FitFeat

Archive for March 23rd, 2010

Slimmin’ for Spring

Mar 23

Posted by Shari B. in Lose Weight, Spring Slimdown 2010 | 4 Comments

Hi FitFeat friends!

Wow, two posts in one day – that never happens!  :)   If you missed the earlier post today, it’s about Vindaloo Veggies in the crockpot – check it out!

When I started the FitFeat blog last August, my primary intention was to show clients and readers how I personally fit fitness and healthy eating into my daily life, with tips along the way.  I used to write about (and take pictures of) all the food that crossed my lips plus all of my exercise, which ultimately added an additional layer of accountability to keep me on-track because I knew whatever I did would be listed online the next day.

FitFeat has morphed somewhat from ‘day-in-the-fit-life journal’ to more of what I like to think is thoughtful content with articles and topics for discussion.  While I definitely want to continue with those types of blog posts, I do also want to get back to the journaling side too.

Here’s why…

My mentoring clients are required to send me their food plans every day.  This not only holds them accountable, but it also keeps their fitness journey front and center in their daily focus.  

That which you focus on, you move toward.

I feel that I could benefit from that same daily focus now.

I’d mentioned recently that I wanted to hit a target weight for the marathon.  Even though I won’t be running the full marathon on May 16, I’d still like to drop a few lbs to increase my overall speed for the summer because I do intend to run in an event of some sort.  Plus I am female after all – which means it’s a prerequisite in my genes to want to slim down for bathing suit season, right?  ;)

The first goal is to get back to last summer’s ‘comfy maintenance weight’ which is somewhere in the vicinity of four pounds down from what my Monday morning weigh-in was.   The Monday weight will be considered “Weight Zero” and then I’ll post any gains or losses against that number as it relates to the starting weight.

Now please know that I do not ‘live and die’ by the number on the scale.  It’s simply a tool through which I can measure progress.  I know I won’t be packing on muscle to skew the numbers anytime soon, so this will give me a fairly accurate representation of whether I’m eating and/or exercising in the right ratio.

I know that recently I’ve been consuming more than I’ve been burning off.  When I gain, it’s from the waist down.  And my pants have been telling me there have been more calories in the “IN” column than the “OUT” column.

I recently read in the comments area of another blog that some people are a little over the whole food journal blogging schtick.  Rather than place all of that info on the main page of the blog (and possibly bore you to tears in the process), I’ve added a tab on the navigation bar called Spring Slimdown and then each day will have a subpage below it.

Click on Monday Recap (Day 1) for the first day of Feats & Eats.  :)   Today’s weight was down 1.2 lbs from yesterday.  (See what happens when I keep my hands out of the candy jar at the office?)  :D

If anyone out there needs to drop a few pounds, you can follow along with what I am doing as well.  I’d love the company!  If you do, let me know how it’s going!

– Shari B. =)

P.S. I also read that people are bothered by RSS feeds in summary form (i.e. Google Reader or your email subscription) so I have changed that setting back to FULL view in all feeds.

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Crockpot Veggies Make Good Blizzard Food

Mar 23

Posted by Shari B. in Cooking, vegan, Vegetarian | 6 Comments

Hey there blog buds!

Happy Tuesday!  As I write this, the sun is shining, the sky is blue and it’s a crisp 36 degrees.  That’s all going to change shortly.

Check out our forecast:

A Winter Storm Warning goes into effect at 3 PM Tuesday afternoon for the Denver Area as well as adjacent communities and the foothills. This storm may drop eight to sixteen inches of snow in the Denver area, with the main snow coming between 3 AM and 9 AM on Wednesday. The foothills and higher terrain south of Denver may see closer to 2 feet of snow.

Here’s me:

Guess where I’m at – yep, that “higher terrain south of Denver.”   Two feet of snow.  Are you guys tired of my whining about winter yet?  Normally I LOVE Colorado.  But this has been the worst winter in my book in the 19 years I’ve lived here.

Please Mother Nature, I beg you:  More warmth.  Less snow. (Or at the very least snow on the days I don’t have to commute.  I only have to commute 3 days out of the week – can’t you wait till Thursday when I don’t have to BE anywhere?)  :)

Good thing I have a TON of leftover food from the crockpot meal I made yesterday!

As I mentioned I tried a new recipe that I was very excited about.  I usually use the crockpot for MSP’s meals that contain meat rather than for my veggie-only ones.  So when I came across this Vindaloo Veggie recipe, I had to give it a try.  Because it’s not my recipe (and because her recipe is adapted from a published & copyrighted recipe) I’m providing the link rather than reprinting it.

If you have trouble getting your veggies in each day, this recipe is for you.  It’s got cauliflower, carrots, onion, bell pepper, zucchini, peas and some fun things like cayenne, turmeric, brown sugar, garlic, ginger.  The list goes on.  Normally I am intimidated by anything with more than 3-5 ingredients.  But I had to give this one a shot because it looked so flavorful.

I made a few substitutions:

  • Used raw agave in place of brown sugar
  • Used liquid dijon mustard in place of dry mustard
  • Used apple cider vinegar in place of white wine vinegar (because that’s all I had)
  • Did not add peas (nothing against peas, was just HUNGRY when I got home and didn’t want to wait 10 more minutes to eat!)

The night before, I did the prep work so I could throw it all together quickly in the morning before work.

I  made the “spicy sauce” in my ThunderStick mixer.

Chopped the carrots and onions and sauteed until tender (in water).

Cut up the zucchini, cauliflower and green bell pepper then put it all in a bag in the fridge.

Had the can of beans at the ready.

Then Monday morning I mixed the spicy sauce, the veggies, the tomato paste and organic kidney beans into the crockpot.

This goes in the crockpot for only 6 hours, so I asked MSP if he would grab the crock out of the fridge and turn it on low when he got home for lunch.  That way it would be ready when I got home around 5:45.

The house smelled amazing!  I served it over brown rice with a sprinkle of cinnamon and it made a very tasty and satisfying dinner (with a TON of leftovers.)

It would also work well with chicken for those of you that eat meat.  I think it would go well with fish too but I wouldn’t put fish in my crockpot.  I’d add it afterward.  It packs a lot of heat from the cayenne, so if you like milder flavor you might want to cut down on that.

I’d tasted the spicy sauce before mixing it with the tomato paste and it had a really wonderful sweet & spicy flavor.  I think I might play around with using that sauce alone as a stir-fry sauce, without the tomato paste.  I think I was expecting this dish to have a sweeter flavor because of it, but the tomato really cut the sweet out.

Well friends, I have more to say as usual but I better check out the grocery situation just in case we really do get snowed in.

Today’s questions:  What foods do you like to stock up before a blizzard?  Do you find that you eat more “comfort” foods during snowstorms? I have a tendency to crave starchier, heartier (and sometimes sweeter) foods when I’m stuck in the house.  I’ll be making sure I have enough Ezekial bread and almond milk,  and probably some Amy’s Organic Soups.  I’m all stocked up on produce from Sunday’s regular shopping trip.

I have another post that I’m working on that I’ll hope to have published later today, so check back by again tonight.  And hopefully for dinner I’ll be trying ANOTHER new recipe, so if it turns out well I’ll be sharing my thoughts on it too.

Have a terrific Tuesday!

– Shari B. =)

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