Newsflash: This isn’t always fun.
I don’t wanna be a Debbie Downer.
[I can't. I'm an Annie. But Downer is close to Downs, so maybe I have a chance....]
But I think this outlet, this blog, this challenge, is a chance to be honest and I want to be honest.
My body doesn’t like playing by the rules. I’ve made a lifestyle of letting my body be lazy and survive off of less healthy choices. And for the last 29ish years, my body has enjoyed being low on exercise and high on cookies.
And ice cream. And cheese.
[The list could continue, but I want to have some smidgen of pride left when this is done.]
And in the last 3 weeks, my body has not taken too kindly to this new way of living. I think it’s a battle. Probably for many of us. A battle between what our insides want and need and what our outside is willing to do.
I’m a wimp. It’s just true. And every day of the last 3 weeks hasn’t necessarily been fun.
Because wimps like me just want to do whatever is easiest. I have been known to say something like this:
“Give me ease or give me death.”
[Are you impressed yet? I hope so. 
]
BUT. BUT. BUT.
It. Is. Worth. It.
It’s about time that my body learned that it is not the boss. Being lazy isn’t the way I want to live. I want my heart, my mind, my insides to make the rules. Because that’s the healthiest part of me. So it should be in charge.
It’s a mental game that I am going to win. I won yesterday. I won today. I will win tomorrow.
So just as you guys suggested last week in the comments, I have been getting up early in the mornings to work out. My eyes don’t want to open. My feet don’t want to step on the cold floor.
But my heart? It wants to get up.
More than I want my life to be easy, I want my life to be long.
More than I want to sleep late, I want to sleep well.
More than I want dessert, I want to be healthy.
More than I want to appear perfect [trust me I want to], I want to be real.
That’s what this whole thing is about, right? I know lots of you are on this road with the ten of us. So at every turn, I’m going to be honest because I want you to feel encouraged. It’s okay if you mess up. It’s okay if you are sad or mad or frustrated. Cause I have been too.
But there are also great days, my clothes are fitting better, and while it isn’t always fun, it is going to be worth it. I promise.
Here’s to tomorrow.
Annie’s Area of Improvement:
I’m definitely improving my exercise routine thanks to a zillion different classes on my OnDemand TV. Love it! I’m shooting to work out 5 days next week.
Annie’s Big Problem of the Week:
Recipes! Help me out, people. I’d love some new snacks. I’m looking for low-carb, high-protein, healthy snacks. No cheese [whah], easy to transport, and more than just almonds. Something really good, y’all.
So let me hear from you- with questions, suggestions, recipes, whatevs.
Bring it.
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Meet Annie.
Annie Downs tells stories for a living as a freelance writer in Nashville, Tennessee. Flawed but funny, Annie uses her writing to highlight the everyday goodness of a real and present God.
As one of the ten finalists for Nashville’s Subway Get Fit Challenge, Annie looks forward to exercising [no she doesn't], eating healthy [not dreading it] and making permanent lifestyle changes [for realz].
This is a rare opportunity that Annie is not going to waste [waist? I'm punny]. With lots of laughs, lots of tears, and lots of sweat, Annie looks forward to sharing this journey with you.
Here’s to May 18. It can’t get here soon enough.
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Go here http://weight-watchers-points-recipes.blogspot.com/ for some recipe ideas. Gina is amazing at taking recipes and making them light. Variety is the key.
Do you like hummus? Eating that with a few (only 5) Triscuits fills me up every time. It satisfies that crunchy, salty potato chip craving.
And discipline is hard. So hard. Just keep praying. With God all things are possible. This is good for you and He wants you to succeed.
Wrap a piece of deli meat like pastrami turkey around a celery stick. (This is actually a Rachael Ray idea if that gives it more credibility
!) It really is good.
There’s a cookbook that has GREAT alternatives in it! It’s called Hungry Girl 200 under 200. Every recipe is a single serving under 200 calories. She lists all of the nutritional info on her website. It’s great. You should check it out: http://www.hungrygirl.com
As I mentioned before, I’m also trying to go on this journey with you. I’ve discovered the Cook Yourself Thin people have some good ideas. I also discovered you can easily bake your own pita chips and tortilla chips and they’re pretty tasty. Finally, this week I toasted some garbanzo beans (I googled how) and they have been a yummy snack that can easily be transported and have a lot of protein.
For portable snacks – I agree with @Southern Gal with the hummus. I’ll sometimes just cut a bell pepper in half and slather the inside with hummus (or with lite laughing cow cheese (yes, it’s cheese, but it’s light?)) for a snack.
Also, I’m a huge fan of roasted garbanzo beans – here’s a good recipe: http://heart-healthy-cooking.suite101.com/article.cfm/roasted_garbanzo_beans. You can definitely throw them in a baggie and munch on them while on the go.
Hard-boiled eggs are stinky, but easy and portable snacks.
(can you tell I’ve spent nearly a year failing at the South Beach diet?)
Wow – I thought I was going to be original with the hummus thing…guess not
There are lots of places that sell hummus in prepacked, individual servings (which is really convenient) and I love it with baby carrots, celery, really any veggie.
Also, here is a really good recipe for Taco Soup. Maybe not portable but good to have around the house. I like it cause it is full of flavor, freezes well, and fills you up without a ton of calories, and you can have it around for awhile and have pre-made meals.
TACO SOUP
Two Points per Serving (Weight Watchers)
1 lb. of lean meat (I use a package of ground turkey)
3 reg. size cans of tomatoes
3 reg. size cans of beans (I use one light kidney, one dark kidney, and one black…but up to you)
1 reg. size can of corn (drained)
1 small can Tomato Sauce
1 reg. size can of Chicken Broth
1 7 oz can of Diced Green Chilies
1 package of Taco Seasoning
1 package of Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing
Brown meat. Puree tomatoes. Add it all together and cook on med/low for about 30 minutes. I actually cook it longer. Great leftover. Freezes well.
Hummus…Deli Meat…Yogurt…Fiber One bars, or fiber one cereal…apple with peanut butter.
As for recipes, I’m all about cooking healthy things in the crockpot…little to no effort! You can google it to find some you love, and I’ll send you some of my favorites.
You are doing great chica! I snack on a little trail mix made of some nuts, sunflower seeds and a small amount of pretzels. Totally portable. I also have an apple and peanut butter. They make these little individual packages of peanut butter in a squeeze tube.
Are you doing no dairy or no cheese? Cause they have go-gurt (portable yogurt tubes) too!
e these are an awesome chip-like substitute. they’re called soy crips (i’ll admit the title does not sound appealing, but they’re really good) They’re these puffy/crunchy soy puffs that come in lots of flavors. My fav’s sea salt but they have barbecue, sour cream and onion, etc. They’re good for dipping or just on their own. I believe the brand name is Gen-Soy. Also, smoothies from the brand ‘Naked’ (they’re in the yogurt section of the grocery store) and they’re all natural smoothies that are awesome. I usually drink half of a whole one before working out and it gives me a boost, Red Machine is my favorite (pomegranate, raspberry, strawberry) but they have other good flavors like orange mango or strawberry banana.
I have a fruit and veggie check off thing…I have to eat at least 2 of both of them everyday, it just reminds me to grab that apple or orange or whatever veg. instead of a different snack when I see I haven’t checked them all off yet.
Cottage cheese and yogurt taste really good all mixed up together (just take my word for it), and I, too am a fan of the hummus. Hummus and red pepper strips are very VERY good. Also smoothies are muy fun and you can add protein powder to boost the protein. That’s all I can think of for right now. If I remember some more, I’ll come back later!
Thanks for your honesty. As for snacks, I like having veggies available and then I keep hummus around for dipping the veggies in. There are some good trail mixes I’ve found that are dried fruit/nut mixes. I buy the ones with dried fruit because it is satisfying my sweet tooth right now. I also find that a handful of cashews here or there is a good snack.
Oh yeah…I’ve been buying these cottage chesee/fruit mixes at the store. They say there’s less sugar than yogurt in them. I’ll be honest though and say that I haven’t check on that.
Totally agree with the hummus – I love it and eat it with carrots. I also eat an apple with almond butter for my afternoon snack. And you said no cheese, but Sargentio’s makes a reduced fat cheese stick (?) 60 calories I believe – in colby-jack and I love it. FiberOne yogurts – love the key lime and strawberry – 80 calories and 5 g fiber.
And I definitely agree with exercising in the morning. I’ve been exercising consistently since April 2009 and it has paid off for sure, but I still have to make myself exercise and doing it in the morning just gets it done and out of the way before anything else steals that time. I’m a huge fan of the 30 Day Shred!
You go girl!
I can’t find the link from Ellie Krieger from the foodnetwork, but she has a granola recipe that we have enjoyed – and yes, it’s portable!
2/3 cup of any combination of nuts and sees (pumpkin and sunflower seeds are very healthy)
1/3 cup of dried fruit (apple, mango, prunes, raisins, etc)- I also added a little big of sweetness like chocolate chips or butterscotch chips.
I make a double batch then divide them up into small ziplock snack bags – they’re ready to go when I am.
Enjoy and stay on track!
Hi Annie –
I promise I’m not trying to promote Smucker items but one of the tours that I worked on has a page full of recipes using our Sugar Free and Low Sugar Jams, Jellies and Preserves. I’ve made a couple of the items on the list and they are pretty good! Simply Jif is also a good for you peanut butter that’s the no stir kind if you like the idea of pb with or without something. I honestly just take ONE spoonful of pb before a workout and that was enough for me to get through my workout. I figured out that two and three bits of pb doesn’t really help the cause.
Here’s the website with recipes… (Denise Austin also has some workout videos up there if you get bored of on demand)
http://smuckers.com/promotions/walktofitness/recipes.aspx
Proud of you girl!
Cucumbers and black bean dip. Sort of like chips and dip, but with cucumbers. Slice the cukes, put ‘em in a baggie, buy some bean dip, take it with you. Portable.
http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/peanutbuttergranola.htm
http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/chewygranolabars.htm
hi annie–
luna bars might be a good option. on weight watchers they are only 3 points which is reasonable when hungry. they do stick and you are not hungry. here are some of my other snacks i like and seem to work for me:
carrot sticks
bell pepper sticks
hummus with veggies
there is a also a great dip–the ranch dip powder mix, but make with yogurt. no points and nice.
Gosh. I feel your pain. I love carbs, cheese, bread, etc. and I love to cook. A couple of products I have tried recently and liked are:
1. Mayonnaise made from Olive Oil (Hellman’s or Kraft)-it’s half the fat and unlike lowfat or fat free mayo which taste really gross to me, the olive oil mayo is really good.
2. Buena Vida Low Carb Whole Wheat Tortillas- I think these are quite good and they’re soft. I get them at Super Wal-Mart.
3. Weight Watchers Ice Cream Bars and Skinny Cow Ice Cream Sandwiches- I just need a little bit of sweet to keep me going or I feel like I’m gonna die. WW has a good variety and I like to keep my freezer stocked. Not low carb probably, but better than going to Marble Slab.:o)
Annie – you are doing great! I just hit the gym today for the first time in 2010 (yikes!) so I know how hard it can be. One of my favorite snacks is celery with almond butter spread in the middle. Apparently almond butter is better for you than peanut butter, but maybe reduced fat peanut butter is just as good. The downside? Almond butter is about $20 a jar. Not cheap at all. BUT…it’s the perfect mixture of crunchy and sweet! So proud of you for kicking butt on this challenge!
One of my favorite easy and yummy snacks are pumpkin muffins. Take a box of spice cake mix and all you add to it is a can of pumpkin (not pupmpkin pie mix, just plain pumpkin.) You mix it together and then bake according to the directions for cupcakes on the cake box. Pretty tasty! You are inspiring me to try harder on my exercise and eating habits as well! Keep up the great work!
Hey Annie, I ‘m just catching up on your blog and your weight losing–go Annie Go! I originally found your blog somehow through some weight loss or fitness blog connector–isn’t that funny? And then I just kept reading your blog because you are a great writer and SO funny. Anyways, I have a blog where I talk about weight loss and stuff, and I love to cook. I only put really good recipes on my blog. Here’s one of my favorite recipes ever and I know you’ll like it. Protein pancakes: Just blend 1/3 cup each of egg whites, cottage cheese and oatmeal in your blender with a little splenda, cinnamon and vanilla. The BEST pancakes ever! I top them with 1/2 mashed banana mixed with 1 tsp maple syrup, and I usually put some walnuts in the pancakes when they are cooking.
My roommate let me borrow her copy of Eat, Drink, and Weigh Less before Christmas and I finally got around to reading it. Long comment longer, there’s a couple of really great snack mix recipes – I made this one this morning and just had some (yes, it’s 11:50 am – a late dinner = a late lunch = a late morning snack):
1 cup mixed nuts
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup craisins
3.5 cups puffed whole grain cereal (I used Kashi 7 Grain Puffs (and yes, I’m too lazy to get up and walk to the kitchen to double check the real name))
Mix together. 1 cup = 1 serving.