Healthy Sundays: The 70/30 Rule

A couple months ago I was reading a magazine - I can't remember which one, Glamour maybe? - and there was an article about weight loss. It was one of those "These women lost half their weight and you can, too!" type of stories. I was skimming it over, since I don't really care for those type of stories ("I ate nothing but kale and lemon water for four months, it was so easy!") but one women's advice caught my eye.

She said her secret to success was living by the 70/30 rule. 70% of the time she ate well and worked out and overall led a healthy life. The other 30% of the time she indulged a bit - a cupcake here, a day on the couch there. She said it helped keep her balanced and she never felt deprived.

Aside from following the Weight Watchers plan, I've been trying to keep this rule in mind for special occasions. There are times when it would be really difficult for me to be as healthy and conscious as I'd like to be - like last weekend. I would have been a big party pooper and totally depressed if I stayed perfectly within my Weight Watchers boundaries last weekend while I was away. Instead, I said to hell with it and did the best I could. I haven't weighed in this week so I don't know the damage...but I'm not going to stress about it.

It's important to keep a good balance in your life and I think the 70/30 Rule is a good trick to help keep yourself in check.

What do you guys think? Have any tips or tricks for keeping things healthy and balanced in your life?

Healthy Sundays: Reconfiguring

Panera is diet friendly: the calorie information is right on the sign!

 I just finished week three of my healthy eating/diet/Weight Watchers. So far, I've lost three pounds. Not as much as I was aiming for, but not too bad either. I was hoping for two pounds a week weight loss, and the first week I hit that goal. I think it was probably because I had been eating a ton over the holidays and once I went back to eating better that first week those two pounds came off pretty easily. Since then, I've lost a half a pound a week for the last two weeks. Not ideal. It's time to reconfigure.

Weight Watchers now allows you to decide how many points you are allowed each week. They give you a suggested target, but if you feel like you aren't losing fast enough or you're losing too much weight you can adjust it. When I first started Weight Watchers I was allowed 29 points a day (plus the 49 weekly bonus points). When they re-vamped their program a few months ago they suggested I cut back to 26 points a day. That seemed terrifying, so I stuck with the 29 points but ultimately aimed for 26 to 29 points a day. This was hard, since if I saw I had points left over in a day I wanted to use them.

Since I haven't been seeing the results I was hoping for, I decided to dial it back to 28 points a day (the 49 weekly points stay the same). It's just one point less, but I'm hoping it will make at least a small difference. My plan is to gradually work my way down to 26 points a day.

I also looked back at that first week to see what I was doing differently. Turns out, I was eating a ton of soup. So today I went out and got ingredients to make some Escarole Soup (or Italian Wedding Soup. I use a family recipe but this one is similar.). Now I have that on hand for the rest of the week, making meal planning a lot easier. I've also decided to focus on cardio this week. I've been keeping up with my yoga classes, but I think I need to mix in some treadmill sessions to see results. Wish me luck!

Healthy Sundays: Peanut Butter

 I'm sure lots of people have different opinions about Weight Watchers, but I think it's the easiest and most well-balanced program I've tried. It's definitely taught me about portion sizes, and how fattening some things are for you that I didn't think were so bad.

Number one shocker? Peanut butter.

"But peanut butter is supposed to be healthy!" you cry.

I know! But a 2Tbs serving of peanut butter (the suggested serving size, which isn't much at all) has 16 GRAMS OF FAT and FIVE Weight Watchers points. That's insane.

"But it's good fat!" you insist. Maybe so, but it's still fat. All this time, I thought I was being so good, having apple slices and peanut butter as a snack. I'd just load that PB on there, too. "This is good for me!" I'd think, munching happily. Weight Watchers put the kibosh on those happy times right quick. Then I discovered Better'n Peanut Butter.

Better'n Peanut Butter is the bomb. A 2Tbs serving has 2 grams of fat. That's 14 grams LESS than regular peanut butter!! best of all, it tastes delicious. It's a bit different than peanut butter - the consistency isn't as thick, for one. It's creamier, kind of like a caramel sauce almost. It also tastes a bit sweeter - but who ever complained about that? I've heard it's kind of hard to find, though. I got mine at Trader Joe's (it's excellent with their apple slices, easiest snack EVER) but Whole Foods or the health food section of grocery stores probably carry it, too. I highly suggest swapping your regular peanut butter with it. It's an easy switch that saves TONS of unneeded calories and fat.

It also comes in other, delicious sounding flavors like chocolate, banana and the wackadoo flavor of hot pepper. There's also a low sodium variety. Better'n Peanut Butter also has no trans fats, no saturated fats, and is gluten and dairy free. There are also recipes on their website and all over the internet for yummy sounding things people have made with the stuff.

Do you guys have any good healthy swaps for your favorite foods? I'd love to hear!

*NOTE* This is not a sponsored post. I was just really excited about this stuff and wanted to share!

Dieting

One of my resolutions for this year is to lose the last 15lbs (and keep it off). I plan on doing this mainly by focusing on being healthier and making some life changes that I can stick with, rather than saying "I'm on a diet."

Saying "I'm on a diet" makes it sound like it's not permanent - like saying you're on vacation. That implies that when the vacation is over, you come home and life goes back to the same old routine. To me, saying I'm on a diet implies that once I've lost the weight, I'll just go back to my same old routine. My same old routine of being lazy, eating things I shouldn't, and gaining the weight back. That's not what I want. I want to be the best version of me I can be, and I want to stay that way forever and ever.

So my goal is to be healthier and teach myself better eating habits. That being said, I am being slightly hypocritical and using what I guess some would call a diet program to get there.I've sighed up with Weight Watchers to help keep me accountable for what I'm eating and how often I'm exercising. I've been using it off and on for awhile, but I always get lazy and don't stick with it (which is RIDICULOUS, since I'm paying for it). I do really like the program, so my goal right now it to stick with it, no excuses.

As an incentive to stick with the program and make being healthy into a habit, I'm going to post weekly updates here. Every Sunday I'll post a little bit about how my week went and any tips or lessons I've learned along the way.

Do you have any weight loss or health goals for the new year? I'd love to hear them! Any success stories or feeling about Weight Watchers (good and bad), I'd love to hear those as well!

i want my money! (and some diet news)

I feel like a lot of my blog posts lately have had the word "money" in them or money-related words. Can you tell what's been on my mind? I just finally mostly won an epic battle with my bank. I won't get into the details here, but suffice it to say I am VERY unhappy with their service and I will be switching banks this week.

These pictures are from Friday, when the Epic Bank Battle of 2010 started. I went to my mom's looking for someone to hear my sob story and my brother was the only one home. Happily he agreed to take pictures of me for once. Maybe he felt bad for me?

[jacket - forever21/shirt - LOFT/jeans - forever21/oxfords - aldo]

The outfit isn't anything too exciting, but it was my first time wearing my new oxfords so I wanted to document it. I bought them months ago on sale, but I've been waiting for fall to wear them. I feel like they're a little pointier than I normally go for, but I really like the look of oxfords so I'm going to incoporate them into my wardrobe more. My mom calls them my "orthopedic granny shoes." She has a point, but I still like them. I call them "my fancy Keds." I love my Keds and these are basically the same thing.

In other news, I can safely say I have lost ten pounds. I verfied with my Wii Fit (which is how I weigh myself) and I went back to the fattest I ever was and now I am ten pounds less than that and I have been hanging out at this weight for long enough now that I feel confident saying those ten pounds are GONE.

It's taken me awhile, at least what feel like awhile. I started dieting/changing my lifestyle in May and its' September. I think I just always want weight loss to happen super-fast which is why I get so easily discouraged. It's HARD. You feel like you've done so good only to weigh in and find you're the same as last week or you've even gained. I seem to be at a super frustrating plateau right now and I can't seem to push the weight loss past it. Slow and steady I suppose. Anyone have any tips for getting past a weight-loss sticky spot?

I mean, I've lost ten pounds and I feel like I look basically the same. My clothes still mostly fit. Ten pounds just sounds like so much, but then it's really not. I still have about 15-18 more pounds to go before I feel like I will be totally satisfied. Alright, enough about my weight, I hate when people go on about things like this and here I am!

I'm off to curl up with a book before watching last night's True Blood finale with my bestie!

reward zone

So I am down six pounds! It might not seem like anything to write home about, and honestly I don't see a huge difference in the way I look or the way clothes fit, but I am just so proud of myself! I'm below the weight I have been stuck at for years and years. I've decided that when I reach various weight loss milestones I'm going to treat myself to something (not food!).

For the ten pound mark (only four more to go!) I'm going to get an hour-long massage. Ahhhh.

For the fifteen pound mark, I'm going to get myself some new work-out gear so I can feel cute while I'm racking up my steps. No more old baggy tees and sweatshirts!

let's get physical by sparkleisacolor featuring Aerie

Items in this set:
Women's Aerie F.I.T. Seamless V-Neck Tank - aerie, $35
Women's Aerie F.I.T. Cropped Workout Pant (Pink Anchor), $40
Women's Aerie F.I.T. Cross-Strap Workout Bra (True Black), $25

For the twenty pound mark, I'm thinking a new bikini. I've never felt comfortable spending money on bathing suits, since I've never felt like they looked good on me. If I can get to the twenty pound weight loss mark, than I deserve a nice bikini!

I'm thinking one of these. I've had my eye on the bottom one for years, and the top one has SEQUINS. Naturally I will roll in the sand and have a photo shoot in whichever one I purchase.

If I reach my ultimate goal of losing twenty five pounds, I will have to come up with a really ultimate prize. I don't know what it will be yet. Any ideas?