Un-sweetened

It's amazing how you can think that you are eating healthy, but when you really evaluate every single piece and part of a food label and learn your numbers, you might not be. My first week started off as usual, me reading labels and adding up calories. As I was snacking on one of my favorite Greek yogurts, I was checking out the label...and I got to the sugar part. Here's a place I had never really stopped before. I count calories and investigate fat, carbs and protein. But sugar? I assumed that since I never eat candy or drink soda, and rarely have homemade sweets that I must be just fine. Then I realized that I didn't really know what the number of sugar grams meant. How much sugar was I even supposed to be consuming. So I asked my good friend Google...and was shocked with what I found.

 

 

 

Apparently, Americans consume around 150 pounds of sugar a year! That's almost 3 pounds a week, and around half a pound a day! A few studies I read said that half of Americans are eating twice that. Wow. Now a half a pound of sugar a day equates to 48 teaspoons or 196 grams. Women are supposed to be consuming no more than 20 grams, or 5 teaspoons of sugar a day. Now this is mostly related to added, processed sugars. Naturally occurring sugars from things like fruit and lactose (dairy) are more difficult to measure, but still need to be consumed in moderation.

 

 

The yogurt I was eating which started this whole thing had a whopping 19 grams of sugar! Plus, I had already had 2 cups of coffee with 2 teaspoons of sugar and was going to grab a protein bar for a quick breakfast that had 16 grams of sugar. That's already 43 grams of sugar and I'm barely past breakfast. I poked around my kitchen to find some other surprising sugar sources. My favorite BBQ sauce has 14 grams of sugar per 2 tablespoons, our spaghetti sauce has 8 grams in a 1/2 cup serving, a serving of raisins is 24 grams, and most of my protein bars have between 10-15 grams each. Even though I'm not even touching the national average, I am still consuming around 50-60 grams of sugar per day, not including fruit, which is 3 times the recommended amount. But, dang girl, this isn't easy! I tried drinking my coffee with no sugar...yucky! And I tried mixing my own cafe yogurt using plain nonfat Greek and instant coffee....you probably would've enjoyed seeing my face when I took a big 'ol spoonful of that nastiness. I might not be a sugar queen, but I do like a few things palatable.

 

 

 

 

So, now my goal is to get myself down to 20 grams a day (not including normal servings of fruit). I may not like it, but I can save all my good choices up for a rainy day cupcake :-) in 11 weeks!

 

Next post will be about protein! 



 

It's Possible

Do you have a fitness goal you've been struggling with? Who doesn't right?!

What kind of excuses have you given yourself for not getting to where you want to be? Trust me, I've heard them all. I've even come up with some good ones myself. One morning I told myself that I couldn't get my workout in 'cause I would have to look for my shoes! I mean seriously, how lame can you get right? Then there are all the mom excuses...I'm too tired, the kids are in the way, I don't want to wake them up if they are napping, etc. I'm sure you've heard yourself come up with some doozies.

Here's a question I get asked on a constant basis. How can it be done? How can I reach my goals when I'm so busy, so tired, working and limited on childcare? How can I overcome my excuses? Ok, I plugged in that last one. Listen ladies, I'm right there with you. At 5 months postpartum, I have been slowly losing weight and staying active, but I am not at my goal. Gaining 50 pounds during my pregnancy didn't exactly give me a leg up, but it happens to the best of us. And guess what, I have to GET OVER IT. So what, so I gained too much weight? So I have to work harder and longer? Am I going to throw in the towel? Never!

One thing you will find different about me and my approach is that I won't sugar coat it for you or for myself. It is possible. How do you think I came up with the name for my brand "MomPossible Fitness". If you are a mom, you have already done the most incredible, miraculous thing known to man. Everything else is easy peasy girlfriend. And I am going to prove it to you. For the next 12 weeks I am going to work on achieving my ultimate goal. It's a pretty normal goal, something I'm sure most of you can relate to. And it won't be easy, nothing great ever is. You may be able to follow along with me, or maybe just take a few tips here and there. My program will have to be a little different, because I breastfeed my son and his health is my number one priority. I can't just shave off half my calories and do a million hours of cardio. I will have to be paying close attention to my milk supply and quality and lose weight on a slow and steady basis.

So let's get started! First I want to tell you about my goals and then my plan! I am a pretty average body type. I've always been way too hard on myself, but I have never been overweight. I was lucky to find a passion in health and fitness at an early age and even though I have been far from perfect, I have always been able to keep myself in check. Even when I gained 50 pounds with each pregnancy, half of it was gone before the 6 week mark and the rest continues to come off at a normal rate. But now for the big BUT...I have never pushed myself to achieve the exact level of fitness that I wanted. Crazy right. I should be the last person with excuses. I have tons of knowledge, tons of passion and a great middle of the ground start. But, I just let other things get in the way...called excuses. I am now at 155 pounds, 5 months postpartum. I would like to lose somewhere around 20 pounds in the next 12 weeks. I am purposely vague here. I want to gain muscle and tone, lose fat and FEEL like I am where I want to be. You can't put a number on a feeling and you can't always calculate what your perfect weight will be in the body you want.

I have always used Victoria's Secret models as my inspiration. I do not want to weigh a mere 110 pounds and grow 4 inches though (haha!). I just want to ooze confidence like they do (and look killer in their new sportswear line). Many of them are actually moms and although they clearly have exceptional genetics on their side, they still have to put a lot of work into their health and fitness. Here's where I am going to get tough. Average isn't good enough. Don't let anyone talk you out of being something amazing and out of this world if it is something you really want. Too many people settle for mediocre, accepting what they have and ignoring the little voice saying "please keep trying". My mom told me when I was younger that I could never be a model, because I wasn't built that way. I just didn't have the right genetics she would say. And I let that be good enough for me. Shame on me! She struggled with her own body image and mirrored that onto me. And I let her. The key here is that we all have hurdles and naysayers. So do the people we admire, who have taken a stand for themselves and done what they wanted to do. This world is full of people who have reached unimaginable successes, by believing in themselves. I am going to be one of those people. Watch me!

Over the next 12 weeks, I will blog and vlog my journey so you can follow along. Feel free to post your encouragements! Don't be fooled into thinking that I "have time" for this. It's all about making the time. I also run an unrelated full time business, another part time business, will be teaching classes soon, have a 2 year old and 5 month old that stay at home with me, and several other projects and work related activities going on a constant basis. This is going to be hard work! But it is possible. Today is prep day and tomorrow is the official start day. By prepping I can lay out a workout schedule, brainstorm a nutrition plan and print some inspiration pictures to post at my desk.

Stay tuned...