Day 5: Humble & Still Motivated!

Wow...
Taking "before" pictures is humbling to say the least. I'm glad I'm totally onboard with this right now, otherwise I may be a wee bit discouraged!

Don't get me wrong. I know that I'm fortunatle in that I don't have to lose a ton of weight. I have no ambition what-so-ever to be "skinny" or anything. I simply want to lose the muffin-top and other unwanted extras. My goal is to look FIT and athletic.

Speaking of looking fit - Gina Carano (MMA fighter & Gladiator "Crush") is my HERO!

She's tough, hot and buff! Although she does slim way down pre-fights (she actually weighed in for a fignt naked before in an effort to be in her weight class limit!) she is frickin' HOT when she's training and just being Gina. I've got two pictures of her up in my house now. There's one on the fridge and I added "You can. You will. Succeed." A good motivator in the kitchen. I also put one on the bathroom mirror and simply added "I believe". I'm really determined to do what it takes to make this work. Once & for all!

When I'm feeling braver I will update this and add my photos. I also too measurements this morning and will add those as well. It's TOUGH posting photos and measurements publically rather than just keeping them to yourself. (I'm working myself up for it!) But I do think there is value to doing it. It'll be one more motivator to keep me honest and on-track.

On a healthy eating note: I dug up some old recipes and made them this morning. 64 calorie Breakfast Cookies and 109 calorie Cereal Bars. I'll share the recipes too in case anyone's interested.

Breakfast Cookies (Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees)
* 1/2 C Flour
* 1/4 C Whole Wheat Flour
* 1/2 tsp baking soda
* 1/4 tsp salt
* 1/4 tsp Cinnamon
* 1/8 tsp Nutmeg
Mix these six ingredients and set aside.
* 1/2 C Brown Sugar (PACKED)
* 1 Lg Egg
* 3 Tbsp Canola Oil (or similar cooking oil)
Mix these 3 ingredients then add to the previously mixed dry ingredients.
* 1 & 1/4 C Rolled Oats (I use quick oats but reg work fine too)
* 1/2 C Wheat Germ
Add these last two and mix well. The cookie dough will be dry and crumby but they will work! Roll dough into balls and place on cookie sheet. Size and space them so that you get 24. They should all fit on a standard cookiesheet.
Bake for 10 minutes.
Cookies are 64 calories each.

Wendy's Cereal Bars (Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees)
2/3 C Oats (I used Quick Oats but reg work too)
1/3 C Oat Bran
3 Tbsp Wheat Bran
3 Tbsp Flour
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1 Tbsp Brown Sugar (PACKED)
1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
3 Tbsp Honey
2 Tbsp Corn Syrup
Mix all ingredients until crumbly but not powdery. Pat into a stick-proofed loaf pan (I run my mixing spoon under HOT water and using the back of the spoon to pat & smooth the mixture).
Bake for 15 minutes.
Cut into 6 bars.
Each bar is 109 calories.

I usually make a double recipe and use an 11 x 7 x 1.5 pan. But I use this recipe and just do it twice because I found it to be nearly impossible to mix a double batch effectively! Make batch 1, dump it in the pan without patting it in. Make batch two, dump it in the pan and pat it all down.
*Aslo - adding 15 grams of chocolate chips & 15 grams of crasins is not only tasty but only 129 calories per bar.

Okay - here goes nothin' (Erika takes a DEEP breath... ...and hits "Publish Post")

Guess I shoulda smiled, eh? I promise I will in my "after" photos!



Applicable Measurements:
Bicep - left: 12"
Bicep - right: 12.25"
Forearm - left: 10"
Forearm - right: 10"
Bust: 39.5"
Waist: 32.5"
Hips: 38.5"
Upper Thigh - left: 23.5"
Upper Thigh - right: 24"
Lower Thigh (just above knee) - left: 15.75"
Lower Thigh - right: 16.25"
Calf - left: 15"
Calf - right: 15.25"
As I measured these myself they aren't 100% accurate but they'll do for tracking purposes.

I am planning to weight in once a week and measure in once a month.

Breakfast:
8oz Water + multivitamin + Vit D suppliment
Special K Satisfaction (1&1/4 C) = 200 cal
Milk (1/2 C) = 66 cal

Snack:
16oz Water
3 Breakfast Cookies = 192 cal
8oz Water

Lunch:
8oz Water
Tin of Tuna = 145 cal
Miracle Whip (2 Tbsp) = 60 cal
Mustard (1 Tbsp) = 0 cal
1 pc Toast = 130 cal
No-Sugar-Added Raspberry Jam (1 Tbsp) = 10 cal
8oz Water

Snack:
24oz Water
Cereal Bar = 109 cal
Green Grapes (100g) = 70 cal

Snack:
Cereal Bar & apple & banana = 279 cal

Workout:
General Aerobics (45 minutes) = -360 cal (estimated using the calculator site)
36oz Water

Dinner:
Baked burrito (homemade) = 369 cal

Total Water: 11 cups
Total Calories In: 1630
Total Calories Expended: 360

I'm not sure if I should be eating my exercise calories or not... I think I'm going to leave things "as is" for this first week and start working that out starting Sunday. Also, after this first week is over, I think I'm just going to put my "Calories In" and "Calories Out" in my blog posts rather than the full eating breakdown as it's a wee bit time consuming!