Life... food... laziness...

Wow.  Well my last post on this blog was approximately 2-3 months before I got pregnant.  During my pregnancy I lost 17 pounds (for no reason at all, wasn't sick or anything, doc said it just happens with some women).  This was perfectly okay with me.  I didn't keep my activity up much and I definitely ate whatever was in front of my face whenever I felt like it.  At the end of my pregnancy I came out +4 pounds.  Not bad, right?  After Owen was born I lost 22 pounds in the first three weeks.  I felt invincible!  Super Mom, unaffected by food or beverage, fabulous big boobs and a freshly-flattened tummy.  Didn't last long.  Super Mom was defeated by... duh duh duhhhh.... the Sugar Monster.  You know those things people say about eating "whatever you want while breastfeeding because it doesn't stick"?  Total and complete bull.  I've learned first-hand that if you're going to lose weight breastfeeding, it's in your blood.  I quickly gained back the 22 pounds (plus a few...) and now I'm at an all-time high of........ not telling.  Did you think I was going to tell?  Only one other person in this world knows and that's because she has to love me know matter what (thanks Mommy!) 

After a pretty surreal and depressing sit-down with my wonderful mother, I realized that I am slowly killing myself with what I'm putting in my body.  We discussed my health and the potential (and very real) consequences.  What it comes down to is this:  I need to be healthy.  Thin would be fantastic, but health is the number one goal here.  I have a very young son, I'd like to give him lots of adorable brothers and sisters.  I'd like to give them all a healthy and active upbringing.  I'd like to show them that there is more in this life than deliciously poisonous high fructose corn syrup and addictive video games/internet/tv.  I am currently the perfect example of the average American woman-  Overweight.  Sedentary.  Lazy.  Well, ladies and gents, this is about to change, and I hope you will all witness! 

I've done this before.  I had the trainer, I had the food program.  I had the resources.  I gained back all of the weight and I went back to all of the terrible eating habits I had before.  Obviously this is a hard thing to change and these are hard habits to break.  The healthy habits were proving hard to restore until this talk I had with my mom.  It was eye-opening and inspiring and terrifying, all at the same time.  So here we go.  Round 2 of  Hayley vs. Food & Couch.  Hayley's gonna come out on top this time, peeps.

After a spontaneous trip to Winco late last night, our refrigerator is now stocked with fresh vegetables, lean meat and lots of eggs, cheese and milk.  The cabinets are stocked with peanut butter, quinoa and Sweet n' Low (gotta have it for me tea.  Not backing down on this one.)  Today marks day one of Phase 1 of the South Beach Diet.  I've never tried a "diet", and this one seems more like a lifestyle than a "diet" anyway.  The diet was created by Dr. Arther Agatston.  He's a cardiologist and hopefully by the end of this week I'll believe he's a genius, as well.  The "diet" is broken up into three phases.  Phase 1 consists of lean protein, fresh vegetables, salads, reduced- or non-fat dairy, and eggs.  No carbohydrates, including complex carbohydrates.  This means no fruit.  At this point, the no-fruit-thing doesn't bother me.  I do believe, however, by the end of the next thirteen days I'll have a new found appreciation for fruit and it's natural sugars.  Here's what is still/was on the menu today, to give you an idea of what an average day of Phase 1 looks like:

Breakfast:  1 whole egg + 3 egg whites, scrambled.  I added Benefiber to them (turns out you can add that stuff to anything.  Weird.)  I then sprinkled some colby jack cheese on top of the eggs.  This was 264 calories. 
Snack:  1 low-moisture part-skim mozzarella string cheese.  80 calories.
Lunch:  3 cups of baby spring mix salad, 1/2 a medium-sized orange bell pepper, 1/8 cup of sliced almonds and 2 tbsp of Lite Northern Italian dressing, all mixed together.  I also had a small protein shake made up of chocolate whey protein powder and water (chilled overnight.  If it's not cold enough it's harder to drink, honestly.)  Lunch was 340 calories.
Snack: one Yoplait Light Fat-Free Very Vanilla yogurt and 2 tbsp of peanut butter.  I love peanut butter and was perfectly content to just eat if off a spoon.  This girl hates celery.  The yogurt was 110 calories and the peanut butter was 190.  (...I'm just realizing in this very moment that peanut butter is very high in calories...)
Dinner tonight will be this:  3oz chicken tenderloin, grilled on the stove in olive oil and various spices, homemade marinara and reduced-fat mozzarella cheese.  A healthy spin on chicken parmigiana, if you will.  We will also be having a salad like I had with lunch. 

I'm trying to stick to the same exact meal plan for breakfast and lunch every day during Phase 1, but will mix up dinners.  Dinners will be rotated with this chicken and salad dish, a turkey sausage minestrone (compliments of ColorFuel, best recipe I ever tried) and a turkey and quinoa chili (also compliments of ColorFuel). 

Andrew is following the majority of this as well.  We're including 4-5 days of walking per week and I will be doing at least 2 days a week of weight-training.  Wish us luck!!!