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I am a former career girl and am now a stay-at-home-mom to 2 amazing little girls. Exercise and "dieting" have never been easy for me. But now more than ever, I am determined to adhere to a more active, healthy lifestyle. I am not dieting - just making smarter, more natural food choices. I want to set a great example for my girls. I starting running last year with the Couch-to-5K running program. I've lost over 35 pounds since last year and I want to lose 60 more. I completed my first race (a 5K) in October and I running a 10K by this summer. My long-term goal is ultimately to run a half-marathon in 2012. I've created this blog to put it all out there and most of all - to keep me honest. I include a tested recipe & inspiring workout song on each post. I am also hoping to inspire and be inspired by you! I would love for you to join me for this journey and become an official follower of this blog!

Monday, August 2, 2010

Losing Weight & Not Hungry (Really) - Part 2

This is a follow up to last week's post about going into detail about the additional ways I'm changing the way I eat:
 1.Eating more natural, healthier foods (see detail in previous post)
 2.Eating reasonable portions  (see detail in previous post)
 3.Eating well balanced meals
 4.Eating a variety of foods        
 5.Only eating when I am hungry

Eating Well Balanced Meals-
I know this is a pretty obvious no-brainer, and I'm not necessarily doing this part to loose weight - mainly just to be healthy. The part that I had to work on the most for this was incorporating the vegetables. Of course sometimes vegetables don't taste as good as maybe the starch or protein on your plate - but they should be the majority of what you eat in a meal. I know this can't always happen, but I try to make approximately 50% of what I eat at a meal - vegetables.
Tips- Prepping veggies in advance really helps for this. For lunch when I am having a sandwich I LOAD it with different veggies. For dinner - now when I make spaghetti sauce I use just as many chopped up veggies as meat (lots of carrots, red pepper, eggplant, onion in addition to the tomatoes...) it makes a lot more sauce and you can freeze some! I also try to choose dinner options which automatically incorporate alot of veggies vs. always having them "on the side."

Eating a Variety of Foods-
Okay - this one is KEY to my long term success for this lifestyle. On previous "diets" I would eat the same things again and again. Turkey sandwiches, grilled chicken salads, just grilled chicken, boca burgers, microwave popcorn and lean cuisines... They were things that I thought I knew were "healthy" and I knew the calorie content of. I would get so sick of eating the same things over and over that I would stray to not so healthy options often I think just for variety.  
Tips- Variety definitely takes more time and planning, but researching and trying new foods/recipes that you might not have tried before (but you know are healthy) are really important. Recipes websites are a great resource because you can browse for something that sounds new/interesting and best of all you can make sure it will taste ok before you make it (by the user ratings).  I probably never would have made this week's featured recipe, but I did so because I thought it would be a nice change - and it was GREAT! Variety truly is the spice of life! 

Only Eating When I am Hungry-
This is a toughy, but I think it's been the most helpful change that I've made so far. It's one that I am still working on and it's evolving. I've used food in so many different ways in the past. Eating when I was bored, sad, happy, lonely and most recently stressed. After the birth of my second child, who had some health issues but will be fine long term, I experienced the most stress I have ever been through before on a consistent basis and it wore me down. I was alone alot during this time, and would often turn to food for comfort and liked the feeling of being full. I knew this was something that I had to drastically change.
Tips- I recently heard about a 10 point hunger scale to help judge your true food hunger and it's really helped me. Anytime you think you want to eat ask yourself how hungry you think you are number wise (1 being literally starving, 5 comfortable, and 10 overstuffed). I try not to eat unless I feel that I am at around a 3. This means you aren't always going to eat on the exact predetermined schedule of breakfast, lunch and dinner - and that's ok!

Well, that's the end of the 2 part detail of how I'm changing what and the way I eat so far. I am sure it will continue to evolve as I continue to strive to get healthy. On a side note - I finish "week 4" of the running program tomorrow. By the middle of next week I should be running 20 minutes straight - YIKES!!!

Question for followers/blog viewers: What do you like for a healthy snack?


PS- Inspired Chunky Mama now has a facebook page. See box on the right to become a fan of the page. You will receive an update in your facebook newsfeed when I add a new blog entry!

SONG THAT KEPT ME RUNNING THIS WEEK: "Jump Around" House of Pain
THIS WEEK'S RECIPE: Easy Chicken Posole (hearty mexican soup) modified from an original Cooking Light recipe



You might be thinking - say what?!- hot soup in the middle of this hot summer. But I had to share this because... I LOVE this soup (my husband even said 'it's a keeper'). It seemed summery still because it is tangy from the lime juice. It is also hearty and filling and only approx. 300 calories per serving. Enjoy :) 

Easy Chicken Posole
1 tablespoon olive oil                  
1 teaspoon dried oregano
3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup chopped celery

1 cup chopped onion
1 (15-ounce) can crushed tomatillos (in mexican section - could also use whole and chop them)
2 (14-ounce) cans fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1 (15-ounce) can white hominy, rinsed and drained
2 cups chopped skinless, boneless rotisserie chicken breast
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice (I used a whole lime because I like the citrus flavor)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 ripe peeled avocado, diced
4 radishes, thinly sliced
Cilantro leaves (optional)


1. Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add oregano and next 4 ingredients (through onion and celery mix); sauté 2 minutes. Stir in tomatillos; cook 1 minute. Add broth and hominy; cover and bring to a boil. Uncover and cook 8 minutes. Stir in chicken; cook 1 minute or until heated. Remove from heat; stir in lime juice, salt, and pepper. Divide evenly among 4 bowls. Top with avocado and radish. Garnish with cilantro, if desired.

8 comments:

  1. That sounds freakin' awesome! I'm trying to figure out how to make a vegetarian version now.

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  2. In my quest to lose this baby weight from #2, I still have a craving for chocolate / sweets and I just found a great snack. Skinny Cow makes individual portions of ice cream that are only 150 calories (2 weight watcher points). The chocolate fudge brownie flavor is fantastic! Portion is controlled for you which I like, but it still has the flavor of real chocolate ice cream so you don't feel cheated. The cookies and cream was OK - that one was a little lacking on flavor.

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  3. Ahhh, tip #5 is definitely where I tend to struggle... I almost always do every other tip, but I always want to eat. And I like feeling FULL, not just "not hungry". I'm definitely going to try the 10 point scale though and hopefully it will work for me!

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  4. As someone who has lost 45 pounds in 6 months I still struggle with #5 as well. When hunger strikes I ask myself is it physical hunger or mental (sub emotional in there too) hunger. I find by asking myself this question I gain a bit of insight on what is driving my desire to eat and then can usually keep it in check (finally).

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  5. I so needed to read this post right now!

    By the way, your blog has really inspired me so I nominated you for an award on my blog:

    http://soskinnyontheinside.blogspot.com/2010/08/sweet-award.html

    Look forward to reading more from you!
    ~Tara

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  6. Hi! I was just blog hopping around tonight and I landed here. I'm loving your blog and finding lots of inspiration here. I hope to start the C25K program soon and I'm also starting to lose weight (and gain health) by switching to whole, real foods. I feel so much better! If you want to stop by and say hi, I'd love that ~ I've become a follow of your blog and I invite you to do the same! Cheers!
    http://healthyfor100.blogspot.com
    ~Jessica

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  7. This is so fun...Ive been blogging for a year and a half and just said good bye for awhile...mine was pretty private but i thik that if you have time that you might find the past year of it interesting...I have been where you are and have completed my goal..and am running in my first race in Oct...have a read if you are interested...its been quite a year...http://lou-notevenclose.blogspot.com/

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  8. Hi everyone - thanks for the feedback and support - it's nice to know that people can relate and finding the blog interesting. Also thank you to others for sharing their blogs. Having a pretty good week this week - I just keep on keepin on :) and am getting geared up for my 20 minute run that's in a few days.

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