Ghosts of diets past & Day 4

Morning!

It's Day 4 of Cinch and I'm still loving it.

In doing this program and just in general, it's made me think back to my past efforts which I shall call:

Ghosts of Diets Past

Unfortunately, blogger doesn't offer any scary looking fonts. 

:sigh:

Since I've been actively dieting for well over a year now and nothing has really been working.

It's truly safe to say that hormonal weight related gain (or loss for that matter) is a completely different beast (oh yes. BEAST) to lose as opposed to me just getting regular fat.  And, by regular fat, I mean being lazy, overeating horrible foods, etc.

Pregnancy-related weight gain seems to be a huge issue for quite a lot of moms out there - look at all the chat boards like Cafe Mom, Baby Center and more who have boards dedicated to weight loss.  There's lots of sites out there geared towards losing the baby weight.  Well, at least everywhere I look anyways.

Just to re-cap for my own purposes here's what I've tried and have been unsuccessful at this past year:

1. Relying on chasing two toddlers and breast feeding to lose weight
2. Going low-carb (a few times) to see if I could drop a few pounds
3. Working out with Jillian Michaels DVDs and going to the gym 3-5 times a week
4. Tracking and closely monitoring every calorie I ate via my iPhone - first on the Lose It! application and then switching to MyFitnessPal (since July 2011)
5. Adding in a daily green smoothies (or at least every other day)
6. Eating more whole foods and less processed foods in general
7. Consciously not eating off of the kids plates, finishing their snacks or eating any of their leftovers
8. Staying away from added sugar unless it came from fruit, veggies or dairy

And, most recently, to add to this list:

9.  I've switched to eating a Vegetarian style diet for the last three weeks.  I guess I would consider it a lacto-ovo vegetarian diet meaning I am eating dairy and egg products.
10.  In conjunction, I have just started the Cinch Inch Loss Plan - four days ago now.

I'm hoping a plant based diet and Cinch is just what I need to finally lose some pounds and inches and finally lose this stubborn baby  toddler weight.

Have a great day and I'm off now to make my Cinch breakfast shake!
~Carly

Cinch - Day 3

...And going strong!

Yesterday, I had my Cinch shake for breakfast and was a bit hungrier than the previous day for lunch, so I munched on a few grapes and a piece or two of pineapple from the kid's snack at the park.

I had the Peanut butter crunch snack bar, a chocolate peanut butter shake for lunch, one cup of tea before dinner and I had an organic vegetarian burrito with some plain baby carrots.  I drank a ton of water and felt satiated and full.

Overall, I'm still loving this plan and really not feeling deprived.

Personally, I'm both shocked at how good I feel and surprised at my willpower since I'm around food all day.  My two kids eat breakfast and dinner but end up snacking most of the day with a light lunch.  I find they like it better, keeps their hunger mood swings at bay and they get more of a variety of fruits, veggies, grains and proteins that way.

Hey - whatever works, right?

And speaking of working, I feel like Cinch is working for me.

So, here's to day three as I am sitting here drinking my Orange Creamsicle version of my breakfast - which is quite tasty:

Vanilla Cinch Shake Mix
6 oz of orange juice4 oz of skim milk
1 Banana - a larger sized one 
Ice Cubes - about a handful

Have a great day and check in again with another post tomorrow!

~Carly

Seeing Green?

No, I'm not talking about being eco-friendly. (That is important, too!)

I'm talking about green drinks - specifically green smoothies and green tea.

For years, green tea has been associated with weight loss and boosting metabolism in addition to it's other health benefits.  Here is an article from Harvard Medical School from 2004 related to women's health and the benefit of green tea.

Additionally, green smoothies are all the rage, too.  And rightfully so - you can drink your way to great health in just one glass a day!  I personally try to stay away from eating the higher-sugared fruits often, like bananas and mangoes, but love mixing them into my green smoothies.  Even my 2 year old son devours these and gets quite excited when seeing me compiling the ingredients!

Here is my personal favorite:

1 medium banana
"Splash" of either orange or apple juice (organic) 1-2 ounces
5-6 ice cubes
Frozen mango chunks (you can feel free to add any fruit in that you prefer)
2-4 de-veined Kale leaves (spinach is also an excellent substitute and offers a more mild taste)
Water (as needed to thin)

Put all items in blender and whip it up into a frothy, green drink.

It will look something like this when mixed:

Image courtesy of Google image search.

Bottoms up!

The Internet is filled with great smoothie recipes - green and others.  The options are endless really.  I've even found some great ones on Pinterest :)

I had read that once you start drinking these on a regular basis, you will experience better digestive health, clearer skin, more energy and you may actually begin to crave these drinks - like, seriously want to have one now! type of craving.

I can attest that this is indeed TRUE.  I look forward to drinking them!

Do you make smoothies?  What are you favorite combinations?