Here is a copy of my list of foods that I always keep on hand. I obviously add additional items depending on what recipes I'm having throughout the week, but these are my staple foods. If you want me to send this file to you by email let me know, that way you can edit it as you please!
I've been asked a few questions about this list. 1. Where do you typically grocery shop? I usually shop at Walmart, Costco, and a local market we have in my city. I pretty much get canned stuff and all my household things at Walmart. Costco has an awesome selection of organic fruits, vegetables, crackers, meat, etc. I love the Aidells chicken sausages! The market we have here has a really great section of the store that is pretty much like a health food store so I'll get chia seeds, flax seed, protein bars, coconut oil, etc from there. If we had a Smiths closer I'd shop there though. 2. Where do I buy lunch meat? I get Hormel Natural Choice lunch meat which is %100 preservative free. Costco also has some preservative free lunch meat, but I can't remember the brand. Preservative free goes bad faster since the preservatives don't lengthen the shelf life so take that into account. 3. What kind of bacon/sausage do you buy? First off, I always eat normal pork sausage and bacon. I have tried soooo many times to eat turkey bacon, turkey burger, and turkey sausage but I can't handle it. I hate the taste! Again, I just look for the healthiest kind out there. I don't eat a ton of bacon or sausage so I get what my husband likes since he eats more of it. 4. What's my favorite brand of whole wheat wraps? Spinach wraps? My favorite whole wheat wraps are Trader Joes or Wrap-Itz. If you don't have access to a Trader Joes there are other options just make sure the first ingredient is whole wheat and stay away from refined wheat in there! You can order Wrap-Itz from Amazon! Spinach wraps are deceptive. I just read that they aren't really that healthy because they use refined sugars and food dye to get the green coloring. There is hardly any nutrients in there. So those will be coming off the list asap :(
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I get asked a lot if I ever eat unhealthy food. Umm yeah, pretty much every day. I like food. I like to celebrate special occasions with food. I like to reward myself with food. I don’t think there is anything wrong with eating unhealthy food, when done in moderation. There are some weeks where I don’t really have any craving for bad foods and others where I want every calorie loaded snack in sight.
When those weeks come along where I want nothing but bad food, I let myself indulge a bit more than normal. I don’t think it’s healthy to feel like you’re being punished for wanting a snack. Eat the candy and move on, don’t dwell on it. When I do eat really crappy I try to be really good the next day so my body doesn’t end up hating me later. These are my steps to get back on track: 1. Drink tons of water! I drink at least 80 oz everyday so I up that when I’ve binged. 2. Snack on fruits and veggies. Get creative and add healthy dips like hummus or peanut butter if eating fruits and veggies alone is too boring for you. 3. Exercise. Sweating out the toxins helps you feel so much better! 4. Don’t be too mentally hard on yourself. Know that you could have been worse and that you don’t eat like that every day. One bad day will not affect your goals in the long run if you consistently eat healthy and exercise. 5. Don’t expect perfection. For a lot of us who are on a weight loss journey we are dealing with more issues than just losing weight to look good. When you are obese there is typically an emotional, Mental, or physical reason we are that way. Thinking that all of sudden those issues are going to completely disappear after you’ve started your weight loss journey is unrealistic. You will mess up. There is no way around it. Move on and try to do better next time. There you go. Those are my personal ways of recovering from a binge day of eating sweets, pizza, buffalo wings, ice cream, chips, etc. Yeah I’m sure there are days where I’ve literally ate every single one of those items. As long as you’re happy with the progress, don’t be hard on yourself for a bad day. As long as you have more good days than bad, you’re on the right track to being successful. Whitney P.S. Mmmm Buffalo wings and pizza. My two food loves! Okay, okay I’m going to go eat my oatmeal and have a good day! August will forever go into Nate and Whitney’s history as the month where we thought I had lost my mind. I was on my first round of these particular fertility meds and I was CRAZY! There was no telling what mood I was going to be in from one second to the next. I was happy, sad, angry, depressed, and hyper. All at the same time. I literally felt like I had completely gone off the deep end. I didn’t even want to be around myself, so I knew Nate didn’t want me around.
I ended up not getting pregnant that round which sucked, but I still felt okay about things. I am optimistic that things will happen soon. We took a break in September for financial reasons and for me to regain my sanity! October rolled around and we chose to try again. The beginning of October I started Femara 5mg for 5 days. I went into this round with the mindset that I knew what to expect and I would control my emotions better. Which I have…. For the most part. Everything was going great. I felt good, minus a few hot flashes and one day of an awful headache, until the Café Rio incident happened. One of my co-workers had given me a few full punch cards for free meals from Café Rio, so we decided that’s what we’d do for dinner that night. I ordered online and we drove to pick it up. I told Nate to drop me off at the door and I’d run in to grab it. We pull up and I try to get out, but my car keeps the doors auto-locked until the car is in park. Well that pissed me off that Nate didn’t think to put the car in park, he should know this, how dare he! (I’m totally laughing at myself right now btw!) I finally get out of the car and walk up to the counter to get my order. Immediately behind me there are two young boys, probably around 7 years old, whining to their mom to get them a water cup. They were annoying and I gave them a deathly glare. I bought my food, grabbed my drink cups, and walked to the drink station. I was politely waiting in line, minding my own business, and suddenly those two boys ran right in front of me and started filling their cups up. I let it slide because they were still young enough to not know better. Then their big brother who was taller than me and looked to be about 15 comes along and starts pushing me out of the way. I completely lost it on this kid. I yelled at him and may or may not have used my big purse to push back. He wasn’t 7 and he definitely should have known better to butt in line at the drink station! I filled my cups up and walked out of there like a boss! This made me realize two things. 1. Women going through fertility treatments should come with a warning label. Like maybe a big sticker on the forehead that says “Jacked up on Femara and Freaking crazy!” or “Hormonal- stay away!” 2. No matter how much we try to control our emotions, we can’t. Our bodies are going crazy trying to produce eggs and all that fun stuff. For all those concerned for Nates well-being, he is fine. As long as he has sports and food he will get through it! He has been amazing at trying to understand me through this process and I love him more now than ever. Having a support system as great as him makes me realize that I can make it through anything! When I decided to start this blog, I essentially did it for me. I’ve always felt it therapeutic to write in my journal so I figured I would write here so people could see and learn from it. I never expected the comments that I’ve received. I’ve had complete strangers email me, write me on Facebook, comment on here and they have all been so nice and helpful. Thank you to all those who have went out of your way to comment, it really does mean the world to me. I remember when I was first diagnosed with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. I was scared and felt really alone. I didn’t know one person who had the syndrome and felt like no one could relate to me. I couldn’t really talk to my friends or family, especially my sisters, because they all had babies or were currently pregnant. It didn’t seem fair at all. I will be completely honest in saying that I had a really hard time being around people for a long time. Having PCOS has influenced my life in a lot of ways. In the beginning it had my confidence at an all-time low. I stayed in a toxic marriage for longer than I should have because I felt like no one else would want to deal with my “baggage”, I ate my feelings, and I didn’t want to be active in anything. I look back now and realize just how happy I was for a long time. After leaving my ex, I started on my journey of becoming happy. The first thing that I wanted to do was lose weight. Initially, it was all about appearance. I wanted to look pretty again. Never in a million years did I think that losing weight would influence me the way it has. I realize now that in order to look good, you’ve got to feel good. Staying active, eating healthy, and taking care of myself has led to the greatest blessing in my life… my happiness. Having PCOS has made me try harder to lose weight which in turn has made me into a fighter. I fight to be happy, I fight to be healthy, and I fight to accomplish every single goal I have. I no longer sit back waiting for things to happen. I make things happen. Some might say that having PCOS is all negative (and for the most part that is correct), however there is something to learn in every single negative step in our life. We can either pity ourselves or step up and make lemonade out of our lemons. I for one will not let this syndrome hold me back. I’ll stand up and fight for what I want. I will be healthy, I will positively influence those around me, I will control my emotions, and I will have a baby. I will do everything that PCOS doesn’t want me to. PCOS has not only made me into a fighter, it has made me determined. Determined to show everyone that nothing can hold you back, not even the monster we call PCOS. Tonight I was watching Dancing With the Stars and there was a dance about bullying and those dealing with insecurities. It was a beautiful and emotional dance. I started crying and realized how close it hit home to me. During high school I was never the skinny girl. I have always been thicker or "big boned" as some like to call it. I was always popular and well liked but no one ever knew how insecure I really was. I never felt as confident as I made it seem. I remember my junior or senior year, someone put a note on my front door basically saying that they thought it was gross that when I sat down my shirt would rise up in the back and they could see my back fat and some other really mean things. I remember crying every single night about it. Some other boys were really mean to me too. And the funny thing is that all the boys that wrote and said these things were always my friends. We hung out all the time. If only I had the confidence I do now. I would have told them exactly what I thought, but instead I just smiled and pretended it was all okay. If I could stand up and defend every single person who is being bullied I would. I would tell them that it gets better. I would tell them that once you graduate and grow up that this will only be a stepping stone to who you will become. The bullies will hopefully grow up and be decent human beings and if they don't they'll continue being miserable people who no one likes! I believe that everything in my life has influenced me to become who I am today. I think that the bullying led me to marry young and be in an unhealthy relationship. The unhealthy relationship ultimately made me believe in myself enough to leave him, which made me motivated to lose weight. Losing weight made me confident enough to start dating and dating led me to Nate. Meeting Nate made me the happiest person I have ever been. Take that bullies! When I first started my weight loss journey I focused mostly on cardio. My friend and I would run every day and I loved it. The weight began falling off so I of course was thrilled! We started doing some HIIT workouts and we also boxed. I could feel myself toning up a bit as well as still losing weight so I figured I was doing everything right. The town that we lived in at the time didn’t have a gym, so this was the type of exercises we were going to have to do to get a good work out in.
After a year or so of doing that I plateaued. I didn’t lose weight and my skin felt loose and just kind of hung out around my body. I started doing more HIIT workouts at home which included a lot of squats, lunges, pushups, tricep dips, and burpees. I could feel my skin getting tighter and my muscles becoming more defined, but I still was not seeing the results I wanted. When I moved to the city I got a gym membership. I have always liked to lift weights. I remember being in high school and having our conditioning days during volleyball where we’d hit the gym instead of practice and I loved it. I love the sense of empowerment I get from lifting heavier or finishing that last rep as my muscles shake and I don’t feel like I can physically do it. It’s something you can do on your own and know that you accomplished it without anyone helping you. During the first couple of months at the gym I was noticing results that I hadn’t seen before. My stomach was getting tighter, which for all us dealing with PCOS we know is a huge issue, so I began doing some research on how to push my results even more. What I found was so interesting to me. One of the most interesting things that I read was that our high levels of testosterone is a good thing when trying to build muscle. With higher testosterone levels we build it faster than those who have lower levels. Score! The reasons you want to build muscle instead of focusing only on cardio is because muscle is super active and uses glucose very efficiently which makes your body require less insulin production. Resistance and weight training increases muscle which in turns increases your resting metabolic rate that leads to an increase in total energy expenditure and loss of body fat. In simple term, increasing your muscle mass makes your body burn way more calories even when you are not doing anything at all. Benefits of lifting weights: Burn more fat Increase and maintain metabolism Lower insulin Improve blood pressure Aid in weight management Improve mood Increase self confidence My advice for all of you dealing with PCOS is focus more on weight training and less on cardio. Don’t quit cardio all together as there are many benefits of that as well, but with the way our bodies are wired you’ll see better results from lifting weights. The last 4 months or so since I've stepped up my weight lifting game I get compliments about my weight a lot, but the funny thing is the number on the scale has only moved a little. I love the results I've gotten from weightlifting. Knowing that it not only helps you look better, but also feel better makes it even more rewarding. Let me give you a bit of my history as far as fertility medications go. In 2009, after years of trying after my first miscarriage in 2006, I started my first round of Clomid. I didn't get pregnant that round but I did on the 3rd round. I ended up miscarrying at 9 weeks. I then decided not to try for a while because I took it way too hard. During that break my doctor did find out that my insulin was way high, like almost 3 times the normal limit, and he couldn't believe I was even functioning so he put me on Metformin. He still didn't think I had PCOS. I continued to take my Metformin hoping that it would help me get pregnant. In 2011 I decided to go to a fertility specialist to get more answers because obviously 5 years of trying and 2 miscarriages later, there had to be a bigger problem.
I remember walking into the fertility specialist’s office and him going over his first appointment questionnaire. Within 15 minutes of talking to him he said “well it’s obvious that you have PCOS. I can tell just by looking at you.” Ouch. The words hurt but at the same time I was so happy to have a reason! He did an ultrasound of my ovaries and on the left side I had a “string of pearls” with 13 small cysts. He confirmed PCOS right then. I had so many of the symptoms acne, weight gain, thyroid issues, hirsutism, but I did have periods every month. I still wonder why my other doctor didn’t take time to look into it more. I’ll never know his reasoning because I have never been back to him! At my first appointment with the specialist, he prescribed me a “cocktail” of medications. I never took them. About a month after my appointment, my first marriage started getting really bad. I had a gut feeling that I shouldn't waste my time or my health on this quite yet. 3 months later I filed for divorce. If I have learned anything from that first marriage it is that woman’s intuition is a very powerful thing and to always listen! Fast forward 4 years and I’m back at the specialists’ office. The first thing he noticed was my weight loss which surprised me since I haven't seen him in so long. We talked about things and I updated him on my life. He did blood work and prescribed me medications to help ovulation. Within a few days later the results came back and my thyroid was slightly elevated so I started taking Synthroid. Once my cycle started I had my baseline ultrasound to make sure my ovaries were free of cysts, which they were! I took Femara, which basically tells your body and hormones to produce eggs that are strong enough for ovulation. I then went back on cycle day 12 to check the size of my follicles. I had 2 follicles that were both mature enough for ovulation so he told me to give myself the trigger shot that night. I was so scared to give myself the shot. It literally took me 15 minutes to build the courage to do it. Nate refused to do it because he’s a baby when it comes to those types of things! The shot didn't hurt at all. I really didn't feel it even go in my skin. The next day after the shot I could feel strong ovulation pains on each side so I knew that the shot was working. For those who don’t know what the shot is it’s a shot full of HCG that makes your body ovulate within 24-48 hours after the shot is administered. The HCG hormones mimics the LH surge that your body naturally should have to tell your body it’s ready to release the eggs. A lot of PCOS patients never have an LH surge because the LH in our system is elevated already so our body doesn't get the spike that signals the egg release. After ovulation I started on Progesterone suppositories. It's very common for PCOS patients to have low progesterone. Without high enough progesterone counts your body has a hard time sustaining the pregnancy. That could be the reasoning behind my miscarriages! Long story short, I didn’t get pregnant on this round. The doctor was very happy with the way my body reacted to the medicine so I’ll start another round once my cycle starts next month. I took this month off to have a HSG (hysterosalpingogram) done. The HSG was clear so I have no blockages in either tube. We also needed to save money for the next round. The treatments are not cheap and my insurance doesn't cover any of it. Boo. But I know the outcome will be worth every single penny spent :) Today as I was starting my run I decided to make a goal. I was going to aim to beat my fastest 5k. I kept looking at my timer and could see that my time was on pace to beat it. I started thinking about how important goals are to have in your life. I'm not just talking about fitness related goals or weight loss goals, goals in general. Without goals we would have no reason to strive for success. We'd be complacent in life with no struggle to become better. We would have no way of gaining self-discovery or self-worth. How do you set goals? Do you remember them mentally? Do you write them down? Do you make a goal poster where you can visually see the goals? It's funny how we all set goals in a different way with the same ending intentions, succeeding. Being successful in life is something we should all strive for. Whether you're wanting to succeed in work, personal life, physical activities, etc. it's all small steps that we take to evolve and become better. It's important to remember to celebrate all goals that were hit, whether they're big or small. Buy yourself clothes for hitting a certain weight, take yourself on a vacation for getting that promotion you've been working so hard on, draw yourself a bubble bath for not yelling at your kids for one whole day. No matter what your goal is, celebrate it. Being able to recognize your accomplishments is a healthy way to build self-esteem. There is no better way to feel good about yourself than knowing that you succeeded at something that was once just a thought in your head. You made it happen and didn't settle until it was finished, that's always something to celebrate. If you haven’t heard of HIIT training I’d be really surprised. It has been the hype for a while now, and for good reason. HIIT, or high-intensity interval training, is a training technique in which you give one hundred percent effort through quick, intense bursts of exercise, followed by short rest periods. Most of my HIIT work outs are set in intervals of 30-60 seconds on and 10-20 second rest. So for those 30-60 seconds I’m pushing as hard as I can without stopping and then the 10-20 second rest I’m catching my breath. Those rest periods go by so quickly! Most HIIT workouts are less than 30 minutes so they are perfect for anyone who doesn’t have time to work out for an hour every day.
HIIT training is perfect for those who don’t have a lot of time to work out. And it’s proven that this type of training burns a ton of calories even after the training is done! “A high-intensity workout increases the body’s need for oxygen during the effort and creates an oxygen shortage, causing your body to ask for more oxygen during recovery,” says Eric Salvador, NASM, NSCA, head instructor at The Fhitting Room in New York City. “This after burn effect is referred to as Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption (EPOC) and is the reason why intense exercise will help burn more fat and calories than regular aerobic and steady-state workouts.” When I first started my weight loss journey, HIIT training and running were the only 2 types of workouts that I did and I lost 60 pounds pretty quickly. The only equipment that I had were 10 pound dumbbells. You literally can use your body weight for every exercise and see results. Most HIIT workouts include lunges, squats, pushups, and burpees. It’s fun to add different variations of those exercises those. When it comes to HIIT training, creativity is key. To add some extra work to the standard push up, try doing an elevated pushup using your couch to put your feet on or instead of just a squat try doing the sumo squat where you lift your legs to the side up towards your shoulders (It looks like a sumo wrestler taking steps) to add ab work into it. There really are so many options when using this type of training! Alright, I'm a planner. I hate when plans are changed or most of all when they're not made. So planning meals is a must for me. The easiest way I do it is go to Pinterest and put them in my "Weekly meals" board. I have a "Recipes" board where I keep every recipe I find, but when they are part of my weekly meal plan they are put in the "Weekly meals" board. It keeps things way more organized for me. That way I'm not scrolling through 100's of pins in my recipe board :) If I'm using a recipe from my cookbook I will write the recipe name and page # on my list. A lot of times I'll even print the recipes off the internet and keep them a stack by the cookbooks so they're all in the same place. Meal planning is really something that works best if you do it your way. I like to organize and sort things, so this works best for me!
Example list Monday- Chicken marsala/Pinterest Tuesday- Beef stew/ Teal cookbook pg 17 Wednesday- Tacos Thursday- Crustless Pizza/Pinterest Friday- Take out! Saturday- Bbq chicken with sweet marinade/Better food cookbook pg 255 |
AuthorHi my name is Whitney and I'm a mom to 2 adorable boys and the wife to a sports loving, handsome man. I'm outnumbered but wouldn't have it any other way. I'm navigating motherhood one fart joke at a time. Welcome to my crazy life! Archives
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