd to last day!!!!!

8:30 a.m.ish
(✓) 1st Yellow Packet
(✓) Fruit Punch Spark
(✓) 3 Catalyst
9:00 a.m.ish
(✓) 1st White Packet
(✓) Chocolate Meal Replacement Shake
11:30 a.m.
(✓) 2nd Yellow Packet
(✓) 3 Catalyst
12:30 p.m.
(✓) Olive Garden Salad!! (With Aunt Jan & Sami! :))
(✓) 1 Breadstick
(✓) Water
1:20 p.m.
(✓) 2nd White Packet
(✓) 1/2 Serving of Frozen Fruit (Warmed in the microwave)
3:30 p.m.
(✓) Serving of peas & green beans

I was staring at the pack of iced cookies on the back counter at work. I literally had the pack in my hands and I was trying to decode the ingredients on the back of the package. I was looking for some of the bad stuff that I wasn't suppose to eat. I saw most of the ingredients were things that I recognized and I couldn't break down and "just have one". In the past I would "just have one" because my self-control was non-existent. I couldn't even tell myself "no". Literally in the back of my mind, I had this craving and impulse to eat the sweets that were staring me in the face. I wouldn't care if I were "trying to be good" or not. My impulse was just to eat the cookie and get on with my life. NOT TODAY. I didn't even feel like it!

I even had the chance to eat a slice of cake at the ribbon cutting that we had at noon. I didn't even "feel" like I wanted a piece. It didn't even look good to me. Sure, it was easy enough for me to down the piece of cake and never think about it again. Sure, it could have been the polite thing to do, but I just didn't want to. UNREAL. That NEVER happens to me. I always have that "guilt" in my mind that I don't want to hurt people's feelings if I don't consume whatever they have to offer. I'm sorry, but I respectfully decline.... And why is "respectfully declining" such a big deal?? In our society, it is looked down upon if you do not consume what it put in front of your face. Guess what, you have the choice and the right to say no! If someone were to put drugs in your face, would you say... "Ok, just a little"? No. (Well, I would hope you would say no.) I know drugs aren't as harmful as the piece of cake is, but in the overall aspect of what you put in your body..., you don't really know what either one will have an effect on your body. I now choose to be in charge of what foods I put in my body. They might not always be the healthiest, but at least I am aware of it!

Okey okey... Back to my recap of the 2nd to last day!!!

5:20 p.m.
(✓) 3 Catalyst
(✓) Water
5:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.
Zumba with Anne & Dani!!

After Zumba, I was hungry and I knew that I was really craving fruits, so I stopped out to Woodmans and got my "Fruit fix". (That seems so weird that I have a fruit craving, because before, I was addicted to candy!!) I bought potatoes, strawberries, grapes, baby carrots, cantaloupe, and tomatoes.

After I was done shopping, I was driving on my way home. I was SUPER hungry after working out and then walking around Woodman's for a while. I needed to have something...So I ate 2 tomatoes on the way home. And guess what, I will not allow myself to wear a white coat while eating tomatoes... :P

Supper:
(✓) 3 Tomatoes (including the ones on the drive home)
(✓) Can of Tuna
(✓) Handful of baby carrots
(✓) 2 Servings of Strawberries with sugar alternative.

My goodness, I sure felt good at the end of the day! Bring on Day 24!!!

Monday, May 2, 2011

Day 22 - May 2nd

Good Morning, Monday... 3rd to last day of my 24-Day Challenge... seriously, this has gone by WAY.TOO.FAST!

I can physically see changes! :)

8:30 a. m.
(✓) 1st Yellow Packet
(✓) 1 Mandarin Spark
(✓) Water
(✓) 3 Catalyst
9:15 a.m.ish
(✓) 1st White Packet
(✓) Chocolate Meal Replacement Shake
(✓) (rest of my Mandarin Spark)
11:00 a.m.
(✓) 2nd Yellow Packet
(✓) Water
11:35 a.m.
(✓) 2nd White Packet
(✓) 3 small boiled red potatoes
(✓) 2 Hard Boiled Eggs
(✓) 1 apple
(✓) Water
Supper:
(✓) 3 servings of peas and broccoli
(✓) water
(✓) 1 serving of frozen fruit (microwaved... which wasn't bad! It actually was really good!)

Day 21 - May 1st

Today was another slow start to the morning. I woke up around 9:30 a.m.ish and I was meeting my friend Desiree for a morning of bumming around :)

I didn't have the best start to the morning because I wasn't timing my packets very well...

10:30 a.m.ish
(✓) 1st Yellow Packet
(✓) 3 Catalyst
11:00 a.m.ish
(✓) 1st White Packet
(✓) Chocolate Meal Replacement Shake
11:30 a.m. ish
(✓) 2nd Yellow Packet
12:30 p.m.ish
(✓) 2nd White Packet with Lunch
(✓) Chef Salad with iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, chicken slices, & ham strips with Italian vinaigrette dressing.
The salad at Perkins was great! It had a lot of good stuff on it :) I didn't want the bacon and ham strips they had placed on it and I'm glad I didn't get it with cheese. That would have made me too full and probably would have given me a stomach ache!

Lunch with Desiree was great! I miss her and I am so glad that she is now living in Madison with her husband and her son! I can't believe that she is actually living close to my sister! That was so awesome to hear! I can't wait to hang out with her more often! :)

So, I went and did some shopping at Walgreens and then I headed over to the mall to walk around for a bit. I got a couple of items (ON SALE!) so that was pretty exciting :)

Cole then met up with me and he was getting his Jeep cleaned out and so we headed over to Panera for something for him to eat.

I wasn't very hungry especially since I just ate basically 2 meals back-to-back!

I got a Mango Smootie. I saw that the only dairy she put in the smootie was yogurt, so it wasn't too bad. I think they had labeled that it was only 290 calories. It tasted good, but it took me a while to drink it down. Cole & I then walked around for a while to different stores while we waited for his car to be done.

So, after a day of bumming around, I pretty much felt tired so I decided to take a nap around 5:30 p.m. last night. Probably not the smartest decision I made, but I really needed to rest. So I took a nap for a couple of hours and woke up around 7 p.m.ish. I felt good, but then I got a second wind, so I decided to clean my place :) I clean for a while and I was getting everything organized. It doesn't really take me that long to clean my place, but it's just getting the motivation to do so!!

I was up until 11:30 p.m. last night, doing my last minute cleaning and organizing :) but, I do have to say that my place is looking really good! Now, if only my dishes would do themselves.

I was a little hungry when I was cleaning so around 7:30 p.m.ish I had:
(✓) small boiled potato
(✓) Banana
(✓) apple
Yay for day 21!

Day 20 - April 30th

Good Morning Saturday!

Again, today, I had a slow start to the morning! I woke up around 10:30 a.m.ish and I tried to get my butt in gear to get the morning started :)

10:30 a.m.ish
(✓) 1st Yellow Packet with water
(✓) 3 Catalyst
11:45 a.m.ish
(✓) 1st White Packet
(✓) Chocolate Meal Replacement Shake
2:00 p.m.ish
(✓) 2nd Yellow Packet with water
2:15 p.m.ish
(✓) 2nd White Packet
(✓) Kwik Trip Turkey, Cheddar, Tomato wrap
(✓) Banana

So, just a small recap - I was out at the Haunted House from 11:45 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. we all did a fair share of cleaning/moving things and I definitely was breaking a sweat from cleaning! I was motivated to get the ball rolling on getting things organized for the Haunted House! I could say that I did about 3 hours of steady cleaning/moving around, so that was my work out for Saturday!

I really had a MAJOR craving for the cookies that Gordo brought out to the Haunted House from Kwik Trip! They are those mini m&m cookies. I kept sneaking a couple here and there, and I think I had a total of 7 throughout my cleaning for the whole afternoon! They did taste pretty good, but I didn't over-do it with eating them. I also probably had a handful of cheddar cheese chips. They didn't really do much for me. I wasn't interested in sitting there and eating them all! I figured I would have pretty much counter-acted the cookies & handful of chips, by cleaning that much :)

Anyways, after I was done with cleaning around 6:30 p.m.ish, I headed home and I had myself some supper:

(✓) 4 boiled potatoes
(✓) 2 Servings of salmon
(✓) Banana